AN: There's probably going to be only two chapters after this one. For those of you who thought it was too easy, don't worry, much more is going to happen in those two chapters. I hope you enjoy, and please leave a review!
The moment they returned to the palace, Jack held most of Angus' weight and helped him back to his own quarters. There were surprised gasps and whispers from those they passed along the way, but Angus tried to ignore them. Paying them any mind would only make things worse. He knew that Jack was trying to get him back as soon as possible and without letting a lot of people see, but it was dawn, and there were servants all around getting the castle ready for the day. Angus was just glad to be home.
"Here we go, bud," Jack said as he carefully helped Angus to sit down on the side of his bed. Despite the brevity of the walk, Angus was almost panting with exertion. He knew that meant his back was probably infected, which only meant that he was in for more pain. But at least Murdoc was gone.
Angus carefully maneuvered onto his stomach - well, Jack helped him to get onto his stomach - and waited for the physician to come. He didn't want to admit it, but he was scared. He knew he was in for a lot of pain, and he didn't want that, he just wanted the pain to stop and the memories of the flogging to leave his mind forever. Jack must have noticed that Angus had begun to shake, because he suddenly felt a gentle hand on the unmarked part of his shoulder.
"It's gonna be okay, kid," Jack said in a calming voice. "I promise you, it's gonna be okay." The emotion in his voice took Angus by surprise. Jack had really been scared for him. No matter how many times Jack proved to care about him more than anything, somehow, it continued to surprise him. The fact that someone could love him so much seemed impossible, and yet here he was, with a bodyguard who loved him like a brother, a son even. He couldn't fathom it, he could only try harder to be deserving of it.
"Thank you, Jack," he muttered into the pillow, trying to keep the emotion out of his own voice. "Not just for saving me, like you always do, but for always being there. You're always there and I don't deserve it-"
"You stop right there," Jack interrupted. Angus stopped immediately, and made sure that he wasn't looking at Jack. "Now I know your old man messed up your sense of self worth, but he wasn't right. No matter what you think about yourself, you are worth more than every star in the whole damn sky to me, kid. You are worth more than all the gold in the kingdoms, and more than all the jewels. Look at me, Angus, I need to know you get this." Angus slowly turned his eyes towards Jack. He could feel how red his face was at the man's words. Once he made eye contact, Jack continued, saying, "you are worth more than anything I could ever receive, and you are worth more than the whole damn world, okay? You are my kid and you need to know what you are worth to me. You. Are. Everything. To me. Absolutely everything." Jack paused to swipe at a tear that had fallen down his face. Angus could feel that his own face was wet with tears. "It doesn't matter what your bastard father has told you, and it doesn't matter what that psychopath in the dungeon told you. There is nothing that could change that. You are my number one priority, always and forever, okay?"
Angus nodded, not trusting his voice. He swiped at his tears with one hand while the other sought out Jack's hand. Jack took it and nodded. Angus squeezed, and smiled. That was all Jack needed.
The moment was cut off by the entrance of the physician into Angus' quarters. He was an older man, but Angus had known him his whole life, and he trusted his medical expertise.
"That looks pretty nasty," the man said, coming up right next to Angus. "I can take it from here. I'll take good care of him, I promise," the doctor said to Jack.
"With all due respect, doc, I ain't goin' anywhere," he replied. Jack squeezed Angus' hand a little more to emphasize his point.
"Alright, well, I might need your help to hold him down anyway. I probably don't need to tell you, but this will hurt."
Angus could feel his breathing and heartrate speeding up in fear, but he tried to control it. Being scared wouldn't make it hurt any less. Jack hopped up onto the bed and got on the other side of Angus. He switched to holding his other hand, and gently ran his hands through his blond hair. Angus knew he was trying to get him to calm down. He wouldn't say it, but he appreciated it.
Suddenly, there was a tight grip on his shoulder, and Jack was whispering, "don't fight us, bud." Then, there was only pain. Angus let out a strangled scream and arched his back against the burning pain. It hurt almost as much as the flogging did. It burned again and again and again and he vaguely knew that the doctor was cleaning them out but it didn't matter. All he knew for sure was that it hurt so, damn, much. He just wanted it to end, and he may have said as much, may have begged them to stop, to please stop, because he could hear Jack saying that they had to, that they had no choice, and he could hear the tears in his bodyguard's voice. Part of him was scared that he was going to break Jack's hand with how tightly he was holding it, but he couldn't bring himself to let go. Jack was his lifeline, his reminder that he was home, that he wasn't back in that cellar with Murdoc flogging him. Jack was here and he was going to keep him safe. It may hurt but Jack was still there, and that made all the difference in the world.
Jack's heart was breaking as he watched Angus cry out and arch his back against the pain. He would've done anything he could to stop it, but he couldn't. They needed to clean it out before the infection got too bad. He was already weak from blood loss. He didn't need a terrible infection making things worse. So Jack just held his hand and tried to comfort him as he screamed in pain. He did his best to keep his emotions in check, but when his kid was in pain, all he could manage was not to strangle the doctor who was causing the pain.
"That should about do it," the doctor said. Angus had stopped screaming, and was now only quietly crying. It still broke Jack's heart.
"Ya hear that, bud?" he said to Angus, rubbing his arm in an attempt to comfort him. "It's over now, it's all over, I promise. We just have to wrap it, and that shouldn't hurt nearly as much, right, doc?" The doctor shook his head with a small smile, telling Jack that no, it wouldn't hurt quite as much as cleaning the wounds had. "Yeah, you're gonna be okay."
Angus nodded into the pillow, his eyes still screwed shut against the pain, while he squeezed Jack's hand again. Jack stayed right there, holding his boy's hand and rubbing his arm while the physician carefully bandaged the wounds. He held him just a little bit tighter every time that the kid flinched in pain, and sent glares like daggers at the doctor, who wouldn't look at him. Really, he knew the doctor was just doing his job, and was doing everything he could to help Angus in the long run, but in that moment, the man was hurting Jack's kid, and that was a hard fact to ignore.
But, soon enough, it was over, and the physician was packing up and leaving, wishing the prince a quick recovery on his way out.
"See, bud? I told you it was gonna be okay," he said, continuing to rub light circles on the kid's arm. It may have been more for his own comfort than Angus' at that point, but Jack didn't care.
"I know," Angus muttered. "You always make it okay."
Jack didn't know what to say. All he knew was that he didn't deserve such admiration - hero worship, really - from the boy that he had failed to protect from such brutal torture. He was the prince's bodyguard and he had been unable to stop a psychopath from taking him and giving him scars that would likely last the rest of his life. A small part of Jack knew that it wasn't truly his fault, that even if he hadn't been sent away, Murdoc likely would've found some way to get to Angus anyway, but that part was drowned out by the much larger part that screamed that his sole purpose in life was to protect the boy and he had failed to do so, circumstances be damned.
He was saved from having to further ponder the question by a small creak alerting him to the opening of the door. Jack immediately turned his attention towards the door, on the lookout for a threat or danger that might be there to harm his kid, and his hawk-like gaze was in fact met with a danger. It was James.
"What the hell are you doing here?" he growled at the king, who was slowly approaching the bed.
"I'm here to see my son, if that's alright with you," the king growled right back. At the sound of his father's voice, Angus' eyes shot open and he pulled himself closer to Jack.
"You've barely seen your son in the past decade. What makes now so different?" Jack moved around to be in between James and Angus, but made sure that he was still keeping physical contact with the prince.
"Because he's my son, and I'm allowed to see my son whenever the hell I want." James took another few steps towards the bed, causing Angus to push himself up from his position lying down, and turn to sit, hanging onto Jack for support - or he could have been hiding behind Jack in fear, or maybe a combination of the two.
"You never cared. Please just leave," Angus said, his voice breaking slightly. "You didn't care enough to save me, so I don't care enough to want you back in my life." Jack could hear the slight waver in the kid's voice, the sign that he was trying to believe his own words. Despite the abuse that his father put him through after his mother died, the kid still sought out the love of his father. Jack understood, he really did. The king was the boy's father, and Angus always had a strong desire to please others and earn their love, no matter what they had done to him, but that didn't make it hurt any less that the boy was damaged enough inside to still want the love of someone who had hurt him so much.
"I'm not just your father, Angus, I'm also the king, and I have to put the kingdom first," James practically scoffed. "Surely I taught you enough common sense to know that."
"Get out," Jack growled at him. "You may be the king, but I am his damn bodyguard, and it is my job to protect him from all dangers, and right now, that includes you. So get out." Jack took a menacing step towards James, the slight height disparity not dissuading him in the slightest. "Get out, and leave that boy alone. You've been doing such a great job of it for over a decade now, why change?"
"This isn't over, Angus," James called out, but turned around and left all the same. The moment he walked out the door, Jack relaxed, the threat now dealt with. He turned back towards Angus, who he could tell was struggling to keep his emotions in check.
"It's okay, kid," Jack said, stepping towards Angus and resting a hand on the boy's shoulder. "I promised I would protect you, and that's exactly what I plan on doing." He stepped even closer and wrapped his arms around the kid's thin shoulders, pulling him close. Angus reached around and clutched the back of Jack's tunic, burying his face in the man's chest. Jack could feel him taking shaky breath, so he began to calmly rub circles on his back. "It's alright, it's okay now," he repeated. And Jack would do everything in his power to keep it that way.
"So what do we do now?" Wilt asked. Now that they had gotten Angus back and knew that he was going to be okay, Wilt's attention was once again drawn to the beautiful woman he loved. But what were they to do? There were rules about royalty marrying commoners, and Wilt was most certainly a commoner.
"Well, as terrible as it sounds, we could just wait for them both to die, then change the rules," Riley said, a small smile on her face.
Wilt looked at her in incredulation. "Come on, I don't want to wait around for your parents to die before marrying you. I mean, if that's what it'll take, I'll do it, but there has to be another way." Wilt took a seat next to Riley and gently took a hold of her hand. "There has to be a way for us to marry soon. All I want is to be your husband." He looked into her eyes, and saw the most beautiful soul staring back at him.
"And I just want to be your wife," she replied, holding his hand a little tighter. "I don't know, maybe when we go back, they'll see how much I love you, and let us marry," she sighed. "I think that's the best chance we have."
Wilt didn't want to agree, but he knew she was right. There wasn't much she could do, even as princess, and there wasn't anything he could do as a valet for the prince of a different kingdom. If worst came to worst, Wilt would be willing to run away with her, but he really didn't want to leave Angus and Jack if he didn't absolutely have to.
"After Angus is healed, we'll go back to your palace, and try to explain things to your parents, I guess," Wilt replied with a shrug. Word had already been sent to the House of Davis that Riley was okay, and would be staying at the House of MacGyver while Prince Angus recovered, so there was no need to go back just yet, but they would have to in time. It wasn't the best plan in the world, but it was all they had. Still, he wasn't sure if he could do it. He was just a valet, and Riley was a princess. How was he supposed to help convince her parents that it was in the best interest of their kingdom to let their daughter marry the servant of another castle?
"I'll be right beside you the whole time," Riley said, immediately assuaging his fears. She was right. As long as they were together, they could do anything.