Bobby Meets His Match- Chapter 13
Wow. My third chapter in three days. Please leave feedback, as I live for it.
Bobby and Lester ran up to Cathy's apartment and pounded hard on the door.
"Cathy?" "its Bobby." He didn't wait long for a response before quickly picking the lock. He and Lester entered carefully but she wasn't anywhere. "Cathy?" What the hell? Where was she?
Bobby closed the apartment door behind them as they went back outside. "Are you sure they said he was…" Bobby stopped midsentence, his gaze suddenly stopped on something. Lester followed his gaze towards the pool, where they could see a redhead floating, facedown, blood in the water. "Fuck! Call 911 and get the medkit from the rig." Bobby's voice was actually trembling as he yelled orders to Lester while racing to the red haired form floating motionless in the water. He didn't bother with trying to find the opening to the pool gate, he didn't take off his shoes or his gun or his phone, he just hurdled himself up and over the four foot fence and dove into the pool , screaming, "Cathy!" Jesus Christ, he had to swim through blood to get to her, but he reached her in less than three seconds. Please God, was all he thought.
Bobby and turned her over, blood dripping from her head wound. She wasn't breathing. He grabbed her up, and swam to the edge, starting mouth to mouth right there in the water. Lester had come back with the kit, and he helped Bobby get her on the pool deck. Bobby reacted instinctively, his medic training kicking in. He rolled her carefully onto her side, trying to squeeze the water out of her lungs.
" Ambulance is on their way, " Lester told him, as Bobby rolled her over and covered her mouth with his, blowing into her. She didn't have a pulse. Shit. He couldn't think about this being the woman he loved. Had to be clinical. 'Get the bag valve mask out of there, and then try to stop the bleeding of the head wound," he told Lester. Bobby wasted no time putting his huge hands on her sternum and delivering hard, rapid compressions. He winced when he heard her ribs crack as he forced her chest down 3 ½ inches over and over. "sorry, baby, he whispered."
Lester put the bag valve mask over her mouth and squeezed it, delivering oxygen to her in rhythm with Bobby's compressions. No telling how long Cathy had been in the water. If she was without oxygen any longer than 5 minutes or so, this wasn't going to turn out well. This didn't look good, but he knew Bobby and he knew Bobby wouldn't give up. He wouldn't let her die.
Lester knew Bobby would be destroyed if she died, if he wasn't able to save her. She was the only woman Bobby had ever let himself fall in love with, the only one who loved him unconditionally. Lester wasn't religious, because he'd seen enough terrible shit to know that God could be a real bastard sometimes. But he prayed that Bobby could save her.
Bobby watched her face as he did compressions. On the outside, he was calm, methodical, he'd done this many times. But inside he was in a total fucking panic. . Fuck. This wasn't working. He knew that CPR alone wasn't going to get her back. He needed drugs, equipment. And who knew how much the head injury was affecting this.
Time was ticking here. "Fuck. Where the fuck is that ambulance?" , Bobby yelled, never letting up in his powerful thrusts. He wasn't going to let her die. Lester said, 'ERs only 5 minutes from here. We can take her ourselves instead of waiting for the ambulance."
Lester drove like a maniac, calling the ER so they would be ready and waiting for Cathy, while Bobby knelt in the back, hunched over her, working relentlessly on keeping her alive.
Lester met Steph and Ranger coming through the ICU doors. " What happened? How's Cathy? How's Bobby?" Questions spilled rapidly out of Steph's mouth, falling over each other.
Lester grinned slightly, despite the seriousness of the situation. " I haven't seen Bobby in medic mode for awhile, and I'd forgotten how fierce he is. If I am ever dying, he's the one I want working on me. He is fucking ferocious. Cathy apparently hit her head on the side of the pool and drowned when Scott pushed her in. Bobby and I did CPR for awhile, but Bobby knew she was going to need more than that, so instead of waiting for the ambulance we brought her here ourselves. Bobby took her into the ER, shouting orders, told the docs what drugs she needed and what to do, and wouldn't let them stop until they got her heart beating again. "
"Do we know anything about her condition?" Ranger asked.
"Well, I don't know if there will be any complications from the drowning, but they did surgery because she had brain swelling from the head injury. Plus, she is on a ventilator since she has a punctured lung from Bobby breaking her ribs."
"Why would Bobby break her ribs?" Steph asked, appalled. Lester gave her a weird look, as if she should know already. "CPR, properly done, is violent. You have to push hard on the chest and sometimes it breaks ribs," he explained. Steph shuddered, imagining Bobby's massive weight pushing down on Cathy's tiny chest.
"Anyway, we won't know for sure the extent of the damage until the swelling in her brain comes down. Right now she's in a coma, but the doc says that is to be expected. She just got out of surgery, and Bobby is in with her now.
Hal and Ram followed the beeping tracker to Ander's business. The sportscar was parked outside. "I can't believe that dumb fuck just came back here after he almost drowned Cathy. He didn't even try to hide out. He's either really fucking arrogant or really fucking stupid, Ram said. Ram took the back and Hal went in the front.
As soon as Ander's saw the man in black enter the building he freaked. This one was even bigger than the last one. He wasn't going to be humiliated again. He pulled a gun from his waistband and drew on Hal. Hal drew his Glock in disbelief. He couldn't believe the little shit would shoot him, but you never know what someone will do when they are desperate. "Put the gun down," Anders yelled at Hal. "No fucking way," Hal said as he slowly approached the man. He'd love to shoot the little bastard for drawing on him, but the little shit deserved more pain than a simple gunshot. Hal knew that Bobby would rip Anders to pieces, slowly and painfully. Just as Hal was in arms distance from Anders, the little coward dropped the gun and ran, only to run right into Ram.
Ram grabbed his gun, and then shoved him down and put his knew between Anders' shoulderblades to restrain him. As roughly as possible Ram cuffed him. " You have to read me my rights when you arrest me, " Anders whined. Ram smirked, causing a chill to go down Ander's spine. "Oh, we aren't the cops, and we aren't arresting you, but you are going to wish we were cops." He paused and pulled Anders up hard, smacking him into the wall. "A friend of ours gave you a warning that you failed to heed, and now, as much as I'd love to beat the shit out of you myself, I'm going to take you to him. And I believe he told you how good he is at causing pain."
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Steph was shocked when she walked into the ICU. Cathy looked terrible. Her head was wrapped in a huge bandage and had something metal sticking out of it. Her forehead was swollen and bruised and she had a giant bruise in the shape of a handprint on her cheek. She was unconscious and had a huge tube in her mouth, her chest tightly bound with bandages, probably from the broken ribs. All around her monitors flashed and beeped and IVs dripped. She was pale and completely motionless, except for the rise and fall of her chest, in time with the ventilator.
Bobby sat next to her bed, looking a mess. His hair had dried plastered to his head, and his clothes were still damp and he smelled like chlorine from the pool. His beautiful brown eyes were bloodshot, and there were little worry lines on his handsome face.
He held Cathy's still hand, and kissed it, then held it to his chest, stroking it lightly with his thumb, as if he couldn't bear not to touch her. His thumb gently traced her face. " Hey, baby. It's Bobby. Its ok. You're safe. I'm right here. You are going to be ok", he whispered to her, over and over, trying to convince himself as well as her. Bobby's eyes frequently studied the lines and flashes on the monitors, and he checked the meds in Cathy's IV, and the settings on the ventilator tube. When the nurse came in to check her vitals, he watched her like a hawk and insisted on seeing Cathy's chart. It was as if he didn't trust anyone but himself to care for Cathy properly .
Bobby watched Cathy intently, unaware there was anyone else in the room. The adrenaline that had been coursing through his system since he first found Cathy was giving way to exhaustion. He stroked her hand and stared as the ventilator made her bruised chest rise and fall. He flashed back on when he'd found her, how he had been terrified that he had lost her. That he had failed her, just as he had all had failed his men that died in the missions he'd fought. Except there was no way he'd let her die.
He touched the hand shaped bruise Anders had left on her face like a brand. Rage coursed through him, tensing his whole body, and he had to force the fingers touching her face to stay gentle. Anders had almost taken away the woman Bobby loved more than he had ever loved anything. And Bobby had almost let him. He didn't know if he was madder at himself or at Anders, but he was certain that fucker was going to die by his hand.
Steph watched Bobby's face as he looked down at Cathy. She had never seen that particular look on his face before. Gentleness, yes. She'd been Bobby's patient tons of times, and he was always tender and gentle. But not like this. There was something more in Bobby's face, more than worry, more than tenderness. It was actually vulnerability that she saw written all over Bobby's face, that he wasn't bothering to hide. This woman had gotten into his heart like no other woman had. She knew it was hurting him to see Cathy so helpless and weak, that he felt guilty for not protecting her. He looked like her pain was tearing him apart.
Steph walked over to Bobby and slowly touched his arm, not wanting to startle him. He looked up, smiled slightly at her, and hugged her briefly, before looking down at Cathy again. " Bobby, you look exhausted. Why don't you go shower and get some clean clothes and something to eat."
Ranger and Lester came into the space as Bobby was protesting. He didn't want to leave her. "Bobby," Steph continued." The doctor said she isn't going to wake up for awhile anyway. Why don't you get cleaned up and get something to eat. Ranger and I will stay with her. She won't be alone for a second. I promise." Bobby couldn't take his eyes off Cathy. "Make sure when the nurse comes in she checks the IV, and…" Steph cut him off. "Bobby, she'll be fine, " Steph insisted, pulling him gently away from her.
Bobby leaned down and carefully kissed Cathy's face. "Just rest , baby. I'll be right back. Steph will stay with you for awhile. I love you," he whispered. Steph felt embarrassed watching the tenderness in his eyes.
But then he looked up at Ranger and before her eyes, Bobby's face changed. The vulnerability, the tenderness that had been there seconds ago were gone, replaced with a look Steph was glad she'd never seen. His eyes had gone cold, his face hardened, and Steph was seeing the face of a man she'd never seen before. This was Bobby the trained soldier, the man who could and would not hesitate to kill whoever and whatever was a threat to him. His eyes met Ranger's equally cold ones questioningly. Ranger just nodded his head, spoken words unneeded. Bobby's body tensed and he moved lithely across the room. As he passed, Ranger nodded again and said, "whatever you want., and did that manly handshake thing." Bobby nodded and he and Lester left the room.
Steph was pretty sure Ranger had just given Bobby license to kill Anders.