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I coughed. It really hadn’t been my bladder that kept me behind after that lecture. I didn’t think Waggoner needed to know what part of my anatomy was responsible for that, though, so I just gave a non-committal hum and asked, “What about you? What were you doing?”
“I wasn’t hiding.”
“O-kay.”
“I wasn’t,” he insisted. “I was collecting my papers. For work.”
“What papers were they?”
I wasn’t actually interested in the papersper se, I was just trying to keep him talking. He sounded woozy and I was worried that he had a concussion, so I needed to make sure he stayed conscious. Playing football, I’d learned more than most about head injuries.
Luckily, the paramedics arrived just a couple of minutes later. I stayed with Waggoner the whole time and nobody questioned it. Maybe because he’d been snuggled into my side when they arrived and they just assumed we were together. Maybe because I climbed into the ambulance after him and said, “I’m going with him,” and nobody wanted to throw me out. Either way, I wasn’t leaving my omega until I was sure he was ok. That included being physically healthy, out of danger of concussion, and safely tucked up at home where no random muggers could do him any harm. I was going to make sure my omega was safe.
???
We were in A&E half the night. I found I wasn’t in the least bit tired, though. Seeing my omega sitting on that sterile hospital bed, looking small and lost, made my protective hackles rise. I stayed right by his side and even managed to hold his hand.
The doctor asked him a few questions and he answered.
“I think the mugger hit me.” He touched his own cheek where I could see a red mark. My blood began to boil again at the thought of some huge alpha attacking a little omega like that.
The doctor checked his head for bumps, cuts and sore spots and found one, from the way Waggoner winced. Luckily, he passed all the other tests and he didn’t seem confused any more.
He remembered the date and his address, could follow movement and was only slightly sensitive to bright lights and loud sounds. The doctor wanted to keep him in overnight for observations but he asked to go home. I could tell the whole experience had got to him more than he wanted to admit because he began to beg.
“Please, I just want to go home. I’m fine. I don’t have a concussion. I can remember what I was teaching this afternoon. Honestly.”
Awkwardly, he tried to prove it.
“I was giving a lecture on Dynamics and Relativity. We started with Newtonian Mechanics…”
I sat by his bedside and listened to my clever little omega spouting science words and was torn between amusement and arousal. How could he still be sexy, even now?
At last, the doctor relented and said, “Fine. You can go home but you need someone with you for the first twenty-four hours. Just to make sure you’re ok.”
“Oh.”
She raised her eyebrows. “That a problem, Mr. Waggoner?”
“Dr. Waggoner,” he corrected.
She didn’t seem offended. She gave a nod. “My mistake. Is there anyone who can watch you at home, Dr. Waggoner?”
“I live alone,” he said.
My heart soared. I’d asked around, as subtly as I could – by which I mean my whole team had gone round asking for me, with all the subtlety of a firework – and had found out that Waggoner wasn’t in a relationship at the moment. It was good to hear him say it, though. Proof that Fate was rooting for my team, for a change.
The doctor began to back-track. “You can’t be alone right now. If you don’t have someone who can stay with you, I’ll need to keep you—”
“I’ll stay with him.”
I had intended not to sound too keen but I almost jumped up and raised my hand.
Waggoner looked round at me as though seeing me for the first time.
I tried to cut off his arguments before he could make them.
“You’ll hardly notice I’m there. You’ve got a couch, right?”
