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One minute, Maggie was chasing a suspect down an alley, her backup right behind her. The next, there was an impossibly loud bang. Her world collapsed around her. All it included was the white-hot pain of a bullet passing through her left thigh, and the audible crack of her femur as the force of the bullet broke it. She fell to the ground, sprawling forward, her momentum carrying her further, even as her leg collapsed beneath her.
She screamed in pain, clutching her leg, and passed out.
The next thing she was aware of was a paramedic prying her eye open and flashing a light at her. Her leg was still on fire.
"Hey there, Detective," the young man said, "we've got you. We're en route to the hospital."
She couldn't move; they must have strapped her down to the gurney. She couldn't lift her head to see the injury. "How bad?" she croaked.
"It's, uh, well, not great, Detective," he said.
She grunted in acknowledgment. "Details?"
"The suspect shot you."
"I'm aware," she said, teeth clenched. This was definitely one of the worst days of her life.
"Oh. Uh, well, right, so the bullet hit your left leg, breaking your femur. We're not sure if there's more damage to the bone. You'll probably need surgery."
"Great," she muttered. "Hurts."
"The drugs should kick in soon," he said. "And we're almost at the hospital. You should rest."
It sounded like a good idea, so she let her eyes close.
***
Maggie wasn't sure where she was when she woke up with a jerk. The pain of moving her leg radiated throughout her entire body. "Fuck," she breathed, everything coming back to her in a blur.
She looked around, grimacing as she tried not to move her left leg. The hospital. Right, she was at the hospital. They had changed her, as she was wearing a hospital gown, hooked up to an IV and, to her horror, as she lifted the sheets, a catheter.
"Ugh."
Maggie lifted the sheets more, allowing her to look at her leg. She'd probably already been in surgery, given that her leg was in a hard, plaster cast. She let the sheet drop. That it would be a long road to health was the last thing she thought as she fell back to sleep.
***
When next she awoke, it was to a bunch of doctors walking out the door. Morning rounds, she deduced.
"Well, good morning, Detective Sawyer," a nurse said to her. "How are you feeling?"
"Mmph," was her reply.
"I'll bet," the older woman replied, smiling. "Thirsty?"
Maggie nodded, and the nurse fetched her a cup of fresh ice water with a straw.
"Here you go, dear," she said, holding the cup for Maggie. "Just sip it, now."
The water tasted better than anything she'd ever tasted. She forced herself to just take a small sip, but nothing had ever refreshed her more. She took two more quick sips and then nodded, the nurse putting it down on the hospital bed table within reach. "Good?"
She just nodded again.
"Well, I'll be back to check on you in a bit, dear," the nurse said. "I'm Gloria, by the way."
"Maggie," she croaked.
"Nice to meet you, Maggie. You rest up. I'll be back later."
Maggie smiled as the nurse left the room. She was cheerful, but not annoying. She could only hope Gloria represented the rest of the staff at the hospital.
***
The rest of the staff was not as nice as Gloria, much to Maggie's dismay. Even the lead doctor on her case, she hadn't caught her name, seemed cold and dismissive, leaving Maggie in a wicked mood the next day. At least she'd let her know what they'd done to her leg.
The bullet had passed through her rectus femoris, part of her quads, hitting her femur, which had broken. In fact, the part of it that had stopped the bullet had shattered, along with the bullet. The surgery had taken several hours to not only clean out the debris from her leg, but then also put in a steel rod and two steel plates. She was apparently lucky to have the bullet hit not too far above the knee, or else she would have had a cast up to her hip.
The worst part of it was that Maggie was mostly forbidden to walk for the next month, at the very least, as the bone healed. Weekly x-rays would ensure her thigh bone was healing appropriately. She'd be doing some physical therapy but would mostly be confined to bed.
On the bright side, since the injury happened on duty, her treatment and her stay at the hospital, no matter how long it ended up being, were both covered. She contacted her ex-girlfriend, Emily, to go to her apartment and pick up a few things — some clothes, her toothbrush, deodorant, some books and her laptop. If she was stuck in the hospital for at least a month, there were a few things she'd need.
Emily had not taken the news of her being shot very well. She had let Maggie know in quite a lot of loud, choice words that this was exactly why they hadn't worked out. The words "stupid" and "reckless" and "idiotic" had been thrown about and Maggie, throughout it all, tried to let the words roll off her back. Unfortunately, she was certain that the entire floor had heard Emily yelling. She caught sight of her lead doctor as Emily stormed off.
The doctor watched Emily leave and then poked her head into the room. "That was… loud," she commented.
Maggie gave a grim smile. "Ex-girlfriend," she said by way of explanation.
"Ah," said the doctor. She frowned and opened her mouth to say something, then shut it.
"No, no, say it. C'mon," Maggie said. "I can take it."
"I, uh, was just wondering why your, um, ex-girlfriend was here."
Maggie shrugged. "The landlord at my place knows her and would let her in to go pick up a few things." She pointed at the duffel bag and laptop case on the visitor's chair.
"Got it," she nodded. "Well, uh, I hope… you don't have to see her again for a while?" she tried.
That got Maggie to chuckle. "Yeah, same here. But I figured hey, she's already seen me while camping, without showering for two weeks. So unlike some of my coworkers and friends, I wouldn't need to put on an act or worry about how I looked."
"Smart," the doctor nodded. "Well, I was just coming by to say we'll take you down for some x-rays tomorrow, just make sure everything's okay."
"Thanks," she said.
The doctor turned to go.
"Hey, hang on a sec."
"I should go check on another patient," the doctor said, turning back.
"I didn't catch your name yesterday."
"Oh." She cleared her throat and came into the room. "Dr. Alex Danvers," she said, holding out her hand.
"Nice to meet you, Dr. Danvers," Maggie said, taking her hand and shaking it. "Even though you've seen my insides."
She laughed at that. "Well, it's nice to meet you too, Detective Sawyer. Officially."
"Maggie, please," she said. "I mean, I can't not be on a first-name basis with someone who put my leg back together, right?"
Dr. Danvers smiled. "Right." She released Maggie's hand. "I'm gonna go check on that patient. I'll see you during morning rounds tomorrow."
"Thanks, Doc," she said. With that, the doctor turned and walked out the door and down the hallway, leaving Maggie unsure what to think about her. She was much warmer, more personable than she'd been the day before. And she was cute. Maggie smiled to herself. Maybe being stuck in the hospital for a month wouldn't be so bad if it meant seeing more of Dr. Alex Danvers.
***
The next day, Dr. Danvers and a group of interns showed up for morning rounds.
"Davis, present," instructed her doctor.
A young black man nodded and started explaining her case.
"Anything else?" Dr. Danvers asked, once he'd stopped outlining the history.
"Oh, right, uh, imaging from yesterday shows the rod and plates are holding steady and we expect that the patient will make a full recovery."
"Good to know," Maggie grinned.
The doctor grinned back at her. "How are you feeling?"
"Grumpy," she admitted. "The patient wifi is slow."
Dr. Danvers nodded. "I'll check in with you after rounds."
Maggie watched the doctor herd her interns to the next room and wondered what her doctor had in store for her.
While she didn't see Dr. Danvers again, Gloria brought a note with her from the doctor.
Use the doctor's wifi, it's faster. The password is NATGEN38.
- Dr. Danvers
She connected to the network without issue and smiled. Chalk up another point in the doctor's favour.
***
A week later, they finally let Maggie have a shower. Gloria had helped her into the shower and gave her the hand-held showerhead once she'd put her down into the waterproof chair. She'd also wrapped up Maggie's cast in plastic to keep it from getting wet.
Never in her life had Maggie enjoyed a shower as much as she did that one. It was better than a shower after two weeks spent camping with Emily, better than the best tiramisu she'd ever eaten, better than the best sex she'd ever had. It was amazing. Gloria helped her to dry off and then brought her back to her bed, where she had just replaced the sheets. Considering she had two steel plates and a rod in her leg and still couldn't really walk, Maggie felt like a million bucks.
She was watching an episode of The L Word reboot when she glimpsed Dr. Danvers at the door.
"Hey," she said, hitting pause and taking out her earbuds. "What's up, Doc?" She grinned.
"Really? I give you the employee wifi password and you greet me with that?" She scoffed. "Maybe I should tell them to change the password…"
Maggie laughed. "Sorry, I couldn't resist."
"Try real hard, next time," Dr. Danvers warned her with a smile. She looked at her, a frown on her face.
"What?"
"Did you do something with your hair?" she teased.
"They let me shower," she drawled. "It's clean, for once."
"It looks good," the doctor smiled. "So what are you watching on the good wifi?"
"Oh, uh…" She cleared her throat. "The, um, well, it's a reboot or sequel or something of an old show."
"Mad About You?"
"No…"
"Murphy Brown? Will and Grace?"
"Not those either."
"Well?"
"Uh, The L Word." While the doctor knew Maggie was queer, thanks to the whole Emily visit, Maggie was a little uncomfortable leaning into her orientation so fully. All the doctor knew about her was she was queer, she was a cop, and now she knew that she watched gay TV shows. Could she be more of a stereotype?
"They rebooted it?"
"You know of it?" That was an interesting nugget of information.
"Bette and Tina forever," the doctor replied.
"I feel the same way!" Maggie laughed. The doctor had to be queer, didn't she? What straight person would even know who Bette and Tina were?
"Well, I'll let you get back to your show. I just wanted to say that you might want to increase your calcium intake a bit. It'll help your leg to heal faster," she said.
"Is it not healing right?"
"Oh, it is, it's just slow. True, the hospital food is, uh… questionable," she chuckled, "but I promise it won't poison you."
"More calcium, all right, Doc, got it."
"Enjoy the show," she smiled, and walked out of the room, leaving Maggie to wonder.
***
The next day, with her lunch, came two ice-cream cups. She blinked. "Gloria?"
"Yes, hon?"
"Why is there ice cream on my tray?"
"Doctor's orders!" she said, cheerfully.
"Oh, uh, I'm lactose intolerant, so you might want to bring these to a kid who just got their tonsils out or something," she said, holding them out.
"Oh dear," said Gloria, "will do."
"Thanks." As she ate her rather bland lunch, she thought about it. Did Dr. Danvers send her ice cream? Nah, she decided.
***
"Are you allergic to nuts? Almonds?" Dr. Danvers asked from the doorway.
"What?"
"I said, are you allergic to nuts? Specifically almonds?"
"No…"
"Good," she smiled, and pulled two large snack bags of almonds out from behind her back. "Almonds are a great source of calcium, particularly if you can't have dairy."
Maggie grinned. "So it was you who added the ice cream?"
"I can neither confirm, nor deny," she smiled, putting one bag of almonds down on the dresser and the other on the table attached to Maggie's bed.
"Thank you," she said, opening up the bag and offering the doctor some.
"No thanks," she said. "So how are you feeling?"
"Physio today was brutal," she admitted.
"What's the difference between terrorists and physical therapists?"
Maggie frowned. "What?"
"You can negotiate with terrorists."
She laughed. "That's awful, but I am so telling Mike that at tomorrow's session."
"Good stuff. See you during rounds tomorrow," the doctor said, standing.
"See you, Doc. And thanks again."
She smiled, and then she was gone.
***
Just about five weeks after having had surgery, Maggie was finally being released. She could get around well enough with crutches, thanks to the ambitious physio routines Mike had come up with. She was sitting on the bed, packing up her personal items when the doctors came by for rounds.
"Reid, present," Dr. Danvers said.
"Detective Maggie Sawyer, GSW to left thigh five weeks and two days ago. The bullet tore through her rectus femoris and broke the femoral shaft, about two inches above the distal femur. Surgery cleared out the bone and bullet fragments, and Dr. Danvers placed a rod and two steel plates. Detective Sawyer has been doing aggressive physical therapy to prevent muscle waste and to help minimize her time off her feet. The latest scans show better than average healing rate of the fractures, likely because of increased calcium intake."
"It's all the almonds," she said.
Dr. Danvers smiled at that.
"Anything else, Reid?"
"Detective Sawyer is being discharged today. Regular radiography to occur at two-week intervals for the next eight weeks, physical therapy daily for the next two weeks and then the schedule will be up to her physical therapist."
"Thank you, Reid. Everyone, move on to the next patient, I'll catch up," Dr. Danvers said.
"What's up, Doc?" teased Maggie, once the interns and such had shuffled out of the room.
Despite herself, the doctor laughed. "I was just going to say that, uh, I'm glad you're doing better and can go home."
Maggie raised an eyebrow. "Is that it?"
Dr. Danvers cleared her throat. "No, that's not it. I've, uh, I wanted you to know that I've asked a colleague of mine to take on your case."
Her face fell. "What? Why?"
"Because, it's…" She blew out a breath. "Because it's not professional to treat someone you're dating. Or, uh, someone you want to be dating."
Maggie grinned, and she knew her dimples were showing. "And you want to be dating me?"
"If that's something you'd like," she said shyly, blushing a little. Over the last five weeks, Maggie had seen small moments of vulnerability from the doctor, but nothing like this.
"Oh, it's something I'd like," murmured Maggie, reaching out for the doctor's hand. She took it and Maggie pulled her to sit on the bed with her. "Friday night? 7?"
"Sounds perfect."
Maggie leaned in, slowly, carefully, giving the doctor every opportunity to pull away. They were so close that they were breathing the same air. "I have been wanting to do this," Maggie whispered.
"Me too."
With that, Maggie pressed her lips against the doctor's, feeling something within her chest burst into a pleasant warmth when she kissed her back. They kissed for a moment or two before the doctor pulled away. "I should go," she said, with regret. "Here's my cell," she said, handing Maggie a paper. "Text me?"
She accepted it and stole another kiss. "Count on it, Doc."
"I think you can call me Alex," she smiled, as she stood and headed out.
"Alex," she said, softly. She liked how the name felt on her tongue.
***
Years later, Maggie stood up straight and tall at the table, ready to give her speech.
"As most of you know, I got shot in the line of duty a while back. While I lay there, on the cold, hard pavement, my leg on fire, my last thought before I passed out was that this was the worst day of my life." She cleared her throat and continued. "I made a full recovery, thanks to the hospital staff, especially my physiotherapist, Mike. Dude, I love you to death, but I have never hated someone as much as I hated you in those first few days!"
The assembled crowd laughed, and Mike stood and took a bow.
Maggie grinned. "So yeah, it was the most terrifying, painful thing that had ever happened to me. And then I met Dr. Alex Danvers, the brilliant surgeon who fixed my leg. She wooed me with faster wifi access, attempted to give me ice cream without knowing I was lactose intolerant…" She grinned. "And then kept me stocked up on almonds to increase my calcium intake throughout my stay at the hospital." Maggie looked over at Alex, who was gazing up at her adoringly. She was radiant. "Over the last three years, Alex has been at my side as I learned how to walk again with my reconstructed femur. She's been there as I complained about being on desk duty at work. Alex has been there as Mike tortured me with more physio… And, of course, she's been on this journey with me as we fell madly, totally and completely in love with one another." She swallowed, getting a little emotional. "And today, she was by my side as we both walked back up the aisle, surrounded by you, our dear friends and family." She beamed and looked over at Alex again. "Alex, thank you for coming into my life. I never thought I'd be thankful for being shot. But it brought me to you. I'd go through it all over again without hesitation if it meant meeting you. I love you. To Alex!" she said, raising her glass.
Alex stood, a vision of beauty in her white dress, and kissed Maggie thoroughly, to a cacophony of hoots and hollers and cheers. As she lost herself in the softness of Alex's kiss, she affirmed to herself that it was true; she would go through it all again just to end up here, today, with Alex in her arms.