Eddie Ryker had been searching for Jill Danko for nearly ten minutes when he saw her step out of the small hospital chapel. She looked even thinner which seemed impossible. Every time he saw her, he wanted to buy her a pie and make her eat it, and now, with the stress of the last fifty hours, she seemed to have shrunk down smaller. He knew seeing him, would frighten her, but he didn't want anyone else talking to her. She trusted him.
"Jill." He called as she turned and saw him. He expected her to faint, as she had at the apartment, but instead she drew in a deep breath, squared her shoulders and walked to him.
"What happened?" She asked looking up at him with enormously hopeful brown eyes.
"They're bringing him in. He's alive, but it is pretty bad." He reached out and put a steadying hand on her arm.
"Downstairs? In emergency?" Her voice pitched high.
"He should be there any minute." He looked at her face, which was tight and pale. "I'll walk you down."
"Willie okay?" She asked. "How'd they . . ." She lifted a hand to her forehead and he could see her fingers trembling.
"Come on, honey." He said gently, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and leading her to the elevator.
***R***
Jill made the familiar walk down the hospital corridor numbly. She knew Lt. Ryker was beside her, but she couldn't hear anything or anyone. Her eyes roved from face to face, and her brain registered that both the head nurse, and her good friend Melissa were waiting for her in the emergency area, but she didn't speak to them. Her heart pounded and her eyes searched everywhere for just one face.
"Breathe, Jill." Melissa said, and Jill realized only then she'd been holding her breath. They heard the sirens and the buzz of people moving, preparing for an incoming patient; an incoming patient in critical condition.
The door burst open, startling her, and she was surrounded by the controlled chaos of bringing a patient in. They swarmed around the bed, and she couldn't see anything at all. She hung back, half-afraid of what she would see, but then they moved and she could see.
Mike
Everything stopped for her then. She couldn't hear any voices, couldn't see anyone but him. His face was so ghostly white, his eyes closed. She could see the blood on his chest. Oh, God! Was it a chest wound? Her thoughts ran wild, and she tried to silence that part of her brain that had spent years studying and evaluating symptoms and injuries. She wished she could see his clear blue eyes. She longed for the deep mellowness of his voice reassuring her. He could always make her feel better. He was the only one who could make her feel better.
"Jill?"
She turned at the sound of Willie's voice, and was surprised to see him standing.. She could see bruises on his face, and his lip was split.
"Willie!" She said wrapping her arms around him. "You look terrible." She turned and said over her shoulder. "Someone get him a bed!"
They swarmed him, then. Pulling over a bed, and pushing him onto it. His eyes grew wide with frustration.
"I tried . . ." His voice bore the stress of those fifty hours, and all that it had taken to get them out. "Jill, I'm sorry. I tried to get him out." She moved closer as he struggled to maintain eye contact with her even as they began to examine him. "Jill, I swear. I did everything I could."
"It's okay, Willie. It's okay." She said trying to sooth him. "Let them take care of you. You did get him out. It's okay, now."
She called out reassurances to him even as they wheeled him away, even as he continued to apologize.
And then it was quiet again, and she was all alone.
Except she wasn't alone, really. Although, the head nurse had disappeared with the emergency team, Melissa had stayed behind. She stood across from her, watching, and no doubt trying to determine what to do next. And not two feet from her stood the improbable presence of Lieutenant Eddie Ryker.
The first time she'd ever met him, she'd felt incredibly wary of him. Actually, her first thought had been, "You better recognize what a good man Mike is or I'm coming after you! And you sure as hell, better keep him safe!" He had seemed so gruff and formal, but over time she had been able to look beyond the outer layer, and had discovered a tremendous sweetness. Once he told her of his wife and daughter - both forever lost to him - she understood that his connection to her, and to Mike, wasn't typical. And now, out of all the millions of people running around planet earth, she was amazed to realize that she was deeply comforted to see Lieutenant Edward Ryker standing at her side.
"There's a waiting room around the corner, right?" He asked moving closer to her. "Why don't we go sit down?" He moved to put his arm around her. "Come on, honey." He said when she stood where she was frozen, and staring at him. "Jill?"
"Was it a chest wound?" She managed to gasp out.
"I don't . . I don't know." He told her truthfully. "There wasn't time . . .he was . . . let's go sit down."
"I can't . . my feet won't . . ." She found sentences or even complete ideas impossible. Her heart and mind consumed with the dual images of Mike's face leaning in for a kiss, and his chest covered in blood. She knew all pretense of strength was over, then. She had nothing left - not one ounce of strength to fight off the all-encompassing soul crushing fear that she had been battling since the phone had interrupted their dinner. She fell forward and found herself sobbing uncontrollably in the strong, comforting arms of Eddie Ryker.
***R***
"Mind if I sit with you?" Terry Webster leaned on his crutches in front of Jill Danko.
"Terry! You shouldn't be up!" She said surprised.
"So, I can sit down then?" He teased her and folded himself into a chair.
"You've got to be in pain."
"Not like you." He said seriously, and she turned away from him wiping tears from her eyes. He cleared his throat, changing the subject. "They let me out for an hour 'cause I threw a tantrum."
"Flashed those big brown eyes, you mean." She teased, tears still wet on her cheeks.
"Flexed my muscles is more like it." He grinned at her, but then his face grew sad, and biting his lip he whispered, "I'm sorry, Jill. He's tough as steel."
Saying nothing, her eyes welled with fresh tears and she reached for his hand, squeezing his fingers. He wrapped an arm around her and she leaned her head against his shoulder. He sighed deeply, and kissing her forehead he said, "He'll be alright."
"I just wish I could see him."
"You will, soon." Terry told her. "I heard you saw the kid. They won't let me visit him too. I had to choose - you or him."
"He looked beat up." She said. "He's okay, though. Exhausted. Dehydrated - some bruises and a broken rib."
"I'll see him tomorrow. Give 'em a chance to clean up a bit." Terry said thoughtfully. "He did okay, huh? Our boy got him out. He brought him home to you." He glanced down at Jill who had grown quiet. "He's gonna make it. He will."
Jill Danko nodded her head tearfully, praying with all her heart he was right.
