58. Chapter 58

INSIDE THE OPERATING THEATREThe doctor looks at the CT scans of Emily’s body, which show that her right lung had been sliced and requiring to be repaired. The scans also indicated that she also had some internal bleeding from other organs. Using his scalpel, an incision is made horizontally along Emily’s chest to allow for the surgeons to perform the vital surgery.

During the middle of the surgery, Emily’s vitals drop, and it is at this moment that one of the nurses assisting the doctor, leans down and whispers in Emily’s ear, “Come on, you’ve got this.” Just then for the second time the heart monitor sounds that Emily is flat lining, causing the medical team to leap into action to save their patient. Once the electric shock has been administrated and Emily’s heart snaps back into beating, it was only then that the surgeon resumes the operation.

EMILY’s POV FLASHBACK“Come on, you’ve got this.” The Sergeant yells at me as I toiled through the gruelling boot camp course at the Police Academy. For the past six months I have been training to become a Police officer and now this is the last physical run through of boot camp. With this encouragement from my Sergeant, I know that I can climb this last and final wooden wall and make it to the finish line. As I cling to the rope and pull myself up and over, I think back over my life and realise that I have never had anyone on my side.

Back in the orphanage from the age of 5, I realised very quickly that the stories they would read to us at night, were only make believe. In the stories, there was always a knight that came and rescued the princess, but when it came to my own life, the knight never came and saved me from the horror found in the care of the wardens. Nothing I ever did was right and I would eventually pay the cost, with either a blow to the chest or to the top of my legs, because by this time of my life, I was attending school and there could not be any signs, or there would be questions.

From the upper window in the group bedroom, I would watch the other children leave with their new adopted families, and when I asked as to why I never was chosen, the head warden told me, “Nobody is ever going to want you. Your nothing and you are never going to mount to anything. So, you better get use to it.”

Once I reached 18 years of age, I left the orphanage and quickly got myself a job, which allowed me to find my own place to live. It was not much, just a bedsitter, it was close to my job. For the next two years, I skimped and saved, so that I could purchase a motorcycle and obtain my driver’s licence. It was when I turned 20 years of age, that I signed up to join the Police force, because I wanted to protect people, but also to find some sense of family within my fellow officers.

In my training unit there are 50/50 mix of both male and females, although of all the females, I was the only Alpha, which meant that I was rather popular with the Omega’s, although nothing serious occurred, I guess for most of the Omega’s and Beta’s, they just wanted to practice their ‘kissing moves’ on me as they saw me as being safe.

The day of our passing out parade finally arrived, and dressed in our best dress uniforms, with our belt’s buckles, and shoes all polished and shined for presentation. My uniform is pressed and as I looked in the mirror, it was then that I realise how stylish I looked. Everyone in my unit is excited to finally finish their training, but also because their families were waiting for them out in the stands, whereas I have no one here to cheer me on, causing my heart to drop. For the rest of the day I just go through the motions and even at the celebration dinner later that night, I found myself dreaming of having someone there with me and celebrating my achievement of becoming a Police officer.

It was only when I reach my place, that I let myself succumb to feeling alone as I slowly drank two bottles of whiskey. As I lowered the glass of that first drink, I felt the liquid burn as it slipped down my throat, but the rest of the drinks went down so much easier. I woke the next day with a throbbing headache and a squeamish stomach, causing me to vow not to drink so heavy again. Within the next two days I will be starting my position with the Police department of Old Quebec. I am so looking forward to joining the team and fighting crime.

IN THE HOSPITALThe nurse taking Hayley’s blood finishes up and thanks the older woman for her selfless act of donating her blood. Hayley rolls down her shirt sleeve and breathes a sigh. The curtain to the cubicle makes a slight noise as it was pulled back, and Waverly walks in with a bottle of orange juice.

Holding the juice out towards Hayley, the brunette says, “To help with bringing your blood sugar levels back up after giving blood. How are you doing?”

Hayley meets Waverly’s eyes and offers her a smile, “Alright. I never wanted to announce being Emily’s sister like this. I bet Louise hates me. I do not blame her, especially when the package I sent months ago, led to her marriage being damaged. I do not think I am going to be able to live with myself if Emily does not pull through.” Uncapping the juice Hayley begins to drink the fluid, as tears streamed down her cheeks.

Waverly takes a sit next to Hayley and wraps an arm around the older woman, “Louise does not hate you, she just wants answers, which only you can give. Give yourself a break, you were not to know that Tucker was going to take Emily and do all those things to her. The doctors are going to do everything to pull Emily through this. Come on, their waiting for us.”

With a half-smile on her face, Hayley follows Waverly out of the cubicle and towards the waiting area, where Dolls, Nicole, and Louise are anxiously sitting on chairs. As soon as Louise catches sight of Hayley, she springs up out of her seat and begins to accuse the older woman, “Why now and why have you been working along side Emily and not tell her. You’ve been watching her strug….” Before finishing her sentence, Louise was interrupted by the Surgeon.

“She’s out of surgery and in recovery. I’ve had to sedate her, so she will be in a coma. This is because Mrs Faye has a high level of Silver running through her blood. We hope that with her being in the coma, we’ll be able to have enough blood to do a transfusion. Then if that is successful, we’ll be able wean her off the sedation. As soon as she is taken to a room, I’ll have a nurse come and take you to her. (The surgeon reached out and placed a hand on Louise’s shoulder) Now Mrs Faye, I need you to prepare yourself, one of her lungs were pierced, so she will be connected to a machine that will assist her with breathing.”

Nicole suggested to Dolls and Hayley that they head back to the station and finish off the paperwork on the case, Nicole also told them that she would call them if there were any more news. Nicole joined them towards the elevator, only to exit on the level of the cafeteria, so that she could collect coffee’s and snacks, making sure that there was a vegan option for Waverly. While she waited for the coffee’s, Nicole took a moment to reflect on the events which transpired over the last 24 hours, one of her best Deputies had been kidnapped, tortured and almost died at the hands of Tucker Gardner. But that was not all of it, as it turns out, Hayley Stranger was Emily’s older sister. As much as Nicole felt devasted by the thought that she may lose not only a Deputy, but also a good friend, Nicole knew that she had to put that aside and be there for Louise, Alison and Vicki.

As the doctor had said, Emily was laying in the bed, attached to a Ventilator, which pumped oxygen through a tube, that was sticking out of Emily’s mouth. Beside the bed was a monitor, which read Emily’s heart, oxygen, and blood pressure and every time one or more dropped below the normal range, the machine would beep loudly. To which was answered by a nurse rushing over to assess the numbers on the screen and then they would check Emily, before making a call to the doctor. For most of the time, Emily’s vitals stabilised and stayed there, but on the second day after the surgery, when Louise was holding her hand, Emily’s vitals plummeted to dangerous levels.

Louise had taken hold of Emily’s hand and squeezed it, saying tearfully “Emily.”

The doctor came in and injected something into the IV drip which was attached to Emily’s arm, within seconds her vitals climbed back to normal levels.

EMILY’S POV FLASHBACKI just received an invitation to a friend’s fancy-dress party and now I’ve got go and find an outfit for this ‘Knight’s and Princess’ themed party. It’s not that I don’t like parties, but it’s the having to go to all the trouble to find something which will only be worn once, is going to be such a pain. Not that I am complaining but I thought that by 22 years old, I would have least found my mate, maybe they might be at this party. I can only live in hope.

I had searched through my wardrobe and discovered that there was nothing that I could use to pass off to resemble either a knight or a princess. After researching the internet, I found a Fancy-Dress Hire shop which was close to the station.

Which leads me to why I’m sitting in the waiting area of the Fancy-Dress shop, hoping to get this over and done with, so that I could grab some lunch before heading back to the station. Just then I catch a glimpse of white hair out the corner of my eye, I turn and find myself looking at the prettiest woman that I’ve ever seen.

“Emily.” This blonde-haired woman says. “Yep, that’s me.” I reply. I reach out my hand and she take it in hers, just then a shot of energy surges through my hand and runs up my arm, and then through to the rest of my body.

“Follow me.” The woman says before she turns around and begins to walk through a curtain, which leads to an area where numerous outfits hung on racks. Just then I think to myself, ‘I’ll follow you anywhere.’ While I follow her, I hear in my head, what I thought was her sniggering.

As I walked behind this woman, whose name I was able to learn was Louise, I thought about something that I remembered from the year before.

One day while on patrol, I asked my partner, as to how did he know that he had met his mate. He replied that when he shook their hand, he felt a surge of energy pass through his hand and it moved throughout the rest of his body. Then he started being able to hear in his mind, the thoughts of his mate, and they heard his.

The outfit I ended up choosing was that of a Knight, but not with all the armour and when I looked in the mirror, I noticed that the pants and shirt worked well. I paid for the rental and stated that I would return the outfit the following Monday.

Over the weekend, I couldn’t get the image of Louise out of my head. Even while at the party even though I talked with my friends, the only thing that I could think about was the sway of Louise’s hips when she walked in front of me. The smoothness and shine of her blonde hair as it swished against her back when she walked. And then there was her sweet sounding and thought that I could listen to her speak for hours.

Monday came and by this stage, I built up the courage to take the risk and ask Louise out on a date, when I returned my outfit. Louise was wearing a slender red dress, that fell just below her knees. She looked so beautiful that when I tried to speak, it all came out jumbled.

“Louise, wondering was, um.” I stopped before making more of a fool of myself. Shuffling my feet, I took a deep breathe and then released it.

“I’m sorry, Louise what I meant to say, was that I was wondering if you would like to go out on a date with me?” There was a silence from Louise, which made me think that she wasn’t interested.

“Emily, I would love to.” Louise eventually replied. We both smiled at each other for what seems like hours, even though it was only minutes.

A week later I stood outside the front door, nervous that maybe Louise would just see that I wasn’t worth the while after this date. After knocking on the door, it was opened by this beautiful angel, dressed in the tightest blue jeans and white button up shirt. Louise said, “Hi, I know that maybe you’ve got a fantastic night planned for us, but you see, my sister went into labour and she asked me to look after my 3 year old niece and 18 month nephew. I hope you don’t mind. I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to cancel.” Louise leant against the doorframe; I could hear the young children in the background.

“It’s ok, I love kids. I had planned to take you out for dinner and then some dancing, but we can still go out for dinner. I know just the place.” We took Louise’s car and headed towards Louise’s favourite Dinner. Over the meal, I learn more about Louise and her family, that she and her older sister, where the only children in their family. I watched Louise with her niece and nephew, and I pictured her and I sitting in the dinner with our own pups one day.

“Now I had planned on taking you dancing, but I know a place where we all can go and still have a dance.” We headed towards the bowling alley, which was having a Disco bowling night. Louise’s niece asked me to help her to bowl her ball down the aisle. As I held her in my arms, I pictured that I was holding my own daughter. Just then Sam Cooke’s ‘Lovable’ came on and looking down at the little girl in my arms, I asked her, “Would you like to dance?”

“Yes, please.” So instead of placing her back on the floor, I just danced with her tucked in my arms, holding her hand in mine and slowed dance with her in our bowling alley. I noticed how Louise watched me and her niece, she couldn’t stop smiling as she saw the grin on her niece’s face after we finished dancing.

By the end of the night, I helped Louise to carry the sleeping children into her home, where she directed me to place the little girl down on a made up bed on the floor, while she tucked in her nephew.

I didn’t know if she would be interested in going out on a second date, but I thought that it wouldn’t hurt to ask. “I know that tonight was not your typical date, but I was wondering if you’d be interested in going on another date?” Louise’s reaction was clear as to her answer. She closed the distance between us and leant in and kissed me on the lips. Her lips were smooth and soft, and I thought that I could spend the rest of my life kissing these lips.

“I take that as a yes.” I smile as she then says, “When I saw you with my niece, that was when I knew in my heart, that you were someone I wanted to be with.” We kissed some more before I had to leave Louise that night.

TWO DAYS LATER AT THE HOSPITALLouise had not left Emily’s side the entire time, while the black-haired woman lay in a drug induced coma. There was a knock on the door and then it cracked open ajar, and Hayley poked her head inside.

“Hi, I thought you might appreciate one of these? I don’t know how you take your coffee, so I brought sugars with me.” Hayley held out two take away cups of coffee.

Louise indicated for Hayley to join her and thanked her for being so thoughtful in bringing her a coffee. It took everything in Louise to not lash out at Hayley, but she knew that Hayley had her reasons, and needed to be given the opportunity to speak. The two women sat in silence while they drank their beverages, until it got to them both.

“I suppose we should discuss the elephant in the room.” Hayley hesitantly says.

“Only if you want to, then I am willing to listen.” Louise places her cup on the bedside table, her hand doesn’t let go of Emily’s hand.