Jack swallowed uncomfortably, chewing his lip as he listened to Bernard’s account of what had happened. He knew Katelynn had turned hostile, but he hadn’t realized just how violent she’d become. To go after someone with a knife … what else might she have been doing, during the days she was loose in the city?
“I-i-it’s all right,” he stammered at last. “You d-did what you had to do to defend yourself. If she’s hurt … we’ll take care of her. She needs help anyway.” That was the hope he’d been holding onto all this time – that they would find her and be able to bring her back to normal. Now that they’d found her, though, what would it take?
He watched as Bernard re-hydrated the cube. Oh, he wanted so badly to rush to Katelynn’s side, to hold her close and comfort her and make everything okay again – it took all his willpower to hold back until he was sure she wasn’t going to attack them.
“K-Katelynn?” Cautiously, Jack knelt down beside her. “Katelynn, it’s okay. I’m here.” He dug into his pocket for his handkerchief (an old-fashioned habit, but he’d found it came in handy), and pressed it to the cut on her cheek.
“Katelynn…? Can you hear us…?” Bernard trembled, very aware that his D-gun, being an older version, might have glitches. But he had repaired it, and he had been very careful with it… Alas, an old weapon was an old one. He might have hurt Katelynn more than he thought at first.
He knelt before her, and reached for her hand, wanting to touch it to reassure her. He remembered how cold he felt after being rehydrated for the first time, and he wouldn’t allow her to get cold. Even if she tried to attack them, she couldn’t do anything unless she was hiding more weapons, something highly unlikely. “Katelynn, it’s me, Bernard. I’m OK, you didn’t hurt me…” he sighed, and took out his jacket, leaving it over her body to warm her up. “Forgive me, please… I didn’t want to hurt you…”
When they both touched her, she flinched away as much as her energy would allow, not even looking at them as she tried going to the back of the cell. A cell? It was what she deserved to be locked up.
Her fingers covered her face as she shook her head. “Sorry..sorry..s-sorry!” she kept repeating, trembling even more and wondering how she was going to escape the two of them. “I didn’t..mean to..!”
She had caused nothing but worry to her fiancee as she looked at him for the briefest of moments between her fingers and hair. It was torturous. She had to get away from them somehow.
She needed time to regroup.
It hurt more than Jack could have imagined when she flinched away from him, even now.
“I know you didn’t m-mean to.” He ignored Bernard for the moment – all his attention was on the woman he loved. He let her keep the handkerchief as he went on, “You were drugged. Out of your mind, like that other time. You c-couldn’t help it.” Hesitantly, he tried to touch her shoulder. “But it’s over now. You can come home.” His voice quavered on that last word. “Please.”
Jack Maple 