Chapter 13

The problem was the lack of privacy the glass wall between her and the nurses' station provided. They knew Colonel Mackenzie was the Admiral's Chief of Staff and that kissing your CO wasn't within military protocol. So how could she do it without being seen? There was a privacy curtain that could be pulled when a patient was getting a bath or having their gown changed, but closing that would draw more attention than a quick kiss would. That was another problem…if this was her only chance with him, she wanted more than a 'quick kiss'.

She sat there quietly thinking for five hours, twenty-one minutes, and thirty-four seconds until just after 0100 hours the alarms went off in the room next to AJ's. Every nurse, but one, rushed into the room. Mac saw that the one that stayed behind had her head down watching every monitor at the station closely. If ever there was a chance this was hers! Standing, she approached the bed so her back was still to the nurses' station giving what she was about to do as much cover as possible. Leaning over him she pressed her lips tentatively to his.

'Mmmmm…am I dreaming?'

As Mac came to the realization that she was finally kissing AJ the pressure of her kiss became more firm.

'She's kissing me.'

His lips were soft and pliant, if unresponsive, under hers.

'She's actually kissing me!'

She would have given anything to have him respond to her. To take her in his arms and not only return her kiss, but make love to her as well.

'She's kissing me and I'm laying here doing nothing about it!'

But she would have to take what she could get for now.

'Wake up damn it!'

"I love you," she whispered against his lips as she finally ended the kiss.

"Sarah…" came the raspy voice from those lips.

"AJ!?"

And suddenly the room was filled with nurses responding to the change in readings on his monitor.

"He's waking up!" one called out.

While another insisted, "Someone call his doctor!"

"His family should be notified too," the first one added.

"I can do that," Mac offered. "I'll go and call Francesca and Adele right now, Admiral Chegwidden!" she said as she quickly melted from the room.

'Admiral Chegwidden?!' he thought as the nurses buzzed around him. 'So that's the way she wants to play it?! All those confessions while I was out of it and now that I'm finally awake, she thinks she can go back to business as usual!? Well we'll just see about that!'

Mac sighed in relief that she had pulled back from kissing him just before he regained consciousness. How embarrassed she would have been if he had caught her doing that! But she couldn't stop her heart from leaping for joy that he was awake! And he had known who she was, so hopefully that meant no brain damage! All those thoughts raced through her mind as she walked down the hall towards the pay phones.

As expected, neither Francesca nor Adele minded being awakened when they heard the news Sarah had to impart. They both said that they would be there as quickly as possible.

AJ was being cared for diligently by the nurses. As people came and went from the room he kept expecting Sarah to come back, but the doctor was the next to arrive. He explained to AJ why his left eye was bandaged and what damage the bullet had done. All these things AJ already knew from hearing Sarah telling Francesca.

When they arrived together he faced the fact that Sarah wasn't returning. He tried to stay awake to talk to his family, but his body was demanding more rest. After trying to apologize for this they assured him they understood and they would be there when he woke up. His last thought was that he hoped Sarah would be back then too. However that wasn't to be. Even though it was Sunday she didn't show up all day. AJ could tell Adele and Francesca were also wondering where she was.

Finally when lunch was over and he'd been transferred out of ICU and into a regular room Francesca asked, "Papa' did something happen between you and Sarah last night?"

"No, why do you ask?"

"She had been by your side since you were injured except for a few hours when she went home to shower and change clothes, but she has not been here all day."

"I woke up and she went to call you. Maybe she felt that with the two of you here she didn't need to be," he offered. There was no way he was going to tell her what really happened because he would never hear the end of it. This was something he was just going to have to deal with himself. He didn't know her reasons for staying away, but he was going to find out!

Meanwhile, Mac had found her way home on autopilot. She closed and locked her door only because it was habit and seconds later flopped down onto her bed, fully clothed, to bury her head in her arms and start to cry.

To be continued….