by Jillian Neal
The Governor held his hands out in exasperation.
“Well, what are you going to do Daniel? Just be unemployed?” Mrs. Vindico shuddered in horror.
“I don’t know yet, Mom, but for the next few weeks, and maybe the next few months, I’m going to take care of my fiancée and nothing else.”
A broad beam lit Fionna’s beautiful face as she squeezed Dan’s hand.
Always seeming to know when she needed to be rescued, Garrett knocked on the door.
“Hey, baby,” he greeted Fionna warmly, then offered smiles to Dan’s family as he handed Dan Fionna’s dinner.
Very pleased with Garrett’s arrival, Fionna scooted to the center of the bed so Garrett could sit with her as well.
Dan stood. He would no longer begrudge Garrett and Fionna’s close relationship. She loved Garrett, and he’d been there for her when no one else could have been. And for that, Dan could never thank him enough.
“Cameramen attacked me when I got back to the doors. They wanted to know if they could photograph your dinner?” Garrett shook his head in disbelief.
“I’m not surprised.” The Governor rolled his eyes.
Dan and Garrett both watched obsessively over Fionna as she ate. She grew visibly stronger with each bite she managed.
Chloe and Emily anxiously came in, so that Dan could go eat and prepare to cast Fionna for most of the night.
“You ready?” Rainer quizzed as Dan grabbed his sunglasses, though it was evening, and his jacket.
“Found a few other guys that wanted to tag along if you don’t mind,” Fitzroy grinned.
Logan, Garrett, and Fitzroy were standing amongst Tuttle, Ramier, Portwood, Ericcson, McCoy, and Barron.
“We had to have one last Big Mickey’s sub together,” Portwood grinned.
Emotional again, Dan took in the men that had stood beside him and served faithfully. The men who’d followed him into hell and had come out the other side.
“You two okay?” he asked Ericsson and Barron. He felt badly that he hadn’t gone to check on them while they’d been patients at the hospital.
“We’re getting there.” Barron shifted on his crutches. His shinbone had been rebuilt, but he was still having it casted every few hours and wasn’t allowed to be without the air brace that kept it from moving. “How about you?”
“Getting there,” Dan quoted.
They exited the hospital and shifted until Dan was in the center of the men he was leaving with.
“Officer Vindico,” echoed from every direction.
“Guess they haven’t heard that I’m out.” Dan batted an enhanced boom mic out of his face.
“Officer Vindico, how is Miss Styler feeling?”
“Will she be able to challenge?”
“Is she quitting the Angels?”
“Are you forcing her out of Summation to start a family? We know she cannot challenge pregnant,” chanted from reporters who ran along beside Elite Iodex.
“Can you tell us if you and Miss Styler are saddened by the loss, or would you say you’re relieved?” called a young man dressed in a cheap suit.
Dan felt his blood boil as he whipped his sunglasses off furiously.
“Okay,” Garrett stepped in and shoved Dan forward. Portwood ordered the press away.
They stalked several blocks to the sub shop that Iodex ate at on a regular basis. Their sandwiches were not only delicious, they were gigantic. Dan ordered their largest sirloin steak and cheese.
“How the hell am I supposed to get Fi out of the hospital tomorrow without them attacking her and asking her shit like that?” He threw the plastic chair back from the table and angrily took a seat. Ever mindful of his temper now, he ordered himself to rein it in.
The men seated around him, digging into their subs, grew thoughtful.
Rainer smiled at Dan, “Let me take care of it. Just tell me when you want her out, and I can pretty much guarantee you that the press will never even see you two leave.”
All Dan could do was hope that Rainer could come through. He relaxed and enjoyed hearing tales of the Elite squad’s heroics under his direction for the last ten years.
No one spoke of Wretchkinsides or the takedown. They all felt the camaraderie of being the only people to really understand the horrors they’d lived through and the images that would fade slightly over time, but that had become indelible imprints on their souls.
As the blossoming cherry trees faded with the sunlight, Dan sat quietly by Fionna’s bed. He held her hand, trying to soothe her. Adeline came in and prepared the bed underneath Fionna.
“This is Medio Brad Metzger and Medio Carol Dawson. Brad was in the unit that performed your surgery, Fionna.” Adeline made the introductions.
Brad shook Dan’s hand. “We met at Iodex one day. I think you threatened to end me if I made a play for Medio Haydenshire,” he quipped wryly.
“Sounds about right.” Dan saw no need to make an apology.
“Okay, Fionna, this should be the end of you having to be casted, so Dan can take you home in the morning as long as all of your readings are good throughout the night.”
Fionna clung fiercely to Dan’s hand.
“You might feel some discomfort. It will be kind of like having bad menstrual cramps. If it gets to be more than you can handle, tell me. As soon as we’re finished, you can take something for the pain. Dan can cast you, and you can go to sleep.”
Swallowing down raw fear, Fionna nodded.
Dan could feel her terror. His heart ached as his dinner swirled ominously in his stomach. “I’m right here, baby doll.” He wished for the hundredth time since he’d carried her off of the ambulance the day before that he was the one in the bed.
“You can hold her hand if you feel you must, Officer Vindico, but don’t draw from her. We want our efforts to go to healing her,” Medio Dawson huffed.
Adeline rolled her eyes, and Dan narrowed his. “Obviously,” he quipped.
Adeline and Brad shared a knowing grin as they moved beside Fionna’s bed and lowered the lights in the room. Adeline pulled the bed linens down and the t-shirt Fionna was wearing up revealing everything from the top of stomach down.
Dan clenched his jaw and stared into Fionna’s eyes to keep from ordering Brad out of the room furiously.
“Maybe just talk to her while we get started,” Adeline urged in a patient whisper.
Dan kissed Fionna’s forehead as tears began to roll down her cheeks, and her body tensed. She fought not to writhe in pain.
“I am so sorry, baby,” Dan pled. Ignoring anyone else in the room, he focused solely on her. He whispered constantly how much he loved her and all that she meant to him while trying desperately to let his voice soothe her.
Two hours later, Dan panted for breath as he finally released Fionna’s hand from his own to wipe away his own tears. Adeline changed all of the padding again and covered Fionna back up.
“You can go ahead and cast her. She running a touch of a fever, but a little heat will be okay. Use that and soothing. She’s pretty worn out after all of that, but I think that was the last of it.” Adeline slipped quickly from the room.
Dan eased into the bed beside Fionna. She was too exhausted to speak, but she was still crying. Pulling his shirt off, he cradled her tenderly to him and pushed his shield out over her. He filled it with calming, soothing energies as he continued to whisper how sorry he was and how much he loved her.
They laid together inside of his powerful shield and cried as they felt the last of the extra energy that she’d been carrying for weeks leave her body.
Dan wiped away her tears and kissed her tenderly as she finally drifted off to sleep in his arms.
Escape
~Rainer Lawson~
“You ready, baby?” Rainer and Emily both wore mischievous grins as they waited in the hospital that morning. Dan quickly loaded Fionna’s bags and flowers into one of the Senate Expeditions and then made a fast return.
Garrett had checked the
Expedition out and was driving them home. He’d parked it discreetly near the rear exit of Georgetown.
Emily was delighted with Rainer’s plan.
Adeline wheeled Fionna in a wheelchair just outside her room. Rainer was astonished at how much better she appeared. She clung to Dan’s hand but looked elated to be leaving.
“Thank you for doing this,” she offered Rainer and Emily yet again.
“Hey, we love sticking it to the press.” Rainer grinned.
He and Emily made their way to the elevators and then, holding hands, they moved slowly out into the throngs of press outside of the hospital.
“Rainer! Emily!” chanted the reporters rushing towards them. “Can you tell us if Ms. Styler will still be one of your bridesmaids, Emily?”
“Can we get a few words on the wedding?”
“Are you here visiting Fionna?”
“What are your thoughts on everything that happened?” The questions were endless and the press stationed all around the hospital raced towards them.
Rainer smiled as Emily nodded. “We’ll answer a few questions about the wedding,” she announced to the crowd.
Two questions in, while Emily was explaining that she’d chosen to use real flowers, Rainer’s cell vibrated in his pocket. Pulling it out discreetly, he read: We’re out thanks! I owe you several -Dan
He squeezed Emily’s hand, and she smiled and halted midsentence.
“Okay, well that’s it,” she called, thoroughly frustrating the reporters that hadn’t gotten in a question.
They laughed as they raced to the Porsche and drove back to the farm.
~Dan Vindico~
“Oh, this cannot be good,” Dan lamented as he held Fionna’s hand. Garrett eased the Expedition into the driveway, trying not to jostle Fionna. Her brow furrowed until she saw the Vindico’s Range Rover parked in the driveway.
“Man, your mom hates me,” Garrett announced with a chuckle that said he wasn’t particularly upset by that fact.
“Not as much as she hates me,” Fionna immediately chimed in. Her voice took on a defeated tone.
“Fi, baby, she does not hate you,” Dan immediately vowed.
“Notice he doesn’t give a damn if she hates me,” Garrett chided, making Fionna giggle hysterically.
Dan knew Fionna was thrilled to be home, and they’d even had moments in the early morning that felt just like they had before their world had been turned upside down.
Dan and Garrett both rushed around the car to help her out. Before she realized what he was doing, Dan leaned and hoisted her into his arms.
“Dan,” she huffed, “I can walk.”
“And I can carry you,” he insisted wryly.
She rolled her eyes as he carried her up the walkway. But to further his delight that she was home and safely in his arms, she gave him one of his grins.
“Okay, but I’m still really hormonal, so if there are curtains on our windows, I may rip them down and tie her up in them. Fair warning!”
Dan cracked up. “And I will hold her down for you, baby doll, no worries.”
Garrett opened the door and stood back allowing Dan to carry Fionna in ahead of him.
Kara rushed to meet them. “I’m so sorry. I came over as soon as I figured out that they were here.”
Dan laid Fionna down gently on the sofa. He covered her in her favorite quilt before turning to discern why his parents were in his home uninvited.
Fionna’s eyes goggled in horror as she noted Mrs. Vindico standing at the dining room table folding laundry.
“Now, Daniel, I did all of your laundry. This is the last load to be folded,” she announced as she laid out one of Fionna’s particularly skimpy leopard print G-strings with two tiny hot pink bows on the sides. With a slight shudder, she added it to a pile of other lingerie that she’d washed and folded.
Dan marched into the dining room and snatched a bright teal thong from his mother’s hands.
“Mom!” He drew a deep breath and tried to remain calm. Fionna reacted to his every emotion. “I’m perfectly capable of doing laundry.”
“Well, apparently you aren’t, because both of your hampers were overflowing,” she carped.
“Been a rough few weeks, mother.”
Garrett brought in the last of the flowers and then chuckled at the thong still clutched in Dan’s hand. “She’ll be better soon, man.”
Rolling his eyes in defeat, Dan added the thong to the pile of panties on their dining room table.
“I’m heading to the Senate for a little while. Fitz rented a car, and he’s staying at the Marriott. He said to tell you he’d be by here this evening,” Garrett reminded Dan.
“Thanks for your help with everything.”
“You just take care of her,” Garrett ordered as he planted a kiss on Fionna’s forehead. She waved to him as he rushed out the front door.
Dan’s plan for their day had been to cuddle Fionna up on the couch, wrap his body around hers, and let her watch movies to her heart’s content. He hadn’t accounted for the fact that his parents would have invaded their home.
“You really don’t have to do all of this,” Fionna pled sweetly.
Mrs. Vindico tisked, “No, now Lillian was right. I haven’t always shown Daniel the support and caring that I should have as his mother, so I’m going to make up for it all right now.”
“Dear God.” Dan sank down on the couch at Fionna’s feet and let his head fall into his hands.
“I changed your sheets, and I’ve scrubbed your bathroom and the guest bathroom upstairs. I also reorganized your linen closet.”
She stalked into the living room carrying the laundry basket. “When you’re feeling better, dear, we’ll go over the proper way to fold a fitted sheet and how to organize them by size and then color. I took the liberty of putting your winter blankets in big plastic bags to keep them from getting any dust on them.” She patted Fionna on the head.
“Oh, good,” Fionna whimpered.
“She’s been cooking as well.” Kara brought Fionna a Dr. Pepper from the refrigerator.
“What has she been cooking?” Dan demanded dejectedly.
“I baked you a ham and put it in the refrigerator for sandwiches. I remembered that Fionna liked the ham I made when you first brought her by the house,” Mrs. Vindico announced proudly. “And Daniel, I made you a Jell-O mold that will go with the ham sandwiches; I decided.”
Clenching his jaw in an effort not to scream, Dan glared at his mother. “Dad!” he shouted, startling his sister and Fionna.
“What?” Governor Vindico raced down the stairs. “I was fixing the fan in your guest bathroom. Fitz said it had a bad rattle.” The Governor was holding one of his many screwdrivers in his hand with his tool belt slung around his waist.
“Oh, thank you. I kept meaning to ask you about that, Dan,” Fionna commented thoughtfully. Not certain if she’d just given up and decided to go with it, or if she was experiencing wild mood swings, Dan studied her closely. She shrugged and wrinkled her nose, letting him know that she saw no other option than to let his parents loose in their home.
“Thank you, Dad.” Dan tried to calm his voice. “But Fi really needs to rest, so maybe you could come by when we get back from our trip.”
“Your mother feels badly, son. What Lillian said the other day really got to her. Let her try to make it up to you.”
Dan bit back the furious remark he so desperately wanted to make. He longed to inform his father that Fionna felt badly because she’d been shot and had suffered a miscarriage, and that he didn’t give a damn if his mother felt guilty. He needed to take care of his fiancée.
Mrs. Vindico came back into the living room already talking, “I read an article this week in Women of the Realm that was talking about how there is an epidemic of bed bugs, so I vacuumed your mattresses. I just think I might put all of your extra linens and all of those quilts you just leave lying around in plastic bags.”
Fionna instinctively clung to t
he quilt Dan had swathed her in.
“In hotel rooms, mother! There were a few cases of bed bugs in cheap hotel rooms on the coast! Not here in our home,” Dan shouted.
“Arthur, you and Daniel just slide that couch and love seat to the center of the room so I can vacuum. Fionna, just sit tight,” Mrs. Vindico ordered.
Fionna looked horrified as she considered Dan and his father moving the couch with her lying on it.
“Oh my God, mother! You are not moving the furniture to vacuum underneath it! You’re not vacuuming at all. Fionna is supposed to be resting. She’s kind of been through hell, in case you missed that story. I’m surprised it isn’t typed up yet in Women of the freaking Realm!”
“Daniel, you’re being very difficult for me to support.”
Fionna and Kara began giggling uncontrollably.
Governor Vindico shook his head slightly, but then seemed to decide to ignore his wife. “Son, Stephen and I, along with Fitz and Garrett, took the liberty of cleaning up your office a little.”
His gut clenched, trying to brace him for the unexpected assault on his world. “Uh, okay…” He wondered just what had been done in his absence. “Be right back, baby,” Dan assured Fionna.
Her laughter faded quickly into concern.
He took the stairs three at a time and raced to the room at the end of the hall across from their bedroom, the room that Dan had turned into an office so that Fionna could have a proper dining room when she’d moved in.
Three days ago, it had contained dozens of evidence boxes all pertaining to Wretchkinsides and the Interfeci, along with a small cheap particleboard desk, but now the room was completely empty.
“It’s time to move on, son,” Governor Vindico stated firmly.
Dan nodded what he supposed was an agreement. He did want to move on. He wanted desperately to leave that part of his life behind, but it had been all that had mattered for so long. He wasn’t certain he knew how to go on without it.
Shutting out the empty room, Dan returned to Fionna. She was the only thing that really mattered. She was the only way for him to truly move on.
The painful, haunting memories that the empty room had brought on were quickly abated when Dan entered the living room and found his mother perched on the love seat beside Fionna’s head. She was reading to her from Women of the Realm.