Mafia

13 Damon: After the Gallery Part 4 (Final Part)

It was a few hours later when I heard a soft moaning coming from Lupin's bed. She was waking up.

"Hey, Lupin," I said. She turned towards me and squinted, like her eyes wouldn't focus. For a moment, she just laid there, squinting at me with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Who are you?" she asked softly.

"You don't recognize me?" I asked, genuinely concerned. Had she gotten hurt worse than we thought? Should we have taken her to an actual hospital?

"No," she said shaking her head, "but I might if I could actually see. Where are my glasses?" I smiled.

"Right here." I reached over to the nightstand beside the bed and grabbed her glasses. She closed her eyes as I slipped them onto her face.

"How about now?" I asked. She nodded.

"Where am I?" she asked getting more frantic with each question, "What happened? Why am I tied to the bed?" Even with the drugs in her system, I could see she was starting to panic. I reached out to hold her hand, to comfort her in some way, but as soon as I touched her, she flinched. Just like the gallery, I thought. The restraints kept her from moving her hand away, but it still hurt a little when she flinched.

"It's alright," I said, "I'm just going to take these off. Okay?" She nodded. I stood up and slowly moved to the other side of the bed. I could feel her eyes watching me intently as I moved. I was about to undo the restraint on her hand when I remembered how she flinched earlier. I looked her in the eyes, waiting for permission. It took her a moment, but she seemed to understand and gave me a small nod. When I looked back up at her, I could see that she was blushing and refusing to meet my gaze. I smiled. She looked so cute with the red on her cheeks.

I gently took her bandaged hand in mine and removed the restraint from her wrist before going to the other side of the bed and doing the same with her right. I was careful to be more gently with her right arm because of the brace on her wrist.

"Thank you," she said. When she spoke, it was barely above a whisper. If I hadn't been looking at her, I'm not sure if I would've known that she spoken.

"You're welcome," I replied as I sat back in the chair, "I'm sure you've got a lot of questions." She nodded, pushing herself up so she was sitting against the headboard. It took all my self-control to not reach out and help her while she sat up.

"Ask whatever you like," I said with what I hope was an encouraging smile. For a moment, she just sat there, chewing on her lip, taking deep breaths, and playing with her fingers while refusing to look me in the face.

"Where am I?" she finally asked.

"My place," I replied, "Well, mine and my family's."

"Why?"

"You wouldn't let me take you to a hospital," I said with a shrug, "and I couldn't just leave you in the alley. The only thing I could think of was my place."

"Okay," she said, "What happened?"

"That depends," I said, leaning forward in my chair as I spoke, "How much do you remember?" Her brow furrowed and her tongue stuck out just the tiniest bit while she thought. I couldn't help but thinking how adorable it made her look. All that concentration. I didn't know it was possible for one person to think that hard.