�Well, look who�s finally up!� said Diane as she came out of the bathroom.

Harry exhaled and fell back on the bed, relieved.

�Oh, I�m sorry, did I wake you? I didn�t mean to startle you,� Diane�s face was concerned and caring, even if he could hear the tension in her voice. She had obviously had time to get used to his appearance, because she didn�t recoil in horror at the sight of him.

�Good morning,� Harry rasped.

�Uh, okay. Good morning,� Diane responded, and smiled.

Harry gave her a curious look, and then went into the bathroom to relieve himself. Harry took one look at himself in the mirror, bruised, bandaged, eye blackened, gashes in his neck and on his forehead, lumps on his head, and he was surprised to find his eyes began leaking. �Hmmm. Must be some residual trauma to the eye,� Harry mumbled, wiping away the moisture from his cheeks with his fingers. With his good hand, he splashed some water on his face and gingerly rubbed his eyes, then dabbed himself dry with a towel. He cleared his throat with a cough again, and headed out.

�Would you like some Tylenol? You must not be feeling very good right now,� Diane said, looking up from her book as he came out of the bathroom.

�I like waking up with you in the room,� Harry said. Diane got a pained look in her expression, and looked down at her book again.

�Denby, don�t start.�

�Trust me, I am in no position to start anything right now.�

�That�s right. I could do some serious damage to you if you crossed the line,� Diane managed a smile.

�Well, that doesn�t change the fact that you look lovely in the morning.�

�I wish I could say the same for you. Besides, it�s three o�clock in the afternoon, Denby. Do you have any idea what day it is?�

�No. But I�m more interested in why I�m waking to find you in my room.�

�Someone with a gun needed to look out for you while you slept off your last load.�

�What load?� Denby looked like he was genuinely confused.