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Author's notes
Well, real life took over, so I didn't get to post this at all ... but the story still continues.
In this chapter Vincent gets home after having been in the hospital after the fight and people are happy to see him discharged. So hope you guys are happy to see him, Jenny and his sister again!
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Chapter 12.1 – A warm welcome
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It had been two days since he was allowed to leave the hospital. The doctors said that they didn't find anything that would require him to stay there, so he got permission to go home. They did tell him that it would be good if he would return in a few weeks for a checkup, just in case. Merely a precaution, they said. He knew better.
He had heard from his doctor that he was a special case. Came in with a deep coma, recovered without them doing anything in particular and whereas the EEG confirmed that he had at least some brain damage, he recovered from that without any evidence as well. He was
interesting
.
Vincent didn't feel the need to be 'interesting'. He realized that he did need – and wanted – that checkup to ensure that there wasn't anything wrong, but he didn't want to be the next best thing next to Jesus' rise from the dead. He didn't trust himself yet, so he had asked Kevin to keep him away from the
guinea pig shortlist
in the hospital. That should ensure him a little bit more freedom and time to figure out if there was something different from before he went in a coma.
He had talked with Talitha about it and she had told him that she didn't have any idea what she was doing, but she had managed to raise him back to the land of the living. Kevin had added that he had played a little bit of overseer to see if there were any real problems, though Kevin hadn't known much about how to fix him either. He did say that he requested an expert to take a look at him, which was good. He was supposed to be able to take a look at him early next year, so it shouldn't be too long.
In the meantime he was home. The physical injuries he had gotten were far less serious than the ones Talitha had. He merely had a few bruises which had turned a nasty color, but he learned nothing was broken. So by the time he had left the hospital he was able to do pretty much anything anyone could do with a few bruises.
He had been to class for a little while, but found that he had trouble keeping all the thoughts out without Talitha or Kevin putting a damper on them. Crowded spots were, for the moment, places he wouldn't want to be. So he cooped himself up at home, receiving the lecture through his mindlink with Jenny as a sort of televisioned lecture. And he made the notes himself.
Jenny tried to suppress her urges to send him her erotic messages as well. He wouldn't be able to focus on the lectures that way and she wouldn't be able to keep her urges in check during class. And it pained her.
They hadn't had sex for a while now, since they didn't want to overtax him after his release from the hospital. It was harder for Jenny, he realized, and he wondered why. Everyone always said that it were the boys who were craving for sex, whereas the girls were trying to limit it. And here they were, her craving for sex and keeping her from raping him by sheer willpower. He wasn't much better, though Jenny seemed to take the harder hit. It felt like his mind-battle which landed him in the hospital did make him and Jenny want more sex. It wasn't surprising; they had only recently started dating and in the few weeks of dating they had forcefully broken up and it had almost ended permanently with his death. He wanted to make sure that he could keep her beside him. And he wanted to have sex as soon as possible. He wanted to be with her in more ways than just comfort.
Which didn't mean that they didn't excert any sexual activities during the night, with her in her own house and he in his own house, exchanging sexual intercourse images through their mindlink. Yet, he had decided that tomorrow that should stop and they should be fucking each other in the normal way. They had been putting it off for over half a week now – longer even if you count him being in a coma.
But right now, there wasn't any. Jenny was going home to prepare for her part-time job and Vincent was cooking dinner, while Nicole was sitting in the living room, reading over some papers she needed for her own study. She looked studious, serious, dressed in that long pale blue dress she sometimes wore when her jogging pants were still in the laundry. Laundry which was piling up since he hasn't been doing it when he was in the hospital and Nicole as always putting it off.
She had been pampering him ever since he came home, next to her own studies. Because of her he really felt like things were getting back to normal. Which was why he was now making dinner.
Not like he had much choice in that; Nicole's cooking wasn't much to write home about – if it worked out at all. Even the hospital food was better than hers. So while he let her cook every once in a while they usually ate his meals, simply because they are more edible. By the time he had dinner ready she was already sitting at the table, a smile on her face.
Even back when they were kids she had always hooked on his mindwaves. Whenever he wanted something from her, she was already doing it before he needed to ask. When she was sad, he knew it before he had seen her. The other way around was the same, they were almost like twins, where they could read each other's mind.
But things have changed since then. Now he
knows
he can read minds. It made him doubt the relationship with his sister for a while, wondering if it was due to his mental gift that they were so closely linked to each other. But when he had tried to read her mind on purpose he found that she had a natural guard up which he couldn't probe. No matter how many minds he could read, he couldn't read the one he was closest with. And that surprised him.
He wondered if that meant that their mindlink was still true, despite not being able to read her mind. That that was still a special twin-thing they shared. But while he was pondering about that, the subject itself spoke her mind.
"Are you going to set that down, or are you trying to let me starve?"
He realized he was still standing in the doorway with the two plates for them and snickered. He put them down on the table and planted himself on the chair across his sister. And once again he realized that she really was a beauty for the eye. The dark brown hair, tucked back in a ponytail, the dark brown eyes behind the glasses and the warm, though mocking smile – many other guy would envy him sitting there.
"Apologies. My mind's wandering."
"I can see that. You're still wearing that
adorable
apron too."
He looked down and realized that he hadn't taken it off yet. He pulled it over his head and threw it backwards over the counter to the kitchen.
Yet, it does look sexy on him, that apron.
"Well, thank you," he said. "Glad to know that I'm being appreciated."
He liked the compliment. Even despite it being his sister, it still felt good to hear that he was sexy in the eye of a woman. An attractive woman even. Only then it struck him that he hadn't heard her actual voice. And while he was used to hearing thoughts from others, this was the first time he actually heard one from his sister. And then it was
this