"Rudy..." she cried and asked again. "Is Shivaay okay?"
Rudra didn't answer this time around. Or rather didn't get the time too. Om had already grabbed Shivaay. The other officers gave him a hand and pulled Shivaay up. For a few seconds, Om greedily held onto the man in the blanket as Annika looked on. But before any one of them could take a breath of relief or Annika could even muster up the courage to touch Shivaay; the paramedics descended upon them.
Before Annika knew it, they took Shivaay away to the part where there was ample light. They laid out the blanket on the floor and Shivaay on it. There was a flurry of activity around Shivaay again, reminiscent of his stay in the hospital. Om and Rudra were already beside him, urging and talking with him.
Annika's steps faltered as she took in his appearance. Someone held her. She didn't know who. She didn't care. Shaking, she slowly went near him. She went down on her knees beside him and sighed.
A flashlight was shone in his eyes and for a few seconds, Annika got a glimpse of the beautiful blue eyes she had fallen in love with.
"He is wet. Can't keep him in these clothes or else there is a risk of hypothermia," the medics begin to cut Shivaay's clothes off with scissors. Instinctively, Bhavya turned around to avoid looking at Shivaay. Annika registered her presence only now. The medics and even Om and Rudra quickly patted Shivaay dry and slipped on dry clothes for him.
"He is wheezing..." the medics examined Shivaay and commented. "He needs assistance."
Annik inched ahead and caught hold of his fingers. They were ice-cold, thin and very bony. But it was still him. Her husband, her love, her Shivaay. And for the first time in many days, Annika felt like she could breathe again. It was Deja Vu, really. Her eyes closed. Her shoulders sagged and she latched onto his hand.
"Shivaay?" she lightly touched the side of his head. It was wet. And the sand had stuck to it. She tried her best to clean the sand. "Can you hear me?"
"How is the heart?"
Annika's eyes darted up. The paramedics had cleaned Shivaay's chest as best as they could and were stething him. "Pressure is low and looks tachy. We need to make a move right now."
"No massive injury on the body except for swelling in the ankle," someone else spoke. "Seems like the sand cushioned his fall."
"We still need to place him in a collar," the medic lightly pushed Annika away. "Please Ma'am, we need to place him on the board and in the blanket. Cooperate with us."
Annika hated it and wanted to refuse, but she also understood the situation. Nodding lightly, she moved back. As soon as she did that, Shivaay coughed. First lightly and then more violently. Annika gasped and without meaning to, pushed the medic out of her way. She grabbed Shivaay's face in her hand and cried out, "Shivaay! Look, it's me!"
Annika could hear the voices around her that were asking her to move away, someone had grabbed her arm and was pulling her but she didn't care. She was not going to listen to them. She had waited long enough. Not anymore. She stared at Shivaay as his eyes went in and out of focus as he took in her form.
"It's me..." she moaned and cried.
Then the moment she had waited for so long, finally happened. Shivaay's eyes flickered with light as the look of recognization intensified in his tormented eyes. Even his tensed muscles sagged as he looked at Annika. Tears oozed in his eyes but his parted lips smiled ever so slightly. And he whispered, "Annika?"
"Yes!" Annika sobbed. "It's me. I am here. I am here..."
Just like that, she picked up him from the ground and held him close to her. Instinctively, her hand went around his head to support it and another went around his back. The world stopped revolving for Annika as she finally embraced Shivaay. All the pent up tension of the past few days, the anger and the hate she had harboured for Veer and Roop, the uncertainty, the relief that the danger was finally gone now, everything came crashing down upon her. She wailed. Or howled. She didn't know. She didn't care. Annika just held Shivaay and cried like there was no tomorrow. In that moment, only they existed. No one else.
