The next time I woke, I was on Tangled Fan's bed, cocooned in towels, and Flynn was pacing back and forth anxiously.
I sat up slowly, grimacing at the ache of my arm and neck. "F-Flynn?" I heard how faint and gravelly my voice was, and I cleared my throat.
When he heard me, he wheeled around, looked at me, and then was at my side in one step. He threw himself down beside me and anxiously looked at my face. I noticed his red eyes and his tear streaked cheeks. "Sweetheart? You're okay?"
"My arm and my neck hurt, but I...I guess so. What happened, exactly? Where's Jase? Hallie?" As my mind cleared, my eyes widened. "Merida and Allie?"
"You fell when Ray dropped you when he was dragging you off. You were knocked unconscious a-and y-you've been that way for several hours. Jase is with Merida and Hallie and Allie; they're no worse for wear." He stared at me for a moment before managing to gently grab me into a hug that I thought might last forever. "I-I am so, so sorry. If I would've been there and caught you before you fell..."
"Don't worry, hon. I'm alright. You did fine."
He touched my face a moment before he hesitantly reached over for a gentle kiss. He acted like he was afraid to touch me at first, but then the kiss became fervent. When he finally pulled away, he brushed the hair from my face and stared at me lovingly. "I'm so glad you're okay, baby."
I gave him a small smile and put my hand on his shoulder, squeezing it.
"Now, can we go back to Jase and Hallie? Jase still hasn't gotten to ride Max-"
"You are going home and you are resting, dear girl. Jase can ride another day. Besides, Tangled Fan needs to check you over before you leave."
My heart squeezed when he called me 'dear girl'. He rested a hand on my lap, on top of the towel, and I saw he was on the verge of tears, his chin wobbling. I reached over, pulled his face towards me, and kissed him, and he stroked my hair as I did. He bumped his forehead with mine when we pulled apart, and pushed the hair from my eyes. "I didn't tell you this yet today and I'm glad I get the chance to now. I love you. I-I don't know what I'd do if you'd-"
I smiled at him and cut him off. "Love you too. Oh, no - what time is it?"
"Don't worry about it."
"You need to get to sleep!" I exclaimed, jumping up. "Oh, ow..ow!" I hopped on one foot as I realized how bad my other leg hurt. I kicked at the towel until I got unwrapped from it and told him to lay down there. He stood, instead, and when I stumbled backwards - it was super hard to balance on that bed, let alone on one foot! - he grabbed me and held me close until I regained balance again.
"Don't worry about it. I'm fine. One day won't kill me, but thanks for the offer, sweetie," he kissed my forehead and then laid me back down on the towel, carefully covering me up with it again. "You're gonna have plenty of trouble resting, aren't you?"
I nodded. "I suppose I will. But I'm NOT going to rest until you go to sleep!"
"I've still got an adrenaline rush going, so I can't go to sleep. I promise that I'll go to sleep when I can, okay?"
I sighed, suddenly feeling drained again. "Okay." I yawned and rolled over onto my side so I could study his face without craning my sore neck. With a sigh from him as well, he plopped down beside me and rested a hand on my shoulder. After a few moments, though, he spoke up again. "Do you want me to unbraid your hair or something? It might be more comfortable."
I shrugged with indifference, but he jumped up and got to work anyway. Within minutes, my hair was loose. When he sat back down by me, he clasped his hands tightly together on his lap and stared down at me. I put a hand on both of his, and a small grin teased his lips.
After awhile, Tangled Fan bustled through the door. "Awake again, are we? How's the arm, leg, and neck?"
"They're okay," I said, but Flynn shook his head at me. "Fine. My neck hurts, my arm's kind of sore, and when I tried to stand up on my leg, I almost fell down."
"I see..." she picked me up and poked, prodded, and all other sorts of stuff. "You need to rest a few days. You should be okay then. I'd prefer to keep you elsewhere to make sure you rest-"
"No." I shook my head vigorously, but then gasped at the pain in my neck. "I'm going home with my husband, to my girls."
"Maybe you should..." he trailed off.
"No, Flynn! You just got back from that migraine thing. You can't keep the kids all by yourself for goodness knows how long - especially with Hallie if she's fussy through the night! You'll end up with migraines again! I want to be with you and the girls. And I have to take care of you, too - make sure you don't end up with another migraine!" I protested.
"He shouldn't get migraines anymore - has he been having them?"
"No, but she's been harping at me constantly to ensure that I get at least seven or eight hours of sleep." Flynn said, glancing at me.
"Good girl," she told me with a laugh.
"But I'm STILL going home. Tonight." I stared at her.
"Honey, if it means you get better quicker..."
"Nope."
"Oh, come on."
"No!" I exclaimed again, standing up. "See? I can stand just fine. So I'm good to go."
Okay, fine. I WAS holding most of my weight on my other foot, but I was standing, anyway...
"You can, I suppose. But you make sure to get plenty of rest, and you make sure she behaves herself!" Tangled Fan chuckled to herself and then hurried back out.
I looked at Flynn and Flynn looked at me. He got a mischievous grin. "That means I can hound at you like you hound at me!"
"For a few days." I laughed. "Now, let's get back home."
He nodded, and came over to me. He held me against his side super-tight, and allowed me to lean on him to walk across the bed. When we got to the point where we had to jump down onto a box, though, he bent and lifted my legs up to carry me.
"Oh, no; you can't make that jump like that!" I yelped in alarm. "Put me down."
He knew he couldn't make the jump. He set me down and stared at me with a calculating look on his face. After a minute, he jumped down and held his arms out.
"Slide down. I'll catch you."
I trusted he'd catch me, so I slipped down off the edge. He caught me around the waist and set me down as if I were a piece of frail glass.
"Thanks," I said. Then I stared down at the NEXT jump down that we had to take, which was almost two feet off the floor. That would take us down to the floor, so at least it would be the last jump.
Flynn did the same method there, only he almost fell down when he caught me - he had to back up several steps and stumbled a few of them, before he got his balance and set me down again.
We walked back to the shelf, me leaning on Flynn as needed, and noticed Merida was back on the bottom shelf with the kids. Thank goodness - I had been worrying as to how I would limp up to the top shelf!
We stepped inside, and Merida jumped up and grabbed me into a hug...before grabbing me by the shoulders and shaking me. "Oh my gosh you're okay! I can't believe ye did that - you do that again and I'll kill ye!" All in one breath.
I chuckled, but stumbled a step when she released me suddenly. Flynn grabbed my non-sore arm. When he realized I had my balance back, he slid his hand down my arm to link his fingers with mine.
And then Jase saw us. She came blazing over and threw herself at me. "Momma! I was so scared, you ran off after Ray and I yelled and yelled at you but you didn't listen! Why did you?"
"Because 'Aunt' Merida and the babies were in danger. Wouldn't you have done the same?" I know that was a silly question to ask a five-year-old modeled doll.
"I guess so." She spotted Flynn and flung her arms out at him. He chuckled, disentangled his fingers from mine, and took Jase.
My leg was getting really achy by now, so I went and sat down, taking Hallie into my arms. She gave me that adorable little smile and cooed when she saw my face. I grinned at her and talked quiet baby-talk to her for awhile, enjoying her grins and newly-found giggles.
Flynn took Jase with him to find some of Tangled Fan's old clothes, and when he came back within about 10 minutes, he carefully tended to making a bed, probably because of my soreness. He left another piece of fabric on top, I guess for a blanket. Which I was pleased about - despite the month of August, tonight was chilly! Either that or it was just me.
I wanted to stay up, but after awhile, though, I was so tired I had to go to bed. Flynn was still up, listening to a chattering Jase like a champ. I walked over to him, bent down, and hugged him from behind.
"I'm going to bed. Don't stay up too awful long, okay?" I whispered in his ear so as not to disturb the conversation. He put a hand on my arm and squeezed it, nodding. I gave him a peck on the cheek, said goodnight to Jase, and then went back to our corner. I curled up on my side and pulled the makeshift blanket up to my chin; and I was out within minutes.
I was curled all up into a ball, fast asleep, when I felt an arm slide gently around my waist. I woke up and went stock-still, not knowing what had become of Ray after I'd fallen. My heart thundered in fear. When I heard the owner of that arm get more comfortable underneath the blanket with a tired sigh, relief washed over me. It was Flynn. I let my breath out and put a hand on the arm that was around my waist, smiling and turning my head around to look at him as I stretched my legs, which were all balled up.
"Did I wake you?" he whispered, immediately looking remorseful through the darkness.
"It's fine, hon," I smiled at him to show that there were no hard feelings.
"Okay," he whispered, leaning over to give me a slow and tender kiss goodnight.
Satisfied and feeling a lot safer now that he was right beside me, I sighed, curled back up, and allowed myself to drift off to sleep.
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