Chapter 12

John reached over Elise and grabbed the IV tubing pinching it off, then as Greg depressed the plunger on the syringe in his hand anyway John yanked the tubing out of Elise's arm and with the tubing still folded over and pinched in his hand John gave Greg a good shove away from his wife.

As Greg was knocked off balance into the door frame Alice came into view, "What's going on here?"

"He put something into Elise's IV," John answered shoving the folded over section of IV tubing into the Nurse's hand and moving toward the evil brother-in –law.

"But he's a doctor," Alice exclaimed in confusion.

As Greg was regaining his balance and starting to run John managed to dive at his feet and pull one of them out from under him then as if he were taming a runaway fire hose he proceeded to climb his way higher on his target and managed to pull him down to the floor as alarms sounded from the room behind him.

John managed to pull Greg's arm behind him and with his knee in the middle of Greg's back John looked into the room where the nurse was holding pressure where John had pulled the IV and was trying to calm the now awake and frightened Elise. John took a good look at the monitor over his wife's head and saw that her heart rate was extremely fast but she was still in a stable sinus rhythm. He sighed as he panted; Elise was just frightened she'd be all right.

"No, he's no doctor," John finally responded to the nurse in his wife's room, "He's just a nurse and a questionable one at that, from Montana."

Doctors started responding to the alarms stepping around the two men on the floor to get to the patient. Dr. Early recognized the man Johnny had pinned to the floor from the court room fight. "What happened Johnny?"

"He put something in her IV, I pinched it off and pulled it as fast as I could so I don't think anything got into her system but I can't be sure," Johnny responded.

"Do you have any idea what it was?" Joe asked,

Johnny could just shake his head before he started searching his captive's pockets for an answer to the good doctor's question. He found none.

John so wanted to twist the man's arm tighter and tighter and even rip it from his body and throw it across the room, but he refrained. He also refrained from responding to Greg's statement that he'd never let him have her. But with that statement he feared even more what was in the syringe.

Fortunately Security arrived quickly and hand cuffs were placed on the captive and he was moved into the hall way with a guard holding each arm, while they waited for further instructions.

As soon as John was relieved of Greg he hurried back to his wife and when he was given the go ahead nod from Dr. Early he took her in his arms and used every skill he knew to calm her down.

A clamp was added to the IV tubing and the bag was sent to the lab to be analyzed. While Greg was taken to a lock up unit to await the local police coming to pick him up. Since he refused to divulge what was in the syringe the current charge was attempted murder until they figured out what he put in the IV.

Once Elise was calmed down her doctors did a complete evaluation of her and it was determined that she should be moved from CCU, she was really doing better than they had expected she would. Once she was settled in her step down room and John was sure she was calm he talked to her about visiting with her sisters.

For security reasons and with the Doctors approval it was agreed that they would meet the sisters in a waiting room on another floor. Since they were trying to keep Elise's room number a secret to avoid further incidences.

John went ahead to make sure there was no anger over Greg being arrested and he found that Joan had joined her sisters Pat and Vanessa. Feeling they were all calm, in fact John wondered if they knew about Greg's predicament, John approved the addition and went to get Elise. A nurse accompanied them and pushed the wheel chair as John walked beside and held Elise's hand and then they stopped just a few yards from the door to the waiting room and John helped Elise to her feet and offered her his elbow for the last bit of the journey. It was clear that Elise's sisters never dreamed she would be walking on her own two feet so soon after surgery.

"You look great sis," Vanessa was on her feet without stretched arms, "You're so pink," she took Elise's hands in hers, "your hands are warm."

"The procedure really worked," Patricia said with awe, then turning to John, "what's going to happen now?"

John allowed Elise to answer that question because part of the reason for this meeting was to convince her sisters that she was still aware of what was going on around her and able to choose what was going to happen to her.

"We're going to flush the rest of the drugs out of my system and then try some different anti-seizure medicines and then in about 6 to 8 weeks we'll look at getting the chunk out of my skull." Elise said mater of factly as John insisted she sit down in one of the chairs.

After several more questions were asked and answered there was a moment of silence when Joanie spoke very softly.

"We should have listened to you and done what you wanted. You were just always so out of it, and you're such a dare devil we believed that was your way of ending it all because you couldn't face your condition."

"I understand, I know you thought you were doing what was best for me but your weren't, I'm sorry that I had to hurt you by running away the way I did but I had to take control of my life back and I have no regrets for what I did except that I hurt you in the process."

"Yeah, but you didn't have to get married like you did," Vanessa challenged.

"Yeah," Patricia added.

"You're right I didn't have to get married like I did but," Elise reached over and took John's hand and gave him a tender smile, "I'm glad I did, I can promise you that I've never been happier."

"But you could have waited and let us throw you a proper wedding." Joanie offered in her quiet, almost shy, voice.

"Joanie, you and I would have strangled each other long before we came to an agreement on what a proper wedding was, then after we were both black and blue I'd have run off and eloped anyway." Elise smiled at her sister in an effort to make her words a joke.

"Are you trying to tell me that you would have insisted on that stupid Indian blanket ceremony?" Joanie's voice was starting to rise. "What is it with you and those heathen rituals any way?"

Both Patricia and Vanessa started to try and hush their sister adding glances and nods in Johnny's direction.

"Those Heathen rituals as you call them have a lot of symbolism in them that I find peaceful and enlightening." Elise started talking out of embarrassment of her sister's statements in front of her husband. "I love the way their culture embraces nature and works to preserve it and I've chosen to participate in the best parts of both worlds."

As Elise was giving her explanation Joanie was realizing what her sisters were trying to tell her and her eyes were growing wide and she rose to her feet letting her anger explode.

"He's a, , A, YOU MARRIED AND INDIAN, ONE OF THOSE MONGSTERS THAT LEFT MY HUSBAND A MEAR SHADOW OF WHAT HE ONCE WAS!"

"No I married John Roderick Gage a man I love and who makes me happy when I'm with him, if you can't accept that because of his heritage then I'm sorry but it won't change the fact that I love him and have chosen to spend my life with him."

Elise pushed herself to her feet and faced her angry sister. "What you fail to understand is that it is the reckless use of alcohol that led to your husband's accident not the heritage of the person doing the drinking. It was drunk white man that killed Uncle Jack on his way home from visiting Aunt Karen's gravesite, It was a drunk Latino that killed Dr. Miller while he was out jogging to deal with the death of his own premature twins. And our own father was drunk when he wrecked his truck and killed himself coming home from his brother's funeral. This conversation is over."

Elise abruptly turned toward the door but only took a single step before she was grabbing for the back of a chair to steady herself.

"Nurse!" John was quickly scooping her off her feet and as soon as the nurse pushed the wheelchair through the door he sat Elise down in it and as the nurse took one wrist to check a pulse John took hold of the other one to do the same.

"I'm alright now," Elise whispered to John and her nurse, "I think I just turned too fast."

"We better get her back to her room and get a set of vitals on her," the nurse advised and John just responded with a nod and helped her wheel Elise to the door before turning back to his sisters-in-law.

"I'm sorry that you don't approve of who I am and who my parents were but I'm Elise's family now and I won't let her be upset like this again." With that said John turned and jogged toward the elevator to catch up with his wife and her nurse. He was grateful for a full elevator and that they stopped at every floor. He just hoped that was enough to keep her sister's from finding out where her room was.

"I'm sorry you had to hear that," Elise mumbled through her tears once they got out on her floor.

"Hay don't worry about it," John tried to calm his bride, "I've heard a lot worse."

"That doesn't make it right," Elise responded then reached for her husband's hand and held it between her ear and shoulder as they rolled her back to her room where John picked her up from the wheelchair and placed her in the bed while the nurse gathered supplies to get a set of vitals.

John then pulled her covers over her and sat on the edge of the bed giving her a kiss on the forehead. "I know that you love me for all my faults and who I am, I don't care what anyone else thinks of me so don't let them get to you." John then pulled her close and let her shed the rest of her tears into his shoulder and when the nurse returned she was much calmer and composed.

As soon as the nurse was finished charting the vitals Elise suffered a seizure and John was fast to reach for the bite block taped to the head of the bed and get it in her mouth to keep her from biting her tongue. The seizure only lasted about 45 seconds but John was more determined than ever to keep her sisters away from her until they learned to accept her choices in life.

After the seizure was over Elise opened her eyes but remained groggy as she often did after a seizure, "I did it again didn't I?"

"Yeah, but don't let it get to you. We'll start dealing with that once we get you on your feet again." John smiled as he brushed her hair away from her scar and held his hand at the side of her face. "You look like you need a little nap. You don't want the doctor to order a sedative for you now do you?"

Elise shook her head, she knew he was right but she didn't want him to leave. "I've often wished I'd stayed after that mountain rescue class we took together," Elise offered as she reached up and took hold of his hand at the side of her face and allowed her eyes to drift closed.

As John moved to the chair at the side of the bed and watched his wife sleep he thought back on the Mountain rescue class they had taken. He again remembered how disappointed he had been when he found they were going to be joined by a doctor and a local sheriff from her area. But as it turned out the Doctor and the Sheriff teamed up and that left Elise as John's team mate. The instructor had taught them how to tie what he called a diaper sling instead of the utility belts that John was used to so in the early part of the class John was just as much learning as the rest of them. When Elise started to back off the cliff the first time she took one look down and got cold feet.

"Never mind, whoever's down there can get their own self back up," Elise had stated and all John could do was smile. But after the rest of them had descended Elise gave it another try and with only a little hesitance made it to the bottom of the short 20 foot cliff.

"Well that was better than being lowered by people I don't know, in the dark to a small ledge with a car on it," Elise commented when she had both feet on solid ground.

"No wonder you splinted everything you could splint on that guy." The Doctor commented.

The group made several more descents and became more comfortable with the equipment and knots then began their hike back to the camp when they were caught in a sudden down poor. By the time they were all back in camp they were soaked to the bones the Sheriff and Doctor and their two instructors headed for a Van and John managed to pull Elise into his rover with him to get into some dry clothes.

John had been a gentleman and hung a blanket up behind the front seat to give Elise her privacy while she changed and he did the same but there was a need to get some heat into both of them because they were both in the early stages of hypothermia.

Once they were both in dry clothes John started to snuggle with Elise to use their body heat to help them get warm again and things were getting a little exciting when Elise held her hand up and pulled away from John. "Let's not go there. It's not a place I want to go for just a fling and I have to go back, I can't stay. I have to finish what I've started or all my work will be for nothing."

John understood, and with some effort was able to get his body under control. There had been a small stove in the van and the Instructors warmed up some soup and braving the weather with a rain poncho two mugs full were delivered to John and Elise just after night fall and then the two of them climbed into two separate sleeping bags and shared a blanket over the top of them to sleep for the night. When the sun rose the next morning there was a lot of mud but no more rain and John and Elise had cemented their relationship as good friends but nothing more.

At the end of the class John was able to arrange for all three of them to spend a day riding with a paramedic unit but to his further disappointment it was the Doctor who was assigned to ride with he and Roy.

Elise loved the experience and felt she had learned a lot that she would use back home. The Sheriff felt he had learned a lot also but wasn't as excited about using what he learned as Elise was. The Doctor managed to empty his stomach contents after a particularly bad accident with lots of blood but no fatalities and informed Dr. Brackett at the hospital that the rescue life was not for him. He'd be staying in the hospital waiting for someone else to bring the victims to him.

And to think Elise was hoping he'd take a run once in a while so that she wouldn't have to take them all.

The good-bye at the airport was the hardest for John. He didn't want her to go but he knew she was needed, He thought of joining her but there wasn't enough work for him to make a living where she was. He was needed and served a real service where he was. They had belonged in two different places then but now to his joy all that had changed. If only it hadn't taken something so drastic to make it change. He loved her and nothing would ever change that.