Chapter Text
The beeping got louder, so fucking loud. Why was there a beeping? Had she gone to hell? Fuck. Now something was blinding her. It was like the worst hangover ever. What the fuck was this? Oh God, she wanted to vomit. Next thing she knew she started coughing. Jesus Christ, her throat hurt like a bitch and it was dry like a dessert. What on earth did she do last night?
“Palmer?” Someone was leaning over her. Riggs? What was he doing here? What kind of freak bender had they been on? Of course it was all his fault. No, wait a minute. He wasn’t supposed to be here. No, she wasn’t supposed to be here, Riggs was. What the hell was going on? She tried to ask him but all that came out was a grunt and then there was more coughing.
“Don’t try to talk okay? You’ve had a tube down your chest. Here, have some water.” Riggs held a cup to her mouth and the cool liquid was like life to her.
“Careful, just sip it.” Since when was she sipping anything? God! She tried to move her arm to grip the cup but she discovered it was almost an impossible task.
“Just lie back. I’m gonna go get the nurse. Okay?” He was looking at her with his warm brown eyes, a little wet from emotion, and it was the most beautiful thing she’d even seen. Riggs chuckled.
“Okay, good girl.” He kissed her forehead and Palmer thought life was pretty good after all. A prince had woken her up, a prince with a mustache. Ha! That was so funny.
Riggs came back in with a nurse in tow. He was still smiling at her. He was so handsome. The nurse looked between them and snickered.
“Okaay, hello there. I’m Nurse Sally. Can you please tell me your name?”
“K… Karen.” She swallowed. Damn, talking was hard.
“Good. Can you tell me what year you were born, Karen?”
“1980,” she croaked out. The nurse nodded and smiled at her while checking her pulse.
“Do you know where you are?”
Palmer looked around for the first time. It was a hospital.
“Hospital.”
“That’s correct. Do you know what happened to you?”
What a stupid question! That was what she wanted to know. She tried to think back. Riggs’ worried face flashed before her eyes. Gunshots echoing. Oh.
“I was shot?” She wasn’t sure, but logic told her that.
“Yes, you were shot. The bullet hit your spleen after piercing your ribcage but we managed to save it. We had to put you in an induced coma though. You have been asleep for a week.”
A week? She looked at Riggs who were hanging back at the door. He nodded his confirmation at her. Shit.
“How do you feel, Karen?”
“Shit.” Seriously, it was the only word to described it. Riggs snorted. The nurse waved him over to the bed.
“I want you to drink some more water, Karen, and then I’ll come back in a while to see how it goes, okay?” She nodded at the nurse. She wanted more water.
“If you can help her, Mr. Riggs?” The nurse asked him before walking out.
“Sure.” Riggs tried to smooth his now ridiculously long curls behind his ears. He pushed his shirt sleeves up and brought the cup for her to drink again, but he paused just before he reached her mouth, caught in her eyes.
“Hi.”
“Hey.” She smiled at him. He smiled back. And then he remembered his task and carefully put one hand behind her head and the other tipping the cup for her. She drank up all the water and sighed contently, lying back again. She looked at him. The curls had fallen in front of his face again.
“You really need a haircut, Riggs,” she wheezed. Riggs laughed at her.
“That’s your first comment? Oh goodie! You’re gonna be just fine, Palmer.”
“Yeah, I know. You told me.” Her eyes widened. He had actually told her that. Images and sounds started to flood her mind. She felt nauseous again.
“Hey, you okay?” Riggs asked softly. She nodded. She remembered. The cold asphalt, thinking this was the end, looking up at his frantic eyes. She started hyperventilating.
“Hey, relax, take it easy! It all worked out okay, yeah?” Riggs was stroking her hair and held her hand, trying to ground her. “Deep breaths, Karen. In and out.” She looked at him. He normally didn’t use her first name. She normally didn’t use his, but she mimicked his breathing and she started to feel calmer again. She could have died. It must have been close.
“I thought…” She began.
“Yeah, I know. It was close. You really scared me there for a while.” He filled in.
“Mm, me too. I didn’t want to go,” she sobbed.
“You didn’t.” He kept caressing her head, smiling at her. It felt so good. She closed her eyes for a moment. She was still here. Thank God! Tears spilled over her eyes and she felt Riggs breath come closer to hers as he kissed them away. There was something different with him, she realized. She could feel him leaning back again and she opened her eyes.
Riggs sat back in the chair next to her bed, still connected to her by one hand in hers. As she turned her head towards him, something shiny caught the corner of her eyes. She turned her head some more to be able to focus her eyes at the object and it was a golden wedding band placed on her bedside table. Riggs must have seen her confused look.
“Yeah, um…” He picked up the ring. “I need to tell you something.”
Now Karen felt even more confused, and frankly a little scared.
“See, this is not my wedding ring.” He held it up between his thumb and index finger. She stared at it and then at him.
“What are you talking about?” Honestly, what was this?
Riggs cleared his throat. “I bought this at a pawnshop. I lost the real one in the ocean.”
“What? When?”
“Some months ago.”
She looked at him with surprise.
“I know, but I just couldn’t let go. I felt so lost without it.”
Oh. She knew what he was talking about, that nakedness. Like freefalling into a new reality that you couldn’t handle yet. Riggs was focusing on the ring, deep in thought. She squeezed his hand.
“It’s okay, been there.”
Riggs looked at her again. “Yeah, I guess you have.” His smile came back. “Anyway, I wanted to tell you that I don’t need it anymore.”
Ooh! Palmer stared at him. He was dead serious. She swallowed down a lump in her throat.
“So yeah. I don’t know what to do with this now. Give it to someone who needs it better I guess,” Riggs said looking bashful.
You lovable doofus of a man, Palmer thought and tears began falling again, against her will.
“Oh, okay.” She was speechless, but then a thought hit her.
“Did I really have to almost die for you to figure that out?” she said hoarsely and rolled her eyes at him. She tried to keep a straight face but her smile broke through, tears and everything.
Riggs didn’t laugh. “Sorry,” he said instead.
That wasn’t the reaction she wanted. She shook her head slowly, unable to stop smiling at him.
“Hey, stop it. I don’t blame you for a single thing. You saved my life, as usual.” She winked at him. “We’re good like that.” She tugged at his hand for him to come closer to her. He put the ring in his pocket and leaned over.
“Yes, we are.” He grinned at her before kissing her sweetly on the lips. She savored every millisecond of it. He pulled back but stayed close to her, leaning carefully against the hospital bed.
“So…” she began, gazing into his eyes dancing with mirth. “We’re dating now or what?”
“You bet.”