Chapter Nineteen...Healing (continued)
She smiled softly against him. No one spoiled Hector. Not the way they did Paris or even Cassandra for that matter.
Hector was Hector. He could take care of himself while his other siblings required almost constant attention.
Andromache understood the mentality behind it. If a person that could swim and one that couldn't both fell
overboard a boat you threw the rope to the one that couldn't keep their head above water. But - it meant that
Hector did a lot of swimming. Mostly because he went in the water after the others.
It meant a great deal to her that she could be the one that thought of Hector first. And only of him. Everyone else,
her husband included, would watch after the others. Andromache got to care for Hector. In all the small, overlooked
ways he didn't even realize would make his life easier. That would spoil him too. He deserved it. And so much more.
And he deserved to be able to come back to a safe, warm, loving family that was waiting for him with open arms that
would shut away the rest of the world for a time. She would never be as brave or as strong inside as he was. But
she could be soft and welcoming for him.
"He hurt you." she agreed softly. Because she'd felt it too. Through her heart like a great iron nail pounding home.
"But I think it was with the best intentions." she continued as if she truly was thinking hard about it. She raised her
dark, deep eyes to his, pretending she was serious. "I think I must therefore take his side and beg for mercy from
you, as a princess of Troy." She should be wetting Illyruis' feet with her grateful tears in all truth. But for the
moment, all she could find room in her heart or head for was for the man holding her in his arms and his teasing
smile. The edges of her lips curved. "There must be something I can do to convince you to be lenient this one time."
"I'm sure it was with the best of intentions," Hector said with a chuckle. "I'll get him back, don't worry." the normal
stuff, not obeying the doctor's instructions as much as he was able to, or more correctly as much as Andromache
would allow him to. For if either of them thought he'd spend his recuperating period lying flat on his back staring
endlessly at the ceiling, they had another thing coming.
"Hmmm...you could take me for a walk." He said. "If its not too much trouble to lead your old infirm husband around
a certain princess' city..." He knew, he knew all too well, that news of his 'grievous' injury had already traveled.
Some of his countrymen might even be planning his funeral. And like it or not, he was a symbol for Troy. A living
breathing one, but a symbol all the same. So maybe a short walk around would assuage their fears, and
Andromache's. Because if he could walk around, he'd be able to prove to her that he was all right.
She propped herself up and looked down at him, eyes wide. He had to be joking!
"You're not going anywhere." she stated with surprise. "You just came in today." Or maybe it was yesterday. She'd
lost track of the time. But she was sure up until less than an hour ago he'd been frighteningly unconscious. And if
sitting was a struggle she wasn't about to let him even try getting out of their bed, much less taking a stroll around
the city. And he wanted to try it anyway. She could see it in his eyes and her own narrowed in response. "Don't."
she warned. "If I have to sit on you I will." She meant it too. "You can have Illyruis' head if that's what it costs but
you're not leaving this bed."
"I feel fine." He said, looking back at her with a stubborn glint in his eyes. "Besides you've been cooped up in here
all day, and that's not fair to you either. Come on. Are you going to make me pick you up, sling you over my
shoulder and walk around Troy that way?" He chuckled a bit. "Because I will. Just try me!"
"You're a beast." she braced herself over him, an arm on each side as she looked down at him. Eyes soft and warm
for all her teasing. "Threatening your wife that way. Your mother would be shocked. And appalled." she added the
second as an afterthought. Lowering her head to rest her forehead against his so that her hair fell down to curtain
both of them, she stated softly: "Don't rush this." Worried for him all over again. "Please. You wouldn't let me out of
bed directly after Astyanax was born. You've just gone through worse than that. Please." she touched her lips
gently to his. "Please stay here, with me. For today at least." Tomorrow they could renegotiate. But there was no
way she was letting his mind outweigh his body in this. Not today. "Stay." she breathed. "Please..."
"My mother would be appalled at a lot of things." He said with a chuckle. "If she knew I had ever tossed you into the
sea, or dragged you forcibly around the city, or, gods, snuck uninvited into your bedroom of all places in
Sparta...well...whether or not I'm too big to be put over her knee would have been tested." He looked at her and
smiled a bit. "I'm fine." He said again. "Maybe I can't be scaling walls clinging to ivy right now, but I'm okay."
"Your mother would be appalled if she knew." Andromache softly agreed with him, lips curving. "And no doubt
amused and probably secretly proud too. Your father's the romantic but I think your mother's the one that puts
action to her plans." She studied his face, still propped over him. Worried. A cauterized wound was still a raw
wound. And it could still be torn open again. And he had lost - there had been - so much blood... As well as the
lurking threat of fever and infection that hadn't had time to manifest yet if they were already present. He shouldn't
even be sitting up and she still hadn't given him that horrid looking medicine Illyrius had left insisting that Hector
needed to drink it as soon as he woke up. He was all right - now - barely - if he didn't move. But there was so much
that could hurt him if he insisted on pushing himself when his body didn't have anything left to push with.
"Please don't go anywhere today." she repeated.
Hector sighed and rolled his eyes a bit. No one ever said he was a good patient. Then he leaned back on the
pillows.
"Its completely different, this and you having a baby." He tried, but shook his head. "I just don't like lying here
feeling pretty useless and disabled."
"It is different." she agreed, eyes shadowed. "I didn't almost die birthing Astyanax." He might not have been aware
of how close it was. After all, he'd had to feel it but he'd hardly been in a position to see it. Or be conscious for that
matter. But she'd seen. And she'd never forget how pale he'd been or how much blood had dripped from the edges
of the canvas. Gentle she stroked the hair back from his forehead. Well aware of how it felt to be trapped in a bed
and forced to do nothing while you waited to heal.
"Wait here." she whispered, pressing a quick kiss to his lips before carefully untangling herself and going to the
door. Opening it, she spoke to the servant waiting outside and then closed the door again, coming back to sit on
the bed again and offer him the cup of water. "Drink something." she offered.
"Could at least make it alcoholic." He said glumly, truly on the verge of pouting as he took the water and drank it,
managing to do so this time without coughing or straining. No one had ever been able to confine him to bed, but so
far it seemed like she was going to break that streak. Horribly unfair. He felt fine. Okay, maybe not 'fine' but able to
get up and around...their normally spacious bedroom suddenly felt a whole lot smaller. "Is this pay back for my
attitude during the pregnancy, delivery and shortly after?"
Andromache arched her eyebrows regally at him.
"Are you implying, prince of Troy, that I stoop to revenge for my own pleasure?" Leaning over to kiss him and take
the cup back, she promised: "I'll let you get drunk and pass out later if you'd like and it will keep you in bed." Not
that she'd ever known her husband to get drunk, much less pass out. She was a very long way from her home in
the mountains where such a pastime had been a fairly regular occurrence for certain members of her family.
"I told the servant you'd woken up and the fever had broken but that you were sleeping now." she told him, setting
the cup to the side but not joining him just yet. She eyed the rather large chalice of foul liquid Illyrius had left for her
husband. She might be able to get him to drink it - might being the operative word. But even if she could she didn't
want to abuse him that way after he'd given in about the bed. Though anything that horrid looking had to be good
for you...
"I should have done it sooner." she added, feeling a bit guilty that she'd been that wrapped up in herself and him
and forgotten that the rest of Troy was still holding their breath in agony. "I'm not the only one worried about you."
"Liar." He said, chuckling at her. "I'm not sleeping. I'm wide awake." For the most part. Oh he'd be as stubborn as
he had to be to get his way, make no mistake about that. he looked dubiously at the chalice, he could smell the
concoction from where he was.
"Don't even think about it." He said, shaking his head emphatically. "I haven't taken any of his dung tasting liquids
since I was a child and didn't know any better. And I've survived perfectly fine. In fact, some fresh air and some
exercise might do me some good too." He turned innocent little boy eyes on her then.
She smiled at him. She lied to keep people from bothering him. And he was stubborn and hard headed and
persistent. She loved him for it.
"You're staying in bed today." she reminded him, voice soft. "But if you want more fresh air I'll open the curtains for
you." They were still closed which meant a servant must have shut them at some point because she didn't
remember doing that. There was a soft tapping at the door than and Andromache stood up to walk over and crack
it open. The king himself would have had a hard time gaining access at this point but it was another visitor that was
smuggled through. "My secret weapon." Andromache announced quietly after she'd shut the door. Turning around
to walk back over to the bed. Sleeping newborn son in her arms. Smoothly she shifted onto the bed and sat next to
her husband. Offering the tiny bundle with a soft smile. "I decided I could share you with one other person today."
she murmured.
"Okay that was really cheap." He said with a chuckle as he took his son, all swaddled in blankets and peacefully
sleeping from his wife. "Hey, look, we're co operating. He'll sleep for me, how's that? He likes to sleep, so it will work
out nicely." He chuckled a bit again and settled back against the cushions. He'd never admit it, but being bribed and
commanded to stay in bed might not be such a bad thing. "Yes your mother knows all the sneaky little tricks." He
said. But he tried once more. "Course, when he needs air, if you've decided I get to share him, means I get to go."
He said, with an optimistic expression.
"Oh no." she shook her head with a smile. "I'm not sharing him today. I'm sharing you. If he wants fresh air he can
take himself for a walk." Not that Astyanax did much at this early stage in his life. But sleep. And eat. And sleep. And
she found him endless fascinating. Using their son as a lure for Hector was an entirely underhanded way to keep
the man in bed. And Andromache had absolutely no qualms about it at all. She settled on the bed, curling her long
legs up and watching her husband and her son. The two men in her life. The center of all her worlds. Now
everything was as it should be. Watching Hector with their sleeping son her heart melted in her chest. "Maybe you
should set a good example and take a nap with him." she suggested.
Hector pulled the blanket around the baby back a bit to lightly stroke the fine, barely there hair on top of Astyanax's
head. This campaign hadn't taken long, it was fierce and fast and brutal. Mere days really, as opposed to the
weeks he could have been gone. But he swore the baby grew in that time, seemed heavier and more solid.
Of course the fact that his injury might affect how he judged weight and mass didn't cross his mind, or if it did, he
shoved it just as quickly back out of his mind. He studied the baby's sleeping face, mesmerized in wonderment for a
moment, as he always was around his son before giving Andromache a smile, softening on his stance a bit. "You
are going to be a queen to be held in awe, my love." He said. "You've already got gentle coercion down to a fine
art. We'll stay in here, for a little while."
She smiled softly at that and leaned forward to kiss Hector gently. Murmured her 'thank you' against his lips.
She would use any trick she had to keep her husband safe. Even from himself. But she was careful about it. He
loved her enough to give her the sky and moon and every star there was and she could never take advantage of
that. Astyanax and the soft pleading with worry in her eyes were both honest. But they were tricks too. To keep him
safe. He recognized that. Gave into them anyway. Because they were honest. And so he would stay where he
belonged. With his family. In bed. Resting as much as she could manage. And she didn't fight him over the
unimportant things like the medicine or sleep. Willing to give in to his will on those because she both understood
how it felt to be confined by your own body and because they were little things compared to what he'd already
allowed her say over.
"He's grown." she stated, voice soft as she shifted over to lay next to her husband again, reaching out one hand to
gently stroke a finger down their son's sleeping cheek. "I think he does it in his sleep when I'm not watching."
"You are completely sneaky." He said as he watched his son's little mouth move in response to his cheek being
stroked. "And, it might be hereditary, so he probably is. So you might be on to something, he does it while you're
not watching. You twist me to your will with coercion and loving little tricks..."
He sighed a bit, knowing she had trapped him into bed rest, which was her whole intention. He couldn't believe he
fell for that, but he did, and he fell hard, like he always did for her.
She raised her eyes from her son's face to her husband's and her hand shifted as well, fingers stroking along his
cheek. She would die. When she lost him, she would die. And today had almost been that day.
"Remember that word." she murmured. "The 'loving'. If I play tricks its because I love you."