ENGAGING CONVERSATION

Len's POV

Ivy was still shaking as her heightened sense of rage began to slowly decline. With that much adrenaline pumping through her body; I'm sure she hasn't noticed the two-inch gash in her palm of her hand. There are visible glass shards protruding from the wound and it is bleeding profusely; she will need some stitches.

With the first aid kit in hand, I opened my desk drawer and grabbed a bottle of Vodka and a glass. I walked back to the sofa placing all of my supplies on it. I opened one of the doors behind my desk, walked into my office apartment and retrieved a towel and wet a face cloth from the bathroom.

Opening the Vodka, I pour some into the glass and placed it in Ivy's hand. I took a chair, sat in front of her, opened the first aid kit and set it to the side.

I put on a pair of surgical gloves trying to make this process as sterile as possible, in a non-sterile environment. Using the Vodka, I soaked a couple of the cotton balls. After folding the towel, I gently placed it under Ivy's left hand. I then began to clean her hand with the face cloth, as softly as I could; hoping that there was still enough adrenaline pumping so that she would not feel any pain.

Now, I can clearly see what I am working with. I take the cotton balls and clean as close to the wound as I can. I remove the tweezers, the gauze and tape from the sterile packaging. I place the package, which has a sterile needle and thread, to the side.

"Ivy, I am going to move your hand with the towel under it and place it on my lap; so I can remove the glass embedded in your hand."

Still staring into space, Ivy did not acknowledge what I said to her. I hope she hasn't gone into shock. I need to work quickly.

I gently transfer the towel and her hand into my lap. I take the tweezer, preparing to remove the glass from her hand.

"Ivy, I'm removing the shards from your hand; try not to move."

She doesn't say anything, so I proceed.

I removed the four larger shards first, then the smaller ones; dropping them into the waste basket as I go. Those were easy; however, one of the smaller pieces was very difficult to remove; it was lodged so deep into the muscle tissue. I knew this piece was going to cause her pain and she would retract her hand. I lanced the area to the left of the shard and successfully removed the last portion. I let out a huge sigh of relief; glad that this part was over.

I wrapped her hand in the towel; applying pressure to slow the bleeding. Thank goodness I used to be a Field Medic. Being in the Dark Black Ops unit that I was in, we were all Surgeon Level Field Medics, highly trained. We could perform most any type of surgery; if the situation called for it.

The last thing to do is stitch the wound. But I need to make sure that she is not in shock; so I begin to engage her in a conversation.

"Ivy"

"hmmm"

"Will you talk to me? I need you to look at me."

Slowly, she turns her towards me and begins to focus on my face. I took a second to gaze into her eyes. I could see that she was back with me and not in shock.

"Baby, I need to know what happened to you tonight; can you tell me?"

"She had a death wish, and I was trying to help make come true."

"Do you know her?"

"I wish I didn't."

"How do you know her? What is her name?

"Her name is Sarah. Back in the day when I was pregnant with my daughter, she is the girl that my ex cheating on me with."

"I see."

I began to unravel the towel, checking to see if the bleeding has subsided. The bleeding had slowed down just enough for me to stitch her wound closed. I placed her hand back into my lap, tore open two packs of pre-threaded stitching needs and opened two packs of scissors.

"Ivy, this is going to burn like hell, try not to jerk your hand away nor contract your hand into a ball. If you do, you will cause this wound to start bleeding again and I won't be able to stitch it. Unless I knock you out." I laughed a little bit trying to ease the tension.

Before she had a chance to process my witty sense of humor; I quickly poured some Vodka directly into the opened wound.

"Got damn it!!" She hissed, her body shaking all over, as she tried resisting the urge to retract her hand.

I chuckled, "Look at you being such a Big Girl. I am so proud of you!"

She shot me a look that said, I am going to kill you. You evil @!$&@%#?!!.

I knew that she was cursing me with every dirty word in her arsenal. Her expressions were so cute! I put on my biggest smile. I think it made her angrier; but I didn't care. Even angry, she is still beautiful; my Queen.

"Sorry Ivy, I know it was painful but necessary. We are almost done. The last thing is to stitch your wound closed. Do you think that you can handle that?"

"Hell No!"

"What do you mean, hell no? If I don't stitch this now, it will take longer to heal and then it will be an ugly scar. And from the looks of your beautiful face, perfect lips, voluptuous body, beautiful mind and spirit; not to mention….."

"Stop! I get it. You can proceed. But Len, if this doesn't heal properly and leaves an ugly scar; I am going to hunt you down and…."

"Oooo, I know, you're going to hunt me down and kiss me."

"No."

"Fuck me?"

"Uh, No, stop playing."

"I got it, this time for sure! You're going to hunt me down, tell me that you want to be with me, marry me, love me, have 10 more kids and then punish me for the rest of my life for leaving you scarred. Then when I get old, you're going to hide my false teeth so that I can't eat, and starve me to death. Then you'll take all the insurance money, not give the kids a damn dime and move back here to Florida. Become a Cougar and spend my life insurance money on some Gigolo. I swear Ivy, I will haunt your ass if you do me like that."

Ivy suddenly burst into laughter. She laughs so hard, tears begin to run down her face; she even snorts. All I can do is laugh just as hard with her. Then she says:

"It's a thought. A good one at that."