Chapter 4

Dutch walked in the door, trying to be quiet.

After setting Chris up on the couch he had had to go back to the station to finish off some work and pick up some files, but he had been held up when he got in an argument with a man who had come in to report something or other.

Creeping past the couch, Dutch had to stop for a moment and kick off his shoes. He paused before going on, looking over the back of the couch at Chris's sleeping form, her small body curled up under the thick blanket Dutch had lent to her. She was sleeping soundly; the blanket pulled up to her chin. The blanket lay loosely over her form, falling just right so that he could tell her legs were curled up to her stomach and her arms were wrapped around herself.

Letting out a long, shuddering sigh, Dutch continued across the living room and into the bathroom.

Turning on the hot water in the shower, Dutch stepped back and untied his tie as he waited for the water to heat up. He pulled off his jacket and began to unbutton his shirt, the water cascading into the tub behind him.

Next the belt, the pants, the boxers, all clothes disregarded on the floor.

As he stepped into the shower, the water splashed over his head, plastering his hair against his scalp. Running his fingers through his sopping hair and smoothing it away from his face, he stood under the water for a moment, the water scalding over his skin, almost painful but not quite. The liquid heat ran over his shoulder, down his chest and belly.

He closed his eyes savoring the feel of the water rushing over his skin. A frown touched his face as he lifted a hand between his thighs as the water burned his skin and his thoughts turned to the girls sleeping in the living room...

Chris woke suddenly, her head pounding.

Wincing and putting a hand to her head, Chris sat up and opened her eyes, trying to remember where she was. Oh yeah, Dutch's house.

Light was beginning to filter through the windows, filling the room with the gray morning sun. But Chris wasn't in the mood to admire the sun sparkling on the shiny clean coffee table. She just wanted something to dull the pain in her head.

When she heard a door open somewhere behind her, she spun in her place on the couch to see Dutch walking from his room, tightening his tie.

"Good morning," Dutch said, sounding fairly cheery.

"Morning," Chris groaned, relaxing back into the couch.

"You feeling OK?"

"I have a headache."

"Oh, just a sec." He vanished back down the hall and returned with a bottle of Ibuprofen. "Here. How bad is it?"

"I know how many to take," Chris replied irritably. She wasn't much of a morning person and her whole body ached.

"How're those bruises?" Dutch asked, ignoring the malice in her last remark.

After popping two of the little red pills in her mouth and swallowing them thickly, she looked up at him then touched her jaw. She had almost forgotten how horrible she looked. She felt the huge bump under her fingers, and it stung as she touched it.

"It feels probably about as good as it looks," she said, now turning her attention to the finger-shaped bruises wrapped around her wrist. "My God, he did a number on me," she muttered as she stood. But she only got a few inches off the couch before she winced and sat back down.

"What's wrong?"

"My hip..." She got to her feet, this time braced for the pinching pain in her joint. She remembered crashing into the couch, and lifted her shirt, pushing her pajama bottoms down a bit to reveal a huge bruise on her hipbone.

Behind her, Dutch swallowed thickly, looking at the bruise. That must have hurt horribly.

She lowered her shirt down again and looked back up at Dutch starting to wake up and feel better. "Thank you for letting me stay here."

"No problem," Dutch said, picking up the blanket and folding it. "I'll drop you and your stuff off at your new apartment."

Allowing a smile to sneak onto her lips, Chris nodded. "That would be great, thank you," she said sincerely.

"Do you need help with your bags?" Dutch asked as he pulled up beside the curb in front of a shabby building. It may not have been the greatest apartment complex, but it was definitely better than her last.

"No," she said, as she got out and retrieved her duffle bags from the back seat. "I only have two."

She paused and bit her lip thoughtfully before closing the car door and heading up to her new apartment. "My new number is 555-6969."

It was Dutch's turn to allow a grin to seep into his features.

"Thanks again," she said before closing the door, and cutting off anything he had been planning on saying.