Ambushed
Chapter 8 – Results
By: Pink Brain

As the hours ticked by on the day that Dusty and Cover Girl were supposed to be married, Lady Jaye and Scarlett made their mid-afternoon stop so that Dusty could take a shower and change. Neither of them knew what had happened earlier that morning. "Hey, Ron. How are you doing today?" Lady Jaye asked, keeping her voice upbeat as most of the base personnel had remembered that today was supposed to be a very special day for the desert trooper and tank jockey.

Dusty looked up from his book and gave the ladies a fake smile. "It has been a trying day so far," he revealed, unwilling to lie to either of the women.

"Would you like to talk about it?" Scarlett asked, concerned by his statement and wondering if something had happened to Cover Girl.

"No thanks. I'll be back in fifteen or twenty minutes," he told them, standing up and giving Cover Girl's hand a goodbye kiss.

"See you soon, Ron," Lady Jaye called after him before glancing at Scarlett as the trooper exited the room. "I wonder what happened," she stated.

Scarlett shrugged while she walked over to Cover Girl. As the counterintelligence operative reached for Cover Girl's hand, she caught the shine of a teardrop sliding down Cover Girl's cheek. "Al," Scarlett quickly said, "go see if you can stop Ron."

Lady Jaye looked at Scarlett and was about to ask why when she noticed Scarlett's anxious look. She bolted out of the hospital room, nearly colliding with Doc.

"Whoa there. Where's the fire?" Doc asked quickly, furrowing his eyebrow as he noticed that Lady Jaye had come from Cover Girl's room.

"Not sure. I need to catch up with Ron," Lady Jaye blurted out as she ran down the hall looking for Dusty.

Doc watched the brunette covert ops specialist depart and quickly headed for Cover Girl's room. When he entered, he saw Scarlett leaning over Cover Girl's bed and heard her softly talking to the tank jockey. "Shana, what's going on?"

"I don't know, Doc. Court is crying, but I don't know why," Scarlett told the doctor.

Doc walked up to the bed and saw the teardrops running down his patient's cheeks. He quickly glanced at her monitors and then back to Cover Girl. "Courtney, can you hear me? Squeeze my hand if you can hear me," Doc told her, wrapping his dark-skinned hand around her pale hand. He waited patiently, glancing over at Scarlett, who also grasped Cover Girl's hand.

"Courtney, come on. Make us all happy. Give Ron something to smile about when he gets back here," Scarlett begged.

"How long has she been crying?" Doc asked as he took a clean cloth and wiped the tears from Cover Girl's cheeks.

"I don't know. Ron didn't seem to notice when he left a few minutes ago, but it appeared to have started when he left," Scarlett explained.

Doc started to wonder what happened earlier. He had been briefed that Captain Winters overheard Dusty's raised voice earlier that morning. "I think I … " Doc began to say when he felt the hand beneath his move. Looking down at Cover Girl's face, he said, "Good girl. Do that again."

Scarlett grinned as she felt Cover Girl's hand tense and weakly grip hers. "Good job, Court," she praised the tank jockey.

Lady Jaye ran back into the room. "What's going on?" She looked between Doc and Scarlett.

Doc continued to speak to Cover Girl while Scarlett informed, "Courtney moved her hands, and she's crying. Did you catch up to Ron?"

"Wonderful," Lady Jaye said. "No, but I ran into Dash and Conrad in the parking lot, and they were going to chase him down."

Scarlett nodded and her eyes happened to land on the nightstand. "I guess we should have just called him. It would have been easier," she quipped, seeing Ron's phone number lying by the phone.

"Why would we do that?" Lady Jaye chuckled quietly, walking up beside Scarlett. "Hey Court, it's Al. Open those big brown eyes for us."

Meanwhile, Doc had retrieved his light and was about to shine it in Cover Girl's eyes when her eyelids fluttered open. "And there she is," Doc greeted. "Welcome back, Sgt. Krieger."

Cover Girl eyes went to the voice speaking to her before they darted over to Scarlett and Lady Jaye. She looked back to Doc, remembering that the last time she saw his face he was making her go back to sleep. "Doc," she tried to talk, but her voice was a croak and only a tiny, raspy squeak came out of her mouth, followed by a knife cutting pain.

Doc pointed to the pitcher of water, and Lady Jaye quickly poured some water in a glass. "Here Court. Let's get you something to wet your whistle." He moved a strong hand behind her back and helped her sit up as Lady Jaye tilted the glass to her lips.

Cover Girl felt weak as Doc moved her, but as soon as her lips found the edge of the glass, she welcomed the cool liquid. Swallowing, she immediately started to cough.

"Easy does it," Doc reassured her, lightly patting her back. "I think we forgot which pipe the water goes down," he lightheartedly joked. Once her coughing fit had subsided, Doc eased her back down. "Feel better?" The doctor asked.

Cover Girl nodded weakly, closing her eyes for a moment before trying to say, "Thank you." Her voice still betrayed her, and she started to cough again.

Lady Jaye and Scarlett both looked at Doc worriedly as he quickly adjusted her bed so that she was not lying flat. Once she had stopped coughing, he checked her throat and found it to be raw and very sore. Cover Girl tried to push him away as he depressed her tongue. Her gag reflexes kicked in, sending more pain coursing down her throat. "It's okay, Courtney. I'm done. No wonder you are coughing. It looks like that breathing tube irritated your throat. I'm going to give you something to help soothe that. Does it hurt when you swallow?"

Cover Girl nodded and tried to speak, only to be rewarded with another burning round of coughs. Tears came to her eyes as the pain and coughing continued.

Dusty, Flint, and Duke ran into the room just as she began to cough. Flint and Duke both stopped by the door as Dusty pressed forward. "Doc, what is going on?" He asked, his voice laced with anger and worry until he saw Cover Girl's eyes open and saw that she was coughing on her own. "Courtney?" He anxiously asked, stepping next to her as Scarlett and Lady Jaye moved away. He picked up her hand and squeezed it as Doc held her in a sitting position until the coughing ceased.

Exhausted, Cover Girl closed her eyes as Doc gently laid her back down against the mattress. "Give her a minute, Ron," Doc quietly told the worried trooper.

Dusty nodded, reaching out and wiping away some of the tears of pain from Cover Girl's cheeks.

Feeling the gentle touch on her cheek, Cover Girl opened her eyes and looked at Dusty. Her heart skipped a beat as she gazed at his face. Not wanting to ignite another round of coughs, she squeezed his hand and smiled weakly.

Dusty grinned just by seeing her smile at him. "Oh, I've missed that smile so much," he softly told her, not caring that five of his teammates were standing around him.

Scarlett and Lady Jaye walked over to their husbands before looking back at Dusty, Cover Girl, and Doc. Cover Girl nodded her understanding, still holding onto his hand but closing her eyes to rest. Doc lowered her bed slightly and adjusted her blankets. "Congratulations, Ron."

Dusty looked at the doctor and replied, "Thank you, Doc. I just got the greatest wedding gift of all."

Doc smiled and confirmed, "Yes you did, my boy." He noticed a nurse enter the room, and he instructed her to get some throat lozenges for Cover Girl.

"What is wrong with her throat? Why was she coughing so hard?" Dusty asked, stroking back the tank jockey's damp hair from the coughing attacks.

"The main reason, Ron, is that the breathing tube irritated her throat. There isn't a lot we can do for her but let her body heal naturally," Doc told him.

"Is that why her voice was barely audible?" Scarlett asked.

"Maybe," Doc answered. "Either her vocal chords were reacting to the soreness of her throat, or they may have been slightly damaged." He looked quickly to Dusty and continued, "Before you ask, they will heal, but it may take some time."

Dusty nodded, giving Doc a sheepish grin.

"I hear Courtney woke up," Lifeline said, as he walked in with a nurse, who was carrying the items Doc requested.

"Yes, she did," Dusty told him, feeling guilty about how he acted this morning. Meeting Lifeline's eyes, he said, "Ed, I'm sorry about this morning."

"Don't worry about it, Ron. We have all been stressed," Lifeline quickly replied.

Doc arched a questioning eyebrow at the two men. "Ed, come with me. I'll fill you in on Courtney's condition." He placed the package of throat lozenges on the night stand. "Ron, when she wakes up, keep her quiet and give her one of these, or buzz the nurse's station. She shouldn't choke on them since they are pretty small, but if she does swallow it, she'll probably start coughing. Get her in an upright position and call the nurse. Any questions?"

"No. Thank you, Doc. I appreciate all you did."

"Anytime, Son." Looking to Lifeline, he said, "Come on, Ed. Let's have a chat."

Lifeline groaned inwardly, knowing that Doc had been informed of this morning's earlier confrontation. "I'll be back a little later, Ron," he said before he followed Doc out of the room.

Dusty looked at Scarlett and Lady Jaye. "When did she wake up? How did you know?"

Lady Jaye shrugged and looked to Scarlett, who explained, "I didn't really know. After you left, I walked over to the bed, and she had tears running down her cheeks. I told Al to go get you, and luckily, she ran into Doc on the way out. Hadn't she done anything all day to give you a sign?"

Dusty shook his head. "No, she just laid there like the past how many days. Why was she crying?"

Lady Jaye jumped into the conversation. "Maybe she knew you left or was upset over something."

"Oh," Dusty replied. He looked back at Cover Girl, who was peacefully sleeping, and mumbled, "I'm so sorry." He bent down and kissed her cheek.

Lady Jaye and Scarlett looked at one another and back to Dusty. They both picked up that something had happened, but neither knew what. "Ron, did something happen that you would like to tell us about?" Duke asked, walking up beside the young trooper and placing a steady hand on Dusty's shoulder.

Dusty shook his head, still staring down at Cover Girl, but revealed, "I don't know. I may have said some things that I truly didn't mean. I never meant to upset her."

Flint, Lady Jaye, and Scarlett walked up beside the bed. "Ron," Lady Jaye began, "we all say things when we are stressed or upset. No matter what you said, she's not holding it against you. Look at her. She's peacefully sleeping and still clinging to you like you were her lifeline. Do you understand me? You need to stop feeling guilty for everything that you say or everything that happened. You had no control over most of this, but it is all going to be alright."

Dusty looked up and smiled. "Thanks, Al. I understand, and yes, everything is going to be okay."

Trying to the lighten the conversation, Flint interjected, "Well, just so you all know, I must be Ron and Courtney's good luck charm."

"How so?" Scarlett asked, arching an eyebrow as she walked over to stand next to Duke.

"I return from the desert and bring them joy," the Warrant Officer gloated, receiving an elbow to his gut from his wife as Duke quickly rebutted, "In your dreams, Tough Guy." Scarlett rolled her eyes, meeting Lady Jaye's eyes and giving her friend a wink. Both women exchanged a smile as Dusty and their husbands laughed and continued to quietly joke.

In her slumber, Cover Girl could hear the conversation and could feel Dusty's hand on hers. Despite her throat feeling like it was on fire, her friends and her fiancé were by her side, and she knew that she was not alone.

The End of Part 1


Yes, you read that right. The end for now. Once again, my sincerest thanks for reading and coming along with me on this journey. I decided to end this part here for a few reasons. I didn't want to leave this unfinished because that would not do it, my readers, or the characters justice.

There is always the possibility that I'll do a second part since I left several hints at retaliation but no promises. Thanks to my wife, who was my writing partner from the start, and many thanks to Medic Lifeline, who gave me some wonderful medical and in general advice. I also wish to thank Shelly Red, Scarlett Phoenix, Storm O, Kat, and Wild Child for their support and becoming a trusted friend to me and my family.

Until my next story, Godspeed and I salute you all. Thank you for your support and reviews.