Late Night Phone Calls
Disclaimer: Sadly I own neither Saving Hope nor Daniel Gillies.
Pairing: Joel & Alex (or if you prefer Alex & Joel)
Rating: T
Summary: Alex is mugged on her way home from work.
Alex Reid was exhausted. She'd just worked a double shift in the E.R., and she wanted nothing more than to go home to her husband and her kids.
She fished through her purse for her car keys, just at the same moment that an ambulance siren shrieked past the parking garage.
She was just about to put the key in the driver's door to unlock it when she felt something cold and metallic pressing painfully into her back.
A gun.
"Gimme your purse now." An unfamiliar, gruff, and distinctly male voice shouted from behind her.
Is my phone in my jacket or in my purse?
"Gimme the purse now!" The guy shouted, growing more agitated by the second even as Alex grew more frightened.
"Okay, okay…" Alex replied, pulling the purse strap from her shoulder and tossing it on the ground. "Just take it and go," Alex pleaded willing her voice not to shake.
"Don't turn around," The thief yelled, "Count to ten out loud before you get in your car. If you try to move before that I'll shoot. Understand?"
Alex nodded, and began to count.
"One…"
I can't die like this.
"Two…"
I can't leave Joel.
"Three…"
I won't let my kids grow up without their mother.
"Four…"
Luke.
"Five…"
Charlotte.
"Six…"
Theo.
Suddenly another ambulance siren rang out, spooking the thief, and the eerie silence of the deserted parking garage was broken by the pop of gunfire.
Alex instinctively fell onto her belly onto the concrete, bringing her hands up to protect her face from the pieces of the shattered glass from the car window that was raining down upon her.
She didn't hear the thief's voice behind her but she wasn't about to try to get to her feet until she finished counting in case he was still lurking, waiting to shoot her.
"Seven…"
Please let my phone be in my jacket pocket.
"Eight…"
She couldn't tell if she'd been shot.
There was too much adrenaline pumping through her body for her to feel any pain.
"Nine…"
She squeezed her eyes shut and reminded herself to breathe.
"Ten…"
She opened her eyes and listened.
She heard only the noises of the street at night behind her.
With shaking hands she reached in her jacket pocket.
Her phone was there.
Without looking she turned on the phone and dialed the first number on her speed dial.
Joel.
The ringing of his cell phone woke Joel from sleep.
He automatically reached over to his wife's side of the bed, only to find it empty.
She must still be at the hospital.
He thought reaching for his phone without looking at the screen.
"Hello?" He answered drowsily.
"Joel, baby, Thank God…" He heard his wife's panicked voice on the other line.
Was she crying?
Joel was suddenly completely awake and reaching for the nearest clothes, pulling them on without paying attention.
"Alex? What's wrong?"
"Igotmuggedleavingthehospital. Hehadagun…"
"Reid, are you all right?" Joel asked already out of bed, and forcing his feet into his shoes.
"Hetookmypurseandthenhegotspookedandthegunwentoff…"
"Alex, are you all right?" Joel repeated, more insistently this time
"I think so…" She finally answered and Joel let out a breath that he hadn't realized that he'd been holding.
Adrenaline.
She could've been shot.
She could be bleeding out and not even know it.
"Where are you?"
"Parkinggarageupperlevel…You know where I always park…"
"Yes, ma'am, I do. Stay right where you are, I'm coming to you. I'm on my way. Do you hear me, Alex Reid?"
After a moment she replied, her voice was forced and breathless.
"Yes. Joel, I love you…" She whispered, her voice trailing off.
"I love you too, Alex. I need you to stay on the phone with me until I get there, all right?"
"Okay. Joel, don't tell the kids what happening. I don't want them to be scared…"
"The kids will be fine, Reid. They'll probably sleep the entire car ride. And you'll be fine too."
You have to be.
Joel heard silence on the other end of the phone line and it filled him with dread.
"Talk to me, Alex. How was your day?" He asked, desperate to keep her talking as he ascended the stairs and began the process of getting his sleeping children to the car.
It was a long moment before she answered her breathing panicked and shallow.
"The E.R. was crazy. I just wanted to get home to you and the kids."
"You'll be home soon, Reid. You're gonna be okay. Joel answered quietly, placing sleeping Theo in the baby seat and then picking up both Charlotte and Luke.
As he careful carried his precious cargo down the stairs he mentally calculated the driving distance to the hospital.
At this time of the morning it should take twenty minutes.
It felt like an eternity.
"Okay Alex, I've got the kids and I'm leaving now. I'll see you soon all right?"
He's going to have to hang up so he can drive.
"I'm gonna call Zack and tell him where you are so he can bring you into the E.R. I'll call you right back."
"No, Joel please don't go…" She begged.
He could hear the fear and panic in her voice and it broke his heart.
"Reid, I need you to trust me. I'll call you right back."
Alex took a deep breath, and whispered, "Okay. I love you."
"I love you, too." Joel answered without hesitation, before he ended the call and quickly dialed Zack's number.
"Miller," Zack answered on the first ring.
"Zack, it's Joel. I need you to go down to the upper level of the parking garage and get Alex. She was mugged and possibly shot. I don't know what her condition is but I need you to take care of her until I get there."
"Oh my God. Yeah. Okay."
"Thanks mate. I'll be there in ten minutes."
"Right. See you then." Zack answered before hanging up and shouting orders to a few surgical residents and steering an empty gurney toward the elevator.
Meanwhile in the parking garage, Alex lay on the concrete next to her car counting the seconds before her cell phone rang.
300 seconds.
Five minutes.
She thought as she reached clumsily for the phone.
"Joel?" She answered, breathlessly.
"I'm here, Alex. I'm five minutes away now. Zack's on his way down to you. I just need you to hold on a little longer."
"Okay," Alex whispered, feeling her eyelids growing heavy. "I'm so tired Joel…"
"I know, Alex. But I need you to stay awake, Reid. Do you hear me? Stay awake. Alex!"
Joel practically shouted into the phone even as he turned into the parking garage. He honked the horn hoping that Alex would hear it and it would jar her back to her senses.
"Alex, I'm here." Joel said, the tires screeching as he came to a quick stop at the entrance to the upper level of the parking garage. "Look around. Can you see the car?"
As he spoke, he turned on the headlights to illuminate the darkness around him, hoping it was bright enough for Alex to see.
It took everything she had just to raise her head.
She squinted as the brightness of the car headlights burned her retinas.
She made a feeble attempt to raise her left hand and a wave of pain shot down her arm from her shoulder to her fingertips.
Joel spotted his wife's raised hand and smiled.
Clever girl.
"Alex, I see you. I'm right here."
She heard Joel's voice and the sound of a car door open and shut but it sounded like it was coming from far away.
Joel turned off the engine, stopped the car, got out and ran toward Alex, stepping cautiously around the pieces of broken glass.
"Hey Reid, how're you holding up?" Joel asked, kneeling beside her assessing her injuries.
Her face and torso were littered with dozens of tiny cuts from the broken window glass. But what really concerned him was the bleeding gunshot wound on her left bicep just inches from her brachial artery.
"The kids?" Alex asked.
Joel smiled, "All three of them are asleep in the car. They're fine."
Alex sighed, "Good." Her voice was faint and breathy. "Joel, I'm cold."
Joel took off her jacket and draped it loosely around her shoulders, "I know love but I have to look at your arm."
Before Alex could reply, Zack appeared flanked by Jackson, Maggie, and Malanda.
"What do we got Joel?" Zack asked, as he helped him lift Alex onto the gurney.
"GSW to the left bicep with shallow breath sounds. Her pulse is steady though. Let's get a wide open normal saline I.V. and hang two units O-neg."
Zack nodded, "Let's get some O2 on her too."
It was Joel's turn to nod, "Agreed. I'll take care of that arm once we get her inside."
Alex's blue eyes met his as they danced back and forth in panic, "Joel, the kids…"
Joel laid his hand against her collarbone, "Alex, they're fine I promise."
He met Malanda's eyes, "The kids are asleep in the car. Can you bring them inside for me?"
Malanda nodded, "Of course."
Joel's lips against her forehead were the last thing Alex felt before she lost consciousness.
Alex woke to the sight of Joel sitting in the chair beside her bed, with Luke and Charlotte in the hospital bed on either side of her.
Theo was sleeping soundly in the baby seat at her husband's feet.
"Hey," Joel whispered, getting to his feet as soon as he realized she was awake. "How're you feeling?"
"Tired. Did you fix my arm?"
"Yes, ma'am," Joel said, smiling and taking a step closer so he could kiss her lips.
"Thanks," Alex said, relishing in the sensation of Joel's lips on hers.
"Anytime." He replied, carefully brushing her dark hair away from her face.
"I thought I was going to die, Joel. And all I could think about was you and the kids…"
Her voice trailed off and she realized that she was crying, and Joel was in the bed with her. His arms wrapped tightly around her.
"Hey, you're right here with us. You're right where you belong. Do you hear me Alex Reid?"
Alex nodded and gave Joel another long kiss, "Thanks for answering the phone."