Chapter 2: She's Awake

Don walked back into the Hospital still wearing his bulletproof vest and badge, and went upstairs to the surgical nurses desk.

"Don Flack, trying to find Detective Angell" I asked the nurse sitting at the desk who was monitoring vitals on the portable monitor.

"Detective Angell is in recovery. Down the hall to your right Room 419" She responded looking up from the monitor

"Thank you" I said and headed off to see Jess. When I got to her room her dad and 4 brothers were inside all sitting down beside her telling jokes about when Jess was a kid.

"Bobby you remember when Jess was 13, and she said she wanted to join the cheerleading squad?" David asked.

Jess told me once that David was the oldest, then Bobby, then Michael, and then Tim.

"She threw a girl across the gym and was suspended?" I asked them as I walked into the room.

"Yeah. She was suspended for a week, and grounded for a month." Cliff Angell, Jess' Dad, told me.

"It's good to see you again Cliff" I said walking over to him and giving him a hug.

"Wish it were under better circumstances." He said

"Most Definitely… May I speak to you in private for a moment?" I asked him as I walked towards the door.

He followed me into the hallway.

"Don…what's up?" He asked

"I was… planning on coming see you after I took care of some unfinished business earlier, but then this whole thing happened… But I still wanted to come and let you know what my intentions were. I was… going to ask your permission to ask Jess to marry me." I told him pulling out the little black velvet box and showing it to him

"Don…you would have gotten it. Jess has always had a smile on her face…these past few months it's been different. It's been a smile I have never seen before." He said making me tear up.

we both went back into room that Jess was in and we sat around and talked for a few hours. Her brothers left sometime after midnight. Her dad left around 2 am. It was just me left, and I wasn't going anywhere.

I pulled a chair up next to her bed; I sat next to her left hand which gave me a view of the door. I rested my head on her hand and sobbed.

"I can't lose you Jess…I can't…I need you to pull through. I love you Jessica…please…please…please wake up" I cried I pulled out the box and slipped the ring on her hand, kissed it and then rested my head back down on her hand again, and continued to cry and sob.

I must have fallen asleep there because about an hour or two later I woke up to a hand brushing my face. I looked for the owner of the hand and it was JESS! She was awake.

"Hey…Hey Babe Hey" I jumped up and gave her a kiss.

"Hey, what...time…is …it?" she asked.

I looked down at my watch and said: "4:35 in the morning, Thursday, May 21"

I reached the switch on her bed adjuster to call for a nurse to let them know she is a wake.

"Don, I was going to tell you tonight, but this took precedent over that…" she started but was cut off by the crew of nurses and doctors who came running in.

"Sir, Please leave for a few moments so we can check over our patient."

"ok. Babe I'll be in the hall if you need me." I told her, so happy that she was alive that I forgot the ring on her hand as I walked out.

I grabbed the phone at the desk and called her dad and let him know that Jessica is awake.

After I hung up with Mr. Angell, I called Mac

After 3 rings I heard a groggy "Taylor"

"Mac, you'll never believe it…She's awake!" I told him and it was like Mac had just taken a double shot of espresso because he was wide awake now.

"She is? Don that's great! What do you need is there anything I can do?" he asked me

"Nothing, but can you let the rest of the team know?" I asked him.

"Oh yea, definitely" he said

"Thanks Mac, enjoy the rest of your night." I said and we hung up.

I walked back in to her room as the team of doctors and nurses left it. I walked back over to Jess, and sat facing her on the bed, holding her hand with out the ring on it.

"What were you going to tell me a few minutes ago?" I asked her.

"I was going to tell you I was pregnant, but the doctors just told me that I lost it in the shooting" she said starting to cry.

"Hey, Hey look at me…Jess it doesn't matter, we can always have another baby, I can never have another you." I told her gently pulling her into my arms, careful not to hurt either wound.

"I love you Don" She cried into my chest; which still had on the bulletproof vest & badge. I gently placed her back down on the bed and pulled off the vest. I noticed that I never took off my shirt and tie with her blood all over it. I undid the tie, and unbuttoned the shirt leaving me in a white wife beater. I put those items on the chair next to her bed.

When I was sitting back down again I noticed the ring I put on her hand.

"Jess, there was something I was going to ask you tonight, but today's events put the romantic aspects of it down. But I am sure more now, than ever that this is what I want. I can not lose you. I already talked to your dad, now what I want is for you to say yes that you will be my wife." I told her pulling her left hand into my own.

"Yes, Yes Don, I will be your wife" She told me, smiling through her tears. I was so happy I probably looked like a 3 year old on Christmas morning. I leaned forward and kissed her.

We sat around talking until Jess yawned.

"Go back to sleep, I'll be here when you wake up." I told her as she started to fall asleep.

"Detective…You might want to see this." A Nurse came into the room holding a news paper with the front page story about the Death of Jessica Angell. It was a picture from the day she graduated from the academy. It was the Cover of the New York Ledger

NYPD'S FINEST

TAKE DOWN

BRUTAL

COP KILLERS

AS CITY Mourns a Fallen Hero

Detective Jessica Angell

2/09/81 – 5/20/09