Fortunately, the contents of my stomach stayed down and we were soon in the air. I was thankful for the sedative, it was the only thing keeping me sane. I told Doc that he could fly back if he wanted when the time came, but I would go home by car. Detective Fletcher had told us that the pilot and paramedics only knew that an ambulance would meet us at the Vancouver airport, not where we were going or why, so we could not talk about the safe house or the case on the way there.

It was only a one hour flight, but it seemed forever. Doc kept his eye on the cardiac monitor the whole time. He was not thrilled with what he saw, but he said it was not unexpected, given my anxiety level.

Finally, we were landing, which was worse than taking off. My resolve to not fly back was cemented. When we stopped, Luka and Selena lifted my stretcher to the floor and wheeled it to the door where there were two paramedics waiting for us with a stretcher. The transfer was made and Doc and I said goodbye to the two that had accompanied us on the plane.

Mark and Seth took us from there. Mark rode in back with Doc and I and Seth drove. “It will take about an hour to get to where we are going”, Mark told us. “Do you want to stop for anything before we get out of the city?”

“I would love a coffee”, I replied.

“What about you?” he asked Doc.

“Coffee sounds good.”

“Do you have a preference for which coffee shop?”

“Anywhere but Timmy’s!” I said.

“She does *not* like Tim Horton’s”, Doc told him.

“Yes, I am a bad Canadian. I do not like their coffee - but their hot chocolate is great!”

“We’ll stop at a really good place I know of. It’s privately owned, not a chain. You will love their coffee.”

Mark was right. It was one of the best cups of coffee I’ve ever had. I was kind of glad I had the catheter in. Coffee runs right through me. I could see that Doc was getting uncomfortable. “Need to make a stop, Julian?” I asked him. He turned red.

“No, I’m fine, hon. Do you?”

“No, I have the catheter, remember?” I was teasing him, and he knew it.

“I know, but coffee usually makes you have to go the other way.”

Now *my* face turned red. He got his revenge. I deserved it. Mark was doing paperwork, but I’m sure he was listening. I mouthed “I love you” to Doc and he mouthed it back. He looked at the cardiac monitor. “It’s looking much better than it did on the plane, Meredith.”

“I’m not surprised, Julian. I was pretty stressed.” He got up and gave me a kiss, then sat back down on the built-in bench across from me.

“We’re just approaching the city limits now”, Seth called back from the driver’s seat. “About a half hour to 45 minutes left.” Traffic had been pretty heavy as it was rush hour, so we’d taken longer than anticipated to get this far.

“I can’t wait to get off this stretcher and walk upright.”

“You can walk right to the wheelchair”, Doc replied.

“Oh, come on, Julian - I can walk with my crutches.”

“What does Adam Beckett say about that?”

“He said I can as long as my hand was okay. What I really want is to get this danged cast off my foot.”

“I believe Adam said it has to stay on for a few weeks.”

“I wanted to talk to him about that”, I said. “But I forgot.”

“I think he was planning to x-ray it two weeks after you broke it, so I’ll see if we can get that done here, if we are still here next week.”

“And get me out of this cast!”

“We’ll see.”

I was really tired, so I closed my eyes and dozed for the rest of the drive to our destination. Doc woke me up when we got there. Seth stopped and I could hear him talking to someone, then we were moving again. “We are almost there”, he said. I’m just driving you up to the house now.”

Doc got up and clamped off my catheter before unhooking the bag. Mark took it to dispose of. He said he’d get us a bag to put on in the house. “I have bags with me”, Doc said as he did up my pants and pulled the blanket down. I had said an absolute NO to a catheter bag being taped to my leg. I’d hated it when I went to the farm like that.

When we stopped, Seth got out and opened the door. He and Mark got the stretcher off. A man and woman were waiting for us with a wheelchair . Doc helped me off the stretcher and into the chair. The man introduced himself as Randall Baker and his partner as Dana Carter. “Let’s go inside and I’ll show you around.” We said goodbye to Seth and Mark and Randall and Dana helped carry our bags inside. We didn’t have a lot, more of them were filled with medical supplies and the gowns and scrubs than personal belongings. Doc wheeled me through the door.

Randall showed us around. It was a typical one storey house with a kitchen, living room, bathroom, two bedrooms and a laundry room. There was no basement. Each bedroom had it’s own ensuite bathroom. “You can have whichever bedroom you prefer”, he said. “Or do you each want your own? I don’t want to be presumptuous about how you sleep.”

“We are common-law, so one bedroom, please”, Doc said.

“The other one will remain empty, unless someone else from the same case needs to come here. We do not mix cases in the houses. There is one other house, a 3 bedroom, and there is the main house out front. It is where staff stay. Someone will clean your house twice a week and you can have a cook if you like.”

“Oh, no, I will cook and do the cleaning.”

“Are you sure, Julian?”

“Yes, I love cooking and I like things to be done my way regarding cleaning.”

“He’s very picky, I said.

“Does he pick up after himself?” Dana asked.

“Religiously.”

“A man who cooks, cleans and picks up after himself. Every woman’s dream.”

“Where have I heard that before?” Doc asked, referring to the time at his kitchen table when I told him every straight woman wanted a man like that.

“Does he have a brother?” Dana asked me.

“Unfortunately, no. He’s an only child.”

“If you get sick of him, let me know”, she said jokingly.

I laughed. “Okay, but don’t hold your breath waiting. I am madly in love.” I looked over at Doc. He looked embarrassed, but beamed at my last sentence.

“Let’s go sit in the living room”, Randall suggested. “We’ll give you a run down on this place and how things work.”

Doc and I sat on the sofa and Randall and Dana took chairs. Julian put his arm around me and I lay my head on his chest. It was unusual for him to act so cuddly in front of strangers, I wondered if he was making a statement to Dana. “Are you tired, hon?” he asked me.

“Yes.”

“We won’t be much longer”, Dana said. “You probably couldn’t see much of the outside coming in in the ambulance. The property is surrounded by a 10 foot high stone wall. There is a gate that can only be opened by a control in the guard house. The first house you come to is the one where the staff are. Behind it are this one and the 3 bedroom one. The force owns the property surrounding the fence. All trees were cleared so nobody can climb up and look in.

“The windows in the houses are bullet proof glass. Two officers patrol the grounds along with their dogs. We’ll introduce you to the dogs later. They will not bother you if you go outside. Unless we have reason to believe that you are in danger here, you can go out and walk around if you like. You can also have your blinds up, but if we think that Jane has found you, we’ll ask you to keep them down and to stay inside.

“The cupboards and fridge are stocked with foods most people like. If there’s anything else you want, give us a list and we’ll see that you get it. Julian, the medical supplies that you asked for are in the bedroom facing the back, as well as the monitors. Do you need a hospital bed?”

“No”, I replied. “A regular bed is fine.”

“How much trouble would it be to get a double bed that is adjustable?” Doc asked.

“None at all”, Randall answered. “In fact, we have one at the staff house. I can have it switched with the one in your bedroom tomorrow.”

“Oh, I don’t want to take someone’s bed away.”

“You aren’t. We just store it there. We have found that some of the people we protect aren’t exactly careful with things and we were replacing too many. So we only allow it to be used if someone asks for it and if they are responsible. If we are in doubt, we ask them to put a deposit on it and sign an agreement to pay for any damage. I’m pretty sure I can trust you to take care of it. We’ll give you a call before we bring it, to make sure you are up. I think Meredith is very tired.”

“She is. We’ll be going to bed early tonight.”

“I’ll give you our phone numbers and I’ll get yours. I’ll also give you the password to the wifi. You can use the Internet, but if you go to places you normally go to, please sign up again and use a different name. Also, set up an anonymous email account. Do not use your real names anywhere online while you are here and stay off of social media. I’ve been told Jane is very resourceful and somewhat of a computer expert. Better to be safe than sorry.”

“That is not a problem for me”, Doc said. “I mostly use the Internet for email and reading up on things pertaining to my profession. Meredith here is the social media addict.”

“Do you have to sign in to read your medical stuff?”

“Sometimes, yes.”

“Best to avoid those sites or use a false name, if they allow it.”

“Ok, will do.”

“If you like to read, there’s a library in the big house”, Dana told him.

“He reads all the time”, I told her. “He always has his nose in a book or medical journal.”

“I’m afraid we don’t have any medical journals”, Randall said, “but if you give me a list of what you want, I can see if one of the physicians we use for medical care can get them for you.”

“I would really like that, thank you. We didn’t have time to gather reading material, though I do have the journals and book I had with me in Meredith’s hospital room.”

“There are some board games here and in the library. Also, movies. The TV is hooked up to satellite. I know it‘s not the same as being home and being able to come and go, but we hope you will be comfortable here.”

“I’m sure we will be”, Doc said.

“Most important of all, you are safe here.”

“You are right, that is most important.”

“Is there a Scrabble game here?” I asked.

“There is”, Dana replied. “It’s in the bottom cupboard of the bookcase.”

“Oh good. I love Scrabble, even though Julian beats me every time.”

“She’s still pretty good at it”, Doc said. “And she’s getting better all the time.”

“I’m lousy at it. Remind me not to play against either of you.” We all laughed, then did the phone number exchange and Randall and Dana left, saying they’d be back in the morning to bring the adjustable bed and get a list of things we wanted/needed.

Doc took a look through the cupboards, fridge and freezer for something to make for supper. “How about scrambled eggs, hon? That’s fast and easy. I want to get you into bed as soon as possible.”

“Doc, you stud!”

“To get you onto the monitors and then sleep, silly.” He shook his head. “We always think it’s the man with the higher sex drive - you are an anomaly, my dear.”

I leaned one crutch against the counter and put my arm around him. “Doc, you can keep up with me when you want to!”

He bent over and kissed me. “Yes, I can! Why don’t you sit and talk to me while I make our dinner?”

“I can’t do much on crutches, but surely there’s some way I can help?”

“No, you sit down. You are not well enough to be doing anything yet, and it’s been a long day.”

“It sure has. I feel like it’s been a week since we got up. Doc, before you get started, can you put a catheter bag on for me, please?”

“Full bladder?” I nodded. “You can empty it yourself. You’ve seen me clamp it off, right?” I nodded again. “Just sit down on the toilet and loosen the clamp. When you are done, tighten it again. I‘ll put a bag on when we go to bed.”

When I went back out to the kitchen, Doc said “Hon, you are going to have to make do with 1% milk tonight. That’s all that they have here.”

I made a face. “We need to fix that tomorrow. I’ll pass on having a glass tonight.”

“I’ve already put it in the eggs.”

“That’s okay, I can’t taste it in scrambled eggs.”

We had supper, then while Doc cleaned up, I started a list of things we wanted/needed. At the top was 3.5% milk. When he was finished, he sat down with me and we finished the list and he made a separate one of the type of reading material he wanted. By then, we were both ready for bed.

I changed into a gown and Doc put on a pair of scrubs to sleep in. “Oh, crap”, I said. “I forgot to ask them about getting clothes. I only have one set to wear.”

“We’ll worry about that tomorrow, hon”, he said. Do you want your pain pills or a shot?”

“Pills are fine, the pain is a lot better than it was.” He handed me two and I swallowed them down with some water, then I got in bed and he hooked up the cardiac monitor and put a bag on my catheter. After washing his hands, he got his stethoscope from his bag and listened to my heart. I don’t think he liked what he saw on the monitor. Then he got in bed with me. His phone rang. He looked at it on the nightstand. “It’s Fletcher. Has he caught Jane already?” He answered, listened for a moment, then said into the phone “I’m going to put you on speaker so Meredith can hear, too.”

“Hi, Meredith”, Scott said. “I was just telling Julian that I’m glad to hear you arrived safely. You are in good hands there.

“I called to let you know what is going on. As you know, I have your phones and mobile computers. We’ve been keeping an eye on both of your email accounts. Don’t worry, we aren’t reading any that aren’t obviously Jane and if we do read something private, it won’t go any further.

“There have been a few emails today. Two on Julian’s and three on Meredith’s. Jane thinks you are still in the hospital, but she can’t figure out where you are. She’s also called her contact’s phone, which we have, and has left messages asking him to call her. She doesn’t know where he lives, so he’s safe at his home.”

“What do the emails say?” I asked.

“That she thinks you are playing dirty by moving rooms and she’s taunting you, calling you both cowards for hiding from her. The reason I called to let you know about this is to reassure you that everything went according to plan today and she has no idea where you are. I hope you both can relax a bit, I know it’s not home but it’s safe.”

“That’s the same thing Randall said”, Doc told him.

“It’s true, you *are* safe. Relax and get well, Meredith. I’m sure we’ll get her soon and then this whole nightmare will be over for you and you can get back to your lives. I’ll keep you posted on any new developments.” Doc tapped to end the call after we said goodbye.

“Now, hon, pay heed to what Scott said - we are safe here.” He looked at the monitor. “I see you are feeling better about things already. The readings are better than they were five minutes ago. Let’s go to sleep. He kissed me, then reached over to turn off the light on his nightstand. I turned onto my good side and he snuggled up to me, putting his arm around me.

After a couple minutes, I said “Doc, I keep forgetting to do something. I’m so sorry.”

“What’s that, hon?”

“Remember I said I was going to go back to my maiden name? I forgot to send in the paperwork.”

“Hon, that is the least of our problems right now.”

“I know, but I just remembered again and I wanted to say I’m sorry as I know it is important to you.”

“You know what, Meredith? It’s not really important anymore.”

“Why not, Julian?”

“There’s no point in changing it just to change it again.”

“Why would I change it again?”

“Never mind, hon. I don’t know where that came from. Go to sleep.”

“Ok, Doc. I love you, honey.”

“And I love you, Meredith.”

For the first time in a while, we went to sleep feeling totally safe. If only it had lasted....