Somehow Shep got hold of a stethoscope, and he pressed it to her chest.“Yeah, her other lung is working.The air is leaving her pleural cavity.”
Colt had both hands on Stein’s shoulders now and squeezed hard even as Stein sat back, his body shaking.
He grabbed Emberly’s hand.
She squeezed it a second before she opened her eyes, searched the room, and what might have been panic flashed in them.
“You’re okay, babe.”He leaned up then, held her gaze.
She stared at him, her voice nearly inaudible as she spoke.He leaned close to her lips.“You’re not dead.”
He met her eyes.“Not yet.”
“I thought—” She reached up to move the oxygen, but he caught her hand.
“I know.You thought you left me behind in a pile of rubble.”
Her eyes filled.
“Been there, done that.Do not recommend.”
She closed her eyes, then started to sob.
What?
“Em.You’re okay.I’m okay.Tomas is...”
“In custody,” said Fraser.
“It’s over.Except, how did you...I mean...how did you even get here?In...this?”He gestured to the outfit.
And it occurred to him then that if she hadn’t been wearing the vest...Oh.
“C’mere,” she whispered, and he leaned over.
“I’m a thief.”
He pulled back, searched her face.
She smiled and then...winked?
Oh,and the laugh just pressed out of him, a huff that released the brutal coil inside him.“Yeah, you are.”And he didn’t want to sound sappy, but...she’d completely stolen his heart.
“We need to move her now.”This from the EMT who’d brought in a backboard.
Steinbeck moved away but kept hold of her hand.
“Sir, you’ll have to let her go.”
He looked at the man.
A beat.
“Never mind.”
They put her on the board, strapped her down, and started an IV, and as Emberly drifted into sedation, he was right there.
Holding on.
