And then, Fischer walked in, wearing surgery scrubs and his lab coat.
Reid jerked. “What the hell…”
“They called me in,” he said, swinging his stethoscope from around his neck and giving her heart a listen. He nodded, and swung it back around. “The MRI showed a small brain bleed and they wanted me to scrub in to be safe. It’s a small, small one, and should be mostly healed on its own tomorrow. She’ll have another scan in two days to check that.”
“Holy shit,” Reid said. “I completely forgot that you’re a neurologist.”
“Board certified neurological surgeon,” he said. “I usually work on emergency cases at CHoP.”
“Completely forgot,” he said.
“Paige,” I said. “How is she?”
“Multiple fractures in the ankle, that needed about ten pins to hold it together,” Fischer said. “Dislocated shoulder, broken clavicle, sprained elbow, bruised spinal column, concussion, brain bleed, and severe laceration to the scalp, which was stitched neatly and carefully by Doctor Rojas. She has a tooth in the back that was cracked and crushed, so we did a quick and careful extraction and she’ll have to see a dentist about that.”
“And…”
“The baby is fine,” he said. “I had a prenatal specialist come in and sit in on the operation to monitor her for the anesthesia.”
Reid let out a half sob. “Thank you.”
Fischer gave his shoulder a squeeze. “We knew she wanted that baby. I wasn’t going to let anything happen.”
“Do we have anyone at all to contact for her?” I asked. “If she was in foster care…”
“No one,” Lily said, walking back in, looking exhausted. “She has no one listed anywhere except Alain. And we can’t change that until she wakes up.”
“Takes about two hours,” Fischer said. “Wren, why don’t you and Reid go home? You’ve been here all night, and I know you’re exhausted.”
“Like you’re not?”
“I’m the doctor, I know when my limit’s reached.” He walked over and dropped a kiss on my head. “I called Linc. He’ll come and sit with her instead. Reid, you need sleep too. She’s in good hands here, and you can trust us to do what she needs.”
“I know.” Reid ran a hand down his face. “I promised her I would help.”
“You did.” Lily nodded hard. “You did more than I could. You got there, you got me, and we got her here. Seriously. You two go home. I’m going as well.”
“Alain?” I asked. “Where is he?”
“We haven’t seen him. I put cops on the house, and had CS lock the door.” Lily rolled her shoulder and rubbed her neck. “I couldn’t think of anything else to do. We needed to secure that place, and if he drove by it scared him off. All we can do is hope he shows up somewhere and we can nab him.”
“Restraining order?” Fischer asked.
Lily nodded. “In progress.”
“And someone on the door?”
She shook her head. “No. Not until I have that restraining order. I have the night court judge working on it, so we should have it in about three hours.”
“Shit,” Reid said. “I should stay—”
“Go home,” Fischer said. “Lincoln will be here.”
“And I’m staying until he shows,” Lily said. “We can’t do much of anything until we have that restraining order and she wakes up to sign the paper for a warrant for him.”
I nodded. “It’s a good idea.”
Reid looked at the three of us and glanced at Paige in the bed. “Don’t exclude me from this, you guys. I know she’s yours, and needs to be with you, but she trusts me, and she needs that right now.”
Fischer nodded. “We know. We won’t, because we trust you too. And she does need everyone around her right now. She might have fucked up a few times, but this is beyond the pale.”
Lincoln looked up as I walked back into the room, eight hours later. He smiled and stood.
“How is she?”
“She was awake for a while around noon, but she wasn’t very coherent. She fell back to sleep, and she’s been asleep since.”
“The doctors have been through?”
“Of course,” he said. “Everything looks good. They are going to wait until the swelling goes down before they cast the ankle. They want another X-ray of it before they do to make sure it’s still going well.”
“You okay?”
“Just tired. Talk to Lily yet?”
“Not yet,” I answered, sitting down in the other chair. “She needed to sleep as well.”
He pointed to the wall next to the door. “One of her officers delivered that about ten this morning. Temporary restraining order. Good for one hundred feet and one week. I’ll get my lawyer to find someone who can handle this for her.”
“Gonna head home?” I asked.
“Nope, I’m staying. I’ve been catching a nap here and there, so I’m good. Once the cop on the door showed up, I didn’t feel guilty about nodding off.”
I grabbed his hand and laced our fingers together and just sat there for a few minutes.
“What are you thinking, babe?” He didn’t move from where his head had dropped back against the wall, but he knew my mind was going a million miles an hour.
“She’s another one of us,” I said. “For you guys, it was uncomplicated…well, sort of. Fischer and I just hit it off. You came along and it still wasn’t a problem. Bastian was an easy mix in, because you don’t mind either or both and neither does he. And that seems to have given you all your abilities back. Seeing the sins, the visions, the blades…”
Glancing over at the bed, I sighed. “What do we do about her? New information pops into my head all the time now since the reekail incident, and I know I have to bring her into the group. But…how? We’re all still at least a little mad at her…”
Lincoln shook his head. “I’m done being mad. I really am. The kids are all with us, safe, and adjusting as well as we can expect.”
It was quiet again. “I’m at a loss.”
“Are you afraid that if you don’t have sex with her, we’re going to be missing some critical part of us?”
“Yes. And it’s not even just that. I don’t…know that I could just have sex with her to…”
Lincoln squeezed my hand. “Let’s worry about that when we cross that bridge, Wren. She needs to heal and we still have three more sins after her. Who knows—maybe a solid platonic relationship with her will do everything we need.”
I raked a hand down my face. “I want my memories back. Damn, Lincoln. I believe all this shit is real, but I need those memories. Not dribs and drabs.”
Glancing at him, I let out a sigh. “My brother asked me to help him.”
It was almost a cartoon the way Lincoln’s head swiveled around slowly to stare at me. He blinked once, twice. “Help him do…what?”
“Keep Hades running smoothly.”
He waited a moment, then shook his head. “By doing what?”