[adamu]

Following on from a late start and then a three-hour delivery, the carousing continued into the wee hours until Al was finally able to make their excuses and extricate himself and Alyce from the celebration. The walk back was as dark as before, and when they passed under the canopy Al nearly stumbled a couple of times without hiker-boy's flashlight. Alyce was surefooted like a damned mountain goat.

Passing back through the village Al was silent, considering what they'd learned from the refugees. Even discounting half of it as terrified exaggeration, it looked like they were going to not only have to find this dingus, but liberate it from newly possessed Satan-worshipper to boot. One more thing to discuss with Alyce tomorrow on the boat.

When they got back to the hotel, Al paused on the verandah as she stepped into the lobby. When she turned back to see what was holding him up, he said, "What you did back there, that warn't half-bad fer a mobbed-up matrix merc. Ya done good tonight, chica." He gave her a wink, not knowing if she could see it, then said, "Now if'n you'll excuse me, I can hear things is still hoppin' over ta Wang Sun's, an' there's a few hours o' dark left."

[adamu]

Alyce walks with Al, grateful for the quiet as it gave her time to think.  And she had lots to think about.  The man next to her is an enigma, but one she is clearly falling for.  She had made a misstep earlier, but he had been gracious enough to let it drop without comment.  Damn her integrity where taken men are concerned.  There is nothing for it but to accept that he will not be hers.  Better to get over it and move on to something else.  He stumbles a couple of times on the walk back, an indicator that either he is thinking of something, or the combination of anything he had had to drink earlier, combined with whatever had been handed to them in the camp has affected his concentration.  When he indicates he is going back to the bar, Alyce concludes that it is the latter.
 
She nods to him and watches him leave the lobby before turning to go into the building.  She had forgotten that she is still dotted with the blood of the woman she had helped tonight and gets some stares as she walks to the stairway and climbs to the next story.  In their room, Alyce takes a clean shirt from her pack and goes to the small bathroom down the hall, where she removes her shirt to clean it and as much of her as had been splattered during the difficult delivery and subsequent patching up of the mother.  She is using the cold water and a small cloth to clean herself when one of the mining execs stumbles into the room to use the toilet.  The man is singing one of the modern trid hits, but is badly off-key, and from the sounds of things, Alyce concludes that his aim for the toilet is off considerably as well.  The man does not appear to even notice Alyce as he flushes and starts to leave, but his eye catches sight of her as his hand is reaching for the door.  He turns to stare and points at her.  "Whoa.  Nice tits, babe.  Can I hav................."
 
Alyce interrupts him, "No you can't."
 
The man frowns and takes a wobbly step towards her.  "Awwww c'mon.  No harm in giving us a little feel, now.  You got them all out for display and all."
 
Alyce turns to face the man.  "Take another step and I will kill you.  No joke.  No lie.  Just you dead.  If you doubt it, just consider where all this blood on me came from.  Is one feel of my tits worth your life?"
 
The drunk actually pales as his eyes focus on her chest and he sees the blood spattered there and on her hands and the sink.  He carefully takes a step back and says, "No.  Don't reckon it does.  I'll just be leaving now."
 
 
Once the man is gone, Alyce finishes cleaning up and applies cold water to the stains on her shirt before leaving the bathroom, returning to hers where she hangs her wet shirt and the cloth across the window and goes to her pack.  Drawing some packages from the pack, she opens her medkit and refills what was used.  Then grabbing it, she leaves the room, going back downstairs and out of the hotel.  She walks the short distance to Wang Sun's bar and stands outside, listening.  There is a lot of noise, but she can filter out all except Al's voice and nods her head.  She can love the man, but in some ways he is a bit predictable.  He is arguing with someone about giving the money back that he stole from the natives and it does not appear that he is making much headway.  Alyce has seen a lot of bar fights and it does not take her heightened senses to know that another one is brewing right here.
 
She opens the door and her sensors tell her that almost everyone is standing and looking in the direction of where Al is talking to the men who must be the miners.  A scared topless waitress comes around the crowed to ask Alyce if she can get her anything.  Alyce soundlessly shakes her head but grabs a bottle that is sitting unattended at the table next to her.  "No thanks.  I am just here to help."
 
The waitress gives Alyce a puzzled look.  "Help?  Sorry.  I do not understand."
 
"You will."  And at that moment, Al throws the first punch and the crowd surges toward him.  Unnoticed by anyone, Alyce steps up behind one of the men and smashes the bottle over his head, dropping him to the floor.  His neighbor looks around and catches the extremely solid casing of the medkit in the face.  The crunch of cartilage tells Alyce that she has broken the man's nose as he collapses without making a noise.  And the brawl is on.

[adamu]

Al nodded at the two huge doormen - necessities where drunken men and naked women mixed - and sauntered into Wang Sun's. With the villagers' descriptions locked into his mind, he spotted the three miscreants easily and got straight to work. It had been a long day and he wanted to put his feet up. So he was annoyed at these guys and how they were cutting into what was left of his evening, and things would probably go harder for them because of it.

He looked at them and knew he could take them. But he also knew they had friends in there, so he figured he'd thin their ranks a bit. One of them whom he'd played cards with earlier was now hypnotized by a spreadeagled performer. He saw the heavy gold chain again on the man's wrist - he'd been surprised to see such a thing on a miner during their game, and now he knew where it had come from. He thought of some of the kids he'd seen in the camp. He sat down next to the man, hooted at the girl, and nudged the guy, who recognized Al. They shared the ebullient greeting of two drunks, and Al ordered them two beers. Taking the bracelet off the man was easy, as was placing it neatly next to the girl atop her pile of currency and tokens without anyone noticing, just like he was simply tipping her as well.

Then he stepped well away before the end of her set, which was when she gathered up her earnings, noticed the bracelet, and began thanking the man effusively. His response was less enthusiastic. He went after the bracelet, she ran for the dressing room - why was it called that? - and he was flattened by the bouncers. They tossed him out into the mud in a heap. Al slipped out, completed the scum's passage to dreamyland, and rolled him for every penny he was carrying.

No one noticed.

Now just the two. They were sitting together and he decided that if he talked to them for a bit, then when things erupted it might be cleaner. Maybe people would know it was just between him and them.

It didn't work.

The first one was staggered by Al's opening salvo, then before they could even react he grabbed each one by their hair and slammed their heads together with everything he had. They wouldn't ever wake up, and he didn't care. But then the whole crowd was in it. Of course he'd have to play this different from here on out - this was just men having fun. Still, might have been too much for him if the two directly behind him hadn't been taken out by someone. He grabbed a swinging chair out of its arc, yanked it out of his attacker's grip, and shattered it over his head. Coming up from rifling through the two dying men's pockets, he ducked a thrown bottle and started making his way to the exit. Tossing another inebriated assailant out of his way, he found his rescuer to be none other than Alyce - just as a hairy brute of a man clocked her in the mouth. Well, better than those glasses, he thought, moving to save her. But she didn't need saving. Just dropped to her knees like she was out of it and promptly grabbed, pulled, and twisted. He moved over to her side, caught a naked woman that had somehow fallen into his path, and proceeded to dodge three punches without dropping her. Once he'd set the screaming woman down and shin-kicked the guy closest to him, he could see Alyce back on her feet smashing her medkit over a guy's head, only to have another naked woman jump on her back and put her in a headlock. Her response was to bite the offending arm, and once she'd extricated herself he saw their opening and moved to whisk her out the door. Except that when he touched her shoulders she swung an elbow back and nearly broke his nose. Only hit he took all night, dammit. "Okay, if her done a'beatin' on me let's beat feet instead," he yelled in her ear, and seconds later they were out in the night air, both breathing heavily, nearly panting, the brawl still raging inside.

They laughed all the way back to the hotel, and five minutes later they were standing exactly where they had been an hour previous, he sucking at the blood pouring out of his nose, she with a split lip begging for stitches, her smiling teeth crimson red. Once again, her shirt was spattered with blood, and the moonlight worked its alchemy with it and Al knew he'd never seen anything so beautiful.

"Not half bad again, chica. We'll take this," he patted bulging cargo pockets, "out to the camp, but it can wait till mornin'. Right now we's goin' upstairs."

[Mercy Merchant]

God, she feels alive.  More alive right now than at almost any time in a long time.  They support each other back to the hotel, laughing all the way back.  Alyce raises a hand to feel her lip and groans softly.  Her heightened senses had prevented her from suffering too much, but there was certainly going to be some bruising in the morning from that hit.  The words come out a bit garbled as she says, "Thank you, Al.  I am sure that I would have been way messed up without your help.  It was good fun, though."

It is not until they are very nearly at the hotel veranda that two men run past, heading to Wang Sun's and blowing whistles in what was likely to be a rather futile effort at stopping the brawl in progress there.  Several people are standing at the entrance, trying to see what the commotion was all about, but they make way for Al and Alyce to pass through.  Alyce smiles at Al's compliment and nods at his rather insistent suggestion.  Once upstairs and in the room, Alyce goes to the small side table and picks up the pottery bowl before going to the door, where she turns and says, "I am going for some cold water to clean the blood off us.  Be right back."  She leaves the room and heads to the bathroom, where she fills up the bowl without interruption, then returns to the room.  Locking the door behind her she puts the bowl on the table, then moves the side table to the foot of the bed and brings the bowl of water over to it.  After placing her medkit on the bed and opening it, she sits down and says, "OK.  Bring the chair over and sit here in front of me so I can look at that nose of yours."

When Al complies, she dampens a cloth and gently washes his face, cleaning away the blood and mud, then uses soft fingers to probe his nose.  Al does not move, but she can tell by the difference in his breathing that he is feeling some pain at her touch.  "Well, someone caught you good there, Al.  The good news is that it is not broken, although it seems that it would not have been the first time if it was.  The bad news is that it will hurt for a bit for a few days.  I can give you some meds for the pain if you like, but I am not sure that you really need them and my personal policy is to try to avoid drugs if possible.  Your choice."

When she is finished wiping the rest of his face with the cool cloth, she rinses it out in the water and hands it to Al.  "OK, your turn.  Can you clean my face up a bit?  And be careful of the lip.  It needs to be cleaned, but I am certain that it will hurt.  And by your words downstairs, it seems like you have something to say.  Go ahead and talk and I will listen while you clean."  Alyce removes the glasses that somehow seem to not only have survived the brawl intact, but stayed on her face the entire time.  She closes her eyse as she moves forward a bit on the end of the bed, waiting.

[adamu]

Al panicked. There were few things scarier than a woman who expected him to talk to her. Sure, chit chat was fine. Or if there was something to actually communicate. But the whole having something to say thing?

Taking the wet cloth, his mind raced over what he had said downstairs. About three sentences. Good job. Take money back tomorrow. Let's go upstairs. it must be the last one, but he'd already said it - he wanted to go upstairs. Yeah, with her. He'd wanted to go upstairs with her. She was scary enough that he'd placed her off limits, but he very much liked (okay, had come to crave) her company. But wasn't all that just obvious?

He was surprisingly deft with the wound. It was a nasty one. He started by cleaning around the field, but once he got closer it was going to hurt.  He'd read somewhere that women were more verbal than men. And this one certainly need reassuring every five seconds. So he figured he'd better do what she wanted, if only to keep her mind off the pain.

"Yeah, yeah, sure...talk," he spit out as he worked. As careful as he was being with her face, he was his usual slovenly self in every other way, dripping water all over her shirt and trousers. He figured they were already spattered with blood anyway, so what the hell? "Wanted to talk about...hey, them hikers was a pair, warn't they? Ya see a couple like that, ya wonder how they got together inna first place. Probably they thought it was a great idear at the time, moved too fast, ended up somewhere bad with no goin' back."

He silently congratulated himself on accidentally saying exactly the right thing.

And on hurting her as little as he had. She'd been a trooper about it to be sure.

"Well, that's as clean as she's gon' git with jist water." He had no doubt she could stitch other people up, but he wondered if her enhancements were strictly outward-facing...would her ultrasound or whatever be able to see herself? "Ya need any help closin' that, reckon I've sewn a few folks up in my time. Got no art to it, though, an' would hate ta leave a scar."

[Mercy Merchant]

Alyce smiles as she takes the cloth back.  "The miracles of modern medicine, Al.  I will be alright."  She feels around in the kit for some ointment and carefully applies it to her cut.  "Time was when this drek would actually sting.  Now it is just a mild burn.  Never understood why medicine had to taste bad or feel bad to do its job.  Things have certainly improved since I graduated from med school."  After applying the ointment, she reaches for her stitching needle and some medical thread and carefully sews up the cut, making tiny almost perfect stitches.  When done she uses one hand to get a set of small scissors from the kit and snips the thread and puts everything away.  "There, good as new in a couple of days."

"Now, I happened to notice how you reacted when one of the men we were celebrating with at the camp slapped you on the back.  Will you let me look at you and see what is wrong?"

[adamu]

Dammit. He couldn't get anything past this girl.

"Well hell, I aleady know what's wrong. Done got caned a bit. But the bleedin's stopped, I got it medicated. Don't reckon it bears fussin' over."

[Mercy Merchant]

Alyce frowns.  "Al, you're in pain.  And for you to show that, it must be a lot.  Let me look, please?"

[adamu]

Al sighed and stood up to take his jacket off. Pulled the T-shirt over his head. His fatigue trousers were unbelted and hung low on his hips, with hair thick on his chest and in a line down over his navel. Just at first scan, Alyce could perceive a number of scars and tattoos.

His frame was small, but thickly packed with taut muscles.

He turned around to reveal a back literally covered with hundreds of raised scars. Only ten or so were fresh, just recently starting to scab. But they lay atop what must have been dozens of brutal canings.

On closer examination it was clear that the scars overran each other to the extent that there was not a smooth centimeter of flesh on the small man's entire back.

"Mix the Cambodian criminal justice system with a smart mouth, this is what ya git. Don't recommend it."

[Mercy Merchant]

Alyce carefully felt the damage done to Al's back, her deft fingers moving gently from scar to scar.  It is easy for her to pick out the old ones from the fresher ones.  "Well, I will remember that if I ever get tossed in a Cambodian prison.  My own learning experience was similar, but I think my learning curve was a bit quicker as my back did not look like this when I got out.  Not much I can do now for the older ones, but I can certainly help with the newer injuries."  She uses the cloth to gently clean the wounds then reaches into her kit for some lotions and creams, saying, "Now, doctors used to say drek like "this won't hurt but a bit", sometimes even with a straight face.  But this new stuff really is much better.  There might be a small sting, but no real pain."

She applies the ointments and Al really does feel nothing more than a very slight sting and that fro only a second.  The overall feeling is a coolness to the skin and an almost immediate cessation of the pain he has been feeling for some time.  Alyce reaches for her needle and thread again and applies neat stitches to his open cuts.  When she is finished she replaces everything in the kit and then places her hands on his shoulders and begins kneading the muscles of his back, moving her hands along every inch of what is in front of her.  Saying nothing, she lets her trained fingers do the talking, willing healing into him.  The feel of him under her hands excites her more than just a bit and her body reacts to his closeness.  She forces herself to try to think of other things.  Failing that, she simply leans against him and wraps her arms about him, holding him.  Saying nothing.

[adamu]

Al had appreciated her matter-of-fact reaction. He was private about his sufferings the way most people were about their sex lives or their bank accounts or that thing they'd done as a teenager while drunk. And her ministrations had helped with the pain.

Now that she'd healed him, she was probably going to give him a heart attack, because the swell of her against his back was doing unnatural things to his blood pressure.

He'd never been much of a massage guy, but her touch on his flesh had thrilled him. When she held him, it was a long time before he was inclined to move. But now he was squirmy - just like on the bus. He couldn't reach his cigarettes. Couldn't scratch an itch behind his knee. Was pretty sure there was an ant or a spider or something crawling along the underside of his forearm.

He turned within her arms, which brought them nose to nose and plunged him into a fleeting moment of dire crisis before he smoothly stepped over to pick something up off the table, He held up the pack of cigarettes in explanation, tapped one out and put it in his mouth, then fished his lighter from a pocket in his jacket.

Smiled and held out the pack to her, a mischievous tempter, a few drops of sweat trickling down over the side of his neck and his abs in the moist jungle heat....

[adamu]

Almost panicking when he turns in her arms, Alyce is both glad and sad when he stands up without kissing her.  She is so very confused by her feelings right now that she can barely think and certainly cannot trust herself to say anything, but he breaks the mood by offering her his pack.  Alyce leans forward and absently takes the offered pack and expertly shakes a cigarette from it before handing it back and letting him light it.  Drawing the first delicious bit of smoke deep into her lungs, she breathes out.  "Thank you, Al.  You have no idea how badly I have wanted one of these.  Alyce then dips the cloth into the water again and wrings it out over the bowl.  "I need to clean the blood off of me.  The bathroom is too public and you have already seen everything I have.  Do you mind if I take my shirt off?  I will turn around so as to at least give you some privacy."  Her fingers are already at the top button of her shirt, but she pauses to hear what he has to say.

[adamu]

"Pete's sake, woman, how could I possibly mind ya takin' yer clothes off?"

He smiled and shook his head as he sat in a chair. stretched his short legs, and leaned back. Spoke to her in a gentle, friendly voice as one might an errant child. "Damn females an' they logic-resistant assumptions. Reckon it was you decided last night I didn't like havin' a beautiful naked woman inna room. Din't say nothin' cuz I don't presume ta unnerstand the way yer mind works. Your room much as it is mine, what ya wanna wear or not wear's up ta you. But don't inconvenience yerself on my account."

He started unlacing his boots with his cigarette clamped between his grinning teeth. "Jist don't expect me ta sit here like yer gay roommate an' pretend I ain't enjoyin' the view."

 

[adamu]

Alyce's heart thumps at Al's words.  There had been a very small worry in her mind, one she had not dared to give any thought to, that Al was gay.  Now that worry has been dispelled.  Nodding, Alyce unbuttons her shirt, saying, "We learn to be obtuse in little girl school, Al.  Did you not know that?  But I have to tell you that most men are just as hard to read.  And I am glad that you enjoy the view.  You have not said so before."  She does not turn as she slips the shirt off her shoulders, exposing her torso to his gaze.  Her hand feels around in her kit, pulling out a small box, which she opens and flicks some of the cigarette ash into.  "I guess I will have to get used to that again.  But, God, it feels good to have one of these in my mouth.  I quit cold turkey several years ago, but I have missed the taste every day.  These are not what I used to smoke, but as of now, they are what I currently smoke.  We'll have to get more if we are both using them."
 
While talking she has been using the wet cloth to clean up the blood on her chest, neck, and stomach.  A glint of light catches Al's eye and he notices a small diamond swinging on a short chain attached to her navel by a ring.  Alyce's nipples are clearly aroused by his presence or perhaps it is the cold water dripping from them.  She knows it is his presence, but he can assume what he wants.  Finished with rinsing herself off she stands and walks in front of Al.  "Did I miss any of the blood?  It is better to get it all now than later after it has dried."  Al croaks out a couple of missed places and she smiles as she wipes them clean.  She takes her shirt to the table and stands over it while she feels for and tries to blot up the blood that spattered across it during the brawl, her breasts swaying to the rhythm of her movements.  When that work is done, Alyce walks past Al and hangs the shirt up with the other one from earlier, then returns to the foot of the bed to pack up the kit and move the mostly depleted bowl of water to the larger table.
 
She undoes her trousers and shucks them and her panties off, placing them over the remaining chair at the table then turns to Al and says, "Sorry, I only packed one spare shirt for this short trip.  I did not think I would get both of them bloody in the same night.  You will have to make do with me as I am.  Besides, you have seen it all before."  She crushes her cigarette out in her make-shift ashtray and walks to the bed, slipping under the thin sheet.  Patting the bed next to her, she adds, "You might as well undress and come to bed.  This one is larger than what we were sharing in Andoung Tuek, and besides, I am almost certainly too tired to attack you tonight."  After a slight pause, she says, "Although I would not mind at all if you held me."

[adamu]

Al forgot to smoke, and his cigarette burned down until it singed his fingers.

Hastily stubbing it out, he figured there was about a ninety percent chance she was too good to be true. Everything perfect now, but trouble later - and he could sure has hell see plenty of signs to that effect. That left a ten percent chance she really was perfect.

He was keenly disappointed that she went straight to bed. He wanted to talk to her and listen to her. Hear about being a cellist and a Russian and a decker. But she'd said she was tired, and he realized with no small degree of alarm that he was more interested in her comfort than his own.

So he reminded himself about four times why he'd decided certain things, finished taking off his boots and socks, and got onto the bed atop the covers in his trousers. He'd willed himself to a calm state, and he snuggled up against her, put his arm across her, found a hand peeking out from the coverlet and held it. He could smell her hair and her skin.

"Ya know, sharin' a room, that's necessity. Patchin' me up, that's yer job. Breakin' bread together, buildin' good workplace relations. An' backin' each other inna bar fight, well that there's perfessional obligation. But holdin' ya while ya fall asleep, well that ain't good coworkers, hon. That's friends. An' don't you fergit it."