Emergency Time-out

part two

********

John slumped at the cafeteria table with the largest cup of coffee they sold and felt the knot in his stomach begin to ease. He was still concerned about Chloe, but she was out of his hands now. The relief he felt at knowing she was, at least temporarily, out of pain was nearly equaled by the relief he felt at being out of the same room as Angel and Coop. He hadn’t missed the unspoken accusations on their faces when they realized that Sam had named him her proxy. He suspected that they both knew how he felt about Sam and that they probably thought he was using his relationship with Chloe to get close to her.

He couldn’t deny that he knew Chloe’s approval was essential for anyone hoping to get involved with Sam. The truth was, though, that he couldn’t walk away from Chloe even if Sam decided to marry some other jerk. He saw too much of himself in her. His own screwed up childhood had been oddly similar to hers, spent in fear and mostly on the run. They had both been exposed to violence and violent death far too young. Each had lost a parent to a killer.

There were differences, though. The man who had killed Chloe’s father was a faceless stranger. The man who had killed John’s mother had an all too familiar face.

It had occurred to John that the cafeteria was most likely the first place Angel and Coop would come looking for him. And he didn’t doubt they’d come looking. Neither of them was the type to sit still for long and tracking him down would probably seem like a good way to kill the long hours that Chloe would be in surgery. No reason to make it easy for them, he thought. He grabbed a plastic lid for his cup and headed out to roam the halls. A small brown sign pointing toward the gardens looked promising. Following the arrows he soon found himself in a courtyard big enough to get lost in. He chose a bench not too close to either the center or the edge and settled with his coffee. He knew he’d be paying for the caffeine later, but right now the hot liquid was soothing.

*********

Sam was a nervous wreck. The flight back had been awful. She hadn’t even been able to pace. Once they landed at Hartsfield Bailey hadn’t been able to get a helicopter. Traffic had been horrible, but finally they made it to the hospital. They had rushed to Chloe’s room only to learn that she was still in surgery. Angel had gotten her a cup of coffee while both Bailey and Coop paced around the small room and the hallway just outside. Surprisingly, John was nowhere to be found.

"Sammy, why don’t you sit down?" Coop said. "You’re about to fall over."

She stared at him. How could he possibly think she could sit still? Behind him Bailey shook his head. At least he understood her need to keep moving. All four of them turned toward the door as an orderly began wheeling Chloe in. John followed the gurney. A small part of Sam’s mind wondered how John had ended up with her, but the rest concentrated on the very still form of her daughter.

"Chloe!"

"Mom?" Chloe mumbled. She squeezed Sam’s hand weakly.

Sam was unaware of the tears of relief that spilled across her cheeks. She was unaware of anyone else in the room. She simply held on to Chloe’s hand. The child drifted in and out of consciousness and finally fell into a restful, healing sleep. Sam vaguely remembered words of comfort her friends had offered before they left one by one. She sat alone beside the bed watching the fragile child and offered a silent prayer of thanks.

Eventually Chloe’s eyes flickered open again and focused on Sam.

"John lied," she said.

Sam stared at her. "What?"

"He lied. He said you’d be the first person I saw when I woke up. You weren’t." She blinked sleepily. "He was." To Sam’s surprise her daughter smiled. "The doctor was ticked. He said John shouldn’t have been down there." Her eyes began to blur again as she wrapped her fingers around her mother’s hand. "I think he thought John was my dad." She closed her eyes and her voice trailed off. "Sometimes… I wish…"

Sam brushed at the strands of hair around Chloe’s face. She had a pretty good idea what Chloe’s wish was. If she had been seven years old she might have wished the same thing. But she wasn’t seven and a father wasn’t what she needed.

*****

Sam woke with a crick in her neck and the sound of soft laughter in her ears. She straightened awkwardly in her chair and turned to check on Chloe. The girl was propped up at an angle and drinking a strawberry milkshake from a McDonald’s cup. Sam sat upright.

"Chloe, you can’t..."

"Relax, Sam," John said. He sat on the far side of the bed, half-hidden in the early morning shadows. "I already cleared it with the nurse. It’s okay. All she’s getting is the shake. The rest is for you." He handed a bag across the bed. "Coffee with cream and an egg McMuffin. Canadian bacon. No cheese."

She didn’t bother to wonder how he knew her preferences. She had long since realized that he, along with the rest of the VCTF, knew practically every minute detail of her life. Sometimes she felt as if she was living in a glass jar.

"I don’t know how you can eat that without cheese," he said, shaking his head.

"What time is it?" she asked. "What are you doing here?" Her stomach rumbled at the smell of the breakfast that he had brought her.

"About seven-twenty. It’s amazing what a badge can do about visiting hours," he grinned.

Sam wondered briefly if he had tried saying that he was family. The way he had acted yesterday he probably could have gotten away with it.

"Chloe said you were in the recovery room yesterday."

"I got lost." He shrugged. "It happens. It’s a big hospital."

Sam didn’t believe him for a moment. But she was glad he had been there. Glad he had done everything that he had for Chloe. She was fully aware of just how much she owed him. She was surprised when he stood.

"I have to go," he said. "Some of us actually have to work today. Take it easy, Chlo."

"Can’t you stay a little longer?" Chloe asked.

"Sorry, sweetheart, but Uncle Bailey will skin me if I don’t show up on time at least once this week." He turned to Sam. "Just thought I’d drop by and see how you were both doing before I went in. I’ll be back later, if that’s okay?"

"Of course," mother and daughter chorused. Sam couldn’t help but smile. She wondered if he even realized that he had adopted her pet name for Chloe.

He grinned at them both and turned to leave. Sam rose and followed him into the hall.

"John?" she called after him softly. He turned immediately. She suddenly realized that she didn’t know what she had intended to say. He looked down at her with a slightly puzzled expression. She shrugged, just as perplexed. In what seemed like an instinctive gesture he opened his arms and she stepped into them. As she leaned against him she could feel inexplicable tears running down her face again. His arms closed around her and she felt an unfamiliar sense of security. His mere presence was reassuring. He didn’t have to say a word, and yet he somehow managed to comfort her. As her uncharacteristic tears subsided she realized that what she sensed was less a feeling of being protected than it was a feeling of not being alone. It was a feeling she thought she could grow accustomed to.

"I have to go, Sam." His arms tightened briefly before he released her. "I’ll be back as soon as Bailey cuts me loose," he promised. He shifted slightly and kissed her forehead.

"Thank you," she whispered for a thousand things. He nodded and brushed his thumb across her cheek, brushing away her tears. She watched him walk to the elevator and saw his encouraging smile as the doors closed.

*****

"Practicing your mental telepathy on those chemical companies?" Bailey asked.

"Huh?" John blinked up at him blankly.

It was obvious that the agent’s mind was a million miles away. Or more accurately, Bailey thought, about four miles away and on the seventh floor of a children’s hospital.

John shook his head as if to clear it. "I was just wondering if I could get George to program all these numbers into my speed dial. There has to be an easier way to do this."

"Keep on it, John. One of those supply houses has to remember this guy…"

"Yeah, yeah. I’m dialing already."

"Good," Bailey smiled, "because you know you aren’t going anywhere until you finish that list."

"I figured that," John grinned in return. "That’s why I went by to see Chloe this morning."

"How’s she doing?" he asked. He would have liked to stop by himself but hadn’t been able to find the time today. With Sam out indefinitely he was short-staffed yet again and scrambling to cover two jobs.

"A lot better than yesterday. And Sam’s actually putting together complete sentences, too."

Bailey laughed. "If you thought she was incoherent at the hospital, you should have been with her on the plane."

"No thanks. I was wired enough as it was. Sam and me together would probably have been a very bad combination."

Yes, it probably would, Bailey thought. "Has Sam’s father come by yet?"

John looked at him blankly again. "Her father? I don’t know," he shrugged. "I don’t think she’s even called him."

Bailey nodded. "She’s had a lot on her mind." If it were Frannie or Ariana in the hospital he doubted that phoning people would be very high on his list of priorities either.

"I guess she does." John glanced down at the printout on his desk and sighed. "You know, we call these same people every two weeks. Don’t we have a database for this or something?"

"Just call them, John."

"Yeah," he answered absently. He had zoned out again even as Bailey stood watching him.

He couldn’t be more worried about that girl if she were his own, Bailey thought as he began walking away. He looked back as John spoke again. The man was digging through a desk drawer, muttering quietly. The only word Bailey caught was "Anderson". He wondered briefly if he should advise John not to get involved. He realized just as quickly that he would probably be ignored.

Well, better Dr. Anderson than the Waters’, he thought. He doubted that it would occur to John to call Sam’s in-laws anyway. And he certainly wasn’t going to do it. Those two had caused enough problems the last time they were in town. He had no desire to be the one who was responsible for their return.

He headed back to his office. At least Sam had managed to deliver a profile before her family emergency arose. They would be lucky if nothing else major came up while she was out.

*****

on to part three