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Needing Cassidy Chapter 26

Writer's picture: Lacey St. SinLacey St. Sin

CHAPTER 26


The door behind her opened, and Cassidy whirled around, ready to...what? Should she apologize? He’d obviously meant the meal for her, and while the thought was incredibly sweet, especially coming from Tor, whom she just knew did not make such gestures lightly, she didn’t want to be in a relationship. Right?


Relationships here meant marriage, and kids. The panic that began to rise from the pit of her stomach promised her that she was, indeed, correct. The married, settled down, family life was her own personal nightmare. She was just going to have to tell the man and ignore the fact that the thought of losing...whatever it was they had become...was enough to induce its own panic.


It wasn’t Tor in the doorway though, but a Livarian she only vaguely recognized. He was tall and broad, as most of the Livarians were, and his face had no markings except for a dark lining around his eyes and ears. But what was of real interest was the intensity of his grin, and the small package he carried under one arm.


“Is that...” Cassidy started toward him, her heart skipped a little, afraid to hope.


“Your menziquartal, the medical center in Cirrilstill had a small supply,” the man bowed with a ridiculous gesture, holding out the little package as if offering her a crown. She grinned back, it was worth so much more than that.


“Thank God!” she exclaimed, and then laughed, relief of a fear she didn’t even know she’d been holding pushed any negative emotions away.


“Cassidy!” Tor’s call echoed down the hallway, the urgent tone immediately chasing away her joy. She didn’t even thank the Livarian, didn’t look at him twice, but raced toward the patient rooms where Tor’s voice had emanated.


Becky’s room was open and Tor was working frantically, pulling off the attached tubes and wires and pulling open the loose top that she was wearing. Her skin was an alarming shade of blue, her body limp and unmoving.


“We’ve got the menziquartal,” she announced, before kicking herself a little.

“Great we can give it to her corpse.”


Okay, she deserved that one. The fear his words inspired didn’t let her get pissy about it either. “Get in here, the infection has spread to her central nervous system. If we don’t get her heart breathing regularly the menziquartal isn’t going to matter.”


Cassidy hurriedly, but gently set the package down against the wall and out of the way and rushed to Tor’s side.


“What do you want me to do?”


“She’s seizing, I have medication that will relax her muscles but it is short lived and we only have time for one shot, as soon as you are able I need you to tilt her head back and hold it there as still as you can,” he told her.


Seizing? Cassidy took a more intense look at Becky, the muscles of her body stretched taught until they looked as if they would snap. Fear pounded against her ribs. She’d never had to face someone in medical distress.


Tor had pulled the little cot out so that it sat in the middle of the room so Cassidy ran to Becky’s head. She placed one hand on the top of the woman’s head and one beneath her jaw.


Head tilt, chin lift Cassidy, she pumped herself up, just like first aid.


“Ready?” Tor snapped.


She swallowed hard and nodded.


Tor plunged a long needle into the joint of Becky’s shoulder and neck and pushed the plunger. For a long breath nothing happened Cassidy put pressure against Becky’s jaw but it was like it was welded in place. Then there was a slight twitch through her body, followed by the release of all tension.


“Now,” Tor urged and Cassidy tilted Becky’s head. “Open her mouth, but don’t get your fingers inside,” he directed from her side. He was holding a strange, and very long stick with a rounded bit at the end, she didn’t have time to get a good look at it, because as she did as she was directed Tor slipped the stick into Becky’s mouth and well down her throat. In fact Cassidy felt a little light headed with the basic knowledge of how far the device was going.


“You good?” Tor demanded when she swayed a little.


Get it together Cassidy, she warned herself, and focused instead on the tips of Becky’s fingers that lay limp now, beside her hip.


They twitched.


“Almost there,” Tor murmured.


They twitched again, and without warning the gentle hold she’d had on her friend turned bruising as Becky’s head tried to snap back into it’s previous position, the drive of the muscles clenching nearly tearing her away from Cassidy’s hold. Her jaws snapped shut crashing against the stick hard enough to break teeth, though, fortunately, none of Becky’s actually broke.


Tor grunted, bracing his forearms against Becky’s cheeks. “One more push,” he told Cassidy. “I’ll hold the top, you brace on her chin. I only need a tiny opening. I’m almost there, so close.”


Cassidy nodded, and brown eyes met green. “On three. One. Two. Three.”

She pushed, careful to be as gentle as possible, but really Becky was going to have some very sore spots if she made it through this. And that thought, and the fear that she might lose her friend just when they finally had hope, gave Cassidy the strength to force the teeth open, just a tiny bit.


Tor took the opportunity immediately and pushed, the stick sliding the last inch inward.


“Got it,” he breathed. “It’s done.”


Cassidy sagged as he took his hands from the stick and turned to one of the machines in the room, pressing buttons and attaching a long wire to Becky’s chest. The machine beeped, and then wound up with a long, whining hum. Becky’s chest rose, and then fell...and then rose again.


Every rise and fall bringing a little more color back to the woman’s skin. After about a minute her muscles relaxed as well and Tor carefully removed the stick, the round device at the end now gone.


His relief was palpable.


“Get the meds now, Cass. Let’s get them all started before this gets any worse.”

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