Partners

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Chad woke to feel someone shaking him and unbuttoning his shirt. “Chad? Chad! Wake up!” He opened his eyes in alarm as a needle slid into his arm, looking around to see Rita kneeling in front of him with a worried expression on her face – the twin to the one on Faith’s. “Do you have any idea how heave you are?” his partner demanded angrily, “You picked a great time to stop taking care of everything all by yourself,” she added before whirling to stalk off through the doors that led to the waiting area.

Chad made to get up, but Rita pushed him back down easily. “She’s worried about you, Chad. She’ll be okay.”

That only reminded him of someone who might not be. “Andrea?”

“Hold still," Rita murmured, bending close to examine his side. “I can see the exit wound, so-”

“Andrea,” he interrupted, pushing Rita back to where he could see her face clearly. The movement sent a jolt of pain through his side and he winced. “Is she…?”

“She’s still in surgery,” Rita said quietly, ducking her head. “The bullet was lodged pretty close to a main artery.”

In his mind’s eye, Chad relived seeing Andrea crumple to the hard-packed dirt after being shot. And all that blood…she was so small, how could someone that small have so much blood in them? “What… what do the doctors say?” He didn’t think he would be able to bear it if she didn’t survive. I’d lie down on her grave and die before I lived one moment without her.

His ex-wife finally met his eyes, taking his hands in hers. “I’m not sure, Chad, but she’s strong. If anyone can make it through this, it’s Andrea. Now let’s get you patched up so you can go out there and be the first to hear when they’ve taken her into Recovery.”

Chad nodded woodenly, trying not to think of what the doctors might come to say to him – it was all too easy to construct scenarios in which one of them came to tell him that Andrea had died on the operating table. When Rita put the final bandage on his side he eased his shirt back over the wound and buttoned it slowly, only half-noticing how stiff it was with both his and Andrea’s dried blood.

Another nurse he vaguely recognized handed him a blanket as soon as the cut in his forehead was stitched up. “You might want to get cleaned up in the bathroom over there before you go out to the waiting area – have you seen yourself in a mirror lately, Lieutenant?”

After stumbling through the indicated door, Chad squinted at his reflection and ran a wondering hand over his face. It looked like he’d been dragged through the knothole of a tree backwards, Chad thought absently. The water draining down the sink slowly ran from pink to clear again when he’d finally gotten the rest of the blood off his face, neck, and hands, taking special care not to let the stitches get wet. Wrapping the blanket around his shoulders, he slowly walked towards the waiting area where Faith was pacing back and forth and wearing a hole in the tile. “About time,” she snapped, charging over to give him a hug that was much too enthusiastic for his aching side to handle. “You look like shit, Sir.”

“Good to see you too,” Chad said wearily, letting his knees collapse and dump him unceremoniously in the nearest chair. He let her nervous chatter roll over and past him, too busy thinking about Andrea to pay attention to anything Faith was saying. His brain registered the news about Fencik and Buchalter arriving in the courtroom with nearly a dozen armed thugs in tow and she rattled on about Detweiler, Booth, El Giron, and Mrs. Garza until she finally realized he wasn’t listening.

His mind filled with visions of what could happen, Chad didn’t even realize that he was rocking back and forth in his chair until Faith’s hand slipped into his. “She’s one kickass lady, Chad. She’ll pull through, if only just to slap you from here ‘til Sunday.”

Another unbelievably slow hour passed with Chad looking up whenever he thought he heard footsteps approaching; he’d given up when Faith nudged him urgently. He raised his head despondently, then stood up as fast as he could when he realized one of the doctors were approaching them. Faith squeezed his arm supportively and gave him a small shove towards the doctor, retreating back beyond earshot. “Lieutenant Shelten?”

Chad swallowed hard, his heart starting to race within his chest. “How is she? I mean, they?”

The doctor’s sudden smile made him feel as if he’d faint in relief. “They’re both going to be just fine – I must admit there were some tricky moments and a few times I thought we were going to lose her, but Detective Battle’s a strong woman. She’s expected to make a full recovery, and thankfully she’s not far enough along in the pregnancy for the baby to be at risk.”

“Can, can I see her?” Chad blurted.

“It’s normally against policy to allow visitors in the recovery room until the patient has woken…” The petite doctor tilted her head to one side to look at him, just like Andrea always did. Like she’d still do. “But I think we can make an exception in your case. Go on.”

She showed him the way, explaining that once Andrea had been transferred to a room on one of the upper floors the nurses would teach him to care for her after she was released. Chad listened with half an ear until she pointed out Andrea’s bed. He moved towards her slowly, just looking at her – she looked impossibly tiny in that huge bed, and hooked up to more tubes than he’d ever seen. Her hair looked lank and dirty spread around her pale face... she was beautiful.

A nurse brought over a chair for him to sit down in but he remained standing at her side, looking down into her face. Chad couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from the way her chest rose and fell slightly, showing that she was still alive and there with him. He finally sank down in the chair and reached to clasp one of her hands, swallowing it up in both of his. Chad sat there and watched her face until the effects of whatever the ER nurses had injected him with began to take effect, so he moved the chair closer and pillowed his head on his arms on the edge of her bed. He’d just close his eyes for a few minutes. Just a few…

Chad jerked awake, a quick glance at his watch showing that he’d been asleep for more than two hours. He rubbed his eyes and yawned, looking into Andrea’s face intently. She looked a lot better than she had earlier. Moving his chair up closer to the head of the hospital bed, Chad bent to brush a kiss over her temple and stroked her hair, curling the fingers of his other hand around hers. Releasing her hand only long enough to tug the blanket back around his shoulders, Chad stifled another yawn and settled in the chair; whatever Rita had shot him full of made him feel like he could go to sleep for a month. Usually anesthesia wore off about four or five hours after surgery and he’d already slept for half of that time – he just had to stay awake for three more.


_ _ _ _ _ _


The feel of air being blown across her arm in steady puffs made Andrea open her eyes. What in the world? It looked like she was in a hospital, but why… she moved her head slightly and saw a very familiar head of dark hair pillowed on the edge of the bed. The memory of what had happened earlier returned as she shifted her hand to rest it atop Chad’s head – he really did need a haircut – and a nurse quickly approached her. “Back with us, I see, Detective Battle,” the other woman smiled. “How are you feeling?”

“I’ve been better,” Andrea admitted ruefully, threading her fingers in the dark brown curls at the nape of her lieutenant’s neck. “How long have I been here?”

“You were brought in about eight hours ago, Detective. Your bedside leech here has been snoring away for six.” The nurse checked her over quickly, taking care to keep her voice lowered. “We’ll keep you in Recovery for another hour just to make sure you don’t have an adverse reaction to the anesthesia, then find you a room. Let us know if you need anything,” she finished hurriedly when Chad stirred.

“I wouldn’t mind a stiff drink,” Andrea joked weakly. The nurse gave her a mock-disapproving frown as she pulled the curtains around the cubicle to give them privacy. “Hey there,” Andrea said softly when Chad raised his head to look at her. “You were breathing all over my arm.”

The corners of his mouth quivered slightly. “I’m sorry,” Chad whispered.

“Oh, sweetie…” she reached a hand out and rested it on the back of his neck as he dropped his head, burrowing his face into her side. “It’s okay, I’m okay,” Andrea reassured him, becoming distressed at the intensity of Chad’s misery. At length his shoulders stopped shaking and Chad pressed his cheek against her hand, eyes still closed. “I’m just as hard to get rid of as you are,” she reminded him.

Chad opened his eyes, looking up at her. “I thought I’d lost you.”

“That’s what you get for thinking.” Andrea smiled at him tenderly as he turned his head to kiss the inside of her wrist. “Now get over here and give your future wife a proper welcome back from the jaws of death.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

After Chad sat back down and scrubbed at his eyes with a shirt sleeve that surely had seen better days he sternly informed her that, his ‘manly display of relief’ notwithstanding, he was nobody’s pansy but hers. Laughing made her chest hurt, and the nurse appeared to throw aside the curtain and frown at Chad. “What’s going on here? If you’re overexciting her…”

“I’m fine,” Andrea protested, wincing when the nurse checked the IV – she didn’t really mind having the thing stuck in her since it had to be there, but that didn’t mean she wanted to watch it get wiggled around.

Andrea settled back against the pillows as the doctor came in to examine her and pronounced her well enough to be moved to a private room. “How long before I can bring her home?” Chad asked, resting his hand on her shoulder lightly.

“She’ll need about a month or so to heal completely, but as long as there are no complications I’d say we could release her in about a week,” the doctor smiled. “One of the physician’s assistants can get you a list of OB/GYNs.”

Her eyes widened in alarm. “I thought there was nothing wrong with the baby.”

“Just a precaution,” she was immediately reassured.

When she’d been moved to one of the rooms on the fourth floor, Chad pulled up a chair beside her and explained what had happened. “So it’s finally over?”

Chad rubbed a hand across his face wearily. “Yeah. I mean, Colburn’s still off the leash but we don’t have enough evidence to bring him down.”

“I’m sorry about Meredith – I should’ve just left him at home,” Andrea said sadly. It was hard to believe that she wouldn’t be coming home to the overexcited pitbull jumping all over her and drooling all over everything.

“Well, he took a pretty good-sized piece of her with him,” Chad sighed. “Having him down there probably saved my life – if she’d come up with the gun only a few seconds earlier…” he shook his head and reached out to stroke her hair back from her forehead as a knock on the door made them both look around.

Andrea smiled as the door opened and Lieutenant Romero came in. “Hey, Steve.”

“Hey yourself – they’re calling you the Bionic Woman down there,” Steve joked, coming over to kiss her forehead. “I take it you’ll be out of this bed by tomorrow?”

“Maybe not quite that soon…” she trailed off, noticing the way the two men were looking at each other. “Is something wrong?”

Steve smiled at her again before turning back to Chad. “That’s what I’m going to find out. I think you know the other reason I’m here, Lieutenant Shelten.”

Chad leaned forward in the chair to pull his badge from his back pocket, handing it over. “Faith has my gun.”

Romero gave her a thoughtful glance before gesturing to the door. “Would you give us a moment?”

“What’s going on? Steve, he hasn’t done anything…!”

Her fiancé touched her arm lightly and shook his head as he got to his feet. “It’s okay, Andy.”

Steve turned back to her as the door closed. “We’ve got to investigate, you know that.”

“But-”

“It’s procedure. Lucky for that dumbass, he came forward and with enough evidence to support his claims. It’s not as if Chad can be of any real use to the team until he’s healed up, and this way I know he’ll keep an eye on you,” Steve added, squeezing her hand affectionately. “He’ll get a penalty stiff enough to make him wish he’d never been born, and I plan on putting the fear of God into that man by the time I’m through with him.”

“I think he’s wished he came forward a long time ago,” Andrea admitted. “But he just wanted to protect Rita. And me. Promise me that you won’t be too hard on him, Steve.”

Romero grinned. “Oh, I’ll make him sweat…but he’ll live.” He bent to kiss her forehead again and headed towards the door. “You look like you could use some rest, but I’m pretty sure your father would like to see you if you could stay awake a little longer,” he announced as he opened the door. Judging from the look on Chad’s face, Andrea was almost convinced he’d said it just to alarm the other lieutenant.

tbc…
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