Walker let out a deep sigh when he saw her reflection in the mirror. He never liked when she saw him like this. So many times they talked about Walker getting his shit together. Whenever he wound up like this, which was far from rare, he felt like he was only disappointing her. Though his sigh was also out of relief, mostly because Marley knew him better than anyone. She knew all the curves, bumps, scars, and bruises of his body and never hesitated when she cleaned him up.
“Stopped counting after eleven.” Walker said quietly as he dropped the lid on the toilet to sit on top of it. He pulled a stool from behind the toilet to put in front of himself for Marley to sit. “Why are you here?” His lips curved down into a frown, it was still dark outside, and Charming wasn’t a place where anyone should’ve been walking alone late at night. But her truck caught his eyes out in the shop beyond the bathroom door. “It’s really not that bad– I swear. Surface damage, you know?” Walker attempted a small smile, but he winced sharply as his torso moved the wrong way, causing the area where a bruise already formed to throb.
He took another deep breath, leaning over in pain before straightening up again so Marley could assess the damage on his face first. “Wanna go to dinner tonight?” His smirk graced his lips once more. It was so like him, to ask Marley out on a date when he looked like he shouldn’t be going anywhere but to bed for the foreseeable future. Walker could never help himself around her though, for once he didn’t want to purposely screw something up to avoid getting close to someone.
“I can clean up pretty good, you know that. After this afternoon’s fight I’ll have enough for a nice dinner at Ribshack.” Walker laughed lightly, studying her face closely as she worked on cleaning him up. “Marley.” He just said her name softly, the side of his face leaning against her hand as she worked on him.
Eleven. “Jesus Christ.” Marley winced internally, though her face remained unphased, head shaking (in disbelief? Disappointment?) as she tested the temperature of the water with her fingers. She didn’t believe in God, but she might have been able to subscribe to the belief that Someone up there existed if Walker had managed to somehow stumble here all on his own in the state he was in. In the light of the bathroom, Marley could see the full extent of his damages, and she frankly couldn’t fathom how he’d even managed to stand. It hurt just to look at him.
He’d come here for a reason, she imagined, and upon opening up the medicine cabinet above the sick, the first aid supplies available there were bound to be it. Marley reached for the bandages and antiseptic wipes, as well as the paper towels she’d dampened under the running tap. “I’m here because the last time I checked, this was the place where cars come to get fixed up.” Not people, but she supposed he couldn’t just casually go strolling into the ER several times a week looking worse for wear each time--not without drawing some suspicion. Raising her eyebrows at Walker, as if to dare him to disagree, Marley situated herself on the stool in front of him. “Surface damage. Right.” It was clear she was unconvinced, but a pang of guilt pulled in her stomach anyways as he hunched over in pain, head practically in her lap. If her hands hadn’t been full, she might’ve placed them in his hair, offer whatever comfort she was able.
Before she could consider doing so though, Walker sat up, and any sort of guilt Marley felt disappeared at just the sound of his next five words. Her eyes nearly rolled out of her head, bringing the damp paper-towel up to his nose and forcefully bringing up his left hand to hold it there while she began to work on different parts of his face. “The only dinner you’re gonna be eatin’ tonight is a handful of ibuprofen. This is gonna swell.” An antiseptic wipe was ripped open with her teeth, and used to dab at the wound nearly hidden amongst his hairline.
She’d let the rejection settle for a moment, just to wound his ego a little, but when she parted her lips, it was to ask so where are you taking me? However, Walker beat Marley to it, and the smile that’d finally begun to settle on her lips wiped straight clean. “This afternoon?”
This time, Marley was in true disbelief, dropping her fingers from his skin and shaking her head. “You’re gonna go out there again, in this state? Do you actively have a death wish?” She’d never considered herself as nurturing, but even in her exasperation, she couldn’t seem to stop cleaning him up. Perhaps she just needed the distraction, patching up his face preventing her from wanting to punch it...among other things, when he leaned into her touch like that. Said her name, just to say it.
“What?” She murmured back, though she knew he’d have no answer. Never did.
