Revelations

Chapter Thirteen

6 months later…….

Frank sat on the back porch of his house, cup of coffee in hand and watched the sun slowly rise over the horizon. The morning was relatively peaceful, a few birds chirping about was close to the only thing that disturbed his solitude. It was nearly spring and now that it was a bit warmer outside, he loved to come out here very early in the morning and just take time to think.

His thoughts, however, were disturbed by a rather large blackbird swooping in and landing on his children's newly built swing set. He smiled thinking about how Christopher had nearly driven him crazy until it was completed and ready for use. When is it going to be finished Daddy? Can I play on it now? Can I play on it later? Of course, Alicia had joined in thinking it was some sort of game, but not really understanding what all the fuss was about. She'd never had a swing set, so she'd had no frame of reference to go by. She just thought it was a riot picking on daddy. Little did either child know, but daddy was a pushover these days. If they'd asked to have Disney World reconstructed in their back yard, he would have tried to make that happen.

It hadn't been easy leaving Chicago. Although they'd only been there a little over a year, it had begun to feel like home. But they needed a change, and Frank, for some reason, felt an overwhelming need to go back to Virginia. Maybe it was because that was where his son was buried. The memories weren't all bad. In fact, they'd lived there happily for many years, and that happiness was what he was so desperately trying to recapture.

Sighing, not quite sadly, Frank pushed away the bad thoughts and tried to concentrate on the wondrous, amazing things that he still had in his life. Probably what amazed him most of all, was the outpouring of feelings, emotions and friendship that he'd received from his team (ex-team) back in Chicago. They were no longer just colleagues that he had worked with…..they were part of his extended family now. For so many years, he had fought to keep his private and professional lives separate, but in what seemed like a blink of an eye, that line in the sand had been completely obliterated. They knew practically everything about him now, had seen him when his emotions were the most raw, and honestly…..he didn't care. What he thought would have complicated their working relationship, had actually made it stronger.

He sighed again, knowing that very soon his morning solitude would come to an end. He enjoyed every second of it, relished it, and almost desperately clung to it. He leaned his head back in the chair, closed his eyes, and felt the rising sun gently warm his face. Leaning back a little further, he was able to prop his feet up on the porch railing. He was sitting in an old rocker. Laura's favorite. It was just an inanimate object, but somehow he felt more connected to her sitting in this rocker. Unconsciously, he chose the same chair each time he came out here.

From the open doorway behind him, he heard the beginnings of wakefulness stirring in the house. Smiling to himself, he replanted his feet on the porch deck and rose from the chair. He approached the railing and as he rested his hand on it, a flash of light caught his eye. Glancing down, he noticed that his wedding ring had caught a reflection of the rising sun. He lifted his hand and stared at the ring, his thumb gently brushing its smooth surface. He'd taken the ring off of her necklace and slipped it on, vowing to never again take it off for as long as he lived. Standing there for a few seconds more, he reluctantly turned and moved to the doorway which connected the bedroom to the porch. Once there, he leaned on the frame and just stared at the miracle before him. The smile on his face broadened and warmed his sometimes all too serious features.

Laura…..she still lay quietly wrapped up in a tangle of blankets and sheets, arms tightly wound around his abandoned pillow. How many times had he thanked God for sparing her life? The number was too numerous to count. When he'd knelt on the ground listening to her desperately try to breath, he thought he had lost everything. His heart had shattered into a thousand pieces and then stopped beating completely, but then from out of nowhere the faces of his children flooded his mind. They needed their mother and he'd be damned if they'd have to live without her. Something snapped inside of him. Thinking back on it now, it almost felt like someone else possessed his body and took over.

He'd suddenly stood and paced over to where the rescue team was still huddled around their photo images. He'd demanded that they do something immediately. He couldn't recall the exact words he had used, but the intent was crystal clear…..either get your rescue underway now, or I'll dig her out of there myself with my bare hands.

"Mr. Donovan…if we attempt anything….." the foreman had tried to explain.

"Listen to me! She's blacked out! She has no more time! We have fifteen to twenty minutes at the most to get to her! Now! God damn it…..I don't care what you have to do or how you're going to do it………but it has to be NOW!!!"

The foreman's eyes flew open and he looked for a second like he was almost afraid for his own life. The man standing before him was no longer a federal agent. He was a husband desperately trying to save his wife's life. The time for studies and propositions was past. They needed to get to work and quickly…..delicacy be damned.

Moving away from the crazed agent, the foreman began barking orders to the crane operator and receiving quizzical looks as a result. "Just do it!!" he'd shouted at him by way of explanation.

So the hurried rescue had begun. Piece by piece, the debris was removed, causing endless shifts and collapses. Frank's heart beat wildly in his chest hoping beyond hope that somehow she'd be protected from it all.

Five minutes…..

Ten minutes……

Twenty minutes went by as he helplessly stood by and watched the team's progress. The mountain of rubble was being slowly stripped away, but would they be in time and would she have been saved from the endlessly collapsing wreckage?

Twenty five minutes…….suddenly one of the workers shouted for the others to stop. A few of the men had scrambled up on top of the pile and had begun to search. When one of them spotted something, the others quickly joined in. He'd seen a pocket of twisted metal beams, exactly like what they'd noticed on the x-ray imaging. Had they found her? He wasn't sure, because so much of the concrete dust had blanketed the area. Leaning in further, using a flashlight, the worker saw what appeared to be a hand.

The man scrambled in further, mindful of the precariousness of the situation. He could just now reach through the mangled steel supports. Straining and stretching himself as far as he could, he reached out and touched what felt like human hair.

"We found her!!" came his ecstatic shout. "Bring me a circular saw. We're going to have to cut her out of here!"

Frank's heart leapt to his throat. They'd finally found her, but was it too late? Safety to the wind, he followed the other workers up the still shaky mound of rubble. Perched near the opening, he could see the devastation below him. He could just barely see the top of her head and she looked to be more than half buried in the ash and dust. But she still hadn't moved…….

He kept watch as they slowly cut away piece after piece of twisted metal. When most of the way had been cleared, one of the men was finally able to scramble into the cramped space. Gingerly lifting her head, he noted that her eyes were still closed and he reached out to check for a pulse.

He turned his attention to the others waiting above him. "She's got a pulse, but she's not breathing! Help me get her out of here!" Several of the men moved quickly to help out. Normally they would have brought in a back board and tried to lift her out gently, but the circumstances were drastically different in this case. It took 3 strong men to completely unbury her and lift her out of her concrete and steel coffin.

Frank watched the lifeless body of his wife being lifted up and maneuvered to the surface. He looked for any sign at all that she'd be all right, but found none. After a minute or two more, she was finally placed on a waiting gurney and the medics quickly took over.

He tried to stay out of their way knowing that they held her fate in their hands, but he couldn't help but edge closer trying to get a glimpse at what was going on.

Minute by minute passed and he could see them frantically working on her. He walked a short distance away and crouched down near the ground, his hands clasped tightly together in front of him. He closed his eyes, bowed his head and did something that he hadn't done in a very long time. He prayed. Not for his own survival, but for hers. He'd gladly exchange his life for hers if that's what it took to make sure that she'd live for many more happy years to come.

But as the seconds ticked by, his heart told him that God wasn't listening just as he hadn't when he'd found out that his son would finally succumb to cancer. What was it some priest had told him when he was a child……"God always answers….but sometimes his answer is no."

Just as his heart was beginning to harden……just as his faith in anything good and decent began to waiver, the still nighttime was disturbed by the most glorious sound he'd ever heard……..a gasping, choking cough.

Immediately he was standing and pushing his way through the crowd of medical workers to his wife's side. He witnessed her frantic efforts to clear the dust from her lungs. Cough after agonizing cough escaped her until she eventually became almost violently sick. The medics turned her to her side so that she could expel the filth. Slowly……so painfully slowly, her breathing started to even out and seemed less labored, but she had yet to open her eyes or acknowledge her surroundings.

The medical team eased her onto her back once more and placed an oxygen mask over her face, which seemed to bring her even greater relief. They continued to monitor her pulse and blood pressure and noted that both were stabilizing nicely. All of this should have reassured Frank, but didn't. Not entirely. He needed to hear her voice….he needed to see her eyes open and alert……he needed to tell her……so many things.

Once the EMT's were convinced that she wasn't in any immediate peril, they quickly loaded her into the nearest waiting ambulance. Frank, of course, went with her. During the whole trip his eyes never left her face. He was desperately hoping for some sort of sign. She was alive, but was there any lingering damage other than a broken leg? She'd been without oxygen for…..how long? He wasn't certain and until she awoke, they wouldn't know for sure.

Once at the hospital, she was quickly taken into a trauma room and checked over thoroughly. The nurses and doctors tried to get Frank to leave the room, but he refused, agreeing only to back away and give them room to work. Something in his demeanor, told them not to push the issue.

Minutes ticked by and still she had not opened her eyes. He didn't need much to reassure him. A knowing touch…..one simple word……a look that said everything that her weakened body couldn't. He silently pleaded with her to please give him some sort of sign.

The medical staff began to work on her badly broken leg. In their haste to retrieve her from the wreckage, they'd actually aggravated the break and made it much worse than it had originally been. So while their concentration was focused elsewhere, Frank slowly moved forward until he was right next to the gurney. He reached out his still shaking hand and gently ran his fingertips across her cheek. He wasn't sure if the touch was meant to reassure him that she really was there or perhaps to waken her, but the latter happened as a result.

Slowly her eyelids began to flutter and her breathing changed subtly. Frank held his own breath and watched in amazement and fear. Gradually she opened her eyes and at first did nothing but stare up at the ceiling, her eyes still unfocused. Frank reached out to her once more, this time placing his hand gently in her hair, his thumb lightly caressing her cheek. It appeared at first as if she were unaware of his presence…..of his touch, but she slowly tilted her head toward him and blinked several times as if trying to clear away some mental cobweb. Then she focused her attention on him and their eyes locked on one another. Frank finally received the confirmation that he was looking for. Tears began to pool in her eyes and streak down her cheeks, and her lips moved attempting to say something. Frank couldn't hear what she'd said so he leaned down and tilted his head to hear her better. Only one word came from her dry, parched lips………"always"……

Pulling back from her, he looked deeply into her eyes and knew that everything would be all right, as his own tears fell silently.

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Staring at her sleeping form so many months later, he still couldn't get over the notion that this was all just some deliriously happy dream. Since that night, every morning he woke and thanked God that this amazing woman was still a part of his life.

While he stood there deep in thought, a little movement at the partially open bedroom door caught his attention. He bent his head slightly to see what it was, and wasn't surprised at all to see his now 3 year old daughter peeking through crack in the door. He smiled when she saw him. This was her favorite time of the morning as well, and she liked nothing more than to invade her parents' bedroom at the crack of dawn. She stared back at her father and silently asked permission to enter. Smiling still, he waved his hand at her, motioning for her to come on in. Her little feet padded across the floor quickly as she came toward him raising her arms asking to be picked up. Setting his coffee cup down on the nightstand, he leaned over and accommodated her. She wrapped her arms around his neck tightly and kissed him on the cheek.

"Good morning, princess," he said quietly, kissing her back. "Did you sleep well?"

"Uh huh…..daddy?" she whispered to him. "Can we go see the puppies again today?"

He couldn't help but chuckle. A few days ago, one of the neighbor's dogs had given birth to 6 healthy puppies and his daughter was now officially obsessed. Of course, she'd pleaded with them to let her take one home, but they'd told her that they'd have to discuss the situation before deciding. No surprise, it was the one and only thing on her mind, and Frank had a good idea that their household was going to soon include a four legged furball. You are such a pushover!

"We'll see, honey….we'll see. Now….we have to be very quiet and not wake mommy up," he told her as he tenderly eased her down on the bed. She quickly but gently maneuvered under the covers and snuggled as closely as possible to her mother. Frank joined the two most important women in his life, and couldn't help but feel his heart swell just a little more. Just one thing was missing…….

Frank glanced up when he heard another pair of feet treading down the hallway. Christopher stood in the doorway now and looked a little torn about whether to enter or not. He was coming into that awkward age where he didn't want to be treated like a little boy and yet he still enjoyed things like……snuggling with his parents and sister on a quiet Saturday morning. Frank saw the battle waging in his son's eyes and quietly rejoiced when it looked like he'd still have his little boy for at least this one morning.

Christopher walked to Frank's side of the bed and crawled over his father as Frank scooted a little further toward the edge in order to accommodate him. He pulled the covers up over his two children and just enjoyed being near them.

"Now how am I supposed to sleep with all this commotion going on?" Laura asked sleepily, feigning exasperation…eyes still closed. Her question was met with quiet giggles. Frank, of course, knew that she'd been awake and probably had been since Alicia entered the room.

Laura opened her eyes and leaned up on one elbow, looking down at the two children. "And what do we have here? I do believe some critters crawled into my bed while I was sleeping," she said right before she launched into a surprise tickle attack. The two tried desperately to twist and turn away from her, but to no avail, their peels of laughter probably waking every neighbor within earshot. Frank laughed and tried as hard as he could to avoid flying feet, knees, elbows and hands.

After the attack finally ended and things started to settle down a bit, Frank glanced up and saw Laura looking at him, her eyes filled with the joy and love that he was sure she could see reflected in his own. They'd walked through hell twice now and lived to tell about it. In fact, Frank was fairly sure this was as close as one could get to heaven on earth. He continued to stare into her eyes. He couldn't help himself. She held a power over him that he could never describe to another living soul, and honestly he didn't care to. He wasn't sure what to call it, he just knew he never wanted to be faced with living without it.

"So….who wants pancakes?" he suddenly asked. His question was met with two very enthusiastic I do's. "All right. Go get yourselves dressed and I'll be there in a few minutes," he told them. The two children then scrambled from beneath the covers and flew out of the room.

During the whole exchange, his eyes had never left Laura's. His expression changed slightly, however, once the kids had left. "Come here," he commanded as he reached over and wrapped his arm around her waist sliding her body closer to his own.

"Good morning," she said quietly as she reached her hands up to touch his face lovingly, kissing him lightly on the lips.

He wasn't satisfied with just that and lowered his head to capture her lips once more. This time, however, there was nothing light and tentative about it. It wasn't a kiss filled with desire and passion, although he felt both, but instead one meant to convey all the love and tenderness that his nearly bursting heart could muster. After several minutes of steadily escalating pleasure, he finally pulled away, slightly breathless. "Now it's a good morning," he said, smiling happily at her.

"It certainly is. Can you kiss me like that every morning for the rest of my life?" she asked, still trying to regain her senses.

His smile grew. "That's the plan, gorgeous," he said jokingly although he meant every word.

"Promises….promises. And yet you go back to work in two days and I know I'll be totally forgotten," she kidded him back.

"It'll never happen……..the forgetting you part, that is."

Frank noticed that she'd suddenly gotten a very serious look on her face and he was fairly certain that he knew the reason for the change.

"Are you sure about this, Frank?" she asked gazing deeply into his eyes looking for the answer to her question.

Sighing heavily, he closed his eyes. They'd been over this a hundred times. He'd left his position as SOG leader in Chicago for a number of reasons, not the least of which was that it would have been nearly impossible to continue, given the media coverage that had surrounded their last case. After leaving Chicago, he'd contemplated what to do next, when a most surprising offer presented itself, and one which he readily accepted. Next week he would become one of the FBI's newest instructors at its Quantico, Virginia facility. Mostly, however, he'd resigned because he no longer wanted to be away from his wife and children for days and sometimes weeks at a time. They were his lifeline…..his only reasons for taking his next breath.

"Laura…..we've discussed this how many times now?" he asked her almost impatiently.

"I know….I know," she answered softly, absently playing with the front of his t-shirt, her eyes no longer able to meet his own. "I'm just worried that you're going to get bored…..that you'll miss the excitement."

He moved his hand so that he could tilt her chin up, forcing her to look at him. "I don't need the excitement. Please believe that. I'm not sacrificing anything. In fact I think I'm being a bit selfish. I want to be able to see the kids every morning and every evening. I want to wake up with you in my arms every morning…..make love to you every night," he told her, his hand now skimming down her body, working its way under the covers.

"Every night, huh?" she asked, her voice slightly playful and a little husky.

He smiled devilishly at her. "Would you object to that?" he asked as he dipped his head and began to kiss and nibble that sensitive part right behind her ear, the one area he knew to drive her instantly wild. He wasn't disappointed when he heard her breath quicken and felt her back arch slightly toward him.

"Oh, you are evil," she informed him only slightly louder than a whisper, her hands tangling in his short hair.

He playfully nipped and licked his way back to her eagerly waiting lips, suddenly consumed by the need to show her how much he loved her…..needed her…..wanted her. The kiss began gently, lovingly, but soon consumed both of them. He pulled her almost impossibly closer to him as both of their hands explored, touched, caressed and teased. Just as things were beginning to spiral out of control, they both heard voices float in from the kitchen.

"I want banana in the pancakes!"

"You can't put banana in pancakes! That's disgusting!"

"Is not. Daddy made me banana pancakes once!"

"Did not! It doesn't matter anyways….I want blueberries."

"I don't want blueberries…..they're lumpy."

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

Frank pulled back from Laura and when their eyes locked, they both broke into laughter, either from the overheard argument or because they knew that this morning was not the best time to engage in such activities as lovemaking.

"I've got news for both of them," Laura finally said, "we don't have bananas or blueberries."

Frank laughed even harder before gracing Laura with one final kiss before rising from the bed and making his way to the kitchen.

Laura stayed where she was for a few minutes more. She heard her husband in the kitchen doing what he did best…..negotiating a truce. From bank robbers and other criminals to two rambunctious children, now there's a change of pace!

She thought back on the incredible turn of events in their lives and thanked God herself for the many wondrous blessings that she still kept near and dear to her heart. She had two remarkably loving children who each day never ceased to amaze her, and a husband who had loved her enough to fight for her life when everyone else had given up. All in all, she'd have to say that life was pretty spectacular.

Rising from the bed, she wrapped her robe tightly around her and went to join the rest of her family in the kitchen. She paused when she entered the kitchen, and took a few moments to take in the scene before her. Christopher was dutifully setting the table, and Alicia was standing on her stepstool, helping Frank mix the batter for the pancakes. Glancing at the kitchen counter she noticed a box of raisins sitting nearby. Ahhh…..so that was the truce, huh? She couldn't help but smile.

Life was indeed spectacular with a touch of the miraculous thrown in for good measure.

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