Pole Dance (39 page)

She had just made it to the door when I heard my name being bellowed down the hall. Poor Betty jumped at the loud shout and poked her head out into the corridor, looking right and left to find the offender making all the noise.

"In here, baby!" I yelled back as loud as I could, my throat raw and my voice not sounding like my own. Betty jumped again and she quickly turned back to me, her eyes big and round. Lucky that Betty had the foresight to move quickly away from the doorway as my man came barreling through, straight through to my bed and into my outstretched arms.

We clung to each other, my face firmly planted against his chest as his one of his hands moved underneath my hair to capture the back of my neck and hold me close. We held that position for the longest time before I tilted my head back.

"Jake…" I tried to whisper but my throat was so sore that it came out as a rasp.

"Shhh, Darlin', I'm here," Jake said placing fingers against my lips before moving to cup my face. I couldn't help but to press into his hand as I closed my eyes. His hand moved to stroke my hair back from my forehead and I raised my eyes to his to see him slowly tipping his forehead to mine, his eyes slowly closing. After holding that position for a while, a long while, our chins tilted towards each other and our mouths finally, finally came together.

It wasn't long after that Betty left, closing the door softly behind her. When Betty was gone, Jake removed his coat and boots and I made room for him next to me in the small hospital bed, both of us on our sides facing each other, careful of my hurt leg and trying really hard not to jiggle my IV line.

"Thought I'd lost you, pretty girl," Jake whispered tipping his forehead to rest against mine as we finally were able to settle.

"I thought I'd lost me, too," I admitted whispering back with my new scratchy voice and closing my eyes. I felt his hand reach up and he used his fingers to comb thru my hair gently.

"Don’t know if I could live without you, Cait," I heard the tortured note in his whisper which told me that I wasn't the only one that had received a view of hell over the last few hours. I let his words float in the air around us before I spoke again.

"Starting to feel that way about you, too, baby."

"Good to know."

"In fact, been thinking that I love you, Jake Stanton," was the only thing I could think to say because it was the only honest thing that was in my heart and mind at the moment.

My Jake went very, very still.

"You love me?" I heard him whisper.

"Totally do," I murmured opening my eyes, allowing my heart to shine through them.

I watched as his eyes closed for a few seconds. When he opened them, his golden eyes were filled with wonder as he, speaking as softly as his gravelly voice would allow, enunciated very, very clearly. "And I love you, too, my Caitlin."

We weren't paying any attention at all to our surroundings and struggled to unlock our mouths, arms and hands from one another as we heard a loud cough sound from the doorway.

"You want me to wait outside until you two are done?" Chief Patel's face was smiling widely as he moved across the floor and sank into the visitor's chair, moving Jake's coat. "Do the nurses know you two are auditioning for a porno here in their facility?"

Jake and I didn't reply to either of his questions and Jake fussed with the sheet making sure it covered the body parts he had been fondling so well, before he sat up on the edge of the bed facing the chair.

"Didn't come to ruin your party but wanted to give you an update on what we've got so far."

Jake reached for my hand as the Chief continued speaking.

"We've got Fiona in custody but, believe you me, from the shit she's been spouting, I think her lawyer's gonna be making an insanity plea. Don't think he's gonna even have to have multiple psychiatric evaluations done, either. That gal is whacked."

He stopped and shook his head. "We've charged her with kidnapping and attempted murder and she being moved to the Psych ward upstairs here, which can take better care of her than we can at the jail. From what I heard from my boys, we have enough to charge her with the other murders as well although the tests on the rope and box cutter won't be back for awhile yet."

Ram crossed his legs sinking deeper in his chair thinking of the Tupperware container they'd also found in Fiona's freezer that held used condoms tied off which must have been what she used in the cuts that she made. "We found a stun gun in her coat which is what we think was used on you, Caitlin but we'll need to get your statement either tomorrow or Thursday. Whenever you're ready." I nodded surprised that for the first time in a long time I hadn't been thinking what I needed to be doing or where I needed to be.

"Ever figure out what the 'W o B' was?" Jake asked.

"Whore of Babylon is what she told us." Ram shrugged. "But she was babbling all kinds of shit when we got her in the interrogation room."

The Chief eyed Jake before moving to his next subject. "We've got Hank in custody and the Chief in Gallup, New Mexico is getting the extradition papers moved through ASAP so he won't be working security at the club anymore."

Jake started to speak and Ram held up a hand. "Can't give you anymore than that, Buddy, until he's been formally charged. Let's just say that the Hank we knew wasn't who he really was."

"What's the doc saying--" Ram began before being interrupted by the door opening to admit a huge beautiful bouquet, a bouquet so big that only the visitor's legs and shoes were visible. The flowers were shifted downward and I saw Marianne's crown and forehead became visible.

"Hey, Caitlin, heard you were in the hospital," I heard her muffled voice say behind the big bouquet. Ram stood up and helped to empty her arms of the huge vase and flowers. Jake and I watched as Ram's eyes caught Marianne's. There was a tiny moment, almost too brief to be certain, when their movements stilled as their gazes held. Ram broke the moment first when he began moving towards the shelf by the window to set the large vase down and Marianne moved to the visitor's chair. Jake and I shared our own glance, each of us wondering if what we saw really happened and what it might mean.

"Knock, knock?" I looked up and saw a handsome, sandy haired man poke his head in. "Okay to come in?"

"Hi, Paul." I called to him. "Jake, this is Detective Paul Adler. He is the one who…"

My voice trailed off as I watched Jake as he stood quickly, his eyes wide and staring at the detective.

"You saved Cait?" Jake rumbled with a chin lift. Paul's dark eyes moved to me and I shrugged since I had no clue what was going on in Jake's brain.

"I was one of the team that arrested Fiona," Paul said slowly.

"You saved my Caitlin?" Jake asked again leaning a bit in Paul's direction.

"I don't know what you're trying to ask, Jake. I was one of the team that arrested Fiona and ensured that Cait was out of danger."

Jake turned to look at me and what I saw in his eyes made me catch my breath. He turned to Paul and took a step forward, raising his hand to shake the slightly confused detective's hand before he pulled the shorter man in for a man hug that included the one-thump to the middle of the back. My hospital room was completely silent until I heard Jake growl deeply, "Owe you, man."

"Come again?" I heard Paul ask muffled as he was mashed against Jake's chest.

"Got my girl out away from that psycho bitch. Owe you big." This was rumbled with another thump to poor Paul's back. I was sure there was going to be some bruising there tomorrow.

"Ah…you're welcome," Paul replied when he was released from Jake's hug. I could tell the poor guy wasn't used to Jake's level of gratitude--although, gotta say, I wasn't either and must admit that Jake's reaction to the detective made my heart swell and eyes get watery.

I introduced Marianne to Paul and looked on as my blonde neighbor completely and totally ensnared the hot detective who looked even hotter when he smiled. I was a bit surprised when I happened to catch Ram, who had been talking softly to Jake on the other side of my bed, watching Marianne and Paul's conversation with a slight frown on his face. Paul smoothly asked Marianne for her number and Ram's frown went deeper into a scowl when she gave it to him.

Paul took a couple of steps towards me and offered me his hand with a smile. Yep, his smile was killer. "Glad to know your okay, Caitlin."

"Thank you for your help," I said in my new Demi Moore voice--softly, meaningfully, holding his hand and smiling back at him. He left with a chin lift towards Ram and a finger flick at Jake. As soon as the door closed I bugged my eyes out at Marianne. She laughed softly and leaned towards me to whisper, "A smart girl never wastes an opportunity!" and then winked at me as she snuck a look at Ram who had turned back to his conversation with Jake. I couldn't help my giggle though it made me cough and reach for my water.

Soon our two couples broke away from each other, the men huddling in the space by the door and Marianne pulling her chair closer to my bed as we chatted. It felt like only a few moments before the Betty came through the door and announced visiting hours were over, "And everyone not in a bed must leave."

Marianne gave me a hug with a promise to call her tomorrow and Ram shook Jake's hand before giving me a chin lift in farewell. Jake moved back to my bed and hitched a hip up to sit on the side before planting his hands on either side of me.

"Want me to stay or go, Darlin'?

"Don't go, Jake. Stay with me, 'kay?" I found my hand was squeezing Jake's wrist very tightly and recognized that I was scared to be without him, even if it was just overnight. Jake saw something in my face and leaned over me, his weight now on his elbow as he smoothed the hair away and stroked my cheeks with his fingertips.

"Don't know if they'll let me, but I'll stay as long as you want." I knew he heard my sigh of relief at his words which let him know he had read me right. Actually, I think he was more than a little hesitant to be away from me, too, if you want to know the truth.

So it was that the night nurse must have found the two of us cuddled on the hospital bed built for one, my back to his front, his arm around my waist. Taking care not to disturb us, the nurse probably captured the info she needed, switched out my IV bag as quietly as possible and closed the door softly when she left.

*.*.*.*.*

"So, Ms. Tomas, since you only have a hairline fracture of your left femur, we've stabilized it with a walking cast. Even though it's called a walking cast, we expect you to keep weight off the leg as much as possible for 72 hours. You can try walking on it after that time for short periods as long as it doesn't cause you too much pain. Listen to your body, Ms. Tomas and sleep when you need to and take the pain pills we've prescribed as you need them. I'll see you next week in my office when we'll run another series of x-rays, okay?" The doctor, patted me on my shoulder, looking entirely too young to drive a car much less prescribe medicine.

"Okay, here's how we're gonna do it," Jake rumbled as the orderly pushed my wheelchair down the hall on our way to the elevator. I felt kind of foolish leaving the hospital in just my hospital gown and Jake's coat but the hospital staff had cut my jeans off in the emergency room and I never, ever wanted to see that stupid smock again. The orderly guiding the wheelchair cut a little too close to the corner and I audibly sucked in a breath as my left leg, stuck straight out in front of me, came just a little too close to the wall.

"Careful, pal. You're pushing precious cargo," Jake admonished the orderly as he shoved the vase of flowers at him and captured the handles of the wheelchair. "Tell you what, I'll drive, yeah?"

"As I was saying, here's how it's gonna go," Jake repeated as he carefully maneuvered the turns and corners of the hospital corridor. "You're gonna ride in the back seat so we can keep your leg straight. We'll swing by your place, gather what you need and get you settled at my house where I can keep an eye on you."