Chapter 11: Epilogue

It was forty-eight hours before Jimmy Godfrey woke in the hospital to find Annie beside his bed, holding his hand, and Daisy watching over her from the doorway.

"Hey, Cowboy," she whispered, "welcome back. You had us a little scared."

"Hey, Boots," he rasped, "What happened?" He coughed. "My chest is sore."

Daisy slipped from the doorway and gently closed the door.

Annie nodded, and reached to pour him a cup of water as he eased, wincing, to sit up against the pillows. "Mmm," she said, "your chest hurts 'cause you got shot; the vest caught it but you're bruised. Head probably hurts, too, you banged it pretty good falling into a ravine. You've been asleep a couple of days. And if your leg doesn't hurt now, it's gonna. You got shot in the lower leg and it broke your tibia, they operated on it when you were brought here. You'll have crutches for a while, and need some physiotherapy. But yeah, we got 'im."

Gradually, with stops so the medical staff could check their patient, Annie told him the whole story starting with his shooting and fall, and ending with the appearance of the rest of the team. She spoke only briefly about shooting her father, and Jimmy looked at her carefully, trying to discern the extent of her grief; it was impossible to tell how well she would deal with her father's death and her role in it. Clearer was her guilt about what had happened, as she finished by saying, "I nearly got you killed. I mislead you, and then I took off after my father without thinking about the consequences. You followed me straight into trouble I should have seen coming. I did exactly what you were worried about, and look what happened." She shook her head and looked down at her hands plucking at the bedspread. "I am so, so sorry, Jimmy."

He covered her hands with one of his own and said only, "Shh. Annie, it's okay. None of that matters now," before drifting to sleep.

It was only after a further five days, a deposition with Internal Affairs, an awkward conversation with Marco and another with Natalie, and countless visits from family, friends, doctors, nurses and the USMS critical incident team, that he was able to leave the hospital. Annie came for him. He raised his eyebrows and smiled a little when she said that the bunks were no place to recuperate and that she was taking him home with her, but he did not protest. That evening, sitting on her couch with his leg up on a pillow and his crutches beside him, Annie beside him, he repeated softly what he had said in anger at her campsite in Palo Duro Canyon Park: "Never do that again, Annie. Never leave me. Never frighten me like that."

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