Oh yeah, It's my birthday. I know you all are, like, bleeding in the brain now. A new record for me. Besides this story having a second chapter (yay!) It's the shortest amout of time I've gotten a chapter like this up. And it's not even, like, short or anything. I'm about to piss myself with happiness. R&R

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A hand reached out and gripped her arm tightly, tight enough to bruise, and half dragged, half carried her into the office. In the well-light room she could see Zair’s features perfectly and tightened her shields. She could tell he definitely wasn’t in a good mood.

“I said two hours! What didn’t you understand? I wanted you here ten minutes ago!” He shouted in her ear and she winced.

“My car wouldn’t start.” He looked at her disbelievingly, but he finally let go of her arm.

“Don’t even expect me to buy that excuse. What next, your dog ate your homework?” She shrugged as she ducked under his outstretched arm and made her way over to the small room his desk was in. His desk was clear. She knew any papers he had would be organized in the file cabinet that stood tall next to his desk. She also knew for a fact that the key was secure in his back pocket. She perched on the edge of his desk and crossed her legs, her arms behind her supporting her weight as he followed in after, obviously unhappy with her.

“I don’t care whether you believe me or not. The truth’s not going to change just because you don’t believe in it. I know what happened so disbelieve me all you like.” He leaned against the doorway. “Don’t disrespect me. I gave you orders and I expect them to be followed!” She looked at him, silent for a moment as she swung her foot. Then she spoke. “I did follow your orders. I’m here aren’t I?” His face turned a pink color. Cat, on a normal day would push to see how far he would get on the color scale. She just didn’t have the energy today to aggravate him to the point of stuttering insanity.

“What did you need me for.” She lowered her shields a little and felt his uncertainty in her mind at the sudden change in her voice and topic. Sometimes being an empath came in handy. Very few people knew about her hidden gift, another thing that made her different from other humans. A very rare human would somehow develop telepathy, the ability to read another person’s thoughts. It was even more rare for someone to develop empathy, the ability to read emotions rather then thoughts, but she had been unfortunate enough to develop it.

He kept his face blank. The boss face. He wouldn’t let any emotion, other then a commanding anger, show through. She had only seen him show emotion once. That had been when his wife, Mae, was taken hostage and killed by a group of werewolves who were trying to get back their soldiers that had been captured in a previous battle. She had never seen him lose control before, but all of a sudden he had snapped and within a few brief moments, all the werewolves lay dead at their feet. She had never before felt such unbridled rage and overwhelming grief so pure it had brought her to her knees in pure agony, clutching her head.

“Can we hurry this up?” She asked interrupting his thoughts. Her wound was on fire.

She had a high pain tolerance. She could be shot at, stabbed, beat to a pulp but she never would give in to pain. No matter how much agony she was in, she would not let it show on her face. Her wound put her in enough pain that she was beginning to get lightheaded and felt like she was going to spew forth her cookies at any moment. She fought down that feeling.

He looked at her closely, and if she was anyone else she would have imagined that it was concern in his eyes, but she couldn’t tell. It was easier for her to concentrate shutting out her own pain if she blocked out everyone else’s emotions.

“Cat, your white as a ghost. Are you okay?” Bossily concern was not the thing she needed right now. She needed to get out of here. The walls felt as if they were falling in on her. She needed air.

“Fine,” She gritted out sharply. He looked at her for a moment longer before saying, “You better get down to Sahn. He’d flip if he saw you like this.” She angrily got off the desk and pushed him aside on her way to the stairwell. She didn’t need Zair to pretend like he cared. He wasn’t her friend, he shouldn’t try to act like it.

Once in the stairwell and past Zair’s gaze she leaned against the wall. She doubled over slightly, holding her side, trying to bring her swimming vision back into focus. She took deep, calming breaths and felt relieved when she could easily breath past the pain. She didn’t want someone coming into the stairwell and finding her passed out on the floor. She never would be able to live that down.

She only had two options, she could continue through her day on the verge of giving in to pain, or she could go down to Sahn. She gave it careful consideration. She decided she would brave the pain. Nothing would get her down to the infirmary unless she was passed out, or on her merry way towards that option.

She walked the two flights up to her office floor, clutching her side. She could feel something wet and sticks spreading down her left side, signaling that her wound was reopening.

She walked back into her office and was surprised and relieved to see Sahn waiting for her.

“Zair called me. He figured you wouldn’t be down to see me and requested that I…make an office call.” Sahn had a slight Austrian accent that was all but erased from his nearly one hundred years in the states. He seemed to hesitate repeating what Zair had said. She could only imagine that it was something less then polite.

He had been sired when he was but seventeen. His features had been frozen in firm, cold skin. He had a large nose that gave him a bird-like look in her opinion. He had blond hair that just barely brushed the tips of his ears. His blue eyes always seemed cool, almost hard, but she could feel the warmth in his mind.

“You’d look so much better if you let your hair grow out.” He gave her one of his looks that just told her that she wasn’t off the hook.

“Yet again, no.” Every time she saw him she told him the same thing, and every time, his answer remained unchanged. It wasn’t even a conversational saying anymore, it was more just for the purpose of putting something in the air.

“Shirt. Off.” His tone left no room for argument but she couldn’t help being herself.

“Come on Sahn, in the work place? I mean honestly, at least save it for the bedroom.” He didn’t seem amused. She rolled her eyes and pulled her shirt off, thankful that her office window was wallpapered with magazine articles and pictures. Her window looked more like a teenager’s bedroom then like a twenty-seven year olds office.

“Lay on the desk.” He ordered. She couldn’t help the evil grin that crossed her face.

“Wow Sahn, I didn’t know you swung like that.” She ignored his glare. “So, what, you like your woman in a school girl outfit? Pigtails, short skirt, the whole nine yard huh? You like the ruler don’t you. I never would have pictured you for that.” She lay on the desk, still refusing to acknowledge the heat filled glare he was giving her.

“If I must, I will sedate you.” He informed her. His fingers moved delicately over her left side, feeling the area around the wound. “It’s angry and raw. You did not even bother to clean it did you?” She snorted, no, she hadn’t. He gave a small sigh. He pulled slightly at the skin around the wound. She stayed perfectly still, every muscle in her body tense. “I’ll have to reopen it.”

She eyed him. “How you plan on doing that?” He pulled what looked like a small black duffle bag from off the floor, reached in, and pulled out a zipped up black case. He reached in and pulled out a steel scalpel.

“Like this.” Every muscle in her body tightened further. She didn’t know how much further they could go before every bone in her body simply shattered from the pressure. “It’s only healed down through the first few layers of skin. Out of seven layers of skin, you don’t need to worry. It will be relatively painless.” He tried assured her.

Cat felt the scalpel dip slightly into her skin, felt each individual fiber that made up her skin break sharply in her head. Once he cut through, she imagined that there would be nothing to hold the body bag that was her skin together, and it would just slip off. She would walk around in her muscle and bone. She kept thinking strange thoughts to keep her mind off of him cleaning her wound with his burning antiseptic, until he spoke.

“Now that I’ve gotten it clean. Did you roll around in the dirt for a little while there?” He pulled something else out of his case. Some weird kind of thread and a needle. She made a move as if to get up. He raised his eyes to her. “Do you not want me to stitch it up? You’ll end up with a lovely scar if not.” He must have seen something indecisive in her face. “Lay back down.” She obeyed.

“If someone walks in here, we’re gonna have to do some explaining.”

He kept his eyes steadily on her wound while he stitch and replied, “I’m sure we’ll manage.”

“Done,” he finally announced. He straightened and began putting his supplies in his little black duffle back.

“Thanks Sahn.” She leaned over and kissed his cheek. She may act like an ass with him, but he knew she was joking, all in good fun. Very few people knew that she was really a softy at heart, but Sahn was one of the few.

“Doctor’s orders?” She asked, getting back to business. She could only handle so much touchy-feely moments in her day. He rummaged in his bag for a moment. He pulled something out, clutched in his large hand.

He handed her the bottle of pills. “Take two whenever you feel pain. No more then twice every six hours, considering your metabolism. No more then that amount. We both know your…dependency towards any form of drug. If you still experience pain through the medication, call me immediately.” She opened her mouth to speak. He raised his hand, stopping her as they walked out of her office and stood by the door to the stairwell.

“Take it easy for a few days so as not to aggravate your wound any further. Also, you should try eating something every once in a while.” He looked at her, concerned. “It won’t kill you. If need be, I’ll have Zair put you on medical for a while. I can assure you, as a doctor, that you are underweight.” Medical. Right. You were only put on medical if you were injured, which she was not. He had just told her to take it easy for a few days. She could do that. Maybe she could even just spend a day sitting on the couch and vegging out. She’d love that.

She stood in the doorway of the stairwell and watched Sahn take the stairs down two at a time before she turned, and made her way back to her office to file report.