12 Chapter 11.

January 22nd, 2016.

I came face to face with Nicholas. He was standing in front of my room looking very tense.

"Good evening, Miss Antonio." He said, without the usual warmth.

I nodded, unlocked my door signaling him with my finger to come in. He did.

"Your father sent me here." He said, looking around the room in a deliberate effort to avoid making eye contact with me, he was no doubt very uncomfortable around me.

I'd had enough. It was time to put an end to the tension between us, it was unhealthy.

"Nick?"

He stubbornly refused to make eye contact.

"Nicholas, look at me!"

Higher authority, I never thought I would use it.

He looked at me.

I took his large hands in mine. "Nick, about what happened, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking straight, when it comes to family we usually do stupid things that we often regret. I would have done the same thing if it were you."

Then I hugged him. That was my little secret to get people to forgive me, though I really meant it now. In other cases, hugs and tears made people do what I wanted them to.

He hugged me back and literally squished me. I'm not joking, I couldn't breathe for half a minute. When he let go, I knew he had forgiven me.

"So what brings you here?"

He hesitated for a moment before answering.

"Its Luke."

If it weren't for Nicholas still holding me, I would have broken my nose on the floor, he supported me until I was able to stand again. I immediately imagined the worst. Is he dead?

"W-what's wrong with Luke?" I stuttered.

"Nothing. He has regained consciousness and has been moved to his room. Your father wanted you to be the first to see him so he sent me here."

I disentangled myself from him, bolted out of my room, ran down the hallway and made it to Luke's room faster than The Flash.

The door was open and Luke lay on his bed, he looked very pale. He didn't know I was in the room until a sound alerted him. He opened his eyes to the sound of my sobbing. Damn these stupid tears but I couldn't help it, I was happy he was alive.

I cleaned the tears from my face. "Hey." I managed to croak out.

"Hey." He managed to smile but not for long. The corners of his mouth dropped, like smiling was physically tasking.

I crossed the room and sat down by his side. He tried to clean the tears that stubbornly flowed. When his hand made contact with my skin I gasped, his fingers were cold, very cold.

I took his hand in mine, brought it to my mouth and blew on it instinctually, trying to warm it a little.

"You're very pale, Luke." I cupped his cheek, caressing it with my thumb. I was surprised by my own voice, I was whispering.

"And you have a lovely tan."

Typical Luke, he was avoiding the issue.

Somebody cleared their throat. I turned around to see Nicholas standing by the door. "I'll leave you two alone, if you need me I'll be outside."

I nodded.

I turned back to see very tired blue eyes watching me.

"What happened, Luke?" I asked referring to the injury.

He turned his face away, "Nothing important."

"Nothing important? Luke you were out for two days!"

"One actually." He corrected. "Since then I've been in and out of consciousness."

This guy was impossible, one, two? What did it matter?

"What happened?" I tried again, asking as calmly and sadly as I could.

He looked at me again. "I was careless, I underestimated the enemy."

That was no doubt all he was going to tell me. I decided to drop the subject before it turned into an argument.

"Can I see it? The bullet wound."

"Sure."

I moved to the other side of the bed where his injured arm was. I opened the buttons of his Hawaiian print shirt and carefully tried to move the fabric so I could see the shoulder, Luke's mild swearing told me that despite my care, it still hurt.

"I'm sorry." I apologised even though it wasn't my fault.

The area around the wound was a nasty mixture of purple bruises. Even though the real injury was covered with bandages, I could tell it was hideous and would no doubt leave a scar, marring Luke's perfect features.

"How many?" I asked referring to the number of bullets.

"I felt two but the doctor assured me it was more than two."

I silently wondered why they had shot his shoulder and not the fatal parts of his body. Suddenly I felt angry, I wanted to get my hands on whoever did this to Luke and make them suffer the same fate if not worse.

"Who did it? Who did this to you Luke?"

"Nobody important and trust me princess, he looks worse than I do."

Final. He wasn't going to give me anymore information. I pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration knowing I couldn't beat the information out of him because of his present state.

"Is there something I can do for you? Does your arm still hurt?"

"The shoulder hurts like hell, although it's much better than it was three days ago. I have just one request to make, please don't say no." He begged.

I wasn't going to say no. I nodded, a sign that I wanted to know what the request was.

"I need a bath."

A what?

I inspected his body, he looked clean to me.

"I need a real bath, Ophelia. For days I've been sponge bathed by this particular nurse, I feel violated and dirty. Please." He swallowed.

Poor guy, I looked at the wound again.

"The reason they give you the sponge bath is because of the wound, it might get reopened and infected if it comes in contact with water for a long time. Though, I'm not going to deny you the opportunity of getting clean but I think a shower would be better."

He smiled. "Thank you."

"Give me a second, I'll be right back."

I went into his bathroom to get things ready. Since he was using only one hand I figured he wouldn't need too much stress. I put all his bath essentials on the middle shelf, where it wouldn't require much effort to reach. I came out of the bathroom and walked into his closet, I picked a clean towel, a sweat pant and a large T-shirt since I couldn't find any button up shirts. I put everything in the sink and checked to see if I forgot to do anything, satisfied with my work I went back into the room.

"You can go in now." I tried taking some of his weight, supporting him all the way to the bathroom door.

"If you have a problem, just call out and I'll send Nicholas in."

From the way his mouth curved up, I knew he was about to make a pervy remark. I didn't give him the chance, I closed the door in his face.

I wandered back and at the foot of the bed I spotted a clipboard. I picked it, I saw it was the doctor's report from the day of the accident till present.

I was actually studying medicine in the University of London, as crazy as it may sound. I was in my second year, though I wasn't sure I was going to practice because of my role in the mob.

I read everything from the nature of the wound to the various muscles affected, drugs given to the patient, the dosage and time they were administered but what really caught my attention was the doctor's remark that the patient was unable to eat and was relying on IV feeding to provide the body with nutrients. He also stated that the body could shut down again because of this.

This was not good, not good at all. I went out of the room and met Nicholas at the door.

"Nick, Can you please get me food from the general kitchen? I believe the cooks must have started dinner by now."

"Dinner for two?"

"No, just one for Luke. I'll eat later."

He nodded.

I went back in to put the room in order. I made the bed and put things back in their right places. Luke was still in the bathroom, why was he taking so long?

I was heading to bathroom to check on Luke when Nicholas came in with a tray of food.

"Put it there." I pointed to the bedside table.

He dropped it and left, the plate contained potatoes and a juicy steak. While I was inspecting the food, Luke came out of the bathroom.

"What took you so long?"

"It was really difficult fitting into the T-shirt because of my shoulder."

I nodded. "Come, sit here." I patted the bed.

He sat, as soon as he laid his eyes on the food, he scrunched his nose in disgust.

"I hope that plate of food is yours because if its for me then don't bother, I'm not hungry."

"Come on Luke, you have to eat something." I took a spoonful of potato and tried making him eat. He moved his face from one side to the other in dismissal.

I sighed in defeat. "Why?"

"I don't want the food."

So its the food.

"Give me your phone."

I took it and texted Nicholas.

10 minutes later.

Nicholas rolled in a trolley containing different types of food: fruits, slices of cake, frosty's, cookies, all everything had in common was 'sweet', I knew he wasn't going to reject anything sweet but I was soon proved wrong.

He rejected everything including the cookies, Luke never rejected cookies. We were now arguing over a bowl of Frosty's.

"No, no, no. I told you I'm not hungry, I don't want to eat anything but you refuse to listen to me. Look how you've wasted food."

He was right. I did waste good food but could you blame me for trying, the bowl of Frosty's flakes were now soggy. I did the only thing I knew how to do best, to cry, it was time to open the flood gates.

"You know what? You're right."

One tear drop.

"Blame me for trying, you're weak and you know it but you don't want me to help you."

Second tear drop and a shaky voice.

"Do you know how I felt when you were out? No, you don't! I went crazy because I couldn't help you and now history is repeating itself again and you don't want me to help you."

Tears were now falling at an uncontrollable pace.

"If you don't want me to help you then I won't but I want you to know this, from now onwards I'm going to stop caring about you so I won't go through what happened to me while you were in coma!" The last part came out venomous.

I stood up, dropped the bowl in the tray with so much force that it almost spilled over and walked towards the door. I didn't mean what I said, I was never going to stop caring about Luke, he was my friend. I just wanted to get him rallied up, one thing was bound to happen after my little act, my best bet was it would take 5 seconds.

5.......4.......3.......2.......

"I'll eat. Please don't go Ophelia, I'll eat the food."

I was doing a little victory dance in my head but I couldn't smile and let him know I was acting so I cleaned my tears, went back to the bed and quickly shoved a spoon of Frosty's into his mouth before he could change his mind.

"Ouch! I get it you're angry but could you be a little gentle."

He ate in silence or pretended to, just to make me think he didn't like what he was doing but I could see right through his facade, he was really hungry.

I was feeding him another spoonful, he missed half of it causing some of the milk to drip down the corner of his mouth. I caught it quickly with my fingers and brought the liquid to my mouth and licked my finger clean. I looked up to see Luke staring at me with an emotion I couldn't quite describe.

"What?"

He didn't say anything but from his look, I tried to discern what he was thinking, I couldn't.

I laughed. "There is no napkin for me to wipe your mouth with so I did the next best thing."

He continued eating but still had that strange look on his face.

After eating Luke settled into his bed to rest in a comfortable position. That position involved his head on my lap. I unconsciously stroked his hair while reading a book I found in his room.

The door was pushed open and a woman in scrubs walked in holding a tray, the nurse, she stopped when she saw me, then she glared at me when she saw my position with Luke.

"Good evening. Can you please excuse me so I can attend to the patient?" She said curtly.

I tried to get up to leave but Luke didn't budge, he spoke in a voice loud enough for the nurse to hear. "Stay right here."

"Then how are you going to have your sponge bath?" She asked, her brows furrowed.

Luke tensed and cursed under his breath.

"I already had a shower."

"In your condition? What about food? You know you need to eat."

The food trolley answered her question.

"I don't think that position is advisable for you. Let me help you into a more comfortable one." She started moving towards the bed. She was definitely desperate now.

At this point Luke's fingers formed a fist. "Make her go away, please."

"Everything is alright, I think you should go."

"Excuse me? Are you trying to tell me my job?"

I guess she didn't know who I was.

Luke got up so fast I lost my balance and fell off the bed.

"Leave!" he pointed at the door. "Leave right now!" He was angry.

Nicholas came into the room. "Is everything alright?"

"Nothing is wrong Nicholas, just escort the nurse out of the room." I said.

As she was leaving, she turned back to see if Luke would change his mind, he didn't. Nicholas closed the door behind him.

"I cannot stand her, she's so annoying." He plopped down back on my lap and snuggled into his former position.

"You were hard on her." I said, still stroking his hair.

He lifted his head up from my lap so he look at me.

"Seriously Ophelia?"

"I think she likes you." I laughed.

He groaned. "That explains her strange behavior around me, especially during bath time, instead of feeling clean, I felt extra dirty."

The lady did act very strange. I continued stroking his hair till I heard his soft breathing. I finished chapter 7 of my book and started thinking of a way I would leave the room without waking the sleeping man on my lap.

Definitely mission impossible.

I decided to start with one leg off the bed, then I could carefully remove the head. I moved the leg carefully, slowly but I didn't get very far as he jerked awake.

Now I knew why he had chosen this position. It was because any slight movement could wake him up to keep me in place, very smart Luke.

"Come on Luke, let go. I have to go back to my room."

"You can stay here."

"You know very well I can't."

He gave me a look that left no room for argument. It was a look of sadness and helplessness.

Curse the soft spot I have for you!

"Fine."

He smiled and made space for me.

I lay down facing the bedside lamp. In an instant Luke used his good arm to turn me around to face him, he put his head on my chest and snuggled comfortably. He had me pressed flush against his body in an effort to prevent me from escaping.

"We're so going to get caught." I said.

"Even if we do get caught, they won't touch me in this condition."

I huffed, he laughed in his usual deep, rich tone.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Enjoying what?" He asked innocently but I could still hear the amusement in his voice.

Well, there was no going back now. If I really wanted to sleep comfortably I had wrap my free arm around him to improve my blood circulation.

I couldn't stop myself from inhaling the comforting scent he had from his body wash.

"Luke?" I called out after a while.

"Hmmm..." He answered.

I thought he had fallen asleep.

"They wouldn't let me in to see you when you had your accident. In fact they didn't let anyone in. You know that right?"

I had to let it out so he wouldn't think I avoided him.

"Yeah, I know."

"Do you know why?"

"I think its because I had a heart attack when your father came in to see me."

"You what?!" I tried to sit up but he tightened his arm around me, preventing me from doing so.

"Don't worry about it princess."

"Luke yo--"

"Shhh..." He hushed me. "Go to sleep now. We'll talk about it in the morning."

He put off the bedside lamp and tucked me into his body. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep.

_______________

January 23rd, 2016.

I opened my eyes to see a pair of baby blues staring at me. I groaned when I noticed our position.

"You can let go now, its morning."

"Rude as ever. No good morning, nothing. I don't want to let go." He snuggled.

That's it! I used my morning energy to free myself from his grip, using his injury to my advantage, he looked ready to pull me back but I was faster. I moved as far away from the bed as possible.

"Behave yourself! What if someone walks in?"

As I finished speaking, Nicholas walked into the room without knocking.

"You're here already, I couldn't find you in your room." He said.

Luke started laughing. Nicholas looked at me for explanation.

"Make sure he showers." Was all I said

I walked out of Luke's room and went into mine to perform my daily routine.

By the time I got back to Luke's room he had already showered, was fully dressed and staring at a plate of food in front of him.

"You know, you should probably eat that."

He smiled, flashing perfect white teeth. "I was waiting for you." He patted the bed, signaling me to sit. Somebody seemed happy today.

It was an English breakfast complete with eggs, toast, bacon, baked beans and a full pot of steaming tea. It was enough for two.

We ate in silence, a happy silence since Luke couldn't stop smiling.

"Are you okay?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Of course I'm okay, I had an amazing night."

No shit Sherlock. "I can see that."

Another boyish grin, this time accompanied with a mischievous twinkle. He was up to something.

"What do you want to do today?" I asked.

"Anything you want to do, princess." He winked.

Is there something I should know?

Some maid came in to take the plates away and the nurse walked in after her.

"I came to change his bandages."

Luke groaned but let her come in anyway. He took off his shirt and the nurse blushed bright red, I couldn't blame her Luke was indeed very attractive, shirtless.

She took of the bandages and confirmed my early assessment of the wound, it was nasty, I mean really nasty up close, there was a big gaping hole in his shoulder. When I couldn't take it anymore I looked to the other side of the room to gain my composure, when I looked back I met Luke's concerned eyes.

"You can leave if you want to, princess."

The nurse muttered something like. "Please do."

I wouldn't give her the satisfaction. "Its alright Luke, I'll stay." I smiled to reassure him.

When the nurse left, we entertained other mob members who heard that Luke was still alive and kicking. They all came to visit but none of them brought flowers or presents, not that Luke would have allowed it but it would have been funny.

By noon, he was exhausted and losing his happy vibe fast. Poor guy.

We had lunch and I persuaded Luke to take an afternoon nap, he agreed on one condition. That I become his personal pillow, his best sleeping position had become his head on my lap.

"You want anything else?" I asked while stroking his hair.

"No."

The door was pushed open and the twins strolled in dressed in the same clothes, it was getting hard to tell them apart.

"Hey, baby girl." That was Victor for sure, he walked to the bed arms wide to embrace me. Luke's glare stopped him mid stride.

Alex, shy as ever was still by the door. I waved, he waved back.

"What do you want?" Luke asked in annoyance.

"We're actually here for Ophelia. We thought maybe she would like take a walk with us in the garden so we could talk." Alex answered.

Right! They wanted to talk about their parents. I closed the book I was reading and made an effort to stand, Luke pulled me back down and locked his good arm around my waist, preventing me from making anymore movements.

"Disappear right now, both of you!

I gave them a sympathetic look, making them understand that it wasn't my fault and that I would make it up to them. Alex shrugged and left the room, his brother followed quietly.

"What was that for?!" I shouted, when they closed the door behind them.

"Stay away from those two, you don't know what they are capable of."

"I know exactly what they can do Luke, I know how they got here."

No reply.

"You shouldn't be hard on them, they've had it rough already. They don't need anymore."

"Don't let their stories fool you Ophelia, everyone in this family has a story to tell. Sympathy is a powerful weapon in the hand of the right user."

How could he say something like that? Yes, I knew the boys were a little evil but deep down I knew they were sweethearts.

I was furious with him, picked my book and continued reading. He pulled my hair lightly from behind because he knew I was giving him the silent treatment, he did that until he fell asleep.

I could have told them to stay, use my position to undermine Luke's directive but it's best not to insult a superior before his inferiors, one of the many lessons dad taught me.

I believe the medicine the nurse gave to him knocked him out because he didn't stir till it was a few minutes past 7pm.

We ate dinner together in his room. I wondered if dad would notice my absence. After dinner he was prodded by the nurse again, temperature, blood pressure, other necessary things. When she left the room, I decided to take my leave.

"Where are you going to?"

"To my room, to sleep, Luke. I'm tired."

"You can sleep here."

That's not going to work this time.

"I need to shower first."

"You can shower here."

I was running out of excuses.

"I-- I need to change to my PJ's"

"You can borrow my shirt and a short."

For crying out loud!

"I can't do that, what would my father think if he sees me in your clothing?"

He sighed, "If I let you go, promise me you'll come back."

Now he had me on a tight spot, if I left this room, I knew very well I wouldn't come back to sleep here, promise or not.

Now that I did think of it, I had a very clever plan to get out of this sticky situation.

"Fine, I'll stay."

I grabbed two pillows and created a demarcation on the bed.

"What are you doing?"

"That's your side of the bed, this is mine. You can keep the blanket, I don't need it. The moment you cross this line I'm leaving, clear?"

He nodded and smiled, revealing his dimpled cheek.

I climbed to my side of the bed, turned off the lights and closed my eyes. I listened to the sound of Luke's breathing so when it deepened, I could slip out the room undetected and none would be wiser. I listened until I really started feeling sleepy, two minutes, I told myself I would only sleep for two minutes and then I'd leave the room.

_____________

January 24th, 2016.

I woke up to see it was morning already and I was far from my end of the bed. When I tried to move, I noticed I was pressed against something hard and warm....Luke! I noticed we were spooning, he even slipped one of his legs between mine, had his arm around my body, resting on my stomach and his face was buried in my neck.

I groaned. God knew if I could free myself I'd kill him. He used my plan against me.

He laughed. "Good morning princess, sleep well?"

I mentally counted to five. "Let go."

"Why? I kept my end of the deal, I didn't cross the line but you did."

Yeah right, I suppose I also tangled myself too.

"Let go of me, Luke. Now!"

He took his time releasing me from his grip and when I was finally free I stormed out of the room and headed for mine.

I had a quick bath and quickly finished everything I had to do for the morning. Luke and I have been off work for a while now, so we no doubt had a pile of papers on our desks to attend to, both mob and normal business. I went out of my room to tell Luke I was going to the office to work throughout the day.

When I got to his room, the door was wide open, I looked into the room to see he was gone!

Bandages were all over the bed and the sheets were stained with, blood? What happened here? Nicholas wasn't even standing guard. I ran down the corridor in my heels looking for someone, anyone who knew what was happening.