Chapter Fourteen

DG had tried really, really, really hard not to look. Really. And it had been her full intention not to strip Wyatt past his underwear, which was a splendid idea.

If he'd worn any that is.

Huzzah, had been her only thought. And she wasn't even sure that was real word much less a thought. But it suited the situation. She'd even touched it when she undid the button of his pants. God bless it, she wasn't made of stone. Every inch of skin she'd exposed was like a forbidden pleasure to her, and despite her best intentions, she'd looked God dammit! She felt like a disgusting, wretched voyeur. But she looked.

She was going to burn in hell for a long, long time. At least it would be worth it.

All that skin, all that ruggedness. His body was solid muscle, with no sign of the 'middle age paunch' so many men had at his age. A fine dusting of hair the same color as on his head covered his chest and led to V over his abdomen. 'Happy Trail' popped into her head as she let her eyes follow its path to...

Yeah, Hell was prettying up a room for her right that second.

She didn't know whether to curse or thank the person that knocked on the door. Struggling to get herself under control-after all, he was supposed to be her husband-she managed to throw a blanket over him and answer the door. Bessie breezed in with a bowl of steaming water, a pile of pure white cloths and the pitcher. How she balanced all this was a mystery to DG.

DG barely had time to smile her thanks before the younger woman walked out then back in again with a tray of food. The smell hit DG's nose and she realized with a loud growl of her stomach that she was starving.

"Thank you." She said gratefully.

"You're welcome. If you need anything during the night, just let me know. Oh, there is a bathroom at the end of the hall. We don't have running water in here but there is a pump if you need more. Or if you just want to clean up yourself." Or other things, she left unsaid. Then, she was gone and DG was alone with Wyatt again.

"Great, as if undressing you wasn't bad enough, now I get to bathe you. What God did I piss off?" She said to the still unconscious Wyatt. She had to remember to stop talking out loud like that. Sooner or later he was going to wake up if the Doctor was right. At least he hadn't started to seize again.

"Well, Carl. Let's get this over with. Then we'll see about getting some medicine into you." Telling herself to be as professional as possible, she grabbed one of the fluffy white cloths, poured some of the cold water into the bowl of hot to cool it down a bit then took it over to the bed. There was a fine sheen of sweat on his body making him glow oddly in the candlelight. She hoped that meant his fever was breaking. She dipped the cloth then squeezed it out before turning to the business at hand.

This just wasn't fair, she decided. She wiped his face and neck, trying hard to disassociate herself from the situation. It would be much more satisfying to ogle him while he was awake, she reminded herself. Forcing herself to let any inappropriate thoughts go-at least most of them-she bathed the rest of his torso. She then tossed the cloth back into the bowl and wrestled another blanket out from under him and covered him up a little better.

DG was thankful to see that the red streaks hadn't moved any further. In fact, they seemed to be fading just slightly.

She had just gotten up to mix his medicine according to the scrawled instructions on the front of the packet when he started to fidget. DG dropped the packet when he cried out her name, his voice hoarse and panic filled.

"Wyatt, sh. I'm here." She whispered, sitting next to him again and placing a gentle hand on his cheek.

"DG," he gasped, his eyes finally opening halfway.

"Hey there, Tin Man. You've been worrying me." He was confused, disoriented and in quite a bit of pain if the look in his eyes was any indication. He clutched at her, his hand circling her wrist hard enough to make her flinch. "Hey, hey, hey. It's ok. I'm right here." She soothed, rubbing his fingers to get them to loosen.

"Where are we?" She settled in to answer his questions, knowing she wouldn't be able to leave his side until she did.

"In town. I got a room at the Inn."

"How long have I been out?"

"All day."

"How did we get away?"

"Well, I got pissed and set a couple of the walking bushes on fire. They left us alone after that. Then some bird wranglers came up leading our runaway horses and they helped me get you out of there." She knew he was listening, processing her words despite his pain. She could tell he wasn't too happy about being in a place he hadn't secured first. Too bad.

"Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. Not a mark on me. You look like hell." His lips quirked at that and he fully released her wrist. "I need you to take some medicine. That poison is a bitch and the doc said you're still in for a rough night. Maybe you could swallow a little broth after that."

He gave her a strange look through half opened eyes. Then he nodded, his jaw set so hard she thought it might crack under the pressure.

"Hard to breath."

"Just take it slow. And don't panic. Hyperventilating in your condition can't be good. Of course, if you're just trying to get me to perform mouth to mouth, there's much better ways to do that." She said, grinning. She looked at him to catch the ghost of a smile on his lips. His color was starting to return to normal. His lips weren't white anymore and the red on his chest didn't stand out quite as much.

"What is that stuff?" DG had finished mixing the medicine in a glass off the tray of food with some water and sat down on the bed next to him.

"I have no idea. Drink up." She said with a bright grin.

"You're just going to let them poison me?" He asked, quirking a brow.

"Honey, you're already poisoned. Figure this can't do much more to you."

"Could kill me."

"You're too ornery to die." She reminded him. He snorted and rolled his eyes. His talking was starting to take its toll on him, she could tell. "Does it hurt much?"

He looked at her and she thought he might try to deny it. But he nodded.

"Like my chest is on fire. And I can't really move." To demonstrate this, he tried to pick up a hand. It hovered over his chest just a fraction, shaking badly, before he dropped it with a thud.

"According to Mr. Crappy Bedside Manner, if you make it through the night, you'll be fine."

"Oh, ok." Cain didn't seem to know how to answer that.

"Here, drink this. It's supposed to help with the pain and fever." She helped him lean up and held the glass to his lips. He grimaced after the first swallow, but he didn't stop until the glass was drained.

"That's disgusting."

"Of course it is. What did you expect? They're isn't exactly a pharmacy around that I could run to and have them add wild cherry flavoring or something."

"What?" He was looking at her like she was nuts.

"Never mind. More Other Side humor." DG huffed in exasperation. Her sarcasm was so useless in the OZ. Wyatt just nodded, too tired to follow her humor. She saw he was getting ready to drift off again. "Oh, by the way. They think we're married and that you're name is Carl and mine is Dotty."

"Carl?" She just shrugged at the derision in his voice.

"I was on the spot. Now, go to sleep. I have to wake you up again in four hours. And please try not to have too much trouble tonight. It might ruin my beauty sleep." She teased.

"Sure thing, Dotty."

Oh he was going to have too much fun with that, she thought with a groan

His eyes drifted closed again as the medicine started to work. She started to get up, to maybe eat something or just try to clean up some. Then, she flushed hot when he asked her one more question.

"Oh Dotty. Am I naked?"

When Glitch walked into Az's room he almost thought he'd walked into the wrong one. The normally spotless room looked like a twister had touched down in the middle of it. In fact, it looked a lot like DG's did when they found out she'd ran away.

This thought set off warning bells in his brain. Now if he could just figure out why.

"What're you doing?" Glitch asked the Princess when he finally found her. She was standing in front of her closet, choosing and disregarding clothes as quick as her fingers touched them.

"What does it look like?" He didn't miss the sarcasm. It just confused him. She glanced over at him and sighed. "I'm sorry." She said much more gently.

"Don't be sorry. Tell me what's going on?" He felt a little panicky as she reached into the depths of her closet looking for something. Warning bells were going off in head like crazy now.

"I have to leave." Az said quickly, like she might lose her nerve if she didn't say it as fast as possible. She didn't look at him when she emerged from the closet, a pile of blouses in her arms. She threw them on the bed and started to sort, a disgusted noise coming from her when she tossed most of them aside. "None of these will do. Maybe I should to steal some of DG's clothes."

"What do you mean, 'have to leave'? Is the Queen sending you away? That won't do. Won't do at all. I'll go talk to her." He was agitated, worried. Something was going on here that he didn't want to happen. He knew that to the very core of his being. The problem was, he hadn't fully sorted out what yet. His feelings were in an uproar and warring with his half brain for dominance. He couldn't think, needed to calm down to be able too. But the sight of her going through her clothes as making it difficult.

"Glitch, she's not sending me away. I'm choosing to leave."

"Why would you do a silly thing like that?" Glitch clutched nervously at his lapels, wanting Az to look at him but afraid of what he'd see when she did.

"I can't stay here. You heard what he said." She said quietly, finally turning to look at him. There was sadness in her eyes, regret. He shook his head to deny it, to deny her words.

"So? We can protect you. I can protect you. I'd never let anything happen to you." He took a step towards her, his hands still tugging at his clothes, his hair, anything he could reach. Az reached for him, grabbing his hands and holding them to still their movement. She smiled at him then, all her sadness reflected in her face.

"I know that, Glitch. But, you're only one man. And look what happened? You almost died because of me. Again. I can't take that kind of guilt."

"Why do you feel guilt? I chose to fight him. He was going to kill you. I couldn't let that happen."

"I know."

"You can't leave. You just can't." He was starting to go into a full-blown panic now. He knew he wasn't expressing himself well. The thought of her going, of not being in the castle, with him, was making a funny pain shoot through his heart. Only it wasn't funny. In fact, it hurt a hell of a lot.

"Glitch. It'll be all right. It's for the best." She told him, trying to sound as calm as possible. He didn't think she was trying to convince him as much as herself. Or maybe both of them.

"No, it's not."

"Why are you so opposed to this? You of all people should be happy to see me go." Az finally gave up on soothing him and let her frustration out. Tears shone bright in her dark eyes and it hurt that he put them there. He didn't know how to say what he couldn't put a name too. He hadn't felt this…thing inside of him in a long time. Not since before the brain split and then he'd known whom he felt it for was wrong.

This wasn't. And while he couldn't put a name to it, he knew it was real. She just needed to know.

He reached for her, only slightly surprised that she didn't resist. He was even more surprised-at himself this time-when his mouth closed over hers. Then he wasn't surprised anymore when his brain shut down and feeling took over.

Her lips were cool on his, like she'd taken a long sip from a cold drink. Her mouth moved beneath his with ease, her hands clung to his lapels to steady herself. A tiny moan escaped her throat to be swallowed by him when they seemed to part their lips at the same time.

Everything melted away when his tongue swept against hers. She angled her head to deepen the kiss, her hand sliding from his lapels to his neck. He pressed her against him, her lush form a perfect fit. Her scent swirled around him, something hot and spicy and completely her.

The need for air broke them apart, and he rested his forehead against hers as they both gulped in great gasps of it.

"I still have to leave." She said after a few seconds. Neither made a move away from each other.

"Not without me." He replied simply. She looked up at him then, her eyes full of fear, desperation and a hint of something deeper. Something they were both still a little afraid to put a name to.

He just looked back, letting her find whatever she was looking for. After a few minutes, she nodded, and let him draw her fully into his embrace.

So, I wanted to say thank you to the people that commented on my little rant on the last chap of A Delicate Situation. Thanks so much for the words of understanding. :-)