Night Watch I: Eliza, Ward of Andrew

*Andrew's POV*

I was in a bit of a spot. Eliza's garments were disgusting. She couldn’t possibly put those back on… Though I still had all of Juliet's clothes, Juliet had been both petite and slender. Eliza was an Amazon by comparison.

I saw Eliza hang the drying cloth up over the hang line and come towards me, completely nude. After initially panicking and running to my dresser to dig through the random bits of apparel I had collected over the years, I decided, once again, to try and act like an adult. Realistically, it was probably for the best that Eliza was not clothed yet, in fact. I would better be able to see where she was wounded that way.

I made an effort to keep my voice totally steady and normal sounding, "All dry?" Eliza nodded. I smiled at her, trying to hide my nervousness at still being so close to her when she was buck-naked!

I tried to think about mundane things. Like bread. Definitely not warm, round bread; more like square, cold, stale bread. I cleared my throat, adding mold to my mental loaf of bread as I accidentally noticed the skin of her chest had formed goosebumps. "I'll go fetch my medicines and bandages."

I marched myself over to Juliet’s area. It was more of a shrine, really. Things of Juliet’s, things I associated closely with her. I found what I wanted, as I knew I would, in its place, towards the front and slightly to the right.

I ran my hand over the large wooden box, unopened for just over three years. Every time I had been wounded since Juliet had died, I had just let it fester, hoping it would kill me. Each time, each had healed, as though to spite me, and left me with an ugly reminder that Juliet was gone. I wouldn't do that with Eliza. She could die of blood poisoning if she wasn't tended to. I didn’t know what she had done, but regardless, I wouldn’t let anyone else die the horrible, lingering death of infection. After a moment’s hesitation, I carried Juliet's prized medicine kit over to where Eliza had sat on the ground. She was petting Femme.

"I see you've found Femme." Eliza nodded, looking happy, smiling. It was nice to see her looking content. It occurred to me that Eliza was not quite so incredibly plain as I had thought after all, now that she had been cleaned up. She had a sweet smile. Well, and I liked her eyes. When I inadvertently started thinking again about bathing her with the sponge, I immediately re-formed the image of the moldy loaf of bread in my mind and focused on it. Why was I such a pervert all of a sudden? Breadbreadbread...

"I think she likes you, Eliza." Femme head-butted Eliza's hands and purred blissfully. I looked around, and eventually spotted Crow watching from the shadows of the entrance to the back room. I motioned him forward, but he just stared. He probably smelled blood and infection coming from Eliza. I figured Femme missed Juliet’s female company too much to care.

I sat down behind Eliza, careful not to bump into her broken left wing. "I'm going to start dressing your wounds. I’m sorry, it’s going to sting. Let me know when it gets to be too much and we can take a break."

Eliza nodded and sat up a little straighter. I took her long, damp hair in my hands and twisted it, tying it into a knot, so that I could better see her back. I placed the knot over her shoulder, and had an odd, fleeting feeling when I let go of it. I was almost reluctant to let it go. Did I seriously want to play with her hair, as though she were a doll? I wondered if this was a sign I really had been spending way too much time alone…

Eliza chuckled. "A knot? Can't you braid?"

I snorted. "No, I cannot." I busied myself with dabbing ointment on a gash in her shoulder. I knew most grown men would hiss in pain, but Eliza didn't flinch. "Braiding hair is a woman's fancy."

She sniffed at me."Don't let your upbringing blind you, Andrew. A braid can be used to strengthen rope, not just to contain hair." I paused, on my third wound, and checked to make sure I had the right jar, which I did. Damn. Eliza apparently had the pain tolerance of a rock ogre.

"You must teach me, then." I switched jars, wiped my fingers, and rubbed some soothing balm into the bruises on her back. There were significantly less on her back than her chest, but I felt her begin to relax at the application. It made me feel slightly accomplished.

"Alright, stay put." I maneuvered myself around awkwardly on the floor, so that I could work on her right arm. I felt her gaze on me and it made me want to squirm. One cut was deep, and would scar heavily across her deltoid. It had just begun to granulate in, so there was no point in trying to suture it. I packed it, looking up at Eliza to make sure the pain was not too much. Her eyes were wide open, and her pupils dilated. She nodded, indicating I should continue. How she was not crying out, I wasn’t certain.

Strange, I thought. She didn’t looked like a soldier of any kind; she was too soft.But Sebastian had said she was a member of the Night Watch of her tribe. Even a Berserker in a fugue would have likely done more than just grimace with that last wound...
After I had finished with her lacerations, I switched to rubbing the balm into the bruises covering her arm and hand, enjoying the feeling of her relaxing, her tense muscles letting go. I even heard her let out a sigh that sounded content. It had been a long time since I had helped someone like this. Not that it was the same as when I had patched up Juliet after battles. It wasn't the same. Fuck no! It was just somewhat analogous.

I reached over for the kit, and shifted it over. "Scooti-poot, Femme-Baby! Daddy loves you muffin-belly!" I gently poked Femme out of the way; she made an irritated noise at me and huffed into a corner. I sat in front of Eliza and started dressing the wounds on her front. Here, there were a lot more than anywhere else. A few turned my stomach and made me wonder if perhaps whatever Eliza had been condemned for had not been justified... I cleaned them as gently as I could. She watched me the whole time, never once wincing.

When I got to the slash across her stomach, I wasn't sure how deep it was. "Eliza, I need to get a better look at this laceration, can you lay back? I promise I won't try anything; I don't want to hurt you."

Eliza lay back on her elbows, looking at the deep cut with mild interest. I carefully pulled the edges of the wound apart and cleaned them. It had just reached muscle, but barely. What worried me was the length of the gash. It ran on a slight diagonal from one side of her belly to the other. It also showed no signs of healing, and was clearly infected. I put very slight pressure on an edge, and saw that more foul-looking discharge easily leaked from the inflamed tissue. It was no good to suture. I looked up at her.

Her light green eyes had a steady gaze without fear. "Andrew, I do not fear death. I do not fear pain. That wound has been infected for days. If you wish to treat it, you may do so however you like. If you prefer to do nothing, you will surely be free of your charge within a fortnight. I will bear you no ill will for it. It would be a mercy, really."

Notes

i have been finding my life rather devoid of joy. today i was sitting in my car, and decided to compile a mental checklist of reasons to continue on in this world. i thought it was totally hilarious that 'because i totally want to finish my damned fan fiction stories because i think they're so awesome and no one else would do it, at least not exactly like i would' not only made my list, but made it like, to way at the top. hahaha! what that says about me, i'm not sure... possibilities:

- i'm a soopacreep
- i like writing and use it as a creative outlet and i like bvb
- i'm a soopacreep

;)

dude- bvb: so awesome, they can persuade you to carry on even via fanfiction!!!! behold their awesome powers!!!!