This is a work of fiction, using characters from the film, “Proof of Life”.  No insult or invasion of privacy or infringement of copyright is intended. The story is for readers over the age of 18 only, and contains adult language. The writer is not responsible for any "discomfort" caused to the reader by this language and these situations.

Full Length Of The River

©2008 by: Darrin

Chapter Seven

The afternoon passed quietly.  A few games of gin later, Gretchen returned, looking extremely timid but one smile of thanks from Terry and she was at ease, explaining she was there to give Stephanie another bed bath, trailing off as to the reason why.  Dino told Terry he was leaving anyway, to make their getaway plans and then pick up the “lovely Lenore” as he kept calling his aerobics instructor, making Stephanie laugh.  After Dino left, Terry grabbed his laptop to check on emails and a few other things while Gretchen took care of Stephanie.

Not too long after that, Dr Sebastian arrived to check Stephanie’s bandages and spent a little extra time showing Terry what he’d need to do once he got Stephanie home after confirming that Terry would be doing the majority of Stephanie’s care.

As he finished, Bass stepped back, letting Terry get Stephanie redressed.  “And that’s that, the nurse tomorrow morning will stock you up with bandages and the instructions you’ll need before you’re released along with some prescriptions I’ll write before then.  Just follow all the instructions and Stephanie should be healed up within a few weeks.  You can go to your physician in a few days or earlier and he or she will set you up with a regular schedule.”  He turned to Stephanie, who was holding her little bear tight to her chest, a little bewildered after the activity with first Gretchen then Bass and Terry.  “And you, young lady, be sure to eat and exercise.  Okay?”

Steph nodded, trying to smile.  Terry could see she was getting a little pale.

“Okie dokie, doc, thanks so much for everything.  Dino’s making our flight plans and we’ll be leaving some time tomorrow, I reckon.”

“Well, good luck to you… with everything.”  The emphasis wasn’t lost on Terry and he smiled his thanks to Bass as they shook hands.  “Mind if we step out for a couple of minutes?”  Terry knew what Bass wanted to talk to him about and turned to Steph, caressing her cheek.  “Just be outside for a tick, luv.”  Steph nodded and Terry almost felt she knew what the doctor wanted to talk about too.  He smiled and then joined Bass in the hallway just outside the room’s door.

“I got the test results.  She’s definitely not pregnant just as I thought.”  Terry sighed gratefully.  “Yeah, I was relieved too.  You were married once before, right?”  Terry nodded.  “Well, you know what to expect then as far as her cycle is concerned, but she’s probably going to experience some pain if she’s not fully healed.  I’ll be including some pain relievers in my prescriptions that will be specifically for that, just so you know.  Your doctor will be able to advise you further, once you get Stephanie in to see him… her…”  Bass smiled.

“It’s a him, but I’ll get him to recommend a female doctor if you think that’s better.”

“It just might be.  You know that her biggest obstacle is going to be psychologically, so all I can say is whatever keeps her blood pressure down is the best.  See how she feels and go from there.”

“Got it.  You’ve been a great help, Bass.  Thank you.”

“All part of the job, Terry,” Bass said and shook his hand.

Bass took off and Terry returned to the room, sitting down on Steph’s bed to see if she needed anything.  She crawled into his arms immediately.  “Everyone keeps t-touching me, T,” she whispered.

“I know, luv.  They have to.  Have to get you better.  It’ll be easier once we get home.”  Terry really wanted to ask her why she didn’t mind him touching her; it was a question that had been burning in him since the first time she had wrapped her legs around his torso back on the plane.  Maybe the bloke in Manhattan could shed some light on that.  For now, he just said, “You still okay with coming home with me?”  Her vigorous nod made him grin.  “Goodo.  I’m gonna take care of you, Steph.  It’ll be all right soon.”

“Yeah,” she whispered against his neck.

Following Bass’s advice, he asked, “When we get to Manhattan, I’m gonna need to set you up with a new doc, you reckon you might prefer a female doctor?”  Stephanie looked into his eyes and a little relieved smile appeared on her face.  “Okie dokie, that’s what we’ll find for you then, no worries.  You just need to tell me what makes you feel more comfortable, luv, okay?”  She nodded again, laying her head on his shoulder and he stroked her hair for a little, calming her back down.

After a few minutes, he broke the silence.  “So, how about a walk in the quad?  Bass said you should get some exercise, hey?”

“Okay,” she said with what sounded like resignation.  Terry decided to let that go.  She needed some fresh air and an act of “getting back on the horse” as it were.  Estella had removed Stephanie from the monitors earlier so all they had to contend with was the IV once she and Terry were ready to go outside.

When the elevator reached the main floor, Steph wouldn’t move until Terry took her hand and led her slowly out to the patients’ quad.  After a few circuits of the fountain, Stephanie started relaxing.  When Terry’s cell chirped, she barely flinched.

“Thorne,” Terry said after flipping his phone open.

“Terry… It’s David.”

“Mate,” was all Terry could think to say.  Naturally there was still a friendship there, they had saved each other’s arses too many times for there to be anything else.  But Terry wasn’t about to get chummy until he’d heard what he needed to hear.

“I told Dino and now I’ll tell you, I’m sorry.  My mother’s beside herself.  She honestly doesn’t know what possessed her to behave that way.”

“Grief does do strange things to people,” Terry conceded.  He felt Stephanie’s little hand tighten around his.

“Daphne and mom were really close, more friends than mother and daughter, I can only think that it just overwhelmed her; losing her daughter and best friend at the same time.  She knows she fucked up and she knows she can’t do anything to make it right.  But I’m still her son and I need to help her.”

“I know, mate.  And I’ve gotta help Stephanie.”

David sighed audibly.  “Yeah, I know.  Which makes what I need to ask hard, but I gotta do it.  I really need to talk to Stephanie, Terry.  Find out what she knows about Daphne.  Anything at all come up yet?”

“Hang on,” Terry said and hit the mute button.  “Luv, you okay with doing a round without me?  I just need to talk a bit here.  Okay?”  Stephanie’s eyes got huge and she looked around the quad.  Terry thanked fuck there were only one or two people nearby.  “It’ll be okay, sweetheart.  I’ll be right here, watchin’ you the whole time.”

“O-okay,” she said at last and Terry went and sat on one of the benches while she began to follow the path around the fountain.  Terry’s heart hurt from seeing how small she looked.  But he knew if he didn’t start letting her go a little, she’d never be able to keep her appointments in Manhattan without him in the room and while he didn’t have a lot of experience in such matters, he sure as hell knew the doc would insist on speaking to Stephanie alone at some point.

He returned to his call.  “David, Stephanie doesn’t remember anything before the kidnapping and she’s only made the barest references to her time in the compound.  It’s all very painful to her still and I’m not about to force her to begin reliving it, without a doctor’s help, just so you can get information out of her.  If I were you, I’d work with the FBI tracking these fucks down instead of pursuing this.”

“I am,” David answered quietly.  “It’s just… I need to confirm Daph’s really dead.  There’s no body and mom… She needs closure.”

Terry sighed.  “Yeah, I know.  Look, all I can promise you is that once Stephanie can talk about it, whatever she tells us about Daphne I’ll get to you, top priority.  But in the meantime, you’re just going to have to hope that when we catch these cunts, we’ll get them to talk before we kill them.”  Terry’s voice lowered to a growl but he managed a smile and a wave to Stephanie as she began approaching him again.

“Okay, that’ll be good enough.”

“Goodo.  I gotta go, mate.”

He rang off from David as Stephanie returned and he stood, taking her hand.  “You did really well, luv.  I’m proud of you.  Everything okay?”  Stephanie nodded, smiling a little through what he could see of her fear.  He put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head.  “That’s my good sheila,” he said and they continued their walk until Terry could tell she was ready to go back inside.

The trip back up to the room was uneventful this time and soon Stephanie was once more ensconced in her bed and setting her bear up as if he were “watching”, began playing a game of solitaire while Terry worked on his laptop.  Dino returned an hour later with confirmation of their plans for tomorrow.

“Flight leaves at 3pm, that gives us plenty of time to get Princess to the hotel, us packed, maybe some lunch somewhere fun and then off to LAX, next stop Manhattan.  I got us in first class, all the way, straight shoot across the country.”

“That cost a bit,” Terry answered.

“Yeah, but we didn’t pay,” came the reply.

“Yeah?  Who did?”

“Masters.  Said it was the least he could do since he’d hired us in the first place.”

Terry laughed.  “I bet you didn’t even argue, bloody bastard!”

“Got that right, hermano.  We put our asses on the line, shouldn’t matter what the outcome was.”  Dino looked over at Stephanie and grinned.  “Anything for Princess Stephanie’s well-being, right, honey?”

Stephanie just smiled and Terry couldn’t tell if it was politeness or if she actually comprehended everything Dino had said.  He was feeling rather strange about the duality of his feelings for her.  At times, she was this little girl he didn’t think understood anything going on around her.  Others, he felt she knew exactly what was up, just unable to participate fully just yet.  Well, eventually he’d be able to get to really know her.  And probably a lot sooner than he expected.  But first her body had to heal and hopefully her mind right along with it.  There were a lot of mysteries to be solved and she was at the heart of most of them.

“All right then, one more night in this room and then it’s off to the free world.  When’s your date tonight, Dino?”

“I’m off in a few minutes.  Wine and dine and make her mine until I come pick you two up tomorrow morning.  Around nine or so?”

“Yeah, that’ll do, brekkie and gettin’ dressed then we’ll meet you out front.”

“Good deal.  See ya then.  Bye, Princess.”  Dino caressed Steph’s cheek and she grinned up at him.

Terry grinned.  “Stop flirting and go get laid, you bastard.”  Dino laughed, waved and then was gone, leaving Terry to chuckle at his best friend.

“Well, it’s a bit before dinner’s arriving.  What say we tackle this backgammon box then?”

As they played the game, Terry kept an eye on Stephanie’s hands, making sure she was remaining calm.  Night was going to be falling soon and he was hoping against hope she’d sleep through, but realistically knew there wasn’t an overly huge chance of that.  Other than the fact that there had been hardly any activity for her in the past two days, she hadn’t slept properly without heavy sedatives since he’d rescued her and fuck knew what kind of sleep she’d had before that since she’d been kidnapped.  He just wanted her to lie down, fall asleep and not wake up until brekkie the next morning.  Then he’d feel like she’d gotten honest rest.  He knew that was a pipe dream and he began thinking more into the details of taking her home.

He figured as cognitive as she was, soon he’d be able to have her care for herself in most things.  Once they’d seen the doctor and gotten that part locked down, he could easily keep them both on a routine schedule.  Then add in outside elements slowly until she was comfortable.  Yeah, it’d be a regular life for both of them soon, he felt sure of that.

But how regular?  He didn’t want to keep coming back to the subject, had shut it down numerous time in the past two days already.  But the attraction he felt for her… It wasn’t just wanting to care for her.  He knew himself well enough for that.  Also knew that he’d do anything to protect her, even from himself until she was ready.  He’d denied himself himself before this and for longer than he hoped it would take to get Stephanie firmly on the road to recovery and for not as noble reasons, so he knew they’d be okay together.  But he had to get her sleeping on her own.  That was a priority.

Dinner interrupted his thoughts and their game, which Terry set aside on the table so they could finish later.  She’d done remarkably well and he wondered if her background included something to do with mathematics.  She’d played very well, very quickly, calculating the best moves within seconds of rolling the dice and would probably beat him if not gammon him altogether.  And she was very silent, concentrating so hard to the exclusion of all else.  When the orderly had brought in their trays, she looked disappointed that she wouldn’t be able to complete her “equations”.

She also seemed extremely relaxed, as if dealing with numbers had somehow washed a lot of the tension out of her body.  He decided to test his theory.

As they ate together, he said casually, “Steph, luv, you don’t mind me holding you, right?”

“’Course not,” she replied, pushing her peas into her mashed potatoes with her fork and mixing them together.

Still non-chalant, Terry continued with, “Why?”

She began cutting her roast beef into bite size pieces.  “Because you found me.  You took me away from the b-bad stuff.  I knew I could trust you.  You couldn’t want to do those th-things to me… And you don’t.”  She was now proceeding to place the bits of roast beef around the small mountain of mashed potatoes and peas.

Terry was watching, fascinated.  She was concentrating on making her meal a perfect replica of something but he had no idea what.  It looked like a mountain with a little village surrounding it.  She began eating and the illusion was destroyed.  He continued with his meal and questioning her.  “You’re right, luv.  And you’re not afraid of anyone I trust then?”

“N-no… not once I know you’re right about th-them.  Then I know that even if you aren’t, you’ll still protect me f-from them.”

“That’s very true, Steph.  I’ll never let anyone hurt you.”

“B-but…”

There was silence for a bit while Terry waited to see if she’d continue.  When she didn’t, he prompted her.  “But what, sweetheart?”

“But there’s things you can’t stop… Th-things that will h-hurt me.”

Terry sighed.  She’d figured that much out, then.  “Yes,” he answered, sorry he had to admit it.

Steph sigh as well, very much in resignation.  Then she began speaking, so softly, Terry stopped eating to hear her.

“I don’t remember who I was be-before they took me.  I remember being t-taken now, from this morning, but I d-don’t remember anything before that.  I remember th-th-they… I remember s-some of it.  I don’t w-want to, but it sits there in m-my mind continuously, scaring me all the t-time.  I get so s-scared but when you hold me, it goes away f-for awhile and I can th-think like a normal person, a person who wasn’t… wasn’t… h-h-hurt.  For s-so long.  I don’t know h-how long I was there, T.  I d-don’t remember all the d-days.  Sometimes I w-would be left in the hut and I-I’d get a sense of time p-passing and then it would st-start all over again and… and…”

She fell silent and Terry sat stock still, not moving, not wanting to break whatever revelation this was.

Stephanie drew in a shaky breath.  “All I know, is that when you hold me, I feel safe.  I feel like I c-could be someone who isn’t afraid.  I don’t like b-being afraid, T.  But I… I am.  I c-can’t stop it.  You do, though.  You make m-me feel safe.”

Terry got up, pushed the tray table out of the way and pulled her into his arms.  She wrapped herself around him in the now-familiar way and he could feel her heart triple-hammering against his chest, could hear how ragged her breathing had become.  When she began crying, he stroked her hair and shh’d her through it.  When she calmed again, he pulled her back from him, holding her face with his hands and looking into her eyes.

“I’ll always keep you safe, luv.  That’s my job now and I’m good at it.  We’ll get through this together, no matter what it takes, no matter how long it goes, I’ll keep you safe.”

Stephanie nodded and Terry wiped her tears away with his thumbs.  They stared at each other for a long moment and Terry bent down, kissing her mouth gently and briefly, pulling back almost immediately and smiling down at her.  She smiled back.

“Okay?” Terry asked, softly, not entirely sure what he was asking her.  But she nodded again.

“Okay,” she answered.  They were quiet for a moment longer then Terry pulled her tray table back.

“Best finish, I don’t want to get in trouble with Estella because you didn’t eat everything.”

Stephanie gave him a relieved, watery giggle and picked up her fork again, commencing once more to demolishing her self-built village.

After they finished their desserts, he pulled the backgammon board back and they finished the game they’d started and began another.  When it grew full dark out, Terry put it away and they both got ready for sleep, then found an old movie on the telly.  About halfway through, he saw her eyes had closed and she seemed to be sleeping.  Nevertheless, he left the telly on, turned off the room’s light and closed his eyes himself.

He didn’t know how much time had passed when he suddenly woke, sitting straight up, certain there was something wrong.  His gut didn’t fail him.  Stephanie sat up in bed with a loud cry and scrambled out of the bed and he actually heard the IV needle make a “pop” sound as it was pulled out of her arm.  She made for the far corner of the room, shouting something, but Terry couldn’t understand it.  All he could understand was that her voice was filled with deep, resonating fear.  He ran for her and tried to take her hand, but she was still asleep and therefore still dreaming.

“…no no no no no no no…” she repeated, over and over and with more and more  panic.  She curled into the corner, covering her head with her hands, sobbing out, “No, please, no, I’ll be good, I won’t fight, you can do it, no no no no no…”

She’s dreaming of the beatings, Terry realized and took her hand forcefully, though she held her ground remarkably well.  But he did manage to get her hand in his and pull her out of the corner into his arms.

In an extremely calm voice, far from what he was feeling, he held her against him firmly, despite how she was fighting him and spoke directly into her ear.  “Steph, it’s a dream, it’s not real.  You’re here, you’re here with me, with Terry, it’s not real.  Come back, sweetheart.  Leave it go, come be with me.”  He kept repeating everything until she heard him at last.  Her cries calmed down to whimpered panting and she finally knew where she was, her arms going around his neck and holding tight.

Brenda entered the room and turned on the light.  “Mr Thorne?” she said and Terry stood up with Steph still in his arms.

“Yeah, we’re over here,” he said, walking back to Stephanie’s bed and sitting her down on it.  She wouldn’t let go of him though.  “Luv, gotta hook you back up, just give Brenda one arm, okay?”  He felt her arm slide off his shoulder slowly and then the little jump when Brenda reinserted the needle.  Then with a lot of persuasion, he got her back into the bed and settled in behind her, one arm around her waist.

Brenda left them, saying she’d check on a sedative and return when she had the okay.

Terry brushed Stephanie’s hair from her face and whispered in her ear that everything would be okay, she could sleep soon without any dreams.  Steph nodded, still shaking against him, calming only very slowly.  Brenda returned a few minutes later and injected the syringe into the IV as she had the night before.  Stephanie let out a sigh that evened out into sleep shortly after.  Brenda left, turning out the light again and Terry decided he’d wait a few minutes to make sure she was well asleep before returning to his cot.  But he was enjoying holding her this way and stroking her long, black hair.  Finally he put his arm around her waist again and was soon back asleep as well, despite his best intentions.

In the morning, Terry thankfully woke first.  He found himself holding Stephanie far too familiarly for their settings and sporting a hard on to boot.  He eased himself from behind her and walked over to his cot, hoping to make it seem as though he’d spent the night there.  Of course the staff wouldn’t be fooled, they’d have checked on Stephanie through the night, but at least he wouldn’t have to suffer Dino’s relentlessly sordid teasing.

That’s when Dino came through the door.

“Ah, good you’re awake.  You were getting quite a handful of the Princess when I arrived earlier so I left the two of you alone.”

“Fuck,” Terry muttered.

“You mean you wish you had,” Dino said with a randy chuckle.

“Don’t even joke about that, you shit!”

“Okay, okay, you weren’t doing anything… much.”

“Dino, I swear to Christ…”  Dino just sat in the chair with a shit-eating grin on his face.  “You’re really off sometimes, you know that don’t you?” Terry added with exasperation and headed into the lav, hoping like fuck his cracked fat would disappear soon because his loins were starting to ache.

He splashed some water in his face and brushed his teeth, just refreshing a little, knowing he’d have time for a shower at the hotel.  He changed clothes, used the loo and stepped out feeling better and more in control of himself.  Dino took one look at him and chuckled but didn’t take the piss because Stephanie was waking up.

“Morning, Princess,” he said to her and Terry walked over, helping her sit up.

“How’d you sleep, luv?  You had a good long sleep that’s certain.”

“Okay, I guess.  But I feel so groggy.”

“That’s the sedative,” Terry began and Dino interrupted.

“Sedative?  Another nightmare?”

“Yeah, but we got through it okay, right luv?”  Stephanie nodded and continued trying to wake up as Terry began gathering their belongings in preparation of leaving.

“Then it’s a good thing I brought these…” and upon saying that, Dino reached under his chair and pulled out the tray of Starbucks coffee he’d hidden there.

“Okay, I forgive you.  Gimme.”  Terry grabbed one and Dino set Stephanie up with the other.

“Didn’t know how you took your coffee, honey, but I figured milk and sugar since we’re fattening you up.”  Stephanie grinned and picked up the cup with both hands, sipping and sighing happily.  “Now there’s a look I won’t ever get tired of, I think we found out something about your past, Steph.  You’re a Starbucks coffee addict!”

That elicited a giggle that made the two men very happy to hear.  Breakfast arrived then and Dino did his usual brekkie stealing caper, but in return produced treats from Starbuck’s display case and the three of them ate and talked and got more giggles from Stephanie.  Terry felt relieved, much more than he thought he would.

Straight after they’d finished eating, Estella came by and gave Terry everything he’d need to care for Stephanie for several days before taking her to her doctor in Manhattan.  Then it was time to permanently remove the IV and get Stephanie ready to be discharged.

“Hey, why’d you get here so early, then?” Terry asked of Dino.  “Thought we said nine?”

“Yeah, but Lenore needed Starbucks and then got a call from her mom so I headed over here.  Seemed a waste of time to go back to the hotel for an hour, you know?”

“Is she gonna pine away for ya, move to New York and make an honest bloke out of your sorry arse?”

Dino laughed.  “Pal, I had a great time, but gimme New York girls any day.  Now come on.  I want Stephanie to see all the presents I bought her back at the hotel and we’ve got reservations for lunch we need to make.  Oh, here’s your transport, too, young lady!”

As the orderly helped a still-giggling Stephanie into the wheelchair, Terry shook his head and after one final check of the room, they were ready to put this part of Stephanie’s recovery behind them.

In the car, Stephanie sat in the back seat and Terry watched her from the rearview mirror as she stared out at the passing scenery.  There was something odd about the way she looked at everything, as if it was truly new to her.

He wondered if she’d lost all hope in the camp at some point and had started shutting down parts of her mind.  Despite the joking and laughter that sparring with Dino always brought about, he felt that familiar ache in his heart wondering if Stephanie had come that close to not being found at all.

Chapter Eight