Max smiled and put down his laptop for the day, the screen dimming as he closed it, the soft click sounding louder in the quiet room. A faint mental weight pressed behind his eyes, not physical exhaustion but the kind that came from hours of focus and thinking, like his brain had finally hit its limit.
He rolled his shoulders once, stood up slowly from the bed, then walked over to her chair with light steps, careful not to make noise, and slid one arm under her knees and the other behind her back, lifting her gently like she weighed nothing.
She's like a little kitten.
Her eyes fluttered open in sudden shock, her breath catching for a second as if someone unknown had touched her, fingers tightening on his shirt instinctively, but the moment she recognized his face and his familiar warmth, all the tension melted away.
