<em>~ Maddi with Elijah, in his hut ~</em><br/><br/>She'd been waiting to see the look in his eyes, to see........<br/><br/>And although he smiled,  and gave her some fruit, there was no kiss, no gentle greeting, and he held back from the fire that had been between them last night.  Looking down at the piece of fruit in her hand she tried to steel herself for what was going to come.  She felt so stupidly lost and vulnerable, she'd tried so hard not to believe, but she had..........<br/><br/>She managed a weak smile at his joke and then frowned as he spoke of Kira.  She was relived that it seemed she was OK, and he'd seen Lizzie too, yesterday.....  thank god....  she wanted to see it with her own eyes though, she wouldn't feel right until she did.<br/><br/>She hadn't realised she'd eaten the first slice of fruit until he passed her another, as she wondered what on earth was going to happen with all of them now, and just how things were going to work out between them all.  She hadn't even met one of them and already.....  Oh god, this was going to be hell wasn't it..........here he was being all polite, and caring, and here was she like some …... oh lord, when would she learn?<br/><br/>He'd even got her the panties she'd washed yesterday and hung on the line......  and taking them she struggled to smile and thank him, how much nicer could he be?  She cleaned the juice off her chin with the back of her hand, licking it away, she had to be strong, she'd done it before. Wiping her face clear of even the slightest shadow of the pain inside she let her smile grow naturally, just looking into his eyes and his strong face made that easy.<br/><br/>"Yes thank you, kind sir, the fruit is just what any maiden would wish for,"  she took the next piece of fruit he held out to her, " I think a quick wash at the lagoon sounds wonderful, and then I really do want to find my friends and make sure they are OK, " she knew she should make it easy for him, he'd done so much already, "And don't worry about coming with me, there's no need, I feel much better now," she knew that wasn't really true, but she didn't want him to know that she still felt as weak as a kitten and longed for him to... oh even just to hold her would make the pain less.......