So, when we left off...

Thanks for reviewing, Gage the Hedgehog, Bubhh (great ideas – I might use them later on...I'll try to at least) and Bloodylilcorpse.

Courtney was practised in First Aid. The previous summer, she'd applied to a summer camp as a Counsellor-In-Training, and had learned enough from her seminars to become a certified CIT – First Aid being one of the things she'd learned. That night, all she did was bandage most of Duncan's worst injuries, promising to get a look at them the next morning to check out exactly how to heal them the next morning, and then got some sleep.

She was woken by a knock on the door. "What is it?" she called.

A girl she didn't know put her head in. "DJ sent me up." she explained. "Lord Duncan is downstairs, and he wants to speak to you."

Courtney instantly remembered the events of the last night, and said "Oh, yes! I was going to check out his injuries in further depth."

"He's not expecting you straightaway." the girl said. "You can get dressed first. Do you want me to send Lindsay in to pick out an outfit for you?"

"No thanks." Courtney said, suppressing a shudder at the blonde gushing over recent events. "Tell Duncan I'll be down soon."

Of course, any good intentions disappeared once she was downstairs, with Duncan acting as an unwilling patient. He kept insisting he was "fine" and protested whenever Courtney attempted to check out his injuries. When he finally let her tend to the worst, they still argued over the way she was treating it.
"Ow! Stop it!" Duncan complained.

"I have to do this!" Courtney snapped. "Take it like a man!"

"Just stop! It's torture!"
"Just hold still and it'll hurt less!"

"You know, this could've been avoided if you hadn't tried to run away!"

"If you hadn't scared me, I wouldn't have left!"

"Well, you shouldn't have been in my quarters in the first place!"

"Are you trying to tell me you were within my rights when you locked up my sister?"

When Duncan didn't reply to this, starting to look ashamed, Courtney let it go, and continued treating his wounds. He didn't complain, and after a minute, Courtney spoke again.

"I don't think I said this last night," she admitted, "But thanks. For saving my life."

Duncan only replied by touching her hand briefly, as if to say I couldn't have let you die. He wasn't brave enough to say it out loud, but Courtney understood.

However, life at the castle wasn't melodious. Although Courtney stopped refusing to be around Duncan, and even tried to talk to him civilly once in a while, they ended up bickering almost every single time they were together. Duncan would make some lewd, flirtatious or otherwise stupid remark that Courtney would take exception to, or Courtney would complain about something, and soon they'd be fighting. Courtney got especially annoyed whenever Duncan called her "Princess", even though he started calling her that more in affection, and partly because her reactions amused him.

Only occasionally were the two able to see the good in each other. And although Duncan didn't realize it, he was starting to fall for Courtney. Her fiery spirit, her stubborness, her strength...she was everything he liked in a woman.

When Duncan was alone, he'd sometimes check up on Courtney in his mirror, to see whether he was making any progress. Sadly, he couldn't work it out. She often chatted to the servants, but she never talked about him, or only mentioned him in passing.

Courtney, for the most part, was starting to feel better about her situation. If she was free to leave, and if she had Bridgette with her, she would have been happy. People in the castle didn't think she was weird. Gwen, Geoff and DJ were her closest friends, but the others she got to know were nice. As Gwen predicted, she got along very well with Emma, the librarian who originally wanted the place there to get enough to pay for law school. However, Cody, the boy from the kitchens who trailed after Gwen and hung on to every word she said, often irritated her, although she didn't say anything.

One day, Geoff said something of interest. "Courtney, may I ask...about your sister?" His voice was shyer, quieter than usual.

Courtney was surprised. "I guess. What is it?"

"Can you just tell me stuff about her? I never even caught her name."

"Oh." Courtney frowned. "Her name is Bridgette. She's two years younger than me. She was on her way to a surfing contest." She gave a sigh. "I miss her so much."

Geoff's expression became dreamy. "Awesome...she sounds so...awesome...I wish I could've gotten to know her."

Gwen hit him with an oven mitt. "Snap out of it, loverboy. We have a very protective older sister listening to this. Besides, you barely got a chance to talk to her."

"It's called love at first sight, Gwen!" Geoff protested. "I think with my heart."

"Or with your hormones." Gwen muttered. Courtney laughed. She didn't mind that Geoff had clearly developed a crush on Bridgette at first sight. She knew he was a decent guy, and two years older wasn't enough of a difference to make her get protective. And after all...she would never see her little sister again, would she?

Unknown to her, Bridgette hadn't given up on finding help after she was laughed out of the bar. But no one would listen to her story. Worse, she didn't know about the guy in the flash car that had come over to see Justin, only two weeks after she'd gone into the tavern, talking about Courtney being imprisoned in the castle.

Izzy hovered as Justin explained the situation to Dr McLean. "You see, there's two girls that live just outside town. I swore to myself that I would be married to Courtney, the older one. The problem is, I need a way to..persuade her. Her sister, she's...well, to be polite, not in the best of mental health. I mean, she surfs, she doesn't wear makeup, she doesn't act normal at all. And two weeks ago, she came into a tavern ranting about Courtney being locked up in a castle."

Dr McLean's face was thoughtful. "So you're paying me thousands to lock up a harmless but possibly delusional fourteen-year-old unless her sister agrees to marry you?" Justin nodded, and the man's face broke out into a malicious and even camera-worthy grin. "That...is...AWESOME! Dude, if I didn't need the money, I'd do it for free. But...I'll take the cheddar."

Justin smiled back. "All right."

But while they were doing that, Bridgette had decided what to do. "If no one will listen to me, I'm going to have to go back to the castle. I don't care what it takes, I need to see Courtney just one more time, at least."

She took the car again, and drove away, only five minutes before Justin, Izzy and Dr McLean arrived at the house.

"Stay here." Justin ordered Izzy. "When they get back, call me immediately, got it?"

Izzy nodded.

So yeah, I thought Chris would be great as the guy from the asylum, because I knew how much he'd love an idea like this. Hope you guys are okay with that.