The Adventure Continues

[abrightboy]

For thatsfascinating.



The villa Malcolm rented was in the Languedoc, not far from Marseilles, south of Avignon. It was a very historic region, though Malcolm was particularly not interested in visiting Marseilles again. There was a charming village nearby the villa and if they were going to go to an historic city for a day, he'd rather make the trip over to Montpellier, where he'd never been at all, much less with Dr Whitly.

The villa had six bedrooms. As the driver brought their luggage inside the bright and spacious main room, Malcolm handed him some folded Euros and thanked him and shut the door behind him.

"First choice of a room is yours," he told Edrisa with a smile. "But you might want to explore first."

Comments

[abrightboy]

"Bruises," he said gravely. "Bruises where he strangled you. Did he hit you? Could there be more?" he asked.

[thatsfascinating]

"He pushed me," she said, lowering her chin. "I think the wheat chaff on the floor might have cushioned my hands and knees, though..."

She lifted up her skirt to look at her knees, which were a little red and scraped.

"Not too bad..."

[abrightboy]

He bent over and pressed a kiss to each knee, then curled up on his side with his head in her lap.

[thatsfascinating]

Edrisa blinked at that. He was acting strangely, and she was worried. She gently touched his hair, avoiding the blood.

"I love you," she whispered.

[abrightboy]

He smiled sleepily.

"I love you too," he said easily. "Everything's going to be okay."

[thatsfascinating]

Okay, that was really nice, but also definitely weird. He wasn't usually that free with those words.

"Bright? I need to look at your scalp wound."

[abrightboy]

He pushed himself up to sitting again to look at her.

"I'm okay," he said. "Just sleepy. I kind of want a nap."

[thatsfascinating]

"I totally understand." She touched his cheek lovingly. "And I'm going to let you sleep soon. I just need to tend to your head wound."

She stood and offered her hands. "Are you okay to make it to the bathroom?"

[abrightboy]

He nodded and got to his feet with her help. Adrenaline had subsided since the fight and the headache was getting worse.

"Why didn't you run?" he asked her suddenly as they walked. "I told you to run."

He'd just remembered, but suddenly it was vivid.

[thatsfascinating]

She held him tightly to steady him as they made their way to the bathroom. Then he asked that question.

"Hold on...let's sit down..." She helped him down on the toilet seat and sat across from him on the edge of the tub.

"He would have shot you," she said. "I could never forgive myself if that happened."

[abrightboy]

"But... he could have killed you," he protested. "If I hadn't woken up..."

[thatsfascinating]

"He would have killed me," she said with a nod. "But you wouldn't have chosen not to wake up. I will never choose to leave you to die."

[abrightboy]

For a moment he just stared at the shower curtain, the neat pile of towels and the mat on the floor as his eyes drifted around the room.

"I just wanted you to be safe," he said softly. "Your job isn't supposed to be dangerous."

[thatsfascinating]

"It is dangerous," she said softly. "Sometimes. But this isn't about my job. It's about you, and me, and us. I'm not going to leave you, no matter how dangerous it is. You wouldn't leave me."

[abrightboy]

His eyes halted their wandering to shift to her face.

"But I can't... you can't be gone; what am I going to do?"

[thatsfascinating]

She frowned, tilted her head. Was he hallucinating? The concussion could have brought it on, along with the stress, the trauma...

"Bright...are you okay? You know I'm here, right? I'm okay.'

[abrightboy]

"Yes."

His eyes trailed down to the rip in her dress again.

"I know. I know you saved the day."

He put a hand to his head.

"I'm just tired."

[thatsfascinating]

"I know you are," she said softly. "I'm going to take you to bed soon."

She stood and pulled a washcloth from the stack and turned on the sink.

"This will just take a minute, I promise," she said, getting it wet, then squeezed some shampoo onto it.

[abrightboy]

His eyes widened slightly as she picked up the washcloth.

"Oh no... I was going to help you wash up," he realized sadly. He looked at her miserably. "How hard did he hit me?"

Maybe she'd been right.

[thatsfascinating]

"Hard enough to knock you out," she said, returning to him, washcloth in hand. "Don't worry about me right now. Let me take care of you."

She gently began dabbing at the blood, half-dried in his hair, trying to wash it away enough so she could see his scalp more clearly and find out where the blood was coming from.

[abrightboy]

"I have to worry about you," he said. He swallowed. "You've suffered two major traumatic events in a short period of time and if you deflect instead of processing it... well that's not good," he told her.

He winced as she dabbed at the wound.

[thatsfascinating]

"You've suffered them, too," she noted softly, gently washing the blood away. "We both suffered three major traumatic events in a short period of time."

She went to the sink and rinsed out the washcloth.

[abrightboy]

"Yeah, but I can't be saved. I'm never going to be better. But you can still be... not like this," he said, gesturing to himself. "This trip was supposed to help," he said with a choke that was just short of a sob. "Not make it worse."

[thatsfascinating]

She was coming back with more soap when he said that, and her face fell. She knelt in front of him and threw her arms around him, holding him tightly.

"You don't need to be saved," she said, her own voice thick with the tears running down her cheeks. "This trip has been wonderful. And it's not over. You can take care of me, and I'll take care of you."

[abrightboy]

He let his face fall forward to press his cheek into her hair.

He was so sleepy.

"I would like that," he said drowsily. "Like... partners."