Meadow's Story

If there was one thing that Des had noticed about sharing a room with Meadow, it was that he slept far better than he did alone. He actually had time to dream in between the night terrors and the insomnia that hit him hard on the worst possible days. He’d had wonderful dreams that night, and he wasn’t used to waking up smiling.
“Dezzy..” The little voice beside him mewled, shifting and getting on her knees, bouncing and shaking the bed, making it thump over and over. “Wake up!” Meadow chirped, hugging him tight as she kept it up. “Wake up wake up wake up!”
That was the second thing that he had noticed. He tended to wake up plenty earlier than he normally did. “Meadoooow,” He complained in a mumble, his voice made hoarse from sleep. “‘M busy.” He protested, wrapping the tiny woman up in his arms and rolling over to trap her in them, effectively preventing her from escaping and continuing to disturb his slow awakening. The little girl squealed delightfully in reply as he moved, hugging his neck tight and grinning from ear to ear, yelping in pain when she laid on her back, the weight agitating her wings. She gasped and clung tight to him like a cat that had been thrown in water, keeping her back off the bed.
Alright, not busy any more. Worry immediately struck at his chest, a flood of guilt immediately filling the hole it left. He gasped a soft apology, gently lifting her off it a little, keeping her off the sheets easily. She was light as a feather in his arms, and perhaps that was an apt comparison.
“I’m ok.” She assured him quietly, calmed by his arms around her despite the constant ache in her shoulder blades. “See? Promise.” Meadow assured brightly, nuzzling his shoulder.
Des mumbled another apology in response, careful to move his hands just so, hoping to avoid hurting her further. He knew she wasn’t alright, she was in pain, she was... She was likely going to need surgery at some point, and he couldn’t even hug her tighter, because he would crush her. He put on a brave face, smiling and nudging at her gently in response. “So I can go back to sleep?” He teased softly.
“Noo!” She squeaked indignantly, squeezing him tight to compensate for how he couldn’t. “You have to be up! Up up up!!” The girl cheered gleefully.
“Down down down.” Des grumbled good-naturedly, shifting to place her atop him with gentle hands. “Better?” He asked quietly.
Meadow giggled brightly, kissing his nose when she was in place. “Uh huh.” She hummed, hugging him tight and hiding away in his chest. “But up!” She insisted once more, tugging him towards the edge of the bed.

Des gave her a terribly amused look, sighing at last and then letting her tug him along, slowly sitting up. He yawned, reaching up to scrub at his eyes with mismatched hands. He mentally told the computer that attempted to analyze his current state of sleep deprivation to shut up, and dragged one hand down his face. “‘M tired.” He mumbled, pillowing his head on her shoulder.
She grinned and hugged him tight still, “But it’s morning!” She whined with a grin, just as much of a bird like this as in every other way, with the need to wake up everyone.
“And I’m Des.” The cyborg teased a little, dropping a kiss onto her hair and then curling up, small as he could get with his size, pillowing his head on her lap. “Five more minutes?” He pled, peering up at her and giving her a pair of pathetic puppy dog eyes.
Meadow pouted and laid across him too, hugging his waist and nuzzling his metal shoulder. “But it’s time to be up!” She cried again.
Des was losing this battle, and finally, he surrendered, gently picking her up and setting her on his shoulders. “What are we doing today?” He asked, tapping his metal fingers on her knee. So far as he knew, they were just going to be meeting with Lottie--Dr. Reid, he reminded himself.
“I dunno!” She hummed with a grin, resting her chin on his head and hugging his neck tight, petting his locks back into place, still crazy from sleep. “Can we go outside?” She asked innocently, just like every day.
“We can ask,” Des answered softly, a gentle answer that came most days around this time in the morning. But the answer was always no, no, the director says no, the doctors say no... He didn’t blame them, really. Not for him and Cas, anyway. But Meadow deserved better.
Meadow grinned brightly at the prospect, hugging him tighter and squealing his name happily. “Ask!” She repeated gleefully. “When we see Lottie.”
“What time is she coming here?” Des asked. He considered amending his sentence, adding an over right before the word here, but it was really all one giant compound. They were an elevator away from her, but getting to that elevator, well... He’d rather not risk it.
“3.” She hummed in reply, kicking her legs as she sat on his shoulders, repeating the number a few times with a smile, playing with his hair once it was all fixed.
“And what time is it now?” Des nuzzled into her hands gently, tipping his head back to look at her. Time for you to get a watch, he thought, but there were no watches to be found easily accessible around there.
“9!” The girl answered happily, crawling her way to his front, hugging to him like a koala and gazing up at him with her excited golden eyes.
Des was relatively confident that he could feel his heart melting at her response and then at her embrace. He hugged her carefully, humming softly to her. “Six hours is a long time to practice dancing.” He teased a little, swaying in a circle with her.
She gasped at the idea. “We can dance! And then do other stuff too!” Meadow chirped hurriedly, slipping from his arms and landing silently on her toes, grabbing his hands.
Des couldn't help but smile at her excitement. He leaned down, gently setting her on her feet. “Like what?” He prompted gently, raising his hands to let her have them.
The ginger squeezed his hands and released one to twirl, hugging him when she returned to his chest. “Like stuff with you.” She cooed in earnest, gazing up at him with a soft smile.
“Like drawing, or singing? We could make frosting,” Des hugged her gently, dropping a kiss onto her head. He loved frosting. “And something to eat with the frosting.” He teased a little. But of course, that was second on the list of priorities when it came to that.
“Sing!” She gasped immediately, jumping and hugging his hands to her chest. “We should sing.” She murmured quieter, smiling brightly. She didn’t get to hear his voice a lot… He thought she was asleep. But she never really was.
Des hesitated at that, biting his bottom lip out of habit. His brain was moving a mile a minute, though, apparently determined to inform him of all the bad things that could happen. “I--” He started, and nervousness made his vocal chords scrape together. His cheeks flushed, and he ducked his head down, as if he were a turtle and could hide in his shell, earning a gasp from Meadow at the metallic grating. Assuming he was hurt like he normally was from such a sound, she leaned up on her tiptoes and pet his throat in a soothing motion, trying to fix it. Des’ cheeks only got darker at her actions, and he leaned down a little to accommodate her better, not wanting her to have to strain herself.
“Better?” She inquired in a small voice, hugging him tight, seemingly never getting off her toes as she stroked his hair. “We don’t have to sing that’s ok, we can do other stuff.” Meadow assured him gently.
“You wanted to sing,” Des whispered, trying to get the frustrating pieces of metal that let him speak to work. He hesitated a little, giving them another few moments to soothe themselves. “You’re awake when I sing to you?” He asked, a little shyly, as soon as they felt well enough to work.
Her already pink cheeks burned bright red as her eyes widened. “I.. Y-Yeah..” She mumbled bashfully, ducking her head down and kicking the ground with her toe. “‘M sorry I can stop.” She whispered, peeking up beneath her curls.
Des quickly shook his head, squeezing her hands gently, hoping to comfort her somewhat. “It’s okay,” He promised softly. “Does it help you sleep at all?” He asked after a moment of hesitancy, afraid that the scraping would keep her awake rather than help her fall asleep.
Her cheerful grin returned in a millisecond at his question, nodding hurriedly and hugging him tight. “Lots.” she mused, rocking on the balls of her feet, unable to be sad for more than a moment.
The cyborg was rather relieved that he hadn’t caused any lasting damage, and he smiled. He hugged her back in a moment, careful as always. “Lots and lots?” He teased, nudging at her curls gently.
“Yeah!” Meadow chirped in reply, kissing his cheek and becoming distracted quickly as her stomach growled, her insatiable metabolism rearing it's ugly head. “Do we have more animal crackers?” She inquired sweetly, pulling from his embrace and wandering about their room on her tiptoes, heading for the cabinets too high for her. The snacks were one of the easy things for Lottie to sneak in for her.
Des went after her, resting his metal hand on the doorway briefly, just gazing at her with a soft little smile on his face. He was just happy to know her, to be able to spend his time with her. “I think we do,” He answered, reaching down to gently lift her up so that she could reach. “We should still have the ones with icing too.” He added with a bright smile.
“Yay!” She giggled, clapping and hugging to his arm as she was lifted, kissing his cheek and reaching up. Almost falling from his arms as she reached for the door, she pulled it open and grabbing the tiny box, hugging it to her chest and swinging her legs.
He breathed in sharply when she just about fell, gathering her back to him with gentle fingers in moments, making sure that she was safe and secure. Then, he set her down on the counter. “You okay?” He asked softly. She nodded firmly and opened the box like nothing was wrong, humming quietly as she worked on it, pulling one out and kneeling up, putting the cracker in front of his mouth. Des took the spare moment to try to still his flyaway heart, soothing it with reassurances that she was okay and he hadn't yet dropped her. He came back to himself a moment later, and then he purposely crossed his eyes to look at the cracker, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.
Meadow giggled and poked him in the mouth with it, “Eat!” She ordered happily. “Breakfast time,” She clarified further.
“I like breakfast,” Des teased a little, and then nudged at her hand playfully before delicately taking the cracker from her hand, thanking her as soon as he swallowed.
A grin split across her features as she hugged his neck, “Go get breakfast!” She suggested. “With everyone else. Down in the cafeteria.” The ginger hummed as she crawled onto his back again, voice muffled by the crackers in her mouth.
“As you wish,” He answered with a soft little smile, shifting to help support her as she climbed over again. His whole chest felt warm just being around her, and he resisted the urge to turn his head and gaze after her. “Cas might be down there.” He hummed in thought, smiling a little at the remembrance of their friend.
She pouted a little but nodded. “Ok.” She grumbled, her voice too soft and sweet to convey any real negative emotion. “Go!” She chirped, pointing to the door and kissing a metal spot on his shoulder as they headed out.