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My Hero's Reward: Part 1

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<My Hero's Reward: Part 1
One brave deed holds the key to unlocking a scarred heart.

In 3 parts, Based on a post by SDes. Listen to the ►Podcast at Steamy Stories.



Chicago Streets

Jeff walked out of the bar deep in thought. He would be

thirty years old in just two weeks and had very little to show for it. There
was a decent job, a string of short relationships and a lot of bills. He never
thought his life would have turned out like this. He was smart, athletic and well
educated. Although he wasn't every girl's dream, he was attractive by most
standards and had his share of relationships with desirable women.

Unfortunately, none of the relationships had lasted more

than a few months. At this point he was starting to worry that it was a trend
without an end in sight. He considered himself a good guy and had always wanted
a family. It was beginning to make him doubt himself and his future.

He was having a lousy Friday night. It was midnight and he

was walking out of the bars alone; again. At least since it wasn't cloudy the
moon lit up the streets and made it seem a little less depressing than it
should have been. It all made him wonder if things would ever turn around.

As he turned the corner, he noticed the street was a little

more deserted than usual. He attributed it to everyone still being in the bars
having a good time, or on their way home to have a better one.

As he walked past the alley on the East side of the

intersection, a noise attracted Jeff's attention. He peered into the darkness
between the two buildings and his heart stopped. There was a young woman
struggling with two men. They were dressed in jeans and torn shirts. Both wore
the same color bandanas making Jeff suspect they were in a gang. It would have
been normal for the neighborhood. The crime was getting worse in that section
of the city and he wondered why the hell she was there alone at that time of
night.

He was quiet as he tried to decide what the situation was

before doing something stupid. From her struggles, he was almost certain this
wasn't some kind of game. After a few moments, his eyes adjusted and he could
see she was a petite brunette, about five feet tall, thin and well dressed. But
what Jeff noticed most was that she was drop dead gorgeous.

Confident that this was a real attack, he pulled out his

cell phone and stepped back away from the alley.

"911," a woman's voice answered. "Please

state your emergency. "

"I'm on the corner of Superior and Wabash. There's a

woman being attacked in the alley by a couple of thugs. Please hurry!"

"Sir, I have officers on the way. Please wait for them

and don't get involved. "

A muffled scream put an end to that thought for Jeff. He

cautiously glanced around the edge of the building and saw that the girl was being
held from behind by one man as the other ripped her shirt. He reached a hand
inside to cup one of her breasts and Jeff couldn't stop himself from walking
toward them.

He set the phone down on a garbage can so the operator might

be able to hear some of what was happening.

"Hey, what's going on?" he demanded.

The man in front of the girl whirled around to face him,

"You need to mind your own business. We're all friends here. " The
girl moaned through the hand the punk in back had put over her mouth.

Jeff quickly did the math on the situation. If neither man

had a gun, he was confident he had a chance. The alley was wide enough for him
to maneuver, giving him the room he'd need to deal with two men at once. He
hoped for an element of surprise on his side, because he didn't appear to be an
imposing opponent. At under six feet tall and about one hundred, eighty-five
pounds, he wasn't going to frighten anyone based on his imposing image.

What they didn't know was the years of martial arts training

he went through in his mid-twenties and the tournament fights he participated
in. He wasn't overconfident; his teachers had thoroughly taught him the need to
have the proper amount of respect for an adversary. Any fight can be lost if
you slip, turn an ankle, miss a punch, or make any one of a hundred other
mistakes that can happen in the heat of the moment. Also, he had to hope
neither of the hoods was holding any surprises for him.

No matter what, Jeff couldn't let them hurt this girl. Her

eyes pleaded with him for help and he wouldn't be able to live with himself if
he didn't try to protect her. When he refused to move, the man in front of her
showed him the knife in his hand. His partner holding the girl nodded and said,
"Take him. "

Jeff tried to appear unnerved, hoping he could still avoid a

fight. "Listen, nobody has to get hurt here. Just let her go and we'll
head the other way. "

The man with the knife sneered and said, "Only one of

us is going to get hurt. You should've kept walking. "

Jeff saw the man tense as he moved forward. He swung the

knife in a wide arc, keeping it around chest level. Jeff smoothly stepped
inside and blocked the thug's arm with both hands. His right hand flashed out
quickly and caught the attacker in the cheek with the back of his fist. Jeff
continued his movement, stepping under the man's arm, grabbing his wrist and
turning it in.

The punk dropped the knife with a whine and Jeff finished

the move he had practiced thousands of times with a roundhouse kick to the
ribs. As the man doubled over in pain, Jeff stepped in and finished him off
with an elbow strike to the nose. He was rewarded with a loud breaking sound
and a cry of pain as the man dropped to the ground.

Jeff stepped back and looked at the man holding the girl.

Now that he was closer, he could make out her condition. She had been roughed
up a little, with her face showing several cuts and scratches. He still hoped
to get out of this without any more violence. It was possible the girl could
get hurt in the melee or that he could lose, putting her in even more jeopardy
than before.

Martial Tactics

"I'm telling you, let her go and we'll walk. You can

get your friend and go your own way. Neither of us wants to get hurt, just let
her go. " Jeff considered telling him about the call to the police, but
worried that the piece of shit might panic and hurt the girl, or decide his
only option was to take her hostage.

The man looked like he was considering the offer, but

suddenly threw her into some garbage cans against the brick wall. She fell to
the ground in a heap. The thug stepped quickly toward Jeff, hoping to catch him
off guard. Jeff retreated a couple of steps, trying to get a clue about this
man's proficiency with a knife. The first one was sloppy and easy, but he
wasn't about to make any assumptions. Jeff guessed the man was about six feet
tall, two hundred pounds. His height gave him a little advantage, especially
while using a knife.

As he stepped forward, Jeff made a dangerous gamble. He

quickly slid his back foot up to his front one, raising his knee high. The man
fell for it and raised his hands to protect his face, putting too much weight
on his front leg. Jeff brought his left leg down with all his force, catching
the other man just on the inside of his knee. The joint gave way with a
sickening thud, bending to an impossible angle. As the man hit the ground with
a scream, Jeff stepped back to keep from getting hit with a frantic swing from
the prone attacker.

He was trying to decide what to do about the man who was

still a potential threat when he heard startled cry, "Look out!"

He looked up and saw the girl staring past him with a fear

in her eyes. He realized something bad was about to happen, so guessed a
direction and spun quickly while stepping away. Unfortunately he guessed wrong
and felt an explosion across his chest. The pain hit him a fraction of a second
later. He took another step back as he realized he was facing a new adversary.
This one must have come from the street. He was wielding the knife the first
man had dropped.

Jeff was afraid to bring his hand to his chest. He knew the

wound was bad and didn't want anything to distract him from the man in front of
him. There couldn't be any more mistakes or he knew he wouldn't be walking out
of the alley again. The new man made small motions with the knife, waiting for
Jeff to commit himself or for the loss of blood to take its toll. When Jeff
felt a wave of dizziness hit him, he decided to act immediately. If he waited
much longer, it wouldn't matter anyway.

He stepped forward and threw a quick jab that missed badly.

This gave his opponent an opening and he moved in with a stab aimed at Jeff's
chest.

This was what Jeff had been hoping for and he twisted,

bringing his left arm across to push the knife wide of its target. This kept
his right arm free and he brought it across, hitting the man as hard as he
could across the bridge of the nose. It caused his assailant to stumble back
into some other trash cans, where he fell hard. Unfortunately due to his
injury, Jeff now lacked the strength to cause the kind of damage he had
earlier. He knew the man wouldn't stay down and didn't believe he'd be able to
finish him off.

Where are the fucking police? he thought

angrily.

His momentary distraction was the second mistake he had

hoped to avoid. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a quick flash, then felt
the side of his head erupt in pain. The force of the blow spun him into the
wall. He shook his head, trying to clear the fog. When he looked up, he
realized he could no longer focus. There were no more options. The fight was
over and he had lost. He faced the man who had just hit him, his first
opponent, who had used Jeff's distraction with the others to recover enough to
get to his feet and hit him with a pipe he found lying on the ground.

The first punch he learned in his martial arts training was

a unique one. The teacher wanted to reinforce how dangerous fighting could be
in order to discourage students from being too eager to get into trouble. He
chose to show them how to turn their hand on an angle and strike the target
with the bone just below the base of the index finger. The blow was supposed to
catch the opponent in the windpipe, which would stun virtually anyone. The
thing that made the class understand how serious it could be was when the
teacher explained that hitting your opponent in the wrong spot could be fatal.
You could collapse his windpipe or cause him to bleed into his lungs. It was a
lesson Jeff never forgot, causing him to avoid fights at all costs.

Now it was all he had left. He stepped in and punched as

hard as he could, ignoring the throbbing pain in his chest. Whether it was
skill or just dumb luck, he struck the man exactly where he intended. He was
rewarded with a strangled cry as the man stumbled back to the wall and fell.
Jeff staggered as he was hit with another wave of dizziness. He also realized
it was becoming impossible to focus his eyes at all.

He heard a trash can fall and knew that the man who cut him

was getting back up. There were no more tricks to play, so he quickly
considered his last action. He decided to give the girl as much of a chance as
possible; the police had to be close. He stumbled toward her and fell.

He pulled himself on top of her, covering her body with his

and whispered, "The police are on the way, you just have to stay away from
them a few more minutes. "

He marveled at how hard he must have been hit. He heard a

ringing in his head and it was rising in intensity. He couldn't shut out the
noise as he felt himself slipping into unconsciousness. Suddenly the alley was
filled with blinding light, then everything went black

Lights Out

The noise was no longer a loud ringing sound. Instead it was

a soft, repetitive tone. Jeff slowly realized he was hearing the sounds of
machines operating quietly. It was completely dark and he wondered if he was
still in the alley. Suddenly he remembered the girl. He tried to sit up, but
only got his head off of the pillow before the pain overtook him. He groaned
loudly, his head falling back down.

"Don't move," he heard a soft female voice say. He

felt a warm hand on his shoulder, gently restraining him. "Sarah, get the
doctor, he's awake. "

Jeff heard the sound of footsteps, followed by a doorknob

being turned. As he heard the door click shut, the voice returned. "Don't
be afraid. You're in the hospital. Everything's okay now, you just need to
relax. Your sister was here but she had to leave to pick up her kids. She'll be
back in a couple of hours. "

He felt a wave of nausea sweep over him as he tried to

think. "Who are you?"

The high-pitched voice answered, "My name is Paige. You

saved me in the alley. " He heard her sniff, trying to hold back tears.
"I can't believe you did that. It was the bravest thing I've ever
seen. "

Jeff felt a pair of soft hands grasp his. He tried to joke.

"It wasn't that brave. Trust me, I was scared out of my mind. " He
wondered why she didn't just turn on the light.

He felt her pull his hand up to her face and she dragged her

cheek across it. "Trust me, you don't know what scared is. I; I don't know
how to thank you. I'm just glad you're all right. When I saw all the blood, I
was afraid; " her voice trailed off. Jeff knew he had been extremely
lucky.

He was getting frustrated by only being able to hear her

voice. He remembered how beautiful she was and wanted a chance to see her.
"Paige, would you turn on the light. It would be nice to actually meet you
face to face. "

She hesitated, "Jeff, the lights are on. "

" So we believe once the swelling goes down, your sight

will return. I'm sorry but there are no guarantees. "

Jeff laid there in shock as he listened to the doctor trying

to sound encouraging without promising anything. The hit he took in the head
from the pipe had given him a concussion. It had caused hemorrhaging and
swelling that was putting pressure against his optic nerve. The temporary part
was what scared him, nobody was sure if it would be OK in a week, a month, a
year, or maybe never. The doctors considered surgery, but because it could be
risky, preferred using medication and time to deal with it for now.

They had his eyes bandaged, even though the vision loss was

total at this point. There had been some improvement in the three days he had
been hospitalized, but not enough to be sure he would make a full recovery. The
doctor let him know that if he didn't make significant improvement in the next
few days, they would have to consider surgery to relieve the pressure.

The blood loss from the chest wound almost killed him, but turned

out to be far less serious than the concussion. The cut wasn't too deep, so
there wasn't severe muscle damage. The doctor warned him not to try saving any
more damsels in distress for a while, but said he would make a full recovery in
a relatively short period of time. They thought his condition would keep him
there for two or three weeks, if there were no complications from the head
injury. After explaining everything that had happened and what to expect, he
excused himself. He motioned for Jeff's sister Katy to follow him out of the
room.

When they got back to his office, the doctor explained

everything that was involved with Jeff's injury and his recovery.
"Covering the eyes is not essential, but in a case like this there are a
few good reasons to consider it. First, he will have complete blindness for a
short time and his sight will gradually recover as the swelling recedes.
Without the bandages, he will constantly strain to try and see, which can cause
severe migraines. "

"Second, I want him to completely rest with as little

stress as possible. The injury to his chest will force him to be immobile, so
he'll be here anyway. There's no reason for him to do anything but heal. Third,
I'm concerned about the potential for depression. If he sees little or no
progress day after day, his chances of slipping into a depressed state will be
increased. My best guess would be, we're looking at about three weeks for
significant progress, although we'll need to monitor him closely to have a
better idea. "

Katy listened intently and considered everything he said.

"I'll go with your recommendations. I know my brother, he isn't known for
being patient. It would be best to force him to rest and give him no other
options. "

"Good, then assuming we can treat this without surgery,

we should know a lot more in a week or so. We'll keep a close watch on his
progress and I'll let you know if there are any changes in his condition. "

When Katy left with the doctor, Paige took Jeff's hand.

"Your sister will be back in just a minute. " Her voice became thick
with emotion. "I'm so sorry this has happened to you. It's all my
fault. "

Jeff could hear her sobbing. Even though he felt overwhelmed

at his situation, the thought of the beautiful young girl blaming herself for
his condition was too much.

"Paige, please don't. If you start crying, then I'll

start crying, then the nurse has to come change my bandages. "

He was rewarded with melodic laughter as she was caught

between sniffling and laughing. He also picked up a noise from the far side of
the room. It distracted him for a moment, but he decided his mind was playing
tricks on him.

Jeff started to feel a little uncomfortable. Here he was,

sitting with a young woman he didn't know and had no idea what to say to her.
"Can you tell me what happened after I passed out?"

Paige took a second to gather herself. "While you were

telling me the police were on the way, I started hearing the sirens. The guy
who hurt you with the knife tried to run, but when he got to the end of the
alley, the police cars pulled in front and hit their flood lights. He tried
running past us toward the other end, but there was a fence he couldn't get
over. You injured the other one's knee so badly, he never got off the ground.
He gave up without a fight. "

"What about the third guy?" Jeff said, remembering

the strike he used.

"The paramedics got there right after the police and

did that thing where they cut open the throat so he could breathe; "

"You mean a tracheotomy. "

"Yeah, that's it. They said you collapsed his airway. I

guess it was pretty close. " Noting Jeff's troubled frown, she added,
"Everyone knew it wasn't your fault, you just did what you had to. You
were already hurt so badly, I can't believe you were able to do that to him. I
wanted to help, but I just couldn't make myself get up. I'm sorry. "

"Don't be sorry. There's nothing you could have done

and if you had gotten hurt I would have felt like it was my fault for barging
in there and starting the fight. I want you to know that when I saw what was
happening, I called the cops and then thought about what I was going to do
before trying to help. I don't want you to think I just ran in there like it
was some cowboy movie.

I knew it could be dangerous for you if I did the wrong

thing, so I tried to come up with a smart way to handle it. When I saw them;
" he paused because he didn't want to upset her, "getting more
physical with you, I just couldn't wait any more. Are you all right?"

Paige answered immediately, "I had a few cuts and

bruises, but it wasn't a big deal. It scared me a lot, but my family's been
here since it happened. I just fine; thanks to you. "

She paused for a moment, "Anyway, there was one cop who

pulled you off of me. When he saw how badly you were bleeding, he didn't
hesitate. He dropped down beside you and put pressure on the cut to stop the
bleeding and keep you alive. He refused to move until the paramedics got to you
and took over. He's stopped by several times, checking to see if you were going
to be OK. "

She paused, not sure if she should tell him the rest.

"You know, you're famous now. " Paige paused to see his confused
expression. "You've been in the papers, the radio and the TV. You're a
hero. "

Jeff felt himself blush, "Well I don't feel like a

hero, I feel like I got hit by a truck. I'm just glad yo

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