2 days later...
The only thing Rachel could feel was pain. Her shoulder and entire right side were aching and her head was pounding. She tried to swallow but her throat was dry and scratchy. She slowly opened her eyes but closed them shut as a harsh white light assaulted her vision. Everything came rushing back to her, the man in the hallway, the gunshot...Tom.
Rachel finally gained enough awareness to truly open her eyes and check out her surroundings, she had to blink a few times to get rid of the haziness edged around her vision. She gathered that she was in hospital and that she must have gone into surgery. Rachel felt a light weight resting in her hand and looked down to see a much larger one holding hers, she looked slightly further to the right and saw that it was Tom. Had he stayed by her side this whole time? He was fast asleep with his head rested on the bed, he didn't look comfortable sitting in that hospital chair so she thought it would be best to try and wake him and maybe she could get some pain medication. The minute she wiggled her hand he shot up in his chair looking more alert than ever, must be his Navy training.
Tom saw that she was indeed awake and stood up to lean over her "Hey, how are you feeling?" Rachel laughed to herself but stopped when the pain in her ribs flared up, she was probably in the most pain she had ever felt in her life. The last time she had been injured was that day in the artic with the Russians, she was grazed by a bullet and got some pretty nasty scrapes and bruises but compared to this, it was nothing. "My shoulder and my ribs are killing me." Tom walked towards the door to get a nurse for more medication, he then came back to her bedside and pulled up the chair to sit. "You've been down for 2 days, Milowsky and Rios performed the surgery which went well but you're going to need a lot of time to rest and recover." Rachel went to speak but found that nothing came out, her throat was so dry, "Can I...hmm..Water?" Tom nodded and filled a cup with cool water from the bedside table, she took the cup with her left hand since her right one had no intention of moving. Tom used a remote control to lift up the head of the bed so she could sit up and drink comfortably. The cool water was soothing and she instantly felt refreshed.
A nurse entered the room and smiled at the two of them, She checked Rachel's temperature and vital signs before increasing the dosage of medication already flowing through her system. It wasn't long before she felt relaxed and comfortable, all that remained was the dull ache residing in her shoulder. She turned her attention back to Tom and caught him staring into empty space, he was seemingly unaware that she was looking right at him. "Tom?" he snapped out of his trance and apologized. "What were you thinking about?" Tom took a second before responding, almost like he needed to be cautious of what he said. "The man that hurt you, he was one of the immunes. I'm so sorry Rachel, I should never have let this happen." She could see the pain he felt, it was written all over his face. "None of this is your fault. there was nothing that you or your men did wrong and I'm not going to sit back and watch you beat yourself up over it. I'm going to be fine and if it wasn't for you I wouldn't even be alive right now." Tom bowed his head as if everything that happened the past few days had finally caught up with him. "I thought I...we were going to loose you. It was touch and go there for a while." Rachel smiled as she remembered telling him the exact same thing when she was fixing him up after the oil rig explosion. "Tom, thank you." he nodded and offered her a grateful smile.
Rachel was beginning to feel the effects of the medication and her eyes began drifting shut. She wanted to keep talking to Tom but her body was telling her that it was time to rest, she quickly gave in to the exhaustion.
...
Tom relaxed back into the chair when he saw the medication taking effect on Rachel's body. He felt so relieved when he saw her awake. The past 2 days he had been so worried that maybe she wouldn't open her eyes. Maybe it was too much for her body to take, but thankfully she came through.
He watched as she shifted in the bed as if trying to find a more comfortable position. He assumed that it wouldn't be too comfortable sleeping with an exit wound on your back. After some slight movements she moved to lay on her good side facing away from him. Knowing that she would be out for a while, Tom decided to go check on things back at the hotel. He didn't want to leave her but he still had other responsibilities that needed to be seen to. As he opened the sliding door he glanced back at Rachel one more time before leaving.