Hey everyone, thank you so much for the reviews you guys are the sweetest! Here's a new chap...
Enjoy,
So ;)
ps: scuby as always i'd like to thank you very much, I wouldn't make it without you :)
Chapter 12
I'm running as fast as I can. He's here, right behind me I can feel it…I accelerate, plunging further into the darkness, branches are scratching my tender flesh and trees are narrowing the way in front of me, making my escape nearly impossible…his laughter echoes in the night sending chills down my spine…
Sara…
I can see her running in front of me and moving faster than me, encouraging me not to give up and keep up her pace. She stops when she feels she's too far from me and waves me to come to her, holding her out to me, I reach out but the closer I get from her and the further she seems. I scream her name, scream at her not to leave me here… Sara…
Gone… she's gone.
I stop my run needing to breathe. Before I can get a grip on what's happening I'm pinned down a dark figure above me, I can only see those piercing green eyes and their evil glow. "Missed me pumpkin?" even in the dark I know he's smiling, that scary smile. I see the blade shinning in the moonlight, blood dripping from it…pain on my side…then the blade falls on me again piercing my hand…
"NO!"
"Shh…easy kitten, easy…I'm here," I turn to see Nancy's delicate feature looking at me as her hand runs through my face in a soothing motion.
I wince as sharp pain start to spread all over my body. I grit my teeth and try to relax. I focus on Nancy's touch, taking deep breaths. It's over, the nightmare is over, I repeat in my head over and over again.
I close my eyes but open them again instantly as images from my nightmare flashes behind my eyelids. I hiss at the unwilling movement of my right hand.
"You want me to call someone?" Nancy asks me. I suppose that pain is still written all over my face then.
"No, it's ok," I reply after a moment. Truth to be told it hurts like hell but then again I know that they won't give me anything, so no need to bother.
"Do you need something?"
"Can I have some water please?"
"Sure thing, kitten," she gets away from me, letting go of my hand to get me a glass with a straw. I feel a slight panic invading me at the loss of her touch but I do my best to stay compose. "There you go," she puts the straw at my lips so I can drink. Once I'm done she puts the glass on the night stand and takes back my hand in both of hers.
Nancy and I have always been close to one another, sure we've fought in the past and had our differences, but we've always been there for one another, always. The recent events draw us even closer if that was possible. I've been lying down on that stupid bed for the past seven days and she's been there every day, looking after me.
"You want to talk about it?"
I've been plagued with nightmares ever since I regain consciousness. I barely sleep, unless Nancy's at my side and even then I seldom manage an hour or two.
I look away feeling vulnerable. Nancy knows what happened. She was adamant about staying with me when the police came along with the IAB to know why there were three dead men in the forest and how Sara and I were involved in all this. I know that it took them about three days to process everything and cover all the distance we had walked.
"I'm running in the forest, only Sara isn't there to save me…" I say not looking at my sister. She squeezes my hand and drops a kiss on it. I open my mouth to speak again but she gets ahead of me and answers.
"It's still the same Cath. She's holding on," she says speaking about Sara's condition. I close my eyes and sigh. "The boys said they'd drop by later today."
"Okay."
All the team has been taking turn to be with me and Sara. Nick provides me news from work, Greg enlightens my day with his goofiness, Warrick just provides me as much affection as my sister and Grissom…well Grissom reads to me so I don't get bored – and I have to say that I still don't see how life and reproduction of the creepy crawlies or how they are used it in forensic is supposed to be soothing stories.
Then my mother has been around, she tried not to say it but her subtle hints about 'safe' new jobs she heard about weren't too subtle. I can't really scream at her or send her packing at the moment. I guessed her being scared to lose one child is enough without giving her a hard time at the moment. I'll wait to be out of the hospital to tell her that I won't spend my time in and office, I like playing the field.
Linds…funny how she's always eager to be a grown up – as if what she had already been through hadn't made her grow fast enough. Yet ever since I'm here, she's being my baby girl again. Okay, so she's not a baby anymore, I know that. But I suppose that now she understood that I might not be there to breathe down her neck forever. Now she understood that she'll have time to be a grown up in a few years and that she should just be a young teenage girl at the moment. A teenage who still needs her mom to guide her through life and love her like a teenager. I can't be any more grateful for that.
I'm grateful to have them around but…somehow I can't really enjoy their presence for the person I need the most isn't there.
"You want me to leave you alone?" Nancy brings me back to reality.
"Uh? No…no stay, I'm sorry."
"It's okay, kitten."
"Hey, do you know if anyone called Sara's brothers?"
"Yeah, Grissom did from what I understand."
"Good," I sigh in relief. At least she's not alone, not that I doubt the boys has been taking turn to her bed but I think that she'd feel safer to have her brothers around.
I clench my teeth at the sudden rush of pain.
Nancy instantly gives me her hand and let me squeeze it. I close my eyes and try to breathe deep. Dr. Benson reduced my morphine drip so now my days are punctuated with unpredictable spasms of pain.
"I think I'm going to try to sleep a bit again," I finally say once the pain has subsided.
"Okay, kitten, if you need anything I'll be right here, until they kick me out."
She stands and brushes off the bang off my face in a delicate motion and kisses my forehead sweetly before sitting down again, running her hand through my hair to lull me. It's only minutes before I fall back into sleep.
When I wake up Nancy isn't there anymore. I feel panic slowly running up my veins. I force myself to calm down before pressing the call button for the nurse.
Five minute later a young red headed man comes in my room. "Howdy, Ms. W. how are we today?" he says with a charmer smile and an sexy Irish accent.
Connor O'Keeffe is probably one of the sweetest persons I've ever met and I'm lucky enough to have him as my nurse. He's quite handsome I must say and he's quite a charmer. However he's really reliable and devoted to his job. He makes my nights at the hospital a bit better, talking to me, coming to check up on me several times to be sure I don't miss anything, putting a point of honor to make me laugh a bit everyday. And most of all, he talks to me about Sara – no BS, no sugar coated speech, just the truth plain and simple, it's probably the only relief I have since they won't let me see her.
"It could be worse," I reply with a smile.
"Hard time to sleep?" he asks looking at my bandages.
"Bah…working nightshift for ten years will mess up with your internal clock," I chuckle.
"I bet, six years in the nightshift and I can't sleep unless there's a little bit of sunshine."
He changes my bandages telling me some funny story. "Oh please don't make me laugh…it hurts my side," I keep laughing, glad to have him at my side.
"Alrighty, bandages are all changed," he smiles. I like his smile because it always makes his green-yellow eyes sparkle.
"Hey, you think I can take a little walk?"
They've started to make me walk a little bit everyday to help the circulation in my legs going and to help me getting back some strength. Walking after lying down all day is actually more exhausting that I would have thought.
"Right now?" he rises his eyebrows.
"Yeah…" he smirks and I can feel the many reasons why we can't or shouldn't do it coming so I speak again. "Come on, Connor….pretty please…" I pout a little bit for good measure.
"Howdy…I don't know…"
"Please…"
"Well…" I can feel him giving away. "…the shift is slow…alrighty then…give me a couple of minutes and we're out of here…but…" he puts his finger on his mouth "Shhh…"
I giggle at his 'secret agent' impersonation as he leaves the room. He comes back a moment later and starts to settle my IV, and I put some decent clothes on before we step out in the corridor.
We walk slowly, Connor being careful of all the steps I take, not wanting to exert me. He asks me to tell him about Lindsey and funny things at my work, subtly distracting me from the constant lingering pain all over my body.
All the sudden we hear commotion behind us, when we look nurses are getting agitated, giving orders and information on a hurry. It seems that there was a major accident and they are short handed so they're adjusting quickly and reorganizing the staff. Connor turns to me with a serious expression. I cut him off before he gets a chance to talk though.
"Go…"
"Can't leave you there, Ms W."
"I'll be fine on my own. Go…come on."
The nurses are getting more and more agitated. "They're going to kill me…Alright, don't overdo it, go slow and I'm coming back to check up on you in a very few…go slow and sit down when you feel out of breath…or…"
"Connor, I'll be fine."
"No…I'm going to stay with you…" I can see the struggle in his eyes, he's ready to go do his job but at the same time I needs to know I'm going to be okay.
"Connor! Get here we need you," one of his colleague calls him.
"Go on, I'll be good…promise."
"Be careful Ms W. and I'll see you in a few."
He waits for me to nod before running to his colleague and disappearing in the hall. I start to turn around and head toward my bedroom when something hit me. I'm out of my 'cage' and I'm with no supervision…
An idea starts to grow in my mind. I focus on the information I have gathered and try to situate myself in the hospital. Lady luck is offering a golden opportunity on a silver platter, I might as well take it. I start my journey toward my destination. I wish the pain in my side wasn't burning so bad at least I'd walk faster then. Instead I'm walking so slow that I'm sure a snail would beat me if we raced and if it went backward…okay maybe not that slow, but almost…
I curse under my breath when I see another nurse desk in front of me, I unfortunately have to pass it if I want to reach my goal and if I do so I might be send back to my room…damn so close yet so far…
I come closer slowly and Lady luck is seriously in a good mood for the nurse desk is empty, I move as fast as I can, I'll probably regret this effort later, but I know that it'll be totally worth it.
I contain myself not to squeal out of delight or happy dancing as I get pass the desk without any problem and engulf myself deeper in long and dim-lit corridor. My heart beats faster at every new step I take for I know I'm close to reach the end of my journey.
Finally I slow down my pace as I near the door I was looking for. I take a minute to get my breath under control again. I pass a hand in my hair making sure that I'm presentable, and then I feel completely silly at my gesture. I'm wearing a hospital gown with a baggy sweat pants not to mention the bruises still visible on my skin, so I don't think my hair will ruin my style.
I open the door slowly with a shaky hand before putting it around my IV holder, and dragging it along with me as I take my first step in the room. For some reason I keep my eyes on the ground afraid at what I'm going to see. I close the door behind me and take another deep breath before turning around for good and rising my gaze to the bed in front of me.
My heart skips a beat at the sight in front of me. Sara's inert body is lying there, pale and fragile in the middle of a hospital bed. A maze of tubes and machine are surrounding her. My blood is pounding loudly in my ears and I feel slightly dizzy, it's another second before I realize that I've stopped breathing. I inhale deeply, slowly becoming aware of the constant beep mimicking Sara's heartbeat; the dripping of fluids in their pockets; the regular blow of the respiratory machine sounding as if Dark Vador was hiding in the corner of the room.
I try to swallow the lump in my throat and start to take unsteady pace to the bed. I drag a chair as close to her as possible and sit down. I reach for her hand and put mine on it. She's cold which takes me aback a bit. She always has cold hands – yet somehow all of her touches are warm, but this time it's freezing. I can feel tears gathering at the corners of my eyes, ready to fall.
I open my mouth, feeling my lips quivering, I gap like a fish out of water for several seconds before closing my mouth again. It's funny, because I've been waiting for this moment ever since I awoke one week ago, and during all this time away from her I thought my head would explode with all I wanted to tell her. Yet now my whole mind is blank, void of any words. I can't for the life of me form a sentence.
I decide that gesture spoke louder than words even though she might not know that I'm here. I lay my head on her side and put her inert hand over my cheek not before kissing the palm first, covering it with mine. I close my eyes and focus to find that feeling again. The feeling of safety and care, the feelings I had when she had me in her arms and when she touched me gently.
I feel complete again and my heart swells before beating like a jackhammer. Suddenly I can't help the tears falling silently on my cheeks.
…
"Oy!"
I wake up with a start. I look around and feel disoriented. It takes me a moment to realise that I'm in Sara's room. I hiss and the sudden pain on my side. Sleeping in a bent position was obviously not a good idea.
"Howdy, Ms W, you're trying to kill me?" I look up and see a rather upset Connor. "You disappeared…2 hours, I've been looking for you for over 2 hours! You scared the bloody hell out of me…I though I was going to give birth to a leprechaun! A good thing Dr Benson isn't on service yet or he would be shoving unicorns up my arse…"
I can't help giggling at his words and the fact that his accent is way more pronounced now that he's upset.
"Oy, it ain't funny!" he scolds me yet with a little smile. "You scared me…anything could have happened to you and you weren't where you were supposed to be…" he says softly. "We had a plan."
"I'm sorry, but I needed…" I trail off.
"I understand, but don't you pull a stunt like that on me again, please."
"I won't," I say a bit ashamed that I worried him like that. He's such a sweet man.
"Alrighty, I'm taking you back to your room," he announces.
"Can I stay a little more…please," I beg, not ready to leave Sara yet.
He looks at me as if to say that I'm pushing a bit – after all I had over 2h with Sara apparently, but I need a chance to talk to her, to tell her what, I don't know, but at least to try to tell her something.
I look at him with despair, hoping he'll accept my request. He sighs. "You got 2 minutes," he says before leaving the room to give me a little privacy.
I turn to Sara, still holding her hand with my good one. My mouth is dry and my heart is beating hard against my ribcage, so hard that it makes me shake a bit.
"Hey," I finally say with a shaky voice. What do I tell her? Tears of frustration are dropping from my eyes. Then I find myself chuckling at the thought crossing my mind thinking about our early hours in the desert. "We…we reached mothership," I tell her smiling through my tears. I'm expecting to see her smile, to see her beautiful brown eyes, but nothing happens. "Come on, we survived each other in the desert, and that was a miracle…now waking up should be a piece of cake…come on Sar… I want you back…I need you back," I tell her before sobbing a little. I compose myself again and let go of her hand to push one of her locks out of her face. I caress her cheek in a soft motion not liking that fact that her skin is cold under my fingertips.
I bend over and give her an Eskimo kiss, rubbing our noses one against the other, our lips barely brushing. I pull back and let my lips linger on the skin of her forehead. I take her hand back in mine and kiss it.
The door opens. "Not that I like it but, time's up now," Connor says. I know that he gave me more than 2 little minutes so I don't protest.
I reluctantly let go of Sara's hand and grip my IV holder again. I'm barely out of her room when the pain on my side I unbearable. I flinch and almost crumble on the floor but Connor's strong arms are holding me up.
"Howdy…easy there," he says and I hiss holding my side. "Hold on your IV," he orders gently before gathering me in his arms as if I was a child. "I'm taking you to bed and I'm going to chain you there…"
I chuckle. "Oooh, you got dirty plans for you and me?" I smirk. "You, naughty boy."
"Oy, I knew it sounded bad…" he chuckles.
He walks slowly in the corridor heading to my room. "Connor?"
"Ms. W?"
"I never said that to a man before but…you sweep me off my feet," I joke.
He laughs softly. "Aren't you a funny gal…"
We arrive in my room and he puts me gently on my bed. I wince as the pain is still on my side. "Let's take a look at your side," he says before looking under my bandage. "Oy, looks like you manage to break your stitches. I'm going to take of this."
He spends the next half hour taking care of my wounds, putting new stitches and changing the other bandages. He's touch is gentle and soft, he's very careful not to hurt me in any way.
"There you go," he stands up and puts the trashes away on a tray. "Alrighty, you should try to sleep a bit, I'll come back checking up on you in a few hours."
I nod, exhaustion slowly taking its toll me.
"Sweet dreams, Ms W."
I smile as he winks at me. He's almost gone when I call him back "Connor?" he turns around to look at me, ready to be at my side in a matter of seconds. "Thank you."
"You're very welcome Ms. W, now try to sleep."
I close my eyes and try to picture Sara wrapping her arms around me. I let myself go once I feel safety, care and comfort invading me.
Alrighty...well I'm still struggling with the next chap but I should be back soon.
Thanks for reading.
