He woke up still chilled from the events from the previous day. He was very tired, the strain of a search was always really draining. At least it had been successful, they'd found the young couple, cold but unharmed. They'd returned to the Coast Guard base at nearly 3 am. He dressed quickly after his shower, eager to get back to his home, and to her.
Smiling to himself as he packed away his gear, he thought again of her, the connection between them, and hesitated as a chill ran through him at the foreboding he'd felt when he’d thought of her at one point during the search for the missing hikers yesterday. He shook his head, dismissing the notion that it meant anything.
He went back to thinking of all that had occurred between them; their first tumultuous meeting last year, his utter despair at her sudden departure, the six months that followed in which he gradually but painfully got past the idea that he would ever see her again, and then just two weeks ago while searching for a reported missing hiker, finding her, broken and unconscious at the base of the cliff… His mind drifted back to when he’d first laid eyes on the still form lying on the rock, he was sure it was too late; it was only a body now. He had been saddened at the failure of not finding the lost hiker alive. Then, as recognition dawned, the familiar gortex jacket, the lovely curls splayed out on the rock, his heart tore open as he realized it was her crumpled form he’d found.
He’d lost control then, visions of his parents tragedy reeling in his mind, and rushed over nearly falling on her, and felt for a pulse at her neck. A pulse! She was not dead! He had hurried through the next stages of assessment, determining there was no back or neck injury, no broken bones. The worst of it was concussion, a jagged head contusion from where she had landed on the rock. He had taken off his coat, wrapped her in it securely, rapidly bandaging her head to help prevent additional blood loss and scooped her up in his arms. Somehow, he'd managed to clamber back up the rope he had used to rappel down to her. He had carried her that way to the cabin, returned to retrieve his gear, then called in to the Coast Guard team that he had located the missing hiker, and that he was in the process of stabilizing her for the night, under shelter. They would arrive to collect them at dawn, a couple of hours away.
Once he’d gotten her IV hooked up, and some meds in her, he had just sat and watched her face, in concern and in pure wonder of her. She looked so beautiful, so peaceful… despite that nasty gash on her head. What could have happened? She did not seem the type to clumsily fall off a cliff… then he recalled how she nearly had fallen off the boardwalk trail at their first meeting, but that was only because she had not seen him in time, and she’d been thrown off balance in more ways than one. He grinned as he remembered the look on her face when she had looked at him for the first time. It had been nearly impossible not to burst out laughing. She had looked so shocked! And then… the way she had really looked at him, the way she seemed to take him all in, it was like she could see right through him, it was so disarming, and just a little bit frightening... He thought that was the moment he had fallen for her , he’d felt helpless not to, she was so intriguing, and her large gorgeous green eyes that were so full of wonder and depth that he fell right into them.
He slowly came back to the present as he zipped up his pack, heading for the door with a shit eating grin plastered on his face. Soon, he would be home, and he wanted to scoop her into his arms and never let her go. He practically ran to the helicopter pad, jumping in with ease, and settling himself in for the short flight home. The guys were nice enough to drop him off at the point on his property, he waved to them as he rushed toward his house. He’d half expected her to come out to greet him, but maybe she was still sleeping, after all it was only 7:30 am. He entered through the back door, kicking off his boots and throwing his pack down on the mudroom floor. He made his way through the kitchen, toward the stairs… and stopped dead in his tracks, blood draining from his face. The study door was wide open in front of him, and the sight of the furniture and equipment tumbled everywhere, broken glass covering everything and the wind blowing in from the missing window, but worst of all, the blood dripping down the face of the monitor, made his core turned to ice.
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