Chapter 2 of Harrier's Healer--unedited

I'm so sorry I'm so late in the day in posting this. But here you go, the unedited chp 2.

CHAPTER TWO
Six months later…
The bullet wound in his side seemed to be getting worse. What did you expect Scott, that it would feel better? He stumbled down the darkened street knowing that he had just as much chance of dying from the bullet as he did from the people whose neighborhood he was in. He was not of the right persuasion to be down here, but he didn’t care.
The sudden lights blinded him and he stumbled to a halt, holding his hand in front of his eyes. As he lowered his hand he found himself surrounded by a group of younger men of a variety of races who didn’t look at all happy to see him. He saw their weapons, shoved into the waistbands of their pants and his body; although extremely fatigued, he went into battle mode.
“Well, well, well. What have we here?” one of the men asked his friends.
“I think you took the wrong street, man,” another said as a third shoved the intruder to the ground.
Scott showed no emotion as he was forced to the pavement. Maybe they just want to scare me, he told himself. The second he felt a kick in his side he knew he had been wrong. He was about to get beaten up by a gang. His body reacted violently as the next person kicked him.
Reaching out, he grabbed the leg and twisted it, tossing the man off balance. As that man hit the ground, the others began to swarm over him. The loss of blood slowed Scott down considerably. The men were high and felt no pain, whereas he did. He was holding his own until he felt a hit into the back of his head and he dropped like a light, losing what little ground he had gained.
*****
What are they up to now? Alexis hurried towards the group of guys that seemed to be kicking or at least prodding something. Last week she had found them beating a helpless puppy in a bag, this was getting old. “Hey!” she shouted, getting their attention. “Back off,” she ordered. Her hair bounced in time with her steps; she had just left the corner bar from her date and wasn’t in the mood for Jay and his gang. They knew better.
The ringleader looked up and rolled his eyes. “Lex, go home,” he yelled back as her steps brought her closer. “It ain’t got nuttin’ to do with you.”
She ignored him and shoved her way through only to stop and gasp. The form on the ground was a man. “What the hell are you doing?” Instantly, she placed herself over the man and began to check him for injuries, each one she found making her angrier. The Caucasian male was either unconscious or very close to it. Checking for a pulse, she breathed a bit easier when she found it, faint but steady. Her body trembled as she touched him.
“Leave him alone, he shouldn’t be down here. And we found him like this” the oldest boy protested.
Rising to her full height, she glared back at him, totally unintimidated. “What the hell do you think you were doing? The puppy was bad enough but damn it, Jay, this is a man.”
“He was trespassing. We were just looking to see if he were dead. We didn’t beat him up.”
Trespassing? The man on the ground moaned. “I suppose he got these injuries by himself? Get out of here,” she hissed as she knelt back down beside him. “Easy now.” Her voice dropped into her soothing bedside manner voice.
“Alexis?” The voice reached her causing her to panic.
No, it couldn’t be. Not here. Carefully, she rolled the man over so she could see his face. Oh, dear Lord. It was. “Commander?” She asked softly.
“You know him?” Jay asked.
“Get over here, Jay, you and the rest of your friends who seem to think I am not serious. Pick him up and take him to my car.” She stood quickly. “Hang in there, Commander.” Her eyes snapped with impatience. “Now! Damnit, move!”
The five remaining men struggled to carry him to her sport utility vehicle, before they climbed in at her glare and carried him into Alexis’ house. A small three-bedroom rambler. She led the way to her spare room and told them to put him down.
“Where do you know Casper from, Lex?” Jay asked her.
“He is a Commander in the US Navy and a SEAL so if you guys weren’t getting the shit kicked out of you then he has another injury somewhere.” Her eyes took in the man lying there. He still looked so good.
“Alexis?” The slur came again.
“I’m here, Commander. Right here.” Instantly she was beside him, touching his face. “I have to check you out. Can you tell me where you are injured?”
Those eyes opened and settled on her face. A quirky smile tugged at the side of his mouth. “Still so beautiful, I like your hair down. I have a gunshot wound in the side.” He looked around the room at the men. “Is it safe here?”
Jay stepped forward, “We’ll be the ones asking questions, Casper. Where did you get shot at?”
Alexis waved him away, her insides trembling at his words. “You’re fine. You are at my house.”
“Them?”
“They helped bring you here. Close your eyes, Commander,” she ordered as she moved towards her doctor’s bag. “I have to get you stabilized and to a hospital.”
“No!” He grabbed her arm, sending shivers through them both. “No hospital.”
She removed his hand carefully, ignoring his comment, and got her bag. “Quiet. Conserve your energy.” He had fallen unconscious.
“You gonna call the police, Lex?” Jay asked as he watched her skillfully remove his shirt to expose the gunshot wound. It sat about an inch lower than the scar made from when she had sewn him up on the Endeavor the last time they met.
“You better pray I don’t. You boys would be in serious trouble, attacking a man just because. Don’t tell me you are trying to join that damn gang.”
Jay turned away from the man’s scarred body. There were dark bruises forming from where he and his boys had kicked him. “I swear we didn’t shoot him, Lex.”
“Quiet, Jay, let me concentrate.” There was silence in the room as her now-clean fingers probed into the wound, until she stuck in some clamps and pulled out the bullet. Correction, bullets. There were two inside his flesh. Holding the second one up, she frowned, “Hmmm. It’s a .38. Interesting.” She dropped it into the metal dish, the loud clang grabbing the attention of the boys who were in the room.
Her arresting gaze took in each and every one of the young men in her room. “Think about the choices you make, 'cause I don’t want to be doing this to you one day.” Her lean hand reached out and shook the container holding the bullets. “Now, go on, get some sleep.”
“It started to rain, guys…it’s gonna be a wet night.” Jay told his crew.
“Guys,” Lex interrupted. “I meant go crash in the living room. You know you are welcome to stay here. Just make sure you don’t disturb him.” Five young men smiled at her as they went to grab their usual sleeping gear from her hall closet to make up their beds.
*****
The whispering grew louder. He opened his eyes and found two men in the room with him. They were going through the closet. His body tried to react but he felt almost paralyzed.
“He’s awake, go get Lex,” one of the guys said. The other one disappeared out the door. Dark, distrustful eyes fell onto the man lying on the bed.
Scott didn’t move, just stared back. Movement at the door caught his attention. It was Alexis. She wore a cream-colored short-sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans that should have been declared illegal, they fit her so tight. Even hurt and feeling like this his body reacted to her.
“Morning, Commander, I see you made it through the night.” Her eyes flashed with humor.
“You didn’t take me to a hospital,” he stated the obvious.
“Nope, you didn’t want me to and so, against my better judgment…I treated you here.” She moved to the bed and the deep breath he took was filled with her scent. Her hands were professional and steady as she checked the wound. “Gonna tell me how you got this, Commander?”
“Thank you,” he murmured as his hand reached for hers. She froze at his touch.
Dear God, how can he turn me into such a quivering mass of Jell-o with something as simple as a touch? “For what?”
“Finding me.”
It was as if there were no one else in the room with them, the tension grew so thick. “About that wound, Commander,” she insisted removing her hand from his. Her gaze was direct.
“We aren’t on the ship, Alexis; you can call me Scott,” he said.
“I’m afraid that doesn’t change who we are or protocol, Sir.”
With an energy he didn’t know he had, Scott sat up in the bed, oblivious to the fact that he had no shirt on. His face got right into Alexis’. “That is where you are wrong. It changes everything.” He dropped his voice even more, “Not that it would matter. I’m a SEAL, Alexis, and I do things my way.” And I want you, regulations be damned.
God, if it were only that simple. “Well, I’m not a SEAL, I’m a doctor and it would affect my career.” Her words were level and direct.
Nose to nose, they faced off, neither backing down. “Do you really think I would do something to hurt your career?” His hand cupped the side of her face. “I feel how you react to my touch Alexis, and my body reacts the same way to you.”
She swallowed hard. His touch was sinful. “I don’t know you, except that you are an officer…a superior officer…and it is against regulations to have that kind of relationship with you.”
He clucked his disapproval. “We aren’t serving in the same place. We are both consenting adults and therefore there is no coercion on either part.”
“What makes you think that?” She barely breathed the question.
“I have known that since the first day we met.” His fingers moved again, sending those impulses back down her body. “And each time after that. It was only a matter of time.” His voice just as low as hers, so although they were observed by the group of young men, their conversation was unheard.
“You seem mighty sure of yourself, Commander.” She wasn’t about to give in and call him by his first name. That would be admitting he was right. And she was firmly aware of his naked chest.
He nodded slightly. “I am. Just like I know you are dying to say my name, to hear it rolling off your tongue, just like I am. I am very arrogant. I know that and so do you, but you love it.” His thumb moved over her lower lip. “You loved how I kissed you standing at the fantail on the Endeavor.”
Like I needed that reminder, she thought ruefully. She whimpered, helpless to move out of his touch. Her entire body ached to be touched by his callused fingers.
“Don’t worry. I will wait to hear you scream my name. That will be as I am sliding my thick, hard length deep inside your body.” As potent as liqueur, his voice poured over her. “Alexis, when we make love it will be like nothing either of us has ever experienced. I can’t wait much longer.” He dropped his hand as he slumped back on the bed, exhausted. His eyes twinkled as he licked his firm lips, “Nice to know you want me.” That blue gaze fell to her chest and she knew he could see her hardened nipples through the shirt.
A loud pounding on her screen door jolted her attention back to earth, where making love to him was once again just an erotic fantasy, not almost a reality. “Excuse me, Commander.” She rose off the bed and walked past the boys who were standing there, watching the whole interaction avidly.
“You can run, my little healer, but be forewarned: there is no place for you to hide.” His words followed her out of the room and up the hall to where she looked out the door and found the police.

“Can I help you, Officers?” she asked, taking in the two who stood there on the other side of her screen door.
“We are looking for a man who was last seen in this area,” the larger of the two cops said.
“Sorry, Officer, you are going to need to be a bit more specific than that. There are a lot of men around here.”
His eyes narrowed at her quick retort, but he continued. “He may be injured.”
Years of keeping a bland expression on her face came in handy now as she merely said, “And?”
“Can we come in?” the other cop asked.
She shrugged and opened the door, inviting them in. “Can you give me a bit more information about this person you are looking for?”
“Well, he is reported to be tall, muscular, blond…” the officer trailed off as something caught his eye. Alexis followed his gaze and prayed for strength as she saw Scott enter the room chatting with the other boys like he belonged there. “And you are?” the officer asked, taking in the out-of-place white man in the house.
Alexis watched as his broad-shouldered body filled her living room. He wore his shirt which she had washed and had sewn up the tear in last night so it was hidden from the officers’ view. His body looked poured into his jeans and tennis shoes were on his feet. In no way did he look like the man from whom she had removed two bullets last night. His blue eyes immediately moved to her as if assessing that she was okay. Touched by his concern, she nodded slightly.