It had been 2 hours since they wheeled her into the operating room and Tom was anxiously waiting outside. He paced back and forth in the small space to occupy his time, the thought of losing her kept playing on his mind. He had complete trust in Rios and Milowsky`s abilities and there was no doubt that they were doing everything they could do save her.
He heard footsteps approaching and looked up to see Tex coming around the corner, he sat down and patted the space beside him, "C'mon Captain, fancy some Cheetos?" Tom looked over at Tex as he opened up a plastic bag and pulled out snacks and drinks, he hardly thought this was the time for a picnic but Tom felt like his energy was slipping and he wanted to be alert for when Rachel was out of surgery. He didn't know how tired his body was until he sunk down in the chair.
Tex handed him a pack of Cheetos and a coffee. They both sat in silence as they ate, neither really knowing what to say.
"She's going to get through this you know, she's a stubborn one." Tom didn't have the same outlook on the situation, he felt as if she was in there fighting for her life and he was doing absolutely nothing to help. His crew were on the hunt for her attacker and would not stop until he was found, but in the meantime there was nothing left to do but wait. Tex spoke up again, " I know how you feel about her, and I know how she feels about you. You're both too hard headed to admit it to yourselves or maybe you're just not ready yet but If you could only see the way you look at each other." Tex let out a little laugh. "It took me a while to realize what was going on but when she kept turning down my offers of a sweeping romance I got the idea that she wasn't buying what I was selling." Tom stared straight ahead at the swinging doors that led to the operating wing, he heard every word Tex said and he hated to admit it but he was right. Somehow Tex was always right. He cared deeply for this woman, and seeing her hurt was what forced him to see things clearer. "I say you should go for her Captain, go get the girl. Sometimes things like this need to happen for you to see it how it really is, she will get through this and you will be able to tell her how you really feel." Tex scrunched up his empty Cheetos packet and patted Tom on the back before heading back down the corridor to leave Tom to his own thoughts.
...
Another 2 hours passed and Tom had resumed his pacing up and down the waiting room, the coffee Tex brought him was wearing off and exhaustion was creeping back in. He was about to try get an update on the surgery but before he could Doc Milowsky walked through the double doors. In all of the waiting Tom had prepared himself for the worst, he couldn't lift his hopes for them to be crushed the moment he heard that she didn't make it. he didn't know if he would be able to get over that, First his wife and then Rachel. Tom waited with baited breath until Milowsky offered up a smile and gave Tom the good news, "She is going to be ok, the bullet hit some bone so we cleared the fragments and repaired the entrance and exit wounds, her ribs are strapped up and will heal in time, she will make a full recovery but it will be a long road." Tom took in everything Milowsky had just said and breathed a huge sigh of relief, "Thank you doctor, thank you for everything."
"Doc Rios is inside finishing up some things but as soon as we move Rachel to her room, you can go see her." Tom nodded and contacted Slattery to tell him the good news. "She's going to be ok, It was a long surgery but she made it through." there was silence at the other end of the line and Tom waited for a response. "We got him, we got the guy." Tom was caught off guard by Slattery`s news, "Who is he, what son of a bitch did this."
"It was one of the immunes, we killed him on the spot."
Tom would have loved to see the bastard face to face, to make him feel pain like Rachel had but only 10x worse. The immune must have gotten away and plotted to kill Rachel for there twisted cause. "Thanks Mike, tell everyone to go and get some rest, I'm going to stay at the hospital for now to make sure things are ok." He hung up right before Milowsky came back through the doors and waved Tom over to see Rachel.
He followed behind Milowsky, walking through the stark white halls of the hospital until they stopped outside her room, "She is still under sedation for the moment, we are not certain when she will wake up but her body needs time to heal, we will monitor her closely but for now its a waiting game." Milowsky opened the door for Tom and he stepped inside. Rios was filling in her chart and glanced up as Tom entered the room. "Thank you Rios, thank you for your work." Rios smiled and gave a curt nod before heading out of the room to give him some privacy.
Tom walked forward to stand beside her bed. She looked so weak and fragile, her small body was covered with blankets and the bandages covering her shoulder poked out from under her hospital gown. He decided to pull up the chair behind him and sit down, he was tired but he wanted to be here if her condition changed or if she woke up. Once he was comfortable he took her hand in his and squeezed it tight, maybe she would be able to feel that he was with her..that she was safe.