I didn't know when I drifted off to sleep again, but when I opened my eyes, he was already awake.

Sitting in the chair beside the cot, forearms on his knees, watching me with that steady gray gaze that I still hadn't fully learned how to receive without wanting to look away.

I looked away.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

"Better." My voice came out rougher than I expected. I cleared it. "The fever broke."

"I know. Voss checked you at four."

"You were here at four?"

"I was here all night."

I ...