A Happy Birthday?

Jilly

Why do all shoes squeak in hospital corridors?

The question popped into his head as he made his way to her room, surrounded by a phalanx of agents and senior staff.

As Joe was being told of the accident on the airplane his team were already swinging into action.

The pilots teased every drop of productivity from the huge engines of Air Force One. While they were hurtling through the sky the staff set about ringing family and close friends, informing them of the situation, asking for discretion.

They made arrangements at the hospital, contacted the Governor, the Mayor of the city. The police chief was already working on a traffic plan with Jill's agents on the ground and cops were being pulled from all non-emergency duties and told to prepare for a VIP visit to the city.

From the sky, Joe's close protection team were drafting in agents from across the east coast in a race to get the hospital fully secure before his arrival.

Annie kept in touch with Anthony, soothing his nerves as much as finding out information for the president.

She shuttled between calls with the family, the White House, the hospital and, of course, she spent some tense and emotional moments with her boss.

He'd been stoic, determined, anxious of course but he knew they had everything as well under control as possible.

Between updates, feeling useless and annoyed with himself that he wasn't by her side he'd rung his old friend, Fr. Iggy and asked him to pray with him.

As the journey wore on and they got closer to Jill, Joe's mind seemed to focus entirely on an operating theater in Philly where the love of his life was undergoing surgery on her left arm and shoulder. He knew she had a nasty head wound too that the medical team were concerned about.

He watched the clock turn and, when he knew the surgery was in progress, he slipped out his rosary and tried to find solace in the only other place he could.

'We won't know for sure what we're dealing with, sir, until we get in there', the surgeon had told him on a secure feed Sam and Anthony had cobbled together in record time.

The surgeons patiently answered Joe's questions and filled him in as best they could. He gave his permission for the surgery to begin.

'You can't wait until I get there?' he asked again, one final time.

But they said it was best to begin as soon as possible. 'The head wound, sir', we need to get in there in case of a clot. And the longer the nerves in her arm are left the more severe the damage could be'.

And so he agreed, and he felt like his whole self split in two; one half of him by her side in the operating theater.

He spoke with Bonny before they began. She had stayed in the hospital room with Jill while he was on the call but he relayed everything he was told to her as soon as the doctors were finished. Jill would never appreciate it if her sisters were kept in the dark.

Now, as he turned the corridor in the hospital he felt his shoulders stiffen and his chest tighten. He knew her room was just up ahead.

He could see Sam and Anthony in the corridor outside, Natasha was inside, sitting discreetly in the corner, watching every move. As the president approached everyone looked in his direction. He fixed his eyes on the two men and made straight for them. He held his hand out to each in turn. 'Thank you for taking care of her for me. I won't ever forget it', he said with such sincerity that Sam had to look away from the intensity in the man's eyes.

With four more steps he was inside the hospital room.

The soft woosh of the oxygen, the blip, blip of the monitors, the sharp jangle as Bonny stood and accidentally hit the tray with a teapot and crockery; the only remains of a snack a nurse had kindly brought for her.