While I Was Away(42)

“I'm fine! All I want, all I need, is to talk to him!” she demanded, pointing a finger at Jones.

“Maybe it would be better if I left, I think I'm upsetting her,” he responded, then started taking slow backwards steps towards the door.

No. Adele couldn't let him get away. She'd just found him. He could walk out the door and be gone forever again. Panic settled in almost instantaneously. She hurriedly climbed out of the hospital bed and grabbed him by the arm.

“We know each other,” she spoke fast. “We saw each other every day. All the time. Everywhere.”

“Yes, I was your nurse, I did see you every day. Now if you could just do what we say right now, everything will get a lot better.”

“When has telling me what to do ever worked out for you, Jones?”

It burst out of her mouth without any forethought. She'd spent a lifetime with him, multiple lifetimes, so slipping into their old banter came naturally to her. Too naturally, it seemed. He was visibly stunned by the familiarity in her voice – and so was the doctor.

“You two have been interacting with each other outside the hospital?” Dr. Martin guessed.

“No.”

“Yes.”

They both spoke in unison, and Jones' jaw dropped at her response. The doctor noted the reaction, then seemed to make a decision.

“Right. Back in bed, Ms. Reins, I'd like to just quickly check again for a concussion,” he said, and it seemed to snap Jones out of his temporary trance. He struggled with the hold Adele had on his arm.

“I'm fine!” she insisted. “Please, just listen to me! You told me I would find you, remember? You told me this would happen.”

“What have you been telling her?” Dr. Martin asked.

“I haven't been telling her anything – we've never actually spoken to each other before this evening,” Jones insisted.

“Never spoken? Jesus, Jones, we've talked more than any two people have ever talked! How could you say that? Why are you acting like nothing happened?”

“What exactly happened between you and Nurse Lund, Ms. Reins?” Dr. Martin asked.

“Jones is my ... he helped me. He took care of me. He protected me,” Adele tried to explain as best she could. “He loves me.”

It was like she'd dropped a bomb. She could immediately feel the change in the room. Both the doctor and Jones went completely still for a second, then they started moving again all at once.

“Doctor, I don't even know her,” Jones asserted, jerking his arm free from her and putting several steps between them.

“How can you say that? After everything that happened between us?” Adele asked, her eyes filling with tears.

“What happened, Ms. Reins? Do you remember Nurse Lund speaking to you, or touching you?” her doctor asked.

“Of course I touched her, I was her nurse, for christ's sake! But I don't know what the hell she's talking about,” Jones insisted. Adele stared at him, feeling sick to her stomach.

“What about those last moments?” she breathed. “We loved each other. I've never felt that with anyone before, ever.”

“What the fuck are you talking about!?” Jones yelled, shocking her. He'd never once before spoken to her in anger.

“Alright! Enough! Clearly something happened. Nurse Lund, I'm going to need you to head to the nurse's station and wait there.”

“I swear to you, Dr. Martin, I don't know what she's talking about. She was just a patient, I never touched her inappropriately.”

“This will all be discussed with a rep from HR, after I speak with Ms. Reins.”

“But doctor, I -”

“Leave, Nurse Lund.”

Jones leveled a stare on her that almost stopped her heart. She'd never seen him look so mad. It was almost like ... like she was looking at a different person. A different person who didn't like her very much.

A person who maybe even wanted to murder her a little.

It doesn't matter. It's him. I know it's him.

“Now,” Dr. Martin sighed as soon as Jones left the room. “These are some serious allegations, Ms. Reins.”

“Allegations?”

“Yes. If Nurse Lund ever touched you inappropriately or behaved inappropriately, we need to know about it. What did you say about him touching you? Can you remember the first time it happened?”

“Inappropriate?” she echoed. The adrenaline high she'd been running on was quickly going flat, and she felt the shadow of her headache coming back.

“Nurse Lund told you he was in love with you?”

Why was this so astonishing to everyone? She was an attractive young woman, he was a ridiculously good looking young man, they'd been trapped in purgatory together with literally all of time at their disposal.

“I'm so confused,” she moaned, finally sitting on the edge of the bed.

“Of course, dear, of course. Let me go see if your brother is here, and then we can get a hospital rep to come in and ask you some questions about Nurse Lund's behavior.”

She nodded, then watched as he hurried out of the room. About five minutes later, another figure stepped through the doorway. She smiled when her brother Ocean gave her a small wave. He smiled back, then came to sit beside her.