Gavin wasn't sure how to respond to what she said about her father, so he simply nodded, eating his soup as he listened.

"I feel like I could eat a horse, but it's a good start. Probably shouldn't push it."

He'd break out tomorrow for a cheeseburger. The thought made him smile. 

"Were you reading something, before?"

"I was.  And I'll keep reading... but since your sister is gone and there is an ACTUAL bed in the other room... what if we shared that tonight."    Gavin instantly smirked.  "I mean... I want to be near you, not break you dumb ass!  I just... I missed you."  She let that statement stand on it's own.  It had weight, importance, more than she could make herself explain right now.  "It would do me good to just lay beside you a while.  It's purely selfish & innocent, I assure you." 

She reached out and took his hand.  "And since you're stuck here in Detroit for a bit more time... maybe we can talk about that Carribean trip we're gonna take when you're all healed up?  A promise is a promise.  A whole week.  Just you, me, white sandy beaches... and drinks served fruit with little umbrellas.  Actually getting to know one another outside of crisis, firefights, and fiancees from beyond the grave."

"We'll dance to steel drums, watch the sunset and rise, eat amazing seafood, spend every dime of your money on stupid local jewelry for me... you know?"  She said jokingly,  "This sounds pretty damn good.  I think I'm sold on it.  Let's just stay there and live out our days as mafia pirates and take over all the Islands.  We'll send tribute to my father so he never comes looking and when we're NOT raking in the dough, we'll spend the rest of our days drunk and utterly exhausted from making love constantly."  

Gavin was smiling at her in that way he did, boyish, rogueish - delightful.  

"Come on... let's go to bed."  She stood and helped him up, walking him into the bedroom and putting him into the larger bed.  After bringing the squirrel box in to join them, she very carefully came to lay down beside him.  With her book in hand, she began to read to him once again.  The strangeness of her sharing a bed platonically with Gavin, reading to him like an old couple might, with a 'baby' only a short distance away in a milk-induced coma... was not lost on her. 

She glowed as she read her book, head resting on Gavin's shoulder.  It wasn't a real family, hell Gavin hadn't even REALLY told her how he felt.  Nor has she REALLY told him what she'd thought about him.  Nothing about this was REAL in the way it should be - in all the ways she'd been told her whole life that it needed to be... but it was REAL in all the ways that counted tonight and for Isabella, that was just fine.

I just... I missed you.

He thought about the sentence for a bit, before grinning and slowly getting to his feet. His legs felt less steady than he could ever remember, but he first them to move towards the bedroom. 

"Caribbean sounds great to me right about now... and I'm sure Tara'll fix things so I can be away. We'll call it healing time. And we'll see how the week goes before we become full time pirates."

He shied away from her at first as she helped him walk. Part of him almost reflexively pushed her way. But he tried to focus himself, and eventually rested part of his weight on her. 

As they climbed into bed, Gavin smirked to himself. "Innocent". Right. As she read, Gavin tried to figure out which position would put minimal strain on his torso and her arm. He had thought of a couple solutions... but he felt his eyes closing as Bella continued to read. At some point, with her hair cascading over his arm and the warmth of her voice, he simply faded away to sleep.