Chapter 27 – Like A Beautiful Dream
Heidi's eyes fluttered open and she was temporarily blinded by the bright fluorescent lights shining above her. A groan escaped her lips as she tried to use her right arm to shield her eyes. Upon lifting her arm, however, Heidi immediately saw and felt the stitches that were lining her forearm where there once was a long cut.
"How're you feeling?" a voice suddenly spoke to her out of the silence.
Heidi immediately sat up and her head flipped around in the direction of the voice and she immediately regretted doing so. Her head started spinning and she let out another groan as she surrendered herself to the soft pillows underneath her head immediately. Closing her eyes, Heidi started breathing slowly to try and stop her head from spinning.
"Whoah there," the voice half laughed as Heidi heard the person approach her bed "Take it easy there sweetheart."
Heidi opened one eye at a time slowly to let her eyes adjust to the fluorescent lights in the room once before her gaze fell upon Dena Roberts in front of her.
"How're you feeling?" Dena asked as she stood next to Heidi's bed and lifted the 18-year-old's left arm.
It was then that Heidi realized she had a drip in her left hand when Dena checked the pressure and flow of liquid into the drip coming from the bag of solution hanging from the drip stand next to Heidi's bed. Heidi's eyes caught Dena's long blonde ponytail as it swished with the nurse's movements.
"Really dizzy and woozy," Heidi replied softly, her throat dry like she had been screaming for hours.
"That's completely normal," Dena replied simply as she smiled "You passed out as soon as we got you into the ambulance, but we still had to put you under for the procedures we had to do."
"Like my forearm?" Heidi asked, her eyes drifting back to the long line of stitches she had been looking at before.
"Yes," Dena replied "And those stitches in your forehead."
Heidi sent the blonde nurse a quizzical look before she tentatively reached up with her right hand and fingered her forehead. She winced a little as her fingertips found the stitches that Dena had been talking about that were obviously trying to heal the forehead wound she'd inflicted on herself when she'd fallen out of the window. Heidi ran her fingers across each stitch individually counting them as she went. She counted 5 all up.
"Is it hurting at all right now?" Dena suddenly spoke, drawing Heidi out of her thoughts and causing the young Orton's fingers to withdraw from her forehead and her forearm to resume resting by her side on the bed.
"No," Heidi replied, slowly shaking her head in response.
"Well that means the morphine is working then," Dena replied as she pointed to the bag of solution attached to Heidi's drip.
"Where am I?" Heidi asked, not allowing a silence to fill the room as she changed the subject of conversation.
"You're in Sanford," Dena replied as she placed one of her hands on her hips, and used the other to put a stray strand of blonde hair behind her ear.
"Sanford?" Heidi asked, not really sure if she'd heard right "As in Sanford, North Carolina?"
"The same one," Dena replied simply.
"How did I end up here?" Heidi asked, not really sure if she was actually asking Dena or whether she was just mulling the question to herself out loud.
"I'm sorry honey, I don't know," Dena replied.
"I mean, last time I knew where I was I was in Kentucky," Heidi commented, her eyes drifting to rest on the ceiling "In Louisville."
"I know," Dena nodded "We're just as confused as you as to how you ended up in Sanford."
Dena had taken it upon herself to get out of Alle Dumas as much as she knew about her niece going missing after Heidi had been admitted into surgery. Heidi had passed out, from either exhaustion or blood loss, as soon as she had been put in the back of the ambulance. It was pure coincidence that Dena happened to be starting her night shift at the hospital a couple of hours later that night at the hospital and therefore had insisted on riding in the ambulance with Alle to make sure that Heidi was alright. As soon as the ambulance arrived at the hospital, Heidi was rushed into surgery with the first priority being to get her a blood transfusion in order to replenish the large unknown quantity of blood she had already lost. Next on the list was then to tend to the abdominal cut she was still severely bleeding from.
Dena had taken it upon herself to contact her superiors at the hospital to let them know that she had a personal attachment to Heidi and therefore wanted to know as soon as she was out of surgery. Once that had happened, Heidi had been transported to the private room she was currently occupying and Dena had been assigned to monitor her progress until further notice.
Alle had told Dena all about how Heidi had been kidnapped and how they hadn't known her whereabouts for the better part of almost two months. Dena had no intention of questioning Heidi about what had happened right now, especially when it was frankly none of her business and the poor girl had obviously been through enough tonight, but Dena still couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe that there were still people in this world that would want to cause intentional harm to a beautiful, innocent newly 18-year-old girl. It made her sick to her stomach and unfortunately her job as a nurse meant that Heidi wasn't the only girl she had seen come in on the verge of death purely because of how cruel some people could be.
"Is Alle still here?" Heidi suddenly spoke, breaking Dena out of her thoughts and back to reality.
"Yeah she's still here," Dena replied with a smile "She's out in the main foyer waiting for your parents to arrive so they'll know where to go straight away."
"My parents are coming?" Heidi asked, her eyes absolutely lighting up, half in joy and half in surprise.
"Alle called them as soon as you turned up at my place," Dena explained, not sure how much of the night Heidi actually remembered "As soon as they knew you were here they got on the first plane to Raleigh and then I'm assuming that they're driving the rest of the way here. Alle left just before you woke up and said they were about 10-15 minutes away."
"I can't believe they're coming," Heidi sighed, the tears welling in her eyes again "I can't believe I'm going to see them."
"I'm going to leave you then OK?" Dena spoke as she reached out a hand to touch Heidi's "If you need anything please just press the buzzer and I'll be here straight away. Anything at all OK?"
Heidi nodded in understanding before a look of confusion crossed her face.
"I'm sorry," Heidi spoke softly "I can't remember your name from before."
"Honey that's fine," Dena immediately replied with a smile "It's Dena."
"You're Alle's friend right?" Heidi asked, searching for confirmation.
"That's right," Dena nodded "Your aunt and I went to college together at North Carolina state in Raleigh back in the day. We've been good friends ever since."
Heidi smiled at the young nurse infront of her.
"Thank you so much for everything," Heidi simply spoke.
Dena simply nodded in Heidi's direction in response as she started in the direction of the door to Heidi's private room.
"Don't forget to buzz me if you need anything OK?" Dena reminded the 18-year-old as she opened the door.
Heidi nodded. Dena closed the door behind her and she was gone.
Meanwhile….
"Oh my god I can't even breath right now," Lita said, trying to slow down her frantic and erratic breathing as she gripped the dashboard of the passenger's side of the Lexus rental that Randy and her had gotten from the Raleigh airport.
"Hey," Randy said, averting his eyes from the road for a second to smile at his wife "It's all going to be OK Li. She's safe now."
"Alle said she was really scared and traumatized," Lita started rambling, her eyes locked in a stare at the black tarred road stretched out infront of her through the car windshield "And that she'd lost a lot of blood and was all bruised and hurt and I…."
"Li please try and calm down," Randy interrupted the red head as he reached out a hand to soothingly touch her forearm "The hospital is the best place for her to be right now. You know that she's safe because there are doctors and nurses everywhere in there that are looking after her. Please try and calm down and breath for me right now, OK?"
Lita took a deep breath before she turned her head to face her husband. His blue eyes were averted from the road again and were therefore currently locked on her. She could see the concern in his eyes for her. She could also see the same panic in his eyes, which let her know that he was worried about their daughter as well. It also let her know that despite his worry about his daughter, he was also worried about her and how she was dealing with everything right now. It was times like these that the red head knew he was the greatest man she had ever met in her life, and he cared for her and their daughter more than he cared about himself. Not just sometimes, not just most of the time, but all of the time. It was times like these where she knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that she loved him more than she could even begin to explain in words.
"I'm sorry," Lita spoke softly as she took the Legend Killer's hand in hers "I'm just so worried about her and at the same time I'm so scared this is just a dream and I'm going to wake up any second now and be disappointed because none of it will be real, and …"
"This isn't a dream Bella," Randy assured her as he squeezed her hand "This is real. Heidi is really here and she's really safe. She's safe now."
Lita simply nodded as she concentrated on composing herself as her eyes caught the large, bright hospital sign passing by the right side of the car as Randy continued to drive. Randy pulled into the hospital emergency carpark as they came to the parking lot entrance a little further along, and then Lita was off.
It wasn't until she heard Randy slam the car door shut that Lita even realized that she was running. She could barely feel her legs, it was like they were numb, as she ran as fast as they would take her to the entrance of the emergency section of the hospital. The bright lights and signs making it easy for her to identify where she was headed despite never having visited this hospital in her life before. She could hear Randy's footsteps coming up behind her, his pace quickening to keep up with her, but she didn't look back. All she wanted right now was to get into that hospital and find her daughter. Lita slowed her pace as she saw her sister waiting at the entrance ahead. She was just inside the hospital, on the other side of the automatic glass doors. Alle sent the red head a small smile as she saw her fast approaching.
"Where is she Alle?" Lita asked, her voice quick and desperate as she started breathing hard to quickly catch her breath momentarily as she stopped infront of her sister "Where is she? Where is she?"
Alle didn't even bother trying to calm her sister down because she knew that it was useless. Alle also knew that in the same situation she would have been exactly the same. She knew that she wouldn't want to hear 'please calm down' or 'please just relax', so she didn't say any of it right now.
"She's in one of the private rooms," Alle quickly replied as her eyes drifted from her sister to her brother-in-law as he finally caught up to them "Down the corridor, up one floor."
Alle immediately broke out in a slow jog, knowing that Lita and Randy wouldn't be far behind as they followed her. They crossed the busy emergency waiting room and burst through the double buffet style doors that opened into the main hallway of the hospital. Alle maintained her jog, Lita and Randy hot on her heels, as she led them down the long white corridor until they reached the main stairwell. Leaping two stairs at a time, Alle led the couple up the one flight of stairs before they started down another white corridor basically identical to the one they'd just been down. Thankfully this part of the hospital was quiet and virtually empty so it made it a lot easier for all three adults to maintain their quick pace. Alle then started to slow her pace as they started closing in on the private room where Heidi Maree Orton was currently residing.
Alle stopped and turned to face her sister as they reached Heidi's door. Alle motioned with a nod in the direction of the door to the couple and without so much as a second thought, Lita turned the knob and opened the door in front of her.
A silence filled the small private hospital room as Lita stood in the now open doorway, her eyes falling upon her 18-year-old daughter whose blue eyes were now looking right back at her. It was like a beautiful dream. For the first time in a month and a half she was actually there with her daughter in the flesh. This wasn't in her mind. This wasn't a dream. This was real, right in front of her.
"Mom?" Heidi immediately asked softly as she noticed Lita's presence in the room. Lita could hear from the tone in Heidi's voice that she could barely believe it either.
"Oh my god Heidi," Lita exclaimed as she broke out into tears, unable to keep her composure any longer.
The red head quickly rushed to her daughter's bedside as she quickly embraced the young girl in her arms. An embrace that she almost thought she'd never have again.
"I thought I'd lost you," Lita cried as she hugged her daughter tighter.
Heidi sniffled as she tried to control her own tears as she sighed and relaxed into the arms of her mother. For the first time in almost two months she felt warm and safe. For the first time in almost two months she felt loved.
"I missed you so much mom," Heidi managed as the tears started to fall down her cheeks "I didn't think I'd ever see you again."
"Oh God I was so worried about you," Lita blurted out, the tears and sobs starting to rack her body "I was so worried about you sweetheart. I miss you so much."
A silence enveloped the room as Alle Dumas stood completely still watching the vision of the reunited mother and daughter. Alle knew that Heidi meant to the world to Lita. She knew that Lita would have readily given up her life to keep her daughter safe. Lita was an amazing mother and after all she'd been through when she'd gotten pregnant with Heidi in the first place, she didn't deserve this. She didn't deserve for her daughter to be kidnapped and held hostage by some sick freaks. She didn't deserve the heartache of walking into a hospital room and seeing her daughter with a drip in her hand and stitches scarring her body. Lita didn't deserve this. No parent did.
Lita loosened her embrace around her daughter as she pushed away slightly to look into the bright blue eyes of Heidi Maree Orton as she suddenly remembered that she and Heidi weren't alone in the room. Lita smiled at her daughter as she reached up and cupped the young girl's face in her hand, before she turned around to face Heidi's father.
"Daddy," Heidi spoke, fresh tears starting to fall down her face as she recognized her Dad standing there in the open doorway next to her Aunt.
Randy didn't speak one word as he stood there for a moment, the tears welling in his blue eyes as he fixed his gaze on his daughter, his eyes unblinking. He wanted to run over to her and hug her like he was never going to let her out of his sight again, but instead he was frozen right there in the spot where he stood. He hadn't expected the shock he was feeling at finally seeing her there in front of him for the first time in nearly 2 months. The shock was overwhelming, to say the least, as he stood there and tormented with the idea in his mind that this could all just be a dream. A beautiful dream that his daughter was actually there, in that hospital bed in front of him, lying there and looking at him with those blue eyes. The blue eyes of an Orton.
Still slightly in shock, Randy finally forced himself to slowly walk and approach the bed where his daughter was, his wife standing next to the bed on the side closest to him. It wasn't until he finally reached the bed and he felt his daughter's touch as she reached out a hand to him, did he finally feel like this was real. Taking her hand in his, Randy seated himself on the edge of her bed and felt his first tear fall as Heidi wrapped her arms around him as she drew him close to her.
"I missed you so much Daddy," Randy heard his daughter whisper in his air as he wrapped his arms around her.
He'd seen the stitches in her head, the stitches in her arm and the IV drip hooked up to her other hand as soon as he had entered the room. It was taking all his willpower not to hug her as tight as he wanted to right now. He didn't know how badly she was still hurting and he could already feel every single bone in her back and in her ribs as he held her in his arms right now. She could even feel how thin her arms were as they remained wrapped around his neck.
"I love you so much Heidi," Randy finally spoke, willing himself out of his thoughts so he could just, for right now, enjoy this moment here with his daughter.
The tears starting to stream down his face as he just held her, realizing that it was the greatest feeling he had felt in almost two months.
"I love you too Dad," Heidi replied softly, her face burying in the crook of his neck.
Lita watched, with teary eyes as Randy held their daughter close to him like he was never going to let her go. As Heidi closed her eyes, her mother noticed for the first time that her daughter's hair was a fiery red colour identical to hers. Lita's eyes then caught the stitches in her daughter's head and then started scanning what she could see of her daughter's body for the rest of the damage on the surface. She saw numerous scratches across the side of Heidi's face and a prominent blue bruise across her left cheekbone. It was then that Lita's eyes travelled lower and noticed how much the bones in Heidi's neck and backbone were jutting out. It was clearly visible where the hospital gown she was sporting didn't cover, but even further down the hospital gown couldn't hide the protruding bones. She also noticed how thin and twig-like her daughter's arms were. Like the slightest wrong movement would immediately cause a break. It was her inspection of Heidi's arms, however, that caused Lita's eyes to catch the long line of stitches down one of Heidi's forearms, which was currently wrapped around Randy's neck. It was when Lita counted more than 5 stitches that she felt the tears violently start to fall from her hazel eyes down her face.
As much as she didn't want to think about it right now, as she looked at her daughter all she could think about was what Heidi had been through. The images, the thoughts, the worst case scenarios started flooding Lita's mind as she felt the sobs start to rack her body. To think about what kind of animal's had taken and had been keeping her daughter against her will. To think about what kind of people could inflict that kind of bodily harm and pain on a beautiful 18-year-old girl who was smart, and kind, and sweet, and who would never ever hurt anybody.
Lita's body started shaking as she tried to breathe through her sobs as her mind flooded with thoughts that made her sick to her stomach and so incredibly sad for her young daughter and what she had been through. Lita then felt an arm snake its ways around her and when she looked up she met the blue eyes of Randy Orton as he pulled her towards him. The red head closed her eyes as she felt him pull her up onto the bed with him and Heidi, a kiss from his lips pressing softly against her forehead. Without so much as a word, Lita felt her daughter wrap an arm around her body as Heidi's head came to rest on her mother's shoulder. She felt a tear fall from Heidi's eye onto her chest as she pulled her daughter in closer to her.
Alle Dumas didn't say a single word as she closed the door to Heidi's room quietly. She looked through the open blinds at the sight of a young girl reunited with her parents and she didn't think that any sight in the world was more beautiful than what she was looking at right now.
A/N: I actually started crying as I was writing this. Lita and Randy finally have Heidi back Look out for Chapter 28 - Black Teddy Bears & Daffodils, which will be out VERY SOON! Anyone want to hazard a guess as what the chapter title is referring to? Please READ & REVIEW!
And don't forget to check out my RandyOrton/Lita Fanfic Community and my One Secret/My Daughter Fanfic forum to get your Lita and Randy Orton fix daily! (Details on my Fanfic profile page). God Bless, Mrs Bridget Orton xxx