I’ve Got You

CHAPTER 11

Yarran Had not been pleased with Grimm, which wasn’t all that surprising considering he had almost killed a civilian on his army base. But had softened considerably after setting eyes on a still sleeping Eris. Yarran was a man of stout constitution. There were few things in the world that ever managed to turn his stomach, but domestic violence happened to be one of those few things. Having suffered enough of it himself at the hands of his former wife. “This is nothing” Grimm assured him. “You should have seen her before we cleaned her up. The guy who had his ear bitten off by Mike Tyson looked better”. Yarran grimaced before turning to face him. “I don’t disagree with what you did, Grimm. But I can’t have that kind of thing going on in my facility. You nearly murdered a civilian while he slept in his bed. How do you think that’s going to look?” He scolded. Grimm cast his eyes down “I understand, Sir”. Yarran sighed

“So he’s in lock up now, he’s dealt with, but here comes the unpleasant part, you need to undergo disciplinary action as well. You are on scout patrols, every day for two weeks. No exceptions”. Grimm’s heart thudded at the thought

“Sir, I could die out there”

“As could anyone else I send out. You are a close confidant and friend to me, Grimm. Make no mistake about that. But emotions are high, the people aren’t coping with what is -for the for-seeable future- a new way of life such as this. If they get news that military personnel are attacking civilians in their beds at night, for whatever reason, there will be hell to pay. The status-quo is delicate enough in this place as it is, and I must show a firm hand to maintain it. No exceptions.”

“Yes Sir”. Yarran nodded.

“I will arrange for Mrs Winter’s and Dorian’s things to be brought to your room for the time being while she is too unstable and weak from the concussion to make her way to your office when she needs tending to. But the moment she is stable enough, your two consecutive weeks of scout patrols will commence and she will return to the civilian designated zone. ”

***

Eris awoke in unbearable pain. Her head screamed at her, she could only get one eye to open properly and her jaw ached. Her tongue probed the empty space of her missing bottom tooth and she groaned, trying to sit up. Hands were on her shoulders and she yelped, flinching under the contact. “Shh, It’s just me. You’re ok”. Grimm said in a hushed tone. Eris shook him off, fighting hard to get her breathing under control. She considered him for a moment, then turned her face away from him to stare at the wall. “I’m sorry about last night” She mumbled.

“Don’t be. That’s what I’m here for. I’m a Doctor, remember?” she shrugged, the movement was stiff and limited.

“Where’s Dorian?”

“In the staff shower. It’s closer to my room than the communal showers the civilians use. He didn’t want to be far from you. He’s very concerned. He’s going to grow up to be a kind young man someday. He was very brave. You should be proud.” Eris snorted, still facing the wall. “Proud? How can I be proud? Look at what I’ve put him through!”. Grimm handed her some pain killers and a pitcher of water. “You didn’t put him through anything. His father did this, not you... Speaking of, why didn’t you use the alert I gave you? I could have helped sooner”. Eris gulped the pain killers down and grimaced. “James found it”. At last she looked at him. “I’m too scared to look in a mirror, give it to me, straight Doc, will I ever be able to live out my life long dream of being a super model” A weak smile,

“ Of course!. I hear swamp monsters are always looking for their next big star” Eris chuckled against the pain, and Grimm nudged her gently. “None of the damage is permanent, if that’s what you’re asking. Except the tooth. But I mean, it’s a tooth. No one will notice until you open your mouth”. This made her smile again. And Grimm found himself swelling with pride over being able to make her smile so freely, he had always thought she’d had a pretty smile. He still did. Swollen face and all.

“I got something for you while I was out”. He said cheerfully, changing the subject. Eris looked shocked

“why?”

“I don’t know. I was running out of games for Dorian and I wanted to grab him something while I was out and I saw something that I thought you might like.” Eris gaped at him as if he had spouted an extra head. He pulled out the moth set in the glass snow globe and handed it to her. She shook it gently and held it up so it caught the light. Then she started to cry. “What’s wrong? You don’t like it?” Eris shook her head and wiped the tears from her one good eye. “It’s so pretty! I love moths… they’re very special to me.” Grimm frowned

“then why are you crying?”. Eris sniffed.

“No one’s even thought to get me a gift for any reason in ten years. And not only did you go out of your way to get Dorian and I something, you could have gotten yourself killed doing it”

“Bit of an exaggeration”

“Don’t ruin it”

“Okay”. He smiled down at her as she gazed at the trinket.

“I’m having your food brought up, you have a severe concussion, so you should remain on bed rest and monitored closely for at least a few days, but if it’s okay, I’d like to take Dorian down to the mess hall. Poor kid is going crazy being cooped up in here”. Eris nodded

“That would be great... Thank you, Grimm”. Grimm nodded standing up, he handed her a brand new alert button. “If you need me, use it, I’ll come straight up. Any questions before I go?” he asked, reaching for the door. “Yeah...why did you kiss me last night?” Grimm froze, his hand on the door knob, his face flushed, he waited till he felt the heat leave his face and turned back to her. She looked away and blurted out “not that I think It means anything. I just... I don’t really understand. I haven’t been allowed to even talk to many people since I met James. Was it, like... A friend thing?” Grimm faked a smile

“yeah. Yeah it was. Sorry if it was out of line”.

Eris assured him it wasn’t and he left, closing the door behind him and sinking to the floor ‘i***t’. He scolded himself.

***

Dorian picked at his rationed lunch and humphed. A miserable sound that roused Grimm’s curiosity. “What’s the matter, kiddo?”

Dorian shrugged, pushing his tray away. Grimm c****d his head to the side “I think your Mother would kill me if she found out I let you get away with not eating anything.” Dorian glowered at the floor as if it had paid him insult “I don’t want to talk about it... You’ll be mad”. Grimm quirked an eyebrow and folded his arms over his broad chest. “When have I ever been mad at you?”

Dorian hung his head further and grumbled “never”. Grimm nodded “Damn right. Now what’s going on with you?”. Dorian sighed, swinging his legs while considering how best to word what he said next. “I love my Mum. And I know what Dad does sometimes when he’s angry. And I know this time was really bad and I know that it’s wrong... But I still love him too. I don’t want him to hurt mum. But I don’t want him to be locked up either. I still wanna see him and hug him.” Grimm pursed his lips

“I’m waiting for the part that makes you think you’re a bad person”. Dorian frowned

“That was it. I still love my Dad. Even after all the times he hurt Mum. And I want to be with my dad.” Grimm smiled sadly, reaching across the table for Dorian’s hand. “You listen here, you are not a bad person. You are a fine, brave young man. You know what your Dad did was wrong. But you don’t have to stop loving him for it. He’s your Dad and he’s good to you, he loves you. Your Mum wouldn’t expect you to stop loving him. No one expects that from you. It is okay to hate what someone did but still love that someone”. Dorian opened his mouth to speak, but Grimm held up a hand, silencing him. “You are allowed to love your father, and no one will ever think less of you for it. You don’t have to choose sides here.” Dorian allowed himself a weak smile. With the tone of conversation becoming slightly more relaxed, Grimm took the comfortable pause as an opportunity to soothe his dry throat with a glass of water when Dorian spoke again. “Will you take me to see him?” Grimm choked on his water, thumping his chest and spluttering as he fought to regain composure. “Not sure that’s such a good idea kiddo” he said, gasping for air. “Your Dad doesn’t like me all that much, I feel like it might set him off a bit. Not to mention he is now a facility prisoner. You need clearance from the Lieutenant General and a supervising officer to have visitation.”

“Okay, so help me do that”

“I’m not exactly in the Lieutenant General’s good graces at the moment. But I’ll give it a go. Give me till lunch time tomorrow, Okay?”. Dorian’s sour expression seemed to evaporate in to thin air with the prospect of seeing his Father. And Grimm tried to remember if he had ever missed his Father like that after watching him destroy his mother. He decided he hadn’t, but then again, his father had also abused Grimm. Where as James at least seemed to treat Dorian with the same level of love and respect as most normal fathers would show their children. If James had any single redeeming quality at all, that was it.

Grimm and Dorian walked through the maze-like corridors, only half full after their heavily rationed lunch. Dorian had been running at Grimm playfully, attempting to knock the scarred behemoth off his feet. But he had soon become discouraged, slamming in to Grimm seemed much the same to Dorian as slamming in to a brick wall. Grimm’s booming laughter echoed off of the walls of the empty corridors of the officers zone as Dorian was sent sprawling on the floor. Dorian Grinned up at him. A grin that Grimm returned with ease, the scars on his cheeks deepening with the action. Dorian scrambled to his feet, still grinning. “This is way better than doing chores every day” he mused.

“Only because I have no patients today to see to aside from your Mum. It won’t be like this every day. There is a lot of people in this building, if they get sick or injured and Yarran needs me to see to them I won’t be around this much.”

“That’s okay. I’ll deal. Mum would miss you though”.

Grimm stopped walking “she would?” Dorian smiled and kept walking on with out him. “Hurry up!” he called over his shoulder, snapping Grimm out of his initial shock and spurring him on.

“Getting slow in your old age?” Dorian jibbed, Grimm replied with an exaggerated eye roll “Okay, young man, nobody likes a smart ass...also, yes. My back aches”. Dorian giggled, flashing Grimm a boyish grin. Grimm wondered -and not for the first time- how Dorian had become so grown up that Grimm had only ever really seen him behave like any other eleven year old this once. Did it happen when his building was evacuated at the onset of the outbreak?. Or had it happened sooner?. No matter how or when it what happened, to see him act like any other young boy given his circumstances was a rare treat.

Upon entering his room with Dorian at his side, Grimm was greeted by the sight of a battered Eris lying awake on her side, her tray of food lay on the side table beside the bed, only half touched. Grimm frowned “you weren’t hungry?”

Eris shook her head stiffly and looked at Dorian. “Saved the other half for you, baby boy”. Without needing further invitation, Dorian plopped himself down on the bed beside Eris and began to eat. It was nothing special, the facility had started to eat it’s way through the last of their frozen perishables. So it was canned and dehydrated food from here on out. At least for the near future.

“ How are you feeling?” Grimm asked Eris, finally understanding why she seemed to have lost so much weight since her arrival here. “Like a million bucks. I think I’ll go for a walk” she mused sarcastically. Grimm gave her a forced smile. “Seriously though. How’s the pain?”. Eris shrugged

“About what you can expect... I uh-” She trailed off and looked down, her bruised and swollen face reddening “I need to shit... And shower... A shower would be good.. I tried to earlier but I was too dizzy… I fell down a few times and gave up.” Grimm squeezed his eyes shut, slapping his forehead. “I should have called an officer to come help you to the bathroom while I was gone! I’m sorry”

Eris, recoiled, as if the concept of an easy, genuine apology directed at her was completely unfamiliar. Grimm searched his breast pocket for the blister pack of pills he kept there and tossed it to her. “If you can hold it for about ten minutes, while you wait for these pain killers to work, I’ll help you to the bathroom”. Eris downed two of the pills in one gulp, not bothering to chase them down with water. She eased herself up into a sitting position, wrapping her arms around Dorian’s shoulders as he polished off the last of the canned soup and crackers. “I never thought I’d say this”, Dorian mumbled, easing in to Eris’s embrace “But I really miss fruit”.

“I think I keep some dried apricots in my office somewhere”. Grimm offered, Dorian made an exaggerated gagging sound, enticing a laugh from Eris that quickly developed into a rattling cough. She clutched her chest where James had kicked her to the floor, falling back and grimacing. Grimm averted his eyes. It hurt him to see her this way. He had an apparently noticeable soft spot for Eris, and felt a great deal of sympathy towards her pain. While waiting for the pain killers to take effect, Grimm found himself imagining what she would be like without the pain that had plagued her since well before her arrival.