You Are Mine

Infirmatory

I sat silently in the makeshift waiting room, next to the infirmary, I did not know existed down in the basement, hands trembling and legs shaking. I had managed to chew off more than half of my nails in the few hours since Adrian was taken in for surgery.

After Adrian was shot, it took us no less than 10 minutes to reach the house. Most of that time I spent sobbing and pleading with Adrian to stay with me. I had never been this scared in my entire life. Not even on the day I had been forced to leave my family to come here.

He had lost a lot of blood, most of which were all over my hands and clothes, and with each second that ticked by, my fear of losing him only grew. To make it worse, I had not heard a single thing since they took him inside. Anders had been allowed to go in, but despite my many cries and pleads, I still had to wait with the rest of the family here on this cold seat with nothing but hope that he would be fine.

I looked up at the wall clock ahead for the 100th time since I got here. A minute ticked by with painstaking slowness, then another, and another. I got to my feet deciding to pace a little. If I was going to be sane in the next few hours, I needed to channel all of my anxiety and worry into something else.

"Pacing is not going to do anything," Chelsea said from where she sat next to me seconds ago. Somehow she still found the strength to be bitchy, though I could see clearly that it was more out of the worry she was feeling too.

"Speak for yourself," I shot back, not meaning to sound so defensive. I raked my hand through my hair, walking back and forth the room, eyes fixed on the door in the hopes that someone would come in through and tell me that Adrian was now stable and safe. "Why am I not even allowed in there?" I sobbed, "I'm his goddamn wife,"

"Do you have any experience in surgery?" Eveline asked from the corner of the room where she sat since I came in. She seemed the least worried, or would I say she was doing better at keeping her emotions in check than me and Chelsea. Among the three of us, I would say I was doing the shittiest job.

"I can help do something," I cried, "I might go crazy if I don't know how he's doing in the next hour."

"It is not the first time my son has been shot," she said with a weird feeling of pride, "he will be fine. I have not a doubt."

Her conviction was not rubbing off on me in the slightest, I could not blame her though, being a mother of a man that cracked jokes between gunfights, she needed to have a hard skin or she might just have a heart attack every now and then. But at least I could hold on to the hope that Adrian had been in this situation before and he would come out just fine.

He had to.

The doors burst open and I never imagined I could ever be so relieved at seeing my brother-in-law's face. He took a few long strides inside, wearing a surgical gown, as he worked to take out his blood-filled gloves. "How's Adrian?" I asked as we all made quick steps towards him.

"He needs blood," Anders said simply. He was hiding it well, but I could tell he was just as worried as the rest of us.

"There's no blood?" Evelina asked, almost surprised.

"The blood in there is only enough for Martin, plus it's not Adrian's blood type."

"I'm an O negative," I said quickly. I had never been more thankful for being a universal donor. "let's go,"

"Let's go," I followed his lead as we made our way to the surgical room.

"Is he going to be fine?" I asked in a small hopeful voice as I followed behind him.

"He always has been."

"Can everyone just stop giving me vague answers already?!" I was already feeling frustrated enough. "Will Adrian be fine or not?"

He motioned for me to wash my hands in the space at the corner as we reached the door. He followed too, disposing of the gown and mask and gloves he had on now. "Scrub up to your elbows," he instructed, and I followed idly, my mind was focused on more pressing matters. "Adrian will be fine, the surgeon is our best," I sighed in relief until he gave me a look that said he was going to add a but.

"But what?"

"We cannot have you panicking in there, if you really want to help Adrian, you need to have your calm despite what you see in there." he gave me a pleading look, as he helped me put on the gown and gloves, then he handed the mask to me. "okay?"

"Okay," I nodded. How hard can it be?

Very hard. That was the thought that crept up my mind as I made my way inside the room, following behind Anders. I bit on my bottom lip managing to hold back from gasping at the sight of Adrian.

The room was slightly different from the surgical rooms I saw on TV. There were two beds facing each other with a light curtain separating them. Anders walked over to Martin, whose bed was thoroughly soaked in blood, but he looked more stabilized, seeing as he was awake and in a more relaxed state.

I could not say the same for Adrian.

The harsh light from a large fluorescent brightened his side of the room. Adrian's huge and heavily tattooed body lay on an exam table, unconscious, shirtless, with a bullet wound next to his abdomen. I felt a twinge of pain in my heart to see him look so vulnerable. He had an oxygen mask on and his IV bag was connected to a now-empty blood bag next to the bed.

The doctor motioned for me to sit next to him and I obliged, feeling thankful for the chance to be close o him again. "I presume you are Mrs. Davonte," he asked as he approached me with a collection bag.

I nodded slowly, licking my dry lips. On a closer look, I realized he was the same doctor that was at my bedside the first time I had fainted. He had called me the same name then. My reaction to it this time was much different, seeing as it was still new to me and I was unaccustomed to it. Now, It was no longer a struggle getting used to being called that name, and if I was being honest, I wanted to be called by it now.

"We need to conduct a transfusion on him," he said as he reached out to take my arm. I gave my free hand to him, the other was busy holding on to Adrian. "I'm glad to see you are not so squeamish to the sight," he said pointing to my blood-soaked clothes that were visible through the surgical gown I had on.

Suddenly I felt lightheaded at his reminder of my queasiness with blood. "I cannot afford to be unconscious, Adrian needs me," I said trying to keep my mind focused on the reason I was here.

"It's the Adrenaline," he said drily, "the effects will wear in once you have your mind more relaxed."

"Are you here to help or to scare your patients," I retorted with a frown.

"It is not my intentions to scare you Mrs. Davonte," he said with a sad smile, "but I must be honest with my patients,"

With a sigh, I decided to focus on the question that had been weighing on my mind in the last few hours and not on the doctor being a d**k, "Is he going to be fine?" I asked, swallowing hard. If anyone could tell me exactly where Adrian stood right now, it would be him.

"He's much more stable than he was when he came in," he circled two fingers around my wrist searching for a vein, "he is not too critical,"

"What does that mean?"

"He is badly wounded, it's deep," he said pointing Adrin's wound, "but we are lucky because no major organs have been affected, your blood would go a long way to help him,"

"Well then please take as much as you need,"

A few minutes later, he set up the IV and my blood flowed generously into the collection bag. I stroked Adrian's thick curly hair softly with my free hand, willing myself not to cry. I would not put it past Anders and doctor d**k to make me leave if I started sobbing, and I could not afford to leave his side now that I was here.

"That will take a few minutes," the doctor said, turning around the bed, "I have to help Anders move Martin upstairs, can you watch over Adrian while I'm gone?"

"Do you even have to ask?" I asked, squeezing his fingers. He winced slightly and I quickly retracted my hands and mouthed "I'm sorry," to him.

"Try not to hurt him further while I'm gone," he shot me a sharp look that made me almost roll my eyes.

The moment they left the room, I let the sobs I had been holding back flow freely down my cheeks. "You're such an asshole," I muttered as more tears streamed down, "why'd you have to go and get shot, do you know how worried I am about you, Adrian?"

I was tempted to shake his hands, but the doctor's warning played in my head, so instead, I knitted my fingers through his. "Please be fine soon," I dropped my head on the bed, sobbing softly, "Please Adrian."

The doctor came back sometime later and started the transfusion on Adrian. I expressed my worry since he was still unconscious, but relaxed when the doctor said he had given him some anesthesia. He came back occasionally to check his pulse, blood pressure, and other vital signs, and I was glad to hear that everything else was stable with him, now I just had to wait for him to wake up.

A few hours later, I felt a pair of warm familiar hands on my shoulders, making me jerk up from where my head lay on the bed next to Adrian. I looked up to meet Anderson's deep blue eyes. He gave me a sympathetic look as he rubbed my shoulders, "You have been here all night Nicole,"

"What time is it?" I asked, straightening and rolling my aching shoulders. They ached badly from leaning over the bed all night and I blinked a few times to see clearly as my eyes hurt. They were heavy and tired from staying for so long.

"Almost morning,"

"Adrian is not awake yet," I frowned, turning my head to watch him, his eyes were still closed and it was killing me to not know what was going on with him.

"You need to be patient," he gave a deep sigh, giving me a glimpse of how exhausted he was too. "We're lucky he was not hit in the ribs or vital organs. He's fine now. Would it be too much to ask what happened out there last night? Last I heard you were going on your first date with your husband." his lips twitched but he did not smile.

I chewed the inside of my cheeks as my mind flooded with all the horrifying images from just a few hours ago. I could not help but wonder how we had gone so quickly from movie theatre to a surgical theatre in the space of a few hours, "It was Ricco,"

"I know, but what I'm asking is how did Adrian get shot? My brother may be an asshole but he is never careless enough to get shot.."

"He was trying to protect me," Tears stung my eyes again as I spoke, "One of Ricco's men tried to shoot at me and Adrian was holding me so it hit him instead," A sob broke out as I realized that Adrian had been shot because of me. He was in here because he had put himself in harm's way for me.

Anderson had a grim expression on his face, but he did not say anything else. Instead, he made soothing circles with his palm on my back. "You should go upstairs," he finally spoke as the tears faded slowly. "you need to change your clothes. It's not safe to have so much blood over you for so long."

I shook my head firmly, as I raised my head to meet Adrian's pale face. It felt a little disturbing that he still looked handsome and sexy as sin even in this circumstance. "I don't want to leave him,"

"Mom and Nicole have been waiting all night to see him," he said carefully. "they can look after him,"

"I'm not stopping them, but I will not leave until I know Adrian is fine and conscious," I kept my eyes trained on Adrian. My fingers now felt numb from staying locked in his all night, but I was not taking it off anytime soon.

The panic and horror I felt when he had been shot still lingered in my gut. I forgot how to breathe and my mind raced with a million possibilities of how much worse the situation could have gotten. I would not leave until I heard him tell me himself that he was okay, and that meant he had to be conscious. I was not leaving until Adrian was conscious.

"Nicole..."

"Please don't make me leave Anderson," I looked up at him with pleading eyes, "I'm scared."

Anderson gave a small sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose, I could tell he was thinking of what to do next. It did not matter though because no matter what anyone said I was not going to give in. Thankfully, I did not have to force my brother-in-law to let me stay by my husband's side.

He shoved his hand in his pocket, "I'll talk to mom and the doctor, I'm sure they can let you stay a little more."

"Thank you."