- Chapter Thirty-Five -

Hotel Ceiling Looks So Pretty Tonight

Unwilling (or perhaps unable) to risk the creeping feeling of toxic guilt the heiress' frail figure threatened to bring, instead of focus on her prone form hovering over the sheets of the uncomfortable spring mattress, the brunette worried about himself. Still muttering dark curses at the door frame from where he had stubbed his toe carrying her into the bedroom, he wasn't like to forgive or forget. Alright, so maybe it was mostly his own fault for focusing more on the tip of his nose than what he'd missed out on (he wasn't a monster for chrissake), but what idiot architect failed to design a floor plan that didn't properly line up with the bathroom door?! Hotels were only good for two things, so you'd think they'd do better at their job.

Half-lidded as they rolled around the back of her head, the girl's eyes were unmistakably dimmer than they had been before it had all became too much for her to hold back. Basically losing consciousness before she had even been removed from the restroom, it wasn't all that hard to put together that every second wasted potentially put the young woman in greater danger. Definitely making up his mind to never get a pet - even one that required half this much attention - Sam knew logically what the next move needed to be, but he was not looking forward to explaining what had happened.

Radio the more ideal form of communication for the last mission, for this one it was better to opt for the new norm and use his cellphone. Moment for delay at an end, the thief reminded himself what precisely was on the line and swallowed his pride, pressing the call button that bloomed upon the screen of his silver-white smart phone. As he waited for the call to go through, Sam could only hope that the doctor was in.

"Ye?" Bored by surfing prepaid channels and almost ready to pray that something should happen just so he had something to do with himself, seeing the name on the caller ID caused Parades to perk up as he answered. "Has she woken up?"

In more ways than what the doctor had any right to know about. "You could say that..."

Given everything that he had witnessed between the thief and the heiress in the short time he'd been included in the party (forget about heard about later from secondhand accounts), it really wasn't all that hard to figure out the truth. First major clue coming when she had mistaken Savage for Drake, it was apparent that Adler had a thing for the older man. Although that could have just been a bad combination of drugs and obvious similarities the two men shared. As for the man in question, he was harder to read at first, but the way he hovered over her left little doubt that she didn't have at least some importance to him as well. In fairness it could have been strictly professional on his part, but as to that end Parades was skeptical. That Ross woman finding Drake in her bed was the deciding piece for the recent graduate.

TV off before the thief could so much as finish his train of thought, the young man picked himself up off the worn liver sofa and started for the door. He'd probably need to come back for his tools, but he'd rather not be seen carrying more than one bag at at time, if he could help it. "I'll be right there."

Not a complete savage, when he heard the kid say that he'd be coming over to check on the patient Sam thought to throw a towel over the heiress before the calvary arrived. Technically he'd already seen Daniella naked when he'd assisted Chloe and Nadine wash her that first night, but the brunette didn't much care for the idea that he get another free show. Abandoning the body long enough to return to the bathroom for the towel that never got used, there had been just enough time to toss it over her chest and legs before the door opened.

Still miffed about Chloe giving the kid a key to the room, he straightened a starchy corner before tucking it a little too forcefully against her side. "Good response time. A little rude, just inviting yourself in, but I guess I can pardon you under the circumstances."

Ignoring the comment like the Frazer woman advised he do, the younger man made a beeline for the bed. Pillow already sopping wet in the center from the obviously short time the heiress had been laying there, the dry towel covering her modesty all but confirmed his theory. Surmising that he would't hear the full story from Drake's mouth, he glanced back over his shoulder at the tatted brunette to get a better scope of what damage might have occurred. White shirt clinging to his chest from an excess of moisture, one button on his pants left undone, the real giveaway that the thief had a hand in whatever transpired was the bloody water still running down his arms.

Exam through, it became clear with little more than a once-over that the damage boiled down to two small tears on her inner thigh. Avoiding any arteries, el ángel de la muerte had cut particularly deep the closer he got to the girl's pelvis, the incisions masterfully positioned to meet every time she brought her legs together. Practically impossible to not aggravate or inflame the location, from this point on they would need to keep that particular place well bandaged. Especially if the pair planned on trying to be intimate again.

Frankly Parades could care less what sort of relationship the young woman had with the old man; what had kept him around was her precarious health. And with luck the ridiculous amount of money he could go on to acquire on the side as her trusted physician.

"Next time you might want to exercise more caution with a trauma patient - the stitches in her legs wore down and tore from an abundance of fussing. Whatever you two get up to in your free time, do her a favor and cut down on the teasing; just be liberal with lubricants and find a position that won't upset my work again." Tilting his head to consider what he thought would be the wisest in medical terms, the vet's younger brother mused for a moment before blurting, "Doggy, I think. If you put something between her legs to dissuade her from playing shy - like a small pillow or a balled-up shirt - and engage her from behind, that should prevent a repeat incident. If that doesn't do it, perhaps keeping her on top? I bet advising you two to not is off the table, so I won't waste my breath."

Was he seriously getting this talk from a kid playing at being a doctor?

'Doctor', ha. Under the rushed circumstances it was a fitting enough title, but one that was perhaps being leaned too heavily into; coming clean from the get, the kid himself even asserted that he wasn't even qualified enough to be called a glorified dog nurse. Admirable as the honesty was, the historian refused to just blindly believe that he could (and would) tend to the every need of heiress without expecting some form of compensation.

Yet there they were, no better options on the table.

Unaware of how short the thief was truly getting with his expertise, Parades informed the girl's caretaker that she could indeed live to see another day. "I can patch her back up, but that'll be the last of the pure Telazol my brother lent me." Unwittingly, but that hardly seemed relevant to mention in his assessment. "After that, we'll have to find our own if something comes up again."

Geez, Sam thought to himself as the kid tossed non-verbal accusations like beads at Mardi Gras, it's almost as if he doesn't trust me around her either. Against his better judgment the thief chanced a glance down at his stolen Sleeping Beauty, but only once they had been left alone while the doc went to gather his tools from next door. Go figure, the brunette fixed the towel a final time before the emergency surgery commenced, all this because of Chloe.

[Three At Sea]

Pulse a tad on the slow side and breathing still shallow hours after the medicine should have worn off, otherwise her vitals seemed stable. Understanding the difference even the most minim of equipment could make as as child, now that he was old enough to better appreciate his brother's calling, the young man wished that there had been more time to better prepare. Crafting a mental list of everything that could have helped, the doctor frowned as the floor rocked and swayed against the current. Waves. Whatever. Either way all the motion couldn't have been conductive to the patient's condition.

Drake and company had all been against setting out with the heiress in such a delicate state, however it was all their captain could give them for what they had. IOU not a valid form of legal tender in the sailor's mind, Parades had only agreed to help smuggle the girl from the hotel on the condition that he accompany her during the voyage. No one but the thief, the girl, and the doctor had been any wiser to the fact that she been conscious at a point, so no complaints had been issued. In fact, for the most part they all seemed to encourage the notion.

Really the only complaint anyone had was Drake, and that was only when he learned that it would just be the three of them shipping out to their destination. Citing work-related reasons, Nadine and her son were easily dismissed, however losing Chloe had been a major blow for the brunette, who obviously didn't want to be left alone with the heiress for any period of time. Maybe it was solely that he didn't trust himself around the girl, and honestly Parades didn't care so long as she didn't suffer another setback. The blonde one, the surfer, he had left shortly after the young woman had been recovered, so he was virtually a non-entity at this time. He wouldn't be missed.

"Smmh?" Barely audible over the whipping winds and steady creak from below, there had been so many false alarms that this one blip went by completely unheeded.

One positive about the situation being that the squirming had settled down considerably this go around, the young man pressed his palm to her forehead to make sure there wasn't a fever. Granted a lager dosage of sedatives from the start, everything had gone swimmingly; under the cover of night, it had been a cinch carrying what could have passed for another junkie through the city streets to the pier. Although, maybe he ought to give credit where credit was due - Drake had not only shown great aptitude for smuggling but had also proven to be a silent comfort to their girl as well.

That was why the brunette was in the room now, reading a book to pass the time.

Shortly after calling him over to see to the mess he'd made, Drake had told the younger man that he'd filled in the heiress to his existence, however Parades was having a hard time believing it. True, there really might have been time to do so, but from what he'd concluded from the facts it was difficult to picture a scenario in which the princesa didn't run to the thief as soon as she possibly could. After all, Sam could be charming when he wanted to be.

"How much longer until we land?" It wasn't the first time he'd asked, and it probably wouldn't be the last either.

Neither man a stranger to braving a coastal storm that could have ended all, what concerned the doctor most was how much time they would have left before they had to start worrying about their royal companion. Imagining with ease another life in which the heiress went sailing with the other fabulous and rich of the world on weekends, just this once she wasn't the root of the problem. No, what gnawed at his thinning nerves was the prospect of who they'd find at the docks. Drake seemed positive enough to bet his life that they'd be fine with the exact coordinates he'd given the captain, although he wasn't nearly so confident.

Tired from a long night and even longer time stuck in close confines with the brat, Sam wasn't above alleviating some of that irritation, "As a pretend medical expert, you of all people should know that stressing too much can lead you to an early grave." The very epitome of being relaxed, the adventurer calmly turned the page and returned to his book. Staking his claim on the window seat for just this reason, he hadn't even bothered to check.

Annoyed to the point of losing a part of his English by constantly getting shrugged off, the young man made it no secret that he was muttering under his breath, "So can having a heart-attack from fucking a twenty-year old..." There was no immediate reply, although he imagined that the remark had struck a nerve. It certainly had when he said it in Spanish. Or maybe it had been what else he had implied at that time.

Title not all that interesting as it turned out, the ex-con closed the tome with a curt snap; placing the light summer novel on his lap, he pointed over to the figure bundled up in the second of two bunk beds. "See that girl there? I know you've must've looked at least once." Rich or not, a pulse was a pulse. "The closest you're going to get is in your dreams, because she's never gonna look at you the way she looks at me."

"What," the less-lived of the two wasn't fussed by the boorish squirk to escape his person when he countered, "like the father she doesn't have? Please, if I wanted to play that game, I could have that girl calling me 'Papi' like that." Snapping his fingers to illustrate his point, it almost seemed worth the effort just to spite the other man.

"Okay." Face composed one minute, the next Sam had thrown the book aside with a lopsided flop, his fist flying through the air like the proverbial bat-out-of-hell.

Older and supposedly wiser, the historian hadn't intentionally gone looking for a fight with the brat, however there was no universe in which he was going to tolerate that kind of disrespect. Especially not from a judgmental little punk that had no clue what he was talking about! Or maybe he was only so bothered with their newest addition because on some level he was afraid he had the right of it. This time Dells being in this shape was on him - sure, she had some fault in the matter escalating to the point that it had, but Sam should have known better, should have stopped it before it started. "No" was the hardest answer, yet in that instance it would have been the right one.

Scuffle ultimately leading to an unceremonious crash-landing at the young woman's feet, there had been no shortage of knuckle to the tenderized meat-scape Logan had left. Honestly he probably shouldn't have acknowledge it, but there was a strong feeling incredibly similar pride when he saw the kid's face. A circuit favorite for a reason, thanks to Chloe pulling up old archive footage on her phone the brunette could honestly admit that Logan did good work on and off the board.

Back to the issue at hand, the explosive tussle jarring her royal pain awake came as only a mild surprise. You know those moments in cartoons, where something whimsical happens in a dangerous situation, and the hero and whatever the moment's antagonist is stop fighting to see what happens next? Well they had one of those moments, but unlike it turning against the protagonist, both parties were immediately put to shame.

Withering glare more than enough to quell the spat on the spot, Dells looked like to skin them alive before she noticed who it was laying across her legs. Alright, the ex-con ceded as he massaged his jaw, so maybe the kid could handle his own, but there was no need to congratulate him for a cheap victory. Softening naturally the second she recognized the graying brown locks cozying up to her calves, it skipped the young woman's attention that there was another person in the room with them. Also she failed to realize that this wasn't the hotel but yet another new setting altogether. Case in point about her being so wrapped around Sam's finger.

Lips cracking back almost to the gum line as her face absolutely lit up, everything faltered and faded straight to an abysmal ash when he failed to return her gaze. What? Determined to look at anything but the girl, the thief picked himself off of her legs and got straight to his feet before she could clutch out for him and make a further spectacle of herself. No! In vain the heiress tried to get his attention by subconsciously bobbing and weaving in place, hurt and confusion hand-in-hand as they took her into their arms instead.

Woozy and more than just a little discombobulated as everything hit her all at once - rather like a merciless tide - even though she had just woken up the heiress was still tired. Thoughts were jumbling in her head like a gelatinous blob monster with slightly acidic properties, the more serious musings akin to jagged boulders crashing over the head of an already burdened Atlas. Part of the internal distortion felt like a dream, although maybe that was the effect of coming out of another fairy-tale sleep. Food a forgotten comfort in dreamland, there was a different struggle to juggle as everything overlapped, although for the life of her Daniella couldn't explain it.

Then again, there was a lot that she couldn't explain, such as why Mr. Drake - Sam - was absolutely refusing to acknowledge her.

Mutely imploring him to look at her just once so that she might have some clue to go by, there was only more silent rebuff. Admittedly torn between this and a reality where she had just been swimming through a waterfall of lost pirate gold, telling what had truly been and what was all imaginary was thrice as insurmountable as it should have been. For all she knew, there might have been a skull-printed mint in her pocket at that very moment.

The bathroom had happened, right? That hadn't been a dream, it couldn't have been...

On the verge of calling out his name, of begging to hear that this wasn't a dangerous backslide, she crumbled and broke instead. He really wasn't going to be different from Jay, was he? Dying to believe otherwise, so far this was the same song... and she was even going to start out with the same dance moves. Fear winning the day once more, she just wanted to close her eyes to it all... Too bad she had blown that chance when it would have been on her own terms.

As the innocent and naive tend to do in these types of situations, Daniella could only place the blame square on her own shoulders: obviously she must have made a mistake somewhere, because what else could it have been? She must have done something wrong, something that he hadn't liked.

Failure never a pretty color, as the heiress wracked her brain nothing readily came to mind - for everything she thought that she remembered, he had genuinely seemed to enjoy what she had done. Sure, there had been that initial moment of figuring things out, but the young woman didn't count that, so what else could it have been? Replaying the moment over and over again in her head, the only thing she could come up with was that there hadn't been any kind of finish. Not that came to mind at any rate. Oddly enough, the more she focused on that thread, the faster everything seemed to burn away. Why could that have been? Was that when the curse of sleep had taken her?

Very real, there had been a lot of agony in her legs that had just kept building the longer they went, however there had also been a sweeter sensation just above that. Floating along a red red river, what he had done to her body felt so much better than the rainbow cloud surrounding her at that very moment. Maybe it was only because she wanted to remember it that way in her head, or maybe it was because that happy joy feeling was blinking out of existence, but if she could pick an experience to relive, Daniella had no doubt in her heart about which she would chose.

Unless this was him just being done with her? But she didn't think he would lose interest with her before the main attraction... Although, he had seen and done so much, so why should she matter any in the scheme of things?

Ill from the sheer volume of child-like adoration and unspoken concern choking the air of the modest cabin, the young man wondered if perhaps the heiress was indeed as under Drake's thumb as the thief thought. It certainly seemed that way, but there were always cracks to exploit if one knew where to look. Question was, while Parades had his own interests to see to, would it be worth the potential risk to test his theory? As a man of some science, it was always interesting to see the outcome of various experiments; as an assault victim, a little taste of the beautiful people getting their comeuppance wasn't uncalled for.

Drake may have been self-assured enough to not view the young man as an immediate threat to what was his, however he was about to be proven wrong for his arrogance. "Easy there, chica." Playing up the role of doctor, Parades was quick to take the spot his rival had so been so swift to vacate, "Easy."

Baffled at first by the sudden appearance of a complete stranger, Daniella vaguely recalled Sam mentioning that some doctor had saved her life. Lucky her. Caught off guard by the disarming smile, the heiress literally fell back against the pillow when she saw the man she ought to thank. "Y-you?! I... You... You're the angel that I..." Blushing tomato red, the young woman realized how she must have sounded for talking about divinity; good thing she hadn't mentioned the part where she thought the angel had been her father. "I thought I only dreamed you." From the looks of him, the stranger probably heard that a lot. "You look too young to be a doctor...?"

Trailing off to wait for an introduction, Sam thought that the punk's games would end the minute he told Dells the truth about not even being a nurse. "Please, Rafael. And before you get the wrong idea about me, the closest I come to being a doctor is my older brother, who is just a veterinarian. Fortunately that was enough to get you back on the mend."

"Raf- Rafael? That sounds so much like..." And he kinda looked like him too, in the way that they both had dark hair. "I just can't..." Subtlety the last thing she should put on her resume, Daniella may have lost something that was there in the smile she had when she saw Sam, however there was no missing what Rafael picked up. "Well I'm glad that he went into the field, or else who knows where I'd be right now?"

Whatever smirk Sam might have had at that moment was wiped clean away.

"Sweet Señorita, just lay back and relax." Vindictively rejoicing in this first win, Rafael touched her hand encouragingly and beamed to match, "Tell me a little about yourself while we wait to land. Such as, would you prefer I call you señorita Adler? I wouldn't want to overstep my boundaries." It was too small a gesture to see through the hearts and stars in her eyes, but he had directed his gaze to Drake.

Giggling (the brunette chalking it up to the effects of the medicine), the heiress blushed harder, "I like the sound of that... But under the circumstances, maybe it's best to not use my last name?" Sam could pretend that she had learned from her recent experience as much as he wanted to, but Rafael's truth was that she had given him that much leeway for a reason. And would be sorely disappointed for it, but that was too far down the road to think about just yet.

Then it dawned her, "Wait, did you just say land?" The young woman hadn't realized the rhythmic sashay at first, yet it certainly explained the sour swaying of her stomach. Or maybe that was all on the young pseudo street-doctor that bore such an uncanny resemblance to her dearly departed father. Daddy, is this a sign? For perhaps the first time since she'd learned that her father wouldn't be coming back home, Daniella wasn't so keen to listen. "Maybe you could fill me in first?"

"No need," starting for the door before a love connection could form, one advantage of gazing at everything else was that he could see the island growing closer to greet them, "we're here."

Dammit, Drake was good. But not nearly good enough. "Why don't you go ahead and greet your friends first? I'll escort the lovely Señorita. They may be expecting us, but there's no need to push our pretty lady friend."

Wow, really? Even if he had been blind and only half as traveled as he was, the irked brunette would have seen that one coming a mile away. About to open her mouth before second-guessing the decision, there was no missing Dells trip over herself at the mere suggestion - and to think, the last time she had been conscious it had been a different dance partner she wanted. Maybe she really was her father's daughter after all.