Thanks again to everyone who has left a review especially those who I can't thank personally. I really appreciate you taking the time to let me know you're enjoying the story.

Chapter 10

Even though it was almost 0400 hours and they were tired from the long flight and time of day, Janet wanted to see Lee before going to the hotel. The only door they found open was the emergency room entrance.

Jamie walked over to the woman sitting behind the desk, "Hello, I'm Dr. Will Jamieson. You've got a patient here by the name of Lee Crane. I know it's very early but we just flew in from California. Could we please see him?"

The woman looked at her notes, "Yes, Dr. Jamieson. Dr. Titan left instructions that you would be able to see him as soon as you arrived. He's in Room 204," the woman replied and directed them to Lee's room.

"Thank you," Jamie said as he returned to the group and motioned them to follow.

They found the elevator and went to the second floor. They exited the elevator and found Lee's room without much trouble. They slowly opened the door not knowing what to expect but found a man sleeping in the chair next to his bed.

"That's Joey Calder," Chip whispered.

Joey heard the door open and woke up to find four people staring at him. "Hi, I'm Joey Calder," he said softly walking over to Janet. "You must be Lee's wife, Janet. I'm very sorry he got hurt."

Janet nodded her head as she walked over to Lee's bed. He had an IV, his arm was in a sling, his hair was shaved off where he had stitches, even through a two day old beard, she could see the cuts and bruises on his face. She kissed his forehead and rubbed the stubble on his cheek. She then picked up the sheet covering him and saw his torso wrapped with bandages. She could also the bruises on the rest of his body and legs. Without looking away from him Janet asked Joey, "Has he woken up?"

"No I've been here since they moved him to the room. I didn't want to leave him alone in case he woke up."

"Thanks," Janet said. She pushed the chair closer to the bed so she could hold Lee's hand.

Jamie left the room for the nurse's station so he could look at Lee's chart. The admiral and Chip looked at Lee and motioned to Joey to join them in the hallway.

"Joey, I'm Admiral Nelson, this is Lt. Commander Chip Morton. The other gentleman is Dr. Will Jamieson. Thanks for staying with him but you look like hell. Have you left since they brought Lee in?"

"No sir only to get something to eat or drink. I've been sleeping in the chair. But now that you're here, I'll leave you to sit with him."

Joey looked at Chip and realized he knew him. "You went to the academy too. I remember you were pretty good with computers."

"Yes, Lee and I were roommates and as I recall you helped everyone with their computer problems."

"Just have a knack for them. I'm really sorry Lee was injured. He made sure I got out before he would leave."

"Joey, how about you tell me what happened while we get a cup of coffee," the admiral said noticing a coffee machine down the hall. Chip went to the machine and got three cups of coffee. They sat down and Joey told them what happened in the tunnel.

((()))

Jamie looked over Lee's chart and wasn't very happy with the information. He gave it back to the nurse and returned to Lee's room. He went over to the bed and looked at his favorite patient. He knew Lee needed to wake up soon or he might never wake up. "He has to wake up soon," Jamie told Janet bluntly. "Maybe familiar voices will wake him up."

Jamie leaned over Lee, "Hi Lee, come on you need to wake up. We didn't fly all the way from California to have you sleep on us."

Janet gave Jamie a small grin. "Come on Lee, its 0400 hours. We're tired but we needed to see you before we can get any sleep ourselves. Please wake up," Janet pleaded squeezing his hand while tears ran down her face. "Please."

The admiral and Chip came in and stood next to Jamie. "Hey buddy, you've had enough sleep. Get up, I want to see you shave one handed," Chip quipped.

"Come on, son. You can do it," Harry told Lee patting him on the shoulder and then sat down next to Janet.

Chip found two more chairs for him and Jamie so they could sit on the other side of the bed. They sat there for another two hours before the door opened and Dr. Titan came in. Jamie recognized him right away.

"Hi Mark," Jamie said as he stood up and shook his hand.

"Hi Will," Mark greeted Jamie returning the hand shake. "Sorry we have to meet again under these conditions." Nelson, Chip and Janet stood up to meet the doctor as Jamie introduced them to Mark.

"How is he?" Janet asked before Jamie could.

"His other injuries are minor and he'll recover from them. I saw on the x-rays that he's had cracked and broken ribs before and a broken leg among other injuries I noticed on his body," he told them. He knew Lee did more than work as a submarine captain for a living but didn't mention it. "I'm most concerned that he is still unconscious. I did another MRI and it now shows no serious brain injury only a severe concussion but people aren't normally unconscious this long. He does respond to stimuli so I don't know what to tell you. I looked over the information you sent Will and it looks like he had a few concussions before. It's almost like he doesn't want to wake up. Maybe that's his body's way of coping with the injury. We'll keep a watch on him and do more tests if he stays unconscious too much longer."

"Thanks, Mark," Jamie replied not happy with the updated information.

Mark looked at the four people in the room and could see they were very tired. "You need to leave and get some rest. You probably haven't slept or eaten since you left California and we do have rules here. I only let you stay because I know you wanted to check on Lee. But visiting hours don't start here until 1100 hours. So I don't want to see any of you back before then."

Janet started to protest but Mark cut her off. "That includes you Mrs. Crane. You aren't going to do him any good if you're exhausted."

"Alright," she replied, "and please call me Janet."

Smiling, "No problem as long as you call me Mark. Now out with all of you."

Joey was waiting in the hallway for them to leave so he could stay with Lee. "Joey, you will leave too and get some rest. You haven't had a good night's sleep since Lee was brought here."

"Yes sir," he replied. "Now that Lee's family is here I do have to get back to DC and check in with Admiral Johnson. I'll come back later this morning and say good bye. I've got a flight to Washington early this afternoon. Hopefully Lee will be awake by then."

Mark escorted them down to the front of the hospital. He asked the attendant at the front desk to call them a taxi. Joey was staying at different hotel that was in walking distance so he bid them good bye. Though none of them would admit it, they were all tired and hungry. After they checked in, the admiral looked at his watch, "It's 0630 hours, why don't we meet at 1030 hours, we'll get some breakfast and then go back to the hospital."

They all agreed and went to their rooms. Janet unpacked just what she would need for now. She was too tired to do anything more. She changed into one of Lee's shirts she brought with and climbed into the bed falling asleep immediately. The other three were just as tired and fell sound asleep.

((()))

Mark checked on Lee again before making his rounds and noticed there was no change in his condition. He was worried about Lee never regaining consciousness. As soon as he left the room, Lee started to stir. He opened his eyes and blinked a few times as things were a little fuzzy. He knew it was day time as he could see the light coming from the sides of the shade in the darkened room. He tried to move but it hurt too much so he fell back to sleep.

((()))

Janet woke up at 1000 hours. She was still tired but her stomach wouldn't quit growling so she got up, showered and got ready. By the time she was finished it was almost 1030 hours. She was just leaving her room when Chip's door opened. They were joined shortly by the admiral and Jamie and made their way down to the first floor. Janet could hear Chip's stomach grumbling louder than hers and chuckled softly. Chip just gave her a dirty look. They found the hotel had a small café that served breakfast. When they were finished, Chip hailed a cab for the short ride to the hospital. They would get there a little after 1100 hours.

((()))

Lee woke up a few hours later his mind a little clearer and figured out he was in a hospital when he saw the IV. He noticed his arm was in a sling, he felt his head and found the stitches. He tried to move and groaned in pain as he ribs wanted no part of his movement. He looked around the room and saw no one was there. Where is Joey, Lee thought panicking. He couldn't remember if Joey had gotten out of the tunnel before it collapsed. He slowly started to sit up. The room started spinning as soon as he sat up so took he a deep breath and stayed seated for a few minutes waiting for the spinning to stop. He was just getting ready to stand up when a nurse entered his room. Shocked to find him awake and trying to stand, she ran over to him.

"Mr. Crane, lay back down. You're in no condition to move around," she told him as she tried to ease him back down.

"Leave me alone, I need to find Joey," Lee told her angrily pushing her away. She pressed the button to the nurse's station for help. Mark was standing at the desk reviewing a chart when he saw it was the button to Lee's room. He ran down the hall along with one of the male nurses.

Harry, Chip, Jamie and Janet were just getting off the elevator when they saw them running down the hall.

"That's Lee's room they went into," Janet said worriedly and ran down the hall after them with the rest of the group close behind.

When they arrived at his door, they could see Mark and the male nurse trying to get Lee settled back into bed. "Lee," Janet said happily when she walked into his room. They were surprised to see him awake. Once he saw Janet and the rest of them he relaxed and got back into bed. Janet went over to his bed, gave him a kiss running her hands down his cheek. He took her hand and kissed it. "I'm so happy you're awake," she said tearing up. "We were afraid…"

"Sorry to worry you but I must have been in pretty bad shape if you're all here," Lee said trying to move and groaned in pain as his ribs protested.

"Let's just say you had us pretty worried when you were unconscious for so long," Harry answered.

"How long have I been out?" Lee asked slightly confused.

"Lee, I'm Dr. Mark Titan, your doctor here at Landstuhl Medical Center and you've been unconscious since you were brought here from Venenzia two days ago."

"Two days…Landstuhl?" Lee said rubbing his forehead. "I don't remember anything after I saw the guard with the detonator. Where's Joey…is he okay?" he asked urgently.

Joey entered the room and heard Lee, "I'm right here and in a lot better shape than you are," he grinned. Lee returned his grin thrilled to know his partner was fine.

"All right, why don't you all step outside for a few minutes while Will and I take a look at Mr. Crane here? This shouldn't take too long," Titan ordered. Everyone nodded in agreement and filed out into the hallway to give them the privacy they needed. As promised the examination only took a few minutes as the physicians checked Lee's vitals and ordered some painkillers to dull the pain from their patient's injuries.

Dr. Titan exited the room finding several anxious sets of eyes upon him. "He's going to be fine, in time. You can all go on in, but don't tire him out too much. I'm sure Will will see to that."

The group quickly reentered the room and smiled at their injury prone friend. Janet moved over next to the bed and picked up Lee's hand squeezing it gently in relief and bestowed a quick kiss on his brow. Chip and Harry patted Lee's legs then claimed the empty chairs around the room, while Joey leaned up against the wall across for Lee.

"Can you please tell me what happened, Joey?" Lee asked, knowing that everyone in the room would have been cleared by Johnson once he'd notified them of Lee's condition. Joey quickly recounted what had occurred after the explosive had detonated.

Lee laid there for a few minutes taking in what Joey told him. "We did complete the mission correct?"

"Yes Lee, we did," Joey confirmed.

Lee let loose a relieved sigh and smiled. "Thanks, that's a huge weight off my mind."

As they chatted quietly, Dr. Titan returned to the room to check on his patient's progress. He did another quick vitals check and was quite happy with the result.

"Okay when can I get out of here?" Lee demanded, "I've had broken ribs and concussions before. Never a broken arm but that's no problem, I'm right handed anyway. I want to go home. Seaview has a mission next week."

Mark looked at Lee. "I've been briefed on how you like to play down your injuries so you can get out of 'jail' as Will told me you call Med Bay but it's my hospital, my rules and I'll let you know when I think you're ready to leave and not a moment sooner," Mark said frankly.

"Yes sir," Lee replied sheepishly noticing the smirk on Jamie's face as the other three could barely contain their grins.

"I'll leave you alone for awhile with your wife and friends before I check you out more thoroughly but you seem to be okay except for a little memory lost which is to be expected," Mark told him. He chuckled as he walked past Jamie who was still smirking.

"Thanks Jamie for telling him my secrets. He'll never let me out of here," Lee moaned looking at the grins on the faces of Janet, the admiral and Chip.

"Sorry Lee. I had to tell him everything about his patient," Jamie replied still smirking.

Joey had no idea what was going on but needed to let Lee know some more information, "Lee, I have to leave in a little while for Washington. Admiral Johnson is anxious to be debriefed on what took place and if we've accomplished what we were supposed to do. I've got the flash drives and information so I'll tell him what I know. He said you can follow up with him later when you're better."

"Joey, thanks for getting me out of there and your help. You did a great job. You'll make a good agent and I'll be glad to work with you again," Lee told him as Joey gently shook his hand and said good bye to the rest of them.