“So it goes.” Her dad clapped Cash on the back. “Roman’s got your vehicle ready and running. Nice looking car, by the way. Is that new?”

What a week.

Her mom smoothed her hair. “We’ll see you two here for dinner again soon. I packed a bag of food. You both need to eat. Had Roman put that in your car too, Cash.”

Cash lifted her up, they said their goodbyes, and she was in the passenger seat of his car again.

The door was still open, and Roman walked up. She knew him by the cadence of his gait. “You know how to make an entrance and exit. Don’t ya, Double-Oh-Seven.” He had stolen that from Cash, but she still loved it. “Anyway, Jared just called me back. He said if she could stand the extra thirty-five mile drive, he’d take care of everything through Titan’s docs.”

She shrugged.

“I got the feeling he wanted to talk to you two,” Roman continued. “Prepare yourself for the dickhead version of Debbie Downer.”

Roman shut her door, patted the outside twice, and Cash backed out the driveway. She didn’t need to see to know he flew down the highway, passing cars right and left.

“I’m not dying, Cash. No need to get a ticket.”

“Sweet girl, unless the speed limit is enforced by sniper fire or an air assault team roping down from a screaming helo, we aren’t slowing.”

***

Dr. Tuska waited for their arrival and had her with a surgical ophthalmologist and ocular trauma specialist doing a thorough onceover before she could shrug them off and ask for a saline wash.

The nurses marched into action, cleaning her up. All in all, Titan’s medical team took an hour and fifteen minutes to get Nic seeing again. Not bad.

Now, she waited. No had one checked her in, per se, so she didn’t know what else to do besides wait for Dr. Tuska’s discharge instructions and the tube of antibacterial ointment she was promised.

The room looked normal enough, but the sheets weren’t standard hospital linens. They were smooth and felt like high thread count. Even the pillow was soft, given that it was probably one of those plastic, liquid resistant types. But it was still a hospital bed, and the place still smelled like cleaner. She hated hospitals, and the only reason she didn’t push the button to call her nurse was Cash. Leaning up against the bed, he calmed her with his large hand covering hers. Despite the trauma and drama of the evening, she relaxed against him.