#concerned aiden
Next chapter of my cat witcher OC (Nix) fic. See the Masterpost for content/warnings. Masterpost here.
Wake up, kitties!
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Aiden burrowed his face further into Lambert’s throat, his partner’s stubble scratching lightly at his forehead. He was slowly waking up, surrounded by Lambert’s familiar, comforting scent, cozy under a heap of bedding and laying against Lambert’s warm skin.
“You awake, kitten?” Lambert murmured.
“Mmm.”
“How do you feel?”
“Cozy,” Aiden mumbled.
“Nothing hurts? Can you feel your toes?”
“What are you…” Aiden trailed off as memories started to filter back. He had been hunting with Nix, and it had started to snow. They had gotten lost, and it had been cold. So cold. They had finally stopped and huddled in the snow… He bolted up in bed, the blankets and furs pooling around his waist. “The snow! Nix!”
“Yeah,” Lambert replied, sitting up and trailing his hand up Aiden’s back softly. “The snow. I told you to turn back right away! You’re lucky your dick didn’t freeze off before we found you.”
“Where’s Nix? Is she ok?” Aiden asked insistently.
“Yeah, she’s ok. She’s in her room.” Lambert’s voice was still rough with sleep, and he rubbed wearily at his eyes.
Aiden’s posture relaxed a fraction. He took stock of his limbs and extremities.
“Ican feel my toes. Everything seems fine.” He flexed his fingers and wiggled his toes, then stretched. “It was so cold. I know we were becoming hypothermic before everything faded. How…”
“Like I said, you’re a lucky bastard. When we found you, you were both covered in snow and turning blue. Scared the fuck outta me. I haven’t felt like that since —” Lambert cleared his throat. “Well anyways, we bundled you back to the keep, had the fires roaring, stripped off all your wet and frozen clothing, and warmed you up under a pile of furs with skin to skin. Best way to do it.”
“And Nix?”
“Yeah.”
“Yeah what?”
“What what? Like I said, we did all that, and it worked, we saved your asses. And fingers and toes.”
“You did… you… she… you took her clothes off and did skin to skin?!”
“WellI didn’t, I was with you.”
“Lambert!!”
“WHAT?? You gonna pick a bone over that? Eskel took care of her. Jaskier checked in on them. I’m sorry, would you have rather we let her lose some extremities, or die? Better to let her die than upset her?”
Aiden spluttered, and Lambert continued, softening.
“I know, alright? I know it’s bad. But what should we have done? You know as well as I do it’s the safest way, and you were a block of ice, you weren’t about to be warming anyone else up, so it had to be one of us.”
Aiden nodded tersely. “I know. I know, it’s just…” He flipped off the covers and started searching for clothes to pull on. “I’ve got to check on her.”
Lambert sighed behind him before following suit and getting dressed.
“I gave them one of your shirts to put on her once she was warmed up enough to be safe.”
Aiden grunted in response. Once he was dressed, he hurried across the hall, gently pushing the door open and entering, before stopping in his tracks at the scene before him. Nix was snuggled up to Eskel, her head on his clothed chest, the covers pulled up under her chin. Eskel cracked an eye open and peered at him.
“Hey,” Eskel whispered groggily. “She’s ok.”
Aiden stared mutely for a moment. “Is she… I mean, did she…” he whispered.
“She woke up a while ago, and we talked briefly. She wanted me to stay.”
Aiden nodded absently, baffled by what he was seeing and hearing.
“I’ll make sure you know when she’s up so you can check in with her,” Eskel offered, and Aiden nodded again. Nix made a soft noise in her sleep, then nuzzled into Eskel’s chest before settling again. Aiden crept back out of the room and closed the door softly behind himself.
-
When Nix woke again, she couldn’t remember the last time she had slept so soundly, or felt so safe. She also wasn’t sure of the last time she had been so close with someone, woken wrapped around another warm body. A steady, slow heartbeat thumped under her ear through the soft worn linen shirt Eskel wore, and his arm was secure around her waist. He shifted under her as she stirred.
“You awake?” he whispered.
“Mmm.”
His fingers stroked lightly up and down her back. “We should go downstairs when you’re ready. You must be hungry, and I think Aiden is anxious to see you.”
She pushed up on an elbow, rubbing at her eyes. “Right. Ok.”
As she sat up properly, Eskel slid out of the bed and pulled on the pants Jaskier had left him.
“I’ll let you get dressed and see you downstairs?” he asked.
She nodded in reply. As he got to the door, she called out.
“Eskel?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
He smiled softly. “I’m glad you’re ok. Thank you for trusting me. I’m sorry again for—”
“Don’t, you probably saved my life. I’m grateful; for that, and for… that you stayed.”
“I was happy to,” he said with a smile, before turning back and walking out, closing the door quietly.
Nix stayed sitting in bed, looking at the closed door. Her emotions were all over the place. Eskel made her feel warm, and cared for, and safe.
Part of her craved that: to let down the guard she’d been fighting so hard to maintain. To let someone else take care of her. Laying in his broad arms, she felt settled and safe in a way she hadn’t since before she lost Aleks. A feeling she had often worried, in her darker moments, that she wouldn’t experience again.
Part of her wanted to run from that. It meant being vulnerable again. It meant letting something into her heart, knowing it could be ripped back out. Losing Aleks had nearly destroyed her. She couldn’t even remember the days after it happened: where she had gone, what she had done, how she had survived. After that she had closed off her emotions, doing what she had to to survive, moving through life without really experiencing it. She didn’t think she could survive another loss like that.
She hadn’t been looking for a partner of any sort. Hadn’t felt ready for someone else, hadn’t been sure she ever would be. She didn’t want to feel like she was replacing Aleks, and she hadn’t felt that anyone ever could. Her guilt, grief and fear left her feeling that it was easier, safer, not to try.
And besides, her and Eskel’s lifestyles were different. Wolves hunted monsters, they didn’t take contracts on people, whereas that was all she did, working as a spy and assassin. She was surprised she had been let into Kaer Morhen at all, really, but the type of contracts she took wasn’t a topic that had ever come up. She wondered what would happen if it did. She couldn’t imagine she’d make it very far from the keep in this weather. A shiver ran down her spine.
Worrying over it all now wasn’t doing her any good. What had been a dull ache in the back of her consciousness was becoming a throbbing headache. She pushed the thoughts aside and went about getting dressed. While the thought of burrowing under the covers and staying there for the rest of the winter currently held great appeal, her headache wouldn’t go away on its own, her stomach was growling, and she knew Aiden wouldn’t let her hide for long once he knew she was up. She wrapped a fur around her shoulders and headed downstairs. Ale. That might help things. Or White Gull. Even better.
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Thank you @trickstermoose67&@lohrendrell for your beta’ing help!
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