Amalgamate

Chapter 5

Ian followed the ambulance to the hospital, remembering the day he'd met Rowan McKellan. When he thought about her spouting off at him in that office the first day she'd met him, the corners of his mouth turned up in a smile. She was a fighter. And right now, that's what he was counting on.

Thinking back, he remembered his initial summation of her. He'd decided she was nothing special. Her plain, mousy brown hair and hazel eyes, average curvaceous build and height about 5'6...there was just nothing spectacular or noteworthy about her. What had caught his attention that day was how strong willed she was. Confrontation was her weapon of choice, and she wielded it masterfully.

Humans naturally gave Ian a wide berth, putting space between themselves and him as they subconsciously recognized the dangerous aura that permeated the air around him, but from day one Rowan had not. Whenever he challenged her, she met him head on. She was a breath of fresh air, and he desperately needed some fresh air- a lot of it actually.

At that thought, he lost himself in the nostalgia of their first case together, finding Sophie Mercer. Rowan had blatantly disobeyed him, left the station with his team, and found Sophie. She handed him his collective ass within an hour of meeting him. While it had royally pissed him off then, he could laugh at it now because he knew her and respected her abilities.

When he'd gotten the call from dispatch on that first day together saying that Rowan had found the missing woman he'd been furious she'd disobeyed his order to stay put. In just over an hour after he'd left her in the office she was on the news, and he was pissed because he'd missed watching her figure the whole thing out. Truth be told, he didn't think she would figure it out, not for one minute, because he hadn't sensed anything special about her.

Not once in the last six months had he ever believed she was the one they'd been looking for over the last ten years. She was registering absolutely null and void of any and all lore characteristics. There were simply no signs to suggest otherwise.

He'd arrived on the scene that night just in time to watch the paramedics load Sophie into the ambulance...accompanied by Rowan who refused to leave her side until Mrs. Mercer met them at the hospital.

His mind was pulled back to the present when the blaring sirens ceased. He didn't remember the drive to the hospital, his mind had been traveling down memory lane... reliving his first experience with Rowan. But now, Rowan's ambulance was stopped in front of the emergency hospital entrance. Ian pulled right in behind them, not even considering the parking garage because he didn't give a shit if they towed it. He walked directly into the hospital and headed to the waiting room, knowing they wouldn't let him see her until she was stabilized.

He hated waiting, it was a waste of time but, he found a seat because he wasn't leaving until he saw her with his own eyes. Thinking about all of their time together was all he had to calm himself down and keep him from storming back to the ER and demanding a play by play on her condition.

Ian vividly remembered the conversation with Rowan after she'd found Sophie Mercer. He'd been sarcastic when he'd confronted Rowan, "Aw hell, even a broken clock is right twice a day." He hadn't just been sarcastic. He'd been a dick. But he'd truly been shocked by the turn of events, and he knew right then that he'd been too quick to discount her abilities.

Her retort was classic Rowan, "Sarcasm is the idiot's attempt at being witty Detective Robinson." The corners of her mouth turned up just barely anticipating what she was going to say next.

His eyes had hardened and his lips pressed together in a firm line. She'd usurped him once again, and for the first time ever he'd been rendered speechless.