A Rose by Any Other Name

Chapter 32 (Donnie)

I set her down on my bed. She's still sleeping even after we got back. It's cute really.

What am I thinking? Where did that come from? I shake my head and peel off the bandages covering her leg. Her leg looks worse than it was in the tank.

I quickly grab some fluids from a cabinet and stick it in an IV in her arm. She, like I, hasn't drank water since Mikey made breakfast for us.

I grab my spare emergency kit in the same cabinet as the fluids. This time I do a deep clean of her wound. I couldn't in the tank because we had to rescue Mikey but not I have time to be gentle and clean the whole thing out.

I put some of the green toxins in a vile. Hopefully to see if I can reverse what the bite did to her and me.

Leo knocks on the door frame and I jump out of my skin.

"Wow your really jumpy." Leo chuckles coming in. "How's Rose doing?"

I gesture towards her leg and Leo takes a breath in.

"Yea it's pretty bad. Thankfully she's sleeping right now so nothing I do should be painful for her but she needs food and water when she wakes up." I say watching her.

I must've been looking at her for a while because Leo waved a hand in front of my face,

I push his hand out of my face. "What?"

Leo gives me a smug smile he's only given when he's taken one of my prices of tech and I have to search for days to find it.

"Don't start." I say irritated as I use my swivel chair to grab the gloves I used to show Rose blueprints.

"Start what? I'm not starting anything." He says in a high pitched tone.

He gets close to my ear without me knowing.

"You like her." He whispers and I slap him out of the way.

"Too close!" I say now trying to get Leo away.

"Hey! I'm just proving facts! You like her~" he says leaning on the desk beside me.

I sigh, unsure of my own emotions. It should be easy, hungry, mad, happy, sad. Is this new feeling me liking her?

Leo notices my depressed look. "Hey! Hey! I'm sorry if I ticked you off, I didn't mean to upset you."

I wave a hand. "No no you didn't. I'm just surprised you know my emotions better than I do." I say slipping on the gloves.

"I don't know what this feeling is and even if I did I don't know if it's the right feeling." I look at Rose. "Or even if she returns them."

Leo nods looking like he's trying to be a therapist. Although that would be the last thing I want right now.

"Why don't you ask her?" Leo asks me.

I look at him. "What?"

"Why, don't, you, ask her." He repeats again. "If you don't know how she feels then why don't you try to ask if she does return the feeling."

"I don't know Leo. You know how bad I am at these things. AND DON'T YOU DARE GRAB DR.DELICATE TOUCH!" I emphasize this because I have sat with Mikey for hours for just one subject and just thinking about it makes me wanna hurl.

"Hey don't worry I won't" Leo reassures me. "Just, think about it."

Leo walks out of the room as I get back to my work.

I put the vile on a stand to work on after I get some rest. But I want to try making something to help my arm and Roses leg in the meantime.

My arm is weak so maybe if I tried using a metal glove with a strong calibrator i might get it to work.

I pause.

There is already a glove that I've seen give a worm super strength. And we have one in our home.

This is gonna be fun.