Chapter 27: Good Morning

Chris moved his legs around for awhile, enjoying the cool feeling of the sheets against his skin.  He pulled the covers up tight, snuggling into his pillow.  It took a minute for these actions to really register in his head.  What would have seemed normal to him a year ago now seemed horribly out of place.  His eyes shot open.   Chris thought back to the night before, everything was a little foggy.  Now he was in a strange bedroom hooked to an IV in nothing more than his underwear with his friend still passed out in the other bed.

He had a pretty good feeling where he was, but couldn’t recall all the details of how he had gotten there.  Chris felt a little uncomfortable but there was nothing he could do to change the situation.  He belonged to her now and she had all the real power, he could only pretend like he was in control.

There was a click as the bedroom door opened, He was fully expecting to see Isadora but it wasn’t her.  He recognized the woman from the plane, the doctor.  She motioned for Chris to be quiet, after all Joey needed his sleep as well. She took his temperature and checked him over. 

“How are you feeling today, Mr. Kirkpatrick?” She asked softly.  He lay back as she listened to his heart and felt for his pulse. Her touch was gentle and very professional.  It was almost comforting to know that she was there to help him instead of hurt him. 

“I feel much better, thank you.” Chris responded.  “Can you tell me where I am?” The room was very nice, but basic, and the queen sized bed felt massive as he lay sprawled out in the middle of it, sinking into the plushy pillow top.  He was pretty sure that he could have laid there all day.  

“You are in Miss Sebastian’s home, your second floor bedroom to be exact.” She answered.  He tensed up when she accidently put her hand on his leg a little too close to his crotch for his comfort.  It had been an honest mistake on her part; most guys probably wouldn’t have been bothered by it.  “I am so sorry, I didn’t mean too.”

“It’s okay… I am just a little jumpy.  Do you… need to check that?” Chris questioned.  It wouldn’t have surprised him if the answer had been yes.  Since Isadora was interested in him, she might be curious about his sexual health.

“No sir not today, maybe we will do a full physical some other time.  Right now I just want to cover the more pressing issues.” Rachael explained.  She carefully pulled the IV needle out of his arm and placed a Band-Aid over the tiny wound.  He just laid there not really sure what to say or do now.  The nurse just smiled, Isadora had warned her that the guys might be a little unsure.  “Miss Sebastian told me to tell you to take it easy today.  If you’re hungry I think she is in the dining room having breakfast with Lance and Lexi.” She explained. 

Chris glanced down at his bare chest; it made him a little nervous to think that someone had undressed him, from what he could remember it had been Isadora and it seemed as though nothing had happened.  He tried to recall if the two of them had talked at all, but he had been so out of it.

It was like the nurse had read his mind; she reached over to the dresser and snatched some clothes from it, and set them in his lap.  She just smiled at him again and excused herself.  Chris looked the clothes over; it wasn’t anything fancy, just a plain t-shirt and some comfortable pants.  He had to admit that he was feeling better but he was starving.  He put on the clothes and slipped out without waking Joey.  He set out to find his new owner and something to eat.

The house was nice; it was massive just like Lexi had said it would be.  Someone could easily get lost in it.  There was some logic to the lay out and Chris was able to find the stairs, he could only assume that the kitchen was on the first floor.

He had to follow the sound of her voice to locate the dining room.  Isadora and Lexi were chatting over cereal, seemingly having a good time, while Lance just sat there enjoying the food and listening to their conversation.   Lance had witnessed the two friend’s rather heated debate over Justin and what should be done about his attempt to take his own life.  He had done the best to stay out of it but it was interesting to see that side of his new owner.  Despite her anger she was very logical and objective on the matter.  It had been agreed that she would get him help and Lexi was warned about keeping secrets from her.  Everything that Lexi had said about Isadora seemed to be true, Lance had even passed the rather large waterfall that filled the space between the staircases in her entry way.

Chris was still a little nervous around her, now that he was hers and there was no one to stop her from taking advantage of him, even Lexi wasn’t exactly trust worthy.  Isadora wasn’t insensitive to it either; she remained seated as he stood in the door way, as if he awaited orders.  Today would be awkward as the guys settled in but the plan was to take it easy and give them time to adjust.

Isadora gave herself a minute to look him over, he avoided eye contact with her at all costs, maybe she should have kept her crush on him a secret, but it was likely he would have found out from Lexi any way.  He already seemed a little healthier to her, he was standing taller and the color had returned to his lips.  He was far from perfection but at least getting closer to it.

“Good morning Chris, how are you feeling?” She asked.  She smiled but kept her distance, there was no need to rush things.  She would let him come to her.

“I am good, thank you.” He answered.  Isadora just continued to smile and offered him something to eat, listing a couple of options.  When he placed his order she left to get it while he slipped into a chair beside Lance.  Lexi said nothing.  She wasn’t sure just how mad he was with her.

“She seems really nice.” Lance commented, but that could have been the pain meds talking or simply his own gratitude toward the woman that was tending to his needs, his sore ankle was now tightly wrapped and he had been given crutches to use.  The nurse wanted him to stay off of it for a few days, if not weeks, while it healed itself.  But Rachel had given him something to take for the pain in the mean time.  Chris just nodded.  Isadora came back and put the bowl down in front of him. 

She lingered near him for a moment just to take in his presence.  It was so hard to be good.  And it wasn’t that she really wanted to be bad, but there was a 16 year old girl inside her head that just wanted to scream and latch on to him, never letting go.  The thought alone made her smile again.  This was going to be challenging to say the least.

“I have some work to do so I’ll be in my home office.  The doctor, Lexi and Kyliegh, my other assistant, will all be around as well if you guys need anything.” Isadora explained, she pointed in the direction that she was headed.  “Feel free to look around; the only rooms off limits are my home office and my bedroom, but if you need me just knock.  Otherwise make yourselves at home.”

“Okay, thank you.” Lance said.  She hadn’t even taken more than one step when her handheld device went off.  She looked at it a groaned.

“Seems we have an issue with JC.” Isadora stated.

“I am no it.” Lexi stated and ran past her friend and up the stairs.   Isadora knew that she had told Lexi that she wouldn’t use the system but today it was going to come in handy.  It would tell her when and if the guys were in any distress, Rachel was also in the System and she could check on them without bothering them.

When she reached the top of the stairs Lexi could hear JC gagging and coughing all the way down the hall, clearly his stomach wasn’t feeling better yet.  Rachel was already there as well, holding a bucket for him while he dry heaved.

“It doesn’t sound like there is anything left in there to come out, so what is the problem then?” Lexi asked.  JC gagged a few more times and just made eye contact with her.  “Can’t you give him something?”

“Let me see what I have, can you hold this for him, just in case he does find something in there to throw up?” Rachel asked.  Lexi traded places with Rachel and lightly rubbed JC’s back.  “I can change the empty IV bag and inject this; it should stop him from throwing up.”

Lexi just watched.  As much as she wanted to be there for him, she couldn’t get in the way of the people that were trying to help him.  Rachel was way more qualified to make him well again than she was.

Lexi knew that JC had a fear of needles but this was unavoidable so he resisted the urge to rip the IV out and run away.  He didn’t watch as Rachel replaced the bag and injected the drugs into the line, he refused to even look at the arm it was all attached to.

“I can hold it.” JC offered, finally able to speak but still not sure that he was over it.  “This is not how I wanted to start things off.”

“It’s not your fault.  We fully expected it, why do you think I put a bucket in your room?” Lexi explained, she let JC have the bucket but she stayed near him.  He didn’t understand what the problem was any more, truth be told it was most likely from drinking a lot on an empty stomach, it was something that was just going to take time to heal.  “I think it goes without saying that you are going to be on a clear liquid only diet today, after today we will ease you back into a regular well balanced diet.”

JC just nodded, he really didn’t feel like eating anything at the moment.  He took the time to glance around the room at his new surroundings; it seemed that this was going to be home for the unforeseeable future.  It was defiantly an improvement.

Justin was awake now as well, after all the commotion, he was just laying in his bed watching the others.  He sort of recalled what Isadora had said to him the night before but was still unsure.  He promised himself that he would give Isadora a chance before doing anything stupid. 

“Where are the others?” JC asked. 

 “They are around.” Lexi answered.

JC lie back against his pillow and let his eyes close.  “If it is okay with you, I’ll just stay here for awhile.”  He could only assume that the others were fine, Justin didn’t seem to be in any trouble.

“I figured as much, there is no hurry.  You can do what you want today.  Isadora really don’t have any plans for you guys this week at all, besides working on getting you healthy again that is.  Rachel will be around, if you need her just yell for her.” Lexi explained.

“I’ll unhook your IV whenever you are ready to get up and move around.” Rachel explained.  She went over and started to undo Justin’s, since his bag was already empty.  It would give him the freedom to move around.

“So tell me, how bad am I really?” JC asked.  He turned away as she removed the needle from Justin’s arm.  Lexi was still by his side brushing a stray hair away from his face, not really caring that there were two other people in the room.

“I am sorry to tell you but you are going to live.”Rachel teased.  She laughed and he did too a little, which was nice.  “Your resolve is impressive though.  I had my doubt about you on the plane; I think you are in the clear now.”

            When Rachael was done she excused herself from the room while Justin got dressed.  It didn’t seem to faze him to dress in front of Lexi; he had done it so many times before.  She couldn’t bring herself to leave JC just yet.  She had been so worried about him.

            “Are you mad at me?” She asked.  JC shook his head no.  It wasn’t like he hadn’t been keeping secrets from her as well and so far this seemed to be working out for them. 

            “Does Isadora know about us?” JC asked, since it was unclear just how close the two friends really were.  Suddenly Justin felt uncomfortable, he motioned to the door and Lexi provided him with instructions on how to get to the dining room. 

            “She knows something is up.  I think she wants to talk to you about it when you are feeling better.  She wants your take on the situation.  Your happiness is important to her.” Lexi explained.  It made her nervous to think about it.  What if he didn’t want her, what if he wanted to be left alone?  The concern must have shown.

            “Relax Lexi.  I’ll talk to her.  It’s going to be just fine, isn’t that what you have been saying all week?” He teased.   She kissed him gently before excusing herself; she wanted to go make sure that Justin found something to eat, that was after all her job.