A suprise for you all! A double post!! YEHA! It is a little dark, (So whats new for me, right??) I just thought I would warn ya! I hope you enjoy...

Chapter 7

Tom Hanson gasped loudly as a he felt a hand on his chest. There was an odd tugging on his wrists and then a slice and his hands were free. Hanson struggled to sit up and then soon regretted it. He felt dizzy and nauseous with each movement. He was laid gently back on the ground. There was a velvety soft voice in the background but he couldn't make out the words coming from her mouth. He was so cold. The soft hands were soon back on his chest he felt the graceful fingers floating down his chest and release the two buttons holding the tattered material from the flannel shirt. He tried again to sit up only to be gently pushed back down onto the hard surface of the floor. Only the floor felt different, it was softer… not as cold. There was a crackling sound and he could smell the pungent aroma of smoke in the air. The room was warmer, but he was still so cold.

"Shhh… Tom… please relax." Lexi pleaded with the officer.

"What… what are… you doing?" He whispered. He swallowed hard, his voice was nearly gone. He could no longer feel the nip of the cold air as it entered the bottom of the door. He could feel the heat from the fire. She had moved him… how? She was so small in stature compared to him.

"You're burning up and I need to try and get your fever down. I lit a fire to try and warm it up in here for you." Tom opened his eyes and could see her soft features. The bruise on her cheek was darker still. She had a scab forming over the split on her full lips. She tried to smile gently as she noticed his open eyes. There was the slightest purple of a bruise near the corner of her lip. She stared intently at the officer's chest. She noted the wrapping around his bruised ribs. She pushed the material of the shirt from the officer's chest and then lifted a cloth from a bowl of water to her right. She carefully wrung the excess liquid from the material of the cloth and then ran the cloth across Hanson's face. She then gently glided the cloth across Hanson's throat. She turned and re-wet the cloth and placed it on Hanson's chest. The coolness of the water caused Hanson to jump. He sucked in a deep breath as the young woman next to him placed her hand on the officer's chest.

"Darren…" Hanson licked his lips as he tried to form the words. "Where…"

"He left for supplies." She responded.

"When will he… be back?" Hanson swallowed and took a deep breath.

"I don't know." She responded. "Probably not for a while…"

Hanson felt her fingers as they examined the wrap holding his bruised ribs in place. The material from the bandage was probably to only thing that prevented Hanson from having a broken rib the last time the man booted the officer in the ribs. She continued to dampen his chest and arms with the cooling liquid. Hanson flinched as she hit a tender spot in his person. His body was starting to ripple with goose bumps as she wiped away the beads of glistening perspiration on his blistering fever stricken body.

"Relax… I know it's cold." She whispered soothingly.

"Hurts… so cold…" Hanson closed his eyes and let the young woman attempt to help. His skin was so sensitive to the slightest touch that the chill of the water made him ache all over. It was when her soft fingers landed on his infected side that Hanson cried out in pain. He squeezed his eyes shut and withered beneath her touch. He bit his lip to prevent the additional escape of a cry. The agony of the slightness of her touch was too much to handle. Hanson felt the shame of a tear escape down the crease of his eyelid and roll across his temple and onto the floor. The intensity of the ache throbbed within his side.

"What is that?" Lexi placed the rag back into the small bowl and then dried her hands on her jeans. She got onto her knees and leaned over Hanson's narrow frame. She then caught sight of the indigo threadlike stitches in Hanson's swollen encrusted and cherry red side. She placed her hand over the stitched area and felt the blistering hot heat radiating from the inflamed surface. She also noted his tightening abdominal muscles as she gently touched the area. Hanson groaned again through clinched teeth using his hand instinctively to push her off of the painfully tainted area.

"Tommy, what is this?" She questioned the officer.

"Stitches…" Hanson responded breathlessly.

"I see that and it's infected. What happened?" She demanded.

"Darren… ran his knife… into me there…" Hanson licked his lips as he tried to stave off any additional cries of agony. It was so sore to touch. He knew that the sutures were infected, but there was nothing he could do, but ride out the pain and infection.

"Officer Hanson, this is infected badly, I can hardly see the stitches anymore, you are so swollen." She remarked her voice full of concern. She thought for a minute as the officer reached a hand up to his forehead wiping off dripping beads of sweat. He took a deep breath as he opened his eyes noting the look of concern on her youthful face. "I took first aid when I was in the Girl Scouts and they said that you should use hot water for an infection. I need to heat this rag up and put it on the cut to try and draw the infection out."

Hanson watched as she rose to her feet and took the rag out of the water bowl and headed to the fire. There was a kettle sitting just above the flames. Carefully she removed the pot from the fireplace and poured the contents of the pot into a second bowl then carried it over to where the injured officer lay. Hanson closed his eyes swallowed hard and then opened his eyes making eye contact with the gentle blue eyes belonging to the girl beside him.

"This is going to hurt." She stated. She had grabbed a set of tongs from a drawer next to the small cook stove near the fireplace. She poured a small amount of cold water into the wildly steaming bowl. She looked at Hanson who bit his bottom lip as she lifted the rag with the tongs. Hanson closed his eyes and grasped at the blanket beneath his body, twisting it between his fingers as he prepared for the worst. Lexi took a deep breath as she lifted the rag with the tongs and attempted to wring some of the scalding water from its entity. She shook of a few water droplets and then inhaled as she reached across his tender body and laid the searing material against his infected skin.

"AGGGGGHHH!" Hanson shrieked. The intensity of the heat shredded at the exterior of his epidermis. Hanson struggled to find his breath again as Lexi grabbed his hands in an effort to thwart his clutching at the sweltering material of the cloth. Several minutes passed before Hanson could talk again. The pain of infected stitches seemed to dominate all thoughts.

--

"Where… did you learn this?" Hanson croaked. His voice was hoarse and gravely. "I know that they don't teach you all of this in Girl Scouts."

Lexi walked back over to the now calmed Tom Hanson carrying two aspirins and a metal cup full of water. She tenderly helped Hanson into a sitting position against the wall. She handed him the medication and the cup of which he took both. He popped the pills into his mouth and slowly drank the cool liquid down.

"I spent some time at Waylon Memorial as a Candy Striper. I loved it. I wanted to become a nurse for a while, but now… I'm not sure." She responded. She looked down at Hanson's red side. He held the small rag in place and then removed it handing it back to the young girl.

"Why not now?" He asked.

"Well, I am not sure anyone will ever hire me now… not after all of this. Tommy… Darren… he cut you because of me didn't he?" She asked looking up at Tom. Her eyes were pained as she mustered the courage to ask the difficult question.

Hanson let out a sigh. The answer was a resounding YES! But how could he tell her that. She was carrying so much of a burden already. He just didn't have the heart to hurt her anymore. He also couldn't lie to her. He had grown to care so much for the young girl that he didn't want to devastate her anymore.

"He…" Hanson looked down and then into her eyes. She sat in front of him cross-legged on the floor. Her perfect blue eyes which used to be filled with so much life was now flooded with despair and anguish. "Yeah…" Hanson whispered.

Lexi drew in a ragged breath as tears began to glisten in her eyes. "I knew he had… I knew it was true. This is all my fault…" She slid her fingers through her hair which fell again to her brush her shoulders. "That means… Kirk…" she gulped in another ragged breath as the events at Waylon County washed over her again. "This is all my fault." Tears started to roll down her cheeks.

"Lexi…" Hanson leaned forward igniting the pain in his side again. The young woman pulled away from him as she continued to shed her tears.

"He was helping me with my calculus… I was struggling and he had no trouble with it. I asked him if he would help me one day and he said yes… the next day… Oh GOD… Tommy…" She leaned forward sobbing into her own hands. "I'm so sorry… I never meant…"

Hanson reached across to the woman in front of him pulling her into his arms in an effort to comfort her in her time of anguish. Lexi leaned onto Hanson's shoulder shuddering with each gasp for breath. "Kirk… was such… a good guy… we'd been… friends… since…grade school…" Lexi struggled through each word while Hanson was crushed inside. She had suffered so much at the hands of someone she had loved so much. She was such a kind spirit and she did her best to be a good girl. She had been so nice to him on his first day of school. With no questions asked had given him paper and pens for class. She had taken him under her wing and tried to help him around the foreign land that was Waylon County. Hanson was truly disturbed at the insanity of the city that had flooded into such a beautiful countryside as Waylon County. He would never have believed that a country school would have so much drama surrounding it. To watch Lexi George struggle with the torture of knowing that her boyfriend had befouled her and their relationship was too much weight to watch her attempt to bear.

--

Hanson watched as the young girl had drifted off in his arms. She had cried for a solid hour before she started to calm down. She lay with her head against his chest cradled in his left arm. With his right hand he brushed a stray lock of auburn hair from her forehead as she continued to sleep peacefully. Her almond shaped eyes would appear to almost flutter as she lay in a near dreamlike state. She drew a short breath as Hanson thought he heard a noise outside of the door but couldn't confirm it until it was too late. The door burst violently open as Darren Thompson stumbled clumsily into the large room.

"What the fuck!" He shouted. He carried a bottle in his right hand that he threw across the room and it smashed into millions of pieces on the wall; the liquid ran down the timber surface filling the room with stench of whiskey. Lexi sat straight up and looked terrified at the man in the doorway.

"Get your hands off of my girlfriend… asshole!" Darren shrieked. Lexi was caught off guard as he aggressively grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet.

"Darren please…stop…" Lexi pleaded with Darren who viciously backhanded the young woman across her face dropping her swiftly to the floor. She landed on her stomach and tried to rise again only to be grabbed by the hair and thrown cruelly into the bedroom door. Lexi fell to the floor on her back. She rolled onto her side where she remained motionless.

Hanson lunged at the man in an attempt to stop the attack on Lexi only to be kneed in his side. Tom screamed in pain. It was excruciating. His breath left him as he fell to his knees holding his sutured side gulping for air. He could feel the blood pooling in his hand Darren grasped Tom by the hair pulling the officer out the door and into the clearing to the nearest tree. He produced a pair of handcuffs and wrapped the officer's wrists behind him around the course trunk of the tree. Hanson was once again covered in lines of running perspiration. He shook like a leaf in the wind as the chill of the afternoon mountain air cut his skin.

Darren grasped Hanson by the chin and raised it so he was looking eye to eye with the officer. "I need you for one reason cop and that's it… I will fucking kill you if you lay a hand on my girlfriend one more time." Darren hissed. "She told me the other day she thought that you had a fever… well… this should cool you off." Darren then slugged Hanson with a closed fist in his lower jaw. The officer was left outside at the base of a tree while the sadistic high school student walked inside to his unconscious girlfriend.

Ok, so here we go... Please read and review and I hope you like it! Firebunee... it might be a few days before I get to post again as I am going to prepare to boo-hoo as my youngest son leaves to go into service for our country! He will be joining the Air Force... I am now a proud US Marine mama and a proud US Air Force Airmen Mama with a beautiful grandbaby:-) GOD BLESS US ALL!!