Part 25 (1/2)

Sweetheart, I know you have come from a very brutal relations.h.i.+p, and I understand your need to be blunt. Let me a.s.sure you, my love, that your heart is safe with me. I will never hurt you, Rox ... that is a promise ... I do not take my promises lightly.

How could I ever be angry with you for wanting to know my heart? In my last post, I asked that you share your soul with me ... I can not expect you to do anything I am not willing to do myself, so by all means, ask me anything you'd like Rox ... my heart belongs to you.

You asked what my intentions are toward you. Rox, I have never felt such intensity of love for another human being in my entire life. Thoughts of you fill my mind during every waking moment. What are my intentions? My intentions are to meet you one day soon, sweep you off your feet, and carry you away into the sunset on my golden palomino. My intentions are to make you happier than you have ever been for the rest of your life. My intentions are to love you, cherish you, and hold you near and to make love to you long into the nights and to carry your scent on my skin through the separation of time and s.p.a.ce during the days. My intentions are to grow old with you, and to hold you in my arms as I take my dying breath. These are my intentions, Rox.

I love you with all my heart. I need to be with you. Just say the word and I will be on the next plane North.

You are my heart Rox. Come fly away and be my love.

Ca.s.s”

”What do you think?” Ca.s.s asked out loud.

I think you need to click on 'send'. Let'er rip, Ca.s.s. It's a great note. Enforcer replied.

Nikki slept soundly, curled up in the guest room with her arms and legs wrapped around the spare pillow. She often slept like this when Jerri had to work late. Being a light sleeper, she was partially awakened by the sounds of another body rummaging around in her room.

”Jer? Honey, stop making so much noise and come to bed,” she said into the darkness, never lifting her head off the pillow.

Several moments of silence followed as Nikki waited for her wife to join her. When it became apparent that the taller woman wasn't coming to bed, Nikki sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes with the back of her fists before looking up into deep brown eyes. Her own eyes flew open wide as the club made contact with her skull. Moments later, blackness enveloped her.

”Nikki! Nikki!” Jerri cried, gently shaking her wife into consciousness.

Nikki's eyes slowly opened, the light from the bedside lamp blinding her with pain, causing her arm to automatically shoot up to cover her eyes.

”Oh my G.o.d,” Nikki moaned as her hand found the lump on the back of her head. ”What happened?” she asked looking around. Suddenly, she sat up, almost causing herself to pa.s.s out from the nausea that filled her stomach at the sudden movement. Falling back down onto the bed, she reached up and grabbed Jerri's arm. ”Jerri ... where's Rox?” she asked desperately.

Jerri pushed Nikki back down onto the bed. ”Shhh, settle down love, the ambulance crew is with her.” she replied.

Nikki forced her way back into a sitting position at the news. ”What? Jerri, I need to see her,” she cried as she threw her legs over the side of the bed and attempted to get up.

”Stay down, Nik ... you'll see her soon enough. In fact, you'll be sharing an ambulance ride to the hospital with her. Please lay down,” Jerri pleaded, her voice cracking with emotion for the woman she loved.

Nikki started to cry. ”Oh G.o.d, Jerri. It was Chris. I saw the brown eyes and blonde hair just before I lost consciousness. Jer ... how bad is Roxie?” she asked faintly.

”Bad enough to be checked out in the emergency room, love, but it could have been worse. I think I interrupted the attack when I came home,” she explained.

That news just made Nikki cry harder. Sitting up once more, she wrapped herself around her wife and buried her face in the taller woman's chest. ”Jer, you could have been hurt too!” she exclaimed.

Jerri rubbed the smaller woman's back as she soothed her fears. ”Yeah, well I wasn't, so don't fret over it, okay?” she said, as she continued to hold her wife close.

”Jerri, we're ready to go. Does Nikki need a stretcher?” asked a voice from the doorway.

Jerri looked back over her shoulder. ”No Dan, I don't think so. I'll walk her down to the ambulance. We'll be right there,” she told her fellow paramedic as she turned back to Nikki. ”Can you make it with my help, or do you want me to carry you?” she asked the pet.i.te blonde.

Nikki reached up and cupped the side of Jerri's face, noticing for the first time that there were tears in the corners of the dark haired woman's eyes. Smiling slightly, she replied, ”No, I'll just lean on you ... just like I always do, love.”

Jerri leaned in and kissed the smaller woman tenderly before smiling and extending her hand. ”All right then, let's go,” she said as she helped Nikki to her feet and led her out of the room.

Nikki held Rox's hand all the way to the hospital as she sat leaning against the taller woman. Rox was a mess. Blood liberally coated the front of her nights.h.i.+rt, face, neck and arms. Jerri was thankful that she was unconscious, saving her from having to deal with both her wife and her best friend being injured at the same time.

Reaching up, Jerri brushed blonde tendrils away from Nikki's forehead, causing the smaller woman to smile. ”Are you all right?” she asked.

Nikki sniffed back a tear then shook her head yes. ”It's just a b.u.mp, Jer,” she said, feeling around for the lump on the back of her head. ”Poor Roxie, on the other hand ...,” she added, allowing the sentence to trail off.

”Honey, it looks worse than it is,” commented Jerri as she reached over and touched the side of her friend's face. ”As far as I could tell, she has a head wound ... which accounts for most of the blood on her, and she's been beaten again around the face and neck. Her vitals are stable, Nik. She's going to be very sore, and maybe a little self conscious about her appearance for a while, but I think she'll be fine.” Jerri concluded.

Nikki looked at her wife and wondered how on earth she could keep such a clinical att.i.tude when their best friend was lying there in front of them in serious trouble. She always knew it took a special kind of person to work on an E-Crew ... someone who could detach themselves emotionally when necessary. She just sometimes found it hard to understand.

Looking down at her friend, Nikki reached over and brushed a b.l.o.o.d.y strand of hair from Rox's face. A solitary tear fell as she closed her eyes and sniffed back the deluge that was sure to follow if she allowed the gates to open. ”Jerri, what are we going to do?” she asked while wiping the tear from her face. Looking up at her wife, she added, ”Some protector I was, huh? I didn't even hear Chris come into the house!”

Jerri wrapped her arms tighter around Nikki. ”Don't blame yourself for this, sweetheart. If Chris is determined to get to her, it will happen, one way of the other. We can't protect her 24 hours a day,” she said. ”Besides,” she added, ”I'm not sure how much you could have done against Chris, seeing as you're so much smaller.”

Nikki just nodded tearfully as she once again brushed tears from her face. After a few moments, she looked up at her wife and said, ”Jer, I know you don't like to hear this, but she really needs a man around the house. Someone who can protected her against the likes of Chris,”

”Nikki, she doesn't need a man around ... what she needs is for Chris to be caught and put behind bars,” Jerri said adamantly.

”Well, I still think she'd be safer with a man in the house,” Nikki commented sheepishly, knowing how Jerri felt about women taking care of themselves.

Jerri was about to argue the point further when the ambulance pulled up to the Emergency room bay.

Several hours later, in the wee hours of the morning, Nikki and Jerri left the hospital. Climbing into a taxi, Jerri looked over at a very sullen Nikki and reached out to cover her hand. ”Nik, she's gonna be all right. They just want to keep her overnight for observation. We'll be able to take her home tomorrow morning, okay?”

Nikki wasn't in the mood to be coddled. Pulling her hand away, she folded them in her lap, then dropped her chin to her chest. ”Jerri, I'm tired. I just want to go to bed,” she said softly.

Jerri just nodded, then reached around to pull Nikki's head in for a kiss to the forehead. ”How's your head?” she asked.

”Hurts like h.e.l.l,” Nikki replied. ”I'm going to take some drugs, then hit the sheets,” she informed the taller woman.

”Good plan,” Jerri answered, releasing her and sitting back in her seat for the ride back to Rox's house. ”Do you want to go home for the rest of the night instead of going back to Rox's?” Jerri asked.