She reached up and touched it and winced.
The doctor stopped repacking his bag and asked, “Wait. Do you have other injuries?”
She looked up at him. “I don’t think so,” she said. “I got hit across the face a couple times, and the original blow was to the back of my head.”
Immediately his fingers worked over her head, even as he shot Killian a hard look. “You guys have to tell me these things,” he said in exasperation.
“Don’t blame him,” she said quietly. “I haven’t had a chance to even say anything.”
“It’s the first thing he should have asked.”
“It might have been that way,” she said, “but we were still in danger, and, after that, I was being very deliberate about making sure he was who he said he was. I insisted on ID and then a phone call, before I would even talk to him or get down from the tree. By the time we got to the car and then headed to town, he was focused on getting me to you.”
“Well, that’s a good thing,” he said. “The bottom line though is, I’m not too happy with this head injury. Everything I’ve given you will be fine, but you stay where you are, no moving around.”
“Great,” she said. “If that’s something I can possibly do, that’d be perfect, but I don’t know if I can.”
“It’s not an option,” he said. “You do it.” He then turned to Killian. “If she has blackouts, gets dizzy, you know we have to consider a concussion.”
“The worst of the blows were a few days ago,” she said.
“No new blows?”
She thought about and then shrugged. “A couple but they weren’t anywhere near as hard.”
“Still,” the doctor said, “it all compounds.”
“Okay,” she said, “but I should be fine now.”
“You will be,” he said, “because I’ve asked Killian here to make sure you are.”
She groaned. “Haven’t they done enough for me?”
“Nope, now that they’ve saved your life, they’re responsible for it,” the doc said in a laughing tone.
“That’s the last thing I want,” she said. “Honestly I really just want to go home.”
“And we’ll arrange it,” Killian said, “but you’re not in any shape to be traveling right now, especially not to Florida—or wherever you consider home now.”
She sighed, as she looked down at her leg. “It is what it is.” At that, she watched as the doctor gave her a smile, then walked out of the hotel room with Killian, and the door closed behind the two of them. She looked over at Hatch. “I heard you brought food?”
“I brought back plenty and was just about to take everything out,” he said. “What would you like?”
“Some of everything,” she said. “And, if Killian doesn’t come back, I’ll eat his share too.”
Hatch burst out laughing.
She gave him a grin. “I shouldn’t be hungry, but they didn’t feed me much.”
“Did they feed you at all?”
“Some weird shakes,” she said. “They tasted awful.”
“I know. I’m supposed to take protein shakes, but, to me, they all taste awful.”
She nodded. “If you can get some decent things in it, like the sweeter ones, they aren’t bad. But, too often, they’re full of all that healthy stuff.”
“And I even like healthy stuff,” he said. “But, for me, I’d rather have a kale salad than have it all minced up and poured down my throat in a shake.”
“Well, it wasn’t green. It wasn’t anything like that,” she said. “It had a chalky, powdery taste. I figured it was probably laced with drugs, to keep me more compliant.”
“Were you difficult?”
She gave him a flat stare. “As bad as I could be, as often as I could pull it off. Hence all the blows to my head.”
“Got it,” he said. “Remember. Resistance should be doled out carefully. Then it’s actually effective.”
“Oh, so not when you’re in a blind panic?”
“Well, that too,” he said. “Sometimes it’s just hard not to.”
“And sometimes,” she said, “it’s sheer frustration, and you need the relief, so you can focus on another plan for the next time.”
“Wow, I get that too,” he murmured. “Good for you, for keeping some resistance going.”
“I guess it’s hard, isn’t it?”
“A lot of people struggle with it,” he murmured.
She looked at the bags on the table. “Did you unpack them all?”
“I did,” he said as he lifted the empty bags, so she saw.
“What are my choices?”
“It’s all Italian,” he said.
“Is there lasagna?” she asked hopefully.
He nodded and pulled off a tinfoil lid from one square-shaped package. “Can you eat this much?”
She nodded.
He brought it over on a plate, with a towel underneath it to protect her from the heat. He gave her a fork. “If you need me to cut it, let me know.”
“I hope not,” she said, shifting gingerly and only wincing slightly as she put herself into a more upright position to hold the food closer to her. He quickly scooped up pillows and placed them on her lap, so she could rest the lasagna on top. Then he tucked a towel around her as a bib.
She snorted at that. “These clothes are so history anyway. What I wouldn’t give for fresh clothes.”
At that, the door opened, and Killian walked back in. He smiled when he saw her sitting up with food. “Did I just hear you ask for clothing?”
“Absolutely,” she said. “If you guys can produce a meal like this right now when I’m starving, clothing should be easy for you.” He laughed and held up the bag he carried. She stared at it, back to him, and said, “What’s that?”
“The clothes I ordered for you.”
She stared at him in shock. “Seriously?”
“Yeah,” he said. “But are you sure you want to get fresh clothes on now, when you’ll make a mess of it right away?” And he pointed to her leg.
She winced and said, “That’s not fair.”
“No, but just hold on to the thought that pretty soon you’ll get into something clean.”
“Damn,” she said, staring down at her leg. “We’re supposed to put a dressing on it, aren’t we?”
“We will after we eat,” he said.
“Meaning?”
“Let’s let the painkillers have some time to kick in a little more.”
“Okay,” she said. “I can get behind that.”
“I’m sure you can,” he said, with a smile. Then he walked over, scooped up a container for himself, and said, “I didn’t know a pasta joint was around here.”
Between bites, she said, “It’s really good too.”
“Or you’re just really hungry,” he teased.
“I was just telling Hatch that they didn’t give me very much in the way of sustenance,” she said.