by Ladew, Lisa
Chapter 18
West woke early the next day when the new shift nurse came in for her first checks. His neck ached from sleeping sitting up. He should just climb in the bed with Katerina, but he knew the nurses would throw him out if he tried that.
As soon as he woke, he checked all of her vital signs with the nurse. “She’s not getting any better,” he said under his breath.
“Well she’s not getting any worse,” the nurse replied with a sunny smile and then left the room.
West made a face after her. He looked down at Katerina and sighed. He was reminded strongly of the last time she had been in a hospital bed just like this, in a coma just like this, that they couldn’t figure out, just like this. He squeezed Katerina’s hand and whispered, “I’m here, Katerina, you just rest. Come back to me when you can. I’m not going anywhere.”
He remembered his dream from the night before and actively tried to recall the feeling of it. Whisking her way to a tropical island somewhere. Forgetting that the outside world existed. Just letting her rest and be happy and be free, and not touch anybody, ever. Except for him.
He massaged her arms, her hands, and her neck and brushed her hair back from her face. He just wanted her to know that he was there. That he was there and doing whatever he could to make her strong and healthy again.
A knock sounded on the door and Jordan peeked her head in, wearing the same clothes from the day before. West motioned her inside and she walked to the bed. “How is she doing?”
“The same.”
Jordan held her hand and spoke to her easily, just as she would have if Katerina were awake. West smiled. Jordan was good at this. Finally, Jordan turned her attention to West. “I’m going to run home and pack myself a bag. Can I get anything for you?”
West shook his head. He didn’t want to ask Jordan to go to his house. Blaise probably would miss her if she was gone too long. “How is Blaise doing?”
“Really great,” she said with a tiny smile. “He’s up and walking around. He keeps telling the doctor that he wants to be discharged and the doctor tells him it’s impossible to be discharged the day after the kind of surgery he had, but he insists he’s fine and has no pain at all. He’s even refusing all of the pain medicine, can you believe it?”
West nodded. “Blaise is strong,” he said knowing that it probably had more to do with what Katerina had done for him, but he hadn’t explained that to Jordan yet. He didn’t want to do it here, now. He would tell her later, after Katerina woke up.
Jordan left and West dealt with a steady stream of visitors for a couple of hours. Emma came by, in uniform, saying she only had a few moments between meetings, but she dropped off a beautiful vase of flowers and some chocolates, for when Katerina woke up. West saw on Emma’s face that she wanted to try to convince him to come back to work, but he tried to telegraph with his own face that it wasn’t going to happen. Katerina’s doctor came in and said very little, but seemed happy with her progress, or lack of it, according to West. Doctor Reyes also came in to check on Katerina.
Doctor Reyes saw the large white envelope that could only be holding an x-ray in the corner and walked over to it, unbidden. West didn’t feel he had the right to stop her. She slid the x-ray out of the envelope and looked at it for a long moment. West watched her, holding his breath. When she came back to the bed and put a delicate hand on Katerina’s wrist, he knew the questions would come, but all she said was, “Remember your promise.”
West nodded, grateful that she hadn’t asked more. Between visitors, West talked to Katerina nonstop and rubbed her muscles. She looked less wasted today, but he couldn’t wait for her to wake up and eat and put some color back in her cheeks, some padding back under her skin.
At approximately 5:30 in the evening, Craig Masterson came in the room. West nodded at him in greeting but said nothing. Here it comes, he thought.
Instead, Craig came around to the side of the bed that West was on and held out his hand. “Sorry man, I was an ass. Sorry for not believing you and her. I was wrong.”
West pulled his head back and his eyes widened. That was not what he had been expecting. “Apology accepted,” he finally said. “What changed your mind?”
“I got the autopsy report on Kurt Kane. What happened to him was impossible.”
West nodded wearily. He didn’t want to know. He’d had his fill of unbelievable surprises for a while.
Craig dropped his head slightly to the side and gazed at Katerina. “Did she do it?” he asked in a quiet voice.
West just looked at him. He didn’t know if he could trust Craig Masterson. He liked his wife, but knew very little about Craig himself.
When Craig realized West wasn’t going to respond, he spoke again. “Look – it was self-defense, I get that. I’m not going to put any of this in a report. As far as I’m concerned, he died of a heart attack.”
West nodded, relieved. He hoped that on some level Katerina could hear this.
Craig dropped his voice again. “How do you think she did it?”
West shrugged a shoulder. “I didn’t see it,” he said. He didn’t want to say that he had been unconscious after being shot in the van. For the first time, he wondered about his blood. It had to be in the van. What if Craig asked him for a blood sample?
Craig stepped closer to him and dropped his voice even more. “Look, don’t tell anyone about what she can do.”
West looked at him curiously. Craig went on. “I went to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center today to see Dylan Phillips. The government is starting to sniff around him, they are apparently very interested in what he can do. You don’t want them to know about Katerina also.”
Terror gripped West’s heart. This was something he had never considered. The United States government with all its reckless power and total authority interested in Katerina’s abilities? What a nightmare. “Phillips is talking?”
“Not as far as I know. I didn’t get to speak with him, but I saw his doctor, and the doctor never said a word about Katerina.”
West nodded. He wondered how long that would last.
“I came by to let you know that we caught everyone. Now all we have to do is figure out who hired Kane in the first place. I have agents in the hospital and on this floor, but I don’t think they’ll be needed. I think you guys are safe.”
“Thanks,” West said. He thought the same thing.
Craig stepped back and looked West in the eye. “My money is on the national security director, Douglas Armstrong.”
“He’s a suspect?” West asked.
Craig nodded. “I’ve interviewed him several times, and although he’s got great answers for all my questions, he’s hiding something. I just don’t know exactly what it is.”
West didn’t speak, lost in thought. If Katerina touched the guy, she could know what he was hiding. If she woke up. Katerina, please come back to me, he thought for the hundredth time.
Craig was watching him, seeming to expect something.
“Let me know if I can do anything for the investigation or for you,” West said.
Craig pressed his lips together and extended his hand again. “I’ll be back,” he said.
Chapter 19
West again woke early after an uncomfortable night of sleeping in the chair and holding Katerina’s hand. He knew that it had helped her before, and he wouldn’t take the chance of moving away from her bedside if it could possibly be doing anything for her. He lifted his head and rolled his shoulders, then opened his eyes.
Katerina was staring at him.
West’s eyes widened and he wondered if she was lucid.
“Hungry,” she whispered.
“Katerina!” he cried. “Baby, you are awake.” He stood up, ignoring the twinges in his back and kissed her on the cheek.
“Hungry,” she said again, her voice limp and soft.
“Yeah, OK, let me get you something!” He searched around the room until he found the energy bars the nurses had been bringing him. H
e’d had very little appetite and hadn’t eaten them. He ripped the wrapper of one open and held it out to her. Katerina tried to lift her hand but it faltered only a few inches above the bed.
“Here, I’ll hold it for you. Can you chew?”
He held the bar to her mouth but then noticed the tube in her nose, going down into her stomach. The one they had been feeding her through. She couldn’t eat with that in. “Hold on,” he said, putting the energy bar down. He looked towards the door, then shook his head. If he notified the nurses, they would insist he wait until the doctor came to examine her before he gave her anything to eat. He wasn’t going to take that chance. Sometimes it was better to ask for forgiveness than gain permission, and this was certainly one of those times.
“Katerina, I have to take this tube out. Close your eyes and relax, it will be over in a moment.”
Katerina closed her eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath. West gently peeled off the tape affixing the tube to her face and then smoothly pulled it out of her. She coughed only once and then her eyes fixed on his again. Did he see anguish in them? He prayed not.
West snatched the energy bar off of the table and held it to her mouth. Katerina took large bites and chewed and swallowed vigorously. Within a moment, the entire bar was gone. “Water,” she whispered.
“OK.” He smiled down at her, so glad to see that she was awake. Then he realized he was ignoring her request and scrambled to fill it. He opened a bottle of water and held it to her lips. Katerina drank half the bottle down and then asked for more food.
“Do you want me to call the doctor? He can order you an actual meal.”
“Can’t wait that long,” she said, shaking her head slightly from side to side.
West grabbed another energy bar and held it to her lips. Again, it was gone in only a few moments. “Any more?” Katerina asked hopefully, her voice sounding stronger. West looked at her appraisingly. Was he doing the right thing, giving her food? Her color looked better than it had when she’d woken up, and she seemed to have a little more strength now too, lifting her hand all the way off the bed and gesturing for more. Yes, he was doing the right thing. He found another bar and held it to her lips. She chewed and swallowed until it was gone, then asked for more water and seemed to relax slightly.
She stared at West openly. “I’m a murderer,” she finally said.
West grasped her hand, his heart sick. “No, no, baby. No. It was self-defense. You had no choice. And you probably didn’t even mean it-”
“Did mean it!” she hissed, her voice and face hardening. “I wanted him to die. He shot you and he wouldn’t let me help you!”
West nodded thoughtfully. So she had done it purposely. Her power was astounding, and maybe a little scary. But it didn’t seem that way to him. He was the one she had saved by doing it. And he understood. Something from that incident connected them now in a way they hadn’t been connected before. She was his everything and he would always understand her. “It was still self-defense, baby, even if you meant it. He asked for it. He’s been asking for it for years. If it hadn’t been you, it would’ve been some cop forced to shoot him on the street. But maybe only after he had killed me and you and maybe even more people.”
Katerina’s gaze softened, as she thought this over. Finally, she looked at him again and spoke to him. “What about you? How is your …” She trailed off, her eyes glittering, unable to say the words.
West grinned and lifted up his shirt, revealing the tiny scar on the side of his chest where the bullet had entered. “My gunshot wound?” he said, his grin growing wider. “By the time I woke up in the van, it was completely closed off, new skin grown over the hole and everything. Even the pain was just a memory.”
Her eyes widened and she reached her hand out shakily. West grabbed her wrist and guided her fingers to his chest where she could probe the tiny indentation. “Where’s the bullet?”
“Still in there. I got a chest x-ray and its sitting just behind my heart.”
“Is that safe?”
West shrugged one shoulder. “Yeah, people have shrapnel and bullets left inside them all the time. Just call me 50 Cent.”
Katerina laughed then her face sharpened again. “Hungry,” she said.
“I don’t have any more food. We’ll have to have the doctor order you breakfast.”
Katerina nodded and West rang for a nurse. One came in quickly, and her face showed surprise when she saw Katerina was awake. She hurried to the bed and checked all of her vital signs. “Any pain, dear?” she asked.
Katerina shook her head no.
“What happened to your NG tube?” the nurse asked, looking at West accusingly.
“I took it out,” Katerina said strongly, catching the nurse’s eye. “It was irritating me. Plus I want to eat real food.”
The nurse nodded quickly. “I will call the doctor and see what he says.”
The nurse left the room and Katerina looked at West, her eyes daring him to say something about her lie. He held up his hands and laughed. “Hey, I’m on your side.”
Her face softened and she smiled at him. West watched her closely, marveling at her strength. He hoped the doctor didn’t try to give her a hard time about eating. She seemed like she would tell him off quickly in her current mood.
The nurse returned quickly with Katerina’s doctor. He walked up to Katerina, a gentle smile on his face. “How are you feeling Miss Holloway?”
“Hungry.”
He raised an eyebrow at her and smiled. “Well that’s wonderful. Jeanine, order her some breakfast please and tell them to bring it up right away.”
The nurse nodded and left the room. The doctor began to examine Katerina, asking her if she was able to sit up. Katerina pushed herself into a sitting position and he had her move to the very end of the bed so he could check her reflexes.
“Very good Miss Holloway, you are doing wonderfully. I would like you to stay in bed for the rest of today and maybe early tomorrow. If you are able to keep food down, I will ask you to try standing then. Does that sound good?”
Katerina nodded and West heard her stomach growl loudly.
The doctor laughed. “It’s a good thing we have food on the way for you, isn’t it?” His face grew serious and he looked at West, then back to Katerina. “Miss Holloway, I need to give you some information regarding your convalescence, and I would like to speak to you alone. I’m going to ask your friend here to leave.”
Katerina looked scared for a moment then she shook her head no. “I want West to stay.”
“Very well,” the doctor said, not seeming to mind at all. “Can you tell me what happened to precipitate your collapse, Miss Holloway?”
Katerina shook her head hesitantly. She didn’t know what West had told people, but she couldn’t imagine he had told them the truth.
The doctor nodded and made a notation in his chart. “You suffered a minor myocardial infarction at some point.”
Katerina’s eyes widened and she looked at West. West’s heart went out to her at the shock and pain he saw in her eyes. The doctor sure was blunt, just spitting it out like that.
“Like I said, it was minor, and I don’t expect you to have any long-term debilitating effects, but we will need to keep an eye on it. Once you are up and walking around, we will need to see how your heart handles the stress.”
Katerina nodded and West wondered what she was thinking. He knew what he was thinking. The doctor was going to see the aftereffects of a miracle healing shortly.
“I will be back shortly to see how you tolerate food, and unless you have any more questions for me, I need to leave to see other patients now.”
Katerina shook her head. “Thank you Doctor,” she said to him, her voice mollified.
The doctor left and West hurried to Katerina’s bedside, taking her hand. “You OK?”
Katerina nodded, turning her sad and scared eyes on him. “I had a heart attack?” she said her voice quavering.
“That�
�s what he said,” he told her gently. “But don’t worry about it. I’m sure you can …” His voice dropped as if someone could be listening. “… heal it.”
“Yes,” she said, sounding far away.
The door to the small room opened and a cafeteria worker with a tray came in and set it down in front of her. Katerina couldn’t wait for one more moment, she took off the stainless steel cover that was over the food and handed it to West, thanking the worker absently and then picking up her fork to dig in, not noticing when the worker took the lid from West and left. She had eggs, French toast, sausage, and a small bowl of cereal with a glass of orange juice. She started methodically on the eggs and worked her way around the tray until everything was gone. She drank the entire glass of orange juice and sat back, wiping her lips. “That was good, but I’m still hungry,” she said. West smiled and shook his head. “Why don’t I order in? There are several restaurants nearby that will deliver to a hospital room. What do you feel like? Pizza? Subs? Chinese food?”
“Yes,” Katerina said with a smile on her face.
West laughed. “Why don’t we start with pizza?”
Katerina nodded and West picked up the phone. He called a nearby pizza place and ordered two large pizzas, thinking that he might finally want some food also. As he was talking, he watched Katerina probe her left ear gently with her fingers, and then place her hands over her chest. When he was done, he hung up the phone and approached the bed quietly, not wanting to disturb her, thinking maybe she was starting to heal herself.
Katerina threw him a disturbed glance, then looked back down at her hands over her chest. “Nothing’s happening,” she said.
West simply watched her, confident that she knew what she was doing.
Katerina screwed up her face in concentration and laid both of her hands over the center of her chest. A minute later, she threw up her hands and looked at West, shaking her head. “It’s not happening. My hands aren’t getting hot.”
“Do your hands always get hot when you heal something?”
“They always have before. I’ve only done it a few times and they got hot every time. When I put them on your chest they got so hot they almost caught your shirt on fire.”