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MORE OUTLINES

"How are you feeling today Pop?" Sheba asked as she entered her father's room to see him sitting up. Abraham was staring out of the window and turned when his daughter walked in the room.

"Hey honey" he smiled at her; however Sheba was taken aback by her father's appearance. His eyes looked tired and pink, his breakfast completely untouched, and he looked a bit gray in the face.

"Pop you don't look so good" Sheba sat next to him "are you alright?"

"I'm fine" Abraham lied "everything is fine"

"Pop be honest with me"

"Bathsheba I don't want you to worry"

"Pop what did Dr. Green say?" Sheba asked worried now and she didn't like her father beating around the bush

"I've been thinking about your mother lately" Abraham said, "I've been thinking about Deborah"

"Pop..."

"You look just like her Sheba" Abraham chuckled "I swear you're her all over again"

"Pop you need to tell me if you're okay"

"Going to seeing your mother again soon" he continued, "I miss her Sheba"

"Pop you didn't eat any of your breakfast" Sheba said, "do you want me to get the nurse to bring you something else"

"I'm not hungry"

"Pop you have to eat something" Sheba said she sounded like she was on the verge of tears and that's exactly what it felt like

"I'm tired Sheba" Abraham said softly and calmly "I'm real tired"

"Here" Sheba took an extra pillow out of the closet and gently pushed the bed up "just lay back and rest"

"No honey" Abraham tried to explain to her "I'm tired"

Sheba knew full well what her father meant by that but she didn't want to hear it

"You'll be alright" Sheba reassured "your birthday is in three days I'm making that bread pudding for you"

Abraham chuckled as his eyes slowly drooped "You know I love that sweet stuff"

"I love you Sheba I want you to know that"

"Shh I love you too Pop" she kissed him on the forehead "you rest now okay"

Sheba stayed by Abraham's side until she heard his gentle breathing to let her know that he was asleep.

 

Roman arrived a little early for his next session with Sheba and had a chance to see her interacting with some other clients. Today was an excited high school senior.

"Now are you sure you're eighteen Amber?"

"Yes"

"We're going to need to see some ID then our policy is we don't tattoo minors"

The young Latina girl quickly dug into her school bag and got out her junior driver's license and once her date of birth was confirmed Sheba proceeded with the consultation.

"I'm so excited!" Amber said "I already told my mom that once I paid off my graduation fees and prom fees I was getting a tattoo for my eighteenth birthday"

"Congrats" Sheba smiled "are you starting college in the fall?"

"Yup I'm going to Harvard!"

"This is certainly is the time to celebrate then" Sheba said "now what will you be getting a tattoo of?"

"This" Amber took out a sketch of what she wanted her tattoo to eventually look like.

"What's this?"

"My father" Amber said "I never really knew him he was one of the many firefighters on 9/11 who died on duty"

"Oh I'm sorry"

"It's okay" Amber insisted "I was only two so it doesn't hurt too much when I think about him"

"I'm sure he's watching you"

"I know" Amber smiled "Mom swears that he'll be at graduation too"

Roman noted while her interaction with Amber was sweet he couldn't help but notice a hint of sadness in her eyes.

"Miss Nightingale?" Amber asked, "are you okay?"

"I'm fine" she replied "let's set up an appointment for you since it's April I can definitely have this done for you in time for you when you graduate in June"

"That would be great!" Amber's eyes lit up

Sheba smiled at the young girl and she pulled out a calendar so that she could get her an appointment written in for her.

 

"Amber sure sounded excited about you doing her tattoo" Roman said breaking Sheba from her concentration. It had been a quiet session for the most part as Sheba was putting the final touches of the outlines Roman's tattoo on his back.

When she was finished she instructed Roman to turn over so he was laying on his back. Needless to say Sheba had been doing a good job of not making eye contact with Roman up until now as she etched the design on his chest and torso. However it seemed that Roman was going to turn that around.

"Well we usually get a lot of high school seniors in here excited about getting their first tattoo" Sheba said

"Ah to be eighteen again" Roman chuckled "so full of life"

"Yeah I think she said she's going Penn State her father would be proud"

"You alright?" Roman asked sensing the hint of sadness in Sheba's voice

"Yeah I'm fine" Sheba quickly code switched "why don't we take a break I'm pretty sure you'd like to stretch for a bit"

"That sounds good," he said getting up to admire himself in the mirror "this looks fantastic already"

"I hope so" Sheba said "would you like some water?"

"Sure"

Sheba poured both of them a cup from her Deer Park cooler dispenser and as she was about to hand it to him she paused.

For a moment Sheba forgot that she was supposed to be professional and was now taking the time to actually admire Roman the way all the other females at Wounded Rose did.

The man was gorgeous and was rugged at the same time despite his wounds and scars from the war. It was as if that didn't matter. To quote Lauryn Hill's song Nothing Even Matters nothing mattered at all but Roman himself. Not his wounds not his scars just him.

Sheba felt her heart pitter-patter and she also felt flutters all over her body even in places she didn't think was possible. She shouldn't be thinking or even looking at her client that way it was everything she was against.

Roman turned around to take his cup of water from her and Sheba swore her heart stopped either that or a frog got caught in her throat.

"Thanks"

"You're fin-I mean you're welcome"

"I'll take both as a compliment" he chuckled

Just then Sheba's cell phone rang which she was a little grateful for to say the least. However when Sheba saw that it was coming from the hospital it certainly alarmed her.

"Roman I have to take this call it's important" she said, "I'll be right back"

"No rush take your time"

Sheba stepped outside of her studio and answered the phone it was Dr. Green.

"Hello Dr. Green" she greeted slowly trying to stay calm "is everything okay with my father?"

"Miss Nightingale I hate to be the bearer of bad news but your father passed away this afternoon"

Sheba froze and found her breath hitched in her throat  as her lower lip trembled.

"I just saw him two days ago are you sure?" Sheba felt pathetic asking but she had to "because his birthday tomorrow and I'm bringing him bread pudding---"

"Miss Nightingale I know this is a lot to take in and I wish I didn't have to call you and give you this news"

"I know Dr. Green"

"We're making preparations for the funeral home to pick him up with your permission of course"

"Yes that's fine" she managed to say trying her best to hold back tears "actually I want him sent home I mean to his funeral home"

"Yes that can be arranged"

"Okay thank you for everything Dr. Green"

The tears fell freely now when she hung up but she made sure her cries were silent. The last thing Sheba needed was for Roman to hear her crying when she was supposed to be getting back to doing his tattoo.

"Bathsheba?" she heard him "everything alright?"

Sheba quickly wiped her tears away and cleared her throat to make her voice sound normal.

"I'm fine I'll be right there"

 

Roman knew Sheba wasn't fine. Although she was doing an excellent job with his tattoo he sensed that her whole demeanor changed. It made him wonder what her phone conversation was about after all.

He looked up at her face and saw how concentrated she was but her eyes looked glassy with moisture. Then suddenly a tear fell and hit Roman's bare skin and Sheba cursed immediately putting her inking needle down.

Luckily the tear didn't destroy the design but it did throw Sheba off guard.

"I'm sorry Roman I guess I got something in my eye..."

However more tears began to run down her soft brown cheeks and Roman sat up so he was at her eye level.

"What's wrong Bathsheba?" he asked her seriously now "because you were fine before you picked up your phone"

"I'll....I'll....I'll be fine" she insisted

"No you're not Sheba tell me what's wrong"

It killed Roman to see Sheba like this as her face bunched up in tears once more but this time those tears fell freely.

"Pop...my father....he....died" she said softly between her sobs

Sheba immediately tried to turned away from Roman but he caught her hand made her turn back around to face him.

"Don't turn away Bathsheba" he said gently "I'm here"

"This isn't your problem---"

"I just made it mine" Roman cut her off "your father died Sheba it's not a problem and it's not your fault and I want to make sure you're okay"

Shivers ran up and down her body as Roman brought Sheba in for a hug, which any other time would feel wrong because it wasn't professional.

However with Roman it felt right. It felt like home. The two of them found comfort in that hug and stayed in that embrace for a long time. Or at least until Sheba's tears ceased but either way Roman allowed Sheba to take all the time she needed.


The grey wolf starting to feel better since the nightingale was doing wonders with her healing techniques. Even his fur was beginning to shine again. However the nightingale stopped rather abruptly and began tweeting and hoping around in distress.

The wolf turned around to see a huge thorn was caught in one of the nightingale's wings and was causing her great pain. The wolf gently clenched the thorn between his teeth and slowly pulled it out. Her wing still bled a little but at least the thorn was out.

The wolf licked at the nightingale's wing to stop the bleeding and the nightingale gave the wolf thankful pecks around his ears. They were healing each other now.

 

 












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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.