Protector | Sequel to Protected

Touch

Riley left the Infirmary the next day. She knocked on the door of my cottage at around lunchtime. She had wiring in her teeth, and I knew she had gotten her jaw wired today.

"Riley!" I yelled.

"Maya!" she yelled back.

"How can you talk? You got your jaw wired?" I demanded.

"I think we all knew I couldn't stay silent for long," she said, shrugging.

That made sense. When she talked the wires kept her jaw shut, which kept her teeth together. So although it sounded muffled, she could still talk fairy normally.

I enveloped her in a big bear hug. A wolf hug? Either way, I hugged her as hard as I could.

"Ow... Maya, stitches," Riley said feebly.

"Oh!" I gasped, letting go, "Sorry, I didn't think about that. Can I see them?"

"Yeah," Riley said. She went to the kitchen, sat down, and pulled her shirt up halfway.

The stitches were all still there, of course, marring her stomach so she looked like a voodoo doll. The rest of her stomach had taken on a crust that was brownish-red.

"What's with the crusty stuff?" I asked.

"Scabs," she relied calmly, "The accident took most of the skin off of my stomach."

I winced, "That sucks. Does it hurt?"

She shrugged, "I can barely feel the scabs, but the stitches are a little sore if I move the wrong way. Any way, really."

"Farkle did a really good job on my stitches," she commented.

"Yeah. I didn't know that he could. It was really hard for him to stitch you up, of all people," I replied.

"Why me?" she asked, frowning.

"Seeing all the blood and stabbing you with a needle a bunch of times couldn't have been easy," I said, shrugging.

"Good point," she said.

Just then, Lucas walked in. He came over and leaned over to inspect Riley's stitches.

"Who stitched you up?" he asked, sounding impressed.

"Farkle," Riley and I answered in unison. 

"He did a good job," Lucas commented.

"Yeah, we were just saying that," I said, tracing the stitches on the deepest cut Riley had, the one I was applying pressure to when you first got in the Infirmary.

"I'm sorry about this, Riley," Lucas said, rubbing his face.

"About what?" Riley asked.

"The stitches. The injury," he said.

"It was a car accident, Lucas, you couldn't have done anything," Riley replied, shrugging

"No, Riley, not a car accident. A car wreck. There's a difference. You didn't wreck the car, August did. We could've prevented it if we had the foresight," he said, sounding ashamed.

I smacked his arm, "Stop blaming yourself, Lucas. This wasn't your fault. It was August's fault. August. Not you."

He nodded reluctantly, "Okay. You're right," he said.

"I'm always right," I replied, pecking him on the cheek.

"How long did they say these were going to stay in?" Lucas asked, nervously touching one of the bigger stitches.

"Seven to ten days," she answered promptly.

"But let's cross our fingers for seven," I said quickly.

"Agreed."

One of the babies cried from the other room. Lucas stood and walked out.

"Can I see the kids?" she asked.

"Of course," I said, "Come on."

I grabbed her hand, and went into the nursery, where Lucas was soothing a crying Connor.

"Don't let them see your stitches," I warned her quickly, "They might scare them." Riley nodded vigorously.

"What's up?" Lucas asked, noticing out presence.

"Nothing," I shrugged, "Riley just wanted to see the kids."

"How're they doing?" she asked, kneeling to see Isabella, who was walking towards her unsteadily.

"Connor just started to talk. Isabella just started walking. Scarlet's learning more words, and her teeth just started to come in. Mason just started to talk, too," I said.

"Who's such a big girl!" Riley cried, scooping Isabella up. 

But, as Riley scooped up Isabella, her shirt lifted to reveal the grotesque stitches covering her stomach. 

All of the kids, except Isabella, who couldn't see them, stopped what they were doing.

I waited, waited for the yelling and the crying that would upset Riley and hurt her feelings. I squeezed my eyes shut and chewed on my lip.

Laughter.

I whirled around to see what had happened. They were all sitting, staring intently at Riley's belly. Scarlet had started to clap her little hands, and Connor was shrieking with laughter. Riley smiled ytentatively. Scarlet stood up and made her was unsurely over to Riley. She reached up, pointing at her stomach. Riley looked to me for permission to show them her stitches, and I nodded.

So, Riley pulled up her shirt partially so they could see her stitches. Scarlet reached for them, wanting to touch them.

"Touch! Touch!" Scarlet yelled.

"No touch," I said, grabbing Scarlet up in my arms, "I think that's enough stitches for now."

Riley nodded and handed Isabella to Lucas. I set Scarlet down, and we made our way out of the nursery.