"Ade, come on Aidan, open your eyes sweetheart," said a soft, feminine voice from a distance. "Ralph, she just squeezed my hand. I think she's coming to."
"Yes, I think so too, see, her eyes are fluttering. Thank God, I'll go get a nurse, try to get her to open her eyes and say hi."
"OK, I'll do that hun. All right young lady, you need to open your eyes," said Pam scolded gently. "You don't want us to ground you for not listening do you?"
It took a few tries, but Aidan slowly opened her eyes and found she was in a white room with a couple of generic pictures you saw in a hospital and the TV on some sort of sci-fi show. The room also contained a couple of stuffed animals and a small white gift box.
Glancing down, she found she was in a hospital gown with an IV in her left arm and realized her head and left side of her face were bandaged where the bear had struck her. To her slight annoyance, Aidan also noticed she was receiving oxygen through a nasal cannula under her nose.
Frowning slightly in confusion, she looked to her right and saw Pam holding her hand, smiling and brushing Aidan's bangs away from her forehead. "Welcome back sweetheart," said Pam. "How are you feeling?"
Aidan tried to say something, but coughed loudly and winced in pain. She was surprised that while loud, it wasn't nearly as rough or rattley as when she was in the forest.
Pam offered Aidan a glass of water and after taking a few sips, her voice cleared. "Tired, but guess that's from 'sleeping' too much," she said quietly looking around again. "Like the stuffed puppy dog, can I see him?"
Pam chuckled at her slight humor at the situation, nodded and handed Aidan the stuffed dog. It was a St. Bernard with an FBI badge and wearing a smaller version as a charm. "'To Aidan, hope you get well soon. - signed Cyler Johnson,'" she read on the card. "Who's Cyler Johnson?"
"One of my former students Aidan, and helped with the search. He's now a member of the FBI like Tony, in fact he's Tony's boss," said Ralph walking back into the room smiling with the nurse in tow.
Aidan winced slightly as the nurse took her blood pressure. "Must be a lot of fun working with one of your fellow high school classmates, especially if he beats you to the top of the ranks," said Aidan wryly, then thought for a moment. "Have I even met him Ralph?"
He nodded, realizing she might have temporary memory loss. "Yes, but you haven't seen him in a few years. He said he'd stop by the house and visit when you got well."
"Oh," said Aidan as the nurse finished checking her vitals and went to get a doctor to do a neural check on Aidan. He came in shortly thereafter and, after asking the basic questions, except for being confused about the day and time, found out she didn't have any lasting injuries from her head injury.
After the doctor left, Ralph helped Aidan slowly sit up so she could hug the two. They sat there and hugged for a couple of minutes before Aidan felt dizzy and had to lie back down. "Did the green guys come by and visit again?" she said, still slightly confused about the rescue.
"No Aidan, that was the rescue team's flashlights when we found you and Tony," said Ralph, chuckling softly, but glad to see Aidan up and asking, for her, normal questions.
She dreaded the next question. "OK, I've got to know... how long have I been in here?"
"A little over 36 hours," said Pam, and Aidan winced. "We've been here by your side for the most part since you arrived."
"You were pretty much out of it when we found you though," said Ralph. "According to the doctor, you rebruised your ribs, have a concussion, several cuts on your head, which required a few stitches, exposure, moderate dehydration and walking pneumonia."
"Walking pneumonia, huh? I thought it was allergies."
"Maybe that's what you thought sweetheart, but according to the doctor, you had the beginnings of a cold. Add the knock out gas and everything else, you're lucky it's not worse," said Ralph, shuddering at the thought...
Noticing Ralph's shiver, Pam decided to continue. "Also, Tony told us about you fighting the bear, but we told the doctor that your injuries were from the crash."
"Huh, let's see, I'm in here because of the weather, beginnings of a cold, knock out gas and a partridge in a pear tree. Between that stuff, the crash and the bear fight, I bet if there was a kitchen sink in the forest, I'd been hit with it too," she said wryly, and the other two laughed softly. "And all this started because I helped Tony... What about Tony?"
"He's in the hospital too, but in his case has a moderate concussion from the crash, exposure, stitches for his head and cut on his leg, bruised shoulders, torn tendons and ligaments in his knee and ankle..." said Ralph.
"Wait a second, he never said he hurt his knee and ankle," she said interrupting and coughing. "How did he manage that? Bet he got it searching for the fire tinder after the storm."
"No, he said he hurt it in the crash," said Pam, only to see Aidan turn red and grow upset. "Calm down, Aidan. What is it?"
"That ... mule! He told me he only was sore and had a bump on his head," said Aidan growing angry. "That means he was hurt all that time and I know he carried me back to where you found us. Doesn't he know that's dumb? Those injuries could've ended his career, at least out in the field."
Ralph frowned, realizing for her bluster, she was just as concerned about Tony as he was about her in the forest. Earlier that evening while he was visiting the agent, Tony also told Ralph about her comments about wanting to know about her parents' deaths. Ralph promised to not tell Aidan he knew, but would let her make the first move if she wanted to talk.
He put a hand on her shoulder. "Aidan, listen, he had no choice. He told us that after you blacked out from your encounter with the bear, the storm hit. Realizing you two would have no chance of surviving in that part of the forest, he picked you up in a fireman's carry, your weight on his good side, and carried you to a safer location."
Aidan mulled over what Ralph said. "OK, but it still was dumb. Bet he had to have surgery on it," she said and they nodded. "Figures, and he says I can be stubborn as a mule."
"Maybe, and since I think I know your next question, only Pam and I can visit you right now. You'll have to settle the argument with Tony when you get home," said Ralph.
"All right, but I think if I did anyway, I'd get laryngitis on top of this," she said with a slight smile just when there was a knock on the door.
Ralph and Pam looked at each other, wondering who it could be, and found out when Bill decided to enter in without them answering. "So, how's our favorite bear fighter," said Bill with a chuckle and handed her a full Milkbone dog biscuit box. "Brought ya some dog biscuits Artie."
"Hmmm... thanks. I'm fine, but I won't be if I eat dog biscuits," she said, making a face. "You know I don't like them."
Bill chuckled softly. "I know, but these are made out of shortbread and topped with graham cracker crumbs, something I know ya like," he said and saw the stuffed dog Cyler had given Aidan. "If ya don't want them, ya can give them to your dog."
Pam shook her head. "All right, how did you manage to sneak in Bill? We've been told that only Ralph and I could visit because we're family."
"Yeah, I was wondering that," said Ralph, then frowned in thought. "You didn't badge the nurses again did you?"
"He's badged nurses?" asked Aidan. "Bill, that's silly. Only reason I think you could reasonably do it is if they make you walk around the hospital in your gown without a robe."
Bill chuckled. "Nah, I didn't. Told them I was your Uncle Bill..."
"Greatuncle Bill more than likely..." she said truthfully.
"All right, maybe, but the point is that I told them I was related to ya Artie, and they believed me."
"Even calling her Artie instead of Aidan?" said Ralph, wondering if Bill really did have to badge the nurse.
"Well... besides, I would've found a way around it anyway. Heard about the crash and was worried when these two told me about your fight with the bear. Good thing ya had the suit on."
"And not a moment too soon, or it'd been worse. Too bad I didn't see the bear's reaction to me hitting him," she said chuckling softly, and turned to Ralph. "So, how long am I in here for?"
"At least another week, possibly two. The doctor doesn't want you outside in this weather until your lungs are stronger," said Ralph. "From what he said you're healing fast, but it's just a precaution so you don't get full-blown pneumonia. It'll also be about another two weeks after that before you can go back to teaching. We've already decided that you're staying at our house for the time, just so you don't get pestered with another suit scenario too soon."
The young woman nodded softly, growing tired. "Well, hopefully I'll get to say hi to the class this time before Tony tries go have me join him on another scenario like this again," she said, yawning. "I'll fly him to Antartica if he tries."
"Yes, I think you would, and I wouldn't blame you," said Pam softly. "Listen, why don't you rest some more? Ralph and I'll tell Tony and the others you're awake."
"Counselor, why don't ya let me tell them instead? I think you three need to stick together and chat for a while. Besides, I can tell Villacana he's going to be at desk duties for a while."
"Just don't tell him that I called him a mule... let me tell him," she said, getting comfortable again. Ralph and Pam chuckled, holding her hand and chatting with her until she fell asleep. Bill left the room to tell Tony, Rhonda and Cyler the good news that Aidan was starting to get better.