Winter's Warrior: Mark of the Monarch (Winter's Saga 4) (22 page)

This is normal and necessary to get his heart beating and him breathing again,
Farrow told herself though she cringed at every crunch.  Sloan may look small and powerless, but she was a metahuman and was much stronger than she appeared.

“…
Twenty-nine one-thousand, thirty one-thousand.”  Sloan stopped compressions and looked up expectantly at Farrow.

Remembering her training, Farrow had already taken the pillow out from under Alik and tipped his head back.  Now she pinched his nose leaned over him, wrapped her lips around his feverish ones and pushed a powerfully deep breath into him.  S
he stopped and watched his chest rise then fall.

“Again,” Sloan ordered.

Farrow complied, repeating the breathing process, trying desperately to keep panic at bay and focus on what she could do to help Alik instead.

Sloan resumed the compressions and counting. 

“Come on, Alik!”  Farrow begged.

“Stay with us.  We need you.  Take a breath!  You can do it!  Wake up and say something annoying!  Please wake up!” Farrow didn’t even notice the warm tears slipping down her face and splashing
onto the sheet beside Alik’s unresponsive face.  “I need you, Alik Winter.  Please don’t leave me when I just found you.  I can’t do this without you!   What would be the point, Alik?”

“Breathe,” Sloan ordered again.

Again Farrow took Alik’s lips with hers and pushed her breath deep inside him, watched his chest rise and fall with her efforts then repeated the process.  Her tears fell on his closed eyes making him look as though he were crying, too.

This time, instead of starting compressions right away, Sloan used her pointy knuckles and ground them into Alik’s sternum, rubbing back and forth, up and down, trying to rouse him. 

“Wake up Alik Winter.  You have a lot of work left to do!  And if I have learned anything about your sister, she’s going to come kick your butt for lying down on the job!  Then she’s going to come after me all martial arts crazy for not pulling you back. 
WAKE UP!
” 

Just as Sloan was breathing a sigh of frustration, about to resume compressions, Farrow saw Alik’s eyelid twitch.  “I just saw him move!” she called out.

Sloan stopped grinding her knuckles into his sternum and watched for his chest to rise and fall on its own.  It was faint, but yes, there was definitely movement.  Sloan hopped off the bed and felt his throat for a pulse.

“We got him back,” she nodded reassuringly for Farrow’s sake. 

“Alik!  Open your eyes!”
Sloan ordered. 
“Do it now!”

Instead, Alik groaned softly.

“That’s right.  Wake up Alik.  You’ve slept long enough and definitely scared the heck out of us just now.”

Alik’s eyes fluttered opened a little before he blinked a few times.  Each time he could open his eyes a little further until he was looking at Farrow through very bright-blue eyes.

Farrow watched them with a little confusion. 
His eyes were sky-blue before, I’m sure of it.
 

They look
ed so different.  They were mesmerizing.  Bright violet-blue eyes, framed with his familiar long dark lashes stared back at her.

“Alik, you stopped breathing.  Farrow and I had to perform CPR on you just now to bring you back.  I’m going to get you a fresh bag of intravenous fluids and work on stabilizing your system.  Farrow’s going to stay right here with you,” Sloan nodded at the metasoldier, the only person in the room as far as Alik was concerned.

“Farrow, if he closes his eyes, rub his chest as you saw me do—it’s painful to him, but it’ll wake him until I get back, and we can make sure he’s stabilized.  Okay?  Give me one minute to get what we need?”

“One minute, okay,” Farrow’s voice sounded distant.  She didn’t look away from Alik’s gaze to see Sloan hurry out of the room.

“Sloooaaann!”
Farrow heard Cole call for his personal physician.

“
Suck it up, Cole Andrews!”
Sloan yelled back. 

Farrow let out a relieved laugh.  She had already been silently thanking God for the skills of that little girl
and now she giggled at her spunkiness, too.  That’s what Cole got for spending every moment with her.  She was obviously a fast learner and Cole was inadvertently teaching her to be like him.

“Thank God you’re okay, Alik.  You scared the hell out of me, you know
.”  Farrow smoothed Alik’s long bangs back first with her bare hand then with the washcloth wet with ice cold water.  He offered a weak smile and blinked slowly.  Those brilliant violet eyes stared back at her.

Wanting desperately to keep him focused on staying awake until Sloan returned, Farrow started chattering away. 

“You’ve been out of it for two days, Alik.  Evan is sure you’re going through your evolution.  Everyone’s wondering what your enhanced gifts will be,” She looked back into his even more beautiful eyes.  “But I don’t think anyone was expecting your eyes to change color.”

Alik’s eyebrow rose slightly.

“Yes, it’s true.  You used to have blue eyes.  They’re definitely a different color now.  They’re striking—a bright violet Caribbean blue.”

Alik looked incredulously at Farrow.

Sloan walked into the room just then with her IV supplies in hand.  She walked around to look at what Farrow was talking about.

“Wow, that’s different,” she commented over Farrow’s shoulder. “Unusual eye color is caused by genetic mutation.  His eye color is proof that he’s going through his evolution.  I would love to study your blood.  Do you mind if I take a sample later?” the young doctor asked. Most little girls her age were excited about the newest album from their favorite boy band, but not Sloan Mor.  She was giggl
ing enthusiastic at the prospect of studying Alik’s blood under a high-powered microscope. 

“A genetic mutation?  How could that happen at age fifteen?”  Farrow asked.

“That’s what I want to know.” As Sloan spoke, she was taking away the old IV bag and setting up the fresh one.  “I really want to stimulate him to keep him awake for a while, but I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize his evolution.  So instead,” she pulled something out of the pocket of her cargo pants. “I brought him a caffeinated soda.”  She handed the cold drink and a straw to Farrow.

“Try to get him to sip a little of this every few minutes.  The caffeine should be enough to keep him going but not too much to cause him harm.”

Farrow nodded at the girl and took the soda, popping the pull-tab open and adding a straw.

Sloan busied herself taking his blood pressure and pulse.  She wrote her findings on the spiral notebook they started using as his “chart” and left the room with a reminder to “yell if you need me.”

Farrow watched as Alik took the straw she offered with his lips and the dark liquid fill the straw as he sipped.  “There, it probably feels good to have some cool liquid in your mouth.”

“You…” Alik’s voice came out raspy at his first attempt to speak.  He swallowed hard and tried again, “You gave me CPR?”

“Well,” Farrow blushed. “Sloan did the compressions. I just did the breathing part.”

Alik’s pale lips smirked.

“I know what you’re thinking Alik Winter and it wasn’t like that!  I was trying to save you!”

“With the kiss of life?” he teased.  He raised his hand to her face and stroked her smooth cheek with his trembling finger.

“You must be feeling better if you’re ready to tease me,” Farrow feigned frustration with a scowl, but held his hand in place against her cheek, nuzzling into it as though willing him to feel how much she cared.

“I am feeling better, thanks to you.  Have you been here the whole time?”  Alik noticed the dark circles under her beautiful round eyes.  And she had given up on her pixie hair.  She was wearing a pink bandanna tied at her nape.

Farrow shrugged softly, “Where else would I be?”

Alik’s eyes closed for just a moment.  The conversation was wearing him out. “Where is everyone else?”

“Everyone’s at the hospital with your mom except Cole, Sloan, you and me.  But I have some good news and some bad news and some more good news.  Dr. Andrews proposed to your mom and she said, ‘yes’!”

“Wow, that’s awesome.” Alik tried to put some
of the enthusiasm he felt into his voice, but it still came out weak.

“Yes, it is.  But then Dr. Gentry, your mom’s surgeon, came in and gave her a neurological exam.  She showed no improvement.  Dr. Winter has lost the use of her legs.  I’m so sorry, Alik.”

“I bet mom will still do amazing things, and give God the glory for it.”  Alik was barely speaking above a whisper, now feeling so drained.

“She already has,” Farrow smiled remembering Meg’s retelling yesterday’s events at the hospital.  “Her faith makes her stronger than any metahuman I’ve ever known,” Farrow complimented.  “She’s coming home tomorrow Alik.  So you have to be well enough to greet her, okay?”

“Um—I’ll try my best.” Alik gave up trying to stay awake and gave in to the body-healing sleep it demanded. 

Farrow moved to keep her hand on his chest, feeling comfort in the smooth rise and fall.  After the first five minutes of her watching him, and feeling his heart, she decided she couldn’t sit up for one more moment. 

The former sniper assassin slipped off her shoes and crawled into bed above the covers next to the soul she’d fallen in love with.  With a sigh, she snuggled against Alik’s firm body and put her hand back on his chest, determined to keep vigil over him as he slept and she rested, dreaming of life when they weren’t being hunted. 

Would there ever be a time when they could just be Alik and Farrow?  Could they ever go on a date to dinner and the movies like a normal couple?  Would they survive to even have a chance to try?

Farrow frowned in her half-sleep.

Don’t think that way, Farrow.  Live in the here and now.  Right here he’s safe and alive beside you.  Now you have some peaceful alone time.  And if this is all you ever get, if a bomb goes off outside the window at my back, then
you will have known love and peace.  You will shield him with your body and die happy for it.

“Okay, little Miss,” drawled the contractor who had introduced himself as Chuck, “the front door, master bedroom and bath have all been modified to accommodate a wheelchair and a wheelchair capable person.  Joey is finishing installing the ramp from the driveway to the house right now.”

“Looks good,” Meg
said with a nod, studying the contractor’s work.  She pushed the lever down on the front door and watched it spring open just enough to be easily manipulated.  “What’s this handle for?”  She pointed to a kitchen-drawer type handle mounted on the door toward the side with the hinges. 

“Oh, that is so when your ma comes into the house and needs to shut the door, she doesn’t have to reach way over there for the handle.”
Chuck demonstrated how to use it.  

“Genius!” Meg nodded excitedly.

The master bedroom was on the opposite side of the house, isolated from the other bedrooms, so no long corridor had to be adjusted.  All Margo had to do was wheel through the front door, turn to the left and pass the front sitting room to get to her bedroom.  Meg walked the path, making sure there was nothing to hinder her mother’s movement.

“Yeah, little M
iss, we just took the liberty of removing the rug runner y’all had down this way so your ma can just wheel herself nice and easy over these wood floors.  And it’s a good thing you already had wooden floors.  A wheelchair will rip up a carpet faster than a feral tom cat on catnip!”  The contractor laughed at his joke while pulling his work pants over his ample belly and absent hind-end.

He was a nice older gentlem
an.  The few wisps of white hair were combed over just right, reminded Meg of a cartoon character.  But it was his bushy gray brows over squinty eyes that were his most noticeable feature.  Meg had to resist the urge to tackle the man with a pair of scissors for a good ol’ fashioned groomin’.  Every time he spoke, she forced herself not to stare at the wiggling caterpillars on his forehead. 

“Here, let me show you what we did to her shower,” he offered and waddled himself into her mom’s bedroom.  Meg bit back a giggle at the sweet old guy’s gait and followed him. 

“See, miss?  We removed the glass door and put in a shower curtain, so all she has to do is wheel herself to the opening and transfer to a shower seat.  The handheld shower nozzle is connected to a long hose, so she can reach it, use it and turn it off all in her seat.”  The way the contractor spoke, Meg could tell he was truly passionate about his work.  She sensed his daughter had been wheelchair bound so he knew firsthand what had to be done to make a home livable.

“As for the commode, we took out the old one and installed a taller one, for easier transfer.  We also put in these reinforced, wall mounted handrails for her.”  Meg was nodding and smiling, amazed at all the old guy got done in such a short time.