“Damn it!” Damien cursed scooping her up into his arms, turned the chair she was sitting on around until it’s back rested on the desk and sat down with her on his lap. Her head lolled back and forth as he moved. He cupped it in his hand to steady her and kissed her cheek. She was warm and perspiring. The last time this happened she didn’t remember she had a son.
He turned to where DJ was. He was moving towards them very slowly, his eyes wide as saucers probably fearing the worst. The same look he’d given him when Elaine had called with the news. They’d just gotten their hair cut and headed to a jewelry store to get VS something to just say they loved her. He wasn’t sure what he felt for her the years he’d been searching for her but this last month, he’d fallen for her. How could he not? She was wonderful nothing like Ellsa. He was convinced now that she was a different person and he was planning to meet up with Dale and convince him of the same.
Damien’s heart dropped to his stomach when he heard Dale had arrested her. But when Elaine told him that the man they’d been running from had found her minutes after Dale had, he was relieved. He might be angry with her, but he was no idiot. But now seeing her, limp in his arms, he wasn’t so sure his cousin’s hands were the safest for her to be in.
“I should never have left you.” He sat her up on his lap and shook her, “Come on stay awake.”
She groaned, her face creasing in pain. He was tempted to squeeze her injured wrist to keep her awake, but he could also push her over the cliff to oblivion.
“Daddy, open her mouth.”
He looked at DJ. He was rummaging through his backpack that he never goes anywhere without and emerged with a bottle of… Tobasco sauce?
“Why do you have Tobasco sauce in your backpack?” even as he asked he thumbed Tasha’s lower jaw open.
“Extra hot Tobasco sauce. It’s a stimulant enough to keep her from completely losing conscious.” He shook a generous amount on her tongue.
“That’s new. Why not use smelling salts instead?” Doran asked innocently enough.
“She’ll unconsciously hold her breath. She’s been trained to hold her breath for a very long time.” DJ answered absently. Damien noticed the attention he’d drawn with that.
“DJ what is it that Aunt Elaine is always telling you?”
DJ looked up at him and then around the room. He turned back to Damien and with a small nod of understanding. Tasha chose a great time to sputter awake because his warning had garnered more attention. DJ smiled triumphantly fastening the bottle closed before putting it back into his backpack.
“DJ that’s still not funny!” Tasha coughed.
“Great job buddy,” Damien was so relieved he didn’t care if he got arrested as an accessory. He didn’t know the process of getting her back to herself once she’d woken from one of her fainting spells with no memory. He kissed Tasha’s temple. It was still warm. “DJ she’s still a bit warm.”
He worried his little lip. He didn’t know what to do either. This was too much of a weight on his little shoulders and he’d bared enough of the weight making sure his mother was okay. It was Damien’s turn.
“It’s okay son. Why don’t you go with Paloma and get your momma some cold water with ice?”
He stared warily at Damien. He was scared of leaving his mother for even a second. They’d left her alone in the cabin and this happened. This was Damien’s fault. He never should have left her. He promised to take care of them both and he’d failed a month into their new lives.
“It’s okay buddy. Paloma is—”
“I know who she is,” he cut Damien off with a surly voice. “I know who they all are—Kevin, Paloma, Richard, Doran and Gwen. Their work numbers, private numbers, numbers of their next of kin and where they live. Momma says the best defense is information. If I ever got into trouble, I knew who to call and where to go. They would protect me.” A single tear rolled down his cheek,. “She was wrong and momma is never wrong. Does this mean—”
“DJ, water with ice,” Damien ordered. He couldn’t take the kid’s disillusion. In his eyes, every one his mother had told him he could trust had betrayed him. He was questioning his mother and that would only confuse him more.
“Ow my head,” Tasha moaned. She went to raise her hand, but Damien kept them down. No need to worsen the pain by moving.
DJ kissed Tasha’s temple and whispered, “You were wrong this time momma. I’ll be right back.” he turned away and walked to Paloma, took her hand in his and pulled her to walk with him.
“What about me?” Dale blurted out. “What did she say about me?”
DJ stopped and turned to Dale. “She was wrong about you too Uncle Dale. You are no hero.”
The room was silent as they all watched DJ and Paloma leave. Tasha tried to sit up straighter, but Damien just reclined her. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“You sent our son off with one of them, where do you think?” she tried to fight him off but he held her still.
“Good to see you’re coming around but let’s not tempt fate. Stay still.” She huffed, her eyes narrowed at him. He chuckled, “You shouldn’t be turning me on in a crowded room honey.”
“Damien!” she admonished.
He smiled raggedly at her, “Oh that’s even worse.” He leaned down to kiss her, but she turned her head.
“Would you please be serious! If you haven’t notice I’m cuffed—don’t you dare say it!”
He laughed harder, “If pissing you off keeps you awake, I’ll do it all day.”
She sighed, rolling her lower lip into her mouth, “Has DJ always known about your cousins? Actually, how long has he known all these people? I wasn’t very lucid, but I did hear some of what he said.”
She was asking questions Damien wanted to know and apparently she was the only who could provide the answers. Answers she didn’t remember. He’d have to wait for Elaine and Mike.
“Why don’t we wait for your sister before we even attempt discussing something that may end with you blacking out?”
She nodded, “Okay but could you get these cuffs removed. I seriously can’t feel my left fingers.”
“They are that tight? Is it—” his breath got caught in his throat when he saw her swollen hand and both wrists were chafed red. “What the hell!” he growled glaring at Dale, “Why not cutoff her hands while you were at it? Give me the bloody key!”
“She’s a criminal,” he answered blandly.
“If I ask again, it will be with my fists!”
“Damien calm down. We can’t both get arrested, for DJ’s sake.” Tasha spoke.
“Key, now!”
“Here, let me,” Doran spoke next to them.
Tasha pulled away from his reach, “No offense, but I would rather Damien do it.”
“I won’t hurt you.”
“I still would rather Damien do it.” She insisted. With a nod Doran handed Damien the key.
“Make sure to give it back,” Dale interjected.
Damien took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. Dale was really getting on his last nerve. Gently he opened the cuff around her right hand. She winced slightly drawing her hand to her chest now that it was free. He just couldn’t get over how red they were and they probably hurt to get back normal circulation.
“This may hurt a lot more,” he warned.
She nodded her lips in her mouth. He felt her go rigid as if bracing herself. As gently as he could, he opened the cuff. She turned her face into his shoulder and screamed. It came out muffled, but he felt the intensity. He cupped the back of her head and held her there rocking her gently.
“I’m so sorry. We’ll get some ice on it, get you some pain killers and it will be okay.”
“She may need an ex-ray,” Kevin the youngest in Dale’s team stepped forward and reached for her hand, pausing and looking at Damien as if asking for permission.
“Babe, he’s going to take a look at your wrist—”
She pulled her face away from his shoulder, “Who Dale? He’ll break it just for kicks!”
“Not Dale. Kevin.”
She stared at Kevin suspiciously, “Aren’t you too young to be in the death squad?”
He snorted, “Contrary to what you were led to believe we don’t usually harm suspects.”
“Just occasionally?” she asked smartly, Damien had to bit the insides of his cheeks to keep from laughing.
Undeterred Kevin pressed, “May I?”
“Thanks but no thanks Damien will look at it.”
“Babe medicine isn’t one of the fields I enjoy studying. Kevin, on the other hand, could leave here and walk into an ER. No problem.”
She sighed, “Let me guess, he’s one of you.”
Damien chuckled, “Yes, he’s one of us.”
“And Elaine said your species was rare. You sure you know what you are doing?”
Kevin nodded with a smile, “Yes and by the way we are human just smarter than most.”
Tasha gave her hand up to Kevin. She winced a few times each time he pressed down on the swelling. After a few minutes she said, “Mind telling DJ that?”
“Tell him what?”
“That just because he’s the smartest kid in his school, teachers included, doesn’t mean that he was beamed down from out of space. He’s having a difficult time fitting in—well he was until his teacher decided to make him her assistant,” she chuckled. “If he keeps handing out candy for each right question in all his classes, he’ll bankrupt us both!”
Damien pressed his lips to her temple when she winced again, “Why didn’t he tell me he was having a hard time. I would have helped.”
Tasha’s eyebrows both went up, then she turned to Kevin. “Kevin, how was school for you?”
“Lonely but I managed.”
She turned back to Damien, “That’s why I asked him. You had two cousins who had your back, DJ is alone in school. Sometimes I feel so guilty dropping him off every morning but the kid loves school and he needs to learn how to be social.”
“Have you thought of private school?”
“Damien?” Tasha said passing off the question.
Considering where they were, he was amazed how they were talking about DJ’s school life and getting advice from one of the people who wanted to see VS behind bars for life.
“I’ll think about it but better to hear what DJ wants.”
“How old is he?”
Damien couldn’t help the smile that commanded his face, “Five with an IQ of one hundred and fifty-five, three points below mine.”
“Ten below mine,” Kevin added with a smug smile that made Tasha laugh. “But, you still need to have that wrist checked by a real doctor. You might have a fracture.”