“I put three in him; he’s dead.” Jeff said evenly.
She nodded at him. She wasn’t one who believed in taking human life, but in their jobs it was sometimes necessary. She put her head down, resting it in her hands. She jumped when a pair of hands wrapped around her wrists. She opened her eyes and found herself looking directly into her sister Shawn’s. She didn’t say a word, but Shawn enveloped her in a hug.
“Are you sure you’re ok?” Shawn questioned with a worried look on her face as she took stock of the amount of blood on Stacy’s clothes.
“Yes. I’m fine. I just wish they would come out and give up some kind of news about Randy.” Stacy said glancing towards the ER doors.
“Let me go see if I can find out anything for you guys. I don’t guarantee anything, but I’ll try.” Shawn said as she turned to walk to the registration desk. A few minutes later she returned to them. “They are getting ready to move her up to surgery. They were able to get the bleeding under control enough to move her into surgery. You can head up to the second floor surgery waiting room. Sam is on her way and I’ll tell her to meet you up there. I have to head back upstairs, but as soon as we are off Rebecca and I will be there too.” She hugged Stacy tight again. “I love you.”
Shawn turned to the officer sitting next to Stacy. “Are you Randy’s partner?” She asked him.
“Yes.” He said, looking like he was about to cry.
“I only met her once, but she seemed like a great person. She’s strong, she’ll pull through this.” Shawn said to him, gently placing her hand on his shoulder. “I’ll check back with Stacy before we come down again. If we can do anything for you, please let her know.”
Stacy and Jeff walked to the elevator to head up to the second floor waiting room. As they walked, she turned to Jeff. “Why did she do that? I was going to throw myself out of the way. Now she’s fighting for her life and it’s my fault.” She felt the tears threaten to spill.
“If you haven’t figured that out yet, you’re not very bright.” He said as the elevator doors opened and they stepped inside. He looked around at the other cops who stepped in with them and decided now was not the time to continue the conversation. “She’ll be alright, I know she will and it’s not your fault. The blame lays squarely on that no good loser.”
****
Sam sat in the waiting room with Stacy and Jeff for over an hour before Jenna came in. Stacy introduced Jenna to Randy’s partner Jeff.
“Will you be alright for a little bit if we head upstairs to check on the baby?” Sam asked Stacy quietly. “We won’t be gone too long, but we’ve been trying to make sure one of us is here several times a day.”
Stacy smiled an exhausted smile. “Go ahead, I know it’s getting late and they won’t let you up there if it’s too late. You make sure he knows that he’s got a lot of people pulling for him.”
Jenna relayed what she had accomplished that day to Sam as they walked to the elevator that would take them up to the NICU. “We are scheduled for the next two weekends, which will knock out the last of the classes we are required to take. The lady who has to sign off on the home study is coming over tomorrow night to talk with us. Other than that, we are all set to go.”
Sam smiled and reached for Jenna’s hand. “Now we just have to get this little guy strong enough to come home.”
“Oh! I forgot! The case worker said that if we would like to choose a name for him, they would be grateful because they need to get his birth certificate filed.” Jenna looked like she was about to burst with excitement.
Sam’s eyebrows went up. “They are going to let us pick his name? Wow. I guess we need to figure that out quickly then so we can stop calling him ‘baby’ huh?”
They came to a stop at the NICU doors and Jenna lifted the phone to dial in. The door buzzed and they continued on to the nursery. A few minutes later, they were standing on either side of his incubator each with a hand inside touching his tiny body.
One of the nurses walked over to them. “Would you like to hold him for a few minutes?” She asked them.
Jenna looked up at Sam with huge eyes. “You mean as in get him out of the incubator hold him? Really? Of course we would!” She said enthusiastically.
The nurse laughed. “Probably not for more than ten minutes or so but he’s been doing great and we’ll just bundle him up so he doesn’t get chilly.”
Sam watched the joy spread over Jenna’s face. I hope this little guy keeps chugging along strongly because he has no idea how much he’s loved already.
Jenna sat down carefully in the rocker holding the tiny baby. She looked up at Sam and reached a hand out to her. “I love you Sam. Thank you for indulging me.”
“Indulging you? Are you kidding me? I’m just as thrilled as you are to have this little guy be a part of our lives. We need to think of a name for him though before we leave so that you can let the case worker know tomorrow.” Sam squatted down by the rocker and very gently kissed the tiny baby’s
