Pilar looked at Maverick, letting her eyes linger on his beautiful features, the inky black hair falling on his pale skin. The long, dark lashes that covered his eyes, the sweet lips that said the loveliest things to her.
She reached out and took his hand, feeling the faint flow of blood beneath. Pilar pressed his palm to her cheek, fresh tears flooding down her cheeks.
“Please wake up,” she whispered. “I don’t know what to do.”
She pressed his hand even tighter to her cheek, begging him to move, to stroke her hair, to look up at her with those quick brown eyes that she couldn’t wait to fall into, over and over again. She knew this might be the last time she ever saw life in his body.
She had no choices left. She could sit and watch him die, or she could shoot him up and kill him herself.
Or save him.
Nick said he’d consented but had he? Did he really know what the serum would do to him? Pilar felt her stomach starting to turn as her nerve began to fail.
“Pilar, what’s happening?” Nick asked.
“He’s dying,” Pilar moaned. “He’s almost gone.”
“There’s no time!” Nick yelled. “You can’t even get him to Hal, now. You have to give him the serum!”
“Okay,” Pilar said, sighing. “Okay,” she said again, holding her breath.
Pilar lifted the syringe, stabbing it into the head of the vial and filling it.
“It’s a perfectly measured dose,” Nick instructed from the phone. “Just fill the syringe and find a vein.”
Pilar turned Maverick’s arm over and pressed her thumb to one of his veins. They were big and blue, but because his blood was flowing so slowly, it was not easy to get one to rise for her. She felt around with her thumb for a few seconds until she found a decent spot.
Pilar looked into his face, her heart feeling like it was being ripped to shreds in her chest.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
Then she stabbed the needle into his arm and pushed the plunger down. Pilar kept her eyes focused on what she was doing, so she didn’t have time to think. Carefully, Pilar pulled the needle out of Maverick’s arm and covered the small wound with her thumb for a few seconds. She sat back and put the syringe on the table, wiping her eyes and nose as she watched Maverick’s face.
“What’s happening?” Nick's voice was calm … too calm.
“Nothing!” Pilar shrieked. “Nothing is fucking happening!”
Maverick was still lying on the couch, his limbs as loose as a doll’s. His eyes were closed, his face peaceful. Even as his breath rattled in his chest, he looked completely relaxed.
“Nothing?” Nick echoed grimly.
“Nothing, absolutely nothing, sweet fuck all!” Pilar screamed. “What the hell did you make me do that for … it hasn’t done a damn thing.”
“Well, I told you there was no guarantee it would work,” Nick said. “The serum doesn’t work for everyone, and I had no idea what would happen if the subject was poisoned before administration.”
“But…but what do I do now?” Pilar asked in a small voice. She hated feeling powerless, standing by, completely impotent as another loved one was ripped away from her by forces she could not control.
This is exactly why Maverick became a doctor. Because he felt the same way. I bet he’d know what to do.
“Is he dead?” Nick asked.
Pilar shook her head and then remembered it was a phone call. “No. He’s still breathing. He sounds like he’s suffering.”
“Well, that’s something,” he said. “At least it didn’t kill him.”
Pilar said nothing, just clenched her fists. She was in the mood to tear things to shreds, and if Nick had been in the room, she might have started by taking off his head.
Pilar reached out and took Maverick’s hand, squeezing it gently.