She heard beeping noises. Her head started to slip off her hands as she felt wetness on her cheek. Drool was coming out of the right side of her mouth. Her short blond hair was falling over her face a little. Some pieces of hair had red streaks from blood that had rubbed off on it.
She looked like someone who had been through hell and back. Her white jacket was stained in blood and her hands. "Mara..Mara," someone spoke. She opened her eyes a bit, and saw it was Wiley, Sam's partner.
"Are you ok?'' he was in his sweats and crouched down to her. "Hmm," she said and then it all came back to her…"Sam, where's Sam?. she jetted up looking around. "He's alright, he was bleeding from the head, but they stitched it up, multiple contusions and some broken ribs." She rubbed her eyes, she didn't know if she could make anymore tears. "Mara.. you saved his life." James pulled her into him, she started crying.
"They told me what happened at the scene. Thank god they didn't find his gun behind his back," Wiley said. She tried to think back. Her memory was all jumbled once the ambulance came. She remembered they tried to move her away from Sam. She didn't want to let go of him. The police were trying to ask her questions, but she just kept staring at Sam.
When they went to load him in the ambulance, she ran over to get in and tripped. She had nasty cut on her knee from the road.
She pulled back from him realizing she was covered in blood stains. James saw her look at her hands. "Why don't you go wash up, they're putting him in a room. You can go in there." "I don't have other clothes," she said. "I have a sweatshirt in the car, I'll go grab it." "They have a nice room set up for him, it's more private, they know he's a cop."
A nurse came over to them. "Sergeant Wiley, your friend is in the room at the end of this hall, 318. They're transporting him now. You can go in, in a few minutes. Are you Mara?" The nurse then turned and asked. "Yes," she answered.
"Mr. Howell has been asking for you, he was in and out of consciousness. He'll be resting for a while now. His family is on the way. We'll only let a few people in at a time, while he's still recovering. So please just make sure he's not too overwhelmed."
This was all so much for Mara to process. His family was coming? I'm not ready for this right now, I'm too old for this shit, she thought to herself. Looking down at her hands again she started following the nurse. Right now all she really cared about was seeing Sam. She turned into the room and saw him, laying in the bright white bed.
His head was shaved, "His hair," Mara said. "We had to shave his head to see where the bleeding was coming from ." It made him look so much younger, Mara thought. "Can I..can I touch him." she asked. The nurse looked over at her, with a small smile and answered "of course," she answered as checked a few vitals.
Mara gently touched the side of his head. He had stitches on the side above his ear and some swollen spots. She couldn't believe it wasn't worse. Maybe all the blood had made it look that way. They did a good job of cleaning him up. James came in with the Police sweatshirt, "Here you go, there's some sweatpants too. Probably too big, but that's all I had," he said. "No, Wiley, thank you, it's great." she replied.
"The guys are out right now trying to find these lowlifes. I know things are crazy, but we need you to come down to the station and give a full account of what happened. We have to find these assholes." James told her.
She nodded her head, "Of course yeah, when Sam wakes up and I know he's ok, I'll head over there," she replied. James put his hand on her shoulder, "Are you sure you're going to be ok? You know Pam and I have an extra room if you don't want to be alone."
Mara shook her head, trying to fight the tears again. She tried to talk.." I, I don't know if I've ever been that scared in my life. I just. I just need to get a hold of myself." Wiley looked over to Sam, "Yeah I don't blame you, one thing's for sure though , that kid is one lucky asshole to have you." She laughed, "Thanks Wiley."
The nurse finished checking the IV and his vitals " If you need anything just let us know or press the call button. Here's a bag for your clothes, I noticed they were quite stained." She handed the bag to Mara, "I'll be back to check on his stats." The nurse left and James walked out behind her, giving Mara a quick wave goodbye.
Mara closed the door and relished the quiet. She stood looking at Sam. So much for a romantic evening, she thought. She was wearing sexy lingerie under her clothes, excited to finally be with Sam in the most intimate way. Now she thought how stupid that was and started wiping the tears from her face.
Alright, she thought to herself, he's ok, get your shit together. She started undressing and threw the blood stained white jacket in the bag. She never wanted to look at it again. Then she started to pull her jeans down, bending over with her butt towards Sam. She had a navy blue lace thong on. "Now that is a sight I could get used to waking up to," she heard him say hoarsely.
She sprung around. She was too happy to be embarrassed although her cheeks were blushing. "Oh god," she ran over to him but stopped herself from throwing her body on top of him. She placed her hand on his face…"What the hell happened?" he asked. His eyes were still a little heavy, but then he saw the stained blood on her hands. He tried to sit up, but it hurt too much. "No don't move..."she said. "Are you ok?" He cut her off, "did they hurt you?" He had an angry pained look in his eyes.
"No..no I'm fine, it's your blood," she said sadly, looking down almost crying again. He ran his hand over her cheek, "Hey ..hey it's ok, please don't cry'' he said. Her eyes were already swollen. "Mara," he tried to sit up, but didn't get far due to the pain. "I am so sorry. I don't know what I was thinking. I should never have stopped with you in the car." He looked at her with tears almost in his eyes. "You were just doing your job babe." she said. "That guy... he came out of nowhere. I was so scared they were…I thought you were dead," more tears threatened to come out.
"No, no I'm right here. Shhh, shhh" he was trying to calm her. "I wouldn't leave you, not especially after seeing you in this thong." They both laughed and Sam winced in pain. Mara rubbed hey eyes and sat up.
"Wiley said they're out looking for the guys. You just need to focus on getting better," she said. "Listen, the nurse called your family, they're on the way over." She thought he would be happy. "Oh god, shit Mara listen, whatever my mother says to you, please just ignore her." "What…then came a knock at the door. "Oh no I have to change." she said. "I'll be back" and she grabbed the sweatshirt and pants and locked herself in the bathroom.