Forsaken of Federal Hill

After returning to the community center, Luke and May try to make Helen as comfortable as possible while they figure out how to tend to her (and Luke's) wounds.

May dug through all her herbs and unguents trying to decide what would work best. She was out of her league here. First things first.
"Okay, first gunna shower, get you skinny ass in there. Then we gunna break that fever. Luke, warm water, lotta towels. And pillows, steal Rashid if you need more. Then, you gunna need a white doctor because what I know ain't gunna help you leg." she sighed. She was going to have to help Helen wash up.
She helped the girl to the bathroom, helped her out of her gross, bloody clothes and helped her scrub herself clean.
"There you go, back to being pretty. Now get laying down. Gotta get you lotta water, and break that fever. If you wanna use your damn werewolf powers to make this easier, don't let me stop you." she shooed Helen back out the where Luke was waiting and began to clean up the mess in the bathroom.

The hot shower did wonders for Helen, even if she still needed May's help. She hated feeling so weak, she hadn't felt this way since before her change. She silently swore she never would again.
She made her way, in fresh clothes, out into the loft and lay down next to Luke. He'd been so good to her despite what a bitch she'd been, and then what a burden she'd been. She didn't know how she was going to make any of this right, but she was glad he just seemed happy she was okay.
"How did Cho do this stuff every day? My head is pounding!" she tried to sound better than she was feeling. The poison from the fetish was still resisting her body's enhanced immune system. But most of the drugs were out of her system, most of the bruises and broken bones healed. Her leg still burned with agony from the silver bullet. But all in all, she was whole again.

Luke hurried the best he could to round up almost every pillow and nice blanket in the house to make Helen’s bed as comfortable as possible. He then stood awkwardly outside the bathroom holding a stack of towels as he nervously waited, wishing he could pace but the pain shooting through his own leg prevented him from doing so. When she emerged he carefully guided her to her new ‘nest’ and got her settled in, trying to keep a little distance between them because he was still covered in blood but at least most of it wasn’t his.

”I think I’ve had some mornings like that,” he gave her a weak smile, despite his joking he was still very concerned about her. ”We need a real doctor to get that bullet out of you. Is there anything else I can get you before I go make another mess for May to clean up in the bathroom?”

Helen looked down at his leg, a wound he'd taken to rescue her. Her fault he was hurt. This was all her fault and she felt so disgusted with herself. She'd shaken most of the shit they'd done to her. The withdraws of Toxic weren't fun, but some nice puking had gotten rid of the poison. Her other wounds were healing nicely, though she'd couldn't wear anything low cut for a while yet. That and her thigh was on fire.
"I'll see if I can't get a hold of Alli. She'll ask some questions, but at least she won't lose her mind like other doctors. We'll need to work on a story, her brother's a Cop." she hadn't talked to Alicia in a long while, but she'd seen on Facebook she was working in Federal Hill now. A wolf-blood who could patch them up when their incredible healing couldn't would be a pragmatic addition to their little group. But with her little girl there was no way Helen would let her close like May and the boys. Not unless she had to.
But then she was avoiding Luke's question now wasn't she. His eyes said as much. She reached her hand out and squeezed his.
"I'm getting really sick of being waited on, but if you'd like to do something; hurry back so I don't have to deal with May's smelly Chinese herbs alone." she said with a soft smile.

”If you think she’s trustworthy that’s good enough for me,” Luke nodded. He didn’t need any convincing because he didn’t care as long as Helen got the treatment she needed. The others might not feel the same way but they weren’t here to protest.

Reluctantly he left the room and took a moment to call in an order of Chinese food delivery before heading to the shower. ”You might want to exit the room May or you might see something that will make you want to switch teams,” he grinned, already peeling off his shirt because nice cold water sounded really good and their little mechanic wasn’t about to slow him down. Luke was weary but having all their pack members safe did a lot for his spirit.

After the shower he let May wrap up his leg for the meantime, wondering if some of his four hundred dollar collonge could even cover up the funny smell from the herbs she used but decided against trying it. He then went back to Helen’s room, this time wearing a white shirt with his pajama pants because he was feeling modest for some reason.

”I ordered us some Chinese food, so May can complain about that for awhile instead of your leg. I got my own dose of smelly herbs, but it was worth it to see May’s face having to touch my bare thigh for so long,” he chuckled as he carefully sat on her bed and looked down at her. After a long pause the amusement drained away and he sighed, trying to work out what he wanted to say in his head.

”Hey, I’m really sorry, this is all my fault. I shouldn’t have gotten so drunk on the hunt and I was out of line kissing you. You were being cool and trying not make it a big deal, and I should have taken the hint and let it go. But, you don’t have to worry about it because it won’t happen again, I promise.”

While Luke was in the shower, she got a hold of Alicia on Facebook and asked her to come by after her shift. She explained that her and a friend had gotten hurt, and that they couldn't go to the hospital. Alicia wasn't exactly thrilled, but Helen promised to explain when she got there and they hadn't seen each other in weeks. Probably months now that Helen thought about it.
When he finally came back, May was in another room preparing some salve or something, Helen hadn't been paying close attention since getting a "white doctor" was a priority even for the quirky May.
Helen's stomach rumbled at the thought of Chinese food. She hadn't eaten since their dinner the night before. She was surprised she could even be hungry as sick as she'd been. She wondered if she'd ever be used to the way her body recovered from trauma now.
Her mood sank a bit as Luke brought up the things they needed to talk about. She felt terrible at his words. He had things so wrong. Well, maybe not that last part.
"Luke, any other gangsters and I'd have been calling Rosie to help hide the bodies, don't beat yourself up for me being an unlucky screw up, I was one well before I met you." she said sternly. That was ridiculous for him to be thinking. How could any of them known there was a gang of Pure Tribe wolf-bloods stirring up shit in their territory?
"And as far as I'm concerned, what was out of line was sneaking out for a date under the pretense of Hunting and not telling your date! You big jerk, I ordered chili fries!" that she said much lighter, with a smile on her face to show she wasn't really mad. The pillow she threw at his head was mostly for drama.
"You let me think it was all part of the act, and silly me I missed the signs it wasn't." she sighed. "I guess self-loathing makes a girl blind. And then I opened my bag of insecurities all over you and Rashid. It's my fault for not believing in an honest kiss." she wasn't joking anymore. She felt like crap.
"It's been a long while since I've gotten one of those, and I don't deserve them after what I did to my ex." she looked away from Luke now, feeling too much shame.
"It's me who should be sorry, after being such a bitch to you, here you are getting hurt rescuing me from my own mess." the pain in her leg was a lot less than the guilt she was feeling right now.
"So I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not being worthy of that kiss, worthy of the friendship you've shown me since we met, and certainly not worthy of taking a silver bullet for. I don't deserve you. Not as a friend, a pack-mate or otherwise. And I'm so lucky that doesn't seem to matter to you." there, she bared everything to him. Hopefully he'd forgive himself for whatever he'd convinced himself was his fault.

Luke scowled a little, ”Normal gangsters or not, you shouldn't have gone alone. You have a pack now, do you know how I- we felt when you went missing? If it weren't for Rashid I would have been charging in there after,” he sighed.

He caught the pillow with a little playful growl. ”What does chilli fries have to do with anything? You deserve to be kissed, a lot, but it's not fair for me to complicate pack business with personal feelings. I should have gotten the hint, don't worry I'll back off but don't think for a second you aren't worthy of our friendship or anything else.” He still felt like he was a lot at fault but it hurt to hear how much she was down on herself.

"Your breath shouldn't smell like chili on a first date!" she said with a laugh. "Look, if you don't want to keep kissing me, Luke Mason, then don't. But "complicating pack business" is lying about how you feel till it boils over, like it just did. Like I said; I don't deserve how good you've been to me, but that doesn't mean I don't want it." she looked back up at him, seeing how upset he was still. How hard he was taking things, and just how wrong he was about the whole darn thing. No more missing signals.
"I tried not to make a big deal about that kiss because in my mind, there was no way you'd want to kiss a girl like me. I thought it was the alcohol and our good luck going to your head. Part of the act you put on at the club that slipped out of line," she left Ryan, she didn't deserve a guy just like him who literally stepped out of her high school fantasies. "Because why would you want me? I walked out on my boyfriend of seven years without a word after my change. I came home after days of being missing, and before that weeks of going crazy. And he was there waiting for me Luke." tears welled in her eyes as she relived it.
"We went out to our favorite place, shared some chili fires, and watched Fifty First Dates because he knew I love that stupid movie. Then we went to sleep, and I snuck out of our apartment without another word to him. That's the girl you think you want to kiss. So no, I never thought that kiss to meant something to you. And Rashid was trying to tell me but I was to upset to listen to him. Then I made a total ass of myself, and deserved what I got for putting you through all that." she looked again at the wound he took for her. It would be there a long time, reminding her oh how much she'd let him down every time he limped.

Luke wasn’t exactly sure what to say, so he sighed and plopped the pillow back on the bed. They really could have made a fortress out of them he’d thrown so many on there. ”I never said I didn’t want to kiss you again, I just won’t if it’s going to be a problem.” He then gave her an exasperated sigh. ”Do you really think I run around kissing just any girl that comes along? Wait.. don’t answer that. I don’t know what you mean by ‘a girl like me’. Smart? Brave? Kind? Beautiful? Has a really mean bite? Hell, you’re even sexy in Dalu form, and you have a nice beard too,” he gave her a broad grin at the last part as he teased her.

The way she talked about her ex clearly made it sound like she wasn’t over him which sent a pang of jealousy through him. How could he compete with a normal nice guy? Movie star or not, the one who wasn’t worthy here was probably him.

”I don’t want to kiss the girl you were once, I want to kiss the one you are now. Rashid will forgive you, he’s got pretty thick skin. He has a habit of trying to take care of people but sometimes folks have to figure things out on their own.” He glared at her, and took her hand in his, ”Nobody deserves what you went through and I don’t want to hear you talk like that again. I know it had to be hell, and if you ever want to talk about it, I’m here.”

Helen started to explain herself, but then Luke bombarded her with compliments and all she could do was blush.
"I don't think you kiss just any girl, I just thought you were drunk and caught in the moment. A happy mistake." she tried to explain it better but it really just amounted to she wouldn't have let herself believe he wanted her. As it was she only knew this was real because of the agony in her thigh.
He took her hand in his and got very serious. She felt bad that her words about herself seemed to hurt him. That wasn't intended.
"I don't want to talk about it now, that's for sure. But I wouldn't mind talking about things that happened to you guys while I was gone." she said, tugging him by the arms, and scooting slightly to make room for him to sit down. Before he could decide to sit or not May came in.
"You two done yet? Got a white doctor and Chinese takeout wait for you." she said as she entered the room. Then she noticed that she'd walked in on a moment. She rolled her eyes knowingly and let out a sigh. "Okay Hollywood, pretend I a cartoon crab and kiss the girl, before I do." Helen thought she might die of embarrassment, or kill May.

”You know they say when people are drunk they do the things they want to do sober,” he grinned because he had wanted to kiss her since day one and not because he as a Hollywood star and she was just another pretty girl.

”Oh, there as a lot of panicking and people scrambling to find you while you were gone. Don’t ever feel like you’re not wanted here or loved because next time I’ll have someone film the chaos.”

Luke’s head snapped around as May came in and he was pretty sure she could see the sheepish looks on their faces. ”You seem more like a squawking seagull to me,” he chuckled but he did lean over to plant a very quick, chaste kiss on Helen’s forehead before going out to prepare her friend for what she would see.

Helen laughed at May's joke as Luke bent down to kiss her. She didn't want to let him go, but they had work to do, and it couldn't start until they both were taken care of. Her stomach growled as Luke headed out.
"Well if you all love me so much, come back with sweet and sour chicken." she teased. May came in with a wash cloth and a hair brush.
"You look like hell, quick before you friend gets here." she said, handing Helen the items and digging into Helen's purse for make up. People could say a lot of things about May, but she sure did seem to know just what you needed.
"You'd still kiss me though?" she asked with a laugh. May nodded, passing Helen the make up kit.
"Mhmm, I love me the white girls. But you need more ink. Cute butterflies or something. Otherwise no kisses from me, better hope Hollywood doesn't mind you got no ink." she said nonchalantly teasing her back.
Helen hurriedly made herself presentable as May undid the bandage on her leg and cleaned up the ointment.