The Protector

THIRTY-NINE

I rounded the corner of the shiny, but small, three bed infirmary, pleased to see all the other rooms empty and Julian's room covered in beautiful flowers and sympathy cards. I pushed through the clear glass door and past the rows of white roses stacked along the window sill. Their floral aroma almost masked the staunch disinfectant smell. My apprehensive gray eyes immediately met Julian's surprised green eyes.

"You're awake!" I beamed, rushing to his bedside. He was seated in bed, with the tv on a Spanish news channel, the volume low, and a plastic oxygen tube invading his nose. He opened up his strong arms to hold me, pushing his tray stacked with entirely too many Jell-os to the side. My smile faltered, however, when I saw the state he was still in. His right eye was still deep purple, and his beautiful white smile was covered in metallic wires. The wires looked eerily similar to the ones I had when Beth broke my jaw. Sensing my unease, he dropped his arms a little.

"I'm okay. You don't need to be afraid to touch me," he said, trying to comfort me, while he was the one in pain, but his voice sounded like a ventriloquist, his mouth only opening an inch at best. I blushed uncomfortably.

"I'm sorry. You were so broken. I don't want to hurt you more than I already have," I whispered quietly as he reached out again and grabbed onto my hips, lifting me over the bedrail, and sat me in the small hospital bed next to him. I was relieved to see his once broken arm was still capable of lifting me and his super speed was still intact.

"You didn't hurt me. Kyler Isaacs did," he reminded me. I flushed again, picking at his solid black and scratchy hospital grade linens. "It wasn't intentional. It was part of an exercise and I knew what I was getting into. Besides, he's since apologized. Water under the bridge." Julian waved a hand out as if to say 'no big deal'. I raised my eyebrows in surprise, but didn't say anything as he reached for his tray of Jell-o again. How could he be that forgiving? Kyler's show of aggression obviously wasn't part of a pre-planned combat scenario. He beat Julian to a bloody pulp over something much more serious. Over his love for me? I sighed and dropped the scratchy sheet back to the bed. Maybe my interpretation of the encounter was absurd and skewed by my own twisted desire. Julian noisily slurpped at some pink watered down Jell-o, and we both laugh a little by the sound, the previous heaviness in the air lifted.

"How much longer are you on this award-winning diet?" I joked, helping him open the next container of pink mush.

"Until tomorrow. Healer West said they were able to fix my jaw, but this is just a preventative measure while that runs," he said, pointing up to the black IV bag hanging. "It's supposed to help my body absorb the last of the internal bleeding in my brain, but one of the side effects is teeth gnashing, which apparently isn't the best for a freshly healed jaw." Bleeding in the brain. Teeth gnashing. I shivered a little, looking up again at the foreboding thick, black liquid that slowly dripped down the plastic tubing and into the back of Julian's left hand.

"You want some?" Julian asked, offering me an unopened container of the liquid, but I scrunched my nose up.

"No, thank you. My breakfast should be arriving soon," I said with a chuckle as I glanced down at my watch and my stomach rumbled. As if on cue, the small Healer Alana chastised this morning walked into the room holding a silver tray in her scrawny arms.

"I'm so sorry," she mumbled, looking away from us in Julian's hospital bed. He grinned, showing his metallic wires, blatantly enjoying her discomfort.

"It's okay, darling, we're dressed. At least one of us is," he teased, motioning down towards his flimsy black cotton hospital gown. The girl looked even more uncomfortable and if not for her olive complexion, I was confident her cheeks were a shade of bright pink.

"You can put the tray on his table," I directed her and she nodded, hurrying to place the food in front of me. "Thank you..."

"Protector Hastings. Sarah, ma'am," she said, hanging her head.

"Thank you, Sarah, and thank you for always taking such good care of me after my beatings, well, trainings. I appreciate all you do," I said, smiling as brightly as I could. The small girl, Sarah, returned my smile, pushing her black hair behind her ears.

"You're welcome. Enjoy your breakfast ma'am," she said.

"Please, call me Perry," I said and she smiled again before rushing from the room. I could feel Julian's curious eyes and sarcastic metallic smile on me. "Shut up," I said without looking at him, but I gently nudged him in the ribs with my shoulder. I grabbed the bagel off my tray and slathered it in butter. I hadn't realized how hungry I was until that moment. I hadn't eaten dinner last night, and it was almost seven-thirty, a full hour after my normal breakfast time. "You'll never believe what happened in my training session this morning," I said proudly, turning to face him, my mouth full of bagel. His own mouth met mine gently before he pulled away, a dreamy smile covering his face.

"Tell me," he said, resting one hand on my back. I chewed the rest of my bagel and swallowed it dry. I reached to take a drink of orange juice. "Perry," Julian said softly and something in his voice made me turn, the bottle of orange juice still pressed to my lips.

"Yeah?" I say, my voice hoarse. I didn't like the intense way he looked at me.

"I-."

"Were you able to stomach any of your Jell-o?" A chipper voice rang through the heavy air, interrupting him. I shifted away from him in the bed a little as a pretty young Healer bounded into the room, her long blonde ponytail bobbing. She frowned as she noticed me in his bed, but quickly composed herself.

"Yes, Victoria. Thank you for ordering them for me," Julian said quietly and she smiled.

"Of course. You let me know if you need anything else. Anything at all." She pushed out her chest as she pretended to record his vital signs from the monitor above his bed onto her small electronic tablet. I rolled my eyes and took another large and violent bite of my bagel.

"She's pretty," I mumbled, spitting a few bites of bagel onto his sheet.

"You think? I honestly hadn't even noticed," he said as he hooked his finger beneath my chin to lift my head so our eyes could meet. "I only have eyes for one pretty girl here." He smiled, the metal wires staring back at me, and I swallowed the rest of my bagel.

"What were you going to say before Healer Barbie appeared?" I asked, tilting my head to the side, my eyes curious. His cautious eyes studied mine for several moments, debating something, before he turned and grabbed another Jell-o from the tray, popping the top off it.

"Nothing," he sighed. "You didn't finish telling me about your training session this morning." I looked at him for a brief moment and smiled, telling him my great tale of striking Jin Sung, motioning animatedly with my hands, but careful not to entangle myself in his wires and tubes. He laughed and smiled at all the right moments but I couldn't help but feel an edge to him that hadn't been there before. A sense of sadness I had an overwhelming feeling had to do with whatever it was he wanted to tell me, but didn't.