4

The girl gives him a look as if to say, 'Do I freaking look a if I am doing okay to you?' and Gabe begins to feel stupid for even asking the question in the first place. Of course she isn't okay. "What kind of question is that?"

She was just snatched up off the street by a bunch of drunk idiots and thrown in a basement somewhere, where she spent the night laying on the cold, hard ground with her eyes and mouth covered. She is probably scared out of her mind.

“I won't hurt you.” He tells the girl, carefully wiping away a tear that rests at the corner of her eye. “If I uncover your mouth will you promise not to scream?”

Gabe watches her as she seems to think about it and a part of him is amused by her gumption. She finally nods and Gabe lifts the corner of the tape away from her cheek, so that he can get it between his fingers. “I am so sorry, but this is probably going to hurt a bit.”

With a slight tug, he pulls the tape from her mouth. Where it had stuck so long to her mouth, when he pulled the tape off, it pulled some of the soft skin off of her lip, which is now bleeding. Gabe watches a drop of blood bead up on her lip before the tip of her tongue darts out to swipe at it.

The girl opens and closes her mouth a few times, which Gabe assumes is her way of loosening up any stiffness in the muscles. She goes to lick her lips once more and he notices that her tongue is very dry. Of course. She has not had a drink of anything in well over sixteen hours. “I am going to go get you some water. I will be right back.”

Gabe moves away from her and stands up, backing towards the stairs. “Remember to stay quiet. Please.”

He waits for her nod of agreement before he runs upstairs to get her a bottle of water, an apple and a bag of chips. He will make her some real food later, but right now this is all that he had on hand at the moment.

"Hey, what is the matter?" He finds her exactly where he left her, with tears streaming down her face. Remembering the sardonic look that she gave him earlier when he asked the last stupid question, he rephrases it. “Other than the obvious reason to be upset, is there something wrong? Are you hurt?”

He knows that the position that she was forced to sleep in last night can not have easy on her. He was also worried that the men carrying her in last night might have been rough with her. They are so angry at her father, maybe they felt justified in their rough treatment of her. Gabe sincerely hopes that was not the case.

For some reason that Gabe could not explain, the thought of someone hurting her just does not sit right with him. He realizes the irony in the statement, considering that she is being held against her will inside of his home.

Still, he knows without a doubt that he could never do anything to hurt anyone and he is not comfortable with this arrangement, but he can not exactly back out now. He has committed a crime, however unwillingly he participated. He has to see this through. His only worry is about what the ending of this might be. Will it end well for him?

His question hangs loudly in the room and he feels like she is weighing what she should say to him. Not that he blames her one bit. He is the enemy here, not her friend. She does not know him and she most definitely does not trust him, so he understands why she isn't forthcoming with the conversation.

“I really have got to use the rest room.”

Her voice is so quiet that he can hardly make out her words at first. Her dry mouth made her words sound muffled. Gabe quickly lifts the bottle of water to her lips and helps her to take a drink.

“Yeah, I imagine that you do. The bathroom is upstairs.” Which is a bit of a problem because despite his lack of experience in the kidnapping department, he is pretty sure that one of the basic rules is to not let them roam the entirety of your house.

He could always grab a bucket for her to use as a toilet so that she wouldn't have to leave the confines of the basement, but he hates every aspect of that idea. There is no dignity in that and she does not deserve that. She deserves to be treated with as much respect as he can. Gabe thinks for a few seconds before he makes a decision.

“I am going to help you sit up. Is that okay with you?”

The girl gives him an odd look that lasts long enough to make him uncomfortable, so he tells her. “I am not going to hurt you, I swear. I know that probably means nothing to you right now, considering the predicament we are currently in. Anyways.. I am just going to help you sit up so that I can help you with your hands.” Gabe gestures to the rope. 

With a roll of her eyes, she tells him. “Okay. You are the one in charge here, not me.”

Holding back a smile at her resentful tone, Gabe leans forward to place his hands gently beneath her back. He lifts her up into a sitting position, holding on to her until she gets her bearings. After laying down for so long, he could only imagine the head rush she must have gotten from sitting up so quickly. 

Once he feels that she is able to hold herself upright without incident, he releases her. “I am going to move your hands from behind your back to in front of you.”

“Why would you do that?” She asks him quietly, giving him a searching look.

“Well, for starters, I would think that it would be more comfortable for you. Are your arms and shoulder not sore from having them wrenched behind your back like that?” Gabe asks her. "Because mine sure would be."

“My shoulders hurt pretty badly, actually. My arms are numb and have been for hours now.” The way the girl says it sounds like a bland statement. She isn't asking from pity from him, just stating a fact.

“Hopefully this will help.” Gabe tells her as he moves to squat behind her. He works at undoing the knots so that he can reuse the rope. If he has to cut it, he isn't sure what else he could use in it's place.

“Are you not worried that I will run away?” Miss Kensington surprises him by asking.

Gabe thinks about it for a moment before he responds truthfully. “I suppose that I should be worried about that, but I guess that isn't my first concern. I am more worried about your comfort. Trying to run away is a basic instinct when you are being held against your will. I understand that. I just ask that you don't try it, because although I would never hurt you, I can not speak for the others. I have no idea what they might do to you.”

Gabe sees her swallow hard and feels a fleeting moments regret for worrying her, but all he did was speak the truth. Maybe that will discourage her from doing anything that would make this experience harder on everyone. Like sucker punching him and trying to escape the moment he frees her hands.

"You are not very good at this whole kidnapper thing." She comments.

"Got lots of experience with the matter, do you? Because I am willing to take some pointers if you want to tutor me on the subject." Gabe replies without missing a beat.

"I would rather watch you fumble your way through."

"I am starting to rethink my decision to be nice to you." Gabe tells her and she immediately quiets. She gives him a tiny, half smile but he counts it as a win.

When he finally gets his finger in the fold of the knot, he is able to work it free to loosen the bindings. When he slips the rope from around her wrists, she jerks away from him quickly and he fears that she is trying to make a break for it and that he would have to stop her. He does not relish that prospect.

But she was only moving her arms, because she was in agony holding them behind her like that. He lets her have a moment to shake them and get the blood flowing properly once more.

Gabe carefully helps her move her arms around until her hands are folded in her lap. Her mucles are stiff and unwielding for staying in that position for so long. She winces when he touches her, because of the painful tingles she feels as the blood begins to circulate regularly once again.

Moving around her once more to sit by her legs, Gabe quickly ties her hands back up but he doesn't make it as painful as before. He only makes it tight enough that she can't take it off, but he doesn't make it so tight that it cuts her wrists or rubs all the skin off. Whoever tied her hands the night before was just being an asshole.

“I am going to remove the rope from your feet now. Once they are untied, I ask that you please not kick me or try to run, no matter how much you want to.. We are going to go upstairs to let you use the bathroom. If we have any issues then I will be forced to get a five gallon bucket down here for your use. But to allow you to maintain your dignity, I thought that we could try it this way first. Okay? Please do not make me regret it.”

Abigail nods at him. Gabe pushes himself up to his feet, standing upright. Bending at the waist, he offers his hands out to her, waiting until she lifts her bound hands into his to pull her to her feet.

Once upright she begins to sway, as if she might fall over at any moment. Fearing for her safety, Gabe catches her to him, holding her against the length of his body as he waits for her legs to reaccustom themselves to supporting her weight. 

She groans as if she is in pain and Gabe looks at her with concern. “I can only imagine how sore you must be. I have some ibuprofen that I can give you for the pain, if you want it.”

She shakes her head. “I can't take it.”

“Why not?” He frowns. “Oh, duh. Of course you wouldn't want to take any pill that the stranger holding you hostage offers you. I am a dumb ass. Of course you would be worried about-”

“No, it is not that. Ibuprofen is considered a 'blood thinner' because it slows your blood's clotting time, so I can't take it or aspirin. I am a hemophiliac, which means that my blood is already too thin and has trouble clotting. If I take that, it can thin my blood so much that I could face potential life threatening issues, if it messes with my organs.” She explains to him patiently.

“Oh, okay.”

They stand there, with her in his arms for a few moments more, before she moves back and he lets her, releasing his hold immediately. She grabs his arm for support as she works to steady herself. Finally she seems to have gotten her land legs back. “Are you ready to go upstairs?”

“Ready as I will ever be.”