Page 4

Tesla woke with a start and then moaned, as the baby kicked the crap out of her lower back. Tesla shifted in her cot, twisting to confirm everything in the room was okay. She was so damn grateful that Mason had recovered enough to be conscious for longer periods of time, yet she would love to get both of them home and in their own bed. Yesterday she had taken a couple moments and gone home, showered, and changed, only to come back to her husband’s side.

Even for that brief amount of time, she was loathe to leave him. Yet, with him on the mend, it should be okay. However, everything inside her screamed at her to not leave him again.

She hated that because, in the face of everything else going on, it just meant that she didn’t feel that it was over. Despite having security in place, it wasn’t safe to leave Mason just yet. He was better, no doubt about it, much better, but he was not capable of fending off an attack, and that meant he should not be left alone. She had contemplated the thought of bringing the guards into the hospital room and going home for a few hours of sleep, which wouldn’t be a bad idea, unless of course Mason was attacked in the meantime.

As far as the rest of the team was concerned, if Tesla and Mason were attacked in this hospital room, it’s not as if she could do a whole lot about it, and she hated that premise. Because of her pregnant state, she would be even more vulnerable and potentially not as good of a protector of her husband as she would want to be. It was the sad compromise when you had a baby to protect and the unwieldy pregnant body that went with it.

She shifted in her cot once again, then realized her bladder wouldn’t let her go back to sleep. She slowly made her way out of bed and crept toward the bathroom. When she was done, she turned off the light and opened the door to hear Mason, his tone quiet, as he whispered, “Couldn’t you sleep?”

“Your child decided to kick my bladder one too many times,” she shared, with a note of humor.

He whispered right back, “Come cuddle with me, and maybe you’ll go back to sleep again.”

“Maybe, but you wouldn’t get any rest at all,” she noted, with a groan. “As much as I absolutely would love to spoon with you, it’s just not good for you.”

He groaned softly. “It would be nice if you weren’t quite so protective.”

She chuckled as she walked closer and stared down at him, the moonlight gleaming through his window. “I just want to get you well enough to go home,” she stated, “and honestly, I would love to go home myself.”

He hesitated and then nodded. “That’s the thing, isn’t it? It’s not just me. We need to get you and baby home, where you’re more comfortable.”

“And that’s true, but don’t even start thinking that will be the excuse to get you out of here too early.”

“It is an excuse,” he admitted, with a smile, “and I will try it with the medical personnel. Besides, we can get medical assistance at home, so it’s not a risk.”

“You’re not going anywhere for at least a few more days,” she pointed out. “If we can make it happen after that, then fine, but only if the doctor says so.”

“ Hmm ,” he muttered. “even having security guards here has got to be disruptive for them.”

“I don’t care if it’s disruptive or not,” she stated firmly. “First things first, and that is getting you back on your feet. In the meantime, we’ve got to keep you safe, hence the guards. So they’re not going anywhere.”

He chuckled softly. “Who knew you were such a tigress?”

“You knew,” she declared, with a sigh of her own. “Honestly, I think it’s one of the reasons you married me.”

“No. I married you because I couldn’t stand the thought of life without you.”

Tears caught in the back of her throat at his words. She reached for him, her belly bump getting in the way. He chuckled as she shifted, so he slowly sat up and reached his arms around her. “You need to go back to sleep,” she murmured.

“I’m fine,” he said. “I know you’ll protect me.”

“Yes,” she interrupted. “And now that you’re awake, you’ll take over that role,” she conceded, “but you aren’t healthy enough to do it yet.” He was silent for a moment, but she could almost sense Mason’s frown in the darkness, and she chuckled. “I know. You don’t want to be talked to like that.”

“It’s not so much that I don’t want to hear that,” he clarified, followed by his own laugh, “but it’s hard to think that you’re suffering, while I’ve got the only bed.”

“I have a bed,” she said, with a wave of her hand, “and I added some soft foam on top to help protect my back.”

“It’s not the same.”

“No, it sure isn’t,” she agreed cheerfully. “It’s not the same thing, but it’s also not an issue. Remember, depending on how it goes, it may be just a few more days until you can go home to recover. Then we can both go home. Maybe we can get a nurse in or something at home.”

“A nurse?” he repeated in horror.

She wanted to laugh at the tone in his voice. If ever a horror was to be had, to Mason it was apparently the prospect of having a nurse at home, and she knew no way in hell would that work well. Mason would make the nurse and everybody else nearby miserable. “At some point you just have to accept that your body needs some healing.”

“Sure,” he replied, with a sigh, “and it’s getting healing right now, but the sooner I can get my ass home again—”

“Which I’ll say again is not happening soon,” she interrupted.

“Oh, I get it. Even if it’s another six weeks of bed rest at home,” he shared in that persuasive tone of his, “it’s still better than being here.”

“I fully agree, but you need a nurse—”

“What for?” he asked, his voice getting loud. They both knew very well what for, but he was frustrated and being difficult.

“Maybe to keep you in line,” she snapped.

He went silent again and then chuckled. “I’m fine,” he said, with a snort. “I know you’re worried, and you don’t want me to go too far, too fast, but honestly, Tess,… being here makes me look weak.”

“You’ve only been truly awake one day, part of one day,” she protested. “Give yourself a chance to recover for a moment before you dish out this crap.”

“I’ll give it one more day,” he stated, “but then I want to go home.”

“That’s nice,” she quipped, adding an eye roll, as she stepped farther away to sit on her cot.

“Are you sure you’re feeling okay?” he asked.

“I’m feeling fine,” she murmured, “absolutely fine.”

“Good enough. I guess I have to trust you on that.”

“You absolutely do,” she snapped at him again. “Just like I’ve been looking after you for these last weeks”—she sighed deeply—“I am looking after our unborn baby.”

“I would expect nothing less,” he whispered. “Now I’m thinking we could both use a little more sleep.”

“Sounds good to me,” she agreed, as she yawned. “I swear that’s the one thing that’s hard about being pregnant. You never can get enough sleep. And don’t even bother to say it because I’m not going home where I might get a bit more.”

“Another reason why I need to get better faster,” he pointed out. “At least then we can get you home, where you can get some quality rest and where I can stand watch over you instead.”

“Yeah, that’s not happening for a while yet,” she muttered, with a note of humor.

“What if I want to talk to one of the guards outside?” he asked curiously.

She opened her eyes, raised herself up on one elbow, and stared at him. “I suppose you could,… as long as you don’t expect to con them into breaking you out of here.”

He burst out laughing. “Now that sounds like a great idea, but it’s okay. I promise I’ll take you with me.”

She rolled her eyes and collapsed back down again. “Just don’t wake me up while you’re getting in trouble.” Then she rolled over, pulled the blanket up over her shoulders, and crashed.

*

Mason woke up as if coming out of layers of clouds. He was sure a lot of the problems he was still dealing with were a result of the medications he was on. Still, the medications helped to reduce the brain swelling and helped to heal the damage to the cranial bone. He knew he needed time, recuperation time, but it was also hard when he saw his beloved wife suffering as much as she was, though she wouldn’t be happy with him for putting her comfort ahead of his recovery.

It almost felt as if he’d taken way too long to get to this point, and now he needed to blast through the rest of this healing so he could get back to a normal life. Even if it wasn’t quite back to his former normal life, he needed to get back to something much closer than this.

A few minutes later the door opened, and a doctor walked in. Mason looked up and smiled. “Just the man I wanted to see,” he said cordially.

The doctor raised his eyebrows and shook his head. “Don’t even bother asking to go home.” When Mason narrowed his gaze, the doctor just laughed. “You think I haven’t seen guys like you before?”

“Ah, you are one of those…”

“Yep. I’m Dr. Casper, and I know what you think. You think you’re made of titanium, and then somebody comes along and pops a hole in that steel. You guys are perfect model patients, as long as you’re unconscious,” he noted in a dry tone. “Yet the minute you’re awake, that’s it. All hell breaks loose, and, as far as you’re concerned, you should be entitled to leave as soon as possible.”

“Absolutely I should be,” Mason confirmed. “You do see the condition my wife is in, right?”

“I do,” the doc said, with a smile. “I also know that she’s been a model patient herself. So, as long as we feel you need to be here, she’ll be all for it.”

“Sure, but I also need to get home,” he pointed out.

“As soon as I get some more tests run, now that you’re awake, we’ll discuss a realistic time frame for release and what that might look like. In the meantime, nope, nada, no way. You’re not going anywhere.” He quickly ran through some questions, got to the reality of how Mason felt, then he ran through a few other checks. Finishing up, he added, “Even though I said that you couldn’t go home, and I haven’t changed my mind on that”— he raised his hands to stop Mason—“considering the severity of your condition, you are doing surprisingly well.”

“No surprise about it,” Mason declared. “I’m doing very well and want to go home.”

“We’ll still run you through some tests. I’ll order those now, and we’ll see how you’re doing afterward. Meanwhile you require bed rest before going home.”

“And that’s fine,” Mason conceded. Now that he’d gotten his point through to the doctor, plus heard a note of positivity, he wouldn’t push it. He looked back over to see Tesla had her eyes open and wore an expression of surprise.

She asked the doctor, “Did you just say he could go home?”

“No, I most certainly did not,” the doctor clarified, turning to give her a smile. “I just mentioned that he is healing quite well. We will run him through another battery of tests to see how the brain is healing. Even when he does go home, he will be ordered to continue bed rest to heal at home,” he stated, looking from one to the other.

Tesla nodded. “Got it.”

“Even if he is discharged,… we are looking at regular checkups, mandatory bed rest, and he must be off work until further notice, no physical activity, the whole nine yards. Do you hear me?” he asked, turning to look at Mason.

“I hear you,” Mason replied.

Dr. Casper just rolled his eyes. “You would claim to hear anything, as long as you thought it would get you home.”

“You could be right,” Mason admitted, with a smile. “Besides, it’s not as if you guys don’t have plenty of other uses for the beds here.”

“Unfortunately, that’s the truth,” he muttered, with a sigh. “As soon as we get ourselves caught back up and get some of the bed numbers down, they just fill right back up again. Anyway, we’ll talk tomorrow, and hopefully we will have some test results back.” And he turned and headed out.

Feeling immensely better, Mason looked over at Tesla and grinned.

She shook her head. “I don’t have a clue how you managed to do that.”

“Hey, he could see the sense of it. Besides, once I’m at home, I’ll rest better.”

“Maybe,” she conceded, “but that doesn’t mean I will though. I will be constantly waking up to confirm you are still in bed.” When he frowned, she shrugged. “Plus, I don’t know that this mess is over with.”

“The men have another twenty-four hours to get it together,” he noted cheerfully, “and, if we need security at the house, then we’ll have security at the house.” She frowned. “It’s not as if they aren’t our friends anyway,” he pointed out.

“Very true,” she replied cautiously. “I’m just surprised that you’re willing to give in that much.”

“I’m not giving in to anything,” he declared, looking at her. “I’m just making things work.”

She rolled her eyes at that. “Your idea of making things work generally means you’re in control.”

He chuckled. “You could be right.”

She smiled. “I am right about it, and you won’t change. Still, if truth be known, I don’t want you to.”

“Good enough,” he agreed. “So, as long as we understand each other, there’s no problem.”

“Only if the doctor clears you.”

He nodded. “Honestly, I won’t take much of a chance anyway,” he said, smiling at her. “My brain is a little too important.”

“Yeah, and somebody gave it a good poke,” she muttered.

“I still find that quite surprising, that and everything else they’ve sorted out since the sniper shooting.”

“Too bad they didn’t quite get it finished.”

“I’m not sure they didn’t,” he shared. “They’ve come a long way, and it was a very convoluted path.”

“Very, but that doesn’t mean it’s over yet.”

“You keep saying that.”

She nodded. “I guess I’ve just been worried for so long that I don’t know how to let it go.”

“That makes sense.” Shuffling back in the bed, Mason added, “Sounds like I will be gone for a few hours for these tests.”

“In that case, I might go home and take a shower, get changed, pull out a change of clothes for you too, and come back again.”

Mason suggested, “You could stay there all day, you know?”

She smiled. “I’ll see, but I’ll be back later this afternoon because I want to hear the test results.”

“Oh, come on.” Maon groaned. “Are you suggesting I can’t be trusted to give you a complete and honest report?”

She rolled her eyes at that. “If you thought it would get you out of this place, there is no telling what you might do.”

He burst out laughing. “Maybe so, but I would never lie to you.”

“Good enough,” she said, as a nurse came along soon afterward with an orderly, and Mason was wheeled away, his guards going with him.

She would have preferred he was in a wheelchair. Still, it was wonderful to see him sitting up like that. Something about being bedridden made such a difference. Seeing someone standing or even sitting up made them look so much more alive. Not a great thing to say, but it was true.

She packed up her things and stepped outside the room. “Hey, Evan. You’re still here?” she asked.

“I am at the moment,” he said, with a nod. “What are you up to?”

“Mason’s gone for some tests, and the doctor told me that it will be a couple hours.” She shrugged. “So I thought I would go home and have a shower and get a change of clothes for me and Mason. And, who knows, maybe even close my eyes and get a cat nap in my own bed,” she added, with half a smile.

“I’m coming with you,” he said, as he pulled out his phone.

She asked, “Why?”

“No whys allowed,” he replied. “I’m coming, and that’s all there is to it. If you want to go home, you go home with me in tow.”

She closed her mouth, thought about it, then shrugged. “I guess after all this, it makes no sense to fight it.”

“Exactly,” he stated, with a nod. “I’m also making sure we have somebody here for when Mason gets back.” She waited while he made the arrangements, and then he asked, “You want to leave right now?”

She sighed. “I could wait if I need to, but I was hoping to go now,” she shared, as she reached around to massage her lower back.

“That’s fine,” Evan noted. “Just give me five.”

She nodded. “It’ll take me that long to get to the bathroom and back.”

He burst out laughing as she headed back inside to the bathroom. When she came back out, he was talking with Markus. She gasped in delight as he opened his arms, and she waddled over and gave him a hug. “Have you been out here all the time too?”

“Just like everybody else,” Markus stated casually, “we’ve been taking turns. It’s wonderful to hear he’s going for tests and potentially will get out of here.”

“He’ll still need help for quite a while,” she said.

“That’s fine, as long as he’s doing well. By the looks if it, he’s improving in leaps and bounds. He’s back on track, so don’t get despondent over that.”

“I’m not, but you should hear him griping though.” Both men grinned. “See? That’s the thing. You guys are all the same. The minute somebody says you can’t go anywhere, do something, plus you have to follow rules, you get your backs up.”

Markus and Evan both nodded and grinned like fools. “But not out of stubbornness,” Evan pointed out. “It’s more because it’s not what we’re used to.”

“Sure, but sometimes it doesn’t matter what you’re used to. You just have to shut up and get with the program, regardless.”

Markus smiled, looking from Evan back to her. “I hear you’re going home for a bit?”

“Yes, I was hoping to for a few hours to shower and whatnot. I’ll also get some clothes for Mason. He may not need them, but you know how it is.”

“Oh, nice. I’m sure he’ll appreciate that.”

“You both know all too well about hospital gowns and being bedridden. They don’t do a whole lot for our psyche, and Mason is,… well, just Mason.”

“Yeah, the hospital gown is not good for anyone,” Markus agreed, with a smile. “So, Evan will look after you.”

She smiled her thanks and added, “I don’t know how we’ll ever pay back you guys for doing all this.” She was getting emotional at the thought of how many of them had stepped up to look after them.

Markus shook his head. “There’s no paying back for something like this. We’re family, remember?”

Still choking back the tears, she nodded. “We are.”

Markus added, “And I’ll be here, waiting for Mason to return.”

Tesla nodded and waved, as she quickly made her way over to Evan, and they headed down to the parking lot.

Evan asked her, “Do you want to take your car?”

“Are you bringing me back to the hospital?”

“Definitely,” he said, with a nod.

“In that case, then you can drive,” she muttered, even as she wiped away the tears. “Nothing like being pregnant to get emotional all the time.”

“And nothing like having your family tossed into the soup like this to get emotional too,” he added. “Yet what Markus said was right. He meant it, and so do I.”

“Thank you,” she whispered.

He laughed. “It’s all good, and the fact that Mason will not only make it but end up okay, that is huge.”

“I know,” she whispered, “and, after everything, it’s all been so traumatic.”

“Which is also why we’re keeping the guards up until we know for sure that we’ve gotten to the bottom of this.”

“How do we know that?” she asked, turning to look at him. “I hear what you guys are saying, and in theory it sounds wonderful, but how do we really know if that will be the end of it?”

“Meaning, how will we know for sure?”

“Yeah,” she said. “How will we know for sure?”

He pondered that before speaking. “I guess when we’ve filled in all the cracks and when we know that any other crime is accounted for, especially with a suspect who fits the bill.”

“But how do we know there isn’t still one more person out there, dying to do this old man’s bidding?”

“Why would they?” he asked, looking at her.

She thought about it and said, “How about money, love, and power? How about sheer retribution?”

“Oh, we’ve got the grandfather’s bullying and blackmailing and retribution, which is all about power. We’ve got money, which is why the grandson Greg was doing Richard’s bidding. So what’s missing?” he asked, looking at her curiously.

“Love,” she whispered. “There is love, but who would love such a cruel and bitter old man like Richard?”

“His wife is long gone.”

“I know,” she said, “and maybe nobody loved him. Maybe that’s part of the problem. Maybe it’s more about hate, revenge.”

“We’re still on alert, and I’m not so much worried about missing some person,” Evan shared, “not until a few more days go by. Then we can better know if somebody else is involved.”

Tesla shuddered at some related thought. “Even at that, I don’t know that we can ever be sure.”

It wasn’t long before she was inside her house and felt a huge sense of homecoming. Her shoulders sagged in instant relief.

Evan smiled at her. “Nothing quite like it, is there?”

“No.” She looked around her home. “There isn’t.” She quickly dropped her bags and tried to stretch unsuccessfully, then just gave up. “I’m heading for a shower.”

He nodded. “Do you mind if I put on some coffee?”

“Go for it,” she said. “None for me though. I’ve already had my allotted coffee for the day.”

“I could put on the kettle for you.”

“I’ll do it when I get out of the shower,” she murmured.

She headed up and had a quick shower. When she came back downstairs, fully dressed again, she had several changes of clothing in her bag and a new bag as well.

“How many bags do you have now? You didn’t even take the old one up with you.”

“I know,” she agreed, with a wave of her hand. “You may think that you’re prepared for something like this, but you’re not. I picked up several bags this time, as I packed a couple changes of clothing for me and now for Mason. I put the laundry on hold and just take care of things as I go along.” She frowned at him and added, “There’s something very different this time though.”

“I suppose it’s a whole different deal with Mason doing so much better. It’s enough that he’s awake and talking, but the idea that he could be out of there in a matter of days is amazing.”

“It’s unbelievable, I know,” she said, with a bright smile. She busied herself, putting on laundry and getting everything ready to leave again. “I wouldn’t mind a bite to eat. What about you?” she asked, as she walked over to the kitchen and realized not a whole lot was here.

“Yeah, food would be good,” Evan replied, with a smile. “I can always eat, but I didn’t see much. Sorry, I took the liberty of checking.”

“I figured you would, but the cupboards are pretty bare.”

“It’s not as if you’ve been here,” he noted, looking around the place, “but I found eggs. So we can certainly do omelets. Plus, there’s enough for some sandwiches.” He rubbed his hands in excitement, already formulating a plan. She knew how much he loved to eat.

He walked over to the pantry and pulled out cans of salmon and tuna, then shrugged back at her.

“Either of those would be good,” she said, surprised at the disappointed expression on his face. “Or both,” she added, only to be rewarded with his big smile. So that’s what they did. By the time they’d been there for a couple hours, she sighed. “As lovely as it’s been…”

“I know. You’re anxious to get back.”

“I am,” she murmured, “if you don’t mind.”

“Of course not, so long as you’ve got everything you need,” he said.

She nodded. “I do, so let’s head back to the hospital.”

*