Calm Wanderer
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(MNIBP) Chapter 5 - An emotional awakening (Part 1)
🕑 Added 2023-07-07 13:40:46 +0000 UTCHospital Room, Somewhere.
Ben's P.O.V.
What appeared in front of his eyes was, as he predicted, a hospital room. However, its features were more reminiscent of a sci-fi movie than a regular room. Whether it was the walls, doors, or even the machines, everything had that sleek, futuristic look to them. The only discordant element was the lack of windows and thus natural light was completely absent.
Despite being familiar with hospitals, both as a regular patient due to combat injuries and as a former medic trainee, the only instrument he could identify was the cardiac event monitor on his left side. Well, that and the I.V. drip bag with its tube stuck in his left arm. 'Would that count as a machine, though?' He randomly thought.
Pushing aside his pointless thought, his gaze turned toward the mechanical clock hung up on the wall, finding it a bit of a mismatch to the rest. '1 A.M., uh? I'll probably have to wait till tomorrow morning to ask the doctor how broken my body is...' Despite his decision, Ben turned his head slightly down to look at himself, trying to determine through his vision and body perception, the extent of the damage.
'Let's see... My neck doesn't hurt when I move it... My back muscles and my spine do though... I can move my limbs, so, no paralysis. From the numb feeling in my whole body, I'm certain they used some kind of painkiller. I can still feel some pain, which can only mean one of two things. One, the dosage was too low, or two, my increased physiology got rid of some of it. Maybe it's both.'
Using his experience and, unknowingly, his increased body attributes, the injured man continued his self-inspection. 'Ribs? From the sensation, they're still broken. I don't feel them piercing anything in my body anymore, so it's something. From the rate at which I'm healing, they should be much better, though. My other bones should be in a pretty similar situation. My heart? No straining feeling. I'll need to check during effort, but it should be okay with my healing factor. Lungs? A small strain, probably from my ribs piercing them before I was knocked out. The pain decreased, so they shouldn't take too long to heal up. Stomach area? Some small aches. Nothing frightening, but I'm glad the IV fluid will help bypass that problem until my body heals...'
Sighing in relief at the result of his examination, he could not stop a smile from appearing on his face. Gazing aimlessly at the ceiling for a while, it finally struck him. “I'm alive...” He whispered, tears flowing down his cheeks without restraint. “I'm still alive...”
From the time he and his brother lost his parents, he never broke, never cried. He had to stay strong because he knew. He knew that life could throw you under the bus at any time and if he was not ready... Then he lost his brother and his sister-in-law. That almost destroyed him. Only with the help of two things did he keep going.
The first was his job, which gave him a purpose. Although, to be fair it was mostly because he could 'drown' himself in it, allowing him to bury all the grief he felt, deep in his heart.
The second reason was the relationship between May and him becoming more and more serious, to the point they had even started living together before the accident. The woman being a constant support to Ben through the events, to the point that she even agreed to take in Peter, even though she would have to take care of him alone when he had to leave for a while many times, because of his job.
It did work out somewhat as time passed and they found their balance. However, Ben started to think about retiring from military life. After all, having a great family is nice, but if he died in combat, then there's no point.
And thus came the third huge blow in his life. His last mission led to a serious and, as far as the doctors declared, incurable injury to his reproductive organs which rendered him sterile. That was the last straw for a man who had always bottled up his emotions inside. Indeed, he always thought that as long as he did not think about it, then it would go away. Turned out he was dead wrong.
And dead he almost became, from his own hand no less. Thankfully, his loved ones were very supportive, even if some days were harder than others, even for them. May, Peter, and even Mady always tried to cheer him up. The latter, who had recently moved to the adjacent house to theirs, hit it off with May right away. Despite not being too clear about her past, the couple could still infer her difficult past because of some telling signs.
As for the kid? Well, he was obviously too young to completely understand what was going on, but Ben knew that Peter could feel his anxiety. Children were very perceptive, after all. And so, he started to be exceedingly considerate of his uncle. From small things, like asking him how his day went, to bigger things like requesting him to teach how to repair vehicles. He even demanded to play sports with the man. Something Ben distinctly knew the kid hated. Well, hate may be too strong a word, but he did not enjoy it. That much was clear. It felt a bit like a puppy trying to cheer up its owner. Weird analogy, he knew, but whatever.
And thus his destructive feelings decreased more and more until he could finally live normally without collapsing from all the pain.
Then came the aliens... He was certain he would have been killed if not for his physiology perk activating and if he was not quickly transferred to this hospital. For once, misfortune turned into luck. That life-and-death situation was evidently life-changing for the man. In more ways than one. Recalling his previous life's memories did a number on him, though. Especially the fact that he would never see his mother, brother, and sister again. His life felt like a long string of loss...
And thus he cried and cried, this time choosing to embrace his emotions, as pain and relief invaded his heart. Never again would he bury his feelings inside. Never again would he let himself crumble from the weight of his mounting misery. Instead, he would do his best to live a fulfilling life, with all that entails.
Ben's silent weeping only stopped after a long time, leaving him exhausted, coupled with a peculiar sensation, akin to a rock having been lifted from his chest and his mind becoming clearer. 'Never thought that crying could feel so pleasant.' He thought, as his eyelids grew heavy.
His eyes then closed, his breathing slowing down, and his mind falling into unconsciousness, this time, willingly.
A certain amount of time later, Ben was awakened by the sound of two people whispering around him. As his eyes fluttered open, he heard an exclamation of shock from them. “Ben, are you alright?” “How do you feel?” Taking less than a second to identify the voices' owners, their two beautiful faces marred with worry being right in front of his own, causing his mind to halt for a moment in surprise.
Noticing that they were overwhelming the injured man, they both blushed in embarrassment and backed off a bit to let him process the situation. Appreciating the two women's thoughtfulness, Ben smiled and could not resist teasing the two.
“Hello there! And how do I feel? Like a steamroller drove over my poor body. Multiple times. Other than that I feel great.”
His joke dissipated the tension in the room, eliciting small grins from the two women. Looking at them, he noted the glaring differences between the two. The first looked like a 30 years old woman, despite being slightly older in reality, the only evidence of her real age being some barely visible wrinkles adorning her face.
She had black long hair with brown eyes not yet reaching the middle of her back, a slender body type with toned buttocks and C-cup breasts. At her height of 5ft (1m52), she reminded him of a lively fairy. A sexy one though.
The second woman was completely different from the first, whether in looks or temperament. Despite her similarly long hair, hers was as red as fire, being a perfect representation of her inner strength in his opinion.
She was quite tall for a woman, reaching around 5ft8 (Around 1m76), not far from his height of 6ft (1m82). Unlike his personal raven-hair beauty, however, her body proportions leaned more on curvaceous than slender, with a remarkable combination of both an imposing bust and backside.
As for her temperament, the word coming to his mind would be cautious. Having known her for a while, he was aware that the only people she trusted were May and him. From what Ben gleaned here and there, he guessed that the source of her attitude was because of her ex-husband and something he did. As for the details? He had no idea since the woman was probably even more tight-lipped than him. And that was saying something, knowing how the man used to deal with his emotions.
Of course, he did not have any ground to criticize her, since he was convinced that people needed to be more careful about whom they trusted. Appearances could be deceiving and the 'wolf in sheep's clothing' is not as rare as many thought. A few of his colleagues had their lives destroyed because of that, making him wary of relationships. Nonetheless, May still succeeded in breaking the shell around his heart, changing his mindset slightly with her constant effort. She just had a way with people, that was impossible for others to replicate. It was what it was.
Going back to the two beautiful middle-aged women, they quickly caught Ben staring at them, eliciting a blush from the redhead, while the smaller woman pushed her proud assets forward, letting him admire them as much as he wanted. Cocking her eyebrow, she asked with a knowing smile. “Like what you see, handsome?” Keeping his face serene, he answered with a nod of his head. “Very much. You're incredibly attractive. A goddess in the flesh.”
His answer caused a blush to emerge on his wife's face, her body squirming from embarrassment, with her eyes avoiding his, muttering under her breath. “God, you're so corny... You changed, Parker... But why do I like it so much?...” She finished in a whisper. Chuckling from her nonsense, Ben added. “Mrs. Parker, I'd like you to know that it's called being thoughtful, not corny. There's a difference. Don't you agree, Mady?” He asked the redhead on his other side, not noticing a surprised look progressively appearing on May's face as her husband kept up the teasing.
Giggling slightly from the banter, the voluptuous woman answered, her head tilted to the side, trying to portray innocence. “There's a difference? I really didn't know.” Closing his eyes, Ben retorted in a dramatic tone of voice. “So, the two of you teamed up. I can't win then, can I?” Despite his words, the sound of snickering escaping his mouth betrayed his true feelings.
As he felt the touch of a hand on his own, May questioned him 'seriously'. “What happened to my innocent and shy Ben? What have you done to him, impostor?” Flinching imperceptibly from her query, Ben knew that a talk with her would be needed about his current situation. After all, although he was still Ben Parker, he was not ONLY Ben Parker. And his wife would notice the differences.
