I'm trying something new with this update. I'm hoping it fixes the problem with the emails. I'm new at this, and writing it all from a tablet, so please bear with me while I sort out the kinks ;-)

I own nothing

Unbetta'd

Nine

Four left quickly, looking dead on his feet. Eric called medical and ordered a house call for Kella before he did anything else. He had her lying on the couch with her boots off by the time the medic got there. He could've called for a doctor, but a Dauntless medic seemed like a better idea. All of their doctors where either on loan from Erudite, or Erudite transfers that where trained by the Erudite hospital; and Eric didn't trust them. Smiley the field medic, however, had been born Dauntless. His parents had both been born Dauntless, as where their parents before them. Eric knew this because when he'd been knifed by a factionless, Smiley was the medic that kept him distracted by talking non stop, while he cleaned out the wound and sewed him up with no local anesthetic. Eric trusted him with his life.

Smiley whistled long and low as he caught sight of his patient. "Wow, man. What the hell did they do to her? She looks like she spent the near eight months with the factionless, not with the noses."

"They wanted her to talk, she didn't wanna. She won." Eric sumerises for him.

"Holy shit woman! If you're the winner, I'd hate to see the other guy." Smiley chuckles to himself as he gets to work examining the 'winner'. It doesn't take him long with a portable x-ray scanner to find out what's slowing her up. She has four broken toes, a broken finger, five broken ribs and a fractured collarbone. She also had fresh contusions all over her body and many half healed wounds and scars. The ones that make Eric squeeze his knuckles the tightest are the mostly healed electrical burns that snake diagonally from her hip to her shoulder and curl up her neck.

After a thorough examination, Smiley strongly suggests that Kella would be best off in the med bay. Kella shakes her head firmly at this and grabs ahold of the lounge to emphasise her point. It was only after Eric promised him that he could come and examine her, here in his apartment, three times a day until she healed, and gave him the code for the door, that Smiley was content to leave. He strapped her ribs, splinted her finger, put her left arm in a sling, redressed the wounds that Eric had tended to on the train and gave her some pills to take.

"Now, Missy, you rest up now and I'll be back in the morning to check up on you. Be good now, you hear?"

Kella nodded obediently as Smiley packed up his gear and walked out the door.

As soon as he was gone she ripped the sling off. She was starting on the splint when Eric grabbed ahold of her hands.

"Oh, hell no! Save me from getting in trouble and just leave that on now, ok? Even if it's just for one night. Please?" She rolled her eye at him, but left the splint on. She signed *sleep* at him with her good hand.

"Ok kid, bedtime" Eric said as he gently picked her up and carried her to his bedroom. He got her into bed was turning to go sleep on the lounge like he did last time when she grabbed his hand. He looked at her as she signed *Stay* and his head and heart went to war. This was a bad idea, a very bad idea. When she signed *Please* the war was over. He climbed in behind her and held her tight to his chest. And for the first time in nearly eight months, Eric slept peacefully through the night.

oOoOo

He was warm and content as he slowly woke from the best night's sleep he ever remembered having. His face was buried in a warm neck, he had one hand on a breast, and one hand wrapped around a waist. A pert backside was pleasantly pressed into his groin and he grunted and groaned when it wiggled, squeezing the warm body closer to him. A breathy sigh was what woke him fully, and he suddenly realised that he wasn't dreaming. He raised his head as she turned her face toward him, her eyes dark with lust. It took every ounce of Eric's control to let go of her and jump out of bed, throwing a hurried apology over his shoulder as he fled to the bathroom.

He was a bad man, a very bad man. She was injured; she'd just been tortured for months for Christ's sake. And here he was, groping her like a schoolboy while she slept. He threw himself into a cold shower, trying desperately to scrub the feeling of her warm body off his skin so he could gain control of his faculties once again.

When he emerged from the bathroom, she was no longer in the bed. This was bad, she was supposed to be on bed rest, Smiley was gonna kill him. He followed the sound and smell of bacon sizzling out to his kitchen and found her over his stove, a large pile of bacon on a plate beside her, and a strip in her mouth. She was just starting on the eggs. She turned and threw a loaf of bread at him and pointed at his toaster.

"How many?" He asked. She held up three fingers and pointed to herself, so he toasted six while she cooked half a dozen eggs.

He carried everything to the table and they sat together and ate in companionable silence. Eric enjoyed his meal immensely, and not just because the bacon was cooked crispy. There was no inane chatter, no awkward small talk, no irritating questions. None of the things that made Eric avoid the mess hall on most days and eat on his own in his apartment. Kella was focused on her food like she hadn't eaten in weeks, and he wondered how often Erudite bothered feeding her.

The door opened and a cheerful Smiley bustled in with his medical kit. "Good morning, Eric. Kella, what are you doing out of bed and with no sling or splint on?"

Kella smiled sweetly and shrugged her good shoulder while Eric filled the medic in on her night. "She took the sling off last night, but I made her keep the splint on. She still had it on when she woke up, so she must've taken it off while I was in the shower. She slept well, hardly moved an inch all night. She wouldn't take the painkillers, but she took her antibiotics last night and this morning."

"Well, could be worse I guess, she is definitely Dauntless." Smiley sighed as he grabbed out the x-ray "Now, Four mentioned something about accelerated healing. Let's have a look at how accelerated it is." He scans her finger first. "Well, we're around halfway done there. One more day in a splint should do it"

Kella rolled her eyes and hrmphed at that, but both Eric and Smiley ignored her.

He did her collarbone next. "This one's good. I'd still go easy on it for a couple of days, but it's mostly healed, now let's check those ribs" He motioned her to move to the lounge and she shifted without complaint. He moved the scanner over her still strapped ribs, clicking his tongue as he went. "I've never seen anyone heal this fast. I mean, you'll still need to be strapped for a couple of days, but you'll be completely better inside a week. Who are you?"

Kella signs at him and the bewildered medic looks to Eric for a translation. "Shower" Eric sighs, "She wants to know if she can take all this crap off and shower."

"Oh, sure. Of course." He turns back to his patient. "We can take all the bandages off now and put them back on after you get cleaned up" Kella smiles brightly "But, I can't let you shower on your own at the moment" Kella's bright smile turned into a dark frown. "Just for today, ok? If you have a fall, you could really do some damage. And I don't trust this fast healing thing you have going on, I've got no experience with it." She rolled her eyes at him, but nodded her comprehension. "Right, so, you have a few options. I could help you, or I could go and get a female nurse or medic..." He trailed off as Kella was already pointing at Eric. "Um, ok. Sure. Eric, she's obviously the most comfortable with you. So, shower the girl"

Smiley's eyebrows where so high they where hidden under his hair as he looked expectantly at Eric. Oh, boy, was he in trouble.

Kella giggled and pushed at Smiley's shoulder on her way past him to her kit, where she started pulling out some now familiar paraphernalia. She pushed Eric down so he was sitting on the lounge and she then sat between his legs, facing away from him. She passed him a comb and a bottle of purple goopy crap. Smiley started laughing and stood to leave.

"Well, you're going to be here for awhile Eric. Here's a tip from a father of three daughters, start at the bottom and section it off where you can. You're good to take her strapping off to shower her?" Eric nodded "Ok then. I'll be back around lunch time to strap her back up and redress her wounds." And he was out the door before Eric could gather his wits enough to mount a counter argument.

The woman between his knees threw her head back and looked at him upside down with a cheshire grin. Eric pushed her head foward and grabbed what he thought where the ends of her hair. Here he was; Eric Coulter, youngest and most feared leader of the warrior faction, the most dauntless of Dauntless, he who's ice cold glare strikes fear into the hearts of grown men... playing hairdresser and nursemaid. The worst part was, he wasn't sure that he minded.

oOoOo

It took two hours, but in the end Kella's hair was knot free and completely coated in purple goop. So where Eric's arms, up to his elbows. He figures he'll just wash it off in the shower. They move into the bathroom. Kella turns on her music device and puts it on top of the shower door. She then holds her shirt up while he unstraps her.

"Are you sure you don't want me to go and grab a nurse?" Eric asks hopefully. She shakes her head vigorously

Don't want them to see my weakness* she signs with a solemn expression. He understood that. She wanted as few people as possible to see her while she's not at her best. He had similar trust issues.

"Ok" He's a little floored that it's him that she trusts, but he's not going to argue with her. He runs the water, carefully helps her undress and step into the shower. Eric takes his shirt off and steps in after with just his black jeans on. They work together to take the tape off her dressings while she's under the water. All the while, he's trying not to actually look at the naked woman in front of him. He's failing miserably on that part. The purple from her hair is running down her body, leaving streaks of clean skin in its wake. She leans back to rinse her hair while Eric's hands are holding the small of her back to keep her balanced. She's having trouble, only being able to use one hand. So he wraps one arm around her tighter and reaches up to help rinse with his other hand. He has one arm wrapped around her waist, pulling her tight toward him, and one hand buried in her hair, massaging her scalp. The urge to bend his face to hers is so intense that it hurts. A man is singing that "Nothing else matters" in the background and she makes a little relaxed noise, deep in her throat. He almost gives in. He wants to give in. He wants to just say "Fuck it", devour her mouth, press her up against the wall of the shower and lose himself in her. She'd let him do it too. She trusted him.

It was that very trust that allowed Eric to maintain control. He'd never been trusted before, not ever. Even back at Erudite, no one trusted him. And here in Dauntless, he was feared and respected, but not trusted. Kella probably only trusted him because she didn't know any better, but Eric desperately wanted to deserve that trust.

So he helped her finish showering, even helping her towel off and get dressed when she got out. But he kept control. He helped her out to the lounge and sat her down. He then grabbed some fresh clothes and had his second cold shower for the day.

He was dry and dressed, washing his hands again, when he realised something and stomped out of the bathroom.

"It stains! It fucking stains, Kella! My hands are purple for Christ's sake!"

Kella's laugh was starting to sound obnoxious to Eric, so he started towards her with the intention of shutting her up. She squealed like a kid and jumped away, but not fast enough. Eric held her close to him while he interrogated her "Did you know it stained? You little bitch! You knew it stained! I'm purple up to my elbows, woman! What sort of fearless leader is fucking purple?" Her laugh was bordering on hysterical as Eric held her tight against him, holding pressure on her ribs to stop her from hurting herself. She reached her arms up and cupped his cheeks with her hands as her laughter slowed, mirth still written all over her face. She was so beautiful when she was happy that it took Eric's breath away.

He was almost leaning in when the sound of a throat being cleared brought him back to his senses. He looked up to see Max, Four and Smiley in his open doorway, openly staring at him wrapped around Kella.

"That's not good for her ribs Eric, put my patient down right now!"