Reunited Ch. 06

*****

Ellie opened her eyes groggily, then closed them again. Her head was killing her and the lights were bright. After another moment, she tried again, more slowly this time so as to allow her eyes time to adjust. Now that she stopped focusing on the pain in her head, she felt that she was in warm water and resting against—she turned her head slowly to look back and realized that she was lying against a man. Not just any man, but Alec.

"Am I dreaming?" she blurted out.

"Nah, but it's good to know I'm in your dreams," he wiggled his eyebrows at her and grinned mischievously.

Ellie groaned and looked down. "I'm naked?" She paused, remembering. "You found me."

"Why can't you just for once listen to me, Ellie?! If I hadn't woken up or if I'd been too late..." His voice trailed off and he closed his eyes, imagining how the scene could have been so much worse.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, ashamed of her pitiful escape attempt.

Alec knew she'd be wondering, so he told her what had happened. "I'm sorry, but I had to remove your clothes to assess damage. I promise I wouldn't have done so otherwise.

She stayed silent, just nodding her head to acknowledge he was right.

"You are hurt, though. Can I help you wash your back at least? You have cuts there and I'd like to rinse off the blood so I can see how deep they are. Then I'll get out and you can have the bathroom to yourself."

Ellie found herself nodding in agreement. She started to lean forward, but gasped and stopped as she realized just how bad of shape her ribs were in.

Taking a deep breath—which hurt a lot—she persisted, crossing her arms to cover her chest and resting her forehead on her knees. She knew he couldn't see anything from behind, but she was still unnerved by him seeing her naked at all.

After a moment's hesitation, she felt the washcloth on her shoulders. The warm water felt good and Alec was gentle with the cloth so as to minimize her discomfort. She closed her eyes and tried to relax. It had been so stupid to run off like that and expect to be safe. She should have known they would be there. Maybe being with Alec was better than running away from her problems again. Maybe.

*****

Alec hesitated as Ellie leaned forward. The new position brought even more attention to her body's thinness. He felt ill but forced himself to ignore it and wash her. He started with her shoulders and tried to remain gentle, but after a couple swipes of the cloth, he had to use more force to get the blood off.

"I'm going to be a little rougher to get the blood off now. Just a warning."

She nodded so he put more pressure on the cloth. This time, as he wiped down her back, the dried blood came off completely. He ran the rag down her back again, this time noticing irregularities in her skin tone.

"Ellie," he said as he continued washing her, "what's on your back?"

She didn't answer but he felt her tense under his hands. After a moment, however, her back was devoid of blood and he could study her skin more closely.

"Where did you get all of these scars?" He carefully kept his tone light, but inside he was already coiled with rage.

She still didn't answer him.

"I'm serious! What the hell happened to your back? It's covered in scars."

"I know," she said quietly. "He was angry with me the first few times I tried to leave. The third time, he whipped me."

Alec went completely still. He even held his breath for a moment as the information sank into his mind. "He did what to you?"

"He had a whip that he used with his whores," she spat out the last word. "When his guys brought me back, he told them to leave, tied me down, and whipped me."

Alec swallowed. There were too many lashes to count. "How many times?"

"I don't know. I passed out after about ten, I'm such a wuss," her voice broke. "He, um, continued for a long while after I passed out, I heard. One of the servants eventually stopped him. She asked him to whip her instead because otherwise he'd kill me." She paused, her voice sad. "I never got to thank her. She disappeared within a week."

"You are not weak, you hear me? You survived and you eventually escaped. Many wouldn't have the strength to do so, but here you are, still fighting to stay away from the bastard."

Ellie said nothing. She knew the truth. If she'd been strong, she'd have never fallen for Davidson's tricks in the beginning. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

"Els? Do you understand?"

Still no response. Alec put his hand on her shoulder and lightly shook it. "Ellie, please answer me at least. I need to know you're still conscious."

This time she shuddered. He reached forward and grabbed her. Since she was still curled up, he was able to maneuver her around to face him. Though her head was still on her knees, he could tell she was crying silently.

"Ellie? It's okay. You're safe now." He gathered her into his arms, trying to comfort her, but she stiffened under his touch. She still didn't trust him. He felt a pang of anger. He just wanted her safe.

"Okay, do you feel like you can stand up and take a shower?"

She nodded, then spoke up, her voice full of tears. "May I have a few moments first? Please?"

"Of course. I'll go get some dry clothes, then I'll come back and see if you need help."

He got up, dried himself with a towel as best he could, and walked back across the hall to scrounge up some clothing for himself. He then returned to the bathroom, still in his dripping clothes. She hadn't moved, but wasn't noticeably shuddering anymore. Luckily, her wounds looked to have stopped bleeding. It seemed her cuts would heal just fine without stitches. Thank goodness those men were such ineffective idiots. They probably only got her unconscious by surprising her.

"Ok, here's the plan. I'm going to help you stand. Then I'll turn on the shower, close the curtain, and start changing. I think you can soap yourself and deal with your hair, but I need you to keep talking to me so I know you don't need my help, alright?"

She nodded.

"That's not talking."

"That's fine," she whispered.

He pulled the plug to let the dirty water run down the drain, stood her up, and turned the shower on before pulling the curtain closed.

"So it's been a long time since we've actually talked. Do you still like the same movies? You didn't seem interested in the one last night."

"Yes."

He had finished removing his wet clothes and started drying off as he said, "I bet Jake's parents stocked some good ones. You had similar movie tastes as Jake, right?"

"Uh huh."

"Do you want to maybe watch a movie while you eat?" he asked as he dried himself.

"Ok."

"Do you still like Hamburger Helper?"

As he put his boxers on, he could hear a little life in her voice as she answered that one. He'd be willing to bet she was smiling as she said yes.

Now he was putting dry pajama pants on over his boxers.

"What about tv shows? What's your favorite these days?"

No answer.

"Ellie?"

He ripped the curtain open and saw her leaning against the wall, her face looking almost green.

"Hey are you ok?"

"Dizzy. I think I might throw up."

"It's okay." He reached over and turned off the water, then grabbed a towel and leaned in to get her. He wrapped the towel around her before scooping her out of the tub and sitting her on the floor. "Can you kneel in front of the toilet?" She nodded weakly and did so with his support.

He held her hair with one hand and rubbed an arm with the other, taking care to not touch any areas where she'd been cut or kicked. In the next few minutes, she vomited a few times, then relaxed against the toilet.

"Better?"

"Yeah...so sorry."

"It's fine. The good news is that you didn't bring up any blood. That actually makes me feel better. The bad news is that you could have a concussion. I think you hit your head hard during that fight." He grabbed some toilet paper for her to wipe her mouth.

"I'm going to get you a glass of water. Stay here until I get back, ok?"

She nodded, but it wasn't as weakly as before, which made him feel relieved.

He got her a cup from the kitchen cabinet and filled it with water. When he brought it to her, she was able to rinse out her mouth without any help, so he put out his hand to help her stand.

Warily, she accepted his hand and stood. Though at first she looked strong, her face drained of color again a moment later. The towel dropped as she fell forward, but he was there and wrapped his arms around her, pressing her to his chest.

"You okay, missy?"

He felt her nod, but more importantly, he also felt her body against his. She was naked now, which her bare chest pressed against his upper abdomen. Though she was painfully thin, he'd never lost his attraction for her and having her naked in his arms was proving to be even more of a turn-on than he had imagined.

"Well this is an interesting situation," he said to her. "Do you need to throw up again?"

She shook her head.

"Ok, good. Do you think you can walk to the living room? It's about ten feet away."

"Maybe if you help me." Her voice was weak still. What had happened to the strong, sassy woman he'd known? The Ellie he'd met in college would have tried to deny him the opportunity to help just to show off her independence.

He leaned her against a wall, bent down to retrieve her towel, and wrapped her in it again. "Would you like me to carry you out to the couch?"

"No," she quickly asserted. "I can walk. I just need a little help to stay balanced." Though still weak, her voice had a slight edge as she finally demonstrated some independence.

Maybe she's still in there somewhere after all. The thought made him smile.

*****