Warm Bodies: The Little Brown Bear

The Calm Before

"Nora," Julie sighed.

"What? I'm a nurse! It's completely legit!"

Rowan just looked between the two girls, his face burning, then looked up at the Colonel.

John just shrugged, but his smile got a little wider.

Nora laughed. "Relax R, I'll get someone else. Although... it's nothing I haven't seen before."

"Nora!" Julie yelped.

Her friend laughed and then gave R a warm smile. "Seriously though, it's really good to see you up."

"Thanks..." R said quietly, shifting uncomfortably in the bed, suddenly very aware of the damn tube. Then it struck him. He didn't feel any pain. A little weak, sure, and there were a couple of aches, in his side and shoulder, but otherwise... He gazed down at himself again, and was stunned to find that the bruises that had peppered his side were gone. New scars, still a little angry and raw, had joined the old ones over his chest.

He looked back up at Julie, his mouth falling open. "How long was I out?"

"Too long," she said quietly, and squeezed his hand.

"Almost three weeks," Nora answered, pouring a glass of water. "We had you on a feeding tube and everything. Some folks thought it was Stephen's fault."

Julie's face darkened at the mention of the doctor's name.

"But Dan thinks your mind just wanted a bit of downtime to let your body heal," Nora continued. "You were in pretty bad shape."

Rowan blinked. Three weeks?! Holy shit!

Utterly astounded, he looked at Julie, and his heart fell as he saw lines of worry on her face that he'd missed before.

"Julie..." he whispered, reaching out to trace them away, "I'm sorry... I... wow..."

"Yeah," she said quietly, looking down and leaning into his hand, "that wasn't fun..."

Then his mind backtracked to something Nora had said and he looked up at her, confused. "Wait... Stephen's fault? What?"

Julie's face darkened even more, and R was surprised and confused, to see her so angry at a man who'd been so good to them both. And she was livid, he could see that as clear as day. A fragment of a memory came to him then. The jittery feel of Julie's panic, reaching him through a fog of medication and pain, and the struggle to wake. To help. Stephen's voice had reached him, the doctor's words cutting through his fear, assuring him everything was okay.

From the look on Julie's face, things were not okay.

"Did he hurt you?" he asked, feeling a sudden surging dread.

She shook her head, "No, not like that. He just-"

"Stephen's in custody, Rowan," John said firmly, talking over his daughter, "He's under house arrest pending a trial. Your condition was weighing heavily on his conviction, so I expect he's going to be relieved."

"Oh, that's great," Julie snapped, her voice bitter, "so happy for him!"

Rowan looked at the Colonel, then Julie, and back again, completely confused. "Can someone just tell me what happened?!" he snapped, his voice rising, "House arrest? What the hell?!"

Nora winced, "Ah..."

"That asshole put me under," Julie answered sharply, glaring daggers at her father before looking back at Rowan, "then he almost killed you..."

Rowan blinked, "What?"

Julie wasn't finished, and talked over him, "Then he stabbed your dad with a syringe full of corpse blood!"