~ Chapter Eighteen ~

AJ  slammed the door to his car and bolted across the parking garage towards the elevator.  "Aw, c'mon, not now..."  He muttered, when he punched the button and nothing happened.  He had a special touch with all things mechanical.  So far, he had been stuck in an elevator twice, which was one time too many for his liking.  The first time it had been cool.  The second was annoying.  And right now the timing was not good for the third time.

He slammed his fist against the metal door of the elevator.  That did no good either.  It never did.  Mechanical objects were out to get him.  AJ hadn't successfully used a microwave in years.  The alarm to his car went off so frequently that if someone actually broke into it, he would turn the alarm off and think nothing of it. 

The elevator door  finally opened.  Inside, it already smelled like a hospital.  AJ hated hospitals, mostly because he was never there for a good reason, but also because the sterile, antiseptic smell made him nauseous.

He had known this was going to happen.  It had been nagging at him for the last couple weeks, but he had tried to keep his mouth shut.  Felicia hated it when he started getting, as she called it, "paranoid".  AJ preferred to think of it as showing a little common sense.  Why hadn't he done something?

"AJ?" 

He was panicking now.  He could tell.  He had absolutely no idea who this woman talking to him was, but she knew him.  How could he walk into the emergency room of a hospital and have people know him by name?  He hadn't even been to this hospital before.  And what did this woman want?  All he wanted to do was find his wife and find out what was wrong.  Now was not the best time for him to socialize.

"We haven't met.  I'm Stacy Barnet.  I came over here with Felicia."

That made a little more sense, although there was still a missing piece somewhere.  For some reason a Stacy with a British accent was supposed to ring a bell.  He was pretty sure of that. 

She was still talking to him, but AJ didn't hear a word of it.  He was completely focused on the scene in front of him.  Felicia was lying on a gurney, her dark hair contrasting sharply with the white color of her  face and the sheet she was lying on.  She looked so small lying there.  She was small, AJ reasoned with himself.  Felicia just about reached his shoulder when she was wearing heels. 

The EMT's had oxygen hooked up, along with several other machines, blinking or beeping as they monitored various functions.  AJ leaned against the wall of the emergency room.  This wasn't his life.  This wasn't happening to him - this couldn't happen to him.  The entire situation couldn't be more surreal if he tried.  He was teetering right on the edge of completely losing it.

AJ realized Stacy was standing, staring expectantly at him.  He swallowed hard.  "I'm sorry.  What?"

She shook her head. "It doesn't matter.  Never mind.  Are you sure you're okay?"

AJ found himself nodding.  "It's okay.  This has happened before. It's okay.  Really."   AJ almost felt like he was having an out of body experience, listening to the words coming out of his mouth.  This was not okay.  Felicia had been admitted to the hospital before, that was true, but it had never been this serious.  Something else was wrong. 

One of the monitors starting beeping shrilly.  AJ's heart sank.  This had to be some kind of nightmare. 

"Oh, God."  Stacy said in shock.  "Did she just flatline?"

This was not okay.  This was as far from okay as AJ could get.

~*~

"Wow."  Nick said in awe when Stacy finished her narration of the evenings events.  "So, is she okay?" 

"I'm assuming she is."  Stacy was curled up next to Nick on the couch, her head resting against his chest.  "AJ, on the other hand... he's..."

"Weird."  Nick finished. 

"True."  Stacy agreed.  "But, you didn't see the look on his face when her heart stopped."

Nick's arms tightened around Stacy as he planted a kiss on the top of her head, the only place he could reach without moving.  AJ would have been the last person on earth Nick would have picked to have problems.  Of course, Nick never would have guessed that AJ was married either.    That wasn't completely his fault, however.  AJ had never hinted at anything about his personal life.

"Are you still working tomorrow?"  Nick wondered.  It had been close to midnight by the time Stacy arrived.  Nick had been mad, since he had been waiting almost two hours, but now that the entire story was out, it didn't matter. 

"That would be the general stratagem."  Stacy said sleepily.

"You're using really big words again."  Nick teased.

"Yes, I'm working."  Stacy gave him the simple version.  "Why?"

Nick shrugged, as much as he could with Stacy leaning on him.  "You're gonna be tired."  Stacy was up every morning by at least seven whether she was working or not, something else Nick couldn't even comprehend.  As far as he was concerned, there was only one seven o clock, and that was PM.  He literally had to pry his eyes open before nine in the morning. 

He stared out the window, not really paying attention to the twinkling lights outside the window, or their reflections in the dark water in the distance.  This hadn't exactly been his plan for the evening, and he was a little surprised to discover that he didn't really care.  Right now, he was completely happy.  It seemed strange to him that all it took to make him happy was Stacy sleeping on his shoulder.  Nick leaned over slightly to confirm that she was actually sleeping.  She was.