Beta

Savannah sat on Shea’s couch, her feet folded underneath her. After Tyler had publicly broken up with her, she had left the set and gone straight to Shea’s. Alex had called her to see if she was okay, but Savannah had told her to focus on the shoot and she’d talk to her later. She’d already caused a scene at the photo shoot, she didn’t want to cause any other issues there.

Shea shook her head. “I’m just so confused,” she said. She knew Tyler hated when Savannah went off on missions, but this was different. “He’s just overreacting. He’ll be calling you by the end of the day,” she said.

“I don’t think so,” Savannah said, looking at the ground. “You didn’t see him today, Shea. He doesn’t want to be with me. All because he thinks my job is too dangerous. But I’m not changing careers because he can’t handle it,” she said, stubbornly crossing her arms over her chest.

The front door sprung open and Alex came walking inside. “Okay, Van, what the hell happened today?” she questioned.

“You were there,” Savannah muttered.

“Yeah, which is why I’m so confused. Segs just broke up with you? This has to be a joke. And seriously, are you okay? Did you get cleaned up?” she asked, inspecting Savannah’s body.

“Yeah I’m fine,” Savannah shrugged her off. She had shown up to Shea’s still bloody and beat up. Shea had insisted she go see a doctor, but Savannah refused. “And pretty sure it’s not a joke. I tried calling and texting him and he’s ignoring me. And he didn’t seem very joking,” she replied.

“He’s just being dramatic,” Shea told her.

“Okay, start from the beginning, what happened with Bartholomew?” Alex asked her.

Savannah took a deep breath before starting the story. “I went in to see Dominic. He called me this morning and said he wanted to meet with me and Liam about Sebastian. Apparently he’s trying to get a deal down in Miami to get himself free. Says he may have some information that would be helpful for a case in Dallas. Of course he knows something about Bartholomew,” Savannah mumbled.

“Okay, how does a meeting with Dominic turn into you getting...well whatever happened to you?” Alex asked, motioning up and down towards Savannah’s body. She wasn’t sure what exactly had happened except that Savannah had come in bruised and battered.

“I felt like I was being followed,” she continued. “But, I was careful going into the office. No one was there. We started our meeting and all of a sudden Odella walks in.”

“She came into the DEA office?!” Shea exclaimed.
Savannah nodded her head. “Yeah, but she told us she wanted to talk to me. On the record.”

“That’s sketchy,” Alex mumbled.

“Yeah, that should have been our first clue. But I took her into an interrogation room. Well, I tried, at least. But right before we reached the door, she hit me in the back of my knee with something, knocking me down.”

“She fucking Nancy Kerrigan-ed you?” Shea interjected. “Fucking bitch.”

“And that’s when Dominic and Liam stepped in. But, some other guy was with her. I don’t know who he was. He was hiding. He went after Liam while Odella tried to get out. I ran after her, and when I got outside, Bartholomew was there. No idea how that bastard thought coming to the DEA office was a good idea, but he was there. He tried to hit me, but I ducked at the last second. I fell to the ground. That’s how I got the scrapes,” she said, holding up her arm, which was much more than just scraped up, not that Savannah would admit to being more injured. “He pushed me into the side of the building, but Dominic came out after that and took him down.”

“I’m so confused. So Bartholomew just came to the DEA office?” Alex asked, running a hand through her hair.

“And now is in custody again?” Shea continued the thought.

“Yeah, it doesn’t make sense,” Savannah agreed. “I think there’s something bigger going on. But, for now, all I know is Bartholomew, Odella, and Junior are all behind bars. And under higher security, so no one is getting away.”

“Good,” Alex breathed a sigh of relief. “How’s your head?”

“Eh, it’s seen better days,” she admitted, but didn’t go into detail about the symptoms she was feeling. She didn’t need them to know that she had had a migraine since being shoved into the side of building. And she’d thrown up immediately afterwards. But, her fight with Tyler was worse than any concussion symptoms she was having.

“Now, let’s talk about Tyler,” Alex brought up the man of the hour.

“I’m so sorry I ruined your shoot,” Savannah said sincerely. “How did the rest of it go?” she asked, having left right after Tyler had broken up with her. She had half hoped that Tyler would follow her, but he didn’t. And then on her drive to Shea’s, her sadness had turned into annoyance with Tyler.

“It was fine,” Alex told her. “Tyler was...Tyler,” she said, not being able to find the right word.
“He didn’t say much. Left right after we were done. I thought for sure he would have been coming to see you.”

“Nope. Haven’t heard from him since,” Savannah muttered.

“He’ll come around,” Shea said, putting a reassuring hand on Savannah’s arm. “Guys are moody and dumb.”

“Maybe you had the right idea marrying a woman,” Savannah joked.

Shea smiled. “Audrey is the best,” she replied. “But Tyler’s not bad. He just needs to get over himself. None of us like you putting your life on the line, but that’s what you do. That’s who you are. And nothing will ever change that.”

Savannah was grateful that Shea and Alex understood what her job meant to her. It was more than what she could say about Tyler. “Thanks, Shea,” she said sincerely.

“Do you want to stay with me and Audrey tonight?” Shea offered.

Savannah shook her head. “No, I’ll go back to my place,” she answered. She stood up, a little too quickly, getting dizzy.

“You okay?” Alex asked, putting a hand on Savannah’s shoulder to steady her.

“Uh yeah,” Savannah lies. She knew the dizziness was from her concussion but she’d be damned if she ever admitted that aloud. “Do you mind driving me home?” she asked. She knew she wasn’t well enough to make it on her own.

“Van, I really think you should stay with someone tonight. You’re not doing well,” Alex sided with Shea.

“I’ll be fine,” she insisted. She should have known better than to think her friends would believe her. Instead of driving her to her place, Alex drove her straight to Jamie’s. Savannah thought about arguing but didn’t have enough energy to do so. She wasn’t sure whose side Jamie was going to be on: hers or Tyler’s.

But, when she walked in, she got her answer. “Savannah,” he welcomed her with a soft smile. “Guest bedroom is all ready for you. Let me know if you can’t find something,” he told her.

She returned the smile. “Thanks, Jamie. Sorry to intrude. This girl wouldn’t take me home, though,” she jerked her thumb in Alex’s direction. Alex shrugged, not feeling one bit guilty for going against Savannah’s request of going home.

“Probably better that you’re here anyways,” Jamie replied, half mumbling.

Savannah gave him a curious look, but didn’t question him more on that subject. Instead, she decided to ask the question that was at the forefront of her mind. “Have you heard from Tyler?”

Alex also heard the question and impatiently waited on Jamie’s answer. He shook his head. “No, not since he left the set. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Savannah shrugged it off. “I wouldn’t expect him to talk about it to anyone anyways. If I know him, he’s off partying away his feelings. Or hooking up with someone to prove a point,” she muttered.

Alex noticed the look on Savannah’s face and wanted to get her mind off of Tyler. “Let’s get you set up in the guest bedroom,” she said, guiding Savannah down the hallway. She’d been at Jamie’s a number of times, but she’d never been inside his guest room. It was large and well decorated. Savannah assumed he had a professional interior designer create it. There was no way Jamie could have done this on his own.

She noticed a portrait on the wall next to the bed, and she walked over to it. “Hey! This is Minneapolis,” she said aloud. She’d recognize the trails anywhere. She, Shea, and Alex had played in that park a million times while growing up.

Alex smiled as she stood beside Savannah, looking at the picture as well. “It is. I took that picture last year when I went to Jamie’s game there. He surprised me by getting it printed and hanging it up.” Savannah loved that story. It was so like Jamie to do something sweet like that for Alex. Maybe he needed to give Tyler some pointers. But, at this point, it didn’t matter. Tyler was no longer her boyfriend.

“Can we go back to when we were kids? Just running around that park, playing tag?” Savannah sighed. She’d love to go back to simpler times. Before boyfriends and breakups.

“We can go back there, but I don’t think we can go back to being kids,” Alex reeled her back to reality. “We should go back there though. To Minnesota. It’d be fun!”

Savannah smiled at her. She hadn’t been back to Minnesota in many years. She’d spent all of her time at work in Chicago before moving to Dallas, never wanting to take any vacation days to go visit her parents back home in Minnesota. “Yeah, maybe we can. Something tells me that I’m going to be put on leave at work,” she revealed. Alex looked over at her curiously. “Anytime I’m hurt Dominic puts me on leave. Or on desk duty. I think I’d rather be on leave,” she muttered.

“How hurt are you?” Alex asked, wanting the truth.

“Physically, not bad,” she fibbed.

“I swear I’m going to kill Segs if he doesn’t get his shit together and come talk to you soon,” Alex cut in.

Savannah chuckled. “I wasn’t even thinking about Tyler, to tell you the truth. I was just going to say my head isn’t doing so well right now.”

Alex breathed in deeply. “Well, try to get some sleep and see if that helps. If you need anything, don’t hesitate to yell for me,” she said, giving Savannah a kiss on the side of her head. “I love you,” she told her friend.

Savannah smiled at her. “I love you, too. And thank you for everything.”

Alex simply nodded her head as she exited the guest room to let Savannah go to sleep. Just outside the room, she saw Jamie leaning against the wall. “How’s she doing?” he nodded his head in Savannah’s direction.

“Not great. For a number of reasons,” Alex told him.

“Want me to kick Tyler’s ass?” Jamie asked amusingly.

Alex frowned. “Can you do me a favor first?”

“Name it.”

“Can you call your team doc? The one that Savannah was seeing for her concussion? I think she needs to see him again,” she told him.

Jamie nodded his head. “I’ll make sure she sees him right away,” he promised. Alex rose up on her toes to kiss him. “She’s going to be okay,” he said, wrapping his arm around her.

“I know,” Alex responded. “She always is. She’s stronger than anyone I know.”

***

Savannah woke up the next morning with a pounding migraine. One that got worse when the light from outside shined in her eyes. It took her a couple minutes to figure out where she was. And then everything came rushing back to her. Fighting off Bartholomew. Fighting with Tyler. Him breaking up with her.

And that’s when her emotions started going wild. She wasn’t upset. She was pissed. Pissed off at Tyler for not even listening to her when she tried to tell him she didn’t go after Odella or Bartholomew. But he was so stubborn he wouldn’t listen. She knew her concussion made her emotions stronger than normal, which was likely why she was so angry at him.

She got out of bed and walked out into the hallway. She made her way down to the bathroom quickly before walking to the living room to see what the noise was. She found Jamie sitting there watching ESPN. “Hey,” he greeted her. “Alex told me to tell you that she had to go to work for a little bit and I can drive you to your appointment this morning.”

Savannah looked at him with a confused expression. “Appointment?”

Jamie nodded his head. “Yeah, Dr. Tompkins is going to see you at 10.”

Savannah almost started arguing with him, refusing to go to the doctor, but then she stopped herself. She knew Alex had asked Jamie to call in a favor to get her to be seen so quickly, and she decided to just thank him and go.

She sat down on the couch next to him. “Have I ever told you that you’re a good boyfriend?” she asked him with a smile.

“I’ve always felt I’m the superior boyfriend,” he joked with a wink. But then he suddenly realized his words. “I’m sorry, Savannah,” he said sincerely.

She shrugged it off. “It’s fine. It just shows we weren’t meant to be. He couldn’t handle my job. He never could, and that wasn’t going to change,” she spoke simply without much emotion in her voice.

“For what it’s worth, I think you guys balanced each other out. You were good for him. And from what I saw, he was good for you, too. You just gotta give him some time. He’ll come around,” Jamie insisted.

Savannah glanced over at him. She and Jamie didn’t spend a lot of quality one-on-one time with him. Usually Tyler or Alex was around, too. She had to admit, Jamie was a smart guy. And she respected what he said. But this time, she thought he was wrong. “Or he’s done, just like he said. And that’s his prerogative.”

Jamie didn’t fight with her, and Savannah appreciated that. Instead he told her, “we need to leave in like fifteen minutes to get there. Is that enough time?”

Savannah laughed. “I can be ready in two minutes,” she revealed. She stood up and walked to the guest bedroom before realizing she had no clothes there. So, she walked into the master bedroom to borrow something from Alex. They weren’t exactly the same size, with Alex a good five inches shorter than Savannah, but she was sure she could find something in her closet to wear. She decided on a pair of her lululemon leggings and a tank top.

Before walking back to the living room, she quickly texted Alex. Your boyfriend is the best. Thank him in your own special way ;)

She found Jamie in the same spot she had left him. “Okay, I’m ready.”

Jamie glanced up at her. “Damn, you are quick,” he commented.

She laughed. “C’mon, let’s get this over with.”

To say Savannah hated the doctor was an understatement. She didn’t hate Dr. Tompkins personally, but she hated going to someone to take care of her. She was independent and always wanted to deal with her injuries on her own.

Dr. Tompkins greeted her and Jamie out in the waiting room. There was no one else out there, and Savannah wondered if the doctor had come in special for her, especially since he was wearing a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. She told Jamie he could come back to the room with her since she was sure Alex would tell him whatever Savannah told her anyways.

Dr. Tompkins made conversation with Jamie until they got to the room and then he turned his attention towards Savannah. She gave him a rundown of what had happened at the agency and he did several tests with her before coming to a conclusion. “Your concussion symptoms have worsened,” he stated the obvious.

“Yes I know that,” she said flatly. “So what do I do now?”

“You need to let your brain settle down. Rest and heal, just like any other injury.” Savannah just stared at him, waiting for him to elaborate. “Savannah you need to take a break from work. A real break. I don’t want you going to work or doing anything from home at this time. I’ll write you a note. Follow up with me in two weeks and we can reassess.”

“Two weeks no work!?” she exclaimed. That was torture to her.

“That’s what we’re starting with. If symptoms don’t improve, we may have to make it longer. I’m sorry, Savannah, but you did too much too soon and your head took another impact and now you’ll have to pay the price.”

Savannah looked down at the ground frowning. This was turning out to be the worst week of her life.

Notes