Raphael's Captive

Chapter 16

"Raphael? What on earth is this?" 

He froze.

He knew what she had found, but he didn’t want to accept it. Tami wasn’t supposed to see that. At least not yet. 

Slowly, he tilted his head in her direction, seeing her holding up a bottle of the pills he hadn’t touched in days, between her slim fingers. He gulped, spinning fully to face her and her questioning eyes. 

"They're uh-" He didn’t know how to put it. 

Tami saw his reluctance, or uncertainty rather, and took the job of reading them herself. 

'Ambilify', it read, and she knew too well from studies what they were. She grabbed another bottle, knowing that it was probably wrong to be snooping around his possessions like this, but she was concerned. 

'Lamictal'. She held both bottles in her hands and gazed between them and him. All the steam, all the anger and all the heat from their former argument went flying through the window as if it was never there. She frowned when she saw that he wouldn’t meet her eyes for more than a second. He was nervous. 

"Raph?" she called, and his heart swelled at the familiar nickname. Still, he didn’t look up to meet her. "Why would you need mood stabilizers and antipsychotics?" 

He squeezed his eyes shut as his jaw ticked. He wasn’t annoyed or irritated by her question, he simply didn’t want to answer. "Exactly what the name suggests, Tami. They are mood stabilizers. It's quite self-explanatory." His harsh tone wasn’t intentional, but the rate of his heart and the anxiety rising in his spine pushed him to a familiar edge. 

He heard the almost inaudible sigh of Tami, as she shuffled closer to him. His head snapped up when she rested her hand on his knee, and his eyes immediately met her brown ones as she smiled softly. 

"Will you tell me?" came her soft request. But the last thing he wanted to do was talk about it. "Please?" 

Raphael sighed. He knew he couldn’t deny her request. But, how will she see him after this? Will she be even more eager to escape and be rid of him? Will she feel burdened by his unusual condition?

Over the days, he had tried endlessly to keep his mood in line as to not scare or upset her more than she already was. 

That was the exact reason why he left for hours after a fight, and only checked in on her when it was time for her meals. He didn’t want to withdraw himself from her as he felt like doing so many times. But then again, it was impossible because he always wanted to be around her. 

She made him feel peace within himself, even though they argued 70% of the time they were together. 

But in a different view, he couldn’t help but acknowledge her mood and stance towards him now. She knew what the pills were for, and her eyes seemed the kindest and calmest since the day he took her. 

Pity, maybe. Sympathy and empathy. It couldn’t be anything but that. As much as he was grateful for ANY sort of emotion from her other than disgust and hate, he didn’t want her pity either. But would he tell her that? 

"Come on," she said. "Let's go in here." She grabbed the bandages that she had originally wanted, as she led him towards his couch across from his bed in the grand room.

Tami gently gripped his hand as she slowly wrapped the bandage around his busted knuckles. Silently with her eyes, she asked him to talk, and Raphael understood quite clearly what she wanted.