“HEALING HANDS”

A short story based on the WB Series, “Tarzan”

By VividMemory

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Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Tarzan. No copyright infringement is intended.

I'm trying to write a story that would take place before this one to better explain where John's whereabouts, just a little busy so please be patient.

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Sweat pours down my face as I force myself to do one more rep on the leg extension. I squeeze my eyes shut and grunt out loud as my left leg pulls up on the weight. It's not much weight but my tired leg is on fire and it feels as if it weighs thousands of pounds.

I try to keep my movement steady as I bend my knee and bring the weight back down. When I hear the clank of the weight meeting the others in the stack I let out a sigh of relief.

"Good job. You're doing really well."

"Yeah, right," I respond before taking a gulp of water from my bottle of Aquafina.

"Seriously, you're way ahead of schedule."

I look up at him and I see him scribbling notes down in a little notebook that contains all of my information.

"We done for the day?"

"Yeah, that's enough for today. Hop on over to that table and we'll get you iced up. Fifteen minutes and you're free to go."

I get up and grab the cane that's leaning against the chair beside me. I've tried walking without it but I'm not stable enough on my feet yet to rid myself of the foolish thing. About a week ago I was able to ditch my crutches, but then they handed me this cane. Sometimes I'm glad I have it and other times I feel like such an invalid.

I feel like an old woman as I slowly limp my way over to the table. It feels like it's a million miles away but in reality it's only a few feet.

Leaning against the table, I put my hand over my sore left side as I scoot myself up onto it. Blowing out a breath, I rub my side to help ease the throbbing pain that's now begging for my attention.

Jack comes over and helps me to lie down and then applies a pack of ice to my side and leg.

"You want something to read?"

"No, I'm fine. Thanks, though."

"I'll be back in fifteen minutes."

He heads into the office and leaves me to drift off into my own thoughts. Of course, my thoughts bring me back to the day this all happened...

Sam and I went to interview someone about a drug ring that had forming in the city. This guy had lots of connections and for the right price he was always willing to give up some of what he knew.

He gave us a name and we went to the guy's apartment down on the south side of the city. His brother let us in without too much of a hassle which surprised me, but we went into the apartment and Sam started asking him questions while I took a look around. The apartment wasn't large, only a couple of rooms.

"Hey, you mind?" the brother asked me as he noticed me inspecting the place.

"Don't freak out, just having a look around."

Sam kept on him with the questions and I went into the bathroom. I checked behind the shower curtain to be sure no one was hiding in there and they weren't, the room was clear.

I went into the bedroom, sliding the half-open door open with my foot and checked all around the room before I stepped inside. I kept my hand close to my gun just in case as I opened the closet door. The closet was clear and I turned around to walk out but something on the floor by one of the nightstands caught my eye. Reaching down, I picked it up and looked at it in the palm of my hand, a little white pill - one of the drugs that was making it around the streets and into the mouths of kids attending raves.

I pocketed the pill and felt something grab my ankle, yanking my foot out from under me. I felt back and smacked my head hard against the wall. It dazed me for a moment and stole my focus.

Looking up, I saw a man coming out from under the bed and I went into cop mode. "Freeze! Police!" I got up and was about to take out my gun when I got hit. Three bullets slammed into my body, the force knocking me onto the floor on my back and paralyzing me with fear, adrenaline overload, and whatever other emotions that were rushing through me.

My mind shut down for I don't know how long. I just remember lying on the floor, looking up at the ceiling, my arms stretched out my by sides, and a burning pain building up in my leg and abdomen. I didn't move. My eyes began to roll and I thought I heard my name being called but I just couldn't move.

"Geezus!" I heard Sam say as he appeared by my side, holstering his gun. "Jane? Jane?"

I didn't know what my injuries were, I was afraid to know. The look on Sam's face was definitely an indication that I had more than a scratch.

Sam got his cell phone and called an ambulance and at that point I felt the loss of blood starting to effect me.

"Jane? You stay with me, okay?"

Sam ripped my shirt open and undid the velcro straps on my vest in order to get a better look at my wounds. A saddened look flashed across his face for a moment and at first I didn't understand why, but then I felt the blood dripping down my side.

"Sam?"

"Shhh, you're going to be okay."

"H-how bad?"

Sam paused for a moment. "Two in your gut and one in your leg. They went right through ya damn vest."

Great. Just what I needed. First John leaves and now I'm lying here with three bullets in my body.

Sam kept talking to me but his words faded away as I passed out.

I woke up again as a jolt of pain ripped through my body. I must have cried out because I looked up and saw an EMT looking down at me.

"Easy. We're almost there."

I could hear the wailing of the siren and could tell we were definitely breaking the speed limit judging by the way the ambulance was bouncing around.

"Sam?" I looked around and didn't see him.

"He's in front of us giving us an escort. Just try to relax, okay?"

Sure. No problem. Like it's that easy to relax when you're bleeding all over the place and there are three slugs somewhere in your body.

I felt the ambulance come to a stop and the EMT quickly got the back doors open.

I was soon being wheeled into the hospital where I was greeted by a number of doctors and nurses who surrounded me.

They got me into one of the bays and pulled the curtains around the area. I saw them trying to keep Sam away. The look on his face was etched with worry.

"Sam!" I called out.

"He can't be in here, sweetie. We need to help you first, he can visit later when you're feeling a little better."

I know the nurse was only trying to be nice but talking to me like a child was pathetic.

Within a matter of minutes, they'd cut my clothes off of me, stuck all sorts of needles in me, pumped me full of all sorts of drugs and put an oxygen mask over my face.

"Does this..."

"UGH!!" I cried out loudly as the doctor pushed on the area around my left side where the bullets had entered.

He barked out various orders to those surrounding him and it was amazing they knew what he was talking about.

"Try to stay as still as possible, okay? We need to insert a chest tube and drain out some of the blood that's collected..."

I didn't hear the rest of what he said because I was too concerned about them shoving a damn tube in my side.

The nurse slathered on some sort of numbing fluid around my ribcage and then the doctor came over with his scalple. Just as he was about to make the cut a nurse placed her hands on the sides of my head and turned my gaze away. "It's better if you don't look," she told me in a soft, soothing voice.

The pressure in my side was intense and I couldn't help but gasp out in pain. I felt them hold my wrists tighter, fearing that I'd being to thrash about from the pain.

"Almost in," the doc told everyone.

I glanced over and saw Sam trying to make his way back into the room. I must have scared him with my pained-filled cries.

"It's in. Let's get her up to the OR."

The nurse patted my head. "It's okay, sweetie, we're gonna get those bullets out of you now. Everything's going to be okay."

All of the pain had worn me out. I passed out before we even reached the elevator.

I laid in a hospital bed for two weeks. Two boring weeks. During that time, I thought about a lot of things: John, my job, Nikki, John and, well, John. I missed him like crazy. I missed his warm touch and I could have used it.

"You're all set," I hear Jack tell me as he takes the ice packs off me. "See ya on Thursday, right?"

"Yup," I answer as I get myself off the table, trying not to show how painful it is to do so. I hate being so...so vulnerable. To me it reeks of weakness and I hate that.

I grab my cane and limp out of the office to the elevator. I ride it down to the first floor and head outside to hail a cab.

I finally arrive home and can't wait to crawl into bed and sleep. You'd think that after 2 weeks doing nothing but lying around sleeping would make me not want to do much more of that, but physical therapy wears me out.

When I enter the apartment I find Nikki watching TV on the couch.

"Hey," she says as she shoves popcorn in her mouth.

"You do your homework?"

"Of course. You want some dinner? There's some pizza left over, it's on the counter."

"Nah. I'm gonna get to bed."

"Jack kicked your ass tonight, huh?"

"Just a little bit," I chuckled as I went into my room and shut the door behind me.

Easing myself down on the bed, I let out a sigh as I tried to calm the pain down.

"Jane?" I heard a deep voice call out in the dark room.

Looking up, I saw John step out of the shadows. "John!" I wanted to lunge towards him and wrap my arms around him but my body couldn't handle such movement. Instead, he came to me, kneeling down in front of me. His face screamed of confusion.

"What's wrong?" he asked as he wiped a tear from my eye.

"Nothing, I'm just so glad to see you."

He caressed the side of my face. "You're hurt, I can see the pain in your eyes." He looked me up and down, trying to figure out what was wrong with me and his eyes fixed on the cane by my side. He turned back to look at me.

"It happened a few weeks ago. I got shot." I looked down towards my lap to avoid his stare, then I felt his hands roaming around my body. I put my hands over his and moved them away.

"What's wrong?"

"I-I can't..."

"Can't what?"

"John, I'm not feeling well, I'm still in a lot of pain. I'd just like to go to sleep."

He stood up and stepped back a few steps.

I got up and stupidly tried to walk without the support of my cane and nearly hit the floor as the weight put on my wounded leg sent a giant stab of pain through my system. John caught me and helped me back over to the bed and laid me down.

I tried to steady my breathing and breathe through the pain as he held onto my hand and sat by my side. Soon, I started to relax.

I felt his hand gently touch my thigh. "Here?" he asked in reference to where my wound was located.

I nodded and then felt I had to tell him everything so I lifted up my shirt and showed him the two wounds in my stomach.

His eyes immediately filled with tears as he placed his hand on my stomach. "Jane?"

"It's okay. The doctor said I'm going to be fine."

"Who hurt you?"

"It doesn't matter anymore John, he's dead."

I saw the fire in his eyes extinguish knowing that the man that had hurt me was never going to be able to do it again or do it to someone else.

"Stay with me tonight. Or just until I fall asleep."

John didn't answer. He didn't have to. His actions spoke more than words.

~FIN