A very weak and confused Count floated towards the edge of consciousness. His chest hurt horribly and deep pain had settled into his muscles and bones. He shifted every so slightly to get more comfortable. A pair of strong arms reached up immediately to encase him. A large warm hand pushed his head back against the wall of flesh he was laying against.
"So 'kay, so 'kay, Safe." D. more felt the words rumble through the body beneath him then actually heard them but the affection in them was unmistakable. The affection was so much what D had craved his entire life that he reacted by snuggling closer into the strong embrace.
What had happened? Vague memories wormed there way through D's clouded mind. He remembered a loud noise, excruciating pain, Leon standing over him with a gun and then nothing. He could make no sense of it his thoughts still fogged over with residual shock and pain. Below his ear Leon's heart beat out a steady calming rhythm. D felt himself slip back into sleep lulled by the sound of the Detective's warm body soothing away the nagging pain until his body could finish repairing itself.
Leon awoke from his exhaustion induced slumber some three hours after having slid down to the floor. His body protested the position he had allowed himself to fall asleep in. The Count was still in his arms his head resting against his chest bone. Leon's minimal movements were answered by D gripping the cloth of his shirt in his hands. D rubbed his face against the fabric of Leon's shirt as if to get closer.
"Shhh, it's okay. It's okay. I'm right here. I'm not gonna leave ya." Leon stroked down the Counts back in long languid motions. He kept up the litany of reassurances until the hands on his shirt relaxed once more. Leon carefully slid D from his lap and settled him to the floor. He pulled his jacket back up over him. His hands shook ever so lightly as the jacket settled over the smooth ivory of D's upper torso. Everything Leon knew said there should be a huge wound where plainly there wasn't. He settled back on his haunches and watched the Count for a few more minutes to make sure he would stay asleep.
"Neat trick you got there. Bet that comes in real handy and when you wake up you and I are gonna have a little talk about just what the hell you are and just what the hell that bat bunny of yours is." Leon addressed the sleeping form. It made him feel better to talk out loud. It made things seem a bit more normal then they actually were. He hated when things happened that he didn't understand. He hated it even more when he couldn't take control of a situation. Clearly Leon thought to himself he was definitely in over his head. Of course this had never stopped the detective before so he saw no reason why it should now.
Leon's grandmother had had a ferocious temper. She could clean an entire house of people out in about five minutes with one of her explosive rages. Leon's mouth quirked at the memory of her. His entire family had been afraid of her, everyone except of course his grandfather. His grandfather had been a slender man of small build and height, when he was younger his hair had been the color teak and eyes had been as grey slate. He reminded Leon of D in many small ways. He could drive Grandma to distract with his calm exterior no matter how much she carried on like a rabid animal he would just smile this tiny infuriating smile and offer her a cup of coffee. Her sharp blues eyes would flash she'd stutter for a moment and then settle down with the cup of coffee and life would resume. When Leon was about seven or so he and his grandmother had had a really spectacular fight, she had been baby sitting him so his parents could have the night off. Leon couldn't remember what it was about. She screamed and stomped her foot and he screamed and stomped his foot. Right in the heat of it when grandma was letting him have it for having the audacity to argue with her granddad had walked into the kitchen and leaned against the door jam. He had started chuckling to himself and that brought the two of them up short as they both turned to look at him.
"Seems, to me there LeAnne that you've met your match. You two are couple of peas in a pod. Well go on now have at it real good and when your both done I'll make the two of you some cocoa to sooth those sore throats your going to be having." Having said that he just shook his head and walked out. Grandma and him had stared at each other very hard then assessing each other.
"Yeah, well they damn sure did name you after me all right, didn't they boy. You ornery enough as it is. Listen we're going to bake us some chocolate chip cookies cause your granddad has got himself a real sweet tooth and I always like to keep myself in his good graces. Damn man drive me to hell and back if I don't. Then I'm gonna tell you the way things got to be son. Cause you got grandma's temper right along with my eyes and you gonna have to learn that when you can't fix it and you can't have your way, well then you just got to do what you can until the situation changes. Come on now boy go fetch your grandma down some flour. We got things to be doing." She had stood all of 5'2" in her stocking feet, she could out cuss a mule and she had done exactly what she had wanted to do in life appearances be damned. She had taught Leon how to be strong in the face of trouble, she had taught him to uphold what he felt was right no matter what. He had learned his greatest lessons from her and when she passed away it had broke his heart. It had broken his grandfather's heart as well and the quiet man who had taught him how to whittle, how to be kind to those around you, how to bend when you had to followed his beloved to the grave three months later. Everytime Leon saw D smile and calmly side step anything Leon threw at him verbally he saw the shadow of his grandfather. Every single dessert he took to D he could feel his grandmother in his bones telling him to stay in his good graces because he was the best thing he'd ever have. Leon let the memories slide away then. He stood up then stretching out the cramps in his body and popping joints back into place. He looked down on D sleeping, one hand tucked under his cheek. Strange sensations fluttered through his heart settling down in his stomach like butterflies.
"All right then, best foot forward and first things first." Leon quoted his grandmother out loud. He couldn't explain, he couldn't fix it, yet, so the only thing to do was what you could. And what he could do right that minute was make D more comfortable and get the two of them cleaned up. He'd get there one step at a time.