A/N - First off, I want to thank all of you that followed, faved, and reviewed my other stories ("Layers", and "A Kiss For Dennis"), as well as all of you that have only just stumbled upon this one. You are all AMAZING, and your kind words and encouragement mean A LOT.
Secondly, I'd like to warn you beforehand that this story is a lot more...shall we say, "intense" than I usually write, and I probably won't be writing much more like this in the future. But, I do plan on writing more for this pair later on, so don't worry about that.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. Though I do believe it could use some editing.
Feel free to tell me what you think in the reviews.
Disclaimer: I don't own Unbreakable, Split, or Glass.
"Your hair," Dennis cringed, his brows knit tightly together.
Casey pulled a stray strand nervously behind her ear.
"It's greasy, dirty,"
She swallowed.
"Take a shower." He ordered.
Casey slowly looked from him, to the bathroom, and then back.
A shower?
While he was around?
It was bad enough that she had to use the restroom when the other two girls were in the room, now he expected her to take a shower in a bathroom without a locking door while he did what? Stood by in the other room?
No way.
She couldn't handle that.
She just couldn't.
"The door...doesn't lock?" She asked, though it was more of a statement than a question.
"I won't look, if that's what you're wonderin'," Dennis told her, struggling to keep his composure.
"Just close the door behind you, and hand me your clothes before you get in."
Casey swallowed hard.
"Why do you need my clothes?"
"I'm gonna switch out the laundry and bring in some fresh towels."
"...Okay." she relented, like she had a choice, anyway.
Casey walked into the bathroom and removed her earrings first in an attempt to stall. Then she tried to set them on the sink before closing the door.
"Don't," Dennis warned her, causing her to turn around and face him.
Her heart stopped.
He motioned for her to come out of the bathroom, and she complied.
He pulled a plastic zip-lock bag out of his pants pocket, and held out an open hand.
"Give 'em here."
She hesitated.
"I'm not gonna have your belongin's lyin' around," he told her. "Somethin' could get lost."
She exhaled the breath she was holding, then handed over her jewelry.
"Good. Now go back in the bathroom and close the door behind you."
Once again, she did as she was told.
After she passed her clothes through the crack in the door, Dennis left as he'd said he would, presumably to get fresh towels.
Once bare, Casey turned the middle faucet on the shower wall, and stepped into the tub.
She gasped when cold water hit her skin.
For some unfathomable reason, the left knob had 'cold' water, and the right knob had 'hot'.
Causing her to fiddle with the two for a bit before finally settling on 'lukewarm'.
Since the pipes seemed to carry nothing but freezing water anyway, there wasn't much she could do about it, either.
Immediately, she reached up to the little shelf that held a bar of soap, shampoo, and conditioner, and began vigorously washing her hair and scrubbing herself down.
The quicker she got her shower over with, the better.
She was so anxious that her movements were nervous and jerky, and by some unfathomable curse, she had managed to lose her balance. It may have been the various soaps and conditioners making the tub slick and slippery, it may have been the lack of a bath mat for traction, it may have been her own fault entirely, but her feet slid out from under her and she toppled over in the tub.
Grabbing the curtains in a last-ditch effort to stay standing, she managed to pull those down with her as well, the rod falling down with it.
The result was a loud 'CRASH' and 'THUD'.
And of course, Dennis had come back into the room just in time to hear the commotion.
Three knocks quickly came to the bathroom door.
"Hey, what's goin' on in there?" Dennis called from outside.
No response.
"If you don't say nothin' I'm comin' in,"
Dennis pressed his ear to the door, listening intently.
"I fell..." she called out timidly.
Silence...
And then:
"Are you alright?"
"...Yeah."
He sighed, bringing a fist to the door.
"I - Uh...got your towel here," he announced. "I'm gonna open the door and hand it to you,"
The door 'clicked' open a crack.
Casey slowly got up from the tub and turned off the faucet, wrapping herself up in the shower curtain (though it was fruitless because they were clear) and taking it with her.
At the very least she felt covered.
The door inched open further.
She saw Dennis' arm hold out a towel to her, just like he'd said, and quickly grabbed it and closed the door.
After she had the towel's fabric wrapped firmly around her, another series of knocks came to the door. This time irritable. More rushed.
"Are you decent?"
"Yes..." Casey said cautiously.
Without another word, Dennis burst into the room, nearly knocking her over in the process as she took a step back just in time before the door bashed into her head.
"What happened?" He demanded, looking from her to the wreckage that was now the bathtub, brows furrowed.
"The - Uh - rod fell down."
Dennis cleared his throat and motioned his head for her to move aside.
His eyes followed her towel-wrapped body as she moved out of view, and he bent down to retrieve the curtain rod by the tub.
"So how does somethin' like this happen?" He turned his head around to face her.
He was certain that he'd installed the rod correctly when he'd put it up.
Casey paused and looked down at the tiled floor.
"I slipped..." she mumbled.
Dennis sighed and gave her a look.
Then he got up from his spot on the floor and looked into the tub.
Yep.
Just as he suspected.
"There's no bath mat," he stated, rubbing his head in an effort to calm himself.
He'd forgotten to put one in after he fixed the room up.
"I didn't take it, I swear - "
"-It's not your fault."
"It's not your fault," he repeated again.
He breathed deeply in an out, as if warding off a potential meltdown.
This caused Casey's unnerved feelings to be heightened to another level.
She shrunk towards the back of the bathroom, past the sink and toilet, and kept her back to one of the corners of the wall.
After finally noticing the distressed look on Casey's face, Dennis started to make his way out of the bathroom, when all of the sudden a dark purple mark on her lower left leg caught his eye.
"You said you were alright," he accused, glaring from her to her leg as he shook his head.
"I am -" Casey protested, pulling the towel further down in an attempt to cover up the mark.
"No, you're not! You got a bruise, on your leg," he briefly covered his mouth with his hand, sucking in air as he tried to stay focused on the situation and not let his mind wander to her body.
"Stay there," he told her, briefly pointing a finger in her direction as he bolted out of the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.
Casey fiddled with a loose strand of fabric on her towel while she waited, not at all knowing what to expect when he came back.
By the time he did, she had migrated away from the wall, and sat herself down on the lid of the toilet, her legs crossed.
When Dennis came back, he had a packet of ice in his hands, and a towel tucked under his arm.
"I don't usually allow the use of more than one towel per person because it ruins the flow of the laundry, but because your hair's drippin' all over the floor, I decided I'd make an exception."
Casey looked from her hair to the floor tiles.
Being that the whole situation was so tense and nerve-wracking, her hair dripping water all over the bathroom had been the last thing on her mind.
He held the towel out to her, and she took it with uncertainty. Not quite sure if he intended her to use it to mop up the floor, or wrap her hair up in it.
Dennis sighed in annoyance.
"For your hair," he told her, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I have separate towels for cleaning the floors, and I'll bring them in in a minute."
Casey slowly began wrapping the towel around her head before Dennis knelt down to put the ice-pack on her leg. The fingers of his right hand gently pressing into her bare skin, slow and almost timid with his movements, before finally putting the full length of his hand against her leg.
Sighing shakily, Dennis inched just a fraction higher up her leg, before taking the ice-pack in his other hand and pressing it to the bruise on her thigh.
What resulted was a rather strong 'jerk' on Casey's part, not liking the cold or the sudden chill it sent up her spine, and a fairly shaken Dennis as he narrowly avoided getting kneed in the jaw.
Biting his lip and sucking in a deep breath through his teeth, Dennis rose up from his spot beside her and shoved the ice-pack in her hand.
"You don't want my help? Do it yourself."
Never one to not follow orders, Casey immediately did as she was told and held the ice-pack against her leg.
Meanwhile, Dennis stood across from her and stared, his back stiff and arms crossed, almost as if he were expecting something.
It took Casey a few moments to realize that he was actually staring down at the slit left by the towel she was wearing, which caused her to pull the fabric further down, and shift around uncomfortably.
Blinking out of embarrassment, Dennis cleared his throat and announced that he was getting more towels as he swiftly exited the bathroom.
When he came back a couple minutes later, he made short work of his cleaning, making a point not to acknowledge her presence as he scrubbed and dried the tiles, the smell of bleach and harsh cleaners fermenting the small room when he left once again.
When he came back the fourth time, he had her clothes folded neatly in his hands, and held them out to her wordlessly.
Her bare shoulders and legs having been begging to be covered for the past hour, Casey graciously took them.
When Dennis left the fifth time, Casey quickly threw on her clothing and dreaded his return. Preparing for him to burst into the bathroom again at any moment.
But to her surprise, he didn't come back.
Not to knock on the door (which he'd closed once he left), not to clean up any messes, and not to order her to do anything. And for some reason, that made her even more anxious.
Should she leave the room? Go back to her bed?
What if he wanted her to stay? Would she get in trouble?
Could she get in trouble?
How could her situation possibly be any worse?
She was already locked up for Pete's sake!
When she finally decided to come out of the bathroom, she saw Dennis outside waiting.
He was seated on one of the beds, with his elbows propped up on his knees, and his face buried in his hands.
He looked miserable.
As Casey cautiously inched forward, she contemplated whether or not she should say anything to acknowledge his presence.
Would he be mad at her when he saw that she was out?
Should she say anything?
Would it be best not to?
Finally settling on seating herself on the bed opposite of his, she slowly sat herself down on the cot, inadvertently causing an audible 'creaking' sound to emit, and causing Dennis to break out of his self-loathing thoughts, and look up from his hands.
He briefly raised a brow before realizing it was Casey that had caused the noise.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that," he stared down at the floor, a hopeless look in his eyes.
"I just wanted to -" he faltered a second before finding his voice again. "I just wanted to touch you, that was all,"
Casey nodded in understanding.
"I didn't mean to lose my temper. I didn't mean to yell...I'm tryin' to be better about these things. I really am."
He got up from his spot on the bed, and wiped his face.
"I'll see you tomorrow," he nodded at her.
She nodded back.
Opening and closing his palms slightly in exasperation, he paced the room for a couple of moments as if he had something else to say, but ultimately decided against it.
"Goodnight," he said from over his shoulder as he stalked out of the room and locked the door behind him.
A/N UPDATE 2/9/19 - Beth (Guest), Thank you, I'm glad you liked it. I don't plan on continuing this particular story, but I may add another few chapters to my previous one (A Kiss For Dennis).
Sara (Guest), Gracias por tus amables palabras, significan mucho. Me alegro de que estés disfrutando la historia hasta ahora.