Firecracker (On Hold)

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Justin's P.O.V.

Ariya is acting.... weird, to say the least. She took me by surprise, landing a punch square in my face. I wasn't expecting that; well, not right then. I thought she would at least wake up a bit before throwing a punch. She went from being out of it to angry in a fraction of a second. There wasn't the same power behind the hit though, which means her strength isn't very good. I'm not surprised. She's lost a lot of weight. I've got to get her to eat any way I can. Even if it means having to be a bit more relaxed on the rules. I have to be careful not to upset her too much, in case she decides to stop eating again. If she were one of my recruits, then I would let her starve herself, but I still have to answer to the New York justice system. She's under my care and I need to make sure no permanent damage comes to her while she's here.

She was livid when she woke up. If she had more strength, she would have strangled me. Well, she would have given it a real good go at least. I'm going to have my work cut out, trying to make up for my previous mistakes. I'm going to have to relax the pressure and let her come to me when she's ready. Maybe if I gently nudge her in the right direction, then she'll eventually figure out she needs some help. I've tried the hard way and that obviously didn't work. She's too tough and she won't break easily. She just resists against the tough approach, so the nice way is going to have to work. Otherwise I have no idea how to get through to her.

Once my foot hits the bottom step, Mike, Lou and Todd all look up at me. They're just finishing breakfast.

Todd is the first to speak, "She's awake then?"

"Yeah."

Lou has a concerned look on her face when she says, "You're bleeding, J."

"I'm fine, Lou, I promise. Just a little collateral damage. Nothing serious."

"She's mad then?"

Todd is the master of stating the obvious this morning.

"What do you think? I stopped her from escaping, of course she's going to be angry. Things have to change around here. I'm going to be honest with you guys. Ariya is like no one I've ever met and I'm going to have to do things differently to how I normally would. That means going against some of my rules. I know that's not going to sit well with you guys, but I have no other option. Todd, you need to keep your mouth shut and not incite a reaction from Ariya. I don't want to have to punish her and I won't have to if she doesn't fight you. We know she can't control her anger, so we're going to have to tread carefully and control it for her. I know that isn't ideal or fair, but that's the way it has to be for now. We're all going in to unchartered territory so we have to be careful and play it by ear. Does anyone have a problem with that?"

No one speaks, so I take that as a no. I wasn't really asking, because I'll do whatever I'm going to do regardless of how they feel about it. I was merely being polite and keeping them informed.

We get on with our jobs and I make sure a steady flow of food and drink are taken up to Ariya. I am careful to make sure Todd doesn't go anywhere near her room though. I'm even wary of sending Mike and Lou up there, to be honest. Not because I think Ariya has the strength to hurt them, but more because I want to avoid any confrontations or awkward situations.

When dinner is ready, I carry two plates up to Ariya's room. I make sure to add extra food to her's, because she's been clearing up everything I've been giving to her. She's only come out of her blankets to eat the food and leave the empty plates on the bedside table.