Warning: Suggestion of violence and injury description in detail.

Please exercise your own discretion.

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Bruised Hearts

Oliver was very angry and once again ready to move on… or so he thought. Yet another woman had abandoned him! Why did he think it was going to be any different with Shane? Why did he allow himself to fall in love again? From the very beginning he'd suspected he wasn't good enough for Shane. And now, just like all the other women who mattered in his life, she had walked away leaving him empty and longing for something that he obviously could never ever hope to have.

It was a Wednesday at about 2pm in the DLO. Oliver, Norman and Rita were half heartedly looking for Hattie and were about to give up. They looked dejectedly at the piles upon piles of dead letters that had gone unprocessed for 3 long months. How on earth had they allowed themselves to get so far behind with their work? It seemed clear to all that Shane's absence was affecting more than just Oliver. The DLO was a mess!

The loud ringing of the landline phone shattered the charged silence of the office, bringing Oliver out of his deep and depressing thoughts.

"Hello, Oliver O'Toole speaking."

"Hello Oliver. Rebecca Starkwell here, how are you?"

"Hi Ms. Starkwell, we are well, thank you. How good it is to hear from you."

"Yes, well…" Becky seemed nervous. Oliver noticed it.

"Is all well with you, Ms. Starkwell?" Becky cleared her throat.

"No… actually… no. Oliver, I have some difficult news to relay to you."

"Yes?" Oliver felt a lump forming in the pit of his stomach. Rebecca paused again and then spoke very slowly and quietly as though trying to impart a peace and confidence she was far from feeling.

"Shane is being flown to a hospital as we speak. She's being taken to the Walter Reed National Military hospital in Bethesda."

Oliver, who was standing by his desk, sat heavily in his chair, gripping the phone until his knuckles were all white.

"Ms. Starkwell, please tell me she's ok." Oliver pleaded with a shaky voice.

"Oliver, I have no further details. All I can say at this time is she's alive." Oliver couldn't form another word. He just sat there silently pleading with Rebecca to give him news that she herself did not possess.

"Oliver, are you still there?"

"Yes, Ms. Starkwell, I'm still here."

"Oliver, I have already contacted Sharon, Shane's mom, but I think you should come here as well, if at all possible."

"Of course! I'm leaving right away. I'll be in DC before the end of the day and make my way to Bethesda. Thank you, Becky, for letting me know."

Becky was surprised to hear Oliver call her by her nickname. She doubted he noticed it. "Absolutely, Oliver, no problem. I'll see you later."

Oliver quickly called Norman and Rita over and relayed the news to them. "I'm going home now to quickly grab a few personal things and I'm heading for DC. I will call you later with news." Both Norman and Rita hugged him. Rita held on a little longer and whispered, "I'll be praying for her, Oliver. Please tell her how much we all love her." Rita stressed the word ALL very pointedly. Oliver understood her and nodded. "I will, Rita, I promise."

By 6pm, Oliver was at the hospital reception desk in Bethesda. Apparently Shane had already been admitted. The nurse told Oliver where to go. When he arrived upstairs, Sharon was already waiting for news in the waiting room by Shane's private hospital room. Oliver introduced himself.

"Mrs. McInerney, my name is Oliver O'Toole. I'm Ms. McInerney's… ummm… friend… ummm… as well as supervisor from the USPS in Denver." Sharon raised her eyebrows in slight amusement at Oliver's awkwardness. "I know who you are, Mr. O'Toole. Shane and I have talked about you at length." Oliver looked as if he had been caught with his hand well and truly stuck in the cookie jar. He looked all around him as if searching for a way to escape. Sharon smiled, extended her hand and said kindly, "Of course, everything Shane has ever said about you has always been extremely positive. Very nice to meet you, Oliver." Oliver shook her hand and smiled back. He pointed to the room and asked nervously. "Is there any news? Have you received a report yet?" Sharon shook her head, "No, not yet. But a nurse told me not a half hour ago that a doctor will come and see us shortly." So they both sat and waited in uncomfortable silence.

Before the hour was over, Dr. Reynolds, a man in his mid-forties with greying hair but a friendly face, came to see them. He shook hands with both of them and started his report. "Well, apart from obvious dehydration, malnourishment, a broken ankle, a dislocated shoulder, lots of scrapes, cuts and endless bruises on her arms and legs, she seems okay and should make a full and quick recovery."

"What?" Oliver said in disbelief. "What happened to her? Those are strange injuries." He glared intently at the doctor with such an angry look that the doctor was shocked and surprised with the depth of the anger he saw in Oliver's eyes.

"I'm not at liberty to disclose details of any operations she was involved in, just her medical report." At this, Sharon stood up to her full 5'6" height and demanded.

"That is not good enough. I demand to know what happened to my daughter. Mr. O'Toole is right; we need to know what happened to her while she was under the government's protection on a secret mission." The doctor stood up, feeling almost cornered by the two angry people in front of him and put both his hands up in surrender. "I actually don't know what happened to her. I agree they are bizarre injuries, but I do not have any access to that information, as it's classified with high level security clearance." Their loud voices drew the attention of a few people around, including two who walked out of Shane's room as they came into the waiting room to see what all the commotion was about. One of them was Steve Marek.

When Oliver saw him coming out of Shane's room, he saw red. Before Steve had time to understand what was happening, Oliver had leaped over a couple of chairs and a coffee table separating them and landed a colossal right hook on the left hand side of Steve's face. The force of the blow sent him spinning out of control. Steve flew off his feet and landed sprawled on the floor with his head near a potted plant. Oliver, not yet satisfied, went after him. It took the doctor, the man who was with Steve and a couple of male nurses to stop and contain him. Oliver had never been so angry in his entire life; his suave, gentlemanly manner completely disintegrated as righteous anger took over and he shouted at Steve, "You son of a bitch, you promised me you'd keep her safe. What happened to her?" He demanded, screaming furiously while the others held him back. The other man, a very tall guy, still holding Oliver's left arm trying to control him, shouted trying to get Oliver's attention, "Control yourself, sir or I'll have you arrested." Sharon then pushed past the doctor and got right in front of Oliver. Holding his face with both hands as Shane would, she looked into his eyes and spoke directly to him, "Oliver, look at me." Oliver, unless he closed his eyes, had no other choice but to obey, since she was holding his face rather firmly, and was right under his nose. "This won't help Shane! Can these men let you go? Will you promise to control yourself?" "Yes!" Oliver said with fiery eyes and gritted teeth. They let him go. By then Steve was on his feet massaging the side of his face. A little trickle of blood was running down from a small cut above his left eye. They all stood aside but were ready to jump in and restrain Oliver again should he leap towards Steve once more, but Sharon was now standing between the two of them. She turned from Oliver to Steve and glaring at him, she demanded, "What happened to my daughter? And be very careful what you say to me, as I won't be stopped."

The very tall man who had come out of Shane's room with Steve now stepped forward and introduced himself.

"Mrs. McInerney, my name is McGee and I'm the operation leader of the mission that took your daughter and Mr. Marek to an outpost outside of US soil. Could you please step inside the conference room down the hall with Mr. Marek and I and I will take all your questions?" Sharon turned and hooked her arm around Oliver's arm and said "This is Oliver O'Toole, my daughter's supervisor and closest friend from Denver. He's coming with me." Sharon's tone left no room for negotiation. Mr. McGee looked at Oliver suspiciously and said, "As long as he doesn't start punching my agents…" Sharon looked at Oliver who gave her an almost imperceptible nod. "He won't be punching anybody anymore. Although I might." She glared at Steve who hadn't said a word to anybody yet.

They sat at a round table obviously designed for meetings exactly like this one. Oliver and Sharon next to each other, the doctor in the middle and Steve and Mr. McGee on the other side facing them.

Mr. McGee had a folder sitting in front of him on the table. He opened it, looked at a few notes and started. "My team, Mr. Marek, Ms. McInerney and twelve other agents were hard at work trying to defuse a potential cyber attack on US soil by foreign militants when our camp was ambushed. It happened in the middle of night about 5 weeks ago and 6 of our troops were kidnapped. Among them were 2 female assets. Ms. McInerney was one of them. Unfortunately for her, she was the only one with the IT division and the only one with no military training. Oliver clenched his jaw and closed his hands into fists and said with gritted teeth. "5 weeks ago!?" He glared at the two men sitting at the opposite side of the table and hissed, "When were you planning on telling us, her family and closest friends that she was in mortal danger?"

Both Steve and Mr. McGee looked at each other seemingly extremely uncomfortable. Steve spoke for the first time. "Since their kidnapping, we diverted troops from all areas and focused on locating them. We had hundreds of men and women looking for them night and day. Unfortunately, those criminals have weird hideouts. They are not conventional making it a lot harder to locate them."

"We are not interested in your excuses, Mr. Marek." Sharon hissed angrily. "Why was Shane put in such a situation to start with? As you said Mr. McGee, Shane has no military training. Why was she there in the first place?" Mr. McGee looked unapologetically and simply said, "75% of the team were IT experts. It was a cyber security matter, not just military."

"What happened to her?" Oliver asked with a growl. Steve sighed heavily and said with a twisted expression of pain, "She was tortured maliciously. Those people are animals and they are sick in the head." Steve stopped talking, unable to control his emotions and let the tears run freely down his face. By now, Sharon and Oliver were both crying. Oliver pulled Sharon towards him and leaned towards her. She hid her face in Oliver's shoulder and released the sobs.

"My baby!" She kept saying brokenly. Oliver tucked his head beside her face and they both cried holding on to each other.

Mr. McGee looked at the doctor for help since all his other companions were obviously too distraught to carry on. Dr. Reynolds cleared his throat and said, "Despite the cowardice and treachery of those men, Ms. McInerney's injuries are not life threatening. What she needs now is rest, fluids and food. Her ankle is in a cast, it should heal nicely within the next few weeks. Her shoulder has been put back in place; her cuts have been stitched and her bruises will heal and disappear before long." He paused and looked at Oliver directly in his eyes and carried on, "Ms. McInerney was not sexually assaulted and all her vital organs are intact and unharmed." Sharon looked up and said a feeble thank you to the doctor. Oliver asked when they could take Shane home. The doctor said within 3 to 4 days she could go home. Steve started to suggest she should stay in DC, but when both Oliver and Sharon looked at him with murder in their eyes, he closed his mouth and didn't open it again. Mr. McGee informed them whenever they were ready to take Shane home, her travel expenses would be covered by the government. If the medical staff suggested home assistance for the first few weeks, that would be organised and covered also. Then the meeting was closed and Sharon and Oliver were taken to see Shane.

When Oliver saw her for the first time, he couldn't believe it. She was emaciated! She must have lost about 20 pounds at least but Shane didn't have 20 pounds to spare to start with. She was covered in cuts and bruises from head to toe. She had a big gash running almost the entire length of her upper arm starting on her left shoulder and running to almost her elbow. It was the arm that had been dislocated. She had cuts above her eyes and split lips. Both her eyes were swollen shut and the skin around them was a mess of rainbow colours. Her arms and legs were cut and bruised everywhere. She must have lost a fair amount of blood, as she was very pale under her yellow and purple bruises. The poor girl would end up with a couple of ugly scars around her thighs and upper arms.

Oliver couldn't stop the tears and for Sharon, the whole thing was just too much. She sat on a chair and sobbed uncontrollably. Oliver pulled a chair next to Shane's bed, grabbed her hand and kissed it gently. He laid it against his face and allowed the tears to run freely as his heart broke for her. "Oh my love, I'm here now… I'm so sorry."