"I can kiss away the pain, I will stand by
You forever, you can take my breath away,"
-"Hero", Enrique Inglasis
Sandra watched Anthony sleep from the doorway of the room. His face was still beaten and bruised; he had many cuts with stitches along his arms and legs. His left wrist was broken, the hearing in his right ear was weakened but was told would come back, and he was temporarily paralyzed in his legs.
"How long has he been out?" Barbara asked.
"Couple hours," Sandra replied turning to Barbara. "The hearing in his ear is going to return and he'll be able to walk again."
"How long?"
"Couple of weeks maybe a month or two," she took her glasses off, rubbing them on her dress then put them back on. "How's Evelyn?"
Barbara shrugged. "She's pulling through. Personally I think it's for the best in some mystical way. I mean what would she have done if both came back?"
"I don't know," Sandra replied. She put her focus back on Anthony.
"What are you going to do with him?"
"I don't know…I'm still not sure how I feel about him,"
"You need to go for it Sandy," Barbara urged. "I mean he came to tell you goodbye right?"
"Yeah,"
"And you thought you'd never see him again right?"
"Right,"
"Well you're seeing him again. Ever think this might be your second chance?"
"Maybe…" she still wasn't sure even with Barbara urging.
* * *
Anthony slowly opened his eyes. There were others in the room with him. He remebered getting off the plane and seeing Sandra, but he didn't remember how or when he got to the hospital.
He felt a horrendous pain in his arm and around his face. He tried to push himself up in bed but stopped when pain shot up threw his body. He coughed a few times.
"Hey sleepy head," Sandra greeted, walking up to him.
"Hey," he replied watching ever move she made.
"How are you feeling?"
"Better I guess…what's wrong with me?"
"Um…you have a lot of stitches…broken wrist, the hearing in your right ear is bad…but it should come back and you've lost usage of your legs but that won't last forever,"
"How long will it last?"
"Couple of weeks, maybe a few months," he slowly nodded.
"Okay…what time is it?"
"Its…uh…its about three in the morning," she looked at her watch. "Are you okay? Is there anything you need?"
"Um…water…if that's okay,"
"Sure, I'll be back in a minute," she walked away.
Anthony took a moment to review the information she had just told him in his mind. His hearing was off, which he knew already before he got to the hospital, and he was temporarily paralyzed. He didn't know how he was going to manage in a wheel chair for a couple weeks or months.
He wanted to work things out with Sandra. He had very strong feelings for her but his charm wasn't working for him.
"Here you go," she returned with the water.
"Thanks," he took the cup of water with his right hand and slowly sipped the liquid.
She watched him drink the water. For some reason any movement he made she wanted to memorize it in the back of her mind. Stop it. She thought. You're getting too attached…well you were worrying about him getting back. Because we're friends that's why. You know you like him more than that. Shut up! She shook her head to get the arguing out of her mind. She would worry about it later.
"Oh, these are yours," she reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out dog tags. "I…we took them off to wash them…they had mud and blood on them."
He placed the cup down and took the tags in his hand. For a brief second their hands touched. She watched their fingers touch for a moment but then took her hand away. "Thank you." He kept a smile to himself as he placed the dog tags around his neck.
"Um…I…I guess if you need…I'll be in the office if you need anything…" she began to walk away.
"Wait," she stopped. "Aren't you off duty by now?"
She smiled. "Yes, but who else is going to make sure you stay out of trouble while you're here?" he couldn't help but give out a slight chuckle as she walked back to the office.