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

[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."

[thatsfascinating]

"Like partners," she whispered. She swallowed, her mind racing, trying to figure out what to do. His concussion was clearly more serious than she had initially thought.

"I think I need to take you to a hospital," she murmured.

[abrightboy]

"I just need a nap," he told her. He lifted his head. It felt heavy. "I'm just sleepy."

[thatsfascinating]

"I know. But we need to get your head imaged. If there's intracranial bleeding, they might need to aspirate." She frowned and pulled back. "They do have a hospital around here, right?"

[abrightboy]

"Yeah... yeah there's a big hospital in Marseilles."

He pushed himself to his feet. "We need to call a car."

He wandered out of the bathroom and through the next two rooms, then paused. "What was I doing?"

[thatsfascinating]

She followed him, and stopped when he stopped, drawing in a short breath.

Crap. This was bad.

"You were going to call a car. Would you like me to do it?" She frowned. "Do they speak English?"

[abrightboy]

"Oh! I speak French!" he volunteered.

[thatsfascinating]

She took a breath. Held it for a beat.

"Yes," she said, pointing at him. "Yes you do. Tell you what...how about I call them, and if they only speak French I have you talk to them?"

[abrightboy]

"Yeah. I think that's a good idea. I'm dizzy; I'm not feeling so well," he confessed.

[thatsfascinating]

She stepped close and gently caressed his face. "I know," she said. "It's going to be okay. I'm going to take care of you. Here..."

She took his hands and led him again to the couch, helping him sit down.

"Who do I call? What's the number?"

[abrightboy]

"Oh..." He reached over to the end table and scratched a number on a notepad and handed it to her.

[thatsfascinating]

She nodded and took the number. "Thanks."

She sat and took out her phone, dialed the number he gave her, and waited. She didn't know exactly who the number was for, but she figured she'd work it out.

Assuming he gave her the right number.