“It’s fine. It’s not like I have to pick you up, just lean on me.”
We made our way downstairs, Patrick leaning on my shoulder for most of the way. Walking slowly, we got all the way to the kitchen area before I led Patrick over to one of our dining nook chairs to sit down. "Looks rather middle class, no offense," Patrick said, looking around the space. "Although that gym was certainly sweet enough. I didn't get a very good look last time I was here."
"No, your eyes were fixed on something very different, and understandably so. By the way, you seriously had never seen The Princess Bride until the other night?"
"Never. I know, it makes me a bit of a heathen. But I can make up for it, I'm sure you're going to want to keep me here at least a while if Tabby's asking about my assistant. From what I saw on the walls of your entertainment room, you've got quite the movie collection."
"We do, and if you listen and follow directions, we'll see what we can do. If you're really good, I might even let Tabby sit on the same bean bag as you" I joked.
Patrick's face lit up, and I knew everything I needed to know about how he felt about Tabby, before it clouded and he shook his head. "Probably not a good idea. You want me to not strain myself, and well, Tabby kind of inspires that in me. I'm sure you understand."
"She is very inspiring," I agreed. "Still, use these next few days. I'm not going to lie to you Patrick, you put quite a shock into all of us when we took that mask off. To be honest, you were actually starting to tick Mark off with your antics."
Patrick sighed, and I went into the kitchen, getting the beginnings of a sandwich together. "Mark's the gourmet around here, but I can get you started. Nothing too fancy, but you won't be on rice porridge either."
Patrick
For the next three days, I focused on recovering my strength. While I understood Sophie's admonition that I try to take a week for recovery before going back to work, I doubted I'd be able to do it. First off, while I was the new council member, I was still expected to show up. If I was gone for so long, there'd be questions asked about where I was, especially since I wasn't at home or in any of the local hospitals. I couldn't risk that leading back to Tabby or my new friends.
For the rest of Saturday and Sunday, I was able to relax, slowly walking around the ground floor on Mount Zion when I had the energy, and sitting down with Tabby when I didn't. In a lot of ways, it was mundane. We didn't do much, a lot of her showing me around the inside of the house and such mostly. I was amazed as we did the tour, and I found all the ways they had hidden high tech devices for Mark to use in daily living and working areas. The most impressive had to be Mark's pocket sized computers, which could be plugged into any of a half dozen monitors around the house.
"So MJT really is a three person operation," I said after dinner on Saturday. "So what's your super power?"
"What do you mean?" Tabby asked, a small smile on her face. I found that I had spent most of the day smiling too, a condition that was quite common around her. Maybe it was the hair, or the beautiful eyes, but I doubted it. I think it was Tabby as a whole that had that affect on me.
"Well, Mark's the super warrior, Sophie's the doctor and from what I guess, a sniper too, so what's your super power?" I replied.
"I don't really have one," she said, blushing. "I guess every team needs a plain old Jane””
"You’re hardly plain or regular," I countered, causing her to blush. "In fact, I think you're special in a lot of ways."
"Patrick," Tabby said, her voice trembling. "This.... this is hard for me. My last relationship didn't end so well."
I knew more about it than what Tabby knew, but I didn't think it was the time to talk about that just yet. Instead, I answered from my heart. "Tabby... I'm here. I'm not saying you have to rush into anything. I was honestly surprised about the other night. Wonderfully so. It's not that I'm saying I want to sit around twiddling my thumbs, but you are special, and if it means we go slow on certain things, then I'm okay with that."
My face felt hot as I finished my statement, and I heaved myself to my feet. The wound in my back ached, but held. Sophie had done a good job. "Uhm, I'm going to walk around some. Sophie said I should do that often."
Leaving her, I turned right down the hallway, not really caring where I was going. I soon heard the sound of music coming from the gym, and entered slowly. I needed to clear my mind, and I figured nothing I saw there would be in any way challenging to my thought processes. I in for a surprise.
I had first thought, from the sounds that came out as I opened the door, that I'd find Mark alone. There were some pretty impressive weights being lifted by the sounds of things. Instead, when I opened the door I found Mark and Sophie both working out. Mark was stripped down to only some compression shorts, while Sophie was dressed in running shorts and a sports bra.