Disclaimer: Do I really need to say it again?
A/N: Thanks everyone for taking such interest in this story! I really wasn't expecting such a great response. This chapter is a bit shorter than the last two, but a needed one.
Pride looked Brody over from where he stood at the foot of her hospital bed. There was a bandage around her neck, an oxygen mask over her nose and mouth, and the customary IV in her arm. She wasn't moving and looked unnaturally pale. It was only the slow rise and fall of her chest that gave him any indication that she was even still breathing. The steady beep of her heart monitor was the most reassurance he had at the moment though.
"She doesn't look all that good, does she?" LaSalle said from beside him.
"She's a fighter."
The door of the room opened, admitting a middle aged woman wearing a lab coat over the usual blue surgeon attire. She looked up from the file in her hands upon entering and smiled warmly at them. "Agents Pride and LaSalle I take it. I was told you wanted to speak with me. I'm Doctor Kaylan."
Pride shook her hand when she presented it, followed by LaSalle.
"How's the patient, doc?" LaSalle asked.
"I'll be honest," the doctor began. "She's lost a lot of blood. The knife nicked her liver and we had some internal bleeding to deal with."
"Her neck?" Pride asked, nodding to the bandage around Merri's throat.
"It looks like someone tried to cut her throat, but fortunately they must have been in a hurry. The laceration wasn't deep enough to cut any arteries or completely sever her larynx, but it did its fair share of damage all the same. We're giving her oxygen to take stress off the injury until she wakes up."
Pride nodded thoughtfully as he watched the pale, unmoving form of his agent. "She will wake up though?" When there was no immediate reply he looked back over at the doctor to see her watching Brody as well with a more serious expression than the one she'd entered with. "Doctor?"
"I can't say right now, Agent Pride. Blood loss and internal damage aren't things to take lightly."
The possibility of her not waking up wasn't something he wanted to focus on right at that moment. So instead he directed the conversation back to details for the case. "Was she coherent when she was brought in?" he asked. "Did she say anything about who attacked her?"
He knew Brody enough to know that, even if she was only partially coherent and experiencing a lot of pain, she would do her very best to give them clues. She'd try to do her job to the very end. It was one of the things he respected about her.
"She woke up briefly on the way into surgery," Doctor Kaylan answered. "She said your name, Agent Pride, followed by what sounded like 'mall train'. Does that mean anything to you?"
"Mall train?" LaSalle repeated.
"Keep in mind that she was very disoriented at the time."
Pride tried to find a connection, any connection, with the phrase, but came up empty. They could mull it over more back at the office though. There was still one last matter of business that should be taken care of, even though he hated having to even think about it.
He turned to face the doctor completely, turning so his back was to Merri's bed. He didn't particularly want to be looking at her when he asked the next question. It was, unfortunately, one that needed to be asked. For the investigation it needed to be done. "Were there any signs of sexual assault?"
The doctor shook her head and Pride felt a little bit of relief wash over him. From nearby he heard LaSalle release a long breath as if he'd been holding it. "No," she answered. "The only other injury, aside from what I've mentioned, was a bump on the back of her head. No concussion though. Just a bump and a rather large bruise."
"Thank you for your help, Doctor," he said after letting the information sink in for a moment. He held out his hand to shake hers again before leaving. "We'll be in touch. If she wakes up will you….
"Someone will call you immediately, Agent," she assured him with an understanding smile.
He didn't particularly want to leave Merri alone, especially since they had yet to prove if the attack had been personal or random, but if they were going to figure it out they'd have to get to work. The sooner they caught whoever had done this, the better. "Thank you. There will be a police officer posted outside her door. They should be arriving soon," he added while heading towards the door.
The doctor nodded as she watched them go. "I kind of figured there would."
He paused by the door and waited for LaSalle to catch up. As the younger agent shook the doctor's hand Pride took a moment to look back over at Brody. Having agents injured was a fact of life, but it certainly wasn't one he had to accept willingly. Once Chris walked past him and into the hall he gave the doctor one last parting nod and gave Meredith's unmoving form one last look over before leaving the room.