She was awoken by the smell of a warm fire and what smelled like Chai tea. She opens her eyes to see her laying on a couch that is not hers, in a room that is not hers, and her anxiety shoots up.
She heard noises in what she assumed was the kitchen and called out, "Hello? Who's there? William? William! Where are you?"
She attempted to stand from the couch but cried out in pain and fell to the floor crying holding her ankle.
She hears running and sees William in the doorway with a look of concern on his face.
He quickly moved to her side sliding next to her on his knees. "Oh, Jessica, I'm sorry, I went to make some tea since you were asleep. I wrapped your ankle and knee but loosely as I didn't want to wake you from your sleep. Can I help you back on the couch?" He says in a concerned voice fully knowing she would be extremely guarded right now.
"I can do it." She sniffed out, wiping her tears.
Gutted he replies "Ok, I will be right here if you need me."
"Thanks" she grunts out.
She slides her back to the front of the couch to position her arms for leverage to lift herself up. She put both arms on either side of the couch in an awkward position and tried to push herself up. She attempted 3 more times before tears started to stream down her face again.
William leaned in wiping the tears from her face. "Jessica, can I please help you? I don't like seeing you in pain like this." He pleaded.
She sniffed out an "OK".
With ease William puts his two hands under her armpits and picks her up. Setting her to a standing position. "May I give you a hug?" He asks, looking in her eyes while still steadying her.
Sniffing out "yes" in a whisper.
He leans in and wraps his arms around her arms pulling her in close. She lifts the free portion of the bottom of her arms to pull him in tighter grasping onto his shirt, she breathes in his warm earthy scent that excites and calms her at the same time. He places his chin on top of her head.
How tall is he, she wondered, as she was 5 '10 and had never met a man that actually made her feel small. He was built with a board chest, dad bod, which she liked and, oh my goodness, killer quads! The kind that could crush a man's head like sparrow egg. The thought made her giggle a little.
He breathed out and slowly released her after giving a tighter squeeze. Her arms fell to her side and he gently grasped her forearm to help lower her down to the couch again. "Ok, I will be right back with supplies and tea." As he walked off, he turned quickly around and asked "Do you like tea?"
Jessica responded, "Yes, Chai or an earthy black tea is good."
"Perfect, I love Chai tea. I will be right back. Please don't try to get up." He said.
"Yes, Sir" she saluted poorly.
He replied with a chuckle, "We are gonna need to work on that salute, little soldier."
She smiled softly at the little comment.
Less than 5 minutes later he returned with the first aid kit tucked under his arm, two mugs of steaming tea in one hand, honey jar and what looked like sugar packets and a spoon in the other.
Kneeling down next to her he looked into her eyes, "Hi, I hope you enjoyed your nap."
Placing the mugs down on the floor. He reached to the side of the couch and pulled the side table over next to her then placed the mugs on the table. Then placed the honey and sugar packets on the table. "Ok I wasn't sure if you liked your tea with honey, sugar or black. I think I have some milk if you prefer that." He said.
"Honey is actually perfect or black." She responded.
"Awesome, me too!" He chuckled. He scooped a tablespoon of honey and gestured if this was enough she lifted her hand saying a little less. He let some of the honey back in the jar and then stirred it into the tea. The aroma was amazing. He handed her the mug saying to be careful as it was hot she nodded and proceeded to take small sips humming with delight as the warm liquid moved down her throat.
He fixed his tea the same way and took a similar small sip at first. Before a large gulp. She smiled as he remarked that it was hot.
He set the first-aid box to his right and proceeded to open it and remove the items he would need. He removed 4 rolls of ace bandages, 2 different types of pain meds, some wet wipes, antibacterial cream, and a couple of bandaids. He looked up at her and said "Okay you ready for this or do you I wanna finish your tea first?"
"Let's get it over with. It's starting to hurt more now." She replied.
He lifted the pain meds to her and asked her to open them while he went to get something for her to eat and a glass of water. She got to work on opening the packets. Returning to her side he handed her a strawberry and peanut butter uncrustable and a glass of water. He placed a small bucket of water on the floor. She lit up at the item as they were her favorite.
He smiled saying "So I take it you're not allergic to peanuts. Eat this before taking the pills."
She put the pills on the table and shook her head eagerly, opening the PBJ. She looked up at him and smiled as she took the first bite.
He looked at her with concern. "Ok, now comes the not fun part. You do have some cuts on your ankle and knee that we couldn't see before because of the dirt. I will need to clean the area but wouldn't want to do that if you were not awake."
He started to unwrap the ankle first and she watched as he worked. She saw the deep bruising that was forming on her ankle and a scratch across her ankle as well. He pulled the washcloth from the bucket and twisted out most of the water. He lifted the cloth and said, "I will be as gentle as I can but this will not feel comfortable."
She nodded.
He first put the cloth on her ankle and the weight was more than she thought it would be. He gently wiped the ankle to clean it up. Rinsing the cloth 2 times.
She could see the cut and was astonished she didn't break her ankle.
He took a towel that he had resting on his shoulder and dried the area. Then tossing it back over his shoulder. He wiped the area with the wet wipes to clear any remaining debris then dabbed on the antibacterial cream and proceeded to put a large bandaid on to cover the area. He took the wet wipes and cleaned up her shin seeing more bruising.
She would wince whenever he would add a bit of pressure but would ease off very quickly.
He said "Sorry, I'm used to different types of wounds, but I need to make sure everything else is ok."
"I understand normally I have a high pain tolerance but right now everything hurts" she replied.
