Hello all! So, the delay wasn't intentional but considering I had to check if people had received the notification for the new chapter dropping.
Just sharing that apparently now you have to actively opt-in for alerts to check your settings.
I do try to post every two day and I usually announce when that changes, but best to keep an eye on it.
Note: Email Alerts are now only active if Email Opt-in is enabled in account settings.
That said, here we go.
Cal didn't know it, but they had waited nearly one hour to find out about Gillian's conditions. Strangely, that time had flown by, slipping through his fingers one minute at the time without him noticing, perhaps because despite all the fear and worries he had had to keep it together for Emily's sake. Yet, when he had to wait only 10 minutes for her to be moved to her room and be ready to receive visitors, he could barely contain himself.
He hadn't needed Dr Milton to explain again that Gillian was ok, but he had asked anyway to ease the wait and mostly because he just liked to hear it. And then there was Emily, glued to his side but now with relief and happiness rather than fear and desperation, much like him eager to be able to see Gillian and talk to her.
They were standing at the beginning of the corridor, Cal staring ahead at the door of what had been identified as Gillian's room, then he looked down at Emily for a moment and smirked when he realised they probably looked like two runners ready to dash forward at the starter's gun. For a moment he considered it might be time to tell her about him and Gillian, that the case was over and they had time to deliver the news when it was still just the three of them. Emily had been through a lot over the past couple of days and could have certainly used good news like that. But then again, they all had been through a lot and Emily might just focus on the fact she had inserted herself in their relationship as well as their case. Still, if Emily knew he wouldn't have to worry about how to restrain himself when he'd finally be able to see Gillian.
Eventually, Dr Milton stood on the door of Gillian's room and waved at them to come forward, father and daughter nearly rushing each other to the finish line. However, when they reached the door Emily stopped and let Cal go through first. He stopped and looked back at his daughter, noticing how she was bracing herself and looking down at the tip of her shoes, realising she was somehow afraid to move forward. He wanted to tell her that it was ok, that she shouldn't feel guilty or scared, but the truth was that hearing that wasn't going to do her any good. He hadn't been there, he hadn't seen what she had and she was only 18, so Cal figured she had the right to process all that the way she wanted.
"No rush, Em," he whispered to her then, kissing her forehead. "You've got nothing to worry about but take your time if you want, ok?"
Emily nodded absently and moved away from the door, trying to give her dad a reassuring smile before he went through the door. In doing so he nearly went crashing into a nurse who was coming out of the room, but after that the cost was clear. Nearly clear, another male nurse was standing by the bed obstructing the view as he worked on Gillian's IV but he was gone soon too, Cal brushing past him without a look even though they bumped on each other's shoulder.
He had seen her, he had caught her eyes looking right at him already and there was nothing else on his radar but her.
Cal didn't even think about it, as soon as he was close enough to the bed he looked for her hand, needing some kind of contact. With that connection switched on, he took in the full picture and tried to decide what to make of it: she had some light bandage on the back of her head but her face looked pinkish and healthy, her eyes were tired but vigil and present, and while she clearly had some pain she was dealing with it wasn't bad enough to prevent her from sitting up straight and, he didn't fail to notice, leaning in his direction ever so slightly the moment she had the chance.
"Hei, how are you feeling?"
It was the dumbest question in the world, and yet the only one he could come up with. Gillian knew, she wasn't expecting anything else really, and smiled at him as strongly as he could.
"I'm ok, my back is a bit sore." She stopped all of a sudden, a dark frown creasing her forehead when she looked around. "Cal, Emily? Is she ok? What-"
"She's alright, all good." He wasn't surprised in the least that one of her first thoughts had been for Emily, but it only made him want to hold more of her than just a hand. "She looked after Toby like you asked."
"I'm so sorry Cal, we should have waited-"
"It's ok Gill, I- Well, that was stupid but am I to judge?" He smirked, the joking clearly a coping mechanism to hide - failing miserably- how worried he had been. "Em, she just needs a moment."
"It wasn't her fault, Cal."
"I know that as much as you do, and eventually she will too." Cal brought his free hand up to her forehead, absently moving some loose hair away so that he could see her better. "She was worried about you as much as I was."
"Well, hold on to that thought the next time you think about doing something stupid and risky." Cal chuckled at the not so subtle jab, a little part of his brain thinking he probably would do just that. "What happened? I remember going after Miss Lewton but then it's all blurred."
Cal smirked, the last thing he wanted to do was to talk about what had happened and think about what might have happened…but he also couldn't do what he wanted, hold her and kiss her and tell her how lost he had been for the past couple of hours, knowing that Emily could come into the room any second. That would have been definitely not the time nor the way for her to find out, so he sighed and grabbed hold of a nearby chair he dragged close to the bed, then sat down and relayed to her what he had learned from Emily. He never let go of her hand and Gillian didn't seem like she would let him go anyway, and just about when Cal had finished there was a tentative knock on the door.
"Emily!" Gillian beamed when she saw her, and Cal's heart did that funny thing he felt every time those two seemed to have something going on that he wasn't part of. "Are you ok?"
Cal rolled his eyes as Gillian asked, glad to see that his daughter had the same puzzled expression he had before when Foster, from a hospital bed, had shown concern for someone else's well being.
"I'm fine," Emily said, her voice a little shaky as she shyly walked around the bed to get to the other side. "I'm sorry I couldn't help you Gillian, I should have-"
"No, Emily please," Gillian removed her hand from Cal's and grabbed Emily's with both of hers, squeezing tight. "There was nothing you could have done, the most important thing was to take care of Toby and you did. If anything it's my fault for going in there-"
"Alright you two, this self-blame game has to stop," Cal cut her off, gently but with a firm voice that showed how serious he was. "We're all ok, we got the kid and that is all that matters."
He stared down at them after he spoke, serious as a heart attack…and that was probably why they responded by suffocating amused laughs at his reprimand. Cal watched them with annoyed surprise, but then he figured laughing at him was much better than arguing about whose fault it was and joined in with a chuckle.
Then Gillian's laugh became a light coughing and she smirked with a bit of pain, the movement clearly not agreeing with her sore back. Cal mumbled something about payback then went for the carafe of water on the nightstand by the bed to pour some for her. He took the carafe with one hand and the glass with the other, then noticed a third object on the flat surface. It was a syringe, nearly empty but not entirely, and he thought it was a bit odd. Sure, Sedley county hospital wasn't probably a top medical facility but any medical professional worth their salt would know better than to leave a discarded syringe around. The thought stayed with him as he started to pour the water, but then he realised that Gillian's coughing suddenly sounded way worse than just something going down the wrong pipe, and before he could turn around and see with his own eyes just how bad it was Emily's shaky voice called for him.
"Dad, something's wrong…"
Cal already knew, something in his mind was connecting the syringe and the cough and when he turned around to look at Gillian he realised with terror just how right Emily was. Gillian wasn't just coughing, she was gasping for air and looking at them with wide eyes, her body shaking in the vain attempt to get air to her lungs whichever way she could.
"Gillian?" Cal was all over in a second, trying to pin her down to the bed as if that could help. "Gill, what is it?"
But it was useless, she was in no shape to respond or even remotely control her own body for that matter. And even if she could have spoken she probably had no clue as to what was wrong with her.
"Dad, do something!" Emily yelled at him, her eyes scanning the monitor by Gillian's bed which all of a sudden went into an erratic rhythm. "She's not breathing!"
That didn't even begin to cover what was going on with Gillian, something was wrong with her heartbeat too and for the life of him he didn't know what to do. Emily screaming at him wasn't helping, Gillian's ravenous breathing wasn't either, and things went from bad to worse when her eyes rolled to the back of her head before closing for good as she passed out.
"Dad!"
It might have not looked like it but he was thinking, not about what he could do but about what might have caused it. She was ok, Dr Milton had said she was going to be fine and it was the truth, he had seen it, and none of the injuries she had sustained had anything to do with breathing or heart problems.
Unless…
He looked back at the syringe, a drip of liquid still inside, then at Gillian's IV as if he could find a trace connecting the two. He didn't, but there was a connection his mind could make: the male nurse he had bumped into, the one who had been standing by the IV when he had entered the room. It was a leap but his brain took it, needing the incentive to try and focus on a man he had barely looked at for a second.
"Dad, c'mon help her!"
Emily's scream distracted him but it was a good thing, it reminded him that saving Gillian was the priority and that he could do both, that and remember the man, at the same time. Cal gathered his thoughts and looked around, finding the emergency call button and smashing it with his hand, then he told Emily to stay there and tell whoever would come that Gillian had been injected with something. He had no time to listen to what Emily said in response, the nurse - if he even was a nurse - had a good head-start on him and he needed to track him down. Cal figured they might be able to analyse what was left in the syringe but it would take time and Gillian didn't have any.
So he ran out of the room, his heart breaking as he left behind Gillian gasping and Emily panicking, yelling for help to get someone in there. A couple of nurses and doctors ran inside but he grabbed hold of Dr Milton as she passed by, barking at her.
"The male nurse, he left the room after we went in. Where did he go?"
"What-"
"There was a man in there, he injected something in her IV." Cal stopped and closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath as his brain flashed him a couple of images like rapidly taken pictures. "White guy, big built, 5 foot 5-" Focus Lightman, focus! "Ponytail! He had a ponytail, dark black hair. Did you see him?"
Dr Milton was shaking her head no and Cal felt he was about to scream, but then some behind him spoke.
"He went that way." Cal turned around, eyes wide and out of breath, staring at the cleaning lady who had shyly given the information. "He went into the bathroom…he stayed a bit but when he came out he wasn't wearing the uniform anymore."
"What was he wearing?" Cal was only marginally aware of the fact that the Sheriff had just arrived. "Where did he go? How long ago?"
"Uh…just denim and a blue t-shirt." The woman babbled, then pointed at the fire door to the stairs. "He went that way, just a minute ago."
Cal was running even before she stopped talking, the Sheriff right behind him giving directions over her radio. Cal didn't pay attention, he got to the door and nearly ripped it off the hinges then stopped and listened, his ears immediately catching the sound of footsteps. Going up, he thought, dumb son of a bitch! He looked up and saw something, someone going up the stairs, a flash of a dark blue fabric. The Sheriff gave instructions on the radio to get someone on every floor and block the exits, but her voice predictably alerted the suspect who stopped and looked down as his head peeked over the handrail. Gotcha! Cal had time to think as he saw his face, the one he now recognised as being the 'nurse' he had run into before, then he was off and running again making his way up the stairs as fast as he could. The man ran off as well, going up one more flight of stairs before leaving the stairwell and going through the door, back on the hospital floor. Cal was there but 20 seconds after him and could easily tell where he had gone, leaving behind a trail of shocked people and overturned objects, and could see him ahead of him running down the corridor.
There was no time to check with Talbot whether she had men on that floor just yet or where they were at; truth was, he wouldn't have waited to know even if he'd had all the time in the world. That was his man to catch, he was going to take care of that himself. Cal took off once again, running like he had never done in his life, knowing as the chaser he had an advantage: the suspect was calling too much attention on himself, he was erratic and wasn't always looking where he was going because he also had to turn back and see where those running after him were. On the other hand, all Cal had to do was keep his eye on him and keep going.
It wasn't long before the man tripped, one corner turned too quickly and half looking over his shoulder and he crashed into a patient on a wheelchair. Cal heard the crash and sped up, turning the corner himself pleased to see that the distance between him and the suspect was now down to practically nothing. The man was on the ground along with the patient, the wheelchair capsized and blocking his leg. He looked up at Cal and grabbed his own leg with both hands, pulling until his limb was free, but it was already too late. Cal was on him in a flash, his hands going for the man's shirt as he pulled him on his feet and smashed him with his back against the wall with all the strength he was capable off and then some.
"What did you give her?!" He screamed at him, his hands tight around the fabric as he realised he was pulling it so much he was nearly choking the bastard. "What did you give her?"
Cal expected the man to smirk, a smirk he would have recognised as the same one he had seen on the face of criminals and psychopaths who had nothing to lose. But the man in front of him not only wasn't a master criminal, he also clearly wasn't one capable of doing what he had just done without knowing it was a bad thing.
"Potassium!" He ran inside the room yelling, catching his breath, looking around for someone to pay attention to him. "He gave her a high dose of potassium-"
He stopped, nobody interrupted him but Cal stopped. There were people around Gillian's bed, a lot of people. They were just standing around, not doing anything and all that inactivity scared the hell out of him, so he had to look for the only two people who were looking back at him and who he knew enough to be able to read them.
Emily was on the verge of tears, she looked exhausted but Cal dared to think she would have looked a lot worse if something unfixable had happened. Right at her side, Dr Milton was just putting away her stethoscope when she noticed him, and urged to gave him a reassuring expression and a firm nod.
Everything was going to be fine.
I know, I know…I am posting again tomorrow
