O2 3/18
Chapter Two:
Olivia's doctor had arrived just after Don walked through the door and he briefed the distracted agent on her condition. Don simply tape recorded the conversation knowing his mind couldn't process any of what the doctor was saying past the first statement he'd made, that they didn't know when, or if, she would awaken.
Somehow, Don couldn't connect the litany of medical verbiage with Olivia. His Olivia...
Twenty years had passed since they were together in high school yet she still had the same radiant beauty he had fallen for so easily as a young man.
The doctor finally left and Don eventually remembered to turn the tape recorder off.
In a daze, he sat in the chair beside her bed, watching her breathe.
She still had the same flowing long black hair only now it fell just below her shoulders instead of cascading down to her waist. Her caramel skin was smooth and unlined as if the ravages of age that were beginning to show on Don had skipped over her. She looked so peaceful and content in her slumber that Don almost forgot what she had just been through.
He snapped himself back to reality with that thought. His Olivia... The girl who would have been valedictorian if not for Charlie skipping up to their grade... The girl who broke his heart when she accepted a scholarship to study at Oxford after graduation... That Olivia was gone. The woman before him was so badly injured she might never regain consciousness. That beautiful mind and that beautiful face... They could be gone forever... Don was suddenly overwhelmed with grief for what he had now lost twice.
Don became so lost in his memories he was startled when an agent showed up to relieve him. As much as Don now welcomed his assignment, he still had to sleep and eat. Kim had assigned agents in rotating shifts in case Olivia awoke at odd hours of the night. After briefing the agent on what the doctor had told him about her status, he left with only one last glance at Olivia.
Somehow, the reality of leaving her after having found her again made him notice something he'd completely missed the whole time he'd been sitting with her.
A wedding band on her left hand.
Don walked out to his car, lost in thought. Of course, she'd be married, he thought to himself, why not? She's in her late 30s; most people are married by that age. Don was the odd man out not having gotten married yet by 37. But then, he'd not been able to marry the woman he'd proposed to. Olivia's not a teenager any more, he reminded himself. Heck, she's old enough to have teenage kids. Kids...
Don put in a call to the office inquiring about next of kin for Olivia.