Saving Grace

Sands
resumed his position by Grace’s bed.
The doctor was back in the room, picking up where they had left off
earlier.

“As I was
saying,” the doctor said, “one of her lungs was punctured, but we were able to
repair the damage.”

“So, she’s
O.K.?” Harold asked.

“Only time
will truly tell, señor. Her body is
fighting off any impending infections, so she is running a slight fever.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> When her body’s ready, she’ll wake up.”

Harold
sighed. “Thank you.”style="mso-spacerun: yes"> The doctor left and Harold couldn’t
understand why Sands had been so silenpan pan style="mso-spacerun: yes">
“Sheldon?”

“Yeah?”

“Can I…do
anything for you?”

Sands
swallowed and his grip on Grace’s hand became slightly stronger.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> “How does she look?” she asked.

Hoping to
lighten the mood a bit, Harold responded, “Even blind, you managed to pick out
a looker.”

Sands
didn’t crack the slightest of smiles.
“I mean does she look bad? Hurt
or sick or…”

“Oh.”style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Harold understood. “I’m not sure that…”

“Tell
me. Tell me everything, please.”style="mso-spacerun: yes"> There was that word that rarely passed
Sands’ lips.

“She’s
pale,” Harold started, his voice soft.
“Her lips have that whitish look to them, they’re probably dried out.”

Sands let
his free hand gently find her face, then her lips. “They are,” he said. “And
she’s sweating.”

Harold nodded
silently. “Fever, remember?”

“I haven’t
cared since Rachel.”

Harold
walked to where Sands was sitting. “I
know.” He placed a comforting hand on
Sands’ shoulder. “What would have
happened if Grace hadn’t ended up in here?”

Sands let
himself smile. “She…she asked me to go
home with her.”

“A
ridiculous request?”

“I thought
so. I even asked her what would happen
after she got tired of me.”

“And she
said?”

“She wants
me to go with her…and I fucking want to go, Harold. I don’t have anything else anymore, do I?”

“Sheldon, I
can’t send you out into the field in your condition, you know that.”

“Yeah…Can
you believe I’m actually going to – I actually want – to just go and try
to have a normal life?” He
chuckled. “Well, it’ll be some fucked
up normalcy, but the gist of it…”

“You need
to be grounded, Sheldon. You don’t know
how many times I’ve gotteone one calls from people wanting to lock you up.style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Speaking of that, why the hell were you
killing off cooks down here?”

“Word got
out, huh?”

“Yeah, word
got out.”

Sands
leaned back a little. “Funny, I can’t
recall doing that…”

“Señor
Rawlings?” A nurse entered the room,
interrupting their conversation.

“Yes?”
Harold answered.

“You are
needed upstairs. Something has happened
with the man who was being guarded.”

“Sheldon,
just stay here. I’ll be right
back.” Harold rushed upstairs and found
a doctor outside of Michael’s room.
“What’s going on?” He was
escorted into the room, Michael’s lifeless body in full view.

“Your
prisoner has…passed away, Señor Rawlings,” the doctor replied.

“What?”

“He had an
allergic reaction to the antibiotics.
We did all we could, but the severity was…”

Harold did
his best not to smile. “Don’t worry, we
won’t file for malpractice. I’ll send
someone for the body.” As fast as he
could, he rushed back to Grace’s room.
His heart broke when he caught Sands kissing her non-responsive
lips. “Uh…Sheldon?”

“Yeah?”style="mso-spacerun: yes"> He wasn’t embarrassed in the least.

“You got
your wish, Michael’s dead.”

Sands put
his hands up. “Hey, I was right here
the whole time.”

Harold
smiled. “No worries, it was an allergic
reaction.”

“He’s
really dead, not ‘fake the death and get the crime boss to safety’ dead?”

“Really
dead.”

Sands
smiled. “Fucker’s gone, Gracie,” he
whispered. “C’mon, wake up so I can
tell you about how I was a good boy and didn’t do it.”

There was
no change.