Martin's posture remained stiff as he took her hand. "Let me see your beautiful eyes.” His lips caressed her swollen face.
Patrick bent Elizabeth's arm to ninety degrees. Before he rotated her shoulder until it relocated, he waited for her muscles to loosen. "I'm going to order an x-ray and an immobilizer. Then I want you to go home to rest." He cleaned the wounds to her throat.
Elizabeth gritted her teeth. "Sensation is coming back."
"Sunshine, you need to listen to Viper."
"You have one of them too?"
"I do." The tension in Patrick’s face released.
"You don't act like a snake." She tilted her head to the side.
"I'll tell you the whole story if you go home and rest."
"But the unit? And Tonette."
"Steven is on his way. I'll cover with your residents until he gets here. Your swaddle is keeping Austin placid. Tell me about Tonette?"
"Left wall MI. She's twelve weeks along, meaning conception occurred in jail. She coded when I asked her if she was raped."
"C'mon, Sunshine. Let me take you home. Patrick will worry about Tonette." Martin and Patrick shared a concerned glance.
"Don’t worry about anything, Beth. Let me find that immobilizer."
She braced herself with her right arm to sit up. "Marty, you need to be here with Austin. Familiar voices are important as his brain is recalibrating. My car is here; I can drive."
"Work with me. Allow Tate to take you home, and I'll come by in the morning to pick you up." Martin's cheek rested on her head that lay against his heart.
The door opened. "Tate, would you accompany Martin and Beth to radiology? Beth, let me prescribe some meloxicam. What pharmacy do you use?" Patrick's voice was soothing.
"Beth, Martin would prefer I stay with you," Tate told her on the ride.
"I guess that is something we need to discuss. It will take me some time to acclimate to Marty's protectiveness. Are you all this way?"
"I guess so. My wife calls me a Neanderthal sometimes."
"You're married?"
"That surprises you? We have two sons, ages ten and seven. She’s used to deployments."
"You guessed my question. I'm exhausted. I think I'll have a cup of tea, take a bath and crawl into bed," she yawned.
"The adrenaline does that. Happens to the best of us. How are you doing?"
"So-so." The color drained from her face.
"Beth, you don't need to be so stoic. Let me stay with you?"
"How do you do this every day?" Martin's calm demeanor in Tonette's room and Patrick's story played on repeat in her head.
"We don't so much anymore. But all of us had our share of the shakes."
"Maybe you could come in for a while? Would you tell me something about Marty? A story about working with him. There’s so much time to make up for."
"Sure thing." He pulled into her driveway and helped her out of the car. "Someone sent you a present." Three sealed jars of gourmet honey sat inside a cellophane-wrapped basket. The typed card read,Didn't mean to bother you. Detective Young. "Wow, a detective apologizing is unusual."
"I called Mr. Newsome. He tried to question me yesterday. Are you sure you don't want anything to drink?"
