Chapter two

Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center
Salida, Colorado
October 10th, 2008

The repetitive beeping from a machine off to the left of her, was the first noise to pierce through the darkness. Lex was not sure how long she had been trapped in what could only be called as the empty. It was just an endless darkness that went on and on.

It was a reprieve to hear something other than absolute silence, to go from no thoughts and feelings to an overwhelming sense of existence. She could feel the thin mattress beneath her body, and the scratchy sheet and thin blanket that barely covered her. Along with the sound of the machine's beep-beep-beeping like a steady heartbeat, there was another machine that made a loud gasp and draw of air, from somewhere else in the room.

Her left hand twitched against the mattress, her fingers curling in, and she realized there was a pulse oximeter clipped to her index finger. She only recognized the device from a previous stay in a hospital, many years ago. She had gone in to have her tonsils removed, when she was eighteen and they had put one similar on her finger then, before putting her under anesthesia.

She was in a hospital.

That thought had her pushing through the smothering unconsciousness that threatened to drag her back under, to reach the surface. She needed to wake up now, before she ended up like those women in Gunnison. Torn open from the inside out.

Opening her eyes on a blink, she took her time to let them adjust to the brightness of the room, as her eyes flitted about, not really focusing on any one thing. Disoriented, she reached up with a hand to her face and her fingers caught on the tubing that had been wrapped around her ears to hold it in place. Wrinkling her nose, she jerked the thing out of her nostrils, realizing belatedly it had been filtering her oxygen, while she had been unconscious. The monitor on her finger went flying as she fought the tubbing from her head and a shrill beep sounded an alarm.

A curtain she had not noticed in her fight to be free, was flung aside to admit the nurse responding to the alarm going off on the machine to her left. Lex jerked back against the bed, reacting to the sudden movement like a threat, and tried to escape from it, even in her disoriented state.

The curtain had been acting as a door between her and the rest of the room. With it wide open now, she could see that there was another bed on the other side with a patient on a ventilator, and a door that led out into the hallway. A second door was closed on the opposite side of the room, possibly a bathroom. Hospitals usually had one to their extended stay rooms.

A young man stood there before her, having been the nurse who had flung the curtain aside. He was dressed in baby blue scrubs and a friendly face. His presence drew her attention to him, and her eyes focused on the immediate threat. The man had a shock of bleach blonde hair that contrasted sharply from his sun-kissed skin. He stood at an average height, not quite 6'0, but he was handsome in a very humanly way.

Lex blinked at him, wondering where those thoughts were coming from. When had she started differentiating between human and alien? Her traitorous mind reminded her then, of her foray at the bed and breakfast, with Skl're. Her skin flushed at the memory, and she quickly banished the thoughts from her mind.

"Jane, glad to see you are awake dear," The nurse said in a very friendly tone.

Lex's brows furrowed, and in her confused state over the name addressed to her, she did not immediately struggle, as he approached her and helped free her from the tubbing, that had gotten tangled up in her ratty hair.

"I'm sorry where- exactly," she started to ask him where they were, since she vividly recalled falling asleep in the motel room, only her voice came out hoarse and she broke out into a coughing fit. Her lungs constricted and a sharp pain at the back of her mouth and into her throat, caused her larynx to seize and painful tears pricked her eyes. She felt horribly parched.

"There-there," he said and hurried over to get her some water from a nearby pitcher, seeming to know exactly what was wrong, even before she did. He poured a small cup and helped her drink it, stopping her short of draining the cup in one gulp. "Careful there dear, take your time."

Lex looked up at him through her lashes, not enjoying being told what to do, but followed his directions, nonetheless. It wasn't as if he was giving her any other option, let alone had the strength to argue. As she sipped the water carefully, she studied his face now that he was so close to her. He had a shadow of stubble along his jaw, and she knew he normally had darker hair, at least if his thick black eyebrows were anything to go by. He had a narrow face, with sharp cheekbones and a cleft chin. Another time and place, she would have found him handsome.

Once her throat and thirst were sated, she settled back against the pillows that were behind her on the bed. The nurse, whose name tag read Jeffery, reached down for the controls on the bed and helped sit her up.

"How are you feeling," he asked her out of habit, while he reached for her wrist to take her pulse. She took notice he had artist hands, with long slender fingers. He was the type of guy she would have normally been attracted to, in another time or place. He was exactly her type, and yet, there was- nothing. Instead, she was more concerned on getting her own answers.

"I'm fine," Lex answered, finding her voice much stronger now. "Where am I?"

She watched Jeffery as he used the blood pressure cuff to take her blood pressure. Once he had his routine checks completed, he reapplied the pulse oximeter clip to her finger.

"You are in a hospital in Salida," he answered her simply. "In case you were wondering why you were brought all the way out here, a couple days ago there was an accident at the power plant just outside Gunnison. All patients have been redirected to our hospital ever since."

"A couple- how long have I been here?" Lex asked, suddenly feeling a tightening in her chest. She reached up to press her fingers against her ribs where the pressure flared.

Jeffery walked to the end of her bed and grabbed her chart to jot down the results of his preliminary check. "According to your chart, you were brought in late Wednesday night with a severe infection in your right gastrocnemius muscle." He looked up at her then with a small smile, as if that would reassure her. "You've been in recovery for the past two days."

Lex looked down the length of her body beneath the covers the hospital had supplied her with. She grabbed the edge of the blanket and threw it off, staring at her bare leg, half expecting to find the limb gone. Minus a couple days of hair growth and the bandages, it was all there. They had not, had to amputate it at least.

"Wait- why did you call me Jane," she suddenly asked, her eyes regarding the nurse again. Now that she was relieved to find all her body parts accounted for, she needed to get some answers. Now.

The man suddenly flushed, and as if worried he had gotten his patients mixed up, quickly looked over her chart information. His brows furrowed seeing the name there. "Uh- Jane Hunter?" He asked, his eyes looking at her for confirmation.

Lex scowled at the name.

Jeffery flipped through the chart, reading the notes jotted down. "Uh- your friend brought you in, said you left your IDs back at the motel, is that not, correct?"

"Elaina?" Lex blurted, and her eyes snagged on the body laying so still on the other bed in the room. Had it not been for the shock of white hair against the white bedding framing an elderly woman's face, she would have been scrambling to make sure Elaina was not in that bed.

"Yep, says here, Elaina Hunter, she has her name down as your emergency contact," he added quickly with a relieved smile. "Huh, could have sworn she said she was your friend, but you two must be-" He looked at her then, and seemed to recall the small red-haired woman who had been out of her mind with worry in the waiting room. His smile slipped a little. "-Sisters?" he finished lamely, not really believing his own conclusion.

Lex licked her dry lips and nodded her head. She did not want to dispute whatever story Elaina had made up when they arrived at the hospital. Her mind raced, trying to put things together. However, before she could interrogate the nurse more, another hospital employee walked into the room. This guy was much more boisterous and greeted the room with a very loud hello.

This man looked like a doctor, dressed in a white lab coat over his mint green scrubs. There was a stethoscope dangling from around his neck like a cliché necklace. Lex suddenly felt like she had been dropped into an episode of Grey's Anatomy. His hair was a salt and pepper mix, with the hint of gray along the thick black locks. He looked to be in his mid to late fifties, while Jeffery looked to be early thirties, if that.

"Glad to see our patient awake there, how are you feeling-"

He looked over at Jeffery then and the nurse supplied, "Jane." He handed the man her chart and stepped back towards the door to give the doctor more space.

"Ah yes, Jane, I am Doctor Smidt." the doctor greeted and approached the side of her bed. He read over the notes in her chart with a precursor look, before giving her his full attention. "How are we feeling?"

Lex looked the man over much like she had of Jeffery, taking in his pale skin and short stature. He stood maybe 5'5, which made Jeffery seem so much taller than he was.

Skl're would dwarf these two men, she mused, thinking of the Yautja's taller frame. Her eyes dropped away from the doctor's kind blue eyes to stare down at her lap. Thinking of Skl're caused an ache inside her chest. Crazy as it seemed, she missed the pompous ass.

"I feel fine," she answered. "When can I leave?"

The doctor chuckled at her question. "Ready to ditch us so soon," he teased. "Well unfortunately we will need to hold you for another twenty-four hours, see how you are doing. Also, I would recommend some physical therapy for that leg."

Lex frowned and looked down at the leg in question.

"We didn't have to cut too much into the muscle thankfully, but it will take you some getting used to. When you came in, the infection from the cut you sustained had started to infect the gastrocnemius muscle and we had to remove the infection."

With the muscle in question wrapped in gauze and bandages, she could not tell any difference from what she knew, as the shape of her leg. She stretched her toes towards the bed, and they moved with little hindrance. However, when she tried to lift her knee up from the bed to bend her leg, she felt the pull of stitches and pain flared up along the skin and muscle underneath.

"How long?" She asked with a grimace, her lips curling with the pain.

The doctor looked at her leg then as well and seemed to consider it for a moment. "Well, the physical therapist would be able to give you a better idea, but I think a few weeks and you will be walking without any limp," he answered with more optimism than she was feeling in that moment. She did not have time to be recovering.

"Has anyone been in to see me?" she asked, her question directed towards the nurse who was lingering near the doorway. Catching her gaze, he shook his head no to the question.

"Your sister came in the ambulance with you, but no one has seen her since she was last let into your room the night you were admitted," he answered honestly.

"Ah yes your sister," the doctor said with a nod. "I remember speaking to her briefly the night you were checked in. I told her she could visit with you for a few minutes, and she left before I came in to check on you."

"No one saw her leave. And she didn't leave any contact information?" Lex asked, getting a sick feeling in her stomach.

"Jeffery can check with the head nurse and see if your sister left any information at the desk," he said with confidence. Doctor Smidt replaced her chart at the end of the bed, and patted the blankets that covered her good leg, in a reassuring manner. "Get some rest Jane, I will be back in to check on you later."

Lex watched him leave then, to check on his other patients. She could hear his boisterous voice out through the open door as he entered the room next to hers. Jeffery took the time to close her curtain before leaving her room after the doctor.

On his way out he mentioned, "Let me check on that information for you, alright."

She nodded her head but did not bother to watch him slip out of the room. Instead, her eyes moved to her leg and her mind ran with many reasons why Elaina left without a word.

After a while, Jeffery stopped back in to check her vitals again before the end of his shift. "I spoke with the head nurse at the nurse's station, and she didn't have any information left by your sister."

At Lex's worried expression, he quickly added, "You know with Gunnison's Hospital being closed, we've been really busy here, so it's possible your sister has been in to see you and we just haven't seen her." He wrapped up the cufflink he had used to take her blood pressure and put it away as he spoke with her. "I bet she will stop in to see you soon though," He offered with a gentle pat to her shoulder, before leaving her.

Something was wrong.

Lex knew it in her bones as the hours passed with no contact from Elaina. Even after Bovetoya Island, they had always stayed in contact. The longest they had gone without speaking was only when she was doing one of her tours. And even then, they talked before the climb and afterwards. The fact that she had left no way to get ahold of her, told Lex she had not left voluntarily. Even as stubborn as the girl was, she would have made sure to let Lex know she was okay, if she could have.

She needed to get out of here and find Elaina. Even if she had left on her own volition, Lex would not let her friend face this by herself. If Elaina had been taken, Lex would hunt the people who had taken her, and do everything in her power to get her friend back.

Revised 3/13/22

Inky out