Chapter 17

Skye

When Skye wakes up Sebastian isn’t in the room. There’s a note on the bedside table explaining where he has gone.

Skye,

I’ll be back soon. Sorry to leave before you woke up.

About thirty minutes pass before Sebastian comes back, holding a small vase with a bouquet of orchids. “Skye, you’re awake!” he says, sounding excited.

“Y…yes.”

“I got you some flowers.” He looks guilty at the floor. “Angela told me that your favorite flowers are orchids.”

She nods. “They’re p…pretty.”

“Just like you.”

Her face brightens in obvious embarrassment. “I…don’t…I’m not…”

“You are.”

His words cause her to turn even redder. “I…I’m…don’t….not…” She mumbles in confusion.

He sets down some clothing onto her bed. “Change, I’ll wait in the hallway.”

She looks at the clothing and back at him. “W…why?”

“I’m going to take you home for lunch, and then we’re going to go shopping.”

She looks uncertain. “But A…Angela…”

“Don’t worry, I asked her. She said it was okay. You’ll have to use a wheelchair when we go shopping though. She doesn’t want you to overexert yourself.”

“O…okay.” She unsteadily stands up and begins to try and change.

“Should I ask Angela to help you?”

She nods and waits for Dr. Graylen to come into the room. “Hey sweetheart,” Angela says when she walks into the room, “I heard you need help.”

“Y…yes,” Skye answers. She holds up the clothing.

“Ah, alright, one second.” She shoos Sebastian out of the room. “Wait in the hallway.”

“Geez!” Sebastian complains, “I’m going!”

Angela comes back into the room and shuts the door. “Alright, let’s get that hospital gown off you first. She walks over to Skye and gently takes the hospital gown off of her. “Sweetheart, did he bring undergarments with him?”

She blushes and buries her face into her hands. “D…don’t k…know,” she stutters out.

“Let’s see…ah yes he did.” Angela hands a bra and some underwear to Skye, who refuses to make eye contact. “I’m sure you can get those on yourself.”

Skye nods. After she has her undergarments on, Angela hands her a blouse. “O…oh!” Skye exclaims, nearly losing her balance while putting the blouse on.

Angela reaches out and steadies her. “It’s okay, sweetheart. I won’t let you fall.”

She manages to put her blouse on without any more trouble. Afterwards, she begins the journey of putting her slacks on. “A…Angela, I n…need h…help.”

“Give me one of your hands.”

Skye does what she’s asked to and gives Angela one of her hands. Angela keeps her balance as she pulls one of the legs into the slacks. Once she has one leg into her pants, they switch hands and do the same thing with the other leg. “T…thank you f…for h…helping.”

“Anything, sweetheart. Have fun today.”

“I’ll t…try.”

Angela leaves the room and Sebastian comes back inside. “Are you ready?” he asks.

“Y…yes,” she answers. She takes his hand and he guides her outside to his car. The drive back home is quiet.

Sebastian

When they get home, Sebastian gets out of the car, walks over to Skye’s side of the car, and opens the door for her. He takes her hand again and they go inside.

Inside the house, Alice has a nice lunch prepared in the dining room. Sebastian helps Skye to her seat before sitting down himself. “W…where’s G…Gray and T…Theo?” she asks.

“Alice is with them upstairs. They’ll come down before we leave.”

“O…okay.”

She begins to nibble on the food in front of her. “Do you like it?” he asks.

“Y…yes,” she whispers.

He finishes his meal first, so he watches her quietly as she eats. When she finishes she states, “I’m f…finished. C…could I s…see G…Gray and T…Theo now?”

“Yeah, let me minklink Alice.”

A few minutes later, there’s stomping coming from the stairway and then Gray and Theo come running into the room. “Mama!” they yell.

“Hello,” Skye says softly, “I missed you.”

“Missed you too, mama!” Gray shouts.

“Me too!” Theo exclaims. Her expression softly as she gently hugs her boys. “Mama going somewhere?”

“Y…yes, S…the alpha is going to take me shopping.”

“Want to come!”

Skye doesn’t answer right away. She looks at Sebastian to see if it’s okay if her boys come with them.

“They can come if you want them too,” he says softly.

She nods and tells her boys, “You c…can c…come. Y…you have to b…be g…good.”

“We good, mama!” the boys answer.

“Let’s get your shoes on, then we can leave.”

Gray and Theo run around the room in excitement before finally settling down on the couch, so that Skye can help them with their shoes. Once their shoes are on, Gray and Theo slip off the couch and begin to run around again. “Ready?” Sebastian asks.

“Y…yeah,” she answers, “Gray, Theo w…we’re l…leaving.”

“Okay, mama!” They follow their mother and Sebastian out of the house and to the car.

When they arrive at the shopping center, Sebastian gets out of the car and gets the wheelchair out of the back of the car. Afterwards he gently helps Skye into it.

“Mama?” Gray asks, “Why you in chair?”

Skye smiles at him and says, “I g…get too t…tired if I w…walk a…around for too long.”

Gray’s eyes widen. “Mama sick?”

“I’m n…not sick.”

“Why mama tired then?”

“I’m n…not s…supposed to w…walk a…around t…too much. D…Dr. G…Graylen d…doesn’t w…want me to h…hurt myself.”

“Oh, don’t want mama to hurt neither.”

They make their way to the first store. Sebastian pushes Skye around in her wheelchair, stopping whenever he notices her looking at something. Eventually, Skye picks up a glass bluejay and carefully begins to examine it.

“Did you find something you like?” Sebastian asks.

“I d…don’t have a…any m…money,” she answers.

“Don’t worry about that, I’ll buy it for you.” He pushes her to the cash register and places the blue jay onto the counter.

“Is that all for you today?” the sales woman asks, trying to catch Sebastian’s attention.

Sebastian scoffs and answers, “Yes, that’s all.”

“Are you sure?” she asks, “I can offer more than she can.” She gives Skye a look of disgust.

Skye doesn’t seem to hear her, she’s too nervous. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t talk about my girl like that,” Sebastian declares, “Stop trying to flirt with me and do your job!”

The sales woman looks startled and quickly checks them out. Sebastian pays and gives Skye the bag before they leave the store. Skye is quiet, processing what she had heard Sebastian say.

“Skylar?” Sebastian asks, “Is something wrong?”

Skye looks startled. “N…no!” she answers, a little too fast.

“What’s wrong?”

“....”

“Skylar.”

“Y…you…you s…said t…that I w…was y…your g…girl.”

“Because you are. You’re mine and mine alone.” Skye blushes and looks away from him. “Skylar, look at me.” When she doesn’t, he reaches out and gently makes her look him in his eyes. “Do you think I’m lying?”

“N…no! I…er…I’m…” She looks around frantically, trying to sort her thoughts out.

“Where do you want to go next?”

“I…is there a b….bookstore?”

“Yeah, you want to go there?”

She nods and checks on Gray and Theo, who are still walking beside her. “G…Gray, T…Theo, do y…you w…want to go to t…the b…bookstore?”

“Y…yeah, mama!”

They make their way to the bookstore, where Skye tells Sebastian to bring her to the fantasy section. “Is fantasy your favorite genre?” he asks.

She nods. “A…Alpha N…Nathan let m…me r…read. I…it was m..my only e…escape f…from h…him and t…the others.”

“Pick out whatever you want, I’ll pay for it.” Skye opens her mouth to argue. “Don’t argue with me. You deserve it, think of it as a reward for being so patient and waiting for me to go get you when I should’ve known something was wrong.”

“O…okay.” She ends up selecting three books that she’d been hoping to read.

“Ready?” he asks.

“C…could G…Gray and T…Theo get a b…book t…too?”

“Of course.” They go over to the children’s section. Gray and Theo quickly select their books and give them to their mother.

She holds the books as Sebastian pushes her to the checkout counter. “Alpha,” the clerk greets, “did you find everything okay?”

“Yes,” Sebastian answers as he pays for the books.

“Come back again!”

They leave the bookstore and begin to walk around the shopping center. Eventually, they walk by an ice cream parlor. “Mama!” Gray and Theo shout, while pointing at the building, “Mama! Ice cream!”

Skye looks apologetically towards Sebastian. He nods and they walk into the ice cream parlor. “What favor do you want?” she asks her boys.

“Chocolate!” the boys respond.

“Do you want some?” Sebastian asks, “They have frozen yogurt too, it might be easier on your stomach.”

She nods. “V…vanilla f…frozen y…yogurt.”

“Cone or cup?”

She looks puzzled. “Cone?”

“Oh, you haven’t had a cone before. Let’s change that today.” He orders two chocolate cones and one vanilla cone. Once they’re ready, he hands the boys their ice cream first. “Be careful, don’t let it fall.” After he makes sure the boys have their ice cream and that they aren’t going to drop it, he hands Skye her frozen yogurt.”

She tastes it and whispers, “Cold!”

“It is cold. Do you like it?”

“Y…yeah, S…Sebby?”

“What is it?”

“C…could we g…go h…home? I’m t…tired.”

“We can, do you want to watch a movie before we go back to the hospital?”

“O…okay, I’ve n…never s…seen a movie before.”

“That’s changing today.” They walk towards the car as Skye and her boys continue to eat their ice cream. Once they’re at the car, Sebastian puts Gray and Theo into their carseats before helping Skye into the passenger seat of the car.

When they get home, he lets the boys out of their carseats. They run up to the door of the house and Alice lets them in. “Come on,” he says softly to Skye, who seems to be half asleep.

He carries her inside and into the living room, where he puts a movie on. He sits next to her and she nuzzles into him.