Kapitel 11: Chapter 11: WHERE AM I?

TK walked into the commissary then. He eyed the two of them and then gave a lascivious grin. He gripped his crotch suggestively. Christopher put on his meanest expression and gestured with his head for TK to get lost. The other man silently went to the vending machines and got himself a soda. He could tell that their wordless conversation had tickled the black man who raised his ever-present sunglasses to look at the two of them and then blow him a quick kiss.

Christopher scowled but it disappeared as soon as he looked down into the woman's peaceful face. She was beautiful, she had a teeny little peanut nose and perfectly formed lips. He used to look at pictures and photographs of lips; ones with perfect cupid bows; like hers. Her face was round and girlish. He figured that she was in her late twenties. Her long lashes left dark shadows on her golden brown cheeks. She wasn't pink, she was gold and brown like hot buttered toast.

He wished that she would sleep like this forever.

Ashleigh sucked in a loud breath as if she had been drowning under water. Her hands flung out and her eyes popped open all at the same time. She was awake. She looked up into the wary face of the man and let out a squeak of surprise. Oh my god. His face…she could see it up close and clearly now. There were scars crisscrossing his face. His nose was flattened but his upper lip wasn't exactly three separate pieces as she had first thought from her brief glimpse of him. However, it did have deep scars as if it had been sewn back together; badly sewn back together. His hair was cut into a short military cut but she could tell that it was red, just like his sparse eyebrows and lashes.

She realized that she was staring, but she also realized that he was allowing it. Ashleigh quickly pushed away from him. Oh my god, she had been snuggling against him! She tried to come to her feet in horror that she had made a stranger so familiar.

"I am so sorry." She said quickly. His hands were still on her arms as if he was waiting for her to fall again.

"You fainted twice." He said. She tried not to stare into his face and looked around. He dropped his arms and she realized that she was being rude by being self-conscious. She looked at him.

"Where am I?"

"This is the security area of the subbasement." He had a deep, soft voice with a country accent. "I'm Lt. Christopher Jameson of the Department of Protective Services for Homeland Security."

She gave him a surprised look, momentarily forgetting about his scars. "In the subbasement?"

"Yes Ma'am," he said politely. "The employees of the Federal Building and Federal Courthouse are our protectees."

"Protectees..." She said testing the word. "Wow, I had no idea."

"No Ma'am. No one sees us. But we're here." Ashleigh smiled. That was nice to know.

"I'm Ashleigh Dalton." She blushed and tugged at her t-shirt. "And I need to really get back to work."

"Mrs. Dalton, you're not trying to exercise on an empty stomach are you?" She gave him a surprised look. And he quickly continued. "Well I see you workout each morning…and you blacked out. I figured that was why."

She blushed again and looked away. "Yeah, I guess I wasn't thinking."

"Mrs. Dalton-"

"Miss. Please, just call me Ashleigh." After all, she had just sat on his lap, and what a big lap it was. She had to look up at him as he towered above her. He was a giant. He was even bigger than DeAngelo. Big clothes concealed most of his muscles but she knew that he was perfectly toned beneath the sweatpants and hooded sweatshirt. She felt like such a slob around him. He'd probably felt every roll of fat when he lifted her. Feeling self-conscious, she folded her arms in front of her.

"I'll escort you back down to the lockers. Once you get dressed I want you to visit the nurse's station in your building. You need to get your blood pressure checked and the lump on the back of your head looked at. Will you do that, Ashleigh?"

She gave him a surprised look. "Yeah-Yes. I'll do that."

He nodded without smiling and led her out the door. Several men were moving along the corridor and she instantly knew that they had been listening at the door. She looked up at Christopher who seemed to ignore it.

Several men nodded their heads at her as they passed. They were dressed in army fatigues and she was wearing sweats and a t-shirt. How embarrassing. Her cap was gone; she would have bed head!!! This day should just end. There was no way that she was going to work, she was going home and she was going to crawl into bed!

They walked down a long corridor and Ashleigh realized that he had carried her here. She looked up at him. He walked straight and tall. She should say something.

"Thank you for helping me. I'm sorry for the trouble."

He looked at her quickly. "No trouble. Um…do you feel okay?"

No, she didn't feel okay. She felt drained but she didn't think she was going to faint again. "I'm okay." She said.

They reached the security doors and he used a card to open them. "After you, Ma'am—Ashleigh."

Why was she so tired? Christopher was watching her but she couldn't read his expression. He followed her into the corridor but instead of leading her to where the lockers were located he led her in a different direction. Oh hell she was all turned around. It felt like a maze to her anymore. But in a minute she was going to need to sit down. She hoped they would get to the lockers soon.

They reached a set of elevators and he pressed the button. She saw him look at her with a sudden frown.

"You're crashing again. You're about to black out." Concern was suddenly evident in his voice and on his face.

"What?"

He placed his hand on her elbow to steady her and led her into the elevators. "I'm taking you directly to your nurse's station." There was no room for protest. He led and she went.

"I'm feeling a little sick," She admitted.

He looked at her. "I know." She wasn't brown anymore. Now she was gray. He drew his hood on and looked down in order to shield his face just as the elevator doors opened. They hadn't used the main elevators leading to the lobby but a back elevator that was in the same corridor as the first floor nurse's station. Ashleigh had passed these elevators a hundred times and never noticed them.

The man, Christopher, had taken her hand and was leading her, pulling her forward. Maybe she was going to black out. Everything was grays and blacks…

Christopher pushed open the doors to the nurse's area and two women wearing white scrubs looked up at him in surprise. One of the women started backing up in alarm, the other looked from the man to the gray woman and she jumped into action.

"Get a gurney!" Things began to move fast. She was lying on a gurney, someone was taking her blood pressure, someone gave her more orange juice and she began to come around. A man, a doctor shined a light in her eyes and she blinked and turned away.

"Mrs. Dalton? We called an ambulance. It should be here any minute. Are you taking insulin?"

"Ambulance?!" She tried to sit up but a gentle hand was on her shoulder. She looked over and it was a man wearing a hood, Lt. Christopher Jameson. She quieted.

"Mrs. Dalton?" The doctor was talking to her and she turned her attention back to him. "Are you diabetic?"

"No. No." Why was he asking her if she had diabetes?

"You're hypoglycemic and there is a good chance that you are falling into a diabetic coma."

"Coma?"

"Basically unconsciousness due to low blood sugar." A nurse handed her a piece of toast. "Try to eat this. We can't give you glucose here. If the toast doesn't work it's the only thing that's going to make you feel better. You have to go to the hospital. We contacted your emergency contacts and they are on their way."

Ashleigh rubbed her face with shaking hands. Diabetes. The doors flew open and Lance and Kendra were suddenly there flanking her bed, holding her hands, smoothing her hair, kissing her cheeks and telling her how badly she'd scared them.

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