No one else understood his jubilation as the faces in the crowd looked at him in puzzlement. "How do you know?" Jim cried, his eyes wild with panic.

"The paramedics on that boat would never - never - have let those boys carry her if she was injured. They obviously had their hands full with the other one," he added, unwilling to even dignify the man with a pejorative term.

"Are you sure, Martin?" Catherine's weak voice floated up to him.

He dropped to his knees and faced her, eyes just inches from hers. "I swear it, Catherine. I promise you. She'll be fine." He wrapped his arms around her and they cried together, sharing the whirl of emotions that pa.s.sed between them.

By the time the ambulance pulled up to the emergency room, Jamie was conscious, although terribly sick to her stomach from the virulent combination of seawater and terror. She vomited several times, missing Ryan by bare inches each time. Waiting for the attendants to open the door, she beckoned Ryan closer. The dark head shifted slightly and hovered over the pale face, only to hear a small voice say, "If we had drowned tonight, I'd be kicking your a.s.s all over heaven right now!"

PART 12.

AS THE BACK door of the ambulance opened, the phalanx of photographers nearly prevented the stretcher from being wheeled into the E.R. Luckily, the police were also on the scene, and they did their best to clear the path.

Conor and Brendan went with the baby, and Ryan stayed glued to Jamie's side, refusing to budge when they reached an examining room. An attendant strode into the room, took one look and her, and demanded, "Sorry, you'll have to wait outside in the lounge."

"I'm not leaving," she muttered, grasping Jamie's ice-cold hands. "Can you cover her with some blankets?" she asked, showing her irritation. "She's freezing to death!"

He put his hands on his hips and glared at her. "You have to leave!"

"Call the f.u.c.king cops," she spat, her patience at an end. "I shot the last guy that tried to separate us." She turned and gave him a stare that made him gulp. "Now get her a G.o.dd.a.m.ned blanket!"

Just then a calm looking young man strolled into the room. "Problem?" he asked, sizing up the standoff between Ryan and the orderly.

"She won't leave," the orderly accused, equally angry.

"It's okay, Robert," the doctor said. "I think I can handle her." Turning to Ryan, his face broke into a grin as he stuck out his hand. "Rick Marshall," he said with a friendly tone. "Some display you two put on tonight. We were all watching in the doctors' lounge."

Ryan didn't extend her own hand to shake the doctor's. She actually barely seemed to have heard what she said. "She's freezing," she stated once again, leaning over Jamie's body to check on her. Her own body was shivering so roughly that it was hard to decipher her words, but her concern was only for her lover. "Can't somebody get her a d.a.m.ned blanket?"

Ducking out of the room, the doctor returned with several. A nurse came in and tried to get Jamie's clothes off of her, but the waterlogged garments didn't lend themselves to removal in the usual way. "I'm gonna have to cut them," she decided, and Ryan backed up just enough to let her work, still chafing one icy hand with both of her own equally cold ones.

As the clothing was cut away, Ryan's eyes landed on her partner's stark-white body, Jamie's entire form shivering violently. Her extremities had a bluish cast to them, and as Ryan stared at her, she was overcome with a rising sense of panic which quickly turned to horror - her imagination causing her to view the shivering body as still and lifeless. Her mind began to race, and she forced herself to recognize that she was nearly hallucinating. But her relief was short-lived when she realized with shocking clarity that because of her decision to save the men who tried to kill them, she had put Jamie's life at risk... putting her in as much peril as the felons had.

Struggling with the horrible realization, she grasped the small, cold hand harder and harder, until Jamie's weak voice finally said, "Ow!"

Ryan immediately released her grip, then practically fell onto her to cover her torso with her own body, holding her so tightly that Jamie could barely breathe. The doctor could see that Ryan was on the verge of hysteria, but he had to take a look at Jamie. So he tapped Ryan on the shoulder and spoke soothingly to her. "Get up now," he said quietly. "I have to look at her." Another tap - this one harder, brought no reaction. Ryan was sobbing incessantly, and Jamie's shaky hand had risen to pat her on the back. The doctor could hear the blonde's soft voice trying to calm her partner, but it wasn't doing much good.

Conor poked his dark head in, and the doctor started to order him out of the room. But when the man saw his sister bent over her lover, sobbing hysterically, he raced in and cried, "My G.o.d! Is she ...?"

"I think she's fine," the doctor interrupted, staring at him helplessly. "I don't know what's wrong here, but I can't even get a look at her."

Finally understanding that Ryan was losing it, Conor wrapped his strong arms around his sister and started to pry her away from her lover. Ryan was holding on so tightly that Jamie's body started to rise with her, so he urged, "Come on, Ryan. Let her go. She's okay, but the doctor has to look at her. Please, Sis, let her go."

She looked up at him as her hold loosened, and he saw the utter confusion and raw pain in the red-rimmed eyes. He turned her and held her tight, soothing her while he tried to guide her out of the way. But as strong as he was, and as terrified, upset and fatigued as she was, she would not leave Jamie's side. "NO!" she cried, doggedly grabbing onto the examining table.

Conor met the doctor's eyes and shrugged his shoulders. "We'll try to stay out of your way," he offered helplessly.

"Fine," the doctor agreed, deciding that he wasn't going to be the one to remove this determined young woman from her partner's side.

Now that they had a little room to move, the doctor and the nurse worked together to remove the bisected clothing from beneath Jamie's body. He then wrapped her in the blankets, moving the covering around as he examined her.

With her frozen clothing off, Jamie still shook, but she started to feel a tiny bit of warmth suffuse her body. She was fully conscious, albeit a little slow, and a little hazy on details. Her biggest injury seemed to be her sore ribs, where Wendell had kicked her when pushing her from the car. Rick palpated the area, and gasped as Jamie cried out in pain and Ryan grabbed his arm. "Don't you dare hurt her," she growled, making him shrink back from her wild glare.

"Ryan, it's all right," Jamie soothed, her voice still weak and shaky. "He's got to examine me, honey."

Looking at her own hand as though it had moved involuntarily, Ryan shook her head and said, "I'm so sorry. I... I don't even know what I'm doing."

"It's okay," the doctor said. "I'm finished now." He patted Jamie's shoulder, and said, "You seem just fine. There's no sign of internal injury, and your lungs are nice and clear. You're the luckiest pair of people I think I've ever met - but you seem perfectly healthy."

Jamie looked up at him and urged, "Don't let Ryan get away until you look at her. She has a history of head trauma."

The doctor wanted to say that he didn't doubt that in the least, but he thought he'd better keep his opinions to himself. He examined Ryan with her standing up - since he didn't want to argue with her any more than he had to. Her pupils were normal and exactly the same size, and she was able to track his penlight without difficulty. She had a nasty cut on the inside of her mouth, a small slice had been carved into her cheek, and her lip was swollen, but those few superficial injuries seemed to be the only ones that her head had sustained.

He put his warm hands under her shirt to palpate her belly, finding nothing out of the ordinary. She was, of course, covered with bruises, but her main source of pain seemed to be her still-shaking muscles. Her joints didn't appear to have sustained any injury, much to his surprise, and he soon p.r.o.nounced her fit as well. "I'm going to prescribe some muscle relaxants, and something to help both of you sleep," he decided. "I'll give you just enough so you can get some rest tonight and tomorrow. I don't want either of you to develop a dependency," he added. "You're both going to have some emotional repercussions from this," he predicted. "Take my advice and try not to rely on substances to get yourselves through it."

Jamie nodded, thankful that the doctor seemed to understand how horrible the entire event had been for them, and that he also cared enough to urge them to care for themselves in the proper way.

"Thanks," she said. "We'll take care of each other."

"I can tell that," he smiled.

She tugged on his coat, and he leaned forward. "Can you give her a shot of something to calm her down? I'm afraid she's going to have a stroke."

He gave Ryan another lingering gaze, seeing the wild look in her eyes. "Uhm... level with me," he whispered to Jamie. "Is she on something? Crack, crystal meth?"

"No!" she insisted.

Ryan's strong hand gripped the doctor's shoulder and she pulled him upright. "What are you hiding from me?" The look in her eyes was absolutely frightening, but her pupils were not dilated, and she seemed lucid otherwise. "What's wrong with her," she demanded.

"She's fine," he said, trying to soothe her. "She's worried about you, Ryan. Quite frankly, you're acting a little strange."

"SHE ALMOST DIED!" she cried at the top of her lungs, forcing the doctor back a step.

He shot Jamie a look, nodded once, jerked his head at the nurse, and they both left the cubicle.

Ryan shrugged off Conor's loose embrace and went to her partner, wrapping Jamie in a bone-bruising hug.

"Honey ...?"

Ryan lifted her head to look at her, sorrow filling her watery blue eyes.

"Your clothes," she muttered. "Please take them off and cover yourself up in one of the blankets."

Ryan shook her head and went right back into the hug, but Jamie persisted. "They're making me wet, honey. I've just started to warm up - don't get me wet again." She would have been willing to sit in an ice bath to feel her partner's embrace, but she didn't want Ryan to stand there in her dripping clothes for another moment, and she knew she would comply if the request was framed properly.

The dark-haired woman stepped back, looking even sadder as she released her. "I'm sorry... I didn't realize..."

"Hey," Jamie whispered, "we're all right, honey. No one was hurt. Try to remember that."

Ryan couldn't even give voice to the guilt that filled her soul. She just nodded and started to remove her clothes, not even noticing when Conor stepped from the room to give her some privacy. The nurse brought a set of extra-large and medium scrubs in, and Ryan insisted that she could dress her partner. The thought never entered the nurse's mind to argue, and she quickly departed as well.

Tenderly, Ryan slipped the loose garments onto her partner's clammy body, then covered her with the blankets once again. When she was finished, she once again began to undress, and Jamie observed her carefully as she peeled the sodden clothing off. She had red welts all over her torso from lying on the gun, banging into the bike rack; and wrestling with the felons in the water. She moved slowly, but she didn't seem to be in too much pain - which was rea.s.suring. The nurse came back in with a muscle relaxant and an anti-inflammatory for Ryan, but she insisted that Jamie take it.

"Ryan," she said softly, "I don't need it, honey. The doctor wants you to have it for your muscles. I was sitting in the car, baby, not holding onto the roof."

"Oh." She opened her mouth and swallowed both pills, Jamie's worry increasing when she saw how confused and slow she was.

Ryan looked at the nurse and asked, "Can you tell me where my little cousin is?"

"Your brother is with her. I was in the room during the examination. She's a little cold, but other than that, perfectly fine."

"Thank G.o.d," Jamie murmured, almost under her breath.

"Oh, the doctor wants to know when your last teta.n.u.s shot was," the nurse asked.

"Mine was just a couple of years ago when I was traveling in the third world," Jamie recalled.

Ryan just shrugged, looking confused.

The nurse left the room, and a minute later the doctor returned, this time with a burly security guard. He gave Jamie a look and she grasped her partner's hand, saying, "The doctor has to give you a teta.n.u.s shot, Ryan. Will you let him?"

Her eyes flitted between Jamie and the guard, trying to figure out why the huge man was in the room. Finally she let her partner tug at her to get her to sit, and then lie on the table, while Jamie scooted off. "She won't give you any trouble," she informed the doctor.

He looked dubious, but her prediction soon proved accurate, as Ryan's eyes rolled up into her head before the first needle p.r.i.c.ked her skin. His eyes grew wide and he started to withdraw the needle, but Jamie a.s.sured him, "She always faints at the mere sight of a needle." He shot her a warning look, but she insisted, "I promise you, she's not on drugs, doctor. She's just desperately afraid."

"She doesn't act like she's afraid," he mused, looking carefully at the perfectly composed features of the unconscious woman.

"She's afraid for me," Jamie quietly informed him, sparing a deeply sympathetic glance at her lover. "There's nothing worse for her."

When the blue eyes fluttered open, Jamie was gazing at her from close range. "How do you feel?" she asked, her voice sounding strangely muddled and her image not quite sharp.

Ryan reached up and rubbed her eyes. "Fuzzy. How long have I been out?"

"Not long," Jamie a.s.sured her.

Ryan started to get up, but immediately lay back down. "Dizzy," she muttered.

"Honey," Jamie said, leaning over her, "I asked the doctor to give you something to relax you. He gave you an injection of Valium. It might make you a little groggy."

Her blue eyes blinked slowly, then a flash of pain flickered through them. "Did I scare you?"

"No, no," the smaller woman whispered, placing soft kisses all over Ryan's bruised face. "Never, sweetheart. You've never frightened me. You're just very, very anxious, honey, and I wanted to make sure you could calm down a little. That's all," she soothed.

Ryan blinked again, then slowly nodded. "I feel okay now. Help me up?"

Jamie lent her an arm, and Ryan slowly sat, then waited until she was sure she was steady. Confident that she was, she got up from the table, standing still for just a moment. To Jamie's eye, the Valium had just taken the edge off, leaving Ryan relatively close to her normal state. Conor poked his head in at that moment, carrying a perfectly contented baby. Ryan's entire demeanor softened and she held out her arms. "Hi, punkin," she murmured as he handed her the child. "Miss me?"

Caitlin was dressed in a disposable diaper and a tiny little cotton gown, both courtesy of the hospital. She tossed her little arms around Ryan's neck and cuddled furiously, while Ryan cooed to her and kissed her head.

The unhappy orderly came back in and sniffed, "Someone from the hospital administration is coming down. Wait right here."

"We're going home," Ryan said firmly. "They can bill us like they do everyone else."

"That's not what the police think," he said with a smirk as he turned and left the room.

When Ryan poked her head out, Brendan was having a highly agitated discussion with a man in a rumpled suit. "You can have them all day tomorrow," he promised, "but they're too exhausted and beat up to even give you a cogent statement tonight!"

"Look, I've got a report to write, and I can't write it without any information. Every reporter in the city is parked outside, and they're demanding answers!"

Ryan strode across the floor, her paper slippers shushing quietly. "What's the problem?"

"Detective Bettis," the man said, extending his hand. "We need a statement, ma'am. I know this is tough for you, but we can't put off police business."

Brendan decided to play his trump card, surprised at himself for even thinking of it. "You probably don't know this yet, but the other woman involved is Senator Evans' daughter. I think the department would want you to handle her with kid gloves, don't you?" His big blue eyes were giving the detective a very meaningful gaze, and the man allowed his shoulders to slump as he conceded.

"How about we let you go home and get warm and dry. We'll come to your house to interview you in... two hours?" he asked, looking to Brendan for approval.

Glancing at Ryan, Brendan nodded. "That will be great. Thanks for your understanding."

He turned and smiled at his sister as the officer left and said, "I've turned into a name dropper!"

Ryan wrapped her arms around him, and he felt the strong shiver that shook her body . He walked her back into the examining room, the enormity of the situation finally hitting him. When he caught sight of Jamie, looking so rumpled and small in her roomy green garb, he let some of his emotions out, and tears began to stream down his handsome face. His display of emotion caused Ryan to relax the scant control she had managed to find. Brendan wrapped an arm around each of his sisters, and the threesome stood huddled together, crying helplessly, all relieved beyond words that they had managed to survive.

As the O'Flahertys emerged from the treatment room, a distraught Tommy came running down the hall, eyes wide with alarm. "Where is she?" he cried when he spotted then.

"She's with Conor," Ryan advised, pointing to the waiting room. He careened around the corner, and when his eyes landed on his child, a strangled cry flew from his lips as he leapt for her. He enveloped both Conor and Caitlin in a bear hug, rocking them back and forth as he sobbed.

In her 24 years, Ryan had never seen such a display of raw emotion from her cousin. Of all of the boys he was the most reserved, even though she knew that he was fairly demonstrative with Annie. He was usually quite even-tempered and calm, and she privately thought that he was more like her maternal grandmother than anyone else in the family. Perhaps it was partly because of his job, but he always behaved dispa.s.sionately about traumatic events. But seeing him standing in the waiting room, crying his eyes out, gave greater testimony than she could have imagined to the place his young daughter held in his heart.

After a very long while, he lifted his head and spotted Ryan, seemingly for the first time, even though they had already spoken. He lifted one muscular arm in invitation, and she willingly let him include her in the group hug. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," he murmured in a soft chant.

Caitlin had been concerned since he'd arrived, and now that they were all hugging her and crying, she began to get a sense that something was wrong. When she scrunched up her tiny body and began to wail along with the adults, they broke apart, more to preserve their hearing than anything else. "Take her home," Ryan advised. "Annie has to be out of her mind with worry."

He smiled faintly at Ryan. "Your father had to be physically restrained to keep him from coming down here. But it's such a zoo outside, I begged him to stay home. He'd likely spend the night in jail after decking a few of those jerks."

"Good call." Ryan smiled back, knowing that her father would not think twice before taking out a few reporters with his bare hands.

They were just about to leave, when a perky young woman came in the room and announced, "We're getting set up for the press conference. Would you like to freshen up a little bit, Ms. O'Flaherty, Ms. Evans?"

Despite the sedative, Jamie saw every shred of Ryan-the-intimidator return with a vengeance. She stood up very straight, and leveled her gaze at the woman. "We're not partic.i.p.ating in any such thing. As a matter of fact, I would be home in bed right now if I felt I could leave without being arrested."

"But..."she said as her eyes went wide, "people are dying to get to know you both. You're heroes!"

"Ridiculous," Ryan scoffed. "We have no intention of giving up our privacy to become a news bite. If we're done here, we're going home to our family," she declared defiantly.

"But the police..."

"I've spoken with the police," Brendan a.s.sured her. "They've allowed us to leave."