A Dangerous Enigma

45. Fallen Hero

Show me what it's like
To be the last one standing
And teach me wrong from right
And I'll show you what I can be
And say it for me, say it to me
And I'll leave this life behind me
Say it if it's worth saving me, hurry, I'm fallin'

~Nickelback

The steady beep of the monitor made me think about all types of things.

How steady a normal life could be, with no ups and downs. Just a life where everything happened at a normal pace and within normal time, no mishaps to cause any damage. It made me think about how lucky I was to be alive when there were some people who were out there fighting for their lives; their heartbeats not beating rhythmically at a steady beep. It also made me think about how Leo wouldn't be laying here in front of me, alive if I didn't run back into the building.

He laid peacefully on a hospital bed, shirtless and hooked up to multiple machines; in a medically induced coma. The doctors had just released Leo from surgery, where they had to operate quickly to save his severely punctured lung. I had no idea about the severity of Leo's injuries until I had managed to drive us to the nearest hospital. Leo had three broken ribs and unfortunately, the left one had been punctured causing serious damage to the lung tissue. As well as that, he needed the two bullets out of him, that was embedded in his shoulder and lower abdomen. With injuries such as these, he shouldn't have even survived but he did. As well as his injuries, Leo had inhaled an unhealthy amount of smoke and there was no telling how it would affect him later on in life, or even right now. The doctors had said it was all just a waiting game now.  It was a miracle that he even managed to climb up the broken staircase with me on his back, as a punctured lung restricts oxygen and also causes trouble with breathing... but that just proved to me that Leo was strong, he would never give up on me.

I was seated in an armchair in Leo's private recovery room, holding Luca in my arms as he suckled at my breast hungrily. The whole feeding him by bottle was not a priority right at this moment, also I didn't have a bottle on me so I had no choice but to let him breastfeed.

I must have looked a right state, covered in blood, with a smokey looking face; as well as the fact that I had bruises covering every inch of my visible skin. The doctors and nurses wanted to take a look at me and also make sure that I didn't inhale too much smoke but I wouldn't let them. I felt perfectly fine, and all I cared about was making sure that Leo was fine.  Leo's surgery had lasted for four hours, and not only did Leo have his bullets taken out but there was also a piece of medical tubing placed within his lung to help him breathe. The doctors had said that the tube would have to stay inside Leo for the rest of his life, which also meant that he couldn't smoke again; otherwise, he would risk more damage to his lung.

I sighed heavily, holding Luca tightly as he fed. Luca was the only thing that was keeping me going as well as the fact that I had peace of mind that Raphael and Lucy could no longer hurt me or my family again.

"Mrs Russo," I heard a voice say, starling me and also causing Luca to pull away from my breast. I quickly covered my chest up and turned Luca over my shoulder so that he could burp.

"Y-yes?" I answered to the middle-aged male nurse, who I didn't recall knocking as he came in.

"I think you should go home, the hospital is no place for a young baby... your husband will not wake up any time soon-"

"I know that," I cut him off rudely, holding his gaze as he watched me burp my child.

"We will inform you of any updates, and in the meantime, we would also like to do a quick assessment on you-"

"That's not necessary, I can assure you I'm perfectly fine," I interrupted. I knew what they wanted from me, they wanted to assess me psychiatrically to see if I was stable enough to care for Luca.