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She bent over and rested her forehead on their joined hands. "You don't owe me anything, Sir. Your life is my life now. I don't want to talk about it anymore, not here. I...It...I did something terrible, but it was worth it. I understand it has consequences, somewhere down the line, but it helps to know I'd do it all again. Because not doing it would mean you'd be in a really bad place right now, and I wouldn't be here, holding your hand and thanking God you're alive."
Spinal shock be damned. Jasper shifted his weight carefully, aware of what a second knock to his spine could do, and tugged on her hand. "Come on, kitten, get up here."
"No, it's not safe."
"Unless you're planning to do the rhumba on my lap, you'll be fine. Just climb up here with me so I can hold you. We both need me to, so don't make me get out of bed to pick you up and dump you on it." That worked, to his satisfaction. He watched with a pleased smile as she stood and tried to inch onto the narrow mattress beside him. Hooking his arm around her, he gently pulled her into him, tucking her against his side and sighing. "This is perfect."
"Am I hurting you?" Archie asked nervously, her petite frame stiff as stone.
"Kitten, relax. Trust me, having you in my arms is a thousand times more effective than a shot of morphine." He turned his face into her hair and breathed deep. "In a couple days, I'll be out of here and we can start working past this. Gonna have to take it slow on the physical side of things," he muttered more to himself than Anarchy, "but we can cope with that."
She rested her hand on the arm curled over her waist. "We can cope with anything."
"Yeah. Yeah, we can."
*
An hour later, Archie was still cuddled up to Jasper on the really uncomfortable hospital bed, drawing doodles on his arm while he slept. She'd met the fearsome nurse named Janice, who had almost had an aneurism when she'd come to check Jasper's vitals and found him with a woman plastered to his side.
The argument had been brief, intense, and mildly amusing, but Jasper had won in the end...barely.
There was a tray of food on the table beside the bed. Untouched. The kind lady who'd brought it had offered to get Archie one, but...food wasn't high on her essentials list. Her stomach disagreed, rumbling noisily and aching—she just ignored it and tried not to move.
Disturbing Jasper meant disrupting the peace she'd found here, and she was nowhere near ready for it to end. She was safe and warm, and no one could get to him without going through her first. An hour without speaking, without questions, was bliss.
She wasn't stupid. There was therapy waiting for her on the horizon, like an army of soldiers on horseback ready to gallop down the hillside, screaming battle cries. It wasn't something she was looking forward to, by any means, but it would go faster with Connie at the helm. Months, maybe years if she was unlucky, but if that was the only price she had to pay for her crimes, she'd be thankful.
Fingertips tracing over the red horse of war, Archie gave serious thought to what her actions might have started. She wasn't convinced Dominic felt any paternal bond toward his children, not one of them, but how would he respond to losing not one, but two of his sons? Because if there was anything she was one hundred percent sure of, it was that Atticus wouldn't keep Erik alive unless he had a reason.
By killing Gerald, had she brought the wrath of the Fairfax patriarch down on all their heads?
No. Atticus had Dominic under control, and soon—please, God, soon—this would all be over, and things could achieve a semblance of former normality.
Her fingers stilled, curling around Jasper's forearm. The first stirrings of a headache irritated the backs of her eyes, pulsed gently at a point in her forehead just a couple of inches above the bridge of her nose. While everything was quiet and Jasper was sleeping, maybe it wouldn't hurt to close her eyes for a few minutes.
She'd just have to think of really happy things, like rainbows and unicorns and sex, instead of what lurked in the dark. Her imagination immediately leaped to life, picturing an array of sparkling horned horses prancing up the arch of a rainbow to join a glittery orgy at the peak.
Her sense of the ridiculous made her lips twitch, and eased her anxiety about sleeping.
"Miss Campbell?"
At the hushed voice, Archie jolted awake, instantly alert. There was a small, warm hand touching her cheek and concerned amber eyes staring holes into her. "Huh? What?"
"Ssssh," the nurse whispered. "Mr. Fairfax is still sleeping. You were having a nightmare."
Confused, Anarchy frowned. She had no recollection of a nightmare, not even brief flickers, but she did feel clammy. And, she realized, her heart was racing. Well, shit. All she could do was hope her mouth hadn't been running at the same speed and blurted out secrets in her troubled sleep. "Oh...Oh, I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it, you didn't disturb anyone. I only noticed when I came to check the monitors." Janice's hand dropped away, and she straightened from her bent-over crouch. "Would you like some water?"
"Yes, please."
With a smile, the nurse bustled around to the table and poured a glass from the small jug next to the dinner tray. "It can be incredibly stressful, seeing a loved one in hospital after an accident. Particularly when the injuries sustained have the potential to be life-changing. The doctors are confident Jasper will make a full and complete recovery."
Slowly, Archie extracted herself from under Jasper's arm, sitting up carefully, just in time to take the glass Janice held out to her. The past day had been an exercise in potentially life-changing—who knew if they'd all make a full and complete recovery when the dust settled? Realizing she was sinking into depressing territory, she tried to encourage her lips to smile in response. "Jasper can bounce back from anything. It's just who he is."
"I get that impression. I've got other patients to check before I go home, but if you need anything, just press the button on the bed remote. Have a good night." With another kind smile, Janice walked away, leaving the door open as she went.
"Got her wrapped around your finger, huh?" Jasper rasped from behind Anarchy, surprising her. "She's been nothing but a pain in my ass all damn day."
