Chapter 54

... eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeblip! Blip ... Blip ... Blip...

"What the fuck?! We have a pulse ... is she breathing?"

"She's breathing-- mostly on her own!"

"Jesus Christ. Okay ... keep the machines here, stay with her! I'm going to assist Dr. Brown with our other patient. Oh, someone let her husband know she's okay."

Mark sagged against the wall in relief. Against the backs of his closed eyelids, he could see the tracery of lines connecting Kristen to him and the others. The healthy links were all glowing, energy flowing into Kristen from him and Kayla, and a tracery of silver energy flowing into him, as well, seeming to increase the amount he could give to her. Kristen's own strands were a dim but solid golden glow, no longer flickering black and red. Kayla's green one, woven around and around his blue and Kristen's gold, brightened the gold wherever it touched it, and where it brushed the damaged link, it seemed to heal it, absorbing the red and brightening the line itself. The bad bond still seemed to be a drain, but not as badly, and it looked to be at least slightly healthier.

"Mr. Hasseran?"

He opened his eyes and looked up, his face still shadowed by the pain and shock of nearly loosing her. "Yes?"

The nurse smiled reassuringly. "She's stabilized. She's even breathing some on her own. We're leaving the respirator in for now, just in case, but her temperature is coming up, and her heartbeat is steady."

"Did you find out what's wrong?" he asked, knowing it would be expected of him.

She shook her head. "No, I'm sorry. Her heart stopped for no apparent reason, but..." She shook her head again. "It started up again on its own after we'd given up trying to restart it. It's been steady ever since, and her vital signs immediately started stabilizing."

"God," he whispered. "Can I ... can I see her yet?"

She looked at him sympathetically. "Well ... it's really against the rules, but in this case ... there's just her and the one other patient, anyway, so come on in for a little bit. If she continues to improve, we'll move her to a regular room in the morning."

He nodded gratefully. "You ... ah, I know you probably aren't supposed to say, but how in Angie doing? She's a co-worker of mine."

She frowned grimly. "It looked pretty bad for a little bit there. She went into convulsions. We got the breathing tube out before she hurt herself, thank goodness. I won't swear to it, but I think she's out of the woods. She's breathing on her own, now, too. We've got her on oxygen and can get her tubed again right away if she needs it, but it's looking good."

"Good," he said, leaning against the wall tiredly. If Angie was okay, Kristen would be too.

"If you're friends, would you know where her husband is? He's listed as her emergency contact, but we haven't been able to reach him."

He shook his head. "Sorry. The police said he left her."

"Oh dear," she said. "I'll tell the psychologist to be prepared for that, then. Come on in and see your wife, hon."

Kristen looked better, though she was still unconscious. When he took her hand in his, her skin was warm to the touch, and she wasn't quite as pale as she had been.

They let him stay with her for about half an hour, before the nurses told him that he'd have to leave, and that his father-in-law was waiting him in the lobby. He bent and kissed her forehead gently, and then reluctantly left the ICU.

Steven was waiting anxiously in the lobby, and Mark gave him a relieved smile. "She's doing better," he said. "It was ... bad ... at one point. She flat lined and they ... they couldn't revive her." He closed his eyes and swallowed against the lump in his throat. "Then they did something to Angie, and her heart restarted spontaneously. That's also when Kayla and Aaron started providing energy."

His father-in-law went pale and slumped against the wall. "God. How is she now? How does she look?"

"Better," Mark said. "Her skin is actually warm. Why don't we go get some coffee, and I'll fill you in on what's going on?"

"Good idea. There are some machines down the hall."

It was typical hospital vending machine coffee, meaning it was wet and contained caffeine, and that was about all that could be said for it. Mark held the warm cup gratefully, nonetheless, and collapsed in one of the chairs. "Okay. Where should I start?" he asked.

"I'm not sure, honestly," Steven said, running a hand through his hair. "Has she woken up at all?"

Mark shook his head. "No. I think that as the drugs work their way out of Angie's system, she'll improve as well."

"Then how does Angie look? What are her chances?"

"Pretty good, I think," Mark said. "She's breathing on her own now, they said."

"Then Kristen should be all right as well?"

Mark nodded. "I think so. Especially because ... well, it looks like Kayla actually healed Angie and Kristen's life-bond."

"How?"

"I'm not sure. The energy coming from her seemed to leave the life-bond ... less raw, and, um, 'wounded' looking."

"There must be some way to protect her from this," Steven said, shoving back his chair so that he could pace the length of the tiny room. "What if she tries again, more successfully this time?"

That thought hadn't been a particularly comforting one for Mark, either, but he'd at least had time to think about it. "I think once she knows that it nearly killed Kristen, she won't try," he said. "And if Kayla can finish healing the life-bond, I'm not sure it would react quite like this."

Steven stopped pacing to frown down at him, and finally asked the question Mark had been expecting from the very beginning: "So, how did this happen in the first place?"

Mark sighed, taking a sip of coffee to delay a bit. He really, really didn't want to answer that. "Okay. Some of this happened before I was here, and I want you to promise you won't do anything without talking it over with Kristen first."

"Oh?" Steven asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Angie ... slept with Kristen last year," Mark said, reluctantly. "I don't blame her. Well, obviously. That'd be rather hypocritical. But I greatly dislike what she did to her after that." He sighed again, holding up a hand to forestall protests. "She panicked, called Kristen a demon, and told her never to step foot in her office again. I understand why. She considered herself a child molester, and was trying to protect Kristen. If Kristen hated her and wouldn't come near her, then she'd be safe ... but a life-bond is a life-bond, and all she did was cause intense pain to both of them."