Two months had passed and she hadn't heard anything. Jesse had to remind herself daily that he was healing from burns and those took a heck of a lot longer. She wondered if she should call, surely she wouldn't be imposing.

Marty looked at her cell phone to see Jesse's name pop up.

"Jesse?"

"Marty, I'm so glad to hear your voice. How are you?"

"Fine, just sitting here trying to unwind."

"You sound stressed, what's wrong. Am I calling at a bad time, because if it is you can tell me?"

Enjoying the voice at the other end she started laughing and crying, "No, no I just I've missed you, why haven't you called or come over?" She didn't mention how upset Gage was, not yet, she needed to know that Jesse wasn't avoiding him on purpose.

"Gage needed to heal. I didn't want to get in the way of that. Burns take a lot out of a person. He needed rest not foot traffic and flowers."

Marty released a pent-up breath. "We had nothing, but that for the first three weeks, I thought I was going to go insane if his or my phone rang one more time."

"No sympathy, check. So what would help the most right now?"

Looking at the phone in wonder she sighed. "Would you come over and cook dinner for me, please. I-I..." Tears streamed down her cheeks, "I just can't and Gage needs to eat, so it's not..."

"Stop, you don't have to explain. I'm headed to the grocery store and will be at your door in, oh, a half hour. Leave the front door unlocked, grab a glass of wine and crawl into that bed of yours. I'll wake you for dinner, or not, you decide with a note on the counter top." The phone then made an audible click signaling the end to the conversation.

Marty's face lit in happiness. Getting up from the sofa she did what she was told, grabbed a glass of wine and went to her bedroom where she slept soundly for the first time in months.

Jesse came in and went to work, she boiled the penne pasta created a parmesian cream sauce to die for and finished it up with sautéed shrimp, crab and chicken.

When the meal was ready she went in search of her one taste tester.

Lightly knocking on the door, he muttered a reply. Walking in she found him lounging in his bed, he looked nothing like himself, not just the parts that were healing but his eyes they looked so very sad.

"Time to eat."

Gage looked up in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Helping out. I missed you both. How are you healing?"

"See for yourself," he said angrily.

"Slowly, but surely by my guess, burns take a long time."

Gage growled, "Yeah whatever."

He was different, very different, no wonder Marty was upset.

"Come on and eat."

"Why bother," he muttered.

Turning to look at him she saw the pain banked in those baby blues. Walking toward him she gently took his hand and placed it on top of her own. "I don't like eating alone and you are the perfect companion."

His hand gripped her wrist. "Where have you been?"

With a sigh of regret she shrugged, "Giving you time to heal. Guess that's not working out so well huh?"

Coming to his feet wearing those skimpy shorts and nothing else she could see bits of shiny skin that hadn't quite finished healing along with more serious bits that would definitely take at least one more month maybe more.

The first thing she noticed as she got close to him was his smell. It wasn't pleasant. In fact she wondered if he had ceased any kind of bathing ritual at all.

Shaking her head she led him to the kitchen. First he needed to eat then she would wash his hair in the kitchen sink and afterward give him a sponge bath. Because of his burns he couldn't actually shower or bathe so they would just have to make do. When her grandmother was taken with alzheimers it was Jesse who bathed, fed and cared for her, for nearly two years. She didn't mind, it was a labor of love that she could point to and know she hadn't let her grandma down, now she was needed again and she would not let him down.

"So what have you been doing while on leave?"

He shook his head, "Nothing."

"You're bored and sick to death of this aren't you?"

Gage looked up startled. "Yeah, you could say that."

"You're not getting any exercise either are you?"

He was angry, her being right was making him angrier still. "Just how in the hell do you expect me to exercise, look at me Jesse."

"I am Gage," she said with a grin. "You look wonderful to me."

His jaw dropped from shock. "Yeah right, don't patronize me, I've had enough of that."

"Then stop acting like a baby. You are alive and I'm thrilled to have you that way. I might also add that your feet are not burned and you could at the very least walk around the block for exercise. Tonight I'm going to wash your hair before getting you in the tub for a bath, you reek."

That being said she took a couple of bites of food before he could even begin a come back.

"I can't have a bath, that's the problem."

"I didn't say the tub would have any water in it did I? Now hurry up and finish eating. When you're done go stand by the kitchen sink. Your hair is getting washed today. Tomorrow I'll take you to the base for a haircut."

Gage couldn't figure out where his meek Jesse went and wasn't sure what to do with her at the moment so he did as he was told and ate quietly.

When she was finished she got up to grab the shampoo and a towel from the bathroom.

He was standing at the sink as requested.

"Before we start, is any part of your head burned or tender? I don't want to hurt you."

"No just my forehead so be careful." He looked really nervous about the prospect of her doing this.

"Lean forward honey, over the sink, that's it."

Grabbing the spray thing she began to wet his over grown military cut. Releasing it she then took a small dollop of shampoo and rubbed it in massaging his scalp gently and efficiently until he released a sigh. Then she sprayed his hair down again ensuring that all the soap was washed away before she finished.

Placing a towel over his head she rubbed it with a light touch just to make certain.

"Stand up and follow me, it's time for your bath." Taking a mixing bowl from under the cabinet she headed to the bathroom with him in tow.

He had one of those sea sponges sitting on the counter top, Grabbing it she filled the bowl with bath water and smell good salts. Mmm she sighed contentedly before putting the bowl on the floor next to the tub.

"Take off your shorts and get into the tub please."

Gage blushed. Those females who had once found him desirable were shunning him now. And yet here Jesse stood telling him to strip. He couldn't understand why she wasn't turned off by the sight of him.

"On second thought hang on," she grabbed a towel placing it in the bottom of the tub. "That porcelain can be cold. You ready," she said turning expectantly. He wasn't and it was obvious he didn't know what to do. His face looked completely confused.

Walking up to him with a tiny grin she said, "Here let me help." And without further ado she pulled his shorts and briefs completely off him.

He shivered and she saw what she could only guess was fear in his face.

"Gage, look at me."

A blush filled his cheeks but eventually his eyes met hers.

"Turn about is fair play."

He looked confused.

To which she laughed, "Me, spread eagle, fresh out of a bath, remember?"

A smile, which hadn't been on his lips in months appeared briefly, while taking a deep breath he walked forward and climbed in the tub.

"Now what," he asked his knees up covering himself in embarrassment.

"Now I make you smell pretty."

Again his eyes rested on her face before shifting to look at anything else.

"Close your eyes," she whispered before running the sponge along parts of his face and right cheek, cleaning his mouth and chin of the sauce he'd dripped during dinner and beneath to his neck. She ran the sponge around those burnt and sensitive areas on his torso that couldn't have water on them. Carefully she bathed his arms, then lifted each one high so that she could give a good thorough cleaning to the area beneath. Dipping the sponge into the soapy water in her bowl she wrung it out again and continued the process running it over his abs and hips, down his still muscular legs first the right then the left. His breathing was hitched and he wasn't able to think quite as clearly as he had a moment before. Again she dipped the sponge into her bowl but didn't wring it back into the soapy water, instead she asked him to stand up. His face was beet red knowing that he was in no condition to be standing. But she again touched him beneath his upper bicep and helped him come to that exact position.

He bit his lip nervously when he felt the sponge brush across him once, twice and finally a third time before she put it in the bowl, then running it along his ass in a slow but proficient manner.

Finally she declared them finished and dropped the instrument of sexual torture, as he liked to think of it, back into the bowl.

"Now," she said with all the authority of a head nurse, "stay here and I'll bring you some clean undies, then I'll go strip your bed."

Gage collapsed onto the toilet seat his body quaking with so many different feelings he didn't know what to think.

Jesse did everything she said, then tucked him in for the night.

Back in the kitchen, she cleaned up her mess turned on the dishwasher and kicked back on the sofa with a blanket and a glass of wine. Once the wine was gone, so was she, into a dream world from which she didn't awaken.