The return of a hero

[palace-keanu.livejournal.com]

AKA Amy and Keanu pick up James from the Infirmary and Amy gets her first lesson how to control her curiousness.

Hiding a grin by scratching his nose, Keanu looked over at a bouncy Amy by his side as they were waiting outside the infirmary. Today, James would finally be discharged, so they had decided to pick him up. If Keanu was honest with himself, he felt just as bouncy. "Now, now," he chided Amy softly when the girl would start jumping up and down from all the excitement. "Be patient, he'll be out any second."

"Sorry. I just miss him being around. I mean, I've seen him every day, but it will be so nice for him to be able to go places with me again." She smiled at Keanu, her eyes sparkling with excitement. It had been a tough time for her since the incident. Keanu's daily visits had lifted her spirits some, but she was still very terrified. She just hadn't been able to bring herself to tell Keanu about it.

Keanu smiled and put his arm around Amy, giving her a squeeze. "Yes, that will be very nice," he agreed. The days since the incident in the music room they had mostly spent together, distracting one another (apart from the times that he'd seen clients), and Keanu was happy that he and Amy got along well. But he also sensed how much Amy had missed James. He guessed that Amy was still scared, but Keanu thought it better to wait until Amy would confide in him. He looked up just in time to see James appear in the doorway, and his face brightened. "Look, Amy!" he said and let go of her shoulder, as he knew there'd be no stopping her now.

Amy smiled really big as she saw James slowly walking out of the infirmary. She ran to him and gave him a huge hug, almost knocking him down as she wrapped her arms around him. "Umph." said James as the lovely woman attacked him. "I missed you so much, It's going to be so nice having you around again," Amy said as she smiled up at James.

Keanu slowly followed Amy and grinned widely. He could see that both of them were utterly happy, so he just stood a step apart from them, patiently waiting for them to pull back. He smiled warmly at Amy's enthusiastic embrace that would have squeezed all air out of anyone other than James. When Amy lightened the embrace, Keanu stepped close and gave James a one-armed hug. "Hey. How does it feel to be rid of Bec's chains?" he said and gave Rebecca the most dashing smile he could manage.

Rebecca gave Keanu a half smile. "Don't get your hopes up Prince Charming." James laughed at her comment, holding his stomach as he did so. "Actually my stay with her wasn't too bad. The scenery was nice." Rebecca shook her head. "You take care of yourself Mr. Hetfield. I don't want to see you around here again anytime soon." Amy giggled at the exchange between the two men and the nurse. "I am so glad you are better. You had me worried for a while." She gave him another gentle hug.

"Damnit," Keanu commented Rebecca's retort, though he was still grinning widely, "And I had just thought of faking some serious lumbago or whatever so I could enjoy your tender care myself." He gave the nurse a cheeky smile and a mental kiss on the lips.

Rebecca suddenly got a turned look on her face. "Well." she said and turned abruptly to leave. James shook his head as he hugged Amy back. "Might as well give it up man. She's not interested." Amy pulled back from James and took his hand in hers as they began to walk slowly down the hall. She reached over and took Keanu's hand as well. She was so, so happy now. She looked over at Keanu and gave him smile. She felt safe walking between the two men. She had been told that everything was over and there was no need to worry, but she still did. She feared it might be a long time before she felt safe again.

"I will never give up," Keanu said with a heavy, theatrical sigh. "Think she will like flowers?" He gently squeezed Amy's hand when she put it into his. Together, the three of them walked to the lifts. Stepping inside, Keanu looked down at Amy. "Now where to, Mylady?" He loved calling Amy Mylady, because it always brought a small blush and a smile to her face that made her look even more beautiful and angelic as she already was. As always, he achieved his goal again.

Amy felt her face getting warm as she blushed. "Well, it's really up to James I guess." She turned to look at him, "Do you feel fit enough to go to the garden? Or would you rather go to your room?" James smiled down at Amy. "Actually, I think some fresh air would do me good." Amy squeezed James' hand. "I guess we are going to the garden." She said with a smile to Keanu.

"To the garden it is," Keanu nodded and hit the button for the ground floor. "It's good to see you well again," he said to James, "You had us both quite worried the other day. Thank God for Nicole and her healing gift, eh?"
"Yeah, thank God. I thought I was a goner for sure." James looked down at Amy and smiled. Amy simply looked up at him. He took a bullet for her. She knew it was his job, but how could she ever repay him. She leaned her head against him. "Thank you." She whispered. The lift reached the ground floor and the three stepped out, Amy still holding both men's hands. They walked down the hall and stepped out into the garden without speaking a word. As soon as the were outside, Keanu suddenly pounced at Amy and tickled her to the ground. He was so happy that James was well again, his energy level was way up high.

When Keanu knocked her to the ground and began to tickle her she started giggling and laughing. She is very ticklish and Keanu was torturing her. As long as he didn't tickle her feet, she could manage to take it. James looked at the two of them and laughed, once again grabbing his stomach.

Keanu kept tickling Amy for a little longer before he pulled her into a tight hug. When he saw James hold his stomach, his face turned a little more serious. "Are you okay?" Keanu asked. He got up and helped Amy stand as well. "Let's go over there," he pointed at a small meadow with a few trees to sit in their shade. "Hey, I got an idea. Why don't you two sit down and I get us something to drink or some ice cream from the cafeteria? What do you think?"

"Yeah, I'm ok. Only hurts when I laugh," James said smiling. Amy wrapped an arm around James and gave him another small hug. When she heard Keanu's offer she said, "Ice cream sounds good. What do you think?" She asked looking at James. "Sure, ice cream will work for me as well." James said as Amy began to lead him in the direction Keanu had pointed.

Keanu nodded at James. "Alright. Don't want you to hurt, mate. Alright, I'll get the ice cream, and you sit down, relax and catch up, okay? I'll be right back." With that, he dashed off back into the building, bouncing down the hall to the cafeteria. "Garret, mate, I need three huge portions of your best ice cream."

"Sure thing," replied Garrett as he set about getting the ice cream for Keanu. "How's James? Hope he's doing better."

"He's alright. We just picked him up from the infirmary. The ice cream's actually for him and Amy, they're waiting out in the gardens. Amy's so happy to have him back, and believe me, so am I."

"That's good to hear." Garrett said as he handed Keanu the ice cream. "Tell them both I said hi ok."

"Sure thing," Keanu replied and took the ice cream from Garrett. Balancing the ice cream through the slalom of tables and people, Keanu managed to get back out into the garden to his friends without spilling anything. He found them sitting beneath one of the trees, talking quietly, one arm of James put around Amy's shoulder as they leant against the old bark. "Who had ordered ice cream?" Keanu asked with a big grin and dropped to the ground just across from them.

Amy looked up as Keanu approached them. "Thank you." she said as she took ice cream from him and handed it to James, then took hers as well. She leaned back against the tree again and began to eat.

Keanu watched Amy as he ate his ice cream, his mind racing. For the time that James had been in the Infirmary, he had avoided any talk of her training. For some reason, Keanu had known that it would not have done any good if he had. Now that James was out again and this worry taken off her chest, he would soon have to get the talk to the subject. But somehow, he was reluctant to bring the topic up just yet.

"Man, it's so nice to be out of that place." James said as he looked around. "So, Keanu been taking good care of you? James asked Amy. Amy smiled at James. "Yes, he has. Taking very good care of me." Amy smiled at Keanu as she slowly licked the ice cream from her spoon. James stared at Amy's tongue working the spoon over. He wasn't sure if she knew what she was doing, but he sure knew what ideas it put in his head.

"You exaggerate, Mylady," Keanu laughed. Marvelling at Amy's unconscious sensual gesture, he noticed James staring at Amy out of the angle of his eye and grinned inwardly. This girl had no idea what kind of an effect she had on men (and probably women as well). Keanu decided that now was as good a time to talk about the training as ever. "So," he said as casually as he could manage, "Now that James is back with you, I guess we can resume your training, eh?"

Amy smiled. "I guess we should huh. I think I am ready to continue." She hoped she was. "What do you have in mind for me?" She asked as she took another mouthful of ice cream.

Keanu smiled reassuringly. He could hear the slight nervousness in Amy's voice, and he didn't want to scare her off. Of course, her file said that she had wanted to work at Palace, still, it was one thing wanting it, but a whole different chapter actually going there. "We should take it slow," he said gently, "I think you should start out with two classes at first. Basic subjects. If you feel like you can take more, we can always do that. And we should practise with your Talent, every day a little. I am a telepath myself which is one of the main reasons David asked me to take over from Eric," Keanu explained, "Though my Telepathy is only", he made imaginary quotation marks with his fingers, "A Gift and not a Talent. And it works different from your Telepathy. But still, I think I can help you learn to control your Talent. What do you say?"

"That sounds really good. I think I can handle a couple of classes" Amy tilted her head slightly. "You would help me learn control? That would be real nice." She smiled as she finished off her ice cream. "I have a tendency of poking around in people's minds uninvited sometimes. It would be real nice to be able to hold myself back from snooping."

Keanu grinned. "Aha, a little nosey parker, are we? Hm, I guess I could help you there. Why don't you give it a try and poke around in my mind?"

"Well, ok. If you want me to." Amy focused her mind on Keanu's, reaching out trying to enter his mind. James watched the two with interest. He had seen people do this before, but he still found it fascinating to watch.

Feeling Amy enter his mind, Keanu grinned and let her poke around for a moment. He did feel sorry for what he was about to do, but he had to. When he felt Amy getting more confident inside his head, Keanu grinned cheekily at her. Reaching his mental hands out to Amy, he simply started tickling her until he felt the connection being broken.

Amy jerked and blinked her eyes rapidly as she began to giggle. She felt as if she was being tickled, but no one was touching her. She realized it was Keanu kicking her out of his mind somehow. James sat up and looked from one person to the other. He had no idea what was happening. "You ok?" He asked Amy. Amy shook her head, trying to clear her mind. It was a rather abrupt exit she made from Keanu's mind. "I'm fine." She replied and looked at Keanu questioningly.

Keanu leant back on his arms and grinned lazily. "What happened?" he asked mock-innocently, "Why didn't you read my mind? Hm, maybe it has to do with the fact that I am a telepath like yourself. Maybe... why don't you try and read James' mind?" He nodded encouragingly at the other man. "Just let her in, it's going to be fine."

"What? Read my mind?" James wasn't sure about this. He had never had someone poke around in his head before. Amy looked from Keanu to James. "I'll try and go easy on you. I promise." "Well, what the hell." James replied. "What do I need to do?" He asked Amy. "Nothing. Just sit there." Replied Amy. She reached out with her mind and started entering James head.

Keanu watched James tense up but gave him another reassuring smile so the other man relaxed and let Amy enter his mind. Reaching out for Amy's mind himself, Keanu was not surprised to find her own mental guard dropped somewhat so he had no trobule monitoring her snooping. Once again, he let Amy poke around for a few moments, constantly watching her how far she went inside James' head. Once again, when she expected it the least, Keanu started another mental tickling attack at her.

Amy abruptly pulled out of James mind as she felt Keanu tickle her with his mind once more. She started giggling again and looked at Keanu.

Keanu stopped the tickling and grinned once again. "I can tell when you're poking into other people's minds," he said, "It's written all over your face. Though I could also monitor you mentally as I did just now, you drop your own guard when you snoop. And since I can tickle you even when I'm five feet or further away from you, I will do just that every time you are being nosey. That way, we'll get the nosey parker out of you real quick, I'm sure. You okay?" he turned to James.

Amy blushed slightly and looked at James. "Yeah, I'm ok." He replied and smiled at the two. "Felt kinda strange when you entered my head." Amy smiled at him and looked back at Keanu. "You can mentally tell when I'm snooping?" She asked Keanu. Amy looked down and began to fidget with her dress. "You will be able to help me learn control though. I mean, if you know what I'm doing and are always going to tickle me with your mind. Well, that should make me learn not to snoop huh?"

"I think that will help you more than anything, and it won't do you any harm," Keanu said gently, "I don't want you to get hurt. Mind you, I will not be in your head and monitor you all the time, that's not what our Gift should be used for. But whenever I am around you - and that will be a lot since I'm your Votary and intend to give you the best possible training - I will see it on your face if you are snooping. And if you are, I'll tickle you. That's the way my mom taught me how to control my Gift," he said with a nostalgic smile, "I used to play pranks on people, making them trip, tickling them and such. Since I'm not ticklish, my mom mentally pinched my ear to make me stop. That way I learnt to only use my Gift when I am asked to do so or when it is absolutely necessary." He frowned at the memory of all the pinching he'd received as a kid but immediately started grinning again. "So, since that worked with me, I'm sure it'll work with you as well."

Amy giggled. "I'm sure it will. Just don't tickle my feet ok? I might have to hurt you if you do." She said with an almost childlike grin. "I'll try my best to be good, but I can't promise anything. I'm sure I'll mess up from time to time, but I'm sure in the end you will set me straight." Amy leaned back against the tree and looked over at James, then back to Keanu.

"I promise, I won't tickle your feet," Keanu said honestly, "Just your sides. I know you probably will poke around people's minds for a while before I can make you stop. I guess when I'm not with you I will just have to tickle you from time to time when you least expect it." He grinned evilly. "That will be fun - imagine yourself in dance class, dancing with your partner, and suddenly you are being tickled."

Amy lunged forward and slapped Keanu on the shoulder. "Meanie." She said with a smile. Then she hugged Keanu, pressing her head against his shoulder. "Thank you."

"Ouch!" Keanu exclaimed laughing, then he hugged Amy back. "Nevermind, Mylady." He held Amy tight for a few more moments before pulling back. "Now, care to play some pranks?" He looked around and saw Kiefer sitting by himself in a distant corner of the gardens. A wolfish grin spread on Keanu's face. "Hm? What do you think?"

Amy giggled and looked at James. "Sure, why not. Might be fun." she said. James shook his head and closed his eyes. Amy laughed at him, then looked back to Keanu. "What do you have in mind?"

Keanu reached over and nudged James's arm. "Come on, Hetfield, I know you want to!" He waggled his eyebrows and grinned when James nodded hesitantly. Keanu chuckled and looked over to Kiefer again. "Okay, I thought of something! So, here's the plan..."