Robbery in Progress

Thirty-Four

While I was sitting at my desk doing paperwork, Paul sent me a text letting me know that he was grabbing himself some food and going to patrol the area. Of course, I was still on desk duty for two more weeks, so that meant I couldn't go patrol or work any cases. I had a terrible headache and just wanted to go home. I took a Tylenol, hoping it would help. Within an hour, though, I had no relief. I hated to do it, but I could barely keep my eyes open from the pain. I slowly got up from my desk and went into Creighton's office.

"Sir?"

"Come in, Jen." I slowly walked closer to his desk and shut the door behind me, hoping no one would hear our conversation. "Is everything okay? You don't look so good."

"I have a terrible headache. The Tylenol I took about an hour ago hasn't helped. I hate asking, but..."

"Don't worry about it. Go home and get some rest. If you still feel like this tomorrow, don't worry about coming in. Your health is more important." I gently smiled, trying to hide how much pain I was in, and walked over to the door to leave. "If this keeps up, you may want to go to the hospital just to be safe." I closed the door behind me, grabbed my things from my desk, and headed home.

At home, I laid all my things down on the counter and changed clothes. I made my way back downstairs to the couch and laid down. I must not have been lying down for five minutes until I fell asleep. When I woke back up, I could hear my phone ringing. I got up and felt a little dizzy, so I took a deep breath and slowly made my way to the counter to get my phone.

"Hello?"

"Jen, are you alright? I've been trying to call you. I came back to the station and was going to tell you about my talk with Julie but Creighton said you had gone home and that you weren't feeling well. Are you okay?"

"I just have a headache is all."

"Nothing else?" I hesitated to answer, grabbing my head in pain. "Don't lie to me about this, Jen. Is there something else wrong? Are you hurting anywhere else?"

"No....not hurting anywhere else...just my head...I took a nap...felt a little dizzy when I got up to get my phone..."

"Jen, I'm coming over. I'm taking you to the hospital."

"No, Paul. I'm fine." I pleaded, but it was too late. Paul had already hung up the phone. I slowly started walking back to the couch and then it was like everything went black. I came to and saw Paul hovering over me, my body lying on the floor. I could hear him talking. It took me a couple of minutes, but my eyes finally opened.

"Jen, what happened?"

"I don't...I don't know." Paul gently helped me sit up.

"I'm taking you to the hospital. This isn't right. You shouldn't have passed out like that." Paul grabbed my hand and placed his other hand on my arm to help me keep my balance. Slowly, he helped me stand up and we made our way to his car.

At the hospital, they were running tests on me and giving me fluids. Paul was sitting in a chair beside my bed. I must have fallen asleep again because when I came to, the doctor was in my room.

"Nice to see you're awake." He scanned through his clipboard for a minute. "It looks like you may need to do some more bed rest. It seems you have been straining yourself too much." I was so mad, I could feel my face turning red.

"I'm not doing any more bed rest." Just then, I heard the door open and turned to see John.

"We'll give you two some time to talk alone," Paul spoke and the doctor followed him out the door. John sat in the chair beside my bed where Paul had been sitting.

"Jen, you heard what the doctor said. You are putting too much on yourself. You need to rest."

"John..." I started to tear up.

"Jen, you have to do what's best for you. You need to rest as the doctor said."

"John..." I wiped my face. "I can't...my job..."

"Your job will still be there."

"It doesn't matter. This is all I've ever wanted to do and if I can't do it... then what's the point?" I paused for a minute. "I felt dizzy when I first came home from the hospital...but I thought it was nothing." I turned over in the bed, leaving John facing my back.

"You mean you felt dizzy before now and just didn't tell anyone?" He paused, waiting for me to answer, but I didn't. "Jen...I told you if anything was wrong or if you felt bad any at all to tell me...or someone so we could bring you back here to get checked out...to make sure everything was okay." I wiped the tears from my eyes again, burying my head deeper in the pillow. "If you don't care about yourself, then how do expect anyone else to care about you?" I could hear the scooting of the chair on the floor and then the slam of the door. Paul quickly came into my room, coming over to me where I had my face buried in my pillow. He placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Jen, what happened? John looked so mad when he left." I slowly rolled over in the bed, leaving a place so Paul could sit beside me.

"I...I...I felt dizzy when I first came home from the hospital...I just thought it was normal so I didn't say anything. I didn't...I didn't..." I buried my head in Paul's lap. He wrapped his arms around me, not phasing him that I was crying uncontrollably. When I eventually stopped crying, Paul brushed my hair out of my face and tucked it behind my ears.

"It's okay, Jen."

"John is so upset. He said if I didn't care about myself...why would anyone care about me? Why would he leave like that?"

"Jen, he's probably just worried about you. He cares about you."

"But he was so angry..."

"Yes, he was. I would just give him some time to cool off before I tried talking to him."

"He hates me." I squeezed Paul's hand for comfort. "I messed up."

"It's okay. I promise it'll be okay." He paused for a moment. "The doctor said you can go home when you're ready."

"I'm ready. I just want out of this place." Paul left the room while I got dressed and pulled his car to the front door of the hospital so it was less walking I had to do. Paul drove me home and helped me to the couch.

"Do you need anything?" I shook my head no. "I'll tell Creighton everything, so don't worry about it. I'll stop by tomorrow during my lunch break. If you need anything, you call me, okay?" I nodded and scooted myself down in a lying position on the couch. Paul grabbed the blanket folded across the back of the couch and threw it over me.

A/N: Any ideas you all have for this book? Please remember to vote and comment.