Canon Omake: Car Chats

It killed him to do it, but he had to reach down and fish Becca’s hand out of his pants and stop her from going full bore on his bits. The look of curious dismay almost shattered his resolve right there, but he reaffirmed himself at the last moment, and shook his head.

“We can’t, Becca.” He said as firmly as he could as she lay functionally on top of him in his SUV. She frowned, but pulled her hand back, but he winced at the hurt in her eyes and felt an immediate need to clarify. “Becca, I’m infected. We don’t know if plug-D to slot-B activities will get you infected with whatever turned me into the jolly grey giant. I won’t risk it.”

Light dawned in Becca’s eyes as she sat back, her hands resting on his chest as she braced herself, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, before replying with all the aplomb of a scholar making their most distinguished dissertation. “Nope.”

“Nope…?” Danny blinked, and Rebecca nodded her head.

“Nope.”

“I… don’t think that word means what you think it means hon.” He said finally, as his brain restated. Rebecca just laughed from her suspended position.

“First off, good reference. I’m proud of you Danny. Second off, yes, it does.” She said, and he hiked an eyebrow at her in response. She leaned back and pat him on the stomach. “Look, Dan. Danny. Daniel. You know I love you right? Because I do. I love you a lot, probably more than is healthy, but given everything I’m willing to go out on a limb and say it.”

“I love you too?” He said, wishing it sounded less like a question but more because he was wondering where she was going with this. She still smiled, so that was good, but then her face went serious.

“I know you do, Danny. If you didn’t then you wouldn’t have tried so hard to protect me from a psychotic megacorp trying to make zombie plague into a thing.” She paused, shaking her head. “Did they not see Night of the Living Dead or some-” Something clicked with her and she winced, before leaning down and kissing his forehead. “I’m so, so sorry I made fun of you for being uncomfortable when we did Zombie night.”

“It’s okay. You didn’t know and I didn’t tell you, Becca. It’s all under the bridge given everything else.” He said, giving her a smile. She sighed and nodded, forehead almost touching his, before leaning back.

“I know, and like I said, I understand why you lied about… everything, and given the enormity, I can forgive you for that, even if I’m still pretty pissed about it emotionally. Talk for later, though, okay? Rain check on that. Or not. Just don’t hide things from me again, or try to talk around it. You… are very bad at that, Dan.” She jumbled out, before taking a deep breath. “But I say this because I know what I’m going to say next makes you uncomfortable. I am smarter than you.”

“...Yes?” Daniel said, confused. “I thought we had that talk a while ago. What’s your point?”

“I know we did, Danny, and I love that you feel safe enough to be vulnerable with me like that, but there’s a difference between knowing and understanding, and I know you don’t understand. I have seven PhDs and nine MDs Danny. I finished college when I was seventeen and bored of it. Including Infectious Disease and Virology, and the only reason I’m not a practicing Doctor is I can’t be fucked with doing the residency time.” She said, before looking him dead in the eye. “I know more about it than you do, and between the kissing, the holes I have in me, the amount of blood covering you and the level of shit we’ve waded through in the process? Assuming I don’t have it already I doubt it would do worse to me than what I already have.”

“I… suppose that’s fair? You do have at least one more hole than I do.” He said, confidently. Rebecca just stared at him, before bursting into giggles.

“Yes, I would hope you were aware of that already given the number of things you’ve done to it. And its neighbor. And the slut down the street too.” She chuckled. “But that aside, if getting a few more inches and collecting a new, healthy glow by turning into monochrome She-Hulk is the worst of it then sign me the fuck up.” Becca huffed, “It would be nice to be able to reach the tall shelves in my kitchen without climbing on the counter.”

“Funny as that is,” Danny grinned at her, which she considered a win in and of itself, “It’s not just that. I have hypo- habo- hippo-phagy.” He said, finally, and Rebecca stared at him oddly.

“You have a sudden and inexplicable hunger for horse meat?” She hummed. I mean, we’d have something in common then considering if this sudden addition in height applied to other things too.” She said with a thirsty grin, hands drifting south again. He caught her before she could get far.

“No, not that. The blood drinking one. The one you told me that vampires had when we watched that Dracula remake.” Daniel corrected as Rebecca slipped her hands from his, only to grab them and lean in.

“You mean Hemophagy, hon. And yes, I can see how that would be a problem. And I do wanna talk about everything that psychotic pig-fucker told you after he shot you up with that shit, but later.” She sighed. “More rainchecks. It’s never easy, is it? But anyway, I came prepared anyway.” She said as she fished behind her in one of her packs. From it she pulled a box of condoms, the big ones.

“You brought condoms? Out here?” Danny asked slightly incredulously, and Rebecca hugged them to her chest.

“They have a surprising number of uses Danny. You know, besides the obvious.” She said defensively, “Besides, without these you wouldn’t be getting laid tonight.”

“Wait, if you had those then what’s with all that other stuff?” He asked, and Rebecca shrugged.

“I was… what was the term you used? Flexing? I was flexing on you a bit because you need to trust me more Daniel Carter.” She growled. “I’m not stupid, and you know it. Impulsive? Sometimes. A little too trusting? Maybe. But stupid? Daniel, if you put all the rest of STARS together and then added your admittedly fine ass into it I would still be an order of magnitude above you when it comes to brain power.”

“Ah.” He said succinctly. “Gotcha.” By this point Rebecca had leaned in and had started tapping him in the forehead with every word. It was admittedly a little condescending but you know what? Fair enough. He sorta deserved it.

“Also… Danny,” She said, suddenly a lot quieter. “You scared the ever-living shit out of me. You took apart three of the most dangerous people I knew like it was nothing and vanished after taking my gun. After I shot you.” Becca gently reached out to trace the faded scar across his face. “And you walked out like you didn’t even care.”

“I know.” Was all he said, but she put her finger to his lips before he could continue.

“I spent weeks second and third guessing myself, going over every little thing, every small interaction trying to understand it. It wasn’t that you hurt me, I realized it then and I realize it now, that you never would, not on purpose, but that you had just accepted the fact that I had almost killed you. That you let me almost kill you, and then walked into the night knowing full well what might be coming.” She said, and for a moment he saw a glimmer in her eye that she wiped away just as quickly.

“I thought you wanted to die. That you were prepared to die. That you were going to do whatever it was you had to even if it killed you and you believed it with every ounce of your being when you did so.” She said, sniffling. “You looked like my father the last time I saw him alive. Right before he came home and hung himself. I’ll never know why, and that’s what I was most afraid of with you. That I would find out you were dead too, that something happened, and I’d never know why. Do you understand?”

“I… I do Becca. I’m sorry for that. I can’t-” She shushed him again, this time with her lips.

“I know you are. God knows you had a good reason, too. But it still scared me. It scared me almost as much as finding out you were trapped up here, that you were tortured, that you were almost killed over and over again, that you were violated like this…” Her breath brushed against him, hot, wet and heavy, as she inhaled roughly. “Let me do this. Let me give you something good, for both you and me. Trust me when I say that I know how to be careful. But let me give you some love to balance out all the pain, okay?”

“...Okay.” Daniel said, relaxing. “I’ll trust you, Becca.” She nodded, her hair brushing gently against his, as he felt her rise, her hands working loose the heavy shirt he wore. “Fair warning, I haven’t really had much in the way of a bath in like a week, love.”

“Danny?” Rebecca asked, sweetly, grabbing his attention. “It’s not going in my mouth. And if you think I’m going to let a little junk funk ruin this, you got another thing coming.” She said, saucily, and he couldn’t help but belt out a laugh.

“I mean, fair enough.” He said between chortles as she leaned against his bare chest, just taking him in. His scent, his musk, the smell of a thousand rounds and blood and sweat and tears, but under it all something so unmistakably him that it made it all worth it in the end. She breathed him deep, savoring the person she loved like a fine wine despite it all. Besides, it wasn’t like she smelled much better after running around in all that hot winter gear, no matter how chilly it was outside.

“Besides, I could never hate how you smell, Danny. It’s you. It’s always you. Every bit about you is something I love. For your virtues and your flaws, for your shining moments and greatest shames, I will be there with you.” She said, heavily as she slipped her own shirt off, revealing her sports bra. “I came for you. I will always come for you. To save you or avenge you, to hold you and heal you, no matter what, or when, or why. Because I love you, Daniel Eli Carter. Like a fool, maybe, but I do all the same, and I will always love you. You’ve grown on me.”

“Like a mold?” He asked, smiling at her.

“Like a mold. A big, stinky mold that I’m going to fuck in this car seat, yes.”

“I feel like that’s sending mixed signals hon. Also, I don’t know how I feel about that phrasing.”

“Shut up, Danny.” Becca groaned, even if she was hiding a grin. One that he was sharing with her.

“Shutting up, hon.” He said, before leaning in to pull her into a kiss. “I love you too.”

“Good.” Was all she said, as the evening lights went out.