As for Kessler, Danton, and Wilson, the three men took longer to heal even with the assistance of Felicity. Of the three men, Kessler recovered the qu...ckest. When he was finally able to talk, he told me all about the raid and what had happened to him and his men."We fought as best we could," the man told me in a very tired voice. By then he was out of bed and walking and for the purpose of our chat we had strolled off from all the temporary shelters and the construction that was going on. Our. Getting out in the garage, I realized both myself and Bunny had blood on us. A quick gentle cleaning of the pink fur proved all the blood to be mine. I’d been punctured a few dozen times, still had a few thorns in me thanks to the Devil’s Walking Stick and a bunch of scratches from the briars. I cleaned Bunny up, sat her on a towel on the floor, then stripped and showered. Some peroxide and a few Band-Aids here and there for me and we were clean.Thorns just sat watching the whole time, looking. I released her. "Strip." "Yes, Sir." She bowed her head and began shedding her clothes. I did the same. I wanted her right here on the living room floor. When she was naked she got on her knees. Her head was still bowed. I was there in front of her. I raised her chin up. Her lips were quivering. "Tell me, Penny. Tell me what you want." "Oh god, Peter. I want you. Any way you want me. I want you. I always want you." I leaned down and kissed her again. I did love her lips and the way her tongue. "Couldn't hurt," she said with what had to be a wicked smile.After she assured me she hadn't changed the locks, I refused the key she offered. For some reason I had carried the apartment key through both incarnations. I think it had to do with being my touch stone to normalcy.It was late in the afternoon so I knew I was through for the day, except to call for gas, power, and water. All three were still working, I just needed to have them changed to my name. Turns out I didn't have to do any.