Chapter Eleven

He’d already gotten out of the car and she opened the door, only then realizing he’d been reaching for it as she stepped down. He recovered, moving to the back to collect the kiddo. Doctor Jones was checking him; Alex seemed fine, but he was still sleeping. After all four of them were out, they walked briskly to the doors sliding open, entering a fluorescent haven.

It seemed oddly calm, and she realized it was basically empty except for a few doctors and nurses who hurried over upon seeing them. They were flanking one man in particular, and she guessed he was in charge as he greeted Aiden. “President Williams, everything is ready to receive the patients.” Well, that solidified him as a businessman, at least.

Nodding to her and Alex, Aiden replied, “Excellent. The others are still on the way, start with these two.” He indicated them, and Doctor Jones stepped forward to issue orders.

“We need a full checkup and bloodwork with Alex. She’ll need an assisted shower before a comprehensive examination. She’s got a week-old head wound that’s not healing properly.” She was about to argue, but decided against it. Could she shower by herself? Absolutely. However, she hadn’t actually done so in at least the last ten years of her memories. She’d had attendants and maids washing her back and hair in the bath as a noble young miss, and a modern shower hadn’t exactly been available.

One of the nearby nurses had a distasteful look on her face as she muttered, “God, did she crawl through sewage?” She’d said it in a low voice, but Vivian’s hearing was sharper than most.

She could tell by Aiden’s deepening frown that he’d heard it too, and she turned to him, asking, “This is your hospital, right?” At his nod, she then pointed to the disgruntled nurse. “Then get her out of here. I don’t care, but the others are in a fragile state and don’t deserve to deal with her judgey bullshit.” Aiden’s face hardened, and upon seeing it, the man in charge took immediate action, realizing her words had weight.

The woman went pale as the manager turned angrily to her and simply said, “Nurse Gene, you can go home now. We’ll talk about this later.”

“Manager, I…” The nurse started to stutter, but his icy glare stopped her, and she lowered her head to finish obediently, “I’ll return now.” As she turned, if looks could kill, Vivian would be long dead. The woman was acting as if she’d just walked over her family grave rather than asked her to not further traumatize the victims of this situation.

Stepping forward, the manager motioned her forward as he bowed slightly, giving a stern look to the rest of his staff before looking at her. Just the fact that she was standing and talking casually to Aiden meant he was now taking her more seriously. “My apologies, Miss. The rest of the staff will be sure not to make such low-level mistakes again.” There was an undercurrent of or else to his words that was clearly conveyed to them.

Shrugging slightly, she replied, “I don’t really care. I do smell. That’s why I insisted on a shower before treatment. You should prepare for the rest of the women as well. The conditions we lived in made bathing properly practically impossible. They’ve all been through a lot, and it would be counter productive to further diminish their confidence with such comments.”

“Of course. We’ll make sure there are proper arrangements in place.” A look at his assistant was all that was needed before the man hurried off to take care of it, while the manager escorted them to the elevator, speaking to Aiden. “Director Heiliger is waiting upstairs for you.”

“I know the way.” Aiden nodded to him, hitting the floor for the fifth button as the manager bowed to them, giving her one last considering glance as the doors closed on him. As the machine lifted them up, he gave her another considering glance and remarked casually, “You talk as if you’re not one of the victims.”

She gave him a half-shrug. “I think I’ve mentally detached myself from the situation as a coping mechanism. I’m not a victim, I’m a survivor.”

“You sound like an experienced psychologist.” Doctor Jones chimed in.

Yeah…she was probably being too casual around these two. It didn’t matter that much though. Their lives were very different, and after tonight she’d probably never see them again. She’d be nothing more than a blip on the radar as they moved past. Aiden seemed like a busy dude who wouldn’t be personally taking part in such a dirty operation if his family hadn’t been involved.

Giving the doc a look, she replied casually, “I think your standards for psychologists are too low.”

By that point they’d arrived, and Doctor Jones was the first one out as Aiden murmured softly, “Someone trapped in a mountain village with no memories before age twelve shouldn’t have had any experience with what a psychologist even is.”

Her foot paused mid-air before she recovered and kept walking, pretending she hadn’t heard it. After being rescued she’d relaxed, but it seemed like she needed to be more on guard around this man. Following Doctor Jones, she looked around curiously, although she was honestly trying to spot a calendar. Unfortunately for her, everything here was unnaturally uncluttered, holding to a sleek minimalist style.

One of the nurses had come forward to talk to Doctor Jones, and Aiden ignored them both, heading straight for one of the rooms as she trailed behind him. She was about to enter when the nurse called out, “Oh, Miss! You’re not in that room. We’ve prepared the room next door…”

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“She’ll stay with Alex.” Aiden’s voice brooked no argument, and the nurse paled before nodding.

“Oh–of course. I’ll retrieve her items now.” She quickly entered the adjacent room to gather whatever had been prepared for Vivian.

Looking at the irritable man, Viv asked, “Is that really necessary?” She needed more space from him if she was going to keep her actual identity under wraps. He was watching her too closely.

“Yes.” No explanation given, just a straightforward ‘we’re going to do it this way.’ Resigning herself to her fate, she followed him in, stopping when she realized there was a pale young doctor laying on the bed sleeping. Deadpan, Aiden walked over, freeing a hand to chop the dude on the stomach as he ordered, “Move.”

Flinching as he was hit, the man woke up and looked at Aiden blearily as he yawned, saying, “Oh, you’re finally here.” He rolled to the side, standing up as he watched Aiden put Alex down before his gaze turned to Vivian… and stopped. The look of pure confusion on his face as he took in all her dirtied glory was palpable. He scanned her up and down, then did it again, and again.

Aiden finally looked up from settling Alex down and noticed before grunting darkly, “Stop staring at her.”

“Who is she?” He still appeared completely baffled.

Giving him a small wave as the nurse entered with a large bundle and headed straight for a door at the side after a small bow to them, Vivian decided to reply. “Hey. I’m Vivian. I’d shake your hand, but I’m gonna go take a shower, so you two work out whatever this is.” Turning on her heel, she followed the nurse into the bathroom. Looking at the woman, she asked, “You’re the one helping me?”

“Yes, Miss.” The nurse replied respectfully.

Vivian just nodded, locking the door behind her as she entered the extremely spacious bathroom. She hadn’t been paying a ton of attention, but now that she was thinking about it, the whole space screamed low-key luxury. The nurse was sorting out her bundle as she finally replied, “You can just call me Vivian.”

Setting her things down, the nurse gave her a bright smile as she nodded. “It’s nice to meet you Vivian, I’m Nurse Taylor. Now, I was told you have a head wound to be wary of?”

Nodding, Viv replied, “Yeah. If you don’t mind, I’ll go in myself and get the worst of it off my body and then you can help with my back and hair.” Holding up the lank strips, she said, “I know it’s not much to look at, but I’d prefer to not have it shaved off if at all possible.” She didn’t want to start her new life as a baldy.

“Of course. I’m just here to help where you need it.” Nurse Taylor was smiling and respectful, quite unlike the earlier debacle.

“Great. Have you got some new clothes in there? I’d like to burn these ones.” She plucked at her threadbare shirt in distaste.

Laughing softly, Taylor replied, “We’ve got a hospital gown for you now. But I’m sure we can dispose of these.”

“Good enough.” Viv smiled at her, then stepped near the trash can, shucking her dirty rags and depositing them directly into it without any self-consciousness, exposing her skeletal frame. She heard Nurse Taylor’s sharp intake of breath as her scars came into view, but she ignored it and stepped into the shower. She waited on the edge as she turned the water on, letting it heat up to a mildly scalding level before stepping under it, keeping her head clear.

The water rushing over her felt like being baptized. By the time it reached the floor it was practically black, running like vile streaks over the tiles. She took the loofa placed inside, adding soap as she began to scrub vigorously at her skin, scraping off the many layers of dirt Vee lived in. Her body tingled as she felt like she was actually losing weight with the scum.

She turned her back to the hot water, letting it pound over tense shoulders and wash her weariness away. It took seven applications of soap before the water finally began to run clear. Some of her half-healed wounds smarted, but she didn’t care. It felt glorious to be clean. Nurse Taylor occasionally made noises of distress as she watched Vivian scrub. Her skin was extremely pale under all the dirt, which only made the dark bruises stand out all the more.

Finally feeling like she’d done what she could, she nodded to the woman and asked, “All right, I’ll take help now.” Turning off the overhead water, Taylor grabbed the handheld showerhead and had her sit down on a plastic bench as she got to work, starting with her back and slowly moving to her hair. Vivian closed her eyes as she raised her face to the ceiling, giving Nurse Taylor as much room to work as possible.

Her gentle fingers felt like a massage as she worked through the tangles in Vee’s hair, diligently working through them to get the dirt out as she applied a mild shampoo. The wound was never directly washed. Instead, she carefully dabbed at it with a porous sponge, letting the scabs flake off naturally as they loosened. Every move was made gingerly, careful not to hurt her, so Vivian just enjoyed the process of someone serving her once more. It wasn’t going to be a common occurrence, but she’d take help when she actually needed it.

As the last of the water finally turned clear when Nurse Taylor rinsed her off, they both heaved a sigh of relief. The woman helped her out, wrapping a towel around her and then handing her another as she sat down, the woman quickly plugging in a hair dryer to address the most severely wounded area. She had a few spots that started to bleed again as the scabs came off, but her head remained the worst.

The blown air warmed her scalp as Taylor combed it so the part exposed her wound, using a clip to keep it off the area as she patted at it with a clean gauze to catch the new blood. She stuck a few large bandaids on her other wounds to temporarily stop them from leaking. Tsking softly, the nurse informed her, “The doctor will have to take a look at all of these before we send you to the CT scan.” She paused, then asked softly, “Do you need a gynecologist to look at you as well?”

With a slightly awkward sigh, she replied, “No, that’s one thing I don’t have to worry about. The rest of the girls… will need that.” Vee had been extraordinarily lucky in that aspect, which Vivian appreciated greatly. It would be really awkward to come into those memories as a virgin of three lifetimes.

Patting her on the shoulder as she helped her up, Nurse Taylor handed her clean underwear and let her put it on before they got her into the hospital gown as she commented, “I’ll make sure they’re aware. You’re going to be just fine. We’ll take care of you.” She seemed really concerned about…everything, but Viv couldn’t really blame her. Her physical condition was pretty horrendous, and she was better off than most of the others.

Smiling at the kind woman, Vivian replied, “You don’t have to worry about me so much. I’ll be fine. I’m just happy to be out.” She was comforting the woman in return, but whatever. Stepping into the slippers the woman put out, she gave her a bright smile and said, “Really, I’m okay.”

“Very well, child. Let’s go out and let the good doctor take care of you.” Shaking her head, the older woman unlocked the door and opened it, and Vivian stepped out slowly, ready to face the music.