Chapter 16: Friends and Foes

Two things happen at once after I throw myself out of the window. First, I hear the front door of the apartment being broken down. Second, my left ankle makes a horrific crunch against the fire escape as the heel of my platform shoe snaps off and falls into oblivion, causing me to land hard on my ankle.

"Fuck me," I hiss, needing to keep my voice down. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that my ankle is completely and utterly shattered. Before I'm even able to assess the damage, I remember that I had just set a fire about ten feet from my head. Grimacing, I go down the fire escape as quickly as I can. I am already unable to put weight on my left foot, so I grab the railings with both hands and swing myself down the fire escape, three steps at a time and landing only on my right foot.

I land in a heap on the pavement below the last step and cry out in pain. Sitting up, I look down at my leg. My left ankle has already begun to swell up, and there is a large bump the size of a ping-pong ball on the exterior of my ankle.

Sitting up in the grass, I open my purse, searching for anything to make a makeshift splint. All that I have is $20, a CIA credit card, Todd Eldridge's laptop, my two cell phones, 3 band-aids, and a couple of scrunchies. I have little that I needed to immobilize the injury, and I know I won't get very far on it. Swiping my flower ring, I cut off the bottom of my dress and wrapped the fabric tight around my injury, securing it with the scrunchies. I silently curse myself for selecting to set a fire as opposed to grabbing a few more items, namely a real first-aid kit to make a real splint.

Using the fire escape behind me to steady myself, I pull myself onto my right foot, my left ankle screaming in pain at the movement. The makeshift brace was barely doing anything at all, and the shooting pain combined with the ugly sunflower fabric mostly just makes me want to vomit.

I begin attempting to hobble away, but my plot is immediately foiled, as my left foot gives out, sending me sprawling into the sidewalk. I use my 3 band-aids to attempt to stop the bleeding from my scraped knees and forearms, but it doesn't prove very useful. Tearing up from the pain, I call Alex to see if he is still nearby, but there is no answer. Presumably, he is still running or biking away. I am about to send him a text when I see a shadow loom over me.

"Why, Eloise Greenwald, I never would have taken you for a traitor," the figure says. Todd Eldridge.

I look up at him, my eyes flooded with tears. "Boss? What are you doin' here? Do you live nearby?" I ask innocently, remembering my Southern drawl.

"That's bullshit and you know it."

I gasp. "Language!" I exclaim, teary-eyed, rubbing my baby bump, "I don't want my baby's first words to be a cuss. Now, what in God's name are you going on about?"

I catch Todd looking conflicted for half a second. Visible seeds of doubt have been planted in his mind. I can use this to my advantage. "Now, Eloise, what did you say happened to your foot? And where is your husband in all of this? Odd of him to leave his pregnant wife."

"I think I broke my ankle, sir," I explain, gesturing towards my flowery brace, "I heard the fire alarm goin' off in my apartment, so I jumped out of bed and onto the fire escape," I gesture to the staircase, just two yards away, "I landed horribly and broke my shoe, and now I'm just a heap on the floor."

"Where is Allen? And why are you wearing the same dress as yesterday?"

"It was the first thing I grabbed before escaping. Why, I can't possibly leave the house in my pajamas!" I exclaim, feigning horror, "As for Allen, he is probably on his morning run. Oh, how he loves his exercise!"

"I see," Todd starts.

"And anyways," I chatter, "Shouldn't you be at school right now? It's nearly 7am. Plus, I can't believe you are not more hungover after all you had to drink last night. My Allen had to carry you out to the car," I giggle through the pain.

"Listen," Todd growls, "I'm the one asking questions here."

"Mr. Eldridge, we're not at school. You came up to me, so I'm not sure what authority you have here," I sass back, unable to help myself.

"Why, Eloise, I didn't take you for the back-talking type."

"I think I should call my Allen. He's been gone awhile," I say, fiddling with my wedding ring, and placing my hand on Todd's sneaker as if to get my balance.

"I think that you know more than you're letting on," Todd sneers.

"Please, just let me call my husband. I'm in a lot of pain and I'm still not sure what you're accusing me of."

"Oh, sweetie," he sneers, "I think you know exactly what I'm–" Todd's sentence is cut short as he pitches forward, landing directly on top of me. I nearly took an elbow to the gut, but thankfully dear old Smithers made this pregnancy belly bulletproof, and by extension elbow-proof, too.

Another thing that the lovely Smithers gave me was a beautiful gold wedding ring filled with one tranquilizer-laced dart that is currently residing in Todd's foot.

I dial Alex again, hoping for a response, but get nothing. He must have impressive biking endurance.

By the time I get Todd off me, which is a major struggle given that I cannot move my left foot and Todd is a very large man, the fire department finally arrives.

One of the firewomen rushes over to me. "Ma'am, Ma'am, are you alright?" I gesture towards my ankle and am rewarded with a trip in an ambulance to St. David's medical center.

While in the ambulance, I frantically dial Alex to no avail. Unfortunately, I only have his work number and not his personal phone, though luckily I had seen him grab both on the way out. He must be driving or something. Yeah, that's got to be it.

20 minutes to the hospital later, I am in an emergency room bed having a nurse ask me questions and take my vitals. "Is there anyone I can call for you, Sugar?" an older woman who introduces herself as Nurse Kay asks sweetly. I must look positively pathetic right now between my cut dress, scraped knees, pregnant belly, and a busted ankle raised above my bed.

"I have been trying to call my husband for an hour," I explain, handing her my work phone, "Maybe you could give it a try? His name is Allen Greenwald."

"Of course, Sugar," she smiles, finally injecting my body with pain meds from an IV. My work phone is just Alex/Allen and a bunch of phony CIA numbers with real people on the other end who will claim they've known Eloise Greenwald forever.

I immediately relax once the medicine hits my bloodstream. In fact, I hardly even care that the doctor takes an hour to even see me, and two more before I'm able to get an X-Ray. Strong painkillers have always just chilled me out since I have been trained in RTI.

I must have fallen asleep at some point because it was one in the afternoon when I was finally visited by a doctor to discuss my ankle.

"Hi, Eloise, my name is Dr. Julia Lopez, your orthopedic surgeon. It's great to meet you," she announces cheerfully. Dr. Lopez is short with beautiful long black hair braided back. She wears a Mexican flag pin on her name tag, signaling her heritage, and a she/her pronoun pin. I lay back, listening to her explain how she personally will be cutting into my ankle in about an hour and putting in pieces of metal since I had managed to break it quite nicely. I scowl, the effect of the medication beginning to wear off. "Unfortunately, we were not able to reach your husband. We have tried calling him for hours and still nothing," she frowns, handing me my phone. I scowl again, annoyed that I have to be in the hospital and that Alex is MIA, and that my ankle really fucking hurts. I then consider that Alex may genuinely be hurt and a flash of fear must cross my face because Dr. Lopez immediately begins comforting me. "Don't worry, Muñeca, we'll track him down, I'm sure of it."

Almost immediately, it begins buzzing in my hands. Alex. "Where the fuck have you been?" I demand.

"El, where are you? Why did you call me 37 times?"

"I'm in the hospital, Allen, where have you been?" My voice is not quiet. Dr. Lopez and Nurse Kay clearly sense awkwardness and leave the room quickly, keeping the door slightly ajar.

"Chicago," Alex says sheepishly, "I took a bit of a detour on the way back to DC."

"Chicago!" I yell, "What in God's name are you doing there?"

"Layover flight," Alex explains quickly, "It was the easiest option to get back to DC."

I scowl. As annoyed as I want to be by him, he really was just following my orders. "Allen, I'm about to go into surgery. Get your ass back to Austin immediately–ask my dad for a plane–and I'll send you the hospital details."

I just finish hitting send on the hospital specifics when I hear the door click shut. Todd Eldridge. I gulp. "Uh, boss? What are you doin' here?"

"You little bitch," he snarls, coming closer, "You poisoned me."

"How could I have done that!" I yell loudly "I was cryin' in pain on the ground. You were probably still drunk and just passed out onto my pregnant belly, mind you! You coulda killed my baby with your recklessness."

"Well," he challenges, "The Midazolam that appeared on my toxicology report tells a different story. I think you drugged me."

"Boss, you're scarin' me," my voice is loud and alarming, "I'm just a nice Southern Girl who's expectin' her first baby. I would never hurt anybody, especially not my boss." I see it again. The slight hesitation in his eyes. Eldridge knows he doesn't trust me, but some part of him pities this poor pregnant Alabama girl. I immediately try to capitalize on this. "I'm just so scared right now–Allen is nowhere to be found and the only man I know here is accusin' me of things I'd never do. I don't even know anything about Mid-a-zoe-lamb or whatever you were sayin'. All I know is that my ankle hurts and I want my husband." My brain is fuzzy from the drugs but I know that I want Todd to get the hell away from me right now.

Todd sneers. "That's bullshit and you know it," he raises his voice to match mine. He takes a few steps closer to me. He is close enough that I can smell the alcohol on his clothing from last night.

"I told you to stop cussing around my baby!" I yell hysterically, wondering how no nurses have heard us yet, "And please, take a deep breath and a step back, you're scarin' me." Todd pauses for a second. If I wasn't currently incapacitated in a hospital bed, I would have pinned him to the ground already. I silently curse my shoes for breaking so easily on that fire escape.

A thin smile appears on Todd's face. I shudder. He takes a step closer to me, his hip touching the side of my hospital bed. I reach for the remote on my tray. The nurses did not leave anything else near me in bed, and they took away all of my gadget jewelry. I bring it up, attempting to hit Todd over the head with it, but he quickly realizes my plan and pins my hands up against the headboard of the bed. Curse this stupid morphine and my stupid slow reflexes.

Before I realize what is happening, Todd has climbed onto the hospital bed with me. On me. Sitting on top of my sternum, he puts one hand over my mouth, and the other on the front of my neck and starts squeezing. Hard. "Try yelling for the nurses now, Baby Girl," he sneers. I begin to choke as Todd increases the pressure of his hand against my neck.

Choking. Black spots. Dizzy. Choking. Beeping faster. Black spots. Wait. Beeping. My heart is beating faster.

Todd isn't touching my hands. Vision mostly black, I flick the small plastic device that measures my heart rate off my finger and onto the floor. The beeping gets louder and doesn't stop.

Finally, finally, the nurses burst into my room yelling "code blue." Shocked, Eldridge lets go of my neck and turns around, dumbfounded. I take the opportunity to deliver a swift blow to his head, knocking him out. Breathing heavily, I try to clear the black spots from my vision. This is not an easy feat, considering my lungs are currently being crushed by a fully grown man.

Nurse Kay runs over to me, along with two strong-looking male doctors who lift Todd off of me and onto a new stretcher. "Mrs. Greenwald, are you okay?" She puts the finger device I threw to the floor back onto me, and puts an oxygen mask over my nose and mouth.

My first few breaths are shaky and my eyes are teary. The oxygen is perhaps the most delicious thing I've ever tasted. I take a few moments to recover my breathing. I nod, removing the mask. "Yeah, I'm okay. That man just came in and started attacking me. And you can call me Eloise."

"I am so sorry that happened to you, Sugar. We are moving him to the psychiatric floor where he can't hurt you or anybody else."

"Are you sure he won't come back?" I wipe the tears out of my eyes.

"Positive," she assured me, "The psychiatric floor is constantly on lockdown. Are you sure you're alright, Eloise?" her voice softens "That must have been so scary but my goodness, you were brave."

I suddenly feel very small in my bed. All of my adrenaline is completely gone and I'm in pain and I'm exhausted. "Can I have a hug?" I ask meekly. She nods. Smiling, she reaches over and holds me in her arms.

The tears start flowing and I can't get them to stop. Before I even realize it, I am sobbing, and Nurse Kay's shoulder is soaking wet. She holds me tighter and begins stroking my hair which makes me cry even harder. We stay like this for a while. Somewhere between five minutes and three hours, I would guess. I don't know. All I know is the wet cotton scrubs against my eyes and Nurse Kay whispering to me. Nothing else exists in the whole room or the entire world, as far as I care. Eventually, I stop crying, and Nurse Kay gives me back my oxygen mask to take over my breathing. It's nice to not have to think about breathing because my neck and chest are still tight. She is sitting in a chair next to my bed, facing the door and holding my hand gently.

I must have dozed off because I wake up feeling massively disoriented. Nurse Kay is still holding my hand, a fact that makes me want to start crying all over again, and she is speaking with Dr. Lopez in a hushed tone.

"Eloise, you're awake," Dr. Lopez smiles, "How are you feeling?" I scowl and she laughs, "We've pushed your ankle surgery until tomorrow afternoon to give your body time to recover from earlier. The police also want to speak with you, but I told them to come back tomorrow as well."

"Thank you," I said quietly, "I really appreciate that."

She smiles genuinely. "Of course, Muñeca, you've had a rough day."

"Retweet," I say, finally managing a smile.

Dr. Lopez gave me a big toothy grin. "Well, Eloise, you do have a couple of visitors here to see you, if you're up for it. I've kept them away until you woke up–it looked like you needed the rest," I nod. Dr. Lopez leans closer to me and whispers "Between you and me, though, if you don't want any visitors, I'm more than happy to send them away for the night."

"Who's here?" I rub my tired eyes. Dr. Lopez steps away to reveal two figures. One tall and blonde and another leaning on a cane. "Allen! Dad! You made it!" I exclaim, "They can come in," I smile. Dr. Lopez gets up and leaves.

Alex and my Dad walk into the room, looking wary of me. Nurse Kay squeezes my hand. "Eloise, honey, do you want me to stay?" she whispers.

I crack a small smile. I might adopt Nurse Kay as my mom or something. "They're safe. Thank you though, I really appreciate it." Giving my hand one final squeeze, Nurse Kay gets up and follows the doctor out of the room.

It's Alex who rushes up to me first. I notice my dad in the background checking the room for cameras and bugs. "El, are you okay? I am so sorry I wasn't here to help you. We never should have split up…" Alex pauses, "What the hell?!" he exclaims, "What happened to your neck?"

"That bad?"

"Yeah, it's all bruised up."

"All clear," my Dad interrupts, signaling that we can actually talk in here, "Ella, why is that nurse staring at us?"

Nurse Kay, my beloved. "She doesn't trust men in my room," I say nonchalantly, "Alex," I say, thinking quickly, "Come over here and act like my concerned husband. That will get her off our backs."

Alex nods. Stepping closer, he puts his hand on my left cheek and uses his other hand to tuck a few loose strands of hair behind my ears. He leans in and gently kisses me on the forehead. He leans in to hug me, and begins whispering in my ear in the Arabic I taught him. "I am so, so sorry this happened to you, I feel terrible."

I grin. It seems that the easiest way to my heart is through somebody (properly) using a language I taught them. I hug him, squeezing him tight. "Watch out, or I might just fall in love with you," I whisper back in Arabic and Alex laughs.

My dad clears his throat. "Rider, leave. I need to talk to my daughter for a moment." My dad's tone leaves no room for nonsense and Alex obeys, carefully closing the door behind him. "Ella, what the fuck happened?" he demands, suddenly.

"What do you mean?"

"Why is it that, exactly one day into the official start of this mission, your partner is 1,000 miles away, and you're in the hospital with a nurse who looks like she wants to kill me?" he demands.

"Thanks for the sympathy, Dad," I grumble.

"Ella."

"Okay, okay, so we got invited to this work dinner party and stole Eldridge's laptop last night. We have already sent anything useful to Mom and Ava to be decoded. Then, we went to bed and woke up to our door literally being broken down. Since we already had the laptop, we decided to just head back to the CIA. I told Alex to meet me back in DC, and the first flight he got was a layover through O'Hare. When I tried to escape, my shoe broke and I fractured my ankle on impact and got taken to the hospital," I pause to take a breath, "Oh, and the reason the nurse won't stop staring is that Todd Eldrige broke into my fucking hospital room and started strangling me in bed. He nearly killed me too, until I flicked off the heart rate device on my finger so it sounded like my heart stopped and a bunch of doctors came rushing in and got him away from me. Nurse Kay has been watching over me since then."

"It's called a pulse oximeter."

"What?"

"The 'heart rate device' on your finger. It's called a pulse oximeter," my dad rolls his eyes.

"Are you kidding me? Get the hell out of here. I don't know why you even came," I say, voice shaking.

"What do you mean?" he raises his voice, "My daughter is in the hospital, so, of course, I was going to come here."

"Is your daughter in the hospital, or is your asset?" I challenge him, "Because you aren't exactly acting like a father right now."

"Ella, I don't understand. I'm here, how is that not enough?" my Dad shakes his head, sighing.

"You came in and yelled at me for failing this mission, even though one: I am not working for you, and two: I did exactly what '6 wanted. When I went to you, as your 18-year-old daughter, to tell you how I shattered my ankle and how I got strangled in my own hospital bed, all you do is correct my medical terminology."

"You hardly shattered your ankle, Ella, stop being so dramatic," my dad rolls his eyes, "You broke it in two places."

"You're just mad that I'm working for '6 now, instead of you. You were never like this when I was your perfect little government secret," I shoot back, fuming, "I didn't mean to get back into this life at all so stop punishing me and start acting like my dad, or get the hell out." My dad gets up and storms out of the room.

Breathing heavily and holding back tears, I reach to my left to get that oxygen mask again. My whole face is teary and snotty and gross. Before I can even clean myself up, there is a quiet knocking on the door. Alex. I wave him in, and he carefully shuts the door behind him. "Ella, what happened?" He is holding a tray, and hands me a coffee cup, "Hot chocolate," he explains.

"Thanks, Alex," I smile, taking a sip and enjoying the sugary taste on my tongue, "This was really kind of you." He reaches over and hands me a tissue. I blow my nose and he even throws away the tissue for me.

"Of course, El," he smiles, "Now please, tell me what happened.

I go through my shitty day quickly, but unlike for my dad, I don't edit the story for Alex. It turns out he's a great listener. He cringes when I tell him about my ankle, starts fuming when I tell him about Eldridge or my dad, and his face softens when I tell him about the kind hospital staff.

"Well," he starts, "I again want to apologize for not being around—let's not split up again," I smile in agreement, "And oh my god I hate men today."

"Retweet, sister," I say, sticking my fist in the air.

"Is your dad always this much of an arse?"

"No, he usually like, pretends to give a damn about me. My theory is that he's pissed I'm working for '6 instead of the CIA. You see, both my older siblings go to American University and work for the CIA on the side. I'm the problem child who moved overseas and ended up working for a rival agency a week later." Alex nods.

"Your dad," Alex starts, "He's the reason you didn't want to stay in DC?"

"My dad is the reason I didn't want to stay in America," I laughed, "He has been this way my whole life. You know, I very nearly stayed in DC and went to Georgetown instead–I got in, you know–at first I just really didn't want to be at the same school as my older siblings. My parents both went there too, but I've always felt the need to be different. My dad had finally accepted the fact that I would live at home, work for the CIA, and simply attend Georgetown instead of American, which is a much better school, mind you, when I got into Oxford and kinda sprung that on him instead. So yeah, I guess I just realized that nothing was going to change unless I did something drastic, so I just packed up and moved to England."

"Someone sounds stuck in his ways."

"That's an understatement," I sigh, "Everything would have worked out great too, if it weren't for a little weasel called John Crawley," Alex laughs at this, "Who sent me straight to '6. Honestly, Alex, I have no idea what to do–I've already missed three weeks of classes at Oxford and all of my stuff is in a storage container. I have no idea what I'm doing with my life. At this rate, I'm just going to be passed around by different intelligence agencies until I die," I take a shaky breath, "And I really, really don't want that, Alex," I say, my stupid eyes getting teary again, "But I don't know who I am outside of this life so I don't even know where to start.

Alex reaches over and hugs me, tight, and by this time I'm crying hard. Tears are falling. I can't stop. I don't know how to stop, and eventually, he climbs next to me in bed and just holds me.

I wake up the next morning, my face still tucked into his shirt from the night before. My eyes are heavy with sleep, but he looks like he's been up for hours. "Alex, you're still here?"

"Ella, you're my mission partner. No way in hell I'm leaving you again."

A small smile forms on my face. "You really stayed here all night?"

"Yeah, it seemed like you needed a friend."

"Are we…friends?" I ask him.

"I mean, I'm not learning Arabic, going to parties, or committing acts of Arson with anybody else," Alex smiles, "Of course we're friends." I smile at him.

"I'm sorry I was such a mess last night."

"Don't apologize. You had a really rough day, and I'm here for you, Ella, even when we aren't mission partners." I hug him back for saying all of the right things.

My surgery went perfectly, they told me, and I'm allowed to go home the next morning. I'm sitting in a wheelchair, with my left foot in a white plaster cast. Alex is wheeling me through the hospital and towards the front door.

I hear footsteps approaching behind me, quickly. "Excuse me, son, but could I speak with my patient for a second, please? In private?" It's Nurse Kay!

"Okay with you, El?" Alex asks. I nod, and he walks about 10 feet away, watching us closely.

"Your dad is a real piece of work," Nurse Kay shakes her head, "That boy though, he really likes you. I can tell"

"I mean, he's my husband, so I'd hope so." Nurse Kay tilts her head and squints at me.

She lowers her voice. "Sweetie, you're 17 at most and are wearing a fake pregnancy belly, albeit a very impressive one. Forgive me if I don't believe everything you're telling me," I must look very concerned because she begins to assure me, "Calm down, Sugar, I won't tell anybody. You're my patient and I'm looking out for you first. I'm sure you have your reasons, Lord knows we all do. Just let me know if there's anyone you need me to call.

"18," I whisper, "And yeah, I have my reasons."

"I knew it. You know, you remind me a bit of my daughter, may she rest in peace. She served in the Air Force for six years and was always getting herself into situations like these. Here," Nurse Kay paused, writing something onto her notepad and handing it to me, "Take my phone number, you never know when you may need it."

"I really appreciate your kindness."

"Don't mention it. Just…just take care of yourself. Please."

"Yes Ma'am," I salute her. She nods at me and walks away.

Alex walks back over and resumes pushing my chair. "What was that about?"

"Oh, just some girl talk," I shrug him off, pocketing the piece of paper from Nurse Kay.