30.

When Avery opened her eyes again she was under a bright white light. She flinched and groaned. And realized that the boat wasn't moving. And then realized she was no longer in the boat. She was in a bed. At the hospital.

The light was situated on the wall above the bed. She fumbled for the call button attached to the railing of her hospital bed and managed to push the green button that would summon a nurse. She was alone. There was no noise except for the soft murmur of voices from the hallway.

She heard the door open so fast it hit the wall behind it. And then Mark was there, standing over her, looking at her with concern and worry on his face.

"Avery...darlin'..." He stumbled for words, gripping her hand in his, finally looking relieved when he saw her eyes were open and she was actually focusing on him.

"Light..." Avery managed to croak the word out. Mark understood her. He reached up and hit a switch and the buzzing fluorescent went dark. Avery sighed in relief. Now the light in the room came from the blinded window. It didn't make her head feel as if needles were being shoved into it.

"You scared me." Mark said softly, putting his hand against her face, kissing her lightly on the forehead, the cheek, then the lips.

"Makes...two...us." She tried to get it out. It sounded funnier in her head. Which still hurt. She gingerly reached up and felt around but couldn't discern a bald spot. Just a very sore scalp.

"Sir, you're going to have to give us room to examine Ms. Landry." One of the nurses was trying to move Mark so they could get to Avery. He hesitated, just long enough for Avery to give him a slight nod. It was fine. They were fine.

He moved back and sat to watch as the doctor and nurse checked Avery over. They asked her a few questions, and she tried to answer but all of the diving and breath-holding and nearly choking on water had made her throat sore as hell. Avery figured it would take a little time.

"I think you're going to be fine." The doctor finally said. He looked from Avery to Mark and back again. "A few bruises. I'm a little worried about some water in the lungs, some exposure issues. We're going to keep you for a couple of days to make sure pneumonia doesn't get it's claws into you. Get some good antibiotics into you, keep you on IV fluids." The doctor trailed off. "You just need to get some rest."

Avery stopped trying to talk. Instead she whispered. "I was resting."

"Real rest." The doctor admonished. "Passing out from exhaustion isn't the same thing. We can't do any sedatives until we know..." But Avery was shaking her head.

"Don't need it." She whispiered it again. "Can I get a drink?" She barely got the words out before Mark was pouring a cup of water from a pitcher by her bed. The doctor excused him and left them alone. Mark helped guide a straw to her mouth and let her take a drink before pulling it away.

"Not too much. You might make yourself sick."

Avery nodded and rested back against the pillow, feeling him wrap her hand in his again. It felt nice. Warm. She was still sleepy. But actual sleepy this time, not edge of dead sleepy. She slipped away again.

A few hours later waking up was a bit easier. Her throat still hurt, and she couldn't seem to stop the cough that had developed, but at least her head had stopped pouding. With Mark's help she sat up in the adjustable hospital bed and drank more water. She could talk a bit more, but kept her voice low. It hurt to use a regular tone.

Sargeant Rogers made an appearance that time. Mark still sat protectfully in the room with her while the other man pulled up a chair from the empty half of the double room.

"Ms. Landry..."

"Avery." She corrected him before he could get going.

Rogers smiled. "Avery. Damn glad to see you're all right. Had us all worried."

"Tougher than I look." She whispered, feeling Mark squeeze her hand.

"You don't have to tell me. I can see that. Just wanted to update you on a couple of things. We're going to need your statement eventually but that can wait." He shifted uncomfortably on the chair. It was way too small for him. "The state trooper that accompanied you to your father's house is going to be fine. Bullet caught his shoulder. He called in a suspicious vehicle when he was doing his walk-through, which alerted us. Heard a gunshot, returened fire. Bullet was through and through. Minimal damage. Cooper is resting down the hall."

Avery snickered at that. It turned into a cough.

"Easy." Mark said, patting her on the back. "What's funny?"

"I just realized. Trooper Cooper." She coughed again, trying not to laugh. She was still tired. It just struck her as funny. Plus she didn't like the way Rogers was hesitating. It meant he had bad news somewhere. And she already knew what it was and did not want to hear it. She wasn't ready.

Rogers was smiling but it was tinged with sorry. He waited until Avery took another drink of water and got herself under control.

"We located Walls's vehicle. The one Cooper called in." Again the smile. Avery only looked back at him, the picture of seriousness. "We found your father's body in the car. He'd been shot."

Avery nodded. Of course she had known. Walls had meant to use her dad's house to torture her, Mark. It wasn't like he'd let Ted live to move back in when it was over. At least he hadn't suffered. Or drowned. Ted had just been in the way. Collateral damage. Avery fought back tears at that. The man she had modeled her entire life after was gone. Both parents in less than a month. She sniffled and felt Mark press a tissue into her hand. He'd been characteristically quiet, just a steady presense at her side. She needed it. She had come to rely on him in so little time it was crazy.

Avery wiped her eyes and sniffled again. Rogers gave her a minute to compose herself.

"Dredged up Walls. This morning. You fucked him up. Pardon the language."

Avery waved that off. She could barely remember what exactly she'd done. Hit him with a rock, yes. That was clear enough.

"Broken wrist. Dislocated jaw. Gash on his temple -" Rogers pointed to his own head. "If he hadn't died in the water he would have died anyway. You bashed him hard enough to rupture the artery. He was bleeding into his brain." He didn't sound accusing. He sounded impressed.

Avery had a moment to wonder about that. She had done that? It had felt as if she'd barely tapped him, both with the bat and the rock. There was something to be said for adrenaline.

"Unofficially...you did good." Rogers said softly. "Better than some of my troopers would have handled it. Officially, given what we're finding out from the deputies that were involved, you aren't going to be charged. Matter of fact, I'm ready to keep your name out of it all together. No reason to hassle you with press when you need to heal up."

Avery was grateful but it seemed unnecessary. Someone would find out. In their town, someone always did.

Rogers left. Nurses came and went. Avery and Mark didn't talk much. Not at first. It didn't seem necessary. He kept hold of her hand. That was enough for her. It wasn't until after dinner – which for her meant a bowl of semi-warm soup – that she decided the quiet was getting on her nerves.

"You're going to miss the reunion." Avery pointed out, keeping her voice low. The soreness was fading but it still hurt to talk much above a whisper. Plus it made her cough.

Mark smiled at that. "I already told you, this was the only reunion I gave a damn about."

"He tried to get me to lure you out there." Her quiet statement wiped the smile off his face. "He really did hate you. He tried to say you were the one that killed your mother."

That seemed to surprise Mark. "Why?"

"To rattle me." Avery shrugged her shoulders. "He didn't tell me anything else. No reason why they were killing people. I half expected some kind of evil plan." She huffed instead of laughing. "I watch too many movies."

"We think he was just mad that I crashed his party." Mark said softly. He brought Avery's hand up to his lips and kissed the back of it. "The deputies are still talkin'. Tryin' to save their own asses. Said they did have an initiation kind of thing going on. Killin' transients. Makin' it look like suicides, accidents, drownings. They had a few rackets goin'. Illegal gamblin'. Prostitution. Drugs. They had a hand in everything." He heaved a deep sigh. "You're gonna be seein' a lot of troopers around town for a while. And Rogers is gonna be runnin' things, at least until they can figure out what to do about replacin' the sheriff. But that'll wait until they see how far this shit goes. There were a lot of people involved, a lot of moving parts. And they kept it quiet for so long."

"Small town." Avery said softly. "People know your business but outsiders don't. And people keep secrets." She coughed a little, waving off his offer of water. "I'm fine. It's not as bad as it was."

"I almost lost you." Mark brushed her hair back from her face.

"Almost." Avery admitted. It had been close. Too close. She didn't even want to think about it. "Can you call Jack? I want to see Emily."

"They'll be here in the mornin'." Mark soothed her. "We've been talkin'."

"You and Jack?" Avery asked, not really surprised. They would be discussing the case she supposed.

"Yeah. And me and Emily. Your kid is somethin' else. Reminds me of you. Got a lot of fire in her."

Avery scoffed at that. "Me?"

"Even after this, you're still doubtin' how amazin' you are." Mark shook his head. But he was smiling again. "I'm gonna work on fixin' that."

"If you say so." Avery sighed and leaned her head back against the pillow. She was worn out again. And hurting. But it was a dull ache. She wanted to go home and sleep in her own bed. And try to put all of this craziness behind her.