There was something innocently dangerous about laying there in his own bed. It was all to soothing. Too familiar. It made the part of him, that weak little echo in the back of his head, tell him that he was safe to rest. Safe to close his eyes. The way the sheets felt familiar, the way he knew how the light came through the windows. The sounds of the nature outside...well, nearly all the sounds. Except for one.<br/><br/>It was a solid set of moments before Luke could figure out what that annoying chattering was, and a few more before his eyes were able to focus on the female leaning up against the wall. Playing back what he had thought was white noise, he was able to come to the conclusion that she had: this wasn't the time to be asking him questions. Luke wasn't sociable at the best of times, and his first reaction was completely null.<br/><br/>Those heavy eyes turned back away, focusing instead on the sky outside. He could feel the strands of consciousness wavering, struggling to tug free like a kite in the wind. If he let his hold lose for even a moment, it was going to rip from his grasp.<br/><br/>Several more deep breaths came and went. Over and over again, he kept chanting soundlessly<span style="font-style: italic">'just make it to dusk. Just make it till dusk'</span>until, suddenly, there was a meek mutter somewhere inside of him.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">‘Bout Mel’s age…isn’t she?’</span><br/><br/>The deliberation between what was left of his consciousness his vicious will to survive was shorter than he would ever had admitted. There was a pause, something changing in his breath as his jaw clenched. Then, there was a long and low sigh that ended with a wince. It took him a moment to wet his lips again, though the emotion did little to relieve the parched feeling.<br/><br/>"You," came the thick, raspy tone, "been with them long?" A more observant look would have made him less suspicious, but you could never trust people these days. The most innocent looking of folks could cause the worst sort of damage if you let 'um. With a great deal of effort, he was able to tear his gaze away from the patch of dimming sky and make it back to Lily as he debated her fate.  The way his eyes fluttered spoke to the struggle that he faced. And yet...<br/><br/>There was a sort of tenacity about him, a resilience in the fact that he was awake at all. Her first shock had been wanted- a normal person would have already succumbed to their wounds. It was the first time in a very, very long time that Luke had found himself grateful for what fate had done. And yet with the idea of her possibly being in the way…well, that brought back the old emotion he’d been living with for what felt like for far too long.