One Rule

Chapter 22

The next day was such a shit show. I was at work when everything happened. The guys were supposed to be leaving for Ireland, and Gemma was being transferred from St. Thomas to County. I was in the ER, sitting at the nurse's station when someone told me that Gemma had had a reaction to her mediation and that they were putting her into an ice bath to keep her from stroking out.

I ran down to where they were, to see if I could help, only to find Gemma and Tara alone. Gemma was in the process of changing into dry clothes. "What's going on?" I asked.

"I'm going with them to get Abel," Gemma said, taking Tara's lab coat and badge.

"Do you know what that'll do to your deal?" I asked.

"I don't care. I just want to know my grandson is safe," she replied.

"This is aiding and abetting," I said, looking over at Tara.

"You're implicated now too," she replied.

"This is a bad idea," I insisted, standing in front of the door.

"Get out of my way, Diana," Gemma snapped. I didn't get a ton of warning before she rushed me and pushed me over. In the process, I slipped on ice and water on the floor. I hit my head on a metal sink as they ran by me.

I came to a bit later when a federal agent was shaking my shoulder. "What happened?" he asked.

"I came in and the room was empty," I lied. "I slipped on the water."

They brought in a doctor to look me over, and he determined that I had a concussion. They took me back to the ER and put me in a bed until the feds were done asking questions and someone could come get me and take me home. I think Margaret didn't try to blame me for any involvement because I was actually injured.

 I called Lyla to come get me, assuming Kozik was busy helping to get the guys out of the country.

The longer I laid there, I started to really feel the symptoms of the concussion. The pain in my head was getting worse. I also thought I was going to puke, so they gave me the standard issue pink bucket, just in case. Being a little dizzy did not help the nausea.

Wayne came by to check on me. "What happened? Did they do this to you?" he asked.

"I just slipped," I lied. "They weren't there," I repeated.

"Uh huh."

Lyla got there and they told us that someone would have to keep an eye on me overnight to make sure that I was okay. They gave me pain meds and meds for the nausea.

She took me home and helped put me to bed before Kozik got home. He had to send Miles to stay with me for a bit. I let Lyla pass on the instructions the ER doc had given her, because I just wanted to close my eyes and sleep in hopes that that would make the room stop spinning.

I'll give Miles credit, he followed Lyla's instructions to the letter. He woke me up when he was supposed to, and made sure that I had a trash can in case I got sick. I also vaguely remember hearing Lyla say that no one was allowed inside but Kozik. I don't know if anyone tried to come over, but I wasn't bothered.

He woke me up just before Kozik came home. "You should try to eat something," Miles suggested, holding out a sleeve of crackers.

"I'm honestly not sure I could keep anything down," I mumbled pitifully, but I took the crackers anyway. I heard the Harley engine downstairs and looked over at Miles, "How bad do I look?" I asked. "Please be honest."

"A little rough," he admitted. "He's not going to care how you look. He's going to care that you've got a concussion."

"I know, but maybe he'll worry less if I don't look like a hot mess," I said, brushing at my hair with my fingers. I winced when I got to the section where I'd hit my head.

I heard the front door open, "Hello?" Kozik called out.

"Up here," Miles called back.

"What happened?" he asked, coming into the room.

I recounted what happened for him and Miles, swearing Miles to secrecy. "What are you going to do about Tara?" Kozik asked.

"Nothing, for now. Technically, Gemma shoved me," I told him. "But I don't want her in my house."

"Got it."

...

A couple days later after I was feeling better, I went back to work. Tara approached me as I was working on patient's chart, wanting to talk to me.

"What did you say?" she asked. "The feds keep asking me if I know what happened to you."

"I didn't say anything," I replied, barely looking up from my paperwork. "I'm not stupid."

"I didn't know she'd do that," Tara said.

"I should have," I mumbled. "Please just let it go. I'll deal with it when she gets back if the feds don't get to her first."

"Do you want to get dinner tonight?"

"I can't. Kozik and I are going out," I replied. I honestly didn't have many more details than that.

"Oh." She sounded disappointed. "How is that going?"

"It's fine," I said, finally looking up. "Dare I ask how things are with you and Jax? Lyla told me about Ima."

"I don't want to talk about it," she huffed and walked away.

Later that night, I was waiting for Koz to come get me from home when Lyla pulled up. "I'm supposed to drop you off," she grinned, and I knew something was up.

"Oh yeah?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Come on, we're gonna be late," she said as I got in the car.

She drove me out to the desert at sunset. There was a picnic set up on a blanket. Kozik hopped up off the ground and wiped his hands on his pants when he saw us. I got out of the car and Lyla didn't stick around.

"Miss me?" I asked, wrapping my arms around his neck.

"Yeah," he smiled. "How's your head feeling?" I swear he's been so overprotective ever since I got my concussion.

"I'm good," I replied. "They wouldn't have cleared me for work if I wasn't."

"Good."

"So what do you have planned for us this evening?" I asked, looking at the spread he'd laid out.

"A little dinner and some stargazing," he replied.

I couldn't help but smile as we sat down and he handed me a beer out of the cooler. He'd packed take out from my favorite Chinese place. We talked about our days over dinner. It was a normal date night.

When we were done with dinner, we packed up our stuff into the car he'd borrowed, except for the blanket. We cuddled up together and laid back to look up at the stars. It was perfect, and then he asked the question I've been dying hear...

"Diana, I'm not one for big romantic speeches, or big romantic gestures, you know that. We've been through a lot these last few weeks, and we've handled it like we always do. You and me against the world, and that's the way I want to spend the rest of forever. Will you marry me?" he asked, holding up a ring box with an oval cut diamond ring. The band was super thin and plain white gold. It was perfect. He did a good job.

"Yes," I smiled. "I'll marry you." I leaned over and kissed him as he slipped the ring onto my finger. "You and me, against the world. I like it."

"Always and forever, baby," Kozik grinned.