Bette opened her eyes to a very dim hospital room.  She was confused.  The last thing she remembered was checking in at the urgent care clinic.  Why was she in a hospital bed?

She started to sit up and felt a pull on her right arm.  She was hooked to an IV.  Then she noticed that Tina was sleeping at the foot of her bed.  The blonde had pulled up a chair and had fallen asleep with her head cradled in her arms, resting on the bed.

“T?” Bette whispered and nudged her foot.  Tina stirred and turned her head.  Her warm and bright eyes sparkled in the dim light of the room.  She smiled.

“Hey baby…how you feel?” she asked and she stood up and then leaned down and kissed Bette’s forehead.

“What happened, Tina?  Why am I in the hospital?”

Tina sat now on the edge of the bed and stroked Bette’s arm. “You passed out at urgent care.  Dehydration most likely, but then your blood pressure dropped and they called an ambulance.  Good thing too, you were going into shock; you had a nasty infection,” Tina said and she nodded toward Bette’s left hand, which was bandaged around the palm. “They lanced it and cleaned it out.”

Bette lifted her hand and looked at the wrapping.  “All this from a splinter?”

Tina nodded sadly. “I’ve asked the doctor to run some tests.  I wouldn’t be surprised if that splinter was laced with the poison of the Colombian golden frog,” Tina said soberly. “So far the tests haven’t come back yet.”

Bette looked at Tina with wide and fearful eyes.  “She tried to poison me?”

“Of course, Bette, you were her target all along.”

Bette laid her head back on her pillow; she felt weak.  “How do you know that?” she asked.

Tina stood up and opened the curtains and let some natural light in the room, brightening up the atmosphere. “We’ll discuss that later.  For now, you need to get better and get your strength back.”