by Laura Storme
neck and wrap her wounds in field dressings until
they could get her into the ambulance. The
paramedics called for a scoop and each of them
placed half of a curved metal brace underneath
Alex's body creating a spoon like effect without
moving her too much, then they covered and lifted her from the hole. Tad fumed as he watched James
rush to Alex side and wipe the grime away from her
face with a rag. He knew that the only ones who
would recognize him were either in the hospital or
too concerned about Alex to see through his weak
disguise. Moving out of the building, he walked
past the now empty police cars, most of which
would need to be towed back to the station since
their drivers were dead, and stopped at one after
seeing a shotgun in the center of the front
seat. Smiling maliciously, Tad reached into the car
and took the gun, then headed back to the factory.
Sam caught the lone firefighter’s movement from
the corner of his eye and watched as he appeared
to head in the direction of the fire
trucks. Shrugging, he returned his attention to
James who was whispering to Alex as the paramedics continued their ministrations before
moving her to the ambulance and the hospital.
"Alex, honey, open your eyes for me," James
pleaded, "Can she hear me," he asked one of the
EMT's.
"I don't know. Some folks think she might be able
to," he responded.
James nodded his head and watched as they
splinted Alex's arms and covered the gash on her
forehead. They had bandaged up the bullet
wound which was still bleeding pretty badly.
Tad picked his way across the parking lot into the
bay where everyone hovered around
Alex. Shouldering his way towards the front of the throng, he kept the gun hidden underneath his
jacket until he reached his destination. Sam
watched as the fireman pushed his way forward
and intruded on the scene between Alex and
James. James looked up at the newcomer thinking
it was another EMT to help move Alex into the
ambulance when he saw the face.
Tad whipped out the gun quickly and pointed it at
James, "I win," he sneered, aiming the weapon at
his chest, "Back up or he gets it."
Sam motioned with his hand and the group moved
away from Tad while he stood close to James and
Alex; neither were in any condition to fight him, let
alone argue. Glancing at Alex, he realized she was
finally awake and staring at Tad with glassy,
frightened eyes. "What do you want, Tad," asked James also
realizing that Alex was conscious once more and
watching the event.
"You! Dead! Killed! Maimed! Anything that would
bring about your end, you redneck bastard. I don't
know you did it, but you managed to poison her
mind against me. I'm going to take her home and
help her get well and then I'm going to marry her. "
"Like hell, Pierce. I won't let you take her from
me. "
"From you; I think you have that wrong. She was
and is mine. I can have her in Washington in an
hour and in the hospital a half hour after that and
then we can get married there.” "I can't allow you to take her anywhere, sir," said
one of the female paramedics standing close by
monitoring Alex.
"Why not," he asked still keeping his attention on
James and Sam.
"You'll kill her. Her condition is very critical and the
fact that she is alive is a testament to her strength."
"Well, then. I guess I'll have to kill you so you can't
claim her when she's strong enough to be moved,"
exclaimed Tad pushing the gun and himself closer to
James.
Sam saw his opening and lurched at Tad, removing
the threat of the shotgun aimed at James, however,
it was no pointed at his face. James swung Tad
around, removing the threat, and punched Tad in the stomach. As he fell to the ground, he grabbed
James' shirt and took him down as well and as the
two landed on the concrete, the gun went off
between them.
James landed on top of Tad and heard the gun's
report as Tad's finger released the trigger. Forcing
Tad's release of him, James stood up with Sam's
help and looked down at the burnt and bleeding
form of the once senatorial candidate.
Sam reached down and removed the gun from
Tad's grasp, glancing down at his groin where the
bullets had made their bed. Three of the
paramedics who had been attending to Alex rushed
around to begin treating him.
"James," whispered Alex. "Hello, sweetheart," he replied rushing to her
side. Alex had slipped back into unconsciousness
by the time he reached her.
"Let's get another gurney," ordered one of the
paramedics as another ambulance arrived to take
Alex to the hospital.
"I'm going with Alex," said James.
"I'll go with you. Rob is at Memorial in O.R. and I
want to check on Grayson. I want you to see one of
the doctor's too, James. You don't look good."
"I want to make sure she's alright first."
Sam nodded and followed the gurney to the ambulance.
Chapter 27
Alex cautiously opened her eyes and glanced
about the room. The noises were deafening to her
ears. The beeping of the heart monitor and the
mechanical breathing sounds from her respirator
only further added to her panic. She closed her
eyes again quickly. The brightness from the exam
light overhead felt as if a knife was plunged into her
brain. She was awake and semi-aware of her
surroundings. Alex tried to speak to let the
passing nurses know that she was awake but the
tube in her throat made that impossible. After
struggling for several minutes, she relaxed and
dozed back off. James eased himself back into the room that had
been his sanctuary for several days. He had gone
to the lounge to have a cigarette, while Sam had
offered and gone to the cafeteria to secure two
more cups of the awful coffee they served. He had
no desire to be away from her for very
long. James had not wanted to leave the hospital
at all in the beginning, staying in the room with
her. The nurses, realizing his devotion, had
obtained permission to have James stay with her
constantly even though he wasn't immediate
family. Finally, Sam and Morgan came to the
hospital and took turns spelling James so that he
could eat, sleep and shower. He hadn't stayed
away for very long in any case.
Alex again took the initiative to try to wake up and
found it easier this time. She tried to turn her head, but the brace around her neck made it
impossible. She heard voices in the room and
tried to make the voices aware of her
wakefulness. The voices, although distant to her
ears, were familiar but she couldn't place names or
faces with them. She closed her eyes again, weak
with trying to contact anyone one more time.
James, Sam and Morgan had been talking with the
nurses. Her primary nurse during the day, Maggie
Cromwell, had told them that the doctor planned
on taking the respirator off of Alex that day. He
wanted to see if her lungs would be able to function
on their own. The three men looked at each other
and proceeded back into her room. They watched
as Grayson pushed himself in his wheelchair into
the room and they continued their silent vigil. Grayson had awoken from surgery just as Alex was
being wheeled inside the emergency room. After
checking on Rob, Sam had gone to Grayson and told
him what happened. Fortunately, the Danish
nurse, Willamina had been close at hand and had
sedated Grayson into staying in bed. He had slept
most of the day and when he awoke, James had
come in to tell him that Rob had died on the table
and that Alex was alive but in critical
condition. Her lungs were filled with the smoke of
the fire, she had broken both of her arms and she
had a concussion. The worse news was that the
bullet had embedded itself in one of her lungs
which required several hours of surgery. The
doctors were still unsure as to whether the lung
would ever work correctly again. Alex laid there for several seconds more before
trying again. She was tired of this routine
already. It seemed as if nobody cared that she
was awake. Her system seemed to feel the
presence of people and woke her up. The voices
were closer this time; almost on top of her. She
tried to move her arms only to discover they were
stiff then she warmth and familiarity with her hand
laying loosely in another hand. She squeezed it
hoping to make whoever it was understand that she
was there.
James felt the slight squeeze of Alex's hands and
jumped up just as Alex made another effort to open
her eyes. Alex thought she was dreaming seeing
James look down at her. He looked
exhausted. Movement out of the corner of her left eye revealed the rest of the entourage rising to
look at her too.
"You're awake," said James. He slowly smiled and
brushed a stray lock of hair from her eyes. Alex
heard a sigh of relief come from one of the guys.
"Don't try to talk. You have a breathing tube in
your throat," said Sam approaching the bed.
"Alex, just lay still. We're going to go for the nurse
and get you taken care of," said James as he
motioned for somebody out of her line of vision to
go and retrieve her.
Alex heard him return with another familiar
voice. She remembered this one as the voice who
had talked with her while making other noises
which Alex finally recognized as replacing IV bags, taking vitals and just basically making sure she was
still alive.
"Hello there, sunshine," smiled the kindly face,
"Nice to see you up. I thought you were going to
sleep till Hilary was president," she joked. "Dr.
Drew is on his way to check you out so afterwards I
can start getting some of these tubes out of you.”
She turned to the ever vigilant group, "You
gentlemen will have to step out now. Unless you
want a lesson in medicine," she smiled and shooed
them out of the room.
"You may not remember me Alex," she began, "my
name is Maggie. I've been your nurse since you
came in. I have a tendency to prattle. You
probably want to know where you are. Well,
you're in Memorial Hospital. You've been here for four days, unconscious and hovering on the verge of
a coma. You were in that explosion up there at
Hasani and Dr. Drew will tell you exactly what
happened. Today is Wednesday, its 10:30 in the
morning and you're in luck, I've had my morning
coffee already."
Alex listened to the prattle eagerly. She vaguely
remembered the explosion and Tad shooting her,
but decided not to dwell on it just yet. She
continued to listen to Maggie talk as she moved
about taking more vitals from Alex via different
machines, monitors and bags. By the time
Dr. Drew arrived, Alex was tired of Maggie's voice
and ready for a different tune.
"Well, hello there, Alex. I'm Dr. Drew
Maynorly. It's nice to see those blue eyes open for a change. I'm going to take a listen and a feel and
if I get fresh just hit me with one of those casts," he
smiled. "If I approve, we're going to take some
more of these tubes and wires off of you and move
you out of ICU. Now, since we still have the tube
in your throat I want you to blink once for yes and
twice for no. Do you understand?" Alex blinked
once cautiously, anxious to have the tube out of her
throat. Her throat was raw and she longed for a
glass of water to cool the irritation. "Good girl,"
he said moving to the foot of the
bed. Dr. Maynorly removed the covers from her
feet and ran his pen down each foot looking for
response. Her feet arched at the
sensation. "Alex, can you feel that," he
asked. Alex blinked once. "Great.” The rest of the exam moved slowly and James, Sam,
Morgan and Grayson were becoming
impatient. Maggie must have sensed their
impatience and sent a candy striper to them to let
them know that everything was going well and that
the exam should be finished soon.
James had moved to the window. These days
without Alex had been murder. To see her lying in
that bed, helpless he had wanted so desperately
just to hold her. Movement out of the corner of
his eye, made him aware of the approach of
Grayson, Morgan and Sam.
"You okay," asked Grayson.
"Yeah, I just . . . ," James sighed heavily, "I was
just so scared for her, you know. I couldn't imagine my life without her. I don't know how I
managed before her either," he finished.
"She'll be fine, man. She's awake and the doc said
he was encouraged when he saw her yesterday,"
responded Morgan, putting a hand on James'
shoulder, "And now she's awake.”
"Ahem," coughed Maggie, "The doctor would like to
speak with you Mr. O'Reilly. The rest of you can
see her before we move Alex downstairs. He is in
the office behind the nurses’ station.”
Maggie led James from the lounge to the office and
as he entered the room he felt a strange sense of
foreboding. Dr. Maynorly had been quiet about
Alex's condition during the days she had remained
in the ICU only telling them the basics. He had
never told them the worse parts of her injuries. Now with her on the mend, he was
prepared to tell them everything. The doctor had to
admit that the situation was unorthodox. But
during Alex's stay, Dr. Maynorly had witnessed the
love, devotion and true desire required from not
only him but he
r other visitors as well for her to
recover fully. He had been reluctant to allow
James to stay at all seeing as how he wasn't her
husband. But after observing the calmness that he
carried in her room, he knew that he would be a
necessary cure for Alex.
"Come in, Mr. O'Reilly. Have a seat and let's
discuss Ms. Chambers," he began. James did as
the doctor asked and Maggie left the two of them
alone, closing the door after her. "I want to say that I have never seen such a
remarkable recovery in all my days as a doctor. I
fully expected Alex to take weeks to
recover. When she was brought in, she was in
terrible shape. First, though I have to ask you a
question. Did you know she was pregnant," he
asked cautiously. The shocked look gave him the
answer he was looking for.
"I'm guess no, by the look on your face. That's
okay, she didn't know either. In fact, she still
doesn't know. I'm debating whether to tell her or
not," he stated.
James was stunned by the question to say the
least. "I don't think she should be told until she is
stronger. It's more that quite possible that I was
the father. How far along was she, doctor?" "Three weeks, maybe; it was hard to
determine. You should know that the impact of
the cement caused her to miscarry on site."
Dr Maynorly saw the change in James' features as
the reality of another dead child hit him; his own
flesh and blood. A child created out of love and
longing to erase the hurt they both felt. James let
the emotions run and waited several moments
before speaking again.
"Are you alright," the doctor finally asked
him. James shook his head yes and Dr. Maynorly
proceeded with the report on Alex's
condition. "The most severe of her injuries was to
the bullet to her lung. We corrected that in
surgery and repaired the tear. Considering how well her lungs are working right now she should
fully recover from it. Both of her arms are broken
from the elbow down to the wrist. The reason for
the neck brace that she has worn all this time is
because I was afraid of spinal cord injury from the
collapse of the concrete and steel
reinforcements. I ran some tests and discovered
no appearance of paralysis. She did, however, do
some damage to the muscles of the neck and
pinched three nerves, but none of those are lasting
injuries. With therapy, she should be able to work