“Maybe we’ll get lucky and wrap this one up quickly.”

“Maybe so.”

“Thanks for last night and this morning. I needed it more than you know.”

“I needed it too.” He caressed her cheek and kissed her again. “Fighting with you turns my whole world upside down.”

“Same here.”

“I love you.” He adjusted the collar of her coat and tugged the zipper up higher. “Be careful with my wife. She is my whole world.”

“And she’s got many, many good reasons to be careful, especially her smoking hot husband.”

He grimaced the way he always did when she commented on his smoking hotness. “Whatever you say.”

Laughing, Sam patted his cheek and kissed him one last time before she scooted out the door. All the way to HQ she thought about him and the way they always managed to get back on track no matter how deep their differences. That was one of many things that set her second marriage so far apart from the first miserable one. She had pulled into the parking lot at HQ when she took a call from Tracy.

“Hey, Trace. How is she?”

“We had a rough night. She came out of the sedation screaming from the pain of the stitches, so they sedated her again.”

“God, the poor kid. That’s got to be awful.”

“I swear, Sam, I don’t know how she’s ever going to get past this.”

“She will. We’ll all help her. We’ll get her the best therapist we can find, and we’ll figure it out one step at a time.”

“The good news, if there is any, is that coming down off a Molly high is supposedly a bitch, so the sedation is helping with that too.”

“That is good news. How are you holding up?”

“I wish I could be sedated too. That would be very nice right about now.”

“Abby and Ethan want to see her.”

“Maybe by tomorrow she’ll be up for some visitors. They’re going to bring her around again later this afternoon. I know you’re anxious to speak with her, and Detective Lucas was here last night to check on her too.”

Sam wasn’t surprised to hear that Erica Lucas had gone to check on Brooke, even though she worked the weekday shift. “I asked for her. I’ve worked with her before, and she’s great.”

“She was very nice and very respectful, unlike that guy Ramsey who came earlier.”

“You won’t be seeing him again. Give me a heads-up when she’s awake. I’ll come right over.”

“Thanks, Sam.”

“Hang in there. I know it all seems so awful right now, but she’s young and strong and it’ll be okay. Eventually.”

“I hope you’re right.”