This is a work of fiction, using characters from the film, “Proof of Life”.  No insult or invasion of privacy or infringement of copyright is intended. The story is for readers over the age of 18 only, and contains adult language. The writer is not responsible for any "discomfort" caused to the reader by this language and these situations.

Full Length Of The River

©2008 by: Darrin

Chapter Three

Terry watched Dino and David closely, gut tightening as he worked out what was being said from David’s and his mother’s reactions.  He knew David would eventually want to talk to Stephanie, but hoped he’d give her a chance to acclimate a little to recovery before subjecting her to remembering what happened.

The paramedics had the gurney out and waiting for him. Terry hurried over to where they were.

“Okay, babygirl, just like we said, I’m gonna be right here but you need to let the paramedics do their job to make you feel better, okie dokie?  Be brave for me?”  Stephanie nodded against his neck and he nodded to the first bloke who helped him put her onto the gurney.  “Her name’s Stephanie and you need to tell me what you’re gonna do before you do it.  She’s had a lot of trauma, but she’s cooperative as long as she knows what’s coming, got it?”

“Yeah, Mr McAlister explained on the phone.”  He turned to Steph and smiled.  “Hi, Stephanie, I’m Todd and this is Brett.  We’re going to get you all fixed up and Mr Thorne’s going to help us, okay?”  At Steph’s nod, he turned back to Terry.  “Okay, first thing is we’ve gotta get her hooked up to an IV to make giving her meds easier.  Then we’ll get her to the ER and the doc’ll take over from there.  The guy on duty tonight is a real good guy, he’ll work with you just as we are, no problem.”

“Goodo.  Let me just walk her through this IV needle first.”  He took Stephanie’s hand whose eyes were huge again, filling with tears as she digested what was being said around her.  “Yeah, luv, we need to do another pinch, but this one’s gonna be sweet as a biscuit, and the last one, cuz then they can use that one to do all the others and you won’t feel a thing.  Good deal, right?”

Her bottom lip quivering again, Steph took Terry’s hand and squeezed it hard and shook her head.  Terry stepped near her and leaned close to her ear.  “Yes, luv, I’m gonna be right here, holding your hand.  It’s a good thing, it’s gonna help you feel better, I promise.”  When she started whimpering, Terry turned to Todd.  “Mate, the thing is, well…” he stepped back a little and showed him her inner elbows and Todd nodded understandingly.

“That’s not a problem at all.  We can put it in the back of her hand.  She’ll have to be a little more careful, but that will work for now.  Can’t promise the doc’s not gonna wanna put it where we normally do though, so let her know that.”

“Gotcha.”  Terry turned back to Steph, feeling like he did during his first negotiation many years ago.  “Okay, here’s the deal, luv.  They can put it in the back of your hand but then the doctor at the hospital might need to move it anyway.  Or you can be really brave for me and let them put it where they need to now and then it’ll be done.  Right, Todd?  That’ll be the only needle they’ll need to do?”

“Sure thing, one’s all we need, we can do her banana bags and all meds through the one IV.”

“See, Steph?  Wouldn’t it be better just the once?”

Stephanie looked from Terry to Todd and back again and as the tears fell down her cheeks, she slowly nodded, opening her arm to the medic.

“That’s my good sheila.  So brave.”  He nodded to Todd.  “Softly, mate.  She’s been through a lot.”

“Nothin’ but my best,” Todd agreed and slipped the needle expertly into Steph’s vein before she even had a chance to tense up.  She gave a little gasp at the momentary pain and then looked to Terry, surprise on her face.

“Didn’t even hurt, did it?” Terry chuckled at her as she shook her head.  “Okie dokie then, let’s get going, right?”

“Right you are,” Todd answered and he and Brett got the gurney into their rig, Brett walking around to the driver’s door and Terry getting in pulling the doors closed for Todd and taking a seat on the small bench.

Brett got the rig going and looked in the mirror at his partner.  “Siren?”

“Dunno, lemme check with the boss,” Todd laughed and turned to Stephanie.  “Whaddaya say? Should we let everyone know we’re coming?”  Steph looked at Terry and he could see the somewhat bewildered look in her eyes.

“Maybe we should stay stealthy,” he said with a smile and felt Steph’s little hand squeeze his.

“You got it,” Todd answered and shook his head to Brett.  “We’re staying under cover on this transport.”

Brett nodded and Todd went to work on his patient, hooking up a “banana” bag to Steph’s IV and injecting two syringes into the connector on the tube, explaining everything to her as he went along.  Her eyes were getting bigger and bigger as the medic bustled around her, but a look to Terry every now and then kept her calm enough.  Terry could feel how tightly she was holding onto him though and he worried about once they got to the hospital and the increase in the number of people and activities around her.

“It’s okay, babygirl.  You’re doing fine.  No one’s gonna hurt you, I promise.”

Stephanie nodded, but the look in her eyes was unconvinced.  Terry could tell she didn’t like being in this vulnerable position and despite the lack of pain from it, the needle in her arm was definitely giving her concern the way she kept checking it and the bag hanging above her.

“Just a potassium drip, luv.  Gotta get your strength back, right?”  She sighed, but still the tears welled up and her bottom lip began to quiver.  All Terry could do was keep hold of her hand.

Todd called into the hospital on the radio, running down her vitals and telling them this was the “V.I.P” patient they had been told about.  The doctor on duty got on the radio then.

“We’re all set here, Todd.  Got her trauma room ready, just bring her straight to Trauma Two.  Tell Mr Thorne we’ve been fully briefed.”

“I will.  We’re four minutes away, see you shortly.  Out.”

Terry smiled to himself, Dino must’ve pulled one of his infamous stunts and gotten the entire staff alerted about their “V.I.P.”  He could take the piss all he wanted.  He was as concerned about Stephanie as Terry was.

When they pulled up to the ER entrance, Terry got the doors open and jumped out letting Brett and Todd do their jobs.  Stephanie’s eyes were taking on a somewhat wilder quality and Terry stayed close once she was being wheeled in, taking hold of her hand again, making sure she also still had her little bear.  “It’s gonna be okay, luv, just hang in there, you’re doing fine.”  Steph shook her head, squeezing Terry’s hand tightly as they pushed through the doors and wheeled her over to the room where the doctor and two nurses were waiting.

Todd ran down the vitals one more time and helped with the transfer from the paramedics’ gurney to the hospital’s exam bed.  Then he smiled down at Stephanie.  “You take care, honey.  This guy’s one of the best.”  Steph tried to nod but couldn’t, clutching her little bear to her chest and looking around wildly for Terry who quickly took hold of her hand again once he found a place near her.

The doctor looked down at his patient with a smile.  “Hi, Stephanie.  I’m Sebastian.  You can call me Bass though, everyone does.  You look a little scared so I’m gonna go real slow, okay?  And Mr Thorne’s gonna be right here with you so there’s nothing to worry about.  First thing, we need to check all your bandages, I’m sure Mr Thorne did a fine job, but we want to put some more medicine on them and get you all cleaned up, make sure there’s no infection.  So you just need to be brave for a little while longer and then we’ll get you up to a room where you can rest.  We’re going to give you something that’s going to help you sleep right now so nothing hurts while we examine you.  Okay?”

Terry watched Stephanie as she stared at Bass, looking more and more like she was about to bolt.  He leaned in close and whispered in her ear, “I’m right here, luv.  I’m gonna stay here and make sure you’re safe and you’ll see me when you wake up, first thing, I’ll be right here.”

She turned to Terry, tears spilling over her cheeks but nodded and held his hand tighter.  Terry nodded to Sebastian and the doctor turned to the nurse letting her know she could inject the sedative.  Within seconds, Stephanie’s eyes closed and her hold relaxed on Terry’s hand completely.

Now Sebastian was all business.  “Okay, CBC, Chem 7, full blood panel, get enough blood this go around because you won’t get anymore for awhile.  We can’t keep sticking her like a regular patient.  Lisa, make sure she gets a full dose of broad spectrum antibiotics and I need a full set of X-Rays, stat.  She doesn’t need to be awake for that either.”  The three of them, doctor and nurses bustled around getting everything they’d need and while they waited for the X-Ray machine, Sebastian got her feet into stirrups and performed a pelvic exam, shaking his head.  “They did a number on her,” he said tightly, “I need to do an ultra-sound, see if there’s anything else going on.”

Just then the X-Ray machine arrived and while the techs took a full set, Sebastian set up the portable ultra sound machine next to the bed and stepped in as soon as the techs were done.  He removed the makeshift outfit Terry had put together for her with the help of the nurses and then squirted some of the conductor jelly onto Stephanie’s abdomen and started the ultra sound.  His brows furrowed with every pass, his mouth narrowing into a hard line.

“This girl has been through some major trauma.  How long was she held captive?”

“Over a month,” Terry replied tensely.

“Well, as far as I can see, she isn’t pregnant, but we’ll get a better result from the blood tests, although there’s evidence she’s just finished her period so it’s highly unlikely.  But they didn’t just rape her, if you know what I mean.  She’s traumatized far too much for that.”

Now that he didn’t have to hide his emotions from Stephanie, Terry felt his blood boiling, wanting to get his hands around a few necks.  If Sebastian noticed, he didn’t say anything.  Just wrapped up the ultra sound and gestured to the other nurse to clean her up as he began examining the wounds on her breasts.

“Jesus Christ, are these cigar burns?”

“Yes,” Terry answered in a low growl.  Sebastian looked up but immediately bent back to his work, cleaning the wounds better than Terry had been able to and redressing them.

“Okay, let’s get her turned over.”  Between him and the two nurses, Stephanie was rolled onto her stomach and Sebastian performed the same procedure on her back, his mouth set into a thin line once again.  “Fuck,” Terry heard him whisper to himself and nodded, holding onto the end of the gurney, knuckles white.

Long minutes of quiet filled the trauma room as Sebastian and the two nurses worked on Stephanie.  Terry watched every movement closely so if Stephanie had any questions later he’d be able to tell her exactly what was done.  Finally they turned her back over and the nurse named Lisa got Stephanie into a hospital gown with the help of her co-worker.  Stephanie slept on and Terry was grateful, she would feel the results but she wouldn’t have the memory of everything that had happened here.

“Okay, there’s a room ready for her on the fifth floor, Lisa and Gabby are going to take her up and get her transferred over to the staff up there.  Psyche wants to meet with her too but I’m making them wait until Dr Forsythe gets on in the afternoon.  He did a stint at the VA and knows a lot more about PTSD than anyone I’ve ever met.  If he decides to talk to her about what happened, he’ll handle the delicate questions a lot better.  I’ll be meeting with him beforehand though, to let him know her physical condition.”

“What happens after that?”

“You’ll have to talk to Forsythe about that, I’m just an ER doc,” Sebastian winked at him and stuck out his hand.  “I’ll check in on her while she’s with us though, so I’ll see you again, I’m sure.”

Terry shook his hand and smiled.  “Too right,” he answered and followed the nurses pushing Stephanie’s gurney to the elevator.

On the fifth floor, they got her into her room and transferred to her bed.  Lisa spoke briefly with the head nurse for the floor and then she and Gabby said goodbye and went back to their jobs.

“Okay, Mr Thorne, I’m Estella, my team and I handle all the fifth floor patients.  If you need anything just press the call button.  We’ll be monitoring Stephanie at the nurses’ station so you’ll see us popping in whenever she needs her bags replaced and to take her vitals.  When she wakes up I’ve got orders to get her fed and I bet she’d like her hair washed, so I’ll have one of the aides take care of that.  Now I’ve been told you’re not leaving her side,” she smiled and winked at him with obvious approval, “so I’ve put this room down for a cot and double meals so we’ll get you fed as well.  There’s a bathroom right here in the room and a television up there.  I’m guessing you didn’t have a chance to pack a bag so I’ll get you some toiletries and such as well.  Oh, there’s an FBI agent on his way as well, I understand and he’ll be directed to this room when he arrives.  I’ll be back to check on you in a little while for her first vitals check, okay?”

Terry nodded and smiled at her, thanking her as she left the room.  Then he used the lav and finally sat back into the chair next to the bed and watched Stephanie sleeping, feeling like he could actually relax now.  She had managed to hang onto her little bear through the whole exam, though he recalled seeing both Lisa and Gabby making sure it stayed in her hand which made him smile.  She now had it clutched against her neck and though he could see a small crease in her forehead, seemed to be sleeping fairly soundly.  He scooted his chair closer to her bed and took her free hand in his, settling back to close his eyes for a few minutes.

He woke with a start, taking in a deep breath and looking around alertly, making sure everything was all right.  Estella smiled at him as she removed the blood pressure cuff from Stephanie’s upper arm and made a note on the chart at the end of the bed.

“Good morning, Mr Thorne.  You had a good sleep, I’d say, even though you didn’t wait for the cot.”  Her laughter was hushed so as not to wake Stephanie who miraculously was still asleep.

“How’s she doing?” Terry asked, pushing himself up in the chair wondering how long he’d been asleep.

“Oh, we’ve had a very quiet few hours, but her blood pressure is rising a little so we might want to wake her up soon.  I understand there’s nightmares?”

“Yeah, she hasn’t been able to get any real sleep because of them.”

“Well, it’s almost time for breakfast anyway, so I’ve left the cot folded up in the corner there.  Why don’t you wake her and I’ll make sure food service is brought in right away.  Mr McAlister is here but he said not to wake you, he’s talking to the FBI agent at the moment.”

“Oh!  All right then.  Uh, yeah, brekkie would be great, thanks.  I’ll get her up, no worries.”

Terry was surprised at how much time had passed and looked at Stephanie’s face, to find her still asleep but he could see the telltale agitation beginning already, so he softly caressed her cheek and squeezed her hand.

“Steph, wakey-wakey, luv.  Time for brekkie.  If the food is half as good as the staff around here, you’re in for a treat.”

Estella laughed softly again and left the room.

Stephanie slowly opened her eyes and stared directly into Terry’s blue-green ones.  She looked disoriented for a brief minute then sighed heavily and squeezed his hand back.

“How are ya feelin’, luv?  A bit better?”  He put his arm above her head and smoothed his thumb back and forth across her temple.

Stephanie nodded, but was beginning to look worried.  Her legs squirmed under the blanket and she whimpered, her eyes taking on that imploring look he’d seen before.

“No, luv, it’s okay.  You’re just feeling the results of the exam from downstairs.  No one hurt you, I promised you they wouldn’t.”

“N-n-n-no?”

“No.  I promise, babygirl.  No one will ever do that to you ever again without your permission.  It will always be your choice from now on.  I promise.”

“O-o-o-kay,” she whispered.

Just then the orderly arrived with their trays and Terry helped Steph with her bed so she could sit up and eat and soon they were settled in with their breakfasts, Stephanie concentrating on keeping her hands from shaking so she could navigate all the different ways the food was sealed to keep it warm or fresh.  Terry knew she wasn’t cold and was saddened to see how frightened she still was.  They ate together quietly, until Terry spied Dino peeking in the side of the door.

“Yeah, mate, we’re awake, come on in.  Want some brekkie?”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Dino said, smiling at Stephanie who watched him wide-eyed as he breezed in.  Dino snagged a slice of toast and a couple of pieces of bacon off Terry’s tray.

“Oi, leave some for those of us who work for a living, arse!”

“Yeah, right, you’ve been sleeping for like a day, pal o’ mine.”

Terry rolled his eyes and looked at Stephanie.  “A few hours and he thinks a day’s gone by.  You think that’s right?”

Stephanie was looking from Dino to Terry and back again and then did something that surprised the hell out of both of them.  She took a slice of her bacon and handed it to Terry while giving Dino the evil eye.  Terry took the bacon as they both laughed out loud and she actually smiled, blushing a little and went back to eating, still watching Dino carefully, but her hands weren’t shaking as much, Terry noted.

Dino nodded his head in the direction of the hallway and Terry knew it was time for the debrief from the meeting with the FBI bloke.  He made a sammie out of the rest of his meal and handed the remote control for the telly to Steph.  “Luv, Dino and I are gonna go chat in the hallway, you relax and watch some telly, okie dokie?”  As her eyes got huge and he could see her begin to shake her head, he leaned down and kissed her forehead.  “Gonna be right there, luv.  You’ll see me the whole time.  Just need to talk quietly with Dino a bit and I’ll be right back.”  Stephanie looked at Dino who smiled at her.

“Yeah, we’ll be right here, honey.  You won’t miss a second of his ugly face, though I dunno how you can stand looking at him for this long.  You’ve got a strong stomach.”

“Okay, okay, ya fat bastard,” Terry said, turning to Dino as he stood up.  Then heard a sound he didn’t recognize and then couldn’t believe.  Stephanie had actually giggled.

Dino looked wounded.  “Oh, you think that’s funny, do ya?”  Steph nodded and smiled, continuing with her brekkie and watching Terry head to the door closely, but seemingly forgetting her fear from just a moment ago.

Terry raised his eyebrows at Dino as they stood just outside the door.  “Wonders never cease,” he said.

“Yeah, she’s doing great.  A lot better than I think any of us believed was possible.  You’re doing a good thing, Terry.”  They exchanged a look that spoke volumes of what Dino thought was sacrifice on his part but Terry knew it was something he not only had to do, but wanted to do.  Dino sighed and continued on.  “Okay, so I took the meeting with the FBI guy while you got your beauty sleep.  He says it’s one of those cases that they pursued as best they could but every time they got close to following a lead something would go wrong.  They actually got in contact with several of the K&R firms to see if they knew anything, but of course with no ransom demand, no one knew anything.  I mean, hell, we didn’t even know about Stephanie and we did three weeks of research on the group.”

“Yeah, those bastards knew what they wanted and kept her presence extremely quiet.  That’s probably why Daphne got killed.  Her being released was going to put an end to their fun and games with Stephanie.  But what did he say about what happens now?”

“Well, here’s the part you’re either gonna love or get pissed off about.  They say now that she’s found they don’t have anymore involvement.”

“You mean she’s just supposed to go on with her life like nothing happened?”

“Well, no, Terry, come on, the FBI doesn’t roll that way.  He gave me numbers for Victim Services and a couple other agencies she can contact to help get her back into her life, but the bottom line is, she isn’t a minor so she isn’t their responsibility.”

“Fuckin –”

“Now wait before you go getting’ all hot under the collar, he wasn’t flippant about it.  We had a damned long debrief and he wanted to know everything we did.  He’s going to work with the K&R guys who David had initially hired to keep investigating and catch the splinter group.  Or at least find out enough about them so we can do something about it, if you get my drift.”

“He said that?!”

“Not in so many words.  But he was clear.  Once he’d learned what had happened to Stephanie he made it as plain as he could without jeopardizing his job that he’d let as much information as we needed ‘leak’ from his office.”

“And Stephanie?”

“Well, as far as he’s concerned, you’re the man.  You might need to work out something with the agencies he gave me info on, but Stephanie’s over twenty-one, she can make her own decisions.  And since she’s letting you make most of them for her, I guess it ends up being whatever you wanna do, hermano.  As if I didn’t know what that is.  You got room in that bachelor pad of yours for her?”

Terry gave him a raised ‘brow out of habit, but he could see from Dino’s demeanor that he wasn’t just taking the piss with him.  So he continued that line of discussion seriously.  “Whaddaya reckon?”

“Me?  Well, I think from what I’ve seen since you picked her up outta that hut that she isn’t the only one who’d be affected if the two of you separated for any length of time.  So I think you need to go have a few conversations with your new roomie and work out the details.  That’s what I think.”

Terry turned to look at the girl in the hospital bed.  She’d finished her breakfast and had sat her little bear on the table so he was “watching” telly with her and when she turned to check and make sure Terry was still within her vision, he waved and smiled.  Steph waved back and returned the smile.  “Yeah, mate, I think so too.  So I reckon it’s down to the doc comin’ to see her this arvo as to what the next step is.”

“Sounds good.”

“How’d David take the news?” Terry asked, addressing the other issue that had been weighing on his mind.

“Not good.  And his mom about lost it right there on the tarmac.  David just wants to annihilate these guys, even though we don’t know if they treated Daphne the same as Steph.  Anyway, I told him I’d give his contact info to the FBI guy which I did.  I hope we get a chance to obliterate those fucks.”

“Me too, mate.  They need to die, long slow horrible deaths.”

“Fuck, yeah.”  Dino and Terry looked at each other, coming to silent agreement that they weren’t done with this, not by a long shot.

Dino took a deep breath and slapped Terry’s shoulder.  “Well, then, I’m off to the hotel for a long sleep and then maybe go in search of some California tail I can wine and dine in exchange for a blowjob or three.”

Terry shook his head.  “You are really off sometimes, you know that, don’t you?”

Dino grinned from ear to ear.  “You’re just jealous I’m gonna get laid and you’re not.”

“Some things are just worth it, Dino.”

Dino grinned cockily, but with understanding in his eyes.  “I know, Terry.  It’s all good.  I got your back.”

“Goodo, mate.  I know I can always count on you.  Go get laid, ya bastard.”

Dino laughed.  “Catch ya on the flipside.”

Chapter Four