Chapter Thirty Five
While Eddie and Salvatore waited for Michele to leave, Salvatore remembered her at the assisted living. She was one of the youngest patients and one of the most beautiful. There was nothing he liked better than going into her room and watching her sleep. Eddie often woke up and wanted to get a bath right away. She was progressive so she let him do her bath more often the not. Even though her body was atrophied it was beautiful…
Finally the bell stopped ringing and Michele stopped calling inside. Eddie felt sick, she knew she was running out of time.
"Do you remember the first day we met?"
Eddie nodded, "You just started when I go the flu. You were nice to me. I made a lot of messes and you never got mad. You were really patient with me."
"You were nice to me," Salvatore replied. "You didn't see a guy nurse, I was just a nurse. I enjoyed our time together when we first met. I watched you sleep in your room at the assisted living, it was my favorite time of the day. You were so tiny in the bed, so vulnerable…and so predictable…" Salvatore licked his lips remembering a hundred stolen kisses while Eddie slept. "Even here I knew by late afternoon you'll be sleeping soundly in this bed. I used to change my schedule at work so that I could watch you sleep and do your bath. You like your bath don't you Eddie. It makes you feel sexy…"
The last thing her bath made Eddie feel was sexy but she licked her lips again. "Those were bed baths, I remember a little but some of it…"
"You're hazy because of the medication, I helped you out a little while you were sick," Salvatore admitted.
"Helped me out…You left some bruises on me too."
"Well if you didn't resist me!" Salvatore snapped. "You kept wiggling and flopping your head around trying to bit my ear off!"
He was getting agitated, not good…Eddie knew she had to get him to go and leave so she could try to call out for help. It had to be Jamie or Danny, if Pop came home and found this! He still carried his weapon but by the time he got to it, Salvatore could injure him or worse. Eddie took a breath, "I'm sorry, it must have been how awful I felt. What if we did one now? I did have some messes earlier, it would be so nice if…"
Salvatore's eyes lit up. Maybe should would go willingly after all.
The moment Salvatore went to draw the sponge bath, Eddie's eyes looked at her phone. She was about to whisper a command to call Jamie the phone lit up, it was her Jamie! "Answer call!" she ordered the pushed the open line to the floor.
Salvatore returned with the basin of warm water, Eddie began to speak softly as he hesitated.
"I'm just here lying on the bed," was the words that greeted him. "You're over by the door…if you want to get to know me, you can't block the door."
Salvatore came closer to Eddie with the basin, "That's it…you can come closer to me and sit on the right side of the bed."
Eddie knew the more she was able to tell Jamie the better off he and most likely Danny would be to come in. "Jamie sits on the other side when he gives me a bath but you liked to sit closer to the window at the hospital, I remember that."
Salvatore began the bath with Eddie's face. He kept his touch very gentle, if Eddie shut her eyes it could be pleasurable if not for her crawling skin. "You see, this is what it's like when someone really cares for you. Jamie and the old man, they don't care, not really. You're a play thing to them! You're just a way to pass the time!"
Eddie sighed, she often felt that way in the past but not anymore. Eddie hoped against hoped that Jamie would get to her before this escalated. Salvatore was beginning to move below Eddie's injury line, where she was sensitive, where if he wasn't careful, his ministrations would put her body out of her own control.
"What are you going to do to me?" Eddie finally asked. "I know you want more than to just give me a bath…"
"Oh, we are going to be together. We are going to leave her together, but not before I get my revenge on that sniveling little skank that fired me!"
"Where do you want to take me?" Eddie asked trying to leave Jamie as big a clue as she could.
For his part Jamie had never felt so sick. No matter how fast he drove, no matter what shortcut he took, he couldn't get around the traffic. "Hang on, babe. I'm coming. Hang on, keep talking to me."
Eddie had a lot of hope that Jamie would hear her and come home. Salvatore's touch was getting harder and lower. She felt herself getting sick, "Salvatore…please don't touch me so hard…I know it's hard, I'm feeling sick…Please…'
Salvatore was in his own world now, he wasn't listening to Eddie. As he started to pull her nightgown up, around her hips. Eddie could hardly stand Jamie's touch yet, even with all their hard work. When Salvatore pushed this, her body would betray her and everything she was fighting for would be lost. "Salvatore, please…" He still ignored her pleas. "Before we go…before things…I need you to do something for me. Sal…please…'
Eddie didn't expect a back hand to her face but she got it, "Don't call me Sal!" he exploded. "What the Hell do you want, all this please this and please that…"
"I want you to help me leave a note for Jamie so I can say goodbye, so he won't follow us," Eddie begged knowing she would likely never see Jamie again, she'd be dead when he finally got there.
"Oh God," Jamie gasped. "No baby, don't go there. Keep him off you, don't let him…" Jamie knew from their own exercises, severe AD was still common. If that happened and it wasn't treated, Eddie would probably die. This morning would end up being the last time he held her, kissed her…that wasn't fair, they had come too far.
"Just write that I love him so much, but I have to go…and he has to make his peace and know that it was not his fault, that nothing was his fault. Ask him to tell Pop too…just that it wasn't their fault, that I love them, and I'm going to be in a better place…"
Jamie felt tears running down his face as Eddie started sobbing. Jamie could hear Salvatore's voice but not his words as Eddie spoke again, "Aren't you going to take me first? Take me out of here…"
Eddie kept talking directing Jamie on the other end of the phone. She was at peace, she'd said goodbye, now it was just a matter of time.
Three blocks, two blocks…Jamie counted down as he finally got near the house. Eddie had lost focus on the phone in that moment, and drew in a breath. She braced herself as Salvatore pulled her panties down and away…this was it…soon it her world would go black and she did not know if she'd ever see the light again…
Eddie kept her eyes sealed shut. This wasn't about protecting her virtue anymore, this was about protecting her life. "If I can picture Jamie, and make this just about sensation, maybe I can get through until someone gets here," Eddie reasoned to herself. Eddie knew Jamie was coming, he was on the other end of the phone listening to her, Henry was hurrying home to get her pills, all she had to do was…
Eddie could smell Salvatore's breath, cigarettes, mints…and then, she couldn't. Eddie felt the body heat that had been encroaching on her space dissipate and then heard the unmistakable sound of bone hitting wood. "Get yours hand off her!" Eddie heard Jamie grate out through clenched teeth.
Eddie opened her eyes to see Jamie gripping Salvatore by the collar of his shirt. It was not Officer Jamie Reagan in the room now, it was her boyfriend Jamie with a mask of white hot Irish rage on his face.
Jamie held Salvatore against the wall with his left arm and pummeled him with is right fist over and over again. For his part, Salvatore kick, spat, and bit at Jamie trying to gain the upper hand.
"How dare you!" Jamie shouted at him. "You worthless piece of garbage how dare you touch her!" Jamie threw another punch, landing it squarely on Salvatore's jaw.
Salvatore fought back with all of his strength, landing a few solid punches of his own. Eddie watched the two men wrestle and struggle so close to her she could reach out and touch them if she had the ability. As Salvatore landed a hard punch near Jamie's eye, Eddie wishes she could get up and fight by Jamie's side like she had so often before.
Jamie shook his head to clear it, "She's mine!" Salvatore hissed. "You don't know how to love her. She's special."
Jamie took another swing, upper cutting Salvatore in the neck. "Shut up! I will kill you if you even look at her again! You don't know how to love you twisted…" Jamie pulled back and punched Salvatore in the face again and again, his rage fueling him against Salvatore's insanity.
Eddie heard the angry and ugly words spewing out of both men. It didn't sound like her Jamie, her incredibly sweet and gentle Jamie saying such things and fighting with such savagery, but that wasn't the scariest part, the scariest part was neither man was losing.
Danny parked his car behind Jamie's and all but ran into the house, his gun drawn. Danny could hear the two men fighting and Eddie softly calling out to Jamie from her position on the bed. Eddie's legs were arranged at an awkward angle, open so that Salvatore could access her feminine parts. Her face was bright red and she was panting with her mouth slightly open. In between breaths though, she was determined to break through to Jamie. "Jamie, please stop this now!" Eddie kept calling out trying to get through the Jamie's haze.
"Jamie…stop it!" Eddie tried again. "I'm okay, Jamie. I'm okay, he didn't hurt me.."
Danny reached down to help Eddie by pulling Jamie off of Salvatore, "Kid, cool it. Eddie needs you kid, leave this piece of crap to me."
Jamie surprised Danny by swinging at him. He was so caught in his rage that it was hard for Danny and Eddie to break through.
Danny wrapped his arms around Jamie's chest pulling his little brother toward his chest. "Hey go be with your girl, I got this scumbag. He isn't worth it kid, okay?"
Jamie stumbled backwards watching Danny take over still fuming that this man had dared touch a hair on Eddie's head. The feeling was primal, instinctual…foreign to Jamie. Jamie got up walking to the bed slowly face softening as he realized Eddie's face was a mixture of shock, fear, and relief. "Oh Angel, it's okay. It's okay." Jamie softened in that instant. Carefully, Jamie put Eddie's leg together and straightened them before elevating them on pillows to try to stabilize Eddie's blood pressure.
Jamie sat on the bed and opened his arms so Eddie could let herself fall into them. "Come here Angel," he whispered voice soft. Eddie let herself go and let Jamie wrap his arms tight around her to comfort her. Eddie rested her head on Jamie's chest trying to take deep breaths and keep control. Eddie was losing her battle with consciousness but somehow she had to stay in control.
.
"I'm so sorry, Angel, I love you so much," Jamie whispered into her ear while brushing a hand through her hair. "So much, it's going to be okay."
Both Jamie and Eddie looked on as Danny cuffed Salvatore and sent him off with the uniforms. Just before Salvatore was led away, Henry returned with Eddie's medication. "What happened?" Henry hurried back to the bedroom expecting to find Eddie sobbing in need of his comfort as well as Jamie's. Instead he found Jamie in tears and Eddie lying motionless in Jamie's trembling arms.
"From what I gather, that piece of garbage was your plumber and the nurse that assaulted Eddie at the assisted living. He decided to play a little bit but Eddie kept her head…"
Jamie sniffled, "Yeah, she did. She told me everything about what was going on through the phone, right Eddie?"
Jamie looked down and saw Eddie's face was very red. "Pop, can you grab her drops and some ice?" Jamie asked shifting to Eddie's medical needs. "Right Eddie, you and me, a team right?"
"Yeah," Eddie slurred, her head dropping to the side. Jamie saw the signs but hoped they could hold it off.
"Yeah, that was so smart talking to me that way," Jamie praised. "I'm so proud of you. Once a cop always a cop right?"
"Yeah," Eddie slurred again, her eyes rapidly tracking around the room. Jamie put the cuff of Eddie's wrist and held it waiting for a reading. "215/120," Jamie sighed. "Danny, radio for a bus forthwith, she's going to seize or stroke out if we can't drop this."
Henry returned with the drops and the ice packs and quickly administered the medicine. "Edit, talk to us, sweet girl," Henry instructed. "Tell us about what happened."
"What?" Eddie asked very confused and having a hard time keeping her eyes open. "What are you talking about?"
"Danny, get a status on that bus," Jamie told his brother keeping his voice gentle and his touch equally so.
"You remember, Sal or Mike got in and he was trying to hurt you but then I called and you…" Jamie left it open ended trying to draw Eddie into conversation.
"Mapped it out for you," Eddie replied. "I didn't want you to get hurt." Eddie's eyes fell on Jamie's bruise cheek and bloodshot eye. "He hurt you…he hurt…"
"Danny, that bus!" Jamie all but shouted holding Eddie's hand gently to his cheek. "I'm okay, I'm just bumped up. I'm okay."
Finally the Reagan men heard the comforting sounds of the ambulance approaching. "Danny, I'm going to ride with Eddie, can you bring Pop over to Lutheran before you deal with that waste of flesh?"
"You got it, Jamie," Danny replied. The EMTS carefully lifted Eddie onto the stretcher and hurried with her to the ambulance, Jamie hot on their heels. Danny turned his attention to Henry, "Pop, don't."
It was clear from the look on the old man's face he was blaming himself. "I left, Jamie told me not to leave her today, he said he was nervous and I left."
"You left for a good reason," Danny sighed. 'You needed to get Eddie her pills, she was suffering from her spasms without her pills, you did what you had to do."
Henry sighed, "I'm supposed to protect her and take care of her. I left her when she needed me most. I fell for all his dirty tricks."
"We all did,' Danny soothed. "Eddie and Jamie both need you now, Pop. Let's get you over to the hospital."
Henry was quiet on the ride over and surprised to see Jamie in the waiting room and not the examination room when they arrived. "How is my sweetheart?" Henry asked.
"She seized in the ambulance and bit the inside of her cheek," Jamie explained. "They are doing her stitches now. She's post ictal, the seizure stopped as soon as her pressure dropped. She was fussing by the time we got here."
Henry smiled, Eddie would fuss and whimper after a bad AD episode but it told Jamie and him that she was okay and was coming back around to them. "You should get that eye check out," Danny told Jamie. "We can wait for Eddie to come out."
"Eddie is scared, she'll need me, I can't not show up when she's so confused," Jamie sighed as the door opened and revealed Renzulli, Kara Walsh, and John McKenna.
"Hey, how is she Harvard? We heard on the radio," Renzulli said putting his hand on Jamie's shoulder.
"She's okay," Jamie replied. "She had a seizure but she's awake already. He didn't uh…"
"Oh thank God," Kara smiled and sank down with relief as Frank, Linda, and Erin joined the group on the waiting area. Erin looked at Jamie's face "Tell me he looks worse than you do."
"Yeah, he does. And no I wasn't acting as a police officer," Jamie told his boss and his father. "I was a boyfriend in there and he knew it. Danny arrested him and handed him off to officers out of the 6-1."
"I'm not worried about that," Frank replied gently. "I'm worried about Eddie and your eye."
"He won't get it checked," Henry told Frank.
"I have to be with Eddie when she comes out of the trauma room," Jamie replied. "I have to center her and steady her or she'll get worse. I know how do this, please let me."
Frank sighed, "Linda, can you look at his eye and see if it can wait. Eddie would not want you to neglect yourself Jamie."
Linda spoke to the ER doctor, and as a professional courtesy, he agreed to examine Jamie's eye in Eddie's room. While Eddie lay motionless in the bed with arms and legs supported by pillows, Jamie read the eye chart and followed the light. "I'm so proud of her," Jamie told the doctor when asked how he was feeling. "That's all I can really feel right now. Everything else is kind of numb, I'm relieve that she's going to be okay and incredibly proud she held it together."
"It is amazing that she was coherent as long as she was," the doctor confirmed.
"Pure reaction and training," Frank bragged.
"And guts," Jamie replied. "She was able to hold him back with just her voice. Imagine what else she could do with just her voice. There's no limit now that she has that kind of control."
Henry sighed, "Jamie, I understand you are very proud of Eddie but let's get her over this trauma before we come up with anything else."
Jamie nodded and settled on the chair beside Eddie, stroking her cheek and her hair. "Hey, Angel," Jamie whispered. "I'm right here. I know you are really tired and don't feel so well, but I'd love to see those pretty eyes so I know you are okay."
Eddie remained still, not fluttering her eyes or offering the small moans she usually did coming out of a seizure. "That's okay, you're not ready. When you are I'll see about bringing you home to rest."
Jamie rested his head on the chair. "Come on Pop," Frank said softly. "Let's go home, give them some time."
Jamie smiled, "I'll call you and let you know when we'll be back at the house. Maybe set her up in your room for a few days, so she can ease back into the other room."
Henry nodded and placed a kiss on Eddie's head, "I'm so proud of you, sweetie. Sleep well."
Frank left a kiss as well before leaving Jamie to sit viJamie by Eddie's side once again.
It was hours before Eddie finally stirred. "Jamie?" she croaked out. "Jamie…I.."
Jamie sat up straighter and quickly put a straw to Eddie's lips, "Here, take a drink. How do you feel?"
Eddie drank gratefully, "Thanks…I…don't…"
"I know, don't worry about that now, okay. You're going to be okay, we're going to take you home as soon as the doctors say."
Eddie's eyes went wide and she recalled the events of the day, "No…"
Jamie frowned at her reaction. "What do you mean no Eddie? Back home we can be together, I'll hold you and protect you."
"No Jamie!" Eddie's fearful eyes found his wide. "No, I don't want…I don't feel good enough."
Jamie stroked Eddie's hair, "Okay, it's okay…Look at me, Eddie. Look into my eyes, okay?"
Eddie's gaze found Jamie and she gasped, "Oh your eye…I'm so sorry…I…"
"Don't be sorry," Jamie soothed. "The doctor said it was fine, everything is fine. You just need to rest then we can go home."
"I don't want to go home, can I stay here? Will you stay with me? I'm so tired." The words came in a weak rush, Eddie was so exhausted. Jamie could see she was fighting for cognition.
"He's gone, Angel," Jamie whispered giving the reassurance he knows she needed.
"He's gone? It's safe?" Eddie questioned holding Jamie's gaze.
"It is safe. Danny arrested him, he's in jail and Pop is home now fixing the house for you when you're ready."
"I tried so hard Jamie, I didn't want him to take me from you after all we've built together," Eddie slurred, her head lolling to the side.
"I know you tried and you did so well," Jamie praised. "You kept your head and helped me just like partners do. Now, you shut your eyes and rest. I will be right by your side, you are safe, we're blessed to have this special partnership…I love you so much, now you sleep and don't be scared."
Jamie's words soothed Eddie, she sighed, wiggled as close as she could and put her head on Jamie's hip before falling asleep in mere seconds. Jamie looked at his awkward position and sighed, he didn't expect to get a wink of sleep that night, but much to his own surprise, he slept as peacefully as Eddie each one providing the other with love.
A/N: So that is it for now…or is it. Eddie had a rough ordeal and in a lot of ways so did Jamie. Stay tuned to see how that all plays out. Getting into the homestretch of this story now and predict it will be over fifty chapters…I know I'm long winded.
Next Update – November 29th – Eddie is home and adjusting, but who is having harder time accepting what happened?