Donna hesitated at the lift, turned and walked down the corridor. Without realising it, she wandered back to the operating room. Reading the nameplate on the door - observation area – she placed her hand on the door handle. For a few seconds, she paused in thought. Donna wanted to go in, but she was afraid. Would it lead to regret or resolution? One way or the other, she had to know. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath and opened the door. She switched on the light. Her stomach roiled; the smell of his cologne filled her senses, but it was different this time.
She rested a hand on the back of the first soft theatre chair and slowly slid her hand down the line. Toward the centre of the line, she stopped. Her eyes glossed. The smell was too strong and too familiar, but how could it be. She slowly sank into the chair. It was almost as if she could feel his toned body behind hers. Donna closed her eyes again and pulled in a lungful of air. The sensation was overwhelming. It filled her mind with warm memories and sharp pain.
“No!” she forced through her teeth. “You won’t do this to me. You’re the one who walked away. You don’t get to hang on to me like this. You can’t just pop in my thoughts whenever you feel like it and keep me blocked out.”
Despite her anger, she couldn’t leave. After she had finished playing with the remote control on the one-way glass, she curled up in the same chair that Jared had sat in and drifted to sleep.
------------
John sat in a chair beside Melissa’s bed and held her hand. He leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Missy, honey, I don’t know if you can hear me but, I’m here. I’m so sorry I didn’t see you when I had the opportunity. I was less than half an hour away from you, but my stupid pride wouldn’t let me. I’m here now, though, honey. I know we went our separate ways, but I still love you Missy. Don’t let it end like this. Please, Missy, please… don’t leave me.”
John and Melissa had been divorced for a number of years, but, as far as he was concerned, she never stopped being his wife. He still loved her. Their breakup wasn’t Melissa’s fault. John wrecked their marriage. He’d let work come before her, and he’d paid the price. If she survived, maybe they would get a second chance.
------------
Sam sat at his usual table in the back of the Centre’s cafeteria, next to the tall glass windows. He’d been sitting, mulling things over, and staring out at the busy morning traffic while he finished his second cup of coffee. The whole wheat bran muffin with unsweetened apple sauce he usually had no trouble putting away was still sitting on the saucer in front of him.
“Why did I get so upset?” he mused. “Donna didn’t actually question my professional judgement, per se, did she?” Sam let that question roll around in his head for a couple of minutes. “No – she didn’t. You idiot! All she did was share her opinion, and she has every right in the World to do that. Doesn’t she?”
He’d never had anyone question his orders, but Sam knew that wasn’t the reason he got so upset. It had nothing to do with Missy’s treatment or Donna disputing his medical expertise. It was a battle between his ego and his heart. The catalyst in this internal war was wandering somewhere in the Centre.
Even though, Jared had ripped her heart apart, without cause or hesitation, Donna had come to Jared’s rescue. Sam had been called many things, but never a Bushman and hearing it from a man that could probably steal his girl in the blink of an eye had made it worse. “But she’s not your girl,” he groaned. “She’s made that perfectly clear – no strings. What am I going to do? Stick to my guns or grovel at her feet?”
Joyce walked up to his table. “Mind if I join you?”
Sam didn’t respond. “This isn’t just any woman we’re talking about here.”
“Doctor?”
“She made you look like an idiot, Sam!”
Joyce frowned and raised her voice. “Sam!”
“So what? I’m definitely an idiot if I let her slip away!”
“Sam, are you OK?”
Sam jumped to his feet and downed the last of this coffee. “I will be when I find Donna.” He headed for the door.
“What am I going to do?” Joyce groaned and buried her face in her hands. “Maybe I should take Richard up on his offer and move into one of his apartments, or tell him about the voicemail.” Joyce’s cell phone rang. Caught up in her thoughts, she accepted the call without seeing who it was. “Maybe you should let Sam cover his own ass.”
“Maybe you should pick out matching caskets and start planning your funerals. That way you could at least be buried beside him.”
Joyce’s heart jumped to her throat. It was that same strange robotic voice she’d heard before. Self-consciously she glanced around the cafeteria; there was no one there. “Where are you?” She swallowed hard. “Who are you?”
“I’m running out of patience. You… are running out of chances.”
Joyce’s eyes glossed; she felt sick. “Are you real or just a stupid recording?”
“Get Donna away from Sam, or watch him die!”
“Why are you doing this to me? I have a friend who can help me, and when I find out who you are, I’ll have you arrested!”
“Two chances left, Joyce.”
“You can’t go around harassing and threatening people like this! Talk to me you son of a bitch!” The call ended.
------------
Sam tapped on the door to Melissa’s patient care room. John eyed him over the top of his newspaper. “Hello, John,” he said and closed the door.
“Sam…” John cordially responded and focused his attention back on his paper. “Looking for Donna?”
“Yes,” he said glancing over Melissa’s chart. “Do you have any idea where she might be?”
“No, Sam. I don’t,” he responded tersely, shook his newspaper and went back to his reading.
Sam put Melissa’s progress chart back in the rack. “Look, John. I’m sorry for my behaviour, earlier in the conference room. I was out of line.”
“Yes Sam – you were – on both occasions.”
“I know,” Sam sighed. “I made a complete ass out of myself. It’s just that, well, when Donna and I first got together, she told me someone had hurt her. Until today, that person – Jared - was simply a digital image on a music DVD. Now he’s real, and here, in the same building as she is. After telling her how I felt about her, and her defending him like that, I guess I … got a little concerned.”
“He’s not in the same building, Sam. Jared and Juanita aren’t here anymore. Sir Richard had them flown to the complex.”
Sam frowned. “Why in the hell would he do that?”
“He’s the boss. I suppose if you want to know, you’ll have to ask him.” John motioned with his head. “How is she doing?”
“John… considering everything that’s happened to her, she’s doing about as well as I expected. The fact that we didn’t have to put her on full life support is a good sign. Donna’s right. Missy may well pull through this. I’m going to see if I can find Donna and patch things up before it’s too late.”
“You might try checking with Sir Richard. They left out of here together.”
Sam smiled. “Thanks John, I will.”
------------
Sam stepped out of the private lift and approached the glass doors to the genetics lab. Since he had to walk past to get to Sir Richard’s office, he decided to check there first. Gary and Richard looked up as he entered the room. “Hey Sam,” Gary said. “Have you seen my wayward genetic engineer?”
“No,” Sam groaned. “Not since our misunderstanding, in the conference room.”
One of Richard’s eyebrows shot up. “Misunderstanding,” he echoed. “What happened?”
Sam narrowed his eyes. “Don’t get your hopes up. She hasn’t kicked me out yet, at least I hope not.”
Gary put the next set of samples under his electron microscope. He glanced at Sam over the rim of his glasses. “You had a row with D, and you don’t know where she is?”
“I guess you could call it that,” Sam said with a sigh. “I just came from Missy’s room. John said she left with Sir Richard. I thought I’d check here first.”
“Well, I haven’t seen her,” Gary responded and started scanning the first sample. “I’m sure she’s here somewhere.”
“Try finding Jared,” Richard growled. “I’m sure that’s where you’ll find Donna.”
“No, you won’t!” Gary snapped. “Jared walked away from her. Donna thinks their breakup was her fault. She’ll wait for him to make the first move, and he’s not going to do that. Besides, she doesn’t know him or Juanita are here. When she needs to work something out, she usually goes off by herself. Look for D somewhere quiet.”
------------
The helicopter hovered over a derelict area of wet moorland. McGowan’s voice hissed through the overhead speaker. “Welcome to the future.”
“Huh?” Jared arched an eyebrow and incredulously glanced at Juanita. “Future of what?”
Juanita leaned across Jared, so she could see out the window. There was nothing, but a pile of rubble, and a rough looking road. She shrugged and held her hands out. “Maybe we’re supposed to jump?”
Jared grinned. “Sweetheart, it wouldn’t be a problem for me, but you’d probably bust your ass.” He walked to the front of the helicopter. “Tim, if this is Sir Richard’s idea of a joke, you can tell him for me, I don’t find it funny.”
McGowan chuckled. “Unless you want to suffer vertigo, you’d better go sit down and buckle up, again. We’re fixing to drop into the hangar.” A red light flashed on a panel above McGowan’s head. “If you want to know what’s going on, look out the window.”
Jared set back beside Juanita and fastened his seat belt. “I’m beginning to think the whole damn bunch is mad. Tim said if we wanted to know what was going on, to look out the window.” Jared scooted over and gave her some room. Again, she leaned across him and looked down.
The water in the centre of the muddy pool drained away, revealing what looked to be the bottom of the pool. It parted in the centre and slid to the sides, revealing something similar to be an aircraft carrier hangar deck. Juanita glanced at Jared with wide eyes. “Hang on,” McGowan said. “Here we go.” He lined the chopper up with one of the lit helipads and started descending.
Jared grinned. “OK. Now, this looks like it could be fun, after all.”
“Yeah,” Juanita commented. “As long as you don’t mind being underground.”
Jared laughed. “Don’t tell me you suffer from achluophobia?”
Juanita frowned. “I didn’t say that.”
“Do you sleep with a night light on, sweetheart?” he teased.
Juanita narrowed her eyes. “I refuse to answer that question!”
He smiled. “I’ll take that as a yes, then.”
------------
Instead of ringing Donna’s cell phone, Sam used her tracker signal to find out where she was. He pushed the door open to the observation area above the operating room. Donna was curled up with her side resting against the back of the chair. Sam used the dimmer switch and turned the lights down. He knelt in front of her chair and brushed the back of his fingers across her cheek. He softly smiled, leaned over and tenderly kissed her lips.
Donna slowly inhaled, deeply pulling the scent into her lungs. She recognised the subtle difference in the way his cologne mingled with his chemistry. The scent on the chair had faded. She no longer felt Jared’s presence. She uncurled, resting her feet on the floor. Framing his face with her hands, Donna held his lips to hers, kissing him back. Slowly, she opened her eyes and gazed at him impassively. One side of Sam’s mouth turned up. “Hi sweetheart,” he softly said. “Did you have a nice nap?”
Donna nodded, kissing him again, sliding to the edge of the seat. She wrapped her legs around Sam and pulled him closer, deepening the kiss, sweeping her tongue over his. “Where were you?”
“Cooling off in the cafeteria, like I said I would be. Why did you come in here?”
Donna pushed her fingers into the hair at the back of Sam’s neck. “Does it really matter?”
Sam softly smiled and slowly shook his head. “No, it doesn’t. There’s something I need to ask you. Earlier, in my sleeping quarters, did you hear what I said?”
Donna pressed her lips into a thin line and nodded, holding Sam captive in the smouldering gaze of her dark eyes. “I heard you,” she softly whispered.
“And…?”
“It’s OK…” she smiled, “…but please, don’t push. I need more time,” she said and covered his mouth with hers. “There is something I’d like you to do.”
“Anything, sweetheart.”
She leaned close to his ear. “Lock the door,” she whispered.