Khaat finally began to stir. She had slept soundly once Brian had forcefully driven her worst fears away. She didn't voice her fears easily, but that had never ever stopped Brian from seeing through her like glass and seeing every single one of them. She woke, finding she was using Brian's chest as a pillow.
"Were you here all night?" she asked softly.
"Yes. Since about 2."
"I'm sorry. I should have been braver."
"Don't be sorry. It's alright. Feeling better? Any more nightmares?"
"No more nightmares. I' m fine at the moment, but I havent tried to get up yet, either. "
"Let's try--slowly." He shifted to allow her to move, but her stiffness stopped her. She groaned. "Hold still," he said calmly. "You're just going to hurt yourself that way. Here." He helped her stretch out, and he got a bottle of lotion and treated her to a full body massage. It was a mix of a lot of pain from all the bruises and battered muscles, and also relief as he began working out some of the stiffness and soreness. He was slow, methodical, and very thorough. It helped immesely. "Better?" he asked.
"Much. Thank you."
"Okay. Glad to help. I'm going to go shower quick. By then you should be ready to shower. If you need help just ask."
Khaat watched Brian get up and go off to shower. She got up and opened her closet. As she did, she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror. The bruises were now fully black. She was hideous. She hadn't seen it yesterday. Hadn't looked in the mirror. Suddenly she was totally humiliated and embarressed. She closed her closet. No sundresses or shorts today. She chose a pair of well worn, soft jeans, a cotton longsleeved blouse with a thin pinstipe windowpane check in a tan color that was so pale it was merely a trace of elegance. She didn't wear the blouse much except with jeans. She showered, combed her hair out and left it wet to airdry. She rolled the sleeves up partway up to her elbows and checked herself in the mirror. She sighed heavily. There was no way to cover that up or make it look any better. She felt hideous. She was trying very hard to come to grips with the fact that they had all seen it before--continuously, every day since it happened. And she wasn't sure if it really did look worse today, or if it just felt that way. She did know, as a healer, that sometimes it took a day or two for bruises to fully manifest. But she had never felt this victimized or humiliated in her life. She chose slip on sneakers. She was hoping to slip off down to the beach to take a walk by herself after breakfast. Somehow she had to come to grips with this before she brought everybody down. She put on a tiny pair of gold hoop earrings and went downstairs.
Brian had just gotten a couple of cups of coffee--one for himself and one for her when he saw her come downstairs. He kissed her forhead softly. "Very pretty," he said. "Coffee?"
'Thanks," she smiled. "Good morning." she said to Steven and Ronata.