Chapter Eight

"How long will you be gone?" Jaime asked sullenly as she watched Steve pack.

"Couple of days...I think." Steve had a hard time looking at her. Two days ago, Rudy had tuned down Jaime's bionics and he knew she felt vulnerable. Hell, at 25 weeks, with her ever-more-prominent tummy bulge...she was vulnerable! "It's just a routine assignment – nothing serious. I'll be home before you know it."

"I'll miss you," Jaime said, very softly. "And so will Edgar."

Steve kissed his wife...and her belly, then turned around in the doorway for one more look. Somehow, they both managed a smile and then he was gone. Jaime stared at the door and listened as his car went down the driveway. The baby kicked toward her ribcage – its strongest movement yet - and Jaime ran her hands gently over the bulge.

"I'll bet you're hungry. I know I am. Tell ya what – I'll have a banana split for both of us. And maybe some pizza...."

---

"First time I haven't seen your husband here for your check-up," Doctor Jeffries noted the next morning.

"He's working," Rudy answered for Jaime (who was lying prone on the exam table with her belly exposed). "He's expected back tomorrow night."

"Well, your baby's heartbeat sounds good and strong. Would you like to hear it?" Jaime nodded, and Jeffries placed the stethoscope to her ears.

"What a beautiful sound..." Jaime marveled, tears in her eyes.

"Everything looks good, Honey," Rudy told her. "Right on schedule and perfectly healthy." The lab phone rang and then the intercom buzzed.

"Oscar for you," Lynda announced with a strange urgency to her voice.

Rudy picked up. "Oscar? I'm just finishing up with Jaime and then -" Rudy frowned. "What? When?" He glanced at Jaime who, with the stethoscope still in her ears, had thankfully been unable to overhear the news. "When will they be here? Alright – I'll have the team ready."

When he hung up, Rudy moved to Jaime's side and she knew by the darkness in his eyes that something was terribly wrong. "Rudy....?" she whispered.

Rudy took her hand. "Honey, it's Steve...he's been shot."

"No-o-o.....is he....dead?"

"He's alive. The medivac will be at Bethesda in an hour, and I hate to leave you but I have to get my team and the operating room ready for him." He looked to Doctor Jeffries. "Frank, you'll stay with her?"

"Of course."

Jaime swung her legs off of the exam table. "I wanna meet the chopper with you."

"No, Honey, that's not a good idea. We don't know what kind of shape he's in, and in your condition..."

"Please, Rudy....."

"Doctor Jeffries can take you over to the hospital – and you can wait in my office. I'll let you know the minute I learn anything more. I really have to go, Honey."

Jaime nodded miserably. The ride to Bethesda was short, but for Jaime it seemed to take forever.

---

Jaime sat in Rudy's office under Doctor Jeffries' watchful eyes, slumped over in her chair and rubbing her belly in a desperate search for comfort. It had been well over an hour and still there was no word from Rudy. She tried to tune out the normal hospital hubbub, straining to hear the sound of a chopper coming in, but there was too much to shut out, all blurring into one loud, wailing cacophony as it reached her ears.

Doctor Jeffries had offered her a mild tranquilizer, assuring her it wouldn't affect the baby, but Jaime had refused and so far, he hadn't pressed the issue. She remembered what Steve had said, only a couple of months ago, about how even the simplest mission could easily go bad and result in....this. It all seemed so heartbreakingly ironic now.

Oscar joined them silently, pulling a chair close to Jaime's and holding her hand in both of his, to brace her for whatever she might soon have to hear from Rudy.

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