"Yeah yeah eat it up, you rat," Kados only laughed harder. Cece at least had the good sense not to crack a smile, though I wasn't surprised by that fact.

Kados just laughed harder, "Forgive me I'm just in a good mood."

"Rare form for you," Esayr muttered through a barely repressed smile.

"No, it isn't. He's had his nose in our sex life since the very beginning."

Kados shuffled some more of his instruments, "I'll have you know that everyone has had their nose in your sex lives. I just happen to be upfront about it."

"Because you've never had a tactful bone in your body."

Kados hummed response was lost as he turned to us again this time brandishing a new tool. It was one I was unfamiliar with, "and what's this one going to do to me?"

"Similar in essence to the mechanics of the translator. I'll use a small nerve cloth on a place of your choose. The collector will use a microscopic needle to pull a deeper tissue sample and blood sample. You'll only feel pressure, no pain."

Esayr stepped closer to me, offering his hand for comfort I assumed in response to the pulse of anxiety deep in my stomach that caused my heart rate to begin its steady climb. "Take a a sample from me first," his grip tightened around mine for a moment just as much of a reassurance as the warm comfort of a blanket that settled over my frayed emotions on the bond between us, "so that she can see it work."

With a nod, Kados moved towards my mate. I searched the bond for any hint of worry or apprehension but found nothing, only the cool smooth feeling of routine.

"Where do you want me to pull from?"

The air of the room was clinical as I watched their efficiency. Esayr offered the inside of his forearm and the line of the muscles and veins in his arm only momentarily distracted me. It was enough to pull a smile back onto his face and a swift glance of his attention my way. But then he returned his attention to Kados when his friend placed the small opaque sticker on his arm.

The nerve cloth nearly disappeared the coloration adjusting to the warm ochre undertones of Esayr's skin until it was nearly indistinguishable.

"Nerve cloth also doubles as a bandage," Kados explained each step of his process, offering me the comfort that came with information. Esayr had been right. While he could offer comfort in his own way, it didn't overshadow the small comforts a listening ear or straightforward communication could offer as well.

There was a small 'click' as Kados pressed the thin pen like tool to Esayr's arm. Esayr didn't so much as finch. When Kados removed the tool, a second later it spit out a tiny silvered metal capsule that Kados carefully placed onto what I'd that was a shelf, but as soon as it was placed down, the shelf adjusted to create a small divet where the sample sat perfectly.

"Count down for her," Esayr murmured as he stepped closer to my side.

"Of course," Kados adjusted the tool with a practiced efficiency, refilling it and cleaning it with some kind of light before he approached me, much more slowly than he did Esayr and with the hint of his teasing smile. It struck me that he'd adjusted his tactics in that odd way of his in an effort to soothe me.

"Do you have a preferred place for me to do my work?"

Kados as irreverent, teasing, and informal as he was, was a scientist and the closest thing to a doctor I'd come across and I realized I trusted him not necessarily 'despite' those things but because of them. "Where would you recommend? You'd know better than me?"

His eyes always sparkled with mirth but the light in them now was warm "Upper arm near your shoulder," his teasing look turned to Esayr, including me into a sense of camaraderie, "your mate just likes to show off for you."

Esayr snorted at that but didn't disagree. If I were being honest, the other end of the bond felt just a little smug like some male pride at the fact that he had managed to distract me with something as inane as his arms.

"I'd believe it. Alright upper shoulder it is." I rolled the sleeve of the shirt up and Kados got to work. It was effortless and painless in the end. It took no more than a few seconds and I would have been none the wiser of the procedure having been finished if Esayr and Kados didn't immediately reassure me that it was done.

Cece watched with a morbid curiosity. When Kados glanced her way, she answered without even meeting his gaze, "No."

The word was sharp and quick, the closest she'd ever gotten to something other than the muted emotions she tended to put out into the world around us.

Kados, surprisingly, seemed to decide the fight wasn't worth it and left it be without trying to push for further samples from her. He nodded once and then returned to his counter with the other samples. "The others are on their way, likely to draw you into celebration from what I'm gathering from Addric's snippets."

Esayr laughed, "I expect nothing less."

And frankly I agreed, though the idea that Kados seemed settled to keep to his studies while the others dragged us away made me feel oddly melancholy.

Esayr ran his fingers through the gently curling hairs at my temple. "Enjoy that feeling now while you can. He'll make himself a nuisance soon enough."

"At the earliest opportunity, I promise." The samples disappeared into a nearby sleek machine and a string of details spread along the screen, none of them making any kind of sense to my untrained eye, "until then, enjoy yourselves while I busy myself."

"A hard task seeing as we're effectively in a doctors office," I made the joke for Cece to ease the tension that was still noticeable in her shoulders and the rangy look in her eyes as she tracked Kados' movements while he studied our samples. She missed the joke entirely.

*****A/N*****

Nashville was lovely and cold. A nice change of pace from Florida. I'm back home now after a crazy week. The new job has gone well. I'm surprisingly at ease with learning and training when usually I'm stressed out about being perfect at all times. My mother is starting chemo tomorrow so there's still a lot going on in my life with family and friends that are taking up a lot of real estate in my mind but we'll make it through. I apologize for missing on usual posting dates and for these parts being shorter than usual. I'm one for facts and not excuses. I would have liked for these parts and my schedule to be more reflective of the hard work I'd been putting in, but I can only move forward from here. I'll keep pushing to get my parts out as regularly as I can not only for all of you that have followed this story for so long, but also because it brings me comfort in quiet moments when I can't be left to my own thoughts.

Stay strong

~Layla