Chapter Sixteen

A/N I didn't start out to write two stories together. It has simply gone that way. If, by doing so, one story is shorted-as it were- all I can say is I did my best.

Pete, who had slept on a cot the hospital had put in Amanda's room-after Pete had put his foot down and told them he'd sleep in a chair if he had to; only, he wasn't leaving his fiancée until he absolutely had to, stood by Amanda's bedside. He had hoped she'd be awake by the time he had no choice but to leave. Only he'd been disappointed to find her still unconscious in the morning. "You have to pull through." He did his best to control his voice as he spoke and took a hold of her hand. "I waited too long to find you. Still can't believe how fast and hard I've fallen for you." He had to pause, fighting to keep any tears that wanted to come at bay. "I'd like to stay here all day only I've got to get back to work. Andrew or Camilla will be here soon." He laid her hand back down and leaned over to kiss Amanda on the forehead. However, when he started to straight up, he saw Amanda had opened her eyes and was looking at him. While she looked tired, and her smile small, he was elated. She would continue to improve; he just knew it.

"You do know how to scare a body, don't you?" Pete took a hold of her hand once more; again, he was more than elated when she gave his hand a squeeze. It didn't matter how weak it was; it still meant the world to him. He could tell she wanted to say something by the look in her eyes. Only, with the oxygen mask over her nose and mouth, she couldn't-causing her to tense up somewhat. "Relax," he smiled as he brushed her bangs away from her eyes. "Just rest, we can always talk later. I'll come by first chance I get." He was relieved when he felt her muscles loosen up. He went to say something else only Andrew walked in.

"What did you do, spend the whole night here?" Andrew was speaking to Pete, only he was looking at Amanda-who had closed her eyes once again. Not knowing she'd woken up at all, he assured Pete everything would be fine. "Doc said she's already doing much better and apologized for thinking you should have left her in Arizona."

"Yes, I slept here; I couldn't get myself to leave her. When it comes to Mandi, there was no way I was leaving her behind, and she was awake for a minute." Pete wasn't surprised when he saw both relief and joy in Andrew's eyes. "I do have to get going. If I don't, I'll be late. I'll come back after my shift is over." 'Which I just know is going to feel like a lot longer than normal' he thought only to himself.

"Camilla or I will be here." Andrew assured him-before telling him not to worry about talking to any of his friends about taking his family in. "The motel manager's wife turned out to be an old high school friend of Camilla's. When she found out what had happened, and why we were here, she talked to her husband. The gentleman gave us a rather generous discount. So, we'll be staying at their motel for the week. We consider it a miracle and huge blessing."

"I would, too." Pete then excused himself, again stating he'd be back as soon as he could. Once he stepped out of the hospital, Pete headed for his car doing his best to keep his eyes and ears wide open.

~oOo~

Pete was just buttoning his shirt when Ed walked into the almost empty locker room. For a minute, there was a painful silence, until Ed broke the silence. "You sure you want to work with me?"

'Not entirely,' Pete thought, but managed to keep the words from slipping out of his mouth. "You weren't at fault, Ed." Pete turned to face his coworker. "It's just that I came so close to losing another partner in, pretty much, the same way I lost Dave. I wanted to throttle Jackman's throat only you can't do a thing to a dead man. Unfortunately, that left you wide open to receive the blunt of my anger." Pete then asked if Ed had actually requested to be removed as a training officer. "Jim said you had talked about it."

"Yes, it's true. I have an appointment to talk to the chief after our shift is over." Ed sighed. "Pete, you were right about one thing."

Pete was confused. "What is that?"

"Rookies need someone who will pound lessons into their heads. Oh, I don't mean they'll always listen. We both know that's not the case." Ed scratched the back of his neck. "I don't think I did that. I mean, sure I'd tell him things, but-" Ed sighed again. "Maybe if I had…"

"No," Pete stopped him. "You can do your best to pound something into their heads only, when it boils down to it, they make their own choice. You're not responsible for that. If the department hasn't removed you as a training officer, I'd think again about making the request. That is, if it's just because of Jackman's actions, I would think twice before saying you don't want to train any more men. If it's truly more than that, go through with it."

Ed couldn't believe what he was hearing. Still.. "Thanks, and congratulations on your engagement. I'm glad you finally found someone. I'm sure she'll be okay." He bit back any other remark-as, even he knew it wasn't the time for joking around.

Pete simply nodded and said, "Me too."

Ed, not knowing what to say next, and feeling a bit awkward, gestured towards the locker room door. "We best get going. Mac won't like it if we're late to roll call."

"You go ahead. I have something to do real quick." Pete said as he put his hat on his head.

"Okay," Ed turned around and left the room.

When it came to Pete, he went straight to the front desk. "If you're not careful, they catch you playing around-and you might be the one given time off." Pete said after opening the door and seeing Jim doing a crossword puzzle.

"I'll make sure I'm through soon." Jim assured him and then said, "It's good to have you back." He then asked how Amanda was doing. "Jean and I have been worried ever since Mac told us what happened."

"She's opened her eyes for a minute. I'm going back there after work." Pete answered. "I just wanted to make sure nothing had come up at the last minute. I mean, to interfere with her staying with you and Jean until we're married once she's well enough to leave the hospital." Pete was surprised by the shocked look that leapt onto Smitty's face. After all, Pete -who had no clue Smitty had just got back from his own one week vacation-was sure that the news would have spread throughout the entire police station by the time he reached Los Angeles-if not sooner.

"Don't worry. We're eager to meet her. No matter what, we'll have a place for her." Jim assured.

"You can explain things to Smitty." Pete said as he left to hurry to roll call, leaving Jim to do just that.