Loss 7/7

Chapter Seven:

Visiting Don had taken so much out of Terry that the nurses refused to let her go again until the next day. She was impatient with them and for good reason. Charlie had come by to let her know Don had woken up and started talking so she desperately wanted to see him now.

As the nurse wheeled her in again, Alan and Charlie discreetly got up and left to give her and Don some privacy. Once the nurse left, they were alone again.

"You all right?" Don asked. "David told me what happened with Wilbur."

"You don't remember anything?"

Don shook his head. "I remember we were working a case but I don't remember anything about being on Haller Lane at all. The doctor said it's not uncommon to lose a little short term memory and that I shouldn't worry about it."

Terry nodded, wishing she could have been lucky enough to forget those horrible moments.

"You remember, don't you?" Don picked up on her silence immediately.

"Yeah," she replied. "We parked, went up to the house, and knocked. Wilbur called out to ask who was at the door and when you said you were a Federal agent, he fired a shotgun blast through the door at us. We both got blown back and ended up flat on our backs on the walkway. I saw Wilbur run out but I wasn't in any shape to stop him."

Don reached over and took Terry's hand, the sadness on his face told him how he felt about her having to go through this without his help.

"At first I wasn't sure what had happened," she continued, running through the replay in her mind. "It didn't hurt for some strange reason and I was still dazed from hitting my head on the pavement. Then I saw the blood on my hand from my side and that kind of woke me up. I turned my head and saw you next to me. Oh god, Don there was so much blood..." her voice began to tremble as the visuals came back to her.

"Terry, Terry..." Don's voice was full of caring and concern. He shifted over to the side of his bed and beckoned to her. "Come up here, okay?"

Terry stood carefully and climbed up on the bed to lie down next to Don. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her to him. She lay her head on his chest, careful not to get too close to his bandages.

"You weren't moving at all," she continued once she felt a little stronger. "I couldn't tell if you were breathing or not. I knew we didn't have much time so I pulled out my cell and called for help. I'm not sure how much I was able to tell them before I lost consciousness but evidently they found us and the carjack victim when they got there."

"David told me he didn't make it," Don said.

Terry nodded and tried not to cry at the thoughts that brought back to her.

Don felt her trying to stifle her sobs. "Hey, it's okay, Terry. Everything's okay now."

"Don... When I first woke up..." Terry was no longer able to hold back her feelings. "I asked about you. The nurse said she'd seen another shotgun blast victim in the ER and that... that it was you and you were dead."

"No!" Don held her closer and kissed the top of her head. "That wasn't me!"

"I know that now. She made a mistake and thought the carjack victim was you since you looked similar in coloring. I didn't even know Wilbur had carjacked anyone until later when David came to see me."

Terry sat up a little so she could look at Don. "I was sure you were dead. I... Don, I couldn't breathe when I thought you were gone... I..." Terry wasn't able to go on, her anguish at the thought was too great.

"Hey... No, it's okay..." Don shushed her as she began to cry and kissed her on the forehead. As her tears slowed, he kissed her temple and then her cheek. Finally, he looked her in the eye and said, "I would never leave you." He leaned in as Terry rose to meet him and they kissed, gently at first, then as their past connection came back to them, more passionately.

As they separated, they smiled at each other in understanding. "Any weirdness?" Don asked with a chuckle.

"No weirdness, Don. Just history," Terry said, echoing her words from several weeks earlier.

"Can I trade that in for no weirdness and a future?" Don asked.

Terry smiled at him. "That's an upgrade I've been hoping for for a long time," she admitted.

Don grinned. "Me too. I guess it took almost losing you to make me see it though."

Terry kissed him again, ready to start making up for lost time.

"You could never lose me, Don."