"I'm not sure why you have a hold on my girl like that, but you need to let her go."

Andromeda looked down. She hadn't even noticed Parker's grip on her upper arm. "Oh, he's okay, Roz. This is Parker Quinn. Remember, Parker?"

The woman on the porch lowered the shotgun, but she was still frowning. "Okay..."

Andromeda pulled away from Parker to climb the steps to hug her friend. Roz lowered the shotgun to her side and gave her a one-armed hug, but still kept her gaze on the two men. "What's going on, Andromeda?"

She blinked down into her friend's kind eyes and struggled with her emotions. It would be so easy to cry on Roz's shoulder, but they had stuff to do. "Do you have any medical equipment here with you?"

Roz blinked, her dark brows lowering over cornflower blue eyes. "You know I do. Why?"

"Because Parker's been shot."

All eyes focused on Parker and he gave a snort, even as he reached out to lean upon the car.

Sighing, Roz leaned her shotgun against the porch railing and went down the steps. "And who are you?"

Mac seemed startled when she looked at him. "Mac."

"He's my witness and I'm trying to keep him safe," Andromeda explained. "Parker was at my condo protecting me and he got shot when we went to find Mac."

Roz spared her a glance. "Sounds like a very truncated version of what's happened."

Andromeda barked out a laugh as she took one of Parker's arms around her shoulders. "Very."

Roz stepped under Parker's other arm and they walked him to the steps. He seemed to stagger at one point, almost pulling them down and Mac took over from Roz. He carried him up the steps and into the darkness of the cabin like it wasn't anything.

"I want him on the table."

Roz rushed across to the wide-planked table, snatching a blanket from the couch as she passed to cover the surface. Parker groaned as he lay down on the table and she wanted to cry out with him, but it wouldn't do anyone any good. Andromeda stood back as Roz went to work.

Before they’d met, Roz had been a nurse at Riverglade Hospital in Columbus, in the emergency department. Andromeda remembered the details like the case was yesterday. They'd had a crazy drunk come in and he'd been placed under a psychiatric hold, but they'd had problems finding him a bed. It had been flu season that year and the hospital was woefully overcrowded. So, they'd kept him in the emergency department longer than they should have. Roz had gone in to check on him at one point and he'd hit her as soon as she'd walked into the room, knocking her out cold. She didn't come to until he'd penetrated her on the bathroom floor. She'd fought and bit, but she hadn't been able to fight him off. But she had been able to reach the nurse call cord hanging near the toilet. Within minutes she had people there. The orderlies fought with the homeless man, but the damage had already been already done. Roz had cooperated fully in the prosecution, but she hadn't been able to go back to the hospital where she'd been attacked. Andromeda didn't think she'd have had been able to go back either.

But she could see how good of a nurse Roz had been. Parker had passed out again, which made everything easier as she unwrapped the 'bandage'. "Pads? Really?"

"It's a military thing," Mac rumbled.

She stared at him for a moment before turning back to Parker. She pulled a stethoscope from her bag and took a quick blood pressure. "It looks clean through. Most of the bleeding has stopped but he's low on volume."

She rummaged in her pack, pulling out an IV setup. She handed the fluid bag to Mac. "Hold this up until I can think of a way to rig it."

He took it from her without a word and did as he was told. Then she hooked the IV into Parker's hand. "He'll probably need a couple bags. Antibiotics. Pain management. I assume there's a reason why you can't go to a hospital."

"If they're tracking us we can't go to a hospital. That would be on the news."

"Hm. Probably right."

She worked for several long minutes and Andromeda just stood back and watched. Roz looked up at her at one point with a questioning look. Andromeda leaned forward to look down at his body.

Roz had stripped most of his clothing off and his body was gorgeous and muscular, until you realized it was covered in scars. Not just a few here and there but hundreds of measured cuts covered his body, ranging in lengths from a few centimeters to several inches. Andromeda nodded to her, indicating that she'd seen these, then her gaze drifted lower. Roz had left his athletic boxers on, but there were faint silver lines going beneath the fabric. Then she got to his legs. Here there were larger surgical scars where they had apparently gone in to fix his legs.

"My God," Roz breathed. "Who could have done all this to him?"

"I don't know."

Roz flung a sheet out over top of him, then gave her a direct look. "He'll be fine, Andromeda. He'll be hurting for the next few days, but he'll be all right."

Andromeda moved close enough to grasp his free hand. He hadn't roused since they'd entered the house. She wanted, needed, to see his eyes. It had been a crazy day with even more crazy ups and downs. Parker reappearing in her life was definitely an 'up', but he would leave her with a devastating 'down'. Been there and done that, but it didn't keep her from reaching out to run her fingers through his short dirty blond hair and down his bruised cheek.

What the hell was she supposed to do with him?

As she looked at his big body stretched out on the table, she was very thankful that Roz had been here.

"I thought you were in Georgia."

Roz looked up at her as she readied suture material. "I was, but things fell in line and something told me I needed to leave early. I understand why now. It's good to see you in one piece, Andromeda."

"It's good to be in one piece."

"Why don't you tell me what happened while I stitch this guy up?"

It was a reasonable request, so Andromeda told her about their day. Several times Roz stopped to stare at her in disbelief.

Andromeda stopped talking just as Roz tied the last stitch. She gathered up stray bits of trash, then dropped her gloves into the trash can. She took the IV bag from Mac and hung it up over the swaying light fixture.

"I need wine," she said finally, turning away.

Andromeda knew where the glasses were. Retrieving three from the cupboard she set them on the counter. "Do you mind if I hop in the shower real quick? I was rolling on the garage floor and I've got Parker's blood all over me."

"Of course," Roz agreed softly. "If you need something to wear you know where everything is."

Andromeda flipped her hand in a quick wave as she walked away. Since they hadn't stopped anywhere after the truck stop, she would definitely need to borrow something until she could wash up what she was wearing. The black slacks would be fine after a good wash, but the maroon sweater was wrecked. She let both puddle in the corner of the bathroom as she started the water to let it warm.

As she stepped beneath the shower head, every tight, strained muscle began to relax. A streak of fire went down her arm and she craned her head to look around. Oh, damn, she'd been cut. Probably not enough to get stitched but definitely enough it should probably be cleaned out.

Ducking her head beneath the water, she thought about everything that had happened. It would be smart to sit down and write everything out while it was fresh in her mind. As soon as she had a moment to herself she would dig her laptop out and typed a few things up.

Right now, the water felt too good to leave.