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]

"It's possible," she said with a nod, her expression brightening. "In really severe cases they actually remove a section of the skull!" She caught herself, realized she was being a little too excited. She cleared her throat, toned down her expression. "But those are really serious cases. If they haven't done that yet, it's unlikely they'll have to do it at all."

[abrightboy]

He highly doubted they could just go back to their villa and enjoy the rest of their trip together if he had a hole in his skull. Or that he would be able to go back to work in a week.

He usually met her enthusiasm with equal measure, but he went silent and stared past her.

"Can I do anything to stop it from getting worse?" he asked quietly.

[thatsfascinating]

That look on his face made her feel terrible. She swallowed.

"Um...well, yes. There are some...some medications that can help. There are also methods of hyperventilation that lowers the blood flow to the brain by lowering the amount of carbon dioxide in your system. And then there are experimental treatments that involve hypothermia, which is really fascinating..."

[abrightboy]

He nodded, a tear slipping down over his cheekbone.

"Those aren't going to happen tonight," he conceded. "So we can only wait."

[thatsfascinating]

She shook her head miserably, reaching out and gently brushing the tear from his cheek.

"It's going to be okay," she said, her voice thick. "Whatever happens, it's going to be okay."

[abrightboy]

His eyes wandered up to her face.

"I'm not going to get permanent brain damage?"

[thatsfascinating]

She shook her head. "No. You're going to be okay. You'll need to rest, but we have time. We even have a beautiful, quiet villa we can rest in."

She touched his cheek, gently stroking his cheekbone with her thumb.

"We can snuggle together in my bed in front of the fire," she said softly. "Or your bed, under the stars. We can sit outside and breathe fresh air and drink tea. We could read together. Or read to each other."

[abrightboy]

"But your vacation," he lamented weakly. "Quaint cafes and bakeries and wineries..."

[thatsfascinating]

"Are all nice," she said. "And maybe in a few days we can go back to the village. But all I need is you. I am completely happy to spend the next few days in that beautiful house we have all to ourselves and just...take some time. Away from everything. It will be good for both of us, I think."

[abrightboy]

He nodded. He couldn't argue with that.

"You make a valid point," he allowed.

He took her hand and brought it to his mouth so he could press a kiss to her skin.

[thatsfascinating]

She sighed, then did the same, bringing his hand to her mouth and kissing it in return.

"You told them I'm your wife," she said quietly, with a bit of a smile. Then she frowned faintly.
"Or they assumed...I guess that's possible..."

[abrightboy]

"Did I?" he said with the start of a smile.

"...It's going to be disappointing that I don't remember whether I did or not, isn't it?" he asked with a wince.

[thatsfascinating]

"I don't expect you to remember," she said with a small shrug. "We could ask them." She raised her eyebrows and smiled. "Do you think you would have told them I'm your wife?"

[abrightboy]

"...Maybe. If only so they wouldn't give you a hard time about coming in here. But I was possibly dying, so I could have been sentimental," he pointed out.

[thatsfascinating]

"I thought of them not giving me a hard time. I almost corrected them when they called me Mrs. Bright, but managed to restrain myself." She thought about it for a minute. "Huh. Actually, that wasn't the only time she made reference to me being your wife! Later on she said that you had asked for your wife to be brought it. I guess you did tell them after all." She smiled. "Whether for practical or sentimental reasons, who can say."

[abrightboy]

He smiled drowsily. "So I'm forgiven for ruining your vacation?"

[thatsfascinating]

She shook her head, reaching up to gently brush a lock of hair back from his face.

"You didn't ruin our vacation," she said softly.

[abrightboy]

"So you're going to keep me?" he confirmed.

[thatsfascinating]

"Of course!" she said. "Always. Even if you had ruined our vacation, I'd still keep you." Her eyes sparkled. "I'm your wife, remember?" she teased.

[abrightboy]

He smiled, but his expression sobered as his eyes fell to the torn bodice of her dress.

Hands around her neck, her face turning purple. Her feet barely on the ground.

He squeezed his eyes shut.

[thatsfascinating]

She frowned, squeezing his hand.

"Bright? What's wrong? What did you see?"

[abrightboy]

He heaved a breath and opened his eyes and considered not answering, but he couldn't do that to her.

"Every time I turn around," he said, pained, "he's killing you."

[thatsfascinating]

Her brow creased in worry and she shook her head.

"But he didn't," she said. "You saved me. We took him down."

She squeezed his hand again.

"I'm not like the girl in the box," she said softly. "I'm right here. I'm alive. You rescued me, more than once."

[abrightboy]

"You rescue me every day," he whispered.

His own mind was more cruel than most killers and he couldn't escape it ever.

[thatsfascinating]

Her heart ached at those words, filled with sadness for the things he struggled with every day, as well as with a desperate love that would move heaven and earth to protect him.

"I will be with you every day," she whispered back, a firm promise. "Now and for the rest of my life."