Chapter Thirteen

Doctor Jones pushed her back to Alex’s room after getting her settled in the new wheelchair. Her treatment must’ve taken longer than she realized, because Alex was back in his giant bed with the nurse cutting fruit on the side as he held a quiet conversation with Aiden. The little one looked refreshingly clean as his little eyes lit up when he saw her, then fell into worry when he realized she wasn’t moving on her own volition.

“What’s wrong with her?” Aiden immediately asked in concern as he also took in her state.

Rolling her eyes as they moved closer, she decided to mess with them as glanced at Doctor Jones and said aloud in a semi-threatening voice, “Patient confidentiality.”

Jones, who’d opened his mouth to respond, instinctively snapped it back shut at her tone. Aiden looked at her, unamused as he replied, “I’m currently your guardian.”

She let out a soft snort. “No, you’re my financier. Unless you want to claim guardianship of all the women and children being admitted.”

“Then as the person financing your treatment, I should know what I’m paying for.” He rolled with it and quipped back immediately, and she couldn’t help the smile that twitched at her lips.

Looking at the understated luxury of the room she was in, she conceded. “Fine. I suppose you can get the run-down from him–when I’m not around.” Her tone was firm. She knew what was wrong, she didn’t need to hear him describe her state. Instead, she asked, “Before that, I need to know two things. First, where am I sleeping? Second, do you have the materials I asked for earlier?”

“Sleep here!” Alex eagerly patted the bed beside him, and her heart half melted. Aiden seemed content to let it happen, but it was the doc who interjected.

“Unfortunately, that may not be the best idea. Vivian has some stitches that she needs to be very careful about, so you can’t accidentally bump her.” It was logical. A kid was restless and might move in his sleep, and she really did need to be careful. She probably also needed to prop herself up with a bunch of pillows because she wasn’t going to be sleeping on her back. The doc seemed to think of the same thing, because he went on, “We’ll get you a body pillow you can rest on so you don’t strain your back.”

“What’s wrong with her back?” Aiden asked at the same time as Alex rebutted.

“I won’t bump her!” She, for one, mostly believed him. He was a considerate kiddo and now that he knew she was hurt, would probably be careful. It was really just his sleeping habits that were in question, but the bed was huge. There was also the fact that there wasn’t another bed in the room, and from Aiden’s frown lines, he wanted to have her under his thumb too.

Looking at Vivian, Doctor Jones made a decision and summarized. “She’s got stitches that she shouldn’t be resting on or straining. No water or weight for two days. They’re mostly concentrated on her back and head. Director Heiliger has ordered that she not move around as much as possible.”

Given that he didn’t go into that much detail in front of her and focused on the limitations they needed to work with, Viv decided to forgive him for betraying her instructions. It seemed to give Aiden the direction he needed, however, as he informed her, “You’ll stay with Alex. We can separate the sides as necessary.” Nodding to the doc, he pulled out his phone and walked a bit away. From the bits she could hear, he was ordering an assistant to bring some type of special desk and pillows.

Thinking for a bit, she called out, “If you’re ordering special pillows, bring more. The others could probably use them too.” She actually wanted to go check on them, now that she was thinking about it again. Besides, he was already funding this whole operation and was clearly loaded, so she didn’t feel like asking for the others to get some nicer treatment would put a dent in his wallet, but it would really help the girls. His only acknowledgement was to glance at her, but she heard him instructing whoever it was to bring more. Good enough.

Slipping off the bed, Alex trotted over to her with his tiny legs, stopping hesitantly in front of her wheelchair as he asked softly, “Uncle Maxim didn’t fix you?” It took a second to compute that he was probably talking about Director Heiliger, whose first name she’d never gotten. Had the man ever even introduced himself to her? She didn’t think so, but she’d gotten his name from the aide downstairs.

“C’mere, kiddo.” With a little bit of finangling and some help from Doc Jones, Alex settled into her lap carefully. At least that part of her was unhurt. She wrapped her arms loosely around him, and he sniffled a little as he finally rested his head on her shoulder, her fingers combing through his hair. Honestly, he was like a tiny bolster that actually helped because she couldn’t lean back. Taking comfort in his warmth as she gently hugged him, she whispered, “Your Uncle Maxim closed up all my owies, but it takes time to heal. I just have to be careful for a few days until I’m all better.”

He sniffled a little more, clearly still holding back tears as he left feather-light touches on her face and asked, “All the owies will go away? You’ll stay with me?”

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She paused, because it felt like there was a far deeper undercurrent to his words than she’d realized, and she glanced at Doctor Jones, hoping he would enlighten her. He looked torn, then ultimately seemed to decide it wasn’t his place to say anything as he looked at the ceiling to avoid her gaze. Her eyes lingered on Aiden, but he was still engrossed in whatever call he was making.

“Yes, sweetheart. I’m going to be just fine.” She avoided the elephant in the room of him asking her to stay. He’d latched onto her, and she really liked the little dude, but she wasn’t going to make any promises she didn’t know she could keep. He seemed to be content with that, for now. She rested her unbruised cheek against his head, snuggling with him for a bit before she yawned. Alex was already half asleep on her, and she smiled lovingly down at him.

“All right, let’s get you to bed. I need to go visit a few of my friends, but then I’ll be back, okay?” He hmmmed quietly in acknowledgement, and Doctor Jones helpfully picked him up and tucked him on one side of the large bed. The movement caught Aiden’s attention, because he finally hung up his phone call to come over.

“Going to sleep? The pillows aren’t here yet…”

She quickly cut him off. “Not quite. I want to go see how the others are doing.” She was, quite understandably in her opinion, still very worried about them. Aiden frowned, making eye contact with Doctor Jones as if telling him to dissuade her.

Given that the doc was employed by the man, he complied. “It’s probably for the best not to get underfoot and interrupt their treatment…”

She held up a hand to interrupt him. “Fine. Let me put this another way. I am GOING to go check on them. Last I checked, this was a free country, and you can’t stop me. So you can either help me do it more safely or get out of my way.” She wasn’t going to give Liane, Lena, Angie, Mary, or any of the others further nightmares by straight up vanishing on them. They’d seen her get taken away on her own, and letting their imaginations run wild wasn’t the answer.

Rubbing his temples, Aiden finally sighed. “Okay. I’ll take you to them. Doctor Jones, watch over Alex.” His tone brooked no argument, so she accepted the compromise for what it was and nodded stiffly. He took over the doc’s position, turning the wheelchair around quickly, which made her wince as she tried to brace herself, clutching the armrest.

He stopped, and her berating words slipped out. “I realize time is money for you, but if you don’t want to do it properly, let someone else. Or are you trying to make me stay longer in your hospital?”

She could practically imagine his stonewalled expression as he commented tersely, “I was just pushing you…”

Pinching the bridge of her nose, she started to turn to look at him but felt the stitches protest and immediately stopped, raising her eyes to the ceiling helplessly. “I’m not leaning against the back of the chair, for obvious reasons. No sharp movements, and you have to go slowly so I can keep my balance without pulling anything. Just call Nurse Taylor to bring me down or something.” She’d actually prefer a motorized unit if she had the option, but those were expensive and not used for just anyone at the hospital. Instead, she had no choice but to depend on people because she couldn’t push the wheels herself.

“I’ll be more careful.” Without being able to see his expression, she was having a hard time interpreting the tonality of his words.

Taking a deep breath in and out to calm herself, she started, “If you’re busy, I really don’t need to impose…”

“So you’re willing to stay here?” He cut in.

“No.” She blurted the word out immediately, and could hear a small sigh from behind her. She really hated not being able to look at his face when she talked to him.

“Then I have time to take you down. Let’s go.” The last two words were a warning, and she clung to her armrests as he started pushing her much more carefully this time. Exiting the room and heading to the elevator, she realized there were security guards she hadn’t noticed before. Or, more likely, hadn’t been there previously. They gave little bows to Aiden as they passed, and she caught him nodding to them in his reflection in the glass.

And then she caught sight of herself. “Wait.” It was hard to get more than a general gist in the window, she could tell her face looked…wrong. “I want to find a mirror, now.” She hadn’t actually looked in the bathroom because Nurse Taylor was taking care of her, but it was no wonder Alex was worried!

“Are you sure?” Just the fact that he was hesitating to find her one spoke volumes.

Letting out a defeated sigh, she nodded. “Yeah, I’m sure.” So they made a detour to the private bathroom. He pushed her in, waiting as she stared at her reflection. Her hair was pulled to the right side of her head and haphazardly clipped there, but the exposed part vividly exposed the stitched wound. Her face, now that it wasn’t covered in dirt, looked more like a forest sunset. Greens, purples, blues, and yellows faded into each other in different patches, making her look like she’d dipped half her face in paint.

Then there were the bruises that recreated a perfect handprint on her neck. Large bandaids covered the open wounds and hid the stitches on the rest of her body, but did nothing to hide the rainbow that provided sharp contrast against her pale skin. Without that extra layer of dust, her face looked gaunt, and the hospital gown hung off her frame like she was a stick figure playing in mommy’s clothes.

With a sigh, she undid the clip and very carefully finger-combed her hair into a side braid, which looked marginally better. She wanted to cover up the scar, but Aiden’s glare as she messed with it made it very clear he was unhappy she was even going near it. Which was funny, given that his face was still covered in military paint.

“Aren’t you going to clean up your face?” She asked curiously. While she could pick out his general features, the paint made it much harder to tell what he looked like, and she could tell it was caked on in several places to change the shape. And yet, no one had batted an eye at him walking around like that.

“Maybe after we’re done seeing people.” He grunted. It was painfully clear he didn’t want them to get a good look at his real face.

Rolling her eyes as she met his in the mirror, she finally sighed, “Fine, let’s go see people then.” There was nothing else she could do to really improve her current appearance, so she might as well face the music. Hopefully, it wouldn’t be giving off the horror-movie vibes she’d always felt followed her in the village.