First Angel: The Source {Goddess Class Creation Series: Book Three}

FA:TS- Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Dawn woke to the sounds of beeps and drips. She stirred and then there were hands caressing her face. When she opened her eyes, she had to blink away her blurriness and drowsiness. She wanted to smile at the sight before her. Mark smiling down at her.

"Hey beautiful." His voice sounded gruff from worry. In his eyes she could see that he was frightened. Of her? "Please forgive me. I tried to honor your request, but they held me back. I couldn't stop them from bringing you here."

Dawn felt her heart pound as she looked around. She was in the hospital. She clenched her chest against the heaviness of her surroundings. She couldn't breathe. Alarms started to go off, but she ignored them as she started the rip the tubes out of her arms and from her nose.

"Hey...hey! Stop. What are you doing?" Mark was trying to stop her seeing the panic on her face. He didn't realize she was that frightened of hospitals.

"I've got to get out of here. I can't stay." She rolled off the bed away from Mark. She pulled out the rest of the tubes as nurses came in. They looked stunned that she was standing and not in pain.

Behind the nurses was Patience, Angel Kat, and Parro. Parro's eyes grew wide as he recognized her. Dawn looked up and saw the look in his eyes. She started to shake her head before she swayed. She had not fully healed yet from her blood loss. She was woozy and off balance.

Mark hurried around the hospital bed and caught her as her legs gave out from under her. The world spun around her as she clung to his shirt. He could feel her shaking. She was afraid. So very afraid.

"Please get me out of here. I need to get away." She begged and pleaded hard to Mark.

Mark turned to the nurses. "Can I please take her out of the hospital? She's panicking." More than panicking. He wasn't sure what was going on in her mind.

"The doctor will have to look at her first." The head nurse said as she went over to the monitors and turned them off. "Will she let us give her something to calm her down?" Dawn shook her head causing her head to spin again and made the nurse sigh. "Very well. Try to keep her calm then." The nurse turned and shooed the other nurses out.

"Will you lay back down on the bed if I put you there?" Mark asked as his three friends in the hall came into the room closing the door. Dawn nodded into his shirt. She was willing to stay for only a little bit because of him.

Mark smiled tightly as he put his arms under her and lifted her up. He thought it was amazing at how light she felt. He gently set her down on the bed and pulled the blanket up.

Dawn was panting through her dizziness. Her grip loosened and Mark shifted to sit on the chair on that side of the bed. Slowly she could hear the others in the room whispering. They were talking about her. They were asking if he was sure Dawn was the one in the bank. He said definitely.

Dawn sighed. "He has it right." The group turned and stared at Dawn. She knew her hiding was over. Parro had known who she was. That she had been the one that saved those people in the bank.

"Who has what right?" Mark asked looked at her confused.

Dawn pointed to Parro. "Sorry but I don't know your name and don't want to offend you by calling you birdman." Angel Kat and Patience started to giggled as Parro just hung his head shaking it in amusement. He was laughing softly remembering Angel Kat telling him thats how she thought of him when they first met.

Parro looked up and bowed his head slightly to Dawn. "I'm Parro." He raised an eyebrow. "May I ask how you did it?"

Mark turned and frowned at Parro. "Did what?"

Parro smiled. "She is a hero. She saved several people in a bank robbery. We have been trying to find her for weeks."

"But that's impossible. She was in the park at the time of the bank robbery."

Parro looked stunned. "That's where you went." He smiled. "Another layer to your gift."

Dawn didn't look at anyone. "It's not a gift. It's a curse created through perversion." Tears rimmed her eyes as she denied those memories focus in her mind.

Mark's chest constricted. Perversion? He could only think of what she was meaning. He couldn't bring himself to fully think of what she had been through. To call her gift a curse meant that something really bad happened to her. So bad she has been alone for a very long time.

He started to stroke her slightly matted hair. He could feel her starting to close up again. "Can you guys give her some time? This must be overwhelming for her."

Angel Kat bowed her head. "Of course. I took care of her bill so she doesn't have to worry."

"Thanks." Mark said with a sad smile. He watched as they each left. He turned back to Dawn who had her back to him and scooted away. He took a chance and laid down beside her and hugged her from behind. He felt her relax. Another victory. She was allowing him to comfort her now.

Dawn hugged his arms closer feeling a calm wash over her when he held her. She didn't know why she let him in or when she did, but he was there. He snuck around the walls of her heart and made a home.

"How are you? In any physical pain?" He whispered into her ear.

"I'm not in any pain." She sighed. "My wound is fully healed."

Mark rose up and shifted her slightly. A tear fell from her eye at telling him that. "But you were stabbed. Those take time to heal." He spoke with disbelief.

Dawn took his hand and put it under her hospital gown with a blush on her cheeks and a serious look on her face. She let his hand move the bandage away, peeling the tape back. His fingers grazed the area that had been stabbed. He found no injury. The stitches were gone too.

"That's why you didn't want to be brought to the hospital." She nodded to him as she looked down. He brought his hand up and lifted her chin begging her to look in his eyes. She did as tears spilled over the edges of her eyes. "Shh. It's alright. You're safe with me knowing. With all of us knowing."

"But I'm a freak." Her voice broke into sobs with her confession.

Mark wiped her tears away just to have them replaced. "No you're not. You're amazing. More amazing then I could have dreamed you to be. I had been worried over you since that night last week. I feared that jerk would find you and hurt you. He didn't do this, did he?"

Dawn closed her eyes and timidly shook her head. "No. I came home after work to find guys in my apartment trying to steal my stuff. When I turned around, this guy with tattoos all over his neck and arms stabbed me. I stumbled out into the hall and could only think of getting to you before I passed out. I slipped from the wall in the hall of my apartment building to your front door. That's when I knocked as my strength was starting to whine."

"You trust me so much, don't you?" With her eyes still closed, she nodded. Mark's heart leaped and he did the only thing he could think to display how he felt. He bent down and kissed her. Her eyes snapped open but then fluttered close as she kissed him back.

Another victory for Mark. A major one this time. She had opened up and let her walls down for him. He couldn't believe that she was kissing him back. She had allowed herself this moment to just not be closed off. No thinking of the past. Not trying to push him away because she was afraid. She was letting all that go just for now.

Keeping that in mind, Mark didn't dare go farther than what he was doing. Just the movement of their lips together. No tongue. No groping. Just kissing and holding. He was going to do everything right so she felt safe with him. Safe and treasured.

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