7
It didn't take long for the group to leave and that left Mary Ann and the Professor alone in the camp. In an effort perhaps to make up for their lack of support before, the Howell's and Ginger gathered a bunch of fruit and left that in the Professor's hut so he wouldn't have to leave her alone for long when he needed to eat.
After checking on the seismometer reading again he sat down beside her on the cot. He whispered to her, "I'm so sorry Mary Ann. I should have detected this earlier. I'm a scientist for crying out loud. I should have noticed by observing you that you were in trouble and I failed you." He started to get choked up. Seeing her lying on his cot, so helpless, so hurt, made something inside him shift. All he could think about was that he couldn't lose her. Somehow, and he wasn't sure how, she had become vital to him, almost vital to his own survival.
He actually didn't quite understand his own reaction to her condition. The overwhelming sense of guilt, that he understood, but these other feelings...well. He brushed the hair back again from her beautiful face. He caressed her cheek with his thumb and felt and heard himself say, almost unconsciously, "I love you, Mary Ann. Hang on, please."
The words shocked him and he blinked his eyes a couple of times, wondering if maybe the lack of sleep from the night before had caught up to him. But as he looked back down on her peaceful face, he knew it was not sleep deprivation that caused him to say what he did. He did love her.
But now he could lose her, forever. They could all lose her. He thought back to all the different ways she had pitched in, guaranteeing their survival through her actions. She never complained. He smiled as he thought through all the times she had worked tirelessly without seeking recognition. She had asked him a few times about different plants and other wildlife they had encountered on the island and he recalled how exciting it felt to have someone ask him scientific questions again, or maybe it was just her.
Never would he have imagined falling in love with her though. He was a scientist and in his life there had been little opportunity to engage in any such courting behavior. Sure he had dated and was certainly no virgin, but the idea of romance or love finding him on this tropical island, he thought, was about as likely as Newton discovering a law of gravity without using mathematics. In fact the only times he had courted or dated anyone, he had found it awkward, almost unnatural. On the island, Ginger had tried to help him a couple of times when they were trying to convince that surfer to leave and rescue them and then there was that time he tried to court Mary Ann because he didn't want her heartbroken at news her fiancee had left her and married someone else. There was that brief whirlwind romance with Erica Tiffany Smith that went no where.
He laid back down beside Mary Ann again as he noticed her brow furrow and her heart rate start to steadily climb again. Whispering in her ear, he told her again that he was beside her, protecting her. He told her she did not have to fear anything coming to hurt her as he was there, she was safe. She seemed to hear him and her heart rate returned to normal as he laid back and closed his own eyes.
He woke up to her moving in his arms. Adrenalin shot through him as he worried she was having a seizure or panicking from a nightmare. Sitting up quickly, he noticed her eyes flutter open and her chest take in a good deep breath.
She asked him as he rolled on his side to get a better look at her, "What happened? Where am I?"
He put his hand back to her face, brushing back her hair and running his thumb over her cheek. He told her, "You collapsed last night, Mary Ann. I brought you in here so I could keep an eye on you. You are ill and you need to let me take care of you, ok?"
Something about the way he held her made her feel so good for some reason. His hand on her face brought her an amazing sense of comfort. As she looked into his eyes, she became enchanted. Deep within she felt a connection to the Professor and his attentiveness attracted her to him. Their eyes locked and he lightly brushed his lips over hers for only one second before sitting up.
He told her softly, "Stay still and let me go get you some water, ok? You need to drink lots of water to feel better."
He got up and walked over to one of the pots she had made that was left for him and Mary Ann by the others. He wasn't sure what had gotten into him. Why did he kiss her like that? It felt so natural to him. There was the possibility she would interpret it as an act of friendship, he reasoned also. He filled up a cup and brought it to her.
She started to sit up but noticed the wires attached to her chest. The Professor sat the cup down and then maneuvered around her, taking her shoulders and helping her sit up but lean against him. He then took the cup and put it to her lips telling her, "Here, just take a sip first and then when you keep that down, we'll have some more."
Confused she did as he told her but then asked, "What's all this?" She was holding up the wires.
He wasn't quite sure what to tell her. If she knew she had suffered a heart attack, would that make her panic and perhaps cause another one? What about the beans? Should he tell her that the beans she ate acted as a drug and seriously harmed her body? No, the best thing to do at this point was to tell her the exhaustion got to her and that she needed an ample amount of rest for the next couple of days. No need to unnecessarily send her into a state of panic.
So he told her whispering to her, "Those are monitors, Mary Ann. I wanted to monitor your condition since you passed out after working too hard. You're fatigued and you must rest."
She seemed to digest that just as she felt incredibly nauseous. Closing her eyes, she tried to concentrate on not vomiting. The Professor sensed this and put the cup down.
He lightly rubbed her arms and soothingly whispered to her, "Just relax, lay back and close your eyes." She did and took a deep breath.
After opening her eyes again she told him, "I'm so thirsty, but I don't feel like I'll be able to keep anything down...Are you sure I'm just tired, or fatigued?"
The beans were making her nauseous he knew, but he couldn't tell her that. What she needed to do was dilute those beans so she would recover. So he changed the subject, "Mary Ann, just try to drink a little more. The more you drink the better you will feel. Trust me."
She took another deep breath and finished off the rest of the cup. Once she was done, he took her back in his arms as he laid down with her again, this time facing her. "Just sleep now, alright. I'm right here, keeping you safe, ok, remember that."
Mary Ann didn't know why but she felt as though she couldn't stay awake even if she wanted to. So she passed back out again and the Professor held her for the rest of the day and night.
Each time she woke up for the next two days the Professor made her drink more and more water. Then came the task of getting her out of the cot. She needed to get up and move around some.
Getting out of the cot was harder than she thought it would be. How could she have gotten so exhausted so quickly. She surmised that the fatigue was only made worse by the fact that she hadn't had any more coffee beans in a couple of days now.
The Professor not only helped her up but kept his arm around her waist at all times. It seemed as though his arms were always around her as he kept watch those two days. She wasn't sure exactly what it was he kept watch for, but the way he took care of her, touched her deeply.
She decided to tell him about the coffee on the way back to camp after walking slowly to the lagoon. Maybe if she just drank a little, she would feel better. Surely, he would know how to take those beans and make them into the drink.
"Professor?" she asked as they walked slowly back to the camp.
"Yes Mary Ann?" he answered her.
"Do you think if I drank a cup of coffee, that I would feel even better and recover faster?" she asked.
The Professor stopped in his tracks and looked at her, "Mary Ann, there is no coffee growing on this island." He was unsure of how she would react, but he didn't want to lie to her. He thought she was most likely able to handle hearing the truth now, but he also wanted to know where she found them.
She smiled at him, "Yes there is...I found it down by the lagoon. I wanted to wait until I figured out how to make it into coffee from the beans before I told everyone. Isn't it wonderful?"
The Professor turned and put both arms around her waist and stared at her for a second. Then he took one hand and brushed back her hair from her face and softly told her, "Those beans aren't coffee beans, Mary Ann. They're toxic. They caused you to collapse. Its ok though, you are recovering nicely. It was an honest mistake. They look and smell like coffee."
Mary Ann was confused, "What do you mean? Of course they are coffee beans...they gave me all kinds of energy."
The Professor kept running his hand through her hair with one hand and supporting her with his other around her waist. "I know they give off energy, but they also harm your heart and affect how your brain processes things. Like I said, you are going to be fine though. I'm not leaving your side. I love you, Mary Ann."
She didn't know what to think. Did he just say what she thought he said? And that look in his eye, it just called to her. Neither said anything as their eyes locked. The Professor then leaned over to her and softly at first bushed his lips over hers. She felt the pressure of his mouth increase, gradually, insistently. Before she knew it she felt herself responding with even deeper emotion. His hands moved around her back and pulled her to him before he broke their kiss.
The next thing she knew, he had swept her off her feet and was carrying her back to the camp as it had started to rain again, "This will get us there faster." He gently carried her back and then softly laid her on the bed. Both were soaked so he told her to rest while he ran to her hut to get her, her things. Each person was going to carry a small bag of their things up to the cave and of course, neither her nor the Professor had done that.
In the meantime, her clothes were soaked and so were his. She still felt tired and even more so with the short walk she had taken. The Professor came back in his hut and opened her suitcase. He asked, "Will it bother you, if I find you another set of clothes in here? I know it is something of an invasion of privacy, but you could catch a cold in what you have on now and that would only delay your recovery."
She shook her head and said softly laying down on the cot, "No, it wouldn't bother me, thank you for asking. You are taking such good care of me...I don't even know what to say."
He pulled out what appeared to be an oversized shirt, possibly for sleeping and a pair of shorts along with the usual undergarments. Sitting down on the cot he helped her change, trying not to let his eyes wander, looking toward the ceiling as he helped her with her shirt and then her shorts.
Once they were on and she was sitting on the cot, she told him, "The only thing I can think to say is that I love you, Professor."