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Title: The Shadows Grow Long 13/18
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Tuesday, 9:37am, Steph's hospital room, GW Hospital, Wash, D.C.
Sharon sat by Steph's bedside in the recovery room, and had to guess where it would be safe to touch her. Looking at her poor baby, the tubes and the beeping, the bruises and the bandages, all Sharon wanted to do was take her in her arms and rock her like she had when Stephie was a baby. She settled on running her fingers through her smooth, ebony hair as it draped across the pillow. It was the only place Sharon knew for sure that she wasn't causing Stephie any pain.
Sharon thought it ironic that they were at GW, as this was the hospital where Baby Girl Abbott had been born. The first moment she had laid eyes on her girl, Sharon had been overcome with the most amazing wave of love and joy. She remembered looking up at her husband, Grant, who appeared to be equally undone by the intensity of the emotion. Grant - the love of her life - simply said, "She has your eyes."
As she sat in the room, she heard the door quietly open. The nurses and doctors had been walking in and out constantly, so Sharon didn't pay any attention until hands she recognized as well as her own came to rest on her shoulders, and a soft kiss was placed on her cheek.
She jumped up and spun around, almost knocking the chair over, "Grant!", and threw herself into his arms. After 6 hours of cars and planes, Grant was ready to catch her, to be here for both Sharon and Steph.
Sharon pulled back, "How did you get here so soon? I wasn't expecting you here for a couple more hours."
"Remember Bernie? From the Air Force? He works at the Air Force Academy these days. I contacted him and when he heard that Steph was involved in the shooting last night he made some calls and found someone who could get me here on a private plane. I had to make my way from Denver to the local airport at Colorado Springs and we flew in from there." His eyes wandered over Sharon's shoulder, and she knew just when he saw Stephie.
"Oh, Sharon. Look at what they did to our baby." Sharon had experienced that initial shock, too, and she was glad to be here for Grant.
"What do the doctors say?" Grant asked as he took a tentative step towards the bed, holding Sharon�s hand.
"They�re very optimistic, Grant. She was shot in the leg, and has a concussion, too. They say the damage to her leg was complicated, but it should heal well with some physical therapy."
"What about the concussion? How did she get that?" Grant asked.
Sharon had him sit down as she told him the whole story. The assassination attempt, the car-jacking, Steph creating a car accident, getting shot, and being found.
When she was done, Grant was pale, but he asked, "White Supremacists? Because...?"
"No, Grant, he just randomly picked her out of the crowd," Sharon said, as Grant�s head dropped and he started crying with relief.
email Teresa
mercier_beaucoup at yahoo.com
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