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Inej waited as Kaz walked towards his desk chair, tapping her foot impatiently against the floorboards. She could not believe that he was this stupid. And she couldn’t believe that she forgot about him not eating. She just...got distracted. She had to get her priorities in order. Kaz’s health came first, Answers came next, and the rest she would figure out after one and two were complete.

As soon as Kaz sat down, she smacked him upside his fat head for the kinky comment, she then started pushing the food towards him, and showing him what she had gotten. “There is a meat pie, with a side of crackers. Don’t feel like you have to eat the meat pie. I don’t wanna make you throw up because you haven’t eaten in a while. We also had a little bit of chicken broth, so you’re gonna drink that. It should be light enough not to upset your stomach” Inej stated to Kaz when he glanced at the tray in question.

“I can’t eat the crackers, you didn’t get me water and they’re too dry.” Kaz said, obviously not enjoying the fact that she was treating him like a child.

“The hell you aren’t. Dip them in the broth to soften them up.” she retorted, smiling like a impatient school teacher, when their student was being unnecessarily difficult.

“Broth is not a drink.” Kaz rasped. He was starting to get that annoying glare-wince thing that he did when he was overpowered and he knew it.

“It is if I say it is. Now hurry up before, you keel over from malnutrition.” Inej said picking up the spoon, dipping it in the broth, and getting ready to shove it down his throat.

Kaz threw up his hands and shouted, “Okay, okay! I’ll eat, woman. Sheesh.” Inej smiled and handed him the spoon, as she turned to the two shocked people at Kaz’s door. Inej just stared for a minute, before launching herself at Jesper and catching him in a fierce embrace.

“I missed you, Jes!” Inej exclaimed, while burying her head in his chest and peeking at Wylan from under Jesper’s arm. “You too Wylan!!” She said, throwing out one of her arms and bringing Wylan into the hug. These people were her family and she had missed them when she left. And most of all, she hadn’t known whether she was coming back to Ketterdam this time. The only thing that could make this better, is when Inej finally got to see Nina again.

But sadly this moment had to be broken by the most annoying Barrel boss of all time. Kaz cleared his throat and Jesper released Inej so fast, you would've thought she had burned him. Inej spun on her heel to see Kaz glaring at Jesper, But as soon as he saw her look at him, he wiped his face clean of emotion and quickly ate another bite of his food.

Inej raised her eyebrow and simply said, “Later.” She then turned back to Jesper and Wylan. She showed them her rolling her eyes at how stupid Kaz was being. If Kaz wanted to be jealous when he hadn’t even declared himself, then Inej was gonna play with it. Making sure that Kaz could see her face, she winked at Jesper. Jesper being the bestest friend that he is, decided to play along with her. So he winked back and smirked. She could practically hear Kaz’s teeth grinding together.

“Bye Jes, I’ll talk to you later. You too, Wylan.” Inej said as soon as she saw Kaz getting ready to push his chair back, having shoveled back the rest of his dinner in his hurry to get up. Jesper immediately saw what she did, grabbed Wylan’s arm and ran down the stairs, quickly slamming the door behind them. As soon as she saw the door was safely closed she turned around to face Kaz head on. He was glaring at her.

So she gave him the biggest smile she could and went over to his bed and sat down. She carefully scooted to where the bed intersected the corner of the walls, and then looked back at Kaz, who was watching her with his shark eyes. She smiled at him again, but not as wide. This one was more sincere, had more emotion. It was a softer smile.

She could visibly see him relax and soften towards her. She filed that information away, because that could come in handy, someday. He walked over to his bed and sat down on the edge of it, his right leg crossed under him (which would surely irritate him later), and his left leg was thrown over the side of the bed. He sat facing her. He was obviously waiting for her to say something, but if he wanted to talk about it he could start the conversation. Kaz stared at her for at least 5 minutes, not saying anything, as Inej waited in patient silence. Finally he sighed exasperated and opened his mouth,

“So, what was that with Jesper?” Kaz started, his face darkening as he remembered it. Jealous Kaz was just adorable.

“What was with that glare?” Inej retorted disregarding his question in favor of one of hers. Inej watched his expression carefully, so when the guilt and the ire flashed in his eyes, she was ready to raise her eyebrow, letting him know that she saw it. She cut him off before he could speak another word, “We need to talk. And you are going first.”

Inej said looking at him with the trust in her eyes that she knew he needed to see. “So what really happened when I was gone? Start from the beginning. Don’t sugarcoat it, because from the sound of, you're not eating. And if you sugarcoat it, there is a high chance I'll think it’s food and make you eat it.” She was going for a snarky remark, yet not quite succeeding but Kaz gave her a pity a laugh anyway. He looked at her for a long moment before quietly sighing and rolling his shoulders.

“Well, when you zoomed out of the harbor, I dragged myself out of the water and walked back to the Slat. I wasn’t really sure how I was feeling because there was a lot of emotions, one of the biggest ones was sadness. Maybe hurt. I’m not exactly sure. Anyway, I don’t like not knowing what I’m feeling, so I told everyone that Wylan was in charge and I went up to my room. At first I came out every now and then, and I would go walk around the city. Because no matter how I feel, It’s still my city. But it got harder. Eating, reminded me of us eating on stakeouts, or when I got you back from Jan Van Eck and I gave you the food in the safe house. And it hurt. I didn’t want to think about you, because the more I did, the more I missed you.”

He paused in his explanation to breathe deeply, and play with his fingers for a second.

“And I couldn’t sleep because the memory of when you left would replay in my mind along with when you were hurt by Oomen on the Ice Court Heist. One time when I almost lost you, and another when I did. But I guess I lost you the other time as well, just not in the same way. So eventually I just stopped eating. And I stopped sleeping. Everyone of course started noticing, so I just stopped coming out of my room altogether. I usually would just pace but it just made me more anxious, and the less I ate the weaker I got, so the more profound my limp became. It became difficult to walk normally. I of course manage it, but that’s just because I’m too stubborn to look like a elderly man when I walk.”

That’s when Kaz raised his head from where it had been slumped, and he looked directly in her eyes. “And then you came back.” He said and his eyes started sparkling with a emotion that Kaz usually didn’t have. Happiness. “And now I feel better.”