by Jamie Davis
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“Dean.”
Startled, Dean sat up suddenly in the chair where he had been sitting next to Ashley. He must have dozed off. He looked up and saw her staring at him from the bed. A wan smile on her face betrayed how weak she was.
“Dean,” She said again. “Have you been here all night?”
He glanced at his watch. It was nearly dawn. “I wanted to make sure you were okay.” He remembered the broth on the stove downstairs. “Wait here, I’ll be right back.” The paramedic rushed downstairs and turned the knob that fired up the gas burner under the pot on the stovetop. He lifted the lid and picked up a spoon from the ceramic spoon rest next to the stove, stirring the liquid as it warmed. When it started gently bubbling he turned the burner off and looked around the kitchen cupboards and drawers until he found a ladle and a mug. He filled the mug about halfway and then returned upstairs with the mug and soup spoon.
Ashley opened her eyes as he approached. He sat down again next to her. Dean stirred the broth in the mug to help cool it some more and leaned forward. “Here is some broth Anya, Zora’s mother, made for you. She said you would need it after what you did for Zora.” He lifted the spoon over to her lips and she took a tentative sip. Her eyes brightened as she tasted it. He smiled and got her another spoonful to sip. She finished about half the mug’s contents that way before she said she’d had enough. He set the mug down on the bedside table and used a napkin to dab a spilled drop from her chin. She smiled as he did it.
“Thank you, Dean,” She said. “Though, I’m supposed to be the one taking care of you, not the other way around.”
“I like taking care of you, Ash,” Dean said. “It shouldn’t just be one way.”
“No,” She murmured. “I suppose not.”
“How do you feel?” Dean asked. “You still look pale and pretty weak. Are you all right?” He didn’t know how to approach talking with her about what the Dryad woman had let slip the night before. He was worried about her and mostly about losing her so soon after he had found her.
“I’m weak, but I will be alright,” She said. “I just need a day or so’s rest. I have not done that in some time, and I forgot how taxing it is.”
“What, exactly, did you do? Anya talked about you going away to the ‘other side’ or something? What did she mean by that?”
Ashley chuckled quietly. “So many questions, Dean. Do you never stop trying to learn?”
“It’s just something that Anya said last night about you using your powers to help Zora,” Dean said. He took Ashley’s hand in his and squeezed gently. “Did you do something that could have hurt you?”
He looked at Ashley, meeting her gaze and she held it for a time before she sighed and answered him. “Dean, it’s difficult to explain. I was never in any danger, but I have a finite amount of life force when on the earth in corporeal form. I have some limited ability to heal, but when I do so, it uses up some of that corporeal life force. If I use a lot at one time it makes me weak for a few days. If I use too much, I will lose my corporeal form and have to return to the higher planes to regenerate.”
“So you could have died?” Dean asked, concern and a little bit of anger shading his voice.
“No, Dean,” She said wearily. “I cannot die here on earth in corporeal form. But, if I use up the life force that keeps me here on earth I would return to my spirit form for a time before I could come back.”
“How long would that be?” Dean asked, afraid to hear the answer.
“Dean,” She said, laying her other hand on top of his where their two hands clasped on the bed. “For you, it would be a long time, a hundred years or more. But to me it would be but an instant.”
“So I could have lost you back there,” Dean said defensively.
“No,” She replied firmly. “I knew what I was doing and I used my power judiciously.”
They were both silent for a while. Dean pondered what she had said. He didn’t want to stop her from being who she was, but he also didn’t want to lose her to some higher plane.
“Dean,” Ashley said softly. “I want you to understand. You shouldn’t be concerned for me. It’s supposed to be the other way around. I am supposed to watch over you.
“Sorry, Ash,” Dean said. “I’m a guy. I’m not built that way. I’m supposed to protect you.”
“You’ll get over it,” She said smiling up at him. “I’m human in this form, but the Eldara are not of this earth, we are visitors, messengers, healers and guardians. I’ll be fine. After all, I’ve been around for a very long time.”
“How long is a long time?” Dean asked. He wasn’t sure if this was crossing a line or not, like asking a woman her age, but he was curious.
“I first took a corporeal form to help a woman who was a healer in what you would have called Mesopotamia in present day Iraq,” Ashley said. “Let’s just say it was a very long time ago. Since that time I’ve returned to help other healers find a solution to a problem, or navigate a crisis in their communities many times.”
“Is that why you’ve come here as a nurse,” he asked. “Because you’re a healer?”
“I guess I’ve always been a nurse, as you call the job,” Ashley said. “It’s a name that has gone through many changes over the years. Now we call these caring healers nurses but in the past they’ve been midwives, wise ones, or elders. The name does not matter. It is the focus on communities of care, and healing of the whole person that defines the people I’m drawn to.”
“So that’s how you see me?” Dean asked.
“You and all your colleagues at Station U,” she replied. “You are all focused on helping a community that is not getting the services they need. You are healers.”
“So, why me?” Dean asked. “Why not Brynne, or Bill, or one of the others?”
“You’re important to what’s going on in Elk City, Dean,” Ashley said. “I am drawn to the person to whom I am called to help. It’s why I was in that convenience store when we first met. I got the urge to pull in there and get something, and while I was there, I saw your hand with it’s Station U stamp.”
“So you knew you were here to help me from that moment?” Dean asked.
“I had already been here for a few years but had not been able to figure out who I was here to help.” She said. “I was getting pretty frustrated. So when I saw you, I thought that you might be the right one, finally, but not one hundred percent sure. I knew I’d see you eventually at at the ER or elsewhere at the hospital so I didn’t approach you there. When you came to the ER the next time I was on shift, though, I knew it was you.”
“I think I knew I was supposed to meet you, too,” Dean said. “I couldn’t get your face out of my mind ever since I ran into you at the convenience store. Later, when I saw you at the hospital, I was so happy to learn you were a nurse at the ER. It meant that I would see you again.”
Dean thought for a moment then looked up at Ashley.
“So, do you end up dating all your charges?” He asked in response to an impulse.
“Why? Are you jealous of my past lovers?” She said with a little laugh.
“Well, I’m just asking how it all works.” He stammered. “Are you here to stay? When will you leave?”
“Sweetie,” She said giving his hand a squeeze. “I’m here now, and I don’t plan on going anywhere anytime soon. Let’s live in the moment and enjoy each other’s company while we’re together. I’ve met and spent time with many wonderful people over the years. Enjoying their company in the time I have with them is the lesson I’ve learned.”
Dean realized that was likely the only answer he was going to receive from her. He shouldn’t be worried, but seeing her this weak made him uncomfortable. She was his angel, his Eldara and he didn’t like knowing that she was at risk from using her healing powers. He didn’t want to contemplate that she could be sent away for a long time, never to be seen again, at least not by him. It was not something he wanted to think about anymore. Ashley mus
t’ve sensed that as well, because she changed the subject.
“Dean, honey,” She said. “Can you get me some more of this yummy broth? I think it is helping me gather some strength. Then maybe we can cuddle up here in bed and watch a video? Erin said there were few romantic comedies in the chest at the foot of the bed.”
Dean nodded, took the mug from her and went to get some more. He resolved to enjoy the time he had with her and treat every day as if it might be the last he had with Ashley. Someday he might be right.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Ashley recovered from her weakness following healing Zora over the next few days. She spent the first 24 hours in bed, sleeping most of the time. She and Dean passed some of the time watching a few classic romantic comedies on the TV using the DVDs stored in the loft bedroom at the cabin. Anya returned during the day and made a meal for them, and while she was there with Ashley, Dean returned to check on Zora’s wounds and infection. She was remarkably better. The red streaks no longer showed on her legs, and when he checked under the dressings on her wounds, wounds were pink and healthy looking. Clearly they were well on their way to healing.
Dean spent some time the next day showing Anya and one of Zora’s older sisters how to dress the wounds with clean gauze and bandages, and he left some of the gauze and bandages from Erin’s cabin stash of hospital first aid supplies. When he returned from seeing their patient the last time, he was surprised to see Ashley up and walking carefully around the cabin’s first floor. She was still pale but seemed to be feeling a lot better. They only had the remainder of that day together at the cabin. The two of them had to return home to Elk City that evening. They both had to work the next morning.
Ashley spent most of the day sitting on the porch in one of the Adirondack style chairs, watching the lake and the trees in the gentle breeze. Dean brought her a blanket from inside to cover up if she needed it, but the weather was pleasantly warm, not too hot, so she opted not to use it. The remainder of the day went quickly. While she watched from the porch, Dean packed up their bags and loaded up the little bit they had brought in Ashley’s MG. Eventually, it was time for them to leave, and Dean was thrilled when Ashley told him that he could drive the car back to Elk City. He was concerned that she still didn’t feel well enough to drive it herself, while simultaneously excited about driving the classic car.
As the time came for them to leave at dusk, Dean helped Ashley to the car. The Dryads and a few others of the Unusual community of the lake valley came to see them off. Anya and Enric both came over and gave them a basket of gifts for their return home. Dean peeked under the cloth napkin covering the basket and saw some fresh blueberry muffins, and what looked like a few wood carvings. He and Ashley thanked Zora’s parents, and Dean set the basket carefully on their bags behind the front seats in the two-seater sports car. Dean checked on the cabin to make sure it was locked up one last time and then climbed into the driver’s seat. They waved to the onlookers as they drove back down the gravel road towards the highway. While the trip had not been what they’d expected, Dean was glad they had been able to help the girl, and he had learned a lot more about Ashley and the Eldara. He was still worried about her, but she said a good night’s sleep in her own bed would give her the additional rest she needed to be ready to go back to work.
They were on the interstate highway, driving back to Elk City about an hour later when he heard Ashley gasp in the seat next to him. She had been looking at her smartphone as soon as they got back on the highway. They had been in a pretty sketchy coverage area at the cabin and their phones didn’t work.
“Dean, you’d better check in with Brynne tonight when you get back,” Ashley said. “There’s been another attack by the Cause.”
Dean nodded to his phone on the console between them. “I’m driving. Check my messages.”
Ashely picked up his phone and scrolled through the two days of text messages that had rolled in, then checked the voicemail. Dean glanced over at her as he drove, her look going from concerned to grave as she listened. He wanted to hear for himself, but he’d never be able to hear the speaker on the phone driving with the car’s convertible top down. He waited while she finished listening to the messages. She laid the phone down in her lap.
“The Cause has been busy while we were gone. They attacked a counselor who works for the county. I think you know her. Her name is Rebecca.” Dean shot her a concerned glance. “I don’t know the details, but she was assaulted as she left work the night we left on our trip. She was alive when they took her to the hospital, but it must’ve been pretty bad. In reaction, some of Rudy’s pack must have decided to start patrolling on their own to protect the community and hunt for the attackers. One of them was seen changing, and part of it was caught on a kid’s cell phone video. He posted it to the web, and there’s all kinds of uproar going on about some sort of wild animal on the loose in the city attacking people.”
“Damn,” Dean said. He had thought that their two-days away would give him a break but with Zora’s injuries and tending to Ashley it had not been as relaxing as he had hoped. Now he was returning to a real mess back at the station, and to top it off, Rebecca, the counselor who had once helped him cope with the stress of his new job, had been attacked. She was a Muse, an Unusual who used her powers to inspire humans’ innate creativity. In her case, Rebecca was a professional social worker and counselor who worked with first responders who had trouble dealing with difficult work situations. She used her energies to inspire her clients to find solutions to dealing with their jobs and life situations. Now she had been attacked.
Dean knew that Zach had known about Rebecca and her connection to him. Zach had mentioned her derisively when they had talked in the past. The former paramedic was stepping up his attacks on people Dean knew. That was starting to get worrisome especially with his newfound concerns over Ashley. He had thought of her as kind of an invincible guardian angel, but now he knew differently. She was as vulnerable as any human would be to attack. If she were to find herself in a situation where she was forced to defend or protect herself, she might expend so much energy that she would leave the corporeal world for what might as well be forever, at least from his perspective.
He glanced at his watch. They were still two hours from home, but he didn’t want to drive any faster than he was already. He banged his hand on the steering wheel in frustration. It was all getting worse, not better. What was he supposed to do to resolve all this? Ashley had assured him that he was integral to the solution to what was going on in Elk City and that James was also involved, too. Somehow the two of them had to do something that would bring the situation to a head and tip things one way or another. She had told him that he should just keep doing his job and be himself because that was what was important, but he wanted to take some kind of concrete action and stop what was happening in the city.
These attacks couldn’t go on forever before the general public was drawn into them. Now with the video of the werewolf changing on camera, the public was starting to get involved. He needed to see that video for himself. It was probably a cell-phone video, and shot at night from a distance. The quality was likely not that good, but it still must be pretty spectacular. He had seen the transformation of a werewolf in person and knew what a shock it could be to the uninitiated.
Ashley laid a hand on his shoulder, distracting him from his grim thoughts. “It’s going to be alright, sweetie,” She said. “Just get us home in one piece and we’ll get back to work on solving this together.”
“You’re right,” He replied. “But I can’t help but think that there is something I’m missing, and that somehow I’m the center of what’s happening now. First Freddie, then the restaurant, and now this attack on Rebecca. They are all connected to me.”
“Not just you, Dean, but to all the Station U paramedics,” Ashley reminded him. “You need to remember that this is focused on the whole program. Someone is trying to discredit it and to keep you all from doing your jobs ser
ving the community. If the Unusual community sees calling the paramedics at Station U as putting a target on their backs, they are going to go back to trying to treat themselves and not get the medical attention they need. That is unacceptable.”
Dean thought about that and all the patients he had helped over the months since he had started at Station U. He also thought about how he had resisted the assignment and wanted to be elsewhere. The patients in need had attracted him, though. He wanted to be where patients needed his skills the most, and the Unusual community was a huge underserved population in the Elk City region. He thought about this and about what the general public might do if they knew of the people living among them who would be seen as monsters from their nightmares. He didn’t think they would be as accepting as he had been in the beginning.
The two of them in the car drove down the interstate back to the city with the sun setting behind them. They were heading back to the city, back to their jobs and responsibilities. In some ways, too, they were heading back into the unknown. Dean couldn’t get the sense of dread out of his mind that something bad was coming. The thought picked at the corners of his mind that before they could solve this situation in Elk City, he was going to be at the center of a storm. The thought scared him more than just a little, but he continued to drive back to the city, back to his duty, back to the job.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Dean’s first day back after the lake trip with Ashley started bright and early as always. He headed into the squad room at Station U and noticed a different vibe immediately. Bill and Lynne were packing up their things, but without the usual banter that accompanied the end of a typical shift. Dean said hi as he entered but got nothing more than a nod from Bill and a brief wave from Lynne in acknowledgment. Brynne didn’t even look up from her seat at the computer where she had settled to log in to the daily updates from headquarters. Even Freddie merely waved a half-hand at him in greeting and went back to work making the shift’s breakfast in the kitchenette.
