by Susan Hayes
He waggled a finger at her. “But only if you promise to get some rest and take it easy.”
It had been a long time since anyone had taken care of her like this. Usually, she was the one looking after other people. It was a little strange, but pleasant. She held up her hand, little finger outstretched. “I pinky swear I will stay in this bed and not push myself, so long as you pinky swear to bring more food tomorrow. And pie. There needs to be pie for this deal to happen.”
Vance laughed as he crossed the distance between them to link his finger with hers.
“I solemnly swear to bring pie as part of tomorrow’s lunch,” he vowed. He tightened his finger around hers for a quick second, then withdrew his hand.
“Then you have a deal, Doc.”
By this time Dane was slumped in his chair, laughing so hard he woke Annie from her nap.
“Why you laugh, Daddies?” she asked as she sat up and looked at her fathers.
“Because Ciara said something funny, sweet pea.” Dane rose and lifted the sleepy little girl into his arms. “C’mon, it’s time I got you home for a proper nap. Say bye-bye to Ciara.”
“Bye.” Annie waved her chubby hand, and Ciara felt her heart melt a little around the edges.
“Bye, Annie. Sleep well. Bye Dane, thank you for lunch.”
“It was nice meeting you, Ciara. If you like, I’d be happy to drop by now and then to keep you company. Until then, better do what your doctor says. Otherwise, he gets grumpy.”
“I do not get grumpy, thank you very much,” Vance grumbled.
Dane grinned and winked at her. “See what I mean?”
Vance rolled his eyes. “You’re the one who is an absolutely bast—bear in the morning before you have your first coffee.”
Ciara snickered. “A bast-bear? Is that like a shi-star?”
Both men looked sheepish. “The whole ‘don’t curse around Annie’ thing is a work in progress,” Vance said.
“I think it’s sweet you’re making an effort. And please, Dane, I’d welcome a visit any time.” Ciara’s last words were distorted by yet another yawn.
“We’ll go and let you sleep. I’ve got rounds coming up.” Vance gave her a smile and a wave, and a few seconds later, she was alone in her room.
With a contented sigh, Ciara placed her nearly empty tray of food aside and slid under the blanket to sleep. While she didn’t like the way the med-bed displayed her every function to anyone who walked in, the damned thing was certainly more comfortable than her cot had ever been. When she rebuilt her life, she was definitely going to find a way to own a decent bed for once. How she’d pay for it was a problem for another day. For now, she would rest and be grateful she was better fed and more comfortable than she’d been in a good long while. She’d also be grateful for her visitors. It would be nice to see them all again tomorrow.
***
CHAPTER FOUR
They walked out of the med-center in silence. Once they were outside and out of potential earshot of anyone else, Dane turned back toward Vance and spoke.
“I like her,” Dane declared.
“I guessed as much when you told me you’d offered to bring her lunch. You don’t even bring me lunch, and we’ve been friends for years.”
Dane shrugged. “Can you blame me? She’s better looking than you’ll ever be, and that was before I saw her cleaned up.”
Vance considered his words carefully before speaking. He didn’t want to give Dane false hope, and he still wasn’t sure how he felt about Ciara. “I think she likes you, too.”
Dane was smirking as he shook his head in dismay. “Vance, my friend, what am I going to do with you? Smart enough to pass medical school early and yet you are still so very slow sometimes.”
“What?”
“She didn’t clean up and change solely for my benefit. I think she did it for both of us. At least I’m ninety-five percent sure it was for us. You would have come to see her for rounds in a while, even if you hadn’t accompanied us back there to give her lunch. Yep, I think she did it for us.”
Dane glanced down at their daughter, who was curled up in his arms and still mostly asleep. “The question is, what are we going to do about it?”
“Considering the fact she’s my patient, I shouldn’t be doing anything.” Vance knew it was the safe answer, the one that protected not only his reputation but his heart as well. For some reason, though, it didn’t feel like the right answer.
Dane didn’t seem to like it, either. “That’s a cop out, and you know it. In a week or so, she’ll be back on her feet. She won’t be your patient for much longer. I like her. I think you do, too. I’d like to get to know her better. Are you in agreement with that?”
“If we ended up serious about her, there wouldn’t be any more children. Have you thought about that?” Vance asked.
Dane’s response was a careless shrug. “We’ve talked about this before. My gene pool is more of a cesspool, which is why I made sure Annie was yours. I don’t need her to share my DNA to love her completely. She’s my daughter in every way that matters.”
“When are you going to accept the fact you are nothing like your father? Genetics doesn't define everything about a person. You made better choices than he did. You’re a different man.”
He was met with Dane’s bitter laughter. “I didn’t get caught. That’s not the same thing as making better choices. If I hadn’t passed the tests and started elite training, I have no doubt I’d be sharing a Martian cell with the old man, if I were still alive at all.”
Vance rolled his eyes. “Give yourself some credit. Your enhancements gave you the perfect gift for someone who wanted to spend their life as a criminal, and yet here you are. You’re a Class-A Telek and instead of robbing vaults or becoming the world’s greatest pickpocket, you’re a Director of Supply and Transport. You’re powerful enough to be able to move things around simply by thinking about it. I hate to break it to you, but you’re clearly not the criminal type, genetics or not.”
“We’ll never know for sure.” Dane knew Vance’s argument was logically sound, but he’d never been able to get past his parentage, and he probably never would. His father was a vicious thug who had moved in and out of Dane’s life until finally leaving it for good when he wound up a guest of the Martian penal system serving three consecutive life sentences. His mother had gone out one night and simply never come home, leaving her eight-year-old son to fend for himself. If he hadn’t been caught and tested, his life would have likely been short and brutal.
He owed the Alliance everything.
“Take our girl home for her nap. We can talk about this later.” Vance stroked a finger down Annie’s soft cheek. “This isn’t a conversation she should be hearing, anyway.”
“After dinner. We’re talking about this tonight.”
“Yes, dear,” Vance deadpanned. “Though I really don’t see why we need to talk about finding a new chosen when you’ve adapted so nicely to the role.”
Dane didn’t bother to reply. Instead, he gave Vance a mental shove that forced the bigger man back a step while spinning him around to the left.
“Aw, did I strike a nerve?” Vance was laughing as he regained his balance. “And no fair using your freaky mind powers when you’re holding Annie. It’s not like I can retaliate.”
“That would be a sight. Two Alliance officers rough housing out here in the open. I’m sure Nik and Colin would be thrilled to see that report on their desks. All right, I’m headed home. See you after shift.”
“Later,” Vance said with a wave.
Vance headed back inside the medical center, still mulling over what Dane had said and what it all might mean. He made the walk to his office in a few short minutes. A quick chat with his aide confirmed he had no messages or urgent matters to deal with, and he still had twenty minutes to go before he was due to start his rounds. There was time enough to make a call.
He tapped a code into his w
rist unit and smiled in greeting when Alayna’s face appeared on the monitor. “Hi, Alayna.”
“Doc? Everything okay with Ciara?” she asked, concerned.
“She’s fine. Bored, but healing nicely. When I last saw her, she was going back to sleep for a few hours.”
Alayna sighed. “She didn’t overdo it, did she?”
“I don’t think so, no. I suspected you were part of her transformation. She sure didn’t get those pajamas on the base.”
“Guilty as charged. I lent her a few of my things until she’s strong enough to be released and we can go shopping.”
“Do you have anything you can lend her to keep her distracted? A wrist unit or even a book? She said she didn’t want you buying her things, so I know there’s a challenge there. But now she’s sleeping less, she’s going to get bored.”
Alayna looked thoughtful. “I’ll find something. I’m glad to hear she’s getting better. How much longer will she be at the medical center?”
“If she keeps resting, then I think she’ll be out early next week. She’s going to need to take it easy for a week or so after that, which is the other reason I was calling. Before I let her walk out of here, I wanted to know if she’d be staying with you. I don’t want her trying to rebuild her clinic before she’s fully healed.”
“I’d be happy to have her stay with us, but I don’t think she’d agree.”
Vance was surprised. He assumed Ciara would be staying with her friend, and the question was more of a formality than anything else. “Why wouldn’t she?”
“My father is coming to visit me. Regent Clifton Travers. He’ll be arriving early next week and is going to stay a whole week this time. He’s agreed to come out to the badlands with me and see what I’ve been talking about.”
Vance knew that Alayna had been the sole survivor of a shuttle crash that had killed her mother and one of her fathers. She’d been a baby at the time, rescued and raised by a rebel named Sam Dixon. When Alayna had returned to Alliance life as an adult, father and daughter had finally been reunited.
However, his visit would explain why Ciara wouldn’t want to stay with her friend. If Travers was staying with Alayna and her bonded, he’d arrive with the aides, assistants, and security detail assigned to every regent. Alayna’s house was going to be full of Alliance personnel. There was no way Ciara would want to put her friends out any further. And it wouldn’t be a good place for her to get much rest.
“I don’t suppose you have any thoughts on where else she could stay? Does she have any other friends in town?”
“No one I can think of. Could she stay at the visitor’s center, maybe?”
Vance knew that was a reasonable suggestion, but he didn’t like it much. “I’d rather she had someone with her. I don’t like the idea of her being alone.”
“Really?” Alayna grinned a little. “Is that a personal or professional preference?”
Vance thought about it for a moment. “A little of both.”
“Why, Dr. Sterling. Are you crushing on my friend? My friend, the rebel? Well, she’s more a rebel by association, really.”
“I think Ciara is a lovely person, and as my patient, I want what’s best for her. She’s still got a few more days at the med-center, and if she has nowhere to go, I may suggest she stay there until she’s ready to be on her own.”
“Well, she won’t be going back to Black Springs. I haven’t told her yet, but the others aren’t rebuilding. They’ve all agreed to start over again here in Fort Saken. No one wants to go back there, too many ghosts.”
“She’s really got nowhere to go, then.” Vance scrubbed a hand over his jaw as he pondered possibilities.
“Maybe we can get her temporary housing somewhere while she gets back on her feet. Ciara’s a good person. Hell, she’s a fucking saint compared to me. I’ll think about what we can do, and in the meantime I’ll put together a care package of loaned things. She can’t say no if it’s just on loan, right?”
“I’m going to put together a few things too, so I hope she doesn’t decline. Dane and I enjoyed talking to her today, and Annie seems to adore her already.”
“She’s met Annie and Dane already? She didn’t tell me. She knows better than to keep secrets from me. It never ends well when she tries.”
There was a deep throated bellow from somewhere behind her, and Alayna turned away from the monitor. “I’ll be right there,” she yelled back. “Sorry, Vance, I gotta go. I promised Griz my undivided attention this afternoon. He’s in a mood, because with Dad coming, he has to be on his best behavior.”
Vance snickered. “It’s good for him.”
“I’ll be sure to tell him you said that.”
There was another bellow, and once again, Vance was reminded why Nikolai’s nickname was Griz.
“Time to go. Bye, Doc!”
A second later, Vance was looking at a disconnect message and chuckling to himself. His friends really had found themselves the perfect girl for them. Vance didn’t know if he and Dane would ever find another woman to share their lives with. Christine had come into their lives and then left it again so quickly it had devastated them both. Could they be lucky enough to find someone else to love?
He thought about the brief time they’d spent together with Ciara. It wouldn’t hurt to get to know her better. Nothing may come of it, but even if it didn’t, she was a good person in need of friends.
Helping her wouldn’t be a hardship. In fact, he suspected he and Dane would enjoy every minute of it.
* * * *
Ciara sat by her window and watched the rain pour down out of a slate-gray sky. The dreary weather was a near perfect match for her own dark mood. Alayna had been by to visit, and she’d brought nothing but bad news. Now, Ciara was alone again, grieving the loss of her home and the people in it. She idly spun a finger in her curls, tugging and twirling at the locks as she stared into the gloom.
How many times do I have to start over before the universe leaves me in peace?
When a knock sounded at her door, she was tempted to tell whoever it was to go away. Before she could say anything, a familiar voice spoke her name.
“Ciara? It’s Dr. Sterling—Vance. I’ve got your lunch, as promised.”
“Come in.” She jerked her hand out of her hair, painfully aware it would be spun into corkscrews by now. She’d been so distracted she’d forgotten about Vance’s visit. Every day since Annie had wandered into her room, Vance or Dane had brought her lunch. Sometimes alone, sometimes together. They’d even brought Annie once. Those visits and Alayna’s had been the highlight of her days.
“How are you feeling today?” he asked as he entered the room. He had a tray of food in his hands and Ciara’s heart beat a little faster at the sight of him. Every time he left, she would try and convince herself he wasn’t as good looking as she remembered. Then the next visit would come, and she’d realize that yes, she’d remembered him perfectly. From the firm line of his jaw, to the gentle curve of his smile, the good doctor was six and a half feet of temptation.
“Physically better,” she answered, absently tucking her bare feet under the hem of her borrowed dressing gown.
He set down the tray beside her bed. “I brought a few more things I hope might fix the boredom problem, but I’m getting the sense that’s not the only issue. Want to talk about it?”
“Not really. How about you distract me with food and presents instead?” She mustered a smile, surprised at how easily it came to her. He and Dane had brought her several gifts during their visits. A used wrist unit she was borrowing for now, a couple of games, and reading files. All sorts of things to pass the time.
He patted her bed. “You eat, and I’ll see if I can provide the distractions.”
She stood and took a single step, then wobbled. Her leg was asleep, and the numb limb made it hard for her to walk properly. “Foot’s asleep.”
“May I help you?”
S
urprised by the question, Ciara didn’t answer for a moment. No one had ever asked her that before. “Uh, yes? I mean, you’re my doctor—” The rest of her words fled as Vance stepped in and lifted her into his arms. It wasn’t quite what she’d expected him to do, but she wasn’t going to complain. He cradled her against his chest, holding her with care as he turned and carried her to the bed. Before she knew it, she was resting comfortably, and Vance was straightening, already moving back to a proper distance.
Vance knew he should never have touched her. It didn’t matter that she’d given him permission. He’d crossed a line, and he knew it, though he couldn’t bring himself to care. Over the last few days he’d gotten to know her better, and everything he’d learned about her made him only want to know more. Dane felt the same way. They were waiting for her to be released because Vance didn’t feel right making any kind of move until she was out of his care. He’d been determined to keep some sort of distance, but seeing her nearly tumble had made him break his own rules.
“I didn’t want you falling. It wouldn’t have been good for your recovery,” he said.
“No complaints. Thank you. I don’t want any setbacks.” Ciara pulled her meal tray across her lap and uncovered the dishes. He’d picked a variety of foods again, and all of it smelled amazing. He’d even included two servings of pie today.
His eyes crinkled at the corners as he laughed. “You’re welcome.”
She dug into her food as Vance emptied the contents of his bag onto the foot of her bed. When she saw what he’d brought, a lump formed in her throat, and she had trouble swallowing the food she’d been eating. Books. Real books with dog-eared pages of actual paper. She scanned the titles, stunned to discover they were all medical text books of one kind or another.
“It turns out this place has a small library. Someone dumped these old textbooks in there. They were probably cleaned out of some larger med-center and been handed down until they wound up here. No one will miss them.”