by Jillian Neal
“Have you eaten, sweetheart?” Mrs. Haydenshire fussed.
“Not yet,” Adeline admitted. It infuriated Logan that she often had to work through meals, but he said nothing.
“Here,” Mrs. Haydenshire fixed Adeline a plate of something she’d warmed up for the twins, Garrett, and Vindico.
“Thank you,” Adeline dug in with rapidity. His mother had several words of encouragement for Adeline’s exam the next day, and after she’d fixed Adeline a large bowl of ice cream, Logan insisted that they all head home.
Rainer turned up to thank Vindico for letting him drive the Agusta and to pick up the Mustang before heading home, so Emily rode with him back to the guesthouse.
After bidding Rainer and Emily goodnight, not in any mood to listen to his little sister try and flirt her birthday present out of Rainer, Logan led Adeline to bed. He drew her tenderly to his chest and reached to ease her scrub shirt over her head. She looked devastated.
“Logan, I can’t. I’m kind of a mess. I’m sorry.” She fussed pitifully and gestured to her abdomen.
“Adeline, baby, I just want to put you to bed. I know, ok. Please stop apologizing.” It broke his heart that she thought she was somehow disappointing him.
“I’m so sorry.” She went on again now apologizing for apologizing. Logan pulled one of his t-shirts over her head.
“No.” She pulled it back off. “I don’t want to mess another one up, and it’s really bad tonight.” Her tears finally shattered through her resolve. He held her closely and seated himself on their bed while he pulled her to his lap. She lay her head gently on his shoulder.
“Sweetheart, I don’t give a damn how many of my t-shirts get blood on them, ok? We have washing machines. I just want you to be healthy and to feel safe and comfortable.” She clung to him with all of the might she could manage, which wasn’t much.
“I got all of the blood out of the other one.” She offered in a terrified plea.
“Adeline,” Logan nearly shouted. “Please, baby, hear what I am saying to you. I do not care about anything else except whether or not you are ok. That is all that matters to me.” He felt her body convulse slightly as her breath stuttered.
“I’m so scared, Logan.” She finally admitted in a heartbroken plea.
“I know, baby. I know.” He rocked her slightly as he held her wrapped up in his arms. “But I will be right there the entire time, ok? Whatever this is, I’m not going anywhere no matter what. I will take care of you, and I will get you through this.”
She was so exhausted her rhythms ebbed just like they did when she slept. Logan reached and grabbed the shirt he’d put on her moments before. He pulled her bra off of her and ignored her weak protests as he slipped the shirt back over her head.
“Come here.” He summoned heat energy into his hand and ran it over the sheets and quilts on their bed. He laid her gently in the warmth he’d created, as he quickly removed everything but his boxers. He eased beside her and pulled her onto his chest.
“You are not working tomorrow morning, Adeline.” He commanded. She put up a weak argument, but he lightly touched her lips with his index finger. “No,” he shook his head.
She was making it worse forcing herself to work through the pain and massive blood loss. He’d suspected for sometime; though, she was insistent that work wasn’t aggravating the cyst.
“You are staying in bed, until I take you to the hospital for your exam tomorrow.” He informed her firmly.
The fact that she didn’t argue this time, though he would never have given in, terrified Logan as he held her tightly.
He whispered how much he loved her and that everything would be all right for the few minutes that it took her to fall asleep in his arms. He offered a fervent prayer of thanks for her, a desperate plea that she would be all right, and that whatever she might need from him he would be able to supply. With that, he drifted off to sleep holding her tightly with one last prayer that she would rest peacefully in his arms.
His Father’s Son
By noon, Logan was distraught. Adeline had been up several times in the night until Logan had finally given her a bath to ease the pain and convinced her to take the pain medication Brad had prescribed. She’d finally fallen asleep near sunrise. He half-walked, half-carried her to the Hummer and let her lay her head in his lap as Rainer drove them quickly to Georgetown. Rainer continually gave Logan sorrowful glances, but Logan knew Rainer really had no clue what to say or what to do with Adeline’s current condition.
Medio Dawson had agreed to see Adeline early, at Logan’s insistence. She’d commented that she could certainly tell whose son he was. She was referring to the way his father often acted when one of his children or his wife was in need of medical attention. Logan had decided to take it as a compliment, however, as he didn’t know anyone who loved his family more than his dad.
Adeline had made it into the hospital and then promptly fainted. Logan caught her as Rainer moved to help him.
“We need a Medio, now!” Rainer shouted. As most of the waiting room consisted of Non-Gifted people, they all stared at him like he might be crazy, since they had no idea that a Medio was a Gifted Doctor. Logan glanced around frantically. With a slight headshake, he carried Adeline to the nurse’s station, and she was taken away on a stretcher.
“I’m sorry Officer Haydenshire but you’re not related, and you’re not married. It’s hospital policy. You’ll have to wait here.” The nurse had rather tersely informed Logan.
“Do you have any idea who I am?” Logan had demanded as Emily and Rainer’s mouths dropped open in shock. Logan never played the Governor’s son card.
“Yes, Officer Haydenshire, I do, but right now I need to go find out what is wrong with Miss Parker. When I know something, I’ll be sure that you do as well.” The nurse spat hatefully and then turned on her heels and disappeared behind two swinging steel doors.
Logan was distraught. He paced relentlessly. Emily tried to soothe him with her cast but his internal shield had set firmly and nothing was going to get through to him, nothing but Adeline. Rainer tried to get him to sit or to assure him that she was in the very best hands, but his reassurances sounded distant and tunneled. Logan could hardly hear them. The roar of his own terror was simply too loud.
An hour went by, and Logan was frantic. Rainer narrowed his eyes in a hate-fueled glare as he marched to the nurse’s station. The nurse who’d informed Logan that he couldn’t go back into surgery with Adeline, even though that was typically allowed during a Gifted surgery, had returned, but she’d refused to speak.
“Look!” Rainer spat. “I know that you know who I am and whose son I am. I also know that everyone keeps telling him that you don’t know anything. So, listen up! The love of his entire existence is back there unconscious. No one will tell us anything, and you won’t let him back there because he hasn’t married her yet. So here are your two options…” Rainer menaced. “You can go find me a minister so that he can marry her now so that you’ll let him back there with her, or you can get up and go back and find something out before I get Crown Governor Vindico on the phone and see if we can’t get a little information.”
Logan couldn’t recall another time in his entire life that he’d been so happy that Rainer Lawson was his best friend.
“Yes, Mr. Lawson.” The nurse slid her rolling chair back and slunk back through the doors that they’d taken Adeline through. Being the son of the most beloved Crown Governor of all time certainly had its perks.
“Thank you,” Logan choked.
“No problem,” Rainer scoffed. Emily was beaming at him adoringly; though, he still looked rather put out. To everyone’s fury, another hour passed and the nurse never returned to her desk. No one seemed to know anything about Adeline.
Fortune Teller
Logan was infuriated and contemplated marching through the swinging steel doors and demanding to see Adeline, wherever she may be, when Brad issued through them. He was covered in blood. Rab
id fury blazed through Logan’s veins. He wrapped his hands around Brad’s collar.
“Where is Adeline?” He growled. Brad looked momentarily terrified, but he placed his hand on Logan’s shoulder; though, he seemed to contemplate the move for a few moments first.
“Get your hand the hell off of my shoulder before I remove it for you, and tell me where Adeline is!” Logan spat.
“Sit down, Logan.” Brad soothed. Logan’s jaw clenched forcibly as he fell into the closest chair.
“I’m sitting!” He shouted. Brad glanced around and took in the waiting room full of people that were all studying the two of them.
“She’s all right.” He soothed. “Medio Dawson did a vaginal exam first, but there was a great deal of blood and fluid.” Brad looked like this information might be more than Logan could bear. Logan was growing very weary of people thinking that he wasn’t tough enough to deal with whatever was wrong with the very reason for his existence.
“I could have told you that, if anyone had let me come back there with her!” He fumed ominously.
“Ok,” Brad backed away from Logan slightly before continuing. “So, we did a thermographic scan, and the cyst was rupturing. We had to operate immediately to try and save her ovary. I would have informed you, but it was critical that we get it out as fast as we possibly could.”
Logan felt all of the blood slither instantly from his head to his feet. He felt Rainer brace his shoulder as he tried to remind himself to breathe.
“They’ve removed the cyst, and several Medios have her casted. They’re trying to get the lining in her ovary to heal, but she’s going to have to stay here overnight. We’re quite concerned that the rupture might’ve damaged part of her left ovary.” Brad glanced up at Rainer. He was clearly not certain he should say all of this to anyone but Logan. Rainer moved away instantly.
“I’m just gonna go over there with Em. Call me if you need me.” Rainer soothed.
Logan could only concentrate on what Brad was telling him.
“What does that mean exactly?” Logan choked.
“Well, it could be nothing. It could affect her menstrual cycle slightly, but I doubt it. If the lining is damaged, it could make it more difficult for her to conceive when you want to have children, not impossible just more difficult.” Brad offered. “I will get you back there, once she’s back in the room. I didn’t know if you wanted me to tell her or if you wanted to, but whatever you want, man, I’ll do. I’m really sorry, Logan, that we left you hanging for so long. I know how much you love her, and I would never have allowed this to happen, if it hadn’t been absolutely necessary that we take her to surgery immediately. You should have been in there. She would have healed faster with your shield.”
It took Logan a minute to understand why the ground was moving. He stared at his hand. He was shaking.
“She’s really all right?” He demanded of Brad.
“She’s fine. Like I said, I mean, she’ll have to rest a little. No work for a week and Medio Dawson will tell you when you can resume sexual activity, but I would say about two weeks. Physically, other than the possible lining damage, she’s perfectly healthy now.” Since Logan wasn’t in any way comfortable discussing he and Adeline’s sex life with Brad, he decided to focus on the fact that Adeline was going to be fine.
“I want to see her.”
“I know Logan, but the surgery was fairly complicated. We had to sedate her and drain all of her Gifted energies. Then she had multiple casts moving through her, until we reached her ovary. We had to dislodge the cyst, which was rupturing, and force the fluid out of her body. While we were healing the follicle we noticed the damage. She’s probably going to be very weak and very sore for a few days. Let them finish their job then you can see her. I promise you.”
“Ok.” Logan stood and began pacing again. “Don’t say anything about the damage. I’ll tell her.” Logan knew that if anyone was going to tell her that they might have trouble having children that it should be him. Brad nodded his understanding.
“I’ll come and get you as soon as she’s in recovery. She’s quite a healer so her own body should continue to heal the damage.”
Logan studied Brad for a moment. He knew that Brad either wasn’t romantically interested in Adeline or was afraid to mess with an Iodex officer’s girl, as he’d stated a few weeks before. Logan still didn’t like Brad, but in that moment he extended his hand.
“Thank you. Thank you for taking care of her.” Brad smiled and nodded.
“That’s my job, and it was my pleasure. She’s a great girl. You’re a really lucky guy.” Brad stated.
“I know,” Logan let his tone sound appreciative with a hint of warning. With a slight chuckle, Brad stood and backed away. He held up his hands in defeat.
“Still not interested.” He assured Logan.
“Good,” Logan stated firmly.
“I’m going to go back and check on her. They should be finishing her up soon and setting the pain meds in her IV. I’ll come back and get you in just a few minutes.”
“Thank you,” Logan urged again. He felt his world begin to steady. With a nod, Brad disappeared back through the swinging doors.
Logan fell back against the chair and leaned his head against the cold concrete wall. He allowed himself to breathe. Emily made her approach.
“Are you ok?”
“I don’t know,” Logan admitted truthfully. He saw Rainer grin as he followed Emily over.
“Is she ok?” Rainer quizzed.
“Yeah, they took the cyst out. It was rupturing but you heard that, right?” Logan stammered not certain what Rainer had and hadn’t been privy to, before he’d left to give Logan some privacy. Rainer looked momentarily like he wasn’t certain it was all right that he’d heard any of it.
“But it wasn’t malignant?” Emily asked in a pained whisper.
“What!” Logan stunned. “No! I mean, I didn’t even know it could be that. No one told me that!” Emily patted his arm. He felt her trying to cast him discreetly to calm him down, but he was still unreachable.
Cancer was one of the few things that Gifted Medios were unable to heal. Cancer forced the body’s cells to form incorrectly and quickly. The energy the body uses to heal itself, which is created and stored in the cells formed in the Gifted person’s body, couldn’t be used to restore their health. Medios typically tapped into the Gifted person’s cells then added in their own ample amounts of healing energies to heal them at a more rapid rate than a Non-Gifted person’s body was capable of doing. It was more physiological than Logan really understood, when Adeline had tried to explain it to him. He really just knew that it was bad, and that Gifted Medio and Non-Gifted doctors alike were equally stumped as to find a way to prevent or cure it.
“It would’ve been very rare for it to have been. I was just checking to make sure.” Emily tried to assure Logan. He instantly forced Emily’s question out of his mind. He couldn’t go there. Adeline was going to be perfectly fine. Brad had just told him that, and that was what he had to keep focusing on.
“When can you see her, man?” Rainer seemed to understand that Logan was barely holding onto his sanity. Logan instantly recognized the gravelly tone that Rainer used when he calmed Emily down from one of her signature freak-outs. He drew a steadying breath and swallowed down a great deal of emotion.
“As soon as she’s back in her room. Brad’s supposed to come get me, in a few minutes.” Logan tried to sound calmer than he was capable of feeling at the moment.
“Do you want me to come with you?” Emily offered sweetly.
“No,” Logan shook his head and forced a smile for his sister. She was blinking back tears from just experiencing his emotions. “I mean you can in a little while, if the Medios say it’s ok. I guess?” Logan faltered. He was unable to reason why he couldn’t make coherent statements. “But I need to talk to her first.” He tried to formulate how to tell Adeline that she may have some trouble getting pregnant, and much more importa
ntly, how to convince her that her ability to give him children mattered a great deal more to her than it ever had to him.
“Hey Em, baby,” Rainer pulled several dollars from his pocket while Logan watched. He knew perfectly well what he was up to. “Would you mind going and grabbing us something from the vending machine?” He winked at Emily. She hugged Logan quickly and then stood.
“Of course,” she smiled down at Logan. “Dr. Pepper?”
“Yeah, thanks.” He replied without any real enthusiasm. Rainer replaced Emily in the seat beside Logan.
“You know what you’re gonna tell her?” Rainer hesitated. He wanted to help but not intrude.
“I don’t even care if we don’t ever have kids. It’s just convincing her of that.” Logan was simply too exhausted and too worried to not take the opportunity to listen to help, when it was readily available.
In Logan’s experience, Rainer’s advice was always good. He sincerely hoped Adeline wouldn’t mind him discussing this with his best friend; though, he knew deep down that she wouldn’t.
“Yeah, I figured.” Rainer soothed. “I think I’d just tell her what you just told me, and keep telling her until she listens. You know that you don’t care if you ever have kids that you just want her.” Logan studied Rainer for a moment before answering.
“Yeah, that was my basic plan.” He admitted. “Is that what you’d tell Em?” He watched Rainer closely; though, he would know instantly if he were lying. He knew Rainer too well not to know when he was lying. Rainer slid back in the chair he was seated in and seemed to consider, for a long drawn moment.
“Yeah,” he admitted. “I mean, of course that’s what I would say, but I think I’d have to lie a little more than you are.” He offered Logan a slight smile as confusion pulsed in his energy. “See, I do really want kids, but I know that you really don’t care. I guess I kind of do. Not that something like that, or anything at all,” he vowed “would change the way I feel about Em, but I guess I’d be a little disappointed.” He laid it all out on the table for Logan. That was the way they’d always been. They’d been best friends since birth, after all.