Authors: Marianna Roberg
From the vicinity of his knee, Colin heard Jessie whisper, "Not my daddy."
"Jessie, come
here
," the man said again.
Colin looked down. The child's blonde head swiveled back and forth. Looking back up, he said, "I don't believe the lady wishes to accompany you."
"Gimme my kid," the man growled, turning those empty grey eyes on Colin.
Colin's voice was flat. He was never one for fights, except if they were choreographed ones, but the child was terrified of this man. He knew to the marrow of his bones he couldn't let this man lay a finger on Jessie. "No."
The child was staring between the two men, eyes huge. All she really understood was that the nice man in the shirt with the pretty lady on it was keeping her away from the bad man. He was keeping her safe.
"He hit Mommy," she said, staring defiantly at the man. "He yelled at her and made her cry."
The nurse at the desk watched with acute interest, paperwork forgotten.
Colin glanced down at Jessie, her small fingers holding his slacks in a death grip. "Is that why your Mommy's here?"
She nodded. Through the blonde wisps, he saw a smudge on her cheek he'd thought was dirt. But dirt wasn't purple. It was a bruise.
Blue eyes fixed on the man, who had started forward, thinking to take advantage of Colin's distraction. Seeing Colin level a chilly look at him, the man lunged forward, reaching for Jessie. The little girl screamed.
Acting on instinct, Colin grabbed the man, propelled him backwards, and slammed him into the wall. His arm pressed hard against the man's throat, Colin's eyes were like shards of ice.
"Don't you
dare
touch her," he said, and his voice shook with rage.
Behind him, the little girl was cowering under the chair, sobbing. The nurse quickly left the desk and retrieved the child, holding her close while watching the men warily. She'd already signaled for security.
It took only a moment before security got there. At first, they went for Colin, since he was pinning the unidentified man, but the nurse quickly set them right, and they hauled off the man. She and Colin had both come to the conclusion that he'd beat Jessie's mother, and possibly Jessie.
They let Colin go. The confrontation had momentarily distracted him from the reason he was there, but now his worry for Jaina hit him like a fist to the gut. He sank back down into his chair, a wave of nausea rolling over him. He put his head in his hands.
"Sir?"
He looked up. The nurse holding the little girl had approached. "Yes?"
She looked at him nervously. "I don't want to... impose, but I was wondering... I have to get back to work, and I have to call the social worker..."
"I'll watch her," Colin said. "If you'll tell me immediately when I can see my girlfriend."
She nodded and handed him the child.
Colin settled Jessie on the chair next to him. "Hi, Jessie. I'm Colin.
"
♥♥♥
Colin knew that sitting in a chair, worrying about Jaina, would do him no good, so he distracted himself by entertaining Jessie. Which meant that he gave her rides on his shoulders, played a game of connect-the-dots with her with a paper borrowed from the nurse, and told her a story.
"... and just when they were about to push Luke into the pit, he jumped off! But he didn't fall. He jumped up, over the heads of the bad men, and just as he landed, he caught his lightsaber." Colin made a "wsshhbzzz" noise, imitating a lightsaber.
Jessie stared up at him with wide eyes, mouth hanging open.
"He swung his lightsaber, and knocked all the bad guys off the boat. Then, Boba Fett attacked Han, who still couldn't see. Luke couldn't help him, because he had to go rescue the princess. He jumped over to the bigger boat, and-"
"Mr. Pierce?"
Colin stopped and turned, seeing the nurse there. "Yes?"
"Dr. Grey will see you now.
"
♥♥♥
Since Colin didn't know what else to do with Jessie, he took her with him. The nurse led him back to a curtained area, where Jaina lay on a bed, hooked up to an IV. A petite woman, with short red hair, round silver glasses, and hazel eyes, was looking at her vitals. She looked up when Colin approached, then glanced at Jessie, and turned a questioning look to Colin.
"It's a long story. I'm pretty much babysitting," he explained. "How is she?"
Dr. Janice Grey looked at him for a moment, then said, "I have a few things to ask you, Mr. Pierce. Ellen, if you could take Mr. Pierce's charge for a little while?"
"Yes, Dr. Grey."
Colin sat down in the chair next to Jaina and took her hand, mindful of the IV. He studied her face. She looked better; there was definitely more color in her cheeks.
"You said that you had had sexual intercourse with Jaina earlier this evening?"
"Yes." He turned serious blue eyes to the doctor. "Is that what caused her collapse?"
The doctor met his gaze for a moment, then looked at her patient. "It's possible. Though only because she's anemic. She has a lowered platelet count, which means she's getting less oxygen than she should, which made it much easier for her to go into shock."
"That's it? Shock and anemia?"
Dr. Grey bit her lip. "Not entirely. She's anemic, as I said, because of her red blood cell count. I don't know if you noticed this..."
She leaned over and pulled the curtain closed. Then she pulled Jaina's blanket back, lifted the hem of her hospital gown, and showed him a scattering of bruises, tiny, tiny bruises, on her hips and thighs, along with what looked like a rash.
Colin frowned. "I didn't see those."
"That's what I thought. They're petechiae. Basically, they're very small bruises, caused by broken capillaries. Her lowered platelet count has made clotting more difficult. Has she been sick recently?"
Colin had to think. "I think she had a cold last week. She was injured a month ago, a sprained ankle."
Grey raised a brow. "You
think
she had a cold?"
"We'd had an argument, and weren't exactly speaking. But we've made up."
"Well, this doesn't necessarily mean it's anything serious. We tested for Lupus, but she's only showing three of the symptoms so far. It could be idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura, but it could also be caused by a recent menstruation."
She placed her hand on his shoulder. "She's sleeping now, and I'll be prescribing iron supplements. If it gets worse, I want her back here immediately."
He nodded. "When can we go?"
"I'll be giving her a checkup when she wakes, and another blood test. The results of that won't be back for about a day, so I'll be releasing her into your care. Just make sure she eats plenty of red meats, and takes her vitamins."
Colin nodded, though he knew that could be difficult. Jaina wasn't fond of red meat. "Thank you, doctor."
"You can stay with her. Just alert one of the nurses when she wakes up."
Dr. Grey left.
Colin leaned over Jaina and kissed her forehead. "Rest, sweetheart. I'll be here."
Holding her hand, he kept a silent vigil.
Chapter Seventeen
Jaina woke a little after 4 AM. She blinked groggily, then focused with an effort on the shape that appeared above her, blocking the blinding light.
"Where am I?" she asked.
Colin's face came into focus. "You're in the hospital. You passed out in the bathroom. You've been here about four hours."
She tried to sit up, but he put his hand on her shoulder and kept her down. "Don't sit up yet. You've got an IV in, and Dr. Grey wants to check you out first."
Jaina was confused. "What happened?"
"Apparently, you're anemic, and you, uh, went into shock, after we..."
She wondered why he was editing his speech, then noticed a pair of blue eyes under a blonde fringe peering at her over the edge of the bed. She blinked, then looked at Colin.
He spoke quietly, leaning close to Jaina. "This is Jessie. Apparently, her mother's boyfriend put her in the hospital, and he's been... hurting Jessie, too. I, uh, stopped him from getting Jessie, and she seems to be temporarily in my charge."
"Ah." She wriggled until she could see over the edge of the bed at the child. "Hi. I'm Jaina."
Jessie edged over behind Colin. He laughed.
"It's okay, Jessie. Remember how I told you about the lady who likes elves just as much as you?" Colin crouched beside her.
Jessie nodded, looking shyly at Jaina.
"Well, this is her."
"Oh."
Colin picked her up, saying, "Upsie daisie."
Jaina smiled. "I remember you doing that on the show."
Over the child's head, he grinned at her. Jaina's stomach clenched, and she suddenly wondered what his child would look like... if she would be the one to bear it.
Setting Jessie on the edge of the bed, he said, "Wait here with Jaya, okay? I have to go find the nurse."
Jessie was careful as she moved closer to Jaina. "Are you inna movie?"
"Nope." Jaina shook her head. "I put makeup on people. Lipstick and stuff."
The curtain slid back and Dr. Grey came in, followed by Ellen the nurse and Colin, who picked Jessie up and set her on the chair.
Dr. Grey picked up Jaina's right hand, which didn't have an IV, and checked her pulse. "Hello, Jaina. I'm Dr. Grey. How are you feeling?"
"Like I passed out in the bathroom and woke up in the hospital with a needle in my arm," she said dryly. "Other than that, I feel fine."
"That's good." Dr. Grey made a note in on the clipboard she carried. "I want to run you through the usual checkup, weight, hearing, blood pressure, all of that."
Ellen, at the doctor's instruction, removed the IV from Jaina's hand and bandaged it. Then, as Colin moved back, they helped Jaina off the bed.
"Would you like to get dressed first?" Dr. Grey asked.
Jaina looked down at her hospital gown. "Yes, please."
Colin held up the duffel bag he'd been carrying. "Here. I just grabbed some things for you."
"I hope there's a full set of clothing here," she said wryly.
"There is. They just might not match," he said. "Do you, uh, need any help?"
Jaina looked from the bag, to him, and then to the nurse and the doctor, realizing that it was extremely likely they knew that she had been sleeping with Colin. "Um. Yeah."
Colin handed Jessie to the nurse and guided Jaina to the bathroom. She dug through the bag, pulling out her boots, socks, her jeans from the day before, underwear, the bra she'd also been wearing before, and her olive green moleskin shirt that laced up the front.
"What?" he asked, as she looked between the shirt and the bra.
"Um. You remember how this bra looks on me, right?"
Colin swallowed, remembering. "Yeah..."
"Well, let's just say that the neckline of this shirt is really low with this bra."
"Ah." He grinned. "What's the problem?"
"Just checking."
Feeling self-conscious, Jaina dressed quickly. She only lost her balance once, and that was while trying to get into her jeans and her foot got stuck.
Colin grabbed her before she could topple. He held her steady while she giggled.
Jaina found a hairclip in the pocket of her jacket, which he'd also packed for her. She twisted her hair up in a bun and clipped it faster than Colin could track. Then she threw her arms around him, startling him.
"Thank you," she said into his chest. "I don't deserve you. You're the best..."
Colin wrapped his arms around her. He rested his chin on the top of her head. "I don't deserve
you
," he told her. "I've done nothing but make things difficult for you."
"No, you haven't. Actually... you saved my life. And don't say you didn't. I saw the petechiae while I was getting dressed. And don't look surprised. I know what they are because I've had them before. I was told it'd be a one-time thing, probably, when I was fourteen. But apparently not." She made a face. "This is what made me go into shock so easily."
"The doc called it...idio..."
"Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura?" Jaina nodded. "But since we've caught it this early, I should be okay."
Colin wanted to tighten his arms around her, but didn't want to cause more bruising. She suddenly seemed incredibly fragile, and he was afraid.
"Come on," she said. "I want to go home."
"Work," he sighed suddenly. "I've got to work today.
You
are going home."
"If you're going to work, I'm going to work," she said.
"Jaina, you could hurt yourself," he protested.
She rolled her eyes. "With what, a lipliner?"