Jeannie looked from one uncomfortable man to the other. "What?" she repeated, even more weight behind that one word.
Steve cleared his throat, glancing quickly from Jeannie to Dan then back to the floor. "Ah, Dan, I think you can field this one better than me," he said quickly then headed off down the corridor. He could feel the young cop's eyes boring a hole in the back of his head.
Dan turned to Jeannie, tried unsuccessfully to chuckle the tension away, cleared his throat again and took a deep breath. "Well," he said, "ah, well, it's a long story…"
"I have the time," growled Jeannie with rapidly evaporating patience.
"Right," Dan said quietly again, stalling, "okay, ah, her name is Maggie Jarris, she…"
Dan's words faded away as Steve got closer to the hospital room. Smiling, he pushed the door open and looked in.
Indeed, there was a woman in Mike's bed. But then again, so was Mike. He was lying much as they had left him, elevated against the raised bed head, eyes closed and obviously asleep, his left forearm across his stomach. But he was much closer to the right edge of the bed now. Maggie was laying on his left, on her side, her head against his shoulder and her own left arm over his, their fingers entwined.
Steve's smile wavered slightly as he stared at his best friend, suddenly and overwhelmingly elated at the sight before him. If anyone ever needed something good to happen to them right now, it was Mike Stone. And if he himself was any judge of character, and he was pretty sure he was, Maggie Jarris didn't have to do too much more to convince him that she was the woman who could bring love back into Mike's life.
With one last glance at an obviously flustered Dan and an equally focused Jeannie, he stepped into the room and let the door close silently behind him. Taking a deep breath, making up his mind, he crossed towards the right side of the bed as quietly as he could. He stopped, reaching out to touch Maggie's arm, then hesitated, having second thoughts; they looked so peaceful he didn't want to disturb them but knew that it was going to be only a matter of minutes, if that, till Jeannie would be hot on his heels. Forewarned is forearmed, he firmly believed.
Maggie jumped at his touch, head spinning to face him. Her worried frown turned instantly into a warm smile. "Steve," she whispered, and they both glanced at Mike, who had groaned, his head moving slightly, but not awoken.
Steve smiled back. "Sorry, Maggie, but I need to talk to you."
She nodded. "Here, give me a hand," she said quietly as she raised herself and tried to slide off the bed without disturbing its occupant. He helped her slip down to the floor then she turned back to the bed. When Mike didn't move, she smiled at Steve and nodded with her head towards the door.
As they moved away from the bed, she took his arm and pulled him closer. She was gloriously happy and couldn't help but show it, and he grinned at her. "You asked him, didn't you?" he said, a twinkle in his eyes,
She nodded vigorously. "Yep."
"So, I'm assuming he said 'yes', am I right?"
She nodded again. "Yep. He's going to become Mr. Maggie Jarris." Her laugh was deep, throaty, sexy and very contagious.
Steve opened his arms. "Congratulations!" he said sotto voce and gave her a hug. She hugged him back then they pulled apart, both glancing towards the bed, but Mike still hadn't moved.
"So," she said, "what do you need to talk to me about? It's not serious, I hope – I don't think I could stand that right now."
Steve cleared his throat and glanced down then briefly towards the bed once more. "Mike's daughter Jeannie is about to come in and she, literally, just found out about you. Dan's filling her in on your…story right now, and depending how convincing he is, she's gonna come in here either loving you to death or running you out of town." He chuckled when Maggie's eyes widened. "Jeannie is just as wonderful as her father, I'm predicting the former," he finished with a confident nod and a grin.
"Well, I hope so, because I have no intention of giving him up," Maggie said with a smile. "Besides, I have a lot of charm, I've been told, and it even works on women sometimes." She touched his arm affectionately. "Thanks, Steve. It's wonderful to have you in our corner."
They both looked at the bed. "How is he?" Steve asked quietly.
Her face softened. "He had a good night, he really did. He's still in so much pain, but he hides it so well it frightens me. But he slept through the night, thank god."
"I can hear you, you know," came a quiet voice from the bed, and Mike's eyes opened slowly.
Chuckling, they moved closer, Maggie taking his left hand. Steve grinned and laid a hand on Mike's leg. "How're you feeling?"
"Wonderful," Mike said with a smile, his eyes settling on Maggie as he squeezed her hand.
"I hear congratulations are in order," Steve said with a Cheshire cat smile.
"You told him?" Mike asked Maggie, deadpan.
"I told him," she shrugged back, "so sue me." Then she smiled.
"Ah, you know, it wasn't a complete shock," Steve said mischievously, "Maggie and I go way back, you know." He looked at her, eyebrows arched, and she nodded in confirmation, then they both looked at Mike and shrugged. On Mike's baffled stare, Steve started to laugh. "I met her on Wednesday night, in CCU. You'd just come out of your last surgery and things were looking up so we, ah, took the opportunity to go grab a drink and get acquainted."
Mike's eyes widened as Steve spoke and he squeezed her hand harder.
"She kinda had an advantage over me," Steve continued lightly. "It seems you told her all about me…"
Mike looked at him guiltily then turned to Maggie. "I did?"
"Uh-hunh," she nodded.
"Oh," he said softly, and the other two laughed. Maggie leaned over the bed and gave him a kiss. Steve glanced over his shoulder.
"Listen, Mike, Jeannie's out in the hallway. She, ah, she opened the door earlier and saw you two…" He wiggled his right forefinger between them several times and Mike nodded in understanding. "Dan's, um, 'explaining' the situation."
"Got it," Mike said with a nod. He looked at Maggie sheepishly. "I'm sorry, this is my fault." He winced and took shallow breaths for a couple of seconds. "Let me talk to her –"
"Not on your life," Maggie interrupted, staring him down. "If anyone needs to talk to your daughter about us, it's me and I –"
They heard the sound of the door opening and all three froze, turning slowly to look. Jeannie was standing in the entrance, Dan behind her. Her expression was unreadable as her eyes travelled from her father to Steve to Maggie. She took a step into the room, releasing the door for Dan to catch and hold open, then crossed with determination up to Maggie. She held out her right hand. "Maggie Jarris, I'm Jeannie Stone."
Pulling back ever so slightly, and with a quick glance at Steve, Maggie started to extend her right hand but Jeannie grabbed it and squeezed. "I hear you want to marry my Dad?" Maggie froze, eyes wide. Steve looked at Mike, who looked back helplessly. Suddenly Jeannie's face split into a wide grin and she laughed. "I think that's just wonderful!"
# # # # #
"Pete, Norm. Anything for me yet?" Haseejian ran a tired hand over his face, the phone braced between his ear and shoulder. "Okay, yeah, thanks… No, nothing from anybody, it's like this kid disappeared. I don't understand it… Yeah, we've got the ME on alert but nothin's come through the morgue either… Yeah, thanks… He's doin' a lot better, thanks, but if he comes back, who knows, right? It was pretty bad… Yeah, Pete, thanks a lot. Later."
Haseejian dropped the receiver onto the cradle with a frustrated sigh and reached for his coffee cup. It had been another long night of nothing, making the rounds of his snitches and CI's. Usually so reliable, they had given him zilch. It was like John Lewis Stanton had never existed.
He glanced around the office. Everyone was busy, he knew, and they could use his help, but at the same time, they all wanted to nail Mike's shooter and knew that Haseejian was the man to do it.
He flipped through his Rolodex, found a number and dialed. 'No stone unturned,' he thought, and almost chuckled to himself.
# # # # #
Maggie leaned over the bed and gave Mike a kiss then looked at Steve. "You two gonna be all right here on your own?" she asked with a chuckle.
Mike smiled and glanced at his old partner. "Oh, I think we can find something to talk about," Steve laughed, dropping onto the chair beside the bed.
"What about you?" Maggie said to Dan, who looked towards Mike before answering.
"I think I've been ordered back to work," he said with a facial shrug.
On Maggie and Jeannie's questioning looks, Mike offered, "I told him he's been hanging around here too much, slacking off. He's got work to do." Mike's voice was laced with affection and his tone was light.
Dan grinned and snapped a salute. "Yes, sir," he laughed as the others chuckled.
"Well, Jeannie and I are going to get ourselves a big breakfast and get acquainted. I expect to see you sitting in a chair when I get back, right, mister?" She stared at Mike, then smiled sweetly and gave him one more kiss before she and Jeannie headed across the room.
All three men stared at the closing door, then Steve turned to Mike slowly. "She is a force of nature," he said with awe.
"Isn't she?" Mike agreed with a happy grin then he turned to his partner. "Daniel, it really is the best thing you can do for me, going back to work. Right?"
Dan smiled and nodded. "Yeah, I know."
"And you," Mike continued, turning to Steve, "this is the last day I want to see you here too, right? I'm gonna be okay and I don't need you two here wringing your hands anymore, all right?" He had been speaking quietly, trying not to take deep breaths.
The two younger men smiled and glanced at each other. "You're absolutely right," Steve agreed, "But I promised Maggie I'd watch over you today so you're stuck with me."
"And I'm out of here," laughed Dan as he walked to the door. "I'll see you both later."
When he had gone, Steve relaxed in the chair and stared at his old partner, who had leaned his head back and closed his eyes. "You okay?"
Mike smiled, keeping his eyes closed. "Yeah, I'm fine."
Steve reached out and grabbed Mike's forearm, squeezing it affectionately. Mike opened his eyes and turned his head. "How the hell did you get so lucky?" Steve asked with a smile in his voice.
Mike grinned. "Clean living," he said with a chuckle then winced, putting his right hand on his chest. He could feel Steve's grip on his forearm tighten.
"Clean living, right," Steve snickered, after Mike had relaxed and he knew all was well, "I know all about St. Louis, you dog."
# # # # #
Smiling and laughing, almost instantly feeling comfortable in each other's company, Jeannie and Maggie stepped out of the hospital into the chilly early December air and crossed the parking lot. Jeannie knew of a pretty good café with fresh baked goods just down the street and Maggie had quickly approved.
They waited on the corner for the light to change then started across the street, neither noticing the dark blue sedan parked around the corner. A man got out of the passenger side and started down the street in their direction; the engine was turned on and the car pulled smoothly away from the curb, turning the corner towards them.