He surged upward, hauling her with him, breaking the surface with gasping, ragged breaths.
She began coughing—thank God—eyes squeezed shut with the effort, her body shuddering against his. He pulled her, soaked and cold, into his arms while she coughed and coughed and he clapped her back. She was breathing. She was breathing. And then he realized he was, too. Big, heavy breaths of relief.
“Ani,” he asked gruffly. “Can you hear me?”
She made a series of gasping squeaks. Not good enough.
This wasn’t like when one of his former patients was in a life-threatening situation, a hair’s breadth from dying. That was blind duty. This was personal. And his eyes felt wide open for the first time in a long time.
He didn’t just have a crush on Ani. He was falling for her, hard.
Her brush with death had grabbed his little crush by the throat and thrust it into deeper territory.
Raffi rubbed her cold cheek with his thumb. “Ani, I’ve got you. Can you talk?”
One shaky hand rose to his chest and squeezed the placket of his shirt. “Why—” he thought he heard her say, but he wasn’t sure. But still, his heart leapt. She could breathe and she could talk; this was all pointing to her being okay. He had no idea if she’d hit her head or what had happened underwater, or if there was the possibility of brain damage—his heart stoppedfor a moment just thinking about it—from the combination of contusion and near drowning.
“What’s that, Ani jan? Can you try again?”
He cradled her head in his arms, swept a wet lock of hair off her forehead, then stroked her soaked hair near her forehead and temples.
“…Y…S—”
Was that a combination of English and Spanish?Why es?
“…L?” she asked, voice hoarse.
Raffi threw his head back in exasperation. Making jokes? She was fine; she was going to be just fine. And his heart filled. “Jesus Christ. No, it’s—who cares? You can talk. Asdvadz…”
He hugged her tight and planted an impulsive kiss on her forehead. Professionalism be damned, she almostdied. Then a second later the rush of oh-shit-what-did-I-do? hit him, and he studied Ani’s reaction. But she had a serene smile on her face. She didn’t mind. She maybe even liked it. And she wasalive.
They were both wet, head to toe, and she was shivering in his arms, so he held her tighter.
“How are you feeling? Tell me anything that hurts.”
He reached for her wrist, pushed his two fingers against it, and counted. Elevated but not out of control.
She kept the same smile on her face. “I was stuck down there. Terrified when I realized what was happening, panicked, couldn’t get myself free. But I felt someone pulling me, and I knew everything would be okay. I was so happy—so happy it was you.”
Raffi tried not to let himself get overly excited about that.He still had a diagnostic to perform. “You feel faint or anything?”
“I’m not—I’m not sure.”
Raffi popped his head up and for the first time realized there were people around, surrounding them, talking among themselves. “Hey—” he shouted. “I need a blood pressure cuff, stat. Can anyone here help with this?”
“I’ll do it,” responded a woman he couldn’t quite see.
“Thank you. Towels, too, please? And everyone please back up, give us some space,” Raffi ordered. “She’s going to be fine.”
Having worked in emergency hospital settings and seeing how the team banded together so seamlessly to dispense care, it did shock him how, in the case of an unexpected event outside a medical facility, no one took charge. It was fine, though; he was all too pleased to take control here.
“Ani, lav es?” he asked, checking in again on how she was doing.
“Better and better,” she said.
Ani lifted her head slightly, glancing around.
“You’re soaked, too.”
