Hello everybody,

I don't have much to say except that I hope you'll like this chapter.

Enjoy your reading,

Pavs.


Chapter two:


She woke up to the sound of heart monitors and indistinct chatter as the hospital smells hit her nose in full force.

She'd missed.

"No, you didn't." A voice sounded beside her as she realized, she'd spoken out loud.

She turned to see a man wearing a flannel shirt, vest and a shit load of rings sitting right beside her bed. He looked like an old western actor with his cowboy hat on the bedside table, his cowboy boots and a toothpick in his mouth. He had medium length black hairs with streaks of white in it and looked tired as fuck.

She looked into his eyes as memories flooded her mind. The blood, the bottle, the stars, the water. And his eyes. His kind, sad eyes. His unspoken promise as he'd grabbed her hand in the ambulance.

He was still there.

"How long?" She managed to ask and he sighed.

"Two days." He replied while he kept looking at her with worry in his eyes, " You didn't miss."

Her mouth opened in surprised as she realized that he'd spent two days with her.

But of course, he did. It hadn't been long before he realized that no one was coming for her. It had made his heart hurt a little more. She was so small, so delicate. Well, not that delicate either. She'd been a pain in the arse to bring ashore and he'd felt her muscles as he'd drag her onto the docks. As he waited for her to wake up, he'd noticed that she had natural blonde hairs that had been dyed brown for some reason, as well as additional scars on her arms and legs. Now that she was awake, he could see her beautiful whiskey-colored eyes and found himself wishing that they weren't tainted by pain.

"Thank you." She finally said, not because she was grateful that she lived, but because she was grateful not to be alone.

He noticed it, somehow, and was about to say something when a nurse came in. He got out of the way as tests were done and went to grab some water and snacks as time flew by once again. He was walking back to her room when the nurse intercepted him.

"Yeah?" He asked as the nurse looked at him with hesitation clear on her face.

Then it dawned on him. They were discharging her.

"I'll go and get my truck; she won't be alone." He told the nurse who sighed with relief.

He wasn't relieved. He'd talked before thinking. He was heading toward his bike, then rolled to his place without being able to distract himself from her. Her, her pain, her blood. Even now, with the adrenaline gone, he kept confusing the marina with the bridge. He walked into the parlor, not noticing Barney and Lee looking at him with concerned faces as he went straight for the garage to get his truck, going as far as to close the shop as if they weren't there.

Barney looked at Lee with a confused expression before they unlocked the doors to follow him, closing back behind them. They were dead tired, but a reckless Tool was not something that ever happened. Even with the man being retired for a couple of years now, Tool had always been painfully aware of his environment and the people in it.

"Do you think he even noticed?" Lee asked from the passenger seat of Barney's old truck and his friend frowned even more, answering Christmas question more efficiently than any words could.

Tool parked in front of the hospital, with his emergency lights on, as this was a no-parking zone. He got out of the truck just in time to see the woman, June, as he recalled from the way the nurses had called her, rolling out outside in a wheelchair.

"Still dizzy." He thought to himself as he hurried to help her.

She looked at him with a shy smile, wondering how come he was still there. Not knowing what to think of it yet. The pain was still there. The thrill of death had passed, but the calm of those waters was ever so tempting as she listened to cars driving by, people talking as if death wasn't happening in the very building she was getting out of and the sound of sirens announcing more pain to come.

Tool looked at her as if asking permission and she nodded, so he took her arm and helped her to his truck. She flinched as the pain shot through her arms, her stitches pulling at her irritated skin. Tool made sure she was fine before he closed the door, letting her wonder about the fact that it was rare to see gentlemen like that nowadays.

"Where to?" Tool asked, unsure on how to proceed from there.

She wasn't sure either. She'd left her shit in a semi-furnished apartment close to downtown, all still packed away in boxes and bags. A last gift from an old friend. An old friend that wouldn't be back there anymore. She felt the pain coming back tenfold and felt a hand on her knee.

She looked up to see Tool's concerned eyes.

"What's your name?" She asked as she suddenly realized that he was that much of a stranger to her.

He seemed to realize it too as he stopped touching her and offered her a sad smile.

"Name is Tool, sweetheart, I only mean to help." He replied and although her very life depended on not trusting anybody, she did believe him.

"Turn right on this street." She replied and Tool started his truck before they went to her place.

Barney stared at his friend's truck, so lost in his theories that he actually almost didn't notice that Tool was leaving, going in opposite direction from the shop. He didn't follow them, earning himself a questioning glance from Christmas.

"Call it a night?" Lee asked frowning while watching Tool disappear in the distance.

"Call it a night." Barney confirmed before he got them back to Tool's shop.