Wes jumped up and for the first time in twenty-four hours felt some hope.
The nurse led Wes to a small curtained room and when he stepped inside he saw that Jo lay on her back with her arm in a sling. Her wounds had been cleaned but the smell of death was still clinging to her.
Wes leaned down to her face.
“Baby it’s me.” He said so softly. Tears tumbled from his eyes. “Come on my Jo wake up for me.”
Jo’s eyes fluttered open, closed again and then reopened. He could tell she was trying to focus.
"Am I dead?"
Wes grimaced. “You’re in a hospital Sweetheart. You’re going to be okay.” He looked back at the nurse who had remained with him. “She is going to be okay right?”
“She should be just fine.”
Wes looked back to Jo who was still staring at him.
“Baby?”
“Water” She croaked out.
The nurse gave Wes ice chips. “She can have these right now.”
Wes started sliding ice chips over her parched lips and into her tiny mouth. Jo kept her eyes on Wes. She was thinking maybe she was hallucinating again or maybe this was heaven, after all Wes was standing over feeding her delicious ice chips.
Wes fed her the chilled slivers of ice until her eyes closed. He looked at the nurse alarmed.
“She’s asleep Hon. Her body endured a lot. It’s good that’s she sleeps.”
Wes nodded as tears once again clouded his vision. “Can I clean her?” Wes asked quietly. He didn’t want her to regain consciousness and be reminded of her ordeal with the smell clinging to her. Wes was well aware that the olfactory sense was a major trigger when dealing with PTSD and he wanted to do everything in his power to ease her recovery.
“She’ll be cleaned up when we move her to a room. The doctor has already requested a room and a bath.”
“Can I stay with her?” Wes couldn’t breathe the mere thought of letting her out of sight, for even a moment sent a constricting feeling to his chest.
“Once we have her settled in her room the nurse will come get you.”
“I… don’t want her to wake up and not know anyone?”
“She’s going be given a sedative once the tox screens come back. She’ll be out for a while once she gets that.”
A young nursing assist bearing the tag ‘Transport’ appeared; Wes realized he was there to move Jo. Wes saw him wrinkle his nose as the smell hit him but the young man remained professional and did not comment.
“You can follow me to her
floor and then you’ll be asked to wait in the waiting room until a nurse has her settled in. Then someone will come get you.” The Transport aide explained.
“I have to get my friends.” Wes said quickly. He ducked out of the room and saw Jace and Andy still dealing with the authorities. When he appeared they left their respective groups to close ranks around him. A man in a suit wanted to talk to Wes and Andy put up his hand signaling for him to stay back.
“How is she?” Andy asked.
“I don’t really know. They’re moving her to a room.”
“These guys want to talk to her.”
“Not gonna happen.” Wes said seriously.
“Yeah, we said that.” Jace chuckled. “At some point she will have to talk Wes.”