Chapter 10

Andy stood up and started pacing around the small room, "Andrea, I don't know if I would quite call it upset so much as I would call it being completely furious!" He was starting to shout at her and quickly checked to make sure he didn't wake his wife. Quieter he added, "I can't understand why you thought it would be ok to leave Sharon alone on an empty sidewalk at 2am."

Andrea couldn't blame him for being mad; she was upset with herself for leaving one of her friends alone and not staying with her. She watched him as he paced. "Andy, I can't begin to apologize to you for leaving her there. If you want to blame me then go right ahead but you also need to stop and think about Sharon. You and I both know she wouldn't have wanted me to stay with her. She's a tough lady that can take care of herself, which you've seen more than anyone else. But we need to focus on the freak that took her and we need to make sure that he never sees daylight again. After that is done if you still want to be mad at me then so be it. Right now, you are not my concern, she is," and she pointed to her best friend laying the hospital bed.

Andy looked at where she was indicating and sighed. "Yes, you're right. I would rather focus on putting this creep away. I'll worry about you later," he shot back as he smirked at her. He sat down next to Sharon's bed and held her hand as Andrea left the room.
After several hours, she started to stir again. Sharon wasn't feeling as bad as the first time she woke up though she still had a horrible pounding her in her head. Realizing something was lying on her hand, she carefully looked down to see Andy resting his head on her hand. She managed to move her hand free from under his head without waking him. She began running her fingers through the short silver and gray strands of hair on the back of his neck. She couldn't help but smile when she heard him grunt, after a few seconds he woke to find her smiling at him. "Hi, she whispered."

He gently kissed her hand. "Hi, Mrs. Flynn," he said with a smile. He didn't like seeing her hurt and bruised but Andy was happy to have her back alive. He stood up and gently kissed her forehead. "How are you feeling?" he asked as he sat down on the side of her bed causing her to grunt and groan for a moment.

Sharon held his hand against her heart as she spoke, "I'm fine, honey. Actually, I'm much better now that we are together." She smiled as she laid back and rested her eyes. Andy reached over and pushed the call button for the nurse.

A few minutes later the nurse came to check her vitals. "Would you like something for the pain Ma'am?"

She looked at her husband," Sweetheart, if you're in pain go ahead. I'm leaving it up to you."

"No, I'm fine for now thank you," she told the nurse.

"I'll let the doctor know that you are up. She'll be in shortly."

Sharon whispered as she settled back into bed, "thank you."

"Why didn't you want any pain meds," Andy asked slightly puzzled?
She looked at him for a second, "I don't want to be drugged up. I want to be able to know what's going on around me."

Andy understood why she did it but told her, "if you think they will help you feel better then you need to take them." He replied while brushing a strand of hair out of her face. Sharon drew away from him. "Baby, I'm sorry I didn't mean to scare you," he said as he laid his hand back on the bed.

He looked up at the sound of the door open to see the doctor walk into the room. "Hi, Sharon, I'm Doctor Boeckman, how are you feeling? My nurse tells me that you didn't want to the pain medication."

"That's right doctor. I didn't want them, but if I get too bad then I will ask for some."

The doctor looked at Andy, "she's a tough cookie, I can't force her."

"You know I'm right here!" Sharon replied slightly irritated.

"Well, you suffered a severe concussion, which caused some bleeding around your brain but we were able to give you medication to stop it. You have a small gash on your neck that we've stitched you up and you should be fine. You also have some bruises on your back, neck, shoulders and a couple of blisters on your feet." Sharon watched the doctor as she spoke, "I'm not sure if Andy has told you or not but you do have some bruising on your face and you have a split lip."

Andy heard her gasp when the doctor mentioned the bruises on her face. He reached for her hand but she quickly drew it away from him and held it over her face as the tears started to fall. The doctor motioned for him to follow her out into the hall. "Sharon, honey I'll be right back," he followed the doctor into the hall.

"I'm going to let her rest right now but if you want to you can tell her everything that I told you earlier. I feel it would be better coming from you. She might take it better."

"Thank you Doctor, I'll talk to her and try to calm her down." Andy walked back into the room and made his way to her bed sitting down next to her. "Sharon, honey, look at me." She hid her face from him. "Sharon, please look at me," he pleaded. When she finally did he smiled as he said, "there's my beautiful girl."

She huffed at him, "how can you say that?" She slid her tongue over the spilt in her lip. "My face is all beat up and swollen. I will most likely have a scar on my neck."

Andy truly didn't see the bruise only her outer and inner beauty shining through. "Sharon, you are absolutely gorgeous to me for so many other reasons than just your looks."

She perked up and looked at him. "Go on," she told him.

He laughed at her raised voice and smile. "You are always beautiful no matter what. Besides you should see the other guy. You gave way more than you got. The scumbag was practically begging us to get you away from him." Andy could see the pain in her eyes as she laughed. "Sorry about that."
"Oh, no it's fine." She squeezed his hand, "Andy, thank you for all you've done for me."

He smiled at her and grabbed both her hands. "You'll never know what you've done for me. What your faith in me has done for my soul...You'll never know the gift you've given me I carry it with me every day. You have the most amazing heart I have ever seen you are a loving, gorgeous, intelligent, wickedly funny woman who brightens my day whenever you smile. I'm honored just be in your world. I'm beyond grateful to be in your heart. I love you more and more every day. Sometimes, I look at you and think how lucky I am to have you as my best friend and my wife."

Sharon watched him as he talked about her; he had tears running down his face. She wiped them away with her hand then he held and kissed the palm. "I almost lost you," he whispered as he held her hand tight in his and stared at the beautiful woman looking back at him.

She sighed, "Andy, my love you didn't lose me, I'm right here." She spoke as she took their joined hands and placed them on her chest above her heart letting them rest there. "You feel that?" she asked, smiling at him while she waited for him to respond.

"Yes, I feel it, and?" He replied.

"And, that means I'm still here and I always will be, my love. You and our kids are the most important things to me and I am not about to let them go now."

Andy watched her as she laid her head back, "Sharon, are you ok?" He asked worried as he could see the pain growing in her eyes.

She tried to smile at him, "yes, my love I'm fine. My head just started hurting again for some odd reason."

He watched in horror as her eyes rolled into the back of her head and panicked, "Sharon, baby. Sharon, sweetheart," he called her name as he hit the call button next to her head.

A few seconds later the doctor and nurses were rushing to her side. The doctor looked at Andy and ordered, "Mr. Flynn, can you wait outside." When he didn't move, she shouted, "get him out of here, now!"

{TBC}

Author's Note: This story is nowhere from being done yet… Just bare with me… Hope all of you enjoy it!