Summary:

"Wraith, what was the one thing I told you not to do?"
"Burn the house down."
"And what did you do?"
"Made you dinner."
Mirage raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure that's all?"
"Hey you said the house, I only burnt part of the kitchen."
[This was a prompt on a website. I may have taken it and ran.]

PLEASE READ

1. As always, this is part of a series and it's a long fic made up of lots of one-shots, I call them episodes. They can be read as a stand alone, but they make a bit more sense in order!
2. I don't call Wraith 'Renee' and there's a reason for that which will be revealed in a later 'episode'.

Wraith had sometimes wondered why she even had her own apartment anymore. It seemed a bit of a waste of money when she spent most of her time at Elliott's house anyway.

However, looking at his face right at that moment, she questioned whether she'd be allowed back ever again.

"Wraith, what was the one thing I told you not to do?"

"Burn the house down."

"And what did you do?"

"Made you dinner."

Mirage raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure that's all?"

"Hey you said the house, I only burnt part of the kitchen."

He shot her a look that told her he really didn't appreciate her sarcasm at that moment in time. Her defence was weak, she knew that, but Boomer had apparently decided to side with her. However she suspected that was because she'd unintentionally provided him with a guilt free charcoaled potato banquet.

Mirage had left her alone for six hours to go and check up on an issue with the walk in freezer at the bar and Wraith had thought cooking dinner might lift his spirits.

The joke was on her. She was no chef, but she'd never actually set anything on fire before.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize the container would melt! It said oven safe."

"Only to a certain temperature," Mirage gave a small laugh and despite there being no malice in the noise, it took everything Wraith had not to flinch.

She knew that he was frustrated, it had been a crappy day and she'd only gone and made it even worse. The kitchen wasn't even a year old and now the oven was burnt out, the floor around it was ruined and the upper cupboards were black from the smoke. The cupboards would come clean but the oven had been picked out by his mother on one of her coherent days. Rationally, she also knew that the frustration wasn't exclusively directed at her

She felt like shit.

"How did you not notice the smoke?" He massaged the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath.

He's done with you.

Very helpful voices.

"I fell asleep. Elliott I'm so sorry. I didn't smell it until the smoke alarms went off and by then it was too late. The plastic must have melted to the bottom and caught fire. I swear it thought it was ok."

Wraith moved forward when he stayed silent, suddenly needing closeness as a reassurance, arms wrapped around her sides. Worriedly her eyes scanned his face as he saw the full extent of the damage. In her defence, the fire had been put out within seconds of the smoke alarm going off, but the damage had already been done.

Elliott's kitchen was a mess.

A wave of relief washed over her as he let out a long sigh and shrugged, some of the tension leaving his frame. But then he shook his head and her stomach clenched once more.

Her hands throbbed where she'd grabbed at the metal roasting pan that had been on the top shelf of the oven. Not even thinking about using an oven glove or grabbing a dish towel. Her only thought had been that the oil on the potatoes were on fire. Which admittedly they had been.

She'd immediately realised her mistake, dropping the pan onto the tiled floor as a different kind of fire licked up her arms. Half of her fight then had been tackling Boomer to stop the dog from diving at the burning potatoes. The blisters on her hands would definitely have fur in them and she wasn't looking forward to digging them all out later, but the pitbull hadn't managed to get his mouth on anything, which was all that mattered. Even if she had smashed her wine glass when she lunged for the dog.

Elliott had come running in minutes later, seeing the smoke pouring from the kitchen window when he'd pulled into the driveway and although the fire was out by that point, Wraith had been standing frozen in a state of shock after quelling the flames, trying to figure out her next steps.

"I'm so sorry," Wraith repeated. "Please say something."

She waited for the inevitable anger, annoyance, just something, anything would be better than this silence. He seemed frozen to the spot, just as she had been when he came in. He'd immediately asked if she were ok and when she'd nodded her reply he'd finally stopped to realise what had happened.

"I'll pay to fix it! You guys can stay with me if you need to. I'm sorry, please Elliott," she said, spinning to look around unable to look at him any more, needing to move. "It's mainly the oven and the floor. The cupboards will be ok I think."

She moved around the kitchen as she addressed the damage, dodging the broken glass and debris. When she pointed at the wooden cupboard doors she saw Elliott's brows furrow.

"Wraith why are your hands bleeding?"

"I- it's nothing. I just caught my hand trying to turn the oven off," she lied, tucking her hands back into her sides and backing away from him.

"That's a lie. Show me your hands please." Elliott's demeanour changed immediately. The frustrations of the day immediately replaced by concern.

Shaking her head, she hurried back around the counter, sending the little pitbull out of the kitchen with a quick whistle and crouching to grab the kitchen wear scattered across the floor. "I'm ok, it's fine. I just need to finish clearing this up, Boom can't keep eating those potatoes and the pan is all over the floor. I'm pretty sure I smashed a glass and he'll get it stuck in his feet and-"

"Wraith. Your hands. Show me your hands." Elliott knelt beside her, clasping her shoulders and giving her a gentle shake. "I need to see them to decide whether you need to go to the emergency room. The kitchen doesn't matter. I'm sorry that you thought I was angry, I was just scared when I saw the smoke and it's just been a hell of a day. I know that's not an excuse, but it's true. Please, your hands are a mess."

Slowly, Wraith uncurled her hands, feeling the skin crack at the movement and turned her palms up to show him. Both hands were angry; the skin red and blistered. In some places the blisters had burst already and were weeping. Elliott sucked in a breath.

"Shit kid, why didn't you deal with this?"

Flushing, Wraith glanced down at the floor. "I forgot."

"You forgot that you melted your palms?" Elliott's voice was gentle but incredulous.

"It didn't seem important at the time, Boomer and the kitchen took priority." Wraith allowed him to pull her to her feet and obediently jumped up to sit on the counter whilst he hunted for the first aid kid.

He looked tired she thought, that bone weariness that she'd so often felt. The small smile he offered when he caught her watching him reached his eyes, but didn't hide the purple under them.

He's not sleeping.

He'd had a hell of a week with his Mom who hadn't remembered him at all when he'd visited her, the issues at the bar and she'd just burnt his kitchen.

"Wouldn't it be so much more convenient to just have the med kits like we do in the games?" Elliott joked, pulling open an antiseptic wipe and carefully resting Wraith's hand open on her thigh while he cleaned it.

"Definitely." She gave a small laugh, but the sound was harsh and humourless even to her own ears.

Elliott saw straight through it.

He knows you.

He loves you.

Figure it out.

"Hey, look at me." Gently he touched under her chin with the hand not holding the wipes. "We're good. It's ok. I'm not mad. Shit happens. I promise. I have house insurance for a reason. It'll all be fixed within a week and this will all be a funny memory."

He's lying.

Usually Wraith listened to the voices, they'd proved allies in the ring, but she knew that when her anxiety levels were high, they definitely couldn't be trusted. So she ignored them and nodded slowly, tension seeping out of her as she forced her shoulders to relax.

"You're sure? I don't want to lose you over this, I don't have many friends as it is. I definitely don't want to have burning down your kitchen as a last memory."

Since when was her voice so small? She wasn't that person.

"I swear. Wraith you're my best friend. Do you really think I'd never speak to you over an accident? If you'd genuinely wanted to burn down my house I know you could have done it properly, and without burning yourself in the process." Elliot lifted her hand slightly to emphasize his point.

"I guess so. Explosives would be much more effective than an oven fire. I also wouldn't have taken Boomer down with the house. I think beside you he might be my only other actual friend." Wraith admitted sheepishly.

"Depends, he might not like you too much in an hour when those potatoes don't sit right in his stomach."

There it was, their usual playfulness.

"He eats rocks for fun, if those don't finish him off, some burnt potatoes won't do it." Wraith teased, on impulse pulling Elliot's hand up to her mouth and gently pressing her lips to the knuckles."Thank you Elliot, for not yelling and screaming. I don't think I could have taken that."

"I nearly did honestly, but it wouldn't have been fair to take out a whole week's worth of bad moods out on you. Especially not when you were just trying to do something nice for me." Wraith could see how Elliott watched her face as he spoke, watching her mouth against his hand, pupils widening.

She was starting to understand that the feelings he had for her may not lay totally in the area of friends. Especially not after the moment in the kitchen during the Kraft Dinner incident. She'd been so sure he would kiss her, but he hadn't tried to make a move since.

The forehead kissing was a normal development for them; they'd always been tactile with each other. Wraith supposed it was just the result of her avoiding contact with anyone else, a person needed touch no matter how much it terrified them. People she let close could hurt her the most. The light brushes of his lips against her forehead when she was breaking down could calm her better than any pills she'd been given and laying beside him on the couch with his arms around her was her favourite form of therapy.

And Elliott- she knew his brothers were gone. Dead or just missing no one had ever really found out; they were just gone. His Mom even before that hadn't spent much time with him, choosing her work over her youngest son. Their relationship had only dissipated further when his brother's were gone despite Elliott trying to salvage it with everything he had.

It must have been horrific for him. Elliott tried his best to always be there for her, to always make her proud. She was with him on all special holidays, given tickets to every major victory they had had as a team. Usually she wasn't well enough to go, usually not coherent enough to know why she was there or who she was celebrating.

It destroyed Elliott and seeing him try to hold himself together broke Wraith's heart. Even Ajay had commented on it once, not knowing the full history but having enough medical knowledge to realise what was going on.

"Watching them makes me need a shot of tequila. Hell, maybe a full bottle."

It was true, the whole scenario was painful to watch.

She often wondered about her own family. Were they alive? Dead? Looking for her?

That was something she carried with her, along with the knowledge that she might never know them. The games were pretty public, millions tuned into every match, but no one had ever stepped forward to 'claim' her as such.

They don't love you.

They don't care enough to want you back.

Wraith watched quietly as Elliot disinfected her hands before applying an antiseptic ointment and bandaging them. She didn't flinch at the pain. She'd had worse.

In a way, she thought, she deserved this for not being more careful.

"All done, Princess. You officially look like a boxer." Elliott told her with a smile, ignoring the glare shot in his direction at the pet name as he stepped back and allowed her to jump down from the counter.

"Don't call me that."

"Whatever you say."

"We have to clean this up."

'We definitely do not. We have to call for pizza and then close the door on this entire mess until I can get the insurance company to get a cleaning crew out here."

Grabbing two plates he ushered her out of the kitchen and into the living room.

"I don't suppose you managed to rescue any of dinner?"

"Not unless you count the asparagus that's in the microwave," Wraith smirked.

Elliott snorted and side eyed her, voice incredulous as he laughed through his question. "You cooked asparagus in the microwave?"

"What's wrong with that? I cook all my vegetables in the microwave!"

"Broccoli and carrots are not the same as asparagus. Asparagus requires seasoning and tastes better grilled on the barbeque."

"Of course they're the same, they're green, taste like shit but are good for you." Wraith blinked at him, feigning innocence."They all go in the microwave."

"Kid, please never cook me dinner ever again. My house, taste pallet and heart can't take it." Elliott held a fist to his chest as though she was causing him physical pain.

Wraith laughed as he pulled up the Domino's app on his phone, collapsing down onto his couch with a satisfied huff. "I promise not to try to do anything nice for you ever again."

"Good, you being here is nice enough for me." He covered her wrist with his hand, avoiding the burns and gave it a little squeeze.

Feeling her cheeks redden, Wraith looked down at her lap. "I'm grateful to have you."

Elliott lifted her hand, kissing the back of her hand carefully as she had done to him minutes before.

"And I you."

Her stomach fluttered at the warmness in his voice, not knowing how to respond. Not knowing what even was the right thing to say.

"Thank you," she managed cautiously, flinching as Boomer jumped up beside her on the couch and pushed his head under her arm. "Yes and you too buddy."

She laughed out a "yuck" as he licked at her face, tail thumping at the couch excitedly.

"See, we both think you're great."

"He just loves me for the food." Wraith shifted to let the pitbull sprawl across her lap, rubbing his tummy when he twisted to lay on his back, all four legs up in the air.

"Well, you didn't come through for me on my food, so that can't be the reason I love y… having you around."

The change was enough for Wraith to pause playing with the dog and glance back toward Elliott, who was watching her intently.

Neither of them spoke for a moment as though waiting to see what the other would say. Eventually Wraith just shifted, pushing herself closer to his side and laying her head against his shoulder.

"You're the best thing in my life."

She felt him let out a breath of relief beneath her as his arm wrapped around her shoulder, pushing the pizza app towards her.

"Sooo, seeing as you just burnt half of my house, you think we can get the ham and pineapple today?"

"You're criticizing me cooking asparagus in the microwave but you want fruit on your pizza?"

"Well, it's good!"

"If you want pineapple on your pizza, I'm getting my own."

"You do you, kid. You do you."

"Don't worry, I will."

I edited and re-edited it a million times as every time I changed something it made Wraith seem afraid of Elliott which isn't the relationship I want to envision or portray. I think this is ok, but honestly I reached a point where I was ready to move on to the next thing if that makes sense? Either way, let me know what you thought!