The Protagonist System

Despite being awake and having my full faculties, the doctor still kept me there for a full week to perform as many experiments as he could. On the plus side, Viper visited as much as she could and kept me in a good mood about it.

On the seventh day and before Viper's scheduled visit, I called the doctor out on his bullshit when he started using the little hammer they tapped on someone's knee to check their nerve stimulation reactions. He was using it on every one of my joints, including my fingers, and that was too much!

The smug bastard chuckled. “It's about time you objected, Hank. You're free to go.”

I blinked my right eye at him, letting him see my disbelief, and he laughed.

“I was just wasting time until Viper managed to work out everything for your new accommodations.” The doctor said and put the little hammer away.

I sighed and let out a groan as I concentrated to not slur my words. Speaking slowly also helped. “Why couldn't you just say that instead of being so annoying?”

The doctor patted my right shoulder. “It's part of my outpatient treatment strategy. The more annoying I am, the less patients want to hurt themselves and return to my tender care.”

Okay, I had to admit that was a very effective strategy, because I sure as hell didn't want to come back here for a very long time.

The doctor looked amused at my expression. “I'll go get Viper and a wheelchair.”

“She's already here?” I asked, surprised.

“I had her wait out in the hallway while I conducted your final physical exam.” The doctor joked and walked around my bed and over to the door.

I stretched my eye up out of my head to look over at the open door and caught my breath, because Viper wasn't wearing her trademarked coveralls or her baseball cap. She wore a bright blue sundress and her brownish blonde hair was brushed out from her usual ponytail and hung down over her shoulders. She didn't even have a small streak of oil on her cheek after absently scratching her nose.

“Who are you and what happened to the grease monkey?” I asked, my words slow and careful.

“I ate her and she was delicious! Mwahahaha!” Viper said with a fake evil laugh that quickly devolved into silly giggles.

I made a snort sound and laughed, too. “You're supposed to pose dramatically when you laugh like that.”

Viper walked into the room and over to my bed with a huge smile on her face. “I'll remember that for next time.”

I let my eye sink back into my head and smiled back at her. “Thanks for taking me in, Viper.”

“I'll be right back with that wheelchair.” The doctor said and shut the door behind him.

Viper's smile dimmed slightly. “Hank, about what happened...”

I shook my head to stop her. “Whatever you're going to say, it would have been better coming from Bobbie.”

Viper bit her lip and looked conflicted. “No, I don't think so.” She said and sighed sadly. “It's all my fault.”

I barked a laugh. “No, it wasn't.”

“Hank, it was my advice that...”

“No, that actually worked.” I said and her eyes widened. “That first week was like we were newly married and it was great. We were happy and I tried to keep quiet about things; but, she made a stupid comment about how she would have handled her rescue better than I had. I commented right back about having the kids with me and she argued that it was my fault I didn't check to see if they were around...”

“Oh, that idiot.” Viper said and sat down as she took my right hand.

“We started shouting and that was the first of many arguments we had. When I calmed down and later tried to talk to her about her behavior, unfortunately ignoring your advice, she threw my previous silence right back in my face and we argued again...”

“You don't have to tell me everything.” Viper said as her thumb caressed the back of my hand. “I saw the end result.”

“Yeah, the doctor said the punch alone wouldn't have done much.” I said.

Viper's grip tightened on my hand. “No, Hank. Don't justify it. Even if she thought it wouldn't hurt you, she never should have punched you.” She said and her other hand reached over and lightly caressed the left side of my face.

I felt my face heat up at the tender touch, that I could barely feel, and the caring tone of her voice. “Viper, I... I'm still...”

Viper smiled sadly and her hand lightly touched the side of my nose and then slid down to move her fingertips along my lips and stopped when my lip twitched. “Bobbie knows how much she screwed up, Hank. I doubt it will be long before she asks for a divorce.”

“A... a divorce?” I asked, surprised.

Viper huffed and pulled her hand away from my face. “She can't even look at you without crying her eyes out. I tried to talk to her about it over the phone and she hung up on me. I even went over to your house as soon as I heard you woke up and she wouldn't open the door.”

I was stunned to hear that. It was only one little fight and we could work things out if we just talked about things.

“No, stop thinking like that.” Viper said as she stared at my face. Her tone of voice was stern when she continued. “Rikki was serious about having her arrested, Hank. She broke the law and she would be in prison if she wasn't taking care of the kids.”

“But... but...” I mumbled.

“You know she is going to fight as hard as she can to retain custody of Vance and Danica, if only for the sole reason that they can keep her free and on probation.” Viper informed me.

“They arre nnnot bargaining chipsss!” I said, losing my concentration on keeping my speech even.

“No, they aren't.” Viper said and her other hand rested on mine to hold it with both of hers. “But, you know as well as I do that Bobbie is going to hold onto those kids as hard as she can.” She looked down at my left side and then back at my face. “You're also in no position to either take care of them or to provide for them.”

I couldn't even argue that I'll get better quickly, because I didn't know if that was true or not. I had been under constant surveillance and hadn't had the chance to drink a potion or two. If there hadn't been a camera on me the entire time, I would have taken one right away, just to see if it would fix something.

The room's door opened and the doctor was there with the beautiful nurse and she pushed a wheelchair into the room. The straps holding my body secured were released and I was carefully lifted from the bed and sat in the wheelchair. I couldn't feel myself sliding or flowing over the left side of the chair until more straps were added to keep me sitting up and my slack left arm was kind of pooled into my lap.

I held in my sigh at seeing it and felt Viper's hand on my shoulder before her thumb softly caressed the side of my neck. It had been the same thing she did while holding my hand and I fought down the blush that tried to form. Viper took over control of the wheelchair and pushed me out of the room and we went to the nurse's station down the hall.

The doctor signed me out and both he and the nurse wished me good luck. I thanked them and Viper pushed me over to the elevator, which we rode down a single floor and across the lobby and out into the sunshine. Before I could wince at the brightness after being inside for so long, a pair of aviator sunglasses covered my eyes and I tilted my head back to look up at her face.

“I didn't wear my hat.” Viper said, as if defending herself.

“I don't remember seeing sunglasses or a purse anywhere. Where did they come from?” I asked her.

Viper smirked at me and leaned over to give me a view of her modest cleavage. “Take a wild guess where I could hide something like that.”

The blush I was trying to fight off came rushing up my neck.

Viper softly laughed and stood up straight to push me across the parking lot to where she parked a nice red sedan. Instead of trying to undo all my attachments that held me in place, she hit a button on the side of the back door and it folded back and out of the way as a ramp slid out from the floor.

“Nice.” I complimented her workmanship.

“Thanks.” Viper said and pushed me inside, then she turned me around to face the front and tied the wheels down on the floor to secure me in place. “Just don't start making any jokes about me being your chauffeur.”

I chuckled. “You do know me well, Jeeves.”

“Uggghhh.” Viper groaned with a smile on her face. She patted my right arm and stepped out and hit the button to close the ramp and the door. She walked around to the driver's side and climbed in, then we were off to head to her place.

The drive wasn't that long from the government hospital to Viper's garage and I couldn't resist commenting about it.

“I'm not sleeping on one of your workbenches, no matter how comfortable they are.” I joked.

“No? Are you afraid you'll get worked on or used for parts in my next project?” Viper joked right back and parked the car.

“How many rubber bands do you need?” I asked with a laugh. “No, wait! You're making the world's biggest slingshot and need me to launch the ammo!”

Viper laughed and shook her head. “There was no room to convert the long set of stairs that go up to the loft apartment on the side of the building, so we installed an elevator inside the shop to cut down on the space needed for renovations.”

I realized then that she must have worked her ass off between visiting me, working for the government, and fixing up her place to give me access. “Viper, I really appreciate...”

Viper waved my thanks away before I could express it. “Don't worry about it, Hank. I was planning on putting in a lift anyway. You just gave me an excuse to do it and I charged the government for it.”

I knew she wouldn't like me trying to thank her again, so I changed tactics. “Were you starting to get too lazy to go outside to walk up the stairs?”

“Yes! Finally, someone understands my plight.” Viper said with a grin. She hopped out of the car and walked around to the back passenger side and hit the button to open it up and the ramp deployed. She bent over to free the wheels and gave me another great view down her dress, which I couldn't help staring at.

I mean, I had noticed Viper was a woman a long time ago and we were great friends; but, this was kind of the first time she had gone out of her way to dress like a girl and act like it. She was very eye catching and I was pretty sure she knew, because I lifted my gaze from her cleavage to see her warm smile and she didn't move away.

After Viper waited and let me look at her for a few more moments, which I shamelessly did, she climbed in to take the handles of the wheelchair and turned me around to pull me back out of the vehicle. She hit the button to close the car up and we went over to the garage where we both did the security check to enter the government regulated workspace and entered the garage.

Off in the far corner was a tall circular tube that was two storeys high and went up into the ceiling. It looked both brand new and like it had always been there, making me whistle at the great work.

“It came out great, didn't it?” Viper asked me and pushed me over towards it. It opened for us as we approached and she brought me inside.

There were no buttons and I wondered how to operate the thing.

“Home.” Viper said and the doors closed.

We lifted up in only five seconds and the door opened inside her living room. I had visited her place a bunch of times for meals and to hang out after a long day at work, so nothing was new to me, except for the elevator itself. She really had outdone herself to include it into the room's aesthetics and it didn't stand out like you would think an elevator should.

Viper pushed me across the living room and into the kitchen. It was an open concept, so there were no worries about me being in a wheelchair and unable to get around. Doing it myself was the only problem.

I was parked at the kitchen table and Viper went over to the oven and grabbed three oven mitts. She put two of them on and took out a foil-covered ceramic dish from the low heat oven. The smell of the dish flowed through the kitchen and over me, making my mouth water.

“You didn't.” I whispered.

“I did.” Viper said and brought the dish over to the table and set it down on the third oven mitt. She posed dramatically before she pulled off the aluminum foil. “Ta-da! Grand-mama's famous seven layer meat-lover's three cheese lasagne!”

I kind of drooled, on purpose this time, and I didn't care. It was going to be the first real food I had eaten in months and it was perfect. “You're the best, Viper.”

“Don't you know it.” Viper said, her smile beaming, and she served me a huge portion.

Despite being really hungry, I took my time, because I didn't want to waste any of it. I carefully chewed each and every bite of it and savoured the flavor and the texture. It really had come out perfectly and I pretty much wallowed in it and didn't stop myself from moaning with pleasure every few bites.

I didn't notice Viper's red face until I finished eating and she looked very happy. “Heh heh, I'm sorry about acting like that. It was perfect and I got carried away enjoying the first real food I've had in a while.”

Viper gave me a look that I had never really seen on her face before. At least, it was never directed at me. Desire and longing. “Hank, you never have to apologize for anything you do. We're best friends. You can act however you want around me.”

My eyes unconsciously dropped to her cleavage and she let out a little giggle.

“Now that you're done eating, I can show you to your room.” Viper said and stood up, again giving me a great view down her dress, and she walked around the table and took control of the wheelchair. She pushed me out of the kitchen and across the living room to a small hallway.

I knew where we were going and I raised my hand in a stop motion. “Viper, no.”

“Viper, yes.” She said and went to the door on the right.

“You can't give that up.” I said, a little desperate. “You can't. Not for me.”

“Hank, you know this used to be my old parts storage and play area. What you don't realize is that I would give up a lot more than that to make sure you had a place to live.”

“Viper...” I tried to deny it, I really did.

“No, it doesn't matter if you're hurt or not. You'll always be welcome here.” Viper said and opened the door to reveal a lavish room that would put the best hotels to shame. All of her little tinkering projects, her ideas pile, the maps, the hand-drawn schematics, and even her large work table and racks of tools were gone.

Tears came to my eyes at her giving up so much for me.

Viper leaned down and placed a tender kiss on my cheek, catching one of my tears just as it fell. “Welcome home, Hank.”

I let out a sob and she wrapped her arms around me as I cried.