Turn of the Pipes (A Redpoint One Romance) (23 page)

All the activity around them disappeared as he
waited for her response. Her skin felt so cold to the touch. If he
weren't cradling her head, he would take off his shirt to cover her
up.

The rise and fall of her chest remained
regular. He told himself it was a good sign. She was alive and
emergency medical help would soon arrive. She would be okay. She
had to be. He'd just found her. How could he lose her
now?

Another deeper breath accompanied with a
sigh.

Her eyes came open. Suddenly, and lovely.
Clear brown eyes with the mysterious blue flecks in the inner ring.
He'd never seen such beautiful eyes before in his life.

Terrified eyes. With the emotion came halting
breaths and in increase in her heart-rate.

"It's okay. You're out of the water," he said.
A blanket appeared from somewhere to drape over her. She gazed up
at him, as if in disbelief. He smiled at the expression. "And no,
you are not dreaming."

***

Rachel wasn't sure if she wanted to believe or trust the
dream. One moment she'd been immersed in cold water with the air
growing worse by the breath, and the next she woke up propped up on
Ignacio's legs.

How did that work? Did she miss something
along the way?

"Prove it," she said to the figment of her
imagination. No, not right. To the dream.

Ignacio grinned like an idiot. For some reason
the expression seemed real to her. If she'd been pulled out of a
cutoff area, he might look like that. Relieved to find her alive
and breathing, just like something out of a sappy romance movie or
novel.

"I let Irvine go to save you." Ignacio said.
"He's around here somewhere, but who knows where."

She closed her eyes and groaned. Now she knew
she must be awake. Irvine loose to get into her pipes? Oh yeah,
that was her kind of luck. She must really be awake after all.
"He'll get into another pipe."

"Pipes can be fixed. You can't," Ignacio
said.

Her eyes flew open and she stared up at him.
"Did you really say that?"

"Say that you are more important than my
newts? I believe I did." Ignacio's grin settled down to an
upside-down version of the intense gaze he'd settled on her at
their impromptu date in the corridors. The kind that warmed her
clear to the middle, and, oh, did she need a little warmth right
now.

"I meant every word," he said.

Rachel heard shouts from down one of the
corridors, somehow knowing they were for her. The guess was
confirmed when she heard Arthur shouting at the new arrivals to
hurry.

"We'll expand on that later," she said with a
smile of her own to mirror his. "Don't think you'll get out of it.
I won't let you."

"How about one step further." He leaned down,
whispering in her ear, "I love you."

The breath she'd brought back into her
oxygen-starved lungs left again. No way did he say that. He must be
a dream after all. Soon she would wake up, back in the water with
bots trying to prop her up.

Well, if it was going to be a dream, she might
as well go all the way, too. No regrets. Even good dream-time was
too precious to waste time in.

"Ditto, newt-man. When I wake up from this
dream you and I are having a good long talk about the future,"
Rachel said.

Arthur's face appeared within her vision.
"Rachel, you breathed in coolant. You are
hallucinating."

"I better not be," Rachel said, staring
straight at Ignacio as he continued to hold her. "Although I
wouldn't mind hallucinating Irvine is loose somewhere. Definitely
don't want that to be real-life."

"People have broken up over their animals. I
hope it doesn't with you." Arthur said before glaring at Ignacio.
"It better not."

Rachel giggled, even though she hated people
who giggled, feeling sorry for Ignacio being the focus of Arthur's
protective streak.

But, Ignacio was apparently not bothered, as
he answered, "It won't be a problem for us."

"Especially if Irvine stays in his enclosure,"
Rachel said with one last giggle before she got control of them.
Okay, maybe the fumes were affecting her after all.

"Is someone missing a small hissing animal?"
Tish called out.

Rachel tried to prop herself up to look in
Tish's direction, but Ignacio kept her still. Just as well. The
little bit of movement set her head to spinning.

No matter, her bot was moving towards her,
coming into view. Her wonderful bot who had helped to save her
life. A bot holding a long sinuous body in two small metal hands.
Irvine pushed at the hands with all legs, hissing himself silly at
her bot. Her bot hissed back with just as much fervor.

Rachel collapsed back into Ignacio's arms,
once again giggling herself silly, announcing to her maintenance
co-workers and the newly arrived emergency medical group, "My pipes
are safe!"

CHAPTER
NINETEEN

RACHEL SPENT THE next few days mostly sleeping inside a
special chamber to help her lungs. After that, she transferred to a
hospital bed to continue the healing. Through it all she felt the
reassuring presence of Redpoint One in the background.

Each time she woke up she found someone else
sitting next to her. Tish and Arthur, Damien, Vasiliy, the various
members of the Naughty Knitter's Club. And, of course, her bot as
well as one other bot.

The lovely bots who helped to save her life.
Doing their best to lift her out of the water. Not a memory she
enjoyed, but their efforts warmed her heart.

But, two bots? She fell asleep several times
trying to remember where the blue and gray robot might have come
from. Did it belong to one of the others, such as maybe one of the
new apprentices?

By the third day she remained awake long
enough to watch part of a movie, shared with Tish and Arthur during
which she listened to the happenings of the maintenance
department.

"I hate to say this, but I think the two new
men are going to work out," Arthur said from where he sat in one of
the two chairs in the room.

The two regular bots sat on the floor next to
him as well as those belonging to Arthur and Tish. Sometimes facing
each other as if catching up on news, sometimes talking softly in
their language of sounds, and then just sitting quietly.

Rachel didn't know if she should smile or
groan. "Oh great. The Naughty Knitter's Club were a success.
They'll never leave you alone with candidates now."

"It might not be a bad thing if we get good
people," Arthur said.

"Hey, you've been warned," Rachel
said.

"Now the bad news," Tish said.

"Irvine escaped again?"

Tish glanced at Arthur. "I don't think so.
Have you heard of him disappearing?"

"Nope. Ignacio moved him to a new enclosure,"
Arthur said.

"I was referring to the newbies," Tish said.
She grinned at Rachel. "Redpoint One has already decided what areas
it likes them working in, and it's not the plumbing
department."

Rachel smacked the bed next to her hip. "It
figures. I get hurt, and people steal the apprentices."

"Maybe they can find more," Tish said,
pinching Arthur's arm.

He grabbed her hand, pulling her on his lap.
"Mind explaining how the old ladies did it in the first
place?"

The returning sleep prevented Rachel from
trying to answer. She couldn't, anyway. Who knew how the ladies did
what they did.

It was appropriate that the next time she
awoke she found Daisy and Eddie by her bed. Velda sent her
apologies as she had to stay with her Bed and Breakfast to welcome
several couples.

Fortunately, the ladies weren't interested in
talking about the new maintenance department recruits. Rachel ate
her small dinner to the descriptions of a quilting show taking
place in one of the convention centers.

"Velda thinks we should try quilting," Eddie
said when she finished describing the quilts on display.

"Could be fun," Daisy said, nodding, picking
up Rachel's empty tray and taking it out into the hall.

"Quilting?" Rachel echoed. "Shouldn't we do
more knitting first?"

"Always good to expand our horizons," Eddie
said. "I have several grandkids who could do with a
quilt."

"And an afghan," Rachel said. "Seriously, we
should do more knitting."

Daisy returned, but she wasn't alone. Ignacio
towered over the shorter Daisy, a bouquet of flowers held in one
hand.

Eddie jumped up from her chair, saying, "We'll
talk about the quilting later. Have a good evening,
dear."

Rachel plucked at the blanket, suddenly
nervous. The time directly after she woke up after being pulled out
of the water remained fuzzy, but she distinctly remembered several
specific things including one thing she wasn't sure she could
believe, even though she wanted to.

"You look better than yesterday," Ignacio
said, coming fully in the room, the door closing behind
him.

"I don't remember you being here
yesterday."

"You were asleep." He arranged the flowers in
a vase sitting on a small table near the door. With them ranged to
his satisfaction, he turned towards her, studying her face. "You
definitely have more color."

"I'm feeling better. Almost watched a full
movie today," Rachel said.

"And ate well?" He asked, glancing down at the
table angled over the bed in front of her.

She pushed it away. "Yes, doctor. Want to take
a look at my eyes and in my ears, too?"

He ran a hand through his hair.
"Sorry."

She didn't want him to be sorry. Only wanted
him to stop looking at her like he was inspecting one of his
newts.

"I bet you've been busy. The show and the
newts. I hear you stopped Irvine's escapes," Rachel
said.

Ignacio pushed the rolling table she'd pushed
away to the wall. "Very busy. Still no explanation for what
happened in your area, so it's been closed off."

"So I heard. Tish and Arthur were here
earlier. Arthur is calling in the supervisor who had his position
before him, just to see if they can figure it all out." Rachel gave
a little shiver. Another subject she didn't want to talk about.
Most of it, anyway. Part of it she needed clarified. To unconfuse
her jumbled dreams.

She patted the bed near her hip. "I need to
talk to you."

He settled at the foot of her bed instead of
directly next to her, squeezing one of her feet through the
covering blanket. "Go right ahead."

She thought back. How to approach this without
possibly sending him running. Maybe start with the more simple
stuff?

"I heard you pulled me out?" She
asked.

He grimaced. "Yes, and I don't want to ever be
that terrified again."

"Nor do I. Imagine being inside."

"Imagine being outside not able to get in," he
countered, his voice rough.

Okay, maybe the other part she remembered
wasn't a figment of her imagination after all. He really looked
upset by the memories. Even better, he wasn't running. Instead, he
still played with her blanket-covered feet.

"And I woke up in the corridors with you
holding me," she said, more certain about that memory.

"I propped you up. I thought it would make it
easier for you to breathe," Ignacio said, grabbing one of her
wriggling toes and tugging it back and forth. She wriggled her feet
even more in response.

"I was a bit loopy, wasn't I."

"You giggled."

She groaned. "I hate giggling."

"I don't recall you ever doing it before," he
said with a laugh.

She gave way to her fear a little, glancing at
the two bots sitting quietly next to one of the chairs. "There's a
new bot in here."

"The blue and gray? His name is Trident. He
seemed friendly, so I asked his help in finding you," Ignacio
said.