Changing Hearts

Chapter 8

Remi got up early in the morning as the sun shone brightly over the mountains of Kathmandu, Nepal, lighting up Kamar-Taj in bright pink, orange, and yellow colors. She stretched her arms over her head and yawned before turning to her closet and pulled out a random pair of sangria colored robes. She threw them over self and tied the same orange forearm guards she almost always wore every day. Grabbing her favorite pair of sandals and tying them over her ankles and knees, she did her hair in a usual bun and she was ready to start the day.

Walking out into the hall, the Ancient One had requested her to take a couple of bedsheets to Stephen's room as his was in need of being replaced. She carried about three sets with her as she walked down the hall, smiling to herself and her head lulling back and forth while she hummed a tune that her grandmother had used to sing to her when she was a child, though she could not remember the exact words or title of the song. She walked down a couple more rooms before she reached an all too familiar doctor's room. She made her presence known as she knocked three times, waiting outside with the pile of sheets in her head.

"Stephen, it's me!" Remi informed him yet he never came out of his room. A few more minutes passed and she thought she could hear something outside of the room. Looking around to make sure no one watching her, she pressed her ear against the door and heard the sounds of grunting as well as punching in the air. Growing curious, she decided not to wait anymore and opened the door to Stephen's room. "Stephen, I came by to give you these bedsheets. The Ancient One wanted me to replace…"

Remi's words stopped dead in her tracks and she felt her skin grow hot and red. Stephen was indeed in his room and all right, but the only thing he had on was a pair of black pants tucked into brown boots and white bandages wrapped around his wrists. What really caught her off guard was when she saw he was entirely shirtless. He was shockingly well built, with a six pack that could make any woman faint and biceps that could make a man have a heart attack and faint. He saw his chest was broad and spectacular, a sight for sore eyes indeed. Gulping, the bedsheets in Remi's hands suddenly felt like jelly and slipped from her grip, the cloth and fabric dropping to the floor. The sound of the bedsheets falling to the ground finally caught Stephen's attention and he turned around to see a very flustered Remi standing before him. Her entire face was visibly rosy red and her hands were shaking.

"Ah hello, Remi," Stephen smiled at her.

"Uh hi, Stephen. I just c-c-c-came t-t-t-too drop these o-o-o-off," Remi stuttered as she quickly gathered the sheets of the floor and avoided his gaze as she darted towards his bed, folding them up the fastest way Stephen saw her. Growing concerned, he walked to her side. Her face was flushed and her amber eyes looked a bit glassy.

"Remi, are you feeling ok?" Stephen touched her forehead. It was very hot. "You're lukewarm. You should go back to your room and rest."

"I'm perfectly fine, thank y-eep!" Remi squeaked when she found her eyes slowly roaming their way up and down his broad body. Gulping, she tried to find the right words but when she did, they came out in stutters and whimpers. At first Stephen thought she was having an anxiety attack he had read about in her medical files, but after a few more moments of observing her, he saw she was not looking at his gaze. He looked down at his naked chest and saw she was staring at his shirtless body.

"Oh," He nodded in realization and Remi grew mortified when he had figured out what was wrong with her. A smirk spread across the doctor's face. "You like what you see, don't you?"

"What are you talking about? You're being ridiculous," Remi snapped as she turned her head away from him.

"It's fine with me, Remi. I don't care if you take a look," Stephen assured him. Shuttering, Remi opened one eye and slowly turned her head around. However, the more she stared at his well-built shirtless body, the more she felt like she was going to pass out.

"Ah, so you do like what you see," Stephen wagged his finger at her with an amused fine.

"Ok, time for training!" Remi sprinted out of his room and slammed the door behind her. Laughing as she heard her hasty footsteps echo down the hallway, he grabbed his long navy blue shirt and threw it over himself before exiting his room. A sly smile spread across his lips as he made a mental note to himself that he needed to go shirtless more often.

Remi was greeted by the Ancient One and Mordo as she walked towards them. The Ancient One stretched her arms out and Mordo had his arms crossed but they were delighted to see her coming towards them. The redness spread across her cheeks had not completely faded and her skin was still pale, but she cleared her throat and joined them at training. "Good morning, my dear. How did you sleep?" The Ancient One inquired.

"Pretty well, thank you very much. I did as you requested and dropped the bedsheets off to Stephen's r-r-room," Remi quickly put her fingers to her lips as she felt her words stutter, the image of a shirtless Stephen Strange crossing her mind again. She found herself getting flustered once more and growled, smacking her hands against her cheeks to clear the image out of her brain. Mordo and the Ancient One looked at each other with confused looks before they saw Stephen coming towards them.

"So," Stephen smirked at Remi. "Do you still like what you see?"

"I'm going to kill you!" Remi snapped as she threatened Stephen with one fist. The doctor just laughed as they turned their attention to their two masters. Their lesson for today would be more relic training and the Sorcerer Supreme gestured Remi over to a spot where they would have enough room to practice their relic magic. That left Stephen with Mordo who followed him to another spot so they could train by themselves. Mordo instructed Stephen to conjure a weapon but realized he was too busy staring at the two women training in front of him. Remi unhooked her electric whip made of fine horsehairs and cracked it, spinning perfectly in a circular motion swinging it around herself. Electricity buzzed endlessly around her, yet not once did she get zapped. Stephen watched in awe.

"She's something, isn't she?" Mordo asked and Stephen turned to him.

"She really is," The doctor agreed. "Mordo, how long has Remi exactly been at Kamar-Taj?"

"For three years, Remi has been here constantly training under the Ancient One. She came to us after…" Mordo inhaled a deep breath and sighed deeply. "Kaecilius had broken into her home. He tried to kidnap her, but her grandmother stayed to fight him off. Isadora Ramirez was her name. She once trained with the Ancient One and became the most powerful sorceress. The Sorcerer Supreme and Daniel Drumm helped aide Remi in her escape, but her grandmother…she never heard from her afterwards."

Stephen turned back to Remi with sad eyes as he watched her continue to train with the Ancient One. The thought of her losing her grandmother to Kaecilius must have eaten at her, and even though he did not know what exactly had transpired, he knew that she must have had a really close relationship with her. Turning back to Mordo, he decided not to ask any more questions and got ready to fight.

"This is a relic," Mordo pulled the staff he had around his back and swung it out in front of Stephen, sending orange bolts of Eldritch magic towards him. "Some magic is too powerful to sustain, so we imbue objects with it. This is the Staff of The Living Tribunal," he swung the staff once more. "The Vaulting Boots of Valtorr." Mordo kicked his feet from underneath them and orange light began to pulsate from the soles of his boots.

"The names just really roll of the tongue, don't they?" Stephen chuckled.

"No more questions. Go on, conjure a weapon," Mordo commanded. After some hesitance, Stephen fiddled with his hands and began to form an Eldritch Whip, but was suddenly caught off guard when Mordo came racing towards him, swinging the staff with full force. Stephen tried to block his moves as fast as he can, but a master like Karl Mordo was too quick for him.

"Fight! Fight like your life depended on it!" Mordo shouted. He used the Vaulting Boots of Valtorr and shot in the air behind Stephen, swinging his staff across his back, sending the doctor skidding across the ground. Remi and the Ancient One stopped training when they heard the sound of Stephen groaning. Mordo stared at him with a stern glare.

"Because one day, it may." Remi watched as Stephen slowly got to his feet, holding his side as an enormous contusion started to form across his torn navy blue shirt. The Ancient One commanded her back into focus, but Remi's gaze kept switching from her to Stephen until they finally settled on the injured doctor. Apologizing, Remi raced away from her and towards Stephen and Mordo. The Ancient One watched intently as Remi came to his aide.

"You went way too far!" Remi accused as she glared at Mordo.

"I was only training him, Remi, do not interfere with our lesson," Mordo scolded her. Remi scoffed and gestured towards the large gash in his side. "He's hurt! How are you supposed to train him if you're going to do nothing but injure him?!"

"Mordo," the Ancient One came walking towards them. "I think that's enough. Let them go." Mordo watched hesitantly as Remi helped Stephen's arm around his shoulder, Stephen painfully moaning as they limped towards the heling chambers. The Ancient One joined him as they watched both disappear into Kamar-Taj.

"I've never seen Remi act this way before. I remember where she cared little for Stephen Strange," Mordo turned towards the Sorcerer Supreme.

"There is definitely something going on between the two." Mordo could see from the look on her face, a smile began to form across her face.

Remi had taken Stephen to her room as he winced when she poured half a bottle of peroxide onto a towel and pressed it against his side. The blood had ceased, but the bruising around the wound had already begun to form. Three minutes later, she commanded Stephen to hold the towel in place as she found sticky gauze she could place over the wound. Stephen looked at her intense gaze as he could sense so much concern.

"You didn't have to do this," Stephen groaned. "Mordo and I were still training."

"How can you learn to conjure a weapon when he's coming at you like a mad hound? If you ask me, he could've picked a less intense weapon unlike the Staff of the Living Tribunal." Stephen clenched his teeth as Remi slowly unrolled the sticky gauze up his side. Looking down, Stephen saw that the wound was perfectly covered in a sticky bandage and began to poke at the bruising, winching at how sore they felt. Remi shook her head and slapped his hand away from his side, reminding him that he will only make it worse if he bothers with it.

"It's nothing too bad. Give it three days and you should be back to normal," Remi sighed with relief.

"How come I'm always asking for a good concussion?" Stephen sighed.

"Because you're still reckless. You can summon a weapon perfectly but you are easily distracted," Remi narrowed her eyes.

"Like you were this morning? I saw you staring at my abs," Stephen told her. Remi yelped and she blushed, giving him a dangerous glare that he ignored and laughed.

"Do not make me keep coming to your aide, Stephen Strange, because one day I will not help you if you are injured." Remi warned as she crossed her arms.

"Are you running out of words to say? Because to me, it sounds like you're too distracted by the thought of my shirtless body in front of you." Stephen countered. Remi seethed and grabbed a pillow from her bed, shoving it against his face as he fell backward. However, Stephen quickly rose and continued to stare at her.

"C'mon, Remi Ramirez. I can read you like a book," he repeated her words when she had dropped off the nighttime supplies from his first night. Challenging her, he got to his feet and started to walk towards her. Remi felt her throat become soar and she gulped down her nervousness. "What're you doing?"

"Admit it, Remi. You like me," Stephen tilted his head in curiosity.

The bedroom soon filled with a long, torturous silence. Remi's eyes widened and she dropped the bottle of peroxide she still had in her hand. Unfortunately, the lid was unscrewed, sending liquid splashing all over the bedroom floor. Remi's chest felt heavy and unsteady as her breath hitched when she backed against the wall near the window, but she found herself she had backend into a corner. Her breath seemed to hitch in her throat, but she swallowed it down, yet the soreness never left. She had to admit, the past months had been very different for her. She had no idea her mood had changed so suddenly. She clutched at her heart and felt it pulsating against her chest. She began to gasp but she yelped when Stephen pinned her against the wall, two hands balled into fists, his waste only mere inches from her.

"I'm waiting," he told her.

"I…I…" Remi began to lose her track of thought.

"Remi, I'm not really much for patience," Stephen reminded her. Remi closed her eyes and began to whimper, but when her eyes snapped open, her vision blurred.

"I see the way you act around me. You always shoving Mordo aside when he is instructed to train me, your sudden yearning to help when I'm in trouble, always dropping off supplies the Ancient One suddenly requested…that's all bull. You just do it because you can't take your eyes off me."

"You…you…" Remi tried to attack back, but her words would not come out. Stephen's eyes narrowed and he backed off. Shaking his head, he turned his back from her and headed towards her bedroom door. He waited to hear her words, but she could not get them out. Looking at the ground with disappointment, he closed the door behind him and walked down the hallway.

Remi was left alone to ponder what had suddenly happened. Her face felt extremely hot and her legs began to feel like jelly. Slipping to the ground, she gritted her teeth and closed her eyes tightly, letting her emotions get the best of her as tears ran down her eyes. What in the world had just happened?

To Be Continued

I know, you're probably all going to kill me, but Stephen was on to her the whole time. I know the romance might be starting off a bit early, but hey, I JUST GOT SO EXCITED MY INNER FANGIRL GOT THE BEST OF ME! :D

I cannot wait to write Stephen and Remi's relationship out. Don't worry, we will see more of Isadora in the story, but she will not appear until later.

Anywho, do not forget to leave your reviews. I welcome flames and all! :)

See ya next chapter! :)