Chapter 7: Beauty
Over the next few days, Charley began a very slow and arduous recovery. The illness had weakened her body, considerably, but, strengthen her resolve to get home to her parents. Each day, Kat was by her side, encouraging her to go further with her slow, progressive walking. Kat had a very mothering way about herself, even though she wasn't much older than herself.
Then there was Vinnie, who decided to make himself at home in her recovery room and openly flirt with her. She tolerated his presence by bantering with him but, she held no emotion for him outside of friendship. He was rather tall and broad, in the muscular sense and very full of himself. She had no qualms with bursting his over-inflated ego.
Modo was another one who made his presence known but, didn't even make an attempt at trying to be more than a supportive mouse. He put her in mind of the big brother she always wanted but, never had. She regarded him as a gentle gray giant, especially when she observed some children running in and out of the room and his ability to calm them all down. They laughed and smiled as he picked each of them up and carried them out of the room all while apologizing to her for the disturbance.
Of course, she couldn't leave out the commander and chief himself, Throttle. He also had a love for children and was very bad at flirting. He blushed whenever he even thought of attempting to flirt with her and then would immediately back down. Vinnie, unfortunately, noticed his mishaps and made mention of it every chance he got causing Throttle's ears to go flat and out to the sides as he stared at his younger companion.
"Man, I am the baddest mamma-jammer this side of the galaxy" Vinnie said as flexed his muscles to show off to her.
"Ha! I've seen better" Charley sneered as she watched Vinnie attempt to show off for her benefit.
"Oh yeah, Vinnie. Modest too!" Throttle said as he walked into the room and saw Charley sitting up and half entertaining Vinnie's shenanigans and obviously looking less than enthusiastic.
"You noticed that to, huh?" Charley inquired when she saw Throttle enter and she smiled as he walked towards her, with a large bag in his hand.
"It doesn't take much not to" Throttle mentioned as he handed her the bag.
"Well, when you look this good..." Vinnie began to say before realizing that his friend was handing a bag to Charley.
"How does a chick go on date with him and his ego taking up a whole bike?" Charley questioned as she opened the bag up and saw that it was filled was clothes.
"You're guess is as good as mine" Throttle chuckled.
"Hey, what's in the bag?" Vinnie questioned as he tried to look in it only yo have Charley push his nose out of the way.
"If you really must know, Vin, while we were dropping some of the villagers off, I did a little bit of shopping for Charley. She can't stay in that all the time" Throttle mentioned as he pointed to her hospital gown.
"Anything sexy in there?" Vinnie inquired and watched as Charley blushed.
"Really? Out!" Throttle coolly stated as he pointed to Vinnie and made a motion for him to leave the room.
"See ya later gorgeous" Vinnie smiled as he pointed to her.
"OUT!" Charley screamed at him.
"What a horn-dog!" she exclaimed with a small chuckle.
"You know he's harmless, right? He's all talk and no action" Throttle chuckled., knowing that sometimes Vinnie was a little much for a lot of people.
"Yeah, I know" she agreed that Vinnie was not a really big problem, just looking to get laid by any attractive female.
"Oh good. You did end up getting some clothes for Charley" Kat murmured as she came in and saw that Charley was just starting to go through the bag.
"You do realize that I haven't had anything new in a while" she knew she had been a slave for a while but, she was unsure of how long. As she pulled the clothes out of the bag, she realized that he had amazing and very expensive taste.
"I know. According to everything that I read, you've been missing for four years and your parents have never given up looking for you. As soon as the doc gives the okay, I'll take you home myself" he calmly stated.
"Wow. Four years?" Charley looked down at her hands, calloused and scarred from the compound, a fat tear crept out of the corner of her eye.
Throttle, sensing that Charley was feeling out of sorts, he pulled up the rolling stool and sat in front of her. Placing a hand on her knee, he gave it a gentle squeeze causing her eyes to look at his shade-covered ones.
"You're going home soon. All this will be a bad memory soon enough" Throttle used his softest voice.
"I know. Well, let me get washed up and dressed" Charley didn't like the fact that she was beginning to have feelings for Throttle, especially after everything that she had gone through.
"Okay. I'll be back a little later and we'll go grab a bite to eat" Throttle gave her a soft smile as he spoke, removing his from her knee and then leaving the room.
"I brought you a hairbrush" Kat chuckled as she handed Charley a large paddle brush for her long red hair.
"I was actually thinking about cut it all off" Charley said as she slowly hopped out of bed and looked at herself in the bathroom mirror.
"I wouldn't. Your hair looks very fetching at that length" Kat smiled as she came up behind Charley and placed a hand on her shoulder.
"You think so?" Charley asked as she looked at the ratty mess her hair had become. She was grateful that Kat had helped her brush all the mats out of her hair the other night.
"It certainly caught the Prince's attention" Kat winked at her as she left the room.
"The Prince? Who's that?" she asked as she started the shower. She had four years worth of grit and grim that she couldn't wait to scrub off.
"Throttle, of course. Oh, he didn't tell you" Kat finally realized that she may have just opened her mouth at the wrong time. She would have assumed that Throttle would have told her by now. Or better yet, that either Modo and Vinnie would have.
"He's a prince!" Charley couldn't believe that the rugged biker was really a prince.
"Yes, he is and you've caught his eye. I've know him for years and I can pretty much tell what he's thinking at all times" Kat mentioned as she dug through the bag and found that Throttle had actually bought Charley strawberry scented shampoo and conditioner. He also purchased a matching body wash and lotion duo in a vanilla scent. It was obvious that he spared no expense on making sure that Charley had the best that money could buy. He was even smart enough to locate some razors, which were very rare to find in Mars.
"Oh no. It wasn't my intention" Charley wanted to to start crying over the fact that she didn't want to catch anyone's eye. She wasn't ready and she just wanted to go home. As soon as the water was warm enough, she stripped out of her clothes and walked into the shower. Just the sensation of the water dripping down her filthy skin, washing away the past, made her start to feel better.
"I know it wasn't" Kat soothingly stating as she brought those items into the bathroom for Charley to use.
"Thanks" Charley stated as she grabbed the items from Kat and immediately had to smell all of them. She couldn't believe that Throttle had picked all these things out for her.
"You're welcome. I'll leave to yourself. Enjoy" Kat said as she stepped out of the entire room and stayed right outside the closed recovery room door. She knew that her patient needed time to pull herself together without any interference.
Charley groaned as she took the shampoo and poured some into her hand and immediately began to scrub her scalp. She could smell the heavy scent of strawberries wafting in the shower as she rinsed her hair. She shampooed her hair two more times to make sure all the dirt and smell was out before adding conditioner. As the conditioner sat on her hair, she took the wash cloth that was in the shower and pooled the body wash onto it. After she had scrubbed one spot, she'd rinse and repeat. She did that over her entire body until her skin was nearly shiny and pink. She was even able to shave the areas of her body that were in obvious desperation. She thought she was going to turn into a woolly mammoth at the rate things were going. She knew she smelled like one.
After she rinsed the conditioner out of her hair, she turned off the shower and grabbed a towel for her hair. Wrapping the towel around her long, wet locks, she grabbed another towel and started to dry herself off. Wrapping the towel around her naked body, she finally looked at herself in the mirror, for the first time in four years she saw herself all cleaned up. Shaking her head, she still didn't see what Throttle's fascination was with her.
Walking over to the bed, she poured all the clothes out and searched for something suitable to wear. Everything he had picked was beautiful. The materials were extremely high quality and they made her feel very guilty for even daring to put them on. But, she had to wear something and all these clothes counted as something.
After getting dressed, Charley took a look at herself in the mirror. She decided to wear a pale blue tank top with an ombre blue crochet lace over shirt with three quarter length lacey sleeves. She chose to wear a pair of black jeans that had some sequin and lace details on the back pockets. As she looked at herself, she couldn't believe how much better she was feeling. Grabbing the pair of brown butter-soft suede boots, she pulled them on and instantly felt complete.
"You look like you feel a lot better" Kat commented as she really began to see what Throttle saw in her. Charley was more than just easy on the eyes. She was stunning to look at and had almost a regal air about her.
"I do feel more like me" Charley smiled as she took another glance at herself and realized that she needed to actually do something with her hair.
"I gotcha deary" Kat stated as she picked up the brush and gently smoothed down her waves and loosely braided it.
"Thanks. Do I look alright?" she asked.
"Wow. You look even more beautiful!" came the exclamation of Throttle as he peeked in the room.
"Thanks" Charley smiled as she turned to look at Throttle and she felt a mild warmth rise to her cheeks.
"You're welcome. Ready to grab some food?" he asked as he held out a partially gloved hand and she placed her hand into his.
"Yes. I am" Charley barely recognized her own voice as she held Throttle's hand as he escorted her to the mess hall.
P.O.V.
"Awe...are they in love now?" Lily inquires as she looks up at my face.
"Not yet. All good things come to those who wait" I softly state as I observe everyone. Max and Ryan seemed to have dozed off for the time being while Vega and Lily couldn't wait to hear if Throttle and Charley fall in love.
"Oh, I have an interesting surprise for you my readers. If you go to there is a petition there to get the Biker Mice from Mars (1993) on DVD. All they need is two hundred signatures. You can thank DinoDragonMaster for the information" I state.
"Who's that?" Vega asks.
"Well, he's another writer sweetie" I explain.
"Get back to the story. I wanna know if Vinnie blows some more stuff up" Ryan demands as he lifts his head up to look at me.
"Alright. Now where were we. Ah yes, the mess hall..." I begin.
Yes all my lovely readers, it's true. There is actually a petition on to get BMFM 1993 complete series done onto DVD. Awesomeness in my book. Thank you Yankee71 for asking about my husband. He is doing a lot better now. They have him on eye drops and monthly shots. I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. Sorry it took me so long to get it done. Many Cyber Hugs to everyone.