Rewind

Chapter 24

Within hours of Opie leaving Shane's room, the local police department had set up a press conference. They trotted Macy out in front of the cameras, the brokenhearted, pregnant girlfriend of the hero cop, and plastered photos of the suspect on the upper right-hand corner of the screen.

"Caleb Michael Sampson," the chief said again. "Please call the number on your screen if you see this man. He's armed and extremely dangerous."

The reporters asked Macy for something, a statement or a plea, but she just stared at them. The only thing she wasn't too overwhelmed to do was cry.

Two days had passed with not one actual sighting. Macy held her vigil dutifully but each day felt longer than the last. She'd never tell anyone but she was losing her will. How long could she sit and stare at his blank face? She wanted to go home, she wanted to sleep in her bed with Shane's pillow and smell something more than antiseptic.

On the third day, Shane slowly opened his eyes and despite what his blank expression said he was in a panic. He remembered hearing things, just from the hour or so as he woke up but they were distorted and confusing. The pain and his inability to move was what sent his heart rate through the roof. Macy hit the call button in a panic, hers was far more visible than Shane's though.

"Shane," she said as she continued to push the call button. "Baby it's okay. You're okay. Don't freak out."

The nurses rushed in and in less than thirty seconds his eyes were closed again. They had to sedate him, worried that he would hurt himself as he tried to heal.

"When can he wake up?" Macy asked with concern.

"We'll slowly bring him out of sedation over the next few hours so he can ease into it," the head nurse explained. 

"Okay," Macy sighed. "Guess that was a good sign? Seems pretty strong for a guy who almost died."

The nurse smiled and nodded. "Yeah, that man of yours is a fighter."

"Yeah," Macy said wistfully. "I'm going to run home and shower, I uh, I want to look a little nicer when he's awake."

"Did I just hear you want to look pretty for a man?" Gemma asked as she snuck into the room. "Never thought I'd hear that from you."

"Mom," Macy didn't give Gemma the warm greeting she was expecting. "What are you doing here?"

Gemma gave her a dark look for a minute before turning to the nurse. "You mind?"

"No, of course not," she said, quickly intimidated into scurrying away.

"I know you said no Sons," Gemma remarked before Macy could speak, "But I wanted to check on you."

"We're fine," she said with a huff.

"You look like shit, you do need a shower and maybe some lipstick, your color is terrible."

"Yeah, I know," Macy snapped. "I've kind of been sitting at my boyfriend's bedside for days, I'm not looking my best."

Feeling momentarily guilty, Gemma softened. "I'm sorry. How are you?"

"Fine," she said with a shrug. "He opened his eyes then spazzed out. They had to sedate him."

With genuine sympathy, Gemma frowned and hugged her daughter. "Oh baby, I'm sorry."

"Yeah me too," she whimpered. "I appreciate the check-in and the boys actually staying away."

"They've been a bit busy," she smirked, "They found him, the shooter, they got him up at BlueBird."

Macy was conflicted. "That's amazing but, but are they gonna kill him? Please, mom," she begged. "Tell Dad not to kill him, make him turn this asshole in."