Chapter 14: Sick Time
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The sudden chirping of a phone woke me. I started to sit up, but the sudden motion hit my head hard and I groaned. Cate mumbled an obscenity besides me and pulled her cell phone out. I think she was about to shut it off when she recognized the number, so she went ahead and answered it. She was getting up to leave the room but I reached out and held her, feeling this was probably something that I should hear.
“Hello? You’re going to have to keep it quiet, because Alex is trying to sleep,” she answered in an almost whisper.
“What was that, Caroline?” she asked, becoming quickly concerned.
“Yeah, don’t worry about it. We’ll meet you here,” she turned to me and explained briefly. “It’s Caroline. They went home a while ago with Chalise’s father and things started to get ugly. The father hit Chalise, and when Caroline went to her defense, he hit her, too. They managed to call the police.”
She listened longer before relaying more information.
“He denied everything, but the hospital had already reported an assault against her by her brother, so the clear signs of an attack meant the police are bringing her to the hospital here,” Cate explained. I figured I’d better respond.
“Yeah, Boss?” asked Gail as she stuck her head in the door. Apparently she’d finished with the police interviews while I’d been out of it.
“Need wheelchair. Need to see Chalise. She’s coming to ER.”
“Uh, if it’s alright with you, how about you stay there and recover, and I’ll do down and make sure they’re OK?” She asked, looking a bit nervous about my moving around.
“Police bringing her. Let them, check her, bring here,” I instructed her in still broken English. It was taking a lot of form complete sentences.
“Aye, aye, chief,” she replied with a quick salute and was off. I looked around and noticed more people than I’d realized were here at first.
“When did everyone get here?”
“They’ve been arriving off and on. Gail would only let them enter if they promised not to disturb you,” Cate told me. My other two sisters were slowly waking up, apparently they’d been nodding off before the phone woke us all. My mother and Natalie were also sitting there watching me.
“How’s everyone else?” I asked her, just to check.
“Everyone has been meeting with the police, off and on, since you zoned out. Apparently Gail, knowing police tactics, was advising us on how to respond. She told us to answer honestly so it wouldn’t look like we were hiding anything, but not to say anything about our relationship to you other than what we decided. She also told us to drop in lots of personal details, as that would disarm them and prevent them from thinking the testimony was prearranged,” Shani explained.
“Good. Makes sense,” I replied.
“Luckily you weren’t completely out, so we were still able to communicate while you slept, but the messages were a bit problematic as they’d come and go unexpectedly,” she explained before continuing on.
“Probably ‘cause sleep fitful,” I said.
“It was funny when they tried to interrogate Anh,” Cate laughed, continuing on. “They couldn’t figure out how to interview her when no one in the family knew how to speak Vietnamese and she kept playing ignorant. When we told them they’d have to wait for you to wake up, they couldn’t seem to figure out how you could possibly know enough Vietnamese to translate for her to the whole family.”
“Good, keep off track,” I responded, still keeping all my comments short.
“I’m afraid they are already thinking you’re leading some kind of cult,” Natalie informed me. “Plus they wanted to know why we were all living in your room.”
I simply asked “Why?”
She answered, “Because you said they could search the house. The first thing they noticed was all the women’s clothing in your room, in a variety of different sizes and styles.”
“Ah.” That was enough encouragement for her to go on.
“They’re still anxious to speak with you, but Gail convinced them to return in the morning.”
“When Becky, Melinda get here?”
“We came as soon as Mom called us,” Becky answered. “It took a while to get here, and I’m not sure how soon she was able to call. We wanted to give you lots of hugs but your bulldog out there wouldn’t let us,” she said, laughing gently.
“By the way, in case you are concerned, the bruising on the sides of your brain appears to be going down, as you can tell by your increased ability to concentrate now,” Cate informed me. She looked ill at ease, sitting so close to me and not holding me, but she was taking her role of keeping me informed very seriously.
“Yeah, better, still hurt,” I said, wincing in order to emphasize my point.
Cate passed me a glass with a straw.
“Allison took off after her interview, assuming you’d be sleeping for a while, to visit your other fans in the hospital,” Shani informed me. “Also Kitty came soon after we got word to her. She went with Allison so she’s anxious to speak with you as well. They’re all concerned about you.”
“Speaking of being concerned with you,” Natalie said, “you should probably try contacting Patricia and Brooke. They called when they couldn’t reach you, the other girls all say that whenever you get in trouble they get these strong emotions from you. I’m sure they’re worried.”
“What bout Anh?” I asked.
“Ah, she went down to the cafeteria to get us all coffee. She said she couldn’t stand looking at you so helpless,” Shani told me.
“Alex, can I...” Cate asked, suddenly looking weaker now that her ‘official’ duties were over. I held a hand up, holding her off for a second. I knew she needed me, but I also know I could relieve a couple of worried women with only a few seconds communication.
‘Brooke, Patricia?’ I asked, trying to contact them both in order to save some time. I’d never tried this before, but feeling as weak as I did, I thought it made sense to try it now.
‘Alex? We were so worried about you,’ Patricia answered.
‘We got a couple of panicky messages from you, then you wouldn’t respond to us afterwards. Are you alright?’ Brooke asked.
‘I was out of it for a while,’ I answered, finding mental messages a bit easier to handle now. ‘I was struck in the head with a large chair. I’m in the hospital now, but I seem to be improving.’
‘Oh, no!’ Brooke cried. ‘Have they done any tests to see if there’s any internal damage?’
‘Even better, Dr. Moore accepted Allison’s diagnosis that I was OK, that it was just some light bruising and that I’d slowly recover.’
‘Oh, that certainly makes me feel better,’ Brooke answered. ‘By the way, we’ll be there shortly. As soon as we got your garbled messages, Rebecca and I called each other. We started driving almost immediately after packing some essentials.’
‘You’re coming here?’ I asked, unbelievingly.
‘Oh course, we’re coming,’ Brooke assured me. ‘We’d had most of our stuff packed and ready, so mostly we just had to get the kids organized. They’re both anxious about you, by the way. We had finished the preparations when Dr. Moore called the other day, telling us we had the jobs, so there wasn’t anything holding us back.’
‘What about Patricia?’ I asked, having to accept what they told me as established fact.
‘I’m fine,’ she assured me. I’d forgotten I was already speaking with her. ‘I really wanted to come as well, but I knew you were depending on me to watch over things here.’
‘OK,’ I told them, already tiring from this extensive discussion. ‘I’ve got to go now, I’m getting weak and Cate looks like she’s about to fall apart.’
‘Go, go. We’re sure she needs you. I’ll tell Rebecca what you’ve said. The kids are both asleep at the moment,’ Brooke assured me.
Once we finished I turned back to Cate and opened my arms to her. She almost leapt into my lap, but held herself back at the last moment, being cautious of hurting me. She ended up just snuggled gently against me and holding me tight.
“You talked to them?” she asked me. I simply nodded wordlessly, not even sure if she could see me, since her head was nestled against my chest. She seemed to as she responded, however.
“I’m sure it must have been hard on them not knowing what was happening to you. It was hell sitting so close to you, afraid to touch you but still having to keep track of everything going on, since I knew you’d want to know everything as soon as you were coherent.”
Again I simply nodded, not yet feeling strong enough to say much. With all of that out of her, Cate began to cry as she let herself go, shaking gently in my arms. I held her tighter, despite the fact her crying was producing sharp pains radiating throughout my head. As I tried to wordlessly console her, I briefly reached out to both Allison and Anh, letting them know I was finally awake. They both answered simply, telling me they’d be here shortly.
It wasn’t much longer when I had to alert Cate by clearing my throat. When she looked up I said, “We’re about to have company.” She quickly stood up, not wanting to announce to the world that, out of a room full of lovers, she was the one lying against me crying her eyes out.
The door opened a moment later. Gail began maneuvering Chalise into the room in a wheelchair while Caroline held the door for her. But as soon as she saw me, Chalise leapt up and raced towards me. She almost made it, too. Gail, blocked by both Caroline and the wheelchair, simply leapt over it, using the wheelchair as a vault, and grabbed her around the waist before she could reach me. She whispered in her ear before she could get upset. Chalise quickly calmed down.
“Sorry,” she meekly said to me. “Are you OK?”
Grimacing slightly, I opened my arms to her and she came to me, gingerly this time. She too gave me a firm hug and sighed once I was safely in her arms.
“I was so worried about you,” she confessed.
“Seems, like the consen... sus,” I managed to get out. She immediately backed up.
“Oh, no, I shouldn’t be bothering you. You’re still weak,” Chalise protested.
“He’s been suffering from a concussion to a particular area of his brain, he was delirious until a short time ago. He’s recovering, but it’s slow,” Cate informed her, struggling slightly to maintain her strict composure. Chalise just looked at her for a few moments, not questioning how she could possibly know such a thing, then ran to her instead of me.
“Oh, you poor thing, it must have been terrible to have to sit here all this time and not be able to hold him.”
I thought that was odd. She was consoling my sister instead of taking care of her own emotional needs? I wondered if maybe she might not know more than I’d suspected. But then again, they’d been talking, and Cate had been acting attracted to me for quite some time, as everyone keeps telling me.
“So, how are you feeling?” Caroline asked me, as Chalise and Cate whispered to each other.
“Fine, tired, head hurts,” I summarized. “Still, need take control,” I told her.
She looked at me oddly, tilting her head. “Why?”
Gail leaned over. “He feels responsible for all of us. The police were giving us trouble, so he recovered enough to put them in their place. It’s twofold. He needs to do it, and it’s also helping him focus,” she explained.
“Oh,” Caroline said, looking confused. “Couldn’t you have done that yourselves?”
“They rely on me, my responsibility,” I informed her, answering instead of letting Gail respond. Caroline still looked a bit confused, so I simply concluded, “Complicated. They need me be responsible.”
“All right,” Caroline conceded, nodding that she got it. “I take it that’s one of those things I’m not supposed to understand yet. So, who is this newest member of your little menagerie? She mentioned her name was Gail, but that’s about all we could get out of her.”
“That’s all I know as well,” I replied. “Please, Gail, could you tell us about yourself.”
Gail looked a little nervous. “Well, I’m glad you asked, because everyone else seemed afraid to ask me anything without you there, but... how much am I allowed to say?”
Hoping to curtail any unnecessary questions I quickly reassured her. “Just tell us about yourself. You don’t have to tell us whether you smoke dope in your spare time or something. I’m just interested in who you are.” I hoped that was worded carefully enough that she’d know not to reveal anything about their abilities, but if she slipped, I’d deal with it as I’d been dealing with everything else. It was hard work trying to keep everything under wraps all the time.
“My name is Gail Sanders. As you can tell, I’m an officer of the law. I work out of Peoria. I was... uh,” she paused, unsure how to explain. “I was returning from dropping off some case files when I, uh....” She was once again stuck with just what to say.
“She stopped in to visit a friend who was in one of the nearby rooms,” I offered.
While she’d been speaking I took the opportunity to examine the new woman who stood before us. It was hard to really evaluate her, as she had her hair pulled back tightly and it was hidden behind her cap. I gathered it was the way she normally hid herself from her fellow officers or members of the public that she didn’t want to reveal herself in front of.
She seemed strong, like Brooke and Rebecca. Well, probably more like Brooke, who gained her strength and bearing from having to use her muscles every day on her job. It was hard to see, you could tell she was certainly in shape, although she looked a bit softer overall than either Brooke or Rebecca. She wasn’t real tall, but she was more rounded than my other girls. She certainly had a no nonsense look about her. Her hair was dark brownish, falling a little past her shoulders. She had inquisitive eyes and a cute little smile that she’d occasionally reveal, usually whenever she’d unexpectedly look at me. I could tell she could quickly go from comfortable and relaxed to aggressive and demanding as the occasion called for.
“Yeah, that’s right,” she said, brightening, as she continued.
“And you knew this, how, since you didn’t even know who she was?” Caroline asked.
“Mother!” Chalise warned her mother sharply. “Alex warned me that there would be others who might show up unexpectedly, so it’s hardly surprising. I met another one the other day when we took a tour of the hospital. That one was another patient. Give them room to get to know one another before you start demanding explanations.”
I just had to stare at her in amazement for a few seconds before I could think to respond.
“Thank you, Chalise.” Turning back to Caroline I continued, having had a chance to gather my slow forming thoughts. “My brain is still moving in... slow motion,” I tried to explain. “I can’t quite think straight yet.”
“I’m sorry,” Caroline offered, looking very apologetic. “Go on, Miss, I apologize for interrupting you.”
“No problem,” Gail replied in an almost mumble before switching to her more straightforward response to me. “Anyway, I stopped by to visit my friend and I met some of Alex’s...”
“He calls them his ‘girls’,” Chalise explained.
“Right, I met a few of his girls out in the hall and we got to talking. Anyway, I came in here and we continued our discussion when suddenly some of the local policemen showed up. I thought they were responding a little strangely, given the circumstances, so I started to stick up for Mr. Alex,” Gail explained, adapting her story to make it sound more plausible.
“Please, no formality, especially with... me in hospital robe,” I said, still having trouble stringing together all the little nuances of speech, even though I was gradually thinking clearer. “Sides, cops from... Shawneetown.”
“I’m sorry,” she responded, nodding to acknowledge my correction, “but I’ve been estranged from the church for a long time. It seems they didn’t seem to be particularly relevant in my life anymore, but when I...”
“Yeah, I know how you feel,” I hurried to jump in before she had a chance to explain how I was godlike or something similar. “I’m not religious myself. I just couldn’t convince myself that there was any reason for God to exist.” Caroline looked at me oddly when I’d said this, and I growled at myself, thinking I’d just stepped from one fire into another in trying to avoid a little heat. I couldn’t keep mentioning my atheism without eventually alienating someone.
“That’s how I felt, but I was suddenly afraid all my disillusionment with the church was wrong and you were going to punish me for my doubts,” she stated, her nervousness overriding her thinking through what she was saying.
“Yeah, voices from on high can do that to you,” Cate offered with a quick laugh. I shot her a quick dirty look, which hurt my head, but she seemed to either not notice or ignore it.
“Does he do that with you?” Gail asked.
“Nope. Sorry, but I’m not one of the Chosen few. I’m simply his lowly sister.”
I coughed, loudly, to try to cut this sidetrack short. Both Caroline and Chalise were busy looking back and forth at each of us. Luckily Anh arrived then, carrying a tray full of cups on it. Everyone quickly turned their attention to helping her and hopefully forgot the current thread of the discussion. When everyone had their own cup of coffee their attention turned back to Gail.
“So, Gail, do you have a boyfriend or husband?” I asked, hoping the answer was yes for a change. Although that didn’t seem to have impacted Patricia in the least, I reminded myself.
“Ah, no. I don’t have any significant others at the moment. Not many people are interested in the drama and distractions of getting involved in a cop’s life. It’s often hard on the spouses, you understand,” she explained.
“Can you spend any time with us?” I asked, trying to move the conversation along
“Well, I’m off for the weekend, so I have until midday Sunday,” she offered.
“So there’s no one who’d be looking for you at home?” asked Shani.
“Nope, just me. I haven’t been close to my family for years, and its hard having much of a dating life as a cop,” she explained. “Plus, I walk into bars and everyone immediately freezes cause of the ‘cop’ look.”
“Well, I want you to know you’re always welcomed to come by the house whenever you need or want to. You’re already a member of the family as far as everyone is concerned,” I assured her in what appeared to be my most complex sentence I’d yet uttered.
“Ha!” Cate exclaimed, “I’m sure if you asked Melinda, she’s already a step above family.” I certainly wasn’t about to try discussing Melinda in front of Cate yet. I figured one serious blow to the head in a night was enough, thank you very much.
Before anything more could be said there was a brief knock on the door and Kitty opened it, allowing Allison to push a wheelchair holding Jennifer Pickford in it. I could tell that Kitty wanted to run to me, but she was being very patient and was carefully watching out for poor Jennifer.
“Thought we’d bring a big fan of yours up to see how you were,” Allison explained. “Seems there are more than a few people worried about you around the hospital.”
“Man, you wouldn’t believe how quickly news of you has been spreading across the entire hospital,” Jennifer told us. “The doctors never say anything to anyone, but everyone knows you’ve got to talk to the nurses to ever find out what’s going on in a hospital. They’ve all been abuzz about you since you first arrived on Tuesday.”
Allison quickly pushed Jennifer up to me. I moved unsteadily to the edge of my bed, so I could give her a quick hug, Kitty once more holding back so I could deal with Jennifer before she did anything herself.
“Allison told me you were awake,” Kitty explained, “even though we were already in the cancer ward at the time. I’d first gotten here when you were still asleep, and I was terribly worried, but everyone assured me you were fine. I’m not sure how they could all be so sure about it, though, since head injuries are usually so difficult to diagnose.”
“That used to be the case,” came a clear voice from the still open door, as both Ryan and Dr. Padilla entered the room. “But we’re thinking of starting up a new experimental service at a certain local school to try to treat unexpected head injuries on the scene,” Dr. Moore informed us.
“Because of what Alex does?” Jennifer asked excitedly.
“Well, what he’s been able to help us with, but more precisely from what we’ve been able to learn since he came in with his own injury,” Ryan carefully explained. I was glad he was being more careful in what he said than my own sister was being. But I had to concede that it gets difficult trying to keep so many secrets.
“It seems we have a new technique for evaluating patients quickly, although we’ll still need a doctor on hand to make the official diagnosis,” Dr. Padilla explained. “Luckily we have several new hires that are already fully trained in the new procedure.” He smiled at me as he related this information.
“That seems a safe approach,” I said, not committing myself.
“So, Alex, you helped all of us so much, couldn’t you have done the same for yourself?” Jennifer asked. I just looked at her, mostly because my brain just wasn’t thinking very fast and she’d surprised me.
“Uh, not that I’ve really done anything unusual, you understand,” I stressed, trying quietly to tell Jennifer to hush up, I continued. “But aside from being out of it, I still have no idea what goes on. I have no medical training, so I can’t speak of what is or isn’t medically possible, but I think doing nothing was the best approach in this case.”
“That was exactly our thinking,” Ryan said. “By the way, how are you feeling, Alex? You’re sounding better.”
“His speech is improving the longer he’s up, I think he’s recovering pretty quickly,” Cate offered, possibly in order to save me from having to answer.
“I’m feeling pretty good now, although I wouldn’t fight a nap if I was offered one,” I replied.
Ryan looked around the now crowded room. “I can’t see how you are going to arrange that with all these well-wishers in here. Do you want me to order them all out?”
“Nah, that won’t be necessary,” I assured him.
“Besides,” Chalise replied, “I’m sure his girls would enforce peace and quiet in any case,” she said, glancing at Gail.
“They sure did when I was in here earlier,” Kitty agreed.
We continued to talk and joke for a bit longer. Jennifer assured me that all my patients were concerned about me and wanted to know how I was faring. Ryan got the nurse in to check my vitals while we talked, or rather, while everyone talked around me, as I simply sat back and let them talk on their own.
“So, Jennifer, I haven’t really gotten to know you much yet. Tell me a little about yourself?” I prompted her.
“Oh, there’s really not much to tell,” she replied. “I was a student athlete, doing collegiate gymnastics, tennis and volleyball as well as dancing quite well for a number of years. I never made much money at the sports, aside from my scholarships, that is, but I had several professional dance assignments. I even modeled a bit, though nothing major, just little things for various ads and such. I was active and had a promising career in marketing and business administration. I’d put off romance, family and kids until after I’d gotten my life where I wanted, but just when I felt I was ready to begin building my life, suddenly I began to feel bad.
“It started to hurt to take my morning run. I ached all the time. My arm would ache for no particular reason. I put it off for a long time, but when I finally went to the doctor they couldn’t find anything. They’d just tell me I was working too hard and to take it easy for a while. Frankly they had no idea what they were talking about, because I knew there was something wrong with me.
“I finally managed to get a decent doctor, after searching around for a long time, who was willing to take me seriously. After several long months of almost continuous tests, they diagnosed me with inoperable bone cancer. They assured me that there was nothing they could do for it.
“Here I was, working hard to get my life set up so I could finally relax and concentrate on the important things, when suddenly my whole life was pulled out from under me. I’d put off romance, motherhood, and all kinds of adventures while I worked to get established, my competitive nature always driving me to do better and better. Yet it was all to no avail.
“Getting such a serious cancer really changed my focus. Figuring I didn’t have terribly long, and wanting to make the most of my time, I tried to refocus my life. But too much time had passed. I simply no longer had the strength to do any of the things I’d long dreamed of doing. Besides, who wants to romance a sickly girl who had trouble sitting up in bed, and that was going to die soon, anyway?”
She shushed me before I could say anything in response to her last statements.
“So I poured all my competitive spirit into trying to get better, and I made friends with the few people that were around me. I repaired some of my family connections, the few that I had anyway, and I focused on the doctors, nurses and fellow patients who were around me every day, since I never seemed to get out of the damn hospital for long. Besides, there wasn’t anyone at home when I was there anyway.
“So that’s where my life was at. But then this amazing thing happened. This wonderful, caring person came into my life, and just like that, he looked at me and my life was filled with light, color and I suddenly had meaning to my life. I don’t know how, but I know that I’ll spend the rest of my time helping this figure who has made such a difference in my life. I can feel his power coursing through me, giving me energy, and I know I can do amazing things now that I know what I can do. In fact, I think I’ve even found the love I’ve missed until now as well.”
I think we were all surprised by both the enthusiasm, the intensity of her words, and what she was telling me in her guarded words. Here she was, her life changed in her darkest hour, and I’d been too damn self absorbed to even bother to learn her name because I was afraid she might be too sick. I felt like a real heel. But her infectious smile was too much for a bit of grief and doubt to make much of a stand.
“Well, I’d like to meet this mysterious man,” I gently teased her, hoping to throw the few people in the room who didn’t know my story off a little. “But I’d love to offer you a little of my own affection, if you’re willing, of course.”
I just had to take her in my arms, holding her gingerly, of course, since she was still quite ill. Of course, she was more interested in holding me tightly than she was in protecting her frail body, so she eagerly hugged me back. I’ll admit I had a bit of a tear in my eye over her little summary of her life’s events.
Finally, Allison said she had to be getting Jennifer back before she was missed on her floor. Jennifer asked if she could walk a bit without the chair on the way back, since she had been feeling so good lately. With a nod from Ryan, she agreed, so with another hug good bye I set them off on their own. I made sure to give her yet another adjustment, with Allison’s guidance, while I was hugging her however.
They hadn’t been gone more than a few minutes, and I was already starting another conversation, when I heard a panicky, ‘OW!’ in my mind. It was subtle, just like a minor annoyance, but I could instantly tell it was much more serious than that. I sat up quickly and called out.
“Ryan, quickly, in the hallway, Jennifer’s had some sort of trouble.” He looked at me in confusion but, seeing my solemn expression, he jumped up and headed outside. Gail accompanied him, but as everyone else started to head out I asked them to stay, as I didn’t want to crowd the staff and prevent them from doing what needed to be done. So the rest of us sat there in silence while the nursing staff ran back and forth.
After quite a delay, during which our curiosity was decidedly piqued, the time stretching out until it was almost sheer agony, Ryan came back in.
“Alex, I’m sorry to have to tell you, but Jennifer had a little accident,” he began. “It was minor enough, she just wandered in front of a meal cart, but that simple collision was enough to fracture the weakened bone in her arm.”
He saw the unasked question in my eyes and continued, “She’s been doing better lately, but the damage to her arm was extensive, leaving her bone very fragile. It looks like it was a messy fracture, probably with a lot of small bone fragments. She’s going for X-rays now and she’ll probably need surgery to clean it up, but she’s out of it for now. I know this is unsettling, but it’s not unexpected in a case like hers.”
I nodded at this. “I understand,” I said. “But it’s still disappointing. She was doing so well, too.”
I considered this. I’d purposefully been avoiding her, fearing she may get sicker on me and I wouldn’t know how to handle it. Instead she got better and I invited her to confide in me, then she had an injury related accident. Still, despite my previous fears, I felt better for having reached out to her. I realized that she, like the others, already meant a lot to me, even if I hadn’t gotten to know her all that well. It’s better to have known the pleasure of someone’s life, even if it ends in loss, than it is to avoid the loss and miss out on all the pleasures that come with them. I realized then a little bit about loss and personal growth and, damn it, I felt like I grew up a tiny bit more!
I also briefly considered my own role in her injury. Although no one suggested it, I wondered if my own treatment of her might not have worsened her condition. No one had ever done what I was currently doing, and there was no way to judge the potential repercussions. Could I have weakened her bone as I was drawing energy away from it? There was no way of knowing. Chances were, there simply were no clear cut answers here. Still, I was glad that I’d been able to help her when I had the chance. I’d have to watch what happened to the people I’d helped in the future, but I wasn’t sorry for what I’d done for her.
When Allison and Gail returned, much chagrined, I informed everyone that Brooke and Rebecca were on their way. I’d been distracted and hadn’t mentioned it before, and I figured now was a good opportunity as it allowed me to distract everyone. Ryan was pleased by this, saying he didn’t know they were planning on arriving so soon, but could understand it under the circumstances.
“I think we’re going to need that apartment complex pretty soon,” Mom said jokingly.
“I told Alex that we have some apartments they can rent nearby, if they need to either stay overnight or permanently,” Ryan offered.
“I’m sure that’ll be appreciated, but I’m not so sure it’ll improve things any,” Mom grinned, looking at me.
Now that the tension following Jennifer’s accident had somewhat dissipated, both Kitty and Chalise surrounded me and cuddled against me, whispering little things to me. I glanced nervously at Cate, but she seemed to be fine with it, not showing any outward signs of ill ease. I still couldn’t figure out why I didn’t have constant screaming matches, however.
I proceeded to nap occasionally throughout the night, and slowly people began drifting away. I was concerned about both Chalise and Caroline, and suggested that maybe Becky could put them up at her place, since she had a small apartment at the nearby campus. That got their attention and they all got talking excitedly soon after. I think Becky, like Melinda, was anxious to find something more they could do for me, so this was right up her alley. Melinda even got in on it as well, offering to help them out since she was nearby. It would be a little awkward, but the additional distance wasn’t too far away so it shouldn’t impact them terribly. I couldn’t see them returning to a house as volatile as theirs was at the moment.
Soon all four said they should try to get over to Becky’s so they could start getting organized. Kitty said she should really be getting back as well, since she’d been spending the better part of the night here, already.
“So, are you going to move in with him as well?” Caroline asked Gail, feigning innocence.
“I’d like to, but I currently work with the Peoria Police Force,” Gail said. She looked at me, as if silently asking if she should resign or not. I groaned, which did nothing but generate more questions from everyone, as well as generating a painful buzz that hurt my head. “I guess I’ll have to arrange some vacation time to come down and visit. Suddenly Police work doesn’t seem as important as it did just yesterday.”
“I know,” enthused Shani. “It’s hard to focus on something mundane when a whole new world opens up before you.”
“Well, I was just curious. I didn’t mean to pry,” Caroline told Gail, while smiling knowingly at me.
After a lot of goodbye hugs and kisses, they all took off, effectively leaving us alone without any outsiders. That left us finally able to converse freely.
“So, it’s really too bad you were knocked senseless,” Cate teased. “I was looking forward to some new permutations of your abilities due to the excitement.”
“Actually,” Shani said, “I guess you’d have no way of knowing this, but during the excitement, Alex started sending us all simultaneous messages. Previously he’d always had to speak to each of us separately.”
“You know, I hadn’t really noticed that. I guess you are right, though,” I conceded. “Earlier I spoke to both Patricia and Brooke at the same time, so it’s definitely a new ability.”
“Well, it’s not a big improvement, but at least you can take consolation in the fact you gained something out of it,” Cate said.
“Yeah, unless you count what Jennifer lost,” I countered.
“You can’t think like that,” Anh quickly assured me. “That could have happened at any time, or never. It was completely random. You certainly played no role in it at all.”
I had to agree with her on that count, although privately I wasn’t quite so sure.
The nurse came in to check on me again, teasing that this was the only way they could get into the room, edgewise, since I always had so many women around. Mom laughed, telling her, “Yeah, my son has a way with the ladies.”
“And with the patients... and the doctors... and the police... and....” Yeah, yeah, yeah. We got it already, I thought.
“The doctor said that you should be fine,” the nurse informed me. “He finally took off to get a little sleep before the morning starts. But we still need to technically keep you here overnight, just to be sure there are no complications. The insurance requires it in cases with concussions, you understand. So, in conforming with that, we’ll keep you here until the morning. That’s officially overnight. I’m sure you still have a good headache. Dr. Moore wanted you kept off of pain killers while everyone was here, but now that they’re gone we can give you some aspirins or mild pain killers, if you are interested. He also said he’d be in early to sign you out personally, although he was interested in whether you’d be feeling well enough for another brief tour? Otherwise you should be fine to leave once he gets here.”
“Yeah, all he has to do is avoid getting into another fight with someone else,” laughed Cate.
“Oh, does that have anything to do with his ‘way with the ladies’?” asked the nurse. Everyone laughed. Personally I thought the joke was getting a bit old, but I didn’t think I could avoid it with my continuing entourage.
“Yeah, I can accompany him in the morning,” I told her. “I’m anxious to see how Jennifer and the other patients I met before are doing. And no, I don’t think I need anything now. The headache is all that keeps the women from climbing all over me,” I teased back.
With that my parents finally left, and the girls decided to take turns sitting with me as I continued to nap throughout the night.
During one period, I was awake with Allison quietly watching over me. Cate had finally fallen asleep, after having been awake and watching me throughout the night. She was currently curled up beside me on the hospital bed. I hoped she wouldn’t freak out any of the nurses, but they’d have no reason to suspect what I secretly shared with my sister.
“Allison, can you tell me what’s been up recently? When we first met you were so scared of me, practically afraid to do anything around me. Yet here you are today, taking an active role, not only in looking after me, but in this whole medical thing with Dr. Moore. Pardon me if I’m being a bit dense, but it’s still just a little too much of a dichotomy for me to wrap my head around yet.” Yep, my ability to form complete sentences was doing much better now.
“Oh, that’s easy, Alex,” she replied. “If you stop and think about it, you’ve got Shani. She’s your first, and will always be one of your favorites as a result. Anh, she’s your spiritual advisor and only speaks when she has something unique and meaningful to contribute. You’ve just given Patricia new marching orders. Even with what looks like a whole new career opportunity, she’s now got a specific thing she’s been tasked with accomplishing for you. You’ll notice she takes that role so seriously she thought it appropriate to not come to visit you in your hour of need. Brooke and Rebecca have their own things, using their abilities to help people on a daily basis. I’ve been kind of off in left field though, without any clear definitive role to play.
“Now I have one. Ryan has given me a way to fortify my own position in your world. Sure, helping to heal people is meaningful, and it makes me feel great, but I’m looking beyond that now. I’m now in a position where I can help define what the aura’s really mean and how they can be used. Right now I’m leaning how to interpret medical information from them. Next, I’ll try to figure out how to read emotional data from it. I can serve a role in your whole mission by teaching the others what their visions mean and how to apply that knowledge. Instead of a hesitant little worry wart, I’m now a productive member of your team. I feel like my life has been reborn for a second time in only a couple of weeks,” she announced, proudly beaming, her pride and self assurance showing in her happy grin.
“Well, I’m glad you are feeling so positive about yourself. For a while there, back at the beginning, I was wondering whether you’d ever be willing to sneeze in front of me without permission,” I laughed. She did too, evidently relieved she no longer felt so helpless in front of me.
“It must have been funny, especially with you in much the same state that I was. But you are definitely coming into your own as well. You were slow to take on your new mantle, at first, deciding to take us all on back in New Orleans. Then in how you undertook Darrell, Chalise and Kitty, and now, how you are putting your abilities to use here in the hospital. You’ve really grown in some amazing ways since I first met you. Especially considering how amazing you were even back then.”
“I’ll tell you, Allison,” I replied, “seeing you filled with a new mission and purpose in life makes me feel better than my measly little abilities do. So far, I still can’t see much point in them beyond being able to avoid having to use the telephone. However, seeing how much it affects those around me really inspires me. The whole, ‘your life has to have a meaning’ notion doesn’t seem quite as intimidating as it once did.”
“Well, don’t think your life is going to get any easier, Alex. We haven’t discussed it recently, but I know there are several things we’ve all been waiting for you to deal with. Now that you’ve given us this scare, I think everyone is going to want you to start committing to them. You are much too important to lose. We came close to losing all your potential works, just because a lone crackpot lost his temper.”
“What kind of things are you referring to?” I asked, genuinely curious now.
“Oh, don’t worry; I’m not going to tire you out thinking about them now. Besides, I think we girls would like to discuss them amongst ourselves before we propose them to you. But just be aware you’ll have to get busy soon,” she teased me.
“Yeah, like juggling a house full of females, balancing two potential girlfriends, trying to keep a school full of curious teenagers at bay, and trying to heal a bunch of patients at the nearby hospital doesn’t take enough of my time,” I replied, putting on my whole ‘oh, poor, pitiful me’ persona.
“That’s just it, just think of these as the easy times. We’ll always manage to think of new ways of keeping you interested.” I simply groaned at the thought, but we quickly moved on to lighter things that didn’t frighten me to think about.
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Brooke, Rebecca and a couple of happy kids came running into the room around 5 a.m. Josh was all over me, despite his mother’s plea to be careful of me, but Suzy stood a respectful distance away and simply waited for me to acknowledge her. I held out the one arm not wrapped around the heavy bundle holding me tight, and she rushed in as well.
“Alex, we both missed you so much. You’ll have to play baseball with me, since we never got the chance before you left New Orleans,” Josh told me, rushing the words together, he was in such a hurry to get it all out it was hard to figure out what he was saying.
“Don’t worry, Josh, I’ll have plenty of time to play with you now. Well, maybe not now, but at least in a few days time at least.” I looked up at my two girls. “So, how was the trip up? A long drive, huh?”
“It wasn’t really so long, but trying to get all the last minute things packed and the kids to sit still certainly was,” Brooke informed me. “We’d already packed the trailer with our luggage a few days ago. We were sure that Ryan was going to give us the job halfway through your tour.”
“Yeah, he seems to be a new convert,” I conceded. “I thought I was going to be overwhelmed with a whole new set of responsibilities here at the hospital, but you girls seem to have taken that task off of my hands.”
“Yeah, we heard. Allison really knows how to drive a deal, doesn’t she? I’d hate to be a horny guy with a bunch of money in the bank and a waiting erection,” she laughed. “So how are you feeling? Honestly.”
“I’m feeling fine now,” I assured them. “It just took a little while for me to clear my mind. Now get over here and give me a kiss, both of you. If your kids didn’t break me, neither of you will.”
They both came up and shoved the kids politely to the side while they renewed our association. Cate woke up when the kids had bounded in, and was now teasing them while I cuddled the two girls.
“So you were both packed and ready when you heard I was injured?” I asked.
“Of course,” Rebecca assured me. “We started packing before we even came up the last time. When we got back we hurriedly finished it up. As soon as we got your panicky message we immediately got together, then when you didn’t respond we got the kids packed and immediately tried to get on the road. Though, as we said, it’s hard to get kids packed, organized, and cooperative, though Suzy is eager to do anything concerning you. Or I guess I should say she’s willing to do anything regarding you. They’re both eager to play with you.”
We quickly caught each other up on what was happening as they finally greeted everyone else. Cate and Allison described how I’d been responding throughout the night. They both gave Cate a couple of especially welcoming hugs.
"Welcome to the inner circle," Brooke told her. "Not that you weren't already especially close, but being amongst those sharing Alex's special skills just brings you in even tighter than you were before," she added quickly after a brief pause.
"You're willing to include me, even if I can't see anything or feel any emotions?" Brooke pulled back and stared at her.
"You're included because Alex chose you," she said simply. "Everything else is secondary. You've helped Alex out tremendously, and that makes you invaluable to all of us." And that, as they say, is that.
To Be Continued...