Grounded (Up in the Air #3)(120)

"Paterson and Henry died before the paramedics could arrive. Your … father did as well."

I processed that, blinking away tears. "You wouldn't believe how many holes he had in his chest, and still he kept coming … "

"It was a bullet to the brain that ended him," James told me. "Stephan came to just long enough to take him out. I owe him yet another debt that I can never repay."

My chest burned and I shut my eyes, letting awful tears run down my cheeks. Of course Stephan had survived long enough to save me. My hero. I couldn't lose him. My eyes shot back open as a thought occurred. "Did he see my father shoot me?"

"He must have. They deduced that your father must have gotten off the shot just before Stephan fired. They tell me your struggle is all that saved you. He shot into your cheek. There was damage, but he missed his target."

I tried to touch the bandaged side of my face. "How on earth?"

"You've lost significant hearing in that ear, and they had to do surgery on your jaw. There will be scarring along your jaw and cheek, but we will make sure it's minimized as much as possible. You will have the best plastic surgeons in the world at your disposal."

He continued to talk, but I barely even heard him, my mind still on Stephan. I couldn't care less about the scarring, my jaw, or even the loss of hearing. I was alive. The rest were details.

But Stephan …  Stephan had to live. "How long was I out?"

"Four days."

"Tell me about Stephan's wounds."

"Both bullets missed his heart, if only barely, but one punctured a lung, and he's had some internal bleeding that has persisted. The doctor who performed the surgery believes that it was a success, but he says that Stephan won't be out of danger until his vitals stabilize. It's been very touch and go. They tell me he's improved, followed by a decline, but he's getting the best care available, and he's a healthy young man, so they say we can be hopeful, even though he's not yet stabilized."

"If I see him, if I speak to him, it will help," I said, more hopeful than certain. "If he knows I made it, he'll pull through. He would have been devastated if he watched my father shoot me. This will help."

My vision was completely blurred with tears as they rolled my bed beside Stephan's. They wheeled me as close as possible, my feet pointed in the direction of his headrest. They were considerate enough to bring our unencumbered hands close. Javier was on the other side of him, his head bent over his other IV covered hand.

I gripped his fingers in mine, squeezing. "I made it, Stephan. I'm fine. You saved me again, but you need to wake up now. You were hurt, but it's nothing that you can't survive. Please, wake up." I got louder as I spoke, my voice rough with emotion.

He didn't so much as twitch. I glanced at his heart rate monitor, but could make no sense of it. I glanced at the closest nurse. "Have his vitals improved?" I asked her.

She pursed her lips. "They haven't altered."

They let me linger for a few more minutes, and I murmured soothingly to Stephan. He never responded, never moved. I hadn't really thought he would, but I felt a crushing disappointment as they wheeled me away from him. Some part of me had been arrogantly hoping that the sound of my voice, and the knowledge that I had survived, would be enough to rouse him. He had been my last thought as I'd blacked out, and my first thought on waking. Knowing him as I did, I had just assumed that seeing me fall had been like that for him. Perhaps it really was beyond his control. That thought defeated me more than anything.



       
         
       
        

I drifted off as they carted me back to my own room, and I knew by the floaty feeling that it was a drug induced sleep.

When I woke again, James was watching for it. He was speaking to me the instant my eyes blinked open groggily.

"He's improved. Less than two hours after you spoke to him, he opened his eyes for the first time, and they tell me his vitals have finally begun to improve. The doctor went so far as to say that there is a good chance that he will pull through."

"How long was I asleep for?"

"Only four hours. Stephan's first word was your name. He was just as frantic to see you, though he was in no condition to pull his own IV out."

There was a reprimand in his voice, and I could hardly blame him. I studied him, trying to see just how much he'd been damaged by it all, because I knew for a certainty that he had.

"You were right," I told him, "I shouldn't have gone back to the house." I'd been so sure he was just overreacting, but somehow his instincts had been dead on. I'd never dreamed that my father could still get to me with so many people protecting me, but he had managed to beat all reasonable odds. "Are you furious with me?"