Andrea was floating and in the tender embrace of someone gentle, someone loving. There was calmness, a surrender of sorts. A peacefulness that one only knows when you've surrendered after a good fight. And then she woke up.
It took Andrea a minute or so to gather her senses. She was in bed. There was no noise, no movement. As her consciousness became more acute so did her senses and the first sense was taste. It was a metallic taste in her mouth. She recognized it. She had a tooth pulled years ago and she remembered the taste of blood. She turned her head and pain shot through her face and neck. She moved slower now, painfully but manageable. She turned to see Mike lying in bed, naked and facing away from her. The image helped her to remember... remember him on top of her, remember the pain, remember her pleading for him to stop. She lay there for a minute fearing he would be awake and turn on her again but he didn't move.
Andrea started to turn to get up but her body was wracked with pain. She moved slowly and got into a seated position with her legs hanging off the side of the bed. She saw she still had one leg in her shorts and she bent to pull them on but it felt like a knife stabbing her side. She decided not to bother. She raised herself up and steadied herself and took a few steps over to her dresser, which she leaned on for support. She slowly turned and looked back at the bed.
The first thing she noticed was blood on the pillow case. She knew it was hers but didn't know why she was bleeding. She lifted her hand to her face and felt the caked blood around her mouth and the swelling of the side of her face. She guessed that someone had hit her pretty hard and that someone had to be Mike. She glanced further down on the bed and suddenly her legs buckled. Where she had been sitting the sheets were stained with blood and ejaculate... blood and ejaculate coming from her. She slid down the wall to a seated position, grimacing in pain. It was coming back now.
She reached down, put her leg through her shorts, pulled them up and puller herself to her feet. She had to go, to get out of there before something else happened. She walked out of the bedroom and down the stairs, using the wall for balance. Each step shot pain inside every opening of her body. She gasped for breath but could only inhale a small amount of air before pain shot through her side. At the bottom of the stairs she grabbed her purse and keys, opened the door quietly and walked out of the house. Seconds later she was driving away.
Twenty minutes later she was standing outside Stix's front door. She didn't remember driving there, didn't know why she drove there and didn't know what to expect. She had nowhere else to go. She stood there for a few minutes thinking whether or not this was a good idea. She had hurt Stix and now wanted her, needed her. She lifted her finger to the doorbell and hesitated knowing if she rang the bell she was probably committing herself to a tongue lashing. She smirked to herself. At least she hadn't lost her sense of humor. No, the tongue lashing would be because she treated Stix terribly and now was hoping Stix would provide the comfort and refuge she desperately needed. She rang the bell.
As she stood there she glanced to the side and froze. There was a truck in the driveway parked behind Stix's car. It had a few military-related stickers on it along with one that said "Combat Medic". Her heart sank. Stix had a guy with her and Andrea felt horrible about having come over. She turned to leave but before she got to the first step the porch light flicked on and the door opened.
"What the fuck do you want?" Stix asked.
Andrea slowly turned around and Stix's face dropped.
"What the fuck happened to you?" she said as she grabbed Andrea as she almost collapsed. Andrea started crying and sobbed into Stix's robe.
"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," she cried.
Stix pulled her inside and guided her to the couch.
"DOC! GET OUT HERE" she yelled.
Andrea tried to get up.
"I'm sorry. I should go. I didn't mean to bother you," she said but Stix pushed her back on the couch.
"Sit down. DOC! GET OUT HERE!"
Andrea looked up and saw who Doc was. It was the tough, "don't fuck with her" girl from Anna's Place. Doc took one look at Andrea and took over.
"Go get my crash box out of my truck," she said to Stix and gently laid Andrea down on the couch. "NOW!" she shouted.
Doc started a preliminary examination of Andrea. It was obvious she had been hit in the face. There were indications of choking around her neck. Her arm guarded her side indicating possible rib injuries.
"I'm so sorry," she said to Doc. "I shouldn't be here. I didn't think... I didn't know about you two."
"What's there to know?" Doc asked. "We used to have a thing going, I was lonely, Stix was lonely. I'm going back to Afghanistan this week. We just wanted to hook up before I left. Besides, she hasn't shut up about you since I got here. How much she missed you. What a nice woman you are. It almost felt you were in bed with us."
Andrea had mixed emotions about all this. She was sad that Stix had turned to someone else but completely understood why. She had treated Stix badly. Yet Stix still had feelings for her.
Doc poked around just as Stix walked in with her crash box. Doc put an ice pack on Andrea's face and another on her side but noticed Andre was pale.
"How do you feel Andrea?" Doc asked.
"I'm having a hard time breathing," Andrea replied. Doc turned to Stix.
"Get dressed. We're going to the hospital."
"I don't need to go to the hospital," Andrea protested.
"Yeah, you do. I think you're getting a collapsed lung."
Minutes later the three of them were sitting in Doc's truck headed towards the emergency room. The staff took Andrea in quickly as Doc gave them a rundown of Andrea's injuries. 30 minutes later she was admitted to the hospital.
Two police officers interviewed Doc and Stix and the four of them came to the same conclusion. It was Mike who did this. But Andrea refused to press charges.
"Mike Jr. just started school. Mike is paying for it. If he goes to jail Mike Jr. doesn't get an education. I'll handle it myself."
Over the course of the following week, Andrea took stock of her situation. With the help of a lawyer friend of Doc, she filed a restraining order against her husband and started divorce proceedings. She knew she could never go back to Mike and she also knew that she had to be free of Mike in order to be with Stix. It wasn't a hard choice, especially not after what Mike had done to her. But she knew Stix's trust had to be earned back and she decided that while the divorce was pending she would not push things.
Stix, on the other hand, was very attentive to Andrea. She visited Andrea every day in the hospital and when she was released, Stix offered her to stay with her. The judge had given Mike until the end of the month to get out of the house so both Andrea and Stix knew it was temporary. Besides, it gave Stix an opportunity to watch over Andrea for any aftereffects from her ordeal. They both agreed that Andrea would sleep in the extra bedroom and take things slowly.
After about two weeks, Andrea was permitted to go back to work and Stix and Gloria made sure she got light duty. It killed Andrea to be so close to Stix, changing next to her in the locker room, looking at Stix's body, remembering the intimacy they shared and knowing they were going home together. But she knew deep inside that she had to do this the right way so that Stix realized Andrea could offer herself 100% to her.
The end of the month came and Stix decided a little celebration was in line. Thai take-out food, a bottle of wine and a lot of fun conversation was had. Andrea looked at Stix and saw that smile that drew her in when she first met Stix. Stix even went so far as touching Andrea's arm and hand as they talked and, at one point, held her hand and just looked into Andrea's eyes. It made Andrea feel nothing had happened between them, that they were back at the club that first night they met talking, laughing and touching. She wanted so badly to lean across the table and kiss Stix but knew she had to prove herself.
The night ended and they said good-night to each other and went to their respective bedrooms. But Andrea couldn't sleep. She knew the feeling, that arousal that Stix stirred in her. She stared at the ceiling for hours, sometimes letting her hand slip between her legs and gently rubbing herself. She would imagine it was Stix touching her, maybe with her hand and maybe with her mouth. She couldn't stand being 30 feet from Stix and not being able to be with her.
Andrea got up, went to the kitchen and poured herself another glass of wine. She argued with herself... she needs to do this right. But Stix is in the other room and showed affection to her, something she had not done in a long time. After another glass of wine, Andrea decided she had to do it.
Her heart pounded as she walked down the hallway to Stix's bedroom. The door was open as usual, something Stix did so she could listen for Andrea if there was a problem. Andrea stood in the doorway and could barely make out Stix's silhouette in the dark. She took a deep breath, walked over to the bed and slipped under the sheet next to Stix.
"Andrea? Is that you?" Stix asked groggily. What's the matter?"
"I'm sorry," Andrea replied. "I just wanted to be with you."
Andrea spooned against Stix and draped her arm around her. It never occurred to her that Stix slept naked but her hand found Stix's bare breast and she caressed it gently. She wasn't sure how Stix would react, but when Stix pushed her body back against hers, Andrea knew it was all right.
Andrea massaged Stix's breast and gently fingered the barbell piercing through her nipple, which was hard to the touch. She moved her face into that curve between Stix's neck and shoulder and inhaled her scent. It was intoxicating. And when she exhaled, her breath made Stix shiver and she turned to face Andrea.
