I woke as a nurse was changing my wound and I winced at the pain: You're finally awake!
"Where am I" I whispered, my throat was sore and dry.
"Your in St. Josephs Medical Center in Tacoma"
"My Baby"
"I will get the doctor and be right back with him okay?" she turned and left as I tried to speak again, I wanted her to just tell me whether I was still pregnant or not.
It was roughly a half hour later when she finally returned with the doctor: Hello mam, I am Dr. Saunders. It's good to see you awake, you've been asleep for 3 days now. How are you feeling?
"My baby?" my eyes teared I was sure what he would tell me
"You baby is fine mam"
His words almost sent me into hysterics, I sobbed as he took my hand telling me to calm myself: You need to try and stay calm okay? Your not quite out of the woods just yet mam. We did have to do surgery on your arm to put a plate and 4 pins in it. We also had to do surgery on your abdomen to stop some internal bleeding but your baby is doing great. Can I ask what happened to you?
"I…" I tried to think about what I should say The Whitney Group owns the city according to Daniel, I'm not out of the woods in more ways then one, I might not be in Seattle but if I could help it I'm not going to take the risk "I'm sorry, I don't know what happened to me"
"Can you tell me your name then?"
"I don't… I don't know what my name is"
"That's okay mam, sometimes with a trauma like yours people experience amnesia, you will most likely regain your memory soon enough. I'll contact the detectives and let them know you're awake."
"No! Please don't!" I looked at him frantically, my breathing becoming heavy: Whoa, okay okay no cops, but can you at least tell me what happened to you? I looked towards the nurse and back at him, he nodded and asked the nurse to leave. He leaned forward for me to whisper.
"I can't tell you who is after me, only that they are very wealthy and they hired someone to kill me, if you call the cops and I'm identified, they will find out and they will try it again and I along with my baby will be dead within days. Please, let me heal up a little give me a few days." The Dr. looked into my eyes intently searching them to tell if I was lying or maybe if I was crazy. His eyes narrowed at me before he finally responded: If they call and ask a nurse, the nurses wont even know to lie, there isnt anything I can do.
"Then I need to leave now" I started to get up and he put his hands on my shoulders to lay me back down: I can try and give you 2 days, I can bring you back to the ICU and put you in a private room for 2 days max and if that doesn't work I can at least try and warn you to give you a head start.
I let out a sigh of relief as tears welled in my eyes and I took his hand and thanked him: You're saving 2 lives right now Dr. Saunders, thank you so much.
He made the arrangements and had me moved. Over the next few days I found myself jumping at every sound I heard no matter how large or small. Every movement, every sound was a threat and I had never felt so weak and pathetic as I did at that moment. I felt helpless and I hated that feeling, I promised myself that If I was to get out of this mess I would learn to defend myself even if that meant fighting dirty. My father made me take defense classes before going to college and I can say that there isn't any class I could have taken as a 120 pound girl that would have taught me what I needed to know to fight off that man, he was not only taller but he had to have weighed at least 200 pound and most of that was muscle. If I survive this I will learn how to fight, knives, guns anything I can use as an equalizer, there's no guarantee that man wont ever find me again and I will be ready.
Laying in the bed, I heard the door open and I lifted my body as fast as I could to see Daniel standing in the doorway crying: I found you! Oh god Lizzie I thought you were dead.
He was quickly at my side and sat at the edge of the bed, Its not him, he cant be real, he isnt real he leaned forward to gently kiss me and I could smell his scent and feel his lips against mine but I couldn't talk, I just sobbed as he pulled me into his chest. He pulled away to turn and touch my belly: Please, tell me y… he choked back tears and I finally found my words: No the baby is fine. He let out a massive sigh of relief as he leaned down to kiss my stomach.
"Thank god" He looked at me and his face darkened "Maybe had you not left me to die we could all be together now"
"What? No Daniel, you told me to run, you told me to go and I said I didn't want to leave you"
"And now you're leaving me again!"
"What. No!"
"Mam… Mam… MAM WAKE UP!" Dr.'s Saunders was shaking my shoulders to wake me: They're here, the detectives, I'm sorry but one of the nurses told them you're awake, you need to go now.
He handed me a change of clothes, a white lab coat so I wouldn't easily be seen and some shoes, he helped me get ready to go, tied my shoes and helped me get to my feet "Here, take this!" He handed me a bag of medical supplies including bandages and even pain pills as well as some cash. I looked in his eyes before pulling him into a hug: Thank you for saving my life, both times.