“I know baby, but I need you in there fast.”
He rushed through the doors, past the waiting room to the admission desk.“My wife was kidnapped and I think she’s dehydrated and she needs to see a doctor now.”
Through her haziness she heard “wife” but she must be delusional.
“If you’d kindly take a seat in triage, sir.”
“I will not kindly take a seat!I’ve donated $30 million dollars to this hospital in the last five years and you will see my wife, now!”
Wife.
He said it again.
A bunch of people in scrubs came around, to look at her.Someone shouted orders and next thing she knew, she was on a gurney, being taken to a room.
It all happened so fast, she was poked and prodded.A policeman showed up at the door.Ares talked to them, they left.
The beehive of doctors and nurses around her, with drawn out faces scared her.
She couldn’t breathe.Then an oxygen mask was over her face and she could and that was better.
She slept.
When she woke up Ares was holding her hand.
“Hey.”
“Hi.”She could talk a lot better.Her head was sore but not fuzzy.Her heart wasn’t racing.
Monitors beeped to the wires that were hooked up all over her.
“You are severely dehydrated due to the drugs they gave you.Apparently, you had enough in you to take down a racehorse.”
“I’m not a racehorse.I don't like running.”
Ares gave her a small smile.“Never leave my sight again.”
“That’s going to be awfully inconvenient.”
Ares gave her a cup of water.She remembered Carter giving her water and winced.“No, no water.”
“Here, an ice cube,” Ares pressed an ice cube to her lips.
Tears rolled down her cheeks.It was silly to cry over water.But she was warm and safe.
“Ares...”she needed to ask him but didn’t want to hurt him.
“What is it?What do you need?”He brushed a stray piece of hair off her forehead.
“That woman...a woman talked to me when I woke up Christmas morning, when I was in your kitchen.What’s happened to her?”
He took her hand in his, gently rubbing a small circle between the webbing of her hand.“Remember how I told you I wouldn’t be able to always share the details of my work?”He sounded like he was going to cry.
“Yeah.”Her stomach roiled.
"I can’t tell you who that woman is or why she was our guest.”
Josie tried to take a breath, but it hurt, so it came out like a gargled cry.
