In the Aftermath (OC Whump)
This is a recent OC whump commission fic I wrote for @fluffyblueblanket123 about their german shepard hybrid OC Rhys. I had such a good time getting to write him in this! Hope you all enjoy :)
(If you would like to commission me, you can find the info HERE)
CW/TW: Inplied captivity, abuse and torture - medical trauma
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Natalia got the call on her pager as the ambulance pulled up to the ER loading doors. She made her way there at a fast clip to help out with the new arrival, feeling the collected calm that usually ascended over her whenever an emergency patient was brought in.
As she got ready to start taking information from the paramedics for Dr. John, she could already hear the sound of protests coming from behind the doors as they swung open to reveal the gurney being wheeled into the hospital.
“Please untie me! I-I can walk, let me go!”
Natalia stood back as another nurse joined her, watching as the paramedics had to halt their progress for a moment to try and calm the figure writhing on the gurney against the medical restraints.
“That’s Rhys,” the other nurse said softly, surprise and concern in her voice.
Natalia watched the hybrid fight against the paramedics. She had never met Rhys, but she had heard about him. The young German Shepard hybrid was known by pretty much everyone around as one of the few hybrids who had lived on the streets, not having a caretaker. Natalia had heard that he helped the other homeless hybrids a lot as well, but he hadn’t been seen in about two years now. Most people had thought he had moved on or perhaps found someone to take him in. Seeing him like this, though…she wondered what had happened to him that could put him in such a state.
It took her only a moment before she stepped forward.
“Rhys?” she called and the young hybrid flinched slightly at the sound of his name.
“Who’s asking?” he asked, voice sharp, but holding a fragile undertone.
She provided a smile. “My name’s Natalia; you’re at the hospital in Tulsa now, Rhys.” She glanced up at the paramedics. “Are the restraints necessary?”
“He kept trying to refuse treatment,” one of the paramedics informed her. “He was at risk of hurting himself. His lungs and heart are also weak, so we’ve been trying to keep him calm.”
“I think it will calm him down more if you take the restraints off now,” Natalia said firmly.
The paramedics nodded and started to unstrap Rhys from the gurney.
Considering his current state, Natalia hadn’t really been expecting Rhys to instantly push himself up and swing his legs over the gurney. He tried to make a break for it, but the second his feet hit the floor his legs started to fold under him.
Natalia and one of the paramedics stepped forward and caught him before he could fall. He flinched and instantly tried to pull out of their grasp, breath quickening as his eyes flashed in panic.
“Rhys,” Natalia spoke with a firm voice, breaking through the growing panic. “I need you to calm down now. Take deep breaths and get back on the gurney.”
He was shaking and she could feel the shudders wrack through his thin frame. She could feel every bone under his tattered clothes. He seemed to be highly malnourished on top of everything else.
“Don’t wanna go back there,” he gasped.
Natalia tried her best to soothe him, keeping her voice calm. “You don’t have to go back there,” she said, even though she wasn’t sure where ‘there’ was. “You’re safe now. We’re just going to get your wounds treated. All right?”
“Don’t wanna be tied up again.”
It was then that Natalia noticed the scars around his wrists, new over old, telling a story of prolonged restraint and a picture began to form in her mind about what might have happened during Rhys’s absence.
“Do you promise not to fight the doctors?”
He was silent for a long moment, breathing finally evening out a little, before he nodded, jaw clenched.
“Then there will be no reason for restraints. They were only worried that you would hurt yourself.”
He finally looked away and nearly collapsed onto the gurney again, seeming to have very little strength. Natalia and the paramedic helped him onto it fully then started to wheel him toward an examination room.
“I’ll inform Dr. John,” the other nurse said as she walked quickly down the hall.
Natalia stood back until the paramedics got the gurney into the room and then she helped one of them lead Rhys to the exam bed.
He sat there, swaying, hands gripping the sides of the bed. His tail had curled around his leg in a nervous manner.
“Lay down,” Natalia told him calmly. “You can rest until Dr. John arrives.”
“Don’t want to,” he grit out, even as he swayed, hands clenching tighter to keep himself upright.
Natalia narrowed her eyes at him slightly. “Are you experiencing any dizziness?”
He grunted noncommittedly and she held up a hand, not quite touching him, but guiding all the same. “Please lay down if you feel like you’re going to fall off the bed.”
He seemed surprised when she didn’t force him and stared at her warily as if he were waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Natalia, instead turned to the supply cupboards in the room and started to lay out the things Dr. John would need for the examination. As her back was mostly turned away, she saw the figure slump and finally slowly lower himself onto his side on the bed. She smiled a little to herself, but didn’t acknowledge it.
She picked up a blood pressure cuff and turned, holding it up for him to see. “Rhys, I’m going to take your blood pressure and check a few other things before Dr. John arrives.”
He instantly went on alert again, his ears folding back on his head slightly. He shook his head. “No. I don’t want it.”
“It will only take a minute and I promise it won’t hurt.” She assured him. “But with your weak heart it’s important we take a look, okay?”
She watched as his breathing picked up, the sound rasping in his chest. It was starting to concern her and she quickly set the blood pressure cuff down.
“Rhys,” she said, her voice sharp. “You need to calm down and breathe. I promise you no one is here to hurt you.”
“You’ll just send me back there,” he gasped, a soft whimper in his tone as he shrunk away from her. “Took so long to get free—”
He started to cough and she risked crossing boundaries to take a firm hold of his shoulder, keeping him upright as she hurriedly ducked in to get his attention.
“Rhys! Look at me. Just take a deep breath.”
He fought against her, but he was incredibly weak, only managing to make himself topple over onto the bed again. His large brown eyes were panicked, mouth open as he fought for breath.
She was about to call for help when Dr. John showed up and instantly saw the scene in front of him. He rushed to ready an oxygen tank and, with Natalia’s help, fixed it over Rhys’s mouth. He still fought, but once he realized that it would help him breathe and oxygen filled his lungs again, he seemed to calm down a little.
“You’re good, you’re doing all right,” Natalia said softly as she eased him back against the slightly raised bed.
Dr. John quickly checked Rhys’s pulse, despite his attempts to squirm away.
“Rhys, I’m Dr. John. I have to admit it’s nice to finally meet you. I’ve heard a lot of stories about you from the hybrids around here.”
Rhys watched him with suspicion, but didn’t offer anything else.
“I’d like to examine your injuries,” Dr. John said, calm but with no room for argument.
Rhys shook his head. “N-no! Don’t touch them, they’ll hurt.”
“I’m sure they do hurt,” Dr. John said, not unkindly. “Some of these look to be infected.”
Rhys’s breath created condensation on the underside of the oxygen mask as he started to breath more heavily again. “Just leave me alone.”
“Rhys,” Dr. John said, voice turning more stern. “While I’m not sure what led you to be in this state, our job here is to give medical care to hybrids. I know it may be uncomfortable, but your wounds need to be tended to. I don’t want to see you suffer more than you already have.”
Rhys looked away, but didn’t protest as Dr. John reached for his left arm first, inspecting several lacerations, as well as the marks of repeated restraint on his wrists.
Natalia busied herself fetching what Dr. John would need on a tray, then helped him coax Rhys into undressing so they could see the rest of his injuries.
Rhys shivered, and fought at first, but as soon as Natalia fetched a clean pair of comfortable clothing to replace the ripped and filthy ones Rhys had been wearing, he seemed to calm down a little and resigned himself to a full exam.
Natalia was good at keeping her feelings under wraps when it came to her work. However, the sight of abuse on Rhys’ body made her stomach clench with pity. There was hardly a spot on his body that was not covered in bruises, particularly bad around his ribs and stomach. In addition to that, multiple cuts and lacerations in various stages of healing were scattered across his flesh, some very obviously infected. Under those were scars, telling the story of long-term torture. A hot flare of anger rushed through her. She hoped that whoever did this would be brought to justice.
By the time Dr. John finished cleaning and bandaging the final abrasion, Rhys was shaking with exhaustion.
“There we go, that’s all done,” the doctor stated.
“You did very well, Rhys, thank you for allowing Dr. John to look at you,” Natalia told him.
His tail shifted a little on the bed, but his shoulders were still hunched.
Dr. John finished his exam, checking Rhys’s eyes and ears, and listening to his heart and lungs. He frowned a little as he heard the wheezing.
Once he had finished, Natalia offered Rhys help to dress in the clean clothes.
“Your injuries should all heal given the proper care,” Dr. John said. “But you’re also suffering from malnutrition. What has your diet been like, Rhys?”
The hybrid glanced down, picking at the hem of his shirt. “I-I haven’t eaten much. Only fed me o-once a day. If I was lucky.”
Dr. John nodded, not acknowledging the obvious for the moment. “We’ll put you on an IV drip and start with some easy and nutritious foods then.”
Rhys continued his nervous fidgeting. “How long do I have to stay here?”
“That depends on your recovery,” Dr. John told him. “Considering your current condition and medical history I would like to keep you here under observation for at least a week, probably longer.”
That seemed that have a poor effect on Rhys. He started to push himself closer to the edge of the bed again as if he was going to try to leave right then. “I don’t want to stay here that long!”
“And where would you be going?” Dr. John asked, pointed, but not unkind. “To sleep on the streets? That’s no place for someone in your current condition.”
Rhys ducked his head, ears twitching in uncertainty. Natalia stepped forward, offering a smile.
“We’ll make sure you’re comfortable here, I promise,” she said. “Once you regain your strength we’ll even let you eat whatever you want.”
He remained silent, and Dr. John continued. “We’ll get you set up in a room soon. But first I want to send you for a chest scan and an EKG so we can properly determine the condition of your heart and lungs.”
Rhys seemed to balk at that again. “I don’t want to do that.”
“It won’t hurt,” Natalia told him.
“But I don’t want it!”
“It’s necessary for your proper treatment,” Dr. John said firmly.
“Then I don’t want proper treatment!”
Seeing his agitation, Natalia cut in. “Doctor, maybe we should get him settled in his room first. We can schedule the tests for tomorrow, right?”
Dr. John pursed his lips, but relented. “I suppose we can wait until tomorrow. But if your condition changes at all during the night, Rhys, we’ll need to do the scans immediately.”
The hybrid looked away, his thin frame trembling slightly.
“We can put him in room 18,” Dr. John told Natalia. “I’ll call Heather and David to come help you.”
Natalia nodded and a few minutes later the other nurses showed up with a wheelchair. Natalia coaxed Rhys to sit down despite his obvious stubborn reluctance.
She wheeled him down the hall toward the room he would be staying in and with the help of the others, got him tucked into bed. It took some coaxing to get him to stay still long enough for them to put the IV in, but once they did, getting the nutrients and pain medicine into him, Rhys seemed to lose all the strength he had left and finally fell into a fitful sleep.
Natalia watched over him for a moment before leaving the room to go see to other patients. Throughout her shift though, Rhys was at the forefront of her mind. She wondered what had happened to him in the time he had been missing? It had obviously been traumatic, considering this was not the cocky, kind troublemaker she had heard about from the other local homeless hybrids. She really hoped that eventually he might be able to heal from whatever horrible experience he had been forced into.
Dr. John found her as she was finishing up her shift, giving her a smile.
“You were very good with Rhys today, Natalia. He seems to trust you.”
Natalia shrugged. “I did the best I could. I know it’s not going to be easy. He’s obviously been through a traumatic event.”
The doctor nodded solemnly, his pinched brows the only crack in his professional mask. It wasn’t the first time he’d treated an abused hybrid of course, but there was something particularly sinister about the things Rhys had said in passing.
“Considering the current circumstance, I’ve decided to make a report to the police,” Dr. John said. “A detective is coming tomorrow morning to take Rhys’s statement. I’d like you to be there with him.”
Natalia nodded. “Of course, doctor. I’d be happy to.”
Dr. John smiled. “Thank you. I wanted to make sure the interview happened before his tests so he might have a little more energy.”
Natalia completed her tasks and talked to the nurse on duty to make sure she would keep an eye on Rhys until she got back in the morning.
The thought of the terrified hybrid refused to leave Natalia’s mind as she went home to shower and get some sleep. She of course knew that there were people out there who abused hybrids just as there were those who abused people and animals. But Rhys’s case was the most severe she had seen since she had started to work for the clinic. It just made her heart ache in the worst way.
The next morning, she woke as refreshed as possible and headed back in to start her shift.
The first thing she did upon clocking in was head to Rhys’s room. He was awake and sitting up, picking at some breakfast. He looked up at her as she came in, tail shifting slightly as she smiled.
“Good morning, Rhys. How are you feeling?”
He shrugged. “Fine, I guess.”
Natalia motioned to the barely touched food. “I would have thought you’d be hungry.”
He pressed his lips together, ears drooping slightly. “Eating too much makes me feel sick.”
“Hmm, well, if you didn’t each much for an extended period than it’s best to go slow. Let your stomach adjust.”
She checked his vitals and noted everything down on his chart.
“Did they tell you a detective was going to come talk to you this morning?”
He shifted uncomfortably, hunching his shoulders, and nodded. “Yeah, but…I don’t want to talk to them.”
Natalia turned to him with a reassuring look. “I’ll be here with you the whole time. No one is going to force you to talk, but it is important that you tell us whatever you can about…what happened to you. That way we can make sure it doesn’t happen to anyone else.”
Rhys fidgeted with the blanket on his lap, his tail curling around himself. “O-okay. I’ll try.”
Natalia nodded gratefully and took the tray from him after he ate a little more.
It wasn’t long before the detective showed up. A kind-looking middle-aged woman with red hair tied up on her head. She gave Rhys a friendly nod as she pulled out her notebook.
“Hello Rhys, I’m Detective Rebecca. If it’s okay, I’d like to talk about what happened to you.”
Natalia took a seat near Rhys’s bed, staying in his line of sight.
Rhys continued to fiddle with the blanket, looking down at his bandaged wrists.
“How did you end up in this condition, Rhys?”
He shrugged.
The detective was patient, coaxing. “Did someone take you off the streets? There were several reports of hybrids going missing around the same time as you did.”
Rhys took a little shuddering breath and his heartrate monitor spiked slightly. “I…yes. I was…walking one of the younger hybrids back to their sleeping place one night. Someone…pulled up in a van, and they…” He clenched the blanket between his hands. “I pushed the other hybrid away but I wasn’t quick enough to get away too.”
The detective nodded, taking down notes. “Do you know where you were taken?”
Rhys swallowed hard. “I don’t know…I…I was knocked out. Woke up in a dark basement and…”
The heartrate monitor spiked again and Detective Rebecca glanced over at Natalia, waiting for her okay.
Natalia reached out to pat Rhys’s arm. “Just breathe. You’re doing well. I know this is hard, but what you’re saying is very important.”
He swallowed hard, breathing through his nose, and finally calmed down. Natalia nodded to the detective.
“You don’t have to go into detail unless it’s relevant, Rhys,” Detective Rebecca said kindly. “Was it just one person who took you?”
His brow furrowed as if he were trying to remember. “There were more than one in the van. But once I was…there…it was only ever one man.”
The detective nodded, writing more notes. “Do you know his name?”
Rhys shook his head. “I never heard it. He always made me call him ‘master’.”
Natalia’s brows pinched.
“Do you think you could describe what he looks like?” Detective Rebecca asked.
Rhys thought for a moment and then nodded. “Yeah. I think so.”
Detective Rebecca turned to Natalia. “We’ll send a sketch artist over later today, if that’s okay?”
Natalia nodded. “Yes, that would be fine, as long as he’s not resting.”
“Understood.” She turned back to Rhys. “Rhys, were there other hybrids with you?”
His hands clenched tighter in the blanket again. “Y-yes. I never saw them but…I heard them, sometimes.”
He shook a little, and Natalia put a steadying hand on his arm again. His tail flicked a little as if in gratitude.
“How is it that you were able to escape?”
Rhys pursed his lips, shutting his eyes briefly. “I was taken in the van…somewhere. He said something about a ‘buyer’.”
Natalia let her hand clench in her lap. The man was likely some kind of black-market hybrid trafficker then. A lot of homeless hybrids were unfortunately victims of similar crimes all too often, no matter how careful they were or how cautious they were about staying in groups.
“I…honestly don’t know how I escaped. I just remember him leaving me in the van, and I was able to get my restraints loose and escape out the back. I just…ran. I didn’t even realize where I was until I ended up here.”
Detective Rebecca finished taking down her notes. “Thank you, Rhys. That was very helpful.”
Natalia smiled and patted his arm again.
“We’re going to do our best to see that your kidnapper comes to justice,” the detective said as she stood up.
“And the…other hybrids?” Rhys asked hesitantly.
“If we can find him, we’ll find them,” she said.
He seemed to relax just slightly as the detective took her leave, leaning back against the pillows.
“Did I really help?” he asked.
“Yes,” Natalia promised. “And you’ll help even more when the sketch artist comes.”
The hybrid shivered a little. “I definitely remember what he looked like,” he said softly.
Natalia gave him a sympathetic look. “It’s very brave of you to talk about it. I know it’s hard.”
He looked away, shrugging as if pretending nonchalance, but she could still see the tightness in his muscles, the consistent inability to relax. It was understandable. Anyone who had gone through prolonged abuse like that would be untrusting of apparent peace.
“Is there anything I can get you?”
Rhys shook his head. “No.”
“Alright. I have to check in on some other patients, but I’ll be back later.”
His ears drooped just a little, but he again shrugged indifferently.
Natalia left, going on her rounds before finishing with some quick paperwork before heading back to Rhys’s room. They would be taking him for the tests soon, so she wanted to make sure he was settled.
Before she could even get there though, alarms blared from his room and her heart kicked into overdrive, sprinting the rest of the way.
She expected to find Rhys in some kind of catatonic state of distress, but instead, he simply shot his head up at her arrival with a guilty expression as wires from the heartrate monitor hung from his mouth.
“Rhys!” Natalia snapped.
He instantly dropped them as she went to turn off the machine.
“Sorry, sorry, I’m sorry,” he babbled, genuine fear in his eyes.
Dr. John rushed in a second later, frowning. “What happened?”
“He chewed the wires,” Natalia explained.
The doctor gave Rhys a stern look. “Rhys, we talked about that last night.”
“I know, I know, I’m sorry, I promise I won’t do it again!”
The genuine terror in his eyes, burrowed into Natalia’s heart. Dr. John softened as well as he set about checking the wires.
“Rhys,” Natalia said gently. “Breathe. No one is going to hurt you, we were afraid you would electrocute yourself.”
“And we need this machine working properly to make sure your heart is okay,” Dr. John added.
Rhys’s breathing started to rasp slightly again and Natalia prepared the oxygen mask again, getting it over his twitching ears with some difficulty. He finally started to breathe better and settle. Natalia pulled the blanket up to his waist again.
“I’ll find you something else to occupy yourself with,” Natalia said kindly, stepping back and allowing Dr. John to press the stethoscope to Rhys’s chest. The hybrid flinched at the cold bell, but stayed docile.
“Yes,” Dr. John added. “You can tell Nurse Natalia what you’d like after your tests. It would be good for you to have something to do between resting.”
Rhys flinched a little at the mention of tests again, but he was mostly concentrating on breathing. Dr. John finally stepped back, taking the stethoscope from his ears.
“I know the aftermath of an event like this is difficult, Rhys,” he said. “But you do need to be careful not to overexert yourself.”
The hybrid looked away.
“We’ll take you back for the tests in half an hour. In the meantime, just try to rest a little.”
Natalia stayed with Rhys during that time, finally removing the oxygen mask when his breathing evened out again.
“I promise the tests won’t hurt,” she told him. “They’re just going to look at your heart and lungs. It will just be a few more wires than you already have on.”
“I won’t chew them,” Rhys muttered, looking away as his ears lowered.
Natalia laughed lightly. “Good. If you do what the doctors ask it won’t take long at all.”
He still didn’t look at her, but she sensed him relaxing a little.
One of the other nurses came to help her bring Rhys to the room where they would run the tests. First, they did a scan on his chest to see if there was any damage to his lungs. Rhys squirmed a little, but for the most part complied.
He was a little less compliant as they attached all the nodes and straps to his chest for the EKG test, but once he realized they weren’t going to actually restrain him, he seemed to calm down a little. Natalia spoke to him the whole time, trying to keep him distracted so the reading could be as accurate as possible.
He was exhausted by the time it was finally over and went back to his room without trouble, falling asleep almost instantly.
Natalia went to finish up some other work, then headed to Dr. John’s office when he called her.
He glanced up from some papers he was looking over as she came in, nodding to her.
“Did you get the results?” Natalia asked.
“Yes,” he replied. “Rhys is exhibiting a slight arrhythmia which I would like to keep a close eye on. It’s not serious currently, but any added stress will be an unwanted strain that could lead to more serious issues. The same goes for his lungs. They are slightly damaged. His records show that he had weak lungs already, but with his captivity, abuse, and what I would guess to be repeated use of inhaled sedatives, the issue has grown worse.”
“So, basically, we need to keep him as calm as possible,” Natalia noted.
Dr. John nodded. “Yes. I’m going to be putting him on a regimen of medication for the issues, but it will likely be a little bit before we see positive results. In the meantime, it’s important to relieve any potential stress.”
Natalia nodded. “We’ll do our best, doctor.”
“Indeed.” Dr. John smiled. “I intend to see him back to his former self before this is all over.”
Natalia hoped that Rhys could indeed heal to a state that he was before.
She was glad that the police sketch artist didn’t show up until the evening, after Rhys had eaten dinner. The man was patient and worked with the hybrid, sketching and resketching when Rhys said the face didn’t look right.
Finally, the face of Rhys’s abuser sat on the page.
“It’s him,” he said firmly.
The sketch artist thanked him. “I’ll get this back to the station.”
The hybrid was tense afterward and Natalia tried to distract him with some things she had brought for him, puzzles and such. He dutifully engaged, but it seemed like his mind was elsewhere.
His condition thankfully improved by the day, though he was still suffering from hyperawareness, skittish around most everyone expect Natalia. She was glad he was at least eating more, a little color coming back to his skin. It was still difficult keeping him from stressing himself to his limits, even Rhys didn’t know what might trigger a memory, in which case he would react defensively on instinct.
He seemed to be doing better for the most part, though, which gave Natalia a sense of relief. She had grown fond of a lot of patients over her time as a hybrid vet, but she had never gotten so attached to one like she had Rhys.
Then one night, while it was Natalia’s turn on the overnight rotation, she stopped by Rhys’s room to check on him, only to find he wasn’t in bed.
A quick look toward the small adjoined bathroom told her it was also empty so—
Panic instantly rose in her throat and she was about to go alert the nurse’s station when she heard a soft whimper.
“Rhys?”
She flicked the lamp on in the dark room and stepped around the bed.
Rhys was sitting on the floor against the wall, curled up against the side of the chair that sat under the window. He was shaking, arms wrapped around his knees as another whimper escaped him.
Natalia crouched, reaching out but not touching. “Rhys? What’s wrong? Are you in pain?”
He shook his head, burying his face in his arms.
Natalia didn’t press, she simply sat down next to him, giving him enough space, but close enough to comfort.
“Why aren’t you in bed?”
“Don’t want to sleep anymore,” he muttered.
“Did you have a nightmare?”
He nodded.
Natalia remained silent for a long moment before she said. “You can talk about it if it will help.”
His tail curled around him, coming to rest over his tucked in feet. He didn’t say anything for so long that Natalia didn’t think he would speak at all, but finally he took a breath and said, “I keep thinking about them.”
“Who?”
“The other hybrids.” He raised his head slightly, large brown eyes wet and reddened. “I wish…I could have gotten them out too.”
Natalia carefully reached out and settled a hand on his shoulder. Rhys stiffened but didn’t pull away.
“Sometimes you have to save yourself before you can save others,” she told him gently. “You said you made sure your friend got away when you were captured. That was very brave and selfless.”
“Yeah but…I’m not even good for anything anymore. I used to take care of the other hybrids, make sure they were safe and had what they needed, but now I can’t even take care of myself.”
A helpless tear slid down his cheek and he buried his face in his arms again. “I’m just…useless.”
“You’re not,” Natalia said firmly. “The amount of hybrids I heard mention you since I came to this clinic—I always hoped to meet you some day.”
“You’re disappointed, I’m sure.”
“Not at all. You’re exactly what I thought you’d be like.”
“You’re lying.”
Natalia shook her head. “I can see more than what you’re going through at the moment. I know it’s hard now. I can’t even imagine what you went through, Rhys, but that kind of thing doesn’t go away overnight. It doesn’t go away after a week, a month, sometimes even years. But things do get better. It gets easier to stop thinking about it. Especially when you start to feel better and you can more easily distract yourself with other things again.”
“But what if I can never go back to who I was before?”
“Then you find a new Rhys to become,” Natalia told him. “And that starts with you allowing yourself to heal.”
He stayed silent this time, contemplating her words. Natalia finally stood up, reaching down a hand to Rhys.
“Would you like to get back into bed or would you like to take a little walk to the vending machine?”
He took her hand after only a second and let her pull him to his feet. Instead of answering, he surprised her by wrapping her in a hug, his tail wagging slowly behind him.
“Thanks, Miss Natalia,” he said, genuine and warm. “I really don’t think I would have been able to get through this much without you.”
She smiled fondly and patted his back before he pulled away. “I look forward to seeing you heal a little more every day.”
She knew there would likely be setbacks, both mentally and physically, but the Rhys she had seen tonight seemed like he was on the right track and that was a good place to start.
Natalia knew that no matter what, she would be there to witness the rest of his journey.
Copyright © 2026 by LadyWallace
