All characters engaged in sex in this story are over 18.
***
Flashes came back to me through a fog of medications; images, remembered feelings. There was rage, a lot of rage. Tina's face, terrified of the three men who were roughing her up. One of them fell hard after my punch, and didn't get up. His eyes were glazed, I'd knocked him out cold. The other two tried to use Tina as a shield, a hostage. She struggled, got loose, and I threw myself on them. Then I woke up in hospital, aching, stabbing pains through my ribs and a tightness across my face.
In moments of wakefulness I could see Tina beside my bed. She was safe, so I could give in to the overpowering need to sleep.
My dreams were confused, fitful, sometimes returning to that scene in the alleyway but something kept penetrating the fog. It was pleasure. Sexy pleasure, like in a wet dream.
I was medicated for two days and three nights. On the third night I felt it again. I was recovering my senses, and I thought - maybe it's a side-effect of the painkillers. As the sensations grew and intensified, I almost woke up fully and this time I realised...no! It had to be the drugs? But the sheets - moving - Tina leaning over the bed. It's her hand. I'm gonna cum and it's Tina's hand.
Some hours later, like a light being switched on, I became fully conscious. I still hurt in a lot of places, but Tina wasn't there. So it had been a dream.
Looking around I saw hospital stuff and nursing staff. One nurse smiled at me and said "Welcome back!" before scurrying off to her duties.
After a couple of minutes Tina appeared at the door. She broke into a wide smile and tears welled up in her eyes. She sat on the bed and tried to hug me but it hurt. Then she cried.
In a hoarse voice I tried to console her: "I'm OK, kiddo. Are you? After...?"
Tina wiped her eyes and said: "Yeah. Thanks to you. I'm just so sorry you got beat up like this."
I frowned, as a question came to my mind: "If I got so beat up, how did you... I mean, what happened to those three guys?"
"You knocked one out cold, you gave the other two a belting as well as getting one yourself, and I was screaming for help. A bunch of guys came past and chased them off then brought us both here. One of the assholes threw a rock as he ran and it hit you on the temple. The doctors were worried at first, but..."
"Yeah, guess you were right all along - I do have a thick skull."
She smiled. An instant connection was made in my head. That smile was how she looked when I ejaculated, in her hand. In my dream? And another flash of insight. Right now she wore the same white blouse and jeans as in my dream. Sure I might have seen her in a moment of wakefulness, but still I wondered...
For the next hour she told me everything about the incident and it came together in my mind. After a while, I asked her how long she'd been here at my side.
"The whole time, except the first night I went home to get a change of clothes."
"How long have I been here?"
"Three nights. Oh it's so good you're awake! I'm gonna take you home tomorrow and look after you. Pay you back."
"You don't have to. I'm your brother. You're my kid sister and I love you."
Tina melted. She sobbed on my chest, I put up with the pain to give her the release she needed. She was then just 19, I was 22.
About two months later, just before my 23rd birthday we were drinking on a warm afternoon at my place and got a bit teasy-merry. It started off pretty much as usual, lots of "Oh yeah and what about..." and "Sure you did..." but gradually, maybe without either of us knowing, the atmosphere and the banter changed, as it turned out irrevocably.
The subject was whether or not Tina had paid me back in full for the beating I'd taken protecting her. She was listing a whole bunch of special things she'd done for me; meals, chores, favours.
I was pretending I still hurt all over to try to milk some new task out of her. She was giggling, trying to get me to name one last, final payback. I knew that look, since we were kids it meant: "I dare you to dare me." Jokingly, I said: "OK kiddo. One last thing and the pain will disappear. Is that what you're getting at?"
"One last BIG thing. Then you can do your own damn laundry, and shopping, and cooking, and... everything."
"Oooh, I know that look. How big?"
"Er, not too big. But big."