All of the characters in this work of fiction are above the age of 18.
This chapter contains violence, elements of lesbian sex and light bondage.
Previously, in this series, a young woman witnessed the murder of her husband on their wedding day before she was violently raped. The woman, Marie Stevens Melar, was an Emergency Department nurse and used her training to get through traumatic experiences to push all thoughts of grief to the back of her subconscious. She had gone through the motions, but not allowed herself to grieve. She lived in a house on Long Island's south shore with her sister, Jenn Stevens, and Jenn's betrothed, Chloe Drasher. Marie identified her attackers and testified against them in court. Marie had a few scars, one from the night of her rape when she was nearly stabbed to death; one from a gunshot wound to her shoulder. Marie had a support system in place: her housemates, her parents, Catherine and Harry (who, secretly, are into bondage), her brother-in-law, Frank (who, not so secretly, has a crush on her), her judge friend, Holly (who may or may not have raped Marie in the process of comforting her) and several nurses with whom Marie had slept. Kevin, Marie's therapist, had noticed that Marie finally seemed ready to begin the grieving process she has denied for so long. Chloe had been hit by a driver who was texting. Frank flew up to see Chloe. Jenn stayed in the hospital room with Chloe. Marie had given notice and was working her final days at the hospital. She was crying, naked, in her room. She was interrupted by Frank, who was also naked.
Thank you very much for the votes and comments on the previous chapters. The wonderful thing about writing about a person denying their grief is that you can incorporate comments into later chapters. Thanks to everyone who has contributed to the series in this way. Please feel free to give polite constructive criticism. I'm happy to answer questions, except about what's coming next. I do, eventually, read all the comments and often respond to them. So you are welcome to ask questions or, politely, tell me what I'm doing wrong. I am flabbergasted whenever Literotica authors I like read my pitiful prose. As this has happened a few times, I'm in a very happy place.
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Marie was shocked to see Frank standing in front of her. Her breasts were exposed enough to show her erect nipples. Her bed covers shielded the view of everything below that. Frank's hand was on her shoulder and her eyes followed his arm back to his body. His naked body and his semi-erect cock were right freaking there. Frank looked very much like Trent, Marie's late husband. Frank had always been a slightly younger looking "twin". Frank was actually a few months younger than Marie. In the time since Trent's murder, Frank had aged to look exactly as his brother did before his untimely death. Maybe not exactly. Frank definitely was tanner. Marie had never seen Trent naked. She imagined the sight before her was roughly what the experience would have been like. There was a strange mixture of emotions. This moment in time was awkward, yet sexy.
"What are you doing in my room?" Marie asked quietly. Her body was still shaking from her tears. It had a marvelous effect on her pert breasts; something which was not lost on Frank.
"I heard you crying," said Frank plainly, "and I wanted to make sure you were alright."
"I'm fine as frog's hair," said Marie.
"You're fine as what?" asked Frank, not understanding the expression. Neither person made any attempt to cover themselves. This did not go unnoticed by either person.
"Oh," said Marie, "we once had a resident from the south who used to use that phrase. I guess I picked it up."
Frank said, "You can put it back down. It sounds very weird when you say it."
Marie's crying had quieted. She smiled, slightly, and said, "Not so weird to make me unattractive, I trust? Your little friend has grown about an inch since I said it."
"Yeah," said Frank sheepishly. "My 'little friend' reacted to you saying that you were 'fine.' He agrees. Is this making you uncomfortable?"
"No," Marie said softly. "I see naked men every single day. I'm not uncomfortable looking at a penis."
"I'm guessing you see naked women everyday, too?" asked Frank.
"Of course."
"I should have been a nurse," Frank said.
"You wouldn't be able to handle the stress of my job," said Marie. "By the way, what do you do for a living?"
"I live off my inheritance and my investments," replied Frank.
"That's not a job," said Marie. "I do that, too. I've invested my inheritance money and increased my portfolio, but it's not a job."
"Well, it's as close to a job as I ever wanted to have," said Frank. "You're not crying anymore. Are you feeling better?"
"A little," admitted Marie. "Thank you." She wasn't completely relaxed but her tears were gone and that was something.
"Do you want a hug?" asked Frank.
"I don't think I'm ready for that yet," said Marie. "I'd probably have a flashback and beat you to a pulp if you got too close to me right now. If you want, though, you could sit down and we could keep talking..."
Frank did want to. He sat respectfully at the foot of the bed and they spoke casually for another hour. Neither made any attempts to cover their nudity until Marie did so instinctively when she felt cold. They shook hands since Frank did not want to be slapped (or worse) if he attempted a kiss, and said goodnight to each other. The experience, oddly enough, was not a sexual one and neither in-law masturbated that night.
Marie got up much earlier than Frank did. He did not wake up until long after Marie went to work for the day. She went through her normal routine and walked briskly to Traci's new room to check on her before morning report. Traci was still alive. She was moved to the sub-acute section of the ED. She was no longer in Marie's section. Marie got report from the night nurse and then went back to check on Traci.
Traci did much better Saturday than she had Friday. She stayed conscious longer and she was speaking well. Her sats only went down once and she never fully coded. Marie was able to visit Traci several times during the day. Saturday was unusually slow. A slow Saturday in an Emergency Department could only mean one thing: Sunday was going to suck balls. The only thing one could do on a slow ED day was enjoy it for as long as it lasted. Marie, therefore, chose to check on Traci.
At one point, Marie went in to check up on Traci and found her crying. This set off Marie. She hugged Traci and dissolved into a blubbering mess. Mike, one of the ED Techs, was going to step in and stop the crying women. Another Tech, Jessie, grabbed Mike before he could enter Traci's room.
"Um, uh, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Jessie asked Mike.
Defensively, Mike answered, "They're crying. I'm just going to get them to stop."
"Are you fucking kidding me?" snapped Jessie. "Get your ass out of sub-acute, Mr. Testosterone, and let the frigging tears flow!"
No words were spoken for several minutes as the women hugged and sobbed. Eventually, Marie's tears stopped and Traci also stopped crying. Earlier, Marie had found the card for Detective Rodrigues and after their shared cry, she gave it to Traci. The rest of Marie's shift was relatively easy. She assaulted herself with questions of what she should do next. Should she tell her friends she'd quit? Should she stay overnight at the hospital to avoid seeing Frank? Should she give Traci her number? Should she avoid visiting Jenn and Chloe? In the end, she chose to answer all of these questions with a "no".
After giving report to the night nurse, Marie spent three minutes visiting Traci. They did not cry this time. Instead, they sat in quiet conversation. Marie kept it short. She could see Traci was facing her issues and would need her space. Marie went up to the Medical/Surgical Unit.
Upon entering Chloe's room, Marie saw Chloe and Jenn in the bed together laughing hard, to the point of tears. Both Chloe and Jenn were wearing hospital gowns. Neither woman seemed to notice Marie's entrance.
