Chapter 7

DJ slowly came to, and as he did, he tried to get his bearings based on the last thing he remembered.

The last thing he clearly remembered was hitting the ground hard and then ... nothing.

While DJ lay there trying to figure out what was going on, he noticed a couple things. One he could hear an argument going on in the distance. He tried to focus on it, but he was distracted because his head was at an odd angle.

It wasn't the fact it was unpleasant or anything, but he was lying on something that was both firm and strangely relaxing at the same time. He expected to hurt far more than he did given how intense the sparring, turned fight, became.

DJ was sure that several ribs were broken from his father's strikes and he knew that he must have had a concussion, but he only had a few aches and pains and not much else. Not the searing pain that told him something was wrong. He couldn't really understand why that was.

Right as he was getting ready to open his eyes he realized that someone had had their hand on his forehead. He felt the coolness when they removed it. Lying there for a moment longer he then felt someone playing with his hair and running their fingers through it.

Slowly opening his eyes he felt someone "jerk" their hand away.

Looking up he saw a startled pair of deep green eyes staring down at him in concern. As he fully opened his eyes he could then see that she was on his right side

"Oh hey green eyes, it was you. What's going on? Did I win?" asked DJ joking and knowing full well that he didn't.

"You uhh ... well ... you didn't ... lose too badly. You should see what you did to your father. You actually looked ... pretty good ... out there I mean," said Amber as she started to blush heavily.

DJ slowly was coming around and rolled to the side and realized that his head had been resting in Amber's lap.

"Stop moving or you'll make it hard to finish healing you," snapped Amber seeming to revert back to her normal angry state.

DJ froze as he slowly rolled back and looked up at her face.

He noticed that the blush was gone, but she now seemed to be looking everywhere but at his face as he watched her eyes.

DJ started to notice that her hand was glowing white and she was running it over his body, paying real close attention to his chest area.

At one point she pushed down hard on his chest, lingered a moment and then touched him more insistently. Once she even squeezed his chest firmly before she lightly blushed and looked away as she started moving her hands once again over the rest of his chest.

DJ realized she had stopped looking him directly in the eyes but wondered if her copping a feel was part of the healing process. Maybe she was checking for any abnormalities?

"So what's the verdict doc? Will I live?" asked DJ smiling after he had been waiting for almost ten minutes in silence. The way she was beginning to stare so hard at him at times before she broke eye contact was starting to make him uncomfortable.

Flustered Amber started trying to talk.

"You ... will. It's just ... two broken ribs ... a punctured lung that collapsed ... and a concussion. Nothing major really," she said before she suddenly switched and asked with concern showing in her voice, "So why did you do that? Why did you two go that far?"

"I didn't plan to at first, but Dad is pretty skilled. It was the two of us suddenly going at it, trying to test the others limits you know. To trying to prove to the other that we knew what we were doing. I mean it's not like ... wait ... did you say two broken ribs and a collapsed lung? And that's not major to you?! How am I not in more pain or in a hospital?" asked DJ suddenly

It almost got past him what she had said about what she had fixed.

"It's not major because that's what I was doing just now. I was healing you of all physical problems. Uncle Dusty and Lori said that I really needed the practice anyway," said Amber blushing again.

"It's that magic stuff again right?" asked DJ looking at her.

Amber just nodded.

"Are you the only one who can do this?" asked DJ after lying there for a few moments longer and letting Amber's hands roam all over his upper body.

Before she answered the white light coming from her hand winked out. She was finished healing him and was now concentrating on speaking to DJ.

"No, Marilyn can heal as well. Jordan and Blaine also have the skill, as can their mother Lori, and of course Uncle Dusty," said Amber tensely.

For some reason the way he asked his question suddenly bothered her.

"Well thanks for that. I'm glad you helped me out. I feel like a new man. But just curious, was Jordan already busy doing something else?" asked DJ with mischief.

Suddenly Amber pushed at his head very hard as she got up.

DJ's head thumped really hard and loudly on the hardwood floor. It was all he could do to not cry out as he rolled to the side and grabbed the back of his head with both hands. He had squeezed his eyes closed with a curse on his lips when his head bounced just a moment ago.

"You ... INGRATE! I ... I'm done, but now I wish I hadn't bothered! I was worried about you! But I'm sure you really wished the whole time I was healing you that it had been Jordan who had been the one to do this!" said Amber in anger as she jumped to her feet and stormed off.

The sound of a door slamming made his teeth grate as he sat up rubbing his now throbbing head. The door must have been open because he hadn't heard it swing but one way. He could still hear the echoes of the sound of it being slammed even now several seconds later it was so loud.

"That BITCH! That really hurt! Ok, that could have gone better, but why did she do that?! Aaarrgghh that really hurt! I'll never figure her out. Why is she always such a BITCH! Geesh, It was just a joke, where's her sense of humor?" thought DJ as he now rubbed the back of his head with both hands.

That was the only thing that was really hurting now that Amber was finished.

Getting up and realizing that he was in the library, DJ opened the door to try and find everyone else.

DJ worked his way down the hallway while still rubbing the back of his head.

He was headed to where he heard the voices earlier. The door must have been left open because he knew that the study was pretty much sound proofed.

DJ was several feet away when he heard from behind the closed doors "Dusty, I'm serious, how could either of you do that? You at least know better! What if you had crippled him?!" said his stepmother.

"What if he had crippled me?" DJ heard his father's muffled voice ask with a chuckle.

While he could clearly make out Suzan's voice because of how raised it was, he just barely made out his fathers response through the closed doors.

"Dusty I'm not kidding! That was dangerous! You should know better, you're the adult here," said Suzan.

DJ could clearly hear the anger in her voice and could almost see it if he closed his eyes. She was major league pissed off he realized.

"Suzan both of us have had far more than this happen to both of us before. It's not like this is the first time for either of us, of that I'm sure. And I do admit that we let it go too far, but..." began Dusty's muffled voice from the room, but he never finished.

"I. DON'T. CARE! I don't want to see or hear of either of you two ever doing that again! Do you hear me! Never again!" said Suzan loudly and with a lot of finality.

Her voice continued to carry clean out into the hallway.

The room was quiet for a bit and he just barely heard something but couldn't make out what his father quietly said next. DJ was starting to debate the sanity of still heading for the door when he heard "So you must be DJ."

Turning he came face to face with a very attractive woman he guessed to be in her late twenties to early thirties. She was dressed in a light blue summer dress and had a bearing and manner about her that seemed both playful and at the same times serious.

DJ was stunned that she was such an attractive woman, with long chestnut brown hair and a petite figure. He was baffled why there was yet another drop dead gorgeous woman floating around. Just how lucky was his father he wondered.

While confused and tongue tied, DJ stood starting at her before he clearly heard "Aunt Anita! You did come!" from behind her, and then Marilyn was rushing over to hug her.

"Oh, hi sweetie. I heard that you have a new brother and that he and your father were going to be sparring, but one of my boys was sick most of the night so I had to make sure he was alright first. I came over right after I made sure he was alright this morning," said Anita.

"Well I see that you've already met DJ. So I guess that's out of the way. The only thing you've not heard about is how badly he and Dad beat the snot out of each other while calling it sparring earlier," said Marilyn with an impish smile, as she stepped over and latched on to her brother's arm.

"Yes, but I did hear about that already as well. That's going to be a hard secret to keep for a while. But I have to say, he is very handsome isn't he? You were right and I now understand what you were talking about earlier," said Anita smiling, talking as if DJ wasn't there.

"Excuse me, understand what?" asked DJ confused and now looking between them.

He really didn't need the entanglements caused by having a blood sister forming any type of a crush on him. DJ really hoped that whatever Marilyn said was about something else.

But the question went unanswered as the door to the parlor swung violently open and his stepmother was then standing there looking like she could chew coal and spit out diamonds.

Looking down the hallway she fixed DJ with a stare for a moment and then stormed off.

DJ suddenly felt really self-conscious and also realized that while he was talking to Marilyn and Anita he had totally missed everything else that happened in the room. He had no idea how the end of the conversation went, but now that the door was open, he was able to see inside.

He was making up his mind, trying to decide if he wanted to enter when Anita spoke again.

"Wow she's really pissed isn't she, and I'm certainly glad that it's not at me. Last time I saw that look a kingdom lost its main reason to import brides and a Prince was seconds from wetting his shorts when she gave that look to him. Poor boy was literally moments from drenching his throne if I remember correctly.

"Of course that was right before she mowed through something like several hundred Trolls in under a day. Then she personally wiped out something like fifteen to twenty of the Prince's royal guard in under thirty seconds and it was all on her own. That girl is a force of nature that not many can face once they piss her off," said Anita voice just behind him with a touch of joviality.

DJ looked back at her in shock, but she didn't look like she was joking about that last part even though she was smiling. It was one of those smiles that someone has when they remember something that happened to them long ago.

Remembering the amount of weight his stepmother was lifting when they trained, DJ started to wonder how smart it was of him to make her mad if Anita wasn't really pulling his leg.

And he really didn't have the feeling she was.

Turning and looking past where Suzan was once standing, he saw that his father lying on the couch and Jordan's mother Lori was seated in a chair close by healing him like Amber had done to him earlier.

Slowly walking into the room he could see that only the parents from earlier were seated in various seats all around the room with his Dad, and they were all very quiet. None of the kids were anywhere to be seen and he was wondering why that was. Did they get sent off somewhere? Was that why he was in the library alone with Amber?

"Sorry I didn't mean to take it that far," said DJ quietly as he looked at his father stretched out on the couch.

He felt bad that they both hurt each other to the point that they needed serious medical care.

Looking at his father as he was healed DJ was struck by something he thought about when he first saw him. If he didn't know any better he would swear that his Dad didn't look any older than thirty lying there. But to have two kids who were sixteen and fourteen, and DJ knew his father he came to this world in his early twenties, DJ knew that his Dad had to be in his forties at least like his mother.

"Well I'm really sorry too, I shouldn't have let it go that far either. I should have known better but I guess I got a little excited about having a chance at sparring with someone who really knew my style. It was really interesting playing with someone who knows what they are doing and could give me a chance to experiment," said Dusty smiling.

But the smile was soon gone as the room suddenly filled with the loud sound of Lori smacking Dusty hard on the chest. DJ realized that was a pretty impressive feat given that his father still had his shirt on. It had sounded like she had hit bare skin.

DJ looked at her and could see her viciously scowling down at his father.

"Have you lost your mind?! Suzan was right! The two of you could have killed each other. You had a broken rib, dislocated shoulder, and your knee was separated. You also managed to wrench the other one. You look like someone had been beating your face with a barbed tree branch. DJ here was even worse off than you were.

"I couldn't let any of the other children even practice healing on either of you because of how badly you were hurt, they only had general knowledge from their books as reference. Only Amber had the practical skill needed to work on DJ, and in knowing all of this you for some reason considered what you did playing? Are you completely insane?!" asked Lori getting heated.

Suddenly DJ was wondering how lucky Logan might be if Jordan had her mother's temper as well as her looks. He could see someone not wanting to be on the receiving end of that temper very often.

Remembering what he heard as he came down the hallway he wondered if both of the women took turns giving it to his Dad while he had been out cold as he was being healed by Amber.

"Ok, ok Lori, you and Suzan are right, I let it get away from me, and I won't ever do it again," said Dusty trying to backpedal and appease everyone.

Suddenly DJ heard "I was lucky wasn't I? Lucky you had a broken hand when you had to face me. You should have been able to really hurt me in that match eighteen seasons ago, right"

Looking he realized the statement came from Amber's father.

"Are you kidding? You don't give yourself much credit. You are dangerous enough that I had to take that fight seriously myself. I still just barely won. Sometimes it's harder to fight someone who knows everything you know and sometimes it's harder to fight someone who you have no idea what they can do. You both gave me a bigger fight than I expected," said Dusty smiling as he sat up on the couch and looked first at him then at DJ

"Dad they really have no idea how brutal Muay Thai can be, do they? Right now they think you took some kind of perverse pleasure in working me over like that. You need to get everyone together and I'll be right back," said DJ as he left the room.

When he returned, carrying his iPad under his arm, DJ found everyone who had watched the fight earlier, including Amber from wherever she disappeared too. Anita, as well as her husband, also now waited for him to return.