Eddie opened her eyes, still groggy and spent from the previous night. She was still resting in the hospital room that had been provided to her. She couldn't remember how many pints of blood she had given for Jamie, and didn't care. She also didn't care that she was still in the same clothes and probably looked like a wreck. All that mattered was that he was alive and she would do whatever it took to make sure he stayed that way. She reached in to her pocket and fished out her cell phone and checked the time. It was five a.m. The hospital hadn't woken up yet, still quiet and dark. "Jesus," she muttered. She was drained—literally, she laughed to herself—and needed coffee but wanted to check on Jamie first.
After steadying herself on her own two feet, she made her way out in to the hall. She found the signs for the ICU and followed them up to the second floor, to Post Op Recovery and Intensive Care. The nurse's station was unmanned so she quietly peered at the dry board with patient's names, finding Jamie listed in unit number one, just behind her.
His familiar frame was lying under the covers. The sound of the heart monitor was the only evidence of life, softly beeping a steady rhythm. She noticed his uniform hat and jacket on a table. Eddie tip-toed in to the room and rearranged the items on the table, checking to make sure Joe's picture was still inside his service cap. She stood beside the bed, watching him sleep. Color had returned to his face and she was grateful he looked more like himself. She carefully reached down and took one of his hands and was surprised when he stirred.
Jamie's eyes slowly opened and he was acutely aware of where he was. The sharp, throbbing pain in his leg and shoulder instantly reminded him of the previous night's ordeal, but the soft warm hand holding his was a welcome surprise. One beautiful vision had been replaced by another. He looked up at Eddie, happy to see her. "Hey, shorty." He whispered in a quiet, hoarse voice.
Eddie let a worried smile turn up her lips. "Hi," She said, feeling a lump in her throat. "How do you feel?"
"Like I'm going to be taking pain meds for a while." He blinked to wake himself up more. "I dreamed about my mother."
Eddie was touched by his admission. "Must have been a wonderful dream." She pulled the covers up over him. "You had surgery. They removed the ballistics and your brother is running them for trace evidence."
"What about the perps in the alley?" He reached for a cup of water and Eddie gingerly handed it to him, helping him take a sip.
"They're in custody," she said, "and one of them is down the hall with a couple of nasty bullet wounds, thanks to you." She smiled proudly at him. "But you shouldn't be talking about all this, Jamie. You need to rest."
He adjusted his head on the pillow to look at her. She looked tired, disheveled and his blood was still on her uniform. "You saved my life, Eddie."
"You're the hero on this, Reagan, not me." She shook her head, looking down at their clasped hands. "The important thing is you're ok. That's all that matters."
He looked concerned. "You look like you've been up all night."
"You don't need to take care of me, Jamie."
He tugged her hand gently. "I like taking care of you. And I want you to get some rest."
She had been so close to losing him. Her emotions welled in her throat and reiterated the promise she made to him the night before. "I'm not leaving my partner."
He wanted to tell her he loved her but instead found the strength to tease her. "Are we partners?" He quipped. "Last I heard you were rolling out with Rigetti these days….teambuilding wasn't it?"
Eddie, laughed, a wave of relief overtaking her at their familiar banter. It was their way these days. "You better be nice to me, Reagan. Three pints of my blood are flowing through your veins."
He smiled. "With your diet my cholesterol probably just went up ten points." He smiled. "You know what they say, Janko. Blood is thicker than water."
Eddie thought about his comment. "Yeah, well, maybe the roll call roster needs to be updated. Teambuilding doesn't get much better than ours, does it?"
He eyes grew more serious. "No, it doesn't."
Linda interrupted them, walking in with a tray of medication. "I thought I heard voices in here." She set the tray on a table.
Eddie suddenly took Linda's presence as her cue to leave. "Well, I guess I better go. Looks like you're about to get some good pain meds."
Linda smiled. "You don't need to run off. You're good for him." She meant it. "But yeah, the pain killers are on a schedule around here. Take these," she said, handing Jamie a glass of water and a Dixie cup with two tablets, which he dutifully swallowed. "You'll be able to go home in a week, but you'll still need around the clock help for a few days once you're released." She busied herself adjusting the IV line as she spoke. "Maybe you two partners can work something out?"
Jamie wanted to cringe at his sister in law's obvious matchmaking efforts but the pain killers were making his head fuzzy. He wondered how that idea would go over with Renzulli but he pushed the thought out of his head.
Eddie could read her partner even when he was drugged. "Well, we don't have to decide that right now. But I'm here if you need me. I'll be back a little later to check on you." She turned and headed for the door.
Jamie's voice called after to her. "Hey, partner."
She turned and looked back. "Yeah?"
"Are we square?"
Eddie chuckled and sighed. "Yeah, I'll let Rigetti down easy." And she meant it.
A/N Thanks for reading and for your nice reviews and encouragement with this story. :-)