It was a long, long night, and Helena only slowly came out of her daze, trying to get back to that peaceful meadow many times. It was so wonderful there, so joyous, but people kept calling her back. It often sounded like Acacia’s voice, or Mr. McCluskey, but always when she opened her eyes, it was Andy she saw before her, concern and love evident on his face … only slowly did she become aware of a few facts – yes, she was all right, she was in the hospital, it was all over with, the robber wasn’t going to come for her again, Andy was there to protect her, and so were Acacia and Mr. McCluskey. But while she knew they were there, it was Andy who held her hand, half in tears that he’d failed her, that he hadn’t been able to protect her, that he should never have taken her into the bank in the first place … most of that unspoken but clear in his actions, somehow, he had to make it right with her.

In time, things became more clear. No, the robber wasn’t going to come for her again. In fact, there was still doubt that he would ever do anything again, period, and Andy had been responsible for that. She only found out about that when she saw Andy’s bandaged hand and asked about it; he shrugged it off, but Acacia and Mr. McCluskey put her straight.

In time, they moved her out of the ER into a hospital room upstairs. It was in the very small hours of the morning, and she lay face down on a special bed, her wounds treated, her back painful, but … tolerable. Tolerable, under the circumstances. It was worlds worse than the other time, and she’d taken no fun from it, but she knew she could never have looked in the mirror if she’d let either of the other two women take that beating … and that gave her satisfaction enough to make the pain seem unimportant.

Andy never left her side, all through that long night, holding her hand through much of it. She must have slept some, not surprising with the exhaustion and everything else that had coursed through her, and her friends were with her, too. She became aware that it was light, that it was day. For a moment, there was confusion; she wasn’t in her own bed, her back was hurting … but the events of the night before came back to her, as she saw Andy sound asleep, still holding her hand, and saw Acacia and Wade sitting near her, red-eyed with exhaustion, but there when she needed them. “Hi,” she said. “Fancy meeting you here.”

“How are you doing?” the red-eyed Mr. McCluskey said.

“I’ve been better,” she said, coming around fairly quickly, and noticing that they were alone, except for the sleeping Andy. “I guess I’ll live. Darn it.”

“Darn it?” he smiled.

“It was so peaceful,” she said. “I mean, I thought I was in heaven, and I wanted to stay there forever, but I kept hearing you and Acacia and Andy calling me back. I tried to fight you, but I wasn’t strong enough.”

“You were way gone,” Acacia said. “I never dreamed of subbing out that far. But then, I have never taken the beating you did, either.”

“I know,” Helena said glumly. “Teacher, please excuse me that I cannot address you properly, but I have made a serious error and seek your forgiveness.”

“Error, Miss Curtis?” Mr. McCluskey frowned.

“A serious error, sir. I allowed a man not my master to approach me with a whip.”

“Under the circumstances, Miss Curtis, I do not see it as an error,” he grinned. “In fact, I see it as an extremely commendable action on your part.”

“But sir,” she protested. “I am in violation of our agreement. Should I not be punished?”

“Miss Curtis, I would not have it in my heart to punish you for your bravery.”

“But sir,” she protested again. “I am in violation of our agreement.”

“Very well, Miss Curtis,” he said solemnly, but with a grin in his voice. “Since you demand punishment, you shall be punished. But let the punishment fit the crime. There is a television crew that has been sitting outside for hours, wanting to interview you for national TV. Your punishment, Miss Curtis, is to give the interview without making them think that you’re some sort of a pain slut.”

Helena’s eyes opened in shock. “But dear sir! I would rather stand in the corner … or, for that matter, when I am able, take a whipping.”

“Good God, Helena, don’t you ever quit?” Mr. McCluskey grinned, not able to keep in character. “Your punishment will be as assigned,” he said, getting back into it. “Just to make it even sweeter, I am informed your parents will be present by then, and you will have to convince them, too.”

“My parents?” she said, shocked at the news. “What are they doing here?”

“They’re not here, yet,” Acacia said. “I figured I’d better call them last night when I found out you were one of the hostages. Relax, they know you’re alive and all right. They’ve been calling every couple hours, and I’ve kept them informed.”

“Oh, good grief,” Helena said, falling out of character. What needed to be said had been said. “Do I look all right? Mother would just die.”

“She was a little hyper,” Acacia replied. “But the last time I called them, I told them you were going to be all right.”

“But Acacia,” Helena said, “I’ve got to look like hell!”

“I’ll comb out your hair, and touch up your face,” she smiled. “There’s no need to look like a pain slut on national TV.”

“Great,” Helena said glumly. “A nationally known pervert.”

“That, dear lass,” Mr. McCluskey told her, “Is what you must avoid as part of your punishment. Come, you know how to do it. Tell the truth, just do not tell it all.”

They woke up Andy shortly afterward, just as Helena’s parents arrived. Her parents were exhausted from driving all night, sick with worry, and it was all her mother could do to keep from throwing her arms around her daughter – she was going to do so when she realized how messed up her back was. “Really, mom, it’s not as bad as it looks,” Helena said.

“But Helena,” her mother said. “You must be in dreadful pain.”

“I hurt,” Helena said. “In fact, I hurt a lot. But I can deal with it. The pain will go away.”

“My, aren’t you brave,” her mother mused.

“Yes, ma’am, she is,” Wade told her with great respect. “In fact, I would have to say your daughter is one of the bravest people I’ve ever met. Speaking as a former Marine, I am awed by her bravery. And I’m also just as awed by Andy’s bravery. This young hero saved your daughter’s life, ma’am, when the gutless FBI special agent outside refused to stop the situation.”

“What?” Helena’s father said. “They said on the radio that the FBI had it under control.”

“Sir,” Wade said. “I seem to recall Helena saying that you too are a former Marine. Can you look at your daughter’s back and think that it was under control? The only way it got under control is when Andy was able to break free and put it under control. That idiot special agent came in, bulled his way onto the scene, and then refused to let the police break in when the whipping started, saying that the idiot with the whip wasn’t using deadly force.”

“You’re kidding!” Helena’s father frowned, a fire in his eye from a deep, burning anger at Wade’s words.

“I wish I were,” Wade said. “But you might be able to do something to rectify the situation. The television crews outside will probably wish to interview you, and you should state your opinion of what I’ve just told you, on live, national television. They won’t want to interview me, since I was just the paramedic on the scene, although I’m proud to call myself a friend of your brave daughter.”

“Consider it done,” her father agreed, eyes still burning with rage but keeping himself under control. “I’m sorry, sir, but I never caught your name.”

“Wade McCluskey, sir,” he replied. “I’m Acacia’s boyfriend. We’ve tried to keep your daughter under our wing while she’s been here. I’m sorry to say that I didn’t have my old sniper rifle with me last night or I would have done a better job.”

“Wade McCluskey?” her father frowned. “Oh, you’re the gentleman who accompanied Helena and Acacia to that crazy Halloween party she told us about, but they never mentioned your last name. I know I’ve heard it before.”

“You may have,” Wade smiled. “There was a man of that name, no relation as far as I know, who commanded Bombing 8 off the Enterprise at the Battle of Midway in World War II. I have heard it said that what he did that morning may have shortened the war by a year, so I bear the name proudly.” He shook his head and grimaced. “Unfortunately, it gave me the nickname of ‘Divebomber’ in the Corps, and I’m still known by that name at work. I do not bear that name as proudly.”

“Mr. McCluskey, you seem like a pretty good man to have around. I’m glad you’ve tried to look after our daughter.”

“I’ve tried to do my best by her, sir. But, as I said a minute ago, your daughter is one of the bravest people I’ve ever met. Bravery like that is hard to measure up to.”

The discussion was broken up by a doctor coming into the room, along with a nurse. “Ah, awake I see, Miss Curtis,” he said brightly. “How are you feeling?”

“Everything considered, not as bad as I must look,” Helena said.

“You might like to know,” the doctor said. “It looks like the man that your friend here dealt with is going to live. Whether he’ll be able to stand trial is an open question, though.”

“Damn it,” Andy growled. “I’m sorry, Helena. I tried. I wanted to kill him. I wish I had.”

Wade strode across the room and put his hand on Andy’s shoulder. “No, you don’t,” he said. “Andy, look, trust me on this one.”

“But what he did --” Andy protested.

“Was very bad,” Wade finished for him. He let out a sigh. “Look, Andy. I was a marine sniper in combat. I’ve killed men, and I’ve lived with it. It hasn’t been easy. That’s part of the reason I left the Corps and became a paramedic, so that maybe somehow I could pay back the loss that I gave those men’s families. That doesn’t mean that I don’t see their faces when I sleep at night. Sometimes the faces of their wives, their parents, their children, too. If I’d had a rifle in my hands last night, I could have shot him without a problem, because what he did was a lot worse than what the men I shot did. It wouldn’t mean that I’d have any less remorse, but, well, I’m not a virgin in that area. You are. Pray to God that you can keep that virginity.”

Andy felt another hand on his shoulder – Helena’s father’s. “Mr. McCluskey got it right, Andy,” he said. “You did the right thing, and you did it well. You can live with that, and you won’t have to live with the bad dreams and terrors that Mr. McCluskey and I have to.”

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.