Betrayal: Book 3 of the Guardians Saga

Ch. 12.1 Slow Healing

It was days later when Cale entered the bedroom silently and watched Alex sleep for a moment. "It's me, Cale." He touched her shoulder lightly.

"Hi." She tried to sit up from the bed, winced, and remained lying down. "Is it your turn already?"

"Don't sit up. I already have the cleaning stuff.  Are you ready?"

"Say your prayer first," Alex said.

She waited obediently as Cale prayed. She never offered her own prayers and that bothered Cale. He didn't object because now she let him pray over her.

"Creator of All, thank you for restoring our teammate to us. Help her as she recovers and draw her close to You. Let her see that You can and will redeem the suffering of those who love You."

Alex huffed, but looked away when Cale raised his head. She threw back the covers to reveal her bloody legs where Morgan had whipped them with an electrical cord.

"Usually I clean them first, but I fell asleep."

"Don't worry. I wanted to look at them anyway.  Aren't there supposed to be bandages on some of those wounds?"

She peered at her legs, but Cale wouldn't let her sit up for a better look.

"Here they are." Cale pulled the wrappings tinged with blood and yellow serous fluid from the rumpled sheets. "You didn't take these off, did you?" he asked, mild suspicion in his voice.

"No, doctor.  I must have thrashed around in my sleep and they came off." Alex grinned ruefully at him and he smiled his gentle smile back.

She twitched when the cold, wet pad first touched her leg, then she lay still.

"Feel free to yell when it hurts. It'll make you feel better," Cale said kindly .

She shook her head.  "It hurts the least with you."

"Really?" He gazed at her with such sympathy and concern that she nodded.

"Yep.  Rile is the fastest.  His attitude is rush in, scrub like crazy, and finish.  He won't respect me if I show that it hurts."

"That is not correct," Cale said. "My brother respects—"

Alex interrupted him. "Poor Gabe," she sighed. "He's so stressed.  I believe it hurts him more than it hurts me, so I can't complain. I wish he wouldn't do it, I feel so bad for him."

"I think he would be more hurt if you tried to stop him."

"I suppose you're right. You're always right."

Cale sighed, "Not always. Not even close." He continued cleansing all the different wounds, changing the gauze pads as they soaked with blood and serum. "Are you sure you're all right? You're breathing awfully fast."

"I didn't say it was painless, Cale, just that it hurts the least with you."

"Now for the worst part, roll over."

She clutched the pillow and slammed her head into it as he swabbed the large raw burn on her back.

"You okay?"

"Just hurry."

In his haste, he scrubbed with more force than he intended.  He stopped when a whimper escaped the pillow.

Cale was reminded why Gabe was so distressed.  The raw area still bore the obscene outline of the dragon that Morgan had burned into her back. "My dear, dear, sister."

"Thank you for calling me 'sister.' I love that but I don't deserve it."

"You don't get to decide that. Your 'decider' is broken."

Alex peeked out from under the pillow. "What did you say?"

Cale grinned. "Did it not translate? Your 'decider' is broken. Come here, sister." Cale sat on the bed and opened his arms. "Let me hold you as a healer and I'll clean your back." When she hesitated, he said, "Draconic Santa Claus. Does that 'ring a bell' as humans say?"

Alex sat up, her face a mix of confusion and hope. Cale wiggled his claws, arms still outstretched, still grinning.

She sat on his lap and laid her head on his shoulder. He gently hugged her, avoiding touching her back. With one hand, he picked up the gauze.

"Are you ready for me to clean the burn?"

She nodded so he sang lullabies, rocked her, and swabbed the burn all at once. 

"I'm finished with cleaning, so I'll put the new bandages on your legs."

"You're so good at singing and soothing me. Thank you."

Cale stroked her hair. "My younger sister Rena was scared of lightning storms and Rile teased her about it and Gabe told her to be brave, so I rocked her and sang to her. Thank you for reminding me of happy memories of my family."

Alex was silent for a long time, resting against Cale's chest until she finally pushed away. "I can change the bandages on my legs. Please help me to the bathroom."       

Cale tried to carry her, but she protested.  He looped her arm around his shoulder. He still ended up carrying most of her weight, but at least her feet touched the ground and she had a minimum of dignity.

"I'll be over here putting away the supplies, so yell when you need me," Cale said as she shut the door.

He didn't want her to know that he could hear her soft sobbing in the bathroom. Morgan had inflicted more injuries than the ones she allowed them to see.

Cale felt Alex needed her denial, and was careful to respect it. He knew Gabe would as well, but Rile worried him. Rile was a face-it-and-get-it-over kind of guy. Cale also thought that his carefree, playboy, youngest brother was clueless as to any aspect of rape.

Cale waited until Alex opened the bathroom door before he turned around, to complete the ruse that he couldn't hear her.

He worried that Gabe and Rile could hear her crying in the bathroom. They hadn't said anything and he was trapped by wanting to conceal it, so he couldn't ask.

"Everything all right?" he asked in his mildest tone, although he couldn't stop his claws from clacking.

Alex laid her hand over his claws. "Yes, if you let me file your poor claws down."

"You don't have to do that."

"It's not a 'have to'. It's a 'get to.'" At his hesitation, she smiled and said, "I promise to not apply my blood-red nail polish."

Heartened by her improved mood, Cale smiled back. "File away. I wonder what my brothers would say if you painted on that gold glitter paint."

***

A/N:

I don't believe in miraculous, complete recoveries so often found in movies, novels, etc. Do these chapters of the healing process work? Or too slow?

Rewrite dedicated to

charlottemallory

who wisely advised me that 'hangout' scenes need to reveal more backstory. Did it work?