"Like I got clocked in the back by a baseball bat," Patrick said, a lot more clearly than he had that morning. "Is it going to hurt that way for a while?"
"Yep," I said. "You took a bullet through some of the biggest muscles of your body, which diffused the energy. Muscles aren't meant to do that, by the way, but they do it admirably well. They'll be stiff for quite a while though. Actually, you're lucky. It didn't hit any bones, and barely clipped your lung. I was able to patch you up pretty cleanly."
Patrick nodded, accepting the situation. "Then unless I'm like seriously screwed up, don't give me any pain meds. I'll deal with it in my own way," he said. "In the mean time, think you can talk with me for a bit?"
"Sure," I replied. "Just to know though, it's been a while since I practiced my bedside manner."
The little joke earned a smile, and Patrick chuckled before grimacing. "No laughter though," he gasped. "That hurts too much."
"Yeah, that might not be the best idea," I agreed with him. "So what’s on your mind?”
“So you're the Sophie Warbird, the girl who caused the Snowman to go straight?"
"Trust me, he's always been straight," I replied before grimacing. "Sorry, we said no humor, right. Anyway, yeah, that's me. Although I'm officially Joanna Bylur now, Tabby still calls me Sophie around the house."
He looked around, thinking. "And he.... the Snowman. Damn. I mean, I'm sure he can tell, and I told Tabby, I ran with some lower level Confederation guys when I was young, and I heard stories about the Snowman, but.... wow. What's he like?"
"He's a good man," I replied. "He loves me, he loves Tabby, he loves our daughter. I guess you'll find out soon enough, I'm a little over four months pregnant."
"Congrats. You must be quite the woman yourself. I mean, from what I know of him, he's like a total savant. Smart, athletic, skilled... and now you tell me he's a business genius who also is a loving husband and, well, what is Tabby to you guys?"
"I think I'd rather let her explain that part to you," I replied. "The big thing is though, if you're going to be given the level of trust we've placed in you, you're going to have to earn it."
"What do you mean?" Patrick asked. "I'm not going to go blabbing that my girlfriend's housestaff or whatever you guys are were the couple that brought down the Confederation and Owen Lynch. I care about Tabby too much for that."
"Oh really?" I replied, raising an eyebrow. "I think that's something you might want to talk about with her about too, but not right this minute. In the mean time, think you're up for walking downstairs? Lean on me, but you'll do better if we can get you into a semi-reclined position."
"Are you sure I won't start leaking on your living room rug?"
"I'm quite sure, Mr. McCaffery," I replied primly. "I might have been a while since my last set of stitches, but I stay in practice. The only way you’ll bust a stitch is if you do something against my orders. I don't have an M-D, but I’m your doctor for this."
Patrick smiled and put his hands on the sides of the cot. "Sure you're up for it? I weigh about two ten."
“It’s fine. It’s not like I have to pick you up, just lean on me.”
We made our way downstairs, Patrick leaning on my shoulder for most of the way. Walking slowly, we got all the way to the kitchen area before I led Patrick over to one of our dining nook chairs to sit down. "Looks rather middle class, no offense," Patrick said, looking around the space. "Although that gym was certainly sweet enough. I didn't get a very good look last time I was here."
"No, your eyes were fixed on something very different, and understandably so. By the way, you seriously had never seen The Princess Bride until the other night?"
"Never. I know, it makes me a bit of a heathen. But I can make up for it, I'm sure you're going to want to keep me here at least a while if Tabby's asking about my assistant. From what I saw on the walls of your entertainment room, you've got quite the movie collection."
"We do, and if you listen and follow directions, we'll see what we can do. If you're really good, I might even let Tabby sit on the same bean bag as you" I joked.
Patrick's face lit up, and I knew everything I needed to know about how he felt about Tabby, before it clouded and he shook his head. "Probably not a good idea. You want me to not strain myself, and well, Tabby kind of inspires that in me. I'm sure you understand."
"She is very inspiring," I agreed. "Still, use these next few days. I'm not going to lie to you Patrick, you put quite a shock into all of us when we took that mask off. To be honest, you were actually starting to tick Mark off with your antics."
Patrick sighed, and I went into the kitchen, getting the beginnings of a sandwich together. "Mark's the gourmet around here, but I can get you started. Nothing too fancy, but you won't be on rice porridge either."
Patrick