Chapter 19
Slowly, Abbey became aware of her surroundings. The ventilator, the heart monitor. A familiar voice.
Jed's?
"Abbey. Honey, wake up. You've been asleep too long. I know you can hear me. Move your hand if you can hear what I'm saying."
Abbey had to concentrate, but eventually a finger jerked. At least she thought it had.
"Great, Abbey. Great."
Her nose was itching and she automatically moved her hand to reach it. No restraints. She moved her other arm but felt some slight pressure. What was that?
"That's my hand, Abbey. The restraints have been removed. That's just my hand."
Gradually, Abbey checked out everything else. She was still intubated, but other than that, she was much freer to move around.
'Why do I still have the tube in? Weren't they going to take it out soon?' Maybe she was confused. She didn't know if it was morning or night.
"Can you open your eyes? We sure would like to see them."
'We? Who are we?'
Eventually, and with major effort, she opened her eyes. After waiting for them to focus, she looked into Jed's face. He was smiling. She turned her head slightly to each side and saw that each of her daughters were smiling as well. She saw joy in their eyes this time. Not disappointment.
Then she remembered. Jed saw fear darken Abbey's eyes.
"Abbey, listen to me. It wasn't your fault. Someone from your past was trying to kill you."
Relief replaced the fear. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes and slid down the sides of her face.
"Oh, baby, please don't cry. You're going to be fine. Your lungs are still not functioning very well, so the doctor wants to maintain the tube for a few more hours. But you'll be fine. Do you believe me?"
Slowly, Abbey nodded her head yes.
She pointed to the tube.
"Are you hurting?"
She nodded again.
"I can have the doctor give you something…."
Abbey vigorously shook her hand.
"Are you telling me no?"
Abbey nodded yes.
"Okay, I understand. Then try to relax. Only a few more hours and it'll be gone. I'll stay here with you. Okay? Nobody is going to hurt you again."
Again, the tears started to fall.
"Shh, babe. Just take it easy. I love you and will never let anyone hurt you again. Now, just try to relax and go back to sleep. When you wake up, you'll feel much better."
Abbey finally allowed herself to relax. Shortly, she was back asleep. Natural sleep this time.
A few hours later, Abbey woke again. She immediately realized the breathing tube was gone. Good. She turned her head slightly, and noticed that Jed had fallen asleep on her arm.
She moved her hand to stroke his head. With her touch, his head jerked up, unsure what was going on. He saw Abbey's face, a weak smile trying to appear.
"I'm so glad to see you. Its been a while."
Abbey tried to speak, but realized that her throat was swollen because the breathing tube had been in so long. But she struggled until she could whisper one word: "Jed."
"Abbey, I didn't know if I was ever going to talk with you again. You gave us all quite a scare. It wasn't your fault. Someone was trying to kill you. Someone from your past. But he's been arrested and will be charged with two counts of attempted murder."
Abbey could only mouth "Who?" Her brain was still fuzzy.
"A Dr. Ben Franks. According to him, you did something to wreck his career many years ago. He seized this accidental opportunity to pay you back. He won't tell the Service what the incident was. He just said it was significant enough to wreck his life, as he put it."
Instantly, Abbey felt the terror return as she momentarily relived that awful moment. He had told her she was going to die and she could do nothing to stop it.
Again, all Abbey could do was mouth a single word "What?"
"What did he use? Cocaine. He gave you two large doses that almost killed you each time. That's why Dr. Harris thought you were using drugs. But I never believed him. Neither did the children. We knew you couldn't, you wouldn't."
Jed paused as they let the mutual feeling of relief sink in.
"You okay?" Abbey's eyes expressed her concern over him.
Jed smiled back. "I'm fine. It was a little rough for a while but now that I have you back, I'm fine." Jed would tell her later about his medical problems.
With a weak smile, Abbey closed her eyes.
"That's good, hon. Try to sleep. We both have been through a lot, but we'll both be fine. You're back in the suite with me. We might be in two separate beds, but at least we're together."
Jed stood, and planted a kiss on her lips. It felt so good. So right. Something he had been unable to do for five terrifying days. Now it was time for both of them to heal.
Jed sighed as he got back into his bed. For the first time, in a long time, he knew he could finally relax.