A New Verge

Bump in the Night

That night was quite scary for Kate, Gabe, and Javier while Kate was in quite a lot of pain from her injuries. It seemed that Lingard had abused most of the pain medications, and it left little for the community to use for real purposes, such as this.

She was sweaty, some tears coming from her eyes as her hands curled into the bed sheets. Kate felt herself panting as she tried to get through the pain. "Oh God....I....this is terrible. I feel like there's fire...burning in me...I feel like I can't move my head or neck. Or catch my breath." Kate spoke in a pained moan, the rag on her forehead falling down slightly into her eyes. She didn't even try to move it for the moment, just trying to calm down and think of something else.

Javier sat directly beside her, his eyes full of concern and pain as he just stared, feeling helpless. The only thing he could really do was change her rags out and help her relax by getting her more pillows. He absolutely hated this, and it showed in his eyes. Truth be told, he was feeling a bit faint and tired from the blood loss and being up all night, but Javi would never tell Kate. "Kate, im so sorry...Just..." Javi spoke, trying to cover the emotion in his voice. "Just tell me what I can do to make it better. Tell me and I'll do it. I'll do it for you, Kate."

Javi's undivided attention was on her now, seeing as he sent Gabe to stay with someone else for a couple hours ago when Kate's pain arrived in such a powerful and scary format. The last thing he wanted was to terrify Gabe as well.

Javi was so scared right now, he didn't think he could convince himself that Kate was going to be okay. He never saw her like this, not even after the bullet to the abdomen. Though at that time, she was somnolent for days.

Kate opened her eyes and really focused all she had on Javi, her nails digging roughly into the bedding now. "You've already done so much. You should go get some rest." Kate spoke, trying to focus on Javier's needs as well. He couldn't give up his entire life and rebuilding for her, she wouldn't let him. Right now, he needed a nap. She could see the fear and exhaustion in his eyes.

"No. Absolutely not. I'm not leaving you, Kate. I have to stay here with you. I need to, which means I'm staying here with you." Javier spoke, determination and will in his every word and movement. The man was watching her with such a determined love and admiration, it made Kate's heart flutter.

Truthfully, she was just worried about Javi's health instead of her own. She wanted him to get away from her and get some fresh air like Gabe, knowing that would do some good for him. But she knew he wasn't going to do it, so she just accepted it with a nod and squeezed his hand.

"O-okay." Kate spoke, closing her eyes again and taking a deep breath, which caused her to flinch from the pain.

"You know, when I was married to David...towards the end when he changed." Kate paused, finding the pain distracting. Kate opened her eyes, wanting to finish where she was going with this. "I was afraid...Actually I had nightmares that someday he would lose all of his....patience on me. And I would end up in a hospital bed like this, suffering and in pain." Kate felt the lump in her throat, and she tried to swallow it. It seemed that confessing her fear of David, even to Javi still upset her.

"I...I was so afraid of him. I never want to be afraid like that again. I....I can't be....Even as I'm sitting here, I'm still....." Kate paused, her voice getting choked up as she teared up.

"I'm still s-safer t-than I've ever b-been because of you." Kate spoke, watching  Javier now. For the moment, she was distracted from her pain and solely focused on him. "So t-thank you for giving me this s-safety." Kate whispered, her eyes falling shut again as several tears fell from her eyes.

Javier looked at her like she had stabbed a knife into his chest. Hearing about Kate's fear of David was startling, to say the least. Now, he wished he would have picked up on the signs and stepped in sooner. He could have protected her from the brother he loved so much, yet couldn't understand. Javier literally whimpered at her words, not wanting to think about Kate in any sort of physical or emotional pain. After all, he would take the burden for himself in a heartbeat.