CONCLUSION

Amanda sat in the hard plastic chair in the waiting room of Galilee General Trauma Center for nearly three hours before she saw the first friendly face. A young NEST doctor by the name of Tim Collins approached her from behind, warily. He cleared his throat and called, "Mrs. King?" He’d learned, over the last couple of years of working with Federal agents that it didn’t pay to surprise one, especially one that had been in the field recently.

The slim brunette leapt to her feet and whirled to face him. "How is he?" She circled the young man and tried to enter the door leading to the patient care area without waiting for an answer. "Can I see him now?"

"Wait, Mrs. King, please, sit down for just a minute. I need to talk to you." Dr. Collins stood before her and held up his hands to detain her. "He’s better. He’s stable. He had a rough patch, but that seems to be over. He’s asking for you…"

"Well, then why am I here? Where is he? Let me go to him!" Amanda paced in frustration.

"I will. He’s being transferred to a room right now. I’ll take you to him myself. But there are a few things you need to know first." The doctor grabbed her arms to keep her in place. He backed up quickly and apologetically when she shook his hands off with a warning glare.

She saw the look on his face and realized that she was behaving quite badly to the man who might have just saved her husband’s life. She sighed and sat in a nearby chair, indicating that she was ready to listen to what the man had to say. "I’m sorry, Dr…Collins?" She read the nametag he wore on his left breast pocket. "I’m very sorry. I just really need to see my partner."

"I know and if I don’t bring you to him soon, I think that we may just have to sedate him ourselves. And he has had way too much of that already."

"That sounds like him." Amanda couldn’t prevent a rueful smile as she recalled how violently Lee detested hospitals.

"Anyway, that is part of what I want to talk to you about. I assume you will be caring for him when he leaves here? I mean, you did seem rather close and he is asking for you and no one else…" He trailed off, waiting to see if he had reached the right conclusion about this pair.

"Yes, I will. I’m his wi…I’m family, so to speak." She inwardly cursed the constrictions they still faced in their relationship, but comforted herself with the fact that it wouldn’t be this way much longer.

"Okay then, just a few details before we go up to his room. He’s going to need lots of rest, obviously. As well as fluids and light meals until his system rebalances itself. He’s not particularly malnourished. It seems he ate regularly at first, and then he realized that the drugs were in his food as well and he quit eating and rarely drank anything that wasn’t in a sealed container. He is very dehydrated due to that and to the overall effect of the sedatives he was given." The doctor leaned over and patted her knee awkwardly when she closed her eyes against the image he was projecting. "Long story short, he’s going to be okay, as long as he rests, eats and drinks regularly and reports any unusual symptoms to me or one of the other doctors."

"Unusual symptoms?" Amanda’s quick mind had immediately picked up on the implications of that phrase.

"There could be some side effects of the drugs as they are cleared from his blood stream. More precisely, there could be effects from the lack of the drugs in his blood stream. Some of the chemicals we’ve identified so far can be addictive. That’s probably how they used them to keep some of their victims docile. They actually started to crave the effects of the drugs that were keeping them captive."

Amanda absorbed the impact of this information and slowly asked, "So…do you think that’s possible with Lee? That he may be addicted to the drugs all ready?"

"No, not really. I think that if he were going to show any symptoms, he would have done that in the last week or so, when his refusal of the food and drink cut the doses they were giving him. Apparently the men holding him didn’t know to up the dose of the injections he received each day. According to your hus…err… partner he hasn’t had any off those type symptoms, yet."

"Thank you, Dr. Collins, for everything."

"You’re welcome. Now let’s go find room 214, shall we?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The room was cast in dark shadows and only the tiniest hint of light seeped in around the heavy curtains and blinds. The bed was covered in several blankets and Amanda sat as close to the bedside as she could get without actually being in the bed with Lee.

She held his hand and watched him breathe, in and out, deep, even respirations that were undisturbed by dreams or restlessness. The nurses had assured her that this utter stillness was normal, a remnant of the sedating drugs he had been given for weeks. Only once had he stirred and when he saw her there by his side he had returned immediately to slumber. His heartbeat was monitored by the monotonous beep, beep of the monitor over his head. His oxygen level was reflected in the red numbers glowing on the bedside monitor. Both stayed steady and comforted Amanda, reassuring her that he was resting and healing from his ordeal.

Amanda slept once or twice, her head resting against the mattress. Each time the nurses entered, she roused, waiting to hear that all was well. Each time it was and she rejoiced. She smiled at everyone she saw. At first it felt quite strange, the joy she felt in her entire body. She had felt cold and hollow for so long that this was almost like being reborn or falling in love all over again. Perhaps she had done one or even both.

At eight AM, Dr. Collins entered and greeted her. "Good morning. Have you slept at all? You can’t take care of him if you are worn to a frazzle."

"I dozed some. How is he?" She waved away his concern for her and focused on Lee instead.

He referred to the chart at the bedside and seemed pleased with what he saw. "Well, his vital signs have been stable all night and I think we need to try to wake him up this morning and see how his mental condition is. After he has a few more liters of fluid, and shows us that he is clear headed, he can go home to rest, as long as he isn’t alone of course."

"Okay, how do we wake him up?" She spread her hands in question.

"Well, normally at first. If that doesn’t work, we have reversal agents that may work. But I would prefer not to put any more drugs in him."

Dr. Collins approached the bed and cleared his throat, "Uh hum, Mr. Stetson can you hear me?"

No response from the man in the bed.

"Lee, if you can hear me open your eyes." The doctor intoned, louder this time.

Lee squinted his eyes and tossed his head.

"Perhaps you should try, Mrs. King?"

"Okay…." She sat on the edge of the bed and leaned close to him. "Lee? Lee, can you hear me? It’s Amanda. Come on, Lee, wake up." She brushed her hand over his forehead and he smiled a little. "Lee, wake up. I need to talk to you." She let her tone become more urgent.

He blinked rapidly and struggled to focus on the view before him. "It’s dark, Amanda…." His voice was still raspy.

"Do you want the light on?" Amanda looked to the doctor.

He nodded and crossed the room to partially open the blinds.

Lee nodded, "That’s better." He licked his dry lips and looked around. "Hospital?"

"Yes, Mr. Stetson. This is the hospital." The doctor was writing in the chart and nodding, obviously pleased with his patient.

"Amanda, you came to get me…how did you know?" He gripped her hand.

Amanda glanced at the doctor.

He finished his writing and said, "Um, yes, I guess that is my cue to go now. You rest and drink plenty of fluids, try to eat if you can. I’ll see you later this evening and we’ll talk about letting you go home, okay?"

"Thank you, doctor." Amanda watched him go but never left her husband’s side.

As the door swung softly shut, she focused her attention on the man in the bed, smiling and caressing his hand. "Hi there."

"Amanda." Lee curled his fingers around hers and squeezed slightly. "I missed you."

"Oh, I missed you, too. More than you’ll ever know." She leaned in and kissed his freshly shaven face. She inhaled the warm scent that was uniquely him and silently thanked God for their fortune.

"Amanda, are you going to answer me?" Lee requested more strongly. His curiosity had been running high since he woke and realized that he really was safe and with his wife.

"Well, we captured the Dougan brothers and West Dougan confessed. Then T.P. corroborated the information, we found the cottage and well you know the rest." She shrugged, indicating the ‘simplicity’ of the happenings.

"Somehow, I think it is a bit more complicated than that…but right now, I don’t think I care." Lee tugged on her hand to pull her closer to him. "Come here. Lie with me…"

"Now Lee that’s probably not a good idea with that IV." Amanda balked at his request, while glancing anxiously at the door.

"I don’t care. I want to be as close to you as possible." Stubbornly, he continued to pull on her hand.

"Look, I’ll sit right here on the edge, real close. Is that good enough?" Moving to the indicated patch of mattress, she sat on the blanket, pushing her leg against his and laying her hand on his chest.

Lee, sighing contentedly, nodded his head and closed his eyes. For a few minutes he was satisfied and remained silent.

Just when she thought he was sleeping, he opened his eyes again and asked abruptly, "Amanda, in the ride in the ambulance. I thought I heard you say that we were going to go home, to our home and our family?"

"I did."

"Well, I’m still a bit groggy about the first several weeks I was gone and the night I was taken, but I don’t remember telling Dotty and the boys about us. I mean, I recall that we were going to, but I don’t remember it actually happening?"

"Well, it didn’t. But I meant what I said. When you leave here, I’m taking you home, to my house and our kids." Amanda stated this in her most matter of fact voice.

"Well, maybe for a few days until I feel stronger."

"NO. Not for a few days, forever…"

"But Amanda, this just proves that it isn’t safe for me to be there. What if one of the boys had been with me?" Doggedly, he refused to let it go.

"Lee, the boys are with you all the time. At your apartment, at my house, lots of places. It just doesn’t make that much difference anymore. You are a part of our lives, no matter where we are or what we’re doing. The boys and mother already know about the Agency and our jobs. I had to tell them before Francine and I came after you. All we have to do is tell them about the wedding and quite frankly, I think Mother has already guessed. You are coming home with us and that’s final! Besides, you don’t have anywhere else to live right now."

"What?" Lee studied her.

"Your apartment lease was up and I didn’t renew it. I thought…." Her voice faltered. She looked into his eyes as tears began to trickle down her face. "I thought you were dead." The tears began to fall in earnest and she leaned forward to bury her head against his chest.

His hands stroked over her hair, soothing her tears and quieting the sobs. "Shhh, it’s okay now. I’m so sorry that you had to go through that."

Gasping, as if burnt by his apology, she jumped up and pulled out of his arms. She began to pace the room agitatedly, shaking her head as he spoke again.

"Amanda, come back. What’s wrong?" Lee beseeched her to return to his side.

"No, Lee. Don’t apologize to me! How can you apologize to ME? I…it’s my fault…I let them take you. I didn’t stop him from pulling you into that warehouse and then you were gone." She finally returned to his side only to drop to her knees as she begged him to understand. She braced her arms on the spread, clutching at it desperately. "I couldn’t do what you’d spent so many years teaching me to do. I froze. I panicked and you paid the price. I can never forgive myself and I’ll understand if you can’t either."

Awkwardly, Lee grasped her arms and pulled her from the floor. He gave he a weak shake and demanded, "Stop it, right now! Amanda Stetson, for the smartest agent I’ve ever worked with, you are not the brightest woman right now. How can you blame yourself? He had a gun to my head and you were too far away for a clean shot! You might have hit me just as easily as Forrester. You did the right thing. You had no way of knowing that building was rigged to blow."

"But, if I had gone in instead of calling for help…"

"Then you would have died. Forrester was double crossed by Marsh. The explosion was never intended to kill me. Marsh was waiting and took me out another door after he bashed Forrester on the head and planted my wedding ring on his body." Lee finally released his hold when it appeared she was listening to reason. "Amanda, no one is to blame."

Slowly, his words penetrated her grief filled mind and she nodded her understanding. "Oh, Lee, I missed you so much. I was so lost without you. I wanted to die."

"I know, I know. But you didn’t and I didn’t and now we’ve got a second chance."

He pulled her into his lap and this time she didn’t resist, just curled against his chest and listened to his breathing and his heart beat. She looked at their hands linked in her lap and watched as his fingers idly twisted her ring around and around.

Reaching for the chain under her blouse, she removed it and slipped his band off as he watched curiously. "Billy brought me this. The only proof that you were really dead. He knew about our wedding, did you know that?"

Lee shook his head negatively.

"Well, he knew and he brought this to me that day. I’ve not been without it since then. I think it needs to go back where it belongs now, how about you?"

Moving his head affirmatively this time, Lee watched as she replaced the band and made sure it was snuggly in place. "This time it stays on forever."

"Forever."

The End.

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