Ray Again

The following morning, two days after the 'incident', I woke up feeling MUCH better than I had been feeling.  And I was also faceplanted into the makeshift bed.
I propped myself up on my elbows, still laying on my belly.  I was extremely happy to find that it didn't hurt much to use my  arm.  I looked to see that my hubby was still fast asleep, and then I looked on the other side to see that Hallie was still sleeping peacefully.  Flynn's arm was laying across my back.  And then I noticed he was...snoring.  Yup.  Much softer and funnier than Merida's loud snoring that could be compared to a chainsaw :D
I laid there for awhile, watching Hallie.
When I heard Flynn stirring, I turned to look at him.  He woke up and looked up at my face, a smile spreading on his.
"Morning," I whispered quietly.
He returned the greeting and I leaned over to bump my forehead with his.  I had to lean pretty far, and he took that to his advantage.  He tightened his arm around my back and I ended up flopping over onto my side and right up against him.
I gasped in surprise and then laughed through my nose.  I reached behind me and gave him a shove.
"Hey," he said quietly.
I twisted around to peer at him over my shoulder.
"What?" I said, blinking in what I hoped looked like innocence.
He chuckled to himself and touched his lips with mine for a second or two, and then he brushed a few stray hairs away from my face.  I grinned at him and then turned back to watching Hallie.  I felt embarrassed as to how close I was to Flynn, and I scooted away a bit.  After a minute or two, though, he pulled me close again.
"Hey...I did that on purpose," I giggled quietly, and then I sat up.
I realized how I was wrapped like a mummy in the 'blanket'.  I started disentangling my legs, and Flynn asked me how I was feeling today.
I looked back at him and saw the sudden look of concern cross his face.  I stretched my leg out and looked at it.  "My arm doesn't hurt nearly as bad.  My leg doesn't seem to be as sore, either.  And my head's still fine."
A relieved smile brightened his face.  I stared at him as I slowly wadded up the 'blanket'.  I gave him a sly smile right before I threw the wadded up blanket at him.
"Hey!" he exclaimed - still quietly.  I stood and walked out of the shelf, excited at the fact that I didn't stumble once - my leg still hurt, but it didn't randomly go out from under me.  Flynn bounded out of the shelf after me, and I tried a jog.
"Hey, slow down," he called quietly.  "Don't push yourself!"
I thought about doing something childish, such as sticking my tongue out at him, but then I realized he wasn't saying that just so he could catch me - he was concerned about me hurting my leg again; and he did have a point.
I stopped and let myself get caught, not turning to see as he grabbed me up from behind.  But it didn't feel right.  When I looked up, I screamed.  Ray.
He held me tightly by the waist - so tight I thought he'd cut me in half.  He turned, and I saw Flynn's face.  It was milky white and he looked terrified.
"Get the babies, and I'll let her go."
From the corner of my eye, I saw HB.  I knew she was planning on slipping past Flynn.
"Flynn, look out!" I yelled, and he turned to see her.  He grabbed her by the arm and I watched as he started to bind her arms and legs with a piece of baler twine that was in the nearby garbage can.
Ray started backing away, and I starting wrestling in an attempt to get away.
I started to yell, but he tried to clap a hand over my mouth.  I bit it, hard; and when he jerked away, he tightened his grip on my waist.  It was unbearable.  I threw myself backwards and headbutted him.  He yelled, and I cracked my head up against his again.  With that, he fell backwards.  Flynn was still busy trying to contain HB.  When he fell backwards, he loosened his grip on my waist just a bit.  I jerked free and rolled away from him.  Before he could get up, I leaned across him and pressed his arms down with as much strength I could muster; which took just about everything out of me.  He started to wrench away from me, but I managed to keep a hold of him.
"Flynn!  When you get done, get over here, quick!" I yelled.  Ray finally managed to wrench his arms from me.  He flipped so I was the one on the ground - which made me wrench my back- and actually grabbed my neck in a tight chokehold.  I tried to loose a scream.  Flynn was at my side in an instant, and I fell away from him as Flynn started to bind him with twine.
I rolled away from him, and then laid on my back, coughing and gripping my waist, which was sore from his horribly tight grip and the fact that he'd dug his hand into me every time I squirmed.
As soon as his arms and legs were tied, Flynn stepped away from him and dropped down beside me.
"Are you okay?"
I held up a hand as I stopped coughing and took in a few ragged breaths, and then I nodded.  "I think so."
I saw his shoulders droop with relief.  He pushed the hair away from my face and I stared up at him, trying to calm my panicked heart and my breathing.
"You almost..."
I reached up and touched his face. "I didn't, so don't think it."
He  took my hand from his face and planted a kiss on it.  He looked concerned that I was still lying on my back.
"You're sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, I'm sure; just give me a few seconds to get my bearings."
He nodded and told me to take all the time I needed.  Still, my hubby stared down at me with anxiousness written across his face.  I could almost see it spelled out in big, capital letters across his forehead.  After I started breathing normally and wasn't coughing anymore, I planted my hands on the floor and pushed myself into a sitting position.  As soon as I sat up, Flynn yanked me into a relieved kiss and then after that a hug; almost knocking me back down with his sudden force.  When he pulled away, I chuckled; my heart squeezing.
And then he scooped me up into his arms and stood up.
"Flynn, put me down.  I can walk back.  I'm okay, I promise."
He shrugged slightly and said, "I can carry you back, too.  It's just a few feet."
I started to protest, but I figured that if he seriously wanted to carry me to the bookshelf, I would let him. To try to show gratitude, I put my arms around his neck and kissed his cheek, enjoying the shade of red that he turned.  When we got back to the shelf, Merida was waiting for us on the inside, bow and arrow poised to shoot.
"Hold your fire."  I told her.  Flynn froze.  Merida lowered her bow and stared at us, wide-eyed.  Flynn made no move to put me down. "Flynn?"
He looked at my face.  Then he looked down and must have remembered I was in his arms.  His face turning crimson, he carefully let my legs go.  He still gripped me around my shoulders, but I managed to worm away from him.
"Ray?"  She glanced down at HB, who was bound beside us.
"Yup."
"Where is he?"
"Over there."
Flynn gestured, and she stepped around us to see for herself.
"Great!  Now what happens when Tangled Fan sees this?"
"I dunno."
We all laughed at that one.
Jase came running from a corner in the bookshelf.  "Momma!"  She yelped as she dove for me.  I caught her up into a hug, and she pressed her face into my shoulder.  Flynn came over behind me and reached down to plop a kiss on Jase's head.  She looked up and giggled at him before stretching her arms out to him.  He pulled her up over my shoulder and stood with her in his arms.
"Daddy, are Ray and HB gone for good?"
"I suppose.  We'll have to see.  I hope so, though."
"Me too!"  she said with a definite nod.
Merida laughed at her sureness.  I walked over and peered down at the babies, who were still sleeping soundly.
"I can't believe they're still asleep, through all that ruckus."  Merida said.
Flynn came over with Jase.  "You need to sit for awhile.  You don't want your leg to get worse again."
"Oh, I'm fine."  I told him.
"You should listen to Daddy...he just wants to make sure you don't get hurt!"  Jase said, with a very serious look on her face.
I chuckled.  "You do have a point, baby girl.  You usually do - you're pretty smart!"
She beamed at my compliment.  "Now, listen to Daddy."
Flynn put a gentle hand on my side, careful to not touch me where I was sore from this morning's takedown.  "Yeah, listen to me."
I gave him a playful shove and then did as I was told.
Merida plopped down beside me.  "So, did you take anyone down?"
"Ray.  He grabbed me, so I headbutted him until he fell down, and then I pinned him down.  Before Flynn could tie him up, though, he grabbed me into a chokehold.  I'm pretty sore around my waist from him digging his hand into my waist, but other than that, I'm okay.  Flynn took HB down."
"Whew.  See, if you woulda had my bow and arrow with ye, it coulda been a lot easier!"
I laughed.  "You're bad.  But you do have a point."
Flynn came over and leaned down to kiss my hair.  "Merida, you should have seen her taking him down.  She had ME scared!"
"I bet.  You don't mess with that girl, and you'd better remember it, too!"  Merida joshed.
"Yeah, don't worry about that!  I'm pretty sure bashing her head up against someone else's face repeatedly didn't help anything about her knockout from the other day, though."
"What else could I have done, though?"  I asked, looking up at him.
He shrugged.
When Merida accidentally elbowed me, getting up to do something, I suppressed a gasp.  I was pretty sure that if I'd look, my sides were probably still pretty red.  It wouldn't have been so bad if Ray's plastic hands wouldn't have had rough edges, like he hadn't been correctly molded or something.
As I was thinking that, Flynn got a concerned look across his face.  "Should I check your waist?  So nothing's, like, wrong or anything - no gaping rips in the plastic or whatever?"
He stepped towards me, and my eyes grew wide.  "Flynn, don't you dare.  Don't.  You.  Dare.  I'm fine, just a tad bit sore.  No, you will not be checking my waist.  You do realize I have a DRESS on,  and not just a shirt I could pull up a little bit.  And you also realize how embarrassing that would be?"
He studied me for a few moments, and then his face grew very, very hot red.  I mean, yeah; we were married, so it wouldn't necessarily be inappropriate or something, but that wasn't something I wanted to do.  At ALL.
"I'm fine, I promise.  I feel almost like I'm a little bruised, if dolls can have bruising, and my back's starting to ache from being wrenched around and everything...but that's all, hon."
He bent to kiss my hair.  "Need me to rub your back or something?"
I laughed.  "No.  I'm fine, like I said.  But thanks for the offer."
"Want me to-"
I realized he was trying to be nice and help me out.  But really.  Back rubs?  Brushing my hair, which was what he'd just offered?  Rebraiding my hair?  I'm pretty sure I can take care of myself, even if I am a little achy!
"It's fine.  But you know what you can do?  You could help me up so I can go get Hallie."
He shook his head and started to go get Hallie himself, but I hollered at him, "Flynn, my backside is going numb.  I am NOT sitting one more minute!"
He turned towards me, trying to suppress a smile and a laugh.  Merida wasn't that good at self-control.  She was laughing herself silly.
Flynn came back around and offered his hand to me. I didn't really need help up, but I figured it would make him feel better to have me ask for help, or something.  I don't know.  Anyway, I went over to Hallie, scooped her up, and talked quietly to her.  Flynn followed me every step I went, like a puppy.  It was kind of sweet of him to be so concerned, but good grief!  It's not like I was made of glass, and would shatter the first time I stumbled or something!
Regardless.

After awhile, I heard scrabbling around.  I hurried out of the bookshelf, Flynn scrambling to keep up with me, and then I looked up.
Rayne and Blondie.  Oh, yay...especially since Tangled Fan still hadn't come into her room, so Ray and HB were still bound on the floor.
I gave Merida a 'help me' look, and she came outside of the bookshelf as well.  She saw Blondie and her face darkened.
Blondie took one glance at Ray, and shrieked, before turning on me.
"What have you done to him?  Oh my gosh-"  She stomped towards me and Hallie.  I got mad, but before I could say anything, Flynn and Merida laid into her.
"Your 'boyfriend' was in cahoots with HB!  Like Rapunzel said!  And-"
"Ray tried to kidnap the babies, like Rapunzel thought!-"
"He took her and tried to make off with her, probably going to hole her up somewhere till she relented and gave up the babies.  He dragged her off up on top of THOSE boxes, those ones right there!  And then he lost his balance, dropped her, and she fell.  To the floor.  She was knocked out.  And-"
"And he came back today!  I was gonna meet 'im at the entrance with my bow and arrow, but she took him down."
"HB was going to sneak in around us while we were fighting off Ray.  So don't you tell me they weren't in on it together!  Your boyfriend almost killed my wife, TWICE now, in the past few days! Like fun he's the most loving, wonderful doll ever!"
Rayne's eyes were wide with shock and horror.  "You told me..."
"I told you what he told me, Rayne!"  Blondie cried.  "He...lied to me!"
"And you thought I was the liar.  Me and Merida both."  I managed.
"Rapunzel, I am so, so sorry, dear.  Do you forgive us?"  Rayne came over and hugged me despite the fact that I held Hallie.
Forgiveness of calling someone a liar and then making us leave our own shelf...it takes longer than just a few seconds.  But I didn't want to be mean or anything, so I simply nodded.
Blondie still stared at me.  "I'm sorry I was so mean to you.  You even tried to apologize, didn't you?"
"Yes.  I did.  And you just blew me off,"
"Sorry...I guess love is blind, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is."  I tried to keep my sarcasm from interfering.
"Come back up to the top shelf.  So this is why you've been down here lately?"
My heart grew heavy.  I'd grown to like this lower shelf!  It was less crowded, and we didn't have to climb to get down to the floor.
"She needs a few days until she can climb that far up."  Flynn looked down at me, and I saw the same reluctance in his eyes as well.
The two of them nodded, and then they went back up to the top shelf.
"I don't want to go back up there, actually.  I've been enjoyin' the peace and the fact that I don't have to climb to get down to the floor."  Merida said when they were gone.
I nodded.  "And it's not so crowded."
"Maybe we can just live down here anyway!"  Merida said, sounding a little excited.
"I doubt Tangled Fan would go for that..." I sighed.  "It would be really nice, though."
She nodded.

And that's basically how the day went.  Tangled Fan came in around two PM, and we explained why there were two dolls lying on the floor, bound in baler twine.  She said she'd put both of them back up in the attic.  After that, we basically just sat around.  We played a few games with Jase, I tended to Hallie as necessary, and tried to keep Flynn's worrying down to a minimum.  I'd never realized how much of a worrywart my hubby was when it came to injuries to someone in his family!

By the time evening trudged around, my back was hurting so bad that I just wanted to go to bed, but I didn't want to worry Flynn.  Eventually, though, I just went to bed and didn't care.
I curled up under the 'blanket' and rolled over onto my side.  My back still hurt.  Other side.  Still hurt.  On my back.  REALLY hurt.  On my belly.  Stretched my back and so that hurt, too!  Eventually, I huffed and gave the blankets a small kick with disgust, before I just curled up on my side and tried to go to sleep anyway.
Flynn came to bed sometime later.  He didn't bother me, except to crawl under the covers and flop down on his back.  I STILL hadn't gone to sleep.

After a good while of not sleeping, I finally just gave up for awhile.  I quietly stood up so Flynn wouldn't wake up, and then just sat on the edge of the shelf.
After a little bit, Flynn came over behind me.  "What's the matter?"
"Can't sleep," I whispered, looking up at him through the darkness.
He nodded.  I knew he needed to get back to bed, but I also knew he wouldn't go until we talked.  So, I just patted the floor beside me and smiled at him.  He gave a mildly surprised smile, and obliged.  He put an arm around my shoulders, really gently.
"Why can't my sweet wife sleep tonight?"  he asked, and I chuckled quietly at him.
"Back's bothering me.  My leg's not too bad, and my waist isn't as terribly sore, but now my back hurts.  It'll probably ease up by tomorrow or the day after, though."  I added.
"I see.  Maybe Tangled Fan should take a look at you?"  He sounded uneasy.
"No!  I'll be fine!  Please, don't."  I grabbed his hands before he could stand up.
He looked over at me.  "But if it gets worse, you ARE going to be checked out.  And that's a fact."
I rolled my eyes at him.  "Okay, fine...I guess."
He reached over to give me a gentle kiss, which I returned.
When our lips parted, I touched my forehead to his.  "Now...get to bed.  I'll come back later, I suppose."
He shook his head.  "I could still stay up for a good while."
I shook MY head.  "I don't want you to get a migraine!"
"I won't...so don't you worry your pretty little mind, dear girl."
I sighed.  "Nothing's gonna make you go back to bed, right?"
"Yup."
I laughed through my nose and shook my head.  "You're awful."
"Yup."
I knew he was trying to cheer me up a bit, so I played along and laughed quietly. We talked for a little while, just about general stuff.  Eventually, I got so tired I said we both needed to get to bed.  Especially him.  He stood and offered a hand to me, which I accepted.  I curled up on my side and sighed, too tired to really care about my back hurting.  Flynn started to put an arm around me, but as soon as his hand grazed my side, he pulled it back and muttered a "Sorry!"
I'd told him that my waist didn't hurt nearly as much...but apparently, he was still worried about hurting me.
"I'm not made out of glass, hon," I whispered jokingly, as I reached behind me until I found his hand.  I draped his arm across my side and he laughed quietly before leaning over and whispering an I love you into my ear.  I returned it, and after awhile, I finally drifted off to sleep.