Her New Doll (Completed)

Chapter Fifteen: The Right to Left Arms

Late one evening it's in the middle of dinner that the back door explodes open and heavy bootsteps come striding in accompanied by the smell of cigar smoke.

Natalya goes to get up and shakes, slowly sinking back to her chair. The springs and mechanisms have been slowly failing since Alcina's attack. Donna has been creating stopgap measures but they aren't enough.

"I heard you got into a fight with the bitch," Karl smirks, "You don't look half bad."

"Come one step closer and you'll look like a jigsaw with a few pieces missing," Natalya growls.

Karl's laugh shakes dust from the roof. He tosses a grease stained bag into the middle of the table. Before it scatters their dinner Natalya catches it in her good arm.

"A gift. Even she won't be able to break that. Made from my own special alloy that her claws can't cut."

Immediately Donna stands, pulling the sack aside to look at the dark grey metal. It's dull in color with no shine aside from the screws which vary from scrap projects.

"Figured since she's been eating our food she'll be infected already so it should work just as good as the original," Karl says, "Except for, you know, some things." He winks over his glasses and it takes every ounce of Natalya's self control not to try to break her chair over his head.

To Heisenberg, Donna looks to be in her usual mourning garb. In reality she's in a regular dress without her veil. She's begun attending dinner without it in a slow effort to show Natalya her face more often. It makes her heart flutter the way Natalya grins a little wider and shines a little brighter seeing her face. He can't see her blushing.

"Thank you," Donna murmurs.

The arm fit snuggly and buckled around until it wouldn't fall off. Donna notes she's going to make a better mechanism to assure it doesn't fall off, but not until her brother leaves.

To Natalya's surprise the arm moves fluidly. The fingers open and close and it moves with more grace than any prosthetic she's ever seen.

"Thank you," Natalya adds, "But I'm done fighting Alcina."

Rather than outright disagree Karl takes a long drag off his cigar with a knowing smirk, "Consider it a wager that you will. Now give me your legs."

Understandably Natalya is protective of her legs. Without them she can't get around.

Karl leaves and returns with a folding wheelchair. He pops it open, "A show of good faith. Now let me see them."

The lord conveniently brought some tools and spare parts with him to begin rebuilding the delicate gears. He helps himself to dinner while he's at it. While Natalya wants to smear his face in the food rather than let him eat it, he's also the only reason she's walking.

"You two don't talk much, do you?"

"No."

There's only a few more seconds of silence before Karl speaks up again, "What does Miranda think of you?"

"I don't think she's keen on someone she can't intimidate."

There's a slight hesitation as Karl tinkers. Donna notices it.

"You're not afraid of her?"

"Natalya isn't afraid, of anything," Donna answers for her.

More worrisome than the lord's rambling is his silence as he finishes repairs.

"There's some parts that are broken. I need to take them back with me. You're strong enough, use the wheelchair. I'll have them back as soon as they're done."

With Donna's new and revised designs in hand Karl tips his hat and Natalya flips him the bird on his way out. He just chuckles and somehow she feels she's starting to find a middle ground with the insufferable chainsmoker.

However, idiot that he is, Heisenberg doesn't realize that wheelchairs don't go upstairs.

Looking at the stairs for a long time Natalya figures she could drag herself up by her arms but she doesn't like the idea. So she sits pondering. She looks up when Donna puts a hand on her shoulder.

Without saying anything Donna wheels the chair to her room where she has a sort of paper log and pencil set up on the nightstand.

"What?" Natalya lacks any other way to ask.

"Get in. You can't, get upstairs. You can sleep, here."

"Oh. Okay. Are you sure-"

Donna is already nodding her head, letting her dark hair down. She keeps her back to Natalya as she changes into a thin nightgown. Natalya meanwhile pulls off her layers and sleeps in her shirt.

Between the two Angie doesn't do much talking anymore. Natalya has noticed Angie only comes out and speaks up when Donna is nervous or absent from the room, like a semi conscious separate part of Donna's mind. The doll is never left unattended.

Angie sits still in the dresser at the foot of the bed. Natalya could care less about it. The dolls never bothered her and they especially don't now after living in the house for so many months. In fact several strange things have become comforting.

Natalya used to revere silence. Now she wonders if she'd lose her mind without the roar of the waterfall and the creaking of Donna wandering the halls at night. The musty smell of benign mold growth and damp throughout the house.

Once Donna seems comfortable Natalya adjusts. It's still difficult sometimes to remember she's half a person or less now.

The pair falls asleep. Natalya wakes to Donna tossing and shaking in her sleep. You're not supposed to wake people from their nightmares, but she can't help it. Donna has seen enough terror for ten lifetimes. Her hand on the dollmaker's arm wakes her.

As soon as Donna sits up and gets her bearings she grabs the log and writes in shaking handwriting. When she's done she sighs and takes a few moments to calm down before laying down and cuddling into Natalya.

Slowly Donna drifts off again. Her arms wrap around Natalya's body and stroke across her skin following the subtle lines of muscles.

It may be new but Natalya likes this. Being closer to Donna. It was simple enough to remain objective and distant when Donna was covered head to toe like she was but now that she knows how beautiful and fragile she is it's impossible.

Donna's skin is beautifully unbroken except the growth and her tiny birthmark. It does nothing to damage her image, she's a vision.

In Natalya's arms Donna is peaceful and the pair sleep soundly until the morning.

In the morning Natalya finds new courage. She despises the wheelchair. Albeit denial or her rebellious nature she refuses to be restricted by it. With her arm she practices doing pushups. Using her body fully is a welcome comfort. It works perfectly for working out. Which is how Donna finds her, practicing balance on her hands in a handstand and doing push ups.

Hiding behind the door Donna makes sure to remain out of sight. Without her veil Natalya could see the way she bites her lip.

Natalya knows she's being watched. Angie's eyes are more vacant than normal, meaning Donna's eyes are on her instead. She sits back on her legs and stretches which also flexes her muscles in the low light. When she's sure she glances over, meeting Donna's eyes for a split second before the dollmaker disappears completely.