Running with Secrets

Untitled Part 29

"I know, but I'm going to need  back up for a little while, boss." Sally said into the phone. The captain knows and I had to tell you, because you're on the need side of need to know and I'm going to need some extra help. I'm afraid for my life." She said. This boss she had never met. There was a formal office visit and every time she goes to the office, it's somewhere different and there is voice distorting software and tinted glass. She'd never seen him. "What? Jerry?" She protested. "He's like a middle-aged, awkward Barry Gibb. Jumpsuit and all, Sir. I don't think I could trust him as far as I could throw him, not that I want to try picking him up any time soon, but because of what happened yesterday, I think I need some extra protection." She heard out the voice on the other end. "I'll be fine for now, I guess, sir. She wasn't certain that he was someone Benson had been around she had only eyes for him. And there were so many others, she says. She couldn't keep them all sorted out...I'll wait for your next phone call, thank you, Sir."

*****
"I understand, Sir, but she's had too many episodes already and we've only been gone less than a day...We're safe now, but I think she's running from her head at the moment and I don't really blame her...Sir, with all due respect, she's in no position to make that kind of judgement. It's like asking someone who just got a prosthetic leg to run the Boston. You have to give her time and she needs proper therapy." Heath knocked the four times then opened the door with his key card. "Anyway, I have to go now. It's breakfast time...Thank you, Sir. Have a nice day too."

"They're making you check in while you're on vacation?" She asked when she saw him. "That's not really fair."

"Not really, no. But I did make some promises, and," he paused to put the plates on the desk, "I brought breakfast." With a goofy grin, he held up two plates he filled from the breakfast room.

At the mention of food, Kristin jumped out of bed and grabbed one of the plates. As she sat back down on the bed, with her feet tucked underneath her, she looked at all the fruit and waffles he had piled up for her.

"Sorry, I didn't know what you'd like. And the kitchen staff gave me dirty looks for bringing all this up."

"This is so good right now. I love waffles!"

Heath ate his breakfast thoughtfully as he watched Kristin devour hers. He knew she'd be hungry after dinner last night, or the lack of dinner. She never really ate what was left after they left the restaurant and part of her fit was from hunger. He'd seen it before. They called it being hangry and it was never pretty.

"How are you feeling this morning?" He asked her. "Did you sleep well?"

Subconsciously, she smoothed her hair and held up the 'just a minute' finger as she finished the bite she was eating already. "Oh. Em. Gee. I slept so good! I'll tell you what, sleeping in a hospital bed for what? A week?" She pulled a face and looked up while she thought, "and the rest of another week on a couch, though I'm so very thankful for Sally and her hospitality, It was the most delicious sleep I've had in a long time." She lifted another bite of waffles to her mouth as Heath popped a grape with his teeth. She saw it just as the juice sprayed in his eye.

It startled him enough that he laughed. Kristin giggled too, but now with him.

"So, what you're trying to tell me is that you prefer a nice, fancy bed to an overpriced fancy gurney?" He asked, referring to the hospital bed.

"This deserves absolutely no thought, but yes. I prefer a nice, fancy bed any day."

They finished breakfast in comfortable silence before Heath excused himself and took her plate back to the breakfast room. "I'll give you some time to get ready, then we can talk about the rest of our travel plans." He turned to the door. "Remember, I'll knock four times first."