Chapter 8
Frisco was bogged down in some traffic, so he and Tad got to the hospital a good while after Aidan, Ryan and Zach. Anna was waiting outside, and whisked Tad inside as soon as he set foot outside the car. "The doctors want to speak to you right away. While they were working on Mr. Slater, he lapsed into a light coma. Aidan told them what you said to him about the drugs, but the doctors need to question you to try and get to the bottom of this." Tad felt sick. He fed Zach some of the soup not long before they were rescued. Had it been a mistake? Maybe he should never have risked letting Zach ingest an unknown substance, no matter how much he needed food to sustain him. The doctor arrived and led Tad off to the side to question him.
Anna turned to Frisco. He put his arm around her. "How's Sean?" She sighed. "He's going to make it, the tough old bird. You shouldn't stay. You need to get back to your assignment. Thank you so much for helping out with this." Frisco gave her a hug and kissed the top of her head. "Any time. Tell the old buzzard to give me a call when he recovers." He walked away. Anna turned back to where Tad was now coming towards her, dejected. "The doc gave me a severe tongue lashing. I just…I didn't know what to do…" Anna cocked her head. "Who would in your circumstance? He might be even worse off if he'd had nothing to eat or drink in so many days. Did the doctor say whether Mr. Slater will come out of the coma?" Tad shrugged. "He thinks it won't last long. He believes it's just a temporary failsafe mechanism."
Tad looked beyond Anna, with an expression of compassion and dread. Anna looked over her shoulder and saw Kendall heading towards them. She walked stiffly, and she had bruises up and down her arms. There was a patch of gauze taped to her left temple. She stopped in front of them and glared at Tad. "According to Aidan, you're the reason my husband won't regain consciousness. You fed him food laced with drugs, are you crazy?" Tad put his hands in his pocket and looked down. Anna tried not to laugh at his resemblance to a shaggy dog. Kendall took several deep breaths. "Where is he? I want to see him." Tad pointed towards one of the rooms. "They might not be allowing visitors right now." Kendall turned towards the room. "'They' can go fuck themselves."
Kendall went into the room and saw Zach lying prone on the hospital bed. Her knees started to buckle, and she had to hold on to the door frame. There was a nurse checking his vitals. She looked up. "You must not be here, now." Kendall shook her head, tears falling down her cheeks. "No, you are the one who must not be here, now. Please leave me alone with my husband." The nurse narrowed her eyes. After checking her chart again, she shrugged. "Ten minutes." She walked out the room. Kendall pulled a chair over and slumped in it. She stared at him a moment, periodically wiping her eyes. "If you think that looking so pathetic will result in my forgiving you - think again. You lied to me, Zach. Greenlee told me all about Ryan still being alive. When he walked in the door with Aidan…I died a little inside. He didn't tell me about your involvement, but I figured it out. I came to you twice, Zach. I begged you to tell me if he was still alive, and you lied. How am I supposed to deal with all this? How am I supposed to deal with the fact that I'm carrying your baby? That you lied to me over and over? That you're in a coma and may never come out of it so that I…I can beat you to death for what you did to me." Unable to speak anymore, she started sobbing.
Greenlee walked up to Zach's room and hesitated in the doorway. She stared at Kendall's shaking shoulders, at Zach's inert form under the hospital sheets. Bile rose in her throat as she thought about the people that did this to Zach. Ryan had gone into that hell-hole to help rescue Zach and Tad. If the mission had failed, he could have been in Zach's situation. Greenlee remembered freaking out when Anna showed up with a bloody and wounded Sean Donely. As angry and hurt as she was finding out that Ryan was alive, she didn't want him dead, either. Not unless it was by her hand. Then Ryan walked into the hospital with Aidan, and Greenlee had to restrain herself from flying over to him to hug him. Damn Ryan.
Greenlee took a deep breath, and walked over to Kendall. "Kendall, you haven't had anything to eat. I think we need to get you back to your room, so you can get some nourishment. Don't make me force you, because you know I always get what I want." Kendall wiped her eyes and glared at her in exasperation. "Bully." She stood up and started towards the door. She looked back at Zach, and her knees buckled again. Greenlee grabbed her. "Kendall? What's the matter?" Kendall shook her head. "Just a little woozy. You're right, I need to eat." They walked out the door. After a brief moment, Zach opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. He frowned in bewilderment. "Kendall?"
Anna was passing by his door and heard him calling out. She poked her head in and he looked over at her. She flagged down the doctor, who went in to examine Zach. Anna went to find Kendall. She was told by Bianca that Kendall's doctor was running another test. By the time she got back to the room, Zach's doctor was coming out. "May I see him?" The doctor nodded. "Only for a short time. He seems to be lucid enough, but take it easy with him."
Anna walked into the room and sat in the chair that Kendall had vacated. Zach Slater leveled her with a piercing gaze. She stared back, equally assessing. "Mr. Slater, my name is…" He interrupted her. "I know who you are. You're Anna Hayward. You were the chief of police in Pine Valley. You were the one who arrested my brother, Michael." She nodded once, remaining expressionless. He's definitely lucid enough. "Actually, it's Anna Devane, but you knew that." She let him know that he wasn't going to needle her. So much for taking it easy. He smiled, humorlessly. "I remember being disappointed that I couldn't lure you back to Pine Valley for my murder game. You were one of my prime suspects. The thwarted police chief who mysteriously resigned after Michael disappeared. With your background you could have easily murdered him and disposed of any evidence." Anna cocked her head. This was certainly an interesting conversation to have with a man who just woke up from a coma. He stopped smiling. "You turned out to be one of the people I was wrong about. Where's Kendall?"
Anna wasn't ruffled by the sudden change in gears. "The doctor is running some tests, to make sure there's no permanent injury to her kidneys." Zach took a deep breath. "What happened to her?" Anna explained about the prison and the inmates who decided to terminate her pregnancy. Zach grew pale. Anna assured him that Kendall and the baby were fine. Zach stared at the ceiling for a few moments. "Why did she and Tad come looking for me in the first place? That was an incredibly dangerous thing to do." Anna raised one eyebrow. "You're surprised that your wife wanted to know why her husband fell off the face of the earth?" Zach shifted on his bed. "Our marriage isn't a love match. We married for business purposes. Kendall stands to gain a great deal if I die." Anna wasn't buying it, but she decided to humor him anyway. "Well, there you are, that's the reason. She needed to find proof of your death so she could get her hands on a fortune." Zach narrowed his eyes for a moment, then smiled. "Tell me everything. I know that Kendall and Tad appeared in my jail cell, and she was carried away. I know I spent some time in the cell with Tad, but don't really know how long. I think my jailers were drugging me. How did you get involved?"
Anna filled him in on the rescue mission instigated by Greenlee. He quietly listened, tapping his finger on the sheet. "There is still something I don't understand. I find it hard to believe that Greenlee would have let Kendall set foot out of Pine Valley, much less come chasing after me in Thailand. Not when she was carrying Greenlee's child." Anna tapped her foot. "A couple of things happened to distract Greenlee. One of which was her husband, Ryan, returning from the dead." Zach closed his eyes and shook his head. There was a voice from the doorway. "You don't look too happy about the news of my resurrection." Anna shivered at the look Zach gave Ryan. She stood up. "I'll let you two play catch up." She left the room.
Ryan took the seat that Anna vacated. Zach glared at him. Ryan threw up his hands. "Turns out I was about as successful at faking my death as you were." Zach shook his head. "I was hoping that seeing you walk into that cell with Aidan and that other guy was just another one of my hallucinations. I'm not going to bother asking you why you decided to come back from the dead. My head hurts enough already." There was a long pause. Ryan smiled. "You're welcome." Zach narrowed his eyes. "You believe I'm thanking you for something?" Ryan held his hands up. "For rescuing you, of course." Zach laughed. "I'm sure you were more interested in getting Tad out of there. But you couldn't hang on to your self-righteousness if you had left me behind." Ryan shook his head. "You ungrateful bastard." Zach smirked. "Oh, I'm very grateful to Tad for trying to get me out. And to Aidan and the other guy for succeeding. You, I think, were in on it just to score points with Greenlee."
Ryan sniffed. "Why would I need to score points with Greenlee?" Zach laughed. "Oh, I imagine she's pretty pissed right about now. I've gotten to know her since you've been gone. Yep, I'm willing to bet she hates your guts." Ryan shifted in his seat, his jaw clenching. "How the hell have you been getting to know my wife?" Zach was amused. "Greenlee spends a lot of time with my wife. I try to spend a lot of time with my wife. Ergo, I spend a lot of time with Greenlee." Ryan drummed his nails. "You want to tell me some more about that? Kendall and Greenlee suddenly becoming joined at the hip, what's up with that?"
Greenlee was about to walk into Zach's room and heard Ryan's question. Damn it! If Zach mentions the surrogacy, then Ryan will tell Zach about what she said to Ryan - that Kendall was carrying Zach's child. Kendall wanted to break that news herself. She hurried into the room. "Kendall and I became joined at the hip because when someone really cares about you, they stand by your side, no matter what." She drew out the last three words, narrowing her eyes at Ryan. Zach chuckled. "I was right about Greenlee. She definitely hates your guts." Greenlee turned to Zach. "Don't speak for me, Zach. You're on my shit list for helping Ryan leave. Not that you were ever off it, but you had a pretty low ranking for awhile. Now you're up to second place."
Zach sighed. "I'm getting a lot of visitors since I woke up. None of them have been my wife. Anna Devane told me she was getting some tests done. Is she finished? I want to see Kendall." Greenlee folded her arms. "She traveled half-way across the world to find you and nearly got herself killed. You can damn well wait until the doctor is through with her." Greenlee felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked back. It was Kendall. "The doctor is through with me, now. So you and Ryan need to scram." She jerked her thumb towards the exit. Greenlee gave her a quick hug, and then walked out the door, Ryan close behind her. Kendall and Zach were alone. Their eyes locked. Kendall slowly walked towards him and sat on the edge of the bed. "You lying, sneaking, heartless son of a bitch!" He didn't say a word. He was looking at the bruises on her arms. His face grim, he reached out and lightly touched one of the larger ones. Her face started to crumple as her emotions overwhelmed her. Biting back a groan of frustration, she put her hands on either side of his face and leaned over to kiss him.