by Sarah Markel
“Leave it,” Wendy yelled as the scraping sound got louder, “We don’t have time. Head up and I’ll meet you at the top!”
Aspen grabbed her safety line and pulled tight as Wendy tugged three times on the rope that hung freely from the rescue basket’s center support cable. Slowly, Wendy and the rescue basket began to ease away from Aspen and the failing shelf.
“We’ll meet you topside,” Wendy yelled loudly over the sound of the helicopter’s engine as she motioned for Aspen to begin her climb.
Aspen gave the woman a thumbs up just as the shelf beneath her crumbled. Instinctively, Aspen clung tightly to her safety rope and let out a terrified shriek as she began to fall. The tension on her rope increased and Aspen felt a ray of relief break through the adrenaline and anxiety. She braced herself as her body slammed against the side of the cliff.
“Sonofabitch,” she grumbled as she took a precious moment to shake her head and get her bearings. Aspen’s biceps began to burn and the young woman clenched her teeth and braced her feet against the cliff face.
“That’s gonna hurt in the morning,” she muttered, slowly and steadily making her way toward the top. The sun had already set, casting everything around her in complete darkness. Thank God, I’m not afraid of the dark, she thought idly as she slid her foot upward and hoisted herself a little further up.
All of a sudden, a beam of light washed over Aspen, and it took all of her self control not to let go of the rope to shield her eyes. Pausing to close her eyes against the blinding light, Aspen reached for the radio on her shoulder.
“Is that you, Boché?” she asked, remembering the way Wendy had pronounced the pilot’s name.
“Negative,” came a woman’s voice, “This is Butte County air support. Looks like you could use a hand.”
“That would be fabulous,” Aspen replied, “Did Boché get Lorelei to EMS?” A safety cable dropped down and suddenly, there was a man hanging beside her.
“Affirmative,” the man said as he reached out to her, “Captain Blaise is on deck with Marine Rescue. They’re getting her stabilized and will hand her off as soon as they get to the lakeshore. Hold on tight.”
Immediate, intense relief washed through Aspen as she was wrapped her arms around the man’s middle and she could feel fatigue trying to settle. Not yet. Not until I’m with my wife and I know she’s going to be okay.
“Thanks for the help,” Aspen said as the pair were hoisted into the helicopter.
“Don’t mention it,” the man replied as they buckled themselves into the safety restraints and the helicopter began to move away from the cliff, “and I mean that. Please don’t tell Blaise that you had your arms around me; she’ll obliterate my very existence.”
Aspen’s eyebrow arched and she regarded the man carefully. “Why?”
The man chuckled and extended his hand. “I’m Mike Jensen,” he introduced, “Blaise and I aren’t exactly bosom buddies. If she finds out you were wrapped around me like that, well, they’ll be finding my body parts scattered around the globe for decades to come.”
Aspen stared at the man wordlessly for a moment, before a full, deep belly laugh erupted from her. “That sounds like Lorelei,” she admitted, holding her sides as she laughed.
She wasn’t sure what it was about the man’s assessment of his demise that was so funny, but the more she laughed, the more her anxiety lessened. Mike stared at the beautiful young woman for a moment before glancing curiously at the other man seated across from them. The other man shook his head and shrugged.
Aspen’s laughter finally began to subside as the helicopter began its descent. Swiping tears from her eyes, she reached out and patted Mike gratefully on the arm. “Don’t worry,” she said with a grin, “your secret is safe with me.”
Chapter 22
Jesus Christ, everything hurts.
Lorelei groaned loudly as she forced her eyes open. Seeing the white panels and florescent lights on the ceiling confused her and panic began to niggle at the back of her mind.
Where the fuck am I? Did I die on that stupid ledge? Why does my throat hurt so bad?
She tried to swallow but found the task to be more painful than she expected. She could hear people talking but couldn’t make out what was being said. After a moment, the distinct sound of a heart monitor filtered through her brain and Lorelei realized where she was.
A hospital. Thank God! Rescue managed to get to me in time.
Lorelei turned her head to the right and her heart leapt when she spied a mass of blonde curls resting beside her ribs. Aspen!
Lorelei carefully flexed her swollen, bandaged fingers, ignoring the sharp pain the movement caused, and slowly moved her hand to rest atop her wife’s sleeping head. The sudden pressure must have startled Aspen because she immediately sat upright and began looking around for the source.
“Hi,” Lorelei said, her voice coming out in a deep, hoarse whisper.
Aspen’s attention instantly snapped to Lorelei’s face and her eyes widened dramatically. “Sweetheart, you’re awake!”
Lorelei cracked a smile, wincing at the sting in her neck when she nodded. “How long have you been here?” she asked, noting the limpness of Aspen’s hair and the wrinkled state of her FCFD t-shirt. “Where am I?”
“You’ve been out for three days,” Aspen supplied as she stood and pressed the call button on the wall beside Lorelei’s bed. She then leaned down and brushed her lips ever so gently over her wife’s. “You really had us scared.”
“Sorry,” Lorelei apologized sincerely, “wasn’t trying to.”
Aspen waved off the apology and stepped aside when a nurse came in. The nurse smiled widely at Lorelei as she ran through a quick vitals check. “I’ll let the doctor know that you’re awake,” she said as she moved toward the door.
“Babe… where… am I?” Lorelei asked haltingly, once the nurse was out the door.
“You’re at Mercy General in Sacremento,” Aspen replied, “The doctor didn’t want to transfer you until he was sure you would wake up.”
“What happened?” Lorelei asked. She remembered everything up until she pushed the boulder off her knee. After that, she had nothing.
“I’ll tell you everything later, honey. Right now, you need to rest,” Aspen pressed a kiss to Lorelei’s cheek and stepped aside when the doctor entered the room. “I’m going to go let everyone know you’re awake.”
“No… stay,” Lorelei said as her arm shot out to stop Aspen, “Please, baby… please stay with me.”
Aspen caught the fear in Lorelei’s voice and wondered at it. What is she so scared of?
“Okay, love,” Aspen replied as she reclaimed her seat and waited while the doctor finished his assessment.
***
“The doctor says she can have visitors but she’s going to tire quickly, so the visits have to be short,” Aspen spoke over her shoulder as she led the group down the hall toward Lorelei’s room. She’d finally managed to convince Lorelei to let her go out to the waiting room.
The women behind her nodded, each eager to see their friend. When they reached the right room, Aspen reached out and knocked lightly on the door before leading the first two inside.
A resounding cheer of “Blaise!” echoed around the room as the pair squeezed into the small space.
“Well shit,” Lorelei croaked tiredly when her eyes lit on her friends, “wasn’t expecting… a party.”
“Too bad,” Cordy said as she bent to press a light kiss to Lorelei’s forehead, “You know us; we like to celebrate weird shit… like surviving a landslide off a cliff.”
“Toku tāmate toa,” Jenica said, brushing her knuckles lightly over Lorelei’s bruised cheek, “My brave firefighter. You are never allowed to do that to us again. I’m so glad you’re safe.”
Lorelei felt tears sting her eyes as she looked up at the pair. “I’m sorry,” she said, unsure of how to express herself differently. She knew she’d scared a lot of people; knew that their hearts were hurtin
g because of her, and that guilt was almost as painful as her injuries.
“She won’t be doing it again anytime soon,” Aspen said, stroking her fingers lightly over Lorelei’s bandaged knuckles, “The doctor said she won’t be returning to duty for a few months at least.”
Cordy and Jenica offered their friend an apologetic smile. Lorelei smiled back and shrugged her good shoulder. “He also said… I’ll be needing… a nurse nearby, so…” she let the sentence hang and winked at Jenica.
Jenica burst out laughing. “I knew it!” Cordy teased with a look of offend on her face, “This whole thing was a stunt to play patient with my wife!”
Lorelei smirked at the Lieutenant. “You caught me… I guess I’ll just… have to settle for a nurse… that will wear the outfit,” she replied laboriously, her bruised lungs making it hard to speak without stopping for a breath. She yawned unexpectedly; the painkillers the doctor had given her were beginning to work.
Aspen noticed the fatigue in her wife. “Let’s let the others in to visit for a minute, then you need to sleep, sweetheart.”
Lorelei nodded and accepted the goodbye kisses that the Westons offered. Aspen walked the couple to the door and motioned the others inside. “She’s drifting fast,” she warned.
“You know, Blaise, there are much easier ways of getting a break from the fireline. Why you gotta be so dramatic?” Steph Burns moved to the head of Lorelei’s bed and rested her hand on her friend’s good shoulder. “I’m so glad you’re awake, dude.”
Lorelei’s eyes crossed as she tried to focus on the brunette. “Do you think they’ll… let me back… on the line tomorrow?”
Aspen’s eyes nearly popped out of her head and it took a moment before she realized that her wife was joking.
“I doubt it,” Steph said, “The fire’s contained. Word came in about an hour ago that the blaze that tried to suppress Blaise is one-hundred-percent out.”
Aspen and Lorelei let out twin sighs of relief. That was fantastic news for everyone. News reports from earlier in the day had touched on the containment efforts, but they hadn’t specified that it was fully contained.
“My turn,” Wendy Brees unceremoniously pushed her wife out of the way so she could lean down and rest her forehead lightly against Lorelei’s. “You scared the shit out of me, Lorelei,” she whispered as tears that she’d been suppressing for three days began to trek down her cheeks.
Wendy had convinced herself, years ago, that she was over Lorelei and that the redhead was just her friend. Seeing Lorelei’s broken, unconscious body lying on that ledge had nearly gutted Wendy. All those old feelings of love came roaring back as she and Aspen worked to get Lorelei into the basket, and Wendy hated that she felt jealous of the younger woman.
It had taken hours of soul-searching while focusing on the wildfire, but Wendy finally came to the realization that she hadn’t really gotten over Lorelei. She loved Steph, that wasn’t even a question for her, but Wendy realized that day that your feelings for someone don’t always change just because the relationship ended.
She had seen the love Aspen had for her wife, and Wendy knew that Lorelei had found the perfect woman for her. She wasn’t bitter or angry that Lorelei had found that kind of love with someone else, but she would be lying if she said it didn’t hurt.
“I’m sorry, Wendy,” Lorelei slurred, the medication zapping her ability to enunciate, “didn’t mean to. Love you both.”
Wendy lifted her head and looked down at the now-sleeping redhead. She looked over at Aspen and smiled softly at the way the younger blonde lovingly stroked her fingertip over the faint scar on Lorelei’s cheek. You definitely found the right one, Blaise.
“Come on, babe,” Steph said, slipping her hand into Wendy’s, “Let’s let them get some rest. We’ll come back by tomorrow,” she said to Aspen as the younger woman stood to walk them out.”
“Thank you,” Aspen said as she pulled the two women into a tight, heartfelt embrace, “both of you. Lorelei wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you and I am totally grateful that she has friends that love her as much as I do.”
If only you knew, Aspen, Wendy thought as she returned the hug and followed Steph out of the room.
***
Three weeks later, Lorelei was wheeled into her room at Marilynn Hospital after an hour of grueling physical therapy. The dislocation of her hip had not been as severe as originally thought, and the surgery to repair the crush damage to her knee had gone smoothly.
She’d begun the physical therapy in California almost a week after the injury. Now that she was back home in Oregon, Lorelei was determined to heal enough to be released ahead of Aspen’s graduation, which was only four weeks away.
“Surprise!”
Lorelei started at the unexpected sound, but a wide smile split her face when her eyes landed on the crowd in her room.
“It’s about time you all show up!” she said, reaching her good arm out for baby Anystee, “Why did y’all wait so long to come see me?”
Amy handed over the baby and kissed Lorelei on the cheek. “I didn’t think I could handle seeing you like that,” she replied apologetically, “and we didn’t want Anystee to see her favorite auntie with all those bandages.”
“That’s not why I stayed away,” Lita said, kissing Lorelei’s forehead in greeting, “Cordy’s case kept my ass buried in bodies.”
“Zip it, Lita,” Cordy rolled her eyes and shook her head, “Don’t blame me; I was running the case and still managed to go down to Cali to see her before the transfer. Besides, it’s over now so you can’t use me as an excuse anymore.”
Lita made a face at the Lieutenant and took Amy’s hand as the pair stepped back. Max, Dani, Oakley, and Stormie were next and the quartet surrounded Lorelei’s wheelchair to embrace her in a group hug.
Stormie had been by a few times since Lorelei’s transfer, but this was the first time the others had been by.
“Cordy has kept us busy, too,” Max said, offering the Lieutenant a smirk, “Hell, I barely saw Dani at all the last two weeks. I was starting to think she’d left me.”
Lorelei laughed and tickled the baby’s feet. “I doubt Dani would leave you quietly, dude. If she’d left, you would know.”
Max laughed and slid her arms around Dani’s waist when Dani nodded somberly. “It’s true,” Dani confirmed, “If I ever leave you, I’m putting up a flyer at the bar. I bet I’d have a new girlfriend before I even finished hanging it.”
“That’s just not right,” Max grumbled, to the amusement of the group.
“Sweetheart,” Aspen said, stepping between Lita and Amy to kiss her wife, “There’s someone else who would like to say hello.”
Lita stepped in to take Anystee when the baby began fussing and Aspen moved around Lorelei’s chair to push her further into the room. When her friends shuffled to clear the path, Lorelei’s eyes and smile widened measurably.
“Josh!” she cried as she pulled her brother into a tight, one-armed hug. Her left shoulder had been surgically repaired, but she was still relegated to a shoulder immobilizer for another few weeks.
“It’s good to see you, baby sister,” Josh said as he hugged the woman carefully, “You look good, all things considered.”
Lorelei beamed at her older brother. Aside from her father, who had died before Lorelei’s third birthday, Lawrence Joshua Blaise, Jr. was his little sister’s hero. “Thanks, bro,” she chuckled.
Josh shrugged and leaned back against the bed, crossing his legs at the ankle while he studied his sister. Faint scars flecked her face and arms where her skin had been torn by the rocks and branches and brambles. Thanks to Aspen, Josh also knew that his sister’s back now looked like a tally card, littered with short, raised scars from resting against the burning log.
“Anytime,” he said, “Has she come to see you yet?”
Lorelei didn’t need clarification; she knew exactly who he was talking about. “No,” she said with a one-sided shrug, “and I don’t exp
ect her to. You know she hates me, Josh, and everything that has to do with me. The only way she would show up to see me is if she was seeing me in a casket. Even then, it’s kind of iffy.”
The room was quiet as the siblings regarded each other. Lorelei had told her friends about her mother and the woman’s feelings toward her. That was part of the reason her friends were so protective of the redhead; she didn’t have anyone else to protect her.
“It’s her loss,” Josh said, “If she doesn’t want to know the hero her daughter has turned into, that’s her problem. I, for one, am proud to claim you. You’ll always be my hero, Lie.”
Lorelei smiled at the nickname. Josh was the only person who ever shortened her name, and he had been calling her Lie since she was a toddler.
“Aww!”
Lorelei turned to glare at her friends, causing them all to burst out laughing. Shaking her head, she reached up to lay her hand over Aspen’s on her shoulder. “How long can you stay?” she asked her brother.
Suddenly, Josh’s bright eyes and happy smile dimmed. “I, um,” the man ran a hand through his thick red hair and grimaced as he met his sister’s eyes, “I’ve actually got to get back to the airport. My leave was only for a few days, and since I’m using transport to get around, I’ll just barely make it back before my leave is up. But the good news is that this is my last tour. In six months, I’ll be moving back home for good.”
“You’re retiring?” Aspen and Lorelei asked in surprised unison.
Josh chuckled and nodded his head. “I’ve been in the service for nearly half my life. I don’t have too many people that I really care about, but hearing that my little sister; the one person in my life that I would drop everything for, had nearly died… well, that gave me a lot to think about. The idea that I would be putting your name on that line under Dad’s, it really scared me. I think it’s time I come home and get to know you and my gorgeous sister-in-law.”
Aspen’s face flamed when Josh winked at her, eliciting a hearty laugh from everyone. She and Lorelei took turns hugging the man before he took his leave.
