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“Maybe fifteen minutes… I don’t know,” and Lauren gazed up at him. “You were sleeping. You look so tired, Alex.”
He watched the monitors, all the indicators starting to go down toward normal, simply because the pain was being reduced. He touched her hair, stroking his fingers through those crimson strands. Touch mattered. More than anyone realized. But he did. “Fifteen minutes. Hmmm, well you must have been moving around a little? Cannot stay still?” and he gave her an amused look.
Pouting, Lauren admitted, “I was trying to sit up and it didn’t go so well.”
“Ah, that is why you are in so much pain.” Alex leaned across the bed, putting a drop more of morphine into her IV.
“I hate being in bed,” Lauren muttered defiantly.
“You are getting better,malen ‘kaya. You have your impatience back.” And no one could be happier than he was to see it. Alex saw the cloudiness in her eyes, knowing it stemmed from pain. Wanting to distract her, he teased, “Are you hungry? Take a flesh pound from me?”
Lauren grinned weakly. “Pound of flesh, Alex.”
He gave a good-natured shrug. “Thank you. I will need you around to help me with your bastardized American slang in order to speak it correctly.” He saw her eyes dance with laughter, but she wasn’t laughing. Lauren knew it would hurt.
“How long am I going to be down with these ribs?”
He moved around the bed and saw all the monitors had gone back to their normal levels. Love healed. Pure and simple. And he loved her fiercely. Sliding his hand down her left arm, feeling the warmth back in her flesh, he would never forget seeing her lying in the mud, unconscious, her jacket torn-up across her chest. “You will not like the answer.” He saw her scowl. Clearly, Lauren was fighting the grip of the deep shock; more like her old self.
“Try me?”
“Your ribs are deeply fractured. You were fortunate none of them actually broke. It takes people six to eight weeks to have any bone in their body to heal.”
“Six weeks?” Lauren rasped, desperation in her hoarse voice.
Alex grinned. “Three to four weeks is the initial stage. The first three weeks are going to be very uncomfortable for you, Lauren. Every time you try to take a deep breath, you will get the knife-cutting pain on both sides of your chest. If you try to walk, you will feel pain with every step. You will not be able to twist or turn. I have seen men faint from pain when they have tried to go back into their job, do it too soon after being injured,” he warned her gravely. “You will have to be on some sort of pain medication, but no doctor is going to sedate you to the degree that you feel no pain and then go out and reinjure yourself.”
She sulked.
Alex held back a chuckle because he could see how it was impacting her. Lauren was never still. Most operators were a restless breed at best. At worst, they hated sitting around. And, even though she was a world-class sniper, and could lay still for days, if necessary, this was different. If Lauren were on a mission, she had the patience of Job. In a bed and injured? The look glittering in her eyes didn’t bode well for him. Or for her perhaps listening to his experience and wisdom in such matters.
Lauren took stock of herself. She had been catheterized; she had an IV in her arm. Her right hand had a cast on it to just below the elbow. And it hurt to breathe. It had made her pop out in a sweat due to pain when she’d tried to push herself into a sitting position earlier. And the pain had damn near made her pass out and she’d halted her struggles.
“I know you hate this,” Alex soothed, holding her distressed gaze. He saw tears glimmer in Lauren’s eyes and, immediately, he wanted to sweep her into his arms and hold her safe. But he couldn’t embrace her. It would cause her so much pain. Lauren wouldn’t look at him, pursing her lips, fighting back the tears, swallowing several times until she’d mastered her emotions.
Alex said, “We are only going to be here in Lima for two or three days. A C-130 is taking us to Coronado. From there, you will be seen to by the finest Navy doctors at the Naval Medical Center in San Diego.”
“Damn,” she whispered. She felt Alex’s hand squeeze her own uninjured one gently, as if to reassure her. “Who knew cracked ribs could take me down like this?”
“I do,” he said. “I have had them before. You must listen to me, Lauren. If you want to be able to get on your feet in three weeks, you have to respect my experience about such an injury.”
“Are you going to be with me? Am I going to be left at that hospital? What’s Jack got planned?”
Alex realized some of her being upset wasn’t about being bedbound for three weeks. As a child, when Laura was hurting, no one came to hold her, care for her. She had been abandoned. As he searched her upturned eyes, he understood the root of her reaction. Leaning down, he kissed her cheek, inhaling her feminine fragrance. “You will not be left alone,” he promised her in a deep voice, thick with emotion. “I will be with you, Lauren. I am not going anywhere without you…”
CHAPTER 20
“Welcome home, Lauren,”Sky said, reaching out and gently squeezing her left hand.
Lauren smiled at her best friend. Alex had driven them from Reagan Airport to her apartment. It smelled stuffy, but it always did when she returned from a mission. Sky and Cal stood just inside the front door of her duplex bungalow. The early August heat was dry compared to the withering humidity of the jungle of Peru. Alex released her elbow so she could walk into her bungalow under her own power. Sky’s expression was anxious, because her friend walked so slowly and carefully, focused on the floor in front of her feet. Lauren had nixed a cane or a wheelchair, although if she had used one or the other, either would have helped her a lot. Her pride hadn’t let her go there and Alex, thankfully, had said nothing, but surreptitiously shadowed her movements.
“It’s nice to be home, Sky,” Lauren said, meaning it. On the coffee table sat a bright bouquet of summer flowers. She could see Sky’s pregnancy showing through the loose tee that she wore. Her blond hair was continuing to grow and she looked contented. Lauren was happy for both of the lovely couple.
“Would you like to sit down over here?” Cal asked, coming over and giving Lauren a peck on the cheek.
“No, I’m going to aim myself at that other chair,” and she pointed to the overstuffed dark green chair in the corner of her small living room.
Alex closed the door and smiled over at Sky and Cal. “Thank you for meeting us.” And quietly moved once more into his covert support role behind Lauren once again.
