So here I am at 4:22 A.M., wide awake and starving but stuck here because it's snowing. No WalMart run for me : (

So instead of just sitting here on my bed, I figured I would write while I'm up. So here goes.

"Natani!" Edmund's voice squeaked in shock, "You're bleeding!"

I looked down at my stomach where the tip of Edmund's sword had managed to puncture me. It suddenly started hurting. I hate when something doesn't hurt until you notice it…then it hurts like no other!

"It's nothing," I said through clenched teeth.

"Yeah sure," Edmund was not convinced, "That's why you're making that face, because 'it's nothing'? Come here."

What happened next was all too quick for me to fathom. All I know is one minute I was standing and the next thing I knew I was swept up and held bridal-style in his arms. And he barely even looked like he was making an effort.

"What are you doing?" I hollered, "Put me down!"

"Oh do shut up," Edmund said, rolling his eyes, "I just don't want you overexerting yourself until we find out what the damage is like."

I crossed my arms over my chest with some difficulty because his shoulder was in the way of my elbow. I put a sour look on my face as he carried me down into a passage that went under the courtyard. It was lit by candles all the way down until we got to a large room full of training dummies, weapons, chests full of arrows, beeswax, daggers, axes and all other assorted weaponry. Must be the storage room.

Edmund set me down, very gently, and began digging through an old box he pulled from a shelf. He pulled out a bottle and then tore a piece of his tunic off for a rag. I felt bad that he had done that.

"Ok, let's see what we have," Edmund said, kneeling in front of me as I sat on a bench. He lifted the hem of my shirt (Luckily I had remembered to change out of my dress before we fought) and then dropped it quickly, a blush crept all the way to his ears.

"I'm sorry!" he said nervously, "I guess I should probably ask your permission before I start doing stuff like this."

"Permission granted, Ed," I rolled my eyes, "Can we please just get this over with?"

He nodded and lifted the hem again, this time he lifted the whole bottom of my shirt up and was looking at my stomach in concern.

"Deeper than I thought," he muttered, he took the rag and the bottle of whatever it was and began applying it to the deep cut just next to my belly button.

"Ow!" I yelled as it stung viciously.

"Shh," Edmund soothed, "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."

After the sting subsided, I relaxed and let Ed wash the blood off my stomach. I let my eyes close at the good feeling of cold water on my stinging skin but they shot open again when I felt something different. I glanced down, but said nothing. Edmund's fingers were gently running over my skin in circular patterns, he didn't look like he was paying attention to his right hand because his left hand was busy ringing out the reddish water from the rag.

"Uh…Ed?" I finally asked, "What are you doing?"

"What do you mean?" he looked up, surprised, but his fingers continued to trace designs across my stomach.

"You're…touching me…weirdly," I didn't quite know what to say.

Edmund smiled. I just looked at him in shock! The cheeky little stinker was doing it on purpose. He knew EXACTLY what he was doing!

"Excuse me! But where did your propriety go all of a sudden?" I snapped, pushing his hand away. I was almost sorry I did once the feeling of his fingers on my skin ceased.

"Well, I just figured I would try to take your mind off the pain," Edmund laughed, his eyes were alight with mischief.

"Well It's not working so you can stop it," I stated firmly. He got the message and nodded with a smile.

"Ok, Natani," he said as we walked back up into the sunlight, "Don't read too much into it."

Just something I thought of just before sleep came to claim me. I am dead tired and it is now 4:48 A.M. I think it's time to call it a night (day?) and get rested for my long day of nothing tomorrow :D

Feel free to review and present ideas!