Cassie should be at the office right now. There was a serial killer to interrogate, an investigation to finish. There was paperwork to be done and press conferences to prepare for. Her team needed her in the office, something her constantly buzzing phone kept reminding her of.
But she couldn’t leave. Not yet. Not until she knew if David would be okay.
Everything had been fine just a few hours ago. David had told her he loved her and she almost said it back. David had backed her up when she was worried Walker had gotten her into some kind of trouble. David had been the first to run into danger to help a colleague.
And then he’d almost flatlined on the way to the hospital and no one could give her any answers.
She just needed to know. She almost didn’t care if the truth was awful, if he was dying and nothing could be done to save him. But she couldn’t focus on the case or anything else until she knew something.
It was almost two hours later before a nurse finally took pity on her and went to fetch one of the doctors.
“Can I see him?” she asked first.
“No, not at the moment. He’s in stable condition but he’s in the ICU so we’re limiting visits to family only. It’s just policy, you understand.”
Cassie itched to flash her badge. “Well, can you tell me anything else about his condition? He’s a vital part of our investigation.” And I love him and I need to tell him that.
“There’s not much to tell at the moment, I’m afraid. He’s alive, we’ve done everything we can to keep him that way, but we won’t know the extent of his condition until he wakes up.”
“And when will that be?”
“We’re not sure. He’s currently under medical sedation to help with his healing process but once that wears off, we’ll just have to wait and see.”
It wasn’t what she wanted to hear. But it was an answer. It was some level of closure. And that was all she needed.
“Please call me with any updates. I want to be able to tell him he got his man.”
“We will.”
Cassie nodded and turned on her heel to leave the hospital. She had a job to do.
—---------------
Cassie watched from the entrance of the empty construction site as Rebecca Tillman was put into the back of a police car. She would be taken in for further questioning, but her father’s confession and the scratches on her arm would put her away for a long time.
The case was solved. The day was saved. The Jackal would be put away for life. The families of their victims could finally have closure.
Cassie should be happy, or at least relieved. This was another feather in her cap, another reason to be given that promotion, another success under her belt.
But she felt hollow. Numb. Because even if the bad guy was caught and the case was closed, David was still laying in that hospital bed. The medical sedation would be wearing off soon, but there was no guarantee he would wake up after. Cassie may never get the chance to tell him she loves him too.
It was funny, in a way. She’d been so optimistic during the final investigation, during the chase, that in the end, she would be able to return to David with a successful arrest and maybe a funny-in-hindsight story.
But now it was over, and all she could think was that she hadn’t heard anything from the hospital yet and that he’d basically been dead when she found him in the woods and he’d already lost so much blood and-
And all this might not be happening if Walker had just listened to her.
Maybe the Jackal would’ve targeted him anyway. Maybe David would’ve gone down during the final arrest anyway. Maybe if Walker hadn’t been so reckless, they never would’ve caught him.
But that didn’t change the fact that he lied to her, lied to everyone, for no real reason. That didn’t change the fact that they didn’t know where he was for hours and they got lucky he was dumb enough to use a credit card for the motel. That didn’t change the fact that they were too busy rushing to make sure Walker made it home alive that they didn’t have time to call backup for themselves.
That didn’t change the fact that if it weren’t for Walker, David wouldn’t have been in those woods, alone and nearly defenseless. That didn’t change the fact that he was laying in a hospital bed, with no guarantee he would see outside of it again.
Walker tried to approach her but Cassie firmly turned away. She couldn’t face the man that essentially killed the love of her life. Not right now, at least. Not until she knew if David would live or not.
She just needed an answer. Once she had an answer, she could make her next game plan.
—---------------
It had been almost two weeks since David was nearly killed. It had been almost two weeks since the medical sedation wore off and it was up to him to wake up on his own.
It had been almost two weeks since Cassie had heard David’s voice or his laugh or seen his beautiful eyes and she wasn’t sure how much more of this she could take.
His family had been contacted (what little of it there was) and none of them seemed keen to make any real decisions about what to do. It wasn’t as simple as pulling the plug; he was living just fine on his own, just unconscious. But was it really living like that? If there was no guarantee he would wake up again?
Cassie shook her head and tried to focus on picking an outfit for August’s graduation party. It was stupid to grieve someone who wasn’t dead yet. He could wake up tomorrow and be perfectly fine and she would feel stupid.
She tried to ignore the voice in her head that sounded a little too much like Lucas. She couldn’t go there. Not now. Not yet. Not when there was so much to celebrate. August was graduating, Sadie was moving to Austin full time, Cassie had just received a promotion, Geri was getting ready to open her dream second location, and Walker may have finally learned some hard lessons about work-life balance.
She could be sad later. Right now, she had to slap a smile on her face and play nice for a couple hours. It’s what David would want for her. She could manage that.
She really did want to celebrate. August just made it through one of the most stressful periods he’d ever face in his life- high school. Everyone was so proud of him, especially with everything the family had been through the last few years. He could go far with a work ethic like that.
It was just hard to be surrounded by all this positive energy when her heart was stuck in a dark hole of grief she wasn’t sure she even deserved to feel.
After two hours, she started thinking of decent excuses to leave. She knew no one would blame her if she didn’t have one, but she didn’t want to be rude.
Then, she got a phone call.
“He’s awake. And he’s asking for you.”
Cassie barely had the forethought to stammer an excuse to Walker on her way out.
David was okay. He was awake. And he wanted to see her.
