Page 89 of Call Sign: King
Madison was still sitting on the side of Trevor’s bed, a bowl of what looked like green jello and a spoon in her hands.
“Come on. Just a few bites,” she begged her husband. “The doctor said you can start eating again. I know you want to get out of here, but that isn’t going to happen until you show you’re making improvements.”
Khloe stood still, waiting for Trevor to open his eyes and take the bite, hoping that he’d see her then. When he pretended to be asleep instead of eating the bite, Khloe inched forward, quietly tapping Madison on her shoulder to get her attention.
She didn’t recognize Khloe right away, giving her time to hold her palm over Madison’s mouth just as she opened it with surprise. Again, holding her finger to her lips in the universal sign of silence, Khloe reached for the bowl of jello and the spoon.
Madison grinned, handed over the uneaten food, and stepped aside to let Khloe take over.
Sitting on the bed, she took that first moment just to say a prayer of thanks that this man was alive. He’d offered up his life trying to keep her safe and she’d never forget that. Over the years, he’d been there for her through thick and thin. He was the protective older brother she wished she’d had.
Scooping up a spoon of jello, Khloe held it out just before saying, “Isn’t this a nice change. Me trying to force feed you instead of the other way around.”
“Khloe!” Trevor shouted, his eyes flying open, full of frantic panic, not unlike the look she’d seen in his gaze the last time they’d been together, the night Vlad broke in and changed their lives forever.
“You’re not dead!” he shouted.
Smiling, she tried her best to put his mind at ease. “Not even close to dead, which I hear can’t be said about you. For the record, I spent the entire time away from you sure that he’d killed you in that shower. I was heartbroken. I can’t even think about what would have happened if Hawkeye hadn’t been there.”
She could tell Trevor didn’t want to talk about himself. Grabbing her arm holding the spoon, he yanked Khloe hard enough that she fell toward him, letting the bowl of jello drop to the floor with a crash. The strength of his bear hug was a good sign that he really was recovering, and despite the beeping sounds and medicinal smell, it felt like maybe this nightmare might be ending.
When Trevor finally released her from his hold, Khloe sat back so they could each take stock of the other.
“Please tell me you’re going to be okay,” she prodded the patient.
Trevor didn’t answer immediately, instead reaching out to his wife standing nearby. Only once Madison was holding his hand did he give his answer. “Now that you’re both here, I’m gonna be just fine.”
“Making the moves on my wife I see,” Ryder teased from directly behind her, placing his hands on her shoulders as she sat on the bedside. “And right in front of Madison. Brave man.”
Madison released her husband’s hand to go hug Ryder instead. “Don’t tease him. He’s too grouchy to handle it.”
“I’m not grouchy,” Trevor groused, proving his wife’s point. “I’m injured. There’s a difference.”
Always sweet Emma piped in. “I’ve been around injured people before, and I can safely say the last few hours you have been grouchy. But now that Khloe’s here and safe, hopefully you’ll get back to your normally cheery self.”
Ryder didn’t let up. “Since when has McLean been the cheery one?” Ryder’s tone may be teasing, but Khloe could see her husband was actually getting choked up seeing Trevor with all of the needles and tubes coming out of him.
Before Trevor could answer, Ryder added a sincere, “Thank you, man. From the bottom of my heart… you saved the most important thing in the world to me.”
“I always told you I’d take a bullet for her,” Trevor replied solemnly before finishing his thought. “I just never dreamed that may not be enough.”
“It was more than enough,” Doc said, making sure to keep her promise to not let anyone blame themselves. “It was a team effort, and everything came out okay in the end. That means we are done playing the blame game around here.”
It was Hawkeye who reminded them that Doc wasn’t entirely right. “Actually, Tank hasn’t come out of this okay… at least not yet. The last thing I want to do is minimize our celebration, but until Patrick wakes up and makes it back to us, we need to keep remembering we still have one man down.”
Khloe felt like an idiot. How the hell could she be having any fun at all, knowing Tank was just one corridor away, still fighting for his life?
It was her husband who spoke for both of them. “We absolutely won’t forget about Patrick. We’ll be heading over to see him next and now that we have Khloe home safely, just tell me what we need to help with Tank’s recovery. Whatever it is, he’ll have it. Money is no object.”
The room had fallen into a sullen mood, everyone thinking about Tank’s long road ahead, but the awkward silence was broken by the scolding of a real nurse.
“Just how did all of you get in here? There is a two-visitor limit that I was already kind enough to expand to three so you two could both stay,” she said waving in Chase and Emma’s direction. “This is not a party room!”
Everyone broke out talking all at the same time, trying to explain to her that there were extenuating circumstances. When she wasn’t having it, Khloe took things into her own hands.
Her disguise had done its job — gotten her past the cameras. She pulled the wig off first as she approached the nurse, letting her long blonde hair fall down her back. Next, she pulled off the small latex pads Rosa had added to her forehead and cheeks to help change her appearance. While she was sure she looked a hot mess with the ruined make-up job, she also knew she was now much easier to recognize.
“You’re Khloe Monroe.”
