"I'll be right outside," he said. "In the hallway. Call if you need anything."
"I will." The doctor was already focused on Mattie's hand, his fingers probing gently to assess the damage. "Now go. Let me work."
Dimitri forced himself to walk through the door and close it behind him. He stood in the hallway with his back against the wall, staring at the dresser that Mattie would never restore.
No sounds were coming from the bedroom, and even though it was good that Mattie wasn't in pain and that he couldn't hear the doctor setting the bones in her hand, the silence was oppressive.
Dimitri slid down the wall until he was sitting on the floor, his knees drawn up, his bloodstained hands hanging between them. He should go down to the lab and wash them, but he couldn't bring himself to move. Now that the adrenaline was fading, he felt the exhaustion it had been masking. The fight had taken more out of him than he'd realized, and his body ached despite his enhanced healing repairing the damage.
Mattie's injuries were his fault.
She'd sensed instinctively that it wasn't safe for her out there, but he'd pushed her to leave the safety of the lab. She'd trusted him, even though she shouldn't have, and now she had one more injury to her already battered body, one more ache to contend with when the weather changed or when she exerted herself.
Some protector he was.
He leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes, letting the silence wash over him. Behind the closed door, the doctor was working, setting bones, applying splints, and doing whatever was necessary to repair the damage that should never have been inflicted.
Dimitri waited.
It felt like hours, though it couldn't have been so long before the door finally opened and the doctor emerged. He looked satisfied, which was encouraging.
Dimitri scrambled to his feet. "Is she okay?"
The doctor nodded. "The bones are set and splinted. I gave her something to keep her under while I worked, and it will be a while before she wakes up. You should sit by her side and watch her. Just don't try to wake her early and don't disturb the splints."
"Got it," Dimitri said.
The physician reentered the room to take his bag. "I'll come back tomorrow to check on her progress. Keep her hand elevated, keep her comfortable, and don't let her do anything more than go to the bathroom or pick up a cup with her other hand. I left a container of painkillers on the nightstand. She can take two every four hours, three if it gets really bad, but no more than that. Understand?"
"Yes, I understand. Thank you."
"You're welcome," the doctor said and headed to the staircase.
Dimitri watched him go, then turned and walked into the room.
Mattie lay exactly where he'd left her, but she looked different now. More peaceful, somehow, despite the heavy bandaging that encased her right hand and wrist. The splints held her fingers straight, and the white wrapping was clean and professional, nothing like the bloody, mangled mess he'd been trying not to look at earlier.
He crossed to the bed and sank down on the other bed so he wouldn't disturb her. Her face was relaxed in sleep, the pain lines smoothed away, her breathing deep and even.
"I'm so sorry," he whispered, reaching out to brush a strand of hair from her forehead. "This shouldn't have happened. I should have listened to you. Should have protected you better."
25
MATTIE
Pain was the first thing Mattie became aware of. A throbbing ache that radiated from her right hand up through her wrist and into her arm. She tried to move her fingers and gasped as the pain sharpened into something brutal, something that made her vision swim and her stomach lurch.
"Easy," Dimitri said from right next to her. "Don't try to move it."
She opened her eyes slowly, blinking against the light filtering through the window. They were back in the lab, back in their room, and Dimitri was sitting beside the bed, his face drawn with worry.
At least he wasn't covered in blood anymore.
"What time is it?" Her voice came out as a croak, her throat dry and scratchy.
"Late afternoon. You've been asleep for hours." He reached for something on the nightstand. "The doctor who took care of your hand left these for you. For the pain. He said you can take two every four hours."
Mattie struggled to sit up, and Dimitri helped her, propping both their pillows behind her back. Every movement sent fresh waves of pain through her hand, and she had to bite her lip to keep from crying out.
