39. Crush.

When Mimi completely collapsed, Damon was still supporting her neck. Adam entered the room carrying a bag and also another bag where he had packed supplies from Medbay. Then, after the flow of velvet had stopped for a moment, Damon put the neck support back on and, with Samuel, removed the dressings and tapes. It was a slow job, and Adam had brought some vegetable oil, which allowed Damon and Samuel to get the tapes off finally.

Damon took some saline solution. Well, that was good enough for now, and he started soaking the bottom bandages off. Samuel put all the bandages in a tight triple bag. When the wound was finally exposed, it was a grotesque sight. The stitches were deeply embedded in the swollen skin, and as Damon gently pressed next to the wound, a putrid ooze seeped out.

The stench of rot filled the air, causing Samuel to exclaim, "Oh fuck, what a mess."

Damon remained silent, focused on the task at hand. He swiftly approached the supplies that Adam had brought, seizing a pair of sterile gloves, surgical drapes, a scalpel, clean dressings, and a disinfectant. While Samuel announced his plan to remove the cannula and assess the situation, Damon grunted, spreading the surgical drapes around Mimi's wound.

With sterile gloves adorning his hands, he meticulously extracted the inflamed and swollen stitches from the bright red, infected skin within. He worked with calm confidence, striving to complete the task as swiftly as possible.

Meanwhile, Samuel skillfully maneuvered a cannula beneath Mimi's skin, causing a torrent of putrefaction to accompany its path. The foul odor of infection assaulted Damon's senses, intensifying the pressure in his head. Samuel diligently cleansed and opened the infected cavity created by the cannula, while Damon took a jar and drained his own blood from his wrist into it, handing it over to Samuel.

Damon removed all the stitches, meticulously cleansing the wound to the best of his ability. He refrained from excising any significant tissue, as the inflammation and festering extended from the shoulder to the opposite hip.

After draining a substantial amount of his own blood into the wound, Damon dressed it, pouring some of his blood onto the bandage before securing it over the wound. While this may not provide a definitive solution, Damon hoped that his blood could offer some help to ease the condition.

Simultaneously, Samuel replicated the same procedure for the infection in Mimi's neck. They had yet to find out whether the infection had caused any damage to her organs; their current actions were solely for first aid. Then Damon gave a fever reducer directly from his teeth and wiped Mimi as the fever broke. For once, properly.

 Adam and Mimosa came to the door again. They had heard and seen what Bran had done and had let it out once more. They had yelled at Bran, and loud. They'd had time while the doctors tended to Mimi's wounds. Charles was hard at work unloading the whole bug-eating thing, and Adam was just otherwise angry with Bran.

So he'd given Bran a piece of his mind for real. So did Mimosa. She'd given her opinion to Bran bluntly, too. Charles didn't have time to fly them out, so they took Mimi to the car, and Damon let Adam or Samuel drive and sat himself in the back seat with Mimi half in his lap. Adam didn't start asking questions, and neither did Samuel.

They drove for 30 hours, always switching between them. Damon didn't drive. He kept Mimi fast asleep as she tried to wriggle out of his grip on the velvet several times.

Damon kept whispering, "No way, baby, your sleep time will go on and on."

And he'd always bite off another dose of velvet. He didn't even want to eat or drink anything on the way. He was biting his teeth into Mimi's neck and pouring things down there. She was in a terrible way, and Damon's teeth were constantly working to stabilize her so that a major operation could be performed as soon as possible.

 When they arrived, Adam and Samuel went ahead while Damon carried the sleeping Mimi himself to the medbay. There, the men changed into clean scrubs and scanned Mimi.

Damon and Samuel took Mimi into the operating room and cut away a lot of skin and dead tissue from the wound. Damon had given Mimi a stronger cocktail of drugs. He took his own skin, cutting off pieces of it and putting them into the wound to grow.

They packed the wound deeply with a strong antibiotic that Damon's teeth were dripping about the whole time. Damon was with collectors, and he used them to drain while they cleaned the wound cavity. They replaced Mimi's bowel and bladder, which were full of shit and compacted piss.

Then they carefully dressed the wound. It didn't close yet, but Damon drained Mimi's body cavity full of his own blood and carefully packed the wound. Then, carefully, they propped Mimi up in a sitting position, opened her neck, put everything in place, and with Damon's blood help, Mimi's neck was healed. Damon also put his own blood on the infection in Mimi's neck, calming it down properly.

Damon treated Mimi all the time. Adam and Samuel tried to get him to eat and sleep, but he napped for a couple of hours, sitting in a chair next to Mimi, holding her hand.

After a week, Mimi's organs were fine enough that Damon started giving her small amounts of visceral suspension, his own blood, and a dental substance that broke down the suspension a little so that Mimi's body didn't have to use too much energy to digest it.

Every day he would sit with the collectors in his teeth, pouring out what he wanted and Samuel would analyze and then together they would decide what to give Mimi. 

When Damon's emotions were running high, he occasionally made some pretty special dental preparations. He wanted to protect Mimi; well, the substance that would make her very gentle and obedient would really help when it wasn't the Mimi, or when Damon thought about the entire chain of events, he made anti-Viagra, intended directly for Bran, and effective. Samuel put it in a good safe deposit box.

Then, he made many sedatives for Adam and Samuel when they kept bothering him. He was now treating Mimi. There were many useful substances, from healing boosters to various antibiotics and food absorption aids.

Finally, after two weeks, Mimi was still weak with a fever, but Damon had prevented sepsis at any stage, and the infection was a little better; they got Damon to eat properly, shower, and sleep, although he slept with her pillow under his arm, smelling her scent. 

I tried to wake up. I was feeling fine and wanted to wake up. But no. The velvet just kept coming and coming. Somehow, I knew we were in the car, but I couldn't wake up properly, not at all. Eventually, I fell deeper as more and more velvet poured into my veins. 

When I finally regained consciousness, I found myself in a sterile hospital room. The harsh white lights overhead made me squint, and the faint smell of disinfectant filled my nostrils. My body felt weak and shivery from the fever that consumed me. Desperately needing to move, I attempted to sit up, but before I could even lift myself, the sound of approaching footsteps reached my ears. 

Adam, a kind and attentive caregiver, hurried towards me.

"Damon is taking a rest, but don't worry, Mimi," he reassured me. "Let's bring your fever down first."

He reached for a syringe and swiftly inserted it into my mouth. Surprisingly, the liquid tasted like sweet raspberries, and I swallowed it with no resistance.

"It's a fever remedy made by Mimosa," Adam explained. "And it's highly effective. You'll feel better soon."

Indeed, the remedy worked wonders. I was sweating like a pig soon, and all my strength waned away, little that I had. Adam then gently washed and dried me before settling me into a fresh, clean bed. He skillfully tended to my injuries, carefully bandaging my front torso with various dressings. He was equipped to change those, too; I see. He worked as cleanly as Damon, carefully and with very extreme sterility, too.

"Your wound is still open," Adam informed me, his voice filled with concern. "But Damon's blood has helped your organs, saving them from replacement. We've infused his blood into the dressings, and it should aid in closing the wound. Your neck is healing well, too, thanks to Salvatore's blood. You've been asleep for two weeks, and your fever still lingers. You're only 29 kilos, so you have a way to go to regain your strength."

I let out a weary sigh, feeling frustrated by my weakness. "I wish I had the strength to overcome this," I confessed, my voice filled with resignation. "But it seems I can't help it." I hated to be this powerless. 

In a tender gesture, Adam stroked my hair, trying to offer me some comfort. I looked into his eyes, searching for answers.

"Will Damon leave again once I'm back on my feet? Will the phone and wallet be on the table once more?"

Doubt clouded my thoughts. Despite being dead for a week, I had spent the past two weeks under Damon's care. Yet, I couldn't shake the feeling that my illness would drive him away once more. Adam let out a heavy sigh, his gaze shifting to the ground before meeting mine again.

"Mimi, I honestly don't know," he confessed, his voice tinged with uncertainty. "But I can tell you this: Damon has put in so much effort to bring you this far. He's asleep now, exhausted from his dedication to your recovery."

I noticed something missing, a void that left me feeling incomplete. I mustered the courage to voice my concerns. "Where is our mating bond? I can't feel it or find it."

Adam's gaze met mine, and he swallowed hard.

It took him a moment to find his words, "When the mate dies, the mating bond dies, too. You died, and so did our bond. But that doesn't mean we can't reclaim it someday. You now have a bond with Damon because he shared a heart-to-heart energy transfer with you."

I could hear the deep emotions and unprocessed pain in Adam's voice, a reflection of the profound loss he felt. I remained silent, mourning the loss of our once strong and beautiful bond. Adam must have been tormented by his own anguish, just as I felt a wound in my soul, where our bond used to live. The thoughts were depressing, but they persisted in my mind.

I said, "Come next to me, take me into your arms; I need to be close to you, just like at the start. I am having some pretty nasty nightmares, and I don't want to be knocked out by drugs all the time. I need to be safe. " 

Adam understood my need for comfort, and, without hesitation, he joined me in bed. He held me close, allowing me to feel his warmth and security. Curled up against him, I eventually drifted into a peaceful sleep, free from nightmares or the tormenting flames of my past. The only sound that filled the room was Adam's calm heartbeat, accompanied by the sweet scent of pears, enveloping me in a sense of complete safety.