He had thick gray hair and kind blue eyes. “Well, hello. Let’s take a look atyou, shall we?”
* * * *
Jethro left the doctor to make sure all was well with Gemma and walked into the waiting room, where the entire team had taken over.Histeam. Everyone had rushed to the hospital when the call had gone out. Trudy sat between Wolfe and Dana, happily munching a cookie and rubbing her now sock-covered foot over Roscoe’sfur. “Roscoe?”
Over by the door, Angus Force shrugged. “Trudy said she wanted to see him.”
Well, that explained everything.
“Well?” Ian asked, lounging across two chairs with his twin next to him.
“Gemma is awake and the doctor is with her now. She’s going to be fine,” Jethro said. He could actually feel the vibrations of relief that came from the group. “Thank you for everything you’ve done these last few days.” Mere words weren’t enough, but right now they were all he had.
“Sure,” Raider said, hauling Brigid to her feet. His black hair had grown out during his last assignment, and he looked tougher than ever. “We’ll head home and make sure the house is ready for when she gets out.” The agent and his hacker looked tired but pleased.
“We’ll come with you,” Pippa said, reaching for Malcolm’s hand. She’d made sure everyone had been fed the last few days, while Malcolm had worked with Angus Force on salvaging their Deep Ops team with the HDD brass. Taking down an international criminal like Fletcher couldn’t hurt. “Come on, Millie. You can stay with us tonight.”
Millie nodded and stretched to her feet.
Mal motioned toward the twins. “Why don’t you two ride with us? We haven’t finished our poker game, and I wantmy money back.”
Jethro’s body settled. It appeared Ian and Oliver had made friends while he’d been keeping vigil over Gemma.
Ian stood and reached for crutches he’d apparently obtained. “Trudy? You want tocome with us?”
“I’m going with Wuf,” Trudy said, stillpetting Roscoe.
“Okay.” Ian gave her a high five and followed Oliver out the door.
Soon Dana and Nari began playing with Trudy in the corner while Angus and Wolfe finished off the cookies.
Angus tossed him a cookie, and for the first time in days, Jethro actually felt hungry. “You nearly gave up your careers. All of your jobs.” Again, wordsweren’t enough.
Wolfe shrugged. “If we do, we do. We’re a team, and that’swhat matters.”
Angus nodded. “We have a lot of options and would like to bring the twins in somehow but haven’t figured out how to make it work yet.”
Wolfe stretched his arms. “We have time. They’re on the injured list for a whilelonger anyway.”
The doctor emerged from Gemma’s room, and Jethro turned to hurriedly stride his way. “Doc? How is she?”
The doctor smiled. “She’s going to be fine. I’d like to keep her for a couple more days, and then you can take her home. But now that she’s awake, Ms. Falls is outof the woods.”
Jethro’s knees went limp, so he just stood in place as the doctor patted his arm and then hurried off.
A tiny hand slipped inside his, and he looked down to see Trudy staring up at him. “Hi.”
She grinned. “Hi. You gonna bemy daddy now?”
“Yes.”
“I figured.” She liftedher arms. “Up.”
He dutifully lifted her up and then carried her in to see her mother.
“Kisses,” she demanded.
Jethro tipped her so she could lean over and kissGemma’s face.
