Lost (3 page)

He waited. He waited until his breathing normalized. Until his nose stopped running. Until his fingers were so cold, he could barely curl them.

No one was coming. Maybe no one even realized he was gone yet.

He stood and started to run again, cutting through the woods, just hoping he was going the right way. All he needed was a road. That, at least, would be a start. He almost laughed when he heard traffic up ahead. He was on his way. He was on his way back to her.

From:
X22

To:
Y

Subject is en route to hospital after minor delay caused by the girl. Nothing to be concerned about. Everything has gone as planned.

From:
Y

To:
X22

Do not let the subject out of your sight. The girl cannot get in the way again. I need not remind you of the importance of this operation. I will accept no mistakes.

All that was left of him was a bloodstain and a gold tooth on the sidewalk.

Lobotomy

ICU, ICU, ICU . . . Intensive Care
unit. This is definitely not good,
Gaia thought as she bounced up and down on the balls of her feet, watching the little numbers on the elevator wall light up.

The nurse and the guy in the wheelchair behind her were watching closely as Gaia willed the elevator to move faster. She didn't blame them for staring. After all, she did have a fresh cut on her cheek, and she did smell like garbage, and she did look like she'd just woken up on the street, totally strung out. Add to that the fact that the nurse downstairs had told her her father was still unconscious and in
intensive care,
and Gaia was sure she was coming off as pretty damn scary.

Finally the bell above her dinged, the doors rattled open, and Gaia stepped out of the elevator and almost directly into the arms of a waiting Ed Fargo.

“Hey,” she said, reveling in his closeness and the safety of his embrace. “How'd you know it was me?”

“They called up from downstairs and told the nurse my sister was on her way up,” Ed said, pulling back and cupping her face with both hands. His eyes crinkled at the corners, and her heart gave a pleasant little flop. “Hey, sis,” he said.

“Okay, now I definitely need therapy,” Gaia said, managing to crack a smile.

Ed turned her face slightly and winced when he saw the cut down her cheek. “Ooh,” he said. “Are you all right?”

“You should see the other guy,” Gaia joked. She hadn't, in fact, seen him again. When she'd finally come to, Behemoth had been gone. All that was left of him was a bloodstain and a gold tooth on the sidewalk.

Ed tenderly kissed the spot just above the top of the cut, and Gaia sighed at the tingling sensation in her skin. She knew it was probably the last good thing she'd feel for quite a while.

Gaia turned and looked around the ICU unit. It was made up of a circle of rooms surrounding a circular desk, at which sat three nurses who were sipping coffee and gabbing happily, like the people in the rooms around them weren't all at death's door, including her father. That was what the ICU was, after all—the last stop before going over to the other side.

Natasha and Tatiana stood next to a room on the far side of the unit, their heads bent close together as they spoke urgently. The curtain was drawn over the door next to them, and Gaia could see the shadows of figures moving around inside.

Her father was in that room. Prone. Unconscious. How could this be happening?

Gaia took a deep breath and leaned her side into
Ed. For some reason, she wasn't quite ready to approach that room. “Is he . . . ?”

“He's stable, but he hasn't woken up yet,” Ed replied, wrapping his arm around her. “They have a couple of specialists in there now.”

“Specialists?” Gaia asked, tilting her head up to look at him. She didn't like the sound of that.

“Neurologists, I think,” Ed replied.

“I don't understand this,” Gaia said, allowing herself an unusual amount of vulnerability. “He choked, the EMT guy gave him the Heimlich. . . . He should be fine. Why is he unconscious?”

“I don't know,” Ed replied, hugging her a bit closer. “But I'm sure they'll figure it out.”

Yeah, right,
Gaia thought.
The brilliant doctors will figure it all out.
Why did she have a hard time believing that? Maybe because no one she knew had ever gone into a hospital and come out the better for it. Maybe because it was impossible, in her life, for things to improve. Everything always just got worse and worse until it seemed like she'd hit rock bottom. But then—surprise!—somehow she always managed to blast through that bottom rock and burrow a little deeper.

“Come on,” Ed said, giving her a nudge. “Let's go wait with Tatiana and her mom.”

Gaia allowed Ed to lead her around the ICU desk and over to the wall where Tatiana and Natasha were
standing. The nurses fell silent as they walked by, gawking at Gaia's injury and shooting each other glances. Already Gaia hated the ICU. It was bright, it smelled of ammonia, and it was way too clean. In her battered, dirty, broken state, she stood out like a clown at a funeral.

“Gaia?” Natasha questioned as she and Ed approached. The older woman was clearly thrown off by Gaia's mangled appearance.

“Hi,” Tatiana said, glancing at Gaia's cut. “What happened?”

“Nothing unusual,” Gaia replied, lifting one shoulder. “For me, anyway.”

Tatiana smiled her understanding smile, and Gaia was grateful that there would be no more questions. They had more important things to focus on.

“What's going on?” Gaia asked. Ed still had his arm around her, and she didn't move away. She felt like she kind of needed it there right now. She could hear low voices on the other side of the curtain. Two men whispering as they checked monitors, made notes, decided her father's fate.

“There is a Dr. Galvin and a Dr. Simbuka examining your father,” Natasha said, her hands clasping her elbows tightly. “They said they will be out shortly.”

The voices suddenly grew the tiniest bit louder, and Gaia saw two pairs of highly shined shoes at the bottom of the curtain. Her heart leapt with hope, and
she chided herself for it. It wasn't as if they were going to have good news. That couldn't possibly happen.

The curtain snapped aside, and a tall man with sandy blond hair and the whitest teeth Gaia had ever seen stepped out of the room. He wore a pristine white coat and a tie with little yellow flowers all over it. It was all a bit too Mr. Rogers for Gaia. He moved aside, and a much smaller, much pudgier, much younger man with dark skin and a short ponytail stepped out after him.

“Mr. Moore?” the taller man asked, looking at Ed.

Ed took a moment to snap to at the sound of his newly adopted name. “Uh . . . yeah. This is my . . . other sister, Gaia,” he said, loosening his grip on her slightly.

Other sister?
Gaia thought. Then she saw Tatiana out of the corner of her eye and realized that they'd all appropriated Tom as family so that they could be here. So that the doctors would talk with them.
Smart move.

“Gaia, this is Dr. Galvin and Dr. Simbuka,” Ed said. They each reached out to shake hands with her in turn. Gaia touched them each briefly, then pulled her arms back in to hug herself.

“How's my dad?” Gaia asked. “Is he awake?” She hated the childish, hopeful sound of her voice.

“I'm afraid not,” Dr. Galvin replied. He looked down at his chart, stalling for time. Gaia knew that he
didn't have anything written there that he couldn't just rattle off. There was something he had to tell them that he didn't know how to tell them. Or didn't want to.

“What is it?” Gaia asked, her concern and impatience getting the better of her.

“Well, your father's vital stats are all good,” Dr. Galvin said. “His heartbeat is a bit slow, but his brain waves are strong—”

“His brain waves?” Natasha blurted, disturbed.

“Yes,” Dr. Simbuka put in, leaning forward slightly to see Natasha past Dr. Galvin. “It's a routine test for an unconscious patient. And like Dr. Galvin said, they're strong, so that's a good sign.”

Unreal,
Gaia thought, glancing up at Ed.
There's an actual good sign.

“But still, I think we're going to need to call in a specialist,” Dr. Galvin said, making a quick note on the chart.

“Wait, I thought you were a specialist,” Ed said.

“I am, son, but we're going to need a pathologist. You see, with vitals like these, there doesn't seem to be any real cause for your father to be unconscious,” Dr. Galvin explained. “Your father's condition is highly irregular.”

Figures,
Gaia thought as his words sank in. When was anything in her life ever regular? Couldn't a person just eat dinner with his family and get
through it without a major medical emergency? Nope. Not in her particularly freakish brand of existence.

“What does this mean?” Natasha asked, reaching out for Tatiana's hand. Her daughter gripped her fingers tightly. “Will he be all right?”

“Unfortunately we're going to have to wait for the pathologist's opinion. We'll run some more blood tests, and we'll do another EEG in the morning to see if anything has changed,” Dr. Galvin said as Dr. Simbuka cleared his throat uncomfortably behind him. “I suggest you go home and get some rest. Hopefully we'll have some answers by tomorrow.”

Rest.
Yeah, right.
Like that was going to happen.

“Oh, no,” Gaia said. “I am not leaving this hospital.”

Ed reached for her, but she'd stepped away from him. Although moments ago she seemed to need his touch, now the thought of touching anyone was repelling. She knew it was childish, but she hadn't heard what she wanted to hear. She hadn't heard that her father was going to be just fine. Instead she'd heard that his fancy Manhattan round-the-clock team of specialists knew little more than the janitor mopping down the ladies' room. And now they wanted her to
leave
him here? Alone? No. She would not be calmed down. Not even by Ed.

“Gaia,” he said soothingly.

Gaia's shoulders tensed. “I'm sorry, but there's no
way I'm leaving here tonight,” she said, gripping herself even more tightly.

She had to be here to keep an eye on things, or who knew what they would do to her father? By tomorrow he could have a lobotomy, amnesia; he could be paralyzed. Gaia had been handed over to Loki and his men by a bunch of hospital personnel who hadn't even bothered to check and see if she was a
patient
at their hospital.

“Gaia, come on,” Ed said, touching her shoulder from behind. “The last thing you need right now is to be up all night.”

Gaia sighed and let her shoulders slump slightly. She knew he meant well, but he couldn't possibly understand how she felt at that moment. With every fiber of her being she knew that if she stepped one foot outside this hospital, her father was going to get worse. This was her life. It was the only way things ever went down. At least if she stayed here, she would feel like she had a modicum of control.

“Please, Ms. Moore,” Dr. Galvin said. “We'll take good care of your father.”

“I'm not going,” Gaia said more firmly this time, looking up into the man's kind, clear blue eyes. Then she turned and looked at Ed, willing him to just hurry up and agree with her. She couldn't take much more of this standoff. She was teetering on the edge of some serious misery, and the last thing she wanted to do
right now was fight with anyone. Least of all him. “I'll stay in the waiting room, but I am not leaving this hospital.”

Ed sighed, resigned, and the doctors seemed to read him perfectly. Ed knew there was no point in arguing with her, and they decided to take his cue. Dr. Galvin looked at Gaia and shrugged. “Suit yourself,” he said. “But I really don't see the point.”

Of course you don't,
Gaia thought.
You've probably never been kidnapped right out of a hospital bed.

“Well, I'm going to go home to see if I can try to distract myself. Maybe get some studying done,” Tatiana said. She crossed over to Gaia and gave her a quick but firm hug. “You call me if anything changes, okay?” she said, smiling reassuringly.

“I will,” Gaia said, grateful at the very least to have people around her who cared for her. Who cared for her father. For once she didn't have to deal with everything alone, which was comforting.

Tatiana turned and gave her mother a nice, long hug, whispered something in her ear, and walked off toward the elevators. Gaia couldn't help but notice the doctors watching her appreciatively as she sauntered away.

“I'll stay,” Ed said, slipping his hand into Gaia's. “For a while, anyway.”

“Thanks,” Gaia said, her heart warming pleasantly as she gave his hand a squeeze. “Are you sure?”

“Come on,” Ed said, tugging on her arm. “Let's go see what they have in the vending machines. I bet a sugar rush would cheer you up right now.”

Gaia rolled her eyes but cracked a small smile. What would she do without Ed Fargo? Probably curl up in a ball in the corner and slowly lose it. She looked at Natasha as she took one step away from her father's room.

“Keep an eye on the door,” she mouthed. Even though Loki had been neutralized, there was still a slight chance that his men could be a threat to her father. They were, after all, still out there, and one of their main purposes in life was to kill Tom Moore. Gaia didn't want anyone or anything interfering with her father's recovery. If there was even going to be one.

Natasha nodded, understanding. “I'm just going to talk to the doctors a bit more,” she said.

Gaia cast one last look at the door that led to her father, then allowed herself to be pulled toward the hallway.
He's going to wake up,
she told herself.
This is just a run-of-the-mill hospital visit. At this time tomorrow, you'll all be laughing about this.