Chapter 11
CHAPTER 11
Serena continued floating in the gray fuzziness until she heard Ford talking to someone. Was it Noah or someone else? Opening her eyes, she found Noah’s face just inches from hers. He was smiling at her though she could see the worry in his eyes.
“Hi,” she whispered. She felt too weak to do more than lie on the bed like a pile of mushy grits.
“Hey there, sugar. How are you feeling?” Noah brushed a kiss on her nose before gently picking up her bruised hand and settling an ice pack over her knuckles.
She sucked a sharp breath as the cold cut through a bit of the fuzziness that had settled over her. “I’m feeling kinda fuzzy.”
“I bet you are. Is it shock fuzzy like you had on day two of the job? Or did that punch do more damage than just the bruise your hand?”
Serena took a new inventory of her body and the pain she felt. While the knuckles on her right hand hurt, she also had a headache, but she thought that was due more to hunger and stress than the incident.
Holding the ice pack to the top of her hand, she straightened her legs and slowly sat up. As she did, the headache eased a little. At the same time, her stomach rumbled loudly.
“It’s just shock fuzzy, I think,” she said.
They’d dealt with this kind of shock before. Her second shift on the job, she and her partner were called to pick up a dead body. What dispatch had not mentioned was that the man had been dead for several days and lived in a rat-infested apartment building.
She’d gotten fuzzy with shock that day, too. It had taken a cold shower and a sugary soda to begin to clear her head. When the captain offered to let her go home she’d refused, and sucked it up, finishing out the shift.
“Drink this, honey,” Ford lifted a bottle to her lips.
She opened her mouth and jolted at taste of orange juice that was too sweet and had something else added to it. Something beyond just sugar. After three swallows, she pushed his hand away.
“What did you put in that?”
“A couple packets of sugar and a little vodka,” Ford said with a smirk and a shrug. “I figured if the sugar didn’t pull you out of it, maybe the alcohol would.”
Serena blinked and shivered as the drink hit her empty stomach before surging out to every cell in her body. All at once her mind was clear as ultra-filtered water. And she was hungry.
Looking from Ford to Noah, she smiled. “Thanks, guys. I’m back from Fuzzyland. I never got to eat my donut. Can we go get breakfast and find my tablet now?”
“We most certainly can,” Noah said, sounding relieved. “But from now on, you will not leave the room without one of us with you.”
“Yes, Master Noah. That sounds just fine to me.”
After a quick shower to wash away the touch of the sticky shirt, Serena allowed her men to dress her before they headed to the cafeteria for breakfast.
“You got an owie,” a young woman who was part of a group of Littles just ahead of them in the buffet line said, pointing to Serena’s hand.
“Yes, I did,” Serena said, not sure she wanted to share with her how she’d received her bruises.
“Did your Daddies kiss it and make it better?”
Serena thought about it and frowned. “You know what, they didn’t.”
The Little girl looked past her to Ford and Noah and shook a finger at them. “You should have kissed it and made it better.”
“Yeah,” Serena turned to face her men with a smirk. “Why didn’t you kiss it and make it better?”
The two men blinked at the double scolding and then smiled at her.
“But we’re not…” Ford started before Noah cut him off.
“You’re right, little miss. We should have given her healing kisses.”
Noah, who stood beside her in line, leaned down and brushed a butterfly soft kiss across her knuckles where her hand was lightly holding the edge of her tray. He then stepped back to allow Ford to do the same.
“Does it feel better now?” the Little asked.
Serena turned to her and nodded with a smile. “Yes, it does. Thank you for reminding them about the magic healing power of kisses.”
“Good. Have a smiley face day,” the Little said before taking her tray and hurrying to join her friends at a table across the room.
“Thank you,” Serena called after her.
Spying a lone piece of pie from the previous night’s dinner on the counter, she grabbed it and set it on her tray.
“What’s that?” Ford asked, pointing to the pie.
“I figured it’s close enough to a donut to be considered pastry therapy,” she said with a giggle.
* * *
Noah waited until they were seated in a quiet corner of the cafeteria and Serena had eaten her pie before looking at the eggs and bacon.
“All right, sugar, time to spill. What the hell happened this morning?” He kept his voice soft and tried to sound gentle, but from the elbow Ford shoved into his ribs, he’d failed at being nonconfrontational.
Serena set her fork down and dropped her hands to her lap. Looking from him to Ford and back again, she said, “Do we really need to talk about it now? Les and Master Derek already told you what happened, why do we need to rehash it?”
Though tempted to let her off the hook, he could not. As her master, he needed to know what had happened when she was out of his sight. “Sorry, subbie, but we do. Before we go any further, we need to know what happened, and I have a feeling you need to tell us to get it out of your brain. So spill.”
Serena took a deep breath and dropped her gaze down to her tray. “It was like Master Derek said. I was sitting in the lobby reading and guess I fell asleep. The next thing I knew this man was pulling the afghan off of me. I didn’t recognize him or what his intentions were so I fought back. By the time he picked himself up off the ground, Luna and some security guy was there and escorted me to Master Derek’s office and called him at home. He arrived and called you and well, here we are.”
Noah had been working with her on self-defense since shortly after she started working with the department. After two years of training, she was trained to defend herself against just about any threat that came her way.
Ford must have been thinking the same thing. “Well, I’m sorry Les startled you, but I have to admit, I’m glad to know even half asleep you are aware enough to fight back.”
“But I feel bad because Noah always said that with our training we should not initiate a fight, only respond to one. Les had no intention of hurting me. He didn’t even know I was under the afghan.” Serena looked at him, her eyes glossy with unshed tears.
Noah looked at his partner and sighed. “She’s right. I have said that.”
He then looked at Serena sitting across the table from him. “I understand, but again, I’m saying better safe than sorry. From now on, if someone so much as makes an attempt to grab you, you have full permission to put them on the ground first and ask questions later. I believe Les and Master Derek would agree with us. Understand, sugar?”
Serena nodded. “Yes, Master Noah. I understand.”
“Are you feeling better now that you’ve eaten?” Ford asked with a smirk.
Serena nodded again, this time giving them a little smile. “I do. The fuzzy is all gone, the headache is easing, and I’m feeling back to normal.”
“Good,” Ford responded with a smile. “How about doing a tour of the Dungeon this morning? Then we can go back tonight and get our freak on, if you’re feeling up to it.”
Noah could see that Serena was interested. He could also see she was sliding into her submissive mindset. “Yes, Master Ford,” she whispered. “I’d like that, if that pleases you.”
“Sounds like a plan to me,” Noah felt driven to add his support, though Ford knew he was behind anything that would allow them to play with their sweet subbie.
At that moment, Nanny J appeared beside the table. “Good morning,” she said with a smile that turned to a concerned look when she saw the bruises on Serena’s knuckles. “Are you all right, my dear?”
“I’m fine, thanks,” Serena said with a smile. “What can we do for you this morning, Nanny J?”
Like any firefighter worth their salt, their woman would not allow a bruised hand to stop her from living.
“I was wondering if you could come talk to the Littles this afternoon. They’ve talked about nothing but the lady firefighter since meeting you the other evening.”
Noah decided it was time for them to step up and be the Dominants they were supposed to be. “We’d be happy to speak to your Littles. Does three o’clock work for you and them?”
“Three o’clock is perfect. I’ll have someone meet you at the entrance to the Littles’ Wing. Thank you so much,” Nanny J said before wandering away again to scold two Littles for not eating their breakfast.