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Chapter 3
"Carolyn, my dearest. We need to leave this place, immediately." Daniel gently scooped her up in his arms.
The girl spirit from earlier appeared in the doorway and stood before Daniel, who was holding a limp Carolyn.
"My dear, I must take my leave at this time. Carolyn is in need of proper medical attention, but I would like to speak with you, again."
"I would like that too," the girl responded. " I hope that your Carolyn will feel better soon."
"As do I."
He wanted to thank the girl properly for her help and to ask how she had come to have the two voices. But that conversation had to wait.
Cradling Carolyn close to his chest, Captain Gregg disappeared.
—
The little red cottage was older, needed work, and was under-furnished, but it had running water and electricity. It was one of Claymore Gregg's summer rental properties. Much of the time, it was not in use simply because it was older, needing work and had very little furniture. Daniel Gregg was grateful for the skinflints miserly ways right now for he needed the little cottage to keep Carolyn safe. For the time being, Gull Cottage could not be considered a safe place for his beloved.
He slowly and carefully laid Carolyn on one of the full beds that the cottage provided. Removing the restraining jacket from her proved challenging, but by utilizing his powers, he prevailed over the confounded contraption! What Daniel beheld then caused him to gasp. Her small frame was marred by multiple large bruises along with some scrapes and cuts. Evidence of her galant fight against the men who abducted her. Thunder and lightning crashed above the small cottage while tears found their way to the seaman's eyes.
—-
Gathering all of his mental fortitude, Captain Gregg picked up the phone and reluctantly began his vocal imitation of Claymore to the operator. It was humiliating but necessary as he needed the operator's help to ring Gull Cottage.
"Muir residence." Martha's voice was guarded.
"Martha! Thank the Heavens!"
"Captain! Did you find…."
"Yes! I have her, but I am in need of your help, dear woman! We cannot come home and I fear she needs more care than what I can give her alone."
"Where are you? I'll come to you!"
"We are at one of Claymores summer cottages. The red one north of town. And Martha…"
"Yes?"
"Please bring her some food and loose fitting clothes."
"Of course."
Before Martha had arrived, Daniel had literally given Carolyn the shirt off of his back. He willed another one to take its place for himself. Much to his pleasant surprise, she moved and groaned a little snuggling down into the seaman's turtleneck, which hung quite large on her petite torso.
"My Love," he crooned, then sent her a cocoon of that love along their connection. Very faintly, she responded in kind. A small sense of relief came over him, and he built a wall of hope around it.
True to her reputation, Martha could work miracles as she arrived only twenty minutes later, fully equipped to the gills.
Captain Gregg quickly gave the housekeeper a breakdown of the day's events. She saw both great pain with a bit of relief behind his blue eyes. For a moment, she almost buckled under the weight of what had taken place. With a quick blink of her eyes she went back into 'Martha Mode', surmising what they needed to do next.
"Captain, we need to get lots of water into Mrs. Muir as soon as possible. That will help flush the remaining medication from her system."
"Those were my thoughts as well, Martha. We just need to make sure she is conscious enough to swallow lest we do more harm than good for her."
"Agreed, Captain. You realize that she is likely to vomit, don't you?"
"Yes, that is highly likely and I have found a bucket under the sink to prepare for such events."
"Also, Captain…" Martha paused just briefly before continuing. "I am very concerned about the 'other'…."Her voice trailed off, but she kept eye contact with the seaman.
Daniel expelled a deep sigh before replying. "I am also very concerned about the 'other' as well, Martha." He ran his hands through the thick curls in his hair before returning them to his hips.
They looked at each other silently for what seemed to be hours, but was actually just for a few moments.
"Let us proceed, dear Martha."
He removed his pea coat and grabbed the bucket. Martha filled a water pitcher, found a towel, and obtained a glass from a kitchen cabinet. One after the other they entered the room where Carolyn lay sleeping on the bed.
Daniel eased Carolyn into a semi upright position and slipped in behind her, guiding her back to lean on his chest. She pulled her bruised body up against his strong one. He could not help himself and wrapped his arms around her, bringing his head down to hers, laying his cheek against her hair. He closed his eyes to take in her close contact. She snuggled even deeper into him.
After a minute, Martha quietly spoke.
"Water, now. Cuddle later."
With his eyes still closed, he gave her a small nod.
Together, the pair patiently attempted to coax Carolyn into drinking some water. She resisted their attempts for a time but then conceded and drank a few sips, which came right back up. So was the start of a very long night of repeated attempts to get liquid into Carolyn's fragile body. They tried several different concoctions to find something that would comply with her upset stomach. Finally, a watered down version of a ginger soda seemed to be the answer.
It was about 4 AM when Captain Gregg told Martha to get some sleep in the other bedroom. She really didn't put up much of a fight and quickly fell asleep as commanded.
After a time, Daniel inferred about the children in which Martha replied with the following: Candy and Jonathon already had sleep over plans at the Gilberts for a night of board games and popcorn. They went over later in the afternoon when all homework was finished. Thank goodness tomorrow was Saturday!
Daniel simply let Carolyn fall back asleep on his chest. He put one arm loosely around her.
"Silly woman." He smiled and thought. Despite the towel they had placed around her front, Carolyn managed to get some vomit on his turtleneck sweater that she was wearing. They tried to convince her to change into a clean shirt, but she stubbornly refused, clutching the turtleneck to her body. She was like a young child who refuses to give up a beloved security blanket that needs washing. After allowing her to keep the sweater, she unrolled the long sleeves and brought them up to her face and nose, inhaling Daniel's scent. It seemed to soothe the restlessness that plagued her. She then snuggled back into his chest and fell asleep.
At some point, Daniel knew that she would most likely encounter nightmares from the trauma she endured, so he endeavored to be more sensitive to her emotions within their empathic channel. It would be one more road that they would walk together.
About an hour later Carolyn awoke with both eyes wide open.
"Daniel?" she spoke with a dry voice.
"Yes, my love?" he cooed. His eyes were closed.
"I…I need to urinate."
"Oh." Now Daniel's eyes were wide open.
—
For a small office area, there were several people who appeared to be quite involved with their equipment. There was a 'hum' of machines and equipment in the air.
"Sir? We have it! We have the special surveillance footage from Bellevue Hospital!"
"Good!"
"Yes sir! It was there! You can see it clearly on the footage, sir!" The man was very excited.
"Well. Why don't you show me the footage and tell me what I am seeing. Even if it seems 'hare-brained', I want you to tell me everything that was captured on that film. And I do mean everything!"
"Yes, sir!"
The two men exited the busy room.