#11 Meet Me in the Emerald Forest

Clementine

“Bastian, is that you?” I heard myself call out into the darkness that surrounded me.

Slowly, glowing green eyes crept out of the woods followed by the snow-white wolf they belonged to. He belly crawled towards me before plopping down at my feet. I giggled and sat cross legged on the cool ground. The wolf’s head rose just enough to flop onto my lap. I scratched his giant head right between his ears, his favorite spot.

“You look sad, Bastian.” I said, looking into his eyes.

It was years ago that Bastian first began to visit me. Logically, I knew he was just my brain’s way of coping with the trauma of being nearly mauled by wolves on the same night my parents were murdered. I mean, why else would I dream of the same exact wolf with the same exact green eyes? And I cannot even begin to explain how I know the wolf’s name or what he’s feeling.

Bastian whimpered and nuzzled closer to me, his eyes seeming to agree with my observation.

“Is it because I’m hurt?” I asked and the wolf whimpered again.

“Am I dead?” I asked curiously and Bastian’s head shot up, a devastating howl escaping him.

“Well it’s not like I want to be dead, either.” I mocked him and he huffed at me in frustration. His head settled back in my lap.

“So, not dead then.” I muttered to myself just as I felt consciousness begin to nip at the edge of my dream.

Whoever was responsible for the beeping that was disturbing my sleep was going to die. I pinched my eyes together and mumbled to myself as I tried to go back to sleep. Something warm touched my hand and I flinched before a familiar voice spoke,

“Clem?”

I forced my eyes open, immediately recognizing the voice.

“Danny?” I croaked, blinking rapidly to try and clear my vision.

Daniel was my brother, older than me by three years, with our mother’s dirty blonde hair and our father’s blue eyes. The blue eyes were the only thing that we had in common in terms of looks and personality. Danny dropped out of school and left home at 16 to pursue his dream of being an artist. Our parents basically disowned him, cutting him off from the trust fund and allowing him to be emancipated. He ran off to New York City shortly after that.

But, when our parents died, Danny was forced to take custody of me when he was only twenty years old. It was only for a few months, until I turned 18 and left for college, but it was still a life altering sacrifice he made for me. He stayed in Virginia and opened up his own private art gallery in D.C.

“Hey there, Clem.” Danny smiled and brushed some hair back from my face, “You look like shit.” He winked and I rolled my eyes.

“You try getting shot and see how you look.” I grumbled, “How long have I been out?”

“About a day. You had to have surgery for your shoulder when you got here. Enough time for me to fly out.” Danny shrugged just as the doctor walked in.

He smiled and something about his face looked familiar.

“Hi there, Ms. Reign, I’m Dr. Moreson.” I narrowed my eyes on him, he looked familiar, too.

“Do I know you?” I asked, earning a strange look from Danny.

“No, I don’t think so.” Dr. Moreson cleared his throat, clearly uncomfortable,

“All of your scans look good, Ms. Reign. You have a couple of broken bones and a bruised lung from the gunshots to your vest, a mild concussion, and then, of course, the injury to your shoulder. The wound was through and through, no bone damage, but there was damage to the nerves and muscles which is why you needed surgery. You should regain full mobility in 2 or 3 months with some PT.” Dr. Moreson said, looking over my chart and smiling at me like he was giving me good news.

“Two or three months?” I gasped.

“Here we go.” Danny grumbled.

“Yes, that’s the usual recovery time we see with this type of injury.” Dr. Moreson looked confused.

“You better go, doc, before she rages.” Danny said to the doctor. He looked seriously concerned as he slipped out of the room.

“Now, Clem…..” Danny started in on the same usual speech about how I didn’t need to go putting myself in danger everyday just to find the person who murdered our parents, blah, blah, blah.

Before he could dive too far into the guilt trip speech of the century, there was a knock on the door and my team filed in. Caleb was the first to my side,

“You okay?” He asked with pinched eyes.

“I’m fine, Caleb.” I sighed at his concern.

“You had us worried, Clem!” Sofia whined, quickly giving me a hug. I winced as my ribs burned against her weight but I didn’t dare let her see that I was in any pain.

“What did the doctor say?” Liam asked and I updated them.

They all looked at each other and immediately took two steps back and towards the door. Aiden’s stone cold face locked on mine and I was already arguing,

“Aiden….”

“Don’t start, Clementine.” By that, everyone ran for the hills, including Danny, leaving Aiden and I alone in the room.

“But….”

“Three months.”

“Excuse me?” I gasped.

“You’re taking three months paid medical leave.”

“The doctor said two to three months and I guarantee you that I can get that down to one.” I argued.

“That’s what worries me. Clementine, you’ve been on the team for three years and you’ve never taken a single vacation day. The amount of time off you’ve accumulated is just wrong.” Aiden scoffed, “You’re not coming back until your arm is 100% and that means 3 months of rehab.”

“I can work in the office while doing rehab.” I countered, beginning to panic. Aiden shook his head at me,

“Go home, Clem. Spend time with your brother, see your old friends, and relax.”

“Have you ever been to Stafford?” I asked dramatically. Aiden gave me a look that said he didn’t care, “If I don’t die of boredom I’ll definitely turn into a psychopath.”

“You’re nothing if not dramatic.” Aiden sighed, “You can consult on cases from home.” He offered me a bone. I perked up a little bit of that idea,

“And I need privileges.”

“For what?” Aiden narrowed his eyes on me suspiciously.

“To work my parents’ case.” I smiled innocently. Aiden sighed even louder this time,

“Fine, but don’t go overboard or I’ll revoke them.” He warned me.

“Deal.”

“Oh, and your leave doesn’t start until you’re discharged.” Aiden added before leaving the room.

By the time Danny came back in, I was ripping stickers, tape, and wires from my body and the machines were going crazy.

“What are you doing?” Danny cried out, running towards me.

“Leaving.” I stated.

“You just had surgery like twenty hours ago.” Danny looked at me in shock.

“So….you can drive.” I shrugged and stomped towards the door.

“Clem your entire ass is hanging out.” I looked over my shoulder to see Danny covering his face. I tucked the gown around myself and stubbornly ripped open the door.

“Jesus….” I gasped as I nearly ran into some guy.

“Nope, afraid not.” The man shrugged with a shit eating grin on his face.

“Sorry.” I said, stepping around him.

“Where are you going?”

The man looked like he wanted to grab my arm and forcibly stop me. I looked him up and down. He had golden blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes, and tan skin covered in tattoos. To be frank, he looked like a Greek God. He was looking at me intently, almost too fiercely for my preference.

“Who are you?” I asked a little too harshly.

“Nobody.” The man cleared his throat and loosened his posture like he was trying to appear uninterested.

“Okay, nobody, then you don’t need to know where I’m going.” I stated simply before walking past him.

“Excuse me?” I cleared my throat at the nurses station. They looked at me with a lot of concern.

“Can we help you?” One of the older nurses asked.

“I need to be discharged.” I said.

“The doctor will be in and he’ll order the discharge….” She started to explain but I shook my head,

“No, now. I’ll sign an AMA, just get me out of here.” I narrowed my eyes at the nurses and dared them to argue with me, “I’m in room 7.”

“You’re the FBI agent.” One of the other nurses said.

“That’s me.” I nodded smugly.

The nurses all looked at each other for a minute before quietly sliding a clipboard across the counter to me. I filled it out quickly and then went back to my room to get changed.

“You can’t fly!” One of the nurses yelled as Danny and I escaped down the hall. I waved my hand behind me to show that I had heard her.

And that’s how I ended up in a rented car with my 28-year-old brother driving 1,200 miles from Dallas, Texas to Virginia. It would take us 22 hours to reach Stafford and I was dreading every 22 of those hours.

“Just take your pain meds and go to sleep, Clem.” Danny laughed at me as I sat, very tense, in the passenger seat.

“I still don’t see why I can’t drive.” I grumbled and Danny gave me an are you for real look.

“Sleep.” He forced my head back onto the headrest.