“She what?” Darkness didn’t like the way her grin faded and worry flashed in her eyes.

“She took a severe blow to the head. We had to put her down fast when her heart rate rose too high but we wanted to make certain she was okay. The scans we did when she arrived showed some swelling but it’s gone now.” Doc Alli reached out and placed her hand on his chest. “We were worried about damage.”

“She’s fine though, right?” He felt sick.

“It was a closed head injury. You got her to us fast and we immediately began the drugs. We think we caught it in time before she suffered permanent injuries. The scans look great now. There’s no bleeding. We’ve been running scans every hour to watch her. The last thing we wanted to do was open her up. We don’t have a neurosurgeon at Homeland but we had one on standby from one of the nearby trauma centers in case he was needed.”

“What if there is damage?”

Doc Alli chewed on her bottom lip.

“Just tell me.”

“We have been consulting with the neurology department. If there was damage and it’s mild, she might not remember what happened to her. Short-term amnesia is a possibility. It could cause some personality changes. Irritability. Mood swings. Depression.” She paused. “There could be some mild physical issues. Blurry vision, headaches and some weakness to her limbs. We’ll watch for verbal clues too. Slurred speech or trouble identifying words, spoken or heard.”

Darkness closed his eyes. It hurt. It’s my fault. He couldn’t stop repeating that thought in his head. He should have kept Kat at Homeland, handcuffed to his bed, instead of pushing her away. She’d wanted him to meet her halfway but he’d refused to even try.

“Darkness?” Doc Alli patted his chest. “She’s tough.”

He opened his eyes. “You said you brought her around once. Did she seem fine?”

“She opened her eyes, looked confused, but then her heart rate climbed too high. We put her back under. She never spoke. It was too fast. Sedatives are hard to shake off and we just didn’t have enough time to allow her to become coherent.” She dropped her hand. “Do you want to see her?”

“I do.”

“Follow me.” She spun and quickly walked away.

Darkness stayed on her heels. They had two operating rooms and that’s where she took him. Doc Trisha and Treadmont were in the large room, both sitting on chairs. They looked worn out and had changed clothes as well. Doc Trisha smiled at him. It looked forced. Doc Treadmont just dropped his head, watching something on a laptop.

Kat lay still on a padded gurney. They had the rails up on each side of her. She wore a hospital gown. A thick blanket covered her to mid chest. Her finger was covered with a plastic clip and a green thing was taped to her upper arm near her elbow. It pumped fluids and drugs into her system. The leads of a heart monitor ran under the top of her gown to her chest. She breathed on her own but still looked too pale.

He stood at her bedside. Her other arm was bandaged where he knew she’d suffered a deep gash. It was wrapped loosely around her arm. He frowned.

“It’s healing,” Doc Alli informed him. “We keep peeking at it so it’s best not to tape it to her skin. Do you want to see her other injuries?”

He jerked his head in agreement.

Doc Alli lifted the blanket and Darkness growled. Kat had been on her side when he’d found her and too many bodies had been in the way when the paramedics had strapped her to a backboard. They’d covered her with blankets to keep her warm against the affects of shock. He realized her hip and thigh were damaged.

The wounds looked as if she’d been cut by a thick blade. The skin was marred by multicolored bruises, a natural progression of the healing process. It was in the advanced stages. They’d already started to become yellow.

“I don’t know if it was from flying debris from the blast or if she landed on something,” Doc Alli explained. “She got nailed on both sides, either way. Her left side was cut up like this but she sustained the worst damage on her right side. Her arm, her head and the ribs.”

Darkness leaned over, noticing how his hands shook when he carefully gripped the top of Kat’s gown and peeked under it. Circular pads attached the monitor leads above her br**sts and more lines ran to her lower ribs. There was bruising under her right breast. He let go and straightened.

“It looked a lot worse when she was brought in.” Doc Trisha moved to the other side of the bed. “The minor cuts and scratches on her have already healed. Not even bruises remain.” She met his gaze. “We have a decision to make. I’m going to go talk to her friend.”

“What decision?” She had all of Darkness’ attention.

“To keep her on the drugs until she’s fully healed or not. At this rate that will be complete by tomorrow night. The other option is to take her off them and allow her to heal naturally the rest of the way. If that’s the decision, we’ll flush out her system to remove the healing drugs.”

“How is she handling being on them?”

Doc Trisha shrugged. “Good, considering she’s almost in a coma.” She glanced at Doc Alli.

“I told him. We’re all worried about the closed head injury.” Doc Alli took a breath. “We’re anxious to wake her up and see how she is.”

“She’s not critical anymore,” Doc Trisha informed him. “It would be safe. Her worst enemy was shock from the blood loss she suffered and the trauma of her injures. We’ve battled both those and won. We’re going to talk to Missy and let her decide.”