Chasing Anne

Awake

As soon as he entered Mark's hospital bedroom, Andrew knew that something had changed. The room was brighter, sunlight dancing around the room's light blue walls and a gentle breeze was gently blowing the thin curtains back and forth against the windows. But more than just the look of the room had changed. For some reason, the room didn't seem as dismal anymore. Brianna followed him into the large hospital room, but as soon as she saw her brother she froze, her hands going to her mouth in horror. Andrew noticed her dismay and awkwardly held out his hand to her, encouraging her to come closer. She hesitated, and then gently slipped her hand into his, her fingers trembling. Andrew led her to her brother's side and sat her down beside him. It was true, Mark was not a sight to behold, but he looked much better than he had the day before. He lay on his back, his chest slowly rising and falling rhythmically with his breathing. His pale body was covered with a few white sheets, but that didn't hide his wounded shoulder, his broken arm, or his torn head. His shoulder was neatly stitched closed and was completely clean, and his arm was deftly bandaged, but his head was still scabbed in several places. Brianna knew full well that his condition was probably a much better condition than when they'd first found him, but it still hurt to see her brother so wounded. She felt Andrew's strong hand rest on her shoulder and tensed, biting her lip.
"You okay?" he asked.
Brianna nodded, fighting back tears. "I just hate seeing him like this."
Andrew nodded and sat down beside her, wrapping his arm around her. "He'll come back around, Brie. I know he will."
Brianna nodded and wiped back her tears. "I just wish he wouldn't have gotten hurt in the first place," she whispered.
Andrew nodded. "I do too," he said, giving her a gentle squeeze
She winced as he did, letting out a slight whimper. Andrew immediately let go of her, realizing his mistake. "You're still bruised and here I am making it worse!" he scolded himself aloud.
Brianna shook her head. "You weren't trying to hurt me, Andrew. I know that."
"But I still did," Andrew mumbled, resting his elbows on his knees, folding his hands, and staring at the ground. "Sorry."
Brianna smiled and gently punched his shoulder. "Stop it, Andrew. I'm alive because of you, so relax!"
Andrew just glared at her. "No, you stop it, Brianna. I'm the one who got you hurt so-."
Brianna rolled her eyes and shook her head again. "Forgive yourself for hurting me, okay? Because if it weren't for that, I'd be dead and we wouldn't be having this conversation right now."
Andrew looked away and then stood, walking over to the far wall to check the bag of blood that was slowly dripping into Mark's left arm. He tried to look preoccupied, but Brianna didn't buy it and regained his attention.
"How many of those bags will he need?" she asked.
"This is the second to last one," Andrew said, glancing at the bag's blood level and then back at Brie. "You should know that he was much worse than this and has improved greatly over the past day or so."
Brianna nodded. "I just hope he heals the rest of the way. I don't want to lose him."
Andrew smiled reassuringly and turned back to her. "You won't lose him, Brie. God willing he'll wake up tomorrow."
"And if he doesn't?"
"That's extremely unlikely so I'm not even considering it. You shouldn't either."
Brianna again nodded and laid her hand over her brother's, closing her eyes and bowing her head. Andrew instantly knew she was praying and walked over to her, resting his hands on her shoulders. Brianna smiled and risked a glance up at him, meeting his eye. He grinned sheepishly and then closed his eyes, opening his mouth to speak.
"Lord, we come to you on behalf of your servant Mark who lies before us in a hospital bed," he began. "You do all things for the good of those who love you so please, I ask that you would speed Mark's healing. Thank you so much for saving Brianna, Anne, and the others. It was truly a miracle how we made it through that battle. But, Father we know that the real battle was in the spiritual realm. For we do not fight with this earth, we battle with the powers of this present darkness and there are angels surrounding us now, protecting us. So we thank you for that, Father. We thank you for being near us and for being the all sufficient God that you are. Please, continue to guide us as we seek you and please bring healing to all who are hurt, whether physically or mentally. Be near them, Father. I pray this in your son's name, Amen."
Brianna repeated 'amen' and raised her hand to her shoulder to rest it over Andrew's. He smiled, took her hand, and gently squeezed it.
"Now, about that ball," he started again. "I can't imagine there isn't a ballroom in this mansion so what'd you say about using that?"
Brie instantly brightened and looked up at him grinning. "Do you know where it is?"
"No, but we could try to find it on our way to breakfast."
Brianna stood, turning to face him. "Well, do you know where breakfast is?"
Andrew shook his head. "No, I actually don't."
Brianna laughed. "Well, I guess we have to find that too then."
Andrew opened his mouth reply, but without moving his lips he whispered, "It's good to hear you laugh again, Brie."
Brianna raised an eyebrow. "Are you a ventriloquist?"
Andrew shook his head. "I didn't say that, Brie."
Brianna laughed again. "But you did too! Don't try to fool me! I heard you!"
Andrew again opened his mouth to speak, but without moving his mouth, the voice came again. "Brianna, my voice can't be that generic."
Andrew's face was white now. He looked at Brianna and then took her hand. "Brie, what are you doing? You're scaring me."
Brianna shied from him and pulled back. "You're scaring me."
"Would you both turn around?" the voice asked, louder now.
And then it clicked in Brianna's head. She whipped around to face her brother, her mouth breaking into a grin. "Mark!"
Mark smiled weakly and looked as though he wanted to raise his hand to her, but when he saw his bandaged arm on his right and the IV stuck in his left arm, he kept still. Nonetheless, his eyes had never been so happy to see his sister. Andrew's gaze immediately went to the bag of blood hanging from the wall. It was just about empty. He knelt down at Mark's side and took Mark's left arm in his hands, carefully removing the needle from the vein. Mark winced as he did, but it didn't catch his attention. Andrew pressed a cotton ball against the open vein and taped it to Mark's arm to stop the blood. He then told Mark to wait a minute before moving his arm, but Brianna had already sat down at her brother's side and had taken his hand in hers, tears streaming down her jubilant face.
Mark's eyes filled with concern. "Why're you crying?" he asked.
Brianna laughed and shook her head. "Because you're alive."
Mark frowned. "Is that a bad thing?"
Brianna shook her head, wiping back her tears with her free hands. "No, no it's not."
Mark squeezed her hand, wincing slightly. "Where's Anne?" he asked.
"She's fine, Mark," Andrew said softly. "We were mostly worried about you."
Mark shrugged and smiled. "Why worry about a few bullets and a blown shoulder?"
Andrew tried not to smile. "So you remember what happened before you passed out?"
Mark nodded. "Comet went out from under me and I flew out of the saddle. I landed on my right shoulder which I can tell is not doing very well."
"Well, you were shot in the same shoulder, so no, it wasn't good."
Mark smiled. "Well, at least I made it in one piece."
Andrew nodded. "Thank God for that."
"Amen," Brianna added, giving Mark's hand a squeeze.
Mark sighed and closed his weary green eyes, his deep breathing becoming the only sound that emanated through the room. Brianna reached with her free hand and touched his cheek. His face was clean, but it was clear by his disheveled hair and his scraggly beard that he hadn't seen a restful day in weeks. He smiled to his sister's touch, but kept his eyes closed. After a while though, his smile slowly faded, and Brie knew that he'd fallen back asleep. She withdrew her hands from him and stood, bending over him and kissing his cheek. A smile flickered on Mark's lips, but she knew he was still asleep. Andrew sighed and glanced at her jubilant face, still just as excited as she'd been when her brother had first awakened. She smiled and stood, running into his arms and hugging him tightly.
"He's going to be okay," she whispered, as Andrew caught her in his arms. "Thank you."
Andrew smiled and gave her a squeeze, though he tried not to put too much pressure on her bruised side. "Thank God, Brianna. He answered our prayers."
Brianna smiled and pulled away from him. "We should tell the others."
"You go on ahead, Brie. I need to finish a few things here, okay?"
Brianna nodded and looked at the floor. "I guess we'll have to find the ballroom later, huh?"
Andrew laughed. "Yeah, I guess so. But we will find it, and we will have that party. Trust me, it's worth it."
Brie nodded and then took a final glance at her brother before turning to the door and disappearing into the hall. As soon as she was gone, Andrew sighed and sat down beside Mark's bedside, sighing deeply. In another thirty minutes he needed to start the next IV, but even though he had time to go and get breakfast and then come back to start the process, he needed to be alone. He leaned back against the sofa Brianna had just occupied moments before and took a deep breath, closing his eyes. Life really needed to slow down. He'd been all over the place the past few days. Couldn't he have a day of peace? He sighed again, but as he did he heard a laugh from Mark's bed and reopened his eyes to see the weary man chuckling softly to himself.
"What's so funny?" he asked, his eyes narrowing.
Mark opened his eyes and looked at him, grinning wide. "I never thought it would happen," he said, his eyes almost tearful.
"What would happen?" Andrew asked, now clearly confused.
"That Brianna would find her list."
"Her list?"
Mark nodded, closing his eyes again. "You like her, don't you?"
Andrew hesitated and stood to his feet. "I can see where this is going, Mark, and I don't like it."
Mark just smiled and shook his head, starting to laugh again. "I'm waiting for an answer, not an excuse.
Andrew bit his lip. "Yes, there are things that I admire about her. But I don't like her."
Mark just shook his head again and kept smiling. "I never thought this would happen," he repeated softly.
"Mark, stop it," Andrew grumbled. "Nothing happened. Circumstances just drive people together like nothing else can. She's an incredible woman and I admire her for that. A lot has happened since you passed out."
Mark nodded. "I'm sure of that, Andrew. How's Cindy?"
"Cindy's fine. Jackson's taking good care of her. He will hardly leave her."
Mark laughed again. "Oh, I'm sure. He was worried sick about her while we were gone. I don't blame him, though. No offense to you, but he wasn't too comfortable leaving his wife with someone he'd never really met."
Andrew nodded. "I know. He told me. Apparently Cindy's pregnant also and that just made everything more worrisome."
Mark nodded. "I can imagine."
"He told you?"
"Just after we left I asked him why he was so upset. He told me then. It was a pretty good reason for him to be anxious."
"Yeah, no kidding. It's his first and that just makes everything worse."
"How was Brie?"
Andrew glanced at Mark and looked him over peculiarly before answering. "Fine, why?"
"She was just really upset when I left. That's all."
"She was worried sick about you, Mark!"
Mark nodded somberly. "I know. I didn't want to have to leave on those terms. She didn't overwork herself taking care of you two did she?"
Andrew chuckled. "She tried to, but I didn't let her."
Mark raised an eyebrow. "How so?"
"Well, she tried to make breakfast, but I told her to get some rest. I could tell she was stressed and at the brink of tears so I thought it was a good idea. But because she's so used to doing everything herself, she didn't like the idea of surrendering the breakfast preparations to me. So, she kind of broke down which wasn't what I wanted to happen at all."
"And then you . . ?"
"I made her a muffin and took it to her as an apology for freaking her out. Turns out, the stress of your life being on the line and everyone else you were with had really overloaded her emotionally. Having two houseguests to take care of on top of that just pushed it past her limit."
"And so what'd you say?"
"I told her she could cry and fall apart. I was there because I cared about her, not because I wanted to judge her. She smiled and said I was a lot like you for saying that. I said I was nothing like you."
Mark closed his eyes and smiled. "No, you're not identical to me, Andrew. But we do have one thing in common."
"Yeah? What's that?"
"We both care about my sister."
Andrew hesitated and then nodded. "Yeah, I care about her. I'm still nothing like you though."
Mark sighed and lifted his left hand to his face, scratching his chin. "I have a word of advice for you, Andrew."
"Okay?"
Mark opened his eyes, his gaze becoming fierce and cold. "Brianna's lost a lot of people she's trusted in the past. I don't want her to lose you too. If she can't trust you, don't let her. I promise you, if you hurt her, you'll speak directly to me and it's not going to end well."
"Why would I ever want to hurt or disrespect her? She's an incredible woman!"
Mark nodded. "I know. So don't blow it."
Their conversation came to an abrupt halt at the entrance of Jackson. He barreled through the door, Brianna behind him and plowed straight past Andrew to Mark's bedside. His face was plastered with worry as his eyes met Mark's and it seemed to take forever for a smile of relief to come to his face. He finally let his mouth turn up into a grin and let out a breath of relief, his hand going to his side as he did. Mark reached up with his good hand and patted his best friend's hand.
"I'm okay, Jack. I really am."
"You had me worried, Normand. Two bullets and a fall from a horse that shattered your humorous. That's not exactly a very normal thing to happen."
Mark laughed and shook his head. "No, but God is good and I'm alive."
Brianna nodded and laid her hand a top Mark's. "Thank God for that."
"Make way!" Ryan called from the doorway. "I'd like to see my own son too!"
Brianna and Jackson withdrew from Mark's bedside, smiling bashfully as Ryan walked straight to his son's side and took Mark's weak hand in his own. He gave a gentle but firm squeeze and smiled, sitting down on the edge of his bed.
"Nothing can stop a Normand can it?"
Mark shook his head. "Not as long as we have a good God watching over us."
Ryan smiled and motioned for Andrew to come to his side. Andrew obeyed and strode over to the colonel, trembling slightly.
"Yes, Sir?"
"What's his condition?"
"He's improving greatly, Mr. Normand. His heart rate's normal, most of his lost blood has been replaced, and the bullet wounds and broken arm are making extremely quick recoveries."
Ryan smiled. "That's nothing short of what I'd expect, Dr. McCourtney. Thank you for all you've done. I owe you for it."
"Mitchel also pitched in, Sir. Don't give me all the credit."
Ryan smiled and nodded, turning to the young doctor. "Of course. I honestly believe I should thank all of you when we're all together, but right now, I'm just glad he's awake."
"How soon can I see Anne?" Mark asked, interrupting the conversation. "Please tell me I don't have to wait too long."
Ryan turned back to his son and shrugged. "Right now that all depends on your recovery, Mark. If you continue to heal like this, you'll be fine in a few days, but if your condition changes, so does the time when you'll get to see Anne."
"How is she, Jadon?" Mark asked, his eyes going to the lieutenant now standing in the doorway.
Jadon smiled and gave a reassuring nod. "She's fine. Give her a few days and she'll have the strength to get back on her feet. Don't worry about her."
Mark smiled sheepishly. "How can I not?"
"Try to relax, Mark," his father encouraged. "Stress on your body right now is nothing good. You've got to rest."
Mark nodded, but he still looked agitated. He glanced at Jackson. "Can I talk to you alone for a minute?" he asked.
Jackson looked around the room and fixed his eyes on Andrew. "Can we have a moment?"
Andrew nodded. "Of course. I just need to get his next IV set up. You don't mind me do you?"
Mark shook his head. "No, not at all. I just need to talk to Jackson for a minute."
Ryan nodded and stood to his feet. "Come on everyone. Let's get some breakfast."
Jadon nodded instantly and followed Ryan out into the hall, but Brianna lingered near the door a moment, her worried eyes fixed on Mark's face. Her father waited for her a moment and then rested a hand on her shoulder. "Come on, Brie. Andrew will keep him safe."
Brie nodded in defeat, turned, and withdrew from the room, her dad wrapping an arm around her shoulders. As soon as they were gone, Jackson sat down next to Mark's bed and smiled, his brown hair almost flopping into his eyes. "What'd you need me for?"
"I want an honest answer about Anne, Jack. You'll give me one."
Jackson smiled and shook his head, patting his friend's hand. "She suffered from hypothermia, malnourishment, and dehydration, but she's recovered 68% of her body weight since arriving here and is recovering remarkably. She's doing just as well as everyone's telling you."
Mark seemed frustrated and looked out the window as Andrew began to prepare the IV. "I need to see her."
"Mark, when have I ever lied to you? I promise you, Anne's fine!"
Mark bit his lip and closed his eyes, his heart pounding. "I know, and I trust you . . . I just . . . I don't want to lose her . . . again."
Andrew smiled and laid a hand on Mark's good shoulder. "You won't, Mark. I promise. She'll probably come and see you before you see her."
Mark sighed and looked at the ceiling, wincing slightly as Andrew reinserted the IV into his arm. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and tried to hold back tears. "I'm just afraid that I . . ." He trailed off, letting his tears dribble down his cheeks.
"That you won't see her again?" Jackson guessed, understanding and sympathy for his friend taking its toll on him."
Mark nodded solemnly. "I know that I probably will, but being unconscious, well it scared me."
Andrew paused. "What do you mean?" he asked, his voice concerned.
Mark didn't look like he really wanted to answer, but then with a sigh, he said softly. "I had a nightmare while I was unconscious, Andrew, and I lost her in the middle of it. I don't want that to happen."
Andrew's face filled with sorrow. "I hate it when that happens," he muttered. "It felt real, didn't it?"
Mark nodded. "When I woke up, I wasn't sure I was awake."
Jackson again rested a hand over Mark's hand. "Mark, I promise you, Anne's fine."
"What about Blaze?" Mark asked, opening his eyes and looking pointedly at Andrew. "Where's my dog?"
Andrew's eyes fell. "Mark, after you fell from Comet, Raymond closed in on you. He shot straight for your chest, and none of us thought that you were going to survive it. But Blaze . . . well, he took the bullet for you."
Mark's face sobered as the realization of what had happened to his beloved canine dawned on him.
"He didn't make it," Andrew finished. "I tried to save him, but something happened to his lungs . . . and . . ." Andrew didn't have to finish. Mark's face told that he had said enough. His eyes closed again and his face gravened with sorrow, tears streaming from his eyes and down his cheeks, dripping onto his pillow.
Jackson gently gave Mark's hand a squeeze. "Mark," he whispered.
Mark shook his head. "Jack, I need a minute," he replied.
Jackson withdrew his hand from Mark's and glanced at Andrew. Andrew nodded and stood to his feet, walking to the door. Jackson followed, tears streaming from his own eyes from all the pain surrounding him. When would it end? Andrew grabbed the door handle and turned it, Jackson right behind him, but just as the two disappeared into the hall, Mark reopened his eyes and called out,
"Wait, Jack. One more thing."
Jackson nodded. "Yeah, anything."
"Tell Anne I love her and will see her soon."
Jackson smiled and nodded. "You can count on me for that, Mark."
Then he turned, and left.