Chapter 17
Aspen sat in Kane’s hospital room and stared blankly ahead of her. When they’d gotten back to the boat launch at the staging area, an ambulance had been waiting. She’d refused to leave Kane’s side, and reluctantly, the paramedics had let her accompany them.
Trigger and the rest of the team had somehow beat them to the hospital and were waiting for her when Kane had been wheeled away. She’d tried to follow, but Grover and Oz held her back.
When she began to fight them, Lefty had stepped in, telling her to calm down.
“He’s in good hands, Aspen. You have to let him go.”
She’d shaken her head, frantic. “No. I can’t!”
“It’s time to take care of yourself,” Lefty said sternly.
“I’m fine,” she’d insisted.
“You aren’t. You’re soaked to the bone. You’re shaking like a leaf, and I’m guessing weak as hell.
You know as well as I do that Brain would be pissed if we didn’t take care of you.
At least let one of the nurses take your vitals.
Check you over. As soon as they know something about Brain, they’ll tell us. ”
His words somehow penetrated the fog of panic that had taken over. Aspen grabbed his wrists and stared into his eyes. “Is he going to be all right?”
“Yes.”
There was no hesitation in Lefty’s answer.
“Brain’s got a hard head. And he’s stubborn. And he knows he’s got you waiting for him. He’ll be fine.”
Taking a deep breath, Aspen had finally agreed to let someone check her out.
She’d been led to a room and given a pair of scrubs to change into.
She didn’t have any underwear, but that didn’t matter.
The scrubs were warm, and it felt heavenly not to have something wet against her skin.
She’d lain down on the bed in the room, and Grover had come in to keep her company while she’d waited for the nurse.
She must’ve fallen asleep, because when she woke up, it was Lucky sitting in the room with her. He’d immediately called for the nurse, refused to tell Aspen how much time had passed, and stepped out while the nurse did her thing.
After she was deemed to be suffering from exhaustion and exposure, and nothing more serious, Trigger had shown up and taken her to sit in Kane’s room, where she was now.
The doctors weren’t sure what the extent of the damage to his head was, as Kane hadn’t woken up yet.
But they’d done an X-ray of his lungs and they were clear.
He had the beginnings of an infection, probably from whatever had been in the water that got into his bloodstream from the cut on his head, and a dozen stitches to close the gash where Derek had hit him, but otherwise his vitals looked good.
Even with the nap she’d gotten, Aspen was exhausted. She felt like she was a hundred and four years old. She knew she should eat, but nothing appealed.
“The authorities went back out and recovered Spence’s body,” Trigger told her.
Aspen merely nodded.
“It’ll be up to you to tell your major and the other authorities what happened.”
“Oh, I’m going to,” she said with determination. “It’s one thing for Derek to treat me like shit because I’m a woman; it’s another thing altogether to attempt to murder someone. I’m going to do whatever it takes to make sure I get justice for Kane.”
“He’s gonna be all right,” Trigger told her.
“I hope so…”
“He is,” Trigger insisted. “He’s got a damn hard head and we’ve been through situations worse than this.”
Aspen nodded. “I just… He’s so still. I hate that. The Kane I know is always moving. Sometimes it’s subtle, but even when we’re just sitting on the couch, his fingers are stroking the back of my hand or his foot is tapping the floor. I hate seeing him like this.”
“I know. I never really took notice of it before, but you’re right. Have faith in the doctors…and Brain himself. And—it has to be said—you’re pretty damn amazing. We all thought so after seeing you in action in combat, but seeing how fiercely you protected Brain…well…thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me for that,” Aspen told him. “He means everything to me.” Then she sighed and stared off into space and muttered, “I swear to God, all this better not be for nothing.”
“What do you mean?” Trigger asked. “All what?”
“All the hell I’ve been through to help pave the way for women in combat medics,” she said tiredly.
“I worked my ass off to be the best medic I could be, Trigger, and what did I get in return? Hatred because of my gender. Harassment. I had to prove myself over and over, and even after I’d been in the job for years, I still got passed over for men who had way less experience than me.
Someday, I hope women can do whatever job they want for our country and be respected for it. ”
“I hope so too,” Trigger said. “And for what it’s worth…
you impressed the hell out of a lot of people today.
Even though they didn’t know what happened out there, they know you put your own life at risk to save Brain.
They knew he wasn’t breathing, and that you gave him rescue breaths until he was again.
They know you dragged him through the floodwaters to a relatively safe place, and that you never left his side.
I have no doubt that one day, women will stand shoulder to shoulder with their male counterparts on the battlefield and no one will even think twice about it. ”
“I hope so,” she whispered. “I’m tired, Trigger. So fucking tired of it all.”
“Come here,” Trigger said, putting an arm around her shoulders and pulling her into him.
It was an awkward embrace, since they were both sitting on separate chairs, but Aspen put her head on his shoulder and relaxed.
She didn’t close her eyes; she kept her gaze on Kane, willing him to wake up and tell everyone he was perfectly fine and start bitching about getting the hell out of the hospital.
Time went by. Trigger left and Oz took his place.
Then Grover came in. But Aspen didn’t move.
She didn’t leave to eat something, as the guys encouraged, and she didn’t leave to take a shower.
She was going to sit right where she was until Kane opened his eyes and she knew for certain he was going to be all right.
It was a couple hours later when Aspen first saw his eyelids twitching.
Lucky was sitting with her, and she scared him to death when she leaped up and rushed to Kane’s side.
She hovered over him, putting a hand on Kane’s cheek and brushing her thumb back and forth. “Kane? That’s it, open your eyes. I’m here. You’re safe. We’re okay. You’re in the hospital, and I know it smells funny, but you need to open your eyes for me.”
She watched as his lids lifted but then slammed shut.
“Lucky, turn off the lights,” Aspen ordered, not taking her hands from the man she loved. “Try again, that’s it.”
Slowly, ever so slowly, Kane’s eyes opened…and she was staring into his beautiful eyes. “Hi,” she whispered.
Kane’s brows furrowed. “Aspen?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“My head hurts,” he said in a low, scratchy voice.
“I know, and I’m sorry.”
“Please move aside,” the nurse said brusquely, putting a hand on Aspen’s shoulder, gently pushing her away from Kane.
Aspen was reluctant to move, but when Lucky took her arm, she let him steer her to the edge of the room. A doctor rushed in next and asked everyone to leave while he looked over Kane.
Outside the room, Aspen paced impatiently with the rest of Kane’s team.
“How can you all look so calm?” she asked with irritation.
“Because he’s gonna be fine,” Doc told her.
“You don’t know that,” she grumbled.
“He knew who you were,” Lucky said with a smile. “He’ll be fine.”
That was true, and Aspen relaxed. She’d previously worried that he might’ve gotten his brain so scrambled, he’d experience amnesia. It happened all the time, but she was glad that didn’t seem to be the case.
After ten minutes, the doctor stuck his head out the door. “Is one of you Trigger?”
“That’s me,” Trigger told him.
“Can you please come in?”
Aspen took a step forward. She wanted to see Kane.
“Just a little bit longer, Aspen. Trust me,” Trigger told her.
She huffed out a breath, but nodded.
Ten more long minutes passed, and just when Aspen didn’t think she’d be able to wait another second, the doctor, nurse, and Trigger reappeared. The staff headed down the hall, but Trigger remained in front of the door to Kane’s room.
“Well? What’d they say?” Lefty asked.
Trigger sighed. “Brain’s gonna be okay. He has a concussion, and the beginnings of pneumonia. The doc thinks it’s because not all of the water got out of his lungs after he started breathing again. But the infection should clear up soon enough because they’re pumping him full of antibiotics.”
“Can we go in?” Aspen asked impatiently. She couldn’t wait to hear Kane’s voice again. To see for herself that he really was all right.
“He doesn’t want to see anyone,” Trigger said quietly.
Aspen stared at him in confusion. “He doesn’t want to see you guys? Why not?”
“He doesn’t want to see any of us,” Trigger clarified. “Not even you, sweetheart.”
Her adrenaline spiked even as her stomach bottomed out. “Why not? What’s wrong?”
“He’s got some memory loss, and he isn’t feeling very steady about it.”
Aspen froze. “What? What does that mean? He said my name. He remembers me!”
“He does,” Trigger agreed. “And he knows the rest of us too. He knows that he’s Delta, and can recall most of his childhood. But he hasn’t been able to recall one word of the languages he’s learned over the years.”
Aspen blinked. “And?”
“And what?”
“And what else can’t he remember?”
“That’s it, so far. He knows everything that happened out there, but he’s taking the fact that he’s lost the ability to speak all those languages pretty hard.”
Aspen didn’t understand. “I don’t care how many languages he speaks,” she said. “I’m going in.” She tried to push Trigger to the side and slip by him, but the other man stood firm.
“No. He needs time, Aspen,” Trigger said.
“He needs me,” she countered.