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OUTLINES

"What's that you're working on honey?"

Sheba looked up from her sketchbook and saw that Abraham had finally woken up.

"Pop you're awake"

"I'm sorry Sheba" he said, "have I been sleeping your whole visit?"

"I've only been here for fifteen minutes you're fine" she said "I'm just working on a few designs for my new client"

"Oh I thought that your clients gave you their own designs" Abraham said sitting up and was surprised to see Sheba begin to blush a little

"Is this a special client?"

"I guess you could say that"

"Oh I definitely can" her father teased her up"

"What do you mean?"

"Bathsheba Evelyn I love you" Abraham said "Lord knows I do and I was fortunate enough during your teen years not to be stressed about boys coming around since you didn't really take interest in them but any father knows that look"

"Oh" Sheba said a light bulb switching on in her head "it's not like that Pop I just met Roman---"

"Roman? Is that his name" Abraham smiled "sounds like a handsome fellow to me"

"He's my client Pop nothing more" Sheba said, "he's nice but I don't know him"

Abraham chuckled "Well I didn't exactly know your mother either when I met her"

"What is he getting a tattoo of?"

"That's the thing Pop he wants a full body tattoo and wants me to pick the design" Sheba explained "I've never done that before"

"With your talent and experience I'm sure you can do it"

"I don't know" Sheba said doubting herself

"I think there may be a bit of infatuation holding you back" Abraham teased "because you're never doubtful about your work"

"Pop I'm serious"

"I'm serious too honey" he said, "you're my daughter and I know you"

Sheba shook her head at that notion it was silly to be infatuated at her age it wasn't like she was thirteen she was almost twenty-five she felt like she should have a better grasp of her emotions and hormones.

Abraham shifted in his bed a little and winched in pain

"Pop"

"It's okay" he reassured gripping his midsection "I'm okay honey just these damn pains again that's all"

Dr. Green explained to Sheba that her father's symptoms were getting worse by the day. Abraham was tired from being up most of the night from frequent and painful urination there was even blood in his urine. Yet Sheba was amazed that her father still had a smile for her.

"I'm still going to make time to see you Pop," she promised

"I know you will" Abraham said "but Sheba I don't want you to have to come here everyday you shouldn't have to sit here and watch me die"

"Pop don't say that," she said, "I don't want you to be alone"

"And I don't want you to be alone either Bathsheba" Abraham said, "I've got a good feeling about this Roman fellow"

Sheba blushed but let her father have that piece of mind even if she felt awkward about it.

 

The following day was the consultation appointment with Roman and Sheba found herself on pins and needles. She was praying that Roman would like the designs she came up with.

Sheba wasn't surprised to see some of the female clients flirting with Roman.

To her surprise Roman was not flirting back. He wasn't rude either but he wasn't giving them the attention they craved.

"Mr. Volkov"

Roman smiled when Sheba called his name much to the annoyance of his current admirers

"Miss Nightingale"

"You can come back now"

Well no turning back now but if looks could kill Sheba would be dead and she couldn't blame them since they looked like the type of women that were used to getting attention from a man like Roman while she didn't.

"You saved me from those vultures out there I owe you one" Roman joked reading her mind.

"Sorry about that although we do have some men come in here it's just that you're the first one we've had in months" Sheba explained trying her best not to say that the reason being was because Roman was so handsome.

"I'm going to need you to sign these Mr. Volkov" Sheba said handing him a clipboard "it's a health and safety waiver to make sure we have you're full consent and that you feel comfortable here"

"You can call me Roman"

Sheba was placing the designs on the wall with pushpins so they could look at them

"Only if you're sure that's what you want"

"I'll be shirtless around you," he said, "I think we can put formalities aside Bathsheba"

"You can just call me Sheba then" she insisted "Bathsheba can be a mouthful to say at times"

"It suits you" Roman said handing her back the clipboard "now let's see what remarkable designs you came up with"

"These over here are some of the designs for your back and the others over there are for your front" Sheba said as Roman walked closer to get a better look. 

Usually Sheba made her sketches for her clients rough and quick to give them a vague idea of what they wanted their tattoo to look like.

For Roman she had to come up with the concept herself so the sketches looked more finalized and Sheba was nervous.

"What's going on with this one?" Roman asked

"Oh" Sheba said surprised that he picked the design she worked on the most "it's a lot to explain"

"Well I'm all ears"

Sheba blushed her clients never really asked her to explain the sketches and just simply said okay to him. Tattoo art was just like traditional art and the same amount of time and thought was put into it but a lot of people didn't understand that.

"So for your back you have a wolf's muscle anatomy of his whole face to represent how strong you are" Sheba said "actually I could probably work around the scars on your back to enforce that"

"And for the front you'll have the wolf in his full glory and wrapped around his neck will be flowers and ribbons with quotes to show how you're moving on with your future"

"Wow that is a lot"

"You're right" Sheba said, "well I have two other designs---"

"No I like this one" Roman reassured "I like that you put some thought behind it too"

"You're welcome"

"How did you know my last name is the Russian word for wolf?" Roman asked amused raising his eyebrows at her.

"I did a little research" she said bashfully "was that too much?"

"It's perfect this is the one I want you did your research well Miss Nightingale"

"Great" Sheba said "we'll get started on the stenciling the designs on your body it won't take long I should be done in three hours"

"Take all the time you need" Roman insisted, "I want this to look exquisite"

Roman removed his shirt and laid on the tattoo table with his back exposed for Sheba to begin to stencil on the back design. The pictures did no justice Roman had been hurt really really badly she supposed that he certainly was in fact lucky to be alive after all.

"My mother always told me that I was blessed with a charming personality" Roman said as if he were reading her mind "I suppose she's right I've had a few relationships end because of scars"

"The women you were with were that vain?" Sheba asked in disbelief as she pressed the large sheet of tracing paper with the design on his back. She couldn't see his face right now but she could imagine how sad he looked.

"Oh you'd be surprised" Roman chuckled "I'm good at detecting things like that just like those women in the parlor"

"That's awful"

"You're telling me" he added, "I can't remember the last time I had sex with the lights on"

Sheba of course could not speak on that subject but it did sound awful how could somebody not stand the sight of his or her own lover?

"Well you don't have to worry about that anymore" Sheba said as she began to use one of her special ink pens to trace the stencil on "this is going to look great"

"I know it is" Roman said, "everybody will know that this is a Bathsheba Nightingale original"

"I know I shouldn't pry into your personal life Roman" Sheba said "but I think it's best that you find a woman who loves you for you and not just the physical aspect because that sounds like what you're ultimately looking for"

"That would be nice," he said, "if it happens it happens if it doesn't well I don't mind continuing being a lone wolf"

"Sounds like you just take life by the horns" Sheba said

"It's the best way to live" Roman replied, "life is short why not live it the way that you see fit?"

Sheba bit her lip now she was glad that Roman couldn't see her face but the mention of life being short made her think of her parents. All her life she had been taught that and she wasn't sure how she felt about statements like that.

From losing her mother before she was old enough to have any memories of her, to growing up in a funeral home, and now her father was on his own deathbed.

Sheba didn't like to hear people talk about dying she felt that death had already taken so much from her and she didn't want that feeling of being alone when it would eventually take her father too.

"Sheba? You okay?"

"I'm fine" Sheba replied "just lost my train of thought that's all"

"Something I said?"

"Oh no you're fine Roman I just wish I could live the way you do you're not scared of anything"

"I wouldn't say that" Roman chuckled "we all have something we're scared of it's what makes us human after what I just told you about my love life I guess you can call me a commitment phobe"

"I wouldn't say that," Sheba insisted "like I said the women you were with were obviously shallow I think they were the commitment phobes not you"

"I'm glad that you think so highly of me you barely know me"

"A picture says a thousand words" Sheba said "you already told me a lot when you showed me those pictures and looking at you now you're letting me know who you are"

"Well what about you?" Roman asked, "will I get to know the real Bathsheba outside of her tattoo studio?"

"Roman" she said slowly "I'm pretty lax around my clients and I know that we're now using first names now but I still have a professional and moral code that I stand by"

"Oh I see," he said simply

"I don't want to sound cold I really don't it's just that I have a business to run"

"Understandable"

There was silence between them for the rest of the stenciling of the back tattoo and when Sheba was finished two hours later Roman rolled around on his back and now he was looking at her face to face and he broke the silence.

"There's no professional or moral codes that I stand by" he said "if you want to talk to me about anything and I mean anything Bathsheba I'm here"

"You really like using my full name don't you?"

"Why not? It's beautiful"

"It's a mouthful" Sheba admitted, "I don't expect people to use it all the time"

"Well I don't mind," he said sincerely

Sheba looked into Roman's eyes and she never saw so much warm in a pair ice blue eyes before she met him.

Keeping this professional and moral code was definitely going to be a challenge and Sheba had a feeling that her father's intuition would be correct after all.

 

The nightingale fluttered its wings as it made it's way through the trees singing without a care in the world. When suddenly a whimpered yelp came from the bushes. The yelp sounded like it was a creature in pain so the curious nightingale went to go see what it was.

A mangled injured grey wolf with sad eyes looked up at the nightingale almost pleading with her to make the pain go away. The nightingale was such a small little bird how could she help an animal that was much bigger than she was. She was going to try though.

The nightingale came back with some aloe leaves and started covering the wolf's back with them and gave the wolf a few reassuring pecks around his ears. The wolf knew that the nightingale was going to take care of him while his pack had left him for dead.

 

 

 












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Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.