Piece Two
The thunder rumbles and a crackle of flickering cloud-lightning lights up the street for only a few seconds. Just long enough to turn blood a horrifying red, stark in the half-light, and wash out a brown coat and soaked brown hair.
She's off the front step, flying barefoot across the front lawn before her eyes even adjust to the dark again. It isn't the blood that draws her to his side.
He stumbles and she catches him.
"Come into the house." Her voice is cajoling, close enough to his ear to be quiet. "You're bleeding."
Water falls in drips onto the entry carpet as she closes the door and helps him with his coat. Blood falls in equal measure from the cuff of one pants leg and the ripped side of his suit jacket and shirt. She mumbles worriedly and leads him to the bathroom, hitting the light on and motioning for him to sit on the toilet.
When she pads back to the bathroom with towels and the first aid kit in hand, his trainers are on the rug and his jacket is slung across the back of the toilet. He's rolled up the soaked cuffs of his pants and is in the process of unbuttoning his shirt as he looks up at her. She pauses, struck by a sudden desire to hug him very tightly and not let go. It really was him, sitting in her bathroom. And bleeding.
She shakes herself mentally and moves to sit on the floor beside him, her nightgown making a damp sound on the tile as she does so. He winces as she moves his foot into her lap, examining his leg, but doesn't say anything. There's a messy cut, but it's shallow despite snaking up towards his knee. She tends to it gently, humming a vaguely familiar tune that he almost recognizes as he leans against the wall.
"There now." She pats his foot, moving up onto her knees before him. His eyes are half-closed and he's making a wet spot on the wall. She frowns and jostles his knee just enough that his eyes open again. "Dry your hair, since you'll need your arm up anyways." He takes the towel, yawning, and she makes quick work of the last few buttons, pushing his shirt aside to survey the damage done.
Prodding gently at his ribs, she glances up at his face, but he's fallen asleep with the towel between his head and the wall. She shakes her head and smiles fondly, cleaning blood off of the shallow cut along his side. Some antiseptics and he'll be fine, just fine.