Dominic sighed with relief that he could go straight away to Adele. His Dad was simply the best.
He paused on his way out the door. "Thanks, Dad, you're the best."
"Just you remember that when my birthday rolls around." His Dad responded with a wink.
~ * ~
On his way into the hospital Dominic stopped by Clint's office.
"Hey Doc, got a minute?" He called out as he knocked on the doorframe.
"Sure, Dominic, what can I do for you?" Clint's voice sounded tired. Poor bugger, being head of the hospital meant he was under some serious pressure.
"Heard Kelly woke up earlier, wondering if you could give me an idea of how long she'll be in here for? Adele wants to take her in when she leaves, and a time frame for how long we have to get organized would be great, Doc."
Dominic watched in amusement as Clint flew up out of his chair.
"She's woken up? When?" He grabbed at the pager on his belt and cursed.
"Damn it, dead battery again! I swear the current box is made up entirely of duds. Follow me, Dominic."
Dominic understood Clint's frustration. Pagers were vital to all emergency services. For a doctor, missing a page could be the difference between life and death. He followed behind Clint as he strode out of his office toward Kelly's room. They briefly stopped at the nurse's station so Clint could hand over his pager with instructions to ditch the box of batteries.
As they approached Kelly's room, Conner rose and stretched.
"Hey, Dom, Doc. Was about to come looking for you, Adele was wondering why you didn't answer her page."
"Hey, Conner, the joys of technology my man. Damn thing was dead. Is she still awake?"
"Not sure, Doc. Last check she was curled up with Adele sleeping. Poor kid." Dominic watched as Conner shook his head. Yeah, his brother was as pissed as he was about the abuse Kelly had suffered.
He and Clint entered the room, and sure enough Kelly was still sleeping and Adele was still on the bed with her. The sight before him was instantly imprinted on his soul. Adele would make an awesome mother. He fell a little more in love with her as he watched. She had Kelly protectively embraced in her arms with her cheek resting on the top of Kelly's curls, and her eyes were closed as she quietly hummed.
Adele raised her head from Kelly to look at him as they approached. He loved how she could sense when he was nearing her; he sure as hell did whenever she was close to him. He remained standing behind Clint. He didn't want to get in the way of any poking or prodding the doc wanted to do.
"Pager dead again, Clint?" she asked the doc with just a slight hint of a smirk. His mate was a cheeky one when she wanted to be.
"Yeah, damn batteries. I asked Lyn to throw out the whole box. Dominic tells me she woke up. What happened?"
Dominic drunk in his mate as she was relaying to Clint how distraught Kelly had been upon waking and what she had recounted upon her memory returning.
"Poor little mite, how on earth did she manage to get away from the monster?" Clint asked while shaking his head, his disgust easy to read in his face.
"I guess the threat of rape was motivator enough to give her strength and take a few risks." He noticed how Adele tightened her hold as they spoke. So protective. So perfect.
"I'm glad it did and I'm glad we found her. Now she has us to keep her protected," Dominic added in a firm strong voice.
Clint cleared his throat as he looked sadly down at Kelly.
"Well, don't suppose you could try to wake her for me, Adele? I'd like to check her over then I can give you an idea of when she might be able to leave the hospital."
Chapter Ten
"A week. I have one week to get everything organized or Kelly goes into the system." Adele said in a panic as she paced around her desk. Kelly was sleeping peacefully after Clint had checked her over. Thankfully all her injuries were healing up just fine and she would make a full recovery--physically anyway.
Dominic snagged her hand as she rushed past and pulled her into his chest.
"It will be fine, Adele. Take a deep breath and calm your mind down a notch. Everyone will help, you'll see."
He took her face between his hands and gave her a kiss. Adele's thoughts scattered under the onslaught. Yep, her mind had slowed down a notch or two now, bugger a deep breath. Dominic's kisses worked much better. She wrapped her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss. Dominic pulled back, sounding slightly breathless as he spoke.
"Come to dinner with me at my house. Tonight." She loved that he was as breathless as she was.
"I don't know if I have time. I have so much to do now," she whispered back.
"This will help. I promise. My parents want to get to know you, and my mum, she's got some ideas on how to help Kelly with her education. I bet Deirdre will be impressed if you have a plan all worked out on that front."