Chapter 9

Shortly before noon, Tom was awakened by the sound of heavy footfalls moving through his apartment. He reached to the night stand for his gun before recalling with a curse that he had left it in the living room. Before he could think of any other course of action, his bedroom door banged open and Mark walked in.

"Rise and shine, lover boy," Mark called out boisterously. He didn't seem especially surprised to see Mia occupying the bed. "I used the keys you gave me so I could water your plants while you were on vacation to get in. Hope you don't mind."

"Mark?!"

"Yep. Mark," Mark said in the tone of an adult speaking to an especially slow child. He squinted his eyes suspiciously, "You feeling alright, take a knock on the head or something?"

Tom sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes with his palms, "Aren't you supposed to be in the hospital with a bunch of tubes sticking out of you?"

Mark looked surprised. "Didn't your girl tell you?" he asked while gesturing at Mia's supine form. When Tom looked blank, Mark continued, "Huh. How about that? Well, your pretty little piece of fluff there came walking into my hospital room like she owned the place about a half hour after you left and a few minutes after they pried Jenny, kicking and screaming, from my side. Scared the bejeezus out of me, I have to tell you. Those little machines they had me hooked to were beeping and squealing enough to wake the dead. I was hollerin' for help and trying to push myself back through the wall when she told me, 'I'm not here to hurt you. I just wanted to make amends.'"

Mark had moved to Mia's side of the bed and was checking her pulse, eyes, and limb rigidity much as Tom had a few hours before. "Huh. Certainly seems dead enough. Anyway, I quieted down and she walked up to the side of my bed and told me, 'Don't be alarmed, this will help.' Then she started peeling back those big ass band-aids they had me covered with and began licking my wounds. Hope you don't mind, boss, but once I figured out that she wasn't just finding out how I taste before eating me, I got a bit of a chubby. Everywhere she licked, those big bloody holes sealed up as if by magic. Even the stitches fell out. Once she was done, she told me she was sorry and just up and left. Odd thing was no one seemed to notice she was there. A nurse walked in to shut down the alarms and check my vitals right after your girl got there and paid absolutely no attention to the pretty girl kneeling by my bed giving me a tongue bath."

"Really knocked the doctors for a loop this morning, finding me all healed up with nary a scar. They checked me and rechecked me and then, just to piss me off, checked me again. Couldn't find a thing wrong. They wanted to keep me there for 'study', but I told 'em that if I was healthy I needed to get back to work. And here I am." Mark struck a pose with his arms flung out to the sides, "Ta-da. I do kinda miss that morphine drip, though."