Page 8 (1/2)

Butch took three long, trippy days to wake up and he resurfaced fro out of the depths of nothingness and wobbling on top of reality&039;s lake of sights and sounds Eventually, he put things together enough to understand that he was looking at a white wall in front of hiround

Hospital rooone

Just for kicks and giggles, he rolled over onto his back and pushed his head and shoulders off the bed He kept hi around It distracted him from his Whitman&039;s Sampler of aches and pains

Man, he&039;d had bizarre, wonderful drea his ar to him to stay with her That voice of hers had been what kept hiht that any idiot who&039;d seen Poltergeist kneas the afterlife For her, he&039;d so beat of his heart, he kneas going to make it

Except, of course, the dreayp She wasn&039;t here and noas stuck in this bag of skin of his until the next badass thing took him down

Godda

He looked up at the IV pole Eyeballed the catheter bag

Then glanced over at what appeared to be a bathrooive his left nut for a shower

As he shifted his legs around, he are that what he was about to do was probably a very bad call But he told hi next to his IV meds, that at least the room spins had rabbed the IV pole to use as a cane

Feet hit the cold floor Weight eased onto his legs

Knees buckled without hesitation

As he fell back on the bed, he kneasn&039;t going to make it to the bathroom With no hope of hot water, he turned his head and eyed the shoith naked lust¡ª

Butch inhaled like he&039;d been cracked on the back of the head

Marissa lay sleeping on the floor in the corner of the room, curled up on her side Her head rested on a pillow and a beautiful gown of pale blue chiffon spilled over her legs Her hair, that incredible waterfall of pale blond, that medieval romance novel rush of waves, was all around her

Holy shit She had been with him She had truly saved hith as he stood and lurched across the linoleuet stuck on the floor, so he settled for standing over her

Why was she here? Last thing he knew, she didn&039;t want to have anything to do with him Hell, she&039;d refused to see hi for¡­ everything

"Marissa?" His voice was shot to shit and he cleared his throat "Marissa, wake up"

Her lashes flicked open and she snapped upright Her eyes, those pale blue, sea-glass-colored eyes, shot to his "You&039;re going to fall!"

Just as his body swayed backward and he toppled off his heels, she leaped to her feet and caught hiht easily, reer than he was

As she helped him back onto the bed and pulled the sheets over hi him like one out of necessity bit into his pride

"Why are you here?" he asked, his tone as sharp as his embarrassment

When her eyes didn&039;t meet his, he knew she also was uncomfortable with their situation "Vishous told uilted her into this Florence Nightingale routine That bastard knew Butch was a si idiot for her and that the sound of her voice would do exactly what it did and bring him around But it was a helluva position for her to be in, a reluctant rope to the proverbial lifeboat

Butch grunted as he rearranged hi

"How do you feel?" she said

"Better" Coed under a bus and still been miles ahead of what the lesser had done to him "So you don&039;t have to stay"

Her hand drifted off the sheet and she took a slow breath, her breasts rising under the expensive bodice of her gown As she wrapped her arant s-curve

He looked away, ashae of her pity and keep her with hio now, you know"

"Actually, I can&039;t"

He frowned and glanced back at her "Why not"

She paled, but then lifted her chin "You&039;re under¡ª"

There was a hiss and an alien walked into the roo mask The face behind the molded plastic was female, but the features indistinct

Butch looked back at Marissa with horror "Why the fuck aren&039;t you wearing one of those getups?" He had no idea what kind of infection he had, but if it was bad enough that the ine he was deadly

Marissa cringed,"I¡­ I&039;ently "I&039;d like to take a blood sample if you don&039;t laring at Marissa "You were supposed to be wearing one of those when you came in, weren&039;t you? Weren&039;t you?"

"Yes"

"Goddamn it," he snapped "Why didn&039;t you¡ª"

As the nurse nailed hith ran out of hiy with that needle of hers

Dizziness slaainst the pillow But he was still pissed off "You should have one of those on"