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Sorry about the wait. Was good this time, had everything edited and ready to put this chapter up so everyone could read but... Fanfiction wouldnt let me up load it, so this time, it wasnt my fault. lol. As always, this is co-written, hope you all enjoy.
Gracie had received her bags when she woke early. She spent the better part of an hour putting things into her draws and around her room, the little odd and ends she had collected over the years. But what she was most interested in was the arm load of presents she had bought and wrapped for Bailey. She couldn’t wait to give them to her.
Bailey was awake and washed, ready for the day much earlier than usual. She was so excited about her presents, wondering what they could be. She didn’t get presents very often and figured Gracie must have been really good if they were going to let her bring things back with her. It had been hard without Gracie here, but she was a big girl now and had to 'adapt'. She didn’t really like that word, they only used it when things were going to change, and change in a bad way. But all of that was forgotten as she sat on her freshly made bed, staring at the door as if her sheer will could make Gracie come faster.
Gracie struggled with the door and finally opened it. She smiled as she saw Bailey changed and ready for the day, her bed made, room cleaned up. She was also so good when it came to things like that. She moved over to the bed and dumped the arm loads of presents, “Morning Bailey." Though she wasn’t expecting much of a response when there were presents involved.
“Oohhhhhhhhh," Bailey said as she walked in and she saw all the presents. She jumped up, almost too excited to speak.
Gracie sat down, “Come on Bailey, calm down for me.” She handed her one of the presents, it was hard and heavy. She had found this book on American animals that would tell Bailey what they were, showed the pictures of what they looked like, how they lived, where they lived and what they ate.
“Gracie,” She said with a huge grin, hardly paying attention to what was in her hands. "Is ALL of this stuff for me?"
"Yes, everything. Why don’t you go ahead and open them. See what they are.” She would die to be able to celebrate Christmas with Bailey, now knowing about it. And she wished she knew both of their birthdays.
She took a deep breath and started to unwrap the first one with infinite care. She knew it was a book, but didn’t know what it was about. She had thought about cheating, but this was too much fun, so she shut herself off from most of Gracie’s thoughts so as not to ruin the surprise.
Gracie watched anxiously, hoping Bailey would like it. She had gotten her a stuffed animal, it was meant to be an American icon. She had given her a yogi bear, finding it not only cute but funny. She had some nice jewellery and I Love New York t-shirt.
When the book was finally revealed, Bailey looked up at her with a huge smile. “Ohhhh Gracie, this is soooo good. Thank you.” She put the book down on the bed carefully and then threw herself at her sister, all the other presents momentarily forgotten.
Gracie almost fell backwards and bit back her scream as Bailey collided with her sore ribs. "You're welcome honey, go ahead and open the rest.” She wasn’t going to let a bit of pain stop her from enjoying such a wonderful sight.
“Sorry,” She said instantly when she realised that she had hurt her. She had forgotten all about it in her excitement.
“Don’t worry about it Bailey, go on, I want to see if you like what else I got for you."
She nodded and picked up another one, unwrapping is just as carefully to find a large stuffed animal that looked like... She wasn’t sure what it looked like. She frowned in concentration. "I will call him Albert,” She said. "But Gracie, animals are not supposed to wear jackets."
Gracie laughed, "Yes I know they aren’t. But this is a cartoon character Bailey. His name is Yogi Bear.” She told her with a smile, her confusion a nice sight to see, glad she wasn’t the only one confused all the time.
"Yogi?” She asked. "He doesn’t look like Yogi to me, he looks like Albert."
“Well you can call him Albert if you like. He is yours." Bailey always seemed to come up with the most old-fashioned names for her pets. And she had to wonder where they came from.
She thought about it for a minute, her face turning serious before she sighed. “No, if his name is Yogi, then it is Yogi, but that sounds like a strange name, but I like him,” She declared formally.
"Bailey, you call him what you want. There is no reason you can’t change his name. Come on, open the rest." Gracie said, not sure who was more excited.
She worked her way through the pile, ohhh and ahhing over them all. When she found the t-shirt, she pulled her own off and put it on. It was way too big on her. “Gracie?” She asked. “Why do I love New York, and who is it?"
"It is a city in the US Bailey. People buy these things while they are holidaying. It’s called a souvenir."
“Ohhh,” She nodded, thinking about the new word. “Why?” She asked, looking at the shirt, wishing she had a mirror so she could see herself in it.
"I don’t know why Bailey. They just do. A reminder I guess. And I thought you might like it is all.” She shrugged. She picked up the necklace and put it on her. “This is an emerald, to go with your beautiful green eyes." Bailey’s eyes were an even deeper shade of green than her own.
"It is beautiful Gracie,” She said fingering it. She didn’t understand that it was worth a lot of money and was more interested in the book really, and the weird looking bear named Yogi.
"I’m glad you like it.” She smiled and kissed her brow. "I have to get going. But I am planning on going out after Jarod's SIM, I will see about taking you with me for a ride." Grace offered.
“Outside?” She asked in a whisper.
"Yeah. It won’t just be how we use to sit near the door and watch the sunset, I need to go into town to see someone.” She had only sat outside with her a few times, before she left on her assignment and Bailey was very young and probably couldn’t remember.
"Into town?” She asked, her eyes opening wide at the thought of it. It was scary but exciting too.
"Yeah.” She nodded and climbed to her feet. "I will be back after the SIM to let you know what is happening."
Bailey nodded happily, hugging her Yogi to her chest, clad in her new shirt. She would play with Walter for a while and read her book until they came for her. When breakfast came, Walter would need to eat too.
She gave Bailey a kiss, "I'll see you later Bailey, be a good girl for me.” She told her as she walked to the door.
“Always," Bailey said as she opened the door. “Thanks Gracie, I love everything."
"I’m glad you do.” She smiled at her and walked out. She was so happy Bailey liked her gifts and walked to the medical wing with a grin on her face. She saw Jarod enter just before for her and followed in. “Good morning."
“Morning," Jarod said quietly. He was tired, having had some horrendous dreams last night and the concrete floor had not done anything but aggravate his sore and abused body.
Grace moved over and stood next to him, “Good morning nurse Jane. We need a full medical, body samples too.” She knew the blood test would be fine, but she also knew this nurse would be a bit more... personal when taking sperm samples from Jarod. And would probably enjoy it immensely.
Jarod stiffened a little at those words and looked at her sharply.
“Don’t look like that Jarod, show some respect.” She scolded him. “This is a medical exam. You don’t think we won’t need body samples?"
“What kind of samples?” He asked, already guessing the answer to that.
“Never you mind,” She said ignoring him. “Nurse Jane, please start the exam.” She turned back to Jarod, “Strip."
“Can I get some privacy?” He asked in the vain hope she would leave.
“So now you are shy?” She asked him with raised eyebrows. “Now I told you to strip.” Gracie barked at him. She wanted this done as soon as possible, not put up with Jarod's silly behaviour.
Jane stood by and watched, wondering if he was going to cooperate or she was going to have to call the guards in. She would have much preferred the time alone with him, she could make it fun for him.
Jarod shook his head and crossed his arms across his chest, letting her know he was not going to cooperate with this any further.
Gracie sighed. "Jarod, I am not in the mood for these games. I just had a nice morning with Bailey, and I will not let you ruin it. I need the best report I can get from everyone involved with this project so I am allowed to take her outside for a while. And before you say it Jarod, I am not trying to manipulate you. I am just asking a favour. Be stubborn tomorrow for all I care. But not today. Today I want to take her outside and won’t be allowed if Mr Marcus hears I can’t even get you to go through a medical without a fight.” She said softly, pleading.
Jarod scowled at her. She had told him flatly she would not use her sister, and here she was, less than a day later, using her against him. He knew that she knew he would want her to be allowed this, and he also realised that there would always be the 'just not today' excuse. Every time he dug his heels in, she would find some way to link her sister's privileges to his continued cooperation. He could see his future stretched out clearly before him.
“Excuse us nurse Jane.” Gracie said, not taking her eyes off of Jarod, waiting for her to leave.
“Of course,” She said and slipped out. This one was going to be trouble, and he would be in here lots she was guessing. But she could cope with that, knowing that they would keep hurting him until he gave in, but never enough to do any kind of real damage. And if he were in here frequently, it would certainly brighten up her days.
When she was gone, she looked at Jarod. “I am not using her against you, no matter what you think Jarod. I just don’t want to disappoint her when I go back after your SIM and say she isn’t allowed out. I know this will seem bad to you Jarod, but honestly, its not. I am just asking for you to behave, just today. Submit to this exam, do your SIM, which I promise will only be a basic problem solving one. It will not be used like the others. And the only time I will ask for you to behave like this instead of just forcing it, is on the rare occasion I can take her outside or give her something.”
Jarod shook his head, fuming silently. She could protest all she wanted, but it came down to the exact same thing. Behave or the little girl is hurt and it is your fault. Not trusting himself to speak, too angry and hurt and disappointed at the moment, he simply pulled his shirt off wordlessly and then his pants and underwear, standing naked before her.
Gracie took both his hands in hers and gasped at such strong emotions from him and forced herself to ignore him. “Jarod, listen to me. Today you be the good little project I know you were trained to be, and not say no to anything so I can do this for Bailey. Tomorrow, for all I care, you can be as stubborn as you like. Bailey will not be brought into it. I know how hurt you are right now that I am using her in your eyes. And I am sorry for that. I really am.”
He refused to look at her. “Why don’t you bring in the nurse?” He asked flatly.
“No.” She said, dropping his hands. “Not till you understand I am not using her against you.”
"Fine, I understand, now let's get on with this. And what do you care anyway, I am just your project. It is wrong for you to care about such things."
She looked at him with her green eyes, “I know it is wrong, I know the punishments if they find out. But it seems to me you have been making me do a lot of things lately that go against my training. And I am not sure if it is good or bad. I care because I can tell how hurt and upset you are over this. I never even stoped to think how you would see me asking you to behave would look like I’m using my sister against you.”
"Just call in the nurse, you are not using time efficiently, allowing emotions to interfere with your job. You have my cooperation now, accept it and be happy."
Gracie looked at him sadly and stepped away, “I’m sorry.” She whispered at his harsh tones. She was used to Jarod’s soft, friendly and quite tones, not flat emotionless ones. “Nurse Jane, can you come back please?”
Jarod understood the desire to see the outside world, and what an important day this was for Bailey and it would break his heart to take this from her. He also knew just how effective she was being used to manipulate him as well. He could still refuse, but then the sweepers would be called in and he would be subjected to the exam anyway.
Gracie waited as the nurse came back in. “He is ready for the full exam.” She said sitting on the chair to supervise.
Jarod stood perfectly still, his eyes on the ground, awaiting instructions. He had suffered enough medical exams at the Centre to know what to expect.
Jane did all the boring things first. Checked his eye sight, his heart, breathing, reflexes. Writing everything down on the chart. She got him to do some balancing tests, and checked his ears. “Is there any allergies that you know of that you have?” She asked him scribbling yet again on his new file.
"Pistachios,” He answered dutifully. The nurse seemed professional enough, and didn’t seem to want to hurt him, being gentle, but efficient.
“I will make sure your cook knows not to give you anything with nuts in it then.” She looked at him. “Any medical conditions or disease we should know about?” Jane asked in a professional voice.
“No, nothing. Only condition I have now is a gunshot, but perhaps you should test for rabies, hepatitis...” He rattled a list off to her of every possible disease that he had SIMed he might have gotten from those rats.
Jane nodded and moved to look at the wound. “Just let me clean this and stitch it. I need to take some blood as it is, so I will run a test for you.” She said, removing the blood bandage and going about cleaning and stitching it with care.
Jarod remained quiet as she tended the wound, refusing to look at Grace at all.
When it was done and freshly wrapped, she got out the syringe taking his arm, she tied the tube around it and found a vein and went about taking out a few vials of blood and marking each one.
Jarod hated this, hated being treated as if he was nothing more that something to be tested an examined.
Jane snapped on some gloves and put lubricant on her fingers. “Touch your toes please Jarod.” This was where things got fun for her and the other nurses.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, bending down, grabbing his ankles, awaiting the inevitable.
Jane pushed her fingers into Jarod as gently as she could and felt around for a few minutes. “Have you ever had any problems here before Jarod?” She asked as she checked him out.
“No,” He grunted, trying to remain calm. The only problems he had ever had was when people like her wanted to stick their fingers up there.
“Good to hear.” She nodded and withdrew from him. Throwing the used glove in the bin, “You may stand up.” She ordered him as she scribbled a few more notes down.
He steadied himself as he stood up, trying to pull the last shred of his dignity together.
Jane snapped on some more gloves and greased her fingers up again, she knelt in front of him and checked his penis out. “Do you have any STD’s?” She asked him professionally, loving the nervousness coming from Jarod.
“No," Jarod said, forcing himself to remain calm, looking up at the ceiling which seemed to have the most fascinating imperfections.
“The owners will be pleased to hear that.” Jane said and stood up, grabbing a container. This was what she loved the most, but she hid it well. “We need some samples from you Jarod.” Some of the nurses would let them do it themselves, but not her. She wrapped a hand around him and started moving it up and down.
“Oh no," Jarod said and backed away quickly. He would put up with many things, but not this.
Jane sighed and called in the two men outside and watched as they grabbed his arms roughly and held him still. “You do not have a say Jarod, I am just trying to do my job.” She said and started again as Jarod tried in vain to struggle in the tight grips.
Jarod had to fight the tears from falling at this latest violation. They were harvesting his right to have his own children, if he so desired and he wondered if they would use his sperm to impregnate women, if there would be his children raised their entire lives in a place like this. He finally stopped fighting and just let them do what they were going to do. Not even the Centre had been this cruel in taking what they had wanted.
Jane brought Jarod to life and kept at it until he had deposited his sample into the container. Setting it aside, so the lab techs could take it and store it, she took the gloves off. “We will need a few more samples, but that will be done next time. Miss Gracie, I am finished with your project.”
“Thank you. You all may leave us now.” She said, watching as the nurse took the blood and sperm samples and her file and left with the two sweepers. “Get dressed Jarod.”
He refused to look at any of them as the nurse finished him off, trying to fight the inevitable. He picked his clothes up off the floor and dressed himself quickly. He wanted to say something mean to her, but he kept his mouth shut, knowing it wouldn’t help the situation.
“Have you been fed yet Jarod?” She asked as he dressed, watching him carefully.
“No,” He answered dutifully. Food was the very last thing on his mind at the moment. He had been trying to ignore his hunger for a while now and guessed he had just found a really good way to take his mind off of it. Now he just felt hollow and numb, trying desperately not to think about this latest violation.
“So I am to presume you have not been allowed to use the bathroom either yet?” Feeding and bathroom trips always came hand in hand.
“No,"
“Let’s go then. Bathroom first, then food and drink.” She said, standing up. Grace walked him out of the room, watching as he was gripped tightly by the two men. “We are going to the bathroom.” She informed them, walking with the three men to the public bathroom. Gracie looked at the open showers and toilets in the clean room.
Jarod didn’t resist as he was pulled along behind them. He felt the dull ache of what it was like to be treated as a possession again, to be so dehumanised. He had lived most of his life that way of course, but it was such a terrible shock to him now. He had become too accustomed to his life outside of the Centre, and even though he never took his freedom for granted, he didn’t really think he would ever have to give it up. He played a game with them, always half a step ahead. This had just been incredibly dumb luck, and now he was even worse off than he had been when Lyle had caught him.
“Wait outside.” She ordered the guards, “Jarod, you may wash and use the toilet,” She said, though more as an order. There were no cubicles in this room. The shower roses on one wall of the tiled room, the toilets on the other. All open for anyone to see what you were doing.
Jarod waited for the sweepers grips to be removed and then he pulled his clothes off, washing himself quickly, being careful of his freshly bandaged arm. He was not surprised to see that the showers were cold.
Gracie looked up as she heard the bathroom door opened and a girl of about 16 walk in. She watched as she ignored both people in there and stripped and stood next to Jarod’s ‘shower’ and turned her own tap on and washing herself.
Jarod saw the girl and felt like he was some kind of pervert exposing himself to her. He understood that was not the case, but it just felt so wrong. He finished up quickly, looking anywhere but at the naked girl. “Do I get a towel?” He asked, standing there dripping.
She looked at the girl’s towel back to Jarod, “Not yet. You haven’t earnt it yet. After you complete the SIM successfully, I think that will be the next step. A towel.”
He sighed and leant down to pick up his clothes and used them to start drying himself off, guessing he would have to wear damp clothes all day.
Bailey was awake and washed, ready for the day much earlier than usual. She was so excited about her presents, wondering what they could be. She didn’t get presents very often and figured Gracie must have been really good if they were going to let her bring things back with her. It had been hard without Gracie here, but she was a big girl now and had to 'adapt'. She didn’t really like that word, they only used it when things were going to change, and change in a bad way. But all of that was forgotten as she sat on her freshly made bed, staring at the door as if her sheer will could make Gracie come faster.
Gracie struggled with the door and finally opened it. She smiled as she saw Bailey changed and ready for the day, her bed made, room cleaned up. She was also so good when it came to things like that. She moved over to the bed and dumped the arm loads of presents, “Morning Bailey." Though she wasn’t expecting much of a response when there were presents involved.
“Oohhhhhhhhh," Bailey said as she walked in and she saw all the presents. She jumped up, almost too excited to speak.
Gracie sat down, “Come on Bailey, calm down for me.” She handed her one of the presents, it was hard and heavy. She had found this book on American animals that would tell Bailey what they were, showed the pictures of what they looked like, how they lived, where they lived and what they ate.
“Gracie,” She said with a huge grin, hardly paying attention to what was in her hands. "Is ALL of this stuff for me?"
"Yes, everything. Why don’t you go ahead and open them. See what they are.” She would die to be able to celebrate Christmas with Bailey, now knowing about it. And she wished she knew both of their birthdays.
She took a deep breath and started to unwrap the first one with infinite care. She knew it was a book, but didn’t know what it was about. She had thought about cheating, but this was too much fun, so she shut herself off from most of Gracie’s thoughts so as not to ruin the surprise.
Gracie watched anxiously, hoping Bailey would like it. She had gotten her a stuffed animal, it was meant to be an American icon. She had given her a yogi bear, finding it not only cute but funny. She had some nice jewellery and I Love New York t-shirt.
When the book was finally revealed, Bailey looked up at her with a huge smile. “Ohhhh Gracie, this is soooo good. Thank you.” She put the book down on the bed carefully and then threw herself at her sister, all the other presents momentarily forgotten.
Gracie almost fell backwards and bit back her scream as Bailey collided with her sore ribs. "You're welcome honey, go ahead and open the rest.” She wasn’t going to let a bit of pain stop her from enjoying such a wonderful sight.
“Sorry,” She said instantly when she realised that she had hurt her. She had forgotten all about it in her excitement.
“Don’t worry about it Bailey, go on, I want to see if you like what else I got for you."
She nodded and picked up another one, unwrapping is just as carefully to find a large stuffed animal that looked like... She wasn’t sure what it looked like. She frowned in concentration. "I will call him Albert,” She said. "But Gracie, animals are not supposed to wear jackets."
Gracie laughed, "Yes I know they aren’t. But this is a cartoon character Bailey. His name is Yogi Bear.” She told her with a smile, her confusion a nice sight to see, glad she wasn’t the only one confused all the time.
"Yogi?” She asked. "He doesn’t look like Yogi to me, he looks like Albert."
“Well you can call him Albert if you like. He is yours." Bailey always seemed to come up with the most old-fashioned names for her pets. And she had to wonder where they came from.
She thought about it for a minute, her face turning serious before she sighed. “No, if his name is Yogi, then it is Yogi, but that sounds like a strange name, but I like him,” She declared formally.
"Bailey, you call him what you want. There is no reason you can’t change his name. Come on, open the rest." Gracie said, not sure who was more excited.
She worked her way through the pile, ohhh and ahhing over them all. When she found the t-shirt, she pulled her own off and put it on. It was way too big on her. “Gracie?” She asked. “Why do I love New York, and who is it?"
"It is a city in the US Bailey. People buy these things while they are holidaying. It’s called a souvenir."
“Ohhh,” She nodded, thinking about the new word. “Why?” She asked, looking at the shirt, wishing she had a mirror so she could see herself in it.
"I don’t know why Bailey. They just do. A reminder I guess. And I thought you might like it is all.” She shrugged. She picked up the necklace and put it on her. “This is an emerald, to go with your beautiful green eyes." Bailey’s eyes were an even deeper shade of green than her own.
"It is beautiful Gracie,” She said fingering it. She didn’t understand that it was worth a lot of money and was more interested in the book really, and the weird looking bear named Yogi.
"I’m glad you like it.” She smiled and kissed her brow. "I have to get going. But I am planning on going out after Jarod's SIM, I will see about taking you with me for a ride." Grace offered.
“Outside?” She asked in a whisper.
"Yeah. It won’t just be how we use to sit near the door and watch the sunset, I need to go into town to see someone.” She had only sat outside with her a few times, before she left on her assignment and Bailey was very young and probably couldn’t remember.
"Into town?” She asked, her eyes opening wide at the thought of it. It was scary but exciting too.
"Yeah.” She nodded and climbed to her feet. "I will be back after the SIM to let you know what is happening."
Bailey nodded happily, hugging her Yogi to her chest, clad in her new shirt. She would play with Walter for a while and read her book until they came for her. When breakfast came, Walter would need to eat too.
She gave Bailey a kiss, "I'll see you later Bailey, be a good girl for me.” She told her as she walked to the door.
“Always," Bailey said as she opened the door. “Thanks Gracie, I love everything."
"I’m glad you do.” She smiled at her and walked out. She was so happy Bailey liked her gifts and walked to the medical wing with a grin on her face. She saw Jarod enter just before for her and followed in. “Good morning."
“Morning," Jarod said quietly. He was tired, having had some horrendous dreams last night and the concrete floor had not done anything but aggravate his sore and abused body.
Grace moved over and stood next to him, “Good morning nurse Jane. We need a full medical, body samples too.” She knew the blood test would be fine, but she also knew this nurse would be a bit more... personal when taking sperm samples from Jarod. And would probably enjoy it immensely.
Jarod stiffened a little at those words and looked at her sharply.
“Don’t look like that Jarod, show some respect.” She scolded him. “This is a medical exam. You don’t think we won’t need body samples?"
“What kind of samples?” He asked, already guessing the answer to that.
“Never you mind,” She said ignoring him. “Nurse Jane, please start the exam.” She turned back to Jarod, “Strip."
“Can I get some privacy?” He asked in the vain hope she would leave.
“So now you are shy?” She asked him with raised eyebrows. “Now I told you to strip.” Gracie barked at him. She wanted this done as soon as possible, not put up with Jarod's silly behaviour.
Jane stood by and watched, wondering if he was going to cooperate or she was going to have to call the guards in. She would have much preferred the time alone with him, she could make it fun for him.
Jarod shook his head and crossed his arms across his chest, letting her know he was not going to cooperate with this any further.
Gracie sighed. "Jarod, I am not in the mood for these games. I just had a nice morning with Bailey, and I will not let you ruin it. I need the best report I can get from everyone involved with this project so I am allowed to take her outside for a while. And before you say it Jarod, I am not trying to manipulate you. I am just asking a favour. Be stubborn tomorrow for all I care. But not today. Today I want to take her outside and won’t be allowed if Mr Marcus hears I can’t even get you to go through a medical without a fight.” She said softly, pleading.
Jarod scowled at her. She had told him flatly she would not use her sister, and here she was, less than a day later, using her against him. He knew that she knew he would want her to be allowed this, and he also realised that there would always be the 'just not today' excuse. Every time he dug his heels in, she would find some way to link her sister's privileges to his continued cooperation. He could see his future stretched out clearly before him.
“Excuse us nurse Jane.” Gracie said, not taking her eyes off of Jarod, waiting for her to leave.
“Of course,” She said and slipped out. This one was going to be trouble, and he would be in here lots she was guessing. But she could cope with that, knowing that they would keep hurting him until he gave in, but never enough to do any kind of real damage. And if he were in here frequently, it would certainly brighten up her days.
When she was gone, she looked at Jarod. “I am not using her against you, no matter what you think Jarod. I just don’t want to disappoint her when I go back after your SIM and say she isn’t allowed out. I know this will seem bad to you Jarod, but honestly, its not. I am just asking for you to behave, just today. Submit to this exam, do your SIM, which I promise will only be a basic problem solving one. It will not be used like the others. And the only time I will ask for you to behave like this instead of just forcing it, is on the rare occasion I can take her outside or give her something.”
Jarod shook his head, fuming silently. She could protest all she wanted, but it came down to the exact same thing. Behave or the little girl is hurt and it is your fault. Not trusting himself to speak, too angry and hurt and disappointed at the moment, he simply pulled his shirt off wordlessly and then his pants and underwear, standing naked before her.
Gracie took both his hands in hers and gasped at such strong emotions from him and forced herself to ignore him. “Jarod, listen to me. Today you be the good little project I know you were trained to be, and not say no to anything so I can do this for Bailey. Tomorrow, for all I care, you can be as stubborn as you like. Bailey will not be brought into it. I know how hurt you are right now that I am using her in your eyes. And I am sorry for that. I really am.”
He refused to look at her. “Why don’t you bring in the nurse?” He asked flatly.
“No.” She said, dropping his hands. “Not till you understand I am not using her against you.”
"Fine, I understand, now let's get on with this. And what do you care anyway, I am just your project. It is wrong for you to care about such things."
She looked at him with her green eyes, “I know it is wrong, I know the punishments if they find out. But it seems to me you have been making me do a lot of things lately that go against my training. And I am not sure if it is good or bad. I care because I can tell how hurt and upset you are over this. I never even stoped to think how you would see me asking you to behave would look like I’m using my sister against you.”
"Just call in the nurse, you are not using time efficiently, allowing emotions to interfere with your job. You have my cooperation now, accept it and be happy."
Gracie looked at him sadly and stepped away, “I’m sorry.” She whispered at his harsh tones. She was used to Jarod’s soft, friendly and quite tones, not flat emotionless ones. “Nurse Jane, can you come back please?”
Jarod understood the desire to see the outside world, and what an important day this was for Bailey and it would break his heart to take this from her. He also knew just how effective she was being used to manipulate him as well. He could still refuse, but then the sweepers would be called in and he would be subjected to the exam anyway.
Gracie waited as the nurse came back in. “He is ready for the full exam.” She said sitting on the chair to supervise.
Jarod stood perfectly still, his eyes on the ground, awaiting instructions. He had suffered enough medical exams at the Centre to know what to expect.
Jane did all the boring things first. Checked his eye sight, his heart, breathing, reflexes. Writing everything down on the chart. She got him to do some balancing tests, and checked his ears. “Is there any allergies that you know of that you have?” She asked him scribbling yet again on his new file.
"Pistachios,” He answered dutifully. The nurse seemed professional enough, and didn’t seem to want to hurt him, being gentle, but efficient.
“I will make sure your cook knows not to give you anything with nuts in it then.” She looked at him. “Any medical conditions or disease we should know about?” Jane asked in a professional voice.
“No, nothing. Only condition I have now is a gunshot, but perhaps you should test for rabies, hepatitis...” He rattled a list off to her of every possible disease that he had SIMed he might have gotten from those rats.
Jane nodded and moved to look at the wound. “Just let me clean this and stitch it. I need to take some blood as it is, so I will run a test for you.” She said, removing the blood bandage and going about cleaning and stitching it with care.
Jarod remained quiet as she tended the wound, refusing to look at Grace at all.
When it was done and freshly wrapped, she got out the syringe taking his arm, she tied the tube around it and found a vein and went about taking out a few vials of blood and marking each one.
Jarod hated this, hated being treated as if he was nothing more that something to be tested an examined.
Jane snapped on some gloves and put lubricant on her fingers. “Touch your toes please Jarod.” This was where things got fun for her and the other nurses.
He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, bending down, grabbing his ankles, awaiting the inevitable.
Jane pushed her fingers into Jarod as gently as she could and felt around for a few minutes. “Have you ever had any problems here before Jarod?” She asked as she checked him out.
“No,” He grunted, trying to remain calm. The only problems he had ever had was when people like her wanted to stick their fingers up there.
“Good to hear.” She nodded and withdrew from him. Throwing the used glove in the bin, “You may stand up.” She ordered him as she scribbled a few more notes down.
He steadied himself as he stood up, trying to pull the last shred of his dignity together.
Jane snapped on some more gloves and greased her fingers up again, she knelt in front of him and checked his penis out. “Do you have any STD’s?” She asked him professionally, loving the nervousness coming from Jarod.
“No," Jarod said, forcing himself to remain calm, looking up at the ceiling which seemed to have the most fascinating imperfections.
“The owners will be pleased to hear that.” Jane said and stood up, grabbing a container. This was what she loved the most, but she hid it well. “We need some samples from you Jarod.” Some of the nurses would let them do it themselves, but not her. She wrapped a hand around him and started moving it up and down.
“Oh no," Jarod said and backed away quickly. He would put up with many things, but not this.
Jane sighed and called in the two men outside and watched as they grabbed his arms roughly and held him still. “You do not have a say Jarod, I am just trying to do my job.” She said and started again as Jarod tried in vain to struggle in the tight grips.
Jarod had to fight the tears from falling at this latest violation. They were harvesting his right to have his own children, if he so desired and he wondered if they would use his sperm to impregnate women, if there would be his children raised their entire lives in a place like this. He finally stopped fighting and just let them do what they were going to do. Not even the Centre had been this cruel in taking what they had wanted.
Jane brought Jarod to life and kept at it until he had deposited his sample into the container. Setting it aside, so the lab techs could take it and store it, she took the gloves off. “We will need a few more samples, but that will be done next time. Miss Gracie, I am finished with your project.”
“Thank you. You all may leave us now.” She said, watching as the nurse took the blood and sperm samples and her file and left with the two sweepers. “Get dressed Jarod.”
He refused to look at any of them as the nurse finished him off, trying to fight the inevitable. He picked his clothes up off the floor and dressed himself quickly. He wanted to say something mean to her, but he kept his mouth shut, knowing it wouldn’t help the situation.
“Have you been fed yet Jarod?” She asked as he dressed, watching him carefully.
“No,” He answered dutifully. Food was the very last thing on his mind at the moment. He had been trying to ignore his hunger for a while now and guessed he had just found a really good way to take his mind off of it. Now he just felt hollow and numb, trying desperately not to think about this latest violation.
“So I am to presume you have not been allowed to use the bathroom either yet?” Feeding and bathroom trips always came hand in hand.
“No,"
“Let’s go then. Bathroom first, then food and drink.” She said, standing up. Grace walked him out of the room, watching as he was gripped tightly by the two men. “We are going to the bathroom.” She informed them, walking with the three men to the public bathroom. Gracie looked at the open showers and toilets in the clean room.
Jarod didn’t resist as he was pulled along behind them. He felt the dull ache of what it was like to be treated as a possession again, to be so dehumanised. He had lived most of his life that way of course, but it was such a terrible shock to him now. He had become too accustomed to his life outside of the Centre, and even though he never took his freedom for granted, he didn’t really think he would ever have to give it up. He played a game with them, always half a step ahead. This had just been incredibly dumb luck, and now he was even worse off than he had been when Lyle had caught him.
“Wait outside.” She ordered the guards, “Jarod, you may wash and use the toilet,” She said, though more as an order. There were no cubicles in this room. The shower roses on one wall of the tiled room, the toilets on the other. All open for anyone to see what you were doing.
Jarod waited for the sweepers grips to be removed and then he pulled his clothes off, washing himself quickly, being careful of his freshly bandaged arm. He was not surprised to see that the showers were cold.
Gracie looked up as she heard the bathroom door opened and a girl of about 16 walk in. She watched as she ignored both people in there and stripped and stood next to Jarod’s ‘shower’ and turned her own tap on and washing herself.
Jarod saw the girl and felt like he was some kind of pervert exposing himself to her. He understood that was not the case, but it just felt so wrong. He finished up quickly, looking anywhere but at the naked girl. “Do I get a towel?” He asked, standing there dripping.
She looked at the girl’s towel back to Jarod, “Not yet. You haven’t earnt it yet. After you complete the SIM successfully, I think that will be the next step. A towel.”
He sighed and leant down to pick up his clothes and used them to start drying himself off, guessing he would have to wear damp clothes all day.
