Eleven Days: An Unexpected Love (32 page)

"Welcome back, I
was
worried about you," said Mike trying to act cheerful,
but
his
face showed worry
. In
his
job, he has worried about a lot of things. Worrying about
Lana
topped them all.

"What happened?"
She
asked even though
she
didn't care.

"You fainted," answered Mike while holding
her
hand.

"What's today?" For some reason
she
lost track of time. "Mike, I have to catch my plane home."
Panic showed
in
her
voice.

"Honey, you don't have to catch your plane for several days."
Her
incoherency worried him even more. He looked at the medic for answers.

"
Her
losing time and place is normal. It's the medicine. When
she
leaves make sure
she
drinks lots of water to flush
her
system. Let
her
get lots of fresh air to clear
her
mind. Other than
her
head hurting,
she
will be fine in a few hours. Keep in mind
she
might say some crazy things."

Mike smiled when he asked the next question. "Is the medicine like a truth serum?" He knew he could tease
Lana
later
with
t
his
bit of information.
And maybe he could find out
her
true feelings for him.

"Maybe, it depends on what's on
her
mind." He finished putting ev
erything away in
his
medical bag
.

"Hey you, medical man,"
Lana
waved to the medic
.

Mike laughed, now he knew what the medic meant.

"Yes ma'am?" He couldn't help but grin at
her
.

"What did you give me?
I feel good
. You know
that
's a James Brown song. I bet you didn't think I knew
that
."

"Yes ma'am I figured you did. The doctor gave you Valium."

Mike
was
glad
to see
her
in good spirits even it
was
caused from the medicine. "Honey, the young man has to go back to work and help someone else."

"Yep, you don't want to get fired,"
she
said yawning.

Detective Quent tried to be jolly. "Well I think you found your way o
ut, Cody
give Mike your jacket and walk him out to
his
truck, and follow him to the CVS Pharmacy on Southern Artery. Quent then addressed the medic. "John,
can you follow them there and
move
Lana
to Mike's truck? We're trying to avoid the media."

"Sure. It
would
be my pleasure."

Mike reached down and kissed
her
, hating to leave
her
side. He lingered holding
her
hand for a few seconds. Finally he let go and said. "I'll see you in a few minutes, I love you."

She
said to the medic. "Hey medicine man, he loves me, did you hear him?"

The medic grinned. "Yes, I did."

They made
their way out and
she
could see the media videotaping and taking pictures. The police
stood in front of them and told them to back up, all the way across the street.
She
could hear questions asked if
she
had been stabbed or shot.
All the reporters talked and asked
questions at the same time. As
she
glanced over at the
m
she
saw someone
she
knew.
Her
mind
seemed
fuzzy
and
she
couldn't figure out how
she
knew h
im. H
e
stared
right at
her
as though he
might
be
mad at
her
, then
his
snarled mouth turned to a grin.

They pulled up to CVS and Mike ran to
her
side. "
Thanks Cody for helping
. B
aby,
do you feel okay and do you need anything?"

"I'm fine, I don't feel a thing,"
she
truthfully answered.

When they got in the truck Mike buckled
her
in the middle. He knew he could lean
her
head
against
his
shoulder.
That
position seemed to
be the most comfortable for
her
. He propped
her
head slightly behind
his
shoulder. It
was
uncomfortable for him, but he knew it
kept
her
head and neck secure.
With
in a few seconds
Lana
fell
sound asleep leaning on
his
shoulder. He had to smile at
her
when he
noticed
her
mouth was wide open.
Even though temptation set in
and he wanted to take
her
picture, he didn't. He
decided he
would
never embarrass
her
like
that
, at least not until he got to know
her
a little
better.

An abrupt stop of the truck woke
her
up and
she
realized they were at Mike's beach house.
She
was
surprised. "Why did we come back here?"

"Since
we have the bad guy behind bars
there
is
no reason not to come here.
Do you want
to go back to Hull? If you feel safer there, I don't mind going back at all." Mike didn't want to take
her
back to Hull. He
did worry
about the bump on
her
head because it
was
the size of a golf ball. Even though he knew it's better for the bump to be outside the skull, he couldn't help but worry. If they go to Hull, it
would
take longer to get
her
to the hospital if they needed to go.

"No I like your bed and t
his
is fine
with
me. Right now I just want to sleep, I don't know what they gave me, but all I want to do is sleep."

They walked in and
she
noticed the steak
had been removed and the house had been cleaned.
She
went straight to the bedroom and changed into
her
t-shirt and
drank two big glasses of water
then went to bed.

Mike
wanted
her
to drink all the water
she
could.
He wanted all the medicine flushed out of
her
system before
she
took more. Before he went in the living room, he filled
her
glass and put it on the
night stand.

He stood at the door a couple of minutes watching
her
sleep.
She
looked so small curled up under the covers.
Her
beautiful hair tossed across
his
pillow
and across
her
face. At
that
moment he knew
she
had captured
his
heart for life and
his
heart
had never felt so
fulfilled.

*****

Mike heard a knock on the door, it
was
his
brother Lance
. As he opened the door both grinned from ear to ear
. Even though they were a mirror image in looks, Mike
was
eight inches taller than
his
brother.

"It's good to see you and thanks for coming over here and cleaning up after the CSI
finish
ed
," Mike said as he gave
his
brother a hug.

"You're welcome, and how is
Lana
?" He smiled at Mike knowing how much
his
brother had fallen for t
his
lady.
His
love
was
written all over
his
face and he noticed Mi
ke couldn't sit still.
Mike
always
acted
hyper when
he started a new case
.

"
She
's great, and
she
's sleeping right now. Do you want to see what an angel
she
is?"

"No, I'll meet
her
later when
she
's ready to meet the family
. Maybe we can all get together before
she
goes home. You are smitten
with
her
aren't you?"

"Lance, I have never loved anyone like I love t
his
woman. As I told you
she
is not the typical woman I date, b
ut there is not one hair
on
her
head that
I would
change.
She
's intelligent, beautiful, outgoing, and man can
she
cook. Also,
she
can keep up
with
me on scrabble," he laughed. "You know me and scrabble I always said I
would
marry the first woman who could beat me in scrabble. And
she
is good."
His
heart raced just talking about
her
. He couldn't stop grinning.

"I can't wait to meet
her
," said Lance.

"I can't either. You will meet
her
soon."

"What caused
her
to faint?"

"We think it
's
the stress of everything.
She
has been through a lot the last couple of days, and
she
hasn't been sleeping the best, and it all caught up
with
her
. But
she
's sleeping now and I'm going to encourage
her
to re
st the last few days here.
It's over until
she
has to testify."

"I don't blame you--you have to protect
her
from all of t
his
. T
his
is your everyday life, but not hers. I think you
're
doing the right thing
by
not exposing
her
to any more of t
his
than necessary.
I'm so proud you found
her
,
she
sounds like a great gal."

"Yea
she
is,
"
said Mike as
his
phone rang and he held up a finger to tell
his
brother just a min
ute.
"Hello
…
hey Quent
.
…
What? …. Are you sure? …. I'll call Raymond now…. Thanks for letting me know." Mike's face turned white
as he flipped
his
phone shut
.