Nick was getting a bit maudlin, stuck in the hospital by himself. He'd spent the morning annoyed by the whole family squished in the room with him, and now that he'd had a few hours to himself, he was missing them. Hadn't Claudia once talked about regression? That when a person is injured or sick or made to feel acutely vulnerable, their mind goes back to the wants and needs of a child? Well, Nick felt like he understood that now.
He wanted to know what was going on outside the four walls of this room. He'd taken a nap for what felt like hours but, judging by the clock, it had only been about forty minutes. He felt more alert now, even if the dull but persistent pain sapped all his energy and prevented him from doing anything about his malaise of ennui.
Thankfully, his solitude was interrupted by the best possible visitors. "Daddy!" Ella cried, running into his room.
Nick could not have stopped himself from beaming at her if he'd tried. "Hey there, bug!"
Cody ran in right after, a little slower thanks to the awkwardness of his cast. "Dad, guess what!?"
"What, mate?" Nick replied with a laugh.
"We got to eat wedding cake!"
"Was it good? What kind was it?"
Cody, with a bit of difficulty, hauled himself up onto the bed with Nick. Ella had already perched herself by her father's feet. Cody described the cake in great detail. "It was white frosting with coconut, and Gram said it was fancy, but I think coconut is gross. And inside the cake, it was bright pink like our ties from the wedding and Ella and Mum's dresses. It was raspberry!"
"Did you like it? Other than the gross coconut?" he asked.
"Yeah, it was good," Cody answered.
"How about you, Ell? Did you like Hope's cake?"
Ella nodded. "I like coconut."
"Me too," Nick agreed.
"Mum thought the coconut was gross," Cody defended, pointing to his mother in the doorway.
Jen was standing in the doorway wearing one of her gray work suits. She had her arms crossed and a serene smile on her face. And even after so many years together, Nick's heart gave a little flutter to see her. Or maybe that was just the medication. "Hey there, Sergeant," he greeted to his wife.
"Hey there yourself," she answered, making her way inside the room.
Nick turned his attention back to Cody. "Your mum likes the smell of coconut but she doesn't like the taste. And I think that's really weird."
"Do you think I'm weird too?" Cody asked with grave concern.
"Yeah," Nick teased. "But all the best people are a little weird."
Ella frowned. "I'm not weird."
"Oh yes you are, you're my crawly little bug!" Nick reached out to try to tickle her, but he couldn't quite reach without feeling a pull at his surgical incisions, making him wince in pain.
Poor Ella's laughter abruptly ended and her frown deepened. "I'm sorry you're hurt, Daddy."
Nick forced a smile for her. "It's okay, Ell. If I'm hurt, it means I'm alive. And I'll be back to normal before you know it."
As he said those words, Nick realized he might be flat-out lying. He had no idea if he'd ever be back to the way he was. The bullets turned his internal organs to mincemeat, and it was practically a miracle he'd survived the surgery at all. And hadn't one of those shots damaged his spine? He could wiggle his toes and feel his legs, so he wasn't paralyzed, but Nick suddenly wondered if he'd actually ever walk again. No one had told him he wouldn't, but it did not seem quite possible that he really could come out of all this without any lasting damage.
Jen saw her husband go quiet all of a sudden, something she did not quite like. "Should we see if there's a rugby game on?" she suggested, finding the television remote on the side table.
Cody and Ella launched into an excited discussion of rugby. Of all the things in the world, one of the very few that they absolutely agreed on was rugby. They both loved it and both wanted to play as soon as they were old enough. Jen was not much of a fan of sport, but Nick certainly was. He always watched the footie, cricket, and rugby. He'd even played rugby when he was younger.
After flipping through a few channels, Jen found a game playing on one of the sports networks. The children were enthralled. She put the remote down and caught Nick's eye. He smiled softly and reached out to her. Jen gave him her hand, which he brought to his lips. And for just a moment, everything was alright.
"You okay just the three of you for a little while?" she asked him quietly.
"Sure. What are you up to?" he asked in response.
"I need to go talk to Duncan about a few things."
Nick gave a knowing hum. "Things that have to do with you wearing that suit."
"Yes," she told him.
He nodded in understanding. "You'll tell me later, yeah?"
"Of course," she promised.
Nick gave her hand on more kiss before letting go. Not to be outdone, Jen leaned over and pressed her lips to his just briefly enough to get her point across. And with that, she slipped out of the room.
Going back to Duncan's room was easier this time. She did not need to take any detours to Room 8631, not going anywhere near 8397. That way only more troubles lay. She had troubles of her own without wandering down that route.
Jen found Hope snuggled up against Duncan in the hospital bed in a way that reminded Jen quite powerfully of when Nick was recovering from Dane Majors. Jen had done the same thing. And she and Nick hadn't even been married then. They'd actually not even officially been dating. That whole ordeal had been the biggest wakeup call of her life, and at the time, being as close to Nick as physically possible was all that mattered. That was when she knew, without question, that she could never be away from him ever again. And now it looked like Hope had come to the same conclusion about Duncan.
"Hope, do you think you could go get us a couple coffees?" Jen asked after they'd all said their hellos.
The younger blonde sat up and pushed her hair back. "You trying to get rid of me, Jen?"
She smiled. "Yes, actually. I've got to talk to Dunny about some police business," Jen told her.
Hope sighed in annoyance and clambered off the bed. "You lot are so needy, aren't you?" she grumbled. But even so, she kissed Duncan and then grabbed her purse to head off for a little while. As she left the room, she paused to give Jen a quick hug and kiss on the cheek. "You look good, Jen. Like yourself. Feels good to have a bit of hope again, eh?"
"Yeah," Jen replied. "But you'd know that better than anyone."
And Hope just rolled her eyes at that, leaving the cops to their business.
"What's going on, Jen?" Duncan asked, doing his best to sit up a bit straighter.
"I went by the station today. Team's hard at work."
"Yeah? What are they up to?" he asked. Despite the slight haze caused by the medication, Duncan's whole face clicked into detective-mode immediately.
"Allie and Rhys and Karin have been looking for the getaway car. Allie got a partial plate. Oliver and Matt looked into your old cases."
"Matt?"
"Waverley let him get seconded from Arson. He's got history with Homicide, he knows most of your old cases."
Duncan nodded in agreement. "And?"
"I've done a little digging of my own. And it looks like we've got a very viable suspect. But I was hoping to see if you remember anything from the shooting to see if we're on the right track."
He frowned. "I don't remember much. The guy was big. Bulky-like. Not too tall? Didn't see his face obviously. The mask. But the voice…I can hear it in my head and it's familiar, but I can't quite place it."
Jen gave a wry smile. This was exactly what she'd hoped for. "What if I mentioned chop-chop?"
Duncan's eyes went wide in recognition. "Colin Rankin! That's who it was! That was the voice, that was him! Jesus, the bastard!"
It almost made Jen laugh, his immediate passionate response. But this was no laughing matter. They knew who their man was now. They knew who destroyed the wedding and shot Duncan and Nick and Father Lewisham. And Jen knew, just like Jarvis had told her earlier, they'd get the bastard.