The ringer on Tommy's cell woke him a couple of hours later. He hadn't meant to fall asleep against the hard gravestone, but it had been a really long couple of days.
The looked down at the screen. It was the station.
"Yeah," Tommy questioned into his phone, as he tried to rub the kinks out of his neck with his left hand.
It was Sgt. Walker, she spoke quickly and plainly.
"The CSI team found a suspicious powder on the floor of the container where Lindy was being held. It appears to be some kind of biochemical compound. It may be nothing, but we aren't talking any chances. Everyone who was on the scene is being quarantined. Have you seen anyone since last night?"
"No. Just you." Tommy replied slowly, still trying to take it all in.
"Okay, good." Catherine responded. "Head down to the hospital ASAP… Just so that it's not a surprise..." She paused. "They will likely quarantine you and Lindy together. You both had prolonged exposure and they will likely want to observe you separately from everyone else. You two will just need to play nice until this gets sorted out. Understood Calligan?"
"Understood," Tommy said softly.
Tommy hung up. Sucked in his lower lip in frustration and got to his feet. "Fucking perfect," he said to himself sarcastically, shaking his head.
When Tommy stepped through the doorway into the quarantined room that we would be sharing with Lindy, his heart was in his throat. He hadn't spoken to her since before she was taken and he had no idea what to expect. He kept picturing her eyes when she had stormed out of the station. They had been so full of betrayal and anger. "Anything but that," he pleaded silently to the powers that be.
When he saw that she was fast asleep on the other bed, he breathed a sigh of relief.
Everything in the rectangular room was a shade of beige. It felt sterile in more ways than one. There were two single beds in the room, one on each side. The beds were pushed up against opposing walls. There was a small bedside table beside each one. And, that was it for furniture. There was a window between the beds, the view wasn't bad but it didn't open. Likely a safety precaution in case this really was something dangerous in the substance that they had been exposed to in the shipping container.
Tommy quietly took off his boots and slid them under his bed. Then he hopped up on to the bed. The leaned his back against the beige wall behind him and pulled his knees in, so that he could rest his elbows on them.
He fidgeted with a quarter that he found in his pocket. Flipping it between his knuckles.
Anything to keep him distracted from Lindy.
She was facing away from him as she slept. She was in a hospital gown, likely from being admitted last night or else he probably would have had to put one on too.
He could see a small strip of skin where the edges of the gown met on her back. It instantly took him back to holding her in his arms in the basement. Having his hands on the smooth skin of her bare back and the feeling of her tiny and trembling in his arms.
He fought to push the memory down and tried to refocus on his quarter.
When he looked up again, she had rolled to face him. She rubbed her eyes and covered a small yawn.
Their eyes met.
Tommy instantly felt a lump building in his throat. He swallowed hard. Trying to escape the tension he looked down at his feet.
Without looking up, he said "I'm sorry they put me in here I didn't have much choic..."
Without letting him finish, Lindy spoke.
"Thanks." Her voice was so faint that he almost didn't catch what she said.
He looked up at her.
"Thanks Tommy," Lindy repeated.
He wasn't sure how to react. He gave her a weak smile that he hoped looked more certain that it felt. He searched her eyes. They didn't have the openness and trust that he once would have found in them, but they weren't filled with hate either. Tommy took that as a good sign.
"You ok?" he asked.
Lindy let out a weak laugh. "I don't even know anymore," she smiled. "I think so."
They were interrupted by the sound of the door to their room opening.
It was a nurse in a full HAZMAT suit.
She approached Tommy.
"Are you feeling okay Detective Calligan?" she asked.
"Yeah, so far" Tommy replied shrugging his shoulders slightly.
"Can you please remove your shirt, Detective Calligan?" the nurse asked. "It appears a couple of your censors may not be working properly. On our monitors it looks like your heart rate is a bit erratic. It has been racing on and off since you entered the room."
"Sorry. It's been a stressful day," he lied hoping that Lindy couldn't see the pink rising in his cheeks.
"Please remove your shirt, Detective Calligan," the nurse repeated. "We can go into the bathroom if you aren't comfortable with Ms. Sampson in the room."
"No, it's fine." Tommy said as he stood up off the bed and started unbuttoning his shirt. He could see Lindy out of the corner of his eye. She was doing her best to hold in a laugh. "Poor shy Tommy," she teased quietly so that only he could hear.
He smiled and half-heartedly rolled his eyes at her, as he continued to work on his buttons.
He pulled the shirt off his muscular shoulders and quickly pulled his each arm out of its respective sleeve.
He already had four censors on his chest and four more on his back. Just like Lindy did.
The nurse carefully removed and replaced three of them. "Just to be sure," she said.
Lindy couldn't help but take him in. She hadn't forgiven him, but that didn't make him any less attractive. There was something so intriguing about him. Something that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Yes, he was charming in a frustrating way … gorgeous … powerfully built … but it was something deeper. Something below the surface. Like how he seemed to be hard and soft at the same time.