Amanda had arrived at Mark's room to find that not only was Jesse fast asleep on the bed but Mark was asleep in the chair. She wanted to move the other chair in the room over and lift his feet onto it, but she knew that it would wake him. Quickly writing a note to say that she had come by, Amanda headed down to her lab, a thought forming in her mind as she did so.
The phone rang in one of the more senior offices at Quantico and was answered by a machine. "This phone isn't manned at present, please leave a message after the tone…."
"Agent Wagner, this is Doctor Bentley…"
"Amanda, I'm here, sorry, the damn thing hasn't stopped ringing all day… How are you?"
"I'm fine, but I think we need your help…"
It took Amanda just over a half hour to let Ron know everything that had been happening since he had been at Mark's party. He'd known about Rae from what he had read in the papers, and information that had come through the internal mail, but he had only just been made aware of Eliana's kidnap, and Amanda knew from his tone of voice that he was as affected by it as she was.
"Amanda, I'll come, let me just finish up what I'm doing, and I'll get the next plane out."
"Thank you. Just come straight to the hospital, you can find Steve from here." Amanda put the phone down. She knew that part of her reason for calling had been selfish, but Steve's partner was hospitalised, and he would work with Ron, she had no doubt about that, then unable to concentrate on anything else she headed back up to sit with Mark and Jesse.
By the time Steve got back to Community General it was almost ten at night. He had been going over and over things in his head as he had sat in stationary traffic, caused by a burst water main just five minutes from his destination. After thirty minutes he had been seriously tempted to get out and walk, and just leave his truck where it was, but he knew that it wasn't really an option. He screeched into the parking lot, slammed the door to let some of his frustration out and strode into the main entranceway. He pulled his search warrant out of his pocket, and made his way to the security office. Ten minutes later he was standing in front of a nurse's locker, with vital evidence in his gloved hand.
Steve stared at Rae's smart card, and, still resting inside the locker, the purse she had left at Bob's. Now he knew how someone had managed to cut Jo's brake lines, and why no one had turned the purse in. Steve opened it up carefully, and checked through Rae's belongings. There was no money in it; but all her credit cards were still there. There were no keys but that was because Rae kept them in her jeans pocket. He was about to zip the purse back up again, when he saw something that almost made his heart stop. In the bottom of the bag, torn up into little pieces was a photo of Eliana.
Steve looked round for something to put the whole thing in. He couldn't see anything, so in the end he put everything that he had found back into Rae's purse in individual evidence bags. He had the smart card, the photo pieces, and not a lot else. There was still nothing to give him any clue as to where she might go. Steve shook his head. There was a bench close to him and he sat down on it for a moment, and tried to decide what to do next. He took his cell phone out of his pocket and punched in a number, after listening to it ring out until an answer phone cut in and it was obvious that there was no-one the other end he switched it off. Steve shook his head, he didn't really need to sit down, what he needed to do was see his dad. With a smile Steve got to his feet and headed up to consult his oracle.
Mark woke up with a start. Something had disturbed him, but he had no idea what. He began to rub his eyes, and as his vision cleared he realised that he and Jesse were not alone in the room. "Amanda, Honey, I'm sorry, why didn't you wake me?"
"Because you need your sleep. Besides I knew that you would wake up in the end, and I was quite able to just sit here and let my mind rest too you know."
As Amanda was about to speak again, the air was split by a friendly welcome. "Hi, Guys!"
"Shhh!" Amanda and Mark both turned toward the sound, but it was too late. Jesse began to stir.
"What?" Steve looked puzzled and then guilty.
For a moment Jesse couldn't work out where he was, or why. Then suddenly everything came back with a rush, and his senses were almost immediately on overload. He ran his hand across his eyes, and when he looked round again he latched onto his best friend. "Steve, is there news, have you found her? Please Steve, tell me you have news, tell me you've found her." Jesse kicked off the bed clothes and climbed off the bed.
"Jess, I'm sorry, I didn't know you were asleep or I would have been a little quieter. No, I haven't found her, but there have been sightings. We will get her back, I promise you that." Steve knew that he couldn't really promise, but if he were wrong, he would have way too much time to apologise for it.
"What sightings? Where has she been seen? We should get there, maybe somebody has seen Eliana, please, Steve, take me to where she was seen." All the good that Jesse's long sleep had done him were wiped out as he got tense and agitated once again.
"Jesse, just wait a minute. Sit down, and listen to me." Steve placed a hand on each of his best friend's shoulders, and gently pushed him down into the chair that Amanda had just vacated. "She used her ATM card in Ventura, but that is all we know. We don't want to scare her; she has to be approached carefully once she is going to be in one place for a considerable amount of time. Otherwise she will just fly again, and that could cause an accident."
"Oh, God, Steve, I'm sorry, I … I just want to be doing something." Jesse shook his head, he wasn't sure what he could do or say, but sitting still was just too hard.
"Jo is in the ICU, you could go and take over from her, and sit through with Rae. Or you could let Shannon go and have some sleep." It was Amanda who spoke; she turned to face Steve, and taking a deep breath began to speak again. "Steve, I called Ron."
"And?"
"And, he is on his way, he'll be here in the morning. Steve, he can help you, you know that, he has contacts all over, and well, every little bit helps, right?"
"Amanda, thank you. I tried to call him just now, I guess he must have already left." Steve leant over, and kissed his friend on the cheek, "I'm gonna head home for a few hours sleep. I'll just go and see Rae, and get Jo." Steve moved over towards his dad. "You're being released tomorrow aren't you?"
"I am, Michael is coming to get me at ten, and I have to say I can't wait." Mark smiled at his son. "I understand how you feel now when you are cooped up in here, but today, well, I think I was needed."
Jesse looked over at his friend, "Thank you, Mark, I really do feel better for the sleep, I'm sorry I lost it when I woke. Steve, I'll come back up with you." The two friends left the room together, and Amanda and Mark looked at each other for a moment, and then she pulled her chair over and took hold of his hand.
"Mark, whatever are we going to do if they don't find Eliana?"
"Don't even think it Amanda, it will destroy them, Rae, Jesse, and Steve, no, don't even think it."
By midnight Louise was just about ready to smother the baby, who she had begun to call Phil. For a little while after she had fed and cleaned her, the child had lain on the floor and happily sucked at her toes. It had given Louise time to dye her hair and disguise 'Phil', but when she had finished and tried to get her to go to sleep in the bed next to her, she had begun to cry. The child was coughing more and more, and the nurse in Louise was a little concerned. The pacifier worked for short periods, but she seemed to like being held, and holding a baby was not something she had ever done. When she had worked in paediatrics Louise had almost got a failing grade, her nursing supervisor had said that she had no sympathy with the patients. As she walked back and forward along the side of the bed Louise realised that at last the baby was going off to sleep. Not wanting to point out to anyone who she was, the room was just booked in her name; there was no mention of any child so there was no crib. Breakfast was already in her bag, and she planned to be back on the road in no more than seven hours.
Carefully she put 'Phil' under the covers, her eyes didn't open, and breathing a sigh of relief she lay down next to her and closed her own eyes. She began to think through the next part of her plan as she lay there. A picture of Detective Yeager came up in her mind, and she felt her whole body tense. How dare she have a baby, when it should have been her and Phil celebrating? Well, she couldn't imagine that either the doctor or the cop was celebrating now. A smile flickered across her face, and it was all she could do to stop herself from laughing out loud. As she lay there she suddenly thought of somebody that hadn't crossed her mind for years. That was where she should go, and nobody, not even the almighty Doctor Sloan and his stupid son would find her. It was even harder this time to stop the laugh from escaping her, but she knew, without a doubt that she was home free.
Jesse had offered to sit with Alex for Shannon while she got some sleep, and she had gratefully agreed. Setting the alarm on her watch for six in the morning, she had headed down to one of the nurses' lounges and made herself as comfortable as possible on the sofa. All the other nurses in the hospital knew that she was going out with Doctor Martin, and how ill he was, so each time the door was opened by someone hoping for a coffee and a chat they had quietly shut the door again and found another place to relax.
Alex hadn't moved all night, but Jesse hadn't expected him to. He had checked his chart when he came in the room, and he knew that Doctor Collins had given him an even larger dose of the sedative than he had given Rae. Jesse figured that Alex would probably start to come around at lunchtime. It was difficult, the events leading up to his injury would be very traumatic for him, and Jesse knew that they could hinder his recovery, however, leaving him sedated for too long could have the same effect, so it was a case of finding the happy medium. Jesse got up off the chair and stretched. He moved out of Alex's room and into Rae's. He had been spending half an hour in each room and now at five o'clock he knew that the next time he came into Rae's room he would be here for the rest of the day.
It was just after nine in the morning when Rae began to come round from the sedation given to her the day before. Jesse was sitting holding her right hand and he felt her begin to flex her fingers.
Rae had been getting slowly more aware as the minutes had passed. First of all she just knew that she was waking up. But as she became more alert other things became evident. The first was that every part of her hurt. Her shoulders and arms felt as if they were on fire, and she tried to remember what had happened, but she was too groggy and drowsy to form lucid thoughts, and she had drifted off into an uneasy sleep. She had no idea how long it was before she became conscious again, but this time although the pain in her shoulders was still there, almost her whole being was jolted into a sensation of near total panic as she fought against not only the gagging sensation of something in her throat but the terror that she associated with anything that happened to her round her neck.
Jesse felt Rae's hand jerk and he knew that this time she was waking up completely. He had been sitting waiting for over an hour and a half since she had first moved, and he knew that this time she was conscious of the ventilator. Slowly, trying to sound calm and relaxed he began to speak.
"Rae, Honey, it's all right, you're on a ventilator, but it's ok. Just try to relax."
Rae could hear a voice, and she knew that it was Jesse. She didn't want to be on a ventilator, and she tried to move her hands to pull at the obstruction in her throat. As she lifted her right hand off the bed, and tried to do the same with her left, the burning sensation she had been feeling exploded, and tears of agony flooded her eyes. Even with the ventilator, almost everything about her stopped. The pain was all encompassing, and for a few minutes, even though her arm had fallen almost immediately back to the soft covers, she was aware of nothing else.
Jesse had pressed the nurse's call button, and requested Doctor Collins attend Rae. He didn't want to prescribe any strong pain killers for her himself, but he knew enough about brachial plexus injuries to know that at least for now, she was going to need all the help she could get to control the pain. As he sat and watched her Jesse could see Rae was gradually getting control over the fact that she was in pain once again. He didn't understand how the actions that Alex had described could have caused the debilitating injury that Rae had, and he made a mental note to find out from the jail, just exactly what had happened.
Wil Collins came along the corridor, and glanced in at Alex Martin as he went by. The young man was still unconscious, and on his ventilator, and Shannon was still sitting with him. Wil could see that she was keeping up a steady stream of conversation, and he knew that if he understood the message from the floor nurse correctly, she would soon be able to let him know that his patient had regained consciousness in the room next door.
Jesse stood as Wil entered the room and stepped back to let the older man get closer to his wife. Rae was lying there, her eyes open, but both men could see that she wasn't really aware of what was going on. The pain was etched on her face, and the tears were still standing in her eyes.
"Rae? It's Doctor Collins, can you see me? If you can, could you blink for me?" Wil didn't want her to make any sudden moves, he had studied her case notes when he was supposed to be sleeping, and he could see that Alex had treated her in a first class manner so far. He had no intention of doing anything but that himself.
Rae had been trying to remember how she had gotten herself in this situation this time, and when someone had spoken to her it had taken a few seconds for her to re-focus. She knew that she couldn't move her head, the constant pain told her that, so slowly her eyes turned in the direction of the sounds, and she looked up at Wil Collins. She wasn't sure why it was him there instead of Alex, and then suddenly she knew exactly why, and the terror was reflected in her face.
"Rae, listen to me. If you can see me, and you know who I am, I want you to blink."
Rae knew that Jesse had been next to her, and that before that, maybe days or even weeks before that, Alex had been in the room with her. She blinked her eyes, and was confused to see that Wil smiled. People didn't usually smile when she blinked.
"Rae, can you understand what I am saying?"
Rae didn't want to listen to Wil, she had a daughter, she remembered that she had a little girl. But her little girl was gone. Rae shut her eyes, the emotions were threatening to overwhelm her, and she wished that she were back in the darkness again.
Wil and Jesse looked at each other, but didn't say a word. They could see Rae fighting her emotions, but because she couldn't speak, or move her arms, they were almost powerless to help her. So much had happened that neither man knew which particular memory was causing her so much anguish, and they didn't want to say the wrong thing and make it even worse.
When Rae shut her eyes, and effectively cut off her communication with them, Jesse knew that he had to speak. "Rae, you need to open your eyes. If you don't we can't help you. Please, Honey, open your eyes."
Rae could hear the voice of her husband, we are married, we got married, and for a while we were happy. Rae tried to speak, she knew she wouldn't succeed, but maybe if they could see that, then they would take the hated contraption away.
Jesse saw her continue her fight against the machines, and this time he sat on the side of the bed, but he moved quickly away, as the pain flashed across her face once again. "Rae, look at me, I need to talk to you, and I need to know that you understand what I am saying." There was still no response, and so Jesse raised his voice. "Reagan!" This time Rae's eyes came open, but the emotions that Jesse saw there made him wish she had kept them closed. He took a deep breath, and then he began to speak.
"Rae, we want to help you, but you have to co-operate so that we can do that. Now, if you can understand me, please blink." Very slowly Rae shut her eyes and then opened them again. Jesse placed his hand next to Rae's on the right side of the bed, and as he saw the pain once again on his wife's beautiful face, he felt her fingers brush his own.
"Rae, let's try again. Do you know who I am?" Wil moved into Rae's eye line and waited. "Blink if you do."
Once again Rae's eyes closed and then opened again.
The two men both let out a deep sigh and Wil began to speak once again. "I need to know where you are in the most pain, and what type it is so that I can prescribe the correct pain relief. So I will start at the top of your body and work my way down. After each thing I say I want you to blink if it hurts, ok?"
There was complete silence, and Rae just looked at Wil.
"Oh, sorry, blink if you understand that."
Rae raised her eyes for a second, and then blinked.
Wil could see that he now had her complete attention. "Do you have a headache?"
Rae looked at him. Her head was about the only part of her that didn't hurt.
"Ok I guess that's a no. Arms, left one first."
Rae concentrated. It was difficult to split the pain up; it seemed to radiate out from her neck, down her arms and into her hands. If she thought about it for a while the left arm was worse than the right. So, after some consideration Rae blinked twice hoping that he would realise that she meant that it really hurt.
"Does that mean it's bad?"
Rae blinked twice.
"That's yes? You can just blink once if that was yes."
Rae blinked once.
"All of it or just some of it?"
Rae looked at Wil, and tried, probably she realised, without success, to look as if she was saying 'oh for goodness sake.'
After a minute or so of silence Wil realised that he had asked her an impossible question. "Um, sorry. Top half of your left arm."
Rae blinked, then after thinking about it she blinked again.
"Lower half, hand included."
Rae thought again. By concentrating she was beginning to split her body up into sections. The top half of her arm was now separate to the lower half, and she could imagine the pain as two separate things as well. This time she blinked just the once. The pain was slightly less in the lower extremities.
"Right arm."
Rae looked at him again, and waited for more information, but then she realised that if she didn't blink at all Wil would think it didn't hurt and he wouldn't need to split it up so she blinked once.
"So it doesn't hurt as much as the left, right…? Um, I mean correct?"
Rae blinked again, just the once.
"Upper half."
Rae blinked twice.
This went on for a little while as Wil went through Rae's list of injuries. Once he knew what parts of Rae were the most painful he then began a physical examination and watching her reactions the whole time was able to see that she had managed to pass on all the information correctly. As Wil finished his examination he took a deep breath, he had left her neck until last. Alex had underlined the word throat on her chart, and put an asterix next to it. Further down the page was a note. 'Under no circumstances is anyone to touch Detective Yeager's throat unless either her husband Doctor Travis, or myself are present, and then only with her permission. Doctor Alex Martin. Wil turned to face Jesse and indicated that he wanted him to move closer to where he was standing.
Once Jesse had moved around the bed Wil pointed to the writing on the chart. Jesse nodded his comprehension and moved a little closer to Rae.
"Honey, we need to talk about your neck and throat. Can Wil do that or would you rather I did?"
Rae felt the panic as it threatened to emerge, but the impossibility of Jesse's question took over. She looked at him and raised her eyes to the heavens and waited.
Jesse looked at Rae, saw what she did, and then looked at Wil. He hadn't known how she would react to his question, but now he wasn't quite sure what to do next. "What? Rae, what does that mean?"
Rae just looked at her husband. The longer he carried on talking the deeper he was getting, and she couldn't answer any of his questions. In the end Rae shut her eyes and waited.
"Jesse, could you answer your question with just a blink?" Wil smiled at him, glad that it wasn't just him who asked difficult questions.
"Oh, right, sorry." Jesse thought for a moment. "Can Wil talk about your throat?"
Rae blinked once.
"Ok, Rae, the same as before then, you need to tell me how much things hurt. So, first of all the back of your neck?"
Rae blinked twice.
"What about your throat?"
First of all Rae just shut her eyes. She didn't like to even think about that area of her body, but she knew that this time she had to. Slowly she blinked twice, and then because she was so scared she blinked again.
After that it was difficult to communicate. Rae desperately wanted to get rid of the ventilator; Wil had no intention of letting her. Wil wanted to check the wound on her throat; Rae had no intention of letting him. In the end it became a stalemate. Rae shut her eyes, and refused to open them, and both doctors' knew that until she did, they could no longer communicate with her.
"Rae, I have to go and check on Alex, I will be back in a little while." Wil didn't move a muscle, he just waited.
At the mention of her usual doctor's name Rae's eyes had flown open.
"Of course, it would be much better if I could just check your neck before I go."
Rae's eyes shut again.
"Honey, I can check it, would that work?" Jesse suddenly realised that Rae would probably be all right with him doing it.
Rae opened her eyes and blinked once.
Jesse moved closer to his wife, and carefully and as tenderly as he could he began to move the dressing from the wound caused by Louise Willis's knife. He had been shocked by the severity of it the first time he had seen it, and the twenty-four hours since had done nothing to lessen the memory's effect on him.
As he pulled at the dressing he felt Rae's body go rigid and her eyes were pleading with him to stop. "I have to look, can I carry on?" Jesse took a hand away from where he was working and gently traced it down her face.
Rae blinked once, and as she did so, for the first time a tear escaped and trickled down her cheek.
Jesse placed his hand on Rae's throat, and taking a deep breath applied a gentle pressure as he pulled at the dressing.
Rae tried desperately to hold her breath, but she knew it was an impossible task. The pressure on her throat was more than she thought she could bear, but just as she had been when she was with Levington Rae was a captive audience. There was nothing that she could do but wait until it was over. Rae opened her eyes, and realised that she hadn't been aware of closing them. She looked straight at Jesse, and knew that whatever had been done to her in the past, this time the pressure on her throat was there because he loved her, and he would never ever hurt her.
Jesse was suddenly aware that Rae had relaxed. He looked up from what he was doing and looked straight into the eyes of his wife, and this time all he saw was endless love.
Steve had received a call from Ron just after eight in the morning, and he had agreed to pick him up at LAX so that he could fill him in on everything that had happened so far on the journey back into town. They sat in traffic and the tall FBI agent turned to his friend.
"So, what has happened to her this time?"
"Wagner, I wouldn't talk like that when Jesse can hear you." Steve felt his anger rise.
"Ok, sorry. It's just from what Amanda tells me she is continually in trouble."
"Maybe, but none of it, not from the first day she arrived here, has been her fault. Now someone has taken her child, nobody should have to live through that."
"And she is in the hospital? Amanda said she was attacked in the jail. Wasn't she separated from the other prisoners?"
"Apparently not the whole time. She was attacked in the cafeteria, and I don't think she was rescued all that quickly. I have arranged for the guard who finally got her out to meet with us at Community General in…" Steve looked at his watch. "Oh, great, twenty minutes. I have to tell you, from what Alex has said these guards have way more attitude than is good for them."
"And Alex is in ICU as well now?" Ron felt like he should be counting off the casualties on his fingers.
"He was attacked by Louise Willis, who is the woman who we think actually committed the crimes Rae has been charged with, and now she has Eliana." Steve found he had to swallow hard as he mentioned the name of his goddaughter. He turned back to his friend. "If anything happens to that little girl I don't think either Jesse or Rae will survive this."
Ron just nodded his head, and then the traffic began to move again, and Steve deciding that he needed to see the guard far more than he needed to be in this traffic put his blue light on the top of his truck and floored it.
Officer Bryant was sitting just inside the main entranceway, her usual cheerful expression on her face. Steve strode up to her, his ID in his hand. "Good morning Officer Bryant, let us go and find somewhere a little more private to have our discussion shall we?"
"Whatever." The woman stood up and Steve, whose knowledge of the hospital was almost perfect, indicated towards an office that he knew was empty.
The three of them sat down and Steve began to speak. "Maybe you would like to let Agent Wagner and myself know just exactly what happened to result in Detective Yeager ending up in the ICU."
"She was attacked after she got her food."
Both men waited, but it appeared that no more information was going to be given willingly. "Officer Bryant, are you aware that obstructing the course of justice is a jailable offence? I wonder what reaction you would get if you suddenly became an inmate in your own jail." Ron gave what he considered to be his most friendly smile.
Bertha Bryant looked at the extremely tall dark man standing in front of her and took a deep breath. "Agent Wagner?"
"That would be me. Agent Ron Wagner, FBI. I don't believe you have answered my colleague's question."
Slowly Steve and Ron heard the first hand account of what had happened to Rae. They both felt their anger rise to the surface as it became apparent that this woman had only stepped in to rescue her charge because she was concerned for her own welfare.
"Why did you wait so long before you attempted to rescue Detective Yeager?" Ron didn't know Rae as well as Steve, but he could feel his anger so close to the surface as he remembered the happy content woman he had spent time with on his last visit.
"I needed some back up, and as soon as I got some I got her out." Officer Bryant could see the anger on the faces of the two men in front of her and decided against telling them that she had dragged her by the arm, at least initially, to remove her from the fray.
After an hour Steve suddenly stood up. "Thank you. I suggest that you continue to make yourself available for questioning."
The two friends walked up towards Mark's room once they had dismissed the guard. It was almost eleven o'clock and Steve wasn't sure if his dad would still be in the hospital. But he was, in fact he was getting slowly ready to be discharged and Wil Collins had been in his room going over what he should and shouldn't do during the next few weeks when they had arrived, but after a few minutes he excused himself and left the three men alone.
"Dad, how are you feeling this morning?" Steve was still very concerned about his father. He knew that Michael would make sure that he was kept safe and well, but he was still his dad, and he was allowed to worry about him. "I can stay with you, you know that."
"No, you can't, and you know that." Mark looked at him and could see the worry and love in his son's eyes. "Thank you, Steve, but Michael will keep me on a tight rein, I don't think I will be roller-skating for a while!"
Steve smiled at his dad's words, and then grew serious again. "There have been no sightings overnight, the car hasn't been seen, so I would imagine that she spent the night somewhere, but I have absolutely no idea where. She could have doubled back from Ventura and be in the city, or she could have carried on and be almost to San Francisco by now." Steve ran his fingers through his hair, and knew without a doubt that he had to go and see his partner before he did anything else.
There was a tap on the door and Michael was standing there, his usual unflappable, efficient self. "Good morning, Lieutenant, Agent Wagner, how nice to see you again, Doctor Sloan, if you are ready, Sir, I have the car downstairs, and I can take you to Miss Walter's residence straight away."
"Thank you, Michael, I will be just a few minutes more."
Michael turned towards Steve. "Sir, if I could have a moment of your time?"
"Of course, Michael what is it?" Steve moved over towards the butler and found himself being led into the hallway.
"Madam asked me to let you know that she has found some more up to date photos of Miss Eliana, which she is getting re-produced as we speak. She plans to take them into Detective Robertson this afternoon."
"Thank you, Michael. Can you tell her that I have no idea how my day will go, but I will try to keep in touch as much as I can?"
"Yes, Sir. I will make sure that food will be available for you whenever you return to the house."
Steve smiled at the man in front of him. Jo had once described Michael as a treasure, and Steve had to agree. In all the time he had been with Jo, he had never once wandered into the kitchen for a snack only to find there was nothing good to eat, and considering his legendary appetite, he knew it was no small task for Michael to keep the kitchen well stocked for him. Steve smiled at the thought and then turned as he felt his dad's hand on his shoulder. "Ok, Son, I'm all ready to go. Michael, do you think you could just carry this bag, it pulls a little when I try to do it?"
"Of course, Sir, there is no way I would let you carry anything." Michael took the bag as it was offered to him, and then with a slightly rueful smile Mark sat in the waiting wheelchair, and allowed himself to be pushed down the hallway by the Englishman.
Steve watched them go, and then with a heavy sigh he looked over at Ron. "I'm gonna go up and see Rae. D'you want to come?"
"Yeah, I will, but I'll stay outside. Even when patients are unconscious they can be aware of strangers in their rooms, and I don't want to upset her."
The two men walked in silence up to the ICU and then Ron followed Steve as he made his way towards the two rooms with police guards.
"Gentlemen." Steve smiled at them. He always tried to be nice to the poor saps who ended up on this duty. He saw Shannon turn at the sound of his voice and he moved into the room.
"Lieutenant Sloan, have you found anything out? Have you found the baby yet?"
"Shannon, please, it's Steve. No, we haven't, not yet, but we will." Steve gave her a smile he didn't feel like using and turned to look at Alex.
"Has there been any change?"
"No, Lieu… Steve, he had an echocardiograph yesterday, which was just as it should be. It is just a case of waiting until he comes round. But that will be the easy part. He will be bed ridden for a little while, and then it is gonna take a long time before he is well enough to come back to work." Shannon felt the tears just below the surface once again. "You have to get her, Steve. He was just doing his job, he shouldn't be here."
"No, I know that, and like I said, we will." We have to. Steve placed his hand over Alex's for a moment, and then he turned and left the room.
Ron moved over to stand beside him. "God, Steve, he looks so young."
"He is young, maybe it's just as well he is." Steve shook his head, then with a heavy heart he moved over to the doorway of his partner's room.
Jesse was sitting gently stroking Rae's hand and occasionally asking or telling her things. She couldn't speak to him and ask the question that was burning at her even more than her neck and shoulders, and she had a feeling that Jesse couldn't mention it either because he would break down if he did.
Rae felt Jesse take his hand away and stand up. She moved her eyes so she could at least try to see what was happening, but without success.
Jesse indicated with his hand for Steve to leave the room and then he turned back to his wife. "Rae, Honey, I just have to pop out, I'll be right back, ok?"
Rae blinked once and then, knowing that she was going to be alone, shut her eyes.
As soon as he was outside the room Jesse shut the door behind him and began to speak. "What, have you found her?"
"No, Jess, nothing, no more sightings, I'm sorry, buddy, I really am."
"Yeah, right."
Steve could tell from his friend's tone of voice that he didn't believe him, and that knowledge made him explode. "Jesse. I love that little girl as if she was my own, you know that. Every time I think of her without her mommy and daddy it tears me apart. I am trying everything that I know to get her back." Steve had thrown his hands up in despair and walked away from Rae's room as he spoke, not wanting to upset her, but also so that he didn't give in to the temptation to send Jesse into the next hallway.
"Steve, Jesse, look you are both up tight, cool it, nobody gets helped if you lose it." Ron's words were lost in the tension of the moment.
"Yeah, well with the amount he is doing to help her maybe we need to lose our cool a bit more. She wouldn't be gone if he had done his job properly, and now he spends all his time here when he should be scouring the streets for my little girl."
"You think I'm not doing anything? My God, Jesse…" Steve turned away. He couldn't believe what Jesse had just said, and he didn't think he would ever forget the accusing look in his best friend's eyes. He felt his anger rise, and needed to defend himself so he turned back round. "Jesse, I don't know what else to do. I'm sending pictures of her to every station all the way from here to San Fran, but she could have gone inland, she could have turned back at Ventura and headed down towards Baja and into Mexico. Jess, we have to face the fact that we may not get her back."