Chapter 181 - She is calling for you

In Sarah's hospital room, Edward is sitting next to Sarah's bed holding her hand. Aiden is further away on a chair, leaning on the table and staring at her. Besides machines beeping, there is no other sound.

Edward thought that Sarah's fingers slightly moved, and he lifted his head to look at her face. Her lips slightly parted and she whispered quietly so that only Edward could hear, "Aiden..."

Edward felt mix of emotions. Happy that she is waking up, dejected that she is not calling his name, irritated that she is calling Aiden's name. It's hard for Edward to accept that Sarah is calling out name of a person who just recently entered her life. He is her father, he raised her for such a long time, she relied on him, does she not care about him anymore? It's hard for him to accept that she is grown up and does not need him anymore. Sarah having another man in her life is one thing. And having THAT man in her life is another. Does she not realize that he is dangerous? He is from White family! But Edward already tried keeping them away, and he was not successful. He knows that his baby girl is desperately in love in that young man. The more he tries to separate them, the more Sarah clings onto him. The only silver lining Edward sees in this whole situation is that it seems that this young man is in love in Sarah. Edward took a deep breath to calm his emotions. Reluctantly he turned to face Aiden and gestured with his head to him to come over.

Aiden's eyes widened and his back straightened up. His eyes darted few times between Sarah and Edward.

Edward forced a smile. "She is calling for you." He let go of Sarah's hand and stepped away.

In an instant, Aiden was next to her. "Baby, are you awake?" He held her hand.

Her fingers moved and wrapped around his as she whimpered. Aiden didn't breathe. After she took few breaths, Sarah whispered again, "Aiden...".

Aiden snapped to his senses and started talking in a gentle voice while caressing her forehead. "I'm here... Don't try to move, you had surgeries on your back."

Sarah slowly opened her eyes, and it took her some time to recognize his face through her blurry vision. She felt a relief knowing that Aiden is next to her, and faintly smiled.

Aiden squeezed Sarah's hand and a huge relief washed over him when he felt that her fingers moved in response. "I'm so glad you are back...", he whispered.

"What happened?", Sarah asked in a hoarse voice and her body slightly shifted.

"Don't move. I will tell you later... all is OK now. It will not happen again. Try to rest." Aiden got his phone can called JoAnna. "She is awake." He kept his phone away and looked at Sarah without a word.

Few minutes later, JoAnna, Sophia, Felix and Stella entered the room. They all felt a relief when they saw Sarah awake. JoAnna made a call. Shortly after that, few doctors and nurses entered, and started checking Sarah's condition.

...

"Considering what she went through, she is doing fine. Drugs are flushed out of her system completely. The device is removed cleanly and there is no more internal bleeding at the moment. She needs to rest. If nothing else comes up, she will stay in the hospital for three days, after what she can go and finish recuperation home.", JoAnna explained to everyone.

They agreed to take turns giving her company.

"You can do whatever you want, I'm not leaving." Aiden said while holding onto Sarah's hand.

Sophia can understand how he feels. "Let me take you to the apartment. After you freshen up and change clothes, you will be back. OK?"

Aiden looked at Sarah and she nodded confirming that she agrees with Sophia. "I'm not going anywhere." Sarah told him.

Edward said, "I will be here until you come back. She will not be left alone."

Sarah was surprised to hear her dad say that.

Aiden reluctantly agreed and left with Sophia and Felix.

...

On the way to Sophia's apartment, Sophia and Felix shared with Aiden information about the device, and that it's Felix's design.

"Do you know what frequency was used to activate it?", Aiden asked Felix.

"I don't know yet, but I will find out.", Felix confirmed.

"Tomorrow we will go back to the lab, and you can work on it." Sophia told Felix. Then she turned to Aiden. "Did you think of something?"

Aiden confirmed. "I find it strange that if a common phone or a radio can activate it, how come it didn't happen so far? We even went to Greece and were surrounded by tourists who had many different devices, how come none of those triggered this? No matter how farfetched it sounds, I doubt that this was accidental."

Sophia thought that what he said made sense. "We will get to the bottom of this."

...

In Sarah's hospital room, two nurses work on Sarah while Stella and Edward are seated on the sofa.

"Who is that man with Sophia?", Edward asked.

Stella looked at him expressionlessly. "You should ask Sophia."

"Is he her boyfriend?" Edward persisted.

"You should ask Sophia." Stella repeated. She observed that Edward's face darkened. She took his hand in hers and patted it while saying in comforting voice. "You need to accept that you daughters are grown up, and they will have men other than you, in their lives. And you can't control that... But you are their father, a special existence. And that place in their hearts is reserved for you, no one can take that spot."

Edward looked at her and his expression softened.

Stella saw that Edward is still not completely convinced. "Think of this like a carpool. As our girls are growing up, more people are getting on-board the car. But your seat is yours, no one will take it away. Does this make sense?"

After some time in silence, he smiled and nodded. "It sounds strange, but it does make sense."

Nurses left the room. Stella looked at Sarah and then at Edward. "I will step outside to give you privacy. Don't mess this up."

Stella left the room.