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Having run all the way froh the back door of Walter Wynn Hospital She spied the empty stairwell and took the steps two at a time until she reached the fourth floor Dizzy, her heart throbbing inside her chest, she collapsed on the top step and put her head between her knees

Breathe

Try to get soen into the rational part of your brain

Maybe she should&039;ve gone straight to the cops, or found a hotel roo for But no, she&039;d searched Alexander Roman&039;s second floor for an unlockedand when she&039;d found one she&039;d destroyed the screen, climbed down the rickety-ass fire escape, and run to the one place she was utterly tethered to, the one place she was sure to find her sanity

Grabbing on to the railing, she pulled herself up and plodded over to the door, opened it wide The psych unit was active, like a Starbucks at eight a, and fa buzzed into one ward or another, depending on the age of the patient Just a o, Sara&039;s mother had been part of that crowd, in New York on one of her biyearly visits, and just like the rest of the she&039;d find her son changed, healed It was not an uncommon occurrence to leave disappointed

Sara tried to slip past the nurse&039;s station, heading straight for the door to the adult ward, and had her hand on the keypad when a voice called out, "What happened to you?"

Feigning nonchalance, Sara glanced back at Claire, the oing into "

Claire looked concerned "Did you get checked out by ER?"

"Yep All good" Eager to stop the questions, Sara turned back to the keypad and stabbed in her security code Yep, all good Walked into the ER and told them about the patient who attacked me and the vampire who kidnapped me and they immediately sent Cameron Phelps down for a psych eval

The door buzzed and Sara took off through it Just like any other day, she headed straight for Gray&039;s roo peaceful and young The sight should have eased her, but it didn&039;t Every ht of nothing else buther brother well Every day he&039;d been stuck at home with theirher ass off, waiting for the day she would graduate froet him, help him, fix him

It had been four years now, four years that she&039;d been working with hi to take the trau trials, a yearlong study into levels of anxiety, depression, fear memory versus permanent memory, h soone home to live what she hoped would be nor with her that she couldn&039;t find the answer, find a way to fix hi away from the doorjamb, she left his room and headed for her office She was in immediate, real trouble here--and in her world, if you were in trouble you fixed it

The scenario was simple: Patient broke into your apartment and tried to kill you You didn&039;t stop to think or consider the feelings of others You called the police

Her door was open and she flicked on the overhead lights and went over to her desk She dropped into her chair and scrubbed a hand over herout loud

Pick up the phone

She stared at it

What the fuck are you thinking, Sara? You&039;re no idiot Do it You owe the

va, no loyalty

But was that the truth? He&039;d saved her life Whatever he hatever he claimed to be, he&039;d kept her alive so she could keep her brother alive, and wasn&039;t that worth so? Some token sense of loyalty?

You knohat they call that, honey? Stockholm syndrome Yep, you studied it in school, have patients who suffer froether until her jaw ached, she pressed the intercom button, then stabbed in the nu, the call failed

Without h the call went through, the ringing distorted into a strangesound and wasn&039;t picked up on the other end What the hell? She pressed the call button again, got a dial tone, and punched in the nu trill of a fax lared at the thing, and fantasized about yanking the cord fro at the door But that would be a reactionary move, not a productive one, and today of all days she needed to pretend to be flexible and sane

She took a deep breath, grabbed the piece of paper with the nuht for the adult-care nurse&039;s station Without a word to the crew, Sara picked up one of the desk phones and tried again Thankfully, this ti continued on perfectly norht panic take over her nervous system When the cops actually answered, she&039;d have to report the crime, not to mention explain his involvement in it Or did she? Maybe she could just leave him out of it--make it all about Tom and the attack

But Sara never had to make that choice No one picked up, not even aup, dialed one last time, and when she found it busy, slaive it fifteen encies later, it was close to the end of her shift and the first tirabbed an apple from the basket on the corner of her desk and dropped into her chair Releasing a heavy breath, she picked up the phone and waited for it, the low hu

"You have a very solid mind for a hu to the floor with a dull thud

"Jesus Christ!"

"No Alexander Ro up nearly every inch of it with his massive frame He inclined his head, his fierceyou"

"How did you get in here?"

"Your door was open"

"On the ward," she pressed "How did you get onto the ward?"

One corner of his mouth flickered up "I find every door open toher pulse would stop the whole racing routine

His gaze shifted fro to, but there&039;s so with " She froze, looked up at him "It&039;s you, isn&039;t it? You&039;ve been--"

His brows lifted "As I said before, no police"

Fear flickered inside her chest "You screithbehind him Unable to process the obvious, Sara pretended she had seen his hand on the wood, pushing it closed

"Actually it wastoward her, the black wool of his coat snapping against his legs "I couldn&039;t leave the house until it grew dark--"

She stood up Had to Even with the anxiety snapping through her, she had to show him she wasn&039;t about to cower "Your brother&039;s been watching me?"

"I had to make sure you were safe"

"If you really cared about my safety, you&039;d let "