Before they sit down to a good meal, Vincent walks around a little and does some stretches. Adison takes a comfortable chair and is bored. She cannot read, and moving around hurts her head, so she watches Victor bustle in the kitchen, and Vincent doing his stretching exercises.
'After breakfast and the bath, you're back to bed,' Victor tells her, and she knows he is right. Better take few days rest and get bored, than neglect the concussion and suffer dizziness and headaches for months.
'And I've sent a boy to Bruce already, to come and get you for the play, Vincent. I'm afraid you're on your own, I have patients tonight. If we neglect them any longer, they'll move to another practice. They can make do without Adison for a week or so,' Victor says.
'Thanks Victor, I will be perfectly fine with Bruce and my friends in the theatre. I hope Mina will not mind staying with Adison.'
'She won't,' a voice sounds from the entrance. Mina is standing in the doorway, looking stunning in the new blue dress. Victor is speechless and frozen to the ground. He looks so much like a love-struck boy, the change with the bossy doctor a few moments ago so profound, that she feels the compliment to her beauty more than words could ever express, even if they were written by the greatest poet.
He is irresistible, and Mina wants to greet her lover after a night of separation, but she can't go into the kitchen: the sun's still up and the kitchen is too light. They stand there, staring at each other with longing, until Adison realizes it isn't dark yet, and asks Vincent, 'Would you close the curtains, love? Mina seems to have awoken a bit early.'
He quickly does, and the new lovers approach each other as if drawn by a magnet. Finally, Victor seems to have found his voice back.
'I knew you were beautiful, and I knew you'd look great in that dress, but this...'
The rest of what he is planning to say is cut off by a passionate kiss. For a moment, the rest of the world disappears.
Vincent and Adison concentrate on the food to give the young lovers a bit of privacy, but the smell of food distracts Victor immensely, and Mina soon breaks off the kiss.
'Your body craves the food, my love. Better listen to it, I'll watch, I like seeing people eat, I used to love solid food.'
Victor is already eating away, choosing the rich stuff they never used to have at their table. Between bites he asks, 'Do you want to feed when I'm done?'
'I can wait until you return tonight, you'll need your energy for your patients and it is easier to replenish blood when you're resting. I still feel your blood in me very clearly, I'm constantly aware of you. Tonight will be soon enough.'
Victor is fine with that, it'd be indecent anyway to do it in the kitchen, even once Adison and Vincent have retired to their bath.
When dark finally arrives, they have all had a nice hot bath, and Vincent is feeling invigorated once again. The hot water has brought great relief to his physical inconvenience, he feels quite ready for the theatre. But it has made Adison very sleepy once again, so she retires to her bed immediately after. Sleep will be her best cure.
As Vincent dresses to go out, not forgetting some weaponry, Victor also dresses as befits a successful doctor and checks his supplies. He doesn't forget his gun and his hidden blade either. He will do his rounds when his patients most likely have finished dinner.
But soon after dark, and before dinner, there is a knock at the door. Thinking Bruce is come early to return or pick up some books, Vincent opens the door without checking who is behind it first. He is startled and a bit alarmed to see Miss Yves standing there, carefully groomed and dressed.
Needless to say the difference in her looks as compared to yesterday is acute. Seeing Sembene behind her, he realizes their intervention yesterday must have been successful.
Vincent is still silently berating himself for his carelessness, when she takes his hand.
