In The Safety Of A Lie - COMPLETED!

Chapter 23

Evelina woke up to an array of quiet beeps. Her eyes fluttered open to a dark hospital room. "Not again." She moaned.

"Ev? Are you awake?" Joey's voice seemed to echo throughout the room.

"You sound kind of funny." She said quietly as she tried to make sense of things.

"I'm going to go get Doctor Wiley." He said quickly, nearly toppling over a chair to stand up.

"No, no, I'm sure I'm fine." She tried to stop him.

"Evelina, you've been unconscious for nearly twelve hours." He looked at her sternly, clearly not interested in dealing with her obstinate thinking.

"W-what?" She thought she heard him wrong since her hearing seemed to be kind of fuzzy.

"I'm not joking. You've been unconscious for nearly twelve hours. You're not fine." He said a little louder.

"Twelve hours?" She echoed in shock.

"Yes, Ev, twelve hours." He verified with her.

"Oh! We were going to talk about wedding plans!" She shot up from lying down. Darkness attempted to envelope her up again as she reached her hand up over her forehead and fell back down onto her pillow.

"Ev, stay awake." He said forcefully.

Evelina blinked her eyes a couple of times, fighting the onset of darkness that continued to try to overwhelm her. "I'm trying." She said weakly.

"Try harder." He told her with that same forcefulness.

"I feel so weak." She said through increased breathing. "What's going on?"

"You tell me. What are you feeling?" Joey tried to keep her talking.

"I feel sick." Ev felt a sudden rush of nausea fall over her. She moaned in agony and clutched her stomach. "Oh, Joey, I feel sick. I feel really, really sick." She pinched her eyes shut as a tear or two escaped down the sides of her face. She rolled over onto her side, clenching her stomach tighter as if to try to stop any pain that wanted to rush through her. She could hear Joey get up and call for help, but her eyes were too pinched shut to be able to see him. She could feel him hovering back over her. He sat down on the bed and held her against him. She could feel his warmth, but wasn't able to enjoy it as pain shot through her.

"You'll be okay. Calm down. Just relax, baby." He said as calmly as possible.

"I can't." She moaned, burying her head into his side.

"You can, and you will." He didn't care what she said, he'd have enough faith for the both of them along with just the right amount of stubbornness.

"What's going on, Joey?" She asked, nearly begging him for an answer. "Is there something wrong with the baby?"

He put his fingers under her chin and pulled her face up to face him. His voice was stern, nearly angry. "No, Evelina, don't ask that. Don't let that ever enter your mind again! You hear me? Our baby will be fine." His eyes gentled up, clearly realizing he was being sterner then the situation called for.

"Where's the doctor?" Evelina asked painfully.

"He'll be here any second. Just hold on." He tried to reassure, counting the seconds that it was taking the doctor.

"Am I going to die, Joey?" She looked up painfully into his eyes. Tears were streaming down her face. "Am I going to die? I don't think I'm ready for that. I didn't ask for this. Maybe I deserve it. I know I shouldn't have lied to your boss. I shouldn't have done a great many things, but is this punishment for all of that?" She couldn't stop the thoughts from rambling out of her mouth. Her heart ached with the thought that she may have brought this upon herself... upon her baby.

"Evelina Jones!" He yelled at her. "You do not ever, ever ask that again! Don't you even think about that! What the hell is going on with you? What happened to the stubborn, never giving up Evelina that I knew?" He said agitatedly, hoping that she'd change her thoughts. Praying that she wouldn't give up. The only reassurance he had was that her rambling would keep her awake and, therefore, alive. The doctor hadn't known how to treat her when they had come in because she had been unconscious, and neither he nor Nakita knew if she had taken anything that could bring this on. She needed to stay awake to be better assessed.

Doctor Wiley, along with several nurses, came crashing through the door. Joey gently laid Evelina back down and backed away from the bed. She groaned in pain, already missing the warmth and comfort that her fiancé provided.

"What's going on with her, Doctor?" Joey wrung his hands together nervously.

"I think she's having either an allergic reaction to the pain medication or she's having some sort of reaction to something she took. None of the tests we took are proving anything obvious." He flashed a light into her eyes and checked her pupils. "What did you take, Evelina?"

"But you're not sure?" Joey interrupted the question. The uncertainty scared him.

"No, I'm not. At least not yet." He told him, keeping his focus on Evelina. "Some of the symptoms seem to point to her being poisoned, but I just can't be sure yet."

"Poisoned?" Joey's knees wobbled. He braced himself against the wall. Maybe Senator Downs was changing his mind about keeping her alive. Maybe Jimmy had gotten to her.

"Like I said before, I can't be certain of anything yet." Doctor Wiley looked down at his clipboard quickly.

"Well, can't you help her? There has to be an antidote." Joey asked impatiently.

"Mr. Markes, I need you to leave this room for a little while. I can't keep answering your questions while I try to figure out what's going on with your fiancé. One of the nurses here will escort you out to the waiting room, if you don't mind?" He said, not leaving any room for leverage.

A nurse quickly escorted Joey out of the room. She left him in the waiting room, before hurrying back to Evelina.

Joey wasn't sure what to expect. Ev had seemed fine when he had arrived that morning, but things seemed to change so rapidly. He was thankful for his quick reflexes when she had started to fall. He had brought her to the hospital almost immediately after her fainting and had been by her side for the whole twelve hours. He'd be a liar if he said that he didn't feel like those hours seemed to take an eternity to pass by while waiting for her to awake. In spite of those impatient moments, there were times that made him feel like time went by faster then he thought would be possible.

Doctor Wiley hadn't given him much information to go on at first glance at Evelina. He had run some tests, but hadn't really been able to tell what was going on with her. The doctor had made it clear that they wouldn't have answers until she woke up, and, even then, he didn't seem to understand what was going on.

They were to be married soon. What role would this play for that day? Joey wasn't sure. He let his eyes close for just a few moments and quickly, to his dismay, found himself quickly drifting off to sleep. He was exhausted, that one thing was for sure, and now it was catching up to him.