A doctor in a pair of green scrubs was walking towards them. He came up to Bruss and Dean
"You are Mr. Bruss?" he asked.
"Yes. How is she? Can we see her?" he asked.
The doctor looked Dean up and down.
"I'm sorry, are you family? I can't give anyone information that is not her family or proxy."
Dean looked like he just got the wind knocked out of him.
"It's okay, Doc. This is actually... her husband. He just got here a couple of minutes ago. He was out of town. Just flew in from..."
"Atlanta," he said.
"I guess Allie hasn't updated those forms since they got married. Who thinks of doing that kind of thing? I do. Let me fill out those forms, all that crap," Bruss said.
Alvarez came around the corner.
"How is she doing?"
"What the fuck?" Dean said.
"I think I have the right to know how she is doing!"
Dean pushed him aggressively over to the side. Their voices were hushed as they argued.
"Get your fucking hands off me, Carron."
Alex shoved him back.
"I'm sorry, Doc. Can you give us a moment?" Bruss asked.
The doctor was watching the exchange between the two giant men.
"Sure, I'll be back in a couple of minutes. I'll call upstairs to see if she's recovering."
"Recovery? So, is she alive? She is, okay?" he asked.
"As far as I know. I'll be back."
He went to walk off. He turned back to Bruss.
"Get your house in order, Detective," he said,
"What the fuck are you doing here? Weren't you told to go back on the road?" Dean asked.
"I have every right to be here, more than you do," Alex said. "I have been by her side. She asked me to be here. I think the guy who shares her home should be here with her. All you shared is some skanky pussy around the Los Angeles metropolitan area!"
"Guys, this isn't really a good-"
Alvarez cut Bruss off.
"No disrespect, Sir, but this is a discussion that needs to happen, and it needs to happen right now. I am not going to be kept in the dark or pushed aside because this twat has drifted back into town. And you know I am right, Bruss."
He shoved Dean up against the wall.
Bruss looked at Dean.
"He's more than right, Dean. For the past five months, he has been right by Allie. I know you're the baby's dad-"
"No. He's the baby's FATHER, and I have been there for everything. I have watched over Allie and watched that little girl grow. I was there! I was her go-to! You were here, run away from! YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO BE HERE!"
"He's not wrong, Dean. He has a good point."
Dean whipped around and looked at Bruss. He pointed a finger at him.
"You need to shut your mouth, Patrick, before I shut it for you."
Dean had a crazed look in his eyes.
"As for you," Dean shoved Alex again. "you fucking cock sucker, the doctor has already been told I am her husband. We can't exactly go back and say, 'Oops, I made a mistake. This guy is the husband, and this is the baby's DAD.'
"I am Peanut's dad. You're just the prick," Alex said.
Dean stepped forward.
"You want to go another round?"
"Anytime, without your sister coming to save you!"
"Gentleman," Bruss stepped between them. "This is, again, not the time or the place. We are here for Allie, not to have a dick-measuring contest. Besides, I would win, so let's drop it."
"Do you really think she wants the first person she sees to be her cheating, cocaine head, ex-boyfriend?"
"Wait, what?" asked Bruss.
"Oh, you didn't know? Mr. Hopelessly Devoted here decided to take up a couple of hobbies when he was on his OP."
"Fuck you, Alvarez!"
Dean swung, and Alex ducked. Dean hit the concrete wall instead.
"Come on mother fucker. I am going to kick your fucking ass up and down this hallway. On the bright side, you can get some of those sweet, sweet opioids you love so much. Do you have track marks? Simply curious."
Bruss had to get in between them again.
"Dean, is this true? What the hell is going on? What is he talking about?"
"Didn't you say this is about Allie, not us?"
"WE are coming back to this," Bruss said. "You, two, will get us all kicked out of here. You need to fucking calm down. Both of you. The doctor is already annoyed."
Just as Bruss said, the doctor came back into the hallway.
"Look, here's the deal, you are the Husband and baby's---"
Alex interrupted Bruss.
"Sperm donor."
"Jesus, Alex! Quit poking the bear!"
"I have yet to take out my big stick."
"We already determined I have the biggest stick," Bruss said.
"Ok, you're the father, and you," he pointed to Alex, "are the main officers in this case. Do we understand what I am saying?"
"Yes. Anything to see her I'll do."
"Whatever the fuck gets me in to see her; first," Dean said. "Not this cock sucker."
"Who are you?" Bruss asked. "I don't even recognize you anymore."
The doctor cleared his throat loudly.
"Excuse me, gentleman, but I need to get back to my patients," the doctor said.
"We are sorry, Doc. Just ironing some things out," Bruss said.
He looked at Alvarez, then over to Bruss.
"He's the lead on the case. I would like him to hear what is going on. It will help with piecing together the timeline."
"Alright then. I am going to start from the beginning. When the medics came in with her, she was in VFib. They had administered two shocks and one ampule of epinephrine. They were not able to restart the heart in the ambulance. We were able to get the heart restarted. She was intubated, and she is still on the ventilator.
"What? She was dead? I'm going to be sick!" Dean exclaimed.
She had died. She had died, and there was so much left undone and unsaid, he thought.
"Ms. Kingston had what is called a hemothorax."
"What is that exactly?" Bruss asked.
"It's when blood is collecting in the space between the chest wall and the lung."
He was touching his chest, describing the area.
"We had to do a thoracotomy, which is when a tube is placed between the ribs into the chest to drain the collected blood."
"What had caused the hemothorax?" Alex asked.
"Her spleen ruptured. She was taken to the operating room immediately."
"That's where we saw her going," Dean said.
He turned his back to the doctor and grasped his hands behind his head, pulling his head forward.
"I should have been there. She should have been with me."
Alex threw him side-eye. "Last night or the last 31 weeks?" he asked sarcastically.
"Now she had--"
Alex interrupted the doctor.
"Stop a second."
Alex put his hands on his duty belt, put his head down, and started shaking his head quickly.
"You haven't said anything about the baby? How is the baby? Is she okay?" he asked. "Don't you want to know how the baby is DAD?"
"Of course I do."
"Then shouldn't you have asked before me? I'm just the cop."
Dean was getting increasingly angry.
"I'm sorry. I should have mentioned her already. The medics did have a challenging time finding the heartbeat. We were able to check on her when we opened her up to take care of the spleen. The baby is fine. There was no placental abruption. No bleeding or any trauma. With her being so far along, if the baby needs to be taken early, she will be viable and have a good chance of survival."
"Thank God," the three of them said together.
"Now we need to know if you want every lifesaving effort made if she should need to be resuscitated."
"I know if anything should happen, she wants the baby to take priority over herself," Alex said.
"So, make every lifesaving effort while she is carrying the child?"
"YES," all three of them said.
"Ms. Kingston has suffered some severe injuries. She had swelling in her brain and multiple contusions. Her head suffered some extreme trauma. It is from it repeatedly striking a solid surface. We had to perform a craniectomy."
"Craniectomy?" Bruss asked.
"They removed a part of the skull to take the pressure off," Dean said.
"Yes, exactly. You all need to understand she has suffered trauma to all lobes of the brain and the hippocampus. We will not know the extent of any brain damage."
"I need to sit down," Dean said.
"I need to throw up," Alex said.
"That's a Good idea. I think we should all sit down," Bruss said. If either of you faints, I can't catch you."
The doctor led them into the family waiting room. Bruss took a chair. Dean and Alex sat on the couch, and the doctor took the chair directly across from them.
"Okay. That's better. As I was saying, until the swelling goes down and, more importantly, she regains consciousness, we cannot tell exactly what the consequences will be."
"What are we possibly talking about? Like not being able to talk? Hear? Walk?" Alex asked.
"All of that, Sgt. Alverez, anything could be affected. All the lobes were damaged. From her memory to moving her feet."
"Her memory?" Dean asked.
"Yes. The hippocampus has been damaged. It supports memory, learning, navigation, and depth perception."
"Let me guess, you're hoping for that one to be damaged? It would be beneficial to you if her memory were gone," Alex said under his breath to Dean.
"Fuck you," Dean whispered back.
"There was a deep laceration on her cheek. We did our best to repair it and hopefully limit the scarring. If it bothers her, she can always speak to a plastic surgeon." he said.
"Wait. Stop. What happened to her cheek?" Dean asked.
"Your wife suffered a laceration to her right cheek from here to here."
Alex rolled his eyes at the word wife.
The doctor motioned from the chin up to just below the ear.
"Oh my God," Bruss said.
Dean grasped his hands behind his head, pulled his head forward, and bent over.
"She will have full functionality of her face. No nerve damage was done. Which was a miracle."
Her hand is broken. With a bit of physical therapy, she should get used to it."
"Oh, this just keeps getting better and better," Alex said.
Bruss's phone rang. It was Nagy.
"I have got to take this," he said. "You two behave yourselves."
"Is there anything else I need to know about?"
"We. We need to know about it," Alex said.
"She has three fractured ribs and a deep bone bruise on her hip."
Dean stood up. He had at least 8 inches on the doctor.
"Please tell me that's it. I can't take much more. I just want to see my wife," he said.
Alex just wanted to oust him so badly.
He also stood up; he was about 5 Inches taller.
The doctor looked up at both of them. He almost seemed apprehensive to continue. He was afraid they were going to kill the messenger. He really wished Bruss was still in the room.
"We had to put her in an induced coma," he said.
"What's an induced coma?" Alex asked.
"It is also known as a medically induced coma. An MIC. It is so her brain can rest. We will be giving her pentobarbital. We can bring her out when we can determine if the swelling has gone down. Her brain will tell her when she can regain independent consciousness."
"What will that do to the baby?"
"Hopefully, she will only be under for a few days."
Alex stepped into the doctor's personal space.
"What will that do to the baby?"
You could see the fear in the doctors' eyes.
"She will be sedated also. We are using the smallest possible dose."
"When can I see her?" Dean asked.
"We are moving her to the ICU. She is going to need constant monitoring," he said.
"Thanks, Doctor," Alex said.
He was trying desperately to get a grasp on the situation.
Bruss had walked back into the room.
"We'll take good care of them both," the doctor said.
He smiled at Bruss and walked away.
"Holy shit," Dean said.
He was breathing quickly, close to hyperventilating.
"Sit back down, guys," Bruss said. "Dean, you really need to calm down."
Dean looked at Alex. "You don't seem very upset."
"There's a difference between being upset and being crippled by guilt. I am concerned about Allie, but knowing that Peanut is ok comforts me."
"Peanut? The baby is Peanut?" Guess she didn't get a cat.
"Yeah. Do you like that? Cute? I came up with it. Allie loves it."
"Okay, guys, would you like to hear what I found out from Nagy, or are we going to continue the pissing contest?"
They looked at each other.
"So, this is what I found out. At least the best we can gather with the available information and the condition of her apartment. Nagy said her apartment looked like a hurricane went through it. Personally, I think that is a pretty accurate description of Allie," Bruss said.
"Yeah, that is actually a great description," Dean said. "They thought she was crazy when in reality she was a hurricane wrapped in skin stitched together by the raging force of a wild heart and tortured soul longing to be loved and understood."
"Wow, Dean. That was beautiful," he said.
"Victoria Lozada. I stumbled upon it shortly after I met her. It was so beautiful, just like her."
"Well, it's perfect for her," Bruss said.
"Okay, what did you find out besides hoping her renter's insurance is current?" Alex asked. "Which it is, by the way. I would know. I've been there."
"Oh, give it a rest already," Dean said.
"No rest for the weary. Not until I know that they are okay."
"Can I continue?"
"Sorry," they said together.
"The perpetrator was able to gain entry into the building. He picked the lock to open the door. No forced entry. It appears that she heard him before he got to her. She made a 911 call and left the line open. They found the phone on the floor in her bedroom.
"I think he means our bedroom," Alex said.
"You want to die, don't you?"
"You first."
"God, you two, this is getting exhausting." Bruss squeezed his eyes shut, stretched his hand across his forehead, and put his thumb on one temple and his ring finger on the other.
"If I can, please continue. Dispatch heard the entire call. LOTS of swearing and things breaking was what I was told," Bruss said.
"I want to hear the tape," they both said.
"No, you don't. Just concentrate on being here for her and her daughter," he said.
"I think you mean our daughter."
"Sperm donors don't get to lay claim. Possession is nine-tenths of the law, and they both belong with me."
"Oh, sweet baby Jesus! You know what? Let's get this over with. Come on, let me see them," Bruss said.
"See what?" Alex asked.
"You're dicks. We are settling this once and for all. I'll go get a ruler."
"Alright, we get it," Dean said.
"Carrying on, she ambushed him first. There was blood on the bedroom door and the jam. We believe she kicked the door, catching his head. He must have cut her face before he knocked her to the ground. There was a small blood pool on the floor. There is damage to his eye. The doctor said she stuck her thumb into his eye at some point to fend him off, most likely. I'm quite sure she broke her hand punching the wall. At some point, she was thrown up against the opposite wall. There is an impression of a head in the drywall there. She broke his nose, and apparently, his jaw dislocated at some point, according to the medics."
"Damn," they both said.
"I know, right."
"She threw him through the coffee table. The medics said he had a piece of it stuck into his leg."
"Is that all?" Dean asked.
"No, he hasn't told you the best part," Alex said.
"After she put him through the table, she executed a perfect armbar. At least that's what the medic said she must have done because of his sustained damage. She broke his arm backward the way they described it. She pulled his arm clear out of his socket. When the officers got there, she had him at gunpoint. It was intense. Geraci said she was in a trance or something. She had the Glock pressed--"
"It was her Sig Saur P365," Alex said.
"What?" Bruss asked.
"It was her Sig, not her Glock."
"Yeah, actually, you're right, it was. She had pressed it so hard to his temple it was like she wanted it to come out the other side of his head. I guess at first, she didn't respond when the Fancher told her to remove the gun. She was talking to herself."
"Well, that's not new," Alex said.
"What does that mean?"
"If you were here, you would know."
"She did let Fancher take the Sig. He said she stood up, told him, and I quote, "You broke into the wrong house motherfucker. I'm a mother fucking Marine. She kicked him in the ribs and then spit, hitting him in the face right in the eye."
"She does have impeccable aim," Dean said.
"That she does. You should watch her play darts sometime," Alex said.
Dean's ears started to turn red.
"She finished by telling him he was lucky she only broke his arm because it could have been his neck."
"She could have easily snapped his neck," Dean said.
"I don't know if he's lucky to be alive," Bruss said.
"Damn. She is a hurricane."
"More like an IED."
"Once a Marine, always a Marine. She was right. He broke into the wrong house," Alex said.
"You seem to be taking a lot of this well. How did you know about the gun? The dislocated arm?"
"I knew because Fancher told me."
"I asked you if you knew anything when I got here."
"I lied."
A chapter was missed. If you haven't rea