"She said your name, a couple of times. 'Jovon needs.' I think she was still trying to get you rescued. I told her you were safe, and she kind of smiled."

Jovon nodded. "Good. That's good."

Cassie got up. "I'm going down to the vending machines. Anyone want anything?"

Jovon almost said coffee, but he figured he'd already OD'd on caffeine. "No. Thanks."

"I'll go with you," Kaden said. "Let's take the stairs. I need the exercise. And a bathroom break."

They passed through the door together. Jovon stared after them with mixed envy and sadness. No doubt, somewhere between the stairwell and the ladies' room, they would find a quiet space to share a real embrace. Jovon could use a hug about now himself.

Although not from Cassie. But then the couple would come out into the public areas and go back to a limited touch, maybe a supportive glance. Their husbands were still weary of him, so he wasn't even allowed to talk to them longer than necessary.

Cassie brought back a muffin, a candy bar and a bag of chips from the machine downstairs. Jovon took them, even though the knots in his stomach didn't make food
appealing.

"Your children would be blessed to have you in their lives." he muttered. Kaden and Cassie
exchanged a cryptic glance. Jovon nibbled on the chips, more willing to face salt than cloying sweetness.

He took tiny bites, washed down with bottled water, trying to make the miniscule bag last out the hour. He missed by a mile, and spent an interminable half hour reading an automotive magazine from 2005.

Gas prices hadn't changed much.

Finally the nurse came out to invite Cassie back in. "You go," Cassie said to Jovon. "Give her my love."

The nurse hesitated, but turned and led Ian back into the unit. There were six rooms in the ICU, each a glass-walled cubicle lined with machinery. Five were in use, and
a second nurse kept watch from a central station. One old man sat at the bedside of an ancient-looking woman.

He held the woman's hand in his, but his eyes were closed. The
other patients didn't have visitors. Jovon realized with a start that it must be after midnight.

"Over here," the nurse said softly.

Annie lay on the bed, pale and still. Carefully,Jovon slid into the room and sat in the hard chair at his bedside. For a minute he just
watched the woman breathe. There was an oxygen prong up Annie's nose, and more tubes and wires than Jovon could identify running under the lightweight sheet that covered her and her round huge belly.

Bags of IV fluid and blood hung on poles, while bags of other less savory liquids were clipped below the bed.

The bruise on Annie's face had darkened, spreading from her neck over her jaw and cheek and almost up to his hairline. Scrapes on her forehead and hands testified to their blind fumbling in the dark. Her white skin had a greenish cast, pallid and translucent. Jovon
wanted to just take the woman in his arms, but even without the nurses playing witness, he was almost afraid to touch her.

Annie looked so fragile. And in the eyes of the world, she didn't belong to Jovon.

Jovon reached out with one finger to stroke the back of Annie's hand. His body hid the touch from the nurses, and he brushed over and over on a small undamaged square of skin. The world could go to hell. This was his Annie. So the woman was carrying his child and may never want to see him again. It didn't matter. Or at least, it didn't matter enough to make Jovon walk away from him again. Not when Jovon had found someone who would follow him uncomplainingly
in the darkness, just because he asked.

A woman whose first reaction on getting them out of the fire and away from Lukas was to reach back and say "Not without you." For Annie, Jovon's body would step in front of a bullet without the need for thought.

Even back in that building when it all started, Jovon's body had recognized what Annie was to him, before his mind ever knew.

He leaned in a little, speaking softly so the nurses couldn't hear. So softly that even Annie herself might not catch the words. "You have to get better, baby," Jovon whispered.
"I need you. We have a lot of talking, a lot of figuring out to do. But that's the bottom line. I love you, Ansela Mckade, and I'm not letting you go again."

For a few more minutes he sat and watched Annie sleep. That square inch of his fingertip touching Annie's wrist was all the contact they had. Jovon willed all his energy, all his strength through that touch and into Annie.

Take it, take everything, babe. I'm yours.

The nurse touched his shoulder and he startled out of his focus. "Time's up," she said softly.

Jovon stood obediently. He reached out and just brushed the unbruised side of Annie's jawline with his hand. "Cassie sends her love," he said. "She'll be back soon, and I
will too."

A man was in the waiting room with Kaden and Cassie when Jovon rejoined them. He wore a dark suit, and seemed tidy and unruffled for ICU at midnight. He stood looking out at that same unenlightening parking lot. Jovon wondered who he was there for.

The old man had remained in the ICU, unmoving. Jovon would have envied him, except that he had
a suspicion the old woman was dying. Not a reason Jovon wanted to have for being allowed to stay longer.

Jovon said to Cassie, "Annie is still sleeping. She seems pretty stable. You should get some sleep too. I can hang out here till morning."

"I don't know," Cassie said slowly.

"Go on," Jovon told her. " You've got a baby, right? Go get some sleep. I can't close my eyes yet, and this way you'll be fresh when I'm ready to crash in the morning."

"All right," she said reluctantly. "Makes sense." She gave him a quick hug. "Watch out for Annie for me. Tell her. . .tell her if she gets better fast I'll let him give her a shiny new car. A Corvette."

"You will?"

"Don't define fast. Then I can wriggle out of it."

Jovon's lips twitched. "Got it. Bait and switch. I'll tell her. Goodnight ladies."

It took a while for the family to forgive him- if you counted three days as long- and trust him enough to leave him with Annie. He wasn't going to leave anyway, and he has a little authority to see Annie since she was carrying his child.

To Jovon's surprise, as soon as the couple had disappeared down the elevator, the man in the suit turned to him. "Jovon Phim?"

"Yes," Jovon said slowly. It suddenly occurred to him that maybe this wasn't over.

Lukas and Skylar might be working for someone or had an accomplice, who might still be after them, and Annie was completely vulnerable.

His thoughts must have shown, because the man quickly pulled out a badge and passed it over. "Special Agent Kelly, FBI," he said.

"What can I do for you?" Jovon asked.

"I want to get your statement," the man said. "And I have some pictures for you to look at."

"Jesus. Can't it wait till morning? You can get my statement from the sheriff. Or the state cops. They recorded it and wrote it down. All three times."

"I will," Kelly said. "But I have a few other questions. Part of what I'm trying to determine is whether you or Ms. Mckade are still in danger."

Which echoed Jovon's concern.

"Okay," Jovon said. "Tell you what. You make sure Annie gets some kind of protection for tonight, a cop on her door, I don't care what flavor.
You do that, and I'll answer any questions you have, even if it takes all night."

Kelly nodded slowly. "The local cops are pretty swamped right now. I'll see what I can do. Where can I find you?"

"Here," Jovon said, dropping into the familiar chair and picking up an ancient magazine about fishing. "I'll be right here."

*                             *                          *

Annie swam up to awareness slowly, like digging her way out of molasses. Sound came first, humming and beeping, and over it her father's voice. He was talking in a steady aimless way, like he would to an infant, not expecting an answer.

"...so Bella had to tell him that no woman is going to buy underwear with that texture. I mean, no matter how the fabric looks, without a lining we'd be clawing it off within minutes. She proposed a sheer lining, and he had a hissy fit and accused her of trying to steal his idea. When she took this new position, she had no idea it would involve so much management." Steve's voice trailed off and there was a rustle as he adjusted
her position. "She sends her love, Ansela, but she's not likely to make it back out here this weekend. She has to take care of so many things at home, office, and even the media . . .She's a real gem, you mother. She forgave me and even convinced your brothers and sister-in-laws to do so and it would have been a very happy occasion, if your scrawny ass wasn't in that bed."

Annie tried to protest. Her ass was her best feature; Her father didn't get to insult it.

"Not scrawny." She heard the words in his head, but not much sound came out. Enough that Steve's voice moved nearer, though.

"Annie? Can you hear me?"

She grunted, not trying for words, and licked her lips. She felt parched, and her mouth tasted like something had died in there. Annie blinked hard against gummed-shut eyelids and looked up. Steve's face swam into view, blurry but smiling.

"Hey, there," He said softly. "It's about time."

"Hey." She got some sound this time. She licked her lips again. They were chapped and flaking under her tongue.

"Wait, let me..." Steve disappeared from view, and then came back. The cool glide of chapstick over Annie's mouth was a relief, but not enough.

"Water?" She rasped.

Steve's smile got bigger. "You want a drink? I have some ice chips, okay? That's all you can have, until the doctor okays more. You weren't swallowing well. But here."

The slick edge of ice touched her lips, slid inside. The moisture melting into the parched desert of her tongue was bliss. Annie sucked every drop and then opened her lips
again. Steve slipped in another piece.

"Thanks," She whispered when it was gone.

"God. Anytime, Annie. You want more?"

She risked a small nod. The room wavered a little, but not too badly. Three ice chips later, she felt almost human. "So," she tried. "Where..."

"I swear Annie, if you ask, 'Where am I?' I'll write you off as hopeless. You're in hospital. Obviously."

Obviously. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Where's. . .Jovon?"

"Oh. He's downstairs in the cafeteria, getting his ninth cup of coffee or something. He's been basically living in your room, you know, since they moved you out of ICU."

"Jovon's...okay."

"He's fine. He was a little bruised up but nothing worse. He's ready to wrestle murderers and hunt terrorists through burning buildings or whatever you need him to do."

"Bring me. . . food?" Annie quipped weakly. Jovon was okay. Hearing that was like the best drink of water in the world, washing cool right through her. She closed her eyes.

"That's my Daughter," Steve said. "Still got your priorities straight." He paused. "Does it hurt? Do you need the nurse?"

No, I need Jovon. But Jovon had blown that. No matter what her father said about Jovon sticking around for her, no matter what her foggy memory dredged up, that was clear as day. Jovon's face, walking away. Jovon would keep her safe, but the man was never going to
bring her food.

Once Annie and his baby was better he would walk away again. For a moment Annie wanted to sink back into that darkness. Her chest hurt, her side hurt, the tip of her freaking
nose hurt, it would be easy.

And then Jovon would stay...but that would be like lying. "I'm
okay," She managed, opening her eyes again. "I...we..." Memories were coming back, patchwork, in flashes of vision and sound.

A woman's body dissolving in a spray of blood. "She died. A woman died. I killed Bridget."

"Yeah, she did. And yes, you did" Steve put a finger on her lips. "Don't rush it. A lot of things happened. We'll tell you all about it, and the cops will want to talk to you too. But not now. There's nothing urgent anymore."

Anymore. Annie thought about that through the fog. She opened her mouth but Steve slipped in another piece of ice before she could speak.

"You need to rest and get better," He said. "Jovon will be here soon and he'll be glad you're awake. You've been sleeping way too long, you lazy slob."

"How. . .long?"

"You've been in the hospital almost six days," Steve told her. "Four days in ICU and two days in here."

"I don't remember. . ."

"You were pretty out of it. That's okay, you're waking up now." Steve sighed. "I'm sorry. I hurt you ever since you were a child and took my past out on you. I hope you'd forgive me with time."

If there was anything she learned while she was kidnapped, it was that life was too short to be holding grudges. Annie also knew that Lukas has been lying to her about her family not looking for her to throw her off and torture her.

"It's okay, father." She whispered. "I . . . forgive you."

Steve reached for her hand and gave it a little squeeze. Annie pretended that she didn't see the tears in his eyes. After all that happened, she finally had her father back. He was here with her, feeding her ice chips and smiling at her like she was his world. Annie wondered if she had died and was in heaven.

Annie moved a little, and pain jabbed her chest and back and side and head and. . . shit. She kept her complaint to a grunt. Then she grunted louder as a thought hit her.

"My health insurance!" She had a whopping deductible. It was the only way she could afford the coverage.

Six days in hospital! She'd never be able to pay for that. And from the feel, she wasn't getting out soon.

Steve held her still with a hand on her shoulder, stroking her hair. "Annie, don't worry about it. Really. We'll get by. I promise, it's covered. Anyway, Lea called your mother. She apologized for not being here, but she was in danger- something about her father's enemies going after her or something. She's in Panama and promised to visit when she got the all clear. You made news once again and is considered a heroine.

"'Annie Mckade's saved herself and Jovon Phim, but remains in hospital recovering from gunshot wounds'. You're famous now."

That was good, wasn't it?

But . . ."Gunshot. . .I wasn't...shot."

"Yeah, babe, you weren't" Steve told her. "Those reporters loved stretching the story and twisted it whichever way they liked."

Annie tried to focus. No memories emerged. "Fuck, that's butch," she
managed. She hated not remembering anything.

"I'll tell your mother you said so." Steve leaned over and kissed her forehead. "Listen, Annie, I'm going to go tell Jovon and the nurse that you're awake, okay? You just rest. Your mother and the rest of the family would be here tomorrow."

Like she could do anything else.

Annie closed her eyes as Steve's face slid out of view. Nothing about the ceiling tiles she needed to see.

She tried to move a hand, and felt
that fly-in-amber slowness. Nope. Not going anywhere anytime soon.

She tried to remember what happened. She got flashes of getting hit. Memories of following Jovon's body in a smoke so thick she could almost taste it. There had been a shot fired, she remembered, but she got out safely. Hadn't she?

It was Jovon who might have been shot. Somehow, Annie had things backwards.

She took a deep breath, and gasped as her chest zinged her. Had she been shot or got hit in the chest? She almost didn't want to know. Jovon would tell her. He would give her the whole story, in that calm smooth voice that made the scariest stuff seem reasonable.

She sank down into the bed, willing herself to relax. She felt her baby move in her stomach. At least she didn't have to worry about her baby being dead. She breathed shallowly, and waited for Jovon.

*                            *                           *

Jovon stepped though the elevator doors with his latest cup of the sludge this hospital that passed off as coffee, and did a quick sidestep to avoid pouring it down Steve's front .

"Oh!" He grabbed his arm and moved back from the doors. "There you are. I was just coming to get you. She's awake!"

Jovon blinked. "Awake like muttering and writhing around?"

Because that was the best Annie had managed for interminable days.

"No, really awake. She asked about you, and she said he didn't remember anything." Steve smiled, through tears in his eyes. "Damned fool is worried about her health
insurance."

Yes! Jovon grabbed Steve, kissed him squarely on the mouth, and pressed the cup into his hand. "Here. Coffee for you. I'm gonna go see her."

"I'm going to call the rest of the family," Steve told him once he got over his initial shock. "The nurse said the doctor will come by in a
while to check on her."

"Right."

Jovon walked into Annie's room almost tentatively. He and Annie had parted with so much left unsaid. And now wasn't the time to say any of it. As long as Annie was getting better, they would have time.

Annie didn't look much different as Jovon sat slowly down in the bedside chair. Still pale, thin, with the oxygen, the tubes, the monitors.
Her dark hair was greasy and
tangled, despite Ella's best efforts over the past week, and it was way shorter than he remembered- with uneven jagged cuts.  But Annie's skin didn't have that sheen of sweat that had marked the days of fever, nightmares and delirium. And when Jovon touched her arm, Annie's eyes opened.

Jovon looked into those familiar hazel depth, and smiled. "Hey, Annie. You're awake."

"Yeah." Annie's voice was thin and hoarse. "'Bout time, huh."

Jovon reached out and ran a finger over Annie's mouth. "You scared the shit out of me."

"Sorry."

"Like you planned to get hurt, just to keep me hopping, right?"

It was a joke, but Annie's brow furrowed in confusion. "I don't remember. . ."

"It's okay," Jovon tried for his most soothing tones. "Don't worry, all right? I'm here and your family is here. My family is here too. Alix  had been restless ever since she heard that you almost died. Again."

Annie moved her head on the pillow, and then winced, and reached out. "It's all mixed up. . ."

"Give it time. There's no rush." Jovon took Annie's aimlessly moving hand in his, and held it in a firm grip. "Right now your only job is getting better. Understand?"

"Yes, Jovon." Annie's eyes drooped shut. Her lips moved. Jovon leaned closer to try to catch the words. He thought he heard 'bossy' and 'tired'.
He smiled.

"Sleep, baby. I'll be here to boss you around when you wake up."

Annie made a soft sound, like a sigh, and was asleep again between one breath and the next.

When the doctor came by, Annie roused enough to answer a few basic questions, and then drifted off again before they were done. The doctor shrugged and stepped back.

"She's better, obviously," he said. "It will be a long recovery process. Between the wounds, the smoke in her lungs, and the dehydration, her body is pretty drained. But barring further complications, it looks like she'll do well."

Jovon would have danced a jig behind the doctor's departing back. Well, if he could dance, and if he wasn't afraid of waking Annie. He sat back in the chair. Steve stopped by a little later, but just gave Annie a brief kiss that she slept through and then headed for the family house. After Jovon made a quick call to his family to tell them the news, he opened the book Ella brought him. One of Annie' s favorites, she'd said.

Jovon scanned the first chapter.
It was mid-afternoon when he heard someone at the door behind him. He turned to look. The visitor was a tall pretty dark haired of about thirty. She was neatly and expensively dressed.

She carried a pot of blooming greenery and a box of chocolates. Her expression was uncertain.

"Can I help you?" Jovon asked.

"I came to see Annie," she said.

"She's sleeping," Jovon told her. "She's still pretty out of it. Can I ask who you are?"

They'd been plagued with reporters and publicity seekers at first. The ICU staff and the cop on Annie's door had held them at bay, until that protection had been pulled off.

When Annie was moved from ICU to post-op care, Jovon had convinced the hospital to keep her room unlisted. One or two intrepid news types had still showed up, looking for follow-up stories, but Annie had been unconscious, and Jovon had sent them on their way. This was
the first one today.

"I'm a friend of hers."

Jovon blinked. He didn't remember Annie or her family mentioning that Annie had a friend, except for Lea, but then again, he hadn't learned about Annie's life from her. He only knew what his PA gave him on her information.

But the woman did look familiar.

He shook his head.

"Come on in," Jovon said. "Do you want to sit down?" He rose and gestured at thechair. "Here, let me get those."

"I'm Angela. Annie's best friend, although we rarely talked to each other after we fought two years ago. I'm sure she didn't mention me, but I deserved it."

The woman passed pot and box over almost without looking at him, and sat slowly,her eyes on Annie's face. After a moment, she ran an acute gaze around the room, at the
monitors, the fluid bags.

"Tell me what happened to her," she said softly. "Medically, I mean. I read thepapers." She added as an afterthought. "I'm a doctor."

"There was a lot of bullshit in the papers," Jovon said. "But medically. . .she had inhaled smoke and was still weak from the beating she suffered. She was bleeding too. The doctors said she had several perforations." Jovon tried to remember thetechnical terms. "Then she gotten dehydration. That was bad for her and the baby. She had a drain. They took thatout yesterday. Her oxygen was low at first,because she aspirated a lot of smoke. She wasshocky. They were monitoring the baby." Jovon couldn't remember it all, just the grindingfear with each new complication.

Day after day, sitting beside Annie's bed as she lay flatand white and motionless, or restless and delirious with nightmares, pain and fever. "You couldprobably read her charts, being a friend and a doctor and all."

Angela nodded. "I will. I want to make sure they're treating her right."

Jovon started to reply, but was cut off when his phone began to ring. He excused himself and went out of the room to receive the call.

"What do you have that I don't?" Angela leaned forward as she took a closer look at Annie. "I will take back what's mine. So you better let him go while I'm still being nice."

When Jovon returned, Angela rose to her feet and retrieved her purse from the side of the bed. "I will be leaving now. I'll come back to check on her." She started for the door, but paused halfway. "Please do me a favour and don't tell Annie that I came to see her. I want it to be a surprise when she wakes up and sees me."

It was strange, but Jovon found himself nodding. "Okay. I won't."

Angela smiled at him before exiting the room.

Jovon took his place on the chair by the bedside and picked his book up. Something nagged at him about Angela, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was,aside from the fact that she looked familiar, she seemed to be lacking something to complete the picture.

Jovon shook his head.

He was just being paranoid for no reason. Annie and their baby was out of danger and so was he. The only concern they had now was Annie getting better and being healthy for the rest of her pregnancy.

Or so he thought.

QOTC: Who do you think 'Angela' was? Was Annie so right about forgiving her father so easily?  Also why isn't Annie remembering anything?