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"I'd like to be alright, too."

Sort of a compromise, then. Noel let out a shaky breath. Just calling someone made it feel a lot more real, but some part of her absolutely feared that she was just being melodramatic. They'd get there and the doctors would tell her to stop wasting their time. She supposed that would also be preferable to a brain tumor. So she decided that she could live with that. Not knowing in this time of all-knowing was particularly difficult.

"Okay. Fair enough, though you always 'know somebody'." She was torn between accusation, annoyance, awe, and teasing.

Noel took the seat furthest from the trashcan this time, leaving the computer open between them so that she could alternate between picking at her food and picking at the numbers that weren't adding up. Her timeline wasn't jumbled exactly, but there were scrapes and bruises on its face. It was a little rough with all the social situations that'd resulted from their swap and starting a new job and all of her focus so clearly split. A doctor or trusted medic would want answers. She wouldn't stray into "oh I swapped bodies" but she figured that she should at least pluck out the strands of medically relevant information as she studied up.

The bacon cooked in bacon grease turned out to be as delicious as it had smelled earlier. The broccoli, also cooked in bacon grease, was divine. The chicken made her mouth water in that unnerving pre-vomit way so after shredding it a bit, she shoved that to the side of her plate and covered a half yawn that managed to get past her defenses.

There. She definaty jutted her chin at her plate which was at least a third eaten. She'd eaten plenty enough to cough back up later.

She'd barely eaten today. Actually, considering she was already negative one meal and slept through the next, she'd mostly thrown up the blue gatorade she'd snagged to drink earlier. Ranger was there before she'd even finished heaving, bless him. And she couldn't apologise enough, letting out a near constant stream of "I'm so sorry"s and "it came out of nowhere"s. She kept her eyes on his chin or lower, unable to trust herself and her reactions. Feeling weird often set off a chain reaction of suck. But this time, weirdly, when she straightened up and the lid to the trash was closed off the scent back to the barest trickle... she felt fine. Better than fine, she as if she might be able to down the entire plate of bacon now, assuming they got the trash out and far enough away.

There was something wrong with her, and it wasn't something she could take outside and shoot. Her body seemed to be freaking out in a big way about something, trying to alert her to the danger.

On the way to the couch, her mind started to suggest a few what ifs that she quickly shut down before they'd fully formed. She didn't know. She didn't want to imagine.

She was almost afraid to say that she felt fine, instead accepting the water and Zofran when offered to her. "This okay for an empty stomach?" If they'd thought their medicine through, it would be. She stole a longing look at the food which smelled incredible from here.

This really was no fair. Noel zoned out with her chin on the couch's arm rest, watching Ranger's torso as he moved around handling things.

She was starting to be a bit concerned. "It's weird, I feel totally fine right now. Then, all of a sudden I feel incredibly not fine. I'm back to okay now." She left the water bottle on the coffee table and pulled her legs up until she could curl up as small as she could go. Not even Dammit could nose her way in. The real cherry on top was that, despite not even finishing her workout, the bench press had managed to leave her chest tender.

So she was sore, exhausted, nauseated, and had a hair trigger stomach. That sounded like... "Oh God, I hope it's not a brain tumor." On that happy note, she decided that she felt okay enough to go brush her teeth.

Ah. Good point on the leftovers. Noel may have thought about protesting, but if he wanted to stay, he would stay. If he had something pressing, he would have gone. He was a grown man that could make his own decisions. The thought of being sick with dwindling strength and an inability to take care of herself made her bite her tongue. Once upon a time, she was sure she'd choke to death alone in a bathtub or something. Nice that wasn't exactly an option with Michael around.

"Thanks." If she was to lead a spoiled life, she may as well enjoy it. Revvie looked at Noel with expectant eyes and who was she to say no to them? "Don't worry, I'm sure he loves you too." Too. Because this was one of those moments that made her feel cherished and mushy inside.

Noel scrubbed her face as soon as the Ranger was out of sight. She was fine. Sore in weird places, like throwing up sometimes liked to leave it's mark, but she was very stubbornly not going to worry about this. At least not until she had more information, which she very easily could now that her notes were in hand.

The first order of business was to check all the boxes. Date. Time. Events of the day. Noel filled out a brief outline of the day. Much as it would please her to forget public puking, it was an important highlight. She was definitely more practiced at discerning what was practical to include. While Michael's logs had been... enthusiastic, they hadn't been the most substantial. She'd gone and added a TLDR to a few of them, even.

The last step was to check her countdowns from yesterday and update any ongoing reminders. Only, there was no countdown. Because there was no yesterday. Ugh. She had to go back further than was pretty to pick up the thread of numbers. Michael had done his best to carry on, but not having had that phase of her cycle line up for Michael, while a shame, meant he hadn't realized what he'd been counting down toward. Then it was a few patchy days when they'd swapped back and been testing their options... There'd been a lot of new things to learn about each other and living together and working. She'd lost the thread somewhere in there and must have forgotten.

It was easy to tab through and add the numbers in. The smell of cooking bacon tempted her out of bed. Dammit had already abandoned her to beg for scraps, no doubt. Revvile was torn.

"Oh fine. Let's go keep him company. We can both beg. I'm not above begging for bacon." Revvie moved when Noel saved and flipped the laptop shut. The smell seeded her hunger. Noel felt a bit weak getting up. Well, sure. She hadn't kept much of the food she'd eaten in the last two days. That was to be expected. She also felt a bit shaky as she slipped onto one the bar stools that overlooked the kitchen. Just walking across the apartment was effort. Silly. She'd eat and then feel back to normal.

With just the two of them, there wasn't any need for a full table. They'd found that staying high up significantly reduced food stealing from the two pupperonis now begging at the stove.

"What's on the menu?" She detected a scent, subtle but insidious as she flipped open the laptop again. Determined to ignore it, she tried to remember what might be relevant from the last two days that she'd skipped. She made a note that she was filling in empty days she'd skipped. That seemed relevant. She got to typing.

It was almost like coming out of a deep dive into someone's brain. There was a definite sense of surfacing, of finding her way out, and having to actually try to break through to the conscious world.

Or maybe time travelling was a better analogy. One second she texted Michael, the next second he was there with his hand on her shoulder. "Mmmm. Like magic."

Had he asked her something? Noel worked herself out from concerned and happy puppies- Dogs- Bears. And scrubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"What?" He was holding a thermometer and... oh right. She'd asked for that. She accepted the thermometer and wiped it off before putting it in her mouth, yawned, fumbled the thermometer, and put it back. She'd been back in her own body long enough to have some solid self-protection habits. Otherwise she'd likely be revisiting the Ranger's day.

"Vhanks." Hmm. Talking around a thermometer sucked. She stretched and gave Dammit a scritch so she wouldn't talk while the mercury climbed. It felt silly now. Sure, she was tired, but she clearly wasn't throwing up any more... right this second.

"I acshally feewl better so maybe dthat means food poisoning. What time is it?" Her phone was lost to the bed and sheets quagmire. She did give it a little look, but gave up rather quickly.

"Home early?"

They'd been over their checks and, on a more personal note, they'd made their peace. This was a job. Dangerous and risky, yes. But they had to trust that everyone involved knew what they were doing and worry about their own damn selves. If Noel went out of her way to baby Ranger, he'd never forgive her. The reverse also being true, but this was their first big risky joint mission where their professionalism would be put to the test.

Mounted vision on her helmet, plate vest, speed, and aggression. Yeah, she had her weapons, but Noel wasn't specifically here to smash skulls in the same way that the Ranger was. Her strength was more in digging around inside those skulls. She looked at Sabine to confirm they were still on the same page, where Sabine would cover her if she found a promising target. They hadn't worked together much--yet--but Noel hoped today would help them arrange the first foundations of mutual trust.

She breathed and shook out her arms, forcing herself to relax the muscles that'd been threatening to lock up as the seconds ticked and the tension ramped. Noel was professionally ready by the time the door was blown.

The Ranger was off like a bolt, Noel was in next, keeping low and sweeping wide. Night vision or not, there was a lot of area to cover and far too many good hiding places. The field of vision wasn’t natural with a set of goggles in between. Ranger would have discarded his NODs by now that he didn’t have to worry about keeping his power under wraps, but without them or power to the mall, she’d be totally lost. So hers stayed.

Sabine was likely behind her, keeping close as they were supposed to be running together, but she didn’t dare waste a glance backwards. That wasn’t the way they were running. She skirted by the front of several shops, unable to tell if they were occupied, but seeing no one. It would take forever to sweep this place store by store, but the Ranger had darted straight for a single store.

The echo of a shotgun confirmed that’s where the action was. By the time Noel made it into the clothing store, there was a gift wrapped convulsing body. Still alive, the perfect gift.

She kicked his unfired weapon further away, flipped him, and chicken winged him, holding him still so Sabine could restrain him. Awake or unconscious didn’t matter. This was what she’d been brought into the operation for.

”To the wall.” and a more defensible position. Once there, she dumped him back on his face, sat on his butt, and worked one of his sleeves up past the elbow so she could latch her mouth on a patch of skin that a) wouldn’t be so dirty as his hands or mouth and b) wasn’t in range of a part that might scratch or bite her.

Now it was up to Sabine to keep watch while Noel skimmed for relevant information.

”Security office.” She saw that there were people supposed to be stationed there. Oh but those cameras might not matter since they’d cut the power. Either the cameras were dead or they were watching darkness. ”Headcount… more than 8, less than 20 security. At least 4 in the science… stuff.” Geez, he didn’t know what this crap was either. The man beneath her bucked, but was too pinned to do more than complain. ”Science is set up in home appliances section of the big box store JC Nickles, South side of mall.” That was it as far as easily skimming got her.

Getting him to say 'I love you' was hella bonus, for sure. He showed it on the regular, but it was never not nice to hear (and she might even begrudgingly accept that it was nice to taste). Just like it was, apparently, quite welcome for her to invite herself into his personal space. He gathered her up so she wasn’t just hanging on which was just fine by her. This was important science they needed to embark on before she could trust any plans for the rest of forever.

> "Don't have t' tell me twice."

Which was good 'cause she wasn't kidding. She closed her eyes in anticipation and he hesitated. She cracked an eye to check on him.

Oh. Right. Yes. She should get ready. She’d been entirely spoiled this last week to not be on guard, mentally. At least now he understood what it cost. A little melancholy tempered her enthusiasm.

Didn’t seem to phase the Ranger.

She catapulted into Micahel’s swapped experience, jolting a bit as she shoved some of last night’s similarities back from her consciousness. She was… yes. Still swapping lip service. A thrill ran through her.

It didn’t work. They didn’t swap. Just as she’d hoped it wouldn’t.

Some other things clearly did still work.

Having been on the other side of things and having explored the gamut of both their bodies, she couldn’t drum up the same kind of embarrassment as she might have before. It helped, too, that there were plenty of other things vying for top concern.

Like the realization that she had never done this. He had for her. (So clearly, she had the capacity.) But she couldn’t even complain that she hadn’t because she’d been the one on the other side of everything!

”I think we’re in the clear. I was gonna look int’ las’ night, but… Migh’ wanna ehm, test that? Directly?” Ah. Yep. Just asking was a whole new heap of self-consciousness.

It was the odd positioning of her hand at the back of her head that had made her finally beg with her eyes for help. Thankfully with his recent exposure to women's long hair, he took the hint readily and moved close to help.

It was good to have a second out of direct scrutiny. Especially as she was piecing things together, and they were so nicely chronological and uninterrupted. She couldn't blame her power, which she hadn't been in charge of at the time. She couldn't blame the drinking, she'd hardly done much of it. She'd just... felt that forever might not be so bad with someone else. Like a thermometer, her neck turned red first as she thought things through.

Like how he'd tried to cover himself like a lady at first, when she'd yoinked the sheets away.

"I said a lot of things. And meant them. You would have noticed if I didn't." He couldn't taste her words now, though. He'd just have to trust that they were true. Michael freed her hand sans gauze and there it was. Undeniable proof that last night was more than a fever dream: the ring tattoo was still shiny with petroleum jelly. She turned her hand over and the letters were scrunched but all there.

Was it silly? They were living together already. Their lives and belongings had been intermixed from the start. But there'd been lines that she hadn't crossed. Parts of herself she'd tried to just tamp down and forget. She'd never wanted to. "I don't think I ever said I love you? Or asked." He'd sort of mauled her in an alleyway. And then again in the kitchen.

This time the red went all the way up to her hairline.

"Do you regret it?"