.Chapter thirteen.

Morning came very quickly and Burn and I set out for the hospital at about seven o'clock. I had left Bruno in the care of Zap and Mixx; I was certain that between them they could take care of him. Burn and I arrived at the hospital at about half passed seven and made our way through to Cloak's ward. Burn knocked on the door. The same nurse answered and admitted us in quickly.

"He'll be glad to see you, miss," said the nurse.

"Stupid question, but why?" I asked.

The nurse giggled.

"Let's just say that he told me a thing or two," she replied.

I just cocked a brow and continued to walk towards Cloak's bed.

"Morning," smiled Burn.

"Good morning, Burn; I don't suppose…" started Cloak. He was propped up against the headboard of the bed with his pillows behind his back.

"Good morning, Cloak," I said, as I took my place next to Burn.
"Cal," he said. He looked surprised.

"Yes."

"Wha… what are you doing here?"

"Coming to see you. Why?"

"I just thought that you wouldn't."

"You know what thought did?" I walked up to him and put my hands on the railing that was on the side of his bed.

"No what?" He looked a bit puzzled.

"He planted a feather and thought a chicken would grow."

Cloak silently laughed and shook his head.

"At least I got you to smile," I smiled.

"How could I not?" he asked. Just then I felt his hand on mine.

"We've brought you a bit of breakfast, Cloak." Said Burn, as he put a bowl of something we had brought for Cloak on the bedside table.

"Thanks," smiled Cloak.

"You're welcome."

"Uh, Burn."

"Yes."

Cloak then said something in some alien language that I didn't understand. Burn smiled and looked at the nurse. He seemed to ask her something and she just giggled and replied in that alien language as well. Burn then returned his attention to Cloak and said something else in that alien language.

"You know that this is terribly rude," I said, getting fed up that I couldn't understand a word they were saying.

"Relax. I'll tell you what we were talking about in a minute," smiled Cloak.

"I better be off. I'll come pick you up later, Cal," smiled Burn, as he walked off towards the exit.

"Hold it, Burn," I said.

"Yes."

"What later?"

"Just later."

"Yeah, but later with you could mean anything from two trigons to a whole day."

"In between; I'll see you later." With that he walked out of the room along with the nurse.

Cloak just had a pleased smile on his face.

"Okay, tell me; what were you three talking about?" I asked.

"I just wanted some time alone with you, but I didn't want you to hear that," replied Cloak.

"Why not?"

"I have my reasons."

"Yeah, speaking of reasons. What were your reasons for acting the way you did yesterday?"

"I had a feeling you would be asking me that. Come on, get up here and I'll tell you." Cloak moved himself over a bit so that there was a bit of room on his bed for me to sit on. I hopped up and then waited for him to explain.

"Where do I start?" he asked.

"You're the only one who knows that, Cloak," I replied.

"I guess the reason for my acting the way I did was just to prove that I was strong."

"I would say that your muscles would suffice for a show of strength, Cloak."

"I know, but still. I suppose us guys just have a need to go that one step further when a girl's with us."

"You were showing off in other words."

"In a way, yeah."

"Well you know you don't have to when you're with me; save it for your Triceraton girls."

"I don't find them half as attractive as you."

I blushed slightly; that was one of the sweetest things he had ever said to me.

"So, how are things back at the hotel?" asked Cloak.

"Okay," I replied.

"Right. I guess the guys thought I was pretty stupid yesterday."

"More me than them; they seemed to be unfazed by it."

"Right; what did Zap have to say about it?"

"Not much, just that you were protecting me and that I was the reason for your being wounded."

"Now that's not true! Yes, I was protecting you, but it wasn't your fault; I moved left when I should have moved right. Anything else?"

"He did mention trying to befriend you."

"Why?"

"Because he's removing himself as a rival to you."

"A rival for what?"

"My affections."

"Oh."

"But other than that not much."

Cloak just nodded.

"So, when do you think you'll get out of hospital?" I asked, as I put my hand onto his.

"Soon I hope. I don't like being away from you," he replied, as he pulled his hand out from under mine and put it on top of my hand.

I just smiled and started to blush again.

Just then Burn came back in.

"Am I disturbing something?" he asked.

"No," replied Cloak and I in unison.

"Right. Come on, Cal; we better let Cloak rest for a while. The doctor says that he'll contact us when Cloak's to be released."

"You make me sound like a wild creature, Burn," said Cloak, as I slid off of his bed and stood next to him.

"Well, I'm sure on certain occasions you could possibly be quite the wild one; you definitely were when you were on the team," smiled Burn.

"I had to be to be able to survive in those fights."

"Why do you say that?" I asked, as I put a hand onto his shoulder.

"There weren't many rules back then and you had to be quite savage to stay alive. I was small enough and quick enough back then," replied Cloak, as he smiled at me.

"You make it sound like ancient history."

"I was one of the youngest Triceratons to become a fighter in the arena."

"How old were you?"

"Fourteen."

I just looked at him.

"I was a fighter for three years and then I became a pilot; I was a pilot for four years and then I was put in prison," said Cloak.

"I never did find out how long you had been in prison before I met you, Cloak," I said.

"Six cycles."

"Only six cycles?"

"Yeah, my sentence was only for a year."

"Zanramon must have been feeling oddly generous that day."

"Nah, just that's how long the term is for destruction of private property."

"Right."

"Cal," came Burn's voice from the door.

"I've got to get going," I smiled at Cloak.

"The task master's calling you," smiled Cloak.

"Hey!" retorted Burn.

"I'll see you soon," said Cloak, as he put his hand back over mine and squeezed it slightly.

"Right," I smiled.

Cloak released my hand and I walked out of the room.

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Once back at the hotel, Mixx and Zap were glad to dump Bruno back onto me; apparently he was being quite a handful. Mixx slunk off to his room to get a well-deserved rest and Zap came and sat with me in my room.

"So, how's Cloak?" asked Zap.

"He's okay," I replied.

"Will he be out soon?"

"Don't know. The doc said that he would call us when Cloak's ready to leave."

"I see. So did you get to be alone with him?"

"Yes."

"And his reasons?"

"He said that he just wanted to prove that he was strong and then admitted that he was kinda showing off."

"Did you tell him about me backing off?"

"Yeah."

"And his response was?"

"He wanted to know what you were a rival to him for."

"And?"

"And I told him that you were a rival to him for my affections."

"And?"

"And nothing; he just said 'oh'."

Zap rolled his eyes.

"What?" I asked.

"Didn't he even try to make a move?" asked Zap.

"Not that I noticed."

"Did he at least compliment you?"

"Sorta."

"What did he say?"

"He did say that he found me more attractive than the female Triceratons."

"Anything else?"

"Not really, unless you consider not wanting to be away from me a compliment."

"Close enough."

Just then I noticed Bruno sticking one of his noses into a potted plant that was in the corner of the room.

"Bruno, come here," I said. Bruno came to me and sat obediently at my feet.

"Good boy," I smiled, as I patted his three heads and wiped the sand off of the third head's nose.

"Do you even like Cloak in that respect?" asked Zap.

"Sorta I suppose," I replied.

"I'm gonna have to have a word with him about his feelings for you when he gets back here."

"You don't have to, Zap. If Cloak and I are meant to be, we'll get together soon enough."

"But sometimes one of the two just needs a nudge in the right direction."

I just smiled and shook my head.

"But if a nudge doesn't work, I'll go with a shove," smiled Zap.

Just then we heard Burn's voice outside of the room and then the door opened. Burn walked in with his portable communicator to his ear.

"Hold on a sec, I'll ask her," said Burn to the guy he was talking to on his communicator.

"Cal," said Burn, as he pulled the communicator down from his ear.

"Yes," I replied.

"Do you mind being Cloak's nurse for the next week or so?"

"Um, sure. No problem."

"Excellent!" Burn put his communicator back to his ear and started to talk to the guy on the other end of it, "She says that's she'll be his nurse."

Burn waited a few second for the guy to reply then he smiled, "Excellent! I'll come 'round with her now then. Okay, goodbye." Burn shut off his communicator and stuck it into his pocket.

"What was that all about?" asked Zap.

"Cloak's only allowed to leave the hospital if he has a nurse to look after him, but he's not accepting any help from anyone at the hospital; so they thought that if Cal was to be his nurse he would be more co-operative," explained Burn.

"What does being his nurse entail?" I asked.

"You'll have to sleep in his room in case he needs you in the middle of the night," replied Burn.

"Okay."

"And you'll have to give Bruno's care over to someone else so that you can be there for Cloak when he needs you."

"I can take care of Bruno for you," said Zap.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'll just get the All-stars to help me."

I just smiled at Zap.

"So, come on, Cal; we've got to go pick up your new charge," said Burn, as he put his arm around my shoulders and pushed me towards the door.

"Okay, okay. I'll see you just now, Zap," I said, as I walked towards the door.

"Okay," smiled Zap, as he took hold of one of Bruno's collars to prevent him from running after Burn and me.

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Within a few trigons we reached the hospital and were admitted into Cloak's ward. We found him arguing with a nurse who was trying to help him up.

"Cloak," I smiled, as I quickened my pace to meet up with him quicker.

"Cal, hi," smiled Cloak, as he turned his head to look at me. He had either gotten himself or had been helped into a sitting position on the edge of his bed.

"Is he being difficult, nurse?" I asked.

"Incredibly," she replied.

"I'll take him from here."

"Very well. I'll bring his wheelchair here for you." She walked off towards the other end of the ward as Burn came up to us.

"So, Cloak, how does it feel to know that Cal here's gonna be your nurse," smiled Burn.

"Say what?" asked Cloak, as he looked at me.

"Didn't anyone tell you?" I asked.

"No, I've just been having a rather big argument about being helped for the last helate or so."

"You've been arguing for a helate?"

"Yes, and he refuses to back down," said the nurse, as she came up to us with a floating chair in front of her. The wheels turned up and acted as wings to stabilise the chair, but when it was just sitting still the wheels came down and it looked like a normal earth wheelchair.

"Come on, Cloak; let's get you into this thing," I said, as I put his hand onto my shoulder and prepared to help him down.

"Thanks," smiled Cloak, as he heaved himself off of the bed and onto the floor.

"Now, you see, if you had just assisted me in getting down instead of trying to move me against my will I would have co-operated," said Cloak, as he sat down into the wheelchair with a wince or two of pain. I could see that he was bandaged up under his clothes.

"Come on, Cal; I can't move this by myself," said Cloak, as he put his feet onto the footrests and the chair started to float.

"Right," I replied, as I walked behind him and took hold of the handles.

"Let's go then," said Burn, as he started to lead us out.

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Once we got back to the hotel, I took Cloak straight back to his room and Burn went to tell the All-stars and Zap that we were back.

"Thanks," said Cloak, as I helped him get onto his bed.

"No problem," I smiled. I was a bit uneasy about sharing a room with him and I guess he picked up that something was worrying me.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, why?"

"You seem to be a bit, I don't know, uneasy about something."

"I guess I'm just a bit uneasy about sharing a room with you."

"You're not usually this forward, but if you want to…"

"I'm supposed to be on hand in case you need me in the night."

"Oh; no, you don't have to stay in here with me. I'll just call you."

"I don't think your other neighbours will be very happy with that."

"No, I meant that I would call you via the phone or something."

"Oh, right."

"So you can stay in your room and if push comes to shove I can always throw something heavy against the wall to wake you up."

I giggled.

"Just make sure it doesn't come through the wall, okay?" I smiled.

"You got it," smiled Cloak.

I was relieved to say the least.

"I can see you're a bit easier now. Not so…," started Cloak.

"Uneasy?" I asked.

"Yeah."

Just then there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," said Cloak.

The door opened and the All-stars, Burn, Zap, and Bruno filed in.

"Hi guys," smiled Cloak.

"Hi," chorused the All-stars, Burn, and Zap. Bruno barked his hello in a three-part harmony.

"Hello Bruno."

"So, how you feeling?" asked Monza, as he walked up to Cloak.

"Okay," replied Cloak.

"Should you and I go fetch your stuff so that you can move in here, Cal?" asked Zap.

"That's not necessary, Zap," said Cloak, before I could respond.

"Huh?"

"She'll be staying in her room still; I'll just phone her if I need her."

"Right."

The rest of the day was quite uneventful; I stayed with Cloak the rest of the day and Burn gave Cloak a small buzzer that he could use to contact me. I went to bed with the buzzer next to my pillows so that I would hear it if it went off. I was kinda hoping that Cloak wouldn't call because there was no guarantee that I would hear it because I'm quite a heavy sleeper. As a precaution I put my hand onto the buzz so that I would feel it if it did go off. With that precaution taken care of, I looked over at Bruno to check that he was okay, turned off the light, and went to sleep.