A/N: YOU GUYS ARE MY FAVORITE. Special thanks to these absolutely, positively, beautiful reviewers: Irishcaribou, Nastya Rey, amy. .9, clay cowan, Kathleen Murphy, nrdhrd3, clay-cowan (Again! Yay!), sunshineforever (You really, really want me to continue, eh? :D), Midgardian Avenger, purpledolphin1, HisSecretLover18, Lelylith, Sephiria Arks, and kwisteria. I just love you all.
P.S. The Twitter accounts seems to be taking off quite well. Thanks for the follows of secret_riley and favsuperweapon.
Disclaimer: I just want it to be mine so badly. I'll put it on my Christmas List and you guys can decide amongst yourselves who makes my dreams come true.
Chapter 22: Losing Consciousness
"He needs medical attention," Riley told the awaiting medics in the ambulance. She reluctantly let go of him and allowed Gabriel to sit on the edge of the vehicle. The man in question groaned and put his head in his hands. "Check for a concussion," she added.
"It's just…another wave of pain," Gabriel mumbled. He was so unconvincing in his tone that Riley bent down on her knees to look him in the eyes. Riley could tell he was straining to lift his head and meet her gaze.
"We've got to get you back to Dr. Cassidy," she said, standing up again. He had been alright just a moment ago, but now she was worried he might pass out again. His face was straining again and he'd gone white as a sheet, little beads of sweat forming on his head. "Gabriel?"
"I wish I had something in my stomach to throw up," he ground out. He blinked his eyes and stretched them wide as if he couldn't see. But then, suddenly, the color returned to his face and he took a long, staggering breath.
"What was that?" This wasn't good at all. Gabriel looked like he had moments before he passed out earlier that morning. It sickened her to think that nothing had brought on the sudden spell like before. No guardsman whacking him over the head or giant stick landing on him.
Nothing at all – unless the physical strain from accessing the chip was taking its toll finally.
"I'm calling headquarters and giving the ambulance directions to Cassidy's place. You need help, and you need it sooner rather than later." Gabriel must have seen something in her face, because he matched her worried look. Perhaps it dawned on him that she was more concerned than she let on.
""I turned off the chip before we walked over here, so I can't tell what happened. Do you think I've broken it?" He asked, worry lines appearing on his face. She instantly felt guilty that she'd not had the opportunity to protect him properly.
"No, but you've certainly damaged something. Either way, I'm not taking any chances." She wanted to sound reassuring, but knew there was little hope in her voice. Riley told the driver of the ambulance where to go, and a few more medics from around the scene climbed in the back with Gabriel. He was set further back on a stretcher and a few of them were trying to hold him still.
"Sorry ma'am. You can't come in here with him," said someone in the back of the ambulance when she tried to join them. A balding man in a navy medic's coat turned toward her, grasping the back doors and blocking her entry. "Only family."
"But she's my wife!" She heard Gabriel shout. Riley tried to keep a smile off her face, but couldn't help but feel a tiny bit amused at the mock-desperation in his voice. She craned her neck to see his face behind the gathering of medics, and saw that he was only half-smiling, hoping to convince them to let her along.
"Nice try. We were briefed on the situation and your cover stories. Partners don't really count." The bald man gave her a sympathetic look, and Riley thought for a minute he might relent. But of course, he started closing the doors anyway, leaving Riley only a quick second to glimpse at Gabriel's utterly crestfallen look. The last thing she saw was a scowl forming on his face as he turned on the woman tending to him.
His muffled shouts could be heard as the vehicle pulled away, and Riley found her feet wanting to move towards its retreat. It was silly, really, that she should feel as though they'd ripped Riley and her partner apart, when none of them had so much as touched her. They'd just left so quickly.
It seemed unfair, though. Just plain unfair. She should be with them, with Gabriel, right?
It certainly felt wrong not being with him.
The crunch of the gravel under the ambulance faded away as it drove off, quickly drowned out by the sound of the siren turning on. It was really strange standing by herself after being at Gabriel's side for how long she had. Completely strange. Her hand felt cold where his fingers had graced hers moments ago, and an odd feeling squeezed at her chest.
Riley didn't realize that someone was calling back to her until a gloved hand tugged at her arm. She whipped around in defensive mode, muscles tensing, but stopped when she realized it was only the medic from the second ambulance that had pulled up. The same medic that had treated her poison ivy.
Where had he been when they were trying to convince the other medics that Gabriel was her husband?
"Oh, Mrs. Vaughn! I didn't realize it was you when they called in for more help. I hope you and your husband are alright," the young man said earnestly. Then he screwed up his face, realizing what he'd said. "Sorry, I mean obviously you're not alright but… Oh just come with me, please."
She nodded, forgiving the man for his unassuming pleasantries. He was obviously flustered and most likely hadn't been briefed as to why two campers, who he'd thought were ordinary civilians, were found in the middle of an arms bust with all sorts of suspicious injuries. Riley decided to keep playing her role, if only to hold onto their lovely cover stories a bit longer.
She supposed the notion was somewhat pointless with Gabriel around. Riley instantly missed him at the mere mention of her husband, though.
Even though he wasn't. Gabriel was not her husband. She wondered how many times she could get it through her thick skull that they were in no way even in a relationship.
Yet.
Riley sighed heavily, frustrated with herself and her traitorous thoughts. The young medic gave her a wary glance and sat her gently down at the edge of his own ambulance, checking her wounds. He pressed lightly on her ribs, but she sucked in a painful breath through her teeth, little spikes of pain shooting from his touch. "Bruised ribs," he commented and wrote something down on a notepad.
She caught his next few words in a blur. Something about a laceration on her cheek and wrists, bullet wound on her shoulder, and more bruises on her torso. There was more, but she stopped listening as he kept adding to the list. It seemed to her that she was stable and alive. The young man, whose name she learned was Nathan, gladly stitched her up and sent her on her way, wishing the young couple best wishes for a speedy recovery. Although he still seemed confused, Nathan flashed her a reassuring smile that let her know she needn't explain a thing.
Either that or he really didn't want to wrap his head around the situation.
"Wait for just a minute," she called to him as she remembered something. Riley rolled her stiff neck that she was sure was strained and went to find Ms. Bates. Sally was sitting on the tailgate of a single, lone Cyber Command SUV, answering the questions of an agent who was diligently writing down everything she was saying. The poor woman was shivering with a blanket around her shoulders though it was midday, tears long gone but the tortured look still on her face. Riley could tell the woman was blinking tiredly and, upon noticing the blood stains on her officer's uniform, she immediately extracted the poor woman from the interrogation. The man questioning her tried to voice his protests.
"It can wait until later," she called back to the baffled agent. He sputtered for a moment before nodding, seeing that Riley was in no mood to argue.
"Thank you, dear," Sally told her. "That man was nice, but I'm rather tired, and…" She trailed off.
Worried with how little the officer was talking, Riley directed her towards Nathan. "Let's get you checked out, huh? I'm sure you'll feel much better."
Ms. Bates nodded tiredly. She shrugged the blanket tighter around her shoulders, but seemed ever so grateful for Riley's efforts.
"I should be the one thanking you," Riley continued. "You were brave today, and it looks like you gave them quite a fight."
Sally only smiled self-depreciatingly. "I tried to stall as best I could, but I didn't think I held out for very long. I'm sorry-"
"No, please. Don't apologize. You did your best, and Gabriel and I are grateful for it." She stopped to give the woman a hug suddenly, needing it herself just as much. She really liked Sally, and Riley thought she was quite brave.
They broke off the hug when they simultaneously realized their muscles were too sore, so they settled for sharing a smile. Sally thanked her and waved to her as Nathan welcomed her into the ambulance.
Riley searched the crowd of agents for Jameson and saw that he was already heading over to her. "Hey!" he called. "Did they give you permission to leave?"
"I guess so," she shrugged. She moved a few dark strands of hair our of her face and adjusted her shirt under his scrutiny. "I'm fine, Jameson. Don't give me that look."
He put his hands up. "What? I'm not giving you any look."
Jameson didn't change his facial expression. Currently, he was watching her as though he was worried she'd fall over any second- which, of course, Riley wasn't quite sure about herself, really, but she schooled her features anyway. She uncomfortable shifted her shirt again, wishing she had another one to change into.
"Sure you're not. Listen, can you drive me up to our cabin so that I can gather our things?" she asked. Riley was resolutely ignoring his concerns now, looking in the direction of the road. She did feel a little exhausted standing up on her overworked muscles, but it was nothing she wasn't used to in her time in the field. Besides, Nathan had prescribed her painkillers that she would take later if it became unbearable.
Just thinking about it had her losing her balance in place for a moment. Jameson steadied her with his arm and handed her his sunglasses. "Let's get you to the car already, yeah?"
Once they were in his SUV and riding up the road, he offered to help clean up their bags from the car and make sure they'd left nothing inside in their rush to leave. She happily accepted, feeling the weariness set in her bones once she'd sat down in the soft leather-cushioned seats of his vehicle.
They'd soon transferred all the packs in the trunk when Riley noticed the abandoned dog leash lying a few feet away from the car she'd taken to the cabin. She walked slowly closer until it was at her feet. Tears started prickling at the edges of her vision unexpectedly, but she didn't let them fall. Riley hated the catch in her voice when she asked, "Did any of our agents happen to find a dog?"
Jameson raised his eyebrows in both surprise and confusion, and shook his head. "Sorry to say, but no. Why?" he asked, but his eyes followed her as she picked up the leash that was still attached to an empty collar.
She wiped at her nose absently, hopelessly looking around the campsite for a little golden puppy. Nothing was in her sights but the treetops and a few misleading patches of goldenrod. "That darn dog," she chuckled humorously. Ivy had just had to go and bark at the man. Who knew if the poor thing even really got away, or if she'd been injured by the guardsmen?
Riley refused to think about it further and started heading back to the SUV to join Jameson, now afraid of glimpsing what might have been left of Ivy somewhere. She tugged Jameson's sunglasses a bit closer to her face, hoping they would conceal the tears that were vigorously threatening to appear. Her feet dragged slumpishly in the grass and Riley tried hard not to trip once she passed onto the rocky driveway, not paying attention until then.
"Drink up." Her driver tossed her a bottle of water before she got in, and she narrowly caught it. Jameson looked curiously at the forgotten collar in her hands, frowning, but he didn't say a word. She took a few gulps of the water, feeling the effects of dehydration from the past few days. Her hand was on the door of the vehicle when she saw a flash of movement in the woods behind her. A yellow flash.
Could it be?
No...
Surely it was possible, though?
"Did you see that?"
She didn't wait for Jameson to answer as Riley bolted into the trees without warning. She heard the agent protesting behind her, but didn't pay him any heed as she caught the movement again a few feet in front of her. She ran up to a grove of maples and saw a figure duck behind an uprooted tree, the yellow blur following closely behind.
Jameson had caught up with her and Riley stepped as quietly as she could on top of the leaves, crunching with each footstep. Her heart was racing and her calves protested the uphill jog, but she quieted her labored breathing as best she could. Her long, dark hark was sticking to her face and she was almost disgusted by the layer of perspiration that had already gathered there. She'd not gotten the chance to shower yet, so she wiped the sweat off her forehead with a dirt-covered hand.
As soon as figured out who was hiding, she was definitely racing back home for a bath. A nice, warm, long bath.
Her fingers reached out to curl around the edge of the roots that stood quite tall. She motioned for her friend to round the other side of the fallen tree and on the count of three, she peered over the side.
What she found gave her mixed feelings of both happiness and disgust.
Chris, the annoying hiker who had been jailed, was hunched over, making himself as small as possible behind the root system. His face was dirt-laden and he was missing a shoe, looking all the worse for wear. Riley assumed he'd gotten out of holding alongside the Guardsman and followed them on foot back towards the campgrounds.
For all she cared, Chris could have rotted in jail. It looked as though he certainly would now, as he ran from the law and had inadvertently associated himself with wanted arms dealers. What she did care about, however, was the fact that he was harshly gripping onto the fur of a very frightened little golden retriever.
"Ivy!" Riley exclaimed. She felt as though a hollow part of her chest had been filled, and some warmth finally seemed to return to her system. She allowed Jameson to cuff Chris and read him his rights again, but she was too preoccupied with someone else to revel in the satisfaction of the arrest. Riley immediately knelt down to Ivy. "What in the world happen to you? You had us worried, Ivy!"
"Don't talk to my dog that way, she's not yours to take," Chris spat, resisting Jameson's efforts to walk him downhill.
"I beg to differ," Riley told him, standing up straight so that she was eye-level with him. "We adopted her when you were arrested, and I have every right to take her. You, however," she paused to walk ahead of him, "Don't have any right, anymore."
"You got a dog?" Jameson asked. "Sweet!"
Riley shook her head and shot him a grin. "Actually Gabriel and I co-own it."
"That husband of yours?" Chris growled at her again. "Where is he, dead? Did those men ever kill him like they were supposed to?"
Riley stopped in her tracks and whirled around, fist curling. Really, the man should have thought before he spoke. At the moment, Riley supposed she could forget her pain to bring him a little.
Or a lot. It didn't matter to her.
"Don't, Riley. This asshole's not worth it," Jameson cut in quickly but winked at her. She nodded at him and concealed a grin when the agent pushed Chris a little more forcefully than necessary and made him stumble. The hiker complained endlessly after that, shouting obscenities when he was forced into the back of the car. He soon tried to get rough with the agent, so Jameson was happy to use his tazor.
It wasn't as if the agent had any easier choice, Riley and he decided.
Ivy, however, was a much cheerier guest in the car. She sat up front on Riley's lap and licked her owner's face mercilessly. The dog seemed absolutely delighted to find that Riley was alright and had come back to find her, as well as that she was out of her former owner's clutches. The agent was dutifully pulling twigs and prickers out of Ivy's fur. Ivy was extremely grateful, too. Once she stopped with Riley's face, she nuzzled under the agent's arm and decided to curl up into her side, softly warming Riley underneath.
"So you and Gabriel had to pretend to be married? I bet that was a nightmare," Jameson chuckled in the driver's seat. They were slowly heading down the road with the windows down, cicadas humming loudly from the tall grass nearby. Riley flashed him a quick smile, but kept silent. He prompted her further, looking over at Riley's face behind her borrowed sunglasses. "Was he a gentleman?"
Riley scoffed and looked out her window at nothing in particular when she felt the corners of her mouth kick up sardonically. "Not in the least."
"That's it. I'm gonna have to have a talk with him," Jameson said in mock-seriousness. He tilted his head at her with a funny look on his face. "You blushed. That's never a good sign."
"No I didn't, Jameson. Mind your own business." She'd meant to joke, but it apparently hadn't come off that way.
"That means there's business to mind, Riley. Wanna tell me what happened?" Came his annoyingly knowing voice.
"Nothing happened," she insisted, rather quite convincingly she thought. However, he looked over at her with his eyebrows raised, not believing a word.
"Something happened," he accused.
"Shut up."
"You'll tell me eventually."
"What makes you think that?" she turned, facing him. Riley was already quite fed up with this topic of conversation. Unfortunately, she feared she'd given everything away with her denials. The phrase, "the Lady doth protest too much," echoed in her head.
"'Because I'm not just your coworker, I'm your friend," he smiled cheekily at her. "And you know you want to tell me."
He nearly laughed at her when she pouted sourly at him, but decided against it. "Well, if you ever did want to tell me, I'd listen."
Riley shook her head at him, too flustered to accept his well-meaning offer. Her head was feeling heavy and her thoughts too cloudy to even consider humoring him. To distract herself, she brought her hand methodically down on Ivy's fur, the soft touch relaxing her immensely.
Changing the subject, she asked, "Is someone going to go up our lodge and take my car back home?" The words felt heavy in her mouth.
"Yeah. I'll make sure of it." He pulled into the lot where a few FBI vehicles were still left and informed them that they'd found a loose inmate-to-be. As Jameson came back to the SUV, Ivy was softly snoring on Riley's lap and already had her collar back on. Riley was sure her eyelids were dropping and she felt the presence of a soft smile on her face.
"I feel kind of funny," she remarked, cracking her neck for the umpteenth time that day.
"Yeah. I crushed some of your pain meds into that water bottle you drank out of," he told her nonchalantly. He buckled his seat belt and pulled out of the campground parking lot without looking her in the eye. "Can I have my sunglasses back?"
"Jameson!" she tried yelling, but it only came out as a slow protest. She handed him back the sunglasses with vigor, nearly throwing them into his lap.
"What? I need them to drive. The sun out here is-"
"Jameson," she stated more forcefully.
"C'mon. You weren't going to take them until your pain got much worse. You're actually required to take them at the first sign of pain, you know," Jameson chided her. He smoothed a hand through his hair, aware he was in trouble, and added, "Besides, Gabriel told me to."
"What?" Riley blinked. How was that possible?
"Yeah, he texted me. Here, look," he said and pointed to his cell phone on the dashboard.
Riley grabbed the phone and found the specific text. She saw that it read, "Can you make sure Riley takes her meds? I know she won't by herself because she'll be too stubborn. Gotta love," but then ended abruptly.
"He doesn't even have a cell phone with him…" Riley murmured, trailing off. Suddenly, though, something clicked in her brain. "Oh crap!"
"What?" Jameson asked, prepared to pull the vehicle over.
"He tried to use his chip to send this," she sighed miserably. "The last time he tried it, he nearly passed out." Her words were slurring more and more.
"Oh jeez, Gabriel. What have you gotten yourself into this time?" he asked. "We've got to hurry up and make sure the medics are prepared for him to lose consciousness. I'm pretty sure that if he keeps using the chip while he's burnt out like this, it could cause permanent damage to the chip, or Gabriel, for that matter. Call them on my cell," he added, flipping on his siren and speeding up as they got on a ramp to get on the highway.
"Sure," Riley whispered, fighting to keep her eyelids open. This was why she hated medications. She didn't feel mentally present and her body didn't seem to respond to things the way it normally should. Riley was wholeheartedly frightened for Gabriel, yet her heart wasn't beating out of control. In fact, she was almost sure she could physically feel her pulse slowing.
The phone slipped out of her fingers and crashed to the floor, causing Ivy to flinch in her arms. Riley dropped her hand like dead weight and tried to slouch over the dog and reach the phone, but some muddy voice broke though the haze and told her to stop, he would pull over and get it.
Try as she might to protest Jameson, she found it was hard without her ability to see. Was she blind? She absently wondered, or were her eyelids just shut without her permission?
Riley sadly didn't get to dwell much on that thought, however, because she almost immediately lost consciousness.
A/N: There you go. I'm sorry if it wasn't the best chapter, but I hope you guys liked it alright. Thank you for telling me you still love the story! Better chapters are to come when I don't have to go to bed on a weeknight. Thanks again, lovelies! XO
(Also I'm sorry if this has a butt ton of mistakes, 'cause I am pretty tired. Just feel free to politely correct me and I'll fix anything you need me to!)