Whip and Em Ch. 02

A doctor appeared in the door and called Whip's name. He nodded and stood. "I'll be right back, okay?"

"No!" I called out. Then in a moment that was completely incongruent with my typically fierce independent nature, I started to sob. "Please, don't leave me, you have to stay right here. Please!" Trying to sit up to stop him, my heart raced, pain shot through my head, and my vision started to go black. Before I could react, my body was falling to the side.

Whip caught me gently and laid me back down on the bed. "Whoa there, let's not try that just yet. Listen, you're fine, I'll stay right next to you and the doctor can come in and talk to both of us okay?" He rested a hand on my shoulder using enough pressure to keep me from getting up again.

Keeping my eyes closed, I gave a feeble nod in agreement. Why was I so attached to this person that I'd just met? He was literally a stranger off of the street. This was nothing like me at all. Trust was not easy for me and I might have tried to excuse myself and run off if it wasn't for my inability to move. This was exacerbated by the fact that he was still gently, subtly, yet firmly still holding me down on the bed.

"Listen do you have any family we can call or friends nearby?" Whip asked softly.

"Ohh, my family lives 8 hours away and I don't want to worry them. My best friend happens to be on a family trip out of the country at the moment. I really don't want to worry anyone, I can take care of myself."

Whip gave me an incredulous look, effectively communicating that he thought I was full of it, and then turned politely toward the doctor who began his explanation:

"Well, it appears that this young lady slipped on the ice and hit her head against something hard. Probably a rock or a tree stump? From what you described she was suffering from moderate hypothermia when you found her. Had it not been for the dog at her side, this might have turned out differently. My guess is that the concussion caused loss of consciousness for a duration long enough for her core temperature to drop. The low temperature also undoubtedly reduced the intracranial swelling, so we can be thankful for that. You did right thing by warming her with skin to skin contact and holding her back from excessive movement. As you know, we used warm saline, warm air, and introduced warm fluids into her stomach. She can have as many warm blankets as she wants now, you can grab them from the cart right around the corner. We'll be keeping a close eye on her temperature to watch for any sudden deregulation, but she'll hopefully be close to her normal self in a day or two."

He kept talking and I heard something about an MRI looking good and stitches staying clean. When he spoke again about warm fluids and warm blankets I heard myself sleepily asking for more. There was a chill that I just couldn't get rid of. Soon, Whip was placing a cozy blanket on me and giving me sips of warm chocolate milk. I fought off sleep, afraid he might leave my side or be gone when I awoke. He must have sensed this because he whispered, "Get some sleep, I promise to be here when you wake." He continued to speak comforting words in a low voice, and I soon slid into a deep slumber.

* * *

In my dream I heard a whispered voices. It sounded like Whip talking to another man.

"I don't know man, this one just wasn't right for me." Said the guy who was not Whip.

"What happened, I thought it was going well?"

"It was until she wanted to switch."

"Oh, you didn't negotiate at all with her before this, did you dummy?"

"I know I should have, but she was so hot and was being so incredibly submissive at the time. I just went for it."

"So that was it? A solid deal breaker, huh?"

"Yup, wouldn't you feel the same way?"

"Well I'd negotiate first, but yes, I would feel the same way. We can talk all she wants, and she has her safeword, but I always call the shots."

"Dude, how about this one, she's totally your type!"

"Shut the fuck up man, she's in a goddam hospital bed!"

"Okay, okay, I was just saying."

* * *

When I opened my eyes again, I didn't feel anyone's hand holding mine and a pillow blocked my view of the rest of the room. I felt terribly cold, like my veins were full of ice and I cried out. "Nick! Whip! You...you promised, you bastard! Whip!" My voice was scratchy but I strained to call for him. Where was he? Was he even real?

Then I heard an exaggerated sigh as his head popped into view. He pulled the pillow down out of my way to reveal that he had been reading on a laptop with the chair partially reclined, his legs casually propped up on a stool. Something about the way that he was sitting made me feel like he owned his surroundings. "So I'm a bastard, eh?" he mused. "That's one way to say thanks I guess. By the way, call me Whip, not Nick. Don't make me tell you twice." He winked, but he used that tone again that made me think I'd better not test him. It seemed a friendly way of indicating that he expected to be obeyed.

"Sorry, uh, Whip. I was a little confused and thought I might have dreamed all this up. Was there someone else in the room?"

His face betrayed just a hint of surprise, "Why do you ask that?"

"Oh, no reason, I thought I heard another voice when I was waking up. What time is it by the way?"

"It's around Noon, and you just deflected my question, but I have nowhere to go, which means that you have all day if you decide to tell me what you're choosing not to say. You know, I've spent a long time learning how to tell when people are holding back. I like you, you've got a spark in you, so I'll hear you out if you want to open up to me. It's your choice."

My stomach sank a little. Part of me was concerned because he said I'd have all day and that made me wonder if he was leaving at night. What did I expect? He had no obligation to stay as long as he had already. Who was this helpless version of me? Why wasn't I being my normal confident, determined, independent self? How was it that easy to tell I was holding back and did that mean that the conversation I heard was real? My last relationship had ended in flames after being betrayed by someone I had come to trust. It was a D/s situation that just didn't work out. Did he really just say that I had a 'spark'? This all seemed honestly too good to be true and that made me try to escape in the only way I could:

I took a slow, deep breath and braced myself. "Uh, okay. You know, you don't have to stay until the evening. I'll be okay if you go now." The words were hard to say and I felt a little choke in my throat, but I really tried to sound sincere.

"Right. Well I know I can go whenever I want. I'm choosing to stay. I'm staying as long as you are. I have a buddy bringing me some things from my house as we speak. You don't abandon someone after you rescue them." He stated this, as if it should all be obvious.

"I appreciate you saying that, but it's really...."

"Em," he cut me off in a commanding voice, "don't waste your energy."

Feeling a bit chastised, I mumbled an apology and tried to turn the volume up on the TV. Unfortunately the remote fell and I couldn't reach over the side of the bed. Whip nabbed it and asked what I wanted to watch in a much softer voice now. I replied, "Might I have something quiet and not very flashy, please?" He turned to a public broadcast of a Christmas concert with Andrea Bocelli. With a raised eyebrow he asked if I had any complaints and I gave a slight shake of my head. Then thought again and said with just a hint of concern, "But I am frozen, I can't get warm."

He stood and did something completely unexpected. Taking his shoes off, he said that he'd climb under the covers with me. He explained that his friend would soon return with a thick wool blanket and an arctic bomber hat, and in the mean time I could share his heat. I was a little incredulous but he assured me it was no joke. We lay there for a while, his strong arms holding me tightly as I rested my head on his warm, hard chest. This day had gone from hell to heaven.

I fell asleep again, and had no dreams. The vibrations in his chest alerted me to the fact that he was speaking to someone, causing me to slowly return to reality. I looked over to see an equally attractive man, albeit with lighter hair and blue eyes, sitting comfortably next to us. "Hey there, this is Dan, we call him Trap, but he hates that name."

Dan smiled warmly. "You almost get caught in a lion trap one time, and no one let's you forget it!" he laughed. "And I hear your name is Em; it's nice to meet you. I trust that Whip hasn't been too hard on you?"

"He's been only too kind, as you can sort of see." I said as I snuggled against him.

With that Whip gave me a squeeze and started to get up a bit and said that he would freshen up a little and let me enjoy the warm blanket and hat Dan had brought. He said that Dan would stay right there with me. I reluctantly let go and Whip helped to prop me up just a little higher than before so that I could start to sit up a. My head pounded, but the sight of the two gorgeous men was a welcome distraction as they both helped to tuck me in tightly.

* * *

I was giggling as Dan read part of his humorous blog to me when I stopped abruptly at the sight of Whip exiting the bathroom with only a towel around his waist. I think my jaw dropped a little and a hint of a spark ignited between my legs.

"Hi." I squeaked in a failed attempt to sound nonchalant. The two men laughed aloud. It was starting to add up: the way he saved me, his commanding nature, his strength, and his ability to read me. I had to say something about the conversation I overheard before I lost my nerve.

Whip tossed a fresh shirt and pants on. I tried not to stare, but from his bulge alone I could tell that he had a lot to offer.

"I'm ready to ask you." I said shyly.

"Repeat that," said Whip.

I gave him a questioning look.

"Say it again," he prodded.

"I want to ask you now, about what held back from telling you before."

"Go ahead then." He replied, pulling up a chair and indicating that Dan should listen up also.

"Okay, well what I think I heard. Umm...you were maybe talking about what you both like to do...uh, in the bedroom." I raised my inflection at the end, trying to elicit some guidance.

Both men continued to sit still and waited for me to continue.

"You're not making this easy." I complained.

"Nope," said Whip. "I'm not about making things 'easy.'" He said, mocking me with air quotes.

I sighed and continued, letting it all spill out, "I think that you are both Doms, like in a BDSM sense and I've done that before, I mean I've been a sub, I mean I am a sub, not that I have a Dom right now..."

I gulped a breath and went on; "Maybe you, well at least you Whip and well, I think Dan too. You seem trustable, err, I mean..trustworthy. At least most people don't save people just to kill them. Well, not civilians at least. Oh shit, sorry." I winced, this was not an awesome pitch. "I want to see, or at least maybe talk about if you, ... if you'd give me a chance to be your sub." I started biting my nails reflexively.

Both men seemed to relax and gave one another a knowing look. They were communicating something that I couldn't hope to decipher.

Whip gave me a stern look, "Don't bite your nails Em."

"Sorry," I whispered, putting my hand down and grabbing hold of the blanket instead. His stern demand, albeit a small one, made me feel a little hint of warmth inside; a small miracle under the circumstances.

"I'll tell you what, Dan needs a little bit of a refresher on negotiation anyway. So let's say that tomorrow we'll sit down and have a good talk about it. You really don't need too much extra excitement today." Whip said, giving me a reassuring smile before climbing back under the blankets with me.