Leather And Lace Part 16

Granny was growing concerned. Raven's breathing was becoming more labored by the minute. She had checked for an exit wound and found none, so she knew the bullet was somewhere inside. She had seen the results of bullets ricocheting around in the human body like a pinball and was very concerned about this one's path of destruction. The only thing she was fairly sure of was that one of Raven's lungs had been punctured, probably collapsed and the chest cavity was more than likely filling with blood.

"I love you." Kris said as she gently kissed Raven's forehead.

"Love you, too." Raven managed. She knew she was growing weaker but she was determined to hang on. 'I'll be d.a.m.ned if I'll give up now that I've got something and someone to live for.'

Granny heard the sound of the helicopter and swallowed hard at the memories the sound invoked. If she closed her eyes, she was thirty years in the past. A sea of red flowing past in an endless stream of body after body. She s.h.i.+vered and opened her eyes. That was why she had quit nursing a long time ago, all the nameless faces that paraded through her mind.

The helicopter landed in the front yard just as several cars pulled to a stop not far from the three women. John was the first to run to them with Dr. Kudirka, who was on staff at The Division right behind him. The paramedics trailed behind with their equipment, waiting for the Doc's orders.

Colonel Albright stood beside Otis' body; his hands clenched in fists so tight that his knuckles were turning white. He took a few minutes to collect himself before joining the concerned party around his Captain. "How is she?"

Kudirka responded without stopping his treatment. "We repacked the wounds and put in a chest tube." He lifted his head to look at one of the paramedics. "Bring the stretcher now." He stood up to move out of their way. "But we need to get her to the hospital now to see what other damage was done." They all watched as he moved towards the helicopter with his patient.

John drove the two worried women to the hospital. Kris had put up a struggle when told there wasn't enough room in the helicopter for her, but gave in when Granny made her realize that she would be more of a hindrance than a help to those keeping Raven alive.

Kris paced from window to doorway, each time stopping to stare towards the large double doors that led to the operating rooms, before she slowly headed back to the windows where rain angrily pelted against the gla.s.s panes.

Sharon sat beside John. He called her on the way and she made it to the hospital just after they had taken Raven into surgery. Her eyes followed the young blonde's silent, methodical trek. Sharon had been through the waiting game twice before. Once when John had been slightly injured in a minor explosion. And once she had held vigil with him the last time his Captain had been hurt. She remembered that her first reaction had been relief that it hadn't been John hurt again. Her second reaction had been guilt at her first one. She had only known Raven for a few months when that had happened and she liked the sometimes sad, most of the time quite woman, even though she told herself she wouldn't. Sharon remembered convincing herself that the Captain was a rival for John's affections and that deep down he loved Raven. She soon found out that was true, but the feelings that they had for each other were like two close siblings. After that, Sharon was able to relax and try, 'try' being the operative word, to get to know the sedate woman. 'G.o.d knows she didn't make it easy.' Sharon thought as she continued to watch Kris who seemed to have had no problem in jumping in and removing layer after layer of protection Raven had encased her heart in. She squeezed John's hand when she looked over and saw the malicious look on his face. She would have to ask him later, what he had been thinking about.

John had slouched his tall frame down in his chair and rested his head against the back. He stared unseeingly at the white ceiling tiles. 'Why her again? Just because that wanna-be soldier couldn't compete, he takes it out on her.' They had learned a few things from Hardly after he had been retrieved from Granny's kitchen floor and had put two and two together. He knew that Raven would be the one to fill in the few blanks that remained. 'I hope he ends up in the lowest level of h.e.l.l.' He was imagining all the horrible things he would like to have done to the worthless b.a.s.t.a.r.d when Sharon's touch brought him back to reality.

Albright sat motionless. He hated this part of his job. It was the waiting and the not knowing that drove him crazy. He turned his thoughts toward Major Otis. 'How did he get that far-gone without someone noticing something? How did he pa.s.s his psychology exam? I know one thing; everyone's going to have them more often now, that's for sure. I also need to talk to the team that interviewed Hardly.' He pushed his gla.s.ses up on his head and rubbed his eyes. 'Make sure that gullible fool is just that and not in on this.' He sighed and pulled his gla.s.ses back down. 'The General's probably busted a gut by now, demanding to know how this happened.'

After an hour or two of watching Kris pace, Granny tried to get her to sit. She was unsuccessful. She wondered how long before the young woman wore a trench down to the floor below them. She closed her eyes for a few minutes, but was inexplicably drawn back to the rhythmic pacing. She could see the tension and strain in Kris' body and face. She sent up a silent prayer that Raven would be all right. She didn't care to think about what might happen if Kris lost her.

Kris looked at her watch; again, ten minutes had actually pa.s.sed since the last time. She looked down the hall for what seemed like the millionth time. 'Still empty. Why won't they tell us something?' She nearly cried out loud. 'It's been five hours since they took her in.' She pivoted and retraced her steps. She stared at the wind driven rain las.h.i.+ng against the panes of gla.s.s. It seemed to her that the wind was punis.h.i.+ng the rain for some reason, as it angrily drove the drops of moisture this way and then that way. She at first could identify with the rain since she ran the gambit of her emotions being pulled first in one direction and then in another. She started with fear, fear of losing her friend, companion, and lover. Then she moved to denial. Denial that Raven could one minute be with her and the next minute gone. Disbelieve came next. Kris almost talked herself into believing that this was a nightmare and that she would wake up any minute now next to the warm body of her lover. Now she was angry, just like the wind. The problem with that was the person she was angry with was dead and she didn't have anyone to take it out on.

Kris turned from the window just as Dr. Kudirka entered the waiting room. As many times as she had wished for the man to appear, she wasn't sure what she would do now if it turned out to be bad news. She suddenly wondered why she just remembered the old saying, 'No news is good news', she now wished he would disappear.

John sat up on the edge of his chair and Albright stood. All eyes in the room zeroed in on the man in blood covered blue scrubs, silently pleading for a positive report. He motioned for Kris and the Colonel to sit and pulled a chair closer for himself.

"They're closing now and in a few minutes we'll take Captain Chandler to the recovery room." He wiped the sweat trickling down his forehead with the cloth head cover he had removed and was still clutching in his hand. "The bullet in her leg pa.s.sed through muscle and tissue and missed the bone completely. Her leg will be fine." He paused and took a breath. "It's the other one that caused all the trouble. It shattered a rib on entry and deflected downward. The bone fragments tore a rather large hole in the lung but we were able to repair without having to remove any of it. The bullet nicked the liver, kidney, and the small intestines. We had to remove the damaged tissue from the liver and removed a small portion of the intestines. The right kidney had to be completely removed." He expected the slight panic. "She can live a perfectly normal life with one kidney." He would not tell them that the bullet deflected once again, this time off her pelvic bone and that it then pa.s.sed into her uterus and that it also had to be removed. He would discuss that privately with his patient. He only hoped that she didn't want to have children or that adoption would be an option if she did.

"So she's going to be okay?" Kris' question came out as more of a hopeful statement.

"She's lost a great deal of blood and therefore is very weak, but barring infection, I'd say she's got a good chance of a full recovery."

"When can I see her?"

Kudirka smiled slightly. The young woman was not being very subtle in letting him know that she had no intentions of being kept away from the Captain's bedside. He deferred to his boss.

Albright looked at Kris then turned to the doctor. "I'm sure not going to try and keep her away."

"When she's settled in ICU." The doctor answered. "Now, if there's no more questions, I'm going to get cleaned up."

"Thank you." Kris said sincerely to the retreating form.

Kudirka smiled at the young woman. "You're very welcome. But the lady there," he pointed to Granny, "is the one that should get a lot of credit. She kept the Captain alive until help arrived." He answered just as sincerely.

The older woman blushed at the praise and attention as all eyes turned towards her. And when Kris gave her a look of undying grat.i.tude, she stared down at her shoes, unable to meet the young woman's eyes. She was grateful when the Colonel drew the attention away from her and to himself.

"I need to go check on our people. Make sure they've been cleared through security and tell them to meet us in ICU." Albright announced as he stood and stretched. "John, would you check to see if the hospital personnel have been cleared?"

"Sure thing, boss." He also stood; glad to have something to occupy himself with.

Chapter Seventeen:.

Kris entered the ICU room and looked at the motionless form lying on the bed. Slowly her eyes scanned the tubing that ran into and out of Raven. Her ears picked up the bleeping of the heart monitor and the hissing of the oxygen that flowed through the small tubes and into her nose. Raven's eye was black and swollen shut and she had a pale and hollow look about her. "Oh G.o.d." Kris covered her mouth with her hand to stifle a sob.

Sharon came in behind the young woman and placed her arm around Kris' waist. "She'll be okay. She's been through a lot worse."

For some reason Kris didn't find that comforting. She of course had seen the scars on Raven's body and heard the origins of a few of them, but it had been fairly easy to dismiss the fear she felt when the woman that had suffered the injuries had been whole and healthy at the time.

Granny entered and stood on Kris' other side. "Why don't you let me take you home so you can get some rest? I'm sure she won't wake up until tomorrow at the earliest." She tried to coax.

"No, I want to be here." She drew her eyes away from the unmoving figure lying in the hospital bed. "I don't want her to wake up alone."

"I'll stay with you tonight so you don't have to be alone." Sharon said to Kris.

"And I'll come back in the morning to relieve you." Granny told Sharon. "I'll bring coffee and something for breakfast. You, young lady, try to get a little sleep." She hugged Kris and kissed her cheek.

"I'll try." She promised. "And thanks, guys. I probably would have fallen apart if you hadn't been here."

"What are all these people doing in here?" The young nurse whispered to her superior who had just finished a conversation with two of the men loitering around one of the rooms.

"They're with the CIA." She informed her young colleague. "The patient in bed 8 belongs to them. She came in last night with gunshot wounds." Emma shrugged her shoulders like it was an everyday occurrence to have armed people in their unit. It had happened a few times in her long career but it tended to make her nervous. "You'll have to work around them. They'll be here until she's moved. Here, take a look at her chart." She handed it over. "I'd like you to be her nurse, you haven't had a gunshot wound yet. It'll give you some valuable experience."

'Great.' Lisa had misunderstood the 'belongs to them' statement. She thought Emma meant that the patient she had just been stuck with was a felon. 'It's not nerve wracking enough in ICU, we get to have public enemy number one as a guest.' And this was just her second day in the Intensive Care Unit. She was beginning to regret changing rotations. She sighed as she looked over the new patient's chart. "There isn't a name listed."

"There never is in a case like this." Emma explained.

Lisa rolled her eyes as she continued to familiarize herself with the patient's condition and the doctor's orders. She had only been an LPN for six months. "I knew I should've become a dental a.s.sistant." She mumbled under her breath.

"What was that, dear?"

"Nothing." Lisa smiled. "Just talking to myself."

"Oh, Janet called. She's going to be a little late. It seems the 520 bridge decided to stick in the up position again." Emma was referring to one of the two floating bridges that crossed Lake Was.h.i.+ngton. The central part could be raised to allow boats to pa.s.s and sometimes decided it wanted to stay that way.

Lisa wondered if today could get any worse.

Kris had laid her head down on the bed beside Raven's hand and had dozed off sometime in the wee hours of the morning. Sharon woke up as the sun was making its way into the room. It had peeked through the clouds and through the cracks in the blinds covering the windows. She left the room to stretch her legs, leaving Kris to get some much-needed rest.

Lisa looked nervously at the man sitting beside the doorway for bed 8. "I'm just gonna..." she pointed into the room, "check on the patient." The man nodded his head at her, but made no move to accompany her. "Shouldn't you come with me?" She stopped with one foot inside the doorway.

He looked up at her surprised. "Why? Do you need help doing your job?"

"No, of course not." She put her fists on her hips. 'Who does this guy think he is? Asking me a stupid question like that.' "I thought you were here to watch the patient." Truth was, she admitted to herself; she was a little scared. She had never treated a convict before and she wasn't sure if she wanted to be alone in the same room with one.

"I am." He decided to give the nurse a break, even though she was kinda cute when she was fl.u.s.tered. "But the staff has been cleared so you're okay to treat her." The guard explained.

'I've been cleared? That's a funny thing to say. I guess they were concerned about one of us helping her.' Lisa gathered her courage and walked into the room, after all, the patient was still unconscious. 'I hope she'll stay that way. At least while I'm in here.' The first thing she looked for was the blonde woman. Emma had told her that two women would most likely be in the room most of the time. Lisa had seen the other one leave the unit a few minutes ago. She had a.s.sumed that they were there to watch the woman but now had to wonder after she found the young woman asleep with her head down on the bed beside the patient who wasn't even restrained.

'Get on with your job, Lisa girl. The sooner you finish, the sooner you can leave.' She checked the setting on the monitors, then the IV's. She made a mental note that the IV would need to be changed within the hour. Lisa moved closer to the patient to check the dressings covering the wounds. In order to check the bruising and swelling around the eye, she slowly reached out to rotate the woman's face towards her. "Oh my G.o.d." She whispered when she found her voice. "Raven."

Lisa quietly, but quickly left the room and told Emma she need to take a break. She needed time to get over her shock and collect her thoughts. This was the first time in over ten years that she had seen her sister.

She made her way down the corridor towards a small staff break room that she knew would probably be empty this early after s.h.i.+ft change. As a little girl growing up she had always been curious about what had happened to her, but her mother forbid her from talking about her older sister. And as she grew older, Philip had happily informed her all about their sister. She had never been very fond of her brother, there was too much of a gap in their ages, six and a half years. And he always treated her like a tag along that he had to put up with. And she discovered that in dealing with him now that they were adults, she really didn't like him. She thought of him as a whiny spoiled brat that threw a temper tantrum if he didn't get his way. She took a swallow of her coffee and tried to look at her feelings toward her sister with an open mind. But she just couldn't seem to forgive the woman for the loss of her brother that she barely remembered.

Kris groggily woke up from her nap to the feel of fingers running through her unruly hair. She thought it was Sharon or Granny until a tingle ran down the back of her neck, spreading familiar warmth across her body. She jerked her head up and opened her eyes to stare into somewhat dull, but still the most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen.

"Hey." It came out as a dry croak.

"Hey yourself." Kris took Raven's hand that had been stroking her head and brought it to her lips. She lovingly kissed the palm trying to collect her emotions, she promised herself that she wouldn't break down and cry. "They said you could have a little ice for your dry throat. Do you want some?" Raven nodded and Kris spooned a few small crushed pieces in her mouth. "Let it melt before you try to swallow so you don't choke." She tried to stop it but a few tears trickled down her cheeks and before she could turn her head and brush them away, Raven saw.

"Come here." Raven said, her voice not as rough as it had been.

"I don't want to hurt you." Kris wiped at her eyes. "I'll be okay, just give me a minute."

"You won't hurt me. Please, I need you close." Raven moved her left arm open in invitation and waited.

It only took a second for Kris to decide. She carefully stretched out against Raven's side and laid her head on the familiar shoulder. "If they come in and yell at me, I'm telling them this was your idea, Taz." But she couldn't hide the sigh of contentment that the warm body and the comfortably familiar act drew out of her.

It, of course, did hurt. But the joy it brought Raven's soul made the physical pain pale in comparison. She closed her eyes and drifted off with a smile spread across her lips.

She wasn't sure how long it had been since she nodded off, but she woke up to the feeling of being stared at. Raven opened her eyes to see two smirking faces. "Kris, love, we're being laughed at." She rubbed the young woman's back until green eyes opened.

"Oops." Kris sat up. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep on you." She blushed as she carefully got off the bed and faced the two women.

"I'm going out on a limb here." Sharon teased. "But I take it you're doing a lot better?" She moved to the side of the bed as Granny put down the sack that contained breakfast and joined her.

"Yes I am." Raven opened her mouth to accept the spoon full of ice Kris was offering her. "Now, when can I get out of here?" She asked after the ice melted and she swallowed the welcome moisture.

"Isn't that just typical?" John joined the growing crowd. "Scare us half to death again, and then want to get up and walk away like nothing happened." He stood beside Sharon and put his arm around her waist. "Good morning, ladies and other." He smiled at the 'other' since he knew she couldn't come after him. It was a friendly game John and Raven played, who ever was hurt had to suffer the torments of the other. It was a way of getting back at the injured party for making the other wait through the hours or days of grief at not knowing if their friend would live.

"Well isn't this quite the little party." Kudirka wasn't as irritated as he portrayed. He had worked with The Division long enough to know that this kind of thing was due to a release of tension and not a total disregard of the rules. But he felt like he had to show some authority or he would quickly lose the little control that he did have.

John cringed at the evil eye Kudirka gave him. "Sorry, Doc." John turned his own evil eye towards the bed when he heard the snicker coming from that direction. Raven tried to look innocent but had never been able to pull off that look. "Just you wait, missy." He shook his finger at her.

"Okay, folks, that's enough. Everybody out so I can check on my patient." He stood aside as John, Sharon and Granny walked out the door. He looked back to see a defiant look on the young blonde. "Of course I didn't mean that to include you." He was smart enough to know that he would never have any control what so ever over the young woman glaring at him with her arms crossed over her chest and a determined look on her face.

Raven snickered again. "And she doesn't need any help from you, Captain. She can intimidate me just fine on her own."

"She's good at that isn't she?" Raven glanced lovingly at her protector.

"Yes she is." He agreed. "I think I'd rather try to cross a mother lion with a cub than her." He pulled a chair over and sat beside the bed. "I think she's a keeper." He grinned at the thoroughly red faced blonde.

Kris sat on the edge of the bed and held Raven's hand while the doctor took a few minutes to glance at the chart in his hands. "Your vital signs were good last night and this morning, although your blood pressure is still a little low." He made a few notes and put the chart on the bedside table. "How do you feel? Don't tell me fine." He warned.

'He's starting to know me all to well.' Raven mused. "Truth? I feel like I've been run over by a steamroller."

"So you watched 'A Fish Called Wanda' the other night too." He was actually surprised by the fact that she admitted to feeling like she should feel, lousy. He had always had to drag it out of her before.

"Okay, Doc, so what's the damage and when can this lovely lady take me home?"

He took a deep breath and started to run down the list of injuries and the results of the surgery. When he revealed the part he had kept from the others, he heard the in-drawn breath that came from Kris instead of his patient. "I'm sorry, Captain...if I could have done something different, I a.s.sure you I would have."

"I know, Doc, I'm okay." Raven felt the searching gaze of her companion studying her.

"I've got some thing's to go over with the nurse and a few other patients to see. I'll be back later on." He headed towards the door. "Oh, you can have liquids now," he pointed towards the sack that contained breakfast, "but not anything solid, okay?"

Raven nodded. "Sure, Doc."

"Are you really all right? Did you want kids?" Kris asked after Kudirka left the room. They had never discussed the prospect of having children and Kris was completely in the dark as to whether her lover even liked kids or not. "And please tell me the truth, not something that you think will make me feel better."

Raven squeezed Kris' hand. "Yeah, I'm okay. I never thought about it, really. I just took it for granted I'd never have them. I guess maybe my own childhood and the way my mother treated me kinda influenced my unconscious decision. But I also never thought I'd have a partner either." She smiled at Kris, knowing she was being vague and noncommittal. "What about you, Sagira?"

Kris took a deep breath and blew it out, ruffling her bangs. "I knew I'd be expected to have a family after I married and in a way I think I resented that. Now that I...we have a choice, I really don't know." She played with the plastic hospital bracelet around Raven's wrist. "I'm being just as evasive as you are, huh?" She grinned at Raven.

"Yes you are. But I think it just means that we're not ready to commit one way or the other right now. It's not something that needs to be decided right now anyway."

Granny stuck her head in the doorway. "Hey, you ready for something to eat?" She entered the room completely when Raven motioned her in. "Oh, John took Sharon home, said he'd be back later."

After going through the now cold contents of the sack Granny tried to persuade Kris into trying the snack bar in the bas.e.m.e.nt of the hospital. It took five minutes of a.s.surances from Raven that she was tired and would probably sleep the entire time they were gone.

Granny decided on a bagel with cream cheese while Kris took one look at the huge cinnamon roll with cream cheese icing and drooled. Granny chuckled and added it to the tray while Kris filled to cups with coffee. They paid for their purchases and made their way to a corner table a little ways away from the other diners.

"Tell me about your medical training. According to the Doc it took more than just first-aid knowledge to do what you did." Kris asked after they had had several bites of their respective breakfasts.

Granny shook her head. "You don't waste much time do you?" She blew on her steaming coffee, not expecting an answer. She knew that curiosity would get the best of her young friend. "I used to be a nurse when I was younger, gave it up for Lent." She sighed at the expectant expression on her friend's face. "I was a surgical nurse in Vietnam from '67 to '69. Volunteered to go n.o.bly thinking that I could make a difference and not so n.o.bly knowing that it would give me unlimited and valuable experience it would take ten or fifteen years for me to get at a stateside hospital." She admitted.

Kris bit her tongue to stop the flow of questions that she wanted to ask and instead concentrated on her cinnamon roll.

Granny's eyes had focused on a point on the far wall as she looked into her past. "When I came back, I worked in a VA hospital for almost a year then went to a civilian hospital and worked in the emergency room for awhile." She refocused her eyes and mind on her tablemate. "But I had what the experts like to call a nervous breakdown. Not the straight jacket and padded room type, but I started to freeze if a patient came in really messed up. Anything from a bad car wreck to a shooting would send me back to the carnage over there."