Broken Hearts Club

3. Becoming Friends

Tim had never had a worse day in his life. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Isabel, barely alive, being wheeled into the back of an ambulance. She made the choice to become an informant to get out of prison, and he knew it was a bad idea, but she went ahead with the operation, and within minutes, her cover was blown, she was attacked, and her life was hanging in the balance. He wanted to work instead of thinking about Isabel in the hospital in surgery to treat the bullet in her head, but it would have been a mistake if Lucy had not been there. Lucy with her quiet eyes always staring up at him with a softness and support he could not have expected, but she gave it to him for the duration of a grueling shift. His heart was racing, their lives were at risk the longer they were in that hellish apartment complex hunting down the man that shot Isabel, but Lucy was a comforting constant. He would have thanked her if he were that kind of person, but he only quietly helped her return their gear at the end of shift and watched as she winced where she touched the spot that she had been shot. The bulletproof vest took most of the impact, but he knew how it must have ached regardless. "You should ice that when you get home."

"The hospital has ice packs," she replied as she rubbed the blooming bruise beneath her skin.

He stopped walking. "The hospital? Boot, why did you say you were fine on the scene? If you think you have to go to the hospital-"

"It's not for me," she cut him off to say. He looked confused, which made her smile, and thankfully her face muscles did not hurt the way so many in her midsection were screaming at her. "I'm going with you."

"Going with me where? To the hospital?"

"Yeah, I'm sure Isabel is out of surgery by now."

"She is. I'm going to check on her, but I'm going alone."

"Alone? After the day you've had? Someone needs to be there for you."

He never accepted help. He narrowed his eyes at her. "I don't need anyone to be there for me, and definitely not my boot."

"Okay, well then I guess I'm going to the hospital to get an x-ray and be extra sure all I've got is a bad bruise. I'll meet you there."

Lucy sauntered off before he could say another word, which irritated him, but all of that irritation faded away after he saw Isabel's condition had hardly improved post operation. He would have sat in a dimly lit hospital room alone with only the chimes of the machines keeping her alive as his company, but Lucy walked in, and brought with her a strength he desperately needed.

"How's she doing?" She murmured as she stepped inside the room. At quick glance, Isabel's head was bandaged, and she was connected to a heart monitor and some fluids.

"Okay. She talked for a second then fell back asleep," he responded.

"Glad to see she's not on a machine to help her breathe. That's a good sign."

"I guess."

Lucy lowered herself onto the chair next to Tim and studied how every line in his face looked different because of his worry. "She'll pull through. She's clearly tough."

"Wish she was tough enough to go to rehab."

"This might be her wake up call."

He balled his hands into fists. "Why is THIS her wake up call? Why couldn't it have been the fact that she left me? Why couldn't she have looked me in the eyes when I saw her leaving that liquor store, and she realized right then she was at rock bottom? Why couldn't it have been the fact that I had to deliver Narcan to her crappy apartment just to make sure she would stay alive?" He hated being so honest and vulnerable, but after the day he had, he lacked the strength to hide behind his tough guy facade.