Matt stayed with C.J. for the rest of the evening. She regained consciousness a second time and was more lucid. She seemed to recognize Matt right away and as she tried to talk to him, he could tell her mouth was dry, probably from the medication. He fed her ice chips to relieve that dryness in her mouth. "Now just take it easy, I know this isn't a fine wine, but it will do for now. When we get back home I plan to thoroughly spoil you, Mz. Houston." He told her.
She nodded but laid back in the bed, the morphine keeping her sleepy. "Matt, what happened? Where am I? What…"was all she could get out.
Matt fed her another ice chip and put the cup down, "You collapsed in the penthouse and I flew you to the hospital here. Carol got here as quickly as she could and assessed you and determined your gall bladder needed to come out. Because of that, your pancreas was also inflamed and so we just need to settle in here for a couple of days while they monitor it."
C.J. appeared to be trying to shake her head but Matt interjected, "Do not even try to fight me on this, C.J. you are staying in this hospital and I plan to stay with you, just to make sure you don't try to plan an early release."
C.J. shot him a look and replied, "Well, I wonder where I would have gotten any idea as to how to do that." After saying that though, she was back asleep. Matt lightly brushed the hair out of her face again and leaned over to kiss her forehead. He got up and told the nurse he would be right back. He just needed to go tell his uncle and Hoyt how she was doing and then he would be right back.
He got to the waiting room quickly enough and updated both men who appeared to relax just a little at the good news. Hoyt said he was going home, but would be back tomorrow, unless something changed in which case they should call. Uncle Roy asked if Matt needed anything before he left. He told him he didn't think a stake out was necessary anymore given Max's suicide.
Matt rubbed his forehead, the case. He had forgotten about it in the last few hours. "Ok, well, Uncle Roy, I haven't really given it much thought tonight, but we do need to figure all this out. Can you meet me here in the morning? I want to stay here tonight. Tomorrow Carol says she should be doing much better and that the nurses will probably have their hands full between me wanting constant updates and prognoses on her condition and her plotting an escape." Both men chuckled but then Matt got serious, "We do need to make some progress on the case, but I don't want to leave her. Maybe we can hit the coffee shop or the waiting room when she's sleeping and look things over."
Uncle Roy gave his nephew a hug and told him, "Of course that will be fine. Just focus on her and keep your eye out. If we have more deaths associated with this case, that makes it more dangerous boy. Someone might be getting desperate."
Matt thought about that, "Yea, you're right. Dawes and Max both died within 24 hours of each other. Someone could be trying to tie up loose ends." Then Matt had a truly scary thought, "and C.J. may have run across this person just the other night." He closed his eyes.
Roy noticed and got what Matt was saying, "The break in at the penthouse….but whoever it was shouldn't feel that she could identify them. In fact he would know by now if she could or not because he would be in jail if she had."
Matt nodded, "I know that Uncle Roy, but I'm not taking any chances. I don't care what this hospital's policy is, I'm not leaving her tonight. I can sleep in a chair in her room. They are moving her to the third floor when she is able to stand under her own steam and I will insist that I stay."
Uncle Roy nodded, "And what if they insist that you leave?"
Matt looked around and then said quietly, "Then I'll hide in the bathroom, a janitor's closet or somewhere else, but I'm not leaving her." Even though he said it quietly, Roy had almost never seen him so determined.
Roy told him to take care and be careful one more time before he left and Matt turned to go back to C.J.
He found her lying peacefully in that bed when he returned to her. He took her hand in both of his and laced his fingers in hers. She woke again and looked over at his face. That face she loved so much and she could see clearly the love he felt for her. It seemed to just radiate from him. He hands on hers brought her a sense of peace and made her feel so safe. For some reason, she hadn't felt safe in the last few hours. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but there was this undercurrent of fear that had permeated her body she just knew.
"Hiya hubby" she said with a sleepy smile on her face.
"Hiya sweetheart" he said as he kissed her hand and then took one of his and lightly brushed the side of her face. "Howya feelin now?" he asked.
She closed her eyes for a second and answered, "Like I was hit by a bus."
He smiled and continued to stroke her face, "Do you remember anything?"
She struggled to remember, "I remember being in the hot tub and then going downstairs to change when I felt so sick. Then I got sick and I tried to get back to my pain pills but I got a nosebleed or something." She smiled and looked in his eyes again, "And then I remember you, you were carrying me and we flew…I think…did we fly…in the chopper?"
Matt nodded his head, "Yes we did, I wasn't waiting for an ambulance. You scared me to death when we found you behind the bar."
C.J. apologized, to which Matt told her she had nothing to apologize for. He opened the graham crackers and the juice and got her to eat and drink just a little bit. She complained of nausea which sent Matt right to the nurse's station where they tried to calmly explain that it was normal and she was recovering well now and not to worry. He looked skeptical but went back to her anyway. He found out later, he moved up on the top 10 list of least favorite visitors at the hospital, going all the way up to number 3 by the end of the night.
Around 8pm they were moving her to room 315 and they told Matt he would need to say goodnight and come back tomorrow. He sternly refused and they started to send for security.
Jared volunteered to work on that floor because he knew Carol would be hanging around there because of C.J. and he caught onto the conversation. He pulled Matt aside and offered to sneak him into the orderly break room and give him an outfit. Then he could sneak back into her room. Matt took advantage and by 10pm he was back in her room sitting in a chair in the corner.
Jared made sure the curtain was always in front of him when nurses would come in to check on C.J.'s vitals and Matt could remain hidden. Matt stayed up until around 2am. So much had happened in the past 24 hours. He knew he needed some sleep because they had to figure all this out tomorrow. Too much more time, and that drug trial would be terminated and then whoever killed Max would have essentially killed thousands more with the loss of this life saving drug. Not to mention all the other lives ended because of this killer. A killer that Matt knew could have an office just 5 floors above where his wife now slept.