Chapter 353: Stop Here

Caleb took both hands off Elara.

Her rehabilitation frame rolled back six centimeters under its own brake. The right shoulder pad had folded beneath her arm. Her breathing line clicked into a faster support rhythm.

"Kikaru, stay on the call?" Caleb asked.

Elara listened to her own pain before answering.

"Stay outside. Keep the call live."

Kikaru answered from the next treatment room.

"Call is live. Current shoulder?"

"Shoulder is six and falling toward four. The pad folded, with no breathing failure."

"Can you reach the frame exit?"

Elara put her left fingers through the exit loop.

"I can reach the exit."

Kikaru remained outside.

Caleb stayed beside the low chair with his palms visible. His rail brace held the missing left leg at a bent knee. Silver under his shirt had stopped moving.

"What do you want now?" he asked.

"Lift the blue strap and flatten the pad. Use your left hand only."

Caleb moved after the full direction ended. He touched the blue strap and nothing beneath it.

"Lift the strap one centimeter."

He raised the right shoulder support one centimeter.

"Hold it at that height."

Elara shifted her back against the frame. The pad opened under her weight.

"Lower it until I say."

Caleb lowered it until the buckle caught.

"Take your hand away now."

He released the strap.

The adjustment belonged to care. Neither of them treated it as the scene beginning again.

Elara waited through six supported breaths. Pain settled at four and stayed there.

"Kikaru, shoulder stable. Keep the call."

"I am keeping it live."

Elara closed the voice side from her room. The caregiver call light remained green.

Caleb returned to the chair only after she pointed to it.

"Do you still want me?" she asked.

"Yes, I still want you."

"Are you still afraid of this?"

"Yes, and I am staying."

"Good. I would worry if Foundry Twelve cured your judgment."

Caleb gave her a tired laugh.

Elara opened the front of her support gown with her left hand. Two fasteners resisted. Caleb watched her work until she held one out toward him.

"Open this fastener for me."

He opened it.

"Open the next one too."

The gown loosened across her chest. Elara moved the fabric herself. Her right arm remained in the sling, thin from disuse and currently hers.

Caleb looked at her face before looking lower.

"Do not turn polite now," she said.

"I am trying to keep my silver from making a decision before I do."

"Then say your decision out loud."

"I want to touch you."

Elara took his right hand with her left. She placed it against her breast and kept her fingers over his.

"This is my current answer."

Caleb moved his thumb under her direction and then under her pressure against his hand. Her skin warmed against silver. The frame supported her spine without carrying his wrist.

She pulled him closer for another kiss.

This time the shoulder pad held.

Caleb kissed her mouth and then the side of her neck after she tipped her head. Elara’s left hand moved from his collar into his hair. Her breath support kept its set rhythm beneath the sounds she made against him.

He stopped whenever her hand stopped guiding.

"Move your hand lower now," she said.

Caleb moved his hand down her ribs. She opened the gown farther and directed his fingers between her thighs.

The contact was direct. Elara shifted her hips against his hand and told him when the angle pulled at her spine.

"Less pressure. Keep the rhythm."

He did.

Her left knee pressed against his rail brace. Caleb checked it before moving again.

"Your brace is touching me."

"I feel it. Leave it."

Elara’s breathing line increased support by one measured step. The change came from her current body setting, independent of Caleb.

She kept his hand where she wanted it until her hips tightened and she held his wrist still.

Caleb waited.

Elara opened her eyes and reached for the caregiver call.

Her fingers stopped beside it.

"Current support remains good enough," she said. "I want more than this."

"Tell me what more is."

She pulled his shirt loose and touched the silver below his ribs. Her hand moved down until she found him hard beneath the fabric.

Caleb’s silver carried touch unevenly after the amputation. Her thumb crossed the old sternum cut and he felt every millimeter. At his missing left-side brace line, pressure arrived dull and late.

"Here?" she asked against his chest.

"Muted. Move toward the center."

Elara followed his answer. She pressed two fingers over the retained sternum until his right hand tightened against the chair.

"You get current directions too," she said.

"Then keep your hand there while I undress."

She did until he had to stand.

"Bed rail first. Your brace outside my wheels. Then clothes."

Caleb placed his right hand on the bed rail and moved his rail foot wide of the frame. Elara watched every contact point.

He undressed without releasing the brace. She moved the lower half of her gown under her own left hip and asked him to help only when the fabric caught beneath the spine pad.

"What current position do you choose?" he asked.

"Reclined. Left leg over your hip. Right leg stays in the frame channel."

Caleb lowered himself between the frame and bed rail. His missing left leg stayed supported by the small rail brace. No silver touched Elara’s breathing line.

She took him with her left hand and guided him into her.

Both of them stayed still.

Elara checked her shoulder. Caleb checked his silver against the bed rail.

"You can start moving now," she said.

He moved slowly inside her.

The frame creaked once under the changed load. Elara listened and kept him close with her left leg. Her right arm stayed supported. Pain remained present without taking her direction.

She changed the angle after three strokes.

"Bring your body more upright."

Caleb shifted his right knee and used the bed rail rather than her body for support.

"Keep that angle right there."

The next movement drew a rough sound from her. She covered no part of it. Caleb bent to kiss her when she pulled his hair.

Her left heel drove against his hip. The breathing line clicked faster. She told him to keep moving and then to hold still while the contraction passed through her.

Caleb held.

Elara said his name once, close to his ear.

He waited until her hand pressed him forward again.

Caleb came inside her with his right hand locked on the bed rail and his silver body under his own answer.

They remained joined until Elara chose to lower her leg.

Her left hand stayed on Caleb’s chest while their bodies settled. He told her when the rail knee began pressing into his hip. She shifted her leg before the brace release became necessary.

The caregiver call remained within reach. Elara checked its green light and left it untouched.

Caleb withdrew and sat back against the low chair. He handed her the clean cloth from the frame pocket after she pointed to it.

Neither called the encounter a cure.

Her shoulder still hurt. His left leg was still gone. Kikaru’s call remained green.

Elara cleaned herself and refastened the lower gown. Caleb helped with one trapped edge after she asked.

"Do you regret any of it?" he said.

"I do not regret the first stop or starting again. Your brace bruising my knee may earn a complaint."

Caleb checked the red mark.

"I can move the brace now."

"Stay closer to me first."

The request held no measured angle.

Elara wanted his body against the left side of her frame.

Silver moved under Caleb’s skin before he stood.

It crossed the gap as one thin line and touched her frame rail.

Caleb said, "No, my body stays with me," and pulled back.

The line released Elara.

Its far end remained inside the wall.

A target-field bearing opened through the private room.

Someone on the other side was screaming for the school cistern.