No Pain: Book 1

Chapter 55: Star

          I don't feel the pain anymore. I feel normal. I know where I'm hurt, what's healing, I can feel the stabilizers in my leg, it must have been a bad break. I know my jaw is wired shut, I can feel the scars I'll have but nothing hurts. I'm just taking an inventory of myself.

"How's she doing?" Kader's voice is quiet, that's a first.

"She should be awake any minute." Najee's voice is like music. "How's Keller?"

"Just grazed her heart," Kader's voice is tight "I told her, her heart was made of ice." Kader offers half a laugh but there's no humor in it. "No, but huh... It was scary for a minute there." Kader admits. I peek my eye open just enough.

"She was bleeding so much, I thought... I thought I was just bringing her body back, man."

"Yeah..." Najee sighs. "me too."

"How're you?" Kader asks Najee.

"I'm fine. Nothing important." I can feel Najee's thumb rubbing circles into the back of my hand.

"Hey guys." Keller sounds peppy as ever. "When's our girl waking up?" I can feel her walking over to me. I can see the smile through the sliver I'd been watching Kader and Najee through.

"You little eaves dropper." Keller smiles wider when I peel my eyes open "how you doing?" It's hard to talk around my teeth but they're used to it.

"How are you doing?" I ask, "heard you got shot." Keller's hair is loose around her face

"Yeah, but I'm not going down that easily." Keller pushes my hair back. "Now how are you doing?" She asks.

I shrug "can't feel a thing."

"I'm glad." Keller's eyes are tight as she steps back.

Kader stands over me and smiles "you fought with an open fracture tibia and felt every jolt of pain and still won." Kader shakes his head. "This is why, you're the best." He clasps me on the shoulder but there's tension in his jaw, his eyes softe "I'm glad you're okay, Star." He says more gently "yo-you had us worried there... for a second." His smile fades the slightest bit as he steps away from me.

"Sorry." I shrug and roll my head toward Najee.

"When?" I ask.

He rolls his eyes "from the brink of death and you can't wait five more minutes for the nurse to get here to remove the wire?" He shakes his head at me but the same tension I saw in Keller and Kader faces is in Najee's too.

"What's wrong guys?" I try to speak as clearly as possible but there are somethings you can't say right with your jaw wired shut.

"We'll talk later." Najee looks to the door as a few nurses come in.

"How's our patient?" The male nurse asks, peeling the straps off my wrists. I give Najee a dirty look for those.

"You can't blame me for that?" He gives me a look. I can't really. I felt how bad I was this time. the pain kept me down before. Had I been free to move I probably would have broken myself more.

"Let's get the wire off and get a new x-ray on... well the rest of you." The male nurse props me up a little and the other nurses gather on either side of me. One of the woman nurses takes a pair of wire scissors and pulls my lip down.

"I hear you've done this a couple times." She says, her tone indicating she isn't expecting me to answer.

"Yes." I answer anyway. Najee shoots me a disapproving look as the nurse clips at the wires around my teeth.

"We got you a few new teeth in there." The male nurse says.

"Hammer to the jaw will do that." I say around the women's hands. She cocks her brow at me daring me to make her job harder. The man didn't seem to understand me anyway but the annoyed look on Najee's face tells me he understood me perfectly.

The wire comes out easy enough. They open and close my jaw and give it a quick look before wheeling me down the hall to the x-ray room. I don't recognize this place though, this isn't the infirmary at the compound.

Of course, we wouldn't be there, I can't go back there...I almost forgot. My stomach churns at the thought that once I get better I'll have to leave. I'll meet up with John somewhere and we'll go to Australia; go scuba diving, work, be normal.

The X-rays are annoying, I have to be still and I don't want to be still. I want to move, I want to know what happened after I blacked out.

The room is quiet when I get back to it. The nurse leaving me in the same place I was before.

"We'll have the X-rays in about thirty minutes." She says.

"Thank you." Najee says casting a quick glance at the nurse

"So, what happened?" I ask, "with Adler and Drew and Chase..." it suddenly hit me, the gun, Chase pale and shaky "Chase! Did Chase get shot? Is he okay?"

"He's fine, he's back at the compound safe and sound." Najee assures me "Keller got shot when you pulled the gun away. It missed Chase."

"It was my fault?" I look to Keller she waves it off "better me than him."

"I almost got you killed." I shake my head "Keller, I'm so sor–"

"Don't even." She snaps at me "you get to play hero all the time, it's my turn I took a bullet for Chase, so there." She sticks her tongue out at me.

I watch her for a moment before I nod "okay."

"Adler was taken by the organization, we got you out before they could grab you too." Najee says.

"What about Drew? The nukes?" I ask.

"Drew stopped the signal before it sent. He erased all presence of us there. Messed with any security footage and warped any pictures." Najee smiles "you pick good back up." He reaches for my hand.

"I learned from the best." I tell him.

"You're looking great." The women who cut the wire out before comes in holding my X-rays.

"She is?" Kader almost sounds like he doesn't believe it.

"Yes sir, her bones are healing wonderfully. We should begin physical therapy tomorrow." The women smiles at me "you are a very lucky girl your friends got you here when they did."

"I am lucky." I smile at each of my team mates around the bed, but they just avoid my eyes. They know I have to leave.

"I'll let you rest today and talk with your friends." She leaves us alone and Kader grabs the remote dangling from the ceiling.

"Let see what's on." He takes a chair, Keller sits in his lap. I tug on Najee's hand and pat the bed next to me.

"Sit with me." I skootch over to give him some space. He slides in next to me and wraps his arm around my shoulders. I don't know what we're watching. I don't care. I just care that we're together, like a family should be.