Dimitri's Moon (24 page)

Hazel eyes were tired and strained as they met hers. Almost like one the wives left their men and stood behind and beside her, their hands resting upon her in silent support.

“He is alive,” Tyson said grabbing a chair and straddling it.

Landi’s body shook with relief until she realized Tyson’s expression hadn’t changed. “Tell me,” she demanded on a whisper, not even sure she really wanted to know.

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“He’s not out of the woods—not even close. Osten, fill her in a bit on what happened. Lex can do the rest once Landi gets to the hospital.”

Landi ran a hand down her face and turned her head toward Osten Scoleri, the corpsman on the Team. His expression was just as serious as Tyson’s had been. He stood, legs braced apart and hands hooked behind his back.

“Dimitri took two gunshot bullets and sustained a knife injury.

The knife wound was the most severe. When medics got to him, the blade had to be left in his back for fear that removing it would paralyze him. We had to induce a coma so he wouldn’t move by accident and risk further damage.” He glanced behind her before focusing back on her face. “Lex can fill you in more.” Osten looked back at Tyson who nodded and stood.

Bile rose up within Landi. “Can I see him?”

Tyson nodded. “I came to get you. Lex is with him now and his parents are on the way.”

Landi honestly had no wish to take these men from their spous-es, but she
did
want to be with Dimitri. Her expression must have given her thoughts away for Tyson smiled slightly.

“We’re all going back. Don’t feel like you’re making me take a trip I don’t have to.”

“Thank you,” she murmured.

Landi watched the couples embrace and the men look in on their children. Her belly was in knots as she sat in the front passenger seat of a white van. Behind the wheel was Aidrian. She rested her head back and closed her eyes.

A coma. Dimitri’s in a coma. Two gunshot wounds and a stabbing injury that may have paralyzed him.

The drive contained muted snatches of conversation from the men in the back. She opened her eyes when they got on I-264 West-bound.

“Where is he?” she asked as they entered the Downtown Tunnel. A stream of brake lights met her eyes.

Hondo spoke without taking his gaze off the busy road.

“NMCP. Navy Medical Center Portsmouth.”

She shifted against the vinyl seat of the passenger van when they came to a halt. Impatience roared to the surface, but breathing came easier once they began moving again until they stopped at a
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guard gate. Landi remained silent as Hondo showed his ID and received a salute. He drove on and around to the main doors.

Landi got out and sent a trembling smile to Hondo before he drove away, leaving her with Ross, Osten, and Tyson. They were all quiet as they entered through the sliding doors into the hospital. She walked beside Tyson while Ross and Osten flanked them. In the elevator, her heart began to pound harder. She swallowed and shoved her hands in the front pockets of her jeans. She worried her lower lip with her teeth. Landi shut her eyes and called upon an image of Dimitri, his golden eyes twinkling and an amazing grin upon his face.

“Come on, Landi.” Tyson’s whispered voiced pulled her lids back up.

If the situation hadn’t been so dire, she would have smiled. It was the first time he’d ever used her first name; he’d usually call her

“Ms. Nycks” or “Ma’am”. At Tyson’s gentle guidance, they walked down a near empty hallway, the only noise that of their footwear as they walked.

A woman in minty green scrubs stepped from a room accompanied by a man dressed in military fatigues identical to what the men with her wore. Landi recognized both Alexis “Lex” Leighton and her husband Scott. Their expressions were so serious.

“Landi,” Lex said as she stepped away from Scott and approached her, draping her stethoscope over her shoulders as she moved.

“Please tell me what’s going on, Lex.” Landi hugged her briefly.

“Do you want to see him first?” Lex questioned.

“Yes.”

“Okay, this way.”

Together they entered the Dimitri’s room. Landi took a sharp breath as she gathered herself before moving toward the bed. Dimitri lay there, his skin pale and drawn.

“Can I touch him?” Landi asked in a whisper.

“Of course. And talk to him, Landi. We need him to wake up, but he hasn’t yet. As strong as your connection is with one another, perhaps you can succeed where we failed.”

Landi moved a small stool beside the bed to sit near Dimitri. She slipped her hand under his motionless one and brought it to her mouth, kissing it. “Come back, Dimitri. I’m not ready to let you go again.”

There was no response. Moving some hair off his forehead, Landi 162

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blinked back tears. “Your parents need you. They can’t afford to lose their son.”

Sliding the seat as close as she could, Landi rested her head against his arm. With her free hand she traced aimless circles on his bandaged chest. “There is so much I want to tell you, Dimitri Androcles Melonakos, and I can’t do that unless you wake up.”

The beeping of the monitors combined with the faint yet familiar beating of his heart lulled her into a world of sleep. When a hand settled upon her shoulder, she jumped. Turning, Landi found herself staring at Feodras and Airlia Melonakos.

“Landi,” Airlia murmured with tears in her eyes. “Thank you for being here so he wasn’t alone.”

Landi got to her feet and hugged her. Feodras drew her in for one as well and she struggled not to cry again. “I’ll let you be alone with your son,” she whispered as she stepped away from Dimitri’s father.

Those words were hard for her to force out.
I don’t want to leave
him.
Landi knew and understood his parents needed some time alone with him. Slipping out the door, she closed it and leaned against the wall until her legs would no longer hold her. Landi sank to the cool tile floor and shook. This time when the tears threatened she didn’t stop them.

“Here, lass, dry your eyes,” Aidrian’s lilting voice commanded gently.

Lifting her head slightly, Landi found Aidrian crouched before her, holding out a box of tissues to her. His black eyes were kind as he held her gaze. With a trembling hand, she reached for some tissues and dabbed her eyes. “Thank you,” she murmured.

Looking around her, Landi noticed the rest of the Megalodon Team, stoic as they held a silent watch until there was more news about Dimitri. He was more than just their teammate; he was also brother and friend. They didn’t look at her and Landi realized they, too, were in their own private hell.

“This is for you,” Aidrian said softly.

Landi took the red box in one hand and glanced back to the man still before her. “What’s this?”

“Merlin wanted you to have it…if anything happened to him.”

Aidrian touched her shoulder and walked back to where the rest of the men continued their unspoken vigil.

Part of her didn’t want to open it. It would make everything seem so much more real. Dimitri had wanted her to have it if anything
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happened to him.
If I open it, will I lose him forever?
Shaking off that thought, she took a deep breath and opened the lid.

Oh, my!

Sitting on the blue, satiny inset was a silver pendant of crescent moon surrounded by five stars that made a five-point star themselves. It was like his tattoo. Diagonally through the large star was a pink ladder that appeared to keep the moon in place. It was beautiful.

She bit back her gasp of surprise. Landi started to replace the lid when her thumb brushed across a piece of paper lodged in it. Her name was scrolled across it. Removing the folded parchment, Landi read the words in Dimitri’s handwriting.

Landi,

First and foremost, I LOVE YOU. I always have
and I always will.

The necklace is a way for you to have a part of me
with you always. We were made for one another. Fate
which is the Adinkra symbol you wear has another
name. Nimue. Patience, Landi, I can see you cocking
you head to the side silently encouraging me to get to
the damn point. Very well. Nimue is the name of
Merlin’s one true love. Just as you are mine. I don’t
know what the future may hold for us but no matter
what, never forget you are the last thing I think about
before I sleep and each morning I wake with you in
mind. You are my moon; I will always turn to you to
find my way home.

S’agapo, dikos mou isyzygos, s’agapo,

~Dimitri

Landi’s hands shook as she kissed the note.
Dimitri!
Her soul cried for him. Getting to her feet, she went to a restroom. Standing before a sink, she splashed some cold water on her face until she stopped shaking. Landi stared at her reflection and couldn’t believe the size of the circles under her eyes. Taking the necklace from the box, she tried twice to put it on, but her hands wouldn’t cooperate. Landi put it on the shelf below the mirror.

“Landi? Are you okay?”

Staring at eyes that were similar to the tiger’s eye rock, Landi shook her head at Lex. “No,” she admitted with a sharp exhalation. “I 164

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don’t know what I can do to help. I want to be with him but his parents desire to be there with him, as they should.” With a sob, she tightened her grip on the sink and broke eye contact with Lex, staring down at her hands.

“You know he can hear you,” Lex’s voice was gentle and near her ear. “He loves his parents immensely, but that man would move a mountain if that’s what you wanted him to do.”

Landi opened her eyes when Lex moved her hair to the side and put the necklace on for her. Touching the pendant as it settled against her skin, Landi stared in the mirror and found Lex’s gaze. What a very caring and wise woman she was.

“Then why won’t he wake up?” Landi asked.

“I don’t know. I’m hoping it’s his body’s way of healing him from the inside out and he’ll wake up soon. What I do know is if you give up,” Lex paused, released her hair, and stepped away, “so will he.”

Lex left as silently as she’d appeared. Landi touched the pendant briefly before she headed back to Dimitri’s room. Landi knocked softly before entering. His parents hovered over him, one on each side of the bed. Feodras waved her over. When she reached his side, he slid his arm around her shoulders.

“You belong here with us. You’re family,
kori
.” He placed a kiss on her cheek. “We’ll leave you alone with him for a while.” Feodras moved to his wife’s side and led her from the room.

Stroking a hand along his forehead, Landi whispered, “Come back to me, Dimitri.” Placing a kiss on his cheek, she sat in the chair beside him.

Dimitri had been in the hospital for two weeks, and Landi had been by his side every day she could. Today, she had her sketchpad and new cards to read to him.

Placing her things by the chair in the sun, she spoke to him as she put up his new cards. “Well, Dimitri, you have two cards today from my sisters and one here from Khristos. They’re very beautiful. All you have to do is open your eyes to see them.” Cards in their proper place, she kissed him before sitting in her chair.

For a while, the room was silent save for the strokes of her pencil on the paper and the beeps from the machines attached to Dimitri.

Landi readjusted herself in the chair and talked while she sketched.

“I’ve got a show coming up in California. It’d be great if you could be there. Not to mention I’m sure your parents would love for
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you to visit. So would Khristos. It could be like the time when you were in Coronado. Well, except for you having to go back to work.” She angled her paper and shaded more of the outfit. “Or maybe something like we did that weekend along the beach on this coast. Hell, I’d travel wherever if you’d just wake up. I miss you, Dimitri. Each day I sit here and pray to hear your voice.” Landi took a sip of her lemonade and began sketching again.

“I love you, Dimitri,” she said softly, blinking back tears. “Lex says you can hear me and I’ve talked until I’m blue in the face every day. I don’t know what else to say.”

“‘I love you’ would be great to hear from you again,” the raspy masculine voice floated across the air to her.

Landi squealed and dropped her pad. Dimitri had turned his head to look at her. She found herself staring into his golden eyes.

“Dimitri,” she gasped as she flew from her seat to stand beside him.

Blinking away tears, she reached for his face. “Oh, my God, you woke up!” Landi placed kisses on his face. “I love you,” she murmured in between each one.

“Landi,” he husked out.

“Yes?”

“Can I have something to drink?”

Shame washed over her. “Of course. Let me go get Lex.”

“Lex?” he croaked.

“I’ll be right back, Dimitri.” She ran from the room dead set on finding a doctor or a nurse. And his parents.

Eighteen

Dimitri closed his eyes and tried to figure out what exactly had happened. Last he could remember was pain, excruciating pain. But he had slogged out of a fog to hear Landi’s sweet voice saying she loved him. Dimitri had turned his head and seen her sitting in the chair by the window, sketching as the sun shone upon her.

He’d longed to hold her to him, but his limbs were so weak.

Dimitri had also wanted to shout at her to stay instead of leaving to find a doctor. All he wanted was her. To feel her soft skin against him, to smell her tantalizing lemon, peppermint, and lavender scent.

“Hey, there, Dimitri. Welcome back.”

Slowly, he opened his eyes again. Lex stood beside him. “Lex,”

he whispered roughly. She smiled and offered him cool water he drank through a straw. “Where’s Landi?”