And at long last.... he wakes up!

Chapter 10

Elizabeth wiped a fresh stream of tears from her cheeks. It had been hours and he hadn't stirred awake yet. She knew from her experience as a nurse that he could be out for a long time but all of her professional training did not seem to be helping her. The chair she was sitting in was scooted as close to the bed as she could possibly get it. Her head was resting on his arm an she had her fingers laced through his. "Jason, wake up..." She repeated it again, "Wake up… please wake up."

She thought about calling Spinelli and getting guards sent but Spinelli had already handled it. When Robin had left the room she noticed one of Jason's men standing outside his door. She called Lucky but his phone went right to voice mail. He was in New Your City with Sam and the boys, Elizabeth just hoped that he was checking his voice mail. Elizabeth figured it would be a few days at least before word spread outside the hospital about their marriage. Lucky was definitely not going to take the news well. Elizabeth sighed when she also remembered Carly. She was most certainly going to find out and would once again lash out at Elizabeth and pout to Jason.

"E-liz-a-beth." She heard. It was barely a whisper but the instant she heard it she also felt his fingers tighten around hers.

Elizabeth lifted her head and looked at him, his eyes were still closed. "Jason… Jason baby I'm here." She shifted in her chair and brought her free hand to his cheek.

His eyes flashed open for a quick second, "Wh… where…"

"You were in a car accident, you are in the hospital." A few minutes went by as he slowly stirred awake. "I was so worried about you… I was so scared."

His eyes finally opened and focused on her. As sick as he was and pain he must have been in she could see the worry in his eyes. "What happened?"

"The other driver was intoxicated and swerved out of his lane. I don't really know the details of the crash because I didn't stick around down there." She sighed. "You have some broken ribs, no longer have an appendix and one of your lungs collapsed which is why you probably feel like a bus is laying on your chest."

He nodded and swallowed, "You should probably go before anyone…"

Elizabeth stood from the chair and moved to the end of the bed. Her hands rested on the footboard, "That's where things get complicated."

Jason's expression went from confusion to worry. "What else happened?" he weakly asked.

Elizabeth moved and sat at the foot of his bed, out of his reach but she rested her hand on his ankle that was beneath the covers. She chewed on her bottom lip as she often did when she was nervous, a habit that Jason was well aware of. "I kind of… well I was working the emergency room when they brought you in. I didn't know it was you at first, I was in with the driver of the other car. Patrick asked me to call Monica because he needed a release signed for surgery. I realized it was you and everything happened so fast. I was worried that if they didn't get you up to surgery and something was seriously wrong then you could have d… it could have been bad. The whole point is that Patrick didn't know and your vitals were low which really worried him. It turned out that was because of the collapsed lung and the appendicitis that you have apparently been walking around with. The accident caused it to flare up further and you had internal bleeding and all those broken ribs… anyway… I-I signed the release for your surgery." Elizabeth watched his expression and she couldn't read it. She couldn't tell if he was angry or upset so she continued. "I was afraid, scared that we wouldn't be able to get in touch with Monica and…"

"Who knows?" Jason asked, his expression still plain.

Elizabeth sighed and looked down at her hands, "Patrick of course… Monica, Robin and maybe a few of the nurses." She peaked up at him and caught his eyes.

Jason wiggled around on the bed, uncomfortably moaning in pain.

When he still didn't talk she continued, "I know you are angry with me and are probably now all worried. I'm sorry… I panicked."

"Elizabeth, I…"

"The patient woke up." Patrick announced as he entered the room. Elizabeth closed her eyes and let a low groan escape her chest. "How long have you been awake?"

"Not long." Jason whispered.

"About ten minutes." Elizabeth offered as she stood from the bed and moved back to stand at the end. She could feel Jason's eyes on her but she couldn't look at him.

"Any discomfort or pain?" Patrick asked.

Jason nodded.

"Can you rate the pain on a scale of 1 to 10?"

"No." Jason flatly answered

Elizabeth stood and listened as Patrick explained everything to Jason. He explained every detail of his injuries, the surgery and his recovery. The entire time Jason kept looking over at Elizabeth. His thoughts filled the room and even though he was not voicing them and she did not know what they wee, she could feel that they were there. He obviously was not paying attention to what Patrick was saying.

"So, I need to go make rounds and I will check back in before I go home to check your progress. As long as you don't push yourself or rip any stitches then you can probably go home in a day or two." Then just as fast as he appeared in the room he was again gone.

"Jason?" Elizabeth whispered. She walked around the bed and pushed the chair away so she could sit facing him on the edge.

He lifted his hand and cupped her cheek. "I'm not mad at you. I can see that this is eating you up."

Elizabeth closed her eyes and tears escaped from her eyes. "If it had been you I probably would have done the same thing… but… it doesn't change the fact that you and the boys are now going to be a target."

"I know Jason and all because of me… I'm so sorry." She sobbed. She was physically and emotionally exhausted and it all came out at that moment. Jason pulled her down to hold her against his chest. It was painful but he didn't care.

Jason combed his fingers through her hair. "We have a lot we need to figure out but it will be ok, I'll make sure it is."

Elizabeth shifted her head and felt his body tense. "Oh my god!" she said quickly lifting her head up. "I'm sorry, you are in pain. Shit… where does it hurt?"

"I'm fine. You have been through a lot Elizabeth, I want to help you. I need to get out of here first and we need guards and…"

"Jason, stop. Spinelli knows what happened and there is a guard outside your door. Lucky has the boys in New York City for the weekend and the hospital gossip should take at least another day before it reaches beyond the building… hopefully you will be better by then and can leave but you need to relax first and let yourself heal."

Jason sighed. He was not one to relax or let others take care of him, although he has allowed Elizabeth to on a few occasions.

"Now, are you in any pain?"

Jason nodded.

"Where?"

A mischievous smile appeared on his face. He lifted his hand and pat his stomach, "Here…" he moved his hand upward to his face. "And here." He added, placing his fingertip on his lower lip.

She didn't need another prompt form him. She quickly leaned down and covered his lips with hers. Besides the trauma and emotion of the previous night it had been weeks, close to a month since she had last kissed her husband. They quickly drew each other into the kiss, getting lost in the feel of each others lips and tongues moving together. As the kiss deepened further they could hear the faint chirp of Jason's monitor, the chirps increased with Jason's heart rate. They both could not hold back their laugh as they pulled back for air.

"Ah hem."

Elizabeth looked in the direction of Jason's eyes and found Spinelli fidgeting at the door.

"Apologies, the Jackal did not mean to interrupt a tender moment." Spinelli said nervously.

Jason slowly wiped his hand down his face. Elizabeth spoke quickly, "It's ok Spinelli, I was just about to step out for a minute."

"You were?" Jason asked confused.

"Well I am now, I'm sure you and Spinelli have things to do or talk about or something."

Jason shook his head, "Since I will be in here for a couple days we need to work out a few things and I need both of you here. First, I think it would be safer for you to stay at the Penthouse for a couple days. It is more secure and easier to guard. When the boys get back with Lucky, which hopefully I will be out by then, but if I'm not I'd like it if you still stayed there until we can properly setup security at your house."

"I can handle that, as long as Spinelli does not mind."

"Oh the Jackal would most graciously…"

Jason abruptly cut Spinelli off, "It's not up to Spinelli."

Elizabeth reached for Jason's hand and held his hand in hers. She did not want him to worry or get worked up over anything. "Everything will be fine. I just need to stop at my house to pick up a few things."

"Make sure a guard is with you at all times."

"I will but I'm sure no one will know for a few more days. Jason I will be fine." Elizabeth assured him, squeezing his hand in hers.

Before Jason could continue the door to the room opened again. "Jason, I'm so glad you're ok. I came as soon as I heard." Carly hurried into the room but stopped short when she saw Spinelli and Elizabeth standing beside Jason's bed. As if it were a magnet, Carly's eyes instantly spotted the diamond band on Elizabeth's left ring finger. "What the hell is going on here?"

Sorry it took so long to get to this point, I hope it was worth the wait. I opted to save the drama for Carly in the next chapter... could Jason ever be mad at Liz, even for letting their secret out, come on! She is just a spazz, always worrying about stuff.