Shane had hesitated as he reached the door of the staff lounge, but he had followed the others inside. Once through the door, he leaned back against a wall and watched as Kayla helped Steve settle into a chair. He smiled up at her as she fawned over him. John and Isabella talked quietly in a corner. John smiled and placed his good hand on her abdomen. Bo had taken a spot on the far side of the lounge, but was pacing back and forth.
It all just reinforced that Kim was not there, which made Shane even more agitated. Even though they were the only ones in the lounge at the moment, it felt too crowded, too claustrophobic. He needed to get out of there.
Making his way through the door, Shane looked around the hospital floor, but he didn't really see any other place to go. There was a crowd of workers in the waiting area who were watching the latest news. Tom Horton was among them and Shane debated walking over, but he did not want to make small talk. So he just walked over to the nurse's station, leaned against it, and stared at the hospital doors, willing Kim to come bursting through.
Alice Horton had a couple of volunteers serving coffee. One of the women in a striped apron began to carry a cup over to Shane, but she stopped short when she saw his face. She scowled, turned back and walked over to Alice. They had a whispered exchanged for a moment, before Alice rolled her eyes, took the cup from the other woman, and carried it over to Shane herself.
"I'm sorry about that, Shane," she said. "Not everyone in Salem knows you like we do."
So the woman saw the notorious traitor and had refused to serve him. "It's okay," he said. "I understand." Silently, to himself, he added, That will change soon enough.
Alice gave him a sympathetic smile and patted his arm, before heading back to the group in front of the television. Alone again, Shane sipped at his coffee and stared at the door some more. Finally deciding that was fruitless, he decided to join the group at the television, though he gave a wide berth to the volunteer who continued to give him nervous glances.
On the screen, a reporter was reporting from in front of Salem Elementary, but she mainly said that authorities were tight-lipped about what had happened there. All they would confirm is that it was related to the attack at the Spectator and that the situation was under control. Behind her, Shane spotted several men in HazMat suits.
The camera switched to the news studio where Jennifer Devereaux and her co-anchor were seated. Jennifer announced that the planned press conference between the ISA and Salem P.D. had been cancelled without explanation.
"What do you think that's all about?" John asked, his voice coming from so close behind Shane that he nearly jumped. He had been so focused on the news that he had not heard John come close. He had not even realized John had left the staff lounge.
Shane shook his head. "I don't know." He tried to stop his mind from spinning out possible scenarios. More toxin. Did Lawrence have a back-up plan in case his plans at the refinery were thwarted? Was there something wrong with the removal of the toxin at the school?
He decided neither of those were likely. If there was concern about more toxin, the ISA and Salem P.D. would have had the hospital on high alert. Right now, the only people in the vicinity of the emergency room were the members of the Brady family and members of the hospital staff who were unable to leave because of the lockdown order. At the moment, Neil was at the nurse's desk, arguing with an agent that Shane recognized as one of Tarrington's assistants.
"These people have families to get home to!" Neil yelled, slamming a stack of charts onto the counter. "You can't keep-"
Shane moved quickly to intervene. He took Neil's arm and pulled him to the side. John followed closely.
"There's no point getting yourself arrested," Shane said in a low voice. He motioned to the staff lounge. "There's nothing you'll accomplish by arguing."
Neil began to protest, but he finally just grimaced and nodded. They walked to the lounge and went back inside. Steve and Kayla looked up from their seats.
"Any word?" Kayla asked.
"Nope," John said. He looked at Shane, who gave a quick summary of the news report.
Steve scowled. "You don't think Roman ran into trouble, do you?"
"Just the ISA kind," came Roman's voice as the lounge door opened. Everyone spun around to see Roman just outside the room. He stepped aside and Kim entered.
She seemed to freeze for a moment when she saw Shane. Their eyes met and he felt a stab of guilt as he saw hers fill with grateful tears. She rushed forward, but stopped as she got a close look at his bruised faced. She reached up and brushed his cheek as if testing to see if it hurt. He managed not to wince and gave her a small smile back.
Kim let out a loud sob, threw her arms around him, and buried her head against his chest.
Shane held her nearly as tight. He tried to speak, but his words caught in his throat and he just held her. He felt the fear and tension leave her body as she sagged against him.
Finding his voice, he breathed, "It's okay, Kim. I'm okay. We're all okay."
"I was so scared," she said. "When I heard Lawrence-"
"Shhhh. . . ." Shane pulled back and lifted his index finger to her lips. "Don't. It's over and I'm okay. . . ." He took a deep breath and looked into her eyes, which were shining through the wetness of her tears. "And I'm never going to do that to you again, Kim. Do you understand me? I was a fool for going after Lawrence like that and . . . and I could have lost everything that mattered. I was a fool."
Kim shook her head. "No, you weren't. It worked," she said. "Your plan worked. You stopped Lawrence, Shane. Like you planned. Now we just have to tell the world that it was all because of you."
"Hardly 'all,'" Shane said. He started to turn and was about to point out that the others in the room had probably done more than him, but then he realized everyone in the room was watching them.
Shane thought the temperature in the room suddenly shot up as Steve grinned broadly and said, "Hey, you kids, don't mind us."
Taking it in good stride, Shane waited for everyone to finish snickering. Then he grew somber. "I do mean it. When I planned this, it was just going to be me on the line. I never expected to get you all involved. . . ."
Steve snorted. "Yeah, well, you must not have noticed what family you married into."
"Well, I still thank you," Shane said. He glanced around, looking at Steve, Kayla, and John. As he looked at Roman, he nodded. "All of you."
Roman shrugged. "I don't know what for. I didn't do anything." He turned to John. "Did you do anything?"
"Nope," John replied, then looked at Shane. "I don't know what you're talking about, partner. Steve?" John called out, though he didn't look away from Shane.
Shane felt Kim squeeze his arm and he began to nod his head slowly and appreciatively.
"Not a stinkin' clue," Steve called out. "I think that gas Shane got hit with maybe took out a few more brain cells than we thought."
Kim's fingers dug into his arms. He turned and saw the fear again in her eyes.
"I'm okay," Shane said. "We've got the antidote. Everything at the school worked out, right?" He looked at Roman, who nodded back.
"Marais is dead, and he never managed to release the gas." Roman smiled a little. "That's really Kimmie's doing. She pulled the plug on it - quite gracefully, I might add."
Shane was a bit befuddled, and he glanced down at Kim, who was blushing. She looked sheepishly at Shane.
"Gracefully falling off a toilet bowl onto my behind," she explained.
"Don't let my sis sell herself short," Roman said. "She ripped apart the device Ivan Marais was going to use to pump the toxin into a vent." He must have caught wind of the glare that Kim suddenly gave him and quickly backpedaled. "I mean, nothing. She didn't do a thing."
Shane smiled at Kim. "I guess I owe you too."
"Not a thing," she said softly.
Sounding exasperated, Steve called out from where he was sitting. "Look, dude, stop arguing about it. You're taking credit, because you deserve it. You figured out what Lawrence was gonna do and you figured out how to stop it. And we're going to tell the world it was all part of the ISA's plan. So now that we've got the Salem Police Commissioner with us, why don't we head on out and start telling the story so we can keep your sorry English mug out of jail?"
"Steve!" Kayla said, half-laughing, half-scolding him for his tone.
Meanwhile, Kim tugged on Shane's arm. "Steve is right though. Shane, you have to take the credit. That was the whole point. Because they couldn't admit that one man could stop Lawrence when the ISA couldn't, they would have to admit you're still working for them and that would mean they would have to drop the charges." She looked at him, her eyes shining brightly. "It's going to work, Shane. I know it is. That's how it's going to work."
From behind him, before Shane could respond, another voice spoke. "No, I don't think that's quite how it's going to work."