Chapter 3: First Light
Sunlight, sharp and merciless, cut through the blinds, painting bars of gold across the floor and waking Tim to the unfamiliar, warm weight pressed against his back. He turned carefully, the vinyl chair creaking, and found Addie’s face hovering inches from his, her green eyes wide and awake, the memory of their kiss in the dark supply closet hanging, unspoken and electric, in the space between them. A shaky inhale escaped her, part pain, part something else entirely, and she broke the silence with a whisper rough from sleep and drugs. “If you tell anyone I’m this clingy, I’ll deny it and have you arrested for slander.” He didn’t smile, his blue eyes serious as they traced the lines of fatigue on her face, his voice a low rumble. “Addie,” he began, the single word laden with everything the sunlight was now making impossible to ignore.
“Addie,” he began, the single word laden with everything the sunlight was now making impossible to ignore. The door swung open before he could continue, framing the broad, familiar silhouette of Detective Ben Miller, who filled the doorway with a weary warmth that immediately changed the room’s atmosphere. “Look at you two,” he said, his voice a gravelly rumble of genuine relief as his eyes took in their bandaged but breathing forms. He let out a long, slow sigh, a sound both of them recognized instantly from a childhood of missed penalty kicks and broken bones—the prelude to something much worse. “The hospital attack was larger than we originally thought, and since you two are alive,” he said, pausing to rub his temple, “I pulled some strings.”
He looked at them both, a faint, paternal smile touching his lips. “You’re getting moved to a safe house as soon as you can walk out of here.” Addie pushed herself up on her elbows, wincing at the pull in her abdomen, her analyst’s mind cutting through the morphine fog. “Larger how?” she demanded, her green eyes sharp and searching. Ben’s smile widened, affectionate and stubborn, as he pointed a thick finger at Tim. “I’m not saying another word until you get official clearance for this one, kid.” Addie’s mouth fell open in a joking pout she’d perfected at age ten, and the sight of it made both men chuckle quietly, a brief, fragile sound in the sterile room.