Suspects(63)

She was gently stroking his hair and speaking softly to him when he said his first words to her.

“Love you, Theo…” he said in a hoarse whisper. His throat was irritated from the respirator, and she kissed him gently on the cheek.

“I love you too. How do you feel?”

“Better than when I went to sleep.” He smiled at her. “I owe you a burger and a trip to Venice,” he said in a raspy voice, and she looked surprised.

“Did you hear me when I talked to you?”

“I don’t know….I don’t know if I dreamed it, but I thought I heard you.”

“I’ve been talking to you for a week.”

“How long have you been here?” he whispered.

“A week today.”

“You’re an amazing woman.” He dozed off then, and slept a lot for the next few days, still lightly sedated so he didn’t have pain. At the end of the week, they moved him out of the ICU to a private room, with a federal agent standing guard at the door. He could sit up by then, and the next day, he took a short walk down the hall with Theo next to him, pushing a wheelchair in case he needed to sit down. By the end of the following week, they said he could go home. He had been in the hospital for four weeks, and was eager to leave. He looked at Theo seriously then.

“My apartment is a mess, you can’t stay there with me. It’s more like an office with a bed in it.”

“Then we’ll go to my hotel. You can have room service, and whatever you want.” He had to admit he liked the idea, but he didn’t want to take advantage of her.

“If I stay with you, then I’m paying for the hotel.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’ve been there for three weeks, another week or two won’t matter. And if they let you, you can come back to Paris with me. How much sick leave do you have?”

“Another month or two, whatever I need.”

When they asked, the doctors weren’t keen on his traveling too soon. They wanted him around for the next month, in case he had any problems. But he agreed to go to the hotel with Theo, and when she left, he’d go back to his apartment.

He was thrilled to leave the hospital two days later, and they moved into her suite at the Four Seasons. He laughed when he saw it.

“I should have just stayed here for four weeks,” he said, and Theo grinned at him. She was so relieved to see him up and around again. He looked normal, but he wasn’t supposed to exert himself or overtax the surgical site. The bullet had done a fair amount of damage, even though the repair work had been skillful and the doctors said he’d be as good as new in a month or two. The doctor was amused at his last question before they discharged him.

“Give it two more weeks, and don’t go too crazy at first.” His actual heart hadn’t been damaged, but the structure and muscles supporting it had been, and he had had an enormous amount of internal stitches. But his heart was sound.

“The doctor said we can have sex whenever we want,” he said to Theo, as he lay on the bed in her suite and was smiling broadly.

“No, he didn’t. You’re a liar, and a sex fiend, Mike Andrews. I asked him, and he said not for two more weeks.”

“Shit, why did you ask him?” He looked disappointed and she laughed at him.

“Because I don’t trust you, and you just lied about it, which proves I’m right. Do you want to rip all your stitches open?”

“Hell, I was shot. I deserve some TLC and cheering up.”

“You can have all the TLC you want, but no wild, crazy sex for two weeks.”

“I’m having withdrawals,” he complained.

“We can play cards and watch TV, and go for walks,” she said, handing him the room service menu.

“And take cold showers.”

The doctor had said that he could go out, as long as he didn’t do anything strenuous or exercise, so the first time they went out, they went back to the diner and had a good time. Patrick went with them and sat in a separate booth.

Mike took her to his apartment just to see it, and it looked even worse to him than he remembered.

“It looks like a computer lab,” she said, frowning. “I’m not even sure decorating would help. All you have is office furniture.”

“Courtesy of Goodwill and the Central Intelligence Agency.”

“You get an F in decorating.”

“I was afraid you’d say that.”

When they got back to the hotel, she told him she wanted to meet his sister, if he was willing. He looked sheepish when she said it.

“I never told her I’d been shot. She worries about me, that’s why I don’t have her on my emergency list. She thinks I’m invincible.”

“So do I, but shit happens,” Theo said calmly, grateful beyond words that he’d survived. She had been terrified he wouldn’t.

“She’s going to be shocked to see me at this hotel. That might shock her more than my getting shot. She’s kind of an oddball, but I love her.”

“We can meet her at a restaurant if you want.”

“No, let’s do it here. She thinks being poor is admirable. She’s suspicious of rich people.” But he called her anyway, he wanted to see her too. When he called, he told her he’d been injured but he was fine now, and he was staying with a friend at a hotel uptown. She was visiting from Paris, and he wanted them to meet.