Nick awoke a few hours later and insisted on being taken to Sam’s room. They’d given him a pair of scrubs to wear since his clothes had been cut off in the ER. Because he was more comfortable standing than lying down, he hovered next to Sam’s bed, staring at her pale face, willing her to wake up. Her sisters had encouraged their father to go home when he showed signs of tiring. Nick’s own father spent a couple of hours with him until Nick sent him home, too.

“You really ought to get off your feet, Nick,” Sam’s sister Tracy said at two in the morning.

“I’m fine.” In truth, he hurt from the top of his head to the end of his toes and everywhere in between. But until Sam woke up, he couldn’t think about anything but her.

The door opened, and Freddie Cruz stuck his head in.

“Come in,” Nick said.

“How is she?”

“The same.”

Freddie approached the bed and rested his hand over Sam’s. “Why doesn’t she wake up?”

“I don’t know. They keep saying she will.”

“When?” Freddie glanced at him. “That was a stupid question. Sorry. How are you?”

“I’ve been better.”

“Why aren’t you in a hospital bed?”

“Because I need to be with her.”

Sam’s sister Tracy squeezed Nick’s uninjured arm. “Ang and I are going to find some coffee. Can I get you something?”

He shook his head.

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, thanks.” Shifting his injured arm in the sling the orthopedic doctor insisted on, he gasped at the shaft of pain.

“Nick, why don’t you sit for a while?” Angela said.

He bit back the urge to snap at them. “I’m fine,” he said through gritted teeth.

“We’ll be right back,” Tracy said, shepherding her sister from the room.

“Take your time,” Nick whispered after the door closed behind them.

“Getting on your nerves, are they?” Freddie said.

“They can’t take care of her, so they’re determined to take care of me.”

“You look beat up, man.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Um, the media has taken over the hospital lobby?” Freddie said with a sheepish grin.

“Ugh. Blood-thirsty vultures.”

“It’s a big story—the lady cop and the dashing senator in a car crash.”

Not wanting to think about the morning’s headlines, Nick linked his fingers with Sam’s and brought her hand to his lips. “I wish she would just wake up!” When his outburst failed to stir her, Nick tightened his grip on her hand. “How’s your shoulder?” he asked Freddie.

“Better. I’m finally free of the sling.”

“Now it’s my turn.” Brushing the hair back from Sam’s face and trying desperately to get his mind off his worries, Nick said, “So I hear you have a girlfriend.”

Taken aback, Freddie sputtered. “Ah, um, well, I guess.”