Crucifix: Longing Ch. 03

{Pinching? Damn!} A slightly sad look crossed her face.

"Hey, it's not a big deal. You felt it and that's all that matters. Close your eyes again, please." When he saw that here eyes were indeed closed, William held his pen and ran it up her foot try to check the intensity of any reflex irritability. He slid it up from heel to toe three times before he saw a 'knee jerk' reaction. "Good."

Erin's eyes flew open. "What was that?"

"Just a test to check for reaction to stimuli. The fact that you felt it is wonderful." William clicked the pen back 'on' and put a little 'X's' in each blank on beside the left foot on the sketch on her chart. "Close your eyes again." He could tell simply by the flush of her cheeks that Erin was excited to know that her left leg responded to stimuli.

However, the hope that was alive for a minute was choked away when he did the reflexive response test on her right foot five times without so much as a twitch.

"Well? Aren't you going to do something?" Erin sighed deeply without opening her eyes. In reality, she knew that he wasn't just standing there staring at her. No, she knew that he was doing something...her right leg just couldn't feel it. {Damn it!}

William could feel the frustration she emitted. He would have loved nothing more at that moment than to see her big toe twitch. But no. Nothing. He moved up to her calf and started to massage it. Again, there was nothing to indicate that she could feel his touch.

By the time he made it to her knee and he saw no reaction, William decided to try something a bit more drastic. He took the safety pin out of his pocket, opened it and quickly poked the bottom of her foot. Nothing. Her calf. Nothing. The side of her knee cap.

Erin jumped, "SHIT! What was that?" She opened her eyes and saw the pin in his hand. "What the fuck was that for?"

"Pain. You reacted to pain. It's not the reaction I'd hoped for, but it's a response." Pain, while a good indicator of nerve receptivity is not one of the ways a physical therapist tries to elicit a response. {Damn, that sounded so professional.} He stared at her and poked the tip of the pin along her thigh. "How about that?"

She grinned, "Yes, I feel it." That's when it dawned on her. {Holy shit! I felt that! Oh my God. Oh my God!}

William watched her face light up as the realization that her right leg did react to stimuli overwhelmed her. And then, without trying to bash her hopes into a messy pulp, he carefully said, "Erin, you need to realize that even if this means you have sensation, it doesn't mean you'll be walking anytime soon. And you might always need a cane."

She shook her head, "I know."

His heart melted a tad when she looked at him with her soft, golden eyes and before he realized what he was saying he blurted out, "Your eyes are beautiful, Erin."

That was a compliment she hadn't heard in months. Not since James... "Thank you." It took a few seconds for her to realize that she didn't feel overwhelmed with sadness when she thought of James. Even if it was a peace she felt for only a few seconds. "That's very kind of you."

William saw the stony mask return to her face. "The important thing is to make your legs and your brain to talk to one another while we convince your spine to allow them to converse." As he spoke, William touched his right hand to her cheek, then to her thigh and last, along her low back. His left hand remained on her thigh.

He let his hand linger on her thigh, touching the edge of her shorts, longer than he should have and stared into her eyes again. He knew he could easily see himself falling into those eyes. {Keep your hands off, Will. God, are you stupid or what?}

Erin felt his hot hand on her leg and back and got that same, intense tingling sensation deep in the pit of her stomach that she would often get when she saw an intensely romantic scene in a movie or when... {Stop it!} "Yeah, gotta convince them to communicate." {How fucking stupid can you sound, Durant? God Almighty. It's not like he's doing you.} That silly, off the cuff thought, made her blush.

William decided it was time to stop the 'exam'. "Let's discuss the regimen you'll be working on. For the next few weeks."

Erin held up her right arm, "What about my arm?"

"That's Occupational Therapy. You'll be working with someone else for that." William turned as if to avoid her next question.

"Someone else?" {Damn.} "Who?"

He cleared his throat. "Her name is Victoria Bardole. You'll like her. She's my fiancée."

Erin nodded and smiled politely, "Oh."

Not much else was said between the two of them for the remaining hour. Juju Morris came to help William work with Erin at the low-weight station. Or, more correctly, for Erin, the 'no-weight' section. Lifting her own leg would be enough of a challenge for a while.

Before Erin realized it, she was sweating and physically exhausted. But she did it. She moved her left foot. It only took twenty minutes and all the will power she could muster. {Holy Christ, why is this so hard?} By the time William wheeled her back out into the waiting area, Erin looked like she was ready to take a well deserved nap...right after an equally well deserved bath.

Chaselyn couldn't believe the transformation in Erin from when she'd seen her go through the double doors an hour and a half earlier. Well, that wasn't true. Erin was always a hard worker who thrived on the effort it took to reach her goals almost as much as the goal itself. She kissed her daughter's damp brow. "Let's get you home."

William watched the mother and daughter leave the Grayson Center's physical therapy lounge; and, as the mother rolled his new patient away, William realized he was sad. No, frustrated. Sexually frustrated. {God, I can already tell that this is not going to be easy.} He returned Erin's chart to his tiny desk and waited as calmly as he could for Vicki to return.

******

Five forty-five came and went. Vicki should have been home, but she wasn't. Six forty-five came and went. Still no Vicki. He called the airport. Her flight had been delayed by at least two hours. {Shit!}

Nine o'clock came. No Vicki and he was so wound up he could barely contain himself. Ever since that girl, Erin Durant, had entered his professional life that morning, William was having trouble focusing on personal things other than having sex. What was it about her? Was it the similarity in their circumstances? Was it watching the dark cloud that loomed over her break apart so that some light could come in? Was it her golden eyes? Her hair? That soft, angelic face?

By ten o'clock William was one giant walking raw nerve. {Jesus H. Christ! Vicki, where in God's name are you?!?} He actually considered just going to town on himself like he'd been doing for the past week simply to alleviate the need he had. But no. He was bound and determined to wait for her.

He laid in their bed and watched the ceiling fan spin slowly around and around. And even though William tried his best to stay awake, he fell asleep waiting for Vicki to return. His mind raced with thoughts of the day. He started to dream...............

******

..............Vicki smiled at him and kissed his forehead, "What are you doing?"

William looked around, confused. {This isn't the house.} "I was waiting for..." He realized he was in the PT waiting room by the huge window that overlooked the pond at the Grayson Center. "Hold on...I...wait..."

Vicki walked, or rather floated somehow toward him. William was so confused. "What's going on?"

She laughed, "Work you idiot, work." And then, for some strange reason, Vicki started to peel her clothes off. "Let's go baby."

William was shocked, "Vicki, what the Hell are you doing?"

"I'm going to work. Now come on or we'll be late." He watched Vicki push open the heavy doors to the PT room. "Come on, William." She turned and faced him. But he couldn't see her face. Only the outline of her body, silhouetted in the brilliant sunshine that filled the room. As she walked away from him, he couldn't help but stare at her perfect shape. "Well, are you coming?" She giggled and dashed away.

William tried to catch up to her, but for some reason he couldn't. His legs felt like they were laden with something. Lead, maybe. He stopped and tried to catch his breath. He felt someone standing behind him. And then he felt two cool hands cover his eyes. Someone, a female with a voice he recognized, whispered in his ear, "Guess who?"

He tried to lift her hands away from his face and heard her ask again, "Come on Billy, guess who...try...try."

"Claudia?" William's heart started to pound harder. What was she doing here? Shouldn't she be in Orlando? Did Brody and Claudia come to Atlanta to visit? But something told him, she was not here with her husband and children. "Why are you here?"

"I came to see you Billy. Silly Billy, silly Billy." She took her hands off of his eyes and walked in front of him. She was so beautiful. Angelic. And William couldn't help but put his hand on her cheek. "Did you miss me Billy?" She kissed him very gently on his lips. "I missed you."

William heard a voice, Vicki's voice, calling to him from one of the curtained areas. "Come here, William. Hurry." Her voice sounded urgent and he felt compelled to go to her. "Now."

He ran to her and pulled back the curtain. {What in God's name?} There before him, on the massage table was Erin Durant asleep and stretched out, wearing her big gray sweat shirt. "Erin? But Vicki why is she here?"

Vicki giggled and reached out her hand to Claudia, who had somehow appeared right before her. "She's a new toy, William. Don't you want to play with her?"

"What in the name of...shit...what's going on?" He looked at Claudia, "What's going on...tell me, please."

Claudia grinned and ran her free hand down his chest to the hot bulge in his pants, "Come on Billy, we know you want her don't you? It's alright you know. We won't tell anyone." She ran her slim fingers across Erin's lips, "She so soft." Then he watched as Claudia leaned and kissed Erin's lips very lightly. "God, she smells so wonderful. Come here, Billy"

He just stood there watching. "Claudia, what are you doing?" He watched his sister kiss her once more and he was awestruck at how badly he wanted to join her. But something about this was so wrong. He walked closer to Erin and his sister and stared at them. Erin didn't move, not one bit. In fact, he had to touch her to see if she was real. He felt her skin. {Real, it's her. God, what's going on?}

Vicki's voice called him, "Her legs are so nice. Don't you think so, baby?" William turned and saw Vicki slowly taking her hand up and down Erin's pale, slender, dancer's legs. Then he watched as she started to kiss Erin's legs. Taking time to stop every now and again to look up at him. William was gobsmacked. He felt weak. "Yummy. You do think they're nice, don't you William?"

"Yes, her legs are so nice. I want to kiss her, too." He couldn't believe what he had just said. But faster than a blink, he was there beside Vicki and they were kissing Erin's legs. {Holy Mary, she tastes like...cotton candy.} William started to have trouble breathing. "Stop, stop. This isn't right."

Claudia stood in front of him, "Come on Billy, you know you want her. Who wouldn't? She's luscious. You like luscious things don't you?"

He nodded.

"Like me, right?" She slowly pulled off her top and revealed her beautiful breasts to him. Breasts that as a hot, hormone driven teenager he used to sneak and look at when she was changing her clothes. She was so fucking hot. All his friends talked about doing her. He couldn't help but look at her.

And one time she actually caught him getting off to her picture. But she didn't see the picture; she thought it was to something on his TV. He remembered how she just laughed, shook her head and walked off saying, "Father Thomas said you'll go blind doing that, Billy." {Fuck Father Thomas, fuck rules. God, I want her.} He knew it was wrong to want her. William had spent many Saturday afternoons in the confessional at Our Lady of the Lake Church.

"Claudia, please don't do this to me." He could feel tears welling in his eyes and a painful tightness in his pants. "Please."

"Alright Billy. Don't get upset. Look, Vicki wants me." Claudia turned toward Vicki, "Don't you?"

William watched his fiancée take Claudia's hand and then kiss her as if she were kissing him. It was so amazing. It was beautiful. It was making him so hot. He watched their soft pink tongues as they moved them together. He watched Vicki put her hand on Claudia's breast and start to massage it. "What are you doing?"

Claudia smiled at him, "She's doing what you want her to do, Billy. We're doing what you want us to do."

Then William watched in amazement as Claudia went down before Vicki and started to kiss the edge of her lacy panties. He looked at Vicki and saw the same expression on her face as when he would lick her. He looked down and saw Claudia partaking of the woman he would soon call his wife. {Jesus Christ, what is going on here?} "Stop. Stop! STOP!" He yelled at her and Claudia stopped.

He heard Vicki giggle and looked down into Claudia's blue-green eyes. He saw her lips glistening with the sweetness of his bride to be. William couldn't help himself. He reached down and pulled his sister up to him. Without so much as a second thought, he kissed her lips. She tasted wonderful. It was a mixture of Claudia and Vicki. Everything he thought he ever wanted.

But when he opened his eyes he was not looking into Claudia's eyes. Instead, he was trapped in the hot gaze of Erin Durant's golden eyes.

William woke up. He was drenched with sweat and his mind was racing. He tried to shake it off. {Let it go. Vicki'll be here soon.} He looked at the clock.

William lay there in the shadowy darkness trying to understand what had just happened. {God, Will, it was just a dream. You're just wound up. But why? Why was he so wound up? Erin Durant was a patient...just a patient.

He shook his head when it dawned on him that he'd had a second lurid dream with his sister and that wasn't what he was focusing on. As he lay there trying to sort it all out, he realized he knew why she was on his mind.

He had put his hands on her legs. Moved them slowly as he waited to see her response. He remembered thinking to himself even then that maybe, just maybe he was going just a little too slowly. He also remembered how soft her skin was and how he wanted to keep going up her thigh, to see what lay underneath her little blue shorts.

And dear God, she smelled so soft. {Jesus, William. She's a patient. Maybe you should give her case to someone else.} But the other part of his body, the one that could make him do practically anything, told him 'No, don't do that. It'll be fine. Trust me.'

He drifted back to sleep only to be awakened by the sound of the garage door opening. He turned to look at the clock. Twelve fifty-two. {It's about fucking time!} He was mad. {Where in the Hell has she been?} He was so mad. And he wasn't even sure why he was mad.

A couple of minutes later Vicki came into the bedroom, completely worn out. "God, baby, I'm sorry. My flight was delayed. And I was starving so Trey took me to get a bite to eat."

"We have food here you know." He was so angry. {God, she's so fucking inconsiderate. Why didn't she call?} "You know, you could have called."

"Jeez, William, my battery died."

"Battery died?" William couldn't believe her. "Didn't Trey have a phone?" She'd been gone for a week and she had to know how much he wanted her. Couldn't she hear it in his voice?

She rolled her eyes at him, "Damn it, William. I'm fucking tired. I'm going to bed now. If you don't want me to go sleep on the couch, then fucking shut up."

William sighed and shook his head, "Sorry. Really."

Vicki turned away from him and went to the bathroom, muttering something he couldn't make out. He watched her close the door. Something wasn't right. Something seemed different about her. She was acting even more aloof now than before she left for her trip. He waited and waited for her to come to bed. Finally, he turned off his bedside lamp and decided to go to sleep.

And as soon as the light was off, Vicki quickly climbed into bed and rolled away from him. {She's just tired, William. That's all.} His eyelids grew heavy. Images of Vicki and Claudia and Erin raced through his head. William went back to sleep more wound up than before. But he knew he could remedy that quickly tomorrow morning in a nice hot shower.