"He lost a lot of blood Jo. We don't know the extent of the damages yet. The nurse said he is not responding to stimuli and that he should be awake by now. When he wakes up we'll know more about his injuries."
Jo nodded and squeezed past Andy to move to the side of the bed. She leaned down, close to his handsome face with her cheek resting next to his, her lips at his ear.
“Baby I’m here. It’s Jo. Please wake up for me, please.” She said tenderly as tears slipped down her cheeks. Her hand stroked his muscled arm and she kissed his forehead. "Come on Wes, wake up." She kissed his cheek tenderly. Wes stirred causing Jo to stand up so she could see his face. Andy and Jace looked at each other and then back to their friend.
“Fucking Sleeping Beauty shit.” Jace mumbled. Wes fought to open his eyes. He was having trouble focusing and there was something down his throat that was causing him to gag. His monitor started to ping wildly and a loud alarm sounded from one of the machines next to him.
“Oh shit.” Jace said, clearly upset with the ominous signals emanating from the machines hooked up to his best friend. Wes’ heart rate was rising. Jo stepped back from the bed and looked at the two men standing next to her. She was frightened for Wes. Jace and Andy were clearly distressed.
A nurse ran in pushing past them to get to Wes. “There should only be two of you in here.” She snapped, but she was too busy to shoo anyone out. The doctor appeared looking first at the crowded room, then at the monitor and then to his patient who was clawing at the tube in his throat.
The doctor barked out a couple orders to the nurse who shut down the alarm and handed the doctor some gauze as the doctor put on gloves.
“Mr. Tobin relax. I know you don’t like the tube. I’m going to take it out, but you have to be still.”
The doctor was trying to remove the tape securing the tube to Wes’ face, but Wes was pushing at him. Wes' eyes were searching the room and his hands were trying to shove the good doctor away. Jo realized that Wes was looking for her. That he wasn't trying to stop the doctor from working on him, but he was simply trying to remove him from his line of vision. Jo stepped to the bedside and before the nurse could push her back she grabbed Wes’ hand. The effect was immediate. Wes' eyes latched on to Jo's face and he completely calmed.
The doctor shot Jo a look and then told the nurse it was fine. He then removed the tube and waited to make sure Wes could breathe on his own. It took a few tense seconds before Wes began breathing normally. The entire time Jo spoke softly to him. His eyes never left hers. Jo could see that it wasn't until Wes finally took his first deep breath that the doctor seemed convinced that his patient could breathe without help.
“Okay Mr. Tobin, no breathing tube for you I guess.” He chuckled.
The doctor checked Wes' vitals and looked under the bandages for bleeding.
“Mr. Tobin can you move your arms for me?”
Wes lifted his one arm one easily, but grimaced when he tried to lift the other one that had a bullet removed from under the shoulder.
“How about your toes?” The doctor held the bed sheet up and watched Wes wiggle his toes.
“That’s excellent. We’re going to move you to a room, Mr. Tobin. If you understand please blink.”
Wes blinked.
“Very good. You don’t have to go to ICU now that the tube has been removed. Try not to move your neck too much.” Wes blinked again.
The doctor looked at Jace, Andy, and finally to Jo.
“How about if we let the little lady stay with him?” The doctor said to the men. “She seems to have a calming effect on him.”
Jace and Andy nodded. Jace came up behind Jo and looked over her shoulder to his friend. “Welcome back man.”
Andy added. “You saved Ginger’s life Wes. No one was hurt, except you.”
Jo felt Wes relax a little. She was still holding his hand.
“We didn’t catch him though.” Jace answered the question that Wes couldn’t voice himself.
“We’re going to head out. We will be back after we do some damage control and check on Ginger. Jo if you need anything call one of us okay?”
Jo looked at them and then back to Wes. “Okay, but I’m not leaving him.”
“Yeah, we figured.” Andy said with a smile.
"Wes, you good man?"
Wes blinked.
The two men said goodbye to Wes as brothers would with gentle pats. They were all smiles now, but they had been scared to death that the wound to the neck had been fatal or life changing. The fact that he could move his toes had eased their minds considerably. Jo pulled the chair up next to Wes' bed and placed her hand in his again.