Beneath the Courage

Hands Off

Callem-

The smell of the hospital alone was enough to make my stomach feel upset, like I'd eaten a fish that had been left out for too long. Again. "Are you alright, Callem?" Parker asked right as we stepped into the elevator to bring us up to the floor Fri was staying on. 

Instead of dwelling on the awkwardly moving machine beneath my feet, I looked down just as Parker lifted his hand to my cheek with a worried expression on his handsome face. "You don't look well..." 

You are the sweetest human. 

I gave him my best smile and leaned over, nuzzling his nose until he nudged me back with a chuckle. "You and your PDA." He said, his words turning my smile into a playful grin. "As long as we aren't naked it's okay, yes?" 

"That was the part you made up, Cal." He said, though his smile told me that he was fine with my version of his rule. 

The door opened right as I opened my mouth to reply. Oh well. I suppose this isn't the place to make such jokes, anyway. I'll wait till we get home. Determined to behave, I squared my shoulders and withheld the urge to itch my skin beneath the shirt I had on. I was used to wearing clothing, but they had all been older and worn, mostly Parker's. New things were quite uncomfortable. 

"His room should be right over here," Parker mumbled as I followed him down the hall. There were a lot of people walking quickly back and forth on the floor, but very few actually went into rooms. 

When we stopped at a room, door covered in red warning signs, we both looked at each other and grinned. "I don't suppose he's in here?" I asked, trying out some sarcasm for Parker's benefit. I didn't like saying one thing that could mean another, but Parker seemed stressed and there really couldn't be a misunderstanding that I was joking a little with what I said. 

He gave me a cheeky grin and I returned it before he reached for the handle. The door jerked, but held firm. We frowned at each other, then Parker turned toward a woman hurrying toward them. 

"Excuse me, but you can't enter that room." She said, seemingly out of breath from rushing. 

Parker looked up at me and I nodded, knowing not to say anything. I wasn't the best at talking people into situations, or whatever it was called when you made people do what you wanted. I knew there was a word, but it was escaping my thoughts. 

"We're friends of his, our friend Oliver brought him in." Parker said, his voice calm even though I could tell that he was still stressed. He had a nervous twitch to his fingers and almost stuttered twice. 

The woman grabbed the clipboard hanging next to the door and read through what was scribbled on the sheets. How can anyone read that? I wondered as she continued to read. Maybe she's just pretending that she can understand it? 

"What is your friend's name? And what are yours?" She asked, glancing up at us. 

"His name is Oliver and I'm Parker." He glanced over his shoulder at me and nodded. "And this is Callem." 

The woman looked back down at the clipboard, then wrote something on one of the lower lines. "Alright, but do not approach him. He's been extremely aggressive since he was brought in and is restrained." She looked back up at us, her eyes narrowing. "And we don't need to test those restraints, am I being clear?" 

Frowning, I nodded at the same time Parker did. Fri wasn't an aggressive mer. He was a sweetheart who had to be terrified in order to try and hurt anyone else. When she finally said that we could go in, she unlocked the door but made us wait until two men came over to escort us, as if they could do anything against an angry mer.