The Divine Whisper

by Rebekah Daniels

  “I don’t… I don’t know,” the officer stuttered.

  He was quickly jumped from behind by one of the many surrounding officers.

  “Are you going to help him out?” Gideon asked from his side.

  Shaking his head, Gemariah turned to walk back to Nicole. “No, he wouldn’t have been able to be controlled that easily if he didn’t have more evil in his soul than good.” He kept walking away and there was no argument from Gideon. They both knew how compulsion worked.

  Finally making it over to Nicole, he knelt down and started to try and rouse her. After saying her name numerous times while caressing her face, and she still didn’t wake, he looked over towards Gideon.

  “Can you do anything?” he asked.

  “From what you’ve said about her and our abilities, I’m not sure.” Gideon reached out and grabbed her wrist. Malachi was their main healer, but Gideon had always had a mediocre amount of the ability.

  Not in that case though. He couldn’t even assess what injuries she had sustained. He looked over at Gemariah and said, “Sorry. I got nothing.”

  With a growl of frustration, Gemariah bent to pick her up to take her to the human healers that were still by the dead man. He never had much confidence in them before, but he would have to trust them to help her.

  When he was a couple feet away, he felt something strange on his chest where her belly was resting. At first he thought it was the baby kicking, but soon realized that it was encompassing the entire stomach. A wave of panic consumed him, panic for her, and panic for his children. It was too soon, and he swore that what he felt was a contraction.

  “Help. You need to take her,” he rushed on when he reached them. “She’s the one that was attacked. She’s twenty five weeks pregnant with twins. She’s not waking up, and I just felt her stomach tighten.”

  He had to give them credit. One EMT quickly jumped up and ran towards the ambulance to get the gurney.

  If she was surprised that Gemariah followed, she didn’t show it. “Place her down on here,” she ordered.

  Rather reluctantly, Gemariah relinquished his hold. Before stepping back, he leaned over to kiss her forehead and whispered, “Everything will be alright. I promise.”

  He never promised anyone anything. What better way not to break any, if you don’t make them. That was different, though. That was a promise that he would die to keep. As he watched them load her into the ambulance and place an oxygen mask over her face, he thought how his promise wasn’t just for right then. He planned to somehow fix things between them and then keep that promise for the rest of his life.

  ******

  Gemariah staggered once while walking into the hospital, enough so that Malachi had to reach over and catch him.

  As much as he wanted to follow the ambulance as it sped away, he couldn’t. There had been too many mistakes on his part that day that could eventually comprehend the welfare of his team. He couldn’t leave until it was fixed.

  On occasions like that, he would usually have gone up to each person individually to alter their memories or change how they perceived the event. It was easier to do, and easier on him. He didn’t have that sort of time or patience, though. Therefore, he gathered everyone in a group and projected a large amount of calmness and understanding before slightly changing what they thought they saw. Using that much concentrated ability always took a lot out of him, and that time was no different.

  Nicole had already been seen by the time that they arrived. Trinity sat in a chair close to the bed, and Gemariah felt grateful that she had driven ahead so Nicole wouldn’t have been alone.

  “What’d they say?” Gemariah felt a wave of dizziness and hung his head till it passed.

  “Are you drunk?” Nicole asked in outrage.

  He looked up and smiled. She knew damn well he hadn’t been drinking, but was just trying to start a fight. “No, Babe, just tired,” he said.

  Trinity, I’m burned out. You have the only chair. I would never ask if I didn’t need—

  He didn’t even get to finish before she answered him.

  Not happening!

  Please, he pushed out.

  No. Go crawl back in a hole where you belong.

  Trinity still hadn’t forgiven him either for what he had done to her friend.

  Suddenly, Malachi’s voice boomed through both of their heads.

  Move! Now!

  There was so much strength behind his projection that Trinity jumped and looked toward her husband. There was a look of anger on his face that Gemariah hadn’t ever seen him give Trinity before.

  She was wise not to push it any farther and silently stood up before moving across the room with Malachi, who then took her arm and led her outside the room.

  Gemariah looked back over at Nicole. “Are you okay?” he asked softly.

  She didn’t even look at him as she crossed her arms in front of her chest, successfully shutting him out. “Fine.”

  “The babies?”

  At the mentioning of them, her face visibly softened. She looked down, and placed both hands on her stomach. “They’re okay. I started having contractions, but they got them stopped.”

  “I know. I talked to the doctor.”

  Her head snapped up. “She wouldn’t have done that. You’re not on the list of people that I gave them to discuss my condition with.”

  “I didn’t give her much of a choice.” The thought brought his temper rising once more. Now that he knew her and his children were well, he had some things to get off his chest.

  He stood up and walked to the foot of the hospital bed. When he placed his hands on the plastic, he had to force himself to relax his grip before breaking the bed. “What the fuck were you thinking today?”

  Her eyes became twice as big as before and her mouth dropped open. It took her a few seconds to recover, but once she had, she was as irate as he was. “What are you talking about? You’re going to have to be more specific here.”

  “The part where you purposefully put yourself in danger by entering a situation that volatile, or how about when you put yourself directly in danger’s path.”

  “What was I supposed to do? Shane called me! Should I have not gone to help?” Before he could answer, she went on. “That is my job! It’s not like that every day, but I’m not going to turn away a child that needs me!”

  “Oh yeah? What about your own children? They are going to need you every day, now more than ever. By protecting that boy today, you put them in danger!”

  “I know.” Her voice had become softer, but he didn’t notice.

  “When you shoved that boy behind you, and stood between them, you put my children in front of that monster!” he shouted.

  “I know.” The sob brought him up short, and he stopped his rant.

  Looking closer, he saw tears running down her cheeks, and he took a deep breath to calm himself. What he had to say, she wasn’t going to like, so he thought it was best for them both to simmer down before he went on. He thought about sitting by her side once again, but quickly thought better of it. He wanted to keep the upper hand. If she thought that they were on equal ground, she might put up more of a fight.

  “The doctor said you were on bed rest,” he said in a matter of fact tone.

  It wasn’t a question, but she still nodded her head in agreement.

  “Have you figured out what you’re going to do?”

  “That’s what Trinity and I were talking about when you came in. We were going to figure something out.”

  He squared his shoulders and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “There’s no need. Once you get out of here, I’m taking you to my house. That’s where you’re going to stay for the remainder of your pregnancy. Trinity can grab anything you need from your house, but I’ll care for you during that time.”

  Nicole laughed and looked at him as if he had lost his mind. Maybe he had, but he didn’t care. It was the only way he could make sure that everyone was safe.

  Whe
n she finally recovered her senses and opened her mouth to say something, Gemariah stopped her with a scowl. “There’s no sense in arguing. It won’t do you any good.”

  “I could have you thrown out of here.”

  He shrugged. “I won’t be.”

  Her face started to turn crimson in anger. “Trinity won’t let this happen.”

  “I’d like to see her stop me.”

  “I’m not going to stay at your house so I can witness your life of debauchery!”

  “No other women,” he stated. Little did she know that he was planning for the long haul, a thought that terrified him until he felt what it was like without her. He decided to keep that information to himself for the time being.

  She through her arms in the air and yelled, “Why do you even care? After everything, I’m surprised you aren’t glad to be rid of me.”

  “Have you not been listening, woman!”

  I’ve had to stop two nurses and my hostile wife from barging in there. Wrap it up or quiet it down.

  Malachi’s warning came through, and Gemariah marched back to her side and scowled. When she backed away marginally, he became even more upset. “We’re gonna get a few things straight, and then they will be dropped. No more mentioning them. No more guilt from them. Are we clear?”

  When she stayed silent, and only glared, he continued.

  “First of all. I’m not whoever hurt you in the past. There is no need to cowl back from me, because I would rather chop off my own arms than lay a hand on you in a negative way.” Her eyes opened wide with disbelief. “Don’t look so shocked. You give off a wounded vibe to anyone that threatens to crack your hard surface. One day, I hope you’ll confide in me about that, but today is not the day. Today is the day when all the bullshit stops.”

  He waited till he could see that what he said had sunk in before he continued. “That brings me to my second point. I’m a dick.”

  “I could have told you th—”

  “Don’t interrupt me! You’ve had months to tell me what’s what, and now it’s my turn.” For once, she did what she was told and shut her mouth. “I’m a dick. I’ve never kept this a secret, we’ve talked about it before, and it’s no surprise. Once in a while, I do stupid things. I’m sick to death of this dance we keep doing; the one where you’re mad at me and I grovel until you throw me a bone!”

  She opened her mouth and he glared down at her. He could almost see the wheels turning in her head, contemplating if she should take the bait with the dog reference. She chose to remain silent.

  “Good girl,” he praised before continuing.

  “All this time, I didn’t want to make you too angry, because I was worried you wouldn’t give me another chance, or I would lose you and our children. Now you know that I will do everything in my power to keep us all together, but I will NOT be your whipping boy any longer!”

  “Now to my last point. Yes, I did an incredibly stupid thing. I wasn’t in the right state of mind. I got scared and handled it badly. I went to a bar to drown out everything that was going through my head. She approached me.”

  “I don’t want to know details.”

  “That’s too bad, because you’re going to hear them. My ultimate goal is for there to be no doubt in your mind about me someday. That will never happen if you don’t hear this from me.”

  She didn’t say anything, only broke eye contact with him to look forward. He knew that he caused a lot of damage that day, but they needed to get over it to move on.

  “She approached me,” he continued. “I knew that she wanted us to leave together the second she sat down. I didn’t put up a fight and before the bartender could bring us our drinks, we were walking out.”

  “You were in that much of a hurry to be with her?”

  “I was that much in a hurry to try and flush you from my mind.”

  She didn’t look up at him, but he saw a single tear slip down her cheek. He felt more like a jackass than ever, but he was adamant that telling her was for the best, so he went on.

  Some of the fire had left him, and he sunk back down to the chair he had vacated a few minutes earlier. “All I could think about was the look of my mother, cold and blue with two babies on her that looked equally bad. In my messed up mind, I thought that it was only a matter of time before I lost you too. Therefore, I tried to rid you from my mind, before it actually happened. First I tried with alcohol, and when that didn’t work, she approached me and I thought I would try another way. We kissed each other outside the bar, and drove to my house in separate cars. When we got there, we kissed again and started to remove our clothes.”

  “Please don’t.”

  He continued as if she hadn’t said anything. “And that’s when I stopped. Everywhere she touched felt wrong. All I could think about was your hands, your lips… you.

  “When I left her to call her own cab, I wasn’t thinking. I wasn’t thinking about anything because I was too busy feeling disgusted with myself. I went to my bedroom, shut the door, and stayed there until you came the next morning.

  I heard what she said to you, and I made sure she knew how much I didn’t appreciate it. That’s probably why she said what she did when she was leaving, a way to get back at me for the things I called her only moments before. That, and the fact that she has a cold heart.”

  He stood up and started moving towards the door. “That is the last time it gets mentioned. I’ve apologized, and explained what I was thinking and what happened. That’s more than I’ve ever given anyone before, and if it’s not good enough for you then nothing will be. Are we clear?”

  She still didn’t speak, and it was driving him insane not to know what she was thinking. He got to the door and opened it slightly to leave. At the last moment, he turned to look at her. “I’ll go make sure everything is ready at my house for you when you get out, and there will be no more arguments about the topic.”

  “I’m never going to have sex with you again, so don’t think that this elaborate plan will lead to anything. That ship has sailed,” she spit out.

  He smiled and winked at her. “Never say never, Sweetheart.” With that, he walked out of the room. He passed an exasperated Malachi, a pissed off Trinity, and even Nicole’s old foster parents, Joseph and Renée. He could feel their uncertainty about him, but he didn’t care.

  It took a long time for his smile to fade. The score might still be tipped in her favor, but he had definitely won that round.

  CHAPTER 13

  Nicole was bored out of her mind. Three weeks! Three weeks, and she was still stuck in bed. Sure, it was a large, soft, and very comfortable bed, but she still wanted to get up, walk around, and even go to work. The world was still going on around her, and it was as if she was stuck at a standstill. It’s an eerie feeling, and one that she couldn’t wait to shake off.

  Gemariah had put her up in his bedroom. She had insisted on another room, but he wouldn’t hear of it. He persisted that his bed was more comfortable, and since she was going to be spending more time in it than he was, it only made sense that she had it. No matter what she said, he wouldn’t change his mind, so she stopped protesting.

  The first week was spent more being nervous about what Gemariah had under his sleeve. His sudden turnaround was strange and she couldn’t help but wonder what his ulterior motives were. Their attitude towards each other was civil, but it was far from warm. She was doing everything to protect her heart from the damage she knew that he could inflict.

  The second week, things became a little easier. He started to spend more time around her. Some days, it was under the guise of doing something to the room, but she had her suspicions that it was just to get her more comfortable with his presence. It was as if she was a wild animal that he had to tame. It must have worked, because eventually one day he came in, and she forgot to act indifferent to him.

  They started to talk like they used to. It was nice. She had many visitors her first week, but eventually everyone’s visits became more infrequen
t, so it was nice to have Gemariah’s company every day.

  He went in to work when he had to and assured her that Malachi and the rest of them understood. When he did go in, he always came back to spend lunch with her, and then every evening he stayed and they ate dinner together.

  Now, being twenty six days, and three hours in, she could say that they had become friends. There was still a piece of her that she held back; the piece that would shatter if he hurt her again. She had forgiven him for everything, but she didn’t think she could ever forget.

  As if on cue, the downstairs door slammed shut. He was always slamming doors and cabinets to where she thought they would break. She always teased him about how hard he did everything. It was as if he was stronger than the world could handle, and he didn’t know how to reign it all in. She smiled at the thought.

  That’s how he found her.

  “What’s got you in such a good mood?” he asked as he walked in holding a paper bag with a delicious aroma coming from it.

  Her smile grew. “I was just wondering how many doors you’ve broken in your life just by shutting them.”

  “Watch it, Tinker Bell.”

  “Ugh. Do you know how ridiculous of a nick name that is?” She was always complaining about the name, but it was starting to grow on her. It was his own little endearment for her.

  “You know, I hear what you’re saying, but then you scrunch your nose while you protest, and it makes you look even more like a pixie.” He grabbed the small place table that she ate on and sat it down before unloading the food onto it.

  She rolled her eyes, but chose to let it go. “What did you bring me today? It smells great.”

  “There’s this small Mexican restaurant a couple blocks from where I was at today. I’ve only eaten there once, but when I did, it was amazing. I’m never usually in the area, so I don’t get to eat there very often.”

  Nicole eyed the large amount of food. “Why so much? Are people coming over?” she asked.

  “Woman, have you not been paying attention to how much I eat? This is mine.” He moved three quarters of the pile away from her, and pointed to the other two items. “And that’s yours,” he added.