Chapter Nine
Bec kept her eyes glued to her arm as Selina unwrapped the gauze.
She’d lied to Iris when she said it was fine and that she could handle it herself.
When she got up this morning, it ached like nothing had before.
She hadn’t the nerve to take the bandage off it, so she was glad Selina had arrived with Cal.
“Do you see these red streaks here?” Selina asked, motioning at the spot above the gauze, and Bec nodded. “That’s what we call lymphangitis. It means your arm is already infected. The streaks are infection of the channels going toward the lymph nodes in your armpit.”
“When you saw that, you knew I couldn’t handle it alone,” Bec finished.
“I didn’t want to alarm Iris, so I didn’t say anything, but that’s correct.”
Bec hissed when she pulled the gauze off the wound. As soon as the air hit it, it told her the skin was indeed burned.
“Sorry,” Selina said, glancing back at her as she tossed the gauze in the garbage.
“The good news is, my bag is fully stocked with burn cream and antibiotics, so we’ll have it fixed up in no time.
That said, I’ll still check it daily to be sure it’s getting better and not worse.
” She rested Bec’s arm on the table, grabbed a Sharpie from her bag and started drawing on her skin.
“What are you doing?” Bec asked with curiosity.
“Marking the streaks,” she explained as she worked. “Your homework will be to keep an eye on them. If they grow past these lines,” she said, showing her the ones about an inch above where the streaks ended, “you need to call me immediately.”
“And if they don’t?” she asked while Selina took supplies from the bag.
“I’ll still clean, rewrap and inspect it tomorrow.”
Bec chuckled with a nod. “Noted. I didn’t know flash-bangs could do this kind of damage.”
“A stun grenade can do so much more than this,” Selina said, inspecting the blisters with a trained eye. “They can kill in the right instances. They can also cause lasting hearing loss and tinnitus. Do you have any problems with your hearing or vision?”
“No, not since yesterday,” she said, yelping when Selina sprayed something across her skin. “Could you have warned me?”
“I try not to,” she answered honestly. “See, I’m used to working with a bunch of guys, and when you tell them what you’re going to do, they try to get up and walk out.
I’ve learned to ask for forgiveness after the fact.
” She winked, which made Bec smile. “In fairness, that was numbing spray. You’ll appreciate it when I start cleaning it.
Let me know when it feels tingly, and then I’ll do a second layer. ”
“I didn’t know the cleaning would be this extensive.”
“I didn’t know the infection was already this bad or the burn this deep.
If we were in any other situation, I’d send you to the ER, but that’s not an option.
It’s not that I can’t handle this—I can, so don’t worry.
I just meant that they could give you intravenous antibiotics there where I can’t here. ”
“I’m not worried,” Bec said with a nod. “Something tells me even in this situation, if it were life or death, you’d be shipping me out of here.”
“You’d be correct,” Selina said with a lip tilt. “We aren’t there yet, so I’m glad Iris mentioned it. Is it numb?” Bec nodded, so she sprayed it down again.
“She saw it last night and made me wrap it back up again. She was worried about infection.”
“Guess she has some psychic abilities,” Selina said with a wink as she cleaned the blessedly numb skin.
“Iris has a lot of abilities, even if her confidence in them is occasionally lacking,” Bec answered, closing her eyes to avoid watching what she was doing.
She was getting nauseated thinking about how badly it would hurt if it weren’t mostly numb.
She could feel enough to tell her it would be excruciating.
“We all care about Iris. None of us want to see her get hurt,” Selina said as she ran something cool and soothing across the skin.
Bec’s eyes popped open to see her swiping on burn cream. “I don’t want to see her get hurt, either. If I could go in there and destroy all those pathogens, I would.”
“Wasn’t talking about the pathogens,” Selina said, resting the arm on her elbow so she could start wrapping it in gauze.
“Oh, do you mean me? Why would I hurt Iris?”
“I’m not saying you would.”
Bec bit back the eye roll since the woman held her sore arm in her hands. “It sort of sounds like you are to my ears. Maybe you think something is going on here that isn’t?”
“Is that it?”
“Can I ask you a question?” Bec asked, hoping to buy herself time. Selina nodded, so she plastered on a smile. “Does Cal have a training school on how to answer a question with a question?”
Selina snorted with laughter, which was the response Bec was looking for. Crisis diverted. “Before I worked for Cal, I was a Chicago cop and trained search and rescue K-9 handler.”
“Which means you’re saying without saying that you’ve seen a lot of different ways someone can die?” Her lip tilt at the end was quirky in hopes Selina would laugh.
She didn’t.
“In less than fifteen seconds, I saw what I needed to see, Dr. Roth,” Selina answered, taping the wrapped gauze in place.
“It’s Bec, and I’m not sure I follow.”
“Iris trusts you, but she doesn’t trust very many people in this world. The fact that you gained her trust in less than twenty-four hours says more than words.”
“Call it forced proximity and shared terror?” Bec asked, this time dead serious.
“You could. I prefer to call it understanding and acceptance.”
“I know about lack of understanding and acceptance, so I extend it to everyone until they show me they don’t deserve it. I doubt that will ever be the case with Iris.”
Selina was silent as she packed the supplies and pulled out bottles and vials. “Iris has suffered a lot of terrible things in life, and her family was the cause of them. She has a new family, but we won’t let anyone hurt her.”
“I’m confused about why we’re having the family exerting dominance on the new love interest discussion.”
“Offering fair warning,” Selina said. “Nothing more.”
It was Bec’s turn to snort. “You’re implying that Iris is also gay, and if I had thoughts about, what? Getting involved with her or leading her on? That I shouldn’t.”
“So you know,” Selina answered.
“It was inferred when her laptop sticker said, ‘I might look straight, but lesbihonest.’”
A smile split across Selina’s face. “She loves that sticker.” Selina drew something from a vial into a syringe.
“You’re implying that I also need one of those stickers.”
“I am implying, but lesbihonest.”
Bec’s laughter filled the room at that answer until they were both giggling. “Well played.”
Selina held up the syringe. “This is an antibiotic. Since I can’t do it intravenously, I’m going to give you a heavy bolus intramuscular and then have you take oral pills.
Tomorrow, I’ll give you another bolus if we’re still in this predicament.
Once I see that the oral antibiotics are clearing the lymphangitis, we can stick with them. Make sense?”
“Yep,” she said, turning in her seat so Selina could access her arm easily. “I appreciate all your help with this, Selina. The pain was getting worse by the hour.”
“I’d give you an injection of pain meds as well, but we need you alert and oriented.”
“Agreed. I can tough it out.”
“Lucky for you, I have a heavy dose of ibuprofen that I’ll also leave with you. Just make sure to eat something with it. But then you told me when I got down here that you planned to make Iris breakfast, right?”
With a heavy sigh, Bec shook her head. “Selina, I have no intention of hurting Iris. We’re in a sticky situation here, but my only goal is to keep her calm while she tries to solve this.”
“Mmm,” Selina answered as she dropped the syringe into a small sharps container and tucked it in her bag. “I concur that’s what I witnessed up there as you helped calm her for the sake of the facility.”
“Selina—”
She held up her hand to stop her. “Listen, I’m not saying we have any control over consenting adults. I’m just saying we know how to get justice when someone we love is wronged. I’m sure you’ve been introduced to Iris’s disabilities and understand them.”
“To a degree,” Bec agreed. “Her right eye has tracking issues, and the bilateral foot drop requires technologically advanced foot orthoses and an altered gait. She’s been open about her neurological changes after the TBI.
I’ve worked with a lot of neurodivergent people.
I can understand the disabilities without needing to know the cause. ”
“Good,” Selina said with a nod. “Because Iris doesn’t talk about what happened to her. It’s an unspoken rule that no one asks.”
“And I never would,” Bec agreed. “Are we done with the third degree? I should make her breakfast and keep her fueled and hydrated as she works.”
Selina pushed two bottles toward her. “You’ve been a good sport, so yes, we’re done.
Take one of these three times a day,” she said, pointing at the antibiotic bottle.
“And one of the ibuprofen every six hours as needed. Call me if those streaks start creeping toward the line, or the arm suddenly becomes extremely hot, red and sore, or you develop a fever despite taking ibuprofen. Make sure to wrap your arm in plastic before showering. Understood?”
“You got it,” Bec agreed. “Thanks again for your help. I needed it with my arm. Not so much for Iris, but I respect your position.”
“I can’t ask for more than that,” Selina said, hoisting her bag over her shoulder. “I’ll let you start cooking while I take the walkie-talkie up to Iris and check in with her.”
“Great. Let her know I’ll be up shortly.”
“See you tomorrow,” Selina said on her way out the door.
“God willing,” Bec answered, to which she got a tip of Selina’s fake hat.
Bec grabbed the bottles off the table and walked to the kitchenette.
All she wanted to do was crawl back into bed and elevate her arm, but that wouldn’t get the job done.
Instead, she strapped on an ice pack over her shirt sleeve and got to work scrambling some eggs while the bread was in the toaster.
She could picture Iris upstairs typing away in her own little world, but she didn’t want her to do it hungry.
A glance at the clock told her they were going on lunchtime instead of breakfast, but fuel was fuel, no matter the time of day.
Having the ventilation system working again was a big win for them.
It wasn’t as huge as the containment system, but at least the air exchanges and safety features worked again.
Once Iris got the containment system online, Bec would insist she take another nap.
She had no idea how long Iris had slept, but something told her it wasn’t long.
She got at least an hour because that’s how long Bec had been awake watching Iris sleep.
Bec chuckled to herself as she buttered the toast. It sounded creepy, but it didn’t feel that way last night.
Iris intrigued her. Especially when she saw how peacefully she slept.
It was the first time her face relaxed, and she sighed deeply.
Maybe they weren’t sighs of relief, but she was content.
She just wanted to offer Iris contentment as much as possible while under this roof.
It was easy to see that she found life difficult to navigate sometimes and that changing her daily routine was stressful for her, so if she could offer her a moment of pleasure in the day, she’d do it.
But not the kind of pleasure Selina was hinting at.
She scooped the eggs onto plates, added the toast, grabbed two bottles of orange juice from the fridge, and set it all on a tray.
She sighed heavily as she shut down the lights and rode the elevator to the main floor.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to offer Iris the kind of pleasure Selina implied—just the opposite was true.
But working here meant putting aside her wants and desires for the betterment of humanity.
Every time she stared into Iris’s eyes if only for a split second, she understood the old saying, “wrong place, wrong time,” all the way to her soul.