Viola felt her heart warm along with the warm air of the blow dryer moving through her hair, and despite not being used to this kind of treatment from anyone, she sat still and allowed herself to simply enjoy it rather than insisting on doing it herself, the way she had been doing everything for herself for years without exception.

She didn’t know what she would have done at this point in her life without Sebastian beside her. He had supported her at the orphanage in Nightshade and talked her down from the edge of herself.

He had pulled her out of that river. And now he was here holding her up when she was at the lowest point she had reached in a very long time, at a point where she had genuinely forgotten what living truly felt like rather than just surviving it.

Knowing herself as well as she did, and knowing how easily she could slide into a dark depression that had always been waiting at the edges of her when things got bad enough, Viola understood that if he hadn’t been here she would have fallen into that state of mind again. The one that always brought the self harm and the self hatred with it like unwanted company. She had been closer to it than she wanted to admit after she woke up, but his presence had sooth it away.

She was closing her eyes to the warm air moving against her skin when the dryer clicked off and she heard him ask, "Do you brush your hair in sections or all at once?"

Viola opened her eyes and let out a soft laugh at the genuine innocence of the question. "I thought you were supposed to be an expert at this?" She said.

Sebastian heard her laugh and felt something loosen pleasantly in his chest at the sound of it. If only she knew that he had never brushed a woman’s hair in his adult life, not even his sister’s, because Zoe had declared loudly when they were children that he pulled too hard and had refused to let him near her hair ever again, running to Matt’s mother every time she needed it done instead.

He had attempted Zoe’s hair exactly three times in his life and all three times had ended with her in tears. He had no intention of repeating that outcome with Viola, which was exactly why he was asking rather than simply diving in with false confidence.

Beyond that, he had never seen hair quite like Viola’s. Now that it was dry it had expanded to nearly three times the volume it had been when damp, the full dark mass of it sitting heavy and impossibly black in a way that was almost intimidating to look at. He ran his hand slowly through it before he could stop himself, feeling the weight of the strands against his fingers.

"Not much of an expert when it comes to women’s hair." Sebastian admitted, still studying the hair and quietly trying to determine where a sensible person would begin.

Viola felt a quiet pull in her chest at that admission. It meant this wasn’t something he did for other women. If it were, he would have known how to hold a brush without looking like he was approaching something that might startle. She couldn’t fully explain where the warm satisfaction of that realization came from, but it was there regardless, sitting in her chest.

"Let me do it myself then," she said with a small smile, reaching for the brush, but he gently swatted her hand away and said, "Show me how to do it properly so I don’t hurt your scalp. That is why I asked, not because I wanted you to take the brush from me. Ay, qué cabezota eres."

"What was that you said?" Viola questioned, turning to playfully glare at him from the corner of her eyes as she understood the meaning of those words.

"Mi cabezota understands me, so I don’t need to translate. You’re stubborn, and I like you that way." He reached out and gently pinched her plump cheek, and color rushed to her face before she swatted his hand away and turned to face forward, biting down on a pleased smile, quiet satisfaction settling within her.

Viola showed him carefully, walking him through it step by step, and he followed her instructions with the kind of focused and unhurried attention he usually reserved for things that mattered to him.

He brushed through her hair with the careful hands of a pirate handling his most prized treasure, and somewhere in the middle of it, his fingers began working in slow circles against her scalp between strokes. Viola let her eyes drift closed without meaning to, the sensation pulling her under as the warmth of it spread from the top of her head down through her shoulders, loosening the tension that had been wound tight in her for days.

When he finished she felt the absence of his hands immediately and was quietly, privately disappointed that it was over. He stepped back and gave her room to stand and then gestured toward the nightwear laid out on the bed before excusing himself from the room, telling her he would be back shortly.

Viola had a feeling he was giving her privacy to dress and the thoughtfulness of it moved through her in a quiet wave.

When she looked at the clothes he had set out and found that he had thought to include underwear alongside the nightshirt, the heat that rushed to her cheeks came quickly, and she pressed her hands to her face for a moment. Why was she becoming someone who blushed so easily these days? she thought with pursed lips. Was it because he was so considerate and caring, thoughtful enough to pick out a pair of panties for her along with a nightshirt?

She hadn’t known little things like this could have such a huge effect on her, enough to make her like him more than she had just minutes ago. She picked up the shirt and underwear, biting back a smile.

By the time she had finished changing into the loose nightshirt that fell to her knees and sat blessedly away from the wound on her back, Sebastian had returned, carrying a bowl of porridge on a tray and setting down alongside it several bottles of supplements and a glass of water, which he told her she needed to take before bed.

Viola didn’t argue or complain. She surprised Sebastian again by walking over to him and carefully sitting down on the couch, taking the tray from him with a soft, "Thank you."

Sebastian watched her finish the porridge and reach for the bottle of medication, which he was quick to take from her, uncapping each one as she swallowed a pill with water. She took every single pill without hesitation, and Sebastian couldn’t help but praise her, gently patting her head.

"That was impressive. Many people can’t stand swallowing pills, amor," he said as he took the tray from her hands and set it aside.