The nurse handed me two pain killers so I swallowed them gratefully before moving to sit down outside Anna’s room again. I didn’t bother putting my shirt back on considering it was still wet with blood. I could see Anna’s parents staring at my two week old tattoo on my chest, but they didn’t say anything.

Melissa turned to the side. “Agent Franks, do you think you could get Ashton some clothes to change into?” she asked, smiling politely. He nodded and walked off, coming back a couple of minutes later with a surgical scrub set. I laughed humourlessly and quickly went to the bathrooms to change, washing my face at the same time. I was going to have wicked black eyes tomorrow – no wonder Anna thought I wasn’t a pretty boy anymore. I smiled for a split second before my heart broke again at the thought of her saying she’d marry me. I wanted to be her husband more than anything; I’d never let her down or hurt her. I sighed and went back to the chairs outside her room.

After about two hours of working on her, the same doctor came back down the hall. He didn’t look as tense as he had done earlier, and a spark of hope ignited inside me. My heart was beating erratically in my chest as I looked at him; waiting for them to say that words that would either make everything fine, or kill me. I felt like I was going to pass out.

The doctor came over to us, still in his scrubs. “Mr President, Mrs Spencer, your daughter has suffered immense bleeding, but we’ve managed to stop it at the source now. We had to remove part of her spleen, but she can cope without it. We’ve put her into an enforced coma to limit the damage and to give the site time to heal because we don’t want to have to go in again, that would be too risky. The operation was a success, and we’re very hopeful that she should make a full recovery, providing there are no post-operative complications,” he said, smiling.

I breathed a sigh of relief and closed my eyes; she was going to be okay. I couldn’t speak, I didn’t know what to say, this man had just saved her life and mine.

Melissa burst into happy tears and President Spencer put his arm around her, smiling. “Thank you, Doctor, can we go in and see her?” he asked, rubbing his wife’s back.

“We’re just going to have her transferred to a different room, after that you can go in to see her for a few minutes. She’ll be in the enforced coma for twenty-four hours to be on the safe side, and then we’ll bring her out of it slowly tomorrow. It’ll just give her body a chance to catch up,” he replied, smiling and turning to walk off.

“Doctor?” I called, stepping forward; he turned back to me and smiled. I held out my hand and he shook it. “Thank you. Thank you so much,” I said gratefully, feeling my heart start to slow down to a normal rhythm again. She was going to be fine; everything was going to be fine.

He smiled sadly. “You’re welcome.”

We sat and waited for a few more minutes while they cleaned her from surgery and then moved her to a private room in one of the wards. When we were allowed, the three of us, followed by the six secret service agents, followed the nurse to her room. As we entered, I stood back and let her parents approach the bed; he was still the President after all, not that it mattered either way, at the moment he just looked like a concerned father. They cooed and fussed around her bed, Melissa straightening the sheets and pillows, obviously not knowing what else to do.

Then President Spencer took hold of Melissa’s hand. “Let’s give Agent Taylor some privacy and go get a coffee or something,” he suggested. She nodded and they started walking towards the door. As he walked past me, he patted me on the shoulder affectionately, making me swell with pride. I ignored the pain that blasted in my shoulder and neck. I guess he really is okay with the idea of me and Anna dating. Either that or he’s lulling me into a false sense of security so that he can plot an assassination without me being aware. I smiled at my random thought.

Once they left the room, I walked to Anna’s side and sat on the edge of her bed, just looking at her. She was covered in red blotches and bruises on her face and neck. I smiled sadly and traced my fingers across her face; it was red and puffy from where he had hit her. She had a large lump on her forehead where he’d slammed her against the wall.

“Hi, Baby Girl. You scared me for a while there. Don’t ever do that to me again, you hear me?” I whispered, taking her hand and kissing it gently. “I love you, Anna. I love you so much, and I nearly lost you.” My body started to calm down; now that I was near her, I wasn’t as worried about her.

I sat there, just looking at her beautiful, bruised face until her parents came back in. I sniffed and moved to get off the bed to give them the space, but President Spencer shook his head. “No, it’s fine, you stay there,” he instructed, pulling over two chairs for him and his wife to sit in.

“Thank you, sir.” I nodded gratefully.

“Do you really love my daughter?” he asked suddenly.

I smiled. “More than anything,” I confirmed, rubbing my thumb over the back of her hand.

“And she loves you?” he inquired.

I nodded. “Yes, sir, she does,” I said confidently. I would never doubt that after what she was willing to do for me, to go with Carter just to save my life. To sacrifice herself, her whole life, just to save me.

“Okay, well then I guess you should be calling me Tom,” he suggested, smiling slyly. I looked over at him a little confused. “If you’re going to be dating my daughter, then you should be able to call me Tom,” he explained, shrugging.

“Actually, I was hoping to be marrying your daughter, I asked her in the ambulance and she said yes.” I frowned as soon as I said it, knowing I’d just screwed up. I probably shouldn’t have just announced it like that.

His eyes widened. “You want to get married?”

“Um, yes, sir. Though Anna’s probably going to give me hell for coming out with it like that,” I winced, thinking of the scolding she would give me for blurting it out to her parents, and while she was in a coma to top it off. Great job, Ashton.

He laughed. “That’s okay, Agent Taylor, we knew you were serious about her when you refused to get treatment after getting shot. But I’m sure you’re right, Annabelle’s probably going to kick your ass,” he teased, grinning and looking at his daughter lovingly. “Can I ask now though, why did she ask me to transfer you? Did you two have a fight or something?”

I sighed and shook my head. “We didn’t have a fight. I think it was Anna’s stupid way of protecting me. I couldn’t understand it at first, but today she was so upset when I got there. She kept saying she couldn’t watch it again. I think this is deep rooted issues from Jack, and she didn’t want history to repeat itself.” I looked down at her peaceful face. I knew it would have destroyed her to see me murdered just like Jack, and I’d almost put her through that.

The President sighed and shook his head, rubbing at his temples. “That sounds like Annabelle.”

I nodded and shifted my weight on the bed, wincing because it felt like someone kicked me in the side. My whole body was aching now; I could barely think of anything else but the pain.

Melissa put her hand on my knee, squeezing affectionately. “Ashton, go and get your treatment now. She’s not going to wake up; they’ve drugged her so she can’t. You need to make yourself strong for her,” she suggested, looking at me kindly.

I sighed. I knew she was right, but I didn’t want to leave Anna, I didn’t want her out of my sight. “Yeah, I guess,” I nodded, and bent to kiss Anna’s forehead. “I love you, Baby Girl. I won’t be long,” I whispered in her ear, before pushing myself up and forcing myself to walk out of the room.

It took over an hour for all of the necessary treatment. I had x-rays to check there was no remaining shrapnel in my arm, and a splint for my two broken fingers, some strapping for my three broken ribs, and some more painkillers. They changed the dressing on my gunshot wound and added some more permanent stitches once they’d confirmed there were no foreign bodies inside. Once I was done, I walked back into Anna’s room and dragged another chair next to her bed so I could hold her hand.

I sat watching the rise and fall of her chest until one of the agents came in with a report pad. I sighed and looked regretfully at Anna. I didn’t want to leave her, but they wanted my statement.

“You can do it here if you want, Agent Taylor,” President Spencer offered, waving the agent in and pointing to a chair.

I smiled at him gratefully and went running through my statement. Everything that I saw heard or did from the point of hearing she was taken, to carrying her to the door. The only thing I left out was about her being married; she hadn’t told anyone for almost four years, so she obviously didn’t want it to be common knowledge.

When I’d finished, the President was staring at me in shock. “You took out twelve hostiles on your own?” he asked with wide eyes.

“Actually, eleven. Carter shot one himself,” I corrected.

He shook his head, looking at me in awe. “You truly are a gifted agent. Annabelle was lucky to have you watching out for her, and the agency is darned lucky to have such a fine agent working for them,” he stated. I smiled gratefully; the President of the United States had just given me a huge compliment.

“Thank you, sir.”

“Tom,” he corrected.

“Right sorry, sir, I forgot. I mean… Tom,” I answered, stumbling over his name. It just doesn’t roll off the tongue for someone like me, who had been taught for four years to respect authority, to call the President by his first name.

He laughed and shook his head, patting my knee. “You’ll get used to it eventually.”

“I hope so. I plan to be around a long time,” I replied. “Well, as long as she’ll have me for,” I added, smiling and looking at her beautiful face.

“You’re so good for her. From the moment you two met, we were all shocked at what she was like with you. You were holding hands and making her laugh and smile. It was so strange to see her smile after so long being heartbroken. Thank you. I owe you a debt of gratitude,” President Spencer said, smiling warmly at me.