Moments Lost and Found (23 page)

 “Do you remember calling me last night,
warning me?” she nodded. “I couldn’t really understand your message, but I knew
something was obviously wrong, so I called back and Steve answered your phone.
He told me as much as he knew.” She nodded again, just staring at him still in
disbelief that he was really there.

Dr. Hernandez walked in, “Ms. Davis, good morning,
how are you feeling?”

Sam tried to smile, but winced, it still hurt.
“I’ve been better.” She tried to joke. Her mind felt a little more clear than
last night, but the pain was so bad, “It still hurts a lot.”

 “Well, that’s to be expected. Your body’s
been through quite a bit.” Sam noticed Laurent stiffen after the doctor said
that. “The good news is, your head CT only shows a mild concussion. No bleeding
on the brain.” Again, Sam tried to smile. If that was good news, the bar was
obviously set pretty low.

 “We won’t know if there’s been any vision
impairment until the swelling goes down, and by the looks of things, that’s
going to be a while. But based on where it looks like the impact was, I’m
guessing your skull took the brunt of the impact, which is also good news. But
we’ll get an ophthalmologist to look at it once they can get in there to make
sure.” Sam nodded.

 “Your shoulder was dislocated, pulled clean
out of its socket.” Again, she felt Laurent tense. “But you’re lucky, there was
amazingly very little tissue damage. It’s probably partly due to the fact that
you keep yourself in such good shape, your muscles are strong and that
definitely helps in a situation like this. It’s going to be painful, but we’re
going to pop it back in, and then you’ll be in a sling for 6-8 weeks, but we
don’t feel you need surgery.” Sam just nodded again.

 “So, I know you may not feel lucky, but,
given everything, this is all very good news.”

Sam’s voice was so quiet, she started to speak but
both the doctor and Laurent leaned in. She cleared her throat and started
again, “Thank you.” She said with a rasp, “So, what are the next steps? When
can I go home?”

Dr. Hernandez smiled, “Like I said, Sam, you’ve
been through a lot. And after we relocate your shoulder, you’re not going to
feel like going anywhere any time soon. So let’s plan on you staying tonight,
and we’ll see how you’re feeling tomorrow, ok? But my guess is that you’re
going to be with us for a couple of days. We just need to be 100% that you’re
out of the woods.” Sam nodded. For once, she didn’t feel like fighting. She
couldn’t imagine going home right now.

 “Doctor?” Sam asked. Dr. Hernandez turned
around. “Can I get up and go to the bathroom?”

 “Yes, I’ll get a nurse to help you.”

 “That won’t be necessary, I’ll help her.”
Laurent said, his tone making it clear that he didn’t want anyone else helping.

 “Laurent, I don’t want you to see me like
that.” Like she hadn’t suffered enough already, the thought of Laurent seeing
her relieve herself, she didn’t need that.

 “Samantha, could you please not argue with
me and let me take care of you.” It wasn’t really a question, but he said it
with such exasperation, such resignation, and Sam didn’t have any energy to
argue. She just nodded. The doctor saw that and left them alone.

 “I don’t know why you’d want to help me,
after what I did to you.” Sam was about to start crying again.

 “Samantha, not now, please, not now. Ok? We
can talk about all of that later. Right now, let’s get you to the bathroom,
ok?” Sam wasn’t sure she had ever heard him like this. She wasn’t quite sure
she could put it into words but the best way to describe what he sounded like
was disappointed. She couldn’t blame him. He had every right to be disappointed
in her. Lord knows she was beyond disappointed in herself. Every day since he
left her in New York, she was disappointed with the person she saw in the
mirror.

 “Ok.” Again, she didn’t have the energy to
argue or do much of anything.

Laurent lowered the side of the bed and helped her
out. Once she got her footing, he held her good arm as they walked slowly to
the bathroom. He helped her sit down on the toilet and saw her looking at the
door, and then back at him. He just shook his head and then said, “Samantha, I
have seen every inch of your body. Now is not the time to be modest. I’ll turn
around, but I’m not leaving this bathroom.”

Sam
had
lost all sense of modesty. She
realized, in situations like this, there really was no point. It took her a
moment to relax and then finally she felt the release, listening to the sound
of her pee while she stared at the bathroom floor and the back of Laurent,
wondering how she ended up here. No, she didn’t really wonder. She knew exactly
how she got there. She sighed and willed herself not to start crying again.
When she was finished, she used her good arm to steady herself on the metal bar
to her right and stood up, turned around and flushed the toilet. She walked
over to the sink to wash her hands and for the first time looked in the mirror
and gasped.  Laurent rushed to her side.

She had no idea what she looked like, she had no
idea she looked so bad, so disfigured. Her left eye was so swollen it was the
size of a golf ball. Her lip was split and puffy. Her skin was bruised and red.

Laurent was quick to come around behind her,
holding her up as she stared in horror at her reflection. “Oh my God, I had no
idea.” She chuckled, and looked at him in the reflection, “And I was worried
about you seeing me on the toilet. Little did I know what you’d been looking
at.”

Laurent gently kissed the back of her head and
said, “Come, let’s get you back to bed.” He turned her around and they walked
slowly back. Sam couldn’t believe how exhausting this little trip to the
bathroom was. Once she got back in bed she let out another huge sigh.

It was both odd and completely normal having
Laurent at her bedside. Though she knew the sad reality was that this was
temporary. She had no right to expect him to be there for her. She was grateful
that he was, but she was convinced that after he made sure she could get around
on her own, that would probably be the last time she’d see him. It would
probably have been better if he hadn’t come in the first place. It was just
going to open old wounds, not that the scab had ever really formed. She
wondered if a hurt so deep would ever subside. Even now that she had physical
wounds, nothing hurt as much as losing him. And she had no one to blame but
herself. She was so worried about her business that she lost her one and only
true love. Like the saying goes, she had no idea what she had lost until it,
he, was gone. But she couldn’t think about that now. There was no point, and,
by the looks of things, she’d have plenty of time sitting around where she
could think ad nausea.

 “Did George try to come after you?” Sam
asked, worried that, besides everything else she screwed up that she could
possibly put him in danger.

Laurent shook his head, “No. But I’ve increased
security at The Network and my house.”

Sam nodded, “Good.” She wasn’t sure what else to
say. At that moment, the police knocked on her door.

 “Ms. Davis, how are you feeling?” Officer
Hsu asked.

 “Ok, thanks. Did you catch him?” Sam asked
hopefully.

 “Unfortunately, no. Officers were dispatched
to his office last night after you called it in, but he had already fled. But
we were able to completely document the scene, so we have plenty of evidence of
the struggle.”

Laurent reacted angrily quickly getting out of the
chair and asking, “This is not evidence enough?!” pointing at Sam.

Both officers immediately placed their hands
protectively on their guns and straightened. This time Officer McCallister
spoke, “Sir, we understand you’re upset. What my partner meant was, being able
to document the crime scene with Ms. Davis’s blood and Mr. LaRue’s finger
prints in her blood, evidence like that simply completes the picture and makes
for a better case against him,” she paused, “when we catch him.”

 “You won’t catch him.” Laurent stated flatly
and sat back down, taking Sam’s hand back into his.

 “And why is that?” Officer McCallister asked
suspiciously.

 “He has dual citizenship between here and
France. If I had to bet, he was on a flight last night out of the country.
France won’t waste their time extraditing him for a case like this.”

 “You obviously know the suspect, Mr. uh”
Officer McCallister asked as she took out her notepad.

 “Mr. Román. And yes, I know him.
Unfortunately.”

 “Did you have anything to do with what
happened to Ms. Davis last night?” Sam watched as they asked this question,
they both had their hands on their guns waiting for him to react. She could see
his face turn red. She thought if she closed her eyes, she would be able to
smell the smoke coming out of his ears.

Laurent was still. He had Sam’s hand in his and
very calmly looked at her even though he was answering them and said, “No, I
did not have anything to do with what happened last night to Ms. Davis. I love
Ms. Davis.” The officers weren’t especially moved by what he just said, but Sam
just about died hearing those words come from his mouth. Her eyes welled up
again and tears started once again pouring out.

 “Ok, thank you, Mr. Román, Ms. Davis. If we
hear anything, we’ll be in touch.” They turned to leave, leaving Sam and
Laurent alone.

Sam was a mess. She was crying, and through the
sobs asked, “How can you love me, after I ruined everything? I don’t deserve
you. I was such an idiot, so stupid.” Sam cried as she babbled. She felt the
tears and snot running down her face. She was so emotional she didn’t even
care. She loved that he was there, she loved hearing what he just said, but she
hated herself. After what she had done, she couldn’t believe that he could
possibly love her. She couldn’t accept that she would ever again be good enough
for him.

Laurent just looked at her with a sad smile and
shook his head, “You certainly haven’t made it easy,
Cheri
.” He lifted
her hand to his mouth and kissed it again, holding it to his lips, he closed
his eyes and breathed deeply. When he opened them, he asked, “do you know what
I felt when I got your message last night, and then, talking to Steve and
hearing that you were here, and it was because of George.” He paused, taking
another deep breath, “and then seeing you like this, knowing that George did
this to you?” he shook his head like he was trying to erase a painful memory.

 “I’m sorry, I’m so, so sorry.” Sam was still
crying, but that’s all she could say. She had never felt so much remorse, so
much loss, so much sadness.

 “I know,
Cheri
, I know. Shhhh,
shhhh.”  He kept rubbing her good hand, “This isn’t your fault, Samantha.”
His voice was so quiet, so calm.

 “It is.” She said in between sobs, “If I had
just listened to you. If I had never accepted the account,” she started sobbing
again, “you wouldn’t have left. You wouldn’t hate me.
I
wouldn’t hate
me.” And her sobbing just increased, sniffling, “and I wouldn’t be here.” She
said, horrified.

 “Samantha, stop it. I don’t hate you. Stop
beating yourself up.”

Sam actually chuckled in between the tears and
interrupted, “George already did that for me.”

Laurent did not find the humor in that. He shook
his head and looked down, “I can’t believe he could do this to a woman,” he
swallowed and then looked at her and asked, “Did he, did…” he couldn’t finish
the sentence, but Sam knew what he was asking.

She shook her head no, “No, Laurent, he didn’t. He
tried, but I got out of there before he could.” She could see the relief as
Laurent’s shoulders relaxed. “I have you and Craig to thank for that. I don’t
know what might have happened if I hadn’t had those lessons. This all might
have been a lot worse.” Laurent nodded and Sam knew she wasn’t just saying that
to stroke Laurent’s ego or try to paint a positive picture. The reality was
likely that George probably would have succeeded in what he had set out to do
if Sam didn’t have the training she did. She wished she had done better, but
she knew that, in this case, good enough was ok.

Sam was thankful to see Sun Yun walk in. She
didn’t want to think about what George tried to do, much less talk about it.
Sun was holding a couple of syringes, smiling at her and Laurent, “How are you
feeling, Sam?”

Sam nodded, “Ok, ok.”

 “Well, I am going to put a little something
for the pain into your IV before they take you down to Ortho.” Sam’s eyes went
wide, Sun continued, “You’ll be ok. It’ll be over in a minute, but this will
relax you, and this one will help with the pain.” she smiled. Then she looked
at Laurent, “She might be a little, um, groggy when she gets back.”

 “That’s ok, I’ll be here.”

 “Laurent, you don’t have to stay. I’m sure
you have better things to do.” That earned a look from him that said
everything. He leaned back in his chair, folded his arms across his chest and
took a deep breath. Sam smiled and then said, “But it will be nice knowing
you’ll be here when I get back.” He smiled and shook his head as he rolled his
eyes.

Sun injected Sam’s IV, and almost immediately Sam
felt her eye start closing, and a nice warmth come over her. She could even
feel herself smile a little without pain. “Mmmmm. That feels niiicce.” She
heard Laurent chuckle.