Page 12 of Dollhouse

“Okay,you’regetting old.” He winks at me. “The dirty thirty looks very good on you though.”

I scoff as the door opens, and Noah leads Doc into my room.

“Hello, there,” he says, setting his bag at the end of my bed. “You look much better than the last time I saw you.”

I flush at the reminder that I’d been both heartbroken and in the middle of a mental crisis during our last meeting. “Um, thanks.”

“How’s the ankle feeling?”

“It’s fine. I’m ready to start trying to walk, if you think that’s okay.”

He looks startled at this. “Well, yes. I told Noah over the phone last week you should be fine to do small periods without your crutches.”

My eyes cut to Noah’s, narrowing, but he just matches my glare.

“Better safe than sorry,” he says, shrugging and leaving the room.

I huff, twisting my legs to the side so that my feet hit the floor. “I’ve really been fine.” At the first feel of pressure, a small throb echoes in my ankle. “It’s a little sore.”

“It probably will be. For some that fades within a few days, but if a bone bruise is also present it could take longer. You’re fine to use the crutches along with walking to keep some of the pressure off, if…” He trails off, looking around the room. “Well, wherever they are. Obviously I can’t take you to my office for physical therapy, but Noah assures me he’s organizing it.”

I purse my lips at that. Noah’s turned out to be surprisingly overprotective, and I‘m sure I’ll hate whatever restrictions he comes up with to help me ‘heal’. “Awesome.”

A smile quirks the doctor’s mouth, and I wonder how long he’s known Noah for. “Well, let's have you go up and down the hallway a few times just to make sure we’re good.”

I do a few rounds to appease him, until it grows too uncomfortable. Helping guide me back to bed, Bo places a pillow under my ankle.

Ruffling through his medical bag, the doctor leaves a small trial size bottle on my nightstand. “I’ll leave this just in case. They’re mild, but they will take the edge off. Call if you need anything, okay?”

I nod and he opens the door, waving down the hall to let Landon know he’s ready to go. My mouth falls open when I see Landon step in behind him and start tying a blindfold around his eyes. He notes my shocked face and winks. “We’ll take no chances on a second safe-house.” He leads him away and I turn to see Bo’s equally shocked expression.

“This place is fucked,” he says simply. “But I guess it’s smart, if it means we aren’t going to get locked in our rooms again like kennel dogs.”

A peal of shocked laughter escapes me, and somehow becomes contagious, until both of us are clutching stitches in our sides from a giggling fit. It’s just like old times, laughing on my couch at home when we would have the house to ourselves for the weeks that Eric was away on business.

We can still laugh, even when everything has gone to hell. Our way of giving the middle finger to the world.

Bo and I? We still have each other. And that’s one thing Bundy could never change.

EIGHT

Emma’s gigglepeels down the hall while she shares some inside joke with Bo.

It’s such a relief to hear it. She’s coming back around, slowly losing that edgy, rabbit look to her, like I’m a wolf that’s about to eat her whole. It also means she has no idea that this is the third morning in a row I’ve had a threat to her life airdropped out of nowhere into our server system.

Today’s message is somewhat different. Instead of vague threats against us if we don’t quit hunting Bundy’s associates, this message offers Eric in exchange for Emma.

The audacity he must have to send this to me. Granted they aren't aware that my feelings for her have taken a more…obsessive turn. More importantly, it gives away how much Bundy wants Emma that he’ll hand over Eric to get her, someone he’s in so deep with.

Just two months ago I wouldn’t have hesitated for a moment. I’d have dropped her off anywhere he wanted and made her crawl to Bundy right in front of Eric's face. That had been the point of everything, hadn’t it? To make Ericfeel it. To force him to watch as the possession he held most dear was stripped of hervalue and taken away from him. Just like he’d done to Lily, and god knows how many countless others.

There's a thud and another laugh from her room, and Jesse’s steps sound in the hallway as he goes to see what the fuck they’re doing.

“Jesse,” I call. He pokes his head into the office, and I motion to the chair in the corner.

“Why do you look like that?” he asks, dropping a plate of deli sandwiches on the desk.

“We’ve got a problem, and I want you to think very fucking carefully before you say anything,” I say, leaning back in my computer chair. His eyebrow quirks, and I continue. “They’re offering Eric and a peace offering in exchange for Emma.”