It took another week to get back to Ketterdam. Another week of worrying about Kaz. When they docked in Berth 22, she told her crew to stay in the boat and not tell anyone in Ketterdam that they were back. She didn't want anyone poking around and spoiling the surprise for Kaz. She walked to the Slat and as soon as she got there, she climbed up to Kaz’s window. And what she saw surprised her. Kaz was laying face-down on his bed, and it looked to be that he was doing nothing. Kaz Brekker never just relaxed. She picked the lock and opened the window a crack so she could hear what was happening in the room but without alerting Kaz to her presence. There was no sound except for Kaz breathing until she heard a loud knock on his door. The sound was so sudden it knocked her off the window sill. Which was a good thing since now she could peak over and into the room without anyone seeing her. Kaz just let the knocking go on until it stopped for a second and then picked up again but this time louder and faster.

Kaz rolled over and sat up but didn't get off the bed as he yelled,”WHAT?!”

“Kaz we’re worried about you,” Inej registered this as Jespers voice but was more interested in what he was saying. “You’ve barely ate anything since she left and I heard you stopped eating altogether 3 days ago. You need to eat. And sleep. You’re exhausted, the only time you sleep is when your body shuts down and it just...stops. Kaz this isn’t healthy.” Jesper pleaded. She was right. Kaz was not okay, but it wasn't because of his leg. It was because she left.

“LEAVE ME ALONE JESPER!” Kaz shouted at the door and she heard Jesper sigh and leave, whispering curses under his breath. And once again Kaz lay back and he turned face-down. Inej had had enough of this. She yanked the Window open making as much noise as possible trying to get Kaz’s attention and jumped through landing noisily on the floor boards. She then yanked the window down and made herself comfortable leaning against the window.

“Whoever you are, you have five seconds to leave before I rip out your spine and beat you with it.” Kaz mumbled toward her without looking up.

“Well I never expected a warm welcome but this is just sad.” She said sarcastically. Kaz’s body tensed as his head shot up to look at her. The next thing she knew she was in Kaz’s arms and he was crushing her to his body.

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry and- don’t leave again. I’m sorry for saying what I said and I’m sorry for not saying what I meant to and-and-” Kaz was talking so fast he started stumbling over his words. She hugged him back and just started making shushing sounds. This was...different. Kaz never got close, let alone this close. And he never stumbled over his words.

“Shh, Kaz it's alright.” She patted his back as she said this over and over again. Inej knew how to comfort a person, she just didn’t know how to comfort a Kaz Brekker. And to make it all worse, the regular Kaz Brekker never would have acted like this. What had she done to him? She heard Kaz’s breathing start to slow and felt him slowly pulling back from the hug. She pulled away from the hug fully and made him sit on the bed.

“S-sorry I just...missed you I guess,” Kaz said obviously trying to get his emotions under control.

“Well I'm here now, so, just calm down.” Inej told him. She wondered if this meant he was gonna try. He already had tried. But maybe her absence had made him rethink some stuff Once he seemed a great deal calmer Inej started to speak again,"How have you been?”

Was she serious? Kaz looked at her for a second to make sure she was. How should he respond to this? He didn’t want to upset her….what to do, what to do….

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