The War Rages On

[LtCmdr Roget 0]

SD 50309.14

 

 

"I'm going to check on Margaux."

 

Margaux sighed inwardly.  The last thing she wanted was people checking on her.  Thank heavens they didn't have counselor, or she'd already have time blocked off for her.

 

She could hear Kyle's footsteps get closer, and she kept her eyes gently closed and her breathing deep and relaxed.  To anyone else she would appear sleeping, but somehow she knew Kyle would see through the façade.  She felt his fingertips gently touch her back and could not repress the involuntary shiver that moved down her spine.

 

"The wounds were critically deep," he said quietly, softly moving his hands over where the lash marks had only recently reduced the skin to a purple meshwork of ugly bruised flesh.  "If we could have treated you sooner, we might have been able to keep you from scarring," Kyle's voice trailed off as his hands continued to trace the maze of raised white scars.  

 

His hands were warm against her skin, but she kept her eyes closed, warring with her own emotions.  Her heart and her soul were aching with the need to crawl into his arms and let all the hurt and the pain and the anguish overflow onto his shoulder.  Her mind rebelled and held fast, rationalizing that she'd never needed anyone in the past to help her move through difficult times.  This was no different.

 

She felt him straighten the sheet over her hips and felt his hand linger on her skin for a moment more before he quietly moved off.  Scars.  Scars were nothing new to Margaux.  Scars helped reinforce the soft delicate tissues of the body, mind, and soul from the pain of living.  Her entire life was a honeycomb of scars.

 

"Fool," her inner voice whispered, "you see what happens when you let your heart control your actions and not your mind?!  How can you ever stand and face Atragon now that he knows?  And Jami?  You were her friend.  How do you think she will feel when she learns the truth about you?  And Kyle?  Will he still care a wit for you when he finds out the life you've lead?  The lie you're living?"

 

Margaux opened her eyes, watching Kyle confer with his staff.  They seemed intent on a particular patient that had come but he paused for a moment and turned his eyes locking onto hers.  His face brightened as he flashed her a slight smile and a quick wink before turning his attention back to this staff.

 

"I'm sorry," she whispered as she pressed her face back down into the biobed.