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Before we could continue, a woman in a lab coat with a stethoscope around her neck came in to check on him. She smiled when she saw my hand holding his. She went to the monitors and straightened the tubes attached to his IV. “I’m Dr. Jenson,” she said, reaching out to shake my hand. I introduced myself in return. “He’ll be a little groggy for a few hours. I don’t mean to rush you, but he should get some sleep, detective.”

I nodded. “Just a few more minutes. He’s my boyfriend.” I wasn’t sure why I felt I needed to let her know that, a perfect stranger, but it came out painlessly and easily.

“I understand,” she replied, again with a smile. “Just not too much longer. He’ll be more awake tomorrow morning.”

Tomorrow…fuck. The thought of having to go undercover and meet the other makeup artists made my stomach twist. How could I concentrate on going undercover when Craig was lying in a hospital bed? I was sure Sean had already told Davis what happened. Would the captain understand and let me out of the assignment? The assignment that was my fucking idea in the first place.

“Wha…what are the extent of his injuries?” I asked. “I’m on his health directive, if you’d like to see it.” She nodded. I pulled up my phone, where I had it stored electronically, and she looked at it.

“He has a concussion and several lacerations, as you can see. He had a nasty fracture of his left forearm…both bones. He has a cracked rib and multiple impact bruises. He was lucky not to have suffered any internal organ injuries. He was unconscious when the rescue team got to him.”

After hearing what he had suffered, he was lucky to have survived going off an embankment. He was going to be out of commission for a while, but I was thankful, nonetheless. He’d closed his eyes again, and I could see his chest rise and fall slowly. His grip had relaxed, and I knew he’d drifted off again.

I raised his hand to my lips and kissed it, eventually holding it to my cheek for a good minute before placing it at his side. “I’ll be back, baby. We’ll figure out what happened,” I whispered softly. I lightly kissed his forehead, feeling the gauze against my lips. “I love you… more than you know.”

I left his room, the monitor’s beeping slowly fading as I walked down the hall. I found a bench by the nurses’ station and sank onto it. My heart ached for him as more tears fell, my head reeling with what could have happened. If only he hadn’t gone back to Lake Tahoe.

As I sat there, someone sat next to me and placed a heavy hand on my back. I looked over, expecting a nurse or the doctor. But to my surprise, it was Sean. I wiped away my tears. “What? Why are you here?” I asked, not knowing what else to say.

“Jonesy…I’m your fucking partner, and Craig is a friend. Of course, I’m going to come and check on things. And check on you.”

I shifted my weight and leaned into him. He wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “I’m sorry… I didn’t mean to sound so surprised. I-I’m glad you’re here,” I replied, my weight relaxing against him.

“It’s okay, buddy. I felt I needed to be here so you wouldn’t be alone. How is he?”

I sat up straighter and cleared my throat, still pressed against him. “His room is down the hall. He’s pretty beat up. Concussion, broken arm, and injured ribs. He’s gonna be in a world of hurt for a while. I was in there, but he needs to rest. I’ll come back in the morning.”

“What? You’re not going to stay here with him?” he asked, surprised.

“I thought about it, but he’s in good hands, and he’ll only sleep.” I stood up. “I need to stay busy, Sean. I can’t sit around in his room. I wanna know how this happened.” I explained, feeling guilty about not staying by Craig’s side. But anger was surfacing, and I needed to know what happened.

“I was going to ask how you were doing, but I can see you’re hell-bent on finding out how this happened.” Sean pushed himself up off the bench to face me. “I did some investigating after you left the precinct. I knew you’d want answers. According to a couple of witnesses who were driving behind him, a black Suburban deliberately pushed Craig to the side of the highway, eventually striking his car. The guardrail gave way, and he went over the side.”

“So, someone did this to him deliberately. Did anyone get a license plate?”

“They said they didn’t see one displayed. Both drivers stopped and called 911. We’re pretty sure whoever was in that SUV probably got off the highway immediately or doubled back. It wasn’t seen again.”

“Fuck! What about Craig’s BMW? I assume it’s totaled?” I asked, feeling helpless.

“Yeah. Although the rescue team retrieved his laptop and duffel. They didn’t see a cellphone. Craig was lucky his car didn’t catch fire. There was fuel leaking all around it.”

“Angelic favors,” I mumbled. “Do you want to see him for a minute?”

“Only if you think it’s wise.”

“You came all the way to Oakland. You can see him, but he’s probably still sleeping.”

“That’s okay… at least it’ll show me he’ll be alright.”

I walked him down the hall to Craig’s room. Sean didn’t want to go in, though. He looked at my boyfriend lying there from the doorway and said, “I’m sorry, Jonesy. This really sucks.”

I sighed. “It really does.” I stood with Sean, but something in my chest pulled me back to Craig’s bedside. I leaned down and kissed his forehead, whispering that I’d see him in the morning. When I walked back to Sean, he was smiling.

“What?” I said without much irritation.

“I’ve never seen you affectionate with Craig. I like it. You really love him.”

“I do,” I said, turning to head down the hallway. I heard Sean’s footsteps following closely behind.