Chapter Seventeen

Mark came up with the idea to take Dawn on a picnic in the park. Just the two of them. He wanted her to have a normal and relaxing day in the park. Not under the shade of the willows, but out in the sun.

Patience had left some clothes for Dawn before she had left Mark's place. The outfit was a cute shirt and skirt with comfortable Born black leather sandals. The shirt was a white romantic blouse with purple embroidery down the front and on the cuff. Her skirt was a pleated green and white plaid with purple accent strips.

At the park, Mark lead Dawn to a sunny spot near the lake. He had to steer her away from walking over to the shaded rocks she normally sits on. Dawn bit her lip as she followed him.

He laid out a blanket on the ground and set the small basket down. He sat down and held a hand out to her. She sat shyly down tucking her skirt under her legs and sitting up straight. He smiled as he opened the basket and pulled a tulip out of the basket handing it to her. She blushed with a delicate smile on her face as she accepted the flower.

They didn't say much the whole afternoon as they just sat in the sun drinking and eating. They did talk about why she looked different. Mark told her what happened and they both pondered the reasons. In the end they couldn't figure out the cause.

"Will you agree to get checked out? With one of Angel Kat's doctors? They understand privacy and are gentle." Mark knew it was a long shot with how she reacted before. He just needed to ask and maybe find the reason. To make sure she was completely alright.

Dawn looked out at the lake. She slowly shook her head as she laid against Mark's side where they rested comfortably on the blanket. "I can't."

"Please tell me why. Why are you so frightened by hospitals?" He held her hand and looked down at her. Her eyes never strayed from the lake.

"They'll make me into an experiment." Her voice had lost emotion.

"No one will do that to you." He tried to reassure her that it was alright. He wouldn't let anyone do anything like that to her. Angel Kat wouldn't either.

Dawn moved her eyes away from the lake and to their linked hands. "They did before."

His hand moved slowly as he lifted her chin so he could look in her eyes. He wasn't sure if he heard her right. Someone experimented on her? "Who?" More importantly, when?

She shook her head. "I don't know. I was mugged and they clocked me over my head. They hit me so hard that I went into a coma instead of dying. The next thing I knew was that a month had passed and I was in a hospital. I checked my chart and saw that they had been running tests on my blood. I got scared of what they would do with me awake, so I ran."

"Do you know what tests?"

Again she shook her head. "I couldn't understand the handwriting. The only thing I saw were the requests for blood samples and saw so many different tests. Everyday they had taken a little more blood for more tests."

"How long ago was this?"

Her eyes looked down. "A little over twenty years ago. I have made it a point of not going to hospitals or doctors for that reason. I'm so frightened that I will be put in a cage and tested." She spoke freely to him. Trusting him even more.

He nudged her to look at him. When she did he spoke softly to her with softened eyes. "No one will ever do that to you again. I will not allow it." He stroked the side of her face and he caused her eyes to close at the feeling. His words and actions lessened the ache of her memories.

Mark leaned forward and kissed her. She kissed back feeling his words sooth her to her core. She didn't even mind when he moved her to lay on her back still kissing her. One of his hands flat beside her holding him up. The other was behind her head with his thumb caressing her cheekbone.

For the first time he felt she was ready for him to give her more than the movement of their lips together. He gently grace her bottom lip with his tongue. She gasped softly at the sensual feeling of his tongue on her lip. He smiled at the gasp loving the sound of it.

He graced again and got a victory when she opened up. He slowly touched her tongue with his. They both moaned as they let their mouths began to dance together.

"Ahem." They split and looked to the source of the deep rough voice. An older gentleman had an eyebrow raised at them. "You youngsters should take that elsewhere." He turned his green eyes on Dawn and they opened wide. He also looked like he wasn't breathing.

The old man took a step forward and reached for Dawn needing to know she wasn't a trick of his eyes. An illusion created by his mind through regret. Regret for not being there to protect someone like he should have. Regret that he wasn't there when someone needed him.

Dawn saw the old man moving toward her. She shifted till she was huddled under Mark. Mark put a protective arm around her. "Excuse me sir. If you don't mind, she doesn't like strangers touching her."

"Sorry. I just thought I saw my sister, but that's impossible, isn't it? Your lady just looks like my sister from fifty years ago." The old man sighed. "I've just missed her so much." The old man straightened up and turn partially away. "Forgive me for frightening her."

"What's your name?" Mark said without a hint of anger in his voice. The old man was hurting. How could he be angry? He didn't want to hurt Dawn. The old man just wanted to see if she was his long lost sister.

The old man looked back. "Stephan Mannings."

Mark's eyes went wide as he looked down at Dawn who went rigid. Mark remembered seeing that she had a much younger brother in the family photo. He even asked what his name was at the agency.

Dawn slowly looked over at the old man who hadn't moved after Mark's reaction. "Stephan?" She breathed as she moved and stood up slowly with Mark matching her. She was trembling slightly.

Mark was afraid that she would go running in a split second. He didn't want her to run. Not anymore. She had been running for fifty years and needed to learn that it was alright to stop now.

To Mark's shock and awe, Dawn walked slowly to Stephan. Mark held the hand she had reached to him. She needed reassurance that it was okay to step forward. And she took strength feeling Mark was with her.

"Fen?" Stephan took a startled step back.

"Dawnie?" Stephan asked as he reached a hand toward Dawn's face. She closed her eyes and turned a fraction of an inch away from the hand. "Oh Dawnie. Is it really you?" He placed his hand delicately on her cheek. She nodded for him as she opened her eyes to him. "How is this possible?"

Dawn became scared and turned around right into Mark who wrapped his arms around her. "It's alright. Please don't run. You don't have to run now. I'm here with you." Mark looked to Stephan. "Please she needs time with this." Mark handed him a business card.

Stephan took the card and nodded. "I'll leave you two." Stephan went to touch Dawn's hair, but stopped. "Please forgive me for not protecting you sister. I was not strong enough at the time." He was only thirteen then and his parents had him thinking it was for the best to not interfere with her destiny.

Mark felt Dawn relax to the apology. She wasn't going to run and he could feel it. She leaned into him as Stephan walked away glancing back every so often then looking down at the business card before proceeding on.

"How about we go back to my place?" Dawn nodded into Mark's chest. He led her back to the blanket. "I'll clean this up then we can...go..." Mark's voice trailed off when everything shimmered around them.

Suddenly they were back at his place with the blanket and basket sitting on the floor like it was in the park. Dawn's mouth started to quirk up as she glanced up at Mark's confused face.

She took his hand and he looked at her. "Sorry. I...I wanted to get away faster."

"How?"

She looked down at his hand which she started playing with. "I didn't mean to use my power. I just wanted to be here and it happened. I had no idea my powers had grown."

Mark heard the unsure tone in Dawn's voice. He put a hand on her cheek and brought her face up to his. "I think I like that. Saved us walking time." He leaned forward and kissed her.

Dawn sighed as she wrapped her arms around his neck. She loved how he made her comfortably lost with his kisses and his touches. Everything that happened to her faded away with him near her.

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