“Fane, Vasile, where is Jacque and Jen?” Fane heard Lilly ask as she was walking towards them.

“Jacque is in this operating room and Jen is just down the hall. Decebel is guarding her door,” Fane told her. Lilly’s shoulders slumped and her head fell forward as silent tears fell to the floor. Fane walked up to the woman who had brought his precious mate into the world and folded her into his embrace. She squeezed him tight as if her life depended on it. Fane couldn’t help but think it should have been Jacquelyn’s father standing here consoling Lilly, but what had happened wasn’t his fault. He and Lilly had made the choice to stay together knowing that he would probably one day have to walk away. It still sucked.

Finally Lilly pulled back, she looked up into Fane’s face and patted his cheek, “Thank you Fane, thank you,” her voice hoarse with emotion.

Lilly backed up against the wall across from the operating room and slid down to the floor, prepared to stay there until the doctor came out with news of her daughter. Vasile walked over and knelt down in front of her. “Lilly, can you tell me what happened? What do you remember?” he asked her.

Lilly tilted her head back against the wall, looking up at the ceiling, then squeezing her eyes shut. She tried to picture herself driving away from her book store, then she began to talk. “I had gotten a call from one of my employees.” She told him all about Jeff and the supposed irate customer that didn’t exist and how Jeff was gone when she arrived at the store. Then just before she started to tell him about the loud noise and losing control of the car she remembered the man that Jen had pointed out on the side of the road.

“Wait, did anyone see a tall man on the side of the road standing next to a blue car?”

Vasile shook his head. “There were no other cars Lilly, just yours. Did you see a man?” he asked her.

“Just before the loud noise and then me losing control, Jen pointed out this good looking guy on the side of the road. It looked like he might have had a flat tire or something. He couldn’t have been far from where the wreck was, he had to have seen it.” Lilly was beginning to sound frantic.

Alina and Sally had just arrived, hearing the end of Lilly’s comments. Alina knelt down on the opposite side her husband and took Lilly’s hand. “We will figure it out Lilly, it’s going to be okay,” Alina told her gently

Sally spoke up then. “She’s right, there was a man on the side of the road. He was tall, and big. I didn’t get a good look but according to Jen he was what she classified as a tall glass of somin somin,” Sally explained

Vasile looked up at Fane, who had been quietly listening to the girls describe what had happened. “Did you see anyone driving away as you approached to the girls? You were the first one there.”

“No, there was no one, only thegirls,” Fane told him, bringing the image of Jacquelyn’s damaged form to the forefront of his mind. He closed his eyes and willed the image away.

“Sally, Lilly, you both are okay?” Fane asked them, trying to get his mind off the images of the accident.

“Just a few cuts, minor burns other than that we are both fine,” Sally answered. “I’m sure Lilly asked, but how are Jen and Jacque?” she asked

Vasile spoke before Fane could. “Jen is down the hall in the other operating room and they are treating her. Decebel is standing guard outside the door. Jacquelyn is in this one here. The doctors have said they will let us know something as soon as they can.”

“If you all have it in control down here I think I will go keep Decebel company while we wait for news on both of them,” Sally told them.

“I think that would be a very good idea,” Vasile agreed. Sally found this comment odd but didn’t respond, she simply turned and walked down the hall to find Decebel.

Everyone was quiet, none daring to break the silence as if the breach would somehow cause harm to Jen or Jacque. So they waited, like silent sentries waiting for news on their fallen comrades.

Once again the thought crossed Fane’s mind that waiting didn’t just suck, it was a complete and total bitch.

Chapter 6

Sally stood across the hall from Decebel. She knew he was a big guy but in this hall, with his stone like features revealing nothing of his thoughts or emotions, he seemed positively huge. His only acknowledgment of her when she walked up was a slight nod of the head. Sally couldn’t help but think that at any moment he was going to bust out with “me Decebel, you Sally” type language. That thought brought a slight smile to her face. She knew it was a comment that Jen would have appreciated. Since she could tell he wasn’t going to suddenly become the conversationalist of the century, she could at least try to get a little out of him. “How are you doing, Decebel?” Okay, Sally would admit that under the circumstances maybe that was a 'did you really just ask that' question, but hey, it was all she could come up with.

Decebel raised a single eye brow at the brown headed human in front of him and considered the question. How was he? Did he even know how he was? The answer to that was simple, there was a whole lot of 'I’m hanging on by a thread' raging inside him. So naturally, he lied. “I’m doing fine. How are you?” See, Decebel thought to himself, I can be approachable when I put my mind to it.

“Huh,” Sally acknowledged. “Are you always this reticent?”

Reticent? And here Decebel thought he was being so not reticent. Go figure.

“I am guarding this door, I am not being reticent. I am being sensitive to my surroundings which can make me seem aloof.”