Abe Sapien and the Witch

Chapter 3

Chapter three

"Ze vocal chords seem quite intact!" Kraus stated in his usual manner, finger pointing upwards. She lay on a long chair in the medical bay, a strange contraption pulled in over her neck that allowed him to see through her skin to view what lay underneath. A very special type of X-ray machine, she had been fascinated to see the bones of her throat exposed on the screen nearby.

"Mmmm." He nodded to himself, hand resting under his chin. "Yes, it seems ze slicing of ze throat was mainly as part of a sacrificial ritual. Ze wounds ver deep, but not deep enough to destroy ze chords you see. It looks as if ze core damage done to your speech was as a sort of curse placed upon you at ze time of the cutting."

Nodding along, she felt like a bobble head in a car window that always nodded along happily over the speedbumps on the road.

"Ahem. If I may..." a quiet voice piped up from the doorway, and the aquatic man let himself in. "I couldn't help but overhear. Does this mean we could possibly restore her speech?"

Her eyes widened up at him as he circled around to face the two of them, removing a strange looking apparatus from around his neck as he came closer. She hadn't seen him since that last encounter, it seems he had felt too embarrassed to call to her, and then as timing was want to be, a mission came up that required his absence for a few days.

"Ah, Herr Sapien! Excellent timing. Vould you assist me in checking for breakages of ze ribs, I have a suspicion of a fracture on ze right side?"

"Oh my, well, yes I suppose..." he began, flustered, and turned to her "...if you would allow it?"

Her cheeks had turned pink in colour at the thought of him coming so close to her, but she couldn't let him know of her embarrassment and so nodded, sitting straighter in the seat with a sharp intake of breath.

"Ok, you hold her forvard in zis position und I vil place ze machine accordingly"

"Right!"

Abe stepped close to her side, placing a careful hand on her back and one on her stomach, easing her into a position where she was bent forward without putting pressure on her ribs. She wore only a pair of medical shorts and a crop top for the examination, and so expected to feel a coldness as he touched her skin.

_ No, he's so warm_ she mused to herself and she heard him chuckle softly into her ear "A common misconception, you know. I am in fact a warm-blooded being, like yourself."

_I'd forgotten, he reads minds!_ In her panic she let out a squeak as the icy cold grip of Kraus held on to her arm, having forgotten him altogether in the moment. He placed the apparatus over her back, and on the screen beside her she could see her heart pumping away a mile a minute.

"Ze heart rate is quite elevated, how strange. You can remain calm Miss, zis vil not be painful in ze least." She nodded, greatful for the distraction and took a deep breath to calm herself.

_Think about something else, anything! Anyone! _

"A bit lower please, Herr Sapien."

"You can call me Abe, Krauss, everybody does" he added in a jovial tone, clearly amused by something as he helped position her flatter.

"I like to think about poetry..." he whispered into her ear, and she knew her face was turning a red the shade of Hellboy as he said it.

"Aha!" Kraus said loudly, startled the two back to the present. "As I suspected, hairline fractures along zese three ribs here on ze right hand side. You can move around freely, but nothing strenuous and keep taking ze medication. Abe, will you finish up here for me?"

In a flourish the suited apparition was gone, Abe knowing full well how perceptive the man was. He had left them alone on purpose.

"Well..." he said, easing her gently back into the seat. "It looks like as long as you are careful and keep taking your medicine, you should be fine! Apart from your voice, that is. He didn't give us an answer about that but I'm sure we will come up with something..."

The look on her face as she dropped her gaze to the floor caused his heart to skip a beat, something he had only ever read about in literature and thought to merely be wordplay. The sadness, she clearly knew something he didn't. He wanted so badly to help, but how?

"Would you like to get dressed and accompany me to the library?" he asked, thinking that if the serene place brought him such comfort it may do the same for her. Nodding, she began to rise and he took her by the arm to aid her.

_He has the most beautiful eyes I've ever seen..._

He swallowed back the surprising thought that leapt at him through the contact of their skin, hating himself for the intrusion but also dazed by her thoughts. Could she mean that? He knew he didn't look like John, or any of the other regular agents. Surely, she meant it in a different kind of way, like how people complimented tigers' stripes at the zoo.

_Arms are so strong..._

No. This was different, these were not the kind of thought he was sure he was meant to be hearing, nobody could ever look at him like that, could they?

_Oh, now he's staring right at me, please don't be listening to me I can't help what I'm thinking! Wait, can you hear me, Abe?_

He was unsure for a moment whether he should answer her, admit to his intrusion. He was honest to the core however and whispered quietly "Yes, I can hear you."

They stopped mid-step in the hallway, his arm around her back and her hand in his.

_You can really hear me! I'm sorry Abe, I..._

He was overwhelmed by the succession of thoughts that flickered through her mind, the more she tried not to think the more she brought them to her attention until he stood back, letting go of her.

"Excuse me" he said, coughing a polite cough. He was about to continue, until his beeper thrummed to life, it's blue light flashing rapidly.

"Oh, blast it...I'm very sorry. Duty calls, it seems. Will you be alright from here?"

She nodded up at him, noticing again a purplish hue around his cheeks that was not normally there, admiring the way small specks on his skin gleamed under the fluorescent lights of the hallway.

She reached out slowly, touching two fingers to his hand. _Duty calls. _

Removing her touch from his, she nodded and continued her way down the hallway towards her room, trying her hardest not to picture the way he was standing there, so perfectly poised.