Missing You

Chapter Fourteen: Let The Healing Begin

The doctor finally joined them all. “He’s alive.”

Blaine let out a sigh of relief.

“But he’s in a coma. Your medic was right Master Sargent, the knife nicked his heart. The damage wasn’t severe, but enough that we lost him a few times on the table. However, we were able to repair it with laparoscopic surgery, instead of cracking his chest open. Amongst his other injuries, it’s hard to say when, or if he will wake up. Sorry, fellas, wish I had something better to tell you.”

“Can we see him?” Blaine asked.

“Sure. One at a time.”

Blaine went into the recovery room after everyone else had their turn with him. He sat next to him in the chair and looked at Draven hooked up to a dozen different machines, monitors, and IVs. He was used to seeing Draven be the man that took control and got s**t done. Seeing him unconscious, with bandages all over his body, and his once muscular body about thirty pounds if not more pounds, lighter, it was like seeing Wesley all over again.

He leaned closer to where only Draven could hear him, since a nurse was checking on his vitals, “Draven, brah, if you can hear me, I need you to hold on. I need you to pull through for Nina. She needs you. Your team needs you. Your ohana needs you. We all need you. You cannot give up, Sailor. You are ordered, not to give up. Do you hear me?”

At that moment there was a small blip on his heart monitor. The nurse looked at it and then it returned to normal.

“Good.”

When Blaine stepped out of Draven’s room, he came face to face with the three men from his element. They were also much lighter than they would have been had they had the proper nutrition. He looked at them. They looked battled scarred, thin, and almost without hope. The one he knew as Jinx was sitting with his hands clasped between his knees, “He did tell us we would be coming home either with our shield or on it. I just never thought he would be on it.”

Blaine looked at him, “What did you say?”

Jinx raised his bruised and gaunt face to him, “Our third day on the run, we got cornered into a cave. We did an ammo check and he told us that we would be coming home with our shield or on it.”

“He said that?”

They all nodded in agreement.

“Has it been something he has always said?” Blaine asked.

The three men looked at each other and shook their heads. The one known as Freak looked at him, “Why do you ask, sir?”

He shook his head, “It’s actually something my sister says to us.”

Radar looked at him, “Come again?”

“Years ago, when the movie 300 came out, my brothers and I, including Nina, really enjoyed it. Then as Rangers, when we get called up-”

“Sorry to interrupt sir, but are all your brothers Rangers?”

“Yes.”

Jinx stood up, “Wait, are you part of the eleven Moreno brothers that trained and made it one after the other? We heard that they were called Wolf Pack.”

“Yes. That’s us. My brothers and I, including Nina, are a year apart. And for that reason, we are not put on the same teams.”

Radar looked at him, “Wow,” the other two shocked silent.

He nodded, “Any way, anytime we get called up, we call our sister to let her know. She tells us to watch our six and to come home with our shield or on it. I didn’t realize she had told him.”

“We liked it. It actually helped a lot. We got out of that cave but got captured anyway,” said Freak.

“Did they find out why we got bad intel?” Jinx asked.

Blaine sat down with them as his team surrounded them in the waiting room, “From what I heard,” and explained what he heard. When he finished, he looked at them, “Someone will pay for this. I can guaran-f*****g-tee you that someone will pay for what you guys went through.”

A few days later Blaine called Nina. He wished he could tell her everything and end her suffering and her pain. She answered on the third ring, “Hello?” she said out of breath knowing she was working out.

He cleared his throat, “Hey, sissy.”

“Blaine! Are you okay? I hadn’t heard from you in two weeks!”

“I know. It was the mission.”

“Did y’all get s**t done?” she asked.

He swallowed, “We did.”

“Good.”

“I’m headed to Germany for a few months for training. I just wanted to let you know since I’m boarding the bird right now. But you can call me at any time. Ok, Alpha?”

She stopped for a moment.

“Sissy?”

She finally said, “Yeah.”

“Ok. I’ll call you when I land.”

“Ok. Blessed be brother.”

“Bless be sister,” and he hung up. He turned to watch as the med-evac nurse checking on Draven as they secured his bed and locked it in place on the med-evac plane. They were sending him to Germany for treatment for his injuries. He was finally stable enough for his doctors to clear and send him. Blaine was escorting him with his team to ensure he got where he needed to go, and they would get the medical care they needed. They had each told him and his team what they had endured for those two months. They each had said it was worse than the first time they had been captured. The last time they had been captured, they were able to escape and evade for months, staying at least a mile ahead of them. They eventually were able to make their way to a friendly location to get sent home. But this capture, the described their beatings, the teeth extractions, the food and water deprivation, the water boarding, the finger dislocating, the finger breaking, the gassing, and then the knife cuts.

On the plane, he let them all sleep as he sat next to Draven and watched his monitors with the flight nurse. The only indication that he was alive was the breath that showed up, fogging his oxygen mask. Before their flight, Blaine has made a few phone calls to make sure that the best facial and oral surgeon was on standby to fix Draven’s teeth and the cut on his face, and for his team. He also had a hand surgeon on standby for Jinx since they had cut his hand and in doing so had damaged a nerve. He was having trouble trying to make a fist.

A few hours later when they landed, each of Draven’s team members were taken to be treated for aliments that they had received and developed in their time in captivity. They all had and were going to be treated for anemia, beginning stages of scurvy, beginning stages of kidney failure from their lack of proper hydration, and they were all suffering from malnutrition. Some of their treatments included dialysis to help their kidneys get back to where they should be, and slowly providing just large enough meals so their body had time to adjust while also providing supplements to get their body and muscle mass regulated and back to where they were. The same doctor was lined up for them to see them and to fix their own teeth as well, as each of them had molars missing and then with Freak’s chipped tooth as well.

After they all deplaned, Blaine followed the flight team that was wheeling Draven to his room where he would be for treatment. He made sure that he would be by his side through his recovery. He was going to make sure that he woke up. Whatever it took, he was going to make sure that Draven returned to his sister at any cost. He helped the nurses transfer him from the flight bed to his recovery bed and reset all his lines. Once they were done, he saw the flight nurse out and helped her reload the bed and then he returned to Draven’s room and sat down to read Nina’s new book on his K-indle. About three hours later, the doctor showed up.

“Wolf!”

Blaine put his K-indle down and stood up with a big smile and hugged a large man with brown hair dressed in scrubs and a long white lab coat, “How are you doing, Parker?”

They parted the hug and Blaine noticed that the doctor in charge and the charge nurse followed behind to assist and be on Draven’s case personally. Parker shook his head, “I’m good. The wife is pregnant with number three. What more could a guy ask for?”

“I’m so happy for you man. Hopefully this one will be the boy you always wanted.”

He smiled, “A man can hope. So, tell me about Lieutenant Commander Draven McGarrett here. From what the report says, he and his men had it really rough. He flatlined a few times on the table.”

They went to his bedside, and the doctor in charge went over his chart and recent updates, as Blaine stood by. Then he watched as Parker gave him an examination as he explained some of his injuries along with the doctor in charge and the charge nurse on standby to confirm and assist. Nodding he stood up, “I’ll get him in my books tomorrow. We’ll start with his nose and teeth since he’s in a coma, it would be best to start with the process of implants for his teeth. It looks like they took four of his back molars, so each of those we can work on and get them done first. Then I’ll redo his stitches on his face and double check his nose so that as he heals, and the scars on his face will be very minimal.”

Blaine nodded, “You do this, and I will make sure your kids go to college on full scholarship courtesy of Wolf Pack, Incorporated,” seeing the doctor in charge and the charge nurse exchange knowing looks as he already had a conversation with them and had them sign a non-disclosure agreement.

“Seriously?”

“Dead.”

“Awesome,” shaking his hand, “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Blaine sat down and started reading again. His sister was so talented and so special. He recognized that she had a gift for commanding him and his brothers, and yet was such a nurturer that they all loved her and would do anything for her. This was proof positive. He flew a private doctor in from the states under several miles of red tape and non-disclosure agreements to have him fix up his sisters’ fiancé and his team. He had met him a few years back when he had gone to the aid of a fellow Ranger in a bar fight and a beer bottle had cut his eyelid and just by a millimeter it missed his eye. Parker had fixed him up and the scaring was very minimal, and his eyesight was never impacted, which he always counted his blessings on. Blaine also promised a huge donation to the medical facility that Draven and his team were staying in for their silence.

Sleeping in Draven’s room with him, while unorthodox, but they couldn’t make him leave. He wanted to make sure that he was the first friendly face he would see when he woke up from his coma since Nina wasn’t there and couldn’t be as it was all classified. As he got ready for bed, his phone rang. Seeing that it was Nina, he smiled and answered it, “Hey, sissy.”

“Wolf. Jedi just called me to tell me that he just got a very large private contract for a facial and oral surgeon with three college scholarships attached. He said you authorized it.”

“I did.”

“Why didn’t you clear it with me before you did it?”

He sighed, “Because time was of essence. His skills are needed. And trust me, his skills are what is most definitely going to make a difference for some of these guys.”

“So, what? You arrived in Germany, saw some poor schmucks and said, hey, I know a doctor that can fix that right up?”

He smiled, “I sure as s**t did.”

“Okay, smart ass. I could have used a heads up.”

“Sissy, it is what we do. We help the less fortunate and trust me, these guys really need it. Like I said, his skills are needed. I promise you, you won’t be sorry.”

“Fine. Call you later.”

“Later.”

“Blessed be brother.”

“Blessed be sister,” and hung up. He went to Draven’s side and looked at his grey skin that was covered in bandages, bruises, and dry blood. “You will get home to my sister, bro. I promise you that.”

The next morning, the nurses went in to prep Draven for his surgery. Some hours later, he was back in his room with a fresh bandages on his face and his mouth full of gauze. A nurse sat with him and changed the gauze in his mouth every hour to make sure he didn’t get an infection. When the nurses shift was over, the night nurse showed up to take over changing the gauze. The charge nurse would go in personally and see to his medicines and I.V. bags and changing out his other bandages on his body.

The following day, Blaine went to check on his teammates to see how they were doing. They tried to smile at him, but they too had been through oral surgery to fix their own missing molars and the one chipped tooth with Freak. He helped them get broth, “Well, take y’alls meds and get rest. You’ll meet with your therapist in a few days. I am just waiting for the final paperwork for her to get here.”

Freak looked at him, “Why are you doing this for us? The military doesn’t normally do things like this.”

Blaine smirked, “I have some very big connections that help me when I need it and I return the favor when I can. Besides, Shadow in there, is my family. If my sister knew,” looking down at his hands, then looking back at them, “I’m doing this for her and for him. She has been through so much and done so much for me and my brothers and so many other people that don’t know what she did for them. I can do this for her.”

Each of them had a newfound respect for him as a Ranger, as a fellow SpecOps solider, and as a man. Each of them respected that and shook his hand.

Grabbing a coffee, Blaine went back to Draven’s room and looked at him and then the nurse, “Any changes?” She shook her head, “No, sir.”

He sat down and picked up his k****e. “What are you reading, sir?” He looked at the nurse. A tall woman of at least five foot nine with blonde hair, not his type. “The new book by Sky Hawkings.”

“Oh! I love her. She is so good at what she does. I am a huge fan. Oh! Did you hear that they are going to do her fourth book and put it in a movie! I cannot wait!”

He smiled and got back to reading. And that is how it went for the next few weeks as they waited for his nose, face and mouth to heal. About three months later he was fully healed, and they were able to put in the final and permanent implants. His teeth looked great. Even his face had certainly healed almost flawlessly. You could see a small vertical scar on his cheek just on the apple of it and a very small scar going across the bridge of his nose, but he still looked good.

The day after his permanent implants were put in, he received a sponge bath and Blaine always waited outside to allow him privacy for that. Afterwards, he went to take his place sitting next to him. After a few hours of reading, he was sitting at Draven’s bedside playing poker against a comatose Draven. “Damn, you win again, dude.” He looked over to Draven’s face that remained unmoved. After the surgery, they let his hair grow after he had healed. Now, he had grown a beard, and his hair was longer. “That’s it,” fed up with losing, “What do you say we play solitaire?” he said gathering all of the cards.

“How ‘bout Texas Hold ‘Em?”

Blaine dropped the cards to see Draven’s green eyes open, “f**k me.”

Across the globe, Nina woke for the fifth month and final day in Hawaii without Draven by her side and after being told that he was Missing In Action, all hope of him returning home had vanished, as well as any hope that he was coming back. Even her friends, her brothers, and his own Commander were telling her to stop waiting for him and move on. A part of her didn’t want to let him go, she still loved him. But, after some soul searching and realizing that he may not come back at all, she did the hardest thing in her life and decided to let him go. A month prior, she began to make the steps to leave Hawaii and return to California. The memories of what they shared was becoming too much and too hard.

Getting out of bed, she looked at the packed boxes labeled for storage and for shipping. The movers would be arriving in a few minutes to get things going for her. After getting dressed in a pair of black khaki shorts and a black tank top, she put her hair in a braided updo and made sure to attach her insulin pump to her waistband. Just as she pulled on her black low top Chuck’s, there was a knock on her door. Looking out, it was the movers.

Opening the door, several men came in as she ordered two teams. One to pack up her things for shipping, and one for Draven’s things in storage. His mom and sisters had tried to talk her out of leaving Hawaii, but she couldn’t stay. Not without Draven. She paid the rest of his mortgage on his house, but refused to put it up for sale, and had all his things and his Jeep taken to a storage facility there on the island and had arranged for the maintenance on his house including mowing of the yard and cleaning inside of the house, and any other repairs it may need as time went on.

As they grabbed the last box that was labeled t-shirts, she stopped the man. The last symbolic step she made was to remove her engagement ring to be placed with his belongings in storage. As silent tears fell down her face, she placed her ring back in the blue Harry Winston ring box and resealed the moving box and nodded for the mover to load it up. Then she got in her Jeep to follow them to the storage facility and in sure that his things got there intact. She also paid for his storage for three years and would revisit when the time came, and if the time came. As they put his Jeep in last, she closed her eyes and tried to hold onto his voice, but it escaped her.

After she thanked the movers and locked up the storage, she went back to the house to see that the movers with her things were done with the exception of her luggage. She signed her forms and thanked them as they pulled out leaving her with an empty house. She put the storage keys and house keys on the counter in a lock box that could only be opened with a thumbprint and key code and made sure that all of the curtains were drawn and made sure all the lights and air conditioner were turned off. Going to the sliding door, she opened it to take a final look at the beach (Play Pippin’s song “Edge of Night) as the sun started to set. As the reality of leaving Hawaii without a baby, and without the love of her life, Nina put her arm over her stomach and her hand to her mouth as she sobbed.

Once she was able to gather herself, she loaded her luggage into her rental car as she sold her Jeep and headed to a hotel for the night. When she got in the room, it just reminded her of the last time she was in a hotel room, and it had had been with Draven. After she showered, she put on a pair of black boy cut panties and a fresh black tank top and sat on the lanai looking out at the water lite by the moon. Silently crying, she did not sleep that night, nor slept in the bed.

Nina moved back to the mainland to California and was going to settle in Huntington Beach with a Condo across from the beach as soon as her things arrived from being shipped. She winded up getting a full time professorship at the University of California in LA. She was grateful the contract was just for a year, as she needed the distraction and something to motivate her to move on. Upon her arrival, her best friend, Misty picked her up from the airport in her silver Jeep Liberty. Seeing the state that Nina was in, she grabbed her in a tight hug and let her cry.

Eventually, she got her in her Jeep and to her own apartment as they waited for her items to arrive from Hawaii. That night, Misty ordered them pizza and had several bottles of wine and other items to help her feed her soul. Nina took a long shower after being on a six hour flight and when she finally emerged into Misty’s living room, she wore a pair of black leggings and a black tank top with her hair in a braided updo. Sitting down next to Misty, Misty hugged her from the side and just sat with her. Much like they used to do in college for each other. Silently, they ate pizza and drank wine until they both fell asleep on opposite sides of the couch.

The next morning, Misty took her to pick up her new car since she had sold her Jeep in Hawaii. Too many memories. This one was a black Land Rover. Misty felt it fit her at that moment in time. After, they parted ways as Misty had a meeting with her agent, and Nina had an appointment to get set up with Human Resources since her professorship was beginning in a few weeks. After she filled out all her paperwork, she went to the Psychology wing of the building she would be in and met with the Dean, a voluptuous black woman with amazing hair by the name of Sherice McAllen, who welcomed her with open arms.

She then showed Nina where her office would be even though it wasn’t done yet. They were painting and putting in new carpet for her and her office furniture would be arriving in the next few days. After, she showed her where her classroom would be, she would be teaching Introduction to Psychology and Introduction to Human Sexuality. She had four classes, two of each with her Intro to Psychology being held on Monday and Wednesday early to mid-morning and her Introduction to Human Sexuality on Tuesday and Thursday’s afternoon and evening. On Fridays, they would have a quick faculty morning meeting that would be held on Zoom, so she could work from home. After, she shook Sherice’s hand and made her way back to Misty’s.

Across the pond in Germany, Draven was getting frustrated at the slow progress he had been making since he woke up a few days ago. He wanted to get up, get on a plane and get to Nina and he had just yelled at his Physical Therapist making her almost run away. As he screamed in frustration, Blaine heard from the hall and saw his Physical Therapist walk out, “He’s yours.” Going into the physical therapy room, he saw Draven on his back on one of their large platforms. He was still in a hospital gown with some athletic shorts underneath, and he still sported a beard and longer hair. The Physical Therapist was working on getting his muscles loosened up since he hadn’t moved in three months. Blaine sat next to him, “Bro, what’s up?”

Draven looked at Blaine, “I want to get up! I want to get out of here! I want to go home!”

“We talked about this. You have to let your body heal. You have to give yourself time to get back where you used to be.”

“They told me that already!” he shouted.

Blaine spoke with him calmly to not to continue aggravate him, “Your body has been through a severe trauma. You died, bro.”

At that moment, it hit Draven. He looked at Blaine, “I died?”

He nodded and brought a knee up on the table to get comfortable, “Yeah, we had just blown a hole in the wall of your cell when we got in, your team was trying to save your life. My medic thought that the knife had nicked your heart and it did. We lost you. I ordered your men out to the extraction point and my medic, and I worked to get you back, and we did. Once we got you all out and to safety, they immediately took you back for surgery and it turns out my medic was right. But during the surgery, you slipped into your coma. Being asleep for three months does a bad thing to your body. Before you were immobile, you also endured somethings that people should not experience. You were tortured, bro, both physically and mentally. Both of those are going to take time to get you to where you need to be.”

His green eyes met with Blaine’s and realized that he had one eye that was green and one eye that was blue, “I need to get back to Nina.”

“She’s there. She’s waiting.”

“Does she know where I am?”

Blaine shook his head, “It’s classified. She was notified the day we rescued you that you were Missing In Action.”

Draven hit the mat with his fist, “Goddammit!” he shouted.

“I know. I’m sorry. That was most definitely not my call. And because of the nature of your case, I cannot even tell her where I am or what I did for you or your team or that you are even alive.”

Draven closed his eyes and clenched his teeth.

Blaine looked at him, “Hey, take it easy on those back molars. Those just finished healing,” and tried to smile when Draven shot him a deadly look, “Look, she’s there. She’s waiting. She loves you. Now, do her a favor and get your ass in gear. Get healthy and back to where you were, if not for yourself, for her. She needs you.” Blaine could see him finally accept his fate, and nod. “Good, now be nice to your Physical Therapist. She is the one that will get you back to Nina,” and stopping him when he tried to protest, “No. No bullshit. Stop yelling at her. Stop trying to make her cry. Stop throwing things at her. Be nice to her. Do what she says without complaint. Are we clear?”

Draven looked at Blaine, “Crystal.” Blaine glanced up at his Physical Therapist and nodded for her to rejoin them. A stocky woman with black hair walked over and with a German accent said, “So, are we ready?”

Draven begrudgingly said, “Yes, ma’am.”

“You will stop yelling at me?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“You will stop throwing things at me?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good. Because if you so much as say or do one more thing,” and started speaking in German. Draven knowing German immediately knew what she said and was shocked for a moment and then, “Yes, ma’am.”

“Good.”

They got to work on getting him mobile.