Whip and Em

I awoke on the side of the road to the sound of someone speaking loudly into a telephone while holding me down. "Yea, I have her under control now, but she hasn't really calmed down at all and still seems confused. Just look for the glowing blue flashlight and come as quickly as you can please." I saw the blurry face of a man, and then realized with horror that neither of us was wearing a shirt.

"What the fuck are you doing!? Let me go, you asshole!" I shouted while struggling to get him off of me. My arms swung clumsily and everything seemed very foggy. I couldn't get my words out right and it sounded more like I was moaning, "fuuhh...do...me...asshhole." He was saying words that I couldn't quite make out. All I heard was, "Relax...calm down..." and the rest returned to garbled sounds. This was all like a very strange dream. I kept drifting in and out of sleep as if he had drugged me with a sedative, but instead of allowing me to fade off, this man kept shouting and waking me up again. This dream within a dream was never ending until at last I started to see red and white bursts of light accompanied by a loud screaming sound.

* * *

When I reopened my eyes I was struck by a horrible headache. Squinting to hide from the light, I recognized the man from my dream. The pain in my head pulsed terribly with every beat of my rapidly accelerating heart. In fear, tears started falling from my watery eyes. Then I felt his strong hand squeeze mine. The heat was so intense that I thought his grip might have burned me. "What...who...don't hurt me..please!" I cried softly. He reached his other hand toward my face and I flinched, but he simply gave a soft, "shh" before wiping the tears from my cheeks.

"Hey, I'm not going to hurt you. In fact, I kind of saved your life. Well to be exact, your pup and I did. I found you on the street with your dog by your side. Thought you might have been the victim of a hit and run or something. What were you doing out there?"

"I was...well, umm. Taking Coda, that's my German Shepherd, for a walk I think." I replied with an inflection that clearly indicated my continued confusion. "So, you didn't punch me in the head or try to rape me or something?"

"What!? No of course not. I would never!" He sounded a bit offended.

I grumbled with a sigh. "Sorry, I think I have no filter right now. There was a dream...and someone was kind of naked and so was I...we were like...cuddling but he wouldn't let me up...or something."

"Well you got me there." He chuckled with a smirk and gave my hand a squeeze, seeming to be reassuring me yet clearly also amused with himself. "You were pretty hypothermic and skin to skin contact is the first response for rewarming in the field."

I cut him off, "In the what...? Are you a medic or ambulance man or something? Damnit, I am usually a lot smarter than I sound right now." I started to open my eyes wider and looked down at his hand. His skin was rough and more tan than usual for this time of year. The muscles in his forearm were visible even while relaxed and his biceps looked strong enough to lift me off the ground with ease. His form fitted t-shirt was on again but his jacket was unzipped, revealing a very well defined chest. I looked above the shadow of stubble on his face into warm brown eyes. "You're really hot by the way, did you know that?"

Now his smirk turned into a full grin. His cheeks flushed as he tried to choke down his laughter. "Uh, thanks I guess. You're very...well from what I saw, and I wasn't trying to look. Erm, what I mean is, you look lovely even in this hospital bed."

"Thanks." I blushed, "Do you have a name?"

"I do, my name is Nick, but people call me Whip. And I am not an 'ambulance man;' but I was Special Forces for about 11 years. So I have a decent amount of training. No one knows your name yet though." As he answered I could see the sun rising through the window and started to relax a bit.

"Oh, sorry...I'm Marissa, but everyone calls me Em."

"So Em, what were you doing out there on the street, in the dark, at 4am, on a snowy morning?"

"My dog, Coda, something woke him up and then he woke me up at like 2. Wouldn't let me fall back to sleep...licking and licking and licking my face." I realized I still sounded a little bit like a drunk, but continued on; "So I took the darn beast for a walk. He loves the snow and started running but his leash was stuck on my coat. I guess that made me lose my footing and slip on the ice. Don't know what I hit my head on. Then, viola!" I exclaimed, "Naked you and me!" I gave a slightly embarrassed chuckle.

Whip shrugged, "I couldn't sleep either. Went for my morning jog early and found you there. It was so dark I nearly ran past you, but your dog growled as I came closer. That's when I saw you there. Blood on your forehead and barely managing to still shiver. Your pulse was weak and your breath was slow and shallow. I gave you my hat, opened your jacket and tore your shirt open. Sorry about that, I'll buy you a new one." He winked. "I held my bare chest to yours and called for an ambulance. You started to wake and were acting like a drunk; slurred speech, struggling against me. So I had to hold you down and keep you pinned to me until help arrived."

"Ohh, this is starting to make a lot more sense. Sorry for accusing you of being a crazy rapist dude." I said through droopy eyes.

He gave me a warm smile and squeezed my hand. "Don't worry, I'll give you a free pass this time." He replied in a tone that hinted he might only be half kidding.