CHAPTER 26 Wait and See

It was silent except for breathing inside the smaller submersible. They had just detached and were swiftly moving away from the larger vessel.

Owen was on the ground just holding Claire and rocking her with his head buried in her hair.

Someone had located a heavy blanket and they wrapped her in it, with some difficulty as Owen wouldn't fully release his hold of her.

"We're away." He heard Zia report to Lowery. It meant they were clear from the path of any explosions.

Everyone in the sub finally breathed out and began to chatter, laughing and slapping each other on the back.

The mission was a full success and everyone was going home.

In a twist of irony, it was Claire's release of the raptors that gave them all the advantage when they feared disaster. It was like having an advanced strike team.

Of course, no one in either mini sub would ever admit to that if asked. They wanted no part in risking a chance of this again.

But Claire saved them all. Without a second thought.

Owen was just quietly mumbling nothings into her hair.

Her breathing was shallow and her skin was on fire. She had to have some kind of infection from the conditions. He had checked her over for injuries as soon as he got inside the escape vehicle. Her light clothing made the job easy. Scratches and bruises but nothing severe.

He doesn't want to imagine what she went through. He reached down and felt her feet. He immediately looked and realized she had been in soaking wet socks.

The whole time.

"Someone give me a hand!" He shouted.

Leon was close by watching them and immediately dropped down next to Claire. "What can I do?"

"Here, I'm going to sit her in your lap. Hold her." He shifted her so she was upright on Leon's lap and tucked under his chin. Her eyes opened briefly and looked at him as she shifted. He paused momentarily just to rub his hand down her face. Her eyes drifted shut and he returned to what he was doing.

He moved to her feet and removed her soaking wet socks. Tears fell harder as he realized her feet were showing signs of frostbite. They were discolored and likely painful. They needed to get her help fast.

"We need more blankets! We need to get her warm!" he yelled, while hitting his comm, "Lowery, we're gonna need to med-flight her fast!"

"Already called. There's a medic team waiting on the launch ship for triage until they arrive." Lowery responded. While he was speaking, a couple of guys grabbed more blankets and gave them to Owen to wrap her.

Once he was satisfied with the wrap, he reached out for Leon to hand her back to him. Leon nodded and gently passed Claire into Owens arms, who tucked her back into him, hugging her close. Everyone backed away and went about conversations to give him some space.

"Hey, beautiful." he whispered into her ear. " I missed you, ya know. A lot. But I got you now. You're here now." He could here a quiet groan. He wiped her forehead into her hair and leaned over to kiss her warm head, keeping his lips there as he spoke, "I love you. So much. You gotta stick with me. So many people wanna see you. We're almost home."

"Both subs have made it to the launch ship, sir. They're on their way home." Lowery told Simon, who was sitting quietly across from him.

"Good." he paused. He gradually started to stand up. "I need to leave you in charge here, Lowery, until Zia is back. I will have Mary call more temporary help so you all may have some time to breathe, but I need things running until then." he said to him firmly.

"Where are you going?" Lowery didn't understand. They were still in crisis mode, though most of the danger had passed.

"I need to head to DC for a few days." he said simply.

"Now?!" Lowery was shocked. Simon wasn't one to just disappear in chaos.

"I made some last minute calls earlier. I have some music to face." he said solemnly.

Lowery's eye widened in shock, understanding what that meant.

Simon told the authorities the strike team was on board. Illegally.

"Not sure how long I'll be, but I will check in. I'll be back as soon as I am able." Simon continued.

Lowery watched as Simon made his way to the door.

"Hey Simon?"

He stopped and looked at Lowery.

"Why?"

"Because if I can sit and watch my employees time and again put themselves on the line for each other, then I can at least do the same." He smiled and walked out the door.

As soon as the subs docked, the doors opened and the med team was standing by out side. Gurneys went in and grabbed Claire and the team member who was shot in the leg. They were first priority. Most everyone else was scrapes and bruises. A couple of closer run ins, but nothing serious.

Owen wouldn't release Claire's hand even as they loaded her on the gurney.

"Owen, we need to check you."

"Check me while I go with her."

"Owen, let them check you. We're waiting on the med-flight. She's not going anywhere." Zia stepped in as she came out of the docking area.

He stared at Zia quickly, then nodded. He immediately turned his eyes back to where they had taken Claire behind a curtain and began working on her. He allowed the medics to do a quick once over, knowing he was fine.

He nodded at them and went to the curtain. He made his way in and found a spot where he'd be mostly out of the way. But he wasn't going to leave her.

He grabbed her hand again as the medic team were hooking up monitors and IV's.

"Temp 104. We need to get that down."

Owen listened as they were noting all her stats. There was another team getting her feet into warm water, trying to keep the frostbite at bay.

He heard the comm come to life. "We've got incoming med-flight. When you're ready." The copter was landing soon. He watched as the team around Claire started shifting to prep her for moving. He was momentarily pushed out of the way and was ready to push back in when Zia stopped him.

"Owen, let them work. You will be right with her. I promise. But you gotta let them do their job."

He again nodded, looking at Claire.

The team wrapped her up in blankets and started moving the gurney. "Owen, you coming." One of the medics asked and he didn't hesitate. He was walking right next to her with his hand on her stomach where her hands were under the blanket.

"We're on the move." he heard someone confirm.

The flight landed in San Jose where a team was there waiting to move them. The ship had continued on back to the island. They had both Claire and Billy, who was shot in the leg, being moved to the full hospital. Everyone else could be handled at the med center on island.

Owen stayed with Claire until they reached the room where they were placing her. The nurses held him back in the hall.

"Please let me go. Please. I need to be with her." He was pleading as the nurses were holding him back.

"As soon as..," he tried pushing in, 'Mr. Grady," they pushed back. "As soon as the doctors look at her. Mr. Grady, look at me." the nurse pleaded.

"OWEN!"

Owen paused his tussle to look who called out. He saw Barry running down the hall toward him.

Owen backed off from the nurses and turned to Barry, "Why are you here? The girls are coming in to the paddock." he said, confused.

"The techs have it under control. The girls were dosed so high, they won't be up for hours. Lowery didn't want you by yourself, so he sent me over."

"Lowery?" Owen asked. He was calming down now. He still had a sharp ear listening to the room, but he knew she was being taken care of by the doctors.

"He's in charge until Zia gets there." Barry responded

"Where's Simon?"

"Long story. We will cover all when we are in the clear everywhere." Barry didn't want to get into what had gone on here while they were out on the run. Owen was still too distracted.

"Thank you, brother." he said, reaching out to pat Barry in the back. Barry went and sat in a chair while Owen went and leaned on a wall where he could see the door to her room.

The clock was ticking as they waited. He could hear voices mumbling behind the partially closed door, but he couldn't make out what was being said.

He started pacing up and down the hallway. Waiting.

He could hear Barry talking on his phone. Probably sending out updates and getting them in return. He wasn't really listening.

He was focused, waiting for the door to finally open.

After what felt like hours, the doctor finally came out. He motioned for Owen to sit near Barry.

"I'm good." he said, standing still with his arms folded, waiting.

"Okay, so here's the rundown. We're dealing with a serious lung infection that's kicking the crap out of here whole system, so she's medically asleep." Owen appreciated that this doctor was being straight with them. No jargon.

"We are also treating the frostbite to her feet. Looking like no amputation or grafting needed. But we'll need to keep an eye on things for a few days. She getting antibiotics through IV right now. We'll keep her asleep until we're confident we're out of the danger zone. Not there yet, but better." He looked at Barry and Owen, who nodded.

"Any questions?" he asked.

"How long until I can go in?" Owen asked. The doctor smirked, knowing he had been anxious to be in there.

"Let the nurses clean up a bit and they will come get you. I promise you, Mr. Grady, it won't take long."

"Thank you, doctor." Barry said.

He nodded and stepped away down the hall.

Owen went back to pacing and Barry was back to quietly sitting.

Moments later, the nurse came out, "You can go in now, Mr. Grady."

He didn't hesitate. Before anyone could blink, he was in there pulling up a chair right next to her and grabbing her hand.

"Thank you." he said to the nurses, without taking his eyes off her.

They nodded and a few teared up a little and they left him alone.

"Hi beautiful." He leaned over and kissed her on the head.

"You already look a lot better. I really want to see your eyes, but I can wait. You need to rest and get this shit outta your system. So I'll be right here until you can open your eyes." He picked up the hand he was holding and kissed the back of it. He placed it back down and leaned in to kiss her forehead, running her hair back.

"Not going anywhere." he said finally, remaining in that spot keeping vigil.