Chapter 8
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The next morning, Sammy arrived at work a little disheveled and not quite as bright or as early as she had thought she would be.
As she walked in, she was yawning again.
Yet she had to smile at the memory of the scene she’d left at the house.
One of the babies, her mouth full of something white and sticky, blew bubbles in Sammy’s direction, as if to say, Good morning, and then promptly hit Burton on the chin.
His face had twisted, then slowly relaxed as he sighed. “This is my new reality.”
She’d burst out laughing and had to run as she was already late, but it was a picture to keep her smiling.
“Oh, another bad night?” asked Kim, one of the day nurses.
Sammy smiled. “Just a busy night.”
“Again?”
“More or less.”
“Looks like a lot busy,” declared someone behind her in a mocking tone. “You’re supposed to show up for work nice and fresh, ready to go.”
She turned to see Albert Field, one of the residents whom she had turned down for a date several times already, so they were already on less than friendly terms. “I’ll keep that in mind.” Then she walked away.
“Yeah, you better. These people are sick and need you,” he called out behind her.
She turned to him and flat-out asked, “Are you accusing me of not providing good care?”
He immediately held up his hands defensively. “Whoa, you should come with a warning sign when you haven’t had any sleep. Don’t blame me. I didn’t keep you up.”
“You don’t have to worry about that ever,” she snapped, turning back. “It will never be because of you either.”
One of the women passing by started to snigger at that. Kim also chuckled. Albert glared at her.
Kim shrugged and stated, “You asked for it, so leave her alone. She’s tired, and she hasn’t been sleeping well.”
“Well, then she should get that fixed. We have a job and a responsibility here,” Albert said, still glaring at her, obviously not liking that Kim had taken Sammy’s side over his.
“You should get to work then,” Kim told Albert.
The resident sulked off in a huff, and Sammy whispered her thanks to Kim, who laughed.
“He’s been a snot since he got here. You know that whole, I’m a doctor, and you’re nobody mind-set? That is getting so old,” she complained, with an eye roll.
Sammy nodded. “Well, that’s his fault.”
“But we also know that an awful lot of nurses like to hang around with doctors.”
“Maybe, but not the case with him. He’s insufferable.”
And, with that, Kim nodded. “Get on. Go to work,” she whispered, “before he comes back and has something else to snap at us for.”
“Will do.”
And, with that, Sammy got on with her day.
And a busy day it was, with no end in sight in terms of the work.
But when the time came to head up to the fourth floor to check on Talia, all the fear from last night came rushing back.
Sammy was reluctant to open the door to the ward, even knowing that she had to check on Talia.
Yet Sammy hadn’t even talked to any of the guys on bodyguard duty today.
She was a little disturbed to see nobody sitting in the hallway.
She walked to the ward, took in a deep breath, and opened the door. As soon as she stepped inside, she heard papers moving on the far side. She peeked around the corner, and Leland was there.
“Hey,” he greeted her. “It’s that time, isn’t it?”
“It is,” she agreed with a dry laugh, her color returning. “Wasn’t sure if it would be you or Burton.”
“Burton is picking up a delivery,” he shared, his head buried in the papers again. “Then we’ll switch up, so I can head over and check your house. I do need access though.”
She turned off the alarm then pulled out her keys and removed a single key for him. He smiled. “You must really trust these guys to hand over your house key like that.”
“Well, if I can’t trust you guys,” she replied, “I don’t know who else to trust. I’m already way past the troubled mark.”
“You’ll be fine,” he said, pocketing the key. “I’ll go check out everyone’s houses, so we know at what level of sophistication we’re actually talking about here.”
“I’m hoping for the dollar-store variety,” she quipped, “because anything else just makes it even scarier.”
“If they’ve got money for quality surveillance equipment, they have money for even bigger crimes,” he noted. “So unfortunately this is one way to get a sense of it, and, well, … you get the picture.”
She shook her head. “All of this is just so wrong.”
“I agree,” he said. “We’re all on the same page there. Just give me a chance to check with Levi’s fancy equipment he sent over, and then we will know where we’re at.”
Sammy frowned. “You’re going alone?”
“Yep, we have one more guy hopefully arriving soon, but he’s still tied up on an op and will be delayed a bit because he’ll be driving from the middle of nowhere—or so I heard.”
“You guys could always hire a nurse.”
“We could, but Anderson seems to think the babies would be better off with family, meaning us.”
She smiled. “I do love that positive thinking. I’m not sure the babies consider you guys family though, at least not at this point.”
“Maybe not, but you know who would consider us family?” He turned and looked at the unconscious woman in the hospital bed. “Talia would, and that’s who we’ll be facing at the end of the day.”
She looked at him in surprise and then slowly nodded. “That’s a really good way to think of it,” she said. “I hadn’t considered that.”
“Nope, but we do. Everything we do here is for Talia, so she can get back to her life that was taken from her.” Then he turned to Sammy and smiled. “So, don’t you worry about me. As soon as Burton gets here, we’ll make the switch, and I’ll go see what I can find.”
“And will you tell me?”
“Of course,” he stated. “I’m certainly not one of those people who think you’re better off not knowing anything. As far as I’m concerned, any and all information that we find is important to share regardless. So, I will absolutely let you know.”
“Thank you,” she whispered. “I appreciate that.”
He grinned. “I presume you deal with a lot of people who seem to think otherwise.”
“I grew up with a family that thought I could be a nurse but wasn’t good enough to be a doctor. You know that kind of thing, and it sort of warps your thinking over time.”
“Yep, it sure does,” he agreed, with a chuckle. “I wouldn’t in any way say that you couldn’t be a doctor. You should be whatever you want to be and go from there.”
She chuckled. “You’ll make a great father.”
He looked at her in horror. “Oh, hell no, not me. I think all this baby stuff has gone to everybody’s head,” he muttered.
“I mean, all of a sudden, they’re all talking about what great fathers they’ll be.
Last time I saw these guys—No. Let me change that.
Every time I’ve ever seen these guys, fatherhood wasn’t on their radar at all. I don’t get it.”
She howled with laughter. “That’s because you guys are getting such great exposure to those three sweet little babies right now.”
“And that may be true,” he admitted, shaking his head, “but, right now, I’m having way less to do with the triplets. Although one of them, man, I tell you. She just looks at me, and my heart melts.”
“Only one of them?” she asked in astonishment. “I mean, there are three of them.”
“I know, but that one,” he admitted, “she breaks my heart.”
“You can tell her apart from the others?”
“Oh gosh, yes,” he declared, staring at her in surprise. “They are not all alike, you know?”
“You know that Burton and Anderson can’t tell, right?”
He started to laugh. “I think they’re starting to see differences,” he told her, with a smirk. “They just didn’t know which one was which to begin with. So, Lisa one, Lisa two, and Lisa three is who they are.”
She groaned. “That is just terrible.”
“Maybe, but short of anybody knowing who is who for real,” he pointed out, followed by a chuckle, “that’s where it’ll stay, at least until we get Talia back to identify them again.”
Just then his phone buzzed. He pulled it out, looked down, and smiled. “Parcels picked up, and Burton is on his way,” he shared. “I’ll just finish up this work, and then I’ll see you later.”
She smiled and nodded. “Good enough. I’ll check on Talia, and then I’ll come back and talk to Burton later.”
She quickly finished her rounds with Talia, making sure everything was okay. She was happy to see even more signs of her coming back around again. Talia asked Leland, “Has she made any sounds at all?”
“Yeah, she just starting to make some noises, mostly pain though.”
She frowned at that. “Resurfacing can be really harsh, but we don’t want her hurting as she comes back to us though. … Yet it’s time,” she murmured, as she stared down at the unconscious woman.
“So these noises are normal, right?” he asked.
“Yes, but we’ll adjust her medication over the next few hours as needed.”
“So presumably she’ll sleep quite a bit, even when she wakes up?”
“Possibly, yes, and also possibly not,” she replied. “She may come to with a sudden jump, which we hope not because that means pain is bringing her back. Plus, we also need her to be quiet and to not move when she comes out of it because of the shattered pelvis.”
He nodded. “It’s amazing what the human body can stand,” he muttered as he stared at the woman in the bed.
“It is, and it’s also amazing that assholes can inflict that much damage on a defenseless woman without a care.”
He shook his head. “I’m in agreement with you there.
… Now apparently you’ve been targeted too, so make sure that you let somebody know when your shift is over.
Even better, have somebody come and be here for you as you drive to work and as you leave too.
All of us are pitching in to make sure everybody’s safe.
So, if it isn’t me, make sure you call Burton or Anderson. ”
She frowned at him, concern written all over her face.