by Paris Hansen
* * * * *
“SPD. Put the gun down.”
“Put your hands up, Douglas. You’re not going to get away.”
“Go to hell. I’m not giving her up. She’s mine.”
“H..h…h…elp,” Finley could barely speak. Her body ached, her eyes wouldn’t open. She had no idea what was happening or if she was going to survive.
“I’m not going to ask you again, put the gun down.”
“Fuck off.”
The sounds of gun shots rang out around her. Some much louder than others. Her body shook as she tried unsuccessfully to curl herself into a protective ball. She was going to die in the trunk of a car because she’d become the obsession of a mad man. Liam was dead because of her. That was the last thought that flashed through her mind as her body stopped shaking and everything went dark once again.
* * * * *
Her head throbbed more than it had the last time she’d broken free of the darkness. Her body also ached more than it had the last time, but she wasn’t sure why. Pushing on plastic wasn’t really a full body work out and while uncomfortable a trunk wasn’t the worst thing she’d ever slept in. Finley tried to shake off the fog so she could figure out where she was. Something had changed, but she didn’t know what.
“Come on Finley. You’ve got to wake up. I refuse to lose my best friend.”
Finley slowly shook her head, trying to make the voices stop. It wasn’t fair she was hearing Savannah’s voice when there was a very real chance she’d never see her again. If only she could just open her eyes so she could see where she was. Using the back of her hand, she rubbed at her eyes. It only took a second before she realized that her hands were no longer tied together. It was then she heard the steady beeping coming from behind her head and noticed the strong smell of antiseptic.
“Oh my god,” she said, her voice a harsh croak.
“Finley…hey you’re awake…you’re safe.”
“Savannah.”
“Oh thank god. I’m going to go let them know you’re awake. I’ll be right back.”
Finley slowly opened her eyes, her best friends face coming into focus above her. “Don’t leave me, please.”
“Hey,” Savannah said as she grabbed onto Finley’s hand. “You’re safe. I’ll barely be gone a minute. I promise.”
Nodding her head, Finley closed her eyes again. She was safe, at least for now. She needed to know what happened to her captor. She needed to know what happened to Liam. Her eyes fluttered open again at the sound of someone approaching her bed. A nurse looked at the machines behind her head checking her vitals while a doctor picked up the clipboard at the end of her bed
“Ms. Blake, it’s good to see you awake,” the doctor said softly. “You’ve got a pretty bad concussion there from the first blow to the head and then from the accident. When the car rolled you were knocked around quite a bit, but thankfully your injuries are pretty mild. You’ll be sore for a while, but nothing a little aspirin and rest can’t cure. We want to observe that concussion of yours for another night or two and then we’ll let you go home. Do you have any questions?”
“I…”
“It’s okay Finley, I’ll tell you what happened,” Savannah offered.
“Please let us know if you need anything,” the doctor said before leaving the room.
Finley stared at her best friend, waiting for the explanation she promised. The machine continued to beat steadily with the rhythm of her heart. Her head still ached, but with each second the pain was becoming duller. The nurse must have given her something for the pain when the doctor was talking to her.
“Just get some more rest, I’ll tell you all about it when you wake up again. Everything’s going to be okay Finley. I promise.”
She wanted to argue, but heaviness had taken over her body and the fog was filling her head again. Why wouldn’t Savannah just tell her what was going on? The only thing that made sense was that she didn’t want to give Finley bad news. She might be safe, but Liam wasn’t. With that thought in her head, she faded back into a drug induced slumber.
* * * * *
She had no idea how long she’d been out this time around, but as she came to her head no longer hurt like hell. Sadly, she couldn’t say the same about her body. Opening her eyes, she looked around her hospital room. The blinds were closed so she couldn’t tell what time it was, but Savannah was asleep on the reclining chair next to her bed so she figured it was probably late. Finley tried unsuccessfully to push herself up so she was sitting up. Her arms ached something fierce, unable to handle the physical exertion.
“You know we really need to stop hanging out in hospital rooms. They’re not very comfortable places to sleep no matter what side of the situation you’re on,” Savannah said her voice raspy with sleep.
“I can’t believe you’re still here.”
“Where would I go? I told you I’d tell you what happened. Plus, this is what friends do for each other. I’m not leaving your side until I know you’re okay.”
Finley smiled remembering saying something very similar to Savannah when she was in the hospital not that long ago.
“God, it even hurts to smile. What the hell happened?”
Savannah sat up and moved the chair so that it was facing Finley. “Your little trick with the tail lights worked. There was a car behind you when you broke your hands through. They called the cops immediately. The asshole that abducted you took the cops on a high-speed chase that eventually ended when he rolled the car down an embankment. He wasn’t wearing a seat belt and was thrown through the windshield. Somehow the maniac was still alive when the cops got to the car. He shot at the police, refusing to let them take you. Thankfully, they were able to stop him before too many people were hurt. When they pulled you out of the trunk…”
“Hey it’s okay Savannah, I’m okay. I vaguely remember waking up and gun shots.”
Savannah sighed. “I know, it’s just you weren’t always okay. When they pulled you out of the trunk you weren’t breathing. They had to do CPR on you because your heart fucking stopped. That guy almost killed you. He’s so lucky he’s dead already. You were asleep for a couple of days Fin. They said you weren’t in a coma though because you were reacting to stimulus, you just weren’t waking up for some reason.”
Finley had no idea what to say. The last thing she’d expected to hear was that she’d almost died; that her heart had stopped long enough that they had to administer CPR. She took a deep breath, noticing then how badly her chest hurt. She’d figured that was just one of the many aches and pains she’d gotten from the accident, but now she knew the truth. She also couldn’t believe so much time had passed since the night she was abducted.
“Why didn’t the doctor mention this earlier?”
“I asked him not to. I knew it would only freak you out and you weren’t ready to hear it yet. You’ve got a couple of cracked ribs from the compressions so you’ll have to take it easy for a while, which you’ll probably want to do anyway cause of all the other bumps and bruises.”
“Shit, I thought the bad news you were holding back earlier was about Liam. Damn it, what is it Savannah? You are horrible at controlling your face. What happened to Liam?” Finley’s voice shook as she asked the one question she wasn’t sure she was ready to hear the answer to.
Savannah took a deep breath, then looked down at her hands in her lap. “He’s going to be fine, Finley, I promise.”
“You’re making an awful lot of promises Savannah, just tell me what happened.”
“He flatlined a couple of times, once in the ambulance on the way here and another time in his first surgery. He lost a lot of blood. It was touch and go for a while, but he was moved out of ICU this morning. He’s stable, but not out of the woods just yet.”
“Oh thank god. I need to see him.”
Savannah sighed. “I knew you’d say that, but you can’t. Once you’re released you can see him, but not until then. You need to get more rest. You’re no good
to Liam if you don’t take care of yourself.”
Finley hated when Savannah was right, which seemed to be all the damn time in the last few months. She would have given anything to see with her own eyes that Liam was okay, but going to him was a really bad idea at the moment. Physical exertion made her head spin and her body hurt with every breath she took. Seeing Liam the way she was wouldn’t really help anyone.
“Wait, did you say first surgery?” Finley asked.
“Huh…caught that did you?” Savannah joked. “Yes, I said first surgery. I don’t really know much, just what I’ve told you and that he had to go into surgery twice. Since I’m not a relative they aren’t really allowed to tell me much. The detective on your case has kept me filled in as much as he can so I could tell you when you woke up.”
“What about Abby? Is she here?”
“I talked to her. She wants to come up, but the kids are sick and Liam’s doctor advised against it cause of infection and all that. As soon as Liam’s cleared, she’ll come up, but she wants you to call her when you feel up to it.”
Finley closed her eyes to fight back the urge to cry. She felt so helpless. Liam was lying alone somewhere in the hospital, no family, no friends. Abby was probably losing her mind not being able to be by her brother’s side.
“You really need to stop thinking about it. Liam hasn’t been awake much at all. He doesn’t really know that he’s alone. I’ve checked on him a couple times, so has Gabriel. Stop worrying. You’re only going to prolong your recovery if you’re stressing out and worrying too much.”
“Ugh,” Finley groaned as she looked over her at her friend. “Could you quit being right all the time? It’s really getting annoying.”
“Whatever, you know you love it,” Savannah laughed. “Now go back to sleep. I’m going to go grab something to eat and head home for the night. Since you’re awake now I don’t feel like I need to sit vigil by your bedside.”
“You’ve been here the whole time? Oh Savannah…”
“Hey, you spent most of your time with me when I was in the hospital. It’s what we do. But yeah, my back is ready for my mattress and the rest of my body is ready for my fiancé. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Shaking her head, Finley laughed at her friend’s honesty before saying goodbye. Hell, if she wasn’t beaten and battered and her boyfriend wasn’t shot, she’d be just as honest. They never got the chance at the make-up sex they’d so desperately needed. Now it would probably be a while before they’d get the chance. None of that really mattered to Finley. All she wanted was to wrap her arms around Liam and tell him that she loved him.
All she had to do was make it through the night and she’d be able to see him. Thankfully, she didn’t think it would be too difficult to fall back to sleep.
* * * * *
Finley knew how much Liam hated hospitals. In the couple of days since she’d been discharged they talked a lot about their lives growing up. He hadn’t had the misfortune of spending a lot of time in hospitals during his life, but the time he had spent in them usually ended in tragedy. His grandparents, his parents, all of them went into the hospital alive, even if just barely, and left the hospital dead. At least they were fairly certain he wasn’t going to follow in their footsteps.
It had been a week since the shooting and the doctors were almost ready to let him go. She couldn’t wait until they could leave, but in the meantime she was glad that he didn’t have to be there alone. Since the minute she’d been discharged, she hadn’t left his side. No matter how many times he told her she could leave, she refused to leave him there alone. It didn’t matter that she was bruised from nearly head to toe and that her ribs hurt something fierce or that she hated hospitals just as much as he did. She was all he had and she took that responsibility seriously.
Savannah and Gabriel had dropped by some clothes and things to keep them entertained. When he was awake, they played a lot of cards; while he was sleeping, Finley read or took a nap. At the moment, she was curled up next to him in his bed, her head on the uninjured side of his chest. They both slept better when she was next to him, even if the doctors discouraged it. Hell, life was better with him by her side. She just hoped he felt the same way.
Finley couldn’t imagine spending her life without him. It had been hard enough to be away from him when he was on location and it had been torture when he’d broken things off. She never wanted to feel that empty again. Of course, she had no idea what was going to happen when he was given the go ahead to travel. Finley hoped he was going to ask her to go with him, but she couldn’t help but worry that he wasn’t interested or ready to take that next step. With Heat gone, she was free, she wasn’t stuck in Seattle; she no longer had anything holding her back.
“Hey, how long have you been awake?” a groggy voice next to her asked.
“Not long. I’ve just been thinking about things.”
“You should have woken me up.”
“If we want to get you out of here, you need all the rest you can get.”
“Yeah well you need rest too. You really should be sleeping in a real bed, getting real rest, not hanging out in the hospital with me,” he told her for probably the millionth time.
“Yeah ,yeah. You know I’m not going anywhere without you,” she said as she pushed herself up until she was sitting on the edge of the bed, her legs dangling over the side. “It’s not like I really have anywhere to go anyway. Before you argue, I know I could go to Savannah and Gabriel’s, but then I’d have to talk about things. I’m not ready to answer questions about what’s next.”
“You could always get a hotel room nearby. Abby’s coming up tomorrow, you could get a room at the hotel she’s staying at,” he suggested.
“Sounds like you’re trying to get rid of me.”
“God no. I never want you to leave, but I want you to be comfortable. I’m not the only one injured here.”
Finley laughed as she turned to face him. “Hey babe, I was just teasing. I know you don’t want me to leave. Are you okay?”
Sighing, Liam put his hand on top of hers. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just tired of being in this hospital room. I can’t wait to go home.”
“Oh,” Finley said, suddenly unsure of how he was feeling and what she should say. When he said home, did he see her there with him? That’s all she saw when she thought about her future, the two of them making a life together. Part of her wanted to just blurt out what she wanted, but the other part of her was too afraid of scaring him because she was moving too fast.
“I’m hoping when I get to go home that you’ll come with me,” he blurted out.
“What?”
“Finley, I love you. I don’t want to live without you. Is it so surprising that I’d want you to come live with me?”
“Well…”
“Look if you don’t want to live in L.A., that’s fine. We can find another place. Work has me traveling enough that I can really live anywhere. And before you say anything know that I want you to travel with me too. I know you’re independent and you’ll want to figure out what you’re going to do next, but I’m hoping we can do that together.”
“Liam..”
“I’m sorry, I’m rambling. I’m nervous because I want you to say yes, but I’m so afraid you’re going to say no.”
“Liam…slow down,” Finley demanded, a smile spreading over her face. “Ask me again.”
Liam looked up at her, their eyes meeting for the first time since he told her what he wanted. His eyes were filled with hope, a little bit of fear and a whole lot of love. Finley hoped he could see the love and excitement she was feeling reflected in her eyes.
“Finley, will you move to L.A. with me?”
* * * * *
“Are you sure this is what you want to do?” Savannah asked as she shoved a box of clothes into the small moving truck.
Finley didn’t have a lot of things to take with her. The house she was renting had come furnished and what she hadn’t brought with her had b
urned up in the fire. It was kind of nice that she was starting over in more ways than just one. It hadn’t taken her long to answer Liam’s question with a resounding yes, but talking out the logistics had been a bit trickier.
Moving to L.A. was scary, not because she was moving with Liam and she was worried about the relationship not working, although that had been something she’d thought about. Dealing with the paparazzi on their turf was going to take a lot of getting used to and that was without them knowing who she was. When they got settled in Liam’s condo, they agreed to have a talk with his agent and PR rep to see if it would be worthwhile to be honest with who she was and who her mother was, or if they should just wait and see if someone figured it out. The scandal would be bigger if they just waited, but there was also a chance no one would ever figure it out.
News about the shooting and the abduction had spread fast. There had been a lot of requests for interviews from both of them, but Liam had taken the lead. He wanted to keep her out of the spotlight as much as possible until she was ready. He wanted her immersion into his world to happen on her time, not anyone else’s. The fact that Liam was so protective of her was just another reason she loved him. Which was something she never thought she’d say.
“Do I still have issues to work through regarding my mom and everything that went down, sure…probably some that I don’t even know about. But even with those issues, this feels right, Savannah,” Finley admitted. “I never thought I’d find someone that would help me forget about my past, let alone someone I’d be willing to give my heart to. With Liam, I feel like I can face anything and come out the other side better and stronger.”