Thanks Natesmama for the read through.
Post Hero in the Hold
He can't even name everything he feels, so he just reaches for her and holds on for dear life.
The helicopter takes off and then shakes violently in the explosion. The noise is deafening and he doesn't understand half of what's happened, what's happening, but he can't let go of her.
She holds on to him, too.
He's so thankful for that.
He doesn't say anything. It's loud in the chopper and she won't hear him, but more than that, his brain is jumbled and he doesn't even know where to start. He is still trying to figure it all out.
Teddy Parker is dead. But he was there, on the boat, alive. Alive and helping. And then he was dying. And then he wasn't there at all.
A woman, one of the good guys, was at his apartment. But then, she wasn't good. And then he wasn't at his apartment, but the woman wasn't anywhere, either.
And he was on a boat, and there was water and a bomb and he couldn't see well and none of any of this makes any sense.
So he just holds on.
And so does she.
The pilot sets the chopper on the ground minutes later, and the blades whir to a quiet whisper. The pilot gets out but they do not.
He can see there are others standing by. An ambulance and paramedics, some Navy personnel and Cullen.
He pulls back, not because he wants to, but because he knows what he wants to ask now, and he needs to see her face when she answers.
"You're really here?"
Her eyes fill with tears as she nods. "Yes."
"I don't…I don't know what happened."
"There's time for that, later." She motions to the paramedics and they begin to pull their stretcher towards the helicopter. "We need to get you checked out."
They are invaded then, by all the others. There are questions and orders and poking and prodding.
She doesn't leave him.
He feels horribly weak as he is placed into the ambulance, but he finds some strength in the glare she sends the paramedic who suggests she follow behind them.
She climbs in and sits next to him without a word.
He's had a little time to think, heard some of the talking and he knows a little more now. "The Gravedigger." It's more of a whisper than he means for it to be.
"Yes. But we have her now. She can't do this to anyone else."
"You never gave up," he says drowsily, the IV pain meds starting to hit. He's drifting away but he hears what she says, just the before he gives in.
"I knew you wouldn't give up."
He squeezes her hand and then sleeps.