AN: Thanks for the reviews everyone. Thanks to everyone who has added me to their subscribtions and favorites! I appreciate it all. I hope you enjoy this one and let me know what you think! Please excuse grammar errors, I just write for fun, I don't take this serious enough to reread it a bunch of times to make sure it is flawless. I just write and post so it is bound to have errors and I am sorry about that. It is just if I continue to reread and look for errors I start not to like what I have written. Second guess myself too much and then I change too much stuff and get discouraged. I feel that this site is just for fun, so I also don't feel like asking someone to be a beta reader because if it is just for fun then there is room for mistakes. This is just my take on these sort of things. I have had experiences with people getting really mad at me over errors so I like to make this very clear that you can hate the story because of errors, but it isn't going to change the way I operate. I feel that my grammar is good enough, so please don't email me about it. Thanks again and I hope you enjoy!!!!!!
She bustled around his room, humming to herself, loudly. He wasn't sure of the tune she was humming, but it was pretty. It annoyed him though. The pretty tune grated on his ears because she was the one who was humming. Actually she just annoyed him today. She didn't care if he was awake, watching her move back and forth with the stare of a predator. "Liez." he said after listening to her hum all that he could. "Yes?" she asked as she threw away his old bloody bandages that she had removed from his lower half today. "Shut up." he said as he rested his eyes. He didn't want to see her face after he said that. He heard her snort though. He assumed that it didn't hurt her feelings, hardly anything he said to her hurt her feelings. She was tough, and he liked that about her. She had her moments though were she would get hurt by his words, but for the most part she shrugged him off.
A few days ago he had called her a bad name as she accidently scraped into good skin and she just looked up at him with a fierce look. She didn't have to tell him that her feelings had been hurt, her eyes told him everything. He had instantly apologized to her before she turned her eyes back to her work. He didn't mean to call her names, but sometimes it was really hard for him not to get upset when her scalpel slipped into healing skin where the nerve endings were growing back.
Yet instead of shutting up like he had told her to do, she hummed all the louder. He sighed exasperated. If he knew being her friend would annoy him so much… Well he would still be her friend, but he just wished that she would stop going out of her way to annoy him today. Today she was trying her hardest to be the bane of his existence.
Like the first thing she had done today was made him feed himself. Feeding himself wasn't the issue really, it was that she made him crawl out of his bed, which had hurt like hell, and then hop to his tray himself. Then she made him stand, with her help, while he at his food. That was what really pissed him off. She knew he needed her help but she had stood in the corner of the room and told him if he wanted his food he would get up and get it himself. He had sat there ten minutes before he couldn't stand his hunger anymore. So he had hopped to his food.
She said that "Eventually Donny, you are going to have to fend for yourself, and I don't want you to forget how. Also since your prosthetic hasn't come in yet, you are going to have to learn to just use the one leg." The second thing she had made him do was hop to the bathroom and then back to his bed when he was done. He couldn't believe that she didn't give him baby steps, she just made him jump right back into helping himself. Maybe it was for the best, but he didn't see it being one. In the end he had also split for skin open and had bled a little bit. She told him he would live, he felt like he was going to die though. He had seethed the rest of the day after she made him do that. He hurt all over now because of her and he just wanted her to leave so he wouldn't have to see her the rest of the day.
So now he laid back onto his bed and sulked like a six year old child. "Are you still mad at me?" she asked as she started to wash her hands, finally stopping that insufferable humming. It was almost the end of her shift, so she would be leaving him alone soon. He had that to look forward to, he guessed. "Yes, I am damned pissed off with you." he said as he stared at the back of her head. If looks could kill she would be dead right at that moment. She turned back to looked at him. "You will live, I promise." she said with a smile. She thought this was just some sort of his ill mood games, but she really didn't know how angry he really was at her. His blood seethed with anger that he felt for her at this moment.
For only a moment he envisioned his bat in his hands, wringing the neck of the bat as he stared down at a Nazi. Every time he had beat a Nazi to death he felt such an intense anger that his heart sung with effort and his pulse beat in his ears like a drum. That was how mad he was now. He wasn't mad enough to beat her to death, he could never do that to her, he just compared the feelings. He missed his bat. Aldo said apparently it had been lost in everything. It was okay though, he didn't think he would bring it back with him to the states, even though he really wanted to. It would make a nice center piece on the table, or a mantel piece.
He just frowned at her though, bringing his thoughts back to her. She sighed. "Donny, what will I have to do to make it up to you?" she asked with a raised eyebrow. He looked at her almost in joy. She was going to make him feel better? How could she possibly do that? Maybe she would get him an extra pudding, surely pudding would ease his mood. But then she busted out laughing at him. He growled at her, his pulse started to race and if he could he would have walked out the room, too bad he couldn't. A month and a half with her, and he was rubbing off on her. Sometimes not in a good way either. She continued to laugh as she came to sit close to him on his bed.
"Donny, I really don't care if you are mad at me. I have to make you do this stuff otherwise you are going to have a very hard time moving around when you get better." she explained as she played with his hair. He jerked his head away angrily. Now her pretense of teasing him dropped completely. "Donny? What is wrong?" she asked suddenly very worried about him.
He looked down at his lap. He didn't want to admit to her what he was really feeling. So he just stayed quiet. If she knew what he was really thinking right now about her, she might be very upset with him. "Aren't you done for the night?" he asked, just wanting her to leave.
"I am not going to leave until you tell me what is wrong." she said as she took one of his big hands into her own. Gently she stroked the back of his hand, her lily soft finger tips gliding over his skin. He for a moment forgot everything but the feel of her touching him. Why were her fingers so soft? He wondered if the rest of her was just as soft, surely it was. "Donny, just tell me what is wrong?" she asked again. He snapped back to reality and stared at her.
"Come on Donny. I know you are mad at me, just let me know what is going on in that head of yours." she said as she poked him in the temple. "I am pissed because I have been so used to you taking care of me, and then all of a sudden that changed today. I became safe with you taking care of me and then today you reminded me that one day I am going to a disfigured man with only one leg who has to take care of himself." he said with a sigh finally. He wished he hadn't admitted that to her. He just told her his fears, and it made him feel like he had a big gaping wound that at any moment she could rub salt in.
His pulse started to race as he tried to wish the words back into his mouth. He was not the sort of man to share his fears with another. He was the sort of man who kept those things locked away, like most men do. He swallowed hard and just hoped that she would not give him some 'you have to take care of yourself by yourself' speech. He had already had one of those speeches from the Doctor. He didn't need another from her.
"Donny… You are already a disfigured man with one leg that must take care of himself." she said with a beautiful smile. He couldn't help but laugh at her. He had to hand it to her, he really did, she knew how to make him feel better no matter how upset he was. He liked her sick humor more than he would have liked false pity. Liez never offered him pity anymore. Actually that last time he had seen pity on her face was the day they had sawed his leg off. She just gave him sick humor to help him not worry about himself so much. He was grateful for that and he was starting to wonder if he could live without her. "There is that smile I so enjoy." she said as her thumb brushed his lower lip. His chest tightened and his eyes met hers.
"You like my smile?" he asked cockily.
"I just said that didn't I?" she asked in reply.
"I like your smile." he admitted. He figured he had already admitted to her his fears, why not tell her she had a wonderful smile that he couldn't wait to see every time he woke up. His answer pulled a wide smile out of her and he watched as the corner of her eyes smiled as well, and her amber eyes twinkled. He did enjoy her smile to the point that he wanted to see it every day until her died. Yet to tell her that would have been suicide for him. He couldn't very well tell Liez that he wanted to spend his entire life with her. He knew that he did though.
Sometimes people just had gut instincts. Donny had many of those. His gut instinct around Liez said that he wanted to be with her. Not be with her just physically, which he did want to do, but he wanted something deeper than that. He wanted to love her with all of his heart and soul. He wanted to cherish her. He wanted to hold her when she is sad. He wanted to fight with her when she is angry. He wanted to share every moment of the rest of his life with Liez. He didn't care that she was practically the only woman he got to see since he had been in the hospital, he just knew that she was the one for him. But he couldn't tell her that, and he wouldn't even allow himself to dare think about what it would be like if he did tell her.
"Well I will see you tomorrow Donny." she said as she leaned forward and kissed his forehead. This was a ritual she had started a week ago, kissing him on his forehead before she left. And every time she did this, it left him tingling all over, wanting more. He wanted to think he was rather pathetic. Getting so worked up just by a single, simple kiss to the forehead. He grabbed her wrist as she went to stand. She turned and looked at him. "Just sit with me a little longer please?" he asked as he moved over with a lot of effort so she could sit on his bed more with him.
She smiled at him and sat back down, but this time long ways so their legs were touching, as well as their torso's. As they sat together many thoughts started to come into Liez's head that she was afraid of asking Donny. She swallowed her fear though, and asked anyways. "Donny, do you have a woman waiting for you when you get home?" she asked. She knew it was a dumb question as soon as the words left her lips. She stared down at her lap as she waited patiently for him to answer her.
He looked to her and smiled to himself. He couldn't help himself, he lied to her. It was cruel yes, but he wasn't above taunting cruelty. He wanted to see how she would react. They had been around each other every day for a while now so he wanted to see how deep her feelings really were for him, for he knew his were deep for her. "Yes, I do have a woman waiting on me back home." he said. He heard her swallow and he watched as her pretty face fell into an expression of sadness.
His insides twisted uncomfortably and he wished he hadn't of lied to her. He just confirmed to himself that Liez liked him more than he thought. She liked the half burnt crippled that was stuck in a hospital bed. Immediately he would have thought there was something wrong with her, but he knew her enough to know that she looked into people's character for the people she wanted in her life. She wasn't someone who just flaunted herself in front of men who she found attractive. She wanted someone she could talk to, which she most certainly could do with Donny.
She wanted someone she could laugh with, she could do that with Donny. She wanted someone that she could just connect with, and that was Donny. He felt a swell of pride as he let his thoughts run. He felt… warm all over. He wanted so bad to tell her at that moment how he felt, but he didn't. Maybe it was because he felt shocked to know that she liked him. There was no way she didn't like him. No woman looked that sad about what he had lied about unless she really was fond of him. His chest was heavy and he couldn't wipe off the goofy grin off of his face. That was until she slid out of bed without looking at him. "I should go Donny." she said as she kept her face downcast so she wouldn't glance at him on accident. Then he reasoned with himself. He wouldn't tell her the truth.
He could have simply told her, tell her that he had lied to her, but he didn't want to. He wanted to see if she would crack and tell him her feelings. Only then would he tell her how he felt about her. So what if it was sadistic, he was the Bear Jew. Sadistic might as well been his middle name. "I will see you tomorrow." he said as he watched her with delight leave the room.
Xxxxxxxxx
She lay in her bed, unable to sleep. She tossed and turned uncomfortably as dark thoughts swirled through her mind unpleasantly. Her eyes were heavy, but not from need of sleep. It was because she had laid there crying for the last two hours. She hadn't thought he would say 'yes'. But he did and she would be lying to herself if she said it didn't hurt. It did hurt though. It hurt like utter hell had split open and pulled her into the ninth realm.
She knew she liked Donny, and she had thought he liked her too. He answered too simply for him to of liked her though. She had been fooling herself this entire time. Liez, the fool, she thought as more tears slid down her puffy cheeks. All this crying should have put her to sleep but it hadn't, it only kept her up. Kept her up knowing that it was going to be hard to work around a man that she had started to have deep feelings for, only to learn that there was simply no chance to be with him.
Back and forth, rolling around in her bad, twisting the covers tightly around her legs. This was maddening. She was not the type to run from her problems, but she knew that she wanted to run from Donny. She should not torture herself in his presence any longer if all she was going to get was nothing in return from him. What had she really expected though? To fall madly in love with him and him to fall madly in love with her? She should just laugh at herself. She felt pathetic. He was just her patient anyways, and this would be a lesson learnt, never get too close to the patient.
She finally realized these deeper feelings that she felt for him was just because she spent nearly every moment with him. She was going to have to space herself from him if she was going to prove her feelings wrong. She would prove herself wrong too. There was no plausible reason to like Donny Donowitz. Or maybe there was no plausible reason to think that if they did like each other that they would work out.
A sigh escaped her lips. She must be crazy. She just was his nurse and he was just her patient. She was just looking too much into their friendship was all. She repeated it over and over again in her head until she was sure that she was just becoming stir crazy with Donny. She needed to interact with other men to prove that she really did not like Donny. She could do that no problem, there were many attractive French Doctors that worked at the hospital, she could just interact with them more.
She felt sick suddenly. She didn't want to react with no one but Donny Donowitz. She sighed again and knew that she was going to have to do something that she really didn't want to do. She was going to have to get a new patient and turn him over to another nurse. She couldn't risk being around Donny for much longer, lest she end up hurting herself. With that revelation, she finally dozed into a fitful sleep.
He woke up, eager to see Liez. But she never came. He spent all day in the company of na English woman who was like Louisa, not gentle with the scalpel. He felt nervous and he asked the woman what had happened to Liez.
"I am not sure Mr. Donowitz." she said as she scraped away his dead flesh to help make new flesh grow in its place. He watched her with tear filled eyes. He didn't shed any and he wasn't sure if he had tears in his eyes because he was worried about Liez or if he was simply in a lot of pain.
The scalpel sank too deep into his leg and blood squirted out and all over the nurse's face. She screamed, and he cussed her as loud as he could. He shot straight up in his bed and placed his hands over his new wound to stop the bleeding. "Aw you stupid bitch! Get Liez! I need Liez!" he screamed as he couldn't think clearly through the pain. Aw it hurt like a thousand needles had been pressed into his leg.
The nurse just stood there crying though for the longest time. "Bitch I said go get Liez! You stupid cunt! You don't even know how to use that damned scalpel!" he yelled. Tears streamed down the woman's face as she fled the room. A few moments later, Liez ran into the room with the Doctor. The both of them together worked hard and fast to stop the bleeding and stitch up his wound.
Afterwards Liez and the Doctor stood in front of Donny's bed. Donny watched with a drug induced gaze as Liez was berated in German for trading patients. Donny didn't know what they were saying, but he knew Liez was in trouble. After a full ten minutes of being hollered at by the Doctor, they were finally alone. "You didn't have to call Melisa a cunt." she said detached as she refused to look at him.
"I wouldn't have called her that if she didn't try to kill me! I got stitches because of her." he said as if he was in the right. For which he was because it was to be known when people are in pain their attitude drastically changes. He watched Liez sigh. He opened his mouth to speak, but she spoke first. "I don't mind you calling me names for the most part, but don't you ever call me a cunt. I am used you calling me a bitch. But if you ever call me a cunt Donny Donowitz I will not accidentally let my scalpel slip. Do I make myself clear?" she said as she finally looked at him. Her eyes were hardcore.
He swallowed hard and blinked a few times. He had never seen her look that way. It frightened him. He made note that he hoped he never saw that look on her face again. "I understand." he said as if he were a child. He felt bad though.
"Why weren't you here?" he asked suddenly, wanting to turn the conversation. She was silent as she looked into his smoldering brown eyes. He wished he had never lied to her, because her answer to him stung him hard. "Because sometimes Donny, friends need a break from each other. We have been with each other all day, every day since you got here, and I needed a break from you." she lied, but he didn't know that. Her tone was harsh and he could have sworn she meant every word of that.
"I understand." he said like a child again. That day when she left, she didn't kiss him on his forehead. That night, he had nightmares. He really did wish he never lied to her, but he still had no intentions of telling her the truth until she confessed that she did like him. He could only hope that she would do so soon. He wasn't sure how long before he himself would crack.
If he did crack he wouldn't tell her he loved her. He didn't love her yet. He just knew he could love her. He wanted to love her. He suddenly felt very alone. He wanted her back in the room with him so he could say sorry to her again. He shouldn't have called that woman a cunt and she shouldn't have lied.
So in the last chapter I was afraid that I got out of character too much with Donny, but once I went back and looked over it I felt that I really hadn't that much, and I was afraid that it was the case in this chapter too, but I really feel that I kept him as true as I can. I just feel that he wouldn't be the same Donny Donowitz as he was before the explosion. So I am tweaking his character to fit the story. I just felt that I should address this after the chapter instead of before to ask if anyone thinks I am leaving out anything that you find important about his character? I am slowly trying to bring him back to himself before the explosion, this might be in the next chapter, but I am also trying to make him grow into a bigger character. I wish he would have had more screen time in the movie so people would get to know more about his character. So please let me know if there is anything about him that you think I may be leaving out. I know there are somethings that I have written down about him that I haven't addressed yet, so I know there are somethings, I just want to know what others think too.