Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Billy." Ty interrupted.

"Excuse me?" The doctor looked down at her, quirking an eyebrow.

"His name. It's Billy, not William. I'm the only one he ever let call him William." She said, getting to her feet and crossing her arms in front of her chest in defense.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know. As I was saying, I operated on Billy. He was shot twice, once in the shoulder where the bullet managed to ricochet off the shoulder blade and break into several pieces. I removed as many of them as I could but there was one piece buried in the shoulder blade itself and I left it. He also had a grazing shot to his right thigh. He may not need stitches if he can sit still for a few days."

"Wait…Billy's going to be okay?" Ty asked, not believing that she heard the doctor correctly.

"As long as he does nothing but rest until his shoulder heals, he'll be fine." Dr. Brenner reached out hesitantly to pat Ty on the shoulder. She smiled slightly and sighed in relief.

"Can I see him now?"

"Of course. He's still groggy from the anesthetic but I'm sure he'd be glad to see you. He's in room 821. That's down this hall, turn left and it's the 4th room on the left."

"Thank you." Ty said, going back into Joe's room.

"What's up?" Joe asked, fidgeting slightly and grimacing when the skin stretched the stitches on his stomach.

"Billy's fine. I called Liz and she's on her way. If you don't mind…"Ty trailed off.

"Go see him. You know he'll be pissed if he wakes up and you aren't there."

"Thanks." Ty said, as all of the rest of the guys appeared at the doorway, followed by a frazzled looking nurse.

"You all cannot be here at the same time. Two visitors at a time until he's moved out of the ICU." The nurse stepped in the doorway and turned around, planting her hands on her hips and glaring as menacingly as she could.

"Alright boys. Here's how we're going to work this." Ty said, looking sternly at all of the men. "Bodie, Heco, you first. Baggy, Tommy second. Jamie, Spink third. Dog, fourth. No more than five minutes, Joe needs his rest." Ty snapped, switching into gang-leader mode in a heartbeat, almost as if she had never been gone. The men either nodded or grunted in acknowledgement of her orders. Satisfied that they wouldn't overtax Joe, she walked out the door and started down the hall. She stopped when she heard Bodie call her name.

"Ty."

"Yeah?" she turned, looking at him curiously.

"How's Billy?"

"He's fine, or going to be as long as he doesn't do anything stupid until he heals." Ty said, rolling her eyes at the near impossibility of that task. She continued on her way to Billy's room. She smiled when she heard the men whoop at the news about Billy. She stopped in front of room 821 and took a deep breath to steady herself before facing Billy. She'd never seen him hurt before. Sure, cuts and scrapes from the occasional fight but nothing ever this serious. Finally feeling composed she walked in the room. Billy looked over at her, eyes groggily trying to focus.

"Hey." Ty said, walking over to him and sitting down in the chair next to the head of the bed.

"Hey babe. How's Joe?" Billy asked, grimacing as a deep breath pulled at the stitches in his shoulder.

"He looks better than you. You look like death warmed over." Ty reached out and lightly traced the line of his jaw with her fingertips. "Don't ever scare me like that again. I don't know what I'd do without you, asshole."

Billy smiled slightly and closed his eyes. "I won't. I promise." His head tilted to one side and he was asleep in seconds.

Ty sat back into the chair and tried to relax. She failed miserably because every time she looked at Billy she thought about the best way to get Danny and his boys back for this attack. She chewed on her lip, the beginnings of a plan swirling around in her head.

She was startled out of her thoughts when her cell phone vibrated against her hip. She stood up, walking quietly out of the room, trying not to wake Billy up. She pulled the phone out of her pocket and answered without looking at the number.

Where the fuck is everybody? Ty rolled her eyes and mentally sighed when she recognized Bones' angry sputtering.

"What the fuck do you want?" Ty spat, wish Bones would just keel over and die… immediately.

I wanna know why no one's working the perfectly good corners I gave you. His tone was demanding tinged with something else that Ty couldn't immediately identify so she filed it away, to look at more closely when she had the time.

"They're on their fucking way." Ty growled, flipping her phone closed. She didn't bother telling Bones about Billy or Joe because it wouldn't have mattered to him except that he would be pissed that they wouldn't be out making him money. She growled again, in frustration and turned to stand in the doorway of Billy's room.

He glanced at her and smiled slightly. "Bones?"

"Yeah. I'll be right back. Gotta go get the crew together and get them out selling."

"They here?" he asked, grimacing as his shoulder moved against the sheets.

"They're bothering Joe. Do you want to see them?"

"Nah, I'll wait til tomorrow."

"I'll be right back." Ty said, heading down the hall to Joe's room. She'd have to do something about getting the hospital to move Joe and Billy closer together if not in the same room. All this running back and forth was starting to get irritating. The guys were just sitting in the hallway talking, when she walked up.

"How is he?" Bodie asked, getting up and walking over to her.

"He's fine. Grumpy as hell, but otherwise fine. Listen, ya'll need to go get the product and go sell. Bones is pissed and I will NOT have him coming down here to bother Billy about money. Is that clear?" Ty demanded, planting her hands on her hips and scowling at each of the men in turn.

"Sure Ty. Let's go." Bodie said. All of the men were either smiling or grinning in relief about Billy's condition as they filed past her. Ty pocked her head around the corner of Joe's door to check on him and smiled to herself when she saw that he was sleeping peacefully. The visiting must have worn him out. She heard a familiar tread approach and turned to see Liz walking quickly down the hallway.

"Hey. How's Joe? Did you find anything out about Billy yet?"

"They are both going to be fine as long as they don't do too much before they heal. Joe's sleeping now but I'm sure he'll wake up in a bit. I'm gonna go back to Billy now." Ty said, hugging Liz and walking back to Billy's room.

The afternoon passed quickly and soon visiting hours were over. A nurse came by Billy's room and knocked lightly on the door.

"Miss, you'll have to leave now. He needs his rest."

"Of course." She replied, totally unaware that she had been sitting there for the last four hours just watching him sleep. "Billy, I'll be back in the morning." Ty stood up, stretching muscles numb from sitting so long. She leaned over the bed and pressed a light kiss to Billy's lips. He surprised her by reaching up with his good arm and wrapping his hand around her neck, deepening the kiss. After a moment she pulled back. "I can't wait until your healed and I can get you back in your own bed where you belong." She purred into his ear seductively and lightly nibbled on the lobe. He growled lightly in pleasure.

"I love you Billy." Before he even had a chance to respond, she was out the door and gone. He smiled to himself and closed his eyes, quickly falling asleep.

XxXxXxX

Sorry about the cliffi from last chapter. I wanted to get that posted last night. Hope the quick update makes up for it. Thanks for the reviews and encouragement! I got a really horrible sunburn yesterday at Pointfest and I'm working on this to avoid thinking about the blisters on my shoulders…ick. Anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter. More action in the next chapter!!