Cold. Darkness. Pain. I had known these things before, but time seemed to stretch out as my senses began to wake from their unnatural slumber. Everything felt slower, almost as if I’d been taken out of the normal world and thrust into something supernatural. I could feel my heart racing in my chest.

My heart… A heartbeat… I’m alive!

The realization seemed to sweep through me, connections turning on as I could feel myself moving, little sensations of touch filtering through the fog. Where the hell was I? What was going on? I forced my eyes open, the blurry brightness causing them to clamp back shut immediately.

Oh, fuck. I’ve been drugged!

I had to get out of here. I had to do something to run, to save Nathan, to escape this place. I began to thrash in place, even as a pain shot out from my arm, searing into my shoulder and neck. I reached across my body blindly, feeling the tubes, struggling to understand what the hell was happening to me in this terrible place.

“Nurse!”

The voice was strange, almost ethereal. I thrashed harder as I felt hands pinning my shoulders down, but then a strange sense of calm flooded over me like the gentle lapping of the tide coming in. I felt warm and light, like I was soaring beyond myself, back into the blackness I’d fought so desperately to escape.

They were drugging me again! No!

But as hard as I tried to claw back toward the light, it faded again, and there I was in the cold, the darkness, the pain…

The next time I woke was different. It wasn’t the hard beating of my heart that brought me back into the world; it was the soft touch of someone’s fingertips on my palm, and the overwhelming scent of flowers.

“You’re going to be okay…”

The whisper was nice. The voice was soft, and each syllable seemed to caress me, wrapping me up in a warmth I’d almost forgotten existed. I took a chance and fluttered an eye, glad to be shrouded in darkness. I could feel my hand being squeezed.

“That’s right. Come back to me, Sandra.”

My eyes flashed open, unfocused, straining to understand. I was in a hospital room, that much was certain, but it was nicer than the ones I’d seen as a child—much nicer than the facility my grandma had lived in during the last hard years of her life. High tech equipment and soothing colors surrounded me. Even the bed I was lying in seemed unusually comfortable. More importantly, the room was filled with flowers of every size and color imaginable, even more opulent than the display Nathan had put on back at the Peachtree.

Nathan… that voice…

As I turned my head, I saw him beside him.

“Nathan,” I whispered, staring up at him.

“I’m here,” he replied, his face contorting with emotion. Regret, fear, happiness, love—I watched all of those feelings shift across his face as he watched over me. My heart began to race as I tried to piece together exactly what had happened to me back at Captain Pierce’s house.

“The Captain… he shot me. We have to stop him.”

Nathan just laughed softly, running his fingertips along my arm. Even in my weakened state, he gave me goosebumps.

“Relax, Sandra. He came out of that house looking like a hero, but it turns out there are still a few good cops on the force. When you went storming into the building, you left a car with a busted trunk and all the evidence you needed to put that asshole away for life just sitting there on the passenger seat. You’re lucky the right person found it.”

Lieutenant Daniels, I thought to myself. I’d been right about him. He was a good cop. I’d owe him big time for this one.

“Where is he?” I asked, suddenly worried.

“The Captain? You don’t have to worry about him anymore. He’s in a holding cell waiting to be charged right along with a dozen paddies. He rolled on the whole organization. You should see the news. This whole thing has been one hell of a story. You’d hate it.”

I laughed and instantly regretted it. Pain shot through my neck, and I hissed as it momentarily blinded me.

Nathan grimaced. “Sorry. Don’t laugh. You did take a bullet, remember? Few inches in either direction and it would have taken out your spine or your jugular. Doctors said you’re lucky to be alive,” he added, holding my hand tightly. “I told them you were too goddamn stubborn to die.”

That shed some light on what had happened to me. but I still had questions for him to answer. “Where are we now? This doesn’t look like County General.”

He grinned a little. “I hope you don’t mind, but the hospital they had you in was a little beneath my standards. Soon as you were stable, I had them move you here. Good Samaritan East, best care you can get this side of the Mason Dixon line.” His expression softened. “My baby deserves the best,” he told me.

I blew out a slow breath. Good Samaritan East wasn’t in my provider network. This whole thing must have cost a fortune, but then I realized I was worrying over nothing. Fortunes were something Nathan could afford to lose. Hell, it might even humble the guy a bit… But something about his words caught me off guard.

Baby? He never called me baby…

I glanced up at his eyes, and suddenly I understood. My hand softly moved to my tummy, holding it tight. No words could express the way I was feeling.

“Relax… You’re fine, and so is our little miracle,” Nathan said, placing a hand over my own. “Everything is going to be ok.”

Nathan’s face blurred before me, and I squinted, trying to make him out. “Nathan,” I whispered, feeling drowsy again. I desperately fought to focus. I didn’t want to lose him again.

“Yes?” he replied quietly, stroking my cheek.

I leaned into his touch, craving just a few more seconds of lucidity. “Stay with me… Stay with us…”

He nodded, leaning forward to press his lips against my forehead just above the bridge of my nose. “Always, Sandra,” he promised me. “I’ll always stay.”

I let his words wrap me in a tender embrace as I closed my eyes and drifted blissfully away.