The next time I wake up, I stay up for an hour. Wilson shows up, insisting that Jason needs a shower and some rack time in his own bed. I agree.
“I’m not going anywhere, and I’ve got good company.”
Wilson waves an iPad in the air. “I brought movies.” His other hand hoists a bag of yarn in the air. “And crafts, too.”
“You still knit?”
“Sometimes. It’s a good way to pass the time on planes.”
“Are you going home soon?”
“I’ve been there and come back again. I’ll return at the end of the week, probably. Then you won’t see me for a good long while.”
Jason gives me a searching look. I avoid his gaze. I don’t know how to deal with the unspoken question. Will I see any of them? Do I even want to?
This isn’t a conversation to have in front of Wilson. “Can you knit me socks?”
“After you saved the world? It’s the least I could do.”
Jason frowns. “Are your feet cold? Do you want me to get you a warm blanket before I go?”
I wiggle my fingers at him. “I’ll be fine.”
He leans in and brushes his lips against mine.
I wrinkle my nose. “You could bring me a toothbrush and toothpaste. And my backpack!”
“I remember.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ll be back soon.”
Predictably, I fall asleep before he returns, but when I wake up, I’m rewarded with a freshly shaved and showered, very handsome man sitting beside me. He’s reading a book, some non-fiction modern philosophy title.
My feet feel warm. “I have socks on?”
Jason jerks his head up. “Yep. Wilson…well, apparently he was already working on a pair for his partner, who was happy to donate them to the Ellie’s-Cold-Toes good cause.”
I wiggle my no-longer-cold-toes. “Can you lift the blanket so I can see them?”
He carefully reveals my feet, wrapped in bright red socks with purple toes.
I gasp. “I love them!”
He grins. “Good.”
My stomach growls. “Do you think I’m allowed to eat anything?”
The nurse allows me some Jello, so while I nibble on that, I ask Jason to catch me up on the latest.
“Actually, the socks are related to the most recent news.”
“How so?”
“Did you follow the Spencer Rook story before the election?”
I frown. “Yes. He was a white nationalist. He was shot in a showdown with the FBI.”
Jason shook his head. “Wilson shot him. It’s a long story, but it was deeply personal.”
“Oh. Wow.”
Jason takes a deep breath. “One of the things the FBI has uncovered is a financial connection between Mack and Spencer Rook. My brother hosted Rook and some of his fascist friends for private dinner parties, over quite a long period of time. He gave them seed money, too.”
I don’t know what to say to that. “I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah. Well, Wilson is extra grateful for you putting an end to another neo-nazi.”
I push the Jello aside. “Jason…”
“I’m fine.”
“How can you be fine? He was your brother, and I…”
He takes my hand and looks at me, his expression fierce. “When I say I’m fine, I mean, I will be fine. I mean, I’m so fucking grateful that you survived. I mean, I’m gutted that I didn’t see it earlier. And I don’t know if I could have pulled the trigger, but I hope I could have. That’s what I mean. I’m fine. I’m far from good, but I could be so much worse.”
I nod.
“Finish your Jello.”
I’ve lost my appetite, though.
The next morning, my catheter comes out, and I’m allowed to shower all by myself. I come out of the bathroom dressed in real clothes, feeling like a million bucks.
And then the day gets even better. Deacon Webb appears at the door. “You have a visitor.”
The gasp I let out when Caroline walks in the door is almost embarrassing. Almost, but not at all. “I’m so happy to see you,” I whisper as she gently squeezes me. “I have something for you.”
She hands me a stuffed bear from the gift shop. “That was supposed to be my line.”
I laugh, which hurts, but it’s worth it. “I, uh, found your condoms. At the gym?”
“Oh. Those.” Her eyes go wide with meaning. “Okay.”
“I didn’t…use them. Open them.” She giggles and I hold my side. “No funnies. Whatever is inside, I haven’t seen it. They’re in my backpack over there.”
She gives me another wide-eyed look and digs them out. “Oh, look at what I found just sitting in plain sight.”
“I figured, a room being guarded by U.S. Marshals is pretty safe.”
Laughing, she nods, then joins me on the bed. “You could have looked.”
“I didn’t need to. We sorted it out.”
“Better than we had,” she confesses. “The files named Mack Evans as a person of interest, but nothing like what you figured out.”
“Speaking of that…” I take a deep breath. “Wilson has a giant cache of documents. He hasn’t looked at them. We, uh, didn’t exactly tell the FBI about them.”
Caroline’s head looks like it might actually explode. “Mel!”
“Yeah, I know. But that wasn’t my call, because I was in an ambulance, and the Horus Group…it’s not in their nature to be forthcoming with law enforcement.”
“Men.”
“I hear you. So I need a federal prosecutor I can trust to turn the bulk of the documents over to. Even redacted, I think they reveal too much about the girls who were abused. It would be better if investigators could quietly search those girls out and get their permission before the documents are released.”
“No more burning it all to the ground?”
“I’ll find a way to do that without using those images. It’s enough that we have them. They shouldn’t be made public.”
“I’ll help you.”
“I don’t know if it’s your jurisdiction…”
“We’ll find a way to make sure it is. There were certainly enough dead bodies in my jurisdiction.”
“I’m only responsible for one of them.”
“In self-defense,” she adds. “You’re responsible for one of them in self-defense.”
Sure. That’s sort of true on a cosmic level.
The next day, I’m discharged, and the Marshals clear me to stay with Jason. He takes me back to his place, which is palatial compared to my apartment in Georgetown, but just as Spartan.
“As you can see, I never got around to decorating.”
“We have that in common.”
“On the upside, there’s lots of room for your stuff.” Jason smiles awkwardly. “If you’re willing to move in here while you recuperate.”
“I…” I let out a shaky laugh. “Yeah. I’m willing.”
“I wasn’t sure.”
The space between right now and when I might be able to get on a plane and go home to California seems both infinite and minute at the same time. “We haven’t had much privacy to talk about…everything.”
“I don’t want to rush you.”
“I love you.” They come out in such a rush, they sound like a single word. “I know it’s very complicated, and we have spent more time not trusting each other than actually being honest, but deep down and through it all, I have found my way back to you over and over again. I’m messy, Jason. Messy and carrying a lot of baggage. I, unlike you, am not fine. Not at all. But when you told me that you loved me, that gave me all the strength I needed. And I just wanted to say it back. No strings attached.”
“No strings?”
I shake my head. “I don’t expect anything in return.”
“Okay.” He shrugs. “Sounds good.”
Then he walks out of the living room.
My mouth falls open. “Jason!”
He comes back. “Yeah?”
“I lied. Maybe. I do expect something in return for that. Like…I dunno.”
“Do you want to talk more about moving in here?”
I live in California. “Sure.” I swallow hard. “I may not have a lot of stuff, but I do have an aloe vera plant named Monica. She needs a window seat. That’s important.”
He nods. “I like Monica. We can make sure she has a place of honor.”
“You like her?”
“I like her very much. She reminds me of you.”
“Prickly?”
“Prickly on the outside. Wet and juicy on the—” He cuts himself off and closes the gap between us. “No?” He howls as I shove him gently. “I mean, slippery and sweet—” Another shove, although I have zero strength right now. “How about beautifully slick and unexpectedly healing on the inside?”
“We can accept that.” But I’m secretly happy that he’s making wet pussy jokes. That has to be a sign that he’s getting over his guilt at seeing me shot, and back to seeing me as a desirable woman. “Do you want to show me the rest of the apartment?”
“Yeah.” He takes my hand and guides me through the kitchen, then down a hallway. There’s an office first, and a workout room across from it, and at the end, a door to a large master bedroom.
In the window is my aloe vera plant, and she looks very happy.