“That’s impossible,” Maria screamed at the already traumatizing sight of her goddaughter being rushed in with a knife wound, as she also didn’t relish having beat the ambulance to the hospital in the first place and now to see Grace, and being told they were losing her. “You have to do something!” she demanded of any doctor and nurse that crossed her view sight as they rushed after the gurney, as they prayed that this was all a joke.
“Tell me the situation,” is all what the lead doctor said as they all saw Beth come in after the gurney and rushed into a room as it was her job to quiet the hysteria but also concentrate on hr patient, but the hysteria associated with the family was not letting up, so she just concentrated on what she could tell of the patient but also focused on the large group. “Are any of you, family?” she asked as it was difficult to tell.
“Grace Evans, age 16… Knife deeply embedded in the back near the lumbar spine, approximately thirty-five minutes ago in the park, already packed down by the time of our arrival. We assessed the situation, provided the necessary oxygen and hooked her up the machines once in the ambulance. We arrived within fifteen minutes, encountered a traffic jam on the way that couldn’t be prevented. Ninety seconds before arrival, she flat lined.
“Who packed this down?” the lead doctor asked as she did a quick assessment.
“I did,” Beth spoke up as the lead doctor did a brief examination. “I am a doctor.”
“With this hospital, I don’t recognize you.”
“No, out of state. I was in the area on a personal matter,” Beth said. “But I am licensed in Connecticut.”
“Where?” the lead doctor asked as the CPR was continuing.
“New Haven,” Beth muttered. “As a non- surgical pediatrician, but I have dealt with my share of life threatening situations.”
“How did this happen?” the lead doctor asked.
“The matter is under investigation by the Sheriff department,” the paramedic stated.
“Is there any knowledge of how the injury occurred?”
“Early reports have a fight with an unknown man who has been taken into custody. It’s possible the girl was stepping into the prevent an armed sexual assault when she was stabbed in the ensuing mayhem, but the matter is still under investigation.”
“Okay, let’s continue with CPR and move her into a room. We will try to remove the knife and shock her, and see if she can come back” the lead doctor said. “Wait out there,” she said to Maria, Michael, and Beth who were not happy to get the orders. “Where are her parents.”
“We’re locating her father!”
“I am her mother,” Beth said for the second time that evening and this time with more feeling.
“Oh!”
“Her father has custody,” Maria was quick to inform the doctor as she was fearful for her friend to come and find out he may have already lost his daughter. “We are locating him.”
Beth nodded her head her confirmation to the unique situation as they left the room and walked back to the waiting part of the emergency room as the reality of the situation became all the more crystal clear to her as the doors to the emergency room burst open and four teenagers came running in with the Sheriff quickly behind them as he hadn’t been able to control their actions once the Sheriff vehicle had reached the hospital, “Mom!” the twins screamed as they rushed into Beth’s waiting arms.
“Where is Grace!” Elizabeth demanded as her eyes searched out her mother and father.
“Oh god,” Maria cried as she saw her teenage daughter come racing towards them, and then cringed at the sight the bruises around Sue’s neck but thankfully her daughter seemly uninjured as she pulled her into a hug, and then Michael with his turn hugged his eldest daughter. When they had heard of the reports of a possible sexual assault, they both thought the worse and now it was evident that it was Sue. “What in the hell happened.”
“We can talk about that but where is Grace?” Elizabeth asked. “Please let her be okay.”
“It’s not good,” Maria admitted not wanting to admit to her daughter that they might have lost her. “The doctors are with her, so tell me, what happened?”
“Your daughter saved my life or more importantly, Grace saved my life, and she paid for it” Sue cringed at the words coming out her mouth “Please tell me that Grace is okay?”
“Mom, Dad, please tell us. Is she okay?” Elisabeth pleaded as she saw the twins in their mother’s arms as she could sense the anxiety in the older woman’s face who glanced over at her, and her parents. “She’s okay, isn’t she?”
“First why don’t you tell us what happened?” Michael was all he said as he came into the conversation.
“Dad!”
“Elizabeth” Michael countered as he wasn’t going to give an inch to her daughter despite the traumatic situation his little girl was obvious under that evening because he had to make sense of the situation they were in, so they could face Max with information.
“Fine,” Elizabeth grumbled at the non-answers into Grace’s condition which made her fear the worst. “It’s pretty obvious at this point as Sue was attacked. Grace and I was able to race in to help and prevent the attack from going even further but in the kerfuffle, we didn’t protect the perimeter until it was too late, and as a result Grace was stabbed.”
“Are you okay Sue?” Maria asked as she reached for the teen girl, and cringed when she saw the bruises. “Should we be asking a doctor to check you over?”
“I am now, thanks to your daughter and Grace’s quick thinking.” Sue nodded. “It could have been worse as I could be dead but no, I am fine. Luckily, it was stopped in time and all I have are bruises, unfortunately for Grace... the worst happened.”
“Have you called your parents?” Maria asked as she saw a doctor come there way. “Excuse me, we need your help.”
“What?” came the doctor who stepped forward towards Maria and the girls.
“We want this girl checked over as you can see the bruises around her neck. It looks like she was attacked, and she should be monitored to make sure it’s nothing serious.”
“Mrs. Guerin look I am fine.” Sue protested. “He only scared me, and they are only bruises as Grace and Elizabeth stopped anything more from happening.”
“Still, those bruises look scary and you need to make sure you will be fine. Go, and I’ll call your parents.”
“They are on their way,” Sue said as she pleaded with Elizabeth’s mother not to send her in with the doctor but knew she was losing the argument. “Seriously, I am okay Mrs. Guerin.”
“Humor me okay,” Maria said. “Send the bill to Maria Deluca Guerin,” she told the doctor who led Sue away to be checked out. “Okay, you” she asked her daughter as she faced Elizabeth.
“What?” Elizabeth asked as she took a look at her worried parents.
“Why were you in the park?” Michal asked as the doors to the emergency room flung open, and in rushed Isabel and Kyle who immediately found the small group.
“Where is Grace?” Isabel cried when she saw the group in the waiting room. “Where is my niece?”
“Isabel,” Maria acknowledged her friend with hugs to Isabel and her step brother. “Have you talked to Max?”
“He’s ten minutes away,” Isabel frantically admitted. “He called the house when he couldn’t reach Jim.”
“How is Grace?” Kyle asked.
“It’s not good,” Maria admitted.
“Tell me,” Isabel pleaded. “Tell me everything…”
Beth’s mind was swimming. She didn’t what to do, or how to act. Her brain was going in slow motion, and her head was aching…. She had walked herself and the twins away from the commotion to get some peace as she tried to figure out how to deal with the night’s emotional upheaval as she tried to come to some comprehension of what had transpired.
“Mom are you okay?” Alexandra whispered in the corner…away from the commotion. They were worried about the unanswered tension in the room. “You were in the ambulance. How is she?”
“Alex…”
“Mom, Carrie and I love you. And you mean the world to us and you were the best Mom in the world and no matter what happens here in Roswell or anywhere changes that. Let us help you. We have been selfish at times.”
“You two are thirteen, so being selfish can be in the job description” Beth said quietly.
“Maybe,” Carrie smiled. “We are sorry if we have done anything.”
“You two have been the world to me,” Beth smiled at her two little girls and wondered how things could have gone so wrong and took them in for a big family hug. “I don’t want to lose you…”
“They said that Grace was the real target!” Carrie asked as she pulled back from the hug.
“What!” Beth asked stunned at the mere idea that a sixteen-year-old would warrant all this as it was foreign to her she thought to grasp the idea that they could be in a world where sixteen years could have real threats against them but then a flash of déjà vu flashed through her brain.
“Right, isn’t that crazy.” Alexandra asked.
“Yeah,” Beth said as she struggled with her daughter’s words as she stared into space, and didn’t hear the girls call on their mother because all she could feel was this sense that maybe it wasn’t that foreign, like in the back in her mind that she had some experience and therefore she had to wonder just what was her old life like?
“Mom,” the twins called out to their mother in unison. “Are you here with us?”
“Yes, I am” Beth nodded.
“Where did you go?” Alexandra asked.
“No where important,” Beth smiled to reassure her daughters that she was fine. “How are you two doing?”
“We’re okay,” Carrie smiled. “Honestly, it’s shocking. Do you think she’ll be alright?”
“I don’t know honey,” Beth said because she didn’t. Rarely do someone who went flat for a length of time comes back she thought to herself, but then rarely do people come back alive like Grace told her that she did back in the beginning, back in 1999 and then she heard those words, with her name as being Liz and not the name she lives under currently. “Damn,” she whispered.
“Mom,” Alexandra asked concerned for her mother.
“Hey, came a voice.
“Hey yourself,” Beth smiled as she saw Kyle come towards them with his father. “Sheriff.”
“Call me Jim.”
“You keep telling me that, don’t you?” Beth asked.
“Yes,” Jim nodded. “I am very sorry for all this Beth.”
“I know,” Beth nodded. “I appreciate all your help out there.”
“You seem to be doing well emotionally?” Jim asked.
“It hasn’t hit me yet,” Beth admitted. “I don’t know how to process it. Everything has been so whirlwind, to be honest with you. I am just trying to keep my head up for myself and my girls.”
“How are you two doing?” Jim asked the twins.
“It’s definitely hasn’t been boring,” Carrie remarked. “I am sorry if we made trouble for your department.”
“I doubt you or your sister caused the havoc that occurred out there and especially not if Grace and Elizabeth stopped from greater harm being done to Sue.”
“What they said happened, it’s true, it happened.” Alexandra nodded.
“What happened?”
“We came in during the fight,” Alexandra admitted. “Grace and Elizabeth were subduing the attacker or trying to. They were going after him.”
“How?” Jim asked as he knew he wasn’t going to get the true story from his granddaughter, not until Grace’s condition was verified and with Elizabeth being too much of Guerin, and would be protecting the group’s secret and Grace was understandably unable to tell her side of the story.
“They were egging him on,” Carrie muttered.
“What?” Jim asked.
“Engaging him,” Alexandra clarified. “They were trying to get the guy to drop the knife that he had to Sue’s throat.”
“Oh god,” Beth whispered.
“And they took him on?” Kyle asked stunned at the brazen act of the teenagers in this generation not to say they hadn’t been pretty brazen themselves at the same age, but you didn’t want to see that behaviour revisited in the newest generation.
“They said the guy had the wrong person.”
“Who did he think he had?” Jim asked, even though he knew.
“Grace”
“What!” Kyle demanded.
“Yeah,” Alexandra nodded. “We don’t know why, but they thought they had Grace, and he said that dealing with Grace would get him a million dollars, then there was a fight,” she said as she left out their display of power to get the guy to drop the knife. “And then the fight, and the knife and the guy were dropped but Grace turned her back, and the guy got the knife back and stabbed her before we could stop him. We saw it slightly too late.”
“A million dollars,” Kyle whispered.
“Yes!” Alexandra nodded.
“Dad!” Kyle asked.
“I know,” Jim said as his memory went back to what allegedly happened to Liz thirteen years ago. “The price for messing with the Evans family has certainly increased over the last thirteen years.”
“What?” Beth asked.
“It’s been said you were grabbed for ten thousand dollars back in June 2008”
“Really!” Alexandra and Carrie’s mouth jaw dropped open.
“It’s been said,” Jim allowed.
“God,” Beth muttered. “A million dollars to get Grace would be a major upgrade.”
“Well it’s 2022,” Kyle muttered when there was shouting, kicking a wheelchair and other commotions outside in the waiting room, and it led the group to stop talking and look through the doors and whistled, “Damn,” Jim and Kyle said in unison.
“What?” Beth said.
“Jake is here,” Jim sighed at they witnessed the distraught eighteen-year-old not letting the fact he was wheel bound distract from making a major scene as he arrived in the emergency room.
“You sent for him, didn’t you?” Kyle asked his father. “You asked your deputy to pick him up after Amy went over to take over babysitting duties.”
“I guess I didn’t think he would be so emotional.”
“Whose Jake?”
“Maria and Michael’s oldest, my grandson.” Jim said as Beth took a look at the older teenager throwing an emotional outburst.
“Wow,” Alexandra and Caroline said as they remembered what Elizabeth said in the car on the drive over from the park and took a look out into the waiting room, at the emotional outburst that was taking place and the older teenage male in a wheelchair.
“We better get in there,” Jim said to his son.
“Yeah,” Kyle nodded. “I think that would be wise.”
Out in the waiting room, Jake was making as dramatic scene as it was possible as the rest of the waiting period came back into the room as Michael and Maria were trying to get him to quiet down, and yet he was too devastated to even think of trying to calm down. As he glared at both of his parents, “I can’t believe you would have left the house and didn’t stop to tell me.”
“We didn’t know what we were facing,” Maria assured her son. “All we were told was to meet your sister here at the hospital and we needed you to keep an eye on your siblings because your sister wasn’t going to be there.”
“Still…” Jake said as he brain was reeling, and he was fighting the feeling of being nauseous as the emotional upheaval he was under started to overwhelm him, as it had been ever since he received the terrible news that Grace had been stabbed. He was so care free when the deputy along with his grandmother Amy Deluca Valenti had come to pick him up and as the deputy and his grandmother had calmly told him what happened, and of course Jake had gone berserk and it taken some tough love for his grandmother to get him to calm down and by allowing her grandson to head to the hospital, she had needed to stay mine her other grandchildren, so she could allow her grandson to head over to the hospital because it would be useless to keep him home especially if the it didn’t end well for Grace.
And now Jake was in a faceoff with his parents as he felt like a piece of him was dying, “We didn’t know what happened honey until Grace got here, and it became obvious and even then, we don’t know everything…”
“How is Grace!” Jake asked. “Where is Uncle Max?”
“We don’t know yet about Grace,” Michael said carefully as he feared the worst. “Max has had some difficulties getting here.”
“Dad!” Jake said.
“It’s the truth,” Michael said with her a glance to his oldest son. “We needed you with your brothers and sister until we knew more, and then we got your grandfather to assist in collecting you.”
“Well thanks….” Jake grunted.
“Jake….” Maria said sternly to her son.
“Sorry,” Jake apologized. “She’s alright, right?”
“Jake….”
“Mom!” Jake pleaded at the sight of his mother’s grave face. “Please don’t tell me…”
“Jake,” Maria tried to come up with the courage to tell her oldest the truth about someone her son cared so much about when the doors opened with a slam, and in came Max in a rush.
“Where is my daughter. Where is Grace?”
“Max!”
“I got stuck in traffic,” Max said. “Maria…Isabel, please tell me my little girl is okay.”
“We’re waiting for the doctor to verify…” Maria started.
“Maria!” Max pleaded. “You know something so tell me what if she’s alright. I wasn’t here to see her, so I need to know.”
Tears started down Maria’s face and Max knew, and he feared the words “Max, she’s gone…”
“No…god no,” came the screams from around the room, and nothing louder than Jake or as despondent than Max. Elizabeth stood in frozen despair as her brother broke down, and her uncle was frozen in paralysis.
Beth looked from the back of the room, unseen for the moment with tears down her face as Max for the first time took in the newcomer to the room, as his eyes were drawn just as hers was to him, and his eyes opened wide at the recognition of the person, Liz.
Sparks flew, literally