Catch Me Falling (18 page)

I
saac was finishing
up a chart when the trauma pager beeped. He finished up, signed off, and saw Craig standing there, looking for him.

“It looks pretty bad,” Craig said, his voice low.

Isaac spun to look at him. “What is it?” he asked, standing. He needed to scrub, needed to prep.

“Mugging victim, and the perpetrator.” Craig led the way to the bay, apparently ready to be backup. The nurses were already there, preparing the code cart and anything else that might be needed.

Isaac raised his eyebrows. “Perpetrator?”

“Somebody overheard him,” Craig said, his eyes steely. “He was beaten up when the cops got there.”

Justice, Isaac thought but didn't say. His job was not to declare justice, his was to see the perpetrators and get them ready enough to the court. “Both in the trauma bay?”

“Girl is, he's not. The paramedics think they know who she is, but they aren't sure. She's pretty beat up.”

Both Isaac and Craig were gowning up, getting ready to go in the bay. “Tentative identification?” he asked, scrubbing.

“They haven’t said yet.” Craig shrugged, and then glanced up when the paramedics came barreling in with a woman on the stretcher.

“Bring her in,” Isaac ordered, following. “Any ID on her?”

“We haven’t double-checked, but we think this is Alexa Matthews, the hospital lawyer. Perp was taken to a different hospital.” The older paramedic, a lady, barely glanced at Isaac as she barreled by. “Incredibly critical, multiple stab wounds to her abdomen.”

He froze, his veins feeling like they were full of ice. His eyes were wide, dread settling over him like a thick blanket. Oh no. If it was her, he couldn't do it. He couldn't save her. It was a breach of hospital policy. Doctors couldn’t treat their loved ones. What had happened to her? Who had hurt her? He had to be there, he had to see her.

“I have to see her.” He looked at Craig. “I can’t treat her.”

Craig studied him briefly. “I’ll get her stabilized. You keep this bay running. She looks bad and is drifting in and out of consciousness thanks to meds. She’s freaking out, but I don’t think they hit anything critical.”

Isaac took a shaky breath. “Just – the moment you know anything, let me know.”

Damn his job. Damn his ethics. But he knew he couldn’t treat her. He was too much of a mess, he would fuck up her care. But. Stabbed?

“What happened?” he asked the paramedics the moment she emerged from the trauma bay.

“The police will be here soon,” she said, glancing at the hospital entrance.

“I don’t care,” Isaac said. He kept his voice as professional as he could. “We need to know.”

The paramedic sighed. “It sounds like a domestic dispute gone wrong. She rejected him, and he stabbed her. Not the first time from what we could tell.”

Isaac’s blood ran cold. Damien. It had to be that motherfucker that Isaac had seen at the bar. The one who had kissed Alexa with his slimy mouth.

“Where is he?” Isaac asked, his tone vibrating with anger.

“We took him to a different hospital,” she said. She studied him. “Standard procedure. Then the police will haul his ass to jail.”

“Smart,” Isaac said.
Because I would have killed him
, he didn’t say.

The paramedic studied him for a moment longer, then left. Isaac turned to the ER, watched it. Saw the familiar thrum of the people in it, the motions, the movements. People saving lives, even though it felt like his was hanging in the balance.

He wanted to see her, wanted to see that she was okay. He wanted to tell her that he loved her. That he didn't want to live his life without her. It wasn't the right time, in a way. But she had to know. What if she died? He could lose her without her knowing what she really meant him.

But he forced himself to go through the motions. Signed off easy orders, referred the others to doctors who weren’t operating in a daze.

It felt like forever before Craig came out, blood on his gloves. “She’s stable. He didn’t hit anything important.” He tugged off his gloves, tossed them in the biohazard bag. “Don’t know when she’ll wake up, but you can see her.”

Without a word Isaac headed straight for the trauma bay, pausing to pull on a gown and mask so he didn’t contaminate her. She was laying there on the bed, two nurses monitoring her equipment. She would probably be moved to a room, maybe the ICU. “How bad is it?” he asked the older of the nurses. Chris.

She looked at him, then looked down at her. “They’re shallow. Six of them. She’ll be fine.”

Isaac took a shaky breath, ran a hand through his hair. “Titers? Pressors?”

“She’s maintaining her BP, although she’s a bit shocky from blood loss.” Chris tapped a dark red bag on the IV pole. “Little bit of this and she’ll be right as rain.”

He looked at her. His breath caught in his throat. She looked – broken. Bloodied. Her face was puffy and bruised, signs of a significant beating. Her abdomen was covered in bandages, but no chest tube. That was good.

He stepped closer. “Alexa?” He said softly. Craig reappeared on the other side, nodding to the nurses to step back.

She was quiet, but her heart monitor bleeped. Then bleeped again. He frowned at it, his heart racing. Was her heart giving out?

“She may not wake up for a while. She’s on heavy sedatives.” Craig glanced at the IV pole.

Her fingers twitched, and Isaac moved forward. Her eyes fluttered open, exhaustion and pain making them bleary. “Hello,” he murmured, searching her face for any signs of distress, of fear, of anger. It was strange, treating her like a patient. Using his gentle, reassuring voice. But part of him was shaking with rage, part of him wanted to find the man who had done that to her and rip him to pieces.

She saw him, and the emotions that flashed over her tired face were faster than he could follow. Then she started sobbing silently, tears coursing down her cheeks. She reached out for him, grabbed his arm, sobbed more and more. The tears would never end.

He looked at Craig, helpless.

Craig raised his eyebrows and stood back, leaving the two of them alone.

Ignoring the people surrounding them, Isaac moved closer, touched her arm so she knew she wasn’t alone. “Alexa,” Isaac said, trying to reassure her. “You're okay,” he murmured, stroked her hair gently.

She sobbed. “It was him,” she said, her words broken up by shuddering breaths. Exhaustion slurred the words. “My ex-boyfriend.”

“I know.” He traced the scars on her shoulders with gentle, tender hands. He stroked her hair, leaned down and kissed her forehead. She clung to his hand tighter, almost pitifully. It broke his heart, seeing her like that. Seeing her so broken and desperate. “Do you want me to stay here?” He asked.

“Please don’t leave me.” She looked at him, her emerald green eyes watery from the tears.

“I’m not leaving you,” Isaac said, and it was a promise. He looked at Craig.

Craig nodded, talked to one of the nurses in a low voice.

Was it the right decision? Was it wrong? It was probably an inappropriate one, but Isaac didn't really care. She was more important than his job.

Her sobs were quieting, but she still let out soft hiccups as she calmed down. Her eyes were starting to go unfocused, her eyelids drooping.

He touched her chin lightly, and she looked up at him. “I love you,” he murmured, leaning down to press a gentle kiss to her lips.

She hissed, and he winced. Everything hurt, probably. “Really?” she mumbled against his lips. Her eyes were on his, but she was starting to doze. The meds were kicking in.

“Yes.” He stroked her hair, standing back so the nurses could do what they needed to without his interference.

“I thought you didn't,” she whispered, looking away from him.

“I know,” he murmured, mostly thankful for his colleagues’ sense of decorum. At the end of all of this, the story wouldn’t be spread all over the hospital.

He hoped.

“I’ve got the case,” Craig told him quietly. “You’re free to stay with her.”

Isaac looked at him, torn. “My shift -”

“I’ve got someone to cover it.” Craig tapped his phone.

Isaac looked down at Alexa. She was dozing now, knocked out from the sedatives she been given. She still needed to be worked up, checked for more severe internal injuries, but she would be able to relax pain-free for a bit. “No,” he said. “While she sleeps, I can work.”

Craig was shaking his head. “Be there for her,” he said. “She needs you as much as you need her.”

Isaac didn’t cry, he wasn’t that sort. But he felt close to tears with relief when he followed Craig and Alexa to get checked for internal injuries. He would be there for her when she was scanned, when she was cleared, when she was moved to a private room. He would take her home, and he would look after her. They had that stupid sandwich recipe that he could make and probably screw up, but it would make her smile.

And all he wanted to do was to make her smile, to see that expression light up her face and his world.

A few hours later they were settled in the private room, his hand clutched in hers. She had been cleared. She had been lucky.

Her eyes fluttered open, and she looked at him. “You're still here,” she said, her voice weak. Surprised.

Isaac smiled, leaned down and kissed her tenderly. She reached out with her other hand, touching his cheek. He held her hand to his cheek, kissed her palm. “Please stay,” Alexa whispered, her words just for him. She didn’t show this side to other people, didn’t allow herself to be vulnerable around anyone but him. He would take care of her, he would protect her. No one would ever be able to hurt her again.

The emotions he had been trying so hard to avoid ravished him, and he felt for a moment like he was drowning in her. He had been falling and she had saved him. “Forever,” he promised. She smiled at him, and then her eyes fluttered closed again. He kissed her hand. She didn’t need to worry. He would be there when she woke up.

I
t was
three weeks since Alexa had been attacked by Damien, since he had been arrested and finally removed from her life for good. Isaac had almost never left her side. Work, of course, kept him busy. But after calling in favors, he was maybe working a shift a week.

It hadn’t even been a question where she would go after leaving the hospital. She had gone straight to Isaac’s lake house and he had attempted to make her sandwiches, and she had realized that she could not live without him. They would have to find a new place closer to her work. Maybe split evenly between the hospital and her new firm. They had a few months.

Isaac picked up a box from the counter, and she narrowed her eyes at him. “It's just sandwiches,” he said, kissing her again.

She forced herself to relax. While she was happy with him, she loved him, she wasn’t sure she was ready to get engaged or married. Not yet. Eventually, as long as it was him. But not yet.

He studied her, leaned in and kissed her again. His lips were slow, tender, against hers. She shivered. “When it's more than sandwiches,” he said softly. “You'll be the first to know.”

It sent a flush through her, a warmth. He loved her, and every day she told herself that she was lucky for finding him. Because she was. He loved her, this strange and mysterious man.

“That's a little way in the future,” she said cheerfully.

He winked. “Not as long as you think, if I get my way.”

She narrowed her eyes, frowned at him. “Come again?” she asked.

H
e took
her to the house that had the bridge. One of her favorite places. She looked at Isaac with wide eyes. “Why are we here?”

“I know you like this place,” he said after a moment. “So I thought I'd bring you here again.” She looked at him, her eyes narrowed. He ignored her and led the way inside, a smile on his face.

Cheeky bastard.

She liked getting her feet wet, sharing some of the local nature with the two of them. It was so easy to get caught up in the bridge’s history, its old time feeling. When he did propose – sometime in the future – she hoped it would do it here.

She slid her hands over the wood, felt him smile at her.

“Do you remember this?” he asked, heading over and pointing at the three initials on the wall.

She nodded. “Your siblings,” she said. She came over to stand by him, her arm around him with only a faint hiss. Her wounds had healed relatively well, but her stomach was still sore, the muscles still healing.

She could feel him take a deep breath, his gaze flickering between her and the wood. “I was the oldest of three children,” he said slowly. His finger traced the well-worn etchings in the wall. “My family was normal until I turned seven.”

She watched him, not speaking. Just offering support.

“Then Dad started hearing things. Imagining things.” He swallowed. “It wasn’t often. We could pretend it didn’t happen.” She watched him trace the initials with his finger. “I came home from school late one day. I'd gotten detention. I'd thrown something at another student.” He didn't smile at the memory. Instead, his face looked haunted haunted. “When I came home, there was blood everywhere. Everywhere.”

He let the grief show on his face. The sorrow. She could even see tears prickle at the corner of his eyes. “He had stabbed them, then he had stabbed my mother. Then he shot himself.” Isaac breathed in, breathed out. “He stabbed me. That’s the cut here.” He traced the thin, almost invisible mark in one of his ab muscles. “I called 911. Went with them to the hospital.”

Alexa hugged him closer.

“None of them survived.”

Alexa stepped up on her toes, ignoring the pain it sent through her, and she kissed him. “That is what I see when I close my eyes,” he said against her lips. He kissed her, heated, and then let go. “That is why I have nightmares.” He swallowed, his voice shaky.

She looked at him and reached out a hand. He took it, and drew her against him, held her close. He leaned down, kissed her gently. “I want to put our names here next to theirs,” he said, producing a knife from his pocket. She looked at it, looked at him. “So they get to meet you, in a way.”

Alexa looked at him, and there were tears in her eyes. She seemed a little bit overwhelmed. She stepped up on her tiptoes, kissed him. “I’d like that,” she said softly. Her heart felt like it was overflowing. She would never meet his family, not in this world. But she would get to meet them this way. “Can I see the graves?”

He inhaled sharply, looked at her with surprise in his eyes. “I can take you tomorrow.”

Alexa hugged him close, kissed him again. “I love you.”

There was wonder in his eyes, his smile. “I love you too.”