Page 87 of Rescuing Nathaniel

The words made her chuckle, and she smiled at him. “I kind of like that.”

Relief filled his dark eyes. “Good. I'm glad to hear that, because it’s true.”

Rex must have started the IV because Ava started to feel sleepy. She struggled to keep her eyes open, wanting to maintain this connection to Nathaniel, and still afraid that once she gave in and passed out that was it, her life would be over.

“Right here, honey, stop fighting it. Sleep now, Aves, I’ll be right by your side when you wake up.”

Clinging to those words, and the solid promise in them, she let the drugs do their job and drag her into unconsciousness.

* * *

March 9th

11:27 P.M.

Nathaniel would be quitecontent to make this his new full-time job.

Sitting watching Ava sleep filled him with a tranquility he’d never experienced before. There was something about the way her chest rose evenly with each breath she took, that settled him. In sleep she looked so peaceful, like she didn't have the weight of a horrible ordeal weighing heavily on her shoulders.

Not even the fact that they were in the hospital could ruin this moment.

Somehow, the soft beeps of the machines standing guard around Ava’s bed only added to the peacefulness of the whole picture.

Maybe it really had more to do with the fact that Ava was alive, and mostly unharmed considering what could have happened to her. They had arrived quite literally in the nick of time. If they’d been any later, Ava would have lost another organ. Much later than that and she would have already been dead.

But she wasn't.

She was there.

Her chest rising and falling with easy breaths, the wounds on her abdomen had been closed, she was being given enough painkillers to sleep easily, and she wanted him close.

That in itself would be enough to have Nathaniel feeling like he was floating on cloud nine. Even after he’d messed up so horribly, she was still able to find comfort and reassurance in his presence.

A miracle.

The entire day had been filled with them.

After Ava had passed out at the clinic in Mexico, they’d hopped on board a helo, flown back across the border, then immediately hopped on a flight back to New York. They’d come straight to the hospital and while Ava was in surgery he did exactly as he promised and stuck by her side. The doctors hadn't been thrilled having him hovering in a corner of the operating room, but he’d already let Ava down more than once and he had no intention of breaking his promise.

His own wounds had been checked, a few stitches had pulled when he’d been beating the surgeon to death, but they were restitched now, he’d been given pain medicine, and he was perfectly content just sitting there with his girl.

A soft moan came from the bed, and immediately he shifted closer, pushing out of his chair and perching on the edge of the mattress. His fingers continued to hold her hand, while with his other he palmed her cheek, wanting her to know from the second she regained consciousness that she was no longer in that hellhole.

“Hey, honey,” he crooned as her eyelashes fluttered on her cheeks. “You're safe, you're in the hospital, and I'm right here with you.”

“Nathaniel,” she murmured his name, then licked her lips like they were dry.

“Yeah, Aves. I'm here, I never left. Here, drink a little water.” Reaching for the cup on the table, he held the straw to her lips as she took a few sips. “Not too much, don’t want to make yourself sick.”

“We’re really at the hospital?” she asked, her eyes opening slowly like they were weighed down with lead.

“At the hospital.”

“The one where they tried to …” she trailed off obviously not wanting to finish that sentence.

“No. A different hospital,” he assured her.

“And the tracking device? Is it gone?” Fine tremors began to ripple through her body, and he knew that was her biggest fear right now. He couldn’t imagine how it felt to be tagged and know that the people who were after you could so easily track you.

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