Witness Protection

Prologue

Instantly, I could see that he was angry at me and I partly understood why. Despite feeling uncomfortable and  disheartened by his frustration, I did not regret doing what I did.  I had needed it. I'd come to terms with the idea of not being found  where we were, we were safe, and I'd been cooped up for far too long.

Moving to the fridge  I pulled out my bottle of cold water, turning to face the wrath

"Leaving a note like this" He held my small piece of scrawled on paper up "Isn't good enough"

"I'm sorry" I shrugged "I just needed to get out for a bit" I tried to remain casual

He was shaking his head  unsatisfied "Yeah, okay then" He scoffed, his hands on his hips on the  other side of the island counter opposite me
I hadn't seen him this way before, this was a new side to Dawson, it was confrontational, uncomfortable to have him angry at me, I didn't like it and I sure as hell didn't want to argue with him. I wasn't going to make a big deal of it. I wouldn't do it again, just to save the fight.

Moving  to the back open doors, I kicked my shoes off on the decking, sitting myself down outside in the sun.
Once  still, the pumping blood within my body eased, stinging  pain on my  right leg catching my attention. I cringed and leaned over to examine what  I'd earlier briefly noticed.
The twig I had tripped over had inflicted more damage than originally thought.
A  long rigid cut traced from my ankle around 5 inches upwards. Blood  smeared around the wound, unattended to, left to dry during my walk  back.
I gave a sigh and sat back up, unbothered by the insignificant wound.

"You okay?" My  inspection hadn't gone unnoticed, Dawson standing on the decking not too  far from me, his eyes between my face and leg

"Yeah, it's fine, just caught a branch" I shrugged, brushing it off while I leaned back, soaking up the last of the sun

Momentarily, he had  disappeared, and I assumed that it had been the end of our small  confrontation, but he quickly returned with a small first aid kit. He  walked toward me and sat on the edge of the table in front of me,  opening the little red box beside him, slightly adjusting the holstered  weapon and badge on his belt

I watched carefully, but  attempted not to seem too interested in what I knew was about to occur.  He clicked his fingers for my leg, patting his right knee. I hesitated,  but when our eyes met, I lifted my leg to do as I was instructed.

"It's fine, really" I reassured him, the contact of my leg on his causing me to shift

"Until it gets infected  and your leg needs to be amputated" He mumbled, shooting me a look  before pressing tissue soaked in antiseptic against my open skin

"That was dramatic" I spoke back in between clenched teeth, the wound hurting more than it had in the first place

"Sorry" His hands pressed down, cleaning the blood and dirt debris

My toes clenched inside  my socks, my hands gripping the side of the lounge chair. Silence  threatened to suffocate the moment, and Dawson had probably felt it too  when he spoke

"Did you achieve what you set out to achieve then?"

"My walk?" I watched him, his eyes on my leg, his fingers cautious

"Yes, your walk"

"In a sense, although it  was a little hard to completely release the stress when I knew that  upon my return you would be angry with me" I admitted

"Can you understand why?" He shot

I half nodded, half shrugged "I guess so"

Swiping the remainder of blood from my leg, he let out a lengthy sigh "I'm just trying to keep you alive, that's all"