.Chapter fourteen.

The next day when I woke up I realised that I hadn't been woken up by Cloak at all during the night. I got up, got dressed, put Bruno's lead on him, and went through to Cloak's room to check that he was okay. The hotel manager had kindly given me the extra key card to Cloak's room so I could get into Cloak's room in case of an emergency.

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I opened the door and walked in. The lights were still off and Cloak seemed to still be asleep, but just to make sure that he was still alive I walked up to his bedside. Once there I quietly told Bruno to sit and stay, then I pulled my ponytail to one side, turned my head so that my cheek was facing Cloak, bent over him and put my head just above his; I was checking that he was breathing. I could feel his breath on my cheek, but then I felt something else; I felt his beak and lower lip touch my cheek. I thought that I had just leaned too close and so, as not to disturb him, I stood up straight.

"Good morning," Cloak smiled smugly.

"Morning. Did you sleep well?" I asked.

"Yes thanks. And you?"

"Decently."

"Good."

"Uh, you might think that this question's a bit stupid, but…"

"I wouldn't think any of your questions were stupid, Cal; what is it?"

"Did you just kiss me?"

"Yes, I did."

I didn't expect him to say that; I thought that it was accidental.

"Why?" I asked, as I felt my cheeks starting to burn as they went red.

"I have my reasons," smiled Cloak, as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat up; I moved back to give him some room.

"You and your reasons."

Cloak just chuckled.

"What brings you in here? I didn't call," said Cloak, as he looked at me.

"I just wanted to make sure that you were okay; you know, in case you had called me during the night and I hadn't heard," I replied.

"No, I didn't call."

"Good."

"But I was about to."

"Oh, what for?"

"Come a bit closer and I'll tell you."

I stepped closer to him and he put an arm around my waist.

"Help me up will yah?" he asked, as he tried to get up.

"Sure," I replied, as I took his left hand in my right hand and pulled back to help him up.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Was that all?"

"No."

"What else can I do for you then?"

"Can you open those curtains over there while I go shower?"

"Sure." With that Cloak picked up a small plastic bag that was on a chair near the bathroom door and disappeared into the bathroom while I opened the curtains and, just because I felt like being helpful, made his bed.

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After tidying up a few things, I walked up to the bathroom door and knocked on it.

"Yeah?" came Cloak's voice from the other side of the door.

"I'm going back to my room now. If you need me just call," I said.

"I'll be out in a minute; just hold on."

"Okay." I walked over to his bed and sat down at the foot of it. Bruno looked up at me and put a paw onto my knee. I just smiled at him.

Just then the bathroom door opened and a cloud of steam rolled out and into the main room; it was followed closely by Cloak.

"Why were you about to abandon me?" he asked, as he did up his belt.

"I didn't have much to do in here and I didn't exactly want to inhibit your morning routine," I replied.

"You already did that by walking in to check on me."

"Oh, sorry."

"No problem. I enjoyed opening my eyes and seeing you standing at my bedside."

"When did you open your eyes?"

"When you were telling Bruno to sit and stay."

"Right."

"So, you got anything planned for today?"

"Just looking after you. Why?"

"Just checking."

"How's your wound?"

"It's okay; not too sore today."

"You get the blood out of your other set of clothes?"

"I'm going to try to do that today."

"So you have more than one uniform with the sleeves ripped off."

"Yeah, but I do have one with its sleeves still attached."

"What for?"

"Formal occasions."

"Right."

Cloak looked out of the glass doors that led onto his balcony.

"Nice day," he said.

"Yeah, I suppose it is," I replied.

Cloak smiled at me, walked up to his bed and sat down next to me.

"You had breakfast yet?"

"No. I, basically, came straight to you when I woke up."

"Basically?"

"I got dressed first."

"Right. Then allow me to at least get you something to eat."

"I don't have much of a choice seeing as you're the only one who can speak the receptionist's language."

"Good thing that."

"Why?"

"You can't say 'no' to my offer then."

I just smiled and shook my head as Cloak picked up the phone and called room service.

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After breakfast, Cloak had me take him through to Monza and Daz's room in his wheelchair so that he could visit them. I only took him in the wheelchair because it was the doctor's orders. When we arrived at their door we could hear them snoring. Cloak banged on the door with his foot to wake them up.

"Cloak," I reprimanded.

"It's nine o'clock; they should be up by now," he replied.

I just shrugged as a very blurry eyed Monza opened the door still rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Morning Monza," smiled Cloak.

"Morning Cloak, morning Cal," yawned Monza.

Bruno barked to get Monza's attention.

"Morning Bruno," smiled Monza, as he got down onto one knee and ruffled Bruno's fur.

"What are you still doing asleep?" asked Cloak.

"I'm on vacation!" replied Monza exasperatedly.

"No excuse. Come on, Cal." Cloak signalled for me to walk into the room.

I first looked up at Monza. He sighed and stood to one side to allow Cloak and me to walk in.

"Who is it?" groaned Daz with his head buried under his pillow.

Cloak signalled me to walk over to Daz's bed. Once we got there, Cloak picked up Daz's tail, which had been hanging out of his bed and gave it a good tug.

"Hey!" exclaimed Daz, as he pulled his tail back from Cloak.

"Wake up and see who's here," said Cloak.

Daz groaned.

"Cloak," he said, as he pulled his head out from under his pillow and looked at us.

"And his girlfriend," Daz smiled.

Cloak and I just glared at him.

Again Bruno barked; he seemed to know when he was being left out.

"And the mutt," smiled Daz.

Bruno just snorted.

"What you two been up to this morning?" asked Daz, as he leaned back against the headboard of his bed.

"Not much," said Cloak and I in unison.

Monza and Daz gave each other a knowing look.

"So has Burn come to see you yet?" asked Monza.

"Not yet," replied Cloak.

"So Cal's been the only one you've laid eyes on this morning," said Daz with a teasing smile.

"I should have kept it that way. You two look like death warmed up," smiled Cloak.

"Hey!" protested Monza and Daz.

I couldn't help but giggle quietly.

"So what's with the wheelchair?" asked Monza, as he changed the subject.

"Doctor's orders," replied Cloak.

"Elaborate on it please."

"The doc doesn't want me walking around more than necessary so that all my energy can go into healing my wound. It's only a small hole so I should be back to my old self in no time."

"If you ask me he's already back to being his old wonderful self," said Daz to Monza in a bit of a whisper.

"Thanks for the compliment, Daz," said Cloak.

Daz just shrugged.

"You two got anything planned for today?" asked Monza.

"Not really, no," replied Cloak, as he looked up at me. I put my hand onto his shoulder and he reached up and put his hand on mine.

"Maybe you should spend some quality time together," suggested Monza; I could hear in his voice that he was being serious.

"Every minute I spend with her is quality time, Monza."

I had to fight back an 'aww, Cloak'; I didn't want to let on to how I really felt about him, especially not around Monza and Daz because I would never hear the end of it, but I did give him an 'aren't you sweet' look. Cloak just smiled when he looked up at me and noticed my look. Monza and Daz seemed to catch on as well and so obviously started to tease.

"Don't they make a cute couple, Daz?" asked Monza.

"Yeah, right out of romance novel," replied Daz.

"Knock it off you guys; it's not like that," said Cloak in defence.

"Mm hmm," they chorused, as they smiled at us.

"How would you even know what a romance novel couple is like, Daz? I thought you didn't like those soppy stories," said Cloak.

"Well, uh…," started Daz.

"Well?"

"I've… heard things." Daz started to go red.

"Mm hmm; I bet you have." Cloak seemed to know how to get under the All-stars' scales quite nicely.

"Say, Monza, how did that…," started Cloak.

"I don't talk about that, Cloak," said Monza defensively, as he gave Cloak a hard stare.

"Okay, okay, but you two should know by now that if you mess with me I mess with you."

Monza and Daz just mumbled something under their breaths.

"Come on, Cal, we better go get Xiote and Mixx up too," said Cloak, as he patted my hand and then returned his hand to the end of the armrest.

"Right. Maybe you two can catch a few more Z's now," I said, as I turned the wheelchair to face the door.

"Doubt it. Once we're up, we're up," replied Monza.

"Okay, see you boys later then."

"I'm sure you will."

"Unless Cloak and you are busy with something," said Daz in a teasing tone.

"Daz," warned Cloak.

Daz just chuckled as Cloak, Bruno and I left the room.

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After waking Xiote and Mixx up and having a short chat with them, Cloak decided that he had had enough of seeing the guys and asked me to take him back to his room. The rest of the day was kinda uniform; I took care of my charges, Zap came in and had a hearty talk with Cloak and I, the All-stars came in for a bit and talked and then left to go to some sports event they wanted to see, and Burn had to go to a meeting.

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Night soon came and Zap went back to his and Burn's room while I helped Cloak into bed; his injury was still causing him some pain, but it was only when he had to sit down or get up.

"Thanks," groaned Cloak, as he lay down on his bed. He breathed a sigh of relief as the pain started to subside as he lay still for a bit.

"No prob," I replied, as I looked at him with a bit of pity in my eyes and in my voice.

"Hey, I'm not gonna be like this forever; I'll be back to my strong self within a few days."

"I know, but I really don't like seeing you in pain; I know what it feels like." I stroked his head gently.

Cloak just smiled tenderly at me.

"You better get some rest so that you can recover," I said, as I pulled his blankets up around his neck.

"Yeah. I'll try not to call you in the middle of the night if I can," said Cloak.

"Now, Cloak, I don't want you to refrain from calling me if you really need me; even if it's just for a glass of water, I don't mind getting up for you."

"Thanks. It means a lot to me that you like me enough to do all this for me."

"That's what friends do for each other, Cloak."

Cloak chuckled a bit.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing, just a thought that tickled my fancy," replied Cloak, as he looked at me and smiled.

"And what was it?"

"Don't worry about it. Good night."

"Good night." I smiled at Cloak, turned and walked out of the room; switching off the light as I went through the door.

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Cloak's behaviour was starting to become quite strange; he had never acted this way to me before. I tried not to puzzle over it because I might come to the wrong conclusion, but I did wish I knew what was going through his head when he made those little remarks of his.