Jeannie's your daughter.
That sounded like what Kim was saying, but Shane struggled to process the words. His mind seemed so cloudy that it was hard to think.
Jeannie's your daughter.
Slowly, in his mind's eye, he pictured the little girl - blonde like her mother, with the same searing green eyes. Now that the picture had formed, Shane tried to connect the rest of the dots.
Jeannie's my daughter.
Eventually, it registered. Shane did not know what to say. Wasn't it Kim who said she wasn't? Weren't there tests? But looking into Kim's eyes, Shane knew she was telling the truth. He was about to respond, but a loud voice stopped him.
"What? What the hell did you just say?"
That voice sounds familiar. Shane started to turn, but a sharp pain ripped through his chest as he began to move. He tried to take a deep breath to stop the pain, but that triggered what felt like a bunch of knives that lanced through his side and a heavy weight that prevented him from getting air.
"Hold still," Kim urged as he gasped for breath.
"What did you do to him?" the other woman cried. She raced forward. "Dad!"
Dad? It took Shane a moment to place the voice as the woman with long blond hair came into view. Eve? What's she doing here? Something in the back of his mind told him that Eve was not supposed to be here. Why am I so confused? Nothing makes sense.
Kim was still holding one of his hands, as she urged, "Shane, try to calm down. . . ." Shane looked back at her to see that she was looking across him at Eve. "Go get Marcus."
"Why should I?" Eve barked. "You're the one who's hurting him!"
Shane's gritted his teeth. The pain and that weight on his chest were still there, but the pain was lessening. "No . . . it's okay."
"It's not okay," Eve said. "She shouldn't be here, Dad. She's the reason you're in here."
"No. . . ." Shane wanted Kim to stay. He needed to understand.
Eve shook her head. "I'm not going to let her do this," she snapped. "Don't listen to her. She's lying. Now she's going to try to convince you that Cal's brat is yours."
"That's not true," Kim protested. "Neil-"
"Neil's like everyone else in this place. He'll say whatever you want him to. Dad, it-"
Her outburst was cut short by another voice. "Enough," yelled Marcus from the doorway. "Everyone, get out right now." As Eve started to argue some more, Marcus stepped forward. "Get out or I'll get an orderly to carry you out."
That seemed to work. Eve stalked out. Before she followed, Kim leaned over Shane's bed.
"I'll be right outside," she said. "I'm not going anywhere."
Shane watched her leave, as his mind tried to process everything that had happened. He had been shot. Kim was safe. Jeannie was his daughter. Eve was here. It was almost all too overwhelming for his foggy brain.
As Shane thought, Marcus came forward. "I'm sorry about that.. That shouldn't have happened." He shook his head, pulled out a light, and looked down at Shane. "I want to look you over right now, but I'm sure you have some questions."
Where do I start? Shane wondered. He closed his eyes.
"Whoa," Marcus said. "Try to stay awake for me, just for a few minutes."
"'s okay," Shane said, opening his eyes again. "Thinking. . . . Kim said . . . shot."
Marcus nodded. "That's right. Do you remember that?"
In the recesses of his mind, Shane had a dim picture of being in a room with two men. One had a gun and the other was talking. He could hear Steve's voice and see the other man - Cal - squeezing the trigger. And then there was a lot of movement and noise as Shane had moved and fired.
"I remember," Shane said slowly.
Marcus smiled. "That's good." He leaned over and shone the light in Shane's eyes, letting go only after Shane flinched and tried to move away. That caused another shooting pain through Shane's chest and he tried to take some quick breaths - shallow because that was all he could manage - to ride out the pain.
"I know it hurts," Marcus said. He walked over to the IV drip and fiddled with the controls. "I'm upping the pain medication now that you're awake, but we had to go a little easy because we didn't want to compromise your respiratory system. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
No, Shane had to admit. He had no clue what Marcus was talking about really. He just shook his head.
"The bullet hit one of your lungs, and we had no choice but to remove a part of it." Marcus' tone was very serious. "And when you were brought in, we had to do what's called a sternectomy. That meant we had to cut through the bone right here. . . ." He motioned down the front of Shane's chest. "The procedure also broke some of your ribs."
That explained a lot. ". . . why I can't breathe?"
Marcus nodded. "We had to bind your ribs pretty tightly. . . . Now lay still and let me check some more things."
For the next few minutes, Marcus tested Shane's motor skills and reactions. A few times, Shane felt confused and slow, but Marcus just kept running through his tests.
"Okay . . . squeeze my hand," Marcus ordered. Shane had to wonder if Marcus could even feel the weak pressure, but the doctor said, "Good."
"So . . . will I . . . live, Doc?" Shane asked weakly, trying to joke.
Marcus did not seem to appreciate the humor. "It's not funny, Shane. You're extremely lucky to be alive. Your heart stopped, you suffered massive blood loss, and you've been in a coma for a week." He let that sink in before he spoke again. "I think at least we can rule out any brain damage. Some of your reactions are slow, but I think that's from the drugs, nothing else."
That got through the fog in Shane's brain. For the first time, it hit him that he had nearly died and he was only alive because of the doctors. Slowly, he said, "Thank you."
Marcus smiled. "You've saved my life before, so I guess we'll just call it even. But the person you really need to thank is Kayla. If not for her being there when you were shot, you wouldn't have made it to the hospital."
In the dim memories, Shane remembered hearing Kayla's voice. He also had a sense that he had said something to her. The specifics eluded him, but he was sure it had been something about Kim. He tried to tell Marcus to thank Kayla, but, this time, Shane could not manage the words. The pain medication must have been kicking in, because the room was growing cloudy and his eyelids felt heavy.
"Okay, I'm done," Marcus said in a voice that sounded very far away. "You get some rest. I'm not going to lie to you. You're facing a long recovery and. . . ." Marcus had more to say, but he stopped when he realized that Shane was unconscious once more.