Nick pondered for a minute, studying her.
“You…can stay, if you want to.”
“Huh?”
“You can spend the night, if you want to. I dunno that I’m gonna be very active, but…”
Cally cocked her head to one side, looking at him, for a long moment.
“Not tonight, I think,” she decided. “Or, if I do, I’ll spend it out here, on the couch, so I can look after you.”
“But…”
“Nick, honey, look. This is the first time I’ve ever even been to your apartment. And I’m honored, and it’s been a wonderful night, especially when you told me you loved me! But for one, you really are banged up, here.” She ran a feather-light hand across his chest. “And for another: you finally told me about Tabby, after we’d been out a few times. I’m glad you did; it made a whole lot of things about your behavior around me make sense. And I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable at first.”
“It’s okay, Cal. We talked about this, way back when.”
“I know. But what it means is, you’ve been hurt, your trust betrayed, and I’m not gonna push anything. I want you to keep trusting me, and maybe one of these days, when we’re both ready, things’ll happen. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“Now lemme help you get this shirt an’ junk off,” she said, reaching for the buttons on his shirt; he had discarded coat and tie almost as soon as he’d gotten in the door.
Five minutes later, Cally was hissing in sympathy, and Nick had discovered just how stiff he really was; he seriously doubted he could have stripped to the waist without her help.
And the bruise had only expanded in extent.
“We should have iced this, this afternoon,” she fussed. “No wonder you’re stiff, sweetheart! And the damn shooter didn’t miss your heart by much. That coulda been bad, even with the armor.”
“Yeah,” Nick said, studying the display of colors across his right breast. “Damn, there’s colors here I didn’t know living human bodies could even make.”
“No shit,” Cally agreed, getting up and going to the kitchen. Within moments she was back with an ice pack. “Here, let’s get this iced down for a bit, then I’ll see about applying that cream junk I mentioned.”
“Uhn,” he grunted, as she eased the special frozen pad onto his chest. “Damn, that’s cold.”
“That’s the idea,” she chuckled. “It’ll contract the blood vessels and stop the hemorrhage, which is all a bruise really is, after all. Does it have enough of a cloth cover that it’s not sticking to the skin?”
“Yeah, that’s okay. It’s just cold, dammit.”
“Try to relax into it. It should start to feel good in a minute.”
Nick did as she asked, and after a little, it did start to ease the pain in his pummeled rib cage.
“Better?” she asked, and he realized his face had relaxed.
“Yeah.”
“Good. Just lean back, while I go fish the tub of cream out of my stuff.”
Fifteen minutes later, Nick leaned back in the recliner as warm, gentle hands lightly rubbed a soothing cream into his chest.
“Huh,” he grunted.
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah. That feels…really good.”
“Making it feel better?”
“Yup. And my nanites are reporting that it’s good, too.”
“Great, then.”
“Cally?”
“Mm?”
“Do you have anybody else who can walk you home from here? I mean, a guy friend, somebody from the division, or something…”
“Not really, no. My family is on the other side of the continent, you know. I guess I need to introduce you to ‘em eventually. But if one of the guys from the division is available, I might get him to escort me home, I guess. Why?”
“You didn’t work anything out with ‘em first?”
“Nah. I figured I’d just head home.”
Nick shook his head.
“No. I’m not comfortable with you doing that. Not after what happened today. If they saw you with me this evening, if they have someone watching my place, they could go after you to get to me.”
“I can take care of myself, Nick. I’ve had the same training you have.”
“I know. But…look, Cal,” he said, earnest. “You’ve been trying to take care of me tonight, and I’ve let you…”
“Yeah. So?”
“Let me reciprocate. If you won’t stay in the bedroom, at least let me fix you up in here, on the couch or in the recliner, here, after I go to bed. Or hell, I’ll give you the bedroom and I’ll stay here.”
“I’m not the one who got shot today, sweetie.”
“I know. But Mom raised me to know how to treat you, hon.”
“Oh. Okay. I get it now,” she said. Cally leaned back and studied his face while she put the lid on the tub of cream. “And you’re still damn stiff…”
“Yeah,” he sighed, then added without thinking, “and I’ll probably be worse in the morning.”
“All right,” she decided. “Nurse Cally stays, and goes in with you in the morning. I can change into one of my spare outfits in my locker, that I keep handy in case of perp interaction.”
“Um, just so you know, I normally sleep in the nude, but I got some loungewear I’ll dig out tonight. And if you want a t-shirt, I’ll be happy to loan you one.”
“That’ll work. Spare blankets? Pillows?”
“I got a few, yeah.”
“Deal.”
Half an hour later, Nick was in a pair of lounge pants and a tee, and tucked lovingly into bed.
Meanwhile, Cally, using one of his tees as a sleep-shirt, was bedding down on the couch.
“Good night, Nick,” he heard her soft call from his den.
“Good night, Cal,” he responded in kind.
Then he turned out the lights in VR and they got some sleep.
The next morning was a little slow getting up to speed, but eventually Nick
