Author's Note - I am so sorry that it has been so long since the last chapter. As some of you know, I ended up in hospital for a couple weeks because of shortness of breath/low oxygen levels. They think I have pulmonary hypertension. I'm pretty bummed over it and my other issues - I've tried to immerse myself in writing to forget about all that, but the words just wouldn't come. I will keep trying, hopefully I'll get the next chapter out quicker.

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Marissa's surgery went well. Ryan pinned 3 of her metacarpals and her broken finger, as well as screws in her broken carpals (wrist bones). “Someone sure did a number on this poor girl”, he muttered angrily as he worked on the first one.

“You mean the drug cartel?” Mona, the lead nurse asked.

Ryan raised his head and glared at her. “This information goes no further than this room. Yes, the drug cartel and I hope to hell the person who inflicted her injuries died in that explosion - and that it was very painful.”

“You know it won't go beyond these walls, Dr Duncan.” Mona was almost insulted that, after working together for over 10 years, he would think she would break confidentiality, but she understood that he was angry. He had a right to be, in her opinion. What had happened to his patient should never happen to any human being – or animal, for that matter.

After he saw that Marissa was settled in in Recovery, Ryan went to the waiting room to speak with her parents and Braxton. He reassured them that everything went as planned and that she was fine. They would be able to see her in an hour when she was moved to her room on the orthopedic ward. He'd arranged for the transfer so that she wouldn't be subjected to Dr Strickland again, since the Chief of Staff wouldn't transfer him, even temporarily, until she had finished her investigation.

Just over an hour later, Gael, Irene and Braxton accompanied Marissa's stretcher to her room. Ryan had been summoned to the ER – he was on call all night. Gideon was staying late and he met them there to see that she got settled in all right. “How are you doing, Marissa?” he asked after she had been transferred to her bed.

“I’m okay”, she replied, still groggy from the anesthesia.

“Are you in any pain?” She shook her head no. She had had pain meds in Recovery. “Let your nurse know if you are and she will give you your pain medication if it’s time, okay? If it’s not time yet, I’ll be in my office doing paperwork. She can call me and we’ll figure something out.”

“Okay, Dr Maynard. Thank you.” She couldn’t stay awake any longer and drifted off to sleep. Some time later, she awoke and her parents were gone. Braxton was sitting in a chair reading. “Where are Mama and Daddy?” she asked.

Braxton looked up from his book. “They have gone to the Maynards’ for the night”, he replied. “How are you feeling?”

Marissa stretched her legs under the covers. “Thirsty.”

“Here, have a drink.” Braxton set his book down and got up to hold her cup as she drank through the straw. When she was finished, he set it back down on the table and lowered her bed rail so he could sit beside her. “Are you in pain?” he asked.

“A little, but it’s okay.”

“Do you want your pain medication? Gideon came in earlier and he said you could have it any time after 12:00.” He looked at his watch. “It’s 12:35. I’ll get the nurse if you want it.”

Marissa shook her head. “No, not yet. It’s not bad. It was way worse earlier.” Suddenly, her stomach decided to commit mutiny. “I’m going to be sick”, she said. Braxton reached for the emesis basin her nurse had brought in earlier – Marissa had been sick in Recovery, a side effect of anesthesia. He held the basin for her, but she didn’t have much to bring up – just her drink of water and some bile. When the heaves settled down, he let her rinse her mouth out before he took the basin to the bathroom to empty and rinse. While in there, he wet a face cloth with cool water and took it out to the room. As he gently wiped her face, he noticed that she looked pale.

“What is it, Marissa?” he asked. “Still feeling sick?” She nodded her head. “I’ll be back in a minute.” Braxton went to the nursing station and told the nurse that Marissa was sick.

“Is she vomiting?” the nurse asked.

“Yes, but there’s nothing to come up as she hasn’t eaten.”

“I’ll send down to the pharmacy for some anti nausea medication. Dr Duncan ordered some in case it’s needed.” As in Syracuse, the medical staff had permission to speak with Braxton about Marissa’s care. “While we wait for it to come up to the floor, take some ginger ale to her.” Lea got a can from the small fridge and poured some of the pop into a plastic cup. “She’s due for her pain medication, so I’ll get that, too.”

“Thank you, Lea. She says she doesn’t want her pain meds yet, though.”

“I’ll have it sent up and it will be here when she does want it. Her last dose should be wearing off soon. She’s going to want more when it does – she is only a few hours post-op and Dr Duncan put a lot of pins and plates in her hand and wrist. Is it true that someone actually stomped on her hand?”

“Unfortunately, yes. Maybe more than once, her memory of the event is a little fuzzy.” Braxton didn’t know if that was because Marissa was in such bad shape after the beating or if she had subconsciously buried it to protect herself. That was for Quenton Cameron to figure out and help her with, though he would talk to her about it if she wanted him to.

Lea shook her head in disgust. “I just don’t understand people sometimes”, she muttered, half to herself.

“Don’t get too down on the human race, Lea”, Braxton reassured her as he turned to go back to Marissa’s room. “There’s a lot of good people out there. You are one of them. Never forget that.”

Back in Marissa’s room, Braxton put a straw in the ginger ale and held it for her to take a drink. She was on her back clutching her arm, which was splinted and wrapped. “What’s wrong, Marissa? Is the pain worse?” She nodded. “Lea, your nurse, is bringing your pain medication in as soon as it comes up from the pharmacy. It shouldn’t be long. I know you said you don’t want it yet, but if the pain is getting worse, I think you should have it.”

“Yes, I am ready for it now. Are you staying here tonight?” The look in her eyes told him she was afraid he would say no.

“Of course I am, honey. I am not leaving unless you ask me to, like you did last night.”

“I hate that I can’t sleep alone without having bad dreams. It’s nothing personal”, she hastened to add. “I love having you with me, but…”

“You don’t feel independent.” Marissa nodded. “That’s understandable. What does Dr Cameron say about it?”

“He hasn’t said anything about it, but I haven’t seen him since … I fell out of bed - except later that morning and we didn’t talk about issues, he got me some pain medication and ordered the x-rays.”

“I’ll give you my professional opinion, if you want it – off the record, of course.”

“Yes, I would love to hear it.” Marissa reached for her ginger ale. Braxton handed it to her and she took a drink. Her stomach was still rocky, but the pop was helping.

Braxton set the Styrofoam cup back on the table, then took her good hand in both of his. He had to be careful as there was an IV in it again. “You don’t feel safe, do you?” Marissa shook her head. “I think I told you this a year ago – the dreams will stop when you feel safe. Did they stop back then?”

“Yes, they did.” She didn’t tell him that she went from dreams about Tomas beating her up to dreams about him being assaulted.

“And they will stop again. You’re still afraid of the Cartel, aren’t you? Even though Rex Avery said they only found one survivor in the rubble of what was the compound.” He reached over and brushed a lock of her hair back. Marissa was reminded that she really needed a haircut, but it was low on her list of priorities at the moment.

She nodded. “I know that they only found one person alive, but we don’t know if everyone was there. What if there are people left and they come after me? I’m going to be sick again.” She reached for the emesis basin.

“Here, let me get it”, Braxton said. Once again, he held it for her until her stomach settled down. After he’d rinsed it out and wiped her face with a cool cloth, he sat down again. “I don’t know where your medication is. Are they sending away to Timbuktu for it?”

“It’s okay, maybe they are busy.”

“In the middle of the night?” Braxton knew he was being unreasonable, but he couldn’t help it. He didn’t want her to have to wait any longer than necessary for relief from her pain and nausea. Marissa giggled. “What’s so funny?” he asked.

“You’re acting like an overprotective father. You remind me of Daddy.”

Braxton groaned inwardly. “I’m sorry, Marissa. The last thing I want you to think I am is a father figure to you.”

“Why do you say that?”

Braxton looked uncomfortable. This wasn’t something he wanted to get into right now. “I don’t want to be your father figure. I want to be…” He was interrupted by Lea coming in with Marissa’s medication. She hung the anti-emetic bag on the IV pole and injected the pain medication into the spare port before attaching the IV bag to it. There was already a bag of fluids running into her.

“How are you doing?” she asked Marissa. “Any more vomiting?” Marissa nodded her head.

“She had one bout”, Braxton said. “Brought up her ginger ale but there’s nothing else to come up.”

“The Zofran will help. I’ll get some more ginger ale.” When she brought the pop in, she said “I’ll be back in a bit to get this”, indicating the IV bag.

“Are you ready to sleep?” Braxton asked after the nurse had again left the room.

“I will be once the medication kicks in. What were you going to say before Lea came in?”

Braxton suddenly got nervous. “I-I don’t remember”, he stammered uncharacteristically. He didn’t like lying but he’d lost his nerve. What if she rejected him?

“Don’t you lie to me, Braxton Jagger!” Marissa admonished, then took a softer tone of voice. “You said you don’t want to be a ‘father figure’ to me, that you want to be … and then Lea walked in. What is it that you want to be?”

Figuring he had nothing to lose, Braxton leaned in and kissed her very gently on the lips. “Does that answer your question?” he asked.

“I don’t know, I think I need a stronger hint”, she replied in a teasing manner as she reached out with her good arm and put it around his neck. He kissed her again, this time with growing hunger. Marissa responded with a hunger of her own, until Braxton pulled away.

“I think that’s about as far as we dare go here in the hospital”, he said in a voice that showed he was trying to convince himself as much as her. “But when you get out of here and are feeling better, I’m taking you out for a nice dinner, just the two of us. An evening out, like we had before ….” he let the sentence trail off, not wanting to vocalize “before you took off on me”.

“I can’t, Braxton! I don’t have anything down here to wear!” she lamented.

“You have time to fix that – I’m sure your mother or Paula would help you get some clothes. I think it’s time to go to sleep now. I don’t know about you, but I am ready for it.”

The pain medication was having it’s effect on her and she was fading. “Yes...sleep”, she mumbled. Braxton lay behind her and put his arm around her. He kissed the back of her head and said “Good night, sweetie”, but she was already asleep.

Braxton lay awake, thinking. He had some decisions to make, especially if he and Marissa entered into a serious relationship. Since he did not like the idea of a long distance romance, especially an international one, he would have to move to Canada - he wouldn’t dream of asking Marissa to move away from her family. She’d been taken from them for a few years and he felt it important that she have some re-bonding time with them. Besides, his parents were so busy with after-retirement activities, they were seldom home, so he didn’t get to see them often anyway. He could Skype with them and go down for a long weekend here and there.

He would need to sell his house, which wasn’t a problem – his sister would buy it in a heartbeat. And he’d need to find a place to live near Marissa - he’d have to ask Gael what real estate was like in that area. There was also the issue of getting licensed up there, but from the research he had done online when Marissa was sleeping, it looked fairly easy. There was no hurry, though, as he wanted to be there for her when she had her surgery and subsequent chemotherapy. He had enough in savings to live on - plus what he would get for the house – if he could find a cheap apartment. He figured he would be okay for a year or so. That should give him time to get licensed and a practice set up after Marissa was finished chemo and had had time to recover. In the meantime, he would do as much as he could on getting the licence.

Marissa stirred with a whimper and Braxton shifted his position so that he was snuggled up to her back. She settled back down and soon they were both asleep.