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Seventeen Days of Gold Chapter 9 - Part 2 I saw several reporters milling about already when we got to emergency. Jesus, do they camp out here or what? We were separated once we reached triage and the doctors hurriedly went to work on Apolo. The nurse pulled the curtain around me. I laid back and stared at the ceiling tiles. After a while, a doctor and crew arrived and crowded around me. Asking stupid questions--it’s not like I hit my head or something. They unwrapped my hand, bending it around and inspecting it, until I was about ready to give someone a right upper cut. It was determined that there were no obvious signs of nerve damage. Oh, really, is that why it hurts more now that you fucked with it? Out came the Novocain shot for my left hand and a saline IV for my right. My eyes rolled back and I went pale. Am I OK, they ask? Sure, as long as you don’t poke my hands with needles. It was my biggest weakness and I was glad Apolo wasn’t here to witness this. I just saved his life and almost got my fingers chopped off doing it, and here I’m freaking out over a couple of needles. They mixed a shot of some kind of sedative into my saline drip to calm me down. Chuck popped in while I got stitched, handing me my recovered gun. Somewhat grateful for the distraction from the doctor, I sat up as he briefed me on what they had already discovered about this situation. Apparently, the attacker was from some militant Korean faction, a terrorist group, which had been causing only periodic problems in Korea and Japan up until now. They had him securely detained and were interrogating him. It seemed at this point that the faction was only trying to get some attention, and didn’t have anything to do with the Korean team or the government itself. Either way, things didn’t look too promising for Korea remaining in the Olympics. I was glad that was Chuck’s arena and not mine. “I promise I’ll try to keep the media off you guys, but I can’t guarantee it.” Said Chuck. “But what about that whole ‘girlfriend’ front we had going? I asked. “It’s obvious nobody’ll buy it now.” Chuck nodded. "We may have to transfer you to another part of Salt Lake or maybe just back to D.C." He admitted. "I will keep you apprised." I sighed and looked down at my hand, not wanting him to see the tears welling up in my eyes. "Just keep the hounds at bay. I've done enough fighting for one day." Chuck patted my shoulder and left me alone again with the doctor. I blinked the tears away and lifted my head up. "Where's Apolo?" I demanded. "Is he all right?" "He's fine. From what I hear, the wound wasn’t too deep." Said the doctor. "Now just settle back. I'll have a nurse come in and wrap it, then we can get you out of here. Both of you." I caught a surprisingly sympathetic and knowing look in his eyes as he departed. I sighed. Tentatively touching my mutilated palm with my right finger, I thanked God for Novocain. My hand was stiff and swollen. I could make a weak fist and that's about it. It felt useless. I guess it's back to D.C. for me…the last place I wanted to go right now. The nurse opened the curtains a few minutes later, armed with enough gauze and tape to mummify me, and I had to chuckle. She removed my saline drip while explaining the post-op care for my stitches. I half-listened to her, peering through the parting in the curtain for Apolo. I could hear him, but the opening wasn't wide enough for me to see where he was. I tested my patience, watching as she wrapped my hand all the way to the wrist, leaving only my fingers exposed. "I look like Michael Jackson." I observed, making her laugh. Just as she finished my dressings, Apolo and Yuki stepped inside the curtain, accompanied by two state troopers. His skinsuit was unzipped to the waist and dangled there, his blue jacket was thrown over his bare shoulders where his upper arm was bandaged and rendered immobile in a sling. Suddenly oblivious to everyone else around us, I slid off the table and gathered him in my arms, holding as tight as I could, careful not to hurt either one of us. He wrapped his right arm around my waist, pressing his fingers into my side and burying his face against my neck. "Did you think you'd get away from me that easily?" I whispered into his ear, brushing it lightly with my lips. He shook his head. I closed my eyes, and we held each other for what seemed like eternity. No one said a word. There had to be some way for me to not get reassigned, I thought, I need to stay with Apolo no matter what the cost. He looked as ready to fall asleep as I was, when I slowly released him from my embrace. I turned to confirm that we were both ok to go, and signed our release papers. When the curtains were pulled all the way back, the five of us caught a glimpse of the door jammed with reporters and cameras. I took a deep breath and sighed. "Ready to run the gauntlet?" I asked. Apolo held my hand and with troopers clearing the way ahead and behind, we marched our way wordlessly through the throng. ********************* We stumbled back into his room and collapsed on the couch. Yuki stayed with us for a while, but no one did much talking. I stared lethargically at the TV screen, switching channels, desperately trying to find something on besides news of our escapades. Finally, the Sci-Fi channel provided such much needed relief in the form of “Godzilla on Monster Island”. Even then I was too tired to go into my Mystery Science Theatre 2000 bit, and parody the poor acting. Apolo, still clad in his skinsuit, was nearly asleep as it was, leaning his head on my left shoulder. It began to ache, so I gently moved him back to an upright position. He immediately nodded off again, and this time, leaned onto me until his head was resting in my lap, his knees curled up on the couch. At that, Yuki announced that perhaps we should all get some rest, and stood up from the other chair to leave. He reached over and tousled Apolo's hair, as I speculated out loud that I would leave in a few minutes. I wasn’t even all that keen about getting up at the moment, and I don’t think the half-asleep Apolo wanted me to go quite yet either, judging by the way he wrapped his hand around my knee and snuggled in closer. Yuki noticed and smiled, giving a quiet laugh before he departed, the door automatically locking behind him. I knew I should get up and set the deadbolt and chain, but felt the sedative and painkiller-induced fatigue setting in quickly. At least I still had my gun on me, I thought, before drifting off as my head fell back on the cushion. When Apolo awoke to go to the bathroom at around 3AM, I was surprised to not see a test pattern on the TV. Ah, no rest for the cable viewer, I thought, switching off the tube. I kicked off my shoes and lay down on the couch, hoping I wouldn’t have too stiff of a neck by morning. Apolo exited the bathroom and headed toward his dresser, pulling out a pair of sweatpants and struggling with one hand to finally change out of his skinsuit. I quietly watched his silhouette in the dark, wishing I wasn’t so tired. He yanked the top blanket off his bed and dragged it over to the couch where I lay. I looked up, confused for the moment, and scooted to the back cushions, as I realized he meant to rejoin me. Throwing the blanket over us, he settled in with his back toward me, pushing his rear against my hips and using my right arm as a pillow. He turned his head toward me, his hair tickling my face. “Thank you.” He said sleepily, as I rubbed my nose with my bandaged hand. “Anytime, darling.” I whispered. “Anytime at all.” I kissed his lips softly and pulled away to see a glimmer of a smile playing across Apolo’s lips as he drifted back asleep and turned away. Draping my hand over his waist, I laid my head down and quickly found my dreams again. Scene music: "My Sacrifice'" by Creed Copyright material TMS2003 Chapter 10 Return to Home Back to Chapter 9, pt. 1   page created with Webpage Designer (NS)