Lisa Ch. 08a: Evil

"Jessica's completely out." Leah said a couple of hours later. She stood next to Don at the kitchen table. "The girls are heading home and I think I'll go with them."

"'K ..." Sean said trying to figure out why Leah seemed nervous and as if she were waiting for something. Leah nodded and headed out with the other girls.

"Well." Corey said two minutes later throwing his cards down on the table, "I'm calling it a night. It's late ... we should all call it a night."

"Late? Eleven o'clock?" Rick asked looking at his watch.

"We do have an early morning." Sean said.

Half an hour later the cards had been cleaned up and everyone had gone to bed. The men were lying on the mattresses staring into the dark.

"I can't believe Jessica told them the truth about the machines." Scott said.

"I can." Jim said.

"Okay ... so can I." Scott agreed, "But she must have been so embarrassed."

"Not nearly as embarrassed as I should be." Angus said. "She's got a million tubes in her, can't feel a thing below her waist and has a shoulder wound, but I still want to fuck her. How sick is that?"

"For the record she seems to want to fuck you too." Josh said. "All of us ... tubes, paralysis and all."

"Whatever." Riley said, "She can do whatever she wants. I'm so done with controlling her."

"Ditto." Josh said.

"She's going to overdo it. You know that right? She'll over-work herself."

"Jim, she seems to know her limits." Scott said, "She's been right about everything so far. I think we have to trust her to stop when she needs to."

"Maybe when she's one hundred percent. Not when she's still ... hurt." Jim said.

"Okay. Okay." Angus said, "But there's no way she'll ever call me master again."

"She doesn't have to." Jim said when the others nodded, "We don't have to be explicit about things. Just elude to rules. She'll assume she's our slave and behave ... until she's better."

"But what if that's what gets her off?" Scott asked. "Being a slave? She sure as hell seems to enjoy it."

"Well ..." Riley said, "I guess if she likes it ..."

There was a pause. Finally Angus exhaled. "I wish she was awake."

"Ahuh." Riley said shifting on the mattress. "I'm freaking exhausted but I just don't feel like sleeping."

"We should be glad she's getting some rest." Jim said.

"Good night." Josh said trying to get comfortable. The others grunted but fell silent. They shifted around for what seemed like forever. Finally Josh could hear the men snoring.

Jessica awoke with a start. Her heart was pounding, and she felt cold and alone. Very alone. She heard a noise next to her. Looking into the darkness she could make out the outlines of the men's bodies. She wanted to be with them. Warm, safe, comforted. An outline moved but then stilled. Jessica exhaled and looked at the ceiling. She hoped Don, Mark, Stan, Sean and Rick, would be safe over the next few days. During the evening they'd gradually packed what they needed and intended to leave first thing in the morning. 'Shoot', she mumbled to herself. She wondered how long it would take Daryl's friends to realize that the money and items were missing and it occurred to her that both the money and the safe house were long shots. It could take months before anyone noticed. If at all. And it wasn't the kind of thing you could call them up and tell them to look for.

"Not that brilliant an idea after all ..." Jessica mumbled.

"Jessica?" a voice whispered from beside her and she jumped, a squeaky "Oh" escaping her. A hand grasped her arm. "It's Josh ... sorry I didn't mean to scare you."

"Josh?"

"Yeah. Are you okay? Why are you up?"

"I'm okay. I can't sleep."

"Welcome to the club ... but you were sound asleep earlier."

"Yeah, well ... apparently I don't do well sleeping alone. And now I've been thinking and can't fall back to sleep."

"Yeah, when's the last time you slept alone?" Josh asked with a chuckle, "but, uh, I don't think you're going to be getting down there on the floor with us tonight ..." he said eyeing the tubes hanging by the sofa.

"I know." Jessica said looking at the floor next to her with yearning.

"What if I sleep on the sofa with you?" Josh said.

"Will you fit?" Jessica asked when Josh moved to her feet and pulled the blanket back.

"Sure ..." Josh said lifting her legs. "Does this hurt?"

"No ... I still don't feel anything."

Josh put his legs around Jessica and lay her legs on his stomach and chest. "How's that?" he asked tucking the blanket under his chin.

Jessica sighed, "Heavenly ..." she closed her eyes. "Are you comfy?"

"As long as I'm with you I'm comfy. Jess?" Josh asked after a few minutes of quiet.

"Hmmm?"

"What were you thinking about?"

"Huh? Oh, um, our plan." Jessica said with a yawn. Now that she had Josh's warmth and physical presence she was having trouble staying awake. "It's kind of a long shot isn't it?" she murmured.

"I guess." Josh said, "But it's better than nothing."

"We need to come up with something better ..." Jessica mumbled followed by light snores.

Josh kissed her feet and closed his eyes, suddenly he had a hard time staying awake too.

Jessica heard Abe say, "Ah, isn't that sweet?"

"Just darling." The doctor's accented response caught her attention. "It's a miracle he didn't pull her tubes out with his feet."

Jessica brought her hands to her eyes and rubbed until she was awake enough to force them open. Lowering a hand she noticed Josh at the other end of the sofa cracking an eye open too. Following his gaze Jessica found the men arrayed around the sofa on kitchen chairs, drinking coffee. Abe and the doctor stood behind the sofa, the doctor inspecting the IV bag next to him.

"Morning sunshines." Jim said with a laugh.

"Morning ..." Josh and Jessica mumbled.

"And just how did you find yourselves in this ... interesting ... position?" Riley asked.

"Jess couldn't sleep." Josh said with a yawn.

"And somehow this helped?" Angus asked, "'Cause it sure doesn't look comfortable."

"She's used to company at night." Josh said flicking his eyes at the mattress. "Doc, when can Jessica start moving around?"

"Well, if my evaluation today is good then I can take her off everything. But we'll have to be careful."

"And when can we start training again? The soonest we can start training again?" Josh asked earning surprised looks from the men and Jessica.

"Let's face it," he said, "our plan isn't exactly fool proof. Daryl's people may never notice anything missing. We have to be able to defend ourselves. Jessica has to be able to defend herself."

"And us." Scott said quietly. His tone caught Jessica's attention but nothing in his demeanor made it clear how he was feeling. He seemed to have adopted Jim's ability to smile with his mouth and look uneasy with his eyes. But then he winked at Jessica and his eyes eased into what looked like melancholy acceptance.

"That'll be a while. You'll all need physiotherapy to get back your strength and flexibility. Now if you'll get out of my way young man ..." he said to Josh who unceremoniously rolled off the sofa.

"I'll get you a coffee Josh." Jim said, "And you too Jess, Doc, Abe when you're done."

"How are you feeling?" Doc asked Jessica.

"Fine." Jessica said, "I really want to get up and start moving around but I can't feel my legs and that's really disturbing."

"One step at a time ... no pun intended ..." the doctor said with a laugh as he began unwrapping Jessica's bandages. "Well, you have a healthy dose of humor that's for sure ..." he added when Jessica laughed hard and couldn't seem to stop.

"All punny jokes aside." Riley said when Jessica finally got her laughter under control, "We need to get back into shape again. It's too dangerous otherwise."

"Is there an immediate threat that we're not aware of?" Abe asked.

"I don't think we can say we're aware of very much." Riley said, "There's a threat that is unknown. It could happen any time."

"The only thing we can be sure of is that it will." Angus added. "I don't think Daryl's people will forgive and forget. I wouldn't." he added when Jessica gave him a questioning look.

"So doc?" Josh asked settling into the chair he'd added into the existing semi-circle the other men had made in front of the sofa, and nodding a thank you to Jim when he handed him a cup of coffee.

"Things look good." Doc said putting Jessica's blanket back in place. "I'll take you off the intravenous and catheter but you have to take it easy. For at least another week or so. And just a word of warning ..." the doctor said pulling the intravenous needle out of her arm, "as the meds wear off you may feel some sudden and ... strange ... sensations as things thaw out."

"You mean my legs?" Jessica asked.

"Mostly." He said, "Just trust me." He added quietly when Jessica opened her mouth for a follow-up question, "It's not something you want me to be explicit about with such a large audience around." He said, inclining his head toward the semi-circle of men staring at them. "It's all normal. Now, which one of you gentlemen is next?" he asked getting up.

"You okay?" Jim asked when Jessica sat up. The doctor had checked Jim and Scott over and with clean bills of health, Jim had squeezed himself onto the sofa so that she was leaning against him, and Scott sat next to him, Jessica's legs over his lap. The doctor was working on Angus and in the twenty minutes or so that it had taken for him to check Jim and Scott over Jessica began to feel her legs.

"I can feel my legs ... finally." Jessica said relief evident in her tone. Scott, who had been running his hands up and down her legs, reached down to squeeze the big toe that Jessica wiggled. She fell back against Jim and he wrapped his arms around her again and held tight. "I want to try and walk." She said and looked over at the doctor.

"You can give it a try lass, but just make sure you don't overdo it. Make sure you rest."

Jessica patted Jim's arms in an excited message to let her go so she could get up but when he did she dropped back against him.

"Jess?" Jim asked.

"I, um, need some pants."

"I'll get them." Riley said but as he limped in the direction of the bedrooms his phone vibrated. He opened it, scowled and shut it.

"Daryl's man again?" Josh asked.

Riley nodded, "Tom is a pain in the ass." Riley muttered as he went, "I guess he figures that if he asks about Daryl enough times our answer will suddenly change. What an ass ... a-hole."

Riley shook his head. It had occurred to him that one of the reasons that Jessica may not want children with him and the men was the amount of profanity that they used. Jessica never swore. Even at the worst of times, she'd never sworn. Obviously it wasn't something she was used to.

He'd mentioned his thought to the other men and they'd agreed that it was not likely that Jessica had grown up in an environment where swearing was common place or permitted. They decided to tone it down. Even if Jessica wasn't pregnant now, they were surprised to conclude that at some point they would want to have kids with her. And not only that, but, as Jim pointed out, in the world Jessica had grown up in, it wasn't likely that husbands swore at their wives. It wasn't going to be easy but they were determined to clean up their language. One small step toward making their world closer to the world Jessica was used to.

Jessica contemplated Tom's persistence. Apparently someone didn't consider Daryl to be a complete jerk. Someone loved him. Great. It was easier to not mind having killed him and his men when thinking of him as a monster who was determined to kill her men rather than someone who loved and was loved and was likely responding from a place of pain rather than evil.

"Just brought you some sweats ... figured they'd be better than jeans." Riley said returning.

"Baggy is good." Angus muttered.

"Thanks." Jessica said forcing a smile.

"Everything okay?" Riley asked, "I mean if you really want jeans I'll go get them."

"Those are great Riley, thanks." Jessica said taking them from him.

"Why do you look so sad then?" Scott asked.

"I'm not. It was just easier to be okay with killing Daryl and his men when I thought of them as jerks."

"And you don't think they were jerks anymore?" Josh asked in obvious surprise.

"Oh I do ... for what they were doing and going to do to you guys. But if this Tom guy is trying so hard to find them then they couldn't have been that bad. I guess it would be easier to just think of them us unlovable." She shrugged her good shoulder, "Though I guess it really shouldn't matter. In any case, I'd do it again in a second. I just would really like to avoid having to massacre Tom and his friends."

"Let's hope they co-operate." Jim said.

Angus snorted but cut it short when Jessica looked at him, "Sorry. Just not sure how high likely that is."

"Yeah ... I figured as much." Jessica said. "Oh, speaking of friends ... Jim, could you plug my cell phone in? It's probably dead by now and I really should let Tracey and the others from the bar know that I'm okay. I kind of fell off the face of the earth ..."

"Done. I plugged it in the other day. I figured you'd want it. Everyone from the bar called me. I told them you were out of the city for a while and not to worry but given the way I acted the last time they saw me I'm not sure they believed me. I think they'd really like to hear from you."

"Thanks for charging it for me." Jessica said lifting her face to nuzzle into Jim's neck.

"You talking about that kick ass bar you were singing at?" Abe asked.

Jessica nodded, surprised by how excited Abe sounded.

His excitement hadn't escaped the men's notice either. Nor Jessica's responding enthusiasm. Her face lit up in the most obvious way.

Jim looked around at the men. Scott and Josh seemed taken aback, looking back and forth between Jessica and Abe. But Riley and Angus were scowling at Abe. Neither Jessica or Abe seemed to notice and Jim didn't know if that made things better or worse. He sighed. It seemed there was still work to do on the friend front for Jessica. Although it was possible that Riley and Angus objected to Abe personally but Jim suspected that Jessica having male friends was still going to be an issue for them. And possibly Scott and Josh too.

"Your band was awesome. I think Stasia's going to want to go back. I sure will."

"Thanks. Have you had dance lessons or something? You were really good too."

Abe chuckled, "Yeah, you were expecting me and Rick to be big bumbling oafs weren't you?"

"What? No...?" Jessica asked acting overly innocent.

"Yes you did. Your jaw practically hit the floor when we started dancing ... I saw it. But yes, we've had some dance training. And so did you ... I could tell."

Jessica laughed and nodded and this time even Jim felt a stab of jealousy. She hadn't mentioned anything about dance training to them.

"A little ..." she said.

Jim cleared his throat. He had to get a grip, he was being childish. And the other men were starting to look dangerous. "Do you want your phone now?" he asked.

"Oh, no." Jessica said in surprise when Angus moved to block her line of vision with Abe. Doc had finished with him, and moved to Josh. Angus stood staring down at Jessica and she couldn't decipher his expression. She looked down at his thighs where he'd been shot. "Are you okay?"

Angus followed her gaze, "Physically, yes."

Jessica did a double take. Looking at Riley she found him still scowling at Abe, Josh, Scott and even Jim looked pretty angry. Suddenly she realized that even though the men may have forgiven her for riding for Paul, they hadn't necessarily forgiven Paul. Or it seemed, anyone who worked for him. The last thing she wanted was a scene. Especially with Abe ... she liked him.

"Um, Jim I'll call everyone later. But right now I'd like to try and walk a little. Will you help me Angus?"

Angus blinked. She gave him the sweetest smile she could muster. She was going to ask Riley also but Doc had just finished with Josh and began inspecting his wounds.

"Yeah, of course." Angus said.

Jessica lifted the pants that Riley had given her. Scott took them and after some maneuvering and tugging he and Angus got Jessica into them while successfully blocking her nakedness from the doctor and Abe.

"Easy now ..." Scott said as Jessica dangled between him and Angus, her legs barely holding her weight.

"My legs feel like rubber." Jessica said trying to put more weight on them.

"That's normal." The doctor said, "you've got to get the muscles moving again."

As Jessica hobbled a few steps between Scott and Angus the front door opened and Corey came in. He stopped in surprise when he saw Jessica. "Up and around ... that's great." He said but his tone lacked enthusiasm. Jessica looked behind him, waiting for Leah but he pushed the door shut behind him.

"Where's Leah?" Jessica asked.

"Oh ..." Corey said clearly caught off guard. He looked at the door. "She's not feeling too good right now ... she said she'd be over later. Just gotta go to the bathroom." He added and headed to the back of the house. Jessica exchanged looks with Scott and Angus. Clearly they'd found Corey's answer and demeanor strange too.

"Maybe she's worried about Sean." Scott said.

"Maybe ..." Jessica said, wondering if Scott knew about Corey and Leah. "Can we go to the window? I'd like to see the sun. Feels like forever since I last did."

Just as they neared the window the sound of cars speeding up the driveway could be heard, and tires sliding on the gravel as breaks were hit hard.

"We got company!" Chris yelled from outside. Corey had been on his way back from the bathroom. He and Abe raced out the front door, guns in hand. As car door slammed Jessica found herself pushed to the floor, pressed between Scott who was leaning against the wall under the window and Angus crouching with a grimace next to her. Jim, Josh and Riley had moved faster than they should have to the gun rack. They tossed a hand gun to Scott, Jessica and Angus, and grabbed rifles themselves. Riley inched his way up to the door, Doc had crab walked over to Angus, Jessica and Scott and mouthed, "Are you okay?" to Jessica. She nodded and then everyone froze as footsteps could be heard outside.

"What're you doing here?" Corey demanded when there'd been a moment or two of silence. Scott slid up the wall and peeked out the window. He held up his hands, five fingers on one, two on the other, scanned back and forth and then slid back down the wall.

"Seven ..." he whispered, "armed."

"Since no one's returning my calls I decided to come out and check things out in person." A deep voice replied.

"So you'd be Tom then ..." Corey said in a cold tone that caused a shiver to run down Jessica's spine. Angus felt it and pulled her tight against him. Jessica's heart was pounding a mile a minute when she buried her face in his chest. Angus tightened his embrace and kissed the top of her head.

"It'll be okay." He grumbled.

Jessica shook her head, "Corey has no intention of negotiating with them." She whispered, "He's going to provoke a fight."

"Maybe that's a good thing." Riley whispered from the door, "Get this over and done with."

"No." Jessica shook her head and peeked at Riley from Angus' chest, "No more killing. We agreed. And besides which, they haven't even had a chance to find evidence of Daryl and his clan leaving. This has to end peacefully ..."

"I am." The deep voice replied and there was an almost imperceptible shuffling of feet outside.

Riley nodded and reached for the doorknob.

"No, wait!" Jessica hissed, her arm stretched out toward him. Riley paused, looking at her, but Jessica couldn't think of what to do or say next. She wanted someone to intervene but she didn't want it to be Riley. She didn't want it to be any of them.