Chapter 11: Lacie's Day Off
Heather didn't let Lacie sleep much that night, due to her concussion. She woke Lacie intermittently, checking on her condition, making sure her head injury didn't worsen. Most of the group stayed in the medical suite, only Lindsey and Master went outside once Master's 'friends' arrived. For a few hours the girls heard nothing about what was going on. Then Master came back with Lindsey in tow. Lindsey had gotten dressed up in an outfit made of nothing but lace and leather, a show for the men outside investigating the breach of Master's property. Two men in dark suits entered the medical suite behind Master. They shook the girl's hands, and Master introduced them as his friends Don Michaels and Brian Edwards.
Brian began checking Lacie's injuries almost immediately, while apologizing for the awkward inspection, tossing question after technical question at Heather. Heather was delighted to have someone else to talk to who knew medicine. Soon the two were so deep in medical detail that it confused Lacie and made her head hurt. Later, Lacie learned that he had been a medic in the army for a few years, before getting out of the armed forces.
His partner fired question after question at Lacie, who did her best to answer. Part of her was irritated at the constant stream of seemingly repetitive questions, but it helped keep her mind off the other man still scrutinizing her injuries. Don wrapped up his questions for Lacie and picked up his radio, speaking rapidly to his men outside. Brian finished with Lacie soon after, reluctantly wrapping up his discussion with Heather. He commended her on her exemplary care of Lacie, and departed with his partner, both men speaking to the assembled women in turn, being as courteous as possible.
Master followed his friends out of the room, and Heather finally gave Lacie permission to sleep. The other girls hunkered down inside the medical suite, unable to return to their rooms due to the uniformed men still swarming the grounds, looking for more intruders. Lacie closed her eyes and smiled, remembering the short, passionate kiss she had shared with Master only a few hours previously. She was out in moments.
The next morning Lacie woke to the soft breathing sounds of the other girls. Looking to her left, Lacie saw Claire and Lindsey cuddling on the next bed, both sound asleep. Callie and Heather were in the bed to her right, though they were facing away from each other.
Lacie's mouth was dry, making her grimace in discomfort. Lacie tried to sit up to get a glass of water, but a sudden, pounding headache made her flop back with a groan. Immediately, she felt a soft hand on her shoulder.
"What do you need, sweetie?" Lacie heard Tara say. Lacie croaked a response.
"Water."
"Let me get you that. You shouldn't be moving around with your ankle. Back in a flash." Lacie heard Tara patter barefoot across the med suite. The sound of running water came from nearby and soon the small girl was back at Lacie's bedside, holding out a glass of water. Lacie cracked her eyes open and lifted the glass to her lips. The water was slightly warm and tasted funny, but it soothed her mouth and throat, quenching Lacie's thirst.
"Thanks." Lacie said, her voice much softer as she looked at the asian girl.
"No worries. I was up anyway. I couldn't sleep at all last night."
Not that she was going to say anything, but it was obvious to Lacie that Tara wasn't exaggerating. The smaller girl's eyes were slightly bloodshot and had dark circles under them. She pulled herself up onto the foot of Lacie's bed and perched there, her legs dangling off the edge.
"I was really freaked out last night. We thought that they had caught you and you'd fought free at first. Then Marie told us what she saw by the door. I didn't know Master could fight like that." a shiver ran down Tara's spine.
"I'm glad he can. I wouldn't be here if he couldn't." Lacie said with a smile. "Lock the door then come here. You can lay down next to me."
Tara gave Lacie a small smile of gratitude before hopping down to lock the door. Once Tara got back, she pulled herself up onto the bed next to Lacie. Laying her head down with a moan, Tara began to fill Lacie in on what had happened since she fell asleep.
"Master's friends came back in a few hours after you conked out."
"Did they find anyone else?"
"No people. Some footprints though. Master's people brought in dogs around midnight. All of the trails ended up circling back to the broken fence. They think that the rest of the poachers got spooked when Master killed those two guys. They're launching an investigation into who they were. Hauled the bodies off right away. Hopefully that will pan out. Master hired a crew of guys to chop the tree up and repair the fence. It should be running again by tomorrow. He doesn't want us going outside the mansion itself till then though. The doors are all barred from the inside, so not even Master can get in unless we let him in. We're safe for now. We don't think any poachers got into the house, but we're traveling in pairs just in case. Bridget went with Ana to go make us some breakfast. I said I'd stay up here in case someone woke up and had to go get something."
"So we stopped them?"
"Sounds that way." Tara said, rolling over to face Lacie. "Thank you for that. If you hadn't seen the tree, we'd have never known they were here till it was too late. Heather says you nearly killed yourself trying to get back here to warn us." Tara's eyes clouded with unfallen tears of gratitude as she held her arms out to Lacie. "Thank you."
Lacie smiled, holding her arms out to the shorter girl as Tara enfolded her in a hug.
"You'd have done the same for me." Lacie responded, knowing it was the truth. A different voice croaked out from the next bed over.
"Touching. Now can you two please quiet down so I can go back to sleep?" Lacie couldn't see who it was, but she did see Tara lift her head and stick her tiny tongue out at the offending speaker.
"Oh, zip it Claire."
Lacie could hear muffled snickering from the next bed over as Claire lay back down.
"Anytime you want to put that tongue to better use, let me know, cutie."
Tara flushed scarlet all the way to the tops of her ears as she ducked back behind Lacie. Both girls could hear Claire's muffled laughter as the older girl buried her face in a pillow to keep from waking the others. Lacie smiled to herself. Everything seemed like it was back to normal.
A soft tapping came from the door, and Lacie recognized Ana's distinctive, slightly timid knock.
"Open up!" Bridget called from the other side of the door. "We're back with breakfast."
Lacie heard Claire sigh and get up. Looking over her shoulder, Lacie flushed when she saw that both Claire and Lindsey apparently had slept in the nude. Claire winked at Lacie before throwing the covers back over Lindsey, who was still fast asleep. Reaching down, Claire picked up a robe and slipped it on. Another insistent knock came from the door and Claire responded irritably.
"Yeah yeah, hold your damn horses. Gimme a sec to put some clothes on. Safe Code?" Claire queried. There was a small sigh outside and they heard Ana speak up in response.
"Claire, be for opening the damn doors of please. Is cold out here and I are not for wanting to waste my timing of playing word games with silly little girls. Is just us for being out here and food are getting cold."
Claire's look of incredulity made Lacie giggle. It was probably the first time either of them had ever heard Ana cuss. The stunned look remained on Claire's face as she unlocked the doors. The handle turned and swept inwards as Bridget and Ana pushed their way into the med suite. They were hauling a large cart between them, and it was absolutely full of trays, plates, glasses and utensils. As Ana brushed past the slack jawed Claire, she lifted herself onto tiptoe and planted a quick kiss on Claire's cheek, teasing the older girl again.
"Thanks you." she said, a huge grin on her face.
Claire was so confused, Lacie swore she could have blown her over with a feather. Bridget and Ana were giggling up a storm, and Lacie could feel Tara shaking with silent laughter as she lay next to her. Finally, Claire seemed to come out of it and turned to Lacie, a querying look on her face. Lacie simply held up her hands and shrugged. The confused girl shook her head and closed the door again, locking it once it was shut. Bridget and Ana were gently shaking girls awake all around the room, passing out plates from the cart they had pushed in with them. Claire sidled up to Ana and bumped the shorter girl with her hip.
"Silly little girl? You're at least four inches shorter than me, missy." Claire said to her, cocking one eyebrow at the grinning Ana.
"Really?" A teasing light grew in Ana's eyes. "Perhaps I are meaning little in other ways." she said suggestively, turning to face Claire directly. Ana ran her hands up Claire's robe, stopping right as her hands slid over the once-again stunned Claire's chest. Gently pushing, Ana backed Claire up to the counter, her hands gently squeezing Claire's breasts through her robe. Leaning in, Ana moved as if to kiss the taller girl, slowly angling her head back, lifting herself onto her tiptoes as Claire moaned weakly. Less than a hairsbreadth from making contact with Claire's lips, Ana smiled and suddenly tweaked Claire's nipples, winking at her before dancing back, dodging Claire's questing lips as the other girl instinctively leaned in, trying to kiss Ana.
"See? Silly." Turning and skipping away, Ana once again left Claire standing there, gaping like a stranded fish. Laughter echoed through the small room as the rest of the girls began to giggle at the expression on Claire's face. It was rare to see someone teasing Claire, since she was usually the one doing the teasing. To see one of the most shy and awkward amongst them do it to her made it even more funny to the assembled girls.
