Despite the events of the past few days, Gabe was unprepared for what awaited him at Alex's apartment the next afternoon. He stared in shock for a minute.
Alex lay on the couch, her head resting on Rile's lap as he stroked her hair.
"What is going on?" Gabe demanded.
"Shh." Cale pulled him aside. "Rile found Alex trying to cut her wrists with this." He held up a bloody razor blade. "He just now calmed her."
"What?!"
Alex started from her sleep at Gabe's angry exclamation.
"Good going, loudmouth." Rile glared at him.
She rose up on one elbow and rubbed her eyes. Gabe knelt beside her and it froze his blood to see the jagged slash running down her arm.
"Is this true? Why would you do such a thing? Why would you harm yourself after all that Morgan did to you? Aren't you hurt enough? Enemies cause enough damage to you. Don't add to it," Gabe said.
"Lay off." Rile gathered Alex up in his arms and she turned her face to his chest.
"But—" Gabe started.
"Stuff it in your eggshell." Rile stood up and carried her over to the bedroom. "I may be a hothead as the humans say, but at least I don't expect perfection from everyone around me."
As they disappeared, Gabe said softly, "But I didn't mean it that way."
Cale patted his shoulder. "Agama are taught the value of our lives and the destruction that suicide leaves behind. Perhaps humans are not."
***
Alex slept through the rest of the day and the night as well. Rile refused to leave her side, despite offers from Cale to switch off. Rile had dragged a recliner next to Alex's bed.
Gabe went in and out, alternating checking on Alex and roaming the streets to ease his roiled emotions. The morning sun filtered through the second-hand lace curtains.
Alex opened her eyes, but without her usual awakening panic and confusion. "It must have been some party," she said.
Rile woke with a start, almost falling off the recliner. "What did you say?"
"I said it must have been some party. I feel hung over and you didn't make it home." Alex sat up in bed.
"How are you feeling?" He wasn't sure he was hearing this. Maybe he was still asleep.
"I said I felt hung over," she giggled. "You must be, too. No one could beat your drinking record. Too bad I don't remember it, I'm sure you did lots of amusing things while drunk."
"Alex, there wasn't a party," he began, very confused.
"I thought I had been drunk. Don't deny it. Are Gabe and Cale here, too? They'll want breakfast." She pulled off the covers and tried to swing her legs over the side of the bed.
"Alex, stay put. You shouldn't get out of bed for a week." He flipped the covers back over her.
"A week? For a hangover? Talk about conservative treatment. If it's the doctor's orders, then I guess you'll have to bring me breakfast in bed." She smiled mischievously at him.
"Alex, you're talking crazy," Rile said.
"You're right. You bring me breakfast? I must be insane. Let me up." She flung back the covers and tried to stand. She fell, but Rile caught her.
"Alex, stop it. Don't you remember anything that happened? Not even yesterday?" He held her gently in his arms and gazed down at her, deciding if he should kiss her.
Alex looked at him in confusion before she shook her head. "Neither do you, so don't make up stories about what I did when I was drunk. I won't believe them."
Moved by confusion and frustration, he grabbed her wrist and showed her the gash on her arm. "This! Do you remember how you got this?"
She pulled her arm away. "Honestly, Rile, the last thing I need is another lecture on the dangers of patrolling."
"What?"
Cale timidly walked in at Rile's exclamation, expression cautious.
"Hey, Cale," she said, entirely too cheery. "I thought you might be here. What do you want for breakfast?"
Behind her back, Rile motioned that she was crazy.
"Why do you have that same weird look on your face as Rile?" She groaned in exasperation.
"Alex, are you okay?" Cale asked.
"Will everyone please stop asking me that? I'm just hung over. Y'all must have done it before. Well, maybe not you, Cale. You are nearly perfect."
Cale shook his head like he always did when Alex used the 'nearly perfect' label. "Alex, I don't think you understand. Don't you remember what happened yesterday?"
"Not you, too. No, I do not remember what happened yesterday, so I'll just plead guilty to drunk and disorderly behavior right now. Please don't ask me again or I'll scream."
Cale and Rile traded looks of bewilderment.
"Sure thing, Alex. We'll be right back." Cale flicked a claw for Rile to follow him out.
Once outside the bedroom, Rile shook his head. "This is it. She's snapped and gone insane. More insane, that is."
"I'll call Dr. Dewey." Cale pulled out the phone Alex had given him.
***
Dr. Dewey came to Alex's apartment after his last morning class. Cale and Rile explained briefly to the professor what had happened the previous day.
"I'll go in alone," Dr. Dewey said once they finished.
He didn't come out for an hour. When he did, he shook his head.
"Post-traumatic amnesia. It's a method of coping with events that are too stressful to handle straightforward. We shouldn't be surprised. Alex has been using amnesia as her coping method all along. She simply expanded her amnesia and now doesn't remember what this latest Morgan did to her. I don't know how long it will last, maybe days, maybe years. But until she faces what happened to her, she won't heal."
"What should we do?" Cale asked, clacking his claws in a staccato.
"At the moment, play along. Maybe when she's better physically, she'll handle the mental aspects of what happened."
"That's it? That's all the advice you can give us? Thanks for nothing, doctor." Rile slammed down the tablet. The protective case Alex had bought absorbed the impact.
"Rile, I don't blame you. Everyone wants the quick cure, the magic pill to banish all disease. It's not that easy. I suggest you continue to care for Alex and accept what she wants to believe. We'll allow her some time before we confront her with the truth. Do you want me to tell Gabe or will you?"
"We'll tell him," Cale said.
"Don't become frustrated. Go easy on Alex." Dr. Dewey looked at Rile, who crossed his arms on his chest and returned a challenging look until the professor left.
"That's so annoying," Rile said once the door closed.
"Rile, do what he says for Alex's sake."
Rile threw him a disdainful glance and entered the bedroom. Alex smiled at him and his heart sank into his belly.
"What was that all about? Dr. Dewey was acting like some kind of shrink. Ugh." Alex made a face to emphasize her point.
"Alex, how were you so injured?" Rile sat down on her bed, voice uncharacteristically quiet.
"Gabe was right. I'm not skilled enough to go out on the streets alone and fight all the muggers and punks and junkies. They really got me good this time, huh?" Her eyes pleaded with him to agree with her.
Cale stood at the doorway and held his breath.
"Uh, yeah." Rile picked a piece of lint off the bed. "You stay there and I'll get you something to eat."
"Don't be so sad, Rile." She threw her arms around his neck for a quick hug. "I'll throw another party soon and maybe if you don't drink so much, you'll remember how much fun you had."
"That's great," he said without enthusiasm.
"You can hold off breakfast." She yawned. "I'll sleep off the rest of this hangover." She lay on her side, snuggled against a pillow, and closed her eyes.
Rile's hand hovered over her head, as if to stroke her hair, but he pulled it back. He stood and walked to the doorway. He watched Alex a long moment before leaving.
"Don't say one word to me," Rile warned. "I need some air. Keep an eye on her, in case her 'poor coping method' breaks down and call me."
Cale watched him leave and took up a lonely post at Alex's bedside. "Alex, we should pray."
"For a hangover?" Alex snorted into her pillow. "Cale, please. I think you're losing it. Religion in moderation is fine but you're going too far."
"Alex, religion in moderation is the worst thing you could say."
"Sleeping now." Alex jammed the pillow over her head.
*****
A/N
Do you like the slow mournful song? It's not what I usually post but I thought it fit the chapter, do you agree?
Enough detail in this chapter to satisfy you?