Page 13 of Spears and Shadows (Defenders of the Light)
4
The first thingNora heard was slow mechanical beeping and the whispering of voices too low to make out. Finding herself unable to open her eyes, she contented herself with taking inventory of what she could feel. She immediately regretted her decision as her next level of consciousness returned and she became acutely aware of a searing pain in both her leg and her head. She grasped for other sensations to distract herself from the discomfort and found that there was a tight band around her left upper arm, and somebody had their fingers interlaced with hers. She tried to wiggle those fingers and the hand around hers tightened.
“Nora, zolotse, are you there? Can you hear me?”
Nora succeeded in fluttering her eyelids and tried to tell Odelle that she could hear but only managed a slight groan. Odelle didn’t let go of her hand but called, “Drew, she’s awake!”
There were footsteps and a large hand rested on her cheek. She fluttered her eyelids again and then managed to keep them open, a familiar pair of concerned brown eyes coming into focus.
“Oh thank God,” Drew rumbled. Her eyes drifted to his blue scrubs and white lab coat. “How are you feeling? Can you talk?”
Nora opened her mouth to respond and all that came out was a whispered, “Ow.”
Drew grimaced. “I can do something about that.” He looked away for a second. “Odelle, would you go find her nurse?”
The hand squeezed one more time before it was gone, and Drew’s attention returned to her, his eyes assessing.
“What…what happened?” Nora croaked.
“You were in a car accident,” Drew responded, straightening the blankets around her. “You hit your head badly, probably gave yourself a concussion. I have to say, you’re lucky you didn’t develop any sort of cranial bleed. And you’ve got a pretty nasty wound in your leg too.”
Nora tried to turn her head to look around but that type of movement was still beyond her.
“How…” she trailed off, unable to complete her sentence.
Drew seemed to fill in what she wanted to know.
“Your…colleague, Adam, carried you in here.” Nora’s eyes finally focused enough that she saw a muscle in his jaw tighten. “He was kind of crazed, covered in your blood. He kept shouting that he needed Dr. Drew Coleman. He wouldn’t let go of you until I arrived. I had to do some fast talking to prevent security from being called.”
Images slowly wormed their way into Nora’s consciousness. Adam tying his tie around her leg, him reciting familiar Russian fairytales.
“I told him to ask for you.”
Drew’s smile looked strained. “I’m glad you did. Although I must admit, when I said I wanted to see you again, this was not what I had in mind.”
Nora offered him her weak attempt at a smile. “Odelle’s been teaching me how to make an entrance.”
Drew let out a half chuckle. “Glad to see you survived with your wit intact.”
At that moment, Odelle ducked back around the curtain into the room, a nurse at her heels. Drew stepped away, and there was a flurry of activity that Nora couldn’t quite follow. The nurse was saying something to Drew about her blood pressure and another unit of blood. An almost empty bag of scarlet fluid hung from an IV pole. She also registered tubing across her face, delivering what she assumed was oxygen. The prongs in her nose were uncomfortable, but she was too dazed to care.
The nurse pushed something into her IV and, immediately, the throbbing in her head and leg lessened, though the medication made her vision swim. She stopped trying to follow what was happening and just rested her head against the pillows again, grateful for the relief. The nurse and Drew were poking and prodding her a bit, pulling back her blankets to look at her leg and using a stethoscope to listen to her chest, but she didn’t have the energy to be bothered by it.
She felt Drew’s hand on her upper arm, and she peeled her eyes open.
“I’ll be back later. I’ve just got to go check on some other patients, okay? You rest and tell Odelle or your nurse if you need anything.”
Nora blinked in response, and Drew gave her another tight smile before withdrawing. His face was replaced by Odelle’s, and her sister’s fingers wove back between her own.
“Hey, zolotse. It’s good to see you with your eyes open.”
Nora attempted to smile but was pretty sure it came off as more of a grimace. Then another thought floated to the surface of her foggy mind.
“Adam…”
“He hasn’t left. He’s on a couch in the lounge, taking a nap. We sent him out there to rest. His pacing was making us nervous. I told him we had it under control here and you could call him when you were up to it, but he refused to go. Something about feeling responsible. Odd, but gallant.”
Nora grunted her agreement, and Odelle chattered on.
