Author's Notes: Yes, I know what I said in my profile about this being the last chapter. However, I keep forgetting how much I write. LOL I was over 5,000 words when I decided I'd just make another chapter. So, those of you waiting for the (possible) rescue, it's coming. Hopefully, I'll have it up before I leave for my Thanksgiving vacation (4 days of being without a computer! What in the world was I thinking. LOL) As always, I want to thank everyone who takes the time to read and/or review. I do appreciate it. LO:CI and its characters belong to Dick Wolf and company; I'm just taking them for a spin in my imagination for a while. Read, review and enjoy. :o)
Saturday, August 26
Hudson Medical Center
Angel's Room, 4:30 p.m.
Bobby was standing in the back corner, staring straight ahead as he rode the elevator up to Angel's room. There were 5 other people riding with him, all of them female nurses. They were either staring at him directly or casting looks at him over their shoulders. The reason for all of this attention? He was carrying a large wooden picnic basket in one hand and a vase filled with a dozen purple roses in the other hand. Bobby was feeling very uncomfortable with all of this unwanted attention.
"She must be very special," the young nurse standing next to Bobby said to the nurse standing next to her. "Either that or he's having to apologize big time," the other nurse replied. The other nurses snickered. Bobby smiled, taking the gentle ribbing all in stride. "She…She's very special," he said quietly. The elevator stopped on Bobby's floor. "Excuse me, ladies" he said as he made his way towards the open doors. "Well, if Ms. Special decides she doesn't want to be special any more, you can find me on the next floor," the young nurse said to Bobby before the doors closed. He just smiled as he walked down the hall to Angel's room. "I'm old enough to be her father," he thought to himself.
Bobby frowned as he neared Angel's room. The uniformed officer that was assigned to protect her wasn't sitting in the chair that outside of the room and the door was ajar. His police instincts kicked into high gear as he slowly pushed the door open further and walked inside. Except for the furniture and equipment that was already there, the room was empty. Bobby placed the basket and vase on the rollaway table as he looked around.
There were a couple of folded newspapers laying on the foot of the bed and Angel's duffel bag was in a chair. A hospital gown was laying on the back of the chair as well. Bobby picked it up, put it to his nose and inhaled deeply. "Angel," he said softly. He put the gown back down. He noticed that the bathroom door was closed, but there was a light coming out from underneath. He took his gun out of its holster, making sure the safety was off before he cautiously approached the door.
Bobby took a deep breath before he threw the door open and stepped inside, gun first. He looked around the small room and behind the door. It was empty. "Shit!" he said as he walked out of the bathroom. He opened the picnic basket and pulled out a police radio walkie talkie, slipping it into his jacket pocket and clipping his badge onto the outside of his jacket. He walked out of the room with his gun held down by his side. Bobby was about to head towards the nurses' station when a nurse walked right by him. "Um, excuse me, Nurse," he said. She turned around and smiled at him. "Can I help you, Officer?" she asked. Her nametag read "Foster."
"Uh, I hope so," Bobby said. "Do you know where the patient who occupied this room went to?" "I saw her and an uniformed officer go that way about 2 hours ago," Nurse Foster replied, pointing in the direction she had just come from. "Th…thank you, Nurse Foster," Bobby said. "You're welcome." He took off in the direction she had pointed. An overwhelming feeling of dread filled Bobby as he walked down the hall, periodically checking rooms for any sign of Angel or the mysterious uniformed officer. "God! A 2 hour head start! Angel's dead because of me. She trusted me with her life and I let her down. Dammit! I should've stayed here!"
Bobby was about to give up his search and call for reinforcements when he reached the waiting room. It had a glass door and wall. Inside, he saw Angel and the mysterious uniformed officer, who was sitting with his back closest to the door. They were seated next to the windows, their chairs turned so that they could look out. Bobby took a deep breath to compose himself before he opened the door and walked in.
Angel and the uniformed officer both turned their heads when the waiting room door opened. Bobby saw that the person in the uniform was Officer Darren. Angel's smile quickly became a frown when she saw that Bobby had his gun drawn. He quickly put it back into the holster. "Hey, Detective Goren," Officer Darren said as he stood up. "Your wife and I were just sitting here shooting the breeze." "I see," Bobby replied. He leaned down and kissed Angel's cheek. "What are you doing out of bed?" he asked.
"Dr. Morton said I could walk around a little bit," Angel answered slowly. "Oh, okay," Bobby said. He could see that Angel was still a little bothered by the sight of him with his gun in his hand. He turned to Officer Darren and said, "I came by to give you a break." "Thanks, Detective Goren," Officer Darren replied. "You're welcome. Just let me go back to her room to get some things. Then you can take off for a little bit." "Okay. We'll be right here." Bobby smiled at Angel, then he turned around and walked out of the door.
"Oh my!" Angel softly exclaimed when Bobby returned with the picnic basket and roses. He handed her the vase. Officer Darren left as soon as Bobby stepped into the waiting room. She placed the roses to her nose, inhaling their fragrance deeply. "Thank you, Bobby. They're beautiful." "You're welcome," he said as he kissed her forehead. He headed towards an empty table that was in the back of the room. He placed the basket on the table and took out its contents. Angel put the vase in the window. Using the arms of the chair, she pushed herself up, grabbing her I.V. pole to maintain her balance. She slowly walked over to where Bobby was standing.
"How come you're not in your hospital gown?" Bobby asked. Angel was wearing an oversized gray t-shirt with black trim on the sleeves and collar, baggy black knee length shorts and black slippers. Her hair was held back loosely by a ponytail holder. "I actually took a full fledged shower this morning," Angel replied when she reached his side. "Dr. Morton and Faylene were very upset that I had taken my I.V. needles out." He looked at her and sighed, shaking his head. "Angelica," he said in an exasperated voice. She touched his arm. "I'm sorry. I'm not trying to be difficult. I just got tired of feeling icky," she said.
Bobby turned his body towards Angel, his arms folded across his chest. She turned and copied his stance. He leaned forward, his nose a mere 3 inches from hers. "From now on, you are to follow Dr. Morton's and the nurses' orders to the letter. Comprende?" he said. Angel stared at him for a few seconds before she sighed, nodding her head. "Si, Papi Chulo. Yo comprendo," she said with a smile. Bobby smiled and said, "Thank you." She leaned forward, kissing him on the lips.
Angel kissed Bobby's forehead once they came up for air. "I love you," she said softly as she caressed his cheek. "Ditto," he said, kissing the inside of her wrist. She took a hold of the I.V. pole. "I'm starvin' like Marvin. What'd you bring to eat?" Bobby laughed as he focused his attention to the items on the table. "I brought spaghetti with meaty marinara sauce, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, garlic bread, sweet tea and fudge brownies," he said as he pointed to each container. Angel clapped her hands. "I'm impressed. Everything smells great."
"Thank you," Bobby said as he pulled a couple of chairs over for them to sit in. He took off his jacket, placing it on the back of one of the chairs. Angel sat down and watched him as he put the food onto the paper plates and poured the tea into plastic cups. Once he sat down, Bobby and Angel both picked up their cups and said, "Salud." They talked occasionally between bites of food.
Angel helped Bobby clean up their trash when they had finished eating. He followed her to the chairs that were in front of the windows. "Dr. Morton said I could probably go home on Monday," Angel said as she sat down, tucking one leg underneath her. "That's great," Bobby said. She looked at him. "Am I going to be under police protection when I leave here?" she asked. He sighed heavily, nodding his head. "I'm afraid so," he replied. "For how long?" "I don't know, sweetheart. Until we're able to put this criminal named Frank Devlin away for good. Eden has convinced him that you have something that belongs to him. He will kill you to get it back."
"Oh," Angel said. She looked down at her hands. A single tear hit the back of her hand. She looked at Bobby and asked, "What about us?" He inhaled deeply, then exhaled. "You've got tell her what you told the captain," he thought to himself. "Don't start shutting her out now." "Captain Ross asked me if there was something going on between me and you," he said. "I…I told him there wasn't anything." Angel looked down at her hands again. She squeezed each of her fingers. "Oh, okay," she said softly. "There is no 'us' any more. When did that happen?" she thought to herself.
Bobby got out of the chair and knelt down in front of Angel, holding onto the chair arms for support. "Angel, please look at me," he said softly. She lifted her head a little to look him in the eye. "I told him that because I didn't want him to take me off of this case," Bobby explained. "I want…NEED to make sure that this crazy son of a bitch who is after you doesn't get his hands on you. We are still an 'us.' I'm not going to turn my back on you and our relationship. If Ross finds out about us and decides to take me off the case, so be it. You…you are more important to me than this case."
"I don't want you to get into trouble because of me," Angel said quietly. Bobby chuckled lightly. "I can handle any trouble that comes along," he said. "I just want to make sure we're okay." She gave him a small smile and nodded her head. "We're okay." He smiled back at her. Just then, Officer Darren and Nurse Faylene walked in. "Are you proposing to your wife again, Detective Goren?" Nurse Faylene asked. Angel and Bobby both laughed. "Uh, no. We're just having a heart to heart talk," Bobby said as he stood up.
"Oh, I see," Faylene said. She smiled as she looked at Angel. "Well, I hate to spoil such a romantic outing, but you've been out of your room long enough. Let's go." Angel sighed as she got out of the chair with some assistance from Faylene. Bobby held the vase of roses out to Officer Darren. "Walk ahead of them," he said. The young officer nodded as he took the vase. He went to the door, holding it open for Angel and Faylene. Bobby put on his jacket as he watched them head back to Angel's room. He picked up the picnic basket and then walked out of the waiting room.
Officer Darren walked into the empty room first, checking to make sure everything was okay before letting Faylene and Angel enter. "You can come in now," he said as he put the vase on the table next to the bed. "Thank you, Officer Darren," Angel said. "You're welcome, Mrs. Goren." Angel pressed her lips together to keep herself from correcting him. "I'm not Bobby's wife." She just smiled at him before he turned around and went to his post.
Angel sat down in the reclining lounge chair that had been moved next to the bed. "Don't you want to get into bed?" Faylene asked. Angel shook her head. "No, I just want to sit here," she replied. "Alright. Let me check your vitals then I'll be out of your hair." Bobby walked in just as the nurse began to check Angel's blood pressure. He leaned down and kissed Angel's forehead. "I gotta go. I'll be back soon," he said. "Okay. See ya," she said. He leaned down again and whispered in her ear, "When you get out of here, we've got to talk about some things." She looked at him. "Like what?" she asked. Bobby touched Angel's stomach with his index finger. "Like our possible future," he answered.
Bobby kissed Angel's cheek, then stood up straight. "Love you," he said over his shoulder as he walked out. She smiled. "Love you, too," she replied as she absentmindedly rubbed her stomach. "Bobby wants to start a family...with me?" she thought to herself. She softly exclaimed aloud, "Wow!"
Saturday, August 26
Neighborhood of Frank James Devlin, 7:05 p.m.
The security guard sitting behind the wheel of his patrol car repeatedly tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. He let down the front passenger side window and said, "Dammit, Marty! Hurry the hell up!" Marty was standing behind a tree. "Geez, Cliff! Shut the hell up! I'm trying to take a leak here!" Cliff, the driver, muttered a string of curses under his breath as he shook his head. Marty finally emerged from behind the tree, zipping up his pants. "It's about damn time!" Cliff said when Marty got into the car. Marty said, "Quit your bitching, Cliffy! You nag and complain more than my 3rd wife. Where's the hand sanitizer?"
"Check in the glove box, jackass!" Cliff said. Cliff Barnes and Martin "Marty" Sanders were both retired NYPD officers who had been partners since the day they graduated from the police academy. When Cliff decided to retire, it only seemed fitting that Marty should retire at the same time. After having been retired for a year, Cliff and Marty both decided that they missed being on the force. So, they signed up for and got hired by a security firm.
"Why am I partners with the freaking Grinch over here?" Marty said as he opened the glove compartment. He reached inside and pulled out a small bottle of hand sanitizer. He poured some into his hands, then rubbed it on. As he was putting the bottle back into the glove compartment, Marty looked up the street and noticed a dark figure come out from between 2 houses. He hit Cliff on the arm and said, "Hey. Ain't that Frank Devlin?" Cliff turned his head to see what Marty was talking about. "Yeah, that's him," he replied.
"Didn't Sergeant Chambers say something about him at the Tuesday night poker game?" Cliff asked. Marty nodded. "Yeah, he sure did. Said that Narcotics has him under surveillance because they think he's trying to kill somebody in protective custody." Cliff started the car. "You call Chambers and tell him what's going on while we follow him." "Gotcha." Marty pulled out his cell phone and dialed. He spoke to the sergeant while Cliff drove the car slowly behind Devlin. "Chambers is getting an alert issued now," Marty said after he closed his phone. "He wants us to try to stall him until they get here."
Cliff nodded his head as he sped up the car just a little bit to catch up with Frank Devlin. "Good evening, Mr. Devlin," Marty said. The patrol car was now keeping pace with Devlin. He rolled his eyes and sighed heavily. "Shit," he muttered under his breath. When he stopped, the car stopped. Devlin turned around to watch Cliff and Marty get out of the car. "Good evening, gentlemen," he said with a fake smile pasted on his face. "Anything I can do for you?" Marty shook his head. "No, sir. We just observed you coming from between those 2 houses back there. We were just wondering if there was anything back there that we needed to investigate."
Devlin grunted. He was slightly amused by Marty's attitude. He looked both guards up and down. "There's nothing back there to investigate," he replied. "I'm merely out for a walk to clear my head." "If you don't mind, Mr. Devlin, we'd like for you to come with us while we go back there and investigate for ourselves," Cliff said. Devlin narrowed his eyes. He sighed dramatically and said, "As a matter of fact, I do mind."
Before either Cliff or Marty could react, Devlin had reached behind his back and pulled out his gun. He shot each man twice in the heart. He had sprinted half way up the block before their bodies hit the ground.
Saturday, August 26
Hudson Medical Center
Visitor Information Desk, 8:20 p.m.
"May I help you, sir?" the middle aged brunette woman asked Frank Devlin when he approached her. He gave her one of his disarming smiles. "Yes, you can," he said. "I dropped my wife off here to visit a friend. She told me the room number, but I completely forgot it." "Well, do you know your wife's friend's name?" "Yes. It's Laurel Goren." The woman smiled at him as she began typing the name into the computer. She wrote down the room number on a piece of paper and handed it to Devlin. She pointed down the hall and said, "You can take the elevators that are down this hall. They'll put you closer to her room." He said, "Thank you. I'm sure Laurel will be surprised to see me." He smiled, then headed in the direction she had pointed.
Nurse Faylene had walked passed the information desk when she overheard Devlin say 'Laurel Goren.' She stopped near the exit doors, watching the woman behind the desk give the information to Devlin. When he walked off toward the elevators, she rushed to catch up with him. Devlin was getting on the elevator when Faylene finally caught up with him. "Excuse me, sir," she said as she got on with him. "Mrs. Goren is not allowed to have any other visitors without permission from Dr. Morton. I'm afraid you're going to have to come back later."
"Oh, I didn't know that," Devlin said as he pushed the button to close the elevator doors. He sighed, then shrugged. "Oh, well. I guess I can wait." "Sorry, sir," Faylene said. "Actually, you're the one who's about to be sorry," Devlin said with a smile. A puzzled look crossed her face. Before she knew it, he had hit her in the nose with the bottom of his open palm with such force that her nose started bleed. She fell backwards, hitting her head against the wall. Faylene was knocked out cold.
"I'll go where I damn well please," Devlin said to Faylene's unconscious form as he pushed the button that would take him to the floor Angel was on.