Handle With Care by Marisa P

I was in agonizing pain. According to the doctor, the bullet was lodged in my knee and they were going to have to cut me open to get it out, and possibly have to rebuild my kneecap if it had shattered.

Six hours later I was in the recovery room, dozing in and out from the effects of the anesthetic and the drugs they were giving me for the pain. The male nurse periodically woke me up and asked me questions and I wanted to smack him in the mouth because his voice really annoyed me.

"How are you feeling, Lieutenant Chase?" asked the nurse.

"How's my knee? How did the surgery go?" I asked him.

"The surgery went well. The doctor will see you in your room later tomorrow morning."

God, he had the most infuriating voice. Then he moved away from me and I sat up slightly, not wanting to sleep any longer. I watched him walk to another patient.

"Lieutenant Curran? You need to wake up now, dear."

Must be the right day for Lieutenant surgeries. From what I could see from my angle, the other Lieutenant looked like a man with blond hair. I reached over to pick up the small cup of water I had been given earlier and I sipped it through a straw.

"Lieutenant Curran, dear, wake up now."

I saw Lieutenant Curran's arm come up and he grabbed the nurse's sleeve, yanking him down.

"You call me dear one more time and I'm gonna shove that stethoscope up your fucking ass."

I choked on the water and it nearly came out of my nose. Curran released him and the male nurse tried to regain his composure. For a minute I thought he was going to burst into tears.

"Give me another shot, goddammit!" yelled Curran.

But his request went unanswered. The male nurse came back to tend to me and I had to inquire. "So what's his problem?"

"Don't ask me. I suppose he's in a bit of pain. But I've been told not to give him anything more. He's got enough morphine in him to dope up the entire hospital."

I knew how Curran felt because I was in a lot of pain myself. I wondered what had happened to him. But I didn't get the chance to find out because I was taken out of the recovery room and brought up to a private hospital room.

Two days later I was allowed to get out of bed. But I wasn't allowed to walk. Not yet, anyway. If I needed to get anywhere, it would have to be by wheelchair. I took advantage of that as much as I could because I couldn't stand sitting still.

So I was out strolling in my wheelchair, rolling down the hall and I nearly crashed into another wheelchair at the intersection. When I looked up, I realized that it was Lieutenant Curran from the recovery room. He met my eyes and for a second I thought he was going to rip my head off.

"Sorry about that. I wasn't looking," I said apologetically.

"No problem," he responded coolly and maneuvered his wheelchair around me, continuing on his way.

The next day, we ran into each other again, at the same intersection. This time he didn't look as angry as he had the day before.

"We have to stop meeting like this," he said.

I smiled as he maneuvered around me. Then I turned to watch him leave, but he had spun his wheelchair around and was rolling backward. He regarded me quietly with his green eyes and then he finally gave me a smile before spinning his chair forward again. He whistled to himself as he continued on down the hallway.

Later that night, I was unable to sleep and was trying to find something interesting on television. I glanced over at the door when I heard a soft knock. Curran was in his wheelchair in the doorway.

"Hi," was all he said.

"Hi," was all I said back. I watched him watching me for a minute and then thought I'd better say something else. "Did you want to come in?"

"Yeah, sure." He rolled his wheelchair toward my bed. When he got there, he reached out his hand. "Lieutenant James Curran."

I took his hand. "Lieutenant Lynn Chase." He had a firm grip on my hand as he shook it.

"So, what're you in for?" he asked.

"A bullet to the kneecap."

"How'd that happen?"

"Training accident." I noticed the slight frown on his face when I said it. "So what happened to you?" I asked him.

"A bullet in my gut and my right thigh."

"Double whammy. How'd it happen?"

I noticed a smirk starting to appear on his face. "Training accident."

I knew then that we were both in the same line of work and I could tell he knew it too. I smiled back at him. "So what team are you on?"

"Middle East."

"Lucky you. It never rains there."

"You must be on the South American team."

"How'd you guess?"

"I had heard a woman was in charge of that team."

"You say it like you don't approve."

"No, I'm fine with it. I just wouldn't want to be you if you ever get caught."

"Already happened. But I know what you're thinking. How did I survive the inevitable rapes?" He didn't flinch. He just stared at me. "Yeah, I wanted to die, but retribution was mine. When I got the opportunity, I sliced off his nuts."

Curran whistled. "I bet he was singing soprano."

"He didn't get the chance because I shoved them in his mouth and made him swallow them." And now I saw him flinch. Did he consider me brutal? He didn't know the half of it. I needed to be this way in order to maintain my sanity in this man's world.

"Remind me never to run into you in a dark alley."

I laughed. "Don't worry. I'm not as dangerous as you think I am."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever you say."

"Come on, Curran, I'm sure you've done some pretty gruesome things while on the teams."

"I've been known to do some nasty shit. I held some guy off the side of a boat once while a shark ate him alive, slowly. He was half the man when I got done with him."

I laughed. "Sounds like my kind of party."

Curran smiled. "I was on my way to raid the kitchen. Care to join me?"

"I'd love to."

He pushed my wheelchair closer to the bed for me as he wheeled backward out of the way. I tossed the cover off and swung my legs over the side of the bed. My left leg was in a cast and it was difficult to maneuver off the bed. Once I had my good leg down I was able to hop around and lower myself into the wheelchair. When I turned my chair around and started to roll forward I saw him looking at me. "You were looking at my bare ass, weren't you?"

"I might have caught a glimpse." He started to roll behind me. "What're you mad at me now?"

"Maybe."

"I'll flash you later. Will that make you happy?"

"Enormously." I peeked out the doorway to the nurse's station. The nurse was busy writing on a pad of paper, her back to us. "Okay, it's clear."

I rolled out and he followed behind me. We quickly wheeled our way to the elevator.

Forty-five minutes later, we were in the kitchen. He pulled things out of the freezer and tossed them in my direction. A lot fell on the floor and we left a huge mess by the time we had made some sandwiches and snuck back upstairs to my room. We ate and talked until midnight before the nurse made her rounds, found Curran in my room and chased him out, threatening him with an enema.

For the next few days, we spent a lot of time together. We didn't talk about any particular missions, but we did talk about some things that happened during the missions. We both had lost many good team members. We both had rebels on the team that defied orders and we both had our lives saved by those same rebels that didn't follow orders.

Aside from talking, we made a complete nuisance of ourselves, causing the nurses all kinds of heartaches.

One day we were racing our wheelchairs down the hall. It had started out as an innocent thing and then escalated into a full-blown derby. In an attempt to pass me, Curran crashed into a metal cart and pills scattered all over the floor. The nurses screamed at him and he ignored their ranting and continued to pursue me. I couldn't stop laughing. He'd skid sideways to get around the corners faster and he'd lose control of his wheelchair and crash into things. By the time we were done racing, the hallways were cluttered with pills, towels, sheets and food trays. Not to mention the paper from patient file folders Curran had recklessly yanked out of their holders next to the doors and thrown over his shoulder, just for good measure.

Captain Dunne, who was Curran's commander and Captain Wheeler, who was my commander, came to visit us both the next morning in Curran's room where I had been.

"Lieutenant, this is unacceptable behavior for an officer in a hospital," said Dunne in a reprimanding voice.

"Yes, sir," said Curran, trying to appear chastised but I could tell he had enjoyed every minute of the hallway disaster.

"Do you realize the cost of those medical supplies you so recklessly scattered all over the floor yesterday afternoon? Not to mention the time it took to re-sort the file folders you tossed around."

"I guess I'm a little bored lately."

"That's no excuse to deliberately sabotage important medical documents. And to deliberately sabotage the medical distribution cart."

"That wasn't deliberate. I couldn't stop in time. My chair went out of control. I think the brake doesn't work."

"You were racing your wheelchair down the hallway!"

Curran looked down as he was reprimanded. I thought I was off the hook until my commander turned to me.

"I don't think I need to remind you, Lieutenant Chase, that your record doesn't need another incident like this."

"No, sir," I said.

"The two of you better start behaving yourselves and respect the uniform you wear."

"This is a hospital gown, sir, it's not a--"

"That'll be enough, Curran."

"Yes, sir."

The two Captains walked out of the room. Curran and I turned to look at each other. Then we both started laughing.

Reprimanded or not, the antics continued. I don't know what it was that made both of us feel the need to cause havoc. We were fine by ourselves, but the minute we got together, it was like unleashing two cheetahs on a herd of gazelle. We just couldn't control ourselves.

Three weeks later after the physical therapist gave us a clean bill of health and he said good riddance to both of us, we were released from the hospital. As we waited for our rides outside the front of the hospital, we chatted.

"So you think I could call you some time?" asked Curran.

I smiled up at him. "Are you asking me out, Curran?"

"If that's what you wanna call it, yeah."

"How about I make you dinner tonight at your place?"

Curran leaned an arm on the wall above me and leaned closer. "You can cook?" he asked with genuine surprise.

"Oh, I can do all kinds of things."

"I bet you can."

Then a car pulled up and honked. I looked over his shoulder. "My ride's here." Then I closed the gap between us and kissed him before he had a chance to do it. It was a nice open-mouthed kiss and I ended it by tugging on his lower lip with my teeth.

I moved away from the wall and used my crutches to walk to my best friend's convertible. Kathy opened the door for me and I hopped in, tossing the crutches in the back seat. I glanced over at Curran. He gave me a reserved smile as he hobbled over.

"How about I make you dinner?"

"As long as it's not a hot dog."

Curran looked up as if thinking about it. "I think I can come up with something more creative than that."

"Okay. I'll see you tonight."

"See ya."

We pulled away.

"Who was that guy?" asked Kathy.

"Someone I met at the hospital."

"He's cute."

"Yeah, I know."

Later that evening, I took a cab to the boathouse he had told me about during one of our many conversations. I used the crutches to walk along the wooden dock and hopped up the steps on one leg. The minute I reached the landing, Curran was at the door, holding it open.

"I would have helped you, but I would have been useless and we both would have been hopping up the stairs."

"It's okay. I can manage on my own." As I hobbled through the door, I caught a whiff of something good. "Whatever you're cooking, it smells fantastic."

"I hope you like spaghetti because that's all I know how to make."

"Love, love, love spaghetti."

I hopped over to the stove and lifted the lid of the wonderful smelling tomato sauce. There was a spoon on the counter and I took it so I could take a taste of the sauce. It was as good as it smelled.

"I made it myself. It's not from a jar."

"I like it." I turned around as he came up behind me.

"I think I made too much though, so I hope you have an appetite."

"I've had an appetite ever since we met." I took two hops closer to him and reached up to put my hand on the back of his neck. He got the hint and leaned down as I tilted my head. Our lips met and we kissed slowly at first. Then all of a sudden it got heated and we started groping each other.

Curran picked me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist, although it was a little awkward with the cast. Curran held me up with one hand, while he used his other hand to support himself as he hobbled and carried me out of the kitchen. Our lips never lost contact.

He got us as far as the steps leading up to what I figured was his bedroom. Three steps up and he tripped, nearly dropped me and howling in pain from either his stomach or his thigh. But he didn't dwell on the pain for long. He deposited me on the steps and that's where we ended up.

Our lips parted only while we undressed each other. Curran made a big thing out of peeling my clothes off and tossing them over his shoulder with a wicked smirk. He came down on my breasts and sucked and licked my nipples. Then he bit me so hard I had to smack him. He just laughed and moved further down my torso, his fingers penetrating me deeply. When he pushed my thighs further apart and started feeding on me, I buried my fingers in his hair and cried out in pleasure.

I climaxed hard a minute later and I was certain anyone in the general vicinity could surely hear my blissful cries. Then he raised his head from between my legs and started yanking his jeans open. He moved up over me and slid himself inside. His penetration caused me to climax again. Or maybe I hadn't finished with the last one. He pumped slowly, but deeply and I wrapped my legs around his torso.

In a matter of seconds he came inside me with a guttural, animalistic groan. Oh yeah, the neighbors undoubtedly knew exactly what was going on in this house.

"Holy shit...totally lost control there." He slowly got off me and pulled his jeans back up. Then he ran his fingers through his hair, pushing it back.

I composed myself and held out my hand for my clothes.

But he gave me that wicked smirk again. "I like you the way you are."

"I have to eat dinner in my birthday suit?"

He didn't answer me, just stared at me with that look.

"You're a dog, Curran."

"I've been called a lot worse."

I had a feeling that things were going to continue to be interesting while I was in the company of James Curran.

THE END