Love is Always Write Anthology Bonus Volume

voice in his head told him he should have stayed at home and watched the West Wing marathon. He set his phone to go off in an hour so he could take another blood pressure reading then settled into the chair and tried to take a nap.
    ****
    The sky was starting to lighten when Daren's blood pressure reached 105/70. Not great, but better. Unfortunately, it also felt like Daren was starting to run a temperature. Sebastian had dug through his gear and realized that, for everything he had taken, he'd forgotten to steal a thermometer. There was nothing to be done for it. He was going to have to make a supply run, probably maxing out his credit card in the process.
    He put his hand gently on Daren's shoulder and gave it a small shake. "Daren," he said softly. "Daren?"
    Daren's eyes flew open. He blinked once before trying to scurry off the bed away from Sebastian. He didn't make it far before collapsing back down with a howl of pain.
    "Take it easy. It's okay. I'm Sebastian. Remember the Blue Dragon last night? I found you. You're at my place." Daren's head whipped around. "There's no one here. Just us. No doctors, lawyers or Indian chiefs."
    Daren slowly raised his hand to his own swollen face, which was mottled in shades of purple, black and dark blue. "Yeah, you had the shit kicked out of you pretty good. Is there anything you'd like right now?"
    Daren moved his lips silently before licking them and trying again. "Water."
    "Water? Okay. But I'm still worried about internal injuries. Can I just touch your stomach for a moment, so I can see if there's any swelling?" Daren gave a small nod.
    Sebastian carefully pulled away the blankets. The sheets were stained with blood that had leaked from still-oozing wounds. As he pulled them away he got the first clear look at Daren's injuries. His torso was dark red or purple. He could easily make out a couple of boot prints on the skin. Some of the scrapes he hadn't tended to well enough were swelling around the edges. Sebastian did his best to school his features.
    "Now I need you to tell me if there are any sharp pains or sudden changes in the level of pain you're feeling?" Daren nodded and Sebastian carefully worked his way across Sebastian's stomach. Daren would wince at every touch but nothing seemed overly firm or squishy. Sebastian knew there could still be a slow bleed somewhere, but he was hoping that it would sort itself out. "Okay. That all looks good. I'm assuming you still hurt all over?"
    Daren nodded again.
    Sebastian didn't quite know what to say. Instead he just pulled the sheet back up. "I'll get you that water."
    Sebastian rummaged through a junk drawer for a straw from some take-out meal while the kitchen tap ran. A thirty-second clearing on the pipes was the only thing that made the water drinkable. He managed to luck out and find a bendy straw which he dropped into the cup with a bit of satisfaction before returning to Daren.
    Daren was twisted around a bit, as if he'd tried to push himself up to sitting but had run out of energy and just collapsed half way through. "Hey there, you shouldn't be moving. You have cracked ribs and probably busted other things." Sebastian helped Daren rearrange himself, touching as little as possible, before holding the straw to his swollen lips. "Just a little sip to start with. If there's a sharp pain tell me."
    Daren took a sip, swallowed, then closed his eyes. He took several long breaths before opening his eyes and going for a slightly longer sip. He managed five sips in total before his head started to loll about. Sebastian looked him over. He knew he needed to do a full examination and needed to clean and properly bandage every injury. He needed to get Daren naked and probably into the shower. And if what Sebastian thought had happened, had in fact happened, that was going to be tricky and traumatic.
    Daren gave a little cough and a wince.
    "Would you like to try to go back to sleep?" Daren nodded. "Okay. I need to go get supplies."
    Daren jumped and started to push away again. "No doctors, no police, you can't trust them, they'll…"
    "Find you and kill you, I know; I heard, last night. No doctors, no police. There's a jumbo drug store not far from here. Three blocks down, four blocks over. I need to get bandages, some ice packs for your face, things like that. Here—" He pulled his phone from his pocket. "I'm going to try to get a prescription filled so it might take a bit of time, but if I'm not back in a couple of hours,