When she woke, Terri realized she was alone. The alarm was screaming at her and she groaned as she realized if she didn't hurry, she would be late. At least this would be a morning she would not have to worry about Mike adding more insult to injury after last night. She really didn't care where he had gotten to; that she had the morning alone was enough.
Hitting the alarm off, she pulled her aching body out of bed and assessed the damage. Taking a breath, she stopped unable to take a deep one. He had broken ribs this time. Work was going to be hell today. Stepping into the shower gingerly, she hissed at the new bruises and the sensitivity of her skin under the water. There were fresh scabs too.
It was a quick shower, it had to be, but she was at least clean. She pulled on a long sleeved shirt then put on her scrubs. Her hair was once again put into the neat pony tail. A last look into the mirror told her that no one but her would know what her body had endured the night before. Well, unless someone watched the way she moved today.
Terri sighed and moved as quickly as she could to the dining room where she kept her keys on a hook, grabbed them and headed to her small car. At least Mike never messed with this. Of course, he had to let her keep her job, it kept him in his liquor and them in their house. He just ran everything else. And she let him. What else could she do?
At work, the day was just like any other. She took care of her patients though she would have to ask for help from her co-workers for some of the harder lifting and such. The ribs just wouldn't let her catch her breath this time and she wasn't moving as fast as she should she knew. Stopping at the nurse's station, she leaned against the counter for what must have been the fiftieth time that day.
"Terri, are you okay?" Lucy, one of the other nurses on the floor had been watching her all morning. She knew even if Terri had been trying to hide it all these years what the woman had been going through. Terri had come in one too many days with bruises barely hidden and that scared look that said 'battered woman'.
"I'm fine," Terri lied as she always did, but the shortness of breath was unmistakable especially to a fellow nurse.
"Bullshit! What did that bastard do this time?"
Terri looked at Lucy in shock. She had always been so careful that the bruises didn't show, that she did her work harder than any other. How could Lucy possibly know?
"Terri, we all know. We just didn't talk about it because you didn't talk about it. You have to leave him."
Terri shook her head, the fear in her eyes unmistakable. "I can't. The last time I tried he nearly killed me." The words were barely above a whisper.
Lucy immediately was at Terri's side and slipped her arms around the woman. At Terri's hiss, she stopped though. Her critical eye watched the woman and she shook her head. "How badly did he hurt you? I think you need to see a doctor, girl. You can barely breathe. Your lips are nearly blue. You look like you need to be in a hospital bed yourself."
"I can't stop working..." Terri fought for breath. She just couldn't get enough air. Grasping the counter, she shook her head, the world going dark as she fainted.
Lucy was close enough she caught Terri before the woman could fall to the ground and called out to others around her. Luckily the other nurses and a couple of doctors came quickly to her aid. Soon they had Terri settled into a patient bed as she explained what happened.
Dr. Samantha Fox quickly took over and decided she'd be the one to take care of Terri. Based on what Lucy said, she listened to the lungs first and ordered an immediate x-ray. Shaking her head she looked at the other nurses.
"I hope she doesn't have a punctured lung. But with the ribs broken, which is what it sounds like might have happened, and her working anyway, she likely does have one. There are no lung sounds on the left side. Get her to x-ray now! I want this looked at so we can get her taken care of before we have something worse than just a pneumothorax on our hands. Can't have one of our best nurses out, now can we?"
Her words spurred everyone into action and the floor was suddenly moving in well precisioned order. Terri was quickly gotten to X-Ray as ordered and a chart was started for her as a patient. Very soon, the results were done and Dr. Fox was ordering Terri to the operating room to correct her collapsed lung.
************
Jonathan still hadn't gotten that girl out of his mind. He had just been too busy with things at the den to be able to do anything about it. Finally he had gotten the extra security in place like his brother wanted and everything seemed to be in order there. Now, he could concentrate on finding this Terri Scott since she had never called his firm.
A few discreet checks got an address and the fact that she worked at the local hospital. He would have to talk to Samantha. She worked over there as well. Always nice when some of your clan had medical leanings and took to training at the local hospital in order to keep tabs on their young that way. Maybe Samantha would know about Terri since he got the impression she was a nurse by the scrubs she'd worn the day he bumped into her. Better yet, maybe he'd just go pay a visit to Samantha at the hospital. It had been a while since he'd talked to her and he could always use the excuse of beefing up security.
With his mind made up, he left the office with a message for his brother that he was headed out to talk to Samantha regarding the recent issues they'd been having. Down in the garage he slipped behind the wheel of his Dodge Durango and headed out toward the hospital. It was a nice day out despite being cold. He'd always enjoyed the fall weather and this November day was proving to be a nice one.
