BLOODLINES - Chapter 02

Emily flopped down on her bed and dialed her brother's number.

"Jason Morgan."

"Hey, Jase, it's Em. I need a favor."

"I'm good. Thanks for asking."

"Sorry. I'm a little anxious."

"What's the problem?"

"Well, I met this guy and--"

"You want me to beat him up?"

"No! No, nothing like that! He's a patient at Rosewood...but I don't think he belongs there. In fact, it almost seems as if someone is paying to keep him there. I know it sounds bizarre, but if you had seen what I had you'd probably be thinking the same thing."

"What did you see?"

Emily proceeded to tell Jason about Zander and the fact that nobody had been able to find out anything about him. "I was hoping maybe you could use your connections to find out about his past."

"I'll see what I can do. Can you get me a picture of him?"

"Sure, no problem." Emily thanked him and hung up.



Zander was in the gardens again when Emily showed up for work the next day. "So, I guess you ate your breakfast this morning?"

Zander looked up at her and smirked. "Hey, Emily. Yeah. Go figure, I was actually hungry."

Emily laughed, then looked around nervously. "Zander, would you mind posing for me? I just got this new camera phone and I wanted to try it out." She hoped she didn't sound as lame as she felt.

Zander stood up. "Sure. Where do you want me?"

Emily cleared her throat and tried not to stare at his chest, which was revealed when his shirt fell open. Take a picture, Em! It'll last longer! "Right! Um, I mean right there is good." Her hands trembled a bit as she held up the phone. She took a couple of mid-range shots of him, then a couple of close-ups of his face. "Thanks." She slipped the small camera phone into her pocket and looked around again. "So how are you feeling today? Any more confrontations with Eddie?"

"Not so far. He was actually pleasant this morning when he saw I had eaten everything on my plate," Zander chuckled. "That guy is a freak! I think he has control issues or something."

"Could be. Just don't let him get to you. I don't want a repeat of yesterday." Emily checked her watch. "Listen, I gotta get to work, so I'll see you later, okay?"

"Yeah, sure." He smiled. "Maybe we could have lunch together? I mean if you're not busy or anything."

"Lunch would be great. Maybe I'll help you clean your plate and keep Eddie off your back."

"I would be eternally grateful."

Emily waved goodbye and headed to her locker. Once inside the women's lounge she pulled out her cell phone. She punched a few buttons on the keypad and emailed Zander's pictures to her brother. Then she dialed his number. "Hey Jase, it's me. I just sent over the photos. I hope you can do something for Zander. I love you. Bye."

"Emily?"

Emily jumped and turned to face the nurse who had sedated Zander yesterday. "Oh, Karen! You startled me!"

"Sorry. Just saying hello."

Emily smiled. "Hello." She giggled. "So I heard Zander ate all his breakfast this morning."

"Yes. Eddie told me."

"Was yesterday a common occurrence? Does Zander have to be sedated very often?"

"Emily, I like you and I don't want to see you get too involved with the patients here. It won't be good for you or them."

"But Zander doesn't seem like he belongs here."

"I could say that about a lot of the patients here. They have emotional problems, Emily. We help them, so hopefully they can go home and lead productive lives. If you get too close, the patients will start to expect more than you can give. I don't want to see anybody get hurt."

Emily nodded. "I understand. I don't want to hurt Zander."

"I was talking about you, too, Emily. Zander might seem like a great guy on the surface, but you don't know what he could be capable of. Well, I gotta get back to work. See you later."

"Bye." Emily closed her locker and headed out. She went about her duties, but couldn't shake the chill that had come over her.



Emily and Zander sat under the shade of a large oak tree. Emily was enjoying a tuna sandwich, while Zander picked at his fruit salad.

"You wanna trade?" She held out her sandwich.

"Really?" Zander smiled hopefully.

"Sure. Take it. I love fruit salad."

"Thanks!" He accepted the tuna and took a huge bite. He moaned in pleasure. "Mmm, that is so good. I'm so sick of the same lunches day after day. Soup, salad and jello."

"It's the same every day?"

"Well, the soup varies. Sometimes it's stew. But this--" He held up the sandwich. "This is like heaven!" He fell back onto the grass in a mock show of ecstasy.

Emily giggled. "Wow, I didn't know tuna could be such an aphrodisiac." She realized her slip right before he did. "Uh...I didn't mean aphrodisiac. I meant...you know what I meant. Right?"

Zander rested on his elbows and smiled at her with mischief in his eyes. "Do I? Are you trying to seduce me with tuna, Emily?"

Her cheeks were burning. She could see that he was trying to hold back his laughter and smiled at him. "No. I hardly know you."

"So you would if you got to know me a little better?"

"Shut up!" Emily could tell he enjoyed teasing her. She rather liked it herself. "If I was going to seduce you, it wouldn't be with tuna, anyway."

"Oh? What would it be?"

Emily decided to throw caution to the wind. She moved closer and lay down beside Zander so she could speak softly. "Well...I'd have a tray of chocolate covered strawberries that I would feed to you. Then I would take a bite and let the juice run down my chin, so you would feel compelled to lick it off me."

Zander gulped audibly. "Sounds good," he squeaked. He cleared his throat. "Sounds good," he said in a more masculine tone. Then he stared at her mouth.

Emily giggled. "What? Do I have food on my face?" She started to wipe her chin, but he caught her wrist. His touch was electric. She felt a jolt all the way down to her toes. She gasped quietly.

"No," Zander growled. "I was imagining licking the juice from your chin and your lips."

Emily's eyes went wide. She hadn't expected her playfulness to be taken seriously. Although, at this moment she would've given anything to feel Zander's lips on hers. Her breathing became more labored. Zander moved his face closer to hers and she shut her eyes in anticipation of his kiss.

Suddenly her beeper went off and they jumped apart.

Emily glanced down at it. "That was my alarm. Lunch time is over. Sorry." She jumped up. "Back to work!" She ran away and glanced over her shoulder to see Zander watching her. She was so caught up in him that she didn't notice Eddie step outside. She ran right into his hard chest, nearly knocking the wind out of herself.

Eddie caught her before she fell. "Watch yourself, Miss Quartermaine."

"Uh, sorry. I'll be more careful."

"You do that." He looked away from her and over to Zander, who was staring at them. "Do you know if Mr. Smith ate his lunch?"

"Yes, he did," she quickly lied. "I made sure of it."

"Good," Eddie said. He walked over to Zander and retrieved the tray.

Emily watched, praying they wouldn't get into another confrontation. She breathed a sigh of relief when Eddie picked up the tray and walked away. Zander waved at her and she blushed, before darting inside.



Halfway through her shift, Emily started to make mistakes. She kept getting off on the wrong floor, confused patient names and at one point forgot where the women's lounge was. Her supervisor suggested she go home and get some rest. Maybe she was coming down with something. She decided to stop by Zander's room before she left.

When she looked in the door, she saw Zander sitting by the window, staring out at the garden.

"Zander?"

Without turning around he said, "I remembered something."

Emily walked over to him and touched his arm. "What was it?" Hope colored her voice.

He looked up at her with tears in his eyes. "My grandmother's rose garden."


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