Time is relative… and so is pain, apparently. Hmm

Disclaimer: Pokemon belongs to Nintendo and Shogakukan Comics. This non-profit, non-copyright infringing fanfiction belongs to me under international copyright laws and taking it is plagiarism. Thank you. *Phantomness bows*

Notes: <> for telepathy, ** for thoughts, italics if a pokemon talks

Chapter 8

He woke up to find himself lying on his bed at home. For a moment, he wondered if he were in heaven, but then the residual pain covering his body twinged, and he bit his lip to keep from crying out.

He tried to sit up, catching sight of a glass of water on his desk, but his body screamed at him not to move, so he sank back on the covers with a sigh.

A moment later, his Father came in, rubbing his eyes and dressed in nothing but a dark blue dressing gown. “Oh good, you’re finally awake…”

“What happened?” Red managed to croak out, wincing.

“Don’t speak.” Lance reprimanded gently, as he picked up the water and sat down next to his child on the bed, supporting him as he tipped the cool water down Red’s throat.

Red gave a whimper of pleasure as the pain lessened.

Father must have healed him…

Lance waited until Red had finished the water, before he spoke again. “That was quite a nasty fall you took.”

Red frowned. He wanted to speak, but he couldn’t, and Lance caught his conflicted gaze. The Dragon Master withdrew a small notepad and blue pen from a pocket and handed them over.

Red hurriedly scribbled out several questions, panic rising.

What happened? How did I get home? How long will it take me to get better? Why can’t I talk? Are my pokémon okay?

“You fell into the lava and took the brunt of a Fire Blast attack.” Lance said. “And yes, I healed you to the best of my ability. Also, your pokémon are fine. It will take a few weeks before you retain motility, and you cannot speak because your vocal cords took quite a beating. They should be good in a week or so though.”

He felt better once he heard that, and Father vanished downstairs and returned a few minutes later with chicken noodle soup. It was very comforting, and a guilty blush tinted his cheeks as he sat up propped up against pillows, with Father’s arm around his waist to help support him and being spoon fed soup bite by bite.

It was wonderful…

Afterwards, he fell asleep again.

The next day, he woke up to find that he had been stripped bare. His skin felt slightly moist so he guessed that Father had given him a tub bath. Father was rubbing a pale bluish ointment on his body, and he feigned sleep, though he shivered all over with delight.

He had not been touched so intimately in so long, not since he was still little and could not bathe himself…

He let his breathing even out, and simply enjoyed the sensations. He felt cool hands moving down his chest, to rest between his legs, and he had to stifle a gasp as he felt a finger slip between his thighs.

It felt so good…

Of course, he ached there, but as his Father rubbed ointment into his skin, he could feel a different ache pooling between his legs. To his extreme discomfort, his cock was taking advantage of this, and was starting to get hard.

Lance ignored Red’s increasingly strangled breathing, as he slid his hands down his child’s calves, around his knees, down to his ankles and feet. Satisfied, he easily flipped Red onto his back, and frowned.

The burns had not healed completely, even with Viridian’s Power, and thus, he had to wait.

He did not like waiting, especially when it was Red’s health at stake.

His fingers scooped up another hefty dollop of Burn Heal, and he worked the application deep into Red’s skin, moving down from his shoulders, to his hips and buttocks…

Red almost bucked off the mattress at that, and Lance raised his eyebrows.

“Oh, you’re awake.” He stated, completely deadpan. “Would you like some more water? I’ll get you a glass as soon as I finish.”

Red flushed and tried to burrow deeper into the mattress.

How could he be having those indecent thoughts at a time like this? His Father was only trying to help him heal!

It wasn’t… like those magazines he had spotted in that bookstore!

Lance finished several moments later, though Red was panting with a mixture of emotions as his father got up. “I’ll bring you something to eat too. Can you walk on your own yet?”

Red shifted a bit, and found that he could. He slipped off the bed and padded to the bathroom, washing his face and brushing his teeth.

It felt good to be able to move again.

Father’s power must have helped.

Lance fixed soup quickly in the kitchen, and soon came up with a bowl of steaming split pea and ham, along with several fluffy biscuits. By then, Red had tucked himself back in bed and put on a pair of white cotton pajamas.

He accepted the food with a smile, wrote several Thank yous on the notepad, and applied himself hastily. He was pretty hungry. After all, his body was expending a lot of energy to fix him up again.

Father was so nice.

“I’ll have to apply the Burn Heal every morning. It should speed up the healing process.” Lance stated.

Red nodded, his mouth half full of a biscuit. Lance laughed.

“You can walk around a bit after you’re done, but don’t overexert yourself, all right? Otherwise, you’ll relapse.”

He nodded his assent again.

Really, one didn’t always need words to communicate…

Red spent the afternoon splashing with Poli in their backyard pond, for about half an hour before he felt his legs giving out. Poli grabbed an arm, Mantine grabbed the other, and the half-floated half-dragged him into the house.

Lance sighed, and put him back to bed.

Red did not protest, and was soon sound asleep again.

End Chapter

Completed 7/11/06

Poor, poor Red!

Lance is really domestic, isn’t he? *Ponders* I keep having a picture of him in a pink frilly apron over his black bodysuit and cape…

Actually, one of my fans sent me a picture of this! Dark Lady has artwork of Lance in this outfit on her page…