Sean exited the hospital doors looking at his feet. Robert knew his friend's mannerisms pretty well, and he'd rarely seen him look defeated, but he definitely did now.
"Dad!" Maren said, rushing over to him.
"Hi baby," he said, wrapping her in his arms. It felt so good for Sean to have her need him right now, because he was hurting.
"How is Mom?" Maren said.
Sean pulled away and held his daughter's hands. "Come sit with me," he said gently, pulling over to a bench.
"It's not good news," Maren said. "I can tell."
"I know you can. I think I taught you too much too soon," he said, forcing a smile.
"Is she still conscious?" Robert asked.
"Yes, she's conscious. They admitted her, she's in the ICU now and they're going to take her for a CAT scan – that's a scan of her brain, Maren – as soon as they can."
"But…," Maren added.
"But she's having some trouble with her vision…" Sean said.
"She can't see anything?" Maren fretted.
"She can see shadows, but nothing in focus." Sean said.
"And…"
"I just can't get away with anything with you and your mother," Sean said.
"No, you can't. So stop trying." Maren said.
"And … she's having some recall issues," Sean said.
"Recall? She can't remember things? Like she doesn't remember what happened to us?" Maren asked.
"Yeah," Sean said, looking at the ground. Robert narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"Baby, I'm going to stay here, but I really think you need to go get some rest."
"Dad, I want to stay here with you," Maren said.
"Honey, I know you do. But it's going to be quite a while before we hear anything and you've been through so much already," Sean said softly. "I called Grace's parents and her mom said she'd be glad to have you over tonight."
"But…"
"Please, baby," Sean pleaded.
"OK, all right, I'll go. But I won't like it," Maren said.
"I know, sweetheart. Lt. Mitchell's coming by to drive you over there."
"You'll call me when you hear anything."
"Yes, I will. Please do what I say and just go there and have a good time."
"OK," Maren said dejectedly
A honk from the parking lot caught their attention.
"There she is," Sean said, picking Maren up in her arms. "Come on, baby. Say goodbye to Uncle Robert."
"Goodbye, Uncle Robert."
"Night, luv. I'll see you real soon."
"Not if I see you first," Maren winked.
"Very clever. Not sure which one of your parents you got that from."
"Both," Maren said, blowing a kiss as her dad carried her to the car.
Sean kissed his daughter on both cheeks and put her down so she could walk to the passenger side of the car. He leaned over to whisper to Lt. Mitchell. "I want a guard on the Harris' home as long as she's over there."
"Yes, sir," Lt. Mitchell said as Maren got in the car.
"Bye baby, I love you," Sean said.
"Love you, Dad," Maren said and the cruiser pulled away. Sean could see his daughter watch him until the car turned the corner and he was out of sight.
"So what's the real story?" Robert said.
"I'm surprised you held your tongue as long as you did," Sean responded.
"Well, I'm not often noted for it, but I do have tact when it's called for."
"Robert, she didn't recognize my voice," Sean said mournfully.
"What?"
"She didn't recognize my name even." He reached for the packet of jewelry the nurse had given him, pulling out Tiffany's wedding ring and fidgeted with it.
"How can that be? She recognized my voice."
"I know. The hemorrhaging in her brain. It seems to have affected her memory."
"Will she get better?" Robert queried.
"If it's caused by the swelling, it could be sooner than later. But it might be the damage from one of the blows. How soon until Drake gets here?"
"It shouldn't be too long. Let's get some coffee."
"I don't want coffee," Sean said.
"I know you don't. Let's go anyway."
Sean put the ring back into the envelope and tucked it back into his pocket, then he let his friend lead him to the hospital cafeteria.
They hadn't been there for 10 minutes when Mattison showed up.
"Well if it isn't the leader of the World Security Bureau, or make that World Secret Bureau," Sean said. "As in the keeper of many secrets."
"You're talking about Stanton, I assume," Mattison said.
"I am."
"You gonna pop me like you did him?"
"I was seriously considering it," Sean admitted.
"I'm going to try to remember that you're dealing with some emotional stuff right now and remind you that it hasn't been so long since you were a part of the bureau that you can't remember what the words 'deep undercover' mean," Mattison said.
"Which is bureaucracy lingo for 'too damn bad'," Sean said.
"I'm not here to argue with you, Donely. You have something that you didn't want to hand over to my agent?"
Sean reached into his other jacket pocket and pulled out the envelope that Stanton had hid in his wife's bandages. His hands trembled as he realized that it was covered in his wife's now-dried blood. Mattison reached for it and Sean let it slip through his fingers, but didn't stop staring at it.
"Thank you, Sean," Mattison said sympathetically. "I'm sorry that your wife was injured."
Sean's patience for this conversation was at an end. He nodded, Mattison looked over at Robert, who nodded as well, and Mattison got up to leave.
"Robert, she lost so much blood," he said and a fresh wave of horror washed over him.
"I know, mate."
Sean wiped at his hands as if his wife's blood was still on them, literally and figuratively.
"I don't know what to do. I have no idea what to do, Robert. Please, tell me what to do."
"The only thing we can do right now is await the results of the tests," Robert said. "That'll tell a lot. There's no reason to worry about what may or may not happen yet."
"OK, I know you're right. It's just this waiting. Really grates on every last nerve," Sean said. "I keep thinking of her face when I went in that room. She just had no idea who I was. All the years we've spent together, all the good times, even the bad times, just gone like that. This morning she loved me. It's disheartening."
"She loves you," Robert said. "I don't have any doubt of that. In fact, I'd go so far as to say if there's one thing I've ever been certain of in this whole crazy world of ours, it's that Tiffany loves Sean. No matter what stupid thing this Irishman has ever said or done, she has always adored him."
That finally elicited a chuckle from Sean. "And actually I was much more concerned for her well-being many, many, many more times before now." Sean's smile faded. "I should have quit while I was ahead, shouldn't I?" Robert said, berating himself for losing the reins.
"It was a good try, ol' buddy," Sean admitted.
Robert's cell phone buzzed to the "Beverly Hills Cop" theme song. "Dr. Drake, I presume," he said. "Welcome to Boston. You're at the hospital already? Well, we're in the cafeteria. Come join us here as soon as you can and we'll buy you a cup of Java."
