Good Intentions
Amanda Bentley, Madison Wesley, Cheryl Banks, and Steve Sloan sat together, waiting. Mark Sloan came out of the emergency room and they all stood before Madison finally asked the question on everyone's mind. "How is she?"
"Stable. She hasn't woken up yet, but she's pretty heavily medicated. She's strong; she'll pull through." They'd brought Jaden Deveroux into the ER so beaten and bloody that he barely recognized her and, for a brief few seconds, he'd thought they would lose her. "Steve, you can go see her."
He nodded. "Dad, I need to talk to you…and Cheryl."
Mark nodded. "Madison and I will go check on her." Amanda volunteered, gently touching Steve's arm.
"Thanks."
Mark led Steve and Cheryl to the lobby and shut the door. "All right, Steve, what's wrong?"
"I should have told you both this the other day. I should have told Jaden too." He paused and then handed his father the note he'd found at a crime scene. Mark read it silently and handed it back to his son.
"What's this about IAB?" Cheryl asked.
"I had a meeting with them this afternoon, on lunch break. There are three dirty cops in our precinct."
"Who knew about the meeting?" Mark asked.
"No one. I didn't want you or Jaden to worry and I didn't want Cheryl to get involved. Just me and the two IAB I talked to."
Cheryl thought silently. She knew what a big thing it was for Steve to even consider telling IAB and, although she didn't like the fact that he'd excluded her, she understood. He was protective, everyone's big brother. "So you think Jaden was hurt by at least one of those five cops?"
"Who else could it be? Who else would know about me talking to IAB? That's not the only thing that bothers me though." Mark and Cheryl both looked interested. "Cheryl's the only one at work that knows about Jaden. I mean, even here at the hospital, not many people know we're seeing each other. Why go after her? It would have been easier to get to me directly."
Mark nodded. "Just Amanda, Maddie, Jesse, and I know. Well, and a few of the pediatrics. Someone had to have been following you at some time."
*****
He lay there quietly, not asleep, but not wanting to wake her up either. It was one of their rare nights together alone and he couldn't concentrate. She hadn't said anything about it, just fallen asleep with her head on his chest, her hair soft against his skin. He wondered if he was right to keep them all out of it, her, his dad, and even his partner, but as he looked at her now, vulnerable and beautiful, he knew he'd made the right choice. If she got involved, got hurt, he'd never forgive himself. He tried to concentrate on something else, their plans for the weekend, their upcoming wedding, but his mind wouldn't leave work.
"Steve?" Her voice was quiet in the darkness; he hadn't realized that she was awake again.
"What's wrong?" He asked, kissing the top of her head.
"I was about to ask you the same thing." She looked up at him, her eyes piercing into him, as always. She was as good as his father at reading his moods. "Is it work?"
"Yeah." He confessed.
"A case?" She frequently helped with his murder cases and was pretty good sometimes, although he never stopped worrying about her. She was a doctor, not a cop.
"No."
"Cheryl?" She knew that he viewed his partner as much his sister as Amanda or Carol, his 'real' sister, the prodigal child of the Sloan family.
"No."
"Then what is it, baby?" She wrapped the blanket around her shoulders. "How do I know how to help if you can't tell me what's wrong?"
He hugged her gently. "Did you ever stop to think that maybe you can't help?"
"No." She answered, causing him to smile.
"Did you work on the wedding anymore?"
"You're changing the subject."
"Yes, I am." She smiled at him. "Are you sure you want to wait until the benefactor's ball to tell them?" She, his dad, his dad's girlfriend, and two other friends all worked at Community General hospital together and the benefactor's ball was coming up soon. All doctors were ordered to attend.
"Liven up the dull thing. I hate going." She was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen and, although she looked perfect anywhere she went, she liked private, casual parties best.
"So do I." Silence filled the room and he held her close to him until they fell back to sleep.
*****
"Last night. We went there after BBQ Bob's." Steve said, his mind coming back to the hospital lounge.
"I'm gonna go back to the precinct." Cheryl finally said. "Nose around, see what I can pull up."
Steve nodded reluctantly. "Be careful."
Mark looked at him. "You couldn't have prevented this."
Steve
studied his father. "There's something
else. We wanted to tell you all at once,
at the ball." He paused, not sure why he
was letting this secret slip. "I asked
her to marry me two weeks ago…and she said yes."
"You're getting married?" Mark asked, amazed, and Steve nodded. "Congratulations…and it's still not your
fault."
"You can't tell Amanda, Jesse, or even Maddie."
"I won't." Mark said solemnly. "Has she set a date yet?"
Steve nodded. "March 11th."
"I think she keeps some clothes in her office; I'll go see if there's anything she can wear besides that hospital gown."
Steve nodded. "Thanks. I left Marta and Roscoe in there for the time being. Can they stay at the beach house tonight?" Marta was Jaden's ocicat and Roscoe was Jaden and Steve's black Labrador retriever; both lived inside Jaden's condo with her, but the condo had now turned into a crime scene.
"Sure. I've got some time before classes and rounds; I'll take them home now."
Steve tried to smile. "Thanks, Dad."
"She'll be okay, Steve, I promise." They both went their separate ways, Mark up to Jaden's office and Steve to her hospital room.
Amanda looked up when Steve came into the hospital room. She knew that Jesse needed vacation, but she wished that he was there. It was one of the times that the whole family, as it were, should be together. "Steve, is there anything that you need? Anything that I can do to help?"
He shook his head. "Cheryl's back at the station, investigating, and Dad's getting her some clothes while he takes Marta and Roscoe to the beach house."
"Okay, well, I'm going to get back to the lab. If you need anything, come get me, okay?"
He smiled slightly at her. "Okay. Thanks, Amanda." She nodded and left.
Madison stood. "If you need me to sit with her so you can go back to work or if you need me to get you anything, if you even need company, I'll be in my office."
Steve nodded. His relationship with Madison was really undefined. Sometimes he felt like her son, but she never felt like his mother, just a good friend. She was the only one of his dad's relationships that he, Jesse, and Amanda had ever been able to agree on, probably because she made Mark happy. "Thanks, Madison."
"And I'll bring you some hospital food tonight around dinnertime." She said before leaving.
Everyone had left and he sat on the side of the bed, holding her hand. "Hey. It's just you and me now." He brushed a strand of brown hair out of her face as he thought back three years.
*****
He'd taken Cheryl to a club for her birthday, a way that they could both relax and it kept her from picking up guys that he would have to chase off later. It wasn't that he didn't want Cheryl to go out, have fun, but judging from her ex-husband, she had awful taste in men. Besides, the neighborhood around the jazz club wasn't the best and he didn't like Cheryl going there alone during the night. They'd walked into the club and both fallen in love: Cheryl with the "old-time" jazz feeling of the place, grand piano, getting dressed up, orchids and glass everywhere, and he had fallen in love with Jaden. Although she usually bartended there once or twice a week, that night she was alone at one of the tables. He still remembered what she'd worn, a navy satin dress with a slit in the long skirt. It was totally Jaden, sitting there alone in that outfit, drinking a Key West Margarita. Most of the tables had been full and it had been a good excuse to ask if they could sit at her table. It had been the first time he'd ever seen her smile and after that, he was a goner. It had been three years, two dating off and on, and one seriously dating. He'd always known that if he'd asked her to marry him that first night, and if she'd said yes, they would have been together forever.
*****
He brought his attention back to her in the hospital bed, looking almost helpless. Whenever you saw Jaden, her looks certainly caught your attention, beautiful deep blue eyes, curly brown hair, long legs, beautiful smile that lit up the room, looking fragile and delicate, almost like a model. If you took a moment to look further into her, her heart was as beautiful as her body. She was brilliant, kind, sweet, generous, honest sometimes to a fault, great with people, especially children, and fun. There were very few places you could go with Jaden and not have fun; it was one of the reasons 'her kids' loved her so much. She made every day an adventure, every hard task easy, and every shot a piece of cake. He kissed her gently on the forehead and she turned a little.
"It's okay, baby. I'm here. I'll take care of you. I'll take care of you." He should have stayed longer. He wondered how soon after he left she was hurt. There was nothing at work that couldn't wait, just finishing up some papers, and then IAB. Despite what his father said, it was his fault. He hated turning other cops in, almost never did it, but he had been sure about what they'd done. He just never foresaw them hurting his Jaden. He felt something against his hand and smiled as he saw the slender gold band with small round diamond. "You wore your ring." He hadn't noticed it before and if anyone else had, they hadn't said anything about it.
*****
He squirmed nervously, wondering if they shouldn't be alone. Maybe he should wait all together. True, they'd been together for three years, but they'd only been in a serious relationship for one. What if she said no? She'd come in before he could reconsider, wearing the same dress she'd worn three years earlier and that she only wore on dates with him now. "Steve." Her smile was contagious and he had to smile too.
"Hey." He stood, kissed her, and helped her into her chair. "How was work?"
"Fine. No serious injuries or illnesses, everyone's fine." She worked in the AIDS wing of Community General pediatrics.
"Oh. I need to call Amanda, see if she needs me to take C.J. somewhere tomorrow." It was all pretend; she knew he had something serious to tell her and he knew that he needed to tell her before he really did chicken out.
"How's work? How's Cheryl?"
"Both are fine. Dad and I testified in the Adkins case today, so that's over with."
She smiled. "That's good." The waitress came and she ordered a Key West margarita, the same drink she'd had the first time they'd met at the club. "Steve?" She asked when the waitress had left. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing's wrong." The slow tempo of the older versions of jazz music began to play again and he felt the ring in his pocket. He was sure that she would love the ring itself, but he wasn't sure if she would love the idea of being married.
"Then why are you so tense? If nothing's wrong at work, with your dad or Cheryl, what's wrong?" She looked worried and he put a hand on top of hers.
"I love you."
She smiled. "That's good. I love you too. What's wrong?" She frowned. "Do you want to break up?"
He frowned as well. "I can honestly say that's the last thing I want."
She smiled slightly, still worried. "Then what?"
He leaned over and kissed her. "That. And…" He paused. It had never been hard to talk to her, until now. "I love you. I have since the moment we met. I know that it's not gonna be easy, that with our jobs we might miss as much as we connect, but…I just want to be with you. I want to marry you and spend the rest of our lives together." It wasn't what he'd planned to say at all, but it got the general point across. He took out the box and handed it to her.
She opened the box and tears began to fall. He was so afraid that she'd say no he almost said it for her. "Yes." It had started as a whisper. "Yes, I'll marry you. I want to be your wife."
*****
He smiled. They'd had other, longer, talks later, but that's all she'd said. "Yes, I'll marry you. I want to be your wife." There had been so many other things to consider, their jobs, when and where they could take a honeymoon, what size wedding they wanted, and more serious things, like children. Before, when she'd confessed that specialists had told her she couldn't have children, it hadn't seemed to matter as much, but now she was worried. She wanted children, she wanted Mark to have grandchildren, and she hadn't wanted him to miss out on being a dad. It hadn't mattered though, not to him anyway, and he'd finally told her so, but she hadn't believed him.
