“Because you’re gifted,” I stated softly.
She nodded. “He never knew that, though. I never found my connected. With each year I didn’t find him, I had gotten weaker. Today is the most I’ve been able to do in a very long time. I loved Chip’s father. I thought he was worth me not finding my connected. He left us when Chip was three. He’s happily remarried with three other children now. He doesn’t need or want Chip anymore.” She looked troubled for a moment, before she looked up and smiled at me. “He loves the attention he’s been getting now. Who’s the handsome man with the dark hair and eyes?”
I squirmed slightly at the reference to Troy. Once again, I knew all my guys were attractive, but I still didn’t like the attention they were still getting. Especially from some of the females in the gifted community that were aware of who I was by now. “That’s Troy, he’s one of my connections,” I stated.
“Oh, you have more than one?” she asked with interest.
“I do,” I stated. “I have six.”
She gasped. “That’s not possible.”
“It is with her.” Alex looked up at me with an adoring grin.
Amy stopped her next train of thoughts as she gasped. I turned to see Micah holding Chips hand.
“Woah, dude,” Chip said, not noticing his mother yet. “Can you sneak me out of school every day like that?”
Micah colored. “I made sure no one saw me, but you might want to call the school.” Micah stated with a pointed look at me.
Chip turned around looking guilty, until his eyes widened, and the brooding boy was no more. “Mommy!” he screamed as he ran across the room.
There were plenty of tears shed in that room as we watched their reunion. Amy asked us to continue watching Chip until she got better and could decide what she wanted to do. I wasn’t sure what Will had planned for all these pregnant women. They would need continued prenatal care, and we couldn’t just let them go, knowing Horatio was still out there.
“Why can’t you come home with us?” Chip asked in a sullen voice.
“Because Mommy has something in her, that she needs to get taken out,” Amy said hesitantly as she looked over at me.
“Are we going to take the baby home with us?” Chip asked hopefully. He didn’t need to know that his mother never wanted the child to begin with. He didn’t need to know how it had gotten there.
“Eventually,” Amy said carefully. “But I wasn’t talking about the baby. Mommy had something else put in her.”
“Noah, Blake, and Chip can get it out,” Alex stated.
I had forgotten that Micah and Alex had taken seats in the window to play their video games. I looked up startled. “What do you mean?” I asked.
“Chip can pull the pieces out, and you and Noah have to hold hands to heal her,” Alex barely looked up from his video game as he explained this to me.
“How do you know this?” I asked in surprise. Had he seen it in our heads?
“No,” he said in exasperation, finally looking up. “Ella drew you the picture. She gave it to you.”
I put my hand up to my mouth. I had forgotten all about it. I had been so preoccupied with my problems, I had brushed her off, not realizing the importance of one little drawing.
“Oh, my goodness, that’s it,” I stated as I pulled out my phone to text Noah.
We didn’t have to wait long before Noah was there. I had already filled Will, Jace, and Gavin in about the implants. Amy volunteered to be the first ‘patient.’ We had been working with Chip to help him learn how to control his gift, but it had only been training. He never had to search for the objects, until now.
Amy laid down on the table and smiled at her son reassuringly. Cora slipped up beside her and administered some anesthesia. We didn’t know how painful the process was going to be, so we didn’t want to take the chance. Noah came to stand beside me and smiled down at me, squeezing my hand. I hadn’t tried to heal anyone since Collin. It brought up too many bad memories.
I looked over at the glass and saw Will, Jace, Gavin, Drake, Micah, Alex, and Remy on the other side of it. We were in an observation surgery room. Will gave me a confident nod.
I feigned a smile. “Go ahead, Chip,” I said gently.
He gave me a nervous nod before he placed his hand where Alex and I had seen her get implanted. I could see his little brows furrow and his eyes get intense. It wasn’t long before a small round ball dislodged from her. The blood came soon afterwards.
“No, Mommy,” Chip cried in terror.
“It’s okay,” Cora quickly grabbed him. “Remember we talked about this.”
I was staring at the blood in shock. Frozen to the spot. I couldn’t move. I knew I should. All I could see was Collin’s sightless eyes staring up at me.
“Blake!” I heard Jaxson’s voice demand inside my head. “Come back!”
“Blake!” I heard Chip cry out to me. “Please Blake, help my mommy.”
I snapped out of it.
I looked up and saw Noah standing above Amy, shaking with concentration. I stepped forward and grabbed his other hand. I closed my eyes and focused on his gift, focused on mine. I could feel the air from the vent caress our skin. My senses heightened acutely. I focused on pushing out the healing warmth from our hands. I felt the vein, that the ball had severed, close. I felt her blood continue to flow through the fixed vein. I imagined her skin stitching back up now that we knew that she was healed from within.
When the feeling left, I opened my eyes. I looked at Noah and smiled. “One down, eleven more to go,” I said softly.
“Are you sure?” Noah said hesitantly. “We can wait until you’re ready.”
I nodded. “I am. I’m ready.” All I could remember is Pam’s face earlier. How did I expect her to fight her demons and find her strength from within while I hid from mine?
By the time we were done with our last patient, I was hungry, tired, and straining.
“Let’s go take a shower,” Noah said as he looked down at our scrubs. We had to change them with each new patient, but a feeling of uncleanliness still clung to us.
“Together?” I asked suggestively as I looked down at my watch. We had 30 minutes before we had to get Ella, Patrick, and Nadia. We were going to take them tonight for the Karn’s date night, so they could take our brood tomorrow night.
He grabbed me by the waist and pulled my body up against his. I could feel his arousal pushing against my stomach. “Seriously?” he asked with a wicked grin.
“Seriously,” I wiggled against him. “Now.” I demanded.
I didn’t have to tell him twice before we were making our ways through the halls and up to a floor I had never been on. He pulled me down the hall into another office.
“Dad shouldn’t be back for a while,” he muttered before he started pulling my clothes off my body.