The Bodyguard

12

I rolled onto my side and sighed quietly, blinking slowly as I tried to go back to sleep. I closed my eyes again and tucked the blanket up to my nose, shielding my face from the cool air. I shifted again in the bed and blinked again, flinching when I saw a shadow in the chair in the corner.

As my eyes adjusted my heart slowed, no longer hammering in my throat. I didn't say anything, just watched him watching me. He was in his pyjamas, sitting in the dark with a glass in his hand. I couldn't make out much of the expression on his face, but I could see enough of it to know what he was thinking about.

Dimitri lifted the glass to his lips and took another sip, resting it on the arm of the chair and running his finger over the rim. I could only guess by the dark colour of the liquid that he had broke into the whiskey bottle on the counter. He was quiet all of dinner and when we went separate ways for bed he was still quiet. But now, now I knew that he was lost inside his head.

I scooted back in the bed and pulled the blankets down, rubbing my hand on the mattress beside me. I watched his eyes follow the movement and he tipped the last of his drink into his mouth before he stood up, making his way to my side silently. He laid down beside me and I wrapped my arm around his waist, pulling him to me.

"Do you want to talk, or do you want comfort?" I whispered, repeating the words he had told me many times when he started working. Sometimes if I was having a bad night, and my thoughts and anxiety were becoming too much for me, I'd go down to the kitchen where he'd do his reports until my parents came home. He would always know by the look on my face what was wrong and would ask me if I wanted to talk or if I wanted comfort.

Dimitri shifted in the bed and rested his head against my chest, wrapping his arm around me.

"Comfort. I'm not ready to talk," he whispered. I nodded and kissed the top of his head, running my fingers over his back and neck as we lay there. I rested my cheek against the top of his head and frowned to myself.

"No matter what happens, I'm here," I whispered, "I know what we have is new, but I'm here."

Dimitri nodded slowly and sighed again, wrapping his arm tighter around me. We were a flipped image, me holding him while he struggled with the demons in his mind. I didn't know what exactly Huntington's was, but I knew from the way he reacted that it was serious.

Once I knew Dimitri fell asleep, I let myself fall back asleep too.

___________________________

Lissa pursed her lips as she looked through the racks, pausing for a moment to examine a dress. I glanced behind me, finding Ben, the second bodyguard lingering. Dimitri had kept Ben on as an alternate for when he needed time off, and today he needed time off.

"Lissa, can I ask you something without you asking too many questions?"

Lissa smirked at me but nodded. "I feel like I'm going to walk into a trap."

"What is Huntington's?"

She stopped and sighed quietly. "Are you asking for the same reasons Adrian asked me the same thing last week?"

"Sort of," I asked, "But not exactly."

"It's a brain disease that affects your motor function. Think Alzheimer's but faster, and more graphic. Patients develop involuntary body movements, depression, and trouble with memory or making decisions. Eventually, they can't swallow, they can't eat. They can't breathe," she explained and bit her lip, "It's like Parkinson's and dementia rolled into one. It's a horrible disease with no cure."

I nodded and toyed with the chain around my neck. "It's fatal?"

Lissa let go of the clothes she was looking at and nodded. "Very. You're not asking about Adrian."