She really didn't want to deal with Alice on top of everything else right now. Not that she would admit it to Eric, but she was still pretty shaken up by what happened earlier tonight. They'd had a lot of close calls over the years, but tonight's experience easily surpassed every single one of them.
On more than one call she'd wondered if they were going to be hurt or maimed, but she'd never actually feared one of them could be killed. There was no doubt in her mind that if the patient had managed to get the gun away from them he would have shot at least one of them and she'd been terrified that it would have been Eric.
"Hey," Eric said softly as he knelt on the floor next to the bed. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," she said, forcing a weak smile. "I was just thinking of the lecture mom would give me if she found out I left the hospital A.M.A." Which was a lie, because Alice wouldn't lecture her, she'd simply drag her sorry ass back to the hospital, kicking and screaming.
"Don't worry, I called Nathan. He should be here soon," Eric said, running his fingers gingerly along the bruise, careful not to make any real contact. "I could kill that little bastard," he said tightly.
"Nathan?" she asked, trying to lighten the mood. Thankfully it worked. Eric rolled his eyes. "No, not Nathan."
"It's over," she said, hoping he'd let it go. She didn't want to think about tonight or what could have happened if things had gone differently.
Eric stood up and busied himself with cleaning up his dinner mess rather than respond to her. "When Nathan gets here you're taking your pills," he informed her.
She snorted then winced when pain shot through her temple. "Pain medication doesn't work for me," she argued, pressing the tips of her fingers against her temple in hopes that the pressure would soothe the pain. It didn't.
"They'll help you sleep," Eric pointed out, positioning the television so that it once again faced the bed. Joe didn't bother telling him that the glare from the television was hurting her eyes. That would just make him more determined to force the pain pills down her throat and she was not taking them.
They didn't work for her so she didn't see the point in taking them. Besides if she took them then she wouldn't be allowed to return to work tomorrow. Not that she thought anything would happen, but if anything did she could get in trouble for having narcotics in her system.
"No, they won't and I'm not taking them and that's final," she said as firmly as she could manage without pain and turned over onto her side to face away from the television. A few seconds later she could have kissed Eric when he shut off the bedroom light. Some of the pain shooting through her skull faded. Not that she would tell him.
When she felt him climb onto the bed and settle next to her she sighed contently and closed her eyes, more than willing to spend the next three or four hours struggling to fall asleep as long as Eric was with her. Just knowing he was okay helped ease some of her discomfort.
He placed his hand on her blanket clad hip and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Yes, you are."
"No, I'm not," she said in the same stern voice.
"We'll see."
"No, we won't," she promised him, snuggling back against his body.
"I just left in the middle of a date," Nathan suddenly announced, "so you better believe you're taking the pills even if we have to hold you down and shove a tube down your throat!"
Joe rolled over to glare at Nathan as he stalked into the room, loosening his tie. She narrowed her eyes on him. "You wouldn't dare."
Chapter 11
"We didn't kill her, did we?" Nathan asked nervously as he glanced down at Joe.
Eric shifted her in his arms, careful to keep her arms pinned against her sides as he raised one hand to check her carotid artery. "Strong and steady. She's just out," he said, gently pulling away from her so he could lay her on the bed. As he got to his feet Nathan pulled the covers up and tucked her in.
"Thanks for getting the pills," Eric said, rubbing his sore shoulder. She'd put up a hell of a fight. It wasn't because the pills were a waste of time and wouldn't work like she'd claimed the entire time they'd wrestled with her to make her take the damn things. No, the reason that she damn near kneed him in the balls was very simple. She thought she was going to work tomorrow.
Not f**king happening.
She had fifteen stitches in her head for f**k sake and needed to rest, but would she listen to either one of them? Not a chance. She actually pointed out that the injury was on her forehead and wouldn't interfere with her doing her job or lifting a patient.
Joe was too damn stubborn and this little incident just showed him that she needed to get the hell out of the field. She was a young, beautiful woman and it was just so wrong on so many levels that this job was her life.
He knew she'd fight him every inch of the way, but once he had her off the rig for good she'd thank him. She needed to start enjoying her life and he knew she wouldn't allow herself to do that as long as she worked on the ambulance. Once he found her something else to do he knew it would only be a matter of time before she realized it was the best thing for her.
"Mom's going to wring our necks," Nathan unnecessarily pointed out.
It pretty much went without saying that their mother would throttle them when she found out that they kept this from her. The woman truly believed that they were incapable of taking care of themselves when they were sick. It didn't matter that two of them were EMT's with more medical experience than her, she was their mother plain and simple and only she could take care of them.
Eric looked over at his brother and grimaced. The man's obviously tailored suit was now a mass of wrinkles thanks to the ten minute wrestling match Joe insisted upon before they could get her to take the damn pills. In the end they'd been forced to shove the pills in her mouth, clamp a hand over her mouth to stop her from spitting them out again, and pinch her nose shut until she swallowed them.
"You might want to throw your suit in the dryer before you go back to your date," Eric pointed out, fighting back a yawn. Today had been too damn long.
Nate shrugged out of his coat and tossed it on the chair in the corner. "It's already late and I'd rather not have to get dressed and come back here in four hours to do this all over again when she wakes up."
Eric didn't think ten o'clock was too late to go back and finish his date, but if the man was offering to stay and help with the next wrestling match then he wasn't going to be stupid enough to point it out. He was however curious.