Night Blood Chapter 3 A surprise visit from the former C.I.A. operative causes dangerous backlashes onto the Parson and her husband.

The Colonel, not so gently, swung the barely conscious man onto the couch in the Pastor's office. Silently, Annie got the church's first aid kit which was sorely missing many items and definitely inadequate. Casey ripped off Reese's black suit coat, now hardened with his caked blood and reached for the desk scissors to rip the shirt open.

"Stay with me, numb nuts, stay with me." Casey growled as he shook Reese to keep the injured agent awake. "Parson, get my first aid kit from the Crown Vic. And I am definitely going to order the Board of Elders to update their pathetic first aid kit here at the church."

Casey continued to dab at the bullet hole and grabbing a bottled water off her wife's desk, he poured the water into the deep would, flushing the caked blood away. Reese gritted his teeth, clutching the fabric of the couch tightly between his fists.

"Still.." he groaned as the Colonel probed the wound, and tilted the operative slightly to check for exit holes. "Got that ungodly boat of yours, Colonel?" Reese's grey blue eyes kept staring at the large man hovering over him, trying to read the truth in the real story of how bad his wounds were in the sky blues of the former N.S.A. agent.

Casey paused, a small grin on his lips. "Better than that pansy puddle jumper Town Car your boss insists on driving." He shook his head, slightly, "it's bad, Reese. You need a doctor. The bullet is imbedded near your left collar bone, and it is way beyond my skill set."

"No doc…dear God, please… not safe…Elias." Reese gritted his teeth as he tried to get up from the low couch he was lying on. The Colonel instantly easily pushed him down, and leaned into Reese's face.

"You and I both know you couldn't kneecap a flea right now, so get it out of your head you are leaving this lovely face of mine for a while. Elias and I go way back, John, and I know for some reason the s.o.b. likes you, but I am sure his co-hort Marconi would gut you in a bat of your eye. So, for right now I intend to do what I can to keep you breathing. Now let me have the whole shirt off and as soon as I get that kit from the car, you and I, buddy, have a date with a scalpel."

Reese glanced up at the doorway, where the Parson was standing with the first aid kit, in one hand, and a small baggie full of twinkling rocks in the other. He winked at her, and then tried to help the Colonel get his no longer pristine white shirt off. "You know, Colonel," he gasped at the pull on his ribs, his lungs screaming out for additional air. "I always wanted to have a date with the N.S.A.'s meanest man known to humanity." Just the movement made the whole room twirl, and Reese's eyes begin to roll back.

"No, no, no you don't Reese." The Colonel shook Reese one more time awake, and then looked up as the Parson passed him the kit. His eyes stopped, hovering over John's chest, streaked with blood and sweat.

"What's that you got, Annie?" Casey rose and reached out to take the baggie from her. He held it up to the overhead fluorescents, and the rocks glistened as they caught the light.

"John Reese, why is there a bad of diamonds out in the church parking lot?" Annie stepped over to the prone man on the couch, searching his face. Reese closed his eyes for a moment, and then softly whispered, "they belong to Elias' henchman, Marconi."

Just then, a tiny voice sounded in the doorway. A little, curly haired girl, with large blue eyes, and soft, brown hair was clutching a large purple stuffed hippo. She was wiping her sleep encrusted eyes, and she yawned widely, "mommy, why is Uncle John bleeding our your new sofa?"

Casey quickly rose to shield Reese's blood covered chest from his little girl. But she moved around the large government agent and threw herself into Reese's arms. As she did, the stuffed animal farted loudly, as she pushed it into Reese's good shoulder.

"Uncle, John, you need Dr. Dorrie to help you and you remember Mr. Pippo, my nurse. We are going to help you feel so much better, ok, Uncle John.?" Reese's face softened at the little girl and he reached up to stroke her curly hair, touching it gently so as not to get his blood on her head.

"Darling, I need your daddy to help me right now. " Dorrie's joyful grin at seeing her beloved "Uncle", fell suddenly and to Reese, it seemed that the light in the room dimmed immensely.

"Dorrie Ann," the Colonel growled softly reaching to withdraw her from Reese's arms. She only clung tighter to the operative, and he gasped as she hugged his abused ribs. Mr. Pippo farted again, and Reese chuckled, the air wheezing out of him.

"Dr. Dorrie, you and Mr. Pippo have already helped me tonight. You made me laugh, and you remember your mommy teaching us that 'a joyful heart does good like a medicine.'" Reese was finding it harder and harder to keep awake, and his arms were slowly releasing the little angel who was loving him.

The Parson bent down and gathered Annie away from Reese, hugging her tightly, and little tears of love leaked out of Annie's eyes at the generous heart of her daughter.

"Dorrie, let's go get your backpack from the children's room, and then we can see if your daddy needs any more boo boo Bandaids for Uncle John, ok?" Annie lifted her daughter up in her arms, Mr. Pippo hangin precariously off of the Parson's shoulder. Casey tenderly tucked the toy safely closer the Annie's body, and kissed his wife's head.

"Thank you, beloved." He whispered. He looked tenderly down at their daughter, and kissed her head. "Dorrie, I need Superman BooBoo Bandaids for Uncle John, ok?"

"Stop, mommy." Dorrie ordered and she looked long and hard at the man who was clinging bravely to consciousness.

"No, Daddy, Uncle John doesn't need Superman Boo Boo Bandaids, he needs Batman."

For a moment, all three adults were silent, and then Reese chuckled quietly.

"Batman it is, Dr. Dorrie." The former C.I.A. operative groaned, clearly suffering from the outburst of laughter from his lips.

"Go quickly, my loves." Casey shoved his two women gently through the door and then closed and locked it. He turned to the ghostly looking man who had become, against Casey's better judgment, Dorrie Ann's best friend. He knelt down and opened the huge first aid kit, withdrawing several surgical instruments, arranging them carefully. Sterilizing his hands, the large man stared hard in the eyes of the "Man in the suit."

"Batman, huh?" Casey injected a pain killer near John's shoulder, and then held up a small stick for Reese to bite into.

"Yeah, I do most of my work at night, right, no one really knows my…argh.."John Reese groaned at John began the arduous work of probing for the bullet. "My true identity."

"Well Sgt. Ray Chapman, I think you are more like Underdog than Batman." Casey dove carefully into the wound, but the wave of pain that overrode the needle was too much and Reese let the darkness overtake him.

"Batman, my ass. More like Mr. Numb Nuts, If you ask me." Casey wiped the sweat from his own brow, and continued the impromptu surgery on the soldier he had come to respect.