"Gary?" Pat asked somewhat timidly, peeking into the hospital room. Gary looked up, grinned, and motioned the blonde farther in.
"Come in," he said, his voice tired, but some of the worry had left his eyes. The bassist walked in, Paul right behind him, crowding the small room slightly.
"How is he?" Pat asked.
"The doctors say he's okay, but he's not up yet." The three turned toward the one bed in the room where Nuno lay, head carefully turned to the right. The white bandage on the left side of his head contrasted sharply with his dark hair.
"Do they know what's wrong?" Paul asked.
"Yeah. He was hit real hard in the head." Gary glanced at the other two. "You didn't hear anything, did you."
"No," Pat said. "Mom just said he was in the hospital and that your mom was worried you'd kill yourself." He stepped closer to the bed, long slim fingers lightly touching the bar surrounding it. "What hit him?"
"A two-by-four." Gary happened to be watching Pat's hands as they tightened to a white-knuckled grip at his answer, and figured he'd better not tell him what had happened to Ivy. He glanced up at Pat's face, half hidden by wavy blonde hair, then back down as the blonde released the bed and stalked out.
"A two-by-four?" Paul asked, and ran his hand through his short dark hair. "And Ivy?"
Gary buried his face in his hands. "Raped. He doesn't know. Same guy."
"Did they get him?"
"No, but they're looking, and they've got a good description. Seems he was a friend of Ivy's." He looked at Nuno, lying still in the bed. "How do we tell him?"
"We don't. I will, if he wakes up." Paul suddenly smiled. "I'm here to relieve you. You are one thrashed man. Get out of here, get some sleep before you fall and kill yourself." He pulled Gary to his feet and pushed him from the room. "Oh. Here are my keys. Pat will give you directions around this place. Don't let him drive and don't tell him what happened..."
"To Ivy. I know." The keys hit Gary in the chest and fell to the floor as Paul pulled the door closed. With a sigh, a smile on his face, Gary picked up the keys and walked towards the elevator.
Ivy struggled against the memories, not wanting to think about what had happened. She tried not to remember Robert swinging at Nuno's head, and how Nuno fell to his knees, head bleeding, then the second blow fell and she fled out the door, body screaming in agony...
"Ivy." Her eyes snapped open and met Paul's brown ones. "You okay?"
"Is he okay?" she demanded. "They won't tell me anything." She grabbed at his hand, and he smiled reassuringly at her.
"He'll be okay. He's still unconscious, but they say there's no permanent damage. Are you okay?" He knew she really wasn't, but he needed to get her mind off Nuno.
She smiled slightly. "I have been better. Will you come get me when he wakes up?"
"Of course." She let him go, and he left. Heading back to Nuno's room, he thought he understood Pat's fury. He felt drained, exhausted, and ready to strangle the unnamed rapist. He sat in the chair next to the bed and just stared at his hands clasped in front of him. He hadn't moved when Pat opened the door and walked in twenty minutes later.
"Paul, are you even alive?" he asked when Paul didn't look up. He did at that with a grin.
"Yeah. How are you?"
"Okay. I'm better. Gary told me about Ivy." His green eyes flashed momentarily. "Go on back. You look tired." Paul stood up, watching his friend warily. Pat shook his head, laughing. "Go on! I won't push anyone out the window except maybe that Robert fellow, if he decides to finish the job." His green eyes hardened, but the rage of that morning no longer controlled him.
Paul nodded. "Keys?"
"Oh." Pat tossed them to him, sank into the chair, and opened the book he'd brought to distract himself from thinking about why he sat there.
Ivy smiled at her parents' concerned look.
"Really. Paul said he's okay," she assured them.
"We hadn't really expected Robert to attack you while he was here," her father said, his anger making him slightly incoherent. Ivy's mother laughed.
"I don't think we expected Robert to attack you, whether Nuno was here or not," she smiled, then tears filled her eyes. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Basically. I mean, I have been better. Have you heard from Nikki?"
"Yes." Her father smiled tensely. "She was furious. I guess she didn't believe it at first. Especially not that Robert did it."
Ivy forced a laugh. "I saw him - and felt him - and hardly believe it of him myself." And suddenly she was crying. "Why?" she asked, over and over as her parents tried to comfort her. Eventually, the nurse came in and gave her a tranquilizer to calm her.
The pain in his head nearly convinced Nuno he wanted to go back to being unconscious, but in spite of the feeling he moaned and tried to reach up to his head. His left hand seemed to move of it's own accord as it fought it's way out from under the covers.
"Ouch," he muttered, then cursed soundly in Portuguese.
"Nuno," he heard Pat say from his left, but didn't try to look at him. Everything hurt. "English, man, I don't understand you."
"Good," Nuno moaned as the door opened and the nurse came in. "I ache."
"You ache?" Pat asked, then let out a short laugh. Nuno tried to relax as the nurse smiled, readied a syringe, and injected it into the IV. Almost immediately, the pain faded.
"Better," he breathed.
"What happened?" Pat asked. Nuno looked at him out of the corners of his eyes, just a little wary. Pat had a temper, and he didn't want him going crazy in a hospital. "I'm not in a 'murderous rage'," Pat assured him.
Nuno thought a minute, trying to set his thoughts straight. "I went down to the basement to talk to Ivy in her room - I'd been out on a walk, trying to put my thoughts together. I opened the door to her bedroom and she was on the bed..." Nuno paused, trying to remember, trying to see what he'd seen then. "Someone hit me from behind..." Suddenly, everything cleared. He remembered how Ivy had looked. He reached up and grabbed Pat's shirt, pulling himself slightly off the bed. "What happened to Ivy?" he demanded.
Pat disengaged himself from Nuno's grip and made the guitarist lay down again, his hands trembling. Nuno watched him as he stood next to the hospital bed, eyes closed, gathering himself, then Pat looked at him. "She's fine," he assured Nuno, who looked at him in distrust. Pat wished he hid his feelings better. "Really," he added. "I haven't talked to her. I think she's pretty shook up." He forced a grin. "Gary's gonna kill me; I'm supposed to call him, but I don't know the phone number. Maybe the nurse has it." He turned and walked out.
Nuno relaxed as much as he could, trying to calm himself down. He didn't like not knowing what had happened to Ivy. It must have been bad for Pat to go off like that. Nuno looked around, trying to get some idea of where he was. On the bedside table lay his things, including the small box from Portugal. He closed his eyes against it.
Before long, a nurse walked in, smiling. "It's good to see you up," she said softly. Nuno opened his eyes and smiled. "I'm just going to take you temperature and blood pressure. How are you feeling?"
"I have been better," he said. She nodded, then the thermometer went into his mouth and the band around his arm, and he closed his eyes again.
"Everything looks fine," the nurse said softly. "How's your head?"
"It hurts, but not like when I first woke up," he told her. Just then, Gary walked into the room and shook his head, a frustrated look on his face.
"Hi, Gary. Is Pat okay?" Gary grinned at his friend as the nurse finished taking blood pressure and left.
"Yeah. You?" He walked over to the bed.
"Just a headache to kill. Have you seen Ivy?"
Gary paused a minute, thinking, then shrugged. "No. Paul did, and he said she was worried sick about you and seemed okay." He pulled up a chair and sat down. Nuno raised his head slightly and turned it to look at his friend.
"If you want me to see you, you'll have to change sides of the bed. That side of my head hurts too much." His grin was a little strained.
"You're just picky," Gary told him, and stood to move.
Just then, the door opened and Ivy walked in, almost shyly. Gary sat down again, and Nuno smiled at her, relieved to see her. 'She's okay,' he thought, and lay back down as she walked over to the bed, opposite Gary. She trembled slightly, her left hand gripping the bar on the bed, her right in his left, resting on his chest.
Neither broke the deafening silence. Gary held his breath without realizing he was doing it, and knew this would be potentially explosive. He literally winced as Nuno reached up to touch her face. Ivy flinched and no one moved, then Nuno pushed himself up to face her, moving slowly and clumsily.
"Ivy, what did he do to you?" His left hand crushed her right in anger and hurt. She stared at him, green eyes wide, and Gary shook his head, eyes closed. "Please tell me he didn't..." Nuno's soft voice seemed to scare Ivy more, and she pulled at her hand, wanting her freedom. "Ivy, tell me no," he begged, letting her go. She fled. Nuno slumped slowly to the bed and lay still.
Gary stood and walked around the bed, stopping uncomfortably at the foot. He did not deal well with grief, especially other people's. After an indecisive pause, he silently left the room.
Two days later, Nuno was released from the hospital. The doctor gave him enough pain killers to help him with the flight home. Pat, Paul and Gary had their hands full as the drugs made him sleepy, and the two transfers were tough. Paul laughed at the looks they got from people as they half-carried Nuno through the terminals. Pat set his teeth and kept reminding himself he couldn't yell at them.
It surprised his foster parents to see him come off the plane in a wheelchair, barely conscious of his surroundings. Moving quickly, they got him in the car and home. Getting him into bed was a little easier because he was conscious, but his head hurt so bad they gave him some more medication and let him sleep.
"Thank you very much," Mrs. Malone smiled as the other three gathered at the door.
"No problem," Gary smiled tiredly.
"But if it happens again, we're leaving him in the hospital," Paul added with a tired grin. "Call if you need anything."
"I will. Is Ivy okay?"
"She went home a day before he did, so I think so," Gary smiled as Pat left the house.
Slowly, Nuno recovered from the blows to the head, and even slower from his experience with Ivy in the hospital. He often wanted to call her, but never got any farther than lifting the phone off the hook. His foster-mother often caught him standing near a phone, the receiver in his hand, staring at the key pad, but he just hung up again with a sigh.
As the headaches grew less painful and came less often, he began playing again, and short acoustic jam sessions occasionally broke out. Soon, they were scheduling practices, he and Gary started writing again, and life got back to normal.
Ivy spent the first couple of months at home, but the memories overwhelmed her, and her counselor suggested going away from the place it had happened. So she returned to L.A. and got back into life as a member of Twilight Warrior. She continued counseling sessions, and a combination of that, work, and good friends helped her fight her feelings of shame and filth.
As soon as those feelings began to disappear, her desire to see Nuno grew stronger. A discussion with Sabina helped her decide to go, partially because Sabina wanted to go too, then Nikki and Emily thought the trip would do them good, and Sabina called for tickets. Nikki called Pat to pick her up at the airport just before they left. "Bring a large car," she told him, laughing. "I have a lot of luggage."
During the last leg of the journey, Ivy began to have doubts, wondering if this had been the best thing to do. She hoped she didn't freak out when she saw Pat, never mind Nuno, and everyone all at once really did scare her. She dug her fingers into the arms of the chair and tried to stop thinking about it.
Sabina touched her arm and startled her. "You don't look so good," she smiled. "Nervous?"
"A little," Ivy smiled back, her voice shaky. "I'm not sure all of a sudden that this was a good idea."
"Why not? I think it's just what you need. We know you're ready for this, and the guys know they have to be careful around you."
"I know. But Nuno... I'm scared he won't want to see me."
"Why not?" Sabina asked. In a soft voice, Ivy explained what had happened in the hospital the one time she'd seen her friend.
"But I couldn't do anything else," she finished. "He always seems to get confused with Robert, even though I know he's much different than Robert."
Sabina laughed quietly. "I think he'll probably understand." She paused, eyes sparking, and decided to change the subject. "Gary told me you two had something going, more than any of us had guessed," she teased. Ivy grinned, and Sabina noticed her hands relax with relief.
"We didn't actually mean to keep it a secret, but no one asked."
"Oh, right, like we're going to ask if you and Nuno became lovers while you were in Portugal," Nikki scoffed, turning to look between the seats at Ivy, who blushed bright red.
"What's this?" Emily asked, looking back from the aisle side.
"I guess Paul didn't tell you," Nikki told her.
"Okay, so we did advance our relationship," Ivy grinned.
"How?" Emily asked.
"Pat said she seduced him," Nikki grinned. Ivy blushed a deeper red and nodded.
"Why?" Emily asked. Ivy rolled her eyes.
"He is not a bad looking guy, and he's nice," she responded.
"And?" Sabina prompted.
"And I love him, and Paula Bettencourt felt we should not be going out. She tried to bribe me into leaving him, and I freaked. I thought she could make him leave me, or whatever, so I did what I thought I had to."
"Who's Paula Bettencourt?"
"His natural mother." Ivy shook her head. "I couldn't believe that family. They took one look at him and decided he wasn't worth their time. I happen to like the long hair, the earrings, and the tattoo, since it helps make him happy. You should have seen that woman's reaction when she saw his shoulder! They just cared about the looks, was he an upstanding citizen, and whatever. I have never been so humiliated in my life, either. I got the 'royal treatment'. Nuno told Paula she had two days to get used to me or we were leaving. I almost asked Fatima and Ruben how to swear in Portuguese." Then she smiled. "But it was a good trip; I think they liked my singing."
Nikki laughed, then the announcement came over the loudspeaker that they had arrived in Boston and would everyone please prepare for the landing. Ivy sighed in relief, glad they had stopped looking at her and also that they had helped her keep her mind off of the coming meeting. It didn't scare her quite so much.
Pat saw Nikki step off the plane and went to meet her, then saw Emily, Sabina, and Ivy right behind.
"I take it this is your ‘lots of luggage'?" he grinned, hugging Nikki.
"We wanted it to be a surprise," she smiled, completely unrepentant.
"It is," he grinned, gave Emily and Sabina a hug, but stopped at Ivy's outstretched hand. "What's this?" he asked.
"A handshake," she said, "I'm sure you've seen them before." At his stunned look, she grinned and hugged him quickly. "Let's go before I get back on the plane." Her voice trembled slightly.
Pat took Nikki's hand and led the way to the baggage claim area, struggling a little with his feelings.
"Is she okay?" he asked Nikki quietly as they waited for the bags to come out on the carousel.
"Almost," she grinned. "We just spent the last half an hour or so trying to keep her mind off the whole situation. She's scared of what Nuno's reaction will be. On the other hand, this is exactly what her therapist said would be good. It'll air out anxieties, or something like that." She laughed. "And we think it'll be good for him, too."
"Probably." Pat closed his eyes and held onto his temper.
On the way out of town, Ivy listened to the chatter around her and gazed out the window. Meeting Pat had been good; she felt safe around him, so the hug had been the first step in finishing off the feelings of shame. She felt she could meet the others without any problem - except Nuno.
Gary slipped into Nuno's bedroom and pulled one of the chairs up to the bed where his friend lay, looking at something small.
"Hi. I thought I'd come see how you were doing. You didn't look so good last night when you left."
"Yeah, I overdid it," Nuno said softly, wincing slightly.
"What's that?" Gary asked after a minute of silence. Nuno handed it to him and closed his eyes against the weak sunlight coming in around his heavy curtains. Gary looked closely at the ring Ivy had tried on in Portugal, then glanced warily at the guitarist. "Is this what I think it is?" he asked.
"Probably." Nuno opened his eyes and smiled at his friend. "That's why this has been so hard. I was going to propose to her when I went down..." He turned his head to the wall.
"And you said nothing? All this time you haven't even talked to her?" Gary tried to keep his voice down in spite of his surprise; he knew what migraines felt like. "You are weird." He pressed the ring back into Nuno's hand and leaned back. Every couple of minutes a chuckle shook him as the total absurdity of the situation hit him.
"Gary's here, too," Mrs. Malone told the five as Pat got ready to leave.
"Really?" Sabina asked, definitely interested. Pat grinned.
"He'll take care of you, then. I'm going to take Emily to Paul's. See you."
Both Ivy and Sabina watched his abrupt departure as Emily and Nikki ran after him. Mrs. Malone smiled and turned to the two remaining.
"He's been a little tense since this whole thing happened," she explained. "Gary just went in to see Nuno."
"Good. I'll get Gary out, then you can go see Nuno," Sabina grinned. Ivy smiled hesitantly as her friend followed directions to Nuno's room.
Gary sat next to the bed in the darkened room, his eyes closed. He had been unprepared for Nuno's statement, and he needed a comfort. If only Sabina...
Sabina's kiss surprised him totally and cut off his thoughts. "Hi," she smiled quietly. "We were in the neighborhood, and decided to stop by." Gary stared at her.
"The neighborhood?" he stammered, his confusion complicated the surprise he felt. "What?"
"Ivy came to visit your insane guitarist, and dragged us along. I tell you, she had to twist our arms, too."
With an abrupt gesture, Gary pulled her into his lap and kissed her, long and deep. "I was just thinking of you," he said softly. "How are you?"
"Better now," she smiled coquettishly. He grinned back, blushing slightly.
"Good. And Ivy?"
"Good. She's worried; we calmed her down from a fit of anxiety on the plane. This 'interview' with Nuno has her in knots. How is he?"
"He's got a headache now; our session last night went long and he overdid it. I think he's getting impatient." He squeezed a little tighter. "If we leave, she can come in. I am glad you came." He stood and pulled her from the room.
Ivy slipped in from the other side of the door, smiling from the overheard conversation. She sat in the chair to let her eyes adjust to the darkness, and eventually noticed that all of Nuno but his clenched left hand lay under a blanket. She just sat, unable to move, and began to get very nervous.
Suddenly he moved, pushing the blanket from his face. "Gary,..." he said, and opened his eyes. "Ivy?" His forehead wrinkled in pain, he squinted at her. She giggled in spite of herself as a picture of the last time he'd looked like that popped into her head. "When did you get here?"
"I'm not sure. Gary just left, though, I think." His eyes searched her face for something, then he smiled.
"How are you?" He pushed himself up and leaned against the wall, eyes closed against the light.
"I'm okay," she responded. "You?"
"I'm better. I just... overdid it last night." He smiled shakily, opening his eyes to look at her. A silence descended, and Ivy wanted to go sit beside him, but couldn't get up enough courage. She didn't know if he would mind, so after a minute, she asked.
"Why ask? You're always welcome," he said. She colored slightly, glad of the darkness so he couldn't see, and stood to move. He pulled the blankets closer around him, then she sat next to him. Cautious, he laid his arm across her shoulders, and sighed in relief as she cuddled close to him.
Gary and Sabina checked in on them a few minutes later.
"Hey, we're going to dinner," Gary said. "You two want to come?"
"No thanks," Nuno said as Ivy shook her head.
"I didn't think so. We'll see you later." He took Sabina's hand and led her from the house.
Go on to Next Chapter | More Than Words
Home | Stories | Fun Stuff | Links | Contact me