Disclaimer: see first part.
A/N: I meant to post this chapter three days ago, sorry for the delay. Did I mention already how great you reviewers are? Because you really really are ;-) Here ya go, enjoy!
Quotes in between brackets are in Hebrew.
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When the morning progressed into its 'normal human being' hours, Harm found himself bombarded by phone calls and visitors. A little while after he hung up on the General, his mother called and he'd passed a good hour trying to calm her down and keep her from taking the first flight headed to the Middle East. In the end he'd managed to convince both her and Frank that by the time they'd get there he would be on his way out of the hospital and back home.
A tentative settlement was made – Trish and Frank will come to DC to see him and stay with him when he got back. Until that time he would do his best to stay in touch and keep them updated on his situation as well as Mac's, since Trish was extremely worried about her as well.
He hadn't fully been able to catch his aching breath when he received his first visitors for the day. As if his musings reached attentive ears, an IDF representative, the Captain who was in charge of running the conference, came by to check on him. He was accompanied by a very distraught Gil. The young man was letting guilt eat him alive for telling Harm and Mac to go to Jerusalem.
"Really, sir, I'm so sorry! I should've thought of the security risk. I should've told you to be more careful, I mean, the marketplace isn't known for its security." The Captain had stepped out to take a phone call and Gil launched into an unstoppable verbal guilt trip.
"Gil." Harm's inability to speak loud and clear had a costing affect on his ears.
"...suggested you go up north to see the sights, the Sea of Galilee, maybe take a plane over the country. You're a pilot, you could-"
"Gil!" The harsh whisper finally got the kid's attention and Harm took the minute of silence to manage the pain and find more power to speak. "It isn't your fault. You couldn't know and going to Jerusalem was a great idea, we were having a great time... besides, I'll be fine and-"
"But Colonel MacKenzie..." Gil cut him off. Harm put on his most reassuring smile and tried to convince not only the slumped form of the young man next to him, but also, and more importantly, himself.
"We'll find her soon and she'll be fine too."
If he disagreed, Gil wisely didn't show it and for once only nodded his head in acknowledgment of the words.
The Captain reentered the room a short while later and soon thereafter wished Harm a fast and complete recovery, made sure Harm had everything he needed and left. Gil stayed a minute behind, squeezing in a few more apologies and promising to come visit Harm again when he could.
The day went on somewhat unnoticed by Harm. The morning had worn him out and he slept well into the afternoon with the exception of waking to a phone call from Harriet and Bud. Calming Harriet was almost as hard as calming his mother, with the exception that he knew Harriet could not threat with catching the next plane.
Throughout the afternoon his thoughts were fully occupied with the need to get out of the hospital bed and find Mac. Whenever a doctor or a nurse entered the room he'd ask again and then again when the answers didn't satisfy him.
"Hi Rabb!" Harm was startled by Tal's voice.
"Hey, it's been quiet here without you." Talking came easier with every hour, especially hours of rest.
Tal chuckled and shook her head in amusement, causing curls to bounce jovially. "It's been really loud actually. My entire family was here until not long ago and they made enough noise to shake the floor. You were completely out!"
"I guess... how's that cousin of yours?"
"Oh, he's much better, with any luck he'll be out of here tomorrow." She got serious all of a sudden. "Any word?" She didn't need to elaborate, and Harm could do nothing more than shake his head in the negative.
Tal found nothing to say. She couldn't find it in her heart to lie and keep his hopes up with trite words. She knew from the hourly news reports that there was still one unidentified body at the Abu-Khabir morgue. Tal opted to convey her sympathy by holding Harm's gaze a while longer, then she got her cell phone, setting out to fulfill her earlier promise of calling the other hospitals again.
Harm slowly let out a sigh and refocused on his earlier trail of thought. His visitors that evening came as a complete surprise.
"Simon?"
"Good evening, Harm, it's good to see you. How are you feeling?" Harm's eyes were still very wide. It took him a while to get over the feelings brought up by the old couple's entrance. Ester stayed silent and only laid a hand on his IV-free arm in a comforting touch.
"I'll be fine." Harm finally managed to answer.
"We were very worried when we heard about the suicide bombing; we knew you and Sarah planned to go to the marketplace. We called the consulate repeatedly and looked for your names on the hospital lists. The people at the consulate weren't very helpful and until this morning you weren't on the list..."
"I woke up last night." Harm was touched by the concern shown by practical strangers.
"Sarah?" Ester spoke up for the first time. The name sounded different on her lips, foreign somehow, but didn't fail to stir the same feelings in his gut. He had to get out of there.
"We can't find her yet. I just... I need to get out of here and I'll find her." Ester's hold on his arm tightened slightly while Simon voiced her thoughts.
"You need to get better first, Harm. You're of no use to Sarah if you kill yourself. You know she will scold you for it."
A sad smile tugged Harm's lips but the need to throw back the covers and march out of the room stayed constant. It was the same feeling that made him throw everything and follow her trail to Paraguay. She was out there, she was alive, and he'd be damned if he didn't have her back and get her out of whatever mess she'd been thrown into. She wouldn't have done any less for him.
Simon and Ester stayed a while longer, though Harm wasn't very pleasant company. They left him when his eyes started drooping, promising to keep looking for Sarah as well, taking his new cell-phone number to keep in touch.
His mind set on getting better as soon as possible, Harm fell into a deep sleep.
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Ester volunteered three times a week at the Shaare Zedek hospital. One of her daughters-in-law who worked there mentioned it once years ago and got Ester's mind wondering. It had been a little hard at first – the hospital was two buses away from her home and her Hebrew wasn't very good, but she soon found out that when it comes to sick people, the language barrier was very thin. She learned Hebrew much faster with the help of the nurses and even some of the patients. Her work consisted mainly of helping the nurses change sheets and helping the patients and their families with everything from physical to moral support.
In her years in the hospital Ester learned to dread the days and weeks after a suicide bombing. Having a sick loved one was one thing, having them hurt unexpectedly was a whole other deal. It was evident in car-crash injuries, but was more painfully so after such attacks.
This morning was a little different. Ester found herself looking at the patients with a searching eye. While it was true that there were no unidentified patients in the hospital, she, like Harm, did not believe Sarah was dead. She had a deep feeling that Sarah was alive and waiting to be found, and Ester trusted her gut feelings implicitly. She'd been around the hospital enough to see a couple of cases of mistaken identity, so she stayed in each room a few minutes longer in order to scan the patients more thoroughly.
It was almost the end of her day when she entered room 319 and her heart rate went up. The far bed in the room was occupied by an unconscious female that could easily be Sarah. Ester approached the bed cautiously. She didn't want to startle the obviously exhausted man sitting next to it.
The female's head was bandaged, her face battered and bruised, but Ester knew she would swear on a Bible that the woman between the hospital sheets was Sarah MacKenzie.
When Ester moved closely, she accidentally touched the bed and the man's eyes snapped open. Ester gave him a warm smile and asked quietly ("Your wife?")
The man shook his head no. ("Girlfriend.")
("What's her name?")
("Na'ama")
("Her family...?")
Again the man's head turned sadly from side to side. ("She only has a young brother, but he's on a trekking trip in New Zealand and I can't reach him. I've only known her for a couple of months too...")
Ester nodded and smiled slightly, trying to put the guy at ease, while the wheels in her head were churning explanations and possibilities. She couldn't possibly tell this man of her suspicions before she had better proof. She needed to call Simon and have him ask Harm for some details.
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Harm woke up to a new day with no less resolve and a lot less patience. It came to the point that Tal told him she'd heard the nurses complaining about him so would he please give them a break.
To Harm's extreme delight, when his doctor came to see him that morning he was allowed to try and get out of bed and sit on the nearby chair.
Around 1500 he was expecting his mother to call. She told him the previous day that she was starting her day at 500 that day anyways, so he wasn't surprised by the phone's ringing.
"Good morning!" Harm tried to sound good for his mother's sake.
"Harm?" it took him a second to place the voice. "Simon?"
"Yes, I hope I didn't wake you..."
"Oh, no, no, I was expecting a call from my mother."
"Oh. Listen, Harm, I need you to stay calm, alright?" Harm felt his chest tighten and his breath catch and wondered why whenever people asked him to remain calm it only served to make him even more nervous. Simon took his silence as a positive answer and went on. "Ester volunteers at the Shaare Zedek hospital... she just called and asked me to call you..." Harm stayed perfectly still and silent, willing his mind to stay bland and conclusion free. "I'm just going to say it. There's a woman there that looks like Mac."
All the air rushed out of Harm's lungs, but he didn't even register the accompanying pain. "Now, before you jump to conclusions, I have to tell you that she's been identified as someone else. Her face is badly bruised and her head is bandaged and neither Ester not I can or will say such hurtful things to that woman's boyfriend, who's sitting with her."
"I have to see her." Harm's tone of voice made Simon wish he'd gone to tell him personally so he could hold the man down.
"You know you can't do that. Right now the best thing you can do for her is to let yourself heal so you can take care of her later. She's in a coma right now; she's lost a lot of blood and almost reached the point of no return. Now you can help while staying put."
"How?" So many thoughts were running through his mind, demanding attention, it was a wonder he could speak at all.
"Does Sarah have any physical identifying marks that would prove she's her?"
Mac's figure appeared in his mind's eye as Harm tried to think of something uniquely Mac. Only one thing came to mind and he knew how it would sound. "Uh... she has a tattoo."
"Okay, that's perfect, where?"
And there it was. "I... uh, I don't know where it is."
"Oh." Was all Simon said and the line stayed quiet for a while. "Okay, I'll call and tell Ester and I'll be in touch."
"Alright... Simon. Thank you. Thank Ester for me."
"No problem, Harm, I'll call you later."
A slow smile spread on Harm's lips and he hung up the phone. It was her. He didn't need any proof. Easing back into the bed, all his muscles relaxed as if they'd been clenched since he first woke up in the hospital
There was still the need to see her and make sure she was okay but he knew Ester would look out for Mac as if she was her own daughter and he wanted to at least look healthy when she woke up so she wouldn't have anything to say.
When his mother called ten minutes later she was very happy to hear his tone of voice, he didn't even have to tell her about the call from Simon, for she knew exactly what made her son sound like that.
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Ester had shared her suspicions with the nurses in the internal medicine ward and easily got their support when she pointed out the medical mistakes that could be made because of the mistaken identity.
They'd agreed to change her sheets and pajamas at that time though it wasn't needed, only to make sure the woman in room 319 was indeed Na'ama Ben-Hillel as the chart at the foot of the bed stated clearly.
Na'ama's boyfriend, Yoav, requested to stay in the room when Ester and a nurse entered and drew the curtain around the bed. The nurse started to object but Ester silenced her. True, it wasn't customary but she needed to see the man's reaction when they found the tattoo. It was a viable option that the woman called Na'ama also had a tattoo and since she had no information on the location or nature of Sarah's tattoo she had to make sure.
Carefully the nurse and Ester proceeded to change first the sheets and then the female's pajamas. Yoav watched silently and unobtrusively at first, but then Ester heard him gasp and start breathing faster. He took a step closer to the bed and stuttered a bit in shock. Ester saw the source of his distress and quickly finished changing Sarah's pajamas. Mixed feelings clashed inside of her and tears of joy and sadness stung her eyes. One woman died and another was found in the space of one moment. She felt like a murderer when she saw the tear streaks upon Yoav's face, while another part of her was rejoicing for Harm.
Not even one word came out of Yoav's mouth from the moment the truth hit him in the face. His mind had yet to process what he'd seen, but deep down the meaning already sunk in, bitter and heavy. He stared ahead, unseeing.
Quietly, Ester walked over to Yoav and coaxed him to sit down. Sending the nurse out, she brought another chair and sat down next to the shadow of a man. She knew there was nothing to say, so she simply sat with him, her hand on his to make him understand he was not alone.
Harm would have to wait for the good news a little while longer.
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TBC