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Twenty-Nine

Zena rolled over on her right side, and her eyes flew open. The pain from her ribs was muted, but still speared through making her gasp. Rolling again, she turned onto her left side, and found Percy watching her from the visitor's chair.

"Hey, babe, how are you doing?" His voice was raspy, and he ran his hands through his hair, making it stick up wildly before he continued. "You scared me to death when you passed out on me." He hitched the chair closer to the side of her bed and reached out to take her hand.

"Hold on to me. I feel like I'm going to float away, but my ribs are still making it hard to get comfortable," Zena mumbled.

"I'm not surprised. The Doc said you would be pretty woozy from the pain meds he gave you."

Zen moved restlessly onto her back, and Percy stood to untangle the IV line running into her right forearm.

"Have they found Anya yet? I don't feel safe unless she's in jail."

"Not yet, but the police are looking for her. The FBI agents are looking to charge her." Percy was looking at her like he was memorizing everything about her face.

"I'm not going to die on you. My head doesn't even hurt anymore, and I can take a deep breath if I do it slowly. Do I have any broken ribs?"

"Cracked one, and you have a pretty bad bruise. They said it's the twelfth rib on your right side. Right above the kidney. You don't have anything more than a contusion on your head. No scrapes or anything that bled. No concussion from what they could tell from the MRI."

"Thanks for being here. What time is it?"

"Way past supper time. I think the nurses saved a tray. If you're hungry and there's nothing here for you to eat, I'll run down to the coffee shop and grab a sandwich for you. And where else would I be? Your Dad should be here in a bit. I think he went down to make a couple of phone calls. He's going to make sure I get back to school to pick up my bike."

"Geeze, I caused a lot of trouble getting hurt like this."

"No, Anya caused a lot of trouble by attacking you. This isn't your fault."

It was my own stupid fault. Got lazy and didn't go around the long way. I won't make that mistake again.

"How soon can I go back to school?" Zee asked.

"I'm not sure. The doctor said you can probably go home tomorrow. You're in here overnight to make sure there's nothing they missed." Percy squeezed her hand three times.

"What was that for?" She tightened her fingers around his.

"Three squeezes for I love you. To let you know I care, even if you couldn't say anything or if I were unable to talk, you'd know I was there. It's something my mother taught me way back when I had to have my tonsils out when I was five."

Zena studied his face. He looked like he'd been through a war, his ice blue eyes steady on hers. She hoped it wasn't the drugs, as her heart melted. Very slowly and deliberately she raised their hands where she could see them and squeezed three times.

"I love you too," she whispered, and he stood to lean over her bed.

He kissed her. His lips soft and sweet. She sighed and reached up with her other hand to stroke his cheek.

"Here comes Dad." She giggled when Percy dropped back into his chair with a guilty thump. She felt like she was two steps behind what her eyes were seeing.

"You two okay?" Her dad looked smug.

"Yeah. Do you have news?" Percy asked.

"Is Anya in jail?" Zee asked in almost the same instant.