Disclaimer: All the characters you recognize from the Stephanie Plum books belong to Janet Evanovich.
A/N: This story isn't beta'ed. Any grammar faults or spelling errors are not to be considered flaws or defects but enhance the individual beauty : )
Many new followers and favorites... Welcome everybody. I'm happy you find this story worth reading.
Now settle down for chapter 4 and be prepared to get all mushy inside : )
Chapter 4 - Friends
A few hours later, St. Francis Hospital
The first thing Steph realized when she woke up was the big warm hand holding hers and a thumb gently stroking the knuckles. The next thing was the smell – definitely hospital; but there was no annoying beeping heart monitor.
"I told them to mute it," she heard Hal's warm rich baritone to her right.
Steph couldn't help the smile tugging at her lips. "Out loud?"
"Nope," Hal gently caressed her cheek. "Perfected ESP," she could hear the smile in his voice and heard Vince' raspy trademark chuckle somewhere at the end of her bed.
"Shit, the two of you should go to Letterman. That's freaky."
Definitely Lester's voice to her left and where Lester was Bobby wasn't far behind.
"Hey honey," Steph heard her favorite medic a second later. Seemed her favorites were all in attendance, just Cal and Ram missing.
"They are outside the door on guard; wouldn't let anyone else do the job," Hal squeezed her hand.
"How are you doing that?" Lester sounded perplexed. "I watched her. She made no sound, didn't move her face."
"We are esp'ing, idiot. And now stop talking as if Steph isn't in the room. She hates that," Hal never took his eyes from Steph.
This time it was Steph who squeezed Hal's hand. He knew her so well.
"Honey," Bobby again, closer to her head now, "can you open your eyes for me? You had us so scared; we need to see your baby blues to feel better again."
Sighing, Steph concentrated and finally got her eyes open just to instantly slam them shut again. The glistening light had sent an iron hot stab right into her brain.
"Les, dim down the light," she heard Bobby saying into the room. The next moment the world outside her lids became visibly darker. "OK sweetie, the light is down. Try it again, please."
This time Steph could keep her eyes open. Her sight was still bleary; but way better than at Kramer's house. Bobby was bent over her and directly behind him she could see Les waggling his eyebrows and Vince sat at the foot of her bed; but she wanted to see Hal. Turning her head to her right her eyes finally found him and immediately she felt calmer. Hal was smiling at her; but there was a strained quality to his eyes as he was sitting in his wheelchair, his crutches nowhere in sight.
"Hey," she murmured weakly, holding his hand like it was her lifeline. "What's wrong?"
Hal had the decency to blush as he looked down to the floor and sheepishly admitted, "let's say I got a bit agitated earlier," making Lester snort.
"Agitated?" Les laughed in his good-natured way. "Your bestie over there went all caveman on us, ranting and stomping and staggering around, and of course he didn't say a single word when his strength was leaving him until his legs bid him goodbye. You two are really a match made in heaven when it comes to stubbornness and false pride," he smiled making Steph blush in sync with Hal.
"See," Lester chuckled, "just what I meant."
Trying to roll her eyes Steph grimaced in pain when a stabbing headache hit her. "What's the damage, Bobby?" She whispered with her eyes closed as soon as she could think straight again.
"You went unconscious on the ride here. The docs diagnosed a grade three concussion, honey, granting you a day or two at the ICU," Steph felt Bobby caress her face while he was talking. "Then I will try to spring you; but there's a good chance that they will want you to stay for another day. Beside the concussion the hits to your face ruptured several vessels in your eyeball causing your bleary sight. There was a wound at your forehead that needed to be stitched; you lost three teeth; your nose is broken; you bit your cheek and tongue quite badly and there's lots of bruising on your face going on. Then several ribs are severely bruised; but luckily not broken and there's some heavy bruising at your abdomen; but again luckily no internal bleeding. You will feel beat for a while; but no permanent damage."
"What about the stitches," Steph mumbled, fatigue quickly taking over. "Will there be a scar?"
When Bobby stayed silent and Hal squeezed her hand, Steph knew the answer.
"Hey," it was the first time Vince spoke up. He had a gruff voice that combined with his roughly handsome face made him a likewise appealing and intimidating man. "Don't even start that line of thinking. I may not have Hal's ESP when it comes to you; but after all these months of us getting closer I know you well enough," he started to rub her leg where he was sitting on her bed. "First of all we don't know exactly whether there'll be scarring or not. But should a scar remain it will be your choice whether you let that mark make you a victim or whether you look at it as proof that you are a survivor. I, personally, don't think that there's a single cell in your body that would like to be victimized. They are all way too stubborn and thirsty for life," he smiled.
Vince wasn't a man of much words and Steph had learned when he opened his mouth it was always worth listening so she smiled as sign that she understood before sleep finally claimed her again.
~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~#~
The next time Steph woke up, the light was still dimmed and it was dark outside. A nurse was checking the monitors around her and smiled friendly when she realized that Steph had opened her eyes.
"Sorry; but I have to wake you every two hours to make sure you are OK," she whispered.
Steph nodded and looked around the room. The guys were gone; but Hal was still at her side, slumped in his wheelchair obviously deep asleep.
"Your boyfriend is a real lovey," the nurse spoke up again. "We told him to leave, to go back to the comfort of his home; but he was adamant to stay; said he had promised it to you."
"He's not my boyfriend," Steph wanted to correct her; but the nurse was already gone.
Watching Hal, Steph rejoiced at how peaceful he looked in his sleep. There had been times, back at the hospital and later at the Rehab Center in Philadelphia, where fitful and restless attempts to sleep were all too common. It had pained her to watch all his muscles tense often causing him to wake up cramping because some dream had him in a wretched grasp. They'd come a long way since then and Steph couldn't help herself but feel remorse for causing him to worry again. Stroking the hand that still lay in hers Hal immediately snapped awake, scanning the room for any threat. His legs may have lost their power; but he'd always be a guardian and protector to the core.
"Hey Angel," he rumbled in that deep sexy sleepy voice he always had when freshly awake and smiled at her.
"Hey right back at ya. What are you doing here? You should go home, Hal," Steph couldn't help the tender quality to her voice as she continued to stroke his hand. "You get all cramped up in that wheelchair."
"I promised you to stay and I will. Besides I couldn't leave you if I wanted. This day was hell on me and I need to see you to be sure you are OK." Hal turned his chair and rolled as close to Steph's bed as possible. Pressing his lips together at the pain in his back as he leaned forward, he lifted her hand and placed his cheek into her palm. Like an automated response his eyes shut and he felt the warmth of her palm seeping into his skin. It was balm to his struggling mind.
"I totally freaked when you called me earlier," he eventually started to talk quietly. "I jumped out of my wheelchair just to lose my balance and fall on my knees. Brett wanted to help me up; but I shouted at him to let me go. Instead of getting back into the wheelchair I grabbed my crutches and dragged myself all the way to your cubicle. The guys were all around me asking what was wrong; but I couldn't care for them. The moment I heard you on the phone something snapped in me. My only focus was to find Kramer's address and get to you."
"Isn't that silly and pathetic?" Hal said bitterly. "The cripple going all superhero." He took a shuddering breath and continued. "I didn't remember for a second to check your trackers. All I could think about was getting your log-book where you jot down the skips you've done searches on. At one point I must have shouted that you are in danger because somewhere in the background I heard Lester call to pull up your tracker and the guys gearing up while I was still frantically searching that damn log-book. I was ripping your desk drawers open, dumping everything on the floor; but the fucking book wasn't there. Eventually, Vince had to restrain me to get me to listen. As I calmed down the men were all long gone and I was lying on the floor weeping like a baby.
As if that wasn't mortifying enough, on our way down to the garage I stumbled and successfully face-planted. Vince helped me up without a word; but it was so humiliating. Then at Kramer's I went all caveman on the guys because they were scaring you and then while you were transported away and Vince and I walked over to the truck another fucking face-plant," he fell silent. "I was running on pure undiluted Adrenaline, not realizing how long I'd been up on my feet, and when I was pacing the waiting room with my crutches my legs finally gave out under me and Tank needed to pick me up and carry me over to a chair until somebody brought my wheels from Rangeman," he whispered with an embarrassed blush to his face. "Before we left Rangeman, after I'd calmed down, Vince wanted me to get my wheelchair; but I urged him on, didn't allow him to go back to my cubicle. I was such an idiot. I totally overstrained myself and my knees are so badly bruised and swollen that it will take weeks for them to recuperate and me to walk again."
Hal opened his eyes and Steph's breath stocked when she saw the single tear running down his cheek.
"But all that means nothing to me in comparison to the possibility of losing you," he took a shuddering breath and placed a tender kiss into Steph's palm. "We are friends, Steph, best friends. Vince is the best buddy you can wish for and yes, we talk and are close to each other; but it's not the same as with you. You take one look at me and know how I feel. I can talk to you about absolutely everything. You know exactly how to pick me up and brush me off when I'm down. You let me hold on to you when I feel like I'm losing myself. Don't think I've forgotten all the times I cried on you; vented, ranted and shouted at you; but you stuck to me. You've become my lifeline, Steph and I wouldn't know how to go on should something happen to you."
Steph gulped and rubbed her misty eyes. She was somebody's lifeline? The thought was mind-boggling. Yes, the past months the Merry Men and Hal especially had opened up to her. They let her see behind their blank faces and now she called them true friends and brothers; but nonetheless she was sure that each of them could easily live without her, including Hal. He was by far the most wonderful man she knew, so different from Ranger and Morelli, and spending time with him was sweet, safe, fun and incredibly relaxing. She treasured the friendship to him more than anything; but didn't ever expect him to reciprocate this feeling.
"One day, Angel, you will look into the mirror and see the amazing woman the guys and I see when we look at you, I promise."
Even at the end of his rope and half asleep his ESP was working perfectly. Steph found Hal's eyes and saw the sincerity behind his words and it made her walls crumble.
"Do you think you could get up here and hold me for a while?" She whispered unsure of herself.
The beam that spread over Hal's face was all the answer she needed. As cautiously as he could he transferred himself into the small hospital bed and after a lot of pained grunting from both of them they were finally comfortably spooned up together.
"Just for future reference," he whispered as Steph drifted off into slumber. "Holding you in my arms is the best way to sleep ever."
A/N: This was a rather small chapter so the moment it got ten reviews I will post the next. Hurry up and you could even get another one today :)
