Chapter 49
982 Words
Emma smiled at Dallas as he stepped off the hospital elevator. “Hi, Dallas.”
“Hey, darlin’,” he said. “You doing OK?”
“Yeah. I’m glad to be leaving.”
“The blood tests all went alright?’
“Yeah. Just a bit tiring.”
He took in her pallor and the dark smudges under her eyes. “I’ll just bet. So, you all done here? Free as a bird?”
“Yeah. I have to go out to the parking lot in this wheelchair, though.”
“Sure thing,” he said. “Let’s go.”
He rolled her carefully out into the cool early-autumn air, and watched as she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. The weak sun touched her face, gave her a bit of a glow.
Shit. She’s really fading.
He opened the car door and gently lifted her to her feet. She swayed and he held on to her.
“Emma? You OK?”
Her eyes were closed, her fingers grasping his strong forearms. “Yeah. Just dizzy.”
“OK, don’t move, hon. Wait for it to pass.”
They stood for a minute and then Emma looked up into Dallas’ worried blue eyes. “I’m OK, Dallas. Really.”
He nodded and settled her into the car. He buckled her up and shut the door.
“OK,” he said and started the engine. “So let’s get you back to Dean’s place.”
“I – what?” she asked. “I’m going to my apartment, aren’t I?"
He shook his head. “Nope. You’re staying with Dean for the next few days, OK? When he’s not there, I’ll keep an eye on you, and your friends will be dropping by every day.”
“So the girls know about this?”
He flashed her a grin. “The arrangements have their full knowledge and blessing.”
“Oh,” she said. “I hear that you guys are all talking to each other now, right?”
“Uh-huh,” he said. “Between the seven of us, I figure we can keep everything under control. You don’t need to worry about anything. We got it.”
She stared at him and then suddenly, tears were spilling down her cheeks. He started.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
She shook her head.
He slid a bit closer, touched her arm. “Emma, what? Talk to me, OK?”
“Nothing. I’m just – sometimes it hits me just how grateful I am to you and your friends. You don’t even really know me, but I couldn’t get through this without all of you at this point.”
“We care about you, hon, and that’s just the end of it. Whatever you need – you just ask. Me and Chris and Jim would move heaven and earth to get it for you. You hear me?”
She smiled. “Yeah. And I know that my friends appreciate you guys being here, too. Even if they don’t say it to your faces.”
“Well,” he said. “I know they certainly appreciate all the coffee and doughnuts we haul all over Denver, to wherever they are. Especially Liv. I’ve never met anyone who goes through coffee the way that woman does, and I hang out with Rangers and bodyguards and black-ops guys.”
Emma laughed now, her face brightening.
Relieved, Dallas gently touched her hand. “OK?”
“OK,” she said.
He moved back to his side and slid the car into gear. “We’ll be home in ten minutes, Emma. Just relax.”
****
Dallas looked up as Dean came into the house. “Hey.”
“Hey.” Dean peeled off his jean jacket. “Thanks for picking her up. I just couldn’t turn down that f*****g meeting with the landlord. Thank God we signed the lease today – that’s over and I can focus on Emma again.”
Dallas waved his hand. “No problem picking her up. Any time you need some backup, just ask.”
“How is she?”
“She’s wiped out, man. I helped her into bed and she’s been sleeping for three hours now.”
“She eat anything?”
“No. I tried, but she said she wasn’t hungry.”
Dean nodded and went down the hallway to the bedroom. He walked in quietly and looked at Emma curled up in his bed. She was pale, she had purple rings under her eyes, and her delicate eyelids looked almost blue. He stood very still for almost a full minute, just staring down at her, listening to her breathe, then he gently touched her cheek. He closed the door halfway and went back to the living room.
“You want to stay for a beer?” he asked Dallas.
“Already got one,” Dallas said from the sofa. “Thanks.”
He drank his beer and watched Dean in the kitchen, not liking what he saw. The man was a walking nerve end, no doubt about it, stretched and strained. He’d seen Dean in life-and-death situations and he had always kept his cool, even when the bullets were flying. Dean had led his men out of danger and kept countless civilians safe, and his heart rate had barely accelerated. His Rangers training had exposed him to everything he had needed to walk into the worst hells that Afghanistan had to offer, and keep it together.
But this whole thing with Emma was a whole different kind of stress. No amount of combat training or number of intensive firefights had prepared Dean for watching the woman that he cared about go through this. It was terrifying to contemplate that Dean had had more control over hostile situations in Afghanistan than he did over what was happening in his own house.
- Writer
