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Mark
Mark called three people on his way home. The first was his brother-in-law. He asked him to meet him at his place with the truck then look at a patient. Reid agreed.
The second was Melinda. Bring a full testing kit. When he explained that Darby had been drugged again, she let out a slew of curse words that surprised him.
Lastly, he called Captain Moustakas. He had to explain everything that happened and ask that his boss take over on the interrogation front with Young.
“We’ll leave him to stew in holding for now,” was his boss’s reply. “But is Darby okay? I’d like to check on her.”
Mark explained he had people coming to look her over.
“Don’t you think she’d be better off in a hospital?”
“Maybe. I also know she’s going to be embarrassed when she wakes up. If we can do the dirty work at my place and keep it quiet, it’s going to go a long way to alleviating that. I don’t think she’s in any real danger, just needs to sleep it off.”
Moustakas gave him a sidelong look as Mark pulled up in his own driveway. “Ecstasy is nothing to mess with, son.”
“I know. And I have reason to believe her superhuman DNA is more than up to the task of handling whatever Young gave her. You’re going to have to trust me on this, sir.”
His godfather smoothed down his mustache. “Okay. But you do realize you’re taking her life in your hands?”
Mark closed his eyes briefly, nodded. “Yeah. I get it. If I see any trouble brewing, I’ll get her to E.R.”
“Good. Keep me posted. I’ll deal with Young for tonight.”
“Thanks, sir.”
Melinda parked right behind him as he got out and started to lift Darby. The electricity felt muted between them, but only because it was racing around his entire body. Made sense, considering it wasn’t an injury.
“Let me help,” she said.
“I got her,” he said. “Grab the door.”
Melinda led him in, holding the door open as wide as it could go. “Get her settled on your bed. You said Reid’s coming?”
The low rumble of Mark’s pickup pulling to a stop made them both look outside. Reid climbed out. “Where’s my patient?” he called as he got closer.
Mark ignored him as he carried Darby to the back room. Melinda did the talking instead, and a minute later, they were assembled in the room.
Mark stood back and watched them work, grabbing things as they came up, which wasn’t often, but it kept him from getting in the way.
Melinda drew blood, Reid took vitals.
Darby laid there, unperturbed and unaware.
It left Mark alone with his thoughts. Why would any man do that to a woman?
Sure, he’d done things he wasn’t proud of, and he didn’t have to go back all that far to find things on his dishonorable list. But drugging a woman just to have sex with her? What was the point?
“Quit pacing,” Melinda told him, not looking up as she ran one of her testing strips in the machine she’d brought. “I’ve seen expectant fathers pace less than you.”
Reid glanced back at him. “Do you have anything hard in the house? Maybe you should go have a shot, calm your nerves.”
Mark snorted. “This from a doctor?”
Reid shrugged, turning back to his patient. “It’s better than me giving you a sedative.”
Mark stared at his brother-in-law for a moment, then left the room, coming back a few minutes later with a couple fingers of rum. He sipped and watched and prayed, something he hadn’t done in a long time.
Melinda shifted toward Reid. “Confirmed for ecstasy and ketamine.”
“Aw, jeez,” Mark said. He swallowed the rest of his drink in a singled draw, set his glass down on a shelf, and crossed back to the bed. “Can you get the quantities figured out?”
She nodded. “I’ll take it back to my lab and have it run overnight.”
“Get samples to Xander at my lab, too,” Mark said, then said to Reid, “What do I do for her?”
“Keep her comfortable. Cool rags for fevers, which will probably happen. Get her to drink as much water as possible when she wakes up. Watch for signs of poisoning.”
Mark nodded.
“I can stay a few hours, get her through the worst of it,” Reid added. “Let me make a quick call.”
He got up and left the room.
Melinda began packing up her tools and Darby’s blood.
Mark stood next to the bed and stared down at his partner. Her face was contorted in what may have been pain, and sweat was breaking out all over.
“We should probably get that dress off her,” Melinda said. “Let her skin breathe, help keep her cool.”
She wasn’t going to like it in the morning, but he agreed.
“Want to sit her up?”
Mark nodded, then helped his sister get the dress off Darby. He tried to ignore the flashes of pale skin, staring up at the ceiling as much as possible until Melinda announced she was done.
They laid her down again gently, keeping her on her side in case she vomited, then Melinda handed Mark Darby’s thigh holster.
He set it aside, checking to make sure the Derringer wasn’t cocked, then removed the bullets, setting them next to it. Best not to have live ammo ready to fire should Darby wake up confused.
“I’m going to get this to the lab,” Melinda said, picking up her case. “Call me if anything changes.”
“I will. Thanks, sis.”
She came over and hugged him. “Let her know I’m thinking of her when she wakes up.”
After she left, Mark got the rags his brother-in-law had recommended, then distributed them over her body from head to toe.
She was so hot to the touch. Much hotter and the rags would sizzle.
Get her through the worst of it. That’s what Reid had said.
Maybe with the superhuman DNA, that perilous period would be short lived.
Over the next few hours, Reid stayed close by, checking her fever frequently and having Mark change out hot rags for cool ones.
Around two in the morning, her fever broke, and she began to shiver.
Off came the rags, and Reid covered her with the sheet. “She should be fine,” he told Mark. “I’m going to head home, but call me if the fever creeps back up. Chances are good she won’t have memory of any of this come morning. And have her drink as much water as she can stand when she does wake up.”
Mark nodded. “Thanks, Reid.”
He smiled. “Anytime. Where are my car keys?”
Mark got them and promised his brother-in-law that they’d get together soon. He also had him thank Moira for letting Mark borrow her husband.
“She understands. Doctors and cops, as the saying goes.” Reid swung his jacket on and waggled fingers, then left.
Mark locked up, turned off lights in the living area, then stripped out of his clothes and put on sweats.
He wasn’t about to leave Darby, not tonight. He turned on a soft lamp in his room so both of them could see should they wake up, then climbed into bed and settled himself next to her.
The adrenaline of the night had long since worn off, leaving him tired. Exhausted was more like it.
He wrapped an arm around her much like he would a lover and pulled her close. It would do two things—one, he’d know if she started to heat up again, and two, the contact would help her heal. At least, he hoped it would. Considering the electrical charge was building, he had to imagine it was going to work that way in this case.
Mark smoothed her hair back from her face and pressed his lips to the narrow spot between her hair and eyebrow.
She let out a soft moan.
She didn’t know it, but she’d been damn brave tonight. In his head, he’d sensed what was going on even though he’d seen it through the glasses, the quick turn of her emotions—desire, then anger, finally resolve.
Even though she’d been drugged, Mark had been proud of her. Not just any woman—not just any cop, either—would have been able to fend off a man who outweighed her nearly two to one when he was on top of her and when she’d been drugged with ecstasy and ketamine.
Which made moments like this that much more powerful to him.
He knew if she woke up and got the wrong idea, she’d have no compunction about kicking his ass.
Mark smiled. He’d welcome that right now.
She’d been through hell and back again. She’d earned that right.
With his arm still protectively around her, he focused on the electricity swirling between them.
The mystery of it.
The healing power of it.
And the connection.
He was certain, now more than ever that the reason behind it was complex, more than just the ability to heal each other.
Maybe now, finally, Darby would be willing to entertain that possibility.
He hugged her tighter and willed sleep to be peaceful for them both.