{"id":3229,"date":"2017-05-17T00:00:27","date_gmt":"2017-05-17T04:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3229"},"modified":"2017-05-16T13:35:14","modified_gmt":"2017-05-16T17:35:14","slug":"eleven-02-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/?p=3229","title":{"rendered":"Eleven – 02"},"content":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.]<\/em><\/p>\n

He stayed quiet after that for a long time and I let him have his peace, let him at least try to settle himself, to focus again. Thom rested his cheek against my hair, shifting one arm so he could gently stroke baby Lin\u2019s hair as he stared down at the infant nestled in the sling across my chest.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my job to protect both of you,\u201d he murmured. His breath was warm against my temple. \u201cThat\u2019s a promise I made to myself and it\u2019s one I have to find a way to keep.\u201d<\/p>\n

I rubbed his back gently. \u201cYou\u2019ve already been keeping it. We\u2019re fine\u2014and we\u2019re going to stay that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI just don\u2019t know how.\u201d<\/p>\n

I kissed his jaw. \u201cWell, how about you start by not giving yourself an ulcer?\u201d<\/p>\n

Thom blinked, drawing back slightly to meet my gaze. I shot him a crooked smile and he started to laugh.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll right,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can start there\u2014or at least we can try.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood.\u201d I gave him another squeeze before I let go. \u201cWere you looking for me?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA little bit,\u201d he admitted. \u201cI just\u2014sometimes I\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI know.\u201d I kissed him gently again. \u201cBut I\u2019m fine. We\u2019re<\/em> fine. I was sitting with Hecate for a while and now I\u2019m looking for Jay because I think he probably needs to check on her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thom exhaled, looking away. He stared at the trees of the ravine for a long moment, his lips thinning. \u201cYou really think we can trust her?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter what she did to save us? After what my brother did? Absolutely.\u201d I ran my hand up and down his arm. \u201cShe really does love him, Thom. It\u2019s not like it was with his ex. This is real and I\u2019m pretty sure it\u2019s something that was absolutely meant to be.\u201d I squeezed his arm and went to move past him, to head up the hill.<\/p>\n

\u201cHave you seen something?\u201d Thom asked quietly. I paused, turning back.<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes it matter?\u201d<\/p>\n

He held my gaze for a few long moments before he closed his eyes and shook his head.<\/p>\n

I nodded and headed up the hill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[This post is from Marin’s point of view.] He stayed quiet after that for a long time and I let him have his peace, let him at least try to settle himself, to focus again. Thom rested his cheek against … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[240,253,14],"tags":[150,171,170,152,149,148,168,165,158,200,146],"class_list":["post-3229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-6","category-chapter-11-book-6","category-story","tag-awakenings","tag-fantasy","tag-fiction","tag-marin-astoris","tag-original-fiction","tag-post-apocalyptic","tag-serial","tag-story","tag-thom-ambrose","tag-thomas-merlin-ambrose","tag-web-fiction"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1EBlN-Q5","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3229","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3229"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3229\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3230,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3229\/revisions\/3230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/awakenings.embklitzke.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}