23 Beep Beep

The steady beep, beep, of a machine wakes me up.

"Uhhh, I don't want to go to work..." I groan.

I feel like I am experiencing the worst hangover of my life. My head throbs, my nose and mouth feel horrible, my stomach hurts and I'm struggling to open my eyes to turn off the alarm.

"Baby?! Sam! Samantha! NURSE! SHE'S AWAKE!" Ethan's hollering has me groaning again.

'Nurse? Why is he calling a nurse?'

Suddenly, everything comes back to me and my eyes are struggling to open, but I can crack them open, as I struggle to move to sit up.

"Oh my god! AH!" I start to scream, my side feels like it's on fire or I've been stabbed. Suddenly, someone comes and takes my arms.

I resist and try to push them off, causing more pain in my side,"NO! LET ME GO! NO! AH! OW!"

"SAM! It's me it's Ethan! You're okay, baby! You are safe!" Ethan tries to reassure me but it takes a few minutes of him talking before I can start breathing calmer. My eyes open in watery pain, staring at a blurry Ethan who's crying too as he holds me. When the female nurse comes in, I'm still sobbing, clutching to Ethan.

The nurse calmly asks me to lay back, helping me as Ethan let's me but remains holding onto my hand. She starts informing me that I am here at the hospital, recovering from surgery for a gun shot wound. I am still kind of confused, until she pulls my hospital gown up to check if I pulled my staples or if it was bleeding.

"You're fine, I'm going to let the officer in here so he can take her statement though. That way he's not bothering us and she can get it over with and rest." The nurse informed Ethan, who just nodded in response.

"How long have I been out?" I ask Ethan, clutching his hand.

"It's been about twelve hours now." Ethan strokes my hair as the officer comes in.

"Hello, I'm Officer Davis. I'm sorry to bother you at this moment, but unfortunately I have to do my job. You are a very lucky young lady. Your name is Samantha, correct?" He's holding a voice recorder with a notepad in one hand, as he slides a chair over to sit in. It scrapes loudly across the hospital linoleum, screeching in protest, before he stops it right next to the bedside.

"Sam. I prefer Sam." I say hoarsely, making Ethan grab a cup of water that is by the bedside, letting me sip off the straw. I flash him a thankful grimace, as I sit back, feeling the stinging pain in my side from the gunshot.

"Alright, Sam. Ethan here has already turned over all the evidence collected by you all, but I still need your statement, so if you can just start from the beginning of where you come into all this, I'd appreciate it. The more you're able to tell me, the less likely you'll have to attend a trial, if this even goes that far. These guys tried to steal a lot of money from Jim and the fact that one of them shot you and the other attacked with a deadly weapon, well they're going to prison regardless. So I doubt it will make it that far, but just in case."

I nod to the officer and turn my attention to Ethan as a thought comes to mind, "Before we start, is Mark okay?" I ask Ethan, who nods.

"He's has a concussion and a nasty headache, but doctors said he'll be fine. His sister came and picked him up, Pa is staying with them at the moment."

I nod, "Okay, officer Davis. Where should I start?" I turn to him.

"Just start from the beginning, and you can take as long as you need to explain a situation. I may pause you and ask you a question or two, but I'll let you continue afterwards." He says reassuringly and I can see the warmth and kindness in his eyes which helps encourage me.

Nodding with a reaffirmed smile, I start. "Before we knew about Pa's situation, I was living in California..."

.....

I reiterated everything I could, up till the last thing I could remember. Which was hearing one of the dogs barking.

"What happened after you pointed the shotgun at John?" I asked Ethan after the officer had left.

"Well, when we get home, we're going to be cooking Tucker and Rocket filet mignon, for as long as they want. Tucker barked, causing John to look away, and Rocket bit his arm, tugging the gun barrel away from your head when it went off." Ethan shakes his head as he takes a few breaths.

His voice still cracks and grows weak as he tells me, "Those dogs saved your life. He barely nicked your liver, but the surgeon said he didn't find any bullet fragments and since the bullet exited through your back that it wasn't bad. He cauterized your liver, drained the blood from your stomach cavity, and sewed you up. He says you are lucky and you're going to make a full recovery as long as we make sure it doesn't get infected."

He sighs, placing a kiss on my forehead. "I'm sorry, I wasn't down there sooner. I was helping Pa get down and had to grab the shotguns from the mule."

Ethan's hands are shaking, that hold onto my shoulders. His voice breaks, "I.." He clears his throat, "I almost lost you, forever." He backs up and his eyes, brimming with so much emotion, have me choking back my own sob.

My throat felt swollen, and my breath caught, "I thought, I was never going to see you again, too. I was so scared, Ethan."

My sobs cause my wound to start to burn from the pain, like a blazing fire from my side, making me gasp and squeeze Ethan's hand. I'm trying to focus on calming down, but it hurts so bad. I don't even hear Ethan's voice until something cold enters my IV and slowly the agony starts to fade, along with my consciousness.

Ethan is talking to me the whole time as I struggle to stay awake.

"Don't worry baby. You're safe now, I'm not going anywhere."

I want to listen to his voice, but all I can seem to focus on is the beeping of the monitors as everything turns black from behind my eyelids.

*BEEP-BEEP*

...

*BEEP-BEEP*

My eyes flutter open, hearing the alarm on my phone going off, letting me know that it's time.

I smile into the mirror that I'm sitting in front of. Rachel, Mark's sister, places the last piece in my hair, and has me stand up.

"You're so beautiful, Sam. Ethan is going to stop breathing when he sees you!" She claps her hands together, along with Ethan's cousin Dawn, who I have actually grown close to, over the past year.

When I came home from the hospital she stayed with us to help out with grandpa for a few weeks. We had needed the help moving into Ethan's childhood home, the Victorian, that Grandpa insisted we move into.

His words were, "It's time we start filling it back up with new, happy memories, like your parents and grandma would want."

So slowly over those few weeks, Dawn, Henry (Dawn's husband), Mark, his sister Rachel, Ethan and I, hauled the animals and stuff we needed from the log cabin, and moved to the other house. Only this time, Pa had us move into the master upstairs.

That's where I am right now, upstairs in our master bedroom, all dolled up, looking at myself in the mirror. I almost don't recognize myself. The woman looking back at me in the mirror is radiating with happiness and looks nothing like the grieving girl when I first met Ethan and Pa.

"Sam, are you ready?" Pa's voice shakes as he looks me up and down, tears forming in his eyes, "You look beautiful, my girl."

My smile widens, even as tears form in my own eyes and my heart swells with emotions. "Pa! Don't start or I'm going to ruin Dawn and Rachels hard work here." I sniffle, grabbing a tissue to blot my eyes.

He offers his arm and I take it, while Rachel and Dawn head downstairs. We're at the top of the stairs when the music starts, making Pa and I, descend the stairs, watching Dawn, then Rachel exit.

We get to the front door and a small crowd of friends and the few family members Ethan has left are there outside. Some of my friends from LA came and even my cousin who made amends with me, showed up from California. My heart is beating like crazy seeing everyone there, with huge grins on their faces.

I feel my palms start to sweat around the bouquet of wildflowers in my hand. My anxiety grows as all these eyes fall on me.

Pa's firm grip on my arm helps center me though.

Pa whispers under his breath, "Look at Ethan, it helps."

He pats my hand on his arm as I whisper a thank you back.

Looking to the arch entwined with white chiffon and more wild flowers, I finally lock eyes with Ethan who stands there, proudly, full of joy. The look on his face is one filled with awe, making my heart swell with so many emotions.

His eyes tell me I love you, before he even mouths the words to me. I mouth it right back, knowing my cheeks are tender, already hurting from all the smiling I'm doing. It's a pain I'm willing to bear though.

Pa escorts me down to Ethan, where the justice of the peace stands waiting to unite us as husband and wife. This day was no surprise to anyone who knows us, if anything they wanted to know what took us so long already.

Well, it's hard to believe that just two and half years ago, we were all strangers. Now, we're a family, and later, Ethan will get to find out, we are expecting a little stranger of our own. I'm saving that for later tonight though, privately just between us, as I'm only a few weeks along.

I can hardly believe it, Dad. You were right. 'Do what makes me happy, and everything will turn out all right'.

I hardly realize how fast time flies when you're happy, because the next thing I realize is the Justice of the Peace announcing to everyone, "I now pronounce you, husband and wife."

A/N: I hope all those who have read any of my stories have enjoyed them. I do appreciate any and all comments, reviews, even constructive criticism. (✿◡‿◡)

Thank you, ~Mara~ ᓚᘏᗢ