Chapter 64: Chapter Sixty-Four

As Gloria walked back into the hospital, she did so with a smile on her face, Gen at her side, and Leo at her back. After she got done with her first carving session, Leo dropped her off at Frankie’s apartment so she could shower and change while Gen snooped around the apartment as if she’d never been allowed inside… or ever would be again. She felt light as air as she strode down the hospital hallways to check in on Frankie and Mr. Accardi. When they rounded the corner toward their hall, a loud clattering brought the group to a halt.

Leo reacted first. He shoved past the two women, gun already drawn, as he headed toward the sound of things being thrown and the screaming of an irate male. Gloria raced after him. It took only a few strides to figure out which of the men had woken up… and was extremely pissed about it.

“What the fuck am I doing in a hospital? Get the fuck off of me!” Frankie yelled.

“Calm down, Frank,” Leo ordered, forcing his way into the room.

“You! You did this. Do you know how many fucking things are in my body right now? Back up, bitch,” he warned.

Gloria peeked around the various bodies blocking the doorway. Frankie was holding an empty syringe out at one of the nurses. Her hands were raised as she tried to calm him down.

“You needed surgery, Frank. There was no way around it. You were fucked up,” Leo explained somewhere in the room.

“I don’t need a fucking doctor. I need Gloria. That’s all I fucking need. I have a fucking tube shoved up my dick, for Christ’s sake, man!” Frankie hissed.

“Would you have preferred waking up in your own piss?” Leo asked, his voice sounding more amused than angry.

“I would have preferred waking up in my own bed with… Oh, hey, Vixen,” Frankie said, finally catching sight of her as she tried to wedge her way into the room. He shyly put the syringe behind his back and ran the hand not caged by a sling through his hair.

“What is going on here?” she asked, looking at the upturned mattress, various tubes scattered across the floor, nurses with white faces and various medical supplies littering the ground.

“That’s exactly what I was trying to figure out,” Frankie said, glaring at Leo while also righting the mattress like a toddler caught in the middle of a ridiculous tantrum.

“Don’t glare at him,” Gloria said, taking on the voice of a reproachful mother.

Frankie’s shocked gaze flicked back to her and Leo smirked proudly as he crossed his arms.

“Back in bed,” she demanded, pointing a stern finger at the mattress.

Frankie glanced around the room filled with nurses, doctors and Accardi’s various men. “Vixen…” Frankie said, his voice filled with warning.

“Bed. Now,” she said more firmly.

His eyes narrowed but he relented and sat down on the bed.

“Everyone not medically necessary, leave,” Gloria said, turning her attention to the men clearly only there for the show. They continued to snicker until she unleashed her glare of disapproval.

Several of them raised their hands in surrender as they walked out. A nurse cautiously approached and told Frankie she needed to reinsert his IV.

“Leo, give me your gun,” Frankie said, holding out his hand to the guard while keeping his eyes on the nurse whose mouth dropped open in fear.

“Don’t, Leo,” Gloria advised.

Leo chuckled. “Wasn’t planning on it, Miss Rubanov.”

Frankie’s hot glare fastened first on Leo then Gloria. “I don’t want any of these bitches touching me.”

“Sir, you need antibiotics and fluids. You just underwent major surgery,” another nurse pointed out, though she was pressed firmly to a wall on the other side of the room.

“She can do it,” Frankie said, nodding toward Gloria.

Gloria scoffed. “I…”

“Only a nurse or doctor can perform…”

“She’s a nurse. She’s a hell of a nurse. Stitched me up countless times better than the hack job you call this,” Frankie said, lifting up his left arm for illustration.

“Um, I did do that,” Gloria said, feeling the rare heat starting to coat her cheeks as the nurses gave her a look of pity.

“Granted that was when we hit turbulence and dropped two hundred feet,” Leo said, coming to her defense.

“It’s beautiful, Vixen. Edgy. Makes me look like a bad ass,” Frankie assured her, his eyes softening.

She rolled her eyes. Like he needed any help looking like a badass.

“She can do it,” Frankie continued. “Tell her what to do.”

He lay back on the bed and ushered Gloria forward. The nurse beside him let out a heavy, reluctant sigh and started to demonstrate to Gloria how to insert an IV. As she focused on what she was doing, Gen walked into the room.

“Hey, Frankie, you look like shit,” Gen said, gripping the foot of the bed with both hands.

“Have you gotten fatter?” he asked, eyeing her up and down.

Gen’s gaze narrowed. “Don’t test me.”

“Yeah, she shot two security guards last night,” Gloria said before she bit her lip and made her first attempt to insert the IV.

“No shit?” Frankie asked, barely flinching as Gloria messed up her first jab. “You did that for little ‘ole me?”

Gen guffawed. “No, they wouldn’t let me see Matteo.”

“Accardi?” Frankie looked over at Leo. “Accardi’s here too?”

The three of them looked at each other. Right. He’d been unconscious by the time Mr. Accardi went down.

“He, uh,” Gloria began. The way she said it must have sounded concerning, as his head whipped to look at her and his breathing stalled. “He, uh, stepped in front of a bullet for me.”

“He… did?” Frankie asked, the shock evident not only in his tone but also his expression.

Gloria nodded. “I was trying to get you to the car. Had my back turned and Sergei was trying to get to you. Mr. Accardi stepped in front of the bullet.”

Frankie looked at Gen who gave him a weak smile. “Is he…”

“He’s fine,” Gen said, finally alleviating the pressure he clearly felt. His chest deflated.

“Fuck, don’t do that to me,” he said, putting his hand over his heart.

“He went into surgery and they had to take a piece of his lung. He’s not woken up yet,” Gen said, busying her hands on the sheets at Frankie’s feet.

“He’ll wake up soon, Gen. He has too much to live for. Don’t worry, I’ll give him a pounding for doing something so stupid,” he assured her, though he quickly looked at Gloria and shook his head as if he would do no such thing.

“All done here,” the nurse announced. She gave Gloria a pat on her back. “Good job, Sweetheart.”

Gloria smiled widely at her and thanked her for the lesson. She glanced down at Frankie whose head was back on the pillow. He looked up at her with a dreamy smile.

“You sure are beautiful when you smile like that,” he remarked, lifting his unbound hand to touch her cheek.

“Awww, morphine’s kicking in already,” she said playfully as she brushed some of his long hair out of his face. He closed his eyes with the gesture and hummed in pleasure. “You need some rest.” Then she gripped his hair hard and yanked slightly back. He hissed and glared up at her. “First though, we have some questions for you.”

“Huh?” he asked, looking around the room without the ability to move his head.

“Let’s start with what the fuck you were thinking?” Gen asked, crossing her arms.

Frankie smiled broadly. “Well, I was thinking about telling you and Leo to get the fuck out, then instructing Gloria to take this tube out of my dick so I could pull her on top of me and…” Gloria covered his mouth with her palm, though it didn’t stop him from mumbling the rest behind her hand.

“Frank,” Leo said with a sigh that drew Frankie’s eyes sideways. “We lost four guys. Accardi’s been shot. What the fuck were you thinking letting them take you?”

Gloria released his mouth so he could answer. Frankie gave a smirk and shrugged. “Didn’t expect you to go charging after me without a plan. I needed to draw Sergei out and get some answers.”

“Did you?” Gen asked.

“I mean… You found me in his den, so I think that would count as drawing him out.”

“Frankie,” Gloria said, her voice stern. “For five minutes I need you to stop trying to be funny and talk plain.”

Frankie took her hand and kissed the back of it. “Lot easier said than done, Vixen.”

She pulled her hand away and took a few steps back before crossing her arms. Frankie looked around the room at everyone who was considerably disappointed in him. He sighed and let his head drop back for a moment before he lifted it again and his expression of humor evaporated to one of anger.

“Gen, do you remember when you were kidnapped and Accardi tore apart the city looking for you? Then when he was in jail you accepted a fucking duel while pregnant?” Frankie asked. Gen crossed her arms and shrugged. “Leo.” Frankie looked over and laughed through his nose. “You beat Accardi to a pulp for interrupting your first date with Lucy and when her brother said nasty shit to her on your wedding day and made her cry, he suddenly disappeared. Remember that?”

Leo made a “cutting” gesture across his throat as Gen sent him a look of disbelief.

Next Frankie turned his attention to Gloria. “I fucking drove across the country and tore apart a compound to get to you,” he said, his voice desperate. “I fought my way through a hotel lobby for you. I stood up to my boss, put my job on the line for you.” He took a moment to look at both Gen and Leo. “I will do whatever it takes to keep her safe. Even if men get hurt in the process. I’ll apologize to those whom I’ve hurt. I will.” He turned to Gloria and held out his hand for her. She hesitantly took it. His dark eyes bore into her, begging her to hear him. “I’ll do anything it takes. Anything. Because I fucking love you and no one is going to take you from me again. And I won’t apologize for that.”

Gloria heard some sniffling but wouldn’t break eye contact she held with Frankie.

“It’s okay, Mrs. Accardi,” Leo said, reassuring the crying Donna.

“It’s just the damn hormones.”

“I know, I know.”

Gloria leaned down and kissed Frankie for the first time in days. His lips were dry and cracked from his hospital stay but they were warm and comforting. She placed her forehead against his and gripped their clasped hands to her chest.

“I love you too,” she whispered. “But don’t you ever fucking do that to me again.”

“Do what?” he asked softly as if in a daze. She sat back to look at his dopey expression.

She wiped her own misty eyes and shook her head. “Fucking morphine.”

“Ohhhh, a curse. I'll spank you later,” he promised, settling back on the pillow as his eyes reluctantly closed.