Fic: Jabberwocky, Part 20a: Blue Cortina, Sytaxia
Maddie and Sarah had already said their goodbyes, grateful that Annie had arrived a half of an hour early for her shift, giving them a few moments of reprieve from their night shift. Both of them were unused to the hours, and Annie felt sorry for them as they tiredly made their way towards the lifts of the ICU. She nodded at the two constables that were still keeping watch until their own replacements arrived, and then went inside of the room and sat down next to Sam’s bed. Sam was tossing and twisting on the sheets, whimpering and moaning, gasping as if he were running with all of his might. Annie grimaced at this and reached out to grab his hand, clasping it tightly between her own. Terror and pain contorted Sam’s features, and Annie guessed that he was dreaming of his captivity, and was torn between letting him sleep, and waking him from the nightmare. The WPC’s had said that the nightmare had started nearly an hour ago, and Sarah swore that she’d heard Sam say he was being hunted, just before the worst of the dream had begun.
Annie continued to grasp Sam’s hand in one of hers, and then stretched out her other and placed it on his shoulder, still not sure if she should wake him. Bad dreams or not, it was sleep, which he needed, but in the end, Annie decided that he wasn’t getting any rest, despite being fast asleep. After her few minutes deliberation ended, she shook Sam’s shoulder lightly, wincing with each moan and gasp that me made. She shook him a bit more forcefully, and leaned forward, speaking to him, “Sam. Sam, I need you to wake up. Sam? Sam!” She shook his shoulder again, hard, and Sam’s eyes flew open, terror still painted upon them. He bolted forward a bit, and looked at Annie, and she felt relief flood through her as the fear bled out of his gaze. He was still gasping, but he looked about as relieved as she felt as he stared at her.
“Annie?” Sam whispered, and she nodded, clasping his hand more tightly in hers as he came to.
“You’re all right, Sam. It was just a nightmare. You’re all right,” Annie pressed lightly with her other hand, willing Sam to lay back against the raised bed, and then moved her hand down, clasping Sam’s with both of hers once again. Sam was still gasping from the exertion of the nightmare, but he was definitely much calmer and steadier now, and he closed his eyes for a moment as he looked at her, then opened them again, and seemed glad that she was still there. His eyes darted about the room a few times, and then his breathing finally evened out.
“Annie, he was here. He was here. He was here,” Sam continued to repeat it, over and over again, gasping and straining for breath, aware that he was panicking and unable to do anything to stop it. He felt tears burning in his eyes, trails of them making their way down his cheeks as he continued to gasp and sob, shivering with the force of the maddening panic that was still upon him.
“He’s not here now. Sam. Sam, listen to me, he’s not here now,” Annie felt fear grip her as she tried to steady Sam upon the bed, and she took his face between both of her hands, feeling his tears on her palms. She tried to turn his face so that he was looking at her, tried desperately to lock his eyes onto hers. “Sam. Calm down. It’s all right. He’s not here now,” Sam slowly started to breathe more evenly, the shivers and the tears abating gradually as he looked up into Annie’s eyes, and she nodded at him. “Good. That’s good. I’m here. We’ve got officers here on 24 hour watch. No one can hurt you now, all right? He’s not here now. I promise. It’s just me. Good. Calm down, that’s it, that’s right, nice and steady…” Eventually, Annie pulled away, and Sam was still, his face still turned towards her, but the fear slowly moving away from his eyes.
Sam tried to take a deep breath, and then blinked his eyes a few times, and realized that he’d been having some sort of a panic attack. He tried to focus on Annie, and not on what he had felt and heard and seen, until the importance of it dawned on him. “Annie, he was here. In the hospital room. Just… When I was asleep, I felt him, and I heard him. I know it was him,” Sam tried not to let the panic rise up in him as he said this, tried to think about how this information could be used, and anchored himself down, away from the fear and the panic and the desperation, by staring at Annie’s eyes. “Who was in the room?”
“The WPC’s that were here last night, they said that the only people in the room besides them were the nurses, and one of the doctors. I… I didn’t ask them which doctor…” Annie’s voice trailed off as she realized that she could have had a positive ID on the suspect, but that she’d failed to ask enough questions to get the information. If Maddie and Sarah had seen Barrie in the room that night, and if he’d asked to be alone with Sam, then they had enough to bring Barrie in; but Maddie and Sarah were already gone, and she’d have to wait to ask them, perhaps an entire day. It seemed far too long to wait, and Annie turned back to Sam. “Would you recognize him again? If you heard the voice again?”
Sam drew in a shuddering breath, “I think so. I recognized him just then, when I was asleep…” Sam tried to think of how long he could have been asleep, and how long it could have been since he’d felt the killer’s hands, heard the killer’s voice. He leaned back on the bed, wondering how in the hell a person could wake up feeling so tired, and trying to wrap his brain around what he knew. Gene had said that the doctor was one of their suspects, and that they had evidence that he had been here, but that they didn’t have enough evidence for a collar…
Sam felt Annie’s hands wrap around his again. “Then maybe you can make a positive ID later. That’s good, isn’t it?” Sam gave her a questioning look, unsure about the odd sound of defeat in her voice. She seemed to understand what he was wondering, “It’s all over the place, Sam. We don’t know whether we’re coming or going or which ways back and which ways front, there’s so much that fits, and so much that just doesn’t fit at all, and so many missing pieces…” He voice trailed off, and then she looked away for a moment before smiling at him. “But nothing else can happen to you, all right? The Gov’s got you under guard, day in and day out, and we’re going to find him, all right?”
“Annie… Case files? Did you bring the case files?” Sam’s voice creaked as he said it, and then he leaned forward and started to cough, and Annie helped him to get into a full sitting position and started to pat him, lightly, on the back, careful to avoid placing too much force on his ribs. Sam’s entire body shook with the force of the coughs, causing his ribs and back to ache horribly, and he tried to raise a hand and point towards his throat as he did so, hoping Annie would take the hint, and she did, eventually moving and grabbing one of the kidney shaped plastic bowls on the bedside table and bringing it forward, holding it so that it curved near his face.
“Are you going to be sick? I can get a nurse…” Annie started to say, but Sam stopped her by spitting thickly into the bowl and then leaning back, gasping, with a disgusted look on his face. “Oh,” she said, blushing, and then put the bowl back on the table, at the farthest point from them. She looked down at Sam, who as still trying to catch his breath and looking pointedly embarrassed.
“Sorry,” Sam said, and then tried to pull himself up slightly, finding that it was easier to do so than it had been the previous night. “Absolutely disgusting. I’m sorry,” he apologized again, and Annie shook her head and clasped his hand between hers again, sitting back down next to the bed and looking up at him.
“It’s nothing you can help, so there’s nothing to apologize for, all right? Just take your time and catch your breath,” Annie’s voice was stern but soft, and Sam grinned at the familiarity of it. Annie grinned back at him, and he tried to sit up straighter, and found that it was an impossible feat at the moment. He looked over at the table, and at the pitcher on it.
“Could you get me some water, Annie? And do you have the files? The Gov said you’d have the files,” Sam said, and Annie shook her head at him again as she stood and poured out a cup full of water from the pitcher, trying to avert her gaze from the kidney-shaped bowl as she did so. Sam looked slightly embarrassed by this again, so she quickly moved back to the other side of the bed, and held out the cup.
“Can you, I mean, if you need any help…” Annie wasn’t sure what to say, and Sam looked away from her for a moment, and then nodded. She held the cup to his lips, and he managed to lean forward and drink without any mishaps, and then leaned back again, averting his gaze and looking embarrassed once again. She set the cup down on the other chair next to her, and then looked over at Sam, who was looking at her again.
“The case? I need you to bring me up to speed on it,” Sam said, and Annie couldn’t help but smile as she shook her head at him.
“You don’t think it would be a better idea for you to rest for a few days before jumping in like this? You can’t exhaust yourself, you know,” Annie tried to be as stern as possible, but part of her was incredibly glad that Sam was joining them; not only could they use his help on the case, but it meant that her Sam was back.
“You just said you were having trouble with the case, Annie. Maybe I can help, see something that none of the rest of you see. I Just need to look over the files. Have you brief me on ‘em. It might bring back other memories, help me to get a positive ID,” Sam said, trying to smile at her, and knowing that it came out too forced. Sam tried to blot out the thought that the killer had been in the room with him, tried to ignore the idea that the person hunting him could have been present less than an hour ago, and decided that concentrating on the other details of the case was definitely the best course of action that he could take. He felt a strange niggling at the back of his brain, then, as another memory came flooding back to him, and he stared at Annie for a few moments, afraid to voice the question that was still floating around in the back of his head. “Annie… What’re your parents like?”
Annie gave him a confused look, and then looked at the ceiling for a moment, “Normal, I suppose. Dad’s a bit overprotective, Mum can’t stop asking me when I’m going to get married and have grandchildren, but besides that, I can’t really think of anything. They’re nice, I guess I could say,” She gave him a questioning look, “Why do you ask?”
Sam felt relief flood through him again. Somehow, his subconscious had managed not to mangle Annie’s past like it had those of the others, and he felt a wash of gratitude to whatever powers were governing this world over that. “No reason. Just… Just needed to know. That you had a happy childhood.”
Annie beamed at him, “Very happy, I guess, although none of the boys would let me play cricket with them when I wanted to, but I grew out of that when I hit my teens,” she said. Sam chuckled lightly at this, and Annie gave him a confused, albeit amused, look. “That a good thing?”
Sam smiled at her, “A very good thing,” he said, and Annie continued to smile at him. “Case,” he added, and she continued to smile as she shook her head and pulled an incredibly thick collection of folders out of her bag.
Gene, Ray, Chris, and Glen chose that moment to walk through the door, and Sam felt himself smiling widely at the sight of them. “Everyone’s here, then,” he said, and the others smiled back at him. “Not a word about him being here, not until tonight,” Sam whispered at Annie, who found that she wasn’t surprised at all that Sam wanted to wait to give this information to Gene; a rampage was not something that would help any of them at the moment. The other officers continued to crowd into the room, all of them glad to see Sam awake again. Ray seemed to be grinning from ear to ear, a fact that took Sam completely by surprise.
“Back in the action, then, Boss?” Ray asked, and he reached down past Annie and patted Sam on the shoulder as he did so. Sam wasn’t sure how to react to his, and was a bit glad when Ray moved back to allow Glen to come forward.
Glen raised a hand in greeting, “Good to see you awake, DI Tyler,” he said, and shoved his hands in his pockets.
“Mornin,’ Boss,” Chris’ raised his own hand as well, standing at the back of the group, and Sam tried to throw him a grin.
Gene came forward and clapped a hand on Sam’s shoulder, then nodded to the files in Annie’s lap. “Already got her sortin’ through the files, do you? Good. I want your take on this, and I’m going to take that statement from you, later this evening. Any questions? If you want me to inspect the nurses for you and make sure that you get the tastiest ones, I’m afraid I’m too busy running the investigation, but if you manage to come up with any new leads, I might be persuaded,” Sam somehow managed to laugh and give Gene a disgusted look at the same time, and Annie was obviously trying not to grin through her own look of distaste at Gene’s comment.
“Nah, soft git’ll be too busy trying to impress Cartwright, I’d imagine,” Ray said, and Sam shot him a dirty look.
“It’s not about impressing anyone, it’s about solving the case, you great troll,” he said, and Ray’s face split into a huge grin as Sam spat out the insult. Sam couldn’t help but smile back at him.
“For heaven’s sake, when will you two girls ever quit?” Gene hissed, although he couldn’t keep his own smile from his voice. Even Annie was smiling, although she couldn’t help but roll her eyes, and Glen seemed oddly amused at the exchange of insults between Ray and Sam.
Gene stood back and gave Sam what seemed like a satisfied look of appraisal, and then continued, “Right. The lads and I are down to Hyde, going to spend the morning looking into the art lead, and pop by the station over there, see if we can’t dig up any more on your past, all right? Ray’ll be in around noon; sorry if he’s a bit late, Cartwright, but if we latch onto anything juicy up there, we’re going to keep hold of it until something soddin’ well gives. You’ll have Skelton in with you from four to eight, and then I’ll be round to take your statement, and see if I can’t find any tasty nurses willing to come and give you a bit of a floor show, or at least a sponge bath, all right, Sammy-boy?” Sam grinned up at Gene and nodded, and then turned his head towards the files.
“I’ll make sure I’m briefed on everything, Gov, and I’ll try to have something new for you,” Sam said, and Gene grunted at him. A nurse walked in then, scowling at them.
“What on earth is going on? Are we having a private party in the ICU, Mr. Tyler? I’m sorry, but we can’t have this many visitors in at once, I’m going to have to ask all but one or two of you to leave, all right? Now clear out, come on, give the boy some room to breathe, all right? The lot of you, clear off, now,” she said, practically shoving Chris, Ray, and Glen out of the door and scowling darkly at Gene. She nodded at the pile of papers on Annie’s lap, “What’s all that supposed to be? You’re not setting the lad to work! He needs rest, not reading through all of this rubbish!”
“I asked for it,” Sam said, trying to give the nurse as pleading a look as he could, “I won’t work too hard; I just wanted some case files read to me. I’ll stop if I get tired, I promise,” Sam said, and both Annie and Gene tried to keep from smirking, knowing that for Sam, in this situation, too tired meant falling over dead. The nurse gave him a scornful look, and then shook her head, staring at the ceiling as she did so.
“All right, all right, but nothing too much. And you lot,” she waggled a finger at the group of officers huddled around the door to the room, “No more parties, not in here, and not once he’s moved. I know you police officers, work hard all day, play hard all night, and he’s not to have any of that while he’s recovering, do you understand me?” The lack of snide remarks and epithets made Gene long for his own nurse, whose name he couldn’t even remember, and he started to move towards the door.
“All right, all right, don’t worry, we’re clearing out. Lots of work to do, anyway, no need to go calling the matron or security or any of the other bitches you’ve got up your sleeve,” Gene said the last bit quickly and the nurse threw him a scathing look as the group left.
“Sorry about that; if it’s any consolation, you got the watered-down version of DCI Gene Hunt there,” Sam said, and the nurse gave him a disbelieving look, then shook her head.
“That man is an absolute nightmare,” She said, and Annie and Sam just gave her knowing looks as she waited for their responses. She gave an overly-dramatic, and obviously well-practiced, exasperated sigh, and then moved to check the charts at the foot of Sam’s bed. “And how are you feeling today, Mr. Tyler?” She asked, and the question came out just as well-practiced as her sigh.
“Better. I want to try to get up,” Sam said, and she shook her head.
“I’m afraid that’s for your doctor to decide, Dear, and probably a few days off. Doctor Barrie’s going to come in to see you this morning, and then Doctor Denslow’s actually going to be overseeing your movement to your new room,” she said, and Sam noticed Annie’s head jerk upwards when the nurse mentioned the name ‘Barrie.’ So that was the name of the suspect, then? He mentally filed it away, along with the name of the other doctor, and started to formulate questions to ask Annie, once the nurse finally left. She puttered about him for a few minutes, then pulled open the drawer in the table and retrieved a stethoscope, blood pressure cuff, and thermometer. She nodded towards the soiled bowl, “I’ll clear that out for you in just a moment, Dear,” she said, and Sam felt his patience with her waning. She spent some time taking and recording his vital signs, recorded them on the chart, and then picked up the bowl and made her way out of the room, pausing at the door, “A few of the girls will be in with your breakfast in about an hour, Dear,” she said as she exited.
“If she calls me ‘Dear’ one more time, I’m going to sic Gene on her,” Sam said quietly to Annie, and then the two of them grinned at each other. “Before we start, what’s the date?” Sam managed to keep from looking too embarrassed as he said this, although not knowing the date was mildly disconcerting.
“It’s the 23rd,” Annie said, and Sam nodded at her. He took this in, along with the dates that he could remember from the other killings, and realized that he’d been out of the loop for a full two weeks. He shook his head slightly at this, and tried to push himself up slightly on the bed, feeling his ribs and back ache as he did so. When he finally found a comfortable position, he looked over at Annie again.
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