Cold Wars - a Lawyer-Cop Romance

Patient

Shankaree saw blood from her legs flowing on to her tile floor and panicked. It wasn’t just a simple bleed; the blood was actually trickling down from her calf to her feet. She was already on her periods. What she didn’t want was more blood. Her ankles hurt like hell and she was still in pain. She had clutched the DC’s hand with not one, both her hands. Almost like she was clinging on to him. She called him DC and acknowledged him as ‘the DC’ to not make it personal between them. Calling him by his name was personal. She wanted to be away from him, far away from him because she was into him. She then noticed the arms he had extended which she was tightly holding on to. His arms were strong and muscular and he held her up with just his hand strength. He didn’t touch her anywhere else, just let her hold his forearms when she was about to collapse.

“Let’s get you to a hospital then.” He said.

“But sir, we have strict instructions to..” said one of the policemen, but before he finished speaking, the DC said turned his head away from her and said,

“We’re taking her to the hospital. That’s it.”

“But sir, DIG sir…”

He probably gave him some kind of look, because he stopped talking. Shankaree couldn’t see his face but guessed he might’ve glared at them so hard that the policeman swallowed his words mid sentence. Shankaree saw the same policeman take out his phone and go outside. She saw him keep his phone to his ears.

“Sit first.” DC said and made her sit on her sofa. He squatted on the floor once more and started inspecting her injured leg. She was beyond embarrassed at that point. She tried to run, threw things at him, without caring if she injured herself and yet couldn’t run away from him. When he slowly lifted her leg to check her wounds, she looked away. Was it shyness or was it plain embarrassment? She didn’t know. But she did know his touch was very tender. She notices how slowly and carefully he did, without hurting her any further.

She turned her head back and she saw him take a handkerchief out of his pocket. He tied it around her wounds, making her wince. He looked with caring eyes, silently asking, ‘are you okay?’ She just looked back and let a breath out, seeing his face so close. To ease the tension, she started to joke.

“You carry a kerchief in your cargo pants?” she asked in a mocking tone.

He just smiled at her and said, “I do. So that I can tie it around injuries when necessary.”

She shook her head in disapproval but he was still smiling. ‘What exactly are you smiling about?’ she wished she could ask him that out loud. All the other police officers were standing in and around her living room, all of them staring at her like she was a slug they wanted to get rid of. The policeman who went out came back looking at his phone. He looked at the DC and said,

“Sir, DIG sir instructed to take her to Blake Hospital.”

The DC stood up and asked, “Why Blake’s?”

“Something about privacy and confidentiality, Sir. He said he would come by since that’s already what she wants.” The policeman said, pointing at her during the last part.

“Okay.” is all what DC said.

‘At least it’s a hospital. They can’t do much in a hospital. Right?’ She thought. Blake Super Speciality Hospital was where only the elite class went for medical advice and consultation. Privacy would be there because the hospital wasn’t busy, especially at night. Anyway, the DIG himself was gonna come to her. Isn’t that what she wanted all along? To talk to him directly.

The DC turned to her and bent down. When he reached close to her face, she threw herself to the side. She was almost lying on the couch but her hands were balancing her. Her upper body was fully slanted in the opposite direction.

“What are you doing?” she looked at him from that position and asked in a serious tone, but her confusion was evident in her voice.

“We’re taking you to the hospital.” He said without moving.

“Yeah, I got that. What I asked is, why is your face in my face?” She asked sarcastically.

“I’m gonna carry you. Why else?” he said without any emotions.

“Yeah, right. I can get by without you carrying me, ok?” she said, annoyed at him.

She had already felt things and got all tingly when he had grabbed her waist and brought her close. When her back hit his chest, at first, she was shocked. She didn’t know what was going on. The said shock only lasted a few seconds, because after that she understood what was going on. She felt his breath on her neck, his warm breath which tickled her and gave her goosebumps. They both stood there, for how long she didn’t know. She was nervous and her heart was beating fast, but she didn’t hate what was happening. She actually liked it. She felt guilty that she enjoyed it. Unknowingly, she placed her hands on his thick forearms, which only made him tighten his grip. He didn’t tighten his hands harshly and tried to choke her. He had gently run his hands further, on both sides, bringing her much closer. Only her back and his chest were touching at first, but when he pulled again, their hands brushed each other, her shoulders were caved in his chest, even their legs touched each other. It took sometime for her to shake herself from the amazing feeling. She then tried to loosen his grip on her and tried to wiggle out of his grip. And now he wanted to carry her? Yeah right, like that was gonna happen. She almost forgot what was happening when he held her close. She had decided she wasn’t going anywhere near him again.

She declined when he came close to carry her. She sternly declined and stood up, only to collapse back on the couch with pain. She felt like she had broken her ankle. If that happened, she definitely was gonna sue these police officers, including the sexy DC.

“You can’t get by yourself.” He simply said and scooped her up in his arms and started walking. He looked at all the policemen staring at her and the DC.

“Shall we?” he said. They flinched like they had just woken up from a dream. They probably couldn’t believe what was going on.

Two of the policemen walked out first, then the DC with Shankaree in his arms, followed by the rest of them. Out of protest, she didn’t hold on to him or put her hands around his shoulders.

“DC, seriously. Put me down.” She said.

The DC just looked at her with a ‘yeah sure’ expression, without stopping. Even though she asked him to put her down, she didn’t move, scared of both of them falling on the ground if she tried anything to ruin their balance.

“DC, I’m quite serious. Put me dow..” Before she finished the sentence, he threw her on the ground.

At least that’s what she felt at first, but he had played with her. He faked it, just by making an action and not actually dropping her. She shrieked, and brought both her hands around the DC’s shoulders. Her eyes were closed, utterly scared, thinking she would fall on her back on the ground. She caught her breath and looked at the DC with narrowed eyes. He snorted, actually snorted at her, while she lowered her head embarrassed.

He carried her to a jeep, the kind of jeep which one rides on hard terrain, placed her carefully on the front seat. DC climbed on the driver’s seat and closed the door. She was told to move over by a policeman and she dragged herself further towards the DC to accommodate the policeman. The other police officers got in the back of the jeep and DC started the vehicle. As far as she knew, Blake Hospital was at least 40 kilometers away. That scared her a bit. Six police officers taking her to a place 40 kms away, didn’t matter if it was a hospital, she didn't feel safe. Or were they even taking her to a hospital, she wondered. She had her phone in her pocket but she was worried. What were they gonna do with her? Were they indeed going to the hospital? Who knew?

Lost in thought for a while, she was brought back from her thoughts when she felt something squirming on her thighs. She looked down at her thighs. It was dark but the police officer who was sitting beside her was touching her. He was stroking her thighs, from knees to almost the groin, back and forth. She was already worried that she was gonna die by the hands of these officers and the last thing she wanted was s****l harassment.

“Sir, I don’t know what your name is, but you better take your HANDS OFF MY THIGHS.” She yelled, looking straight, without taking her eyes off the road. She saw the DC look at her when she spoke and then his eyes darted to her thighs. She was sure the DC saw the policeman’s hands on her thigh before he pulled his hand back like he had been bitten by a snake.

She heard both the policewomen snicker from behind. They sat right behind the DC. She turned her head back towards them and teased,

“From your controlled laughs, I assume this is not the first time this sir here has touched women without consent.”

The policewomen lowered their eyes but Shankaree knew. The policewomen were glad someone called him out for his creepy behaviour. She turned her head back to the front but noticed that DC was looking at the policewomen, more like observing them through his rearview mirror.

The rest of the long ride was silent. Only the jeep made any sound, everyone inside the jeep was damn silent. When they reached the hospital, some staff in white uniforms came towards the jeep. When her door was opened, they started asking for the details, what the injury or emergency was etc. The policeman, whom she called out for touching her, didn’t say anything and just stepped back so the attenders could see her. By that time, the DC had got out and came around the jeep and towards her door and told the attenders it was a leg injury and that she was bleeding.

They brought a wheelchair to her and the DC helped her to it, again, by scooping her from the jeep. The hospital staff rolled her chair towards the emergency room where there were a lot of beds, most of them empty. They reached a bed, and the attenders helped her up and the wheelchair and on to the bed. They placed her legs on the bed and raised her bed so that she basically was sitting with her legs extended. The DC and his team of clowns came up to her and stood a little far from her bed. Thank God for that, she thought.

A doctor immediately arrived and checked her legs. He was probably her age, a poor guy stuck at night duty. He propped up the bleeding leg and examined it. He removed the kerchief the DC had tied. The bleeding had stopped and she saw the wound for the first time. It looked like a scrape but still had blood accumulating. He checked her other leg and the moment he touched her ankle she winced with pain.

“Doc, that hurts.” She said.

“Alright. Let’s dress your wounds first.” He said.

He looked at her and she smiled. She got up from the bed and sat on the bed with her feet dangling. Her legs still hurt but she didn't want to lie down. He crooked his eyebrows and came close to her. She raised her eyebrows in surprise. He checked the inside of her eyes by pulling her lower eyelids down. He pressed his lips together and just looked at her. The DC had come closer, arms crossed over his chest and was looking at what the doctor was doing.

“You’re really anaemic.” He said.

‘Tell me something I don’t know.’ She thought. She just gave him a smile showing her teeth. She glanced at the DC and glared at him. She was sure he heard what the doctor said.

“You look very tired. Do you have any other sickness I should know about?” he asked.

“No, Doc. Periods, first day.” She said in a low voice so that DC didn’t hear.

The DC started coming closer, trying to listen further.

“WHAT?” She yelled at him, asking why he was creeping in. He jerked backwards and took a few steps back.

“As you can see, I’m very angry because of that.” She said to the doctor and let out an exasperated breath out.

The DC was still coming forward. She didn’t want him to do that, but she gave up. Just yelling ‘What?’ at him had exhausted her. She was already under a lot of stress because of the police officers. All what happened in her house, the journey where she wasn’t sure if she wasn’t gonna make it, her periods, everything drained her of what little energy she had.

The doctor just smiled at her and wrote something on his chart. He then looked at her and, at that moment,

“I’m gonna faint.” Shankaree said and fell backwards to the bed. Everything blacked out for her then.