In the Company of Knights
Chapter 4
Author: Miss Lizz
Rating: R for language, brief nudity, anger, and everything else that happens
Disclaimer: I do not own the JLA but I do hope to work on it in the future (fat chance).
In the span of an eye blink, he finished the task she asked of him and leaned casually back against the wall. He gave her a confident smile but she could not help but notice the wary glint in his deep blue eyes. The only reason he stayed was because he trusted not this very injured, very ill man wasted by fever and starvation and weakened by Hera-knows-what-else.
"Really, Wallace," Diana admonished, "what is it you think he could do in his present condition?" It was a rhetorical question in her opinion and so did not wait for an answer, instead turning to the fevered, near delirious man on the cot. "J'onn? Can you still walk?"
A barely perceptible nod was her only response and he lurched unsteadily to his feet, staggering weak as a new colt upon shaking legs, protesting diligently when she made to remove the bed fur he still steadfastly clutched about his narrow waist. Diana snorted in an unladylike manner over the show of modesty when she had already seen him and took it anyway which brought about a disgruntled sound from both men.
"'Tis unseemly, lady, what you do," Wallace warned.
She chose to disregard his warning and focused her attentions solely on the ill man who was uneasily climbing into the large wooden tub rather well on his own while trying to keep his modesty but refused to lean back fully. The rigidity of his pose was harshly costing to his already depleted strength, visible by tremors beginning to rack his muscles, his half-closed eyes squeezing shut in pain.
Placing her hands on his shoulders, she attempted to push him into laying back but she could barely move him until he at last cooperated. By the gods, how strong would he be when fully recovered?
"Why are you doing this?" He asked suddenly asked her in a weak, quiet voice. "Why do you… care?"
Diana sat back on her haunches to stare at him in sadness and despair. Has no one shown him kindness before this? 'Twould seem not. His manner evidenced his longstanding foul treatment at the hands of men.
"Because she is foolhardy." Clark's anger was palatable and wholly uncalled for in her opinion. He stood near the window from whence he had obviously entered with a gleam in his blue eyes that bespoke his irritation and menace. "And far too personal in her ministrations. Princess, you overstep your bounds, and overestimate his value."
Her eyes flashing, the Amazon growled back, "And you overstay your welcome. Get out of here." She glared over to Wallace. "Both of you."
Neither made a move toward the door though both narrowed their eyes and resolutely folded their arms over their chests. Diana frowned darkly and turned back to J'onn who was staring at Clark with an indiscernible expression.
"I would never… dare…" He trailed as he fell into weak coughing.
Before she could ask what it was he meant, Donna and Kyle came noisily into the chamber with a floating green sack between them that was ridiculous in size. They stopped chatting when the overwhelming tension in the room was finally noticed.
"What goes on?" Kyle asked uncertainly with glances between the glaring Wallace, brooding Clark, worried and angered Diana, and the obviously ill green man.
"Clark and Wallace were just leaving." She glared long and hard at the both of them but only Wallace sullenly left. With a half-growl aimed at Clark, she turned her attention to he and Donna, "Is that what I asked for?"
He moved forward with the sack, "Aye, and probably much more. I daresay your shelves are bare as trees in winter now that Donna's through pillaging." For that Donna lightly knocked his shoulder with her fist. "Ow."
"Thank you both," she said while ignoring the two's antics, rummaging in the sack for cloth. Once finding a fairly large piece that would serve handsomely as a rag, she dunked it into the cool water of the tub and bathed the forehead of the sick man who grimaced in pain.
"You… never answered… my question, princess."
She ran the cloth down his neck to his shoulder, paused and smiled reassuringly at him, "Because I do care and because you would even now be dead if no one had helped. Because you need someone who cares about you… you find it so unbelievable someone would show you kindness?"
J'onn glanced for a moment to Clark, "… In my experience… people rarely… look past my differences."
His crimson eyes move back to hold hers for how long she did not know. They were ensnaring, were his eyes, with a depth and feeling she had rarely seen in a man… or even many women. And she was greatly heartened that no wariness was apparent in those dark red depths when he looked at her.
Could he truly have come to trust her?
She fervently hoped it was so.
End chapter 4.
Wow. Four chapters. Never thought it could make it but it's not over yet. 5 is being written even as we speak. Is it worth it? Please tell me. Send many, many reviews.
Thank you.