Wrong Place, Wrong Time

Chapter Twenty-two

Magdalena

The sound of a continuous beeping slowly awakens me. The sound is annoying but comforting. The heart monitor is equipment I'm very familiar with. I blink open my eyes while getting a feel for my body. I'm sore everywhere, though my thigh feels the worst. Opening my eyes fully, I realize I'm back in the med-bay. What the hell happened? I remember my leg feeling worse than before, but my worrying about every other aspect of my life seemed to occupy most of my mind.

"Hey, you're awake." A voice startles me out of my own thoughts, causing me to almost fall off the gurney if it wasn't for quick hands catching me. "Easy, Lena. I didn't mean to startle you." Axel calms me down, pulling me back to a stable position. I look at him confused.

"Sorry," I apologize for my skittish behavior yet again. "I feel a bit frazzled." My hand almost subconsciously finds his and grabs hold of it. When I realize what I'm doing, I attempt to pull it back again fast, but he doesn't budge and keeps a firm hold of it.

"Don't apologize. You've been out for a while. I understand you must feel a bit out of it." He sympathizes. "You had some sort of episode. You scared most of us half to death." Axel's eyes look tired, as if he hasn't slept for a few days.

"Episode? What do you mean by that? And how long was I asleep for?" I fire multiple questions at him at once. "Also, you look exhausted – why are you not sleeping?" He chuckles at my accusing tone. His thumb caresses the back of my hand as he moves to take a seat on the edge of the gurney.

"We've been up all night treating you for being poisoned." My mouth gapes at his revelation. "We couldn't figure out what was causing your severe condition. We ran many blood tests and re-evaluated your leg wound. We found a rare type of slow-working poison in your blood. The knife you were stabbed with must have been laced with it. You almost didn't make it, but we got hold of the antidote quickly, and it worked like a charm." I almost don't believe what he is telling me, but all the Iv's and monitoring are showing me he's telling the truth. I have no response to what he's just told me, and settle for just staring into the wall. What does a person even truly say to that? The sliding doors open and Roman walks in. His eyes turn surprised as his steps turn quicker.

"Cara! You're awake!" Roman ushers Axel away from me so he can grab my face. He starts kissing me all over my face like an auntie you haven't seen for a few months.

"Roman! Boundaries!" Axel interferes, grabbing Roman's ear to pull him away from me.

"Sorry Cara, I'm just so happy to see you awake. I thought you were caput." Roman makes a neck-slicing signal with his hand. Gee, thanks Roman. "I can't believe those assholes poisoned you." You and me both. Axel clears his throat to make Roman shut up.

"How are you feeling?" I'm not sure who Axel is addressing as I've gone back to staring at the wall. "Lena?" He places a gentle hand on my shoulder, startling me again but gaining my attention.

"Uh, sorry. What was the question?" I ask, still not feeling like myself. Axel looks like my question just answered his as he nods to himself. "Did we finish the questioning?" Roman huffs at my question.

"That's what you're worried about?" Roman looks at me in disbelief. "Cara, you almost died. The questioning can wait till you're better." I want to feel something about almost dying, but I don't. I'm too fed up emotionally to fathom anything more. I push it away from me, not wanting to think about it anymore.

"Oh, I'm quite alright, I think." I push gently around the area of my thigh. It's very painful. "You should get some sleep. You both look exhausted. Thank you so much for taking care of me." I hope they feel the sincerity of my heartfelt thanks. They really are two incredible medics. Scarface is lucky to have them. "Here, one of you can have the gurney." I slowly get off it despite the protests from both Roman and Axel. "I'm alright. Are these finished?" I ask, gesturing to the empty bags of medicine hooked to the IV's. Axel nods and unhooks me. "Thank you. I'll go back to the conference room now. I need to make sure they have all the information they need." Roman stops me and makes me hook my arm around his neck.