The shower was on as Dick and Elle's father, Cedric, entered the women's locker room. They moved quickly to the shower room. Dick was startled to see her bodyguards under the water with her.
"Oh my God," he whispered.
She looked awful! Her skin was still red and raw, covered in blisters and welts. The blue veins were fading at least, and though her lips were still colorless, they and her fingertips were no longer blue. She was wheezing, and looked like she kept phasing in and out of consciousness.
"What do I do?" He turned panicked eyes toward her father. He was praying the man had a clue what to do for her.
Cedric barked to her guards. "Is she conscious enough to help?"
Edward nodded.
"She's in and out, but she's trying to help. Not dead weight," Hugh confirmed.
"Good," he said. "Mr. Grayson, take over for Hugh. Hugh, I need towels and a dry robe. Edward, you will be getting the bottled water from the butler. He should be here any minute."
The men left Dick sitting on the floor of the shower with Elle leaning back against his chest. The water poured over her head, and down her body. He looked up at Cedric a little helplessly.
"What do I do now?" He asked.
Hugh was handing Cedric a half a dozen towels. The man turned and threw a couple to Dick. He caught them in one hand, but they became as soaked as he was in seconds.
"You've been dating my daughter for a while now," Cedric began. He raised a questioning brow at the younger man.
"About a month," he agreed.
"Hm," Cedric tightened his lips, and glanced at the guards. Edward had just walked in with a case of Hamilton Springs Water. "You two go out and dry off. Wait in the hall until I call you," he addressed the two men.
Once they walked off, Cedric looked back at the man cradling his baby girl, and heaved a sigh. "Now then, Mr. Grayson, when I turn my back, you need to strip her of her bathing suit, and cover her with the towels I gave you."
Dick's eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open. "What? Y-you want me to do what?"
Cedric frowned. He hadn't expected the man to be prudish. "You aren't sleeping with her?"
Dick goggled at the man. His face must have turned a brilliant red because he felt as though his face would burst in to flames any minute. "Sir . . ." He stopped, simply because he didn't know what to say.
Cedric grunted, shaking his head. "Well, this makes things a bit awkward," he muttered.
"You think?!" Dick gaped.
"Well, there's no helping it. I can't do it, and I'd prefer her bodyguards didn't do it. This is an all-male household, apparently, so it looks as though you are it, Mr. Grayson. She can't wait." Cedric shook his head. "I never expected to be in this predicament," he sighed. "You have to do as I say, Mr. Grayson. We can't take the chance that that bathing suit is holding any chlorinated water against her skin. She needs it off, now! After that, I will toss you several bottles that you will need to get her to drink."
With that, Cedric walked away from the shower entrance. Dick looked down into Elle's face. She appeared to be out of it at the moment. He really didn't want to do this without her permission, however. He patted her face gently, wincing at the feel of her blistered skin beneath his hands. He prayed he wasn't hurting her, but her skin looked incredibly painful.
"Elle, wake up," he crooned to her. "I need you to wake up, Elle."
She moaned miserably. Her voice sounded as raw as her skin looked. He remembered then the sight of her body shuddering violently as she retched up pool water. The idea that she was like this inside and out made him cringe in sympathy.
"Elle, please," he begged.
Her eyes flutter open and he nearly groaned for her. The whites of her eyes looked solid red. God, could she even see? Could the chlorine have blinded her?
"Dick," she gasped; her voice, barely even a croak.
It made him want to weep! Her beautiful voice!
"Elle, I have to get your bathing suit off of you. I'm sorry, but your father insisted, and apparently I'm the only one who can do it."
Her face scrunched in misery, her eyes clenching tight. "I don't want you to see me like this," she whined, painfully.
"I can close my eyes," he offered.
She choked back a sob. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Dick. I should have told you."
Closing his eyes, he began to peel off the straps of the pretty, emerald one-piece. "You should have," he agreed. "So, why didn't you?"
"I didn't think it would be like this. It took multiple exposures to get a reaction the first time, and it wasn't anything like this. The air didn't bother me at all back then."
He help her push the suit down, taking care he kept his hands in neutral places. "You still should have told me. We didn't have to swim."
"But I wanted to," she whined pitifully. "It's been months. I thought an hour wouldn't hurt. It would have only been for an hour." She broke off with a deep, hacking cough that shook her entire body.
It took some doing, but between them, they managed to slide the suit off of her a minute later. Dick reached blindly beside him for a towel. He spread it carefully over her shoulders and breasts. The second towel covered her from her waist to her knees. He opened his eyes.
"I wonder how long it will take before the ambulance arrives," he murmured.
"I doubt they will be coming," she told him.
"Wait, what?" He looked at her in shock.
Elle shrugged. "There is nothing they can do anyway. I'll just sleep it off.
Dick was frowning in earnest now. "That's crazy! You can barely breathe! And your skin . . ."
Actually, her skin was looking better. Everywhere the water hit, her skin's coloring seemed to be fading. It was no longer an angry red; just more of an irritated pink. The veins had practically disappeared, and her lips were regaining some color. She still coughed up water, though, and Dick was afraid she might end up with pneumonia.
"Is Damian okay?" She asked once she had caught her breath again.
He smiled. "Yeah, he's fine. The kid's resilient as hell, but his forehead will probably need stitches."
She smiled, too. "Good. That's good. There was a lot of blood in the water," she said. "I was worried."
"He was awake and sitting up when your dad and I came in here." Dick sighed. "Elle, you should have let me go after him. Why didn't you wait for me?"
"He sank too deep. It would have been harder for you; taken too long. I knew I could get him out before anyone else could even get into the water."
She was right about that. She had been practically tossing Damian at them just as he and Bruce arrived at the pool's edge. Damian would have been in the water at least another three minutes or more had his rescue depended upon them. It was like her father said, the outcome might have been much different had Damian had to wait for Dick or Bruce; much less happy.
He remembered seeing her in action, despite what the chlorine had done to her. She had been magnificent . . . And really, really fast!
"You were amazing," he told her.
And amazingly enough, she laughed at him. "Told you I was good."
"You are more than good," he whispered in her ear.
Cedric's voice floated to them from around the corner. "Are you decent, Bella?"
Elle glanced down at herself. More decent than she had been in her bathing suit, she thought. The two towels Dick had spread over her covered all but her lower legs. She frowned down at them. They still looked far more irritated than the rest of her, but of course, stretched out like they were; they were getting far less rinsing than the rest of her.
"Yes, Poppa," she called out. Her voice was extremely hoarse. She sounded nothing like herself.
Cedric moved into the entrance; his eyes going straight to the couple on the tiled floor. His daughter was more awake and aware than she had been previously, but what surprised him was that she was smiling. She was reclined back against Grayson's chest, her head on his shoulder, and he was speaking into her ear as she grinned at him despite the pain he knew her to be in.
Grayson was taking turns holding her arms under the spray, and lifting up Bella's long hair so the water could run down her neck and shoulders. Despite the terrible blisters, she was looking, by far, better than she had only a few minutes ago.
"You will need to make certain her back is rinsed," he told the young man. "And start getting her to drink this," he added, tossing a bottle to him.
Cedric had retrieved his cane, but was by no means steady on his feet enough to attempt walking on the wet tiles. He sat on the bench provided, the case of water next to him. It gave him an excellent view to observe the couple's interaction. It would have been better to judge had he the opportunity to watch them from afar. This close, they might act differently because of his presence.
He stretched his legs out in front of him. They were aching. Of course, all of him was aching. The doctors had told him that would only get worse, despite the painkillers he was on. He could ask for stronger doses, but that would only make his mind too sluggish to do the things he still needed to do. He was running out of time.
Dick opened the water bottle and held it up to Elle's lips. He winced because even they were blistered and swollen. Honestly, he was surprised her throat wasn't swollen shut. His mind shied from the thought of what might have happened to her had it taken them longer to pull her from the pool. She hadn't been in the water long. Less time than Damian, and he had been recovering nicely when Dick had disappeared into the locker room with Cedric.
Elle drank the water greedily, and Dick had to pull it away when she choked. Her father tossed him another as soon as she had finished the first. The second one was finished in record time. He was opening the third bottle when Elle held up her hand. Her face was scrunched in either concentration or pain; he didn't know which and that scared him more than he cared to admit.
"Elle?" He asked gently. "What's wrong? What can I do to help?"
She shook her head, closing her eyes. Her breathing was becoming erratic.
He looked to her father. "What's wrong with her now? I thought your water was supposed to help her!"
Cedric looked regretful. "It is," he reassured him, but Dick didn't feel reassured.
Suddenly, Elle twisted in his arms; turning her head to the side, she vomited. All the water she had previously drank come up. Dick gasped, clutching her shoulders in support. The water was tinged a bright red! She was vomiting blood.
"Oh my God, Mr. Hamilton," he yelled. "It's bloody! She's vomiting up blood!"
"I know," Cedric said, irritatingly calm. "That is what must happen."
"What?" Dick gaped at him.
The man could have warned him. Dick's heart was racing with his fear for her. Dick held her hair back out of the way. He felt so damned helpless, and he hated not knowing what was happening.
"You need to tell me what the hell is happening; why and what more to expect! No more of this cryptic bullshit! How do I help her?"
"Did she tell you of the family legend?"
Grayson stared at the man. "What? What has that to do with anything?"
"Answer the question," he barked.
"Yes, she told me," he snapped back.
Elle collapsed against his arm, exhausted, and Grayson gently pulled her back against his chest. He paused only to murmur softly in her ear. She nodded weakly.
"Give her that other bottle," he commanded.
Dick eyed the water bottle suspiciously. "Will it make her throw up again?"
Cedric sighed. "More than likely."
"She's too weak! She can't take it," The younger man growled at him.
"She has to," Cedric told him. "Her insides were coated with that poison. If she doesn't rid her body of it, it will eat at the lining until she begins to hemorrhage."
Dick's mouth dropped open. "But she's already hemorrhaging! We need to get her to the hospital!"
"No, it is more likely that the doctors would make it worse," he said. "I've been through this before with her mother. I had hoped that Elle would be spared this, but it appears as though she's her mother's daughter, after all."
"Stop talking in riddles," Dick snarled. He was terrified he was losing her. He rocked her in his arms, as he waited for the man to finally open up and tell him what he needed to know.
Cedric looked at the man who held his daughter's heart. She loved him, he didn't doubt. He had seen it in her eyes. He thought that perhaps this Grayson might love her in return. It had been the same way with him and her mother; his lovely Esmeralda. If he was right, and he thought he was, then Grayson needed to know.
"Look at her hands," he told the younger man.
Grayson blinked at him. "What?"
"Do it," he said. "It will help you understand."
Dick looked at Elle. She had her eyes closed, and wasn't reacting to the conversation at all. He thought that maybe she had fallen asleep, or perhaps she had lost consciousness. His heart clenched in worry.
Gently, so as not to disturb her, he picked up her hand. He laid it across his much larger one.
"And . . .?" He asked. "What now?"
"Really look," Cedric Hamilton told him.
Dick looked, turning her hand palm up and spreading her fingers. He didn't see . . . He startled. Wait! Yes, he did see!
Between her fingers, rising up to her second knuckle was a thin fold of skin. It hadn't been there before, he knew. They had held hands many times. He had played with her fingers on occasion much as he was doing now, and those folds hadn't been there! But now . . . He watched as the water beaded up on her palm.
Elle's hands were webbed!
If you haven't figured it out by now, I think you might be getting the picture . . . Just wait! You ain't seen nothing yet!