"What do we have?" the doctor called as the paramedics came down the hall with the stretcher.

"28 year old female injured in a house explosion. She was thrown about 40 ft and landed on grass. The husband gave her CPR at the scene and got a pulse. Her blood pressure is dropping and there is indication of internal bleeding."

"Okay. Trauma room 2."

As they moved down the hall and into the trauma room, Trent followed behind. The doctor stopped him at the door.

"Mr. Malloy?" When Trent nodded the Doctor continued. "We’ll take care of her from here. Why don’t I get someone to look at that for you?" The doctor motioned towards Trent’s head.

Trent reached up and for the first time, realized he was bleeding. A nurse came out of the trauma room and lead Trent to another examination area.

"They’ll take good care of her, Mr. Malloy. Dr. Caldwell will let you know anything as soon as he can." Trent just nodded. His mind was reeling from everything that had happened. As the nurse got a suture kit, she noticed him playing with the gold band on his finger. "Have you been married long?"

"Four days," he said, almost too quietly for her to hear. She looked at him with sympathy.

"Well, you probably saved her life with the CPR." For the first time she saw him smile slightly.

"Sam talked me into it. It was a requirement for her license at home and it’s something she has always kept up."

"What does she do?"

"She’s a massage therapist."

"That’s cool. Where is home?" The nurse knew that by keeping Trent talking it would help to keep his mind occupied. She sat down in front of him with the suture kit.

"For her, Canada, Southern Ontario."

"Wow, she’s pretty far from home," she said as she started cleaning the wound. "How did you two meet?"

"She came to my karate school for lessons."

"A massage therapist and a karate instructor. Interesting combination." As she prepared to start the stitches she noticed something. "Did you have stitches in the recent past?"

"About six months ago. I was playing hockey and took a puck off the head."

"Maybe we should send you for a CAT scan. Just to make sure." She started to check his eyes, his reflexes.

"No." For the first time, Trent spoke strongly. "I’d rather stay here. There was no concussion then either."

The nurse debated then told him, "okay, but if you start getting dizzy or blurred vision you tell someone. Understand?"

"Yes." As the nurse began stitching the doctor came in. Immediately, Trent turned. "How is she?" he asked expectantly.

"She has some internal bleeding so we are taking her up to surgery. After we get her stabilized we will do a CAT scan for any brain damage. The next 24 hours are going to be the most important and we really won’t know anything until then. I’ll let you know as soon as she comes out of surgery."

"Thanks, Doctor."

After a few minutes, the nurse had finished stitching. "There. All done," she said as she put a bandage on his forehead.

"Thanks….."

"Deanna," she said with a smile. "Now, is there anyone you want to call?"

With a heavy sigh, Trent said, "I should call Sam’s sister."

"Is she in Canada?"

"No. She lives here. She is probably still at the party."

Gently, Deanna put her hand on Trent’s shoulder. "If you have a number, I can call her for you."

Again, Trent smiled a slight smile. "Thanks, but I think I should tell her." Trent got down off the table and stared at the floor, thinking about what he should say to Sarah.

"Okay, I’ll show you where you can call from." Deanna led him down a hall towards the nurses’ station. As they rounded the final corner, Trent heard a familiar voice.

"We’re looking for Trent Malloy and Samantha Baker…I mean Samantha Malloy."

"Carlos."

Turning sharply at the sound of his name, Carlos stood face to face with Trent. "Manno! Are you okay?" The relief was evident on his face.

"Thanks, Deanna," Trent said before turning back to Carlos. "As well as could be expected. What are you doing here?"

"Walker got the call at Uppercuts while we were still there. They just told us a female was injured." Carlos hesitated. "Was…was it Sam?"

"Yes," Trent said quietly, looking away from Carlos. Carlos didn’t want to ask the next question.

"Is she okay?" he asked, knowing just by Trent’s face that she wasn’t. He feared the worse.

"They’ve taken her to surgery. Is Sarah here?"

"Yes. She and Alex are in the waiting room."

"Let’s go and I’ll tell everyone what I know." Slowly, Carlos led him down the hall. As they entered the waiting room, both Sarah and Alex jumped up when they saw Trent. Going to Sarah, Trent put his arms around her and held her.

"They have taken Sam up to surgery to try and stop the internal bleeding. They are going to check for any head injury after she is stabilized."

Sarah started to cry and would have fallen if not for Trent’s arms holding her up.

"What happened, Trent?" Alex asked quietly.

Gently letting Sarah down into a chair, Trent turned to face Alex and Carlos. "I don’t know. Sam was going to unlock the front door as I got the bags. She was right there and took most of the explosion." A look of despair came over his face. The feelings that had been numbed for most of the night were starting to surface. He sank heavily into a chair.

"A gas leak, maybe?" Alex suggested.

"But there was no real fire. I just don’t know." Trent didn’t even want to consider that it wasn’t an accident. The room lapsed into silence, broken only by the quiet sobs of Sarah.

After a couple of hours the doctor found them. "Mr. Malloy?"

Trent got up to face him. "Yes?"

"The surgery went well. She had tears to her liver, her right kidney and we had to remove her spleen. Most of her organs were bruised just from the sheer impact. She was actually lucky she land on grass instead of pavement. She had a couple of broken ribs but that may have been from the CPR."

Sarah’s head snapped up. "CPR? Her heart stopped?"

Turning the doctor told her. "Yes. Mr. Malloy here brought her back."

"Can we see her?" Trent asked.

"No, not just yet. Once she is stabilized in recovery, we are going to do a CAT scan. She had quite a blow to her head."

Sarah let out a whimper at the thought of brain damage. Carlos put his arm round her and pulled her close.

"When will we be able to see her?"

"Probably not for another couple of hours. I’ll come and get you."

"Thanks," Trent told him. As the doctor left, two familiar faces came into the waiting room.

"Hey Trent. You okay?"

"Yeah, Jimmy. Hi Walker."

"Trent, can we talk to you for a minute, out in the hall?" Walker asked.

"Sure." Trent was confused, as was everyone else in the room. Out in the hall, Trent faced Walker and Trivette. "What?"

"We just came from the house," Jimmy started. Sighing he said, "Trent, it wasn’t an accident."

His words were a blow to Trent. "WHAT?!"

"It was a bomb, Trent. There was another one set at your apartment," Walker told him.

"Someone did this on purpose?!" All the emotion in Trent was turning to anger. As he clenched his fists, he remembered something Butch had told him earlier. "Butch told me someone was looking for me." Leaning back into the waiting room, Trent called Carlos out. When he got there Trent got straight to the point. "Who was looking for me when I was gone?"

It took Carlos a minute to register what had been going on. It had been a bomb. "I’m not sure but I think it was Marshall Foley, Maurice Foley’s son."

Instinctively, Trent’s hand went to the scar on his chest. Maurice Foley was on death row because of Trent’s testimony. As he started down the hall, Walker called after him, "Trent, don’t do anything stupid." He motioned for Carlos to follow Trent.

**

"Well, hello Mr. Malloy. I’ve been expecting you." Marshall Foley turned to face the blond man in his living room.

"What do you want from me?" Trent snarled at him.

"I want to offer you a job." Foley was standing behind the bar, the same one where his father had plotted to have Trent killed.

"A job?" Trent asked, confusion showing on his face.

"Yes. Drink?" he asked. When Trent shock his head he continued. "You see, I actually owe you a favour Mr. Malloy. If you hadn’t put my father behind bars I wouldn’t have inherited all this." Foley gestured to the opulent surroundings as he came out from behind the bar. "Even your friend here could work for me," he said, motioning towards Carlos.

"Thanks but I don’t think we need your kind of job," Trent told him.

"And how is your wife, Mr. Malloy?"

The anger rose in Trent again. "What do you know about her?"

"I know she had an unfortunate accident this evening. It has been all over the news. Is she okay?"

"If I find out you had anything to do with this, Foley, I will personally come back here and make you pay."

"I had nothing to do with it but I might be able to provide you with information. When I do, I will let you know."

"Thanks, but I don’t need your help." With that, Trent turned and marched out of the house, followed by Carlos.

When they had left, Foley turned to his bodyguard. "This is working out perfectly," he said with a smile. "I will have my revenge yet."

**

"I know he was involved, Carlos." Trent was riding on the passenger side of the Durango as they headed back to the hospital.

"Yeah, I wouldn’t doubt it. But I think it is best if you just let Walker and Trivette handle this." His comment was greeted with silence.

**

"Mr. Malloy?" The doctor was looking in the waiting room.

From behind he heard a voice. "I’m here." Trent and Carlos had just gotten back to the hospital.

"You can see here now but I have to warn you. She is a little confused. She has lost some memory."

"How much?"

"We can’t tell just yet. It might be a month or maybe just a few days. It is quite common after a severe blow to the head. You can only see her for a few minutes and only immediate family."

Trent nodded to Sarah. "Let’s go."

**

Sam was in the ICU of the hospital, surrounded by machines and nurses. Sarah and Trent each took a side of the bed. Sarah was crying.

"Hi Sam," Trent said quietly, taking Sam’s hand.

"Hi, T." Turning she said, "Hi Sarah."

"Oh, Sam" was all Sarah could say as she took Sam’s other hand.

"What happened, T?" Sam whispered.

"There was an explosion at our house."

"What house?"

"The one we bought." Trent realized from the look on her face that Sam didn’t remember the house. "What’s the last thing you remember?"

"I don’t know. And why are they calling me Mrs. Malloy?"

Trent smiled. "Because you are. Here." He took the gold band out of his pocket that the nurses had given him earlier. He placed it on her left hand. "We were married four days, well I guess it was five days ago now."

Sam eyes started to water. "I don’t remember."

"Shhhh." Trent told her. "It will come back, don’t worry." Stroking her hair he reassured her. "You’ve just had a nasty bump on your head."

"Will you stay with me, T?"

"Sure, Sam. Just let me walk Sarah back out and let everyone know you’re okay."

**

Part 3

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