The Doctor

Chapter 25: A Small Flame of Trust

     It took a while for him to return, of course with a slamming of a door that made me jump up and fall off the bed. I sat on the floor shivering in both cold and fear, watching him take off his coat and shirt, crouching in front of the fire pit. Looking at his side, I still see the wound bleeding sluggishly, but I dare not say shit after what happened. When the flames finally flickered to life is when he moved. I flinched back as his hand reached over towards me, grabbing the chain around my ankle and yanking. Letting out a small scream as I was dragged across the floor towards him, I only hoped he wasn't pissed anymore. I was deposited down next to his leg, the heat from the fire making me hiss as I slowly sat up. I carefully looked at him as I scooted closer to the fire, leaning closer to the heat. He just stared down at the flames contemplatively. I sat there a little longer until I heard movement next to me, causing me to jolt backward away from the fire. Before I could get too far, a hand clasped around the back of my neck and dragged me back toward him.

"S-Sorry." I whimpered out, tense, as I was pulled in between his legs. I felt the heat of the fire on my back keeping me from scooting away.

"Why are you apologizing if you have done nothing wrong?"

"I, I don't know," I answered in a quiet voice, flinching away as his hand came up and cupped my cheek. His thumb slowly caressed where he slapped me before he moved down to slowly encircle my throat. I froze with a small whine as I felt his fingers wrap fully around my neck.

"Hush, mouse. There is no reason to punish you anymore, correct?" He asked, his eyes boring into mine. I winced as his thumb trailed up and down my neck.

"No, I don't think so," I said, lifting my hands to wrap around his wrist, begging for him not to tighten his grip. It seemed like he was going to release me but before he could, a thought flashed through his eyes and his grip tightened a fraction. My eyes widened in fear as I tried to yank myself backward.

"I am putting trust in you, mouse, but if you try anything you shall have a fate worse than death. Do you understand?" He warned. I had no clue what he was talking about, but I quickly nodded to the best of my ability.

"Very well." He approved, releasing my neck and leaning back. I let out a small sigh of relief, watching as he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a bundle of medical tools, placing them on the ground in front of me. Looking down, I see a needle and thread, tweezers, bandages, and antiseptics. I look back up inquisitive.

"You shall fix my wound." He started scooting back and laying on his side. I quietly moved over to him, crouching down by his front with the supplies in hand. Gently as I could, expecting a blow to my face, I started to clean the outside of the wound, dabbing it slowly in the process. Just as he said, he didn't even flinch, as if he couldn't even feel the severe burning that it usually caused. When I was done, I took the long pair of tweezers and swallowed hard. Damn, my hands were still shaking.

"Sir?" I began, but he stopped me immediately.

"Proceed," was all he said and I felt even more nervous than before. I was about to massacre his side with this blunt tool and he lay there, calm as ever. Oh, god, he's so going to kill me. I took a few seconds to pull myself together and gather the remaining amount of courage that I still had. Here we go. I don't think I've ever been this gentle in my life before, as I slowly pushed the tool inside the small wound and poked around. The bullet wasn't deep, and it must have been because of all that muscle he had. I glanced down at his face, all around that mask of his, looking for any signs of distress. But it was the same as if I was petting him or something. I wrapped it up, pulling the bullet out and disposing of it before I began sewing his wound shut, thankfully, he only needed four stitches. The wound was miraculously small but then again everything looked small compared to him. Bane was a giant. If he merely sat on me he would crush me. I felt sweat trickle down my back as I finished stitching and cutting the thread. Looking back down, I caught his stare. I could barely stand the intensity of it, so I broke our contact and looked at the wound. I felt his look never leaving my face, as I put a bandage around his wound and sealed it shut. Having learned my lesson with Joker, I quickly scooted back as he sat up, inspecting the bandage. When his eyes once again looked at me, I had to try not to shrivel away.