Till Death Do Us Part
Part 16
Rizzoli and Isles are the property of TNT and Tess Gerritson. I am just borrowing them for some fun.
Please review and let me know how I am doing. I have a few more chapters to go on this before I finish it.
"I am telling you now Joey you need to leave this alone." Manuel, Mr. Gonzalez's right hand man quietly counseled the young man. "Your father knew how to deal with Rebecca." Joey turned on Manuel grimacing from the injury to his back.
"Obviously my father did not know enough. Right now is the perfect time to take care of her. She is hospitalized with injuries. Her friends are distracted with their own troubles. Edward leaves for a few hours every evening to make sure business is going well at the ranch. Plus Rebecca has not woken up yet due to blood loss." Joey walked over to the cabinet pulling out a gun with a silencer.
"Then let me do it. You should not be linked to this as we will need someone to carry on the family business." Manuel had moved toward Joey, but Joey Gonzalez shook his head violently.
"No, this is vengeance. I will do it myself." Joey stuffed the gun in the shoulder holster under his jacket. "You take care of everything until I get back." Joey then left the house. Manuel watched as his car drove down the driveway.
"Time to get out while the getting's good." He headed for his room to pack and leave.
Hospital…
Rebecca woke to the sound of beeping, low light, and a rough strong hand holding hers. She was on her side with something wedged against her back to keep her there. She felt hot and desperately wanted something to clear the sand paper from her mouth. Carefully she moved her fingers feeling an aching stiffness to them. She then gently disengaged her hand and began to move more of her arm. The movement caused her back muscles to slightly pull fire erupted through her back causing a sharp intake of breath. The sudden sound woke the person sleeping in the chair next to the bed.
"Rebecca?" The sound of Edwards voice steadied Rebecca through the pain. She opened her eyes trying to focus the blurry image before her. "Come on, open your eyes. It's Edward." Edward leaned in closer until he could see she had focused on his face. He gently ran his fingers through Rebecca's sweat dampened hair. The fever she had been running still holding her firmly in its grasp.
"Edward? Where am I?" Edward kissed her softly on the forehead in relief. The doctor hadn't been sure she would wake up due to the blood loss. Half the battle was won now that she was awake. Now they just had to get her fever down and on the road to recovery. Tears fell from Edwards eyes as relief began to spread through him.
"You're in the hospital. They had to life flight Jane and you here. It's been touch and go for you young lady!" Rebecca could see the worry on Edwards face, but she was having a real hard time staying awake.
"Water." Rebecca croaked as her voice cracked from dryness. Edward gave Rebecca a few ice chips. He hated seeing her struggle like this. Rebecca's eyes fluttered shut as Edward heard the door to the room open. Maura poked her head inside seeing Edward near Rebecca's bed.
"Hey, how is she?" Maura walked up as Edward sat back exhaustion clearly evident on his face.
"She woke up just a few minutes ago. She had a few ice chips and spoke a little. Doctors are worried about the fever. She has an infection from the whipping." Maura placed a hand on Edwards shoulder to reassure the man. She then walked over near the bed to check on the women. The fever was definitely a bad one as Rebecca was flush and sweat beaded across her forehead.
The nurse came in through the door. "She woke briefly miss." Edward said softly. The nurse smiled at Edward and nodded. "That is good to hear. I will let the doctor know." She checked Rebecca's pulse, blood pressure, and then temperature the last causing a frown. She stepped out briefly and returned injecting the IV with two different vials of medication.
"She is going to be asleep for a while sir and mam. Why don't you both get something to eat? Doctor Isles, I know your friend will be sleeping for a while too. Both of you go get something to eat. If there are any changes I will send someone down to get you from the cafeteria." The nurse carefully moved Rebecca now that she could be sure she was out with the drug she had just given her. She bathed her brow, face, and neck with a damp cool cloth. Edward was reluctant to leave, but Maura encouraged him.
"Come on. We need to eat to keep our strength up for them. We won't do them any good if we end up in the beds next to them." Edward took one last look and followed Maura. Edward walked down the hall beside Maura. "So tell me about Rebecca. I bet you have some interesting stories." Edward broke into a smile for the first time.
"Yeah, yeah I do." He said as he took hold of Maura's arm and placed it in his. "I haven't had a chance to thank you and Jane for the words to Rebecca. I think it might have been the push she has needed. How is Jane doing?" Edward gazed on the exhausted doctor as he walked with her to the elevator.
"A little worse for ware, but she will recover. It was close though. The doctor told us that had it been four centimeters to the left her heart would have stopped. She has lost use of her left arm, but the doctor thinks it's temporary." The two stepped into the elevator. Maura removed her arm from Edwards and began scrubbing her face with her hands and then ran them through her hair. "If Jane isn't scaring me to death she's driving me ever loving crazy." Edward pulled the ME into a hug. Maura sighed and relaxed. The two separated before the doors opened and stepped out. They entered the cafeteria. Korsak waved to them. He was already seated and eating dinner. Maura and Edward picked out their food, paid for it, and joined him. For a while they all sat silently and ate.
"Okay, I can't stand it. That was the stupidest plan I have ever seen!" Korsak said a little too loudly causing the other diners to look their way. Edward looked up and for a minute Maura thought he would jump over the table at Korsak. Then he set his fork down and sighed deeply.
"Yep. The worst part is that these plans have been happening for years. Rebecca used to have no one to trust. Now she has me and several of the other boys on the ranch. But it hasn't always been easy." Edward took a long drink of his coffee as Maura chewed silently on her salad.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. The plan was good. There wasn't much wiggle room in it though." Korsak sighed and placed his fork on his plate.
"No, I think both Jane and Maura have a propensity for running head long into trouble. It's probably why they are friends." Maura said softly chuckling. "Have I ever told you the story about Jane and the mouse?" Korsak shook his head as he leaned forward. Edward's eyes lit up with curiosity. "Jane is so brave. I would have thought there was nothing that could scare her. Yet, one day after work we were to meet up at her place for Pizza and movies. Well, I got there right on time. I knocked and knocked. Jane didn't come to open the door. I heard a scream and quickly found my keys. I opened the door and there on the top of her kitchen counter was Jane. Over on the floor near the refrigerator was a brown and white mouse. Jane was shaking. The mouse was shaking and scurrying in circles." Maura chuckled remembering the scene very clearly. "I walked over and picked him up by the tail. Just as I was walking toward the door past Jane the mouse did some type of move and I lost my grip. It landed on Jane's lap. Jane jumped half way across the room dancing all over trying to get the mouse off. The poor creature fell to the floor stunned for a moment and then ran out Jane's front door which I had left open." Both men were laughing huge guffaws of laughter. "I don't know who was more traumatized the mouse or Jane!" Several nearby tables were smiling after listening in to the conversation.
"I have one better for you. Rebecca when she first moved down here didn't know anything about wild hogs. We had a sounder move onto the ranch that we needed to get rid of right away."
"What's a sounder?" Maura asked curiously.
"It's the name for a herd of pigs." Maura and Korsak nodded. "Wild Hogs are mean and dangerous. They are a rancher's worst nightmare because they tear up the land and can cause the cattle harm through disease or breaking their legs from the holes they create. Once on ranch land the only way to get rid of them is to shoot them. Well, we were out hunting them one night. Rebecca had found where they came down to a waterhole. She and the boys had killed all but one. He had high tailed it out of there when the sows were dropping. Rebecca and one of the men took off after it on foot. Now if ya know anything about wild hogs when they are cornered they will fight to the death. Well, Rebecca and the man who went with her came running around a blind corner right into a four hundred pound wild hog. Rebecca told me the man with her took one look at it and took off the way they had come. Rebecca said she would be damned if a stupid hog was gonna scare her off. She never did tell me all the story, but we found her an hour later lying flat on her back in a thorn patch. The hog was nowhere to be seen. Not only did Rebecca have thorns on her backside everywhere, but she had these teeth marks along her ankle from the beast." Maura and Korsak were shaking their heads. Just trying to imagine the courage it took to face down that size of a beast. "Later she told me she had taken off running when it came at her. She had tripped and it got her. She kicked it in the face and took off running again jumping straight into the thorn patch." Maura and Korsak winced at this particular fact. "She had to get rabies shot for the bite. But the worst part was taking the thorns out. Ya see, she decided to begin drinking before we started pulling them out to deaden the pain. Well, she was three sheets to the wind by the time we finished. She then decided to strip naked and ride a horse." Maura and Korsak started to snicker. "Only problem was it wasn't a horse. She had saddled one of the steers in the barn. We have video of her singing "I am a lonesome cowboy out on the range." It took us forever to get her off that damn steer." Maura and Korsak were laughing hard. All three shook their heads and continued on with stories they knew about the two women. Maura and Korsak saw a little more of why Edward and Rebecca went well together. They also could see why Jane and Rebecca had become friends in the worst of circumstances.
As the friends spoke, no one saw a young man in a florist uniform get on an elevator with a dozen roses in his hand hidden inside the bouquet a very special gift for one Rebecca Anderson.