The doctor came in slowly, old age keeping him down. When he looked up, he smiled up at her. "Yes. What seems to be the problem?" he asked, standing up a little straighter, pressing a hand to his head. "You don't seem to be hurt as much as you claim…"

"No…I'm not the wounded one. He's in the other room." The doctor's face scrunched up in question.

"He?" The word was strained. "I didn't know you were-"

"I'm not. I found him the other night and he…" she stopped short of her sentence, not wanting to mention the kiss. "Was wounded." She finished. He nodded his head, but didn't believe a word she said. Probably picked him up at a bar after a fight…

Drudgingly, he followed her to her room down the hallway, opening the door for him. She patiently waited for him to go through before she herself went inside, closing the door behind them. Merlin greeted them happily, nudging her hand as she stood against the wall. "Now, let's see what wrong…" he looked the man lying on the bed over, inspecting what was wrong. Totally picked him up at a bar, he concluded soundly, no wonder she wanted me over here…he looks like he's from out of town…

Peeling the covers down over his torso, he caught sight of the bandages that were stretched across his skin, a faint smell of something burning catching his nose. Without asking, he lifted away the tape to further inspect what was wrong. He nearly fell backwards. "What the hell is that?!" he pointed to the largely burnt area of skin.

"I was hoping you could tell me…" she murmured calmly. "I told you…I found him injured like this. He's been out for almost three days now. I was hoping maybe you could give a little bit of a boost; you know, to help him become healthier faster?" she stammered, not really knowing what to say herself.

She disposed of the bandages that had fallen upon the floor, listening to the doctor babble to himself as he inspected the wounded further. "Looks to me like he got a bit burnt…" he muttered, "but I'm not sure what with." Sighing, he covered the other back up with the blanket. "The least you can do is keep up whatever work you've been doing and try not to move him around too much. The smaller ones seem to be healing rather nicely, but the larger one…" he trailed off, looking over his shoulder. "You'll just have to wait and see what happens. I have nothing that I can do."

"I understand." She nodded slightly in agreement. "Have you heard any word from my father?" ever since the war had kicked up, she moved out where she currently was, only to find out that once she moved away, her father was drafted into the war. She hadn't heard from him since.

"I'm sorry, but I haven't. The war's been getting worse as the days progress. Who's to say that there will be a town left when things are through?" she nodded again, completely understanding that stakes were high, especially with spies being sent across the border to inspect the armies secretly, hoping to gain something in retrospect.

"Do you know if the rest of the family is okay?" she asked, her hopes a bit higher to hear how Karyn and Toby were doing, and that they were hopefully doing well. Ever since Robert left, she had lost connections with all areas of her family.

"Karyn came to me the other day for some medication for Toby, but it was only for a fever." Was the beginning response she received. "Other than that, everything seems to be fine." Her eagerness lowered. No one seems to know what's going on any more…ever since that damned war, families have been ripped apart because no one knows which side to fight for…

She walked with the doctor to the door, giving her thanks and good byes almost inaudibly. Once the door was shut, Merlin began to bark softly from the door. Following the noise, she found that he had moved again. Sighing deeply, she muttered under her breath. "If you're going to move…you should wake up at least…"

A good two days went by since the doctor had come for a visit, only to tell her that he couldn't do anything. Her heart continued to sink as she receive letters from her family telling her that Toby was still sick with a fever but it was only a little past a hundred degrees and that he would be okay. It felt like she had been cut off.

Karyn wasn't telling her if she was okay, if the house was still intact, she didn't even say anything about her friends or the town. Just a plain old 'everything's fine; don't worry' letter. She wouldn't believe any word she heard from her step-mother, considering she almost made her life a living hell-on-earth when she was a teenager due to never having a child of her own; and to make things worse, when Toby was born, she was treated like she was next to nothing.

But now, when she wanted to hear her yelling at her the most, she was possibly gone. And to make matters worse, she had an injured man lying in her bed. What else could go wrong? She began to think. With the war going on miles and miles away from her grounds, she wondered maybe if he was a stranger to these parts of the country. He didn't have any weapons on him, maybe he was a spy sent out on an errand to spot something on the enemy lines? Do spies carry around weapons of any sort? She went through another endless list of possibilities, ending with 'he could have been caught and left there'. The situation seemed possible, considering he was mostly bruises and scrapes from the neck down.

Merlin pounced into the room, causing her mind to jump back to reality, only to find herself mindlessly crumpling a piece of paper she held in her hands. Growling, she threw it at the fireplace that was burning calmly in its hearth. She looked down to find the dog staring at her while panting, tired from running around that house after his ball that seemed to roll away every time he came near it. Smiling, she patted the cushion next to her, Merlin hopping up beside her, curling up to fit his head into her lap. She rubbed him lovingly on the head. "What do you think?" she asked teasingly, "Should we trust him?"

Merlin only barked happily, rubbing his nose against her palm. She giggled, patting his back.

"Agreed." She murmured, standing up as she went back to inspect what was moping around in her room. Merlin followed along, his nose in the air as he watched her open the door and walk in. "Now, Merlin. You must behave yourself if you're going to be in here." She explained, recalling the last time he was inside her room; he nearly hopped up onto the bed and trampled him. It made her laugh, but it also worried her.

He was moving more often now, but he was still in a trance-like sleep. He acts like he's been shot with multiple tranquilizer pods or something…I've never seen any one stay unconscious for over a week from injuries. She felt his head, finding it to be of normal heat. Compared to when Dad had gotten hit with that car years ago, he had more injuries than I could count that were worse than this, but he woke up within a few days. A shiver went up her spine as she remembered her own father waving to her as he looked both ways and crossed the street, and ironically, a car flying out of nowhere had hit him.

Something about his face caught her eye. Not a scratch had been on his face the entire time she had taken care of him. Normally when people get hurt like this, people usually aim for the face to try and cause some sort of brain damage, but this guy…her fingers moved his hair away, inspecting further what she hadn't noticed for days. This guy doesn't have anything that suggests he was actually beaten up. It looks more or less like they were just playing around or had some sort of ground rules set before it even took place.

While her fingers brushed his hair away from his eyes, he groaned. Before she could snap her hand away, his eyes fluttered open. He was awake.