Black Dagger Brotherhood-Lover What?

Amy slowly regained consciousness and hissed as the first thing she felt was a pain in the back of her head. She did a general search of her body and the only difference she found was that her lungs were no longer burning. 'Where am I?' she thought, 'What happened to me?'

She opened her eyes and looked around. It seemed like some sort of medical or hospital room. But she couldn't see anyone. "Hello?" she called out softly.

There were two heavy thuds of footsteps and Quinn appeared in the doorway. Oh, man. He was the last male she wanted to see in this state. He cracked a fang-flashing smirk. "Well, hello sleeping beauty. How ya feelin'?"

She slowly sat up. "Fine, I guess. What happened?"

"Hailey said that she and Tehmper found you passed out in the shower area. Hailey told Jane it was because of the running."

Amy looked down at her lap. "Oh. Okay." She looked back up as Quinn's phone bleeped from an incoming text. He flipped it open and quickly read it.

"Are you okay to walk?" he asked as he put it away.

She carefully slid off the bed and onto her bare feet. "Yeah. Why?"

"The King wants to see you."

***

Hailey stood to the side of Wrath's desk, impatiently tapping her foot. She wanted to see how Amy was doing, and Wrath said she'd be there in a minute. He had assured her that Quinn was with her, so it's not like she was going to get hurt on the way there.

She looked toward the door as it opened and Amy slowly stepped through, her hands nervously wringing in front of her. She looked around to see who was there, spotting Wrath behind the desk with Tohrment at his side, Xhex sitting on Butch and V's sofa, and Hailey standing to the side. "Y-you wanted to s-see me, sir?" she stuttered quietly, standing in front of the desk.

"Yes, I did." Wrath responded. "It's about your training." He turned to Xhex. "Tell me what you've noticed, first."

Xhex straightened up. "Amy Quinn has been training with the pre-trans the last couple nights. She has been okay in the classroom so far, but the physical training has been less than adequate. Most of the pre-trans struggle, but she seems to struggle more. Earlier this night, she was having extreme trouble running and had mentioned there being problems with her lungs before class. Afterward, she was found unconscious from lack of oxygen. That is all."

Wrath nodded and turned his covered eyes back toward Amy. Hailey watched her as her eyes were welling up. She wished she could go over and hug her and make everything better for her, but Wrath had explained to her that this was important and she couldn't have any hand-holding. "Amy Quinn."

"Ye..yes, sir?" she replied in a cracked voice.

His voice softened just a little, as if he sensed, or smelled, her unshed tears. "Why did you not inform us of your physical problems?"

She cleared her throat before speaking. "I-i did not mention it, b-because I felt how important fighters are to you, a-and to the brotherhood, a-and I didn't want to disappoint anyone. I-i figured I could push myself enough, a-and maybe be better after my transition, and then i-it wouldn't matter how I am now." She looked down at her hands, which she had nervously moving in front of her. "I-i do apologize for withholding the information."

Wrath nodded. He sighed and took a deep breath before continuing. "Unfortunately, due to your complications, I can not keep you in the program. You can continue to do light training with any of the brotherhood members that can help you. After your transition, if you are experienced enough in training, you can become a back-up fighter, but only when necessary. You will be staying here at the compound, and you may do what you want when you are not needed." He let out a heavy exhale. "We do need fighters, I won't deny that, but I'm not going to put you in the field if there's a risk of you getting injured because you're running and you can't breath and get caught in a fight with a lesser." He paused a second. "Is everything that I have said understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Is there anything you'd like to say?"

She shook her head. "No, sir. May I be excused now?" He gave a curt nod. She bowed with a mumbled thank you and quickly left the room.

Hailey heaved a big sigh next to Wrath. "I hope she's okay."

"Why is she so upset over not being in training?" Quinn asked, sitting next to Xhex while silent Tohr sat in the ugly green armchair.

"She hates disappointing people." Hailey started explaining. "And I've noticed that when she has males around, not strangers, but ones that she's starting to get close to, she's always striving to get approval from them, for them to be proud of her. I think she feels like she didn't get much growing up and she's always trying to compensate for that. The training was another thing for her to work at. If she was a good fighter, maybe the males around her would approve of her, be proud of her, even take her as more than just some female and as someone significant to their lives, someone that they actually notice." She gripped the desk as waves of emotions flooded over her, coming through her link with Amy.

Quinn stood up as he saw Hailey stagger a little. "I'll go check on her."

***

Quinn quickly walked down the hall from the King's study to Amy's room. He wasn't sure what he was going to find when he got to the room, and he sure hoped the mental image of her hanging from the shower head wasn't true. He stopped for a second. Why would he care about that? Sure, Amy wasn't just another female, but could he really be caring about her this much? He shook his head, figuring he'd think about it later, if at all.

He got to her door and knocked....Nothing. Did she even run to her room? He cracked the door open and saw her sitting out on the balcony, her legs dangling over the edge, her body leaning forward on the bars. "Amy?" he called. He wasn't sure if she heard him, since she didn't move or make any kind of gesture. He quietly stepped into the room and softly shut the door behind him. He walked forward until he was standing behind her. "You okay, Ames?"

"Please don't call me that." she whispered.

"Ok. Sorry." He sat down next to her, hanging his legs over the edge too. He glanced over at her. Even though she was quiet, her cheeks were wet with thick tears. He didn't say anything as he kept watching her look out into the distance.

"What are you doing here, Quinn?" she quietly asked. "You shouldn't be here with me. You should be out fighting, or down at the club with a female." He shrugged, grunting some sort of noncommittal noise. "So why are you here?"

He let out a big sigh. "Honestly.....I don't know." he replied quietly. "You're right. I usually am out fighting, or at a club, either drinking or...yeah....But for some reason, I feel it's more important to be here with you right now."

She scoffed. "I don't get why you care about me at all. I'm not relieving your need for a fight or your sexual frustration, so what use am I to you?"

He looked at her like she was crazy. "Why do you have to have a specific use? Sure, you may not do that for me, but you do something different, something that I didn't know I wanted until...until I was with you in this room the other night."

She looked over at him. "And what's that?"

Quinn found himself getting lost in her big, coffee-brown eyes, and saying something he always kept to himself. "I always feel so alone, even with a whole household around me, and like I have no real purpose. When you were in my arms, I didn't feel alone, and I felt like I actually had something to do that didn't have anything to do with killing or sex."

She kept the eye contact, the tears slowing. "And...what was that something?"

He pulled his eyes away and the trance seemed to be broken as he cleared his throat and looked down at his lap. "Um, I'm not sure. It wasn't really anything important." He looked up as her small hand was placed on his much larger wrist.

"Thank you for telling me that." she whispered. "I'm glad I was able to do something for you, at least one thing."

He brought one hand up and cupped her cheek. Her eyelids closed and she let out a soft sigh as she leaned her head against his hand. "It doesn't have to be just one time." he mumbled, his thumb swiping across her cheek, wiping the wetness away.

She opened her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"I mean....I'm not sure what I mean," he admitted,"but I know that I'd like to do more things with you." As he looked at her, he started spilling again. "I'd like to feed you from my hand again. I'd like you to fall asleep on me again. I'd like to just hole up in the theater room and pass the daylight with you again. I'd love to hear you laugh again. I'd love to see you smile again. I'd love to keep you from ever having to cry again, because when you cry, it makes me feel like I need to go and hurt whatever hurt you." Inside his chest started to warm as a smile broke out on her face.

"You really feel all that?" she asked, her smile getting a little bigger when he nodded. 'Careful', a voice in the back of her head spoke up, 'He's a player. You don't know if he's said this kind of stuff to other girls.' Her happiness started to fade but she quickly squashed it. This guy couldn't be playing her; he just seemed so sincere. "Can I..."she started but hesitated.

"What?" he prompted.

She looked to the horizon, where the barest line of pink was starting to show. "C-can I fall asleep on you again?"

He smiled. "Sure." He started to get up but her grip on his wrist stopped him.

"But....can you stay this time?" She looked down at her lap. "I...I hate being alone when I wake up."

He waited until she looked back up at him. "Sure. I can stay."