Chapter XVIII

Livingston District Hospital, Wales

Heidi was barely conscious when the postal truck brought her to the same hospital into which Dimitri had carried Alex several hours earlier.

She tried to remember the events that had brought her here, but the effort alone seemed to aggravate the pain in her shoulder.

She remembered sitting in the room at the Brynn Wydd compound, handcuffed to a chair when Charlotte entered, aiming a handgun directly at her.

As she was about to shoot, Heidi had jumped from the chair, knocking down Charlotte in the process, slamming into her with the full force of her weight. Then she had felt the indescribable pain of a bullet tearing though her shoulder, as she fell to the floor. At the same time she picked up the gun that Charlotte had dropped and, holding it with both hands, had shot her, in the middle of her body.

She could still vividly remember Charlotte's shocked expression as she lay on the floor, blood dripping from her mouth. She had said something to her then but Heidi couldn't hear the words.

Then she remembered the two agents entering the room and pointing her gun at them.

Did I shoot them?

Heidi wasn't sure anymore, thinking she couldn't possibly have. 'I've never even held a gun in my hands, how could I kill someone?'

She remembered the piercing sound of sirens going off in the building and people running towards the room she had left. She wasn't sure anymore how she got out of the building or where she had dropped the gun, she only remembered walking along the road and a postal truck stopping dead in its tracks when the driver saw her bloody shoulder and staggering gait.

Now she was in the hospital, waiting for a doctor when she saw a tall, dark haired man seated a feet away from her. His clothes were covered in blood, and Heidi saw him clutching a watch in hands.

It was the last thing she saw before everything went dark.

"I can't believe it, two trauma victims in one night, I feel like one of those nurses on those American doctor shows," Dimitri heard an elderly nurse say, followed by a short nervous laugh.

He observed her and two other nurses wheeling a large, blond haired woman into a room further down the hallway.

Then he heard a door opening and the sound of high heels running down the corridor.

"Dimitri! Oh, thank God!" It was Erica. She ran up to him, breathlessly, and embraced him. "When you didn't call after three hours, I sent the police to the address you gave me, and they said they found a dead man there! Shot to death! Oh, Dimitri, I was worried sick!"

"Erica, where's Max?" Dimitri noticed that he was not with her.

"He's outside with the police officer. I called several hospitals, I was frantic…" she looked at him and her eyes opened in shock as she suddenly noticed the state he was in, "Oh Dimitri, your clothes, they're full of blood. You look terrible…what happened? Did you find Alex?"

He nodded and before he had a chance to say anything, he saw Max coming towards him.

Max looked at him with wide eyes, as though scared of what Dimitri might say. "Did you find my Mum?", he asked.

"Come here," he pulled Max towards him with the last ounce of energy he had left, and spoke to him softly. "I did find your Mom. But when I did someone was trying to hurt her."

Max didn't understand. "Why would anyone want to hurt Mom?"

Dimitri eyes had the same uncomprehending look, "I don't know, Max. I really don't know."

"Is it because I broke my promise?" Max's eyes were fearful.

Dimitri shook his head, "No Max, in fact, if you hadn't broken your promise I wouldn't have found her when I did, and she wouldn't be here with us now. You saved her life Max."

Max wasn't sure whether to believe him. "I want to see her," he said firmly.

Dimitri stroked his arm, "Not yet. Maybe tomorrow. But for now she needs to rest and she can't see anyone, not even you and me, okay?"

"Is she going to be okay?" his son asked him.

For the first time that evening, Dimitri managed a smile, "Yeah, she's going to be okay."

The next day

Erica Kane went back to the hospital the next morning, bringing with her a cup of hot coffee, a sandwich and a clean shirt.

Dimitri hadn't left the hospital. Erica watched as he slept, uncomfortably, in a chair, next to Alex's bed. He wore a green surgical scrub that one of the nurses must have given him, and even in his sleep one of his hands held on to Alex.

Erica woke him as gently as she could. "Good morning," she whispered, "I thought you could use some sustenance." She handed him the coffee and the sandwich she had bought.

Dimitri took them gratefully, "Thank you."

Erica glanced towards Alex, "How is she?"

He took a bite of his roll, "Better. They almost lost her last night, Erica. She went into some kind of shock from the blood loss and then into cardiac arrest. One of the doctors was leaving the OR when it happened…I know this is going to sound strange, but at the exact same time that her heart stopped, the watch Alex gave me stopped."

"That's eerie." Erica looked at him, pensively, not knowing what else to say. "Do you think it means something?"

Dimitri shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know. I just know that when I looked at the watch hands standing still…I thought my own heart would stop beating."

Erica pursed her lips, her cheeks reddening. "Hmm…"

Dimitri then realized what he was sharing with her, "I'm sorry, I'm rambling."

"You're exhausted, that's what it is. Why don't you come to the hotel with me, and get some actual sleep before Max wants to come here and see her," she suggested.

"How is he?" Dimitri asked her.

"Better than you, darling. Come let's go," she held out her hand.

Dimitri shook his head, unable to meet her eyes. "I'm sorry, I can't leave yet. The doctors said she might wake up in a few hours and I want to be here when she does."

It was what Erica was afraid he would say. She observed the way he looked at Alex. A look that was somehow different from any he had ever given her.

She knew in her heart of hearts, what it really was that she had come here to do, but she wanted to prolong it as long as possible, desperately seeking some small indication from Dimitri, that would convince not to do it.

"What exactly happened to her?" she asked trying to stall the inevitable.

"I don't know exactly, but someone tried to kill her by doing the maximum damage they could in the process. The doctors say she has several broken ribs, a punctured lung, a concussion, and that it's a small miracle the knife wounds didn't cause major organ damage," there was a barely subdued rage in his voice when he told her what he knew.

"Well," Erica realized her own voice was getting shaky, "I guess I can't really compete with that, can I? Alex was ready to die rather than risk your life."

Dimitri finally took his eyes off Alex and looked at Erica, taken aback. "It was never a competition, Erica."

Erica almost laughed at the accuracy of that statement.

Dimitri got up and put his arms around her, "I never would have asked you to marry me if I didn't love you, you have to know that. But this…how could I ever have imagined that things would turn out like this?"

She moved a finger over his lips, "Please don't say anything else." She bit her lip to stop it from trembling.

'If anyone can do this with dignity, it's Erica Kane,' she thought.

"I didn't just come here to bring you coffee. I came to give you something else as well." She slipped her engagement ring off her finger and handed it to him. "I want to give this back to you."

"Erica, what are you doing?"

In spite of her efforts, Erica felt tears rolling down her cheeks as she realized what she was doing. "You know I was never Alex's biggest fan, and I don't think the two of us will ever be friends. In another time, I would have fought her for you. You're worth it, Dimitri. But when I see the way you look at her, I realize that the two of you have something that you and I will never have. You have a bond with her that I can't describe but I've felt it ever since Max showed up at Wildwind…it's something rare and beautiful. It's…an unbreakable bond. And I…I truly hope you never lose it." Erica felt her words choke, "I love you so much Dimitri. If I didn't I wouldn't be able to do this…"

Dimitri looked at her gently, his warm eyes wanting to make this easy for her; apologetic for the pain he was causing her.

'I'm never going to see those eyes next to me again when I wake up in the morning.' The thought was more than she could bear. She grabbed her purse and ran out of the hospital room.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, knowing she wouldn't be able to hear him. He hadn't wanted this. Hadn't wanted to cause her so much pain, but at the same time he felt gratitude. He was grateful that she knew what he himself was only starting to realize.

He sat back down in the chair, and heard Alex stir next to him.

She opened her eyes slowly, trying to focus on Dimitri.

"Dimitri…it really is you," her voice was barely a whisper. "I was wrong…it wasn't a dream after all."

Dimitri smiled as he reached to touch her face, "Who else could have found you with such cryptic instructions?"

He thought he saw the corner of her lips curl into a weak smile, "My hero." She wanted to say something else but the effort made her cough instead.

"Shh…don't talk. Just rest and when you wake up again, I'll still be here." Dimitri couldn't help but hold on to her, thinking that maybe his touch would give her strength.

"Max?" she asked him.

"He's fine. He's here too, and he's safe."

He brushed a strand of her hair from her forehead, away from the bandages that covered part of it. As he did, he saw her frown and move her hands towards her waist.

Her gesture reminded Dimitri of a phrase he had once read somewhere, 'You know you love someone when it physically hurts you to see her in pain.'

"Does it hurt a lot?" he asked, afraid of the answer.

She shook her head and managed to grasp his hand, with a strength that surprised him. "No," she whispered, before closing her eyes again, " Not anymore."

Two days later

It was Max, who first saw Heidi, walking through the hospital hallway, while he was flipping through a comic book next to Alex's bed.

He dropped the book and, much to Dimitri's surprise, ran out, past the armed guards, to greet her.

"Heidi!" he ran up to her and embraced her with a squeal.

Her shoulder was bandaged, her entire left arm was in a sling, and Philip's arm was around her as she walked down the hallway.

"Max! What are you doing here?" she couldn't believe her eyes, seeing him in front of her. "You're supposed to be with your Dad in America."

Max was grinning from ear to ear, "He came back here to get Mum, and I made him take me with him."

"Your Mum is here?"

Heidi had walked past the room with the guards more than once the past two days, thinking it must be a dangerous prisoner of sorts, who was inside.

"Come in," Max pulled Heidi and Philip into the room. The guards wouldn't let them past the door, until Max called out to Dimitri.

"It's okay," Max explained to him. "This is Heidi, my nanny, and Philip, her husband."

Dimitri motioned an approval to the guards, "It's fine."

Heidi was shocked to see Alex, heavily bandaged with a series of cuts running down both sides of her face. She rushed to embrace her, "Oh Alex, what did he do to you?"

Alex hugged her happily, "I'm going to be fine. What about you?"

"Charlotte shot me in the shoulder. I managed to get out of the chair and push her down to the ground."

Alex's face was anxious now, "Tell me what happened!"

Dimitri wasn't sure whether he liked the idea of Alex upsetting herself. "Hey, what's going on here," he interrupted, "What happened to introductions?"

"I'm sorry, of course…Heidi this is Dimitri," she smiled at her, "My husband. And Dimitri, this is Heidi… my best friend."

Heidi shook his hand, and pointed to the large man with the curly hair that stood by her side, "This is my husband, Philip."

"It's a pleasure to meet you both. Alex told me so much about you in the past two days.'' He shook hands with him also.

"Heidi, please tell me what happened," Alex insisted.

"Darling, I don't think this is a good idea," Dimitri told her.

"Dimitri, I need to know!"

He had forgotten how stubborn she could be, "Fine, but if I see you getting stressed, the conversation ends. The doctor said…"

Dimitri stopped himself in mid-sentence when he saw Max looking at all of them. Philip caught on right away and took his hand, "Come on Max, let's go to the gift shop and see if we can find a sticky bun. I don't know about you, but I'm starving."

Max frowned, realizing it was a ploy to get him out of the room, but he played along and left the room with Philip.

After he was gone, Heidi began to recount the events as best as she remembered them.

"So you shot her, point black?" Alex asked.

"Yes." Heidi nodded, "She was lying on the floor, bleeding. And when the men came into the room they hovered over her, barely paying me any attention."

"Of course," Alex tried to picture the scene, "Trying to revive her would have been their only priority. That was probably why you were able to get away, because their only focus was Charlotte."

"I don't remember how I got away, Alex. I might have killed them. I honestly don't know." Guilt and confusion mingled on her face.

"They would not have hesitated to kill you given the chance," Alex tried to comfort her. "Keep that in mind."

" I think it's safe to say that Charlotte is dead," Dimitri added.

"Do you really think that she is?" Heidi asked him.

"People don't survive point blank shots to the chest. Not even Charlotte Devane."

Alex wanted to believe him but she knew better than to underestimate her mother. "How can you be sure? We weren't there. We have no idea what kind of damage the bullet did."

"She's only human," Dimitri reasoned, wanting her to believe him, not because he necessarily believed it himself, but for the comfort he knew it would bring her.

"I'll believe it when I see her dead body in front of me," she said softly, both unconvinced and shaken by the uncertain news.

"I think…" Dimitri made her lie back down, "That you should try and sleep, and not worry about something that's out of our control."

Heidi saw what he was doing, "He's right. You look tired. I will come back and see you later."

Heidi kissed her cheek and left the room.

Dimitri stayed, waiting until Alex fell asleep, wondering what their future held in store. Wondering what it would bring if he was wrong. If Charlotte Devane hadn't died.