Roswell Fanatics

Earth2Mama: We’ll be checking on Kyle in today’s update.

That would be hard to do – bless those that can and do.

Natalie36: They’re finally on the right track.

We’ll be checking in on Kyle and Dan in today’s update.

CandyliciousLovah: We’ll be checking in on him in today’s update.

keepsmiling7: Thanks!

Lol, would we do that?

Max and Liz have reached a point where he does understand that.

The tattoo is intricate enough that it draws the attention away from the scar.

Alien_Friend: We’ll check in on Kyle today. The guys have a difficult job and they know they have to be there 100% in order to do it to the best of their ability.

Lol, no, we’d never ever say you were biased. It took them a hundred parts to get there, but they definitely made a statement, lol. Hmm, Max do a lap dance? We’ll have to see what he says about that. They’re definitely going all in to make this thing between them work.

It’s good to have someone else in on what’s going on because as intelligent as Isabel is she’s taking a big risk.

Thanks! You never know, we might just do that! With all we still have to happen… it could happen.

Lol, that bit about Courtney was funny!

kismet: That will be difficult for Michael and we’ll be checking in on Kyle today.

We’ll have to wait and see what Tess does.

It was past time for that step, lol.

zaneri1: Thanks, we’re glad you’re enjoying TIC TAC!

sarammlover: Well… what we’ve done with Kyle will be seen in this update. LOL, Nurse Tess, huh?

roswellian love: This could be a very important moment for all of them.

Intense is a good word, lol.

Alex has a funny way of doing that. Oh, she’ll see it at some point, hopefully not before it’s too late.

begonia9508: Thanks!

Lol, Max and Liz agree with you!

True… but there are sexpectations on both sides.

First responders do have honorable and dangerous jobs, God bless them all!

xilaj: Max and Liz have definitely had to work hard to get where they are today. They’ve come a long way and they’re finding a true balance in their relationship. Hmm, maybe Max will share the story behind his tattoo one day.

You hit the nail on the head about the situation Isabel’s in! She thinks she’s controlling the situation and the truth is Richard’s the one holding all of the cards. She just hasn’t realized that yet, so it’s good that Tess now knows. Lol, Michael may not be the best person to tell about the problem, you could be right about that. Although, on the other hand, the situation with Kyle and Tess is different and his reaction would most likely be different too.

We’ll be checking in on Kyle, Dan, and the little girl in today’s update. Thanks, we’re having a lot of fun writing it and reading everyone’s thoughts on updates!




Part 101

Breath Into Me

At the opposite end of the tunnel firefighters were thrown to the ground from the force of the blast. They had been in the process of evacuating when the warning had come across their radios that toxins and explosives were present. Thick dust hung in the air as Tony pushed himself up, coughing and sputtering in an effort to clear his lungs. He made a grab for his face mask and held it in place, drawing in fresh oxygen.

He shook his head and slowly got to his feet, moving his body this way and that in an effort to determine if anything was broken. His head spun a little at the movement, but sore ribs, patches of skin that burned and indicated scrapes or cuts seemed to be the most serious of his injuries. He checked with his fellow firefighters as they all got to their feet before reaching for his radio to check in on Valenti and Gilyard.

They ran back down the tunnel, sidestepping or jumping over the debris that worsened and slowed them down the closer they got to their destination. Just past the opening they had used to get down into the tunnel they found themselves facing a wall of debris that trapped their friends and coworkers on the other side with explosives and toxins.

“Carter,” Brody Maverick yelled down into the hole, his upper body hanging down while he laid flat on the street above. He glanced around and noticed everyone was evacuating in a hurry.

“Get the hell up here so I can get a hold of you.”

“We’ve got men trapped down here, Maverick!” he yelled back.

“The entire tunnel’s collapsed,” he said and looked up to see the longish tear in the street where the asphalt had collapsed after the explosions. “They’ll try to get to them from a different point.”

Tony shook his head. “If there’re explosive materials on that side the clock’s tickin’. We don’t have time to go around and find another way in!” He had never been one to disobey orders but they had a very small window to reach Valenti and Gilyard.

“Carter, you gonna fucking burrow a whole with your hands to get through that debris?” Maverick yelled back. “The whole thing’s collapsed, okay?”

He found the ladder that had fallen and put it back up before hauling ass up the ladder and going straight to the Chief. “Chief McCoy, I think we’ve got a better shot of getting to our guys from this end of the tunnel. We’ve got explosive materials on their side and the fire’s getting closer to them with every second we waste debating this. We can’t risk the time it’s gonna take tryin’ to get to them from another location. Let me have a couple of guys and some equipment. If we can get to them from this side we have a chance of maybe containing the situation from below. Either way it’s our best shot of getting them out.”

McCoy glanced down into the hole again while he considered the young firefighter’s suggestion. “I can only give you two men. Be careful down there.” He was right, there was no time to waste and nobody knew at this point how many people were still trapped.

“Thank you, Sir.” He nodded at the two men the Chief motioned to and they hurried to pull the gear they needed off of one of the trucks and hurried back down into the old tunnel. “Carlos, check the debris as close to the top as you can get, see if we have any give up there. JT, start at that end and I’ll take this end, let’s see if we’ve got any give at all.”

“I got something here,” Carlos hollered after checking a few sections.

Tony climbed up over the debris, using the pointed edge of the collapsible shovel to dig out a spot so he could use his knee to support him. He ran a gloved hand over the area that Carlos indicated and pulled it back, holding it in front of his flashlight and frowning as he sniffed the wet material. “Sonofabitch,” he muttered.

“What is it?” JT asked.

“Just water, but that’s not good either. That clock’s tickin’ faster at every turn.” He rammed the shovel blade into the debris and dragged it down, sending a small avalanche to the ground below them.

“Watch out,” Carlos yelled and sprang to the side, pulling Tony with him. Their bodies hit the hard rock below them and just a moment later several huge rocks fell from the ceiling that had obviously only been supported by the debris they had pulled away.

“At least now we have a decent-size hole to crawl through.” Tony grimaced in pain when he got up again and reached down to help his partner up.

JT winced when pain shot through his hand and nodded to himself as he approached the mountain of debris. His middle finger had gotten caught in the handle of his shovel when he was thrown to the ground and he knew it was broken. He took his place next to Carter and started digging to widen the gap.

On the other side Kyle coughed for several minutes before he dropped his head back and opened his eyes. He fumbled with his flashlight, pressing the button several times before realizing that it must have been broken in the explosion. He pushed himself up and felt around in the dark, trying to find the girl he had been carrying when he had been thrown by the force of the blast. “Dan?” he choked out. His lungs felt like they were straining, as if he couldn’t get enough air, and his throat burned.

He shook his gloves off when he felt something malleable and he realized it was the girl his partner had handed off to him. He swallowed with difficulty when he found her pulse point and he couldn’t feel anything. He moved his hand up to cover her nose and mouth and dropped his head forward when there were no breath signs.

“Damn it,” he muttered, grimacing when every breath felt like agony.

He was still searching for Dan when another explosion rumbled behind them and he was thrown to the ground. He was rolling over when something heavy landed on him, pinning him to the ground and making the already difficult task of breathing nearly impossible. He fought to stay conscious, knowing how important it was to his survival, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn’t focus on anything.

“You okay?” Tony looked at JT where had had landed after the last explosion had thrown him down the small hill of debris they had been standing on.

“Yeah,” the man said, his voice sounding strangled as he sat up.

“Take a small break,” he nodded and turned to go back to work, relieved to see the last tremors had caused more rocks to loosen and fall, widening the gap to the other side. Now it was large enough for them to get through it easily. “I’ll go first.”

“Be careful, Carter,” Carlos told him.

Tony tested some of the rocks with his foot first and started to push forward when he was sure they were stable enough to hold him. “Valenti, can you hear me?” he called into the hollow space in front of him and for the first time he got a good look of the situation. The scene in front of him left him in shock for a moment, but he knew he needed to keep going because time was working against them. “Kyle,” he called again and signaled for Carlos to follow him before he climbed down over the small hills of debris.

“Holy shit,” the other firefighter muttered when he saw the extent of the damage.

“We need to get past that barrier.” Tony pointed at an iron beam that had fallen and was buried under more debris.

“Let’s do it,” his partner agreed, although he had little hope that they would find anyone alive under all the rubble.

JT caught his second wind and crawled through the hole they had created, cursing when the rubble shifted beneath him and he surfed down on his belly. “Fuck, this just isn’t my day,” he muttered as he flipped himself around and got his feet under him. He unclipped the flashlight from his jacket and swept the beam across what was left of the tunnel and he shook his head at the destruction.

Tony was studying a large beam, trying to determine the best way to go at it when JT’s light passed over him. “We’re gonna need the lift bags. We don’t have a prayer of movin’ this on our own.”

“I’ll get what we need.” He paused when he reached the hole they had used for entry. “Hey, Carter, you located Valenti or Gilyard yet?”

“They’ve gotta be on the other side.”

Carlos shot a look at the beam and the large structural pieces bearing down on it. They all knew there was a very real possibility that the other firefighters were buried beneath it.

*****

“She’s ready for transport.” Michael put away the used needles and pushed the drip into the hand of the EMT who would be riding to the hospital with his last patient. Since the first explosion he had been working on autopilot, trying to concentrate on his tasks and not on the fact that his best friend might be hurt.

“Take a small break.” Dana stood beside him and held a bottle of water out to him. “We’ve got everyone taken care of for now.”

He took it, but didn’t open it up. “I’m gonna check with the Chief.”

“Michael,” she tried, but knew she couldn’t stop him and she wouldn’t have stopped either in his situation.

“Chief McCoy,” he called the man when he reached him just a few feet from the huge gap in the street.

The older man turned towards him and immediately knew what his request would be. “We’re still looking, Guerin.” He took his helmet off for a moment and wiped his sweaty forehead. Now that the sun was slowly coming up behind the huge buildings all around them, the extent of the damage caused by the fire and explosions could be seen for the first time.

Michael turned to follow the man’s gaze and he shook his head at the devastation. The damage would run into the millions, hundreds of millions, but as he stared at the destruction it wasn’t the money he was thinking about. It was the countless bodies that had been pulled from the buildings over the hours they had been working that kept running through his mind. His gaze shifted to the gaping hole in the street. “I need to get down there.”

The Chief settled his helmet back on his head and studied him for a few long moments before he nodded and hooked his thumb over his shoulder. “Go on, Guerin. Just remember, we find more wounded you’re back up.”

“Yes, Sir.” He practically ran over to the hole, grabbing onto the ladder and swinging around to climb down into the dim, dust-filled cavern. He followed the noise of the firefighters working to rescue the men trapped inside, scrambling up over the debris, through the short tunnel that had been created, and down the other side.

Tony used his arm to wipe the sweat from his brow as he turned to cough and he nodded when he caught sight of his friend. “Thanks,” he rasped when Michael handed him a bottle of water. “We’ve just about got enough of the debris dug away to get the lift bags under the beam.”

“I heard you haven’t been able to raise ‘em on the radio,” he said quietly.

He shook his head after a moment. “No. Could be…”

“It’s not interference.”

“No.” Radio communications had been significantly upgraded since the attacks on 9/11 and there was no point lying to each other in a pathetic attempt to cover their worry. “They could be unconscious; their radios could’ve been knocked loose during the explosion, or any number of things.” He capped the water bottle and tossed it back to Michael. “We’re just about ready to get started with the bags. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find them right off the bat.”

“Anything I can do to help?” He hated standing around in situations like this.

“Keep trying to radio them, if they don’t answer, we may still be able to locate them from the sounds. Other than that, let us do our job and then you do yours, Guerin,” Tony said, knowing it wasn’t what the man wanted to hear, but the room they had to move around was already very limited.

Michael pressed his teeth together and nodded silently.

“Alright, guys, let’s move this thing.” Tony pointed at different sections and Carlos and JT took up their position and put the lift bags in position under the beam.

“I’m not sure this is gonna work, Carter,” JT said doubtfully when the beam of his flashback danced over the area, but he didn’t stop working. “This thing’s totally wedged.”

“We’re gonna try anyway,” Tony said, determined. Too much time had already passed and they all knew their friend’s time was limited, so if they couldn’t move the beam their chances would lower significantly.

“Ready,” Carlos said when he’d found a steady place to place the bag.

“Me too,” JT agreed.

“Here we go.” Tony turned the equipment on and they held their breath as the bags began to fill, slowly creating a gap between the ground and the beam. As the bags reached their maximum height JT and Carlos started assembling the shoring equipment to fit the space they had been given, moving in closer when Tony shut the valve off and carefully wedging the cylinders into place.

He glanced back at Michael, knowing he hadn’t been able to raise Kyle or Dan on the radio while they had been waiting. He saw the worried glance as he watched the equipment being moved into place, shoring the beam and giving them as much of a safe crawlspace as possible to make their rescue.

Michael reached for his radio on autopilot when it crackled to life. “Guerin.”

“I need you out here,” Dana’s voice responded. “They just found a pocket in the rubble and we’ve got two injured officers and a couple of kids.”

“On my way,” he responded regretfully. He didn’t want to leave, but he knew there were other people who needed his help and he couldn’t ignore it just because a friend was probably injured.

“Stay focused,” Tony told him. “We’ve got this and as soon as I know anything I’ll radio.”

“Good luck an’ watch yourself Carter,” Michael agreed and turned to make his way back up to his partner.

His attention shifted back to the other firefighters and he moved in between them to check the stability of the beam as they finished shoring it up. “Let’s hope we don’t have any more explosions before we get them out,” he said quietly as he grabbed his shovel and started pulling loose debris away from the crawlspace.

“Hold on,” JT warned and grabbed Tony’s upper arm with a tight grip.

“What’s – “

The other man bent down and rubbed his hand over the loose debris a few times before he pulled something out. They all swallowed when they saw that it was one of the radios the station used.

“Those blasts were pretty powerful,” Carlos said. “Be easy to lose a radio with all that rockin’ an’ rollin’ goin’ on.”

“At least it’s an explanation why we couldn’t reach them,” Tony nodded and glanced through the crawlspace. “Valenti? Gilyard?”

Kyle cracked his eyes open in spite of the urge to sleep. He opened his mouth to shout out to Tony, let him know where he was, but what came out was little more than a hoarse whisper. They couldn’t hear him, he thought as panic swept over him. He couldn’t move, couldn’t speak, and he had no way to let them know he was still alive. His panicked brain was unable to process anything beyond his situation and the fact that he could hardly breathe.

It was still too dark to see anything but he had to let them know he was alive. He had to at least give them some idea of his location. His left hand clawed through the debris and as his fingers wrapped around a rock the size of a golf ball something in him began to settle. Stay calm, Valenti! He repeated the order over and over in his head until he was focused on nothing more than that rock. He couldn’t move his hand more than an inch or two but he started to rub the rock against something in the debris, hoping it would catch someone’s attention. It wasn’t loud, but he knew from experience it didn’t have to be. The rescue team would be listening for the slightest sound.

Tony sighed when he didn’t get a reply. “I’ll crawl through first,” he told the other firefighters and handed the shovel to JT before he got down on the ground, flat on his stomach. He used his elbows, knees, and feet to move forward and wondered if the much more muscled and broader Carlos would fit through at all. “Valenti,” he yelled again when he got his head past the beam. He held his breath and listened in the mostly silent cavern, frowning at the very quiet, very distant sound, like something rasping against stone.

“What’s going on?” JT asked when he didn’t move any further.

“I’m not sure,” Tony replied and listened again. “Got a sound, not sure what it is.” Could just be a rat, he thought. He cupped his hands around his mouth, “If anyone can hear me and needs help, please knock twice.”

Kyle heard Tony call out but his voice was muffled and sounded far away. How far back had the tunnel collapsed? He knew the drill, knew he would be hollering for anyone needing help to knock twice. They would wait a few long seconds, straining to hear any responding sound. He vaguely realized he was so focused on rescue tactics that he was letting time pass without doing anything to let them know where he was. He tightened his grip on the rock and lifted his hand as far as he could to strike it against the ground, hoping that whatever he had been scratching the rock against was hard enough to make a sound.

Tony almost gave up and started to crawl when he heard the sound again, a bit louder this time. “There’s something, maybe 10 or 15 feet away.”

Carlos ran back to the street opening when the Chief called and a moment later he returned with something that he handed to his partner. JT reached through the small space and poked Carter in the ribs with the end of a high-powered portable search light he had just been given. It would only take moments to assemble and they were going to need more light than their flashlights could provide. “Here, this should give us a better idea of what we’re lookin’ at.”

“Thanks,” he grabbed it and moved forward until he was all the way behind the beam. The cave wasn’t high enough for him to stand, but at least he was able to see the room a little better with the help of the new light. “Fuck,” he muttered. “I can see someone, looks like a little girl.”

JT swallowed hard. “Alive?”

“I’m not sure,” Tony answered while he crawled carefully over the different sized rocks to get to her. “Doesn’t look like she’s conscious.”

He couldn’t see the little girl because Carter was blocking her from view so he started to crawl in the opposite direction. He scanned the low ceiling made up of a large slab of concrete that had dropped in the explosion. He checked with Carter before turning and they carefully and simultaneously placed a couple of the shoring mounts in place before moving in their separate directions.

JT crawled on his belly until he was about a dozen feet in before placing another one and he felt nauseous when he saw the gloved hand sticking up from the rubble. “God,” he whispered before reaching out and closing his own hand around it to see if he could pull the person clear. With so little room to work it made it difficult and after a moment he knew they were going to have to dig the firefighter out.

“No sign of life,” Tony called, his tone one of shock, when he had reached the girl. “She’s dead.” He had to squeeze his eyes shut for a moment to control his nausea when the full injuries of the little body came into sight as soon as he had pulled a few rocks off of her.

“Carter…” JT unfolded the collapsible shovel and started gently dragging the debris away from the body of his fallen comrade. “I’ve got one of ‘em. Don’t know which one it is yet.” As he cleared a spot an arm came into view and he brushed his gloved hand over the skin visible through the man’s torn sleeve. “It’s Dan,” he said when he saw the familiar tattoo the man had gotten decades before when he had been in the military. Dan loved the artwork – a young woman in a sexy pose that looked very much like his wife – and more than once they had seen him tease her about it at barbecues or other get-togethers.

“Is he alive?” Please say yes, he thought and moved from his position to get closer to his partner.

He followed the man’s arm down, knocking more debris away so he could pull it free and he gave a sharp bark of elation when the fingers flexed. “I’ll be damned! Tough old bastard. He’s alive, Carter!” He shook his glove off and checked the man’s pulse. “Pulse is weak but he’s still with us!”

Tony grabbed the radio and pushed the button to speak. “We found Gilyard. Weak, but alive and still buried under debris.” He let go again and glanced around. “I’m gonna try to get through to ya from this side, JT.”

Michael didn’t pause as he worked on an injured police officer but he glanced up at Dana when they heard the news that one of their own had been found alive. He wanted nothing more than to be down there with them as they searched but he knew he had a job to do and it had to come first.

JT was careful as he removed the debris covering Gilyard’s body, not wanting to do more damage than had already been done. “I’ve got it cleared enough for us to pull him free. I hate that we’re gonna have to drag him out.” They had no choice though because there was just enough room to crawl thanks to the collapsed ceiling.

“I’m almost there,” Tony told him, but hesitated when he heard the whispery scratching sound again. Quickly he turned around and saw just a hint of movement in a shadowed area that the light hardly hit because of several rocks. It was only about a foot from the dead girl’s body, he thought, horrified.

“Carter?” JT asked when he heard him moving away from him again.

“I heard somethin’ back this way.” He crawled back the way he had come, maneuvering around the rocks. He paused and snatched the flashlight off of his jacket and swept the beam over the shadowed area. “Valenti,” he muttered in relief when he saw the man’s filthy face. He backtracked, calling for Carlos to send in another of the shoring bars and crawling back to Kyle’s location as soon as he had it in hand.

He wedged it into place on the other side of the man’s body before taking in the full impact of the scene before him. Kyle was trapped under a jagged cement slab, his face a worrisome shade a gray below the dirt and grime covering it. His eyes were open but heavily lidded and they weren’t tracking the light or locking on him even though he was in plain sight now. And there was a trail of blood slowly but steadily trickling from the corner of his mouth.

“Valenti, you with me, buddy?” he asked quietly.

Kyle noticed that someone was near him, but the voice talking to him was muffled and echoed in his head. He couldn't focus on anything and his eyes couldn’t form a clear view even now with the light around. “’-n’t brea-“ he croaked.

Tony grabbed his radio and called for medic assistance. His friend wasn’t responding very well. He was sluggish, his breathing was impaired, and he was most likely bleeding internally. He grabbed his radio again. “Carlos, I need the hydraulic jack. Valenti’s trapped under a slab of concrete and it’s too heavy to move with the limited space we’ve got to work in. And hurry it up,” he shouted, “he can’t breathe!”

The Chief listened to the rescue on the radio and looked around. “Connor, McKency, you go down and give them a hand.”

“Yes, Sir,” the men replied shortly and climbed down the gap in the street, taking the hydraulic jacks with them that Carter had asked for.

Once they were down in the tunnel McKency slipped through the hole and turned to accept the jack. He quickly located Carter and crawled over to him. “I’ll get these set up,” he said and worked his way around them to put the jacks under the corners of the slab. He had come to the station a few weeks after Valenti and the other firefighters had given him a lot of flack over his size at first. He was by far the smallest guy at the station but the first time they had gotten into a tight situation and he had wiggled his way into a space none of the others could get into and proven he could do the job just as well they had stopped razzing him.

Tony glanced back at the others and was relieved when JT, Carlos, and Connor were working hard on getting Dan out. He focused on Kyle, checking his pulse and breathing once again. “We’ll get you outta here soon. Stay with us.”

“Ready.” As the jacks were activated the slab slowly began to lift, giving them just enough room to slide Kyle out from under it.

“We’ll have them both up in a few minutes,” Tony said into the radio. “Immediate transport to the nearest hospital requested.” He moved around slightly. “We need to turn him around.”

Connor quickly shifted, getting into position to help turn Valenti so they could start working him toward the exit. “He doesn’t sound too good,” he said as they carefully but quickly moved the other man into position.

“Yeah,” he agreed, his tone worried. His breathing was raspy with a gurgling sound now and from just quick check he could already tell that he had broken ribs, possibly causing damage to internal organs. “I’ll go backwards, come on.” He started to move backwards, which was anything but easy, but the determination to help his friend helped him to motivate every bit of strength he had left.

Once they reached the opening they stopped and he took his helmet off to wipe the sweat from his brow. He moved aside when he saw the uniformed paramedics coming toward them and it wasn’t until they got closer that he recognized Guerin and Dana. They lifted the board they were carrying and slid it through the opening to him. He was aligning it with Valenti’s prone body when they crowded into the small space next to him and went to work.

Tony glanced at JT, when he came into sight. “What’s up with Dan?”

“Breathing’s shallow and he hasn’t regained consciousness,” the man answered. “Broken bones for sure, but…” he shook his head. “They’re transporting him out now but we don’t know much more about his injuries. At least he’s alive though. God only knows how.” He nodded at Valenti. “What about him? How’s he doin’?”

Tony was about to answer, when all hell broke out around the body of his friend.

“He’s crashing!” Dana shouted and pulled the stethoscope from her ears as she checked his breathing. “Resuscitation, Michael.”

He watched helplessly as they worked on Valenti, trying to stabilize him so that he could be moved. Now that he was out from under the rubble it was even more apparent that his injuries were extensive. He wanted to look away but couldn’t as they finally got him breathing again. They intubated him and Michael monitored his breathing while Dana started checking him for other injuries.

“Let’s get him on the board,” she said after a few minutes.

“How bad is it?” Tony asked.

She shook her head. “We’ll know more when we get him to the hospital.”

Michael collected the medical stuff lying around everywhere and packed it into the case again. He had tried to shut all of his thoughts off while they had been taking care of Kyle, but it wasn't as easy as it normally was… with strangers.

“He’s stabilized. We need to move him now,” Dana let him know.

“Right,” he nodded. A few minutes later they had Kyle loaded in the back of the paramedic’s truck and he glanced back at Tony as he jumped in the back, taking the drip from his partner.

“I’ll catch up with you as soon as I can get away.” He rested his hand on Michael’s shoulder for a moment before he backed up and slammed the doors. He slapped the side of the truck, letting Dana know they were ready for transport.

“Good job,” Chief McCoy showed up at his side and nodded.

“Let’s hope it wasn’t for nothing,” Tony mumbled and glanced at the gap. “There’s still a body down there, little girl. Think Valenti and Gilyard found her and were on their way back when the first explosion happened.”

“I’ll send a retrieval team in to collect the body. We’ve got a team looking into the cause of the explosion, the fire’s nearly under control, and it’s been a long damn night.” He studied the younger man for a few moments before nodding in the direction the paramedic had taken. “I need to notify their families. You get back in there and let’s get this fire stomped out.”

“On my way, Sir,” he nodded and took off, although he didn’t feel like moving another inch at the moment. His body as well as his mind was exhausted, but the job wasn’t over yet.

Earth2Mama: We’ll be catching up with the guys to see how they’re doing soon. In the meantime, keep up the positive thoughts for all of the guys!

keepsmiling7: Well… it might be bad but it’s certainly understandable, lol.

CandyliciousLovah: We’ll be checking in on him soon to see how he is.

Natalie36: You just never know – this might be exactly the thing to get the two of them to talk.

Alien_Friend: Thanks!

We’re sure there are gonna be a lot of visitors while the guys are in the hospital.

xilaj: Tony’s definitely a guy you’d want on your side!

This probably does put some things into perspective. We’ll check in on Kyle and Dan soon.

This update should be a bit more relaxing.

begonia9508: It’s such a tough job but our guys do it well.

We’ll catch up with the guys soon.

Rodney: We’ll be getting to those reactions soon.

zaneri1: We’re likely gonna see that realization slowly but surely as we move forward.




Part 102

Bad News

Max picked Aaron up and settled him in the booster seat before sliding into the booth beside him. They had enjoyed a quiet morning, not getting up and rushing to get ready and they had been able to relax a bit before heading out to the little café for breakfast. He had started to sit next to Liz but he knew if the little boy got it in his head to misbehave he’d give it a second thought if he was sitting next to him.

Things had changed the night before and he didn’t know what was going to happen but he felt like they were finally getting a foothold in a solid place. He looked across the table at Liz and smiled. As much as he had wanted to laze around on the couch with her that morning they hadn’t had that luxury because Aaron had woken them up early. He had to give the little guy credit – he was actually pretty quiet, waking them only because he had been playing and had accidentally knocked something off of the coffee table. He grabbed the menu off of the table and turned it over to scan the breakfast options.

“Do they got waffles?” Aaron asked as he leaned against his shoulder to look at the pictures.

“Waffles, pancakes, eggs, oatmeal…” He laughed when the boy made a face at that last choice.

“Don’t want no oatmeal.”

“Yeah, I’m with you there.”

“Hey, oatmeal is good,” Liz insisted.

“Then you can have it, Lizzie,” Aaron told her generously.

Max nodded. “Yeah, I’m gonna go with the scrambled egg meal.”

“I don’t want no eggs, I want pancakes. An’ hash browns.” Aaron shifted. “Oh, an’ bacon too. I can have that, right, Lizzie?”

“You can have hash browns or pancakes, not both,” she corrected him, knowing he would never eat all of it and in the end more than half of his plate would be left for her and Max.

“Why don’t you just get the pancakes and if Liz says it’s okay you can have some of my hash browns?” Max suggested before Aaron could start sulking.

“Okay,” the boy grinned at him.

Liz rolled her eyes. “We need to have a serious talk about agreeing to things in front of him, buddy,” she whispered.

“What? I said if you say it’s okay,” he whispered back. Good grief, how could that compromise be wrong?

“Yeah, as if I could say no now that you’ve suggested in front of him.”

He had no idea how what he had said could be wrong but he was sure she’d be letting him know the second they were alone. He had a feeling it was gonna take a while before he had this parenting thing down to a science. He glanced at Aaron. “Make sure you eat all your pancakes before you get any of my hash browns.” Because he just knew if the boy left anything on his plate it was gonna be his fault.

Liz suppressed another roll of her eyes and glanced over the menu. “I think I’ll have waffles.”

The waitress came by and they placed their order and when it came to the drinks Max decided to keep his mouth shut. He would’ve given his okay when Aaron asked for chocolate milk but he wasn’t so sure that was the right answer. He nodded at Liz when Aaron looked at him for confirmation. “You’d better ask Liz.”

“But she’s gonna make me get the white kind,” he whispered and made a face.

“Still gotta ask her, buddy.”

Aaron shifted his gaze towards his sister miserably because he already knew the answer. “May I have chocolate milk, Lizzie?”

“No sir, not for breakfast. You know better than that.” She glanced up at the waitress and smiled. “He’ll have a small glass of white milk.” The last thing they needed to do was add more sugar on top of the syrup he was gonna have with his pancakes.

The boy sank into his seat in frustration and kicked his leg quietly in protest while he crossed his arms over his chest. Next time he wanted to go with Max alone!

“Coffee with mine, thanks,” Max said as he handed the menu to the waitress. He waited until they were left alone again before he nodded at Aaron with a questioning look. When Liz shook her head, indicating he should just let the boy work through his little protest he shrugged in acquiescence.

“How long are you gonna work today?” she asked and played with the napkin in front of her.

“I’ve got someone comin’ in for some touchup work and another coming in for a couple of piercings. A couple of consultations and this afternoon stage one of a pretty big tat so I should be finished, oh, I’d say around six. You?”

“Whenever the last guests leave tonight,” she rolled her eyes. “Fridays can be long, but it’s not as bad as in the winter.” She reached over to hand Aaron a children’s book they had brought along with them before she turned to him again. “Can you pick him up from Mrs. McGinty after work? I’m gonna talk to her today and tell her about daycare starting next Monday.”

“Yeah, any certain time or just when I’m finished?”

“Whenever you’re finished.”

“Cool.” He shifted when his phone started to ring and he frowned at the number before he answered it. “My lawyer,” he whispered, covering the mouthpiece for a moment. “Evans.”

“Hello, Max, it’s Kathleen Beckett,” she greeted him. “I was wondering if there was a chance your girlfriend,” he heard her flipping a few pages back and forth, “Liz Parker could come with you to our appointment today? I’d like to talk to her as well.”

“I’ll check,” he said and turned the phone so the mouthpiece was away from his mouth. “She wants to know if you’re available to meet with her when I go over there?”

Liz made a face. “That’s gonna be tough, Max. I need to get back home, get Aaron ready for his afternoon with his babysitter, get ready for work, and then take him over to Mrs. McGinty’s. What time’s your appointment?”

“What time would be good for you? Maybe she can work around our morning.”

“Well, as soon as possible I guess. Whenever we’re finished with breakfast.” She looked at Aaron and made a face. The boy wouldn’t be happy because she had told him they would visit Maria and Cody afterwards.

He nodded. “Kathleen, our morning’s gonna be pretty busy. Do you have any time available in about an hour?” Her office wasn’t too far away but he knew it was gonna take a while to get through breakfast because there was no point rushing Aaron.

“Whatever’s good for you. I have the morning free. I could come to you too if that’s better?”

“Really?” He looked at Aaron, who was still kicking the underside of the table with his arms crossed over his chest. “If you could come this way that’d be a big help.”

“Sure, just tell me where you are.”

He rattled off the name and location of the café and disconnected just as the food was delivered to their table. “I can always sit at the counter with him when she needs to ask questions about stuff you might now wanna discuss right in front of him,” he offered quietly.

Liz nodded and shifted to look at the corner to the left of them. “They have a little children’s play area over there as well.”

He turned his head to follow her gaze. “Right, or we could do that too.” He reached over and tugged on Aaron’s sleeve. “Hey, you gonna be mad ‘bout that chocolate milk all day?”

The boy turned his head to look at him and started to giggle when Max mimicked his pout. “Your lips are so big.”

“Uh-huh, that’s what you look like,” he said and stuck his tongue out. “That lip’s so big you’re gonna trip over it when we walk out of here.”

“No,” he shook his head laughing.

“Yeeeeees.” He mashed his scrambled eggs and mixed them with his shredded hash browns while Liz cut the pancakes into small bites for Aaron to manage on his own. He wished in vain that there was no reason for his lawyer to want to talk to Liz.

“When will she be here?” Liz asked when Aaron stared to eat with enthusiasm.

“20 minutes or so. She’s on her way in to the office and she said she could just come this way instead of goin’ all the way uptown. Probably just enough time for us to reach the I’m-done-eating-and-I’m-gonna-play-with-my-food stage.”

“At least this way we won’t have to rush to do everything else afterwards.”

“Yeah, there’s that.” He bit into a piece of bacon and chewed thoughtfully. “You an’ Maria got plans to look at any apartments this weekend?”

“I’m not sure,” she sighed. “With all the stuff going on with both of us things keep changing our schedule.”

He nodded. “I know her situation changed and that’s gonna cut into her time. We could look around if you wanted. I’m sure Tess or Michael could help narrow choices down for her.”

“Yeah,” she was already tired when she thought about all the stress. She and Maria both had limited time these days, but it needed to be done. Her attention shifted to the small TV on the wall behind the counter when the news got her attention. “Gosh, look at the disaster downtown.”

He shifted to look at the TV. “Looks like a damn warzone,” he muttered and turned back to his breakfast. He took another couple of bites before he slowly turned to look at it again. An emergency that big would have all of their firefighter/EMT friends on the scene.

“We are speaking now to Chief McCoy of the New York Fire Department,” the reporter told the audience and the camera shifted to an older man whose face was tired and dirty. “Chief McCoy, what’s the reason for the tunnel collapse last night?”

“At this time we can only speculate as to the cause,” he answered. “We do know several explosions tore through one of the buildings and were responsible for the collapse. We will investigate as to the cause but until it’s complete I have little more to offer on that front.”

“How many victims have been found now?”

“Vultures,” Max growled under his breath. “That’s always what they wanna know.”

“At this time the counts are still being confirmed. We pulled out multiple victims that were transported to hospitals in the immediate area. Burn victims were immediately transported to the closest trauma center with a burn unit. We also had several injured officers and one confirmed casualty among those pulled from the buildings and the collapsed tunnel.”

“Do you have a list of wounded or any casualties from the department, Chief McCoy?”

“Not at this time. Once the families have been notified there will be a press release but until that time we won’t be releasing any names.”

“Should we try to contact any of ‘em?” Liz mumbled around her waffle. She knew there had probably been hundreds of firefighters and EMTs there, but she was still worried.

“Yeah, we’ll…” he trailed off when someone stopped next to him and he looked up to see his lawyer there. “Kathleen.” He handed the phone to Liz as he stood. “Why don’t you send a quick text an’ see if you get a response from anyone.”

“Alright,” she agreed and opened the message menu.

“I can wait a few minutes if you need time,” Kathleen offered when she noticed she had interrupted a conversation.

“We’re just contacting some friends.” He gestured to the television. “We know several firefighters and EMTs and with somethin’ that big they’re probably all there.”

She nodded sympathetically. “I don’t live far from there; it’s a disaster. I woke up this morning, when the explosions rattled my building.”

“I guess there’s enough distance between my place and the site that we didn’t feel it.” There was no way he would’ve slept straight through something like that. He probably would’ve woke up and freaked out, thinking he was back over there.

“Why don’t you take a seat,” Liz offered when she handed the cell phone back to him. “I sent a message to Michael and Kyle.”

Kathleen slid into the booth next to the younger woman and smiled at the little boy using apple slices to makes faces on his pancake. “I thought maybe we could get a little of your background to help me out. I’d like to get your case put together so that when the time comes we’re prepared.”

“Yeah, sure,” she nodded and circled the spoon in her coffee after putting more milk in it.

She lowered her voice. “Is it alright to talk in front of your brother?”

“That’s my cue,” Max winked and took the boy out of his seat. “Hey, I saw some pretty cool stuff back there, buddy.”

She watched her client as he put Aaron down and the little boy slipped his hand into the man’s much larger one, going with him without question. “It’s nice to have a man around who can help out, isn’t it?” She went on without waiting for an answer. “Have the two of you been together very long?”

“We dated briefly almost two years after we met at grief counseling, but things with me and Aaron were rocky at the time and then there was the situation with Trent...” She sighed slightly. “I didn’t tell Max about Aaron and I ended things before he would find out. We just recently started to see each other again.”

“I take it Trent wasn’t very happy about you taking custody of your brother?”

“No, he tried to convince me to give him up for adoption or to be placed in foster care.”

“A lot of people would’ve done that.” She opened up the leather binder to reveal the legal notepad inside. “You stayed with him out of necessity?” She knew how expensive it was to live in New York when you had a job that paid well so she could imagine the financial situation the girl was in.

“I stayed with him because he’s the only family I have left. I couldn’t give him to strangers.”

“No, I’m sorry, I didn’t make that very clear.” She shook her head at herself. “I meant you stayed with Trent out of necessity. I understand why you took your brother in.”

“Oh, right,” Liz blushed slightly. “Yeah… I couldn’t afford an apartment on my own and even though he didn’t want Aaron, he allowed us to stay because he didn’t want to lose his apartment. I guess it’s too expensive for him alone.”

“Your brother was around two when he came to live with you?” She went on when Liz nodded in confirmation. “How did Trent handle having him around? Was he tolerant at all? Was he hostile?”

“At first he was more tolerant.” She shrugged helplessly. “I guess he thought I’d change my mind when I saw that I couldn’t handle things. When he realized I really wasn’t gonna send Aaron away he started to get... hostile, yeah.”

“Has he ever been physically abusive?” She covered the younger woman’s hand with her own when she saw the look of sadness on her face. “I’m sorry to ask such personal and invasive questions. Max told me a little bit about your ex and the man sounds like he’ll do anything he can to cause problems for you. I just want to be prepared when he comes after you.”

“He never hurt us physically, but he made sure life was as miserable as it could be.” Liz ran her hands through her hair and checked on Max and Aaron, smiling briefly when they laughed together. “It was little things that made life with him unbearable, you know? Like yelling and complaining about small things like a toy on the floor. Aaron and I shared one bed and a very small room. Sometimes Trent would block the bathroom for hours so that I had to keep Aaron up late for a bath or whatever.”

“That’s a shame,” she murmured sympathetically. “How long has it been since you and Trent could be considered a couple? Did he end the relationship when your brother entered the picture or was that your decision?”

“We had been together for a few months when my parents’ accident happened and I’d say our relationship was over when I decided to keep Aaron. He didn’t want a kid in his life and he gave me an ultimatum, him or Aaron.”

“And when you and Max got together I suppose Trent wasn’t very understanding?”

“No, he acted like he had any right to tell me who to see,” she rolled her eyes. “I guess he hates me for choosing Aaron over him and he’s never gotten over it.”

Kathleen was steadily writing. “Has he done anything else that I should know about? Gotten into any confrontations with Max or your friends? Tried to cause any other trouble?”

“He got into some verbal fights with Max when they ran into each other by accident. But then last weekend we were at the beach with friends and he showed up, he and Max got into a fight.” She snorted bitterly. “The absurd thing is that some of our friends who work at the fire station knew him and passed a random invitation to him. He had no clue Max and I were there too.”

“It sounds like he’s very adept at hiding who he is around the people he works with. Have you ever reported his behavior?”

“No, I didn’t,” she mumbled.

She nodded. “Having his behavioral history on file would be helpful, especially considering what he does for a living. I’m not judging you or your decisions and really, it’s not that unusual. Many people don’t report things that happen with someone they know because they’re sure the situation will eventually blow over. Of course, if that same behavior occurred with someone they didn’t know they wouldn’t waste any time reporting it.”

“Yeah, I guess...” she sighed. “I guess I never considered it because he didn’t do anything really illegal. I wasn’t FORCED to stay with him.”

She put her pen down and looked at Liz. “What were your other options?”

“Living under the bridge I guess or moving away from New York.”

“Not much of a choice was it? Max expressed some concern that Trent may contact CPS and he’s worried that his situation could create a problem. The arrest does give your ex some leverage if he makes that call and CPS gets involved, but that alone isn’t enough to necessarily end in the removal of Aaron from your home. Is there something else he has on you? Anything at all that might make him think CPS would remove Aaron?”

And for the second time she had to tell the embarrassing story of her life to someone she hardly knew, Liz thought, frustrated. “Well, I’m still a student, so one job just isn’t enough to survive in New York City.” She glanced away from the woman when she spoke again. “I took a job in a strip club because it was the only thing that pays enough money.”

“Ah, I understand.” She chuckled and patted the younger woman’s arm. “Don’t be embarrassed, Liz. Strippers make very good money and while many people don’t approve they’re not the ones who have to live with the decision to take their clothes off for money. They judge without ever having to walk in your shoes. And between you and me,” she looked Liz in the eye, “I paid off a good portion of my school loans that way. It doesn’t make me any less a lawyer and it’s something I only did until I was financially on my feet. Being free and clear of that debt now makes the decision back then worthwhile.”

“That a relief,” Liz admitted with a laugh, but felt her cheeks still burning bright red. “Do you think Trent could use this against me?”

“He’ll try, no doubt about that. And I’ll be honest with you, there are some judges who will take one look at your job and write you off. I’m not ashamed of what I’ve done in the past but I’ve had clients who found out and decided they wanted someone else to represent them.” She shrugged. “It’s small-minded but it is a reality and one we’ll have to be prepared for.”

Liz’ gaze shifted to her brother and Max. “I can’t lose Aaron. I’m the only family he has. I don’t want him to be raised by people who can’t tell him anything about our parents.”

“We’ll do everything we can to prevent that. I want you to be prepared though because if CPS does show up with a removal order, you need to call me immediately. We’ll fight it but you have to know that the judge will probably order him into a foster situation at least temporarily. They’ll often have a list of requirements for you to meet within a set time and they’ll revisit the case at the end of that time to determine if your situation is stable enough for Aaron to be returned to your custody.”

“We’re already working on that one,” she assured her. “We’ve found a suitable daycare for Aaron starting next week and…” she hesitated when another thought entered her mind. “Oh, he’s epileptic; I think I forgot to mention that.”

“That must’ve made finding a suitable daycare a challenge.”

“Yeah, I only found one because Max has a friend who works in a hospital. She arranged things for us. I’m also working on finding a new place to live, but with everything going on it’s hard to find time to look at anything.”

“That was very nice of her.” She chuckled as she turned to watch Max and Aaron for a moment, shaking her head when they made a racket as they pushed a couple of toy cars through a stack of blocks on the table. “The two of them seem to get along very well. Aaron appears to be well adjusted and he feels safe with the two of you.”

“Yeah, Max is really great with him.”

“And speaking of Max I guess I’d better speak with him. I know the two of you have things you need to get to.”

“You need anything else from me? If not then Aaron and I have plans to visit a friend in the hospital.”

“No, I think I have everything I need to get started.” She pulled a business card from the side of her folder and held it out to Liz. “If you need anything don’t hesitate to call.”

“Alright, thanks.” She got up and walked over to her boys, crouching down in front of them. “Hey, what do you think about visiting Cody and Maria in the hospital before we have to go back home?” she asked her brother quietly.

“Can Max come too?”

“No, sorry, not this time,” he told the boy and pointed to the strange woman at their table. “I need to talk to her and then I need to get to work, buddy.”

Aaron made a face but his face lit up again quickly. “Otay. Next time, hmm?”

Max chuckled and ruffled his hair. “Yeah, next time. Be a good boy and I’ll pick you up tonight.” He tried to stand, but the little boy prevented him from moving when he hugged him.

Liz waited until the boys had said goodbye before she talked to Max quietly. “Any news from Michael or Kyle yet?”

He glanced at his cell. “No, sorry. Maybe Maria knows something.”

“True.” She nodded back at Kathleen. “She seems to be okay.”

“Yeah, could be,” Max agreed.

“We’ll leave you alone now. Until tonight, lover-boy,” Liz told him teasingly and leaned in for a short kiss.

He just snorted at her remark and squeezed her ass with a grin.

*****

Maria was standing outside the hospital, soaking up the sunlight and letting the too warm air blow the cobwebs from her mind. She felt like she was moving on autopilot and she hoped getting out for a few minutes would help. Cody was finally sleeping after a restless night and as soon as Sara had come on duty and seen her standing at the window she had sent her out to give her a short break.

There was a lot more activity than normal around the hospital but her thoughts were so focused on her brother that she didn’t pay much attention. It wasn’t until she was leaning back against the building and the late morning sun began to cause her eyes to water that she turned and noticed the number of firefighters, police officers, and paramedics milling around.

“Crazy night, huh?”

She looked up when someone spoke and she smiled at Charlie. “What happened?”

“Big fire, collapsed subway tunnel, and explosions early this mornin’,” he shook his head. “Heard it was pretty messy. They called in emergency support from all over. Said on the news this mornin’ there were some officers injured and it sounded like maybe a couple dead. Civilian casualties and apparently quite a few injured.”

“Thanks, Charlie.” She pulled her phone out and sent out a quick text, copying it to Michael, Kyle, and Tony while she hurried in through the emergency entrance. It was a chaotic scene inside although she could imagine that it had slowed down considerably since the first wave had hit the hospital.

There were several different hospitals in Manhattan, but it seemed like most of the victims had been brought here, since it was the biggest and they had earned their reputation as the best trauma care in the city. “Rod,” she called when she saw a familiar face in between a bunch of firefighters sitting in a line of chairs set up along the hallway.

His exhausted, dirty face turned lighter when he recognized her. “Hey, Maria, what’re you doin’ here?”

“My brother’s been hospitalized,” she told him as she walked over. “Have you heard anything from any of my boys?”

He shook his head, knowing she was referring to Michael and Kyle when she said her boys. “Sorry, but I haven’t seen them at all.” He sat up and pointed to a little treatment room behind her when a nurse stepped out. “Maybe Carter’s knows somethin’.”

She turned around and felt relief wash over her. Without thinking about thanking Rodney, she walked over and leaned in the doorframe. “You okay?” He looked exhausted.

Tony looked up when he heard her voice and his expression shifted from a small smile to a grimace in a matter of a seconds. “Hey,” his response was lame. “I’m okay, just a very mild concussion they say.”

“That’s not too bad I guess,” she pushed herself from the frame and walked further into the room, very aware of the fact that his usual positive aura was momentarily gone. After a brief hesitation she decided to hug him and was relieved when he returned it. People reacted different in moments like this and she knew that Michael wouldn’t let just anyone close when he was dealing with things in his head.

How much did she know? Tony wondered. Had she talked to Michael yet?

“Have you heard about Michael and Kyle yet?”

And there was the answer, he thought and hated the fact that he was the one to give the bad news to her. “Yeah,” he said hoarsely and took her hand to pull her down on the bed next to him.

Maria immediately felt the panic rising inside of her. He had bad news, he knew something and it wasn’t something she wanted to hear. “You’re scaring me,” she whispered when he didn’t speak immediately.

“I don’t mean to,” he muttered apologetically. “It was a pretty ugly scene, Maria.”

“Tony…” she shook her head. “Don’t try to protect me. No matter how bad it is it only makes it worse if you try to cushion the blow. Just tell me. Please.”

“Last time I saw Guerin he was on his way here. Valenti was hurt and it’s bad. He was in the tunnel when it collapsed and it took us a while to dig him out. They don’t know what caused the explosions yet so there’s no way to know what chemicals he was exposed to or if by some miracle the collapse sealed the tunnel well enough to prevent them from inhaling the toxins.”

“Oh my God,” she breathed and squeezed his hand. “You must have some idea how bad he’s hurt though.”

“He was pinned beneath a slab of cement when we got to him. He has extensive injuries to his chest and abdomen, he was in shock, and he has internal injuries.” He so didn’t want to be the one telling her all of this. “He crashed before we could get him out and they had to wait until they could resuscitate him and get him stabilized before he could be moved.”

“He’s here then.” She swallowed hard. If Kyle had crashed that meant… No, she wouldn’t think about that right now. She had to focus on the positive aspects of the situation.

“I’m sorry,” he told her hoarsely and pulled her into a tight hug.

Maria leaned back and looked at him. “And you’re really okay?”

“Been better, but yeah, I’m okay.” He grabbed his uniform jacket from the bed before he got up. “We need to make space for the next one,” he gestured outside and took one of her hands to pull her towards the hallway.

Maria just let him move her around while she tried to process everything. “Cody’s sleeping right now, so I’ll see if I can find out anything about Kyle.”

He glanced down at her. “I wish I could stay but there’s a ton of stuff to do at the accident site.”

“If you have a concussion you should rest, Tony.”

He shrugged one shoulder. “I’m in better shape than a lot of others and they need every bit of help they can get.”

“Be careful, okay?” she begged and hugged him again. “Remember, you wanted me to move in with you. I don’t wanna be a widow.”

He snorted at her attempt to make a joke and kissed her cheek. “I’ll be back later.”

Maria nodded and watched him leave with a few other firefighters who had been waiting for him. When he stepped out into the sunlight she finally turned and headed the other way.

CandyliciousLovah: Lol, we’re glad you’re happy!

sarammlover: Well… because he wouldn’t have the balls to go into the situation Kyle was in, lol. We’ll be checking in on some of them today.

Earth2Mama: We’ll find out a little more about Kyle’s situation today.

Kathleen’s a good fit for Max and Liz.

Natalie36: Thanks! We’ll check in on Kyle today. The others will all be notified about what’s going on with one of their own. Trent… well… we’ll see.

keepsmiling7: Lol, anything to get the hash browns and that chocolate milk.

Kathleen’s the perfect attorney for Max and Liz.

We’ll find out soon what Trent’s done.

xilaj: Lol, no? Okay, Trent would cause anyone’s blood pressure to go through the roof. He will get his dues… not sure how soon yet though.

Aaron definitely knows which of his parent figures he has the best chance of getting what he wants from. We’ve got a feeling that Liz will make sure Max gets trained properly though. Aaron’s finally in a situation that is stabilizing and it would be sad to see that upset. Kathleen will do everything she can to keep this little family together.

We’ll be looking in on Kyle in today’s update. Maria and Tess as well as all of the others will need each other. Coming together is what they’ll need to make it though what’s ahead of all of them.

Alien_Friend: We’re very happy to hear that!

We have a feeling you’re right about Max spoiling Aaron, lol. As a parent figure he’s definitely a work in progress but he’s trying and he’s willing to learn so he has that going for him. And Aaron will learn in time that Max is a fast learner and Liz will be making sure he gets plenty of lessons on handling those situations.

Kathleen’s the perfect fit for Max and Liz. She’ll work hard to handle the situation that they’re in. She is up against some pretty heavy odds, but she’s preparing for the upcoming battle.

We’ll be checking in on Kyle today.

Chances are good… Liz will be stopping in at the hospital today too.

begonia9508: We’ll catch up with Kyle and see what his situation is today. As for Tess… she could be helpful in that capacity.

Kathleen’s going to be good for Max and Liz. She’s armed with the information she needs to take the next step in building her case.

Eva: Firefighters, EMTs, any first responders have difficult and dangerous jobs and in this situation our guys are dealing with it not only professionally but personally as well. We’ll be getting news about Kyle today. It’s quite possible that your optimistic side is correct.

Kathleen is a good fit for Max and Liz. She’s going to do her best to help them out of the situation they’re in.




Part 103

Crucial Hours

The heavy double glass doors of the ICU opened when a nurse came out and Maria hurried forward to slip through the entrance before it closed automatically again. There was a huge desk and a long counter built on one side of the hallway facing the different treatment and patient rooms, but at the moment it was unoccupied.

Her gaze moved around the area and the second her eyes located the slumped figure of her best friend sitting in the waiting area she felt a wave of sickness washing over her.

Michael hadn’t noticed her yet. His head hung low between his shoulders, his lower arms resting on his knees. She couldn’t see his face yet, but his body language said so much more than words could. Slowly, she made her way towards him and when he still didn’t look up she reached out to squeeze his shoulder lightly.

His big hand came up to lay over hers with a gentle pressure. Obviously he had noticed her before because he didn’t seem to be surprised by her presence. Just that small touch let the tears shoot into her eyes and they spilled over in a matter of seconds.

Michael looked up when he felt the trembling through her touch. No matter how much he was trying to deal with his own feelings, he couldn’t ignore it when she cried.

The shock was probably written all over her face when his expression was most likely a mirror of her own. Without hesitation, she crouched down between his legs and hugged him tightly. Normally he was the stronger one in their friendship – the one who thought positively, the one who never showed weakness, but it seemed like he couldn’t be that person this morning.

His arms came around her in a bear hug and he hung on tightly, drawing comfort from her presence. He still couldn’t process the past… How many hours had it been? He didn’t know. Somewhere along the way he had lost track of the time and stopped counting the bodies being put into his care. There wasn’t much time to think in the field and in a situation like the one they had been in earlier it was a good thing. Too much time on your hands and the thoughts that went through your head could drive you insane.

“Michael?”

He looked up when someone called his name and he reluctantly eased his grip when Maria turned to look over her shoulder. He nodded at the ER nurse who had called him and he took Maria’s hand, pulling her to her feet to stand next to him. “Tell me you’ve got some good news.”

“We still haven’t been able to contact Kyle’s parents, probably because the lines are so busy, but we need to get him into surgery.”

“How bad is it?” Maria asked, the words feeling heavy on her tongue.

Grace Quinn glanced between the two of them, knowing from past visits how close the three of them were. “His condition’s serious. It’s very serious.” She held out the clipboard in her right hand. “You’re listed as his emergency contact and as you know he’s given you the authority to make medical decisions if his immediate family is unavailable.”

He nodded. It was something he and Kyle had agreed to do for each other back when they had first gotten started. Something they had hoped they would never need to use. He stared at the forms on the clipboard and his chest constricted at the seriousness of the moment.

Maria reached out and steadied his hand when she saw the slight tremble transmitting itself through the clipboard.

“I hate to hit you with this after the day you’ve had so far but I need your signature,” Grace said, her tone gentle but insistent.

He cleared his throat and nodded, straightening when Maria’s hand came to rest at the small of his back. “The surgery…?” he asked as he started flipping through the paperwork, signing in all of the appropriate places.

“He has internal bleeding, broken ribs, a ruptured spleen, his right arm is badly broken, he suffered a lung injury, and his heart’s bruised.”

“Gosh,” Maria whispered and squeezed her eyes shut for a moment.

Michael handed the clipboard back to Grace, wishing he could do more for his friend than this. His friend, he thought bitterly and remembered the last time he had seen him on two feet right before he had gone into that hellhole. What if they didn’t get the chance to ever settle things between them again after their fight? “He was exposed to toxins down there…”

“Yeah, we’ve already run some preliminary tests, but the results aren’t back yet,” the nurse said. “He suffered injuries to his eyes from small bits of debris as well, but that’s the least we have to worry about now.” She hated talking to relatives or friends at times like this, but it needed to be done. “There’s hope he’ll recover, Michael. Doctor Ben Houser’s leading the surgery.”

“That’s good,” he agreed. Ben Houser was the chief of surgery and he had already accomplished a handful of miracles. “I’ll wait – “

He was interrupted by an alarm and a blinking signal above one of the rooms behind them. Grace turned and started to leave in a hurry. “I’ll come back to you later,” she told him and left, running down the hall and around a corner.

“Is that his room number?” Maria asked fearfully.

“I don’t know,” he said helplessly and reached up to rub a spot over his heart when it felt like it was gonna burst in his chest.

She saw the movement and gave him a quick onceover before she stepped in front of him. “You okay? Physically, I mean?”

Michael glanced down at her and nodded dumbly. His jawbones moved visibly when he ground his teeth together to remain in control and he was glad it was his best friend in front of him because he would’ve been uncomfortable about his show of emotions if it was anyone else.

“I’m okay, just tired.”

Tired, worried, afraid the doctors wouldn’t manage to pull another miracle out of their hats, she thought as she looked at him. He would admit to the one, but not the other two.

“You need to get back to Cody. I can hang here and send you updates, let you know what’s goin’ on.”

“He’s finally sleeping and Mom went to get some breakfast so I’ll just let her know what’s going on and be back with coffee.” She knew he wouldn’t eat in a situation like this but the caffeine would keep him awake.

Michael just nodded and didn’t complain when she pushed him down into one of the chairs. He slumped down and rested his head against the back, reaching up to pinch the bridge of his nose. He lifted his hand to cover hers for a moment when it settled on his shoulder as she passed by him.

The noise of the insanity around him tapered off as he lost himself in his thoughts and it wasn’t until someone touched his arm unexpectedly that he opened his eyes. He stared at the woman standing in front of him for several long seconds as he tried to remember her name. His gaze dropped to the clear plastic bag she held and he swallowed hard when he saw the wallet, keys, watch, and cell phone it contained. “Hey, Cassie, what’s up?”

“There are so many…” She looked around, her expression lost. “People’s personal possessions, you know, we have to keep them while they’re being treated or… We just have so many of these bags back there and I thought maybe you could hold onto this since I know he’s your friend.”

“Yeah, sure,” he agreed quietly and took the bag from her.

Cassie knew his friend wasn’t doing very well at the moment and she wanted to say something, but the words were stuck in her throat. “I guess I should go…” She hooked her thumb over her shoulder to indicate the hallway.

Michael just nodded and waited until she had left before he carefully opened the drawstring on the plastic bag carefully and spilled the items inside onto his lap. Kyle’s wallet fell open with and something fell to the floor, making a quiet clapping sound. “Fuck,” he muttered and leaned forward to pick the credit card up again. He flipped through the wallet to stick it back in when a row of photos caught his attention.

One of his dog Leo and one of Loco were at the very end. Michael smirked at their little pet holding what looked like a thong between his little paws. He flipped through a few more and he saw pictures of their group, most of them taken at different parties. He had never thought his friend would be the type who would carry photos of them around, but in the current situation, it didn’t seem that ridiculous.

He winced slightly in surprise when the cell in his lap suddenly started to ring and buzz. Quickly, he put the credit card back and closed the wallet again before he turned the phone over to glance at the display. He swallowed hard when he read the three large letters on the caller ID. Kyle’s dad.

Jim cursed at the traffic backup and slammed his fist against the steering wheel. This was precisely why he had chosen to live outside the city, he thought in irritation. He squeezed the phone pressed to his ear and pulled it away to glare at the screen. He hit the button to end the call when it went to voicemail and then hit the redial button. He had been on his way back home from a meeting with a potential client upstate the night before when he had heard the news. He had pulled over at a rest stop to try and wake himself up and when he switched from the CD player over to the radio while he searched for something to keep him awake for the rest of the driver he had heard the report.

He had been trying to call his son since hearing the report and even though he knew it was pointless he couldn’t not try to get in contact with him. He listened to the ringing and just before the last ring that would send it to voicemail he heard the click that signaled an answer.

“Hey Jim,” Michael greeted with a hoarse voice as he leaned back against the heated stone of the hospital’s exterior. He had run outside to talk to Kyle’s dad privately. Maria would know that he wouldn’t be gone for long when she returned.

“Michael,” Jim muttered and held the phone down to make sure he’d dialed the correct number. His worry increased when he saw that he had. “Why’re you answering Kyle’s phone? Where is he? Is he okay?” He couldn’t stop the questions even though he knew he needed to give the younger man a chance to answer.

“I...” Gosh, how did you tell your best friend’s father about something like this? He took a deep breath. “No, I’m afraid he’s not okay.”

He had been hurt. He swallowed hard and forced his brain to focus on the most important thing here. “He’s alive though.” God, please just let him be alive, he prayed.

“Yeah...” Michael answered and suppressed the ‘for now’. His heart had stopped three times on the way to the hospital. It was a situation he had never wanted to be in – having the life of a friend in his hands.

“Michael, son, talk to me, tell me what condition Kyle’s in.”

“I had to sign some papers for surgery since they couldn’t reach you. Probably tried your number at home, I don’t know.” He rubbed his eyes. “He was pinned between the floor and a concrete slab, so he’s got broken ribs, internal bleeding, and he suffered injuries to a few of his internal organs. Broke his arm pretty bad and they said something about his eyes possibly being injured as well.”

But he’s alive, Jim reminded himself. “You’re staying there with him?” It wasn’t even much of a question because he already knew the answer. The two of them were as close as brothers and if one was hurt the other one would be right there until he knew the other was going to be alright.

“Of course,” Michael nodded to himself. “The surgery will probably take several hours.” If they even got the chance to start, his traitorous mind whispered, but he forced the thoughts away.

“He’ll pull through this.” His son was strong, he was tough, and he had pulled through more than one situation that had seemed impossible. “I’ll be there as soon as possible but if you’d keep me informed of any changes I’d appreciate it. I’ll contact his mother and let her know what’s going on.” Having to inform one parent of what was happening was bad enough, there was no reason the boy should be responsible for handling an overly-emotional mother too.

“Okay, I doubt I’ll hear anything for a few hours though.”

He could only imagine what his son’s best friend wasn’t saying. Jim swallowed hard. “Thanks, Michael.”

“Take care. I’ll call if there’s any news. We’re at the usual hospital by the way,” he pushed himself from the wall. Jim would know the place; they had met there a few times when Kyle had been injured on the job – all basically harmless compared to this.

He disconnected the call and took a deep breath before scrolling down to his soon to be ex-wife’s number and his thumb hovered over the call button for a moment before he pressed it and lifted the phone to his ear again. Regardless of what was going on between them he would never try to keep her from their son.

This was a nightmare, Michael thought and felt exhaustion all through his body when he walked back towards the hospital’s main entrance.

Liz glanced down when her brother started jumping up and down as they neared the hospital. They were finally there after a longer than normal trip because all of the public transportation was running behind schedule after the fire and subsequent explosions earlier that morning.

“Lizzie, look, it’s Mike!” Aaron said and pulled on her hand. “Hi, Mike!” he yelled at the top of his lungs.

He stopped when a child called his name and after a few seconds he was able to pinpoint the boy and his sister among all the other people around them. He crouched down when Aaron started to run towards him and he put on a fake smile. “Hey, speedy,” he said as he caught him in his arms. “What’re you doing here?”

“We’re gonna see Cody.” He grinned and wrapped his little arms around Michael’s neck tightly. “That law lady took for forever before we could come.”

“I’m sure he’ll be happy to see you.” He glanced up when Liz reached them. “Hi.”

“Hey,” she said with a quiet smile. “We just heard a little while ago. Is everyone alright?” She could see by his expression and the slump to his shoulders that something wasn’t right.

“We’re good,” he said so Aaron wouldn’t get a glimpse, but at the same time he shook his head at her.

Liz nodded. “Is Cody able to have visitors this morning?”

“You’ll have to check with Maria and Amy first, but I think it’ll be alright.”

“I tried to call but the lines were so busy I couldn’t get through so I thought I’d just wait until we got here and try calling up to his room at the nurses’ station.”

“Sure,” he hugged the boy and then stood again.

They walked inside and located a station she could call from and after making sure it was alright and Cody felt up to having a visitor the two of them continued on their way up to the pediatric floor.

“Max couldn’t come,” Aaron explained even though no one had asked. “He had to stay with that law lady. She gots a lotta questions. Is that her job?” He turned his head when a doctor rushed by them and he tripped over his own feet because he wasn’t looking where he was going and only stayed upright thanks to his sister’s quick reflexes.

“How often do I have to tell you to look where you’re going, huh?”

He made a face at her. “That doctor was fast, huh? Do you think he gots a ‘mergency like on TV?”

“Maybe,” she told him. “Or maybe he just needed to go to the bathroom,” she added in a whisper and winked at him.

He looked at her for a second, trying to figure out if she was teasing or not and then he laughed. “Nuh-uh, Lizzie.”

She chuckled as well and stopped when they reached Cody’s room. After a soft knock, she opened the door quietly and looked inside, smiling slightly when she saw Maria next to the bed. “Hey.”

Maria smiled and nudged Cody. He was awake again and doing his best to be a handful. “Hey, look, you have visitors.”

He lifted his head without much excitement, but it quickly changed when Aaron squeezed into the room. “Aaron!”

“Hi, Cody!” Aaron successfully freed himself from his sister’s hold and hurried across the room to wrap his little hands around the bed rail. “Do you gotta stay in bed?”

“Yeah, he has to,” Maria said before her brother could deny it. She stood up and lifted the other boy up onto the bed.

He wrinkled his nose and wiggled around to pull his arms free of the backpack straps. “I bringed some of my new toys. Max buyed them for me.” He pulled Rabi out and placed him in his lap and then upended the backpack to dump out a handful of plastic cowboys and Indians, animals, and cars. He picked up a flashy red car and held it out to Cody. “This one’s my favorite.”

“Wow, it’s cool,” he said, his voice hushed.

Maria looked up when her mom came back with a tray of food in her hands. “Could you keep an eye on the boys for a second?” she asked Liz as she took the food from Amy and placed it on the table.

“Sure.”

“Thanks,” she gestured to the hallway with a nod when her mom looked at her in confusion.

“What’s going on?” Amy asked as they stepped out into the hall and Maria closed the door behind them.

“Kyle’s hurt, Mom,” she burst out and the tears fell quickly as soon as she was sure she was out of the little ones’ earshot.

“Hurt? The fire this morning,” she guessed. She could see from her daughter’s expression that it was serious. She pulled her into her arms and hugged her tightly. “How badly?”

“It doesn’t look good right now. He needs surgery. Michael just had to sign the papers.”

“Oh, how awful.” Being that responsible for a friend’s life was never easy. “You have to be positive, Maria.”

“I don’t know if I can be positive anymore, Mom,” she denied. “Things keep happening lately.”

“Honey, I know that’s true and I know how hard it is, but even if you can’t do it for yourself, you have to stay positive for Kyle’s sake. And for that man waiting downstairs,” she said with a nod at the nearby elevator doors. “He relies on you, he looks to you for that strength whether either of you realizes it.”

The younger woman took a few calming breaths while she tried to collect some strength. She knew what her mother said was true, but there were moments she just wanted to give up. Kyle wouldn’t die, he COULDN’T just leave them like this. “I need to get back to Michael.”

Amy nodded. She knew how strong the desire to give up could be at times. The exhaustion that invaded every cell of your body when fighting so hard against odds that seemed insurmountable sometimes seemed too much to face for even another moment. “If the three of you would like to go and get a coffee or take a little walk or just go down and wait together you should do that. I don’t mind watching Aaron if Liz is comfortable with that.”

“That’d be nice. Could you send her out?” She gestured to her face. “I don’t want the boys to see me like this.”

“Of course.” She framed Maria’s face and met her gaze directly. “And Maria, everything will work out.” She nodded and went back into the room, asking Liz to step outside.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude, I just had to talk to Mom for a moment,” she started when the brunette came out into the hallway.

“You don’t have to apologize for that,” Liz said with a shake of her head. “Are you okay?”

“Did you hear about the fire downtown?” the blonde asked without answering the other question.

“Yeah, we heard about it while we were having breakfast. It sounded pretty bad. We tried texting but didn’t get a response so we figured it was the phone lines being so tied up.” She studied Maria’s features for a moment. “Michael couldn’t say anything with Aaron there, but something bad happened, didn’t it?”

“Yeah,” she admitted and glanced along the hallway. “I’m gonna get a few coffees and go back to check on Michael. You wanna come? Mom said she’d watch the boys for a while.”

“Yeah, if you’re sure she doesn’t mind.”

“I’m sure.” She started to head down the hallway and waited until Liz fell into step beside her. “Kyle’s hurt.”

“After seeing Michael’s face earlier I had a feeling someone was. I guess he must be here since this’s where Michael is.” She couldn’t imagine any of them being hurt and everyone possible not being there.

“He’s in the ICU,” Maria agreed and wrapped her arms around herself.

“I’m really sorry, Maria. What happened?”

“He was in the tunnel when the explosions happened and he got pinned pretty badly, I guess.”

He had to be hurt badly if he was in ICU, she thought. “Have you been able to see him?”

“No...” She glanced at Liz for a moment. “It’s really serious.” Her voice started to quiver when the impact of the reality of the situation really hit her. “We could lose him.”

“No.” She couldn’t believe they could lose him. “No, it won’t come to that, Maria. This’s the best trauma hospital in the city. Some of the best ranked doctors in the country work here.”

“I know, but there’re things even they can’t manage.” She shook her head. “No, I know. He WILL be okay.”

“Yeah, he will be. Anything else is just unacceptable.” She smiled. “Besides, he and Michael are in the middle of an argument. Do you really think he’d leave that unfinished or leave with Michael thinking he’s won?”

Maria chuckled even though she knew her best friend was having a hard time dealing with that fact right now. “No, that wouldn’t be Kyle.”

“See?” Liz sobered after a moment. “He must be having a hard time with this.” If things were that serious that they might lose Kyle he had to be going over every moment of their recent fight and beating himself up over it. No one wanted to face the reality that the last thing they had said to a loved one was something cruel or hurtful.

“He’s not okay, but he won’t admit it.” They took the elevator a few floors down and stepped out again. “There’s a coffee vendor right around the next corner. It really tastes good for something out of a machine.”

Liz chuckled. “You can’t say that about many too things that come out of a machine.”

“True,” Maria pushed a few quarters into the machine and prepared the coffee like Michael and she liked it. “What about you? Sugar? Cream? Cappuccino?”

“Sugar, thanks.” She could use the sugar rush today.

“Alright,” she prepared another one and then handed the cup to Liz before she took the others from the table next to the vendor. “This way,” she nodded along the hallway.

“You said Kyle was in the ICU but did he have to have surgery?”

“Yeah, Michael had to sign papers for it, but they hadn’t started a while ago. I guess he was probably too unstable to start just yet.”

Michael was staring at a picture on the wall when they found him. Sometimes he wondered where they found the art they put on the walls. Some of the pictures were downright creepy and others just confused him. He wasn’t an art expert or anything but even he could do a better job picking out paintings to put up for people waiting for news to look at. “You know, I’ve seen graffiti that was better than this,” he grumbled when Maria put a cup in his hand.

She followed his gaze and shrugged. “Any news?”

He shrugged. “They took him to surgery.” He picked at the side of the cup. “Said they couldn’t risk waitin’ any longer.” The thumb of his other hand tapped a mindless rhythm against the leather wallet balanced on his thigh. “Did you know he carries pics around with him? Who even does that anymore?”

“In his wallet?” She nodded. “Yeah, I put them there a few months ago when they were lying around his room and I guess he didn’t take them back out.” She opened the leather wallet up. “Yup.”

“Guess that makes sense.” He glanced at Liz. “You an’ Max had to meet with his lawyer this mornin’?” he asked.

“Yeah, she seems like she’s okay.”

“Good. I haven’t had a chance to ask around about what happened but I haven’t forgotten.”

“Don’t worry about that now,” she shook her head.

He smiled faintly. “It’s no worse than thinkin’ about what’s goin’ on right here.”

“True, I guess”.

Maria sat down in a chair on Michael’s left and groaned slightly when the movement hurt thanks to her stiff muscles. Sleeping in a chair really wasn’t very restful. “How long do you think the surgery will last?”

“Hours. Remove his spleen, find the source of the internal bleeding if it’s related to something other than the ruptured spleen and hopefully repair it, and repair the lung injury.” He rested his head back against the chair. “If his arm’s broken badly enough to require surgery they may do it at the same time. But with the trauma his body’s already experienced, the fact that he’s crashed, and the bruised heart they may wait on that if they can get by with waiting. To let his body begin to heal and to give him time to become more stable,” he explained.

She swallowed hard at the explanation of what Kyle had to go through. “Were you the one…”

“The one?” he asked.

“When they pulled him out of that tunnel were you there with him to help?”

“Me an’ Dana were with him from the moment they dug him out until we handed him over here in the ER. The girl he and Dan were…” his eyes widened for a moment. “Damn it, I need to check and see how Dan is. They pulled him out at the same time and he was hurt pretty badly too.”

“If he’s here they won’t tell you anything,” she mused, still trying to work with the information he had given her. How hard must it be to do your job when the person in front of you was your friend? God, Kyle needed to be okay, otherwise Michael would blame himself in so many ways.

“Right. You’re right.” He closed his eyes and shifted, unconsciously leaning into her. “I know that.”

“Maybe his relatives will get here,” she guessed and lifted one arm to hug him, the fingers of her hand caressing the side of his head gently.

“Speakin’ of relatives, I talked to Jim a while ago.”

“How’d he take it?”

He shrugged one shoulder. “About as well as he could I guess. He’s on his way in but he’s stuck in traffic. He said he’d notify Kyle’s mom.”

Maria sighed and leaned her head against his. “He has to be okay.”

Liz watched them for a moment before turning away. It was an intimate moment and she felt like an intruder. She studied the framed picture Michael had been complaining about earlier to give them some privacy. She wondered how the two of them could miss something that was so apparent to everyone else and then just as quickly brushed that thought off. Hadn’t she done the same thing with Max? Maybe not to the same degree, but denial was denial.

How would they go on from here? Maria wondered and made a face as a new thought entered her mind. What if Michael went looking for comfort from Courtney after all this? He needed to be with her – she, Kyle, and Michael had been like the three Musketeers the past year. That couldn’t change now.

keepsmiling7: Kyle’s situation is indeed serious… we’ll hear how his surgery’s going soon.

Aaron just loves to see his little friends and show off his new toys.

As far as that little boy’s concerned Max is as close to perfect as can be.

CandyliciousLovah: Tess will be blowing through the doors in this update.

begonia9508: Waiting for a loved one to get through surgery does seem like an interminable wait. Kyle’s young and he’s strong. Hopefully he’ll tolerate the surgery well.

These little guys have a good start on a long friendship.

sarammlover: That’s one possibility. Kyle’s tough and he’s got a lot of people pulling for him. And the guy doesn’t like to leave things unfinished.

Earth2Mama: Lol, well, so far no one’s rushing to the phones to call Courtney. She’d be in serious trouble if she arrived and threw a fit about anything right now.

Don’t worry… Michael’s gotten word out to make sure everyone’s notified.

Natalie36: Kyle’s got the best care possible.

Alien_Friend: The times that are hardest to stay positive are often the times that need it most. He’s going to have a rough road ahead of him if he makes it past those first few days.

Lol, right now she’s the furthest thing from his mind.

That’s news Jim’s always known he might get, but always hopes he won’t.

Thanks so much!

Eva: Lol, we think that just makes you hopelessly a Candy.

Things are pretty dark right now but everyone’s there for support and hoping for the best.

Don’t worry, Michael made the necessary call to make sure everyone’s notified.

xilaj: Right now it looks like most of our characters are in a dark place. The good thing is they have each other and they’re good at sticking together when the chips are down.

Maria could use a hug right about now. Amy knows her daughter well and understands her; she listens and supports Maria.

We’re working on getting them to a place where they both manage to clue in at the same time.

There’s a lot to be said between so many of our couples. The doctors haven’t come out with an update yet, but stay tuned! Kyle’s strong and he has a lot of people pulling for him.




Author’s Note: t’s that time again, guys! Yes, summer vacation is upon us and you know what that means, lol. The part’s a bit longer today to ease the separation but we’ll be back with the next update on July 21st! Y’all have a great three weeks and we’ll see ya when we come back with a whole new list of ideas and surprises, twists and turns!



Part 104

Ongoing Nightmare

Tess punched the button to call the elevator for the fourth time in as many seconds, huffing impatiently when the doors didn’t open immediately. She crossed her arms over her chest and started tapping her foot, waiting an interminable two seconds before reaching out and giving the lit button another push.

“Damn, lady, give it time, would you?”

She jerked around to look at the man standing behind her. “Do you mind?” She punched it again for effect.

“You’re not gonna make the damn thing get here any faster – “

She smirked when the quiet bell sounded and the doors slid open with a metallic whisper. “You were saying?” She stepped inside and started punching the button for the floor she had been told Michael was on, ignoring the man when he pushed the button for the floor he needed.

“Hold the elevator!”

Tess glared at him when he reached out to stop the doors from closing, daring him to try. The doors were almost shut when a hand suddenly pushed between them, stopping their movement and a moment later they opened to admit the person.

“Thanks for holding the elevator,” the woman growled, her finger pausing over the lit button. She turned to look at the careless person who had ignored her call and her eyebrows lifted in surprise when she found herself facing her twin. “Tess.”

“Ava.”

The man in the small car with them rolled his eyes.

“Dad call you too?” she asked as she leaned back against the wall facing the doors.

“Yeah,” Tess had felt sick to her stomach since the moment she had gotten the news. Everything seemed to be out of order right now.

“I’m sure he’ll be okay.” Dad had relayed the information Michael had given him and she knew things didn’t look good but it was too early to think things wouldn’t get better. “Have you talked to Michael at all?”

“No, not yet.”

“Me either. Think the girlfriend’s here with him?” Nothing in his conversation to Dad had revealed anything about Tony so she was operating under the assumption that he was alright.

“Gosh, I hope not.”

Ava snorted. “Not a fan, huh?”

“No, you?”

“Can’t really say I am. She’s nice enough I guess, but seeing Michael with her just annoys me.”

“Yeah, ditto.” Tess hopped up and down impatiently until the elevator door finally opened in their level. “I don’t think he called her. Not yet anyway.”

“Why would he even think about it? I’m sure Maria’s here and if she’s here they’re together. We all know if he’s gonna open up with anyone it’s her. She’s the only one who’s ever been able to get through his thick head.”

“Agreed,” she hit the button for the automatic door to open and glanced around until she saw her brother, Maria, and Liz in the waiting area. “Over there,” she said and hurried towards them.

Maria looked up at the sound of two voices calling Michael’s name and she nudged his shoulder. “Hey, we’re about to be invaded by your sisters.”

He turned to look and smiled slightly when he saw the girls rushing over to them. He stood and caught them in a bear hug when they reached him. “What’re you doin’ here?”

“Dad called,” Ava said while Tess just buried her face against him.

He nodded and hugged Tess tighter. “There’s nothin’ you guys can do here,” he said gently. He knew they wouldn’t leave though.

Maria stood and joined them, caressing the thick blonde locks of the girl in Michael’s arms. “Hey...”

Tess released her grip on Michael and turned to throw herself into Maria’s arms. “He’s gonna be okay, right?”

“Yeah, we have to believe that.”

Ava looked at her brother, taking in his drawn features. “How’re you holdin’ up?”

“Okay,” he shrugged helplessly.

“Um-hmm.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out the little toy fire engine Chase had been carrying around with him since Tony had given it to him. “Here, Chase said this would make you feel better.” She winked at him. “But I’m supposed to remind you that he’s not giving it to you it’s just a loaner until you feel better.”

He smirked sadly and took it from her. “Tell him thanks.”

“Tony’s okay,” Maria told Ava while she still held her twin. “I talked to him earlier and it seems like he got away with just a slight concussion.”

“Where is he? Did they already send him home?”

“No, he said they were gonna go back to the sight to help.”

“Well, that’s just ridiculous. What doctor in their right mind would release a man with a concussion to go back to work when he has a job like Tony’s?”

Maria smiled softly. “I think that was his decision, Ava.”

“It’s still ridiculous. Do you have any idea what can happen to a person with a concussion?” She shook her head. Why did men have to be so stubborn? “What about Kyle? Have you heard anything yet?”

“No, we haven’t, he’s in surgery right now,” Michael hissed at his sister. “And by the way you don’t yell in a place like this.” He rolled his eyes at her.

She narrowed her eyes at him. “If I was yelling this whole hospital would know about it and you know that’s true.” Her expression softened as she studied his exhausted features. “What about you?”

“I‘m okay.”

“Um-hmm.” She rubbed his arm before moving to a nearby chair and sitting down. Gosh, she hoped Chase didn’t end up as tight-lipped as her brother!

“You wanna sit down?” Maria glanced at Tess. “I can get more coffee.”

“Dad said he was hurt really bad,” she said, unable to focus on anything else.

“Yeah,” her friend nodded and pressed her lips together, “yeah, he is.”

She was barely conscious of Maria maneuvering her into a chair when someone offered to go for more coffee. She couldn’t stop thinking of the last time she had seen him. Was it only yesterday? “I should’ve talked to him. I should’ve just gone after him and made him talk to me.”

“Don’t blame yourself, no one could’ve known this would happen.” Maria crouched down in front of her and held her hands. “You can tell him all those things later.”

“What if there’s no later?” Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked at her friend. “What if it’s too late? What if I missed my chance because I was waiting for him to take the first step?”

Maria shook her head. “Don’t let your mind go there.”

“It doesn’t help to obsess over every ‘what if’,” a male voice said.

Both girls glanced up, their expression one of surprise when they saw Alex. “What’re you doing here?”

He shrugged one shoulder. “Heard what had happened and thought I’d see if there was anything I could do for any of you.” He looked at Tess. “And it really doesn’t help. The last time my sister and I were together we fought and it didn’t end well. You’re only gonna drive yourself crazy if you obsess over every angry or hurt word that passed between you. Stay focused on every good thing because the rest will only pull you down and hold you there.”

She had no chance to answer before the automatic doors opened again and Isabel stormed inside. For a moment she was shocked to see Alex there, but her focus went back to her brother after a moment. “Michael, oh my God, what happened? I just read the message from Dad.”

Michael opened his mouth to respond but nothing came out. Everyone was looking to him for answers and he just didn’t have them. “Tunnel collapsed during a rescue,” he got out finally. “Valenti was trapped under the rubble, pinned by a concrete slab. Explosion caused the collapse.”

“How hurt is he?” She searched her brother’s eyes for more information and already knew it was bad just from his expression.

He turned and lowered his voice, conscious of his younger sister sitting close by. “Busted ribs, ruptured spleen, bruised heart, busted arm, internal bleeding, and they were sayin’ something about possible damage to his eyes from the debris. They’ve got him in surgery now. I think they wanted to hold off to make sure he was strong enough for surgery, but with a ruptured spleen they couldn’t.”

“He has a chance, right?” she whispered. “Tell me he has a chance!” Kyle and she had always gotten along well. He was one of the few people she had simply accepted in her life from the first moment Michael had brought him home after their brother’s death.

With the combination of injuries and the fact that his heart had stopped three times the surgery was an even higher risk than normal. “The two of you bet on everything under the sun, Iz.” He smiled tightly. “Put your money on him to pull through this.”

She nodded, but her expression turned into a grimace as she tried to hold it together. “Okay,” she whispered quietly.

“His parents should be here soon. I talked to Jim a while ago, told him what was goin’ on.”

“I need to get back to work soon, but I wanted to at least check on you.” She glanced over her shoulder, still confused about why Alex was there.

He nodded. “You get a chance to sneak any information…”

“Doubtful, but if I do hear anything I’ll let you know.”

“Thanks.” He pulled her into a hug, holding onto her tightly for a few moments before releasing her.

“I’ve got a break in three hours, I’ll be back then.” She slowly released him and glanced at the others helplessly. It wasn’t a surprise that everyone was there in a situation like this, they always did it, but this time it was really serious.

“Yeah, I’d better get goin’ too,” Alex said as he checked his watch. “If you guys need anything though don’t hesitate to have me paged.”

“Alright, thanks man,” Michael said and took a seat next to his baby sister while he wondered why the guy, after all the annoyance they had put him through, was still so helpful. He didn’t even know Kyle that well.

“Just accept that he’s a nice guy and leave it at that,” Liz said when she caught the confused look on his face.

He smirked and squeezed her lower arm on the armrest for a short moment. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“Max would be here if he could be.”

“I know. He’s got a lot on his plate right now and those things can’t be ignored.” He looked at her. “Don’t feel bad if ya need to go too, Liz.”

“I hate to leave you guys with all of this going on but I do need to run by the apartment to get Aaron ready so I can drop him off with his sitter and get to work. I’ll come by after my shift though.”

“No problem,” he assured her. “Your life can’t be put on a hold and with Aaron and a job I know things can be stressful.”

She shook her head. “We’ve all got something stressful going on,” she said as she stood up. “I’ll see you guys later. Besides, Aaron gets such a kick out of being carried around on Max’ shoulders when we go out and who am I to deprive him of that little joy?”

Everyone laughed quietly. “See ya later, Liz.”

Maria got out of her seat next to Tess and stopped in front of the brunette. “Hey, I just wanted to make sure ya know I haven’t forgotten about our apartment thing. Things have just gotten in the way lately, but we’re still looking, right?”

“Definitely,” Liz agreed. “Max said he’s even gonna check with some people he knows in real estate.”

“Okay, cool,” the blonde smiled tightly. “Take care.”

*****

Liz carried Aaron into the apartment and kicked the door shut behind them. He had ignored her warning and started playing on the steps while she was trying to find the keys and he had tripped on one and fallen, hitting his head on the floor. The impact had broken the skin and now he had a large bump on the head and it was bleeding.

She sat him on the counter next to the bathroom sink and tried to calm him down while doing her best to get a look at the wound to see how serious it was. His face was scrunched up and red from crying and it hurt just to see him in pain. She turned her head when she heard the doorbell and decided to ignore it, focusing instead on her brother. She was trying her best to clean the blood from the wound, rationally reminding herself that head wounds bled worse than just about anything else, but it wasn’t helping.

“Aaron, please be still,” she begged, trying in vain to keep him from squirming around.

“No!” He jerked his head away and ducked it down, pressing his forehead against her shoulder. “No more, Lizzie,” he cried.

“Aaron, sweetie, I have to – “

The person at the door stopped pressing the doorbell and started pounding on the door instead. She pressed a cloth to Aaron’s head to slow the bleeding and hurried back out into the front hall to pull the door open. “Please stop…” Her vocal cords froze for a moment when she saw the woman standing there flanked by two police officers. “Um… can I help you?”

“Elizabeth Parker?” the woman asked.

“Yeah,” she answered slowly.

“I’m here to follow up on a report that has been filed with Child Protective Services.”

Don’t panic, she ordered herself. Stay focused. You haven’t done anything wrong. “Can this wait? He fell and cut his head. I need to take care of him.”

“We’ll wait. Do you mind if I have a look around?”

“Well, it’s not my apartment so I’m not comfortable giving my permission.” She nodded at the entryway. “You can wait inside but I’d rather you wait here.”

“Very well.”

Liz was going over all of her options as she carried Aaron back to the bathroom to take care of him. Did they have the right to look through the apartment without permission? There wasn’t anything for them to find, she wasn’t worried about that. But it was Max’s apartment and he valued his privacy.

“No,” the boy cried and shoved her hand away every time she tried to reach the wound. “It hurts. Stop!”

“Aaron, please,” she whispered in frustration. She could just imagine what the woman from CPS and the cops were thinking with him crying and screaming for her to stop.

He kept crying, but the more time passed, the less effort he used to push her away.

Marilyn Tremont looked around what she could see of the apartment. It appeared clean, a little cluttered with the toys strewn around, but that wasn’t necessarily unusual for a home with a child present. She knew from the report that had been filed that Ms. Parker was suspected of neglecting her brother’s welfare in the pursuit of her own interests. The report indicated suspicion of child endangerment due to the possible mental instability of the young woman’s current boyfriend.

She had read the preliminary reports and Max Evans did have a history that suggested some instability related to the PTSD he suffered as a result of his tour of duty in a warzone overseas. Reports indicated that he had not sought treatment for his condition and that under the right circumstances he had been known to react violently.

There were many people who suffered with PTSD and managed to find ways to make a life with their families, children included. Her concern was that he hadn’t received treatment and didn’t seem interested in pursuing that course of action. Then there was the recent arrest; he had been stopped and taken into custody for driving under the influence and a search of his vehicle had produced drugs that he of course denied ownership of.

Elizabeth Parker was working two jobs, one as a waitress where she made barely enough to survive if she lived alone, and the other as a stripper, which paid better but kept her out to all hours of the night. Leaving her four-year-old brother in the custody of a man who may or may not have violent tendencies. She sighed and shook her head when she heard movement in the hallway and a moment later Ms. Parker came into view.

“I’m really sorry,” Liz apologized with a tight smile and swallowed down the lump in her throat. She was relieved to see that the officers had been left in the hallway. “We just got home and he hit his head while I was searching for my keys.” They had known this could happen, but now that the woman was right in front of her it seemed to be unreal.

“My name’s Marilyn Tremont,” she introduced herself. “As I said I’m following up on a report my department received that alleges neglect and child endangerment. Do you know why anyone would report you for either of these allegations?”

“That would be my ex-boyfriend and as he’s just doing it because I chose my brother instead of him.” There was no reason to be polite about it or talk around it.

“I’m not at liberty to say who reported you, Ms. Parker. The fact of the matter is you’ve been reported and it’s my duty to investigate the allegations made against you to determine if the environment is stable enough for you to maintain custody of your brother.”

“Well, you asked me if I knew why and I gave you the answer. You don’t have to tell me who made the report, because I know who it was and I can tell you his only reason is he gets a kick out of hurting me and my brother.”

“I’d like to speak with Aaron.”

She didn’t want to allow the woman that much, but she knew she had to. “This way,” she stepped aside and pointed at the living room where she had left Aaron with some of his toys.

Marilyn’s gaze moved around the room, taking in everything she could. She took a seat on the couch and watched the little boy as he lined up the little plastic animals on the coffee table. “Hello, Aaron, my name’s Marilyn. Would you mind if I asked you some questions?”

He looked at her and then back at his sister, nodding when she gave him a sign of agreement.

“How do you like living with your sister?”

His movements stopped while he thought about it, his lips moving in and out unconsciously. Helplessly he looked at the strange woman. “Good.”

She nodded and smiled reassuringly. “That’s good. And what about Max? You just moved in with him pretty recently. Do you like living with him so far?”

The frown on Aaron’s face turned into a happy smile as he nodded enthusiastically.

“Good. Does he ever do anything that, I don’t know, scares you?”

He shook his head and looked down at his toys.

Marilyn tipped her head to one side, taking note of the way he was avoiding her gaze. “I think it’s alright if you tell me about anything Max has done that has scared you, Aaron. I’m here to help make things better.”

“He was loud but it was only ‘cause his daddy was bein’ mean to him.”

“Does he ever yell at you?”

“Huh-uh.” He shrugged one shoulder and moved one of the toys across the table. “He did one time but it was ‘cause I was gonna touch his knife. But I didn’t,” he said and shook his head. “Max said it was bad ‘cause I could get hurt.” He smiled up at his sister. “That’s when I maked the necklace for you, Lizzie.”

She forced a smile and fought down the nausea as she watched the woman taking notes. Max had told her about that and he had always been careful with Aaron so she had seen no reason to worry but it was obvious the woman was going to use that against them. “He was removing tags from some clothes he’d bought,” she explained, hoping it would help the woman understand that it wasn’t like they just left knives lying around.

“Of course.” She glanced at Liz. “Was that before or after you Mr. Evans decided to cohabitate?”

Gosh, could she make it sound anymore like an accusation, she wondered.

“We was still livin’ with Trent,” Aaron answered for her. “I got to stay wif Max an’ when I had to go to bed he readed me a story for big people.”

“Did he? Do you know what story he read to you?”

“Um…” he looked around and got up to run over to the bookshelf. He pulled several of the novels down before he found the one he was looking for. “It was this one. See?” He held the book out to her and pointed to the colorful cover.

Liz could just see more points being marked against them when she recognized the cover. It featured a barely dressed woman in a post-apocalyptic world surrounded by strange-looking aliens.

“See, this lady, she’s gotta save the world from the aliens. She’s like the leader. I don’t know why she don’t got no better clothes but Max said maybe they didn’t have no wash machines anymore.” He wrinkled his nose. “I guess the aliens don’t care ‘cause they don’t wear clothes.”

“That’s an interesting explanation.”

“Max is real smart. He knows lots of stuff.” He went back to his toys, leaving the book in the woman’s hands.

“It’s also an interesting book to read to a child. Some of the content is quite graphic and explicit.”

“Max didn’t read anything inappropriate to him, Ms. Tremont.”

The woman glanced over her notes. “You weren’t here at the time, were you?”

“Well, no, but… Look, you don’t know me or Max so trying to make us fit into some mold of the perfect couple, perfect role models, or perfect whatever you’re going for isn’t gonna work. We’re decent people but we’re not perfect.”

“No one expects you to be perfect, Ms. Parker.” She set the book down next to her. “Perhaps we could speak alone for a few minutes.”

“Aaron, take your toys into the bedroom and play in there for a little while.”

“I don’t gotta get ready for Ms. Ginty?” he asked as he started to scoop the toys together in a manageable pile.

“No, not yet.”

“Yay! I could stay with Max.” He looked at the woman who kept asking questions. “I get to get a pitcher on my arm one day. Max gots lots of pitchers an’ it’s really cool!”

“Aaron, sweetie, go in the other room.”

“Okay. But I can have a pitcher one day, right? ‘Cause you said so before.”

“One day when you’re old enough to make that decision and if you still want to have a tattoo then yes, you can get one. Now go play in the bedroom.”

“Okay, Lizzie.” He pulled his shirttail out and held it below the edge of the coffee table so he could scoop the toys into it then he grabbed Rabi and ran out of the room.

“No running, Aaron!” she called after him.

The running slowed. “Sorry.”

“Have you considered that maybe you took on too much by taking custody of your brother?” She went on, reviewing the report as she spoke. “You put in as many hours as possible at the café, you have college courses on campus, and then there’s your second job.”

Liz felt about two inches tall when the woman’s tone indicated her disapproval and made it sound like she was the lowest life form on the face of the earth. “I’ve done what’s necessary to make sure I could pay the bills, put food on the table, and provide the medical care he needs.”

“His home life is far from stable, Ms. Parker. You’ve recently uprooted him, moved from one man’s apartment to another’s, the time you spend with him is very limited, you’re now involved with a man with a troubled past, and allegations have been made that the man you were living with is a cop who was verbally abusive to Aaron and enjoyed doing anything possible to make your lives miserable.”

Liz stared at her uncomprehendingly. Trent had to be the one who filed the report, but why would he implicate himself?

“You took custody of Aaron nearly two years ago and in that time you’ve made no effort to move out of a situation that you yourself believed to be detrimental to his emotional health. Can you explain that?”

“Have you ever tried to find an apartment in New York City, when you’re alone with a child? Our living situation with Trent was anything but ideal, but at least I could afford my part of the rent while I took care of Aaron, made sure he had medical care, that he got the right things to eat, and fresh clean clothes to wear. I had a babysitter nearby, my job was only a few blocks from there…” she shrugged helplessly. “I WANTED to offer him more, but it wasn’t possible until I found some people who truly care about me an’ my brother.”

“Max Evans?” Ms. Tremont asked without any special emotion in her voice, so it was impossible to know her opinion.

“Max and others. We have a few friends who support us. We recently found a daycare for Aaron, where he starts next Monday. And a few of our friends have kids or brothers around the same age, so he’s started to make friends with them.”

The woman in front of her scribbled down on her notepad like crazy. “Can you give me some names, Ms. Parker?”

Liz frowned. “You want the names of my friends?”

“Yes, when we investigate to determine whether a child’s situation is stable and safe we’re very thorough.”

“So basically you’re investigating them as well.” She rubbed her forehead, trying to ward off the headache that had started. It wasn’t bad enough that Max’s parents had become involved, now her friends were being dragged into the situation with Trent as well.

“Is there some reason you’d rather keep them out of the investigation?”

She bit her tongue to keep from telling the woman a thing or two about her snide tone. “Maybe because you’ve already made up your mind. You’ll interview them, or at least I assume you will, and you’ll intrude on their personal lives in an attempt to gather information that makes me look unfit.” She shook her head. “I’ve done nothing that makes me unfit to raise my brother, Ms. Tremont.”

“Does Aaron have his own bedroom?”

“Well… no, not yet. I’m trying to get on my feet so I can get into a place where he’ll have his own room. Why?”

“Are you and Mr. Evans involved in a sexual relationship?”

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business,” Liz snapped. She was getting fed up with the woman’s intrusive questions.

“I’m just asking questions, it’s your choice to answer them honestly or not.”

What kinda bullshit was that? “With all due respect, Ms. Tremont, I’m not that stupid that I think lying will get me anywhere here. I’m not some super mom, but I care for my brother, I love him, and I’d give everything for him. I think that makes me a lot more capable of raising him than some mothers could say.”

“And with all due respect to you, Ms. Parker, I don’t think that not answering my questions is going to help your case. If you have any friends who’ve been helping you then they could help to convince the law of your ability to take care of Aaron.”

Liz sighed in frustration. The others already had a lot of going on right now; she didn’t want them to be involved in this shit on top of that. Plus, how much could they really convince these stupid assholes when they saw that they already had a lot to deal with on their own? “I want to talk to them first before I reveal any names. If they get dragged into this, then I think they deserve to be asked first.”

“The individual who filed the report provided a list of names as well as concerns about certain behaviors.”

“Excuse me?”

Marilyn glanced over her paperwork. “We’ll be in contact with them.”

“Ms. Tremont, I really need to get Aaron to his sitter so I can get to work so if we’re finished here – “

“I’m afraid your home situation is unacceptable.”

“What?”

“After speaking with you and Aaron, and after what I’ve read in the report that’s been put together so far, I’m afraid leaving him here puts him at risk. And it would be unacceptable to leave a child in a situation that might endanger him.”

“Endanger?” Liz asked and wanted to sound angry, but her voice was just a whisper. “Aaron’s not in any danger with us. His life maybe isn’t perfect, but he’s not an unhappy child.”

“Four-year-olds don’t know what’s good for them,” the other woman told her without an ounce of emotion. It was a procedure she’d done countless times and at some point down that road she had become jaded and lost her sympathy. “And Aaron doesn’t know any better, he’s never knowingly experienced anything different.”

“You’re taking him away?” The words came out as a question, but she already knew it the answer. No, this couldn’t happen. No one could just take her brother away like this!

“There’s no need you pack his stuff now, you’ll have time for that later.” Ms. Tremont glanced at her watch and got up without bothering to explain anything. “Just pack a few things that your brother likes. A stuffed animal maybe or a favorite book. We’ll give you a few minutes to say goodbye to him and wait at the door.”

Liz swallowed hard, unable to speak as she stared at the woman uncomprehendingly. “I don’t understand,” she choked out finally. “You can’t just take him like this. He’s safe here, this’s all he knows… if you take it from him you’ll – “

“Ms. Parker, we can either do this the easy way, which will reduce the trauma your brother experiences by the separation, or the more difficult way, which will require physical removal. And as much as we prefer to avoid that, if it becomes necessary we will take that path.”

“No, I don’t want him traumatized.”

“You’ll get your day in court.” She placed several legal forms on the coffee table. “For now I’d suggest you prepare Aaron for what’s coming.”

“You came here with your mind made up, prepared to remove him from his home. This was nothing more than a formality and I think you’ve made a highly prejudicial decision based on hearsay and unsubstantiated evidence – “

“That’s quite the impressive vocabulary, Ms. Parker.” She reached out and rested her hand on the doorknob. “However, it doesn’t stop this from happening. You have 10 minutes to get him ready. If he’s not brought out to us we will come in and get him.”

Liz stared at the door in shock when the other woman closed it behind her. Anger, hurt, and helplessness swept over her all at once and made it hard to keep everything in control. She felt like screaming and destroying things, but she had to stay calm for her brother’s sake.

Slowly she made her way towards the room he was playing in. The door stood open enough to glance inside without him noticing her, so for a moment she just stood there and watched while he played with a few blocks, blissfully unaware of what was going on.

His expression turned baffled when a red block fell from atop another one, but he put it back on top and then smiled.

That was enough to make the tears shoot into her eyes and she quickly brought her hand over her mouth in time to hinder the sob from escaping. How was she supposed to explain Aaron what was going on and why he had to go with that strange woman? Where would they take him? And how would she go on after he’d been taken away from her?

The quiet beeping of a watch in another room reminded her that time was running out and she needed to find the right words for her brother. With one shaking hand she pushed the door open further and waited until he looked at her.

“Are you hurt, Lizzie?”

“No, sweetie, I’m just a little sad.”

He stared at her for a moment before getting to his feet and running over to her, throwing his arms around her legs and hugging her tightly. ”Why come?”

Liz forced down the lump in her throat and she crouched down so that she could face him. ”Aaron, you know the lady you met a few minutes ago?”

He nodded slowly. He didn’t understand it but something was wrong. ”Did she go away?”

“She’s waiting outside.” She pushed the tears back, knowing the more upset she was the worse it would affect him. ”Aaron, you have to go with her for a little while.”

“I don’t want to.”

“I know, Aaron, but…”

He threw himself into her arms and his little arms locked around her neck. ”Don’t make me go, Lizzie. I been good an’ Max likes me.” He held on tighter when she tried to move him back to look at him. ”I’m not bad, don’t make me go,” he cried.

“I know you’re not bad,” she squeezed her eyes shut and held him against her for a moment. “Hey…” She tried to make him look at her.

He let go of her just enough to lean back slightly, his face wet and red from crying. “I don’t wanna go, Lizzie. Pleeease.”

“I don’t want you to go either,” she said quietly and wiped one of her tears away before she reached next to her for a tissue to clean him up as well as possible.

“Then why do I have to?” New tears spilled over as soon as the old ones were gone.

“She wants us to take care of a few things before you can come back to us. You’re gonna be a good boy until then, okay?”

“Is it ‘cause I said the wrong answer?”

She shook her head while trying to make sense of his question. “What?”

“She didn’t like Max’s book. She made a ugly face when she seened it.”

“No, Aaron. No, you didn’t do anything wrong. We’ll get everything fixed so you can come back home just as soon as possible. But for now we have to get some of your things together so you’ll have them while you’re away.”

“But I don’t wanna go. I don’t wanna stay with that lady.”

“You won’t stay with her, sweetie. You’ll be...” How could she tell him where he’d be when she didn’t even know herself?

“It’s ‘cause you don’t want me no more,” Aaron said suddenly.

“What?” Her voice was high pitched and loud. “No, no, Aaron, don’t ever think that, okay, sweetie?” She grabbed his little body and pulled it into another hug while it was a hopeless effort to hold her tears back any longer. “I want you to be with me and I’ll do everything to get you back as soon as possible.”

“Then why do I gotta go? Can we go and see Max? He – “

“We can’t go to him right now and he can’t do anything about this right now. We have to do what they tell us to do or we’re gonna get in trouble.”

“You can get in trouble too?”

“Yeah, and if I get in trouble it’ll take longer for us to get you back home. And we don’t want it to take any longer than it has to.”

He burrowed into her, burying his face against her neck. He couldn’t stop crying no matter how much she tried to soothe him.

Liz pried him away from her and held him still when she heard the insistent knock on the door. “Aaron, sweetie, they’re waiting.” The last thing she wanted was to have them forcibly remove him from their home. “Let’s get some of your things together, okay?”

“Promise me I can come back, Lizzie,” he sobbed and grabbed Rabi to hold him tightly against his side.

“I promise,” she said without hesitation and hoped it wasn’t a lie. They would do everything to get him back, but neither of them knew if it was enough. She looked around the room. “What ya wanna take with you? This one too?” She held up a second stuffed animal, which was high on his list as well, right after Rabi.

Aaron took it out of her hand and looked at it for a moment before he placed it in her lap. “He can stay wif you until I get back.”

She smiled sadly. “Okay.”

Ms. Tremont was reaching up to knock on the door again when it was pulled open and she smiled tightly at the younger woman as she held out a business card. “Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.”

“My only concern is my brother and how soon I can get him back,” Liz said as she took the card.

“That’ll be up to the judge.”

Liz crouched down next to Aaron. “You remember what I said, okay?”

He looked at the floor and nodded. “I gotta be good,” he mumbled.

“That’s right. You be good and Max and I will see you just as soon as we can, okay?”

The boy nodded wordlessly and threw himself into his sister’s arms again, holding onto her tightly and still hoping the adults would rethink their decision.

Liz hugged him back until Mr. Tremont made an impatient sound. “I love you,” she whispered into his little ear and kissed his cheek. “Don’t forget that.”

“Come on, Aaron. I’m sure you’ll like your new home.”

The little boy turned around and frowned at the woman. “You’re mean an’ I don’t like you.”

“I know.” She reached for his hand and bit back an annoyed sigh when he jerked it away from her and tucked it under his other arm. “Aaron, everything will be fine once you’re settled in your new home.”

“I don’t want no new home,” he insisted stubbornly. “I wanna stay with Lizzie an’ Max.”

Marilyn pried his hand loose and wrapped it in hers. “We’ll be in touch, Ms. Parker.”

Aaron tried to jerk free and then tried to kick her. When that didn’t work he resorted to biting the hand that held him.

“Ouch,” the woman hissed and looked at her skin, grimacing at the small line of imprinted teeth.

“Little boys aren’t always heaven,” Lit muttered sarcastically and mouthed another ‘be good’ to her brother. It felt like someone was wrapping their hands around her throat when he was pulled away from her and put into a car parked on the street directly in front of the building. Her brother cried and did everything to express his discomfort and there was nothing that had ever felt harder in her life than watching him go at that moment.

Earth2Mama: We’ll find out soon who made that report.

Lol, it served her right for taking Aaron like that.

Kyle’s definitely gonna need everyone to recover. Tess has people who will keep reminding her of that.

sarammlover: Lol, well, just like with Double Empire, we really hadn’t planned to leave you hanging like this! Well, Trent seems to be doing well, but at some point he will get what’s coming to him.

Natalie36: Thanks! And we’re baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Eva: Now there’s a theory…

Poor Liz, that was hard for her. And for Cody too. It’s true, the law does takes it’s sweet time, but one thing that our caller may not be counting on is Kathleen. She won’t just let this issue sit. She’ll be getting in that ring pretty quickly.

CandyliciousLovah: Well, Aaron couldn’t choke her, but he did bite the hell out of her so hope that helped, lol. Liz is going to get that support.

keepsmiling7: Not nice perhaps, but she deserved it. There was no reason for her to be so judgmental and taking as much as possible out of context to justify removing Aaron.

Max has interesting taste in books, lol.

We’re back and getting to work on fixing things.

begonia9508: Lol, yeah, but it wasn’t completely our fault because we didn’t plan it that way.

The CPS worker a friend of Trent’s? Interesting possibility…

Liz should know the name of the person accusing her. And you’re so right, Aaron isn’t gonna be happy.

Thanks!

roswellian love: Aww, hopefully this one won’t.

Thanks! We’re back and updating!

Alien_Friend: All good possibilities… and we’ll be finding out soon for certain.

Aaron, that little guy’s a fighter. He’s been through the wringer but he’s gonna keep fighting. Lol, we promise we didn’t plan to leave on vacation with such a cliffhanger. And it happened with both fics… go figure!

It was kind of Adam to take that weight off of his son’s shoulders.

We’ll catch up with Max today. And we’ll get a peek at Ava and Tony too.

Tess has a good support system and now that she and Maria have reconnected she has someone right there who will really make sure she doesn’t get lost in the what-ifs.

We have a feeling the guys Isabel’s used to are pretty self-absorbed. So Alex will be a good change for her if she’ll just let him in.

Thanks for the great compliment! We’re back and ready to roll again!

lilah: We’re glad to see you’ve come out of the shadows briefly! Nah, actually we didn’t plan it that way, but it’s the point we’d reached in the story when it came time to go on vacation, lol.

xilaj: The social worker they ended up with came in with a biased opinion and intentionally took things out of context just to validate her reasoning for removing Aaron from their home. Kathleen’s on the case though, and once she learns about this she’ll be working on it too. That’s good advice for Max.

We’ll find out who’s on that list and what those concerns are soon. The caller must think the information he or she provided is interesting enough to cause problems for Max and Liz.

Worrying about Alex and Isabel… is probably a good thing.

Alex has come a long way and we’ll be seeing more of him soon. We’ll also be getting news from Kyle’s doctor in this update.

Enjoy your time away and we’ll be here when you get back!




Part 105

Rely On You

Philip stood when the receptionist called his name and he smiled as he moved past her at her nod of permission. The 27th floor of the building housed the law offices of Downey & Thompson and business was good. It was one of the top firms in the city and he had spared no expense when his son had been arrested at 17 and he had started searching for a lawyer. He had been fortunate to find Dane Peterson; he was an older man, more interested in finding a way to help Max straighten up than in cutting a deal.

He paused at his lawyer’s office and rapped his knuckles lightly on her open door. Dane had recommended Kathleen Beckett when he had decided to relocate and she had worked hard to earn her retainer. Today would tell him if he had placed his trust in the right lawyer or not.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Mr. Evans,” she apologized as she motioned for him to enter. She stood to shake his hand and they took their seats.

“Just tell me you have good news.”

“I’m still gathering information at this point. The ADA did offer a deal but your son shot it down without waiting to hear what it was.”

“If they’re already willing to deal that’s a good thing, right?”

“Not necessarily. They have a case that’s more than strong enough to get a conviction but we’ve entered a plea of not guilty, so they’re trying to avoid tying the courts up over a case that they don’t view as significant. It’s a serious offense, but one that’s minor enough to plead down.”

“What’s your opinion?”

Kathleen sighed and rested her clasped hands on the desk. “As his lawyer I would be remiss if I didn’t recommend he at least consider the deal. Innocence is no guarantee the jury will come back with a not guilty verdict. Right now everything points to a win for the prosecution if we take this to trial.”

“What happens if it goes to trial and we lose?”

“He’ll serve time.” She shook her head. “How much will depend on the judge.”

“And if he takes the deal?”

“They offered probation providing he completes a drug treatment program.”

Philip snorted and shook his head. “That’s ridiculous, he’s not an addict.”

She smiled. “That’s exactly what he said, along with a few other choice things that I won’t repeat. His biggest issue though is that taking a deal means admitting he’s guilty.”

“Kathleen, my son may have gotten himself into trouble in the past, but he didn’t do this. If there’s anything that can be done I want it done. He shouldn’t have to admit guilt in order to avoid going to jail. And he shouldn’t be forced to complete a drug treatment program when he’s done nothing to warrant such an action.”

“I agree. I have a meeting scheduled with the Chief of Internal Affairs later this afternoon to advise him of the allegations being made against Officer Kennedy. I spoke with Ms. Parker and based on the things she told me I have a feeling there’s more in his jacket than commendations. That is if he even has any of those. There’s no way he’s the perfect guy he wants people to think he is. Somewhere along the line something went on the record. He’s the kind of cop that’s a liability to the force and I’d bet my next years’ salary that if IA doesn’t have eyes on him now, they will by the time I’m through talking to them.”

“You’re that certain?”

“Yes, I am. I don’t know your son, Mr. Evans, but I’ve defended enough people to know when I’m being played. Max is the real deal. He’s worked hard to get his life in order and when he talks about Ms. Parker and her brother…” She nodded with a smile. “I’m a pretty good judge of character, and he wouldn’t risk the family they’re making for themselves.”

Philip forced a smile. His lawyer had spent a matter of hours with his son and she seemed to know more about him than he himself did. “You’ll keep me informed of your progress?”

“Max agreed to allow me to discuss his case with you so I’ll be in contact once I have something to tell you.”

He stood and prepared to leave. “Then I suppose I should go back to my office and let you get back to work.” He paused at the door and turned to look at her. “Kathleen?”

She looked up from the notepad she was writing on. “Yes?”

“My son shouldn’t pay for something he isn’t responsible for.”

“No, he shouldn’t. And I’ll do everything in my power to make sure he doesn’t.”

****

Jim Valenti shot to his feet when the doors at the end of the hall opened and he saw the man in sweaty scrubs walking towards them. He studied the doctor’s expression, trying his damnedest to decipher whether the news was going to be good or bad. He swallowed hard and fought the urge to shake his soon-to-be ex-wife’s hands off when she wrapped them around one of his.

“Doctor?” he said uncertainly.

“Mr. Valenti?” He nodded when the man gave an affirmative response. “I’m Dr. Taylor,” he held his hand out and he smiled tiredly. “Perhaps we should speak privately.”

Jim looked around at his son’s friends and he shook his head. “You can say what needs to be said.”

“The surgery was rough but your son came through it like a champ. The damage was extensive so he’s gonna be in ICU for a while.”

“He’s gonna be alright though, isn’t he, Dr. Taylor?”

His gaze shifted to his patient’s mother. “Mrs. Valenti, your son has a long road ahead of him. We were able to stop the internal bleeding but we had to remove his spleen. We had to put a plate in his chest because the damage to the bones was too extensive to heal on its own. His heart was bruised in the collapse and we’ll be monitoring that closely. We were able to repair the lung injury and we’ll be going back in a little later to repair his arm. We needed to give him a little time to allow his body to recover from the shock before we continued. The good news is he’s alive and barring any complications he will recover. The other good news is that the toxins he was exposed to must’ve been sealed by the collapse because other than trace amounts he shows no signs of having been exposed to lethal or damaging chemicals. There was some minor damage to his eyes and we have them bandaged, so don’t let that alarm you.”

“His eyes?”

Jim looked down when her fingernails dug into his hand.

“We’ll know more when he wakes up. For now, your son’s alive and he’s gonna need all the support you can give him.”

“Can we see him?”

The doctor looked around the room, taking in all of the worried faces. “I know you’ve all been waiting to see your friend,” he took in the familiar uniforms several of them wore, “but we can’t allow all of you in to see him. We just can’t have more than one or two people at most in with an ICU patient. And it’s time we usually reserve for immediate family.”

“Dr. Taylor, would it be alright if just a couple of them were given even five minutes with him?” Jim asked. He knew how close his son was to these young people and with everything he had been through lately maybe their voices would somehow help him.

“One of them and both of you for today,” the doctor agreed after hesitating briefly. He smiled encouragingly at the worried mother in front of him. “You have every reason to be positive right now, okay?”

“Thanks,” Jim nodded. “We appreciate everything you’ve done for our son.”

“That’s our job,” Dr. Taylor said and squeezed the man’s hand before he led them away.

“Go on, I’ll talk to them,” Jim said to his wife before he turned to walk back to the young people seated on the furniture in the waiting room.

Michael looked up when Jim approached them. He wiped his hands on his jeans and squeezed Maria’s hand lightly before he got out of his seat. “What’d he say?” As eager as they all were for news about their friend they hadn’t intruded on the couple while the doctor had been talking to them.

Jim relayed the information he had received. “The doctor’s making a small concession as far as visitors but I’m afraid he’s only agreed to allowing one five-minute visit.”

“No,” Michael shook his head, “that’s a big concession under the circumstances. He’ll be weak from the accident and from the surgery. His body’s been through a very harsh trauma and he’s gonna need plenty of time to recover.”

“I’ll let you make the decision about which of you goes in to visit.” He cleared his throat. “I’d better go now. I need to see my son.”

Michael looked at the others. “What do you guys think? Wanna draw straws?”

“Either you or Maria should go,” Tess said and earned a few surprised looks. “You two are pretty much the closest to him.”

“Yeah, she’s right,” Isabel agreed. “I need to get back to work soon anyway and – “

They were interrupted when the automatic door opened and Tony walked in, his pace hurried. “Please tell me you have some good news, guys.”

“Tony,” Ava called out in relief and got out of her seat without thinking to run over for a hug. “Are you okay?”

He was surprised but he quickly caught her and returned the hug. “Hey… I’m okay, no worries.”

“We’ve just been told about the surgery,” Maria told him after giving him and Ava a moment. “And now we’re trying to figure out which of us should go and see him. They’ll only allow one.”

“You should go, RP. No one really knows how much of what people say around an unconscious person really gets through but he’s had a traumatic enough day and you’re probably the friendliest voice he could hear right now.”

Maria looked at Tess uncertainly. Kyle was one of her closest friends and she really wanted to see him, needed to see that he was alive for herself, but she didn’t want to hurt Tess in the process.

“He’s right, Maria.” Tess got up and gave her a hug. “I’m sure,” she said before Maria could protest. “I want to see him but Michael has a point. Kyle and I haven’t talked and if there’s any chance that a friendly voice could make a difference then you should be the one of us he hears first.”

Tony gave her an encouraging nod as well after Ava had informed him of what they had been told.

“Okay, if you guys think it’s okay,” she agreed and nervously glanced at the door that led to the rooms as she got up. “Something I should say to him?”

“Just tell him we’re all here,” Michael replied and pulled her into a hug. “And that he’ll be okay. Positive things.”

“You’ll still be here afterwards right?” She hugged him back and let herself enjoy the comfort he was offering.

“Not goin’ anywhere,” he agreed. “Just gonna go outside to make a quick call to let my girlfriend know I’m still alive.”

Ungh, and there it was again, the mention of Courtney, which reminded her to take a step back. “Yeah, she’s probably worried.”

Tess barely restrained herself from rolling her eyes. She just didn’t understand how her brother could be such an idiot sometimes. “We’ll all be here when you get back.”

Maria rubbed her sweaty palms over her pants and took a deep breath before woodenly walking down the hallway that led to the ICU. When she reached the area she saw Kyle’s parents standing outside one of the rooms, his dad consoling his mom. She nodded and took another deep breath when Jim nodded to let her know she could go in.

The sounds greeted her first. The beeping of the monitors, the hissing of a ventilator, and the quiet gurgling of the respiratory equipment she knew would be mounted to the wall behind the bed. They were familiar sounds but they weren’t comforting. She stepped further into the room, finally far enough inside to see the man in the bed.

Hospital beds had a way of making even the biggest and strongest of men appear small and frail, and tears sprang to her eyes as she took in his battered body. His face was bruised, his eyes bandaged, one arm supported in a splint, his chest covered and hiding so many injuries. He was on a ventilator and she knew he would hate anyone seeing him like this.

“Hey, Kyle,” she started hoarsely and cleared her throat when she didn’t sound like herself. “It’s me, Maria.” Holding her breath, she watched him, although she knew he wouldn’t make any movement to acknowledge her.

“We’re all here with you,” she continued after a while, her gaze wandering to the monitor showing his heart rate. The green line moved up and down in a constant rhythm, a fact that had always calmed her nerves when she was staying in the hospital with Cody. “The others can’t come in but they wanted me to say hi.”

Slowly she walked closer to him and placed one of her hands over his. His skin felt warm and it encouraged her to squeeze it slightly. “Hang on, Kyle! You’re gonna be okay.”

He didn’t look like himself, she thought and wiped a few tears away. The man in the bed was broken and weak, a state she never would’ve pictured him in. “I’m counting on your help to get his stubborn ass to really look at me.” She smiled slightly. “I can’t believe you were right, ya know? Not long ago you broke up with me because you said you didn’t wanna be in the way between me and Michael and I thought it was totally ridiculous.”

Carefully she let her hand wander over his face. “But damn, you were right! And I know you’re gonna tell me ‘I told you so’ in the future and I really can’t wait to hear it.”

The only response was the ventilator expelling a loud whoosh of air.

“Doctors always say you should talk to patients that’re unconscious or in a coma because no one really knows what they hear. I think you can hear me, Kyle, and there’s so much I have to say to you but for now it has to wait.”

Her eyes lifted when a shadow fell across the floor and she nodded when the nurse standing in the doorway smiled gently and motioned to her watch.

“You know how they are in hospitals, right? Always running you out, never letting your visitors stay as long as they’d like.” Her fingertips brushed his hair back as she leaned in to kiss his
forehead. “You just concentrate on getting better, okay? I’ll be back as soon as they’ll let me.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “And I know Michael’s pissed at you about Tess, but he’s worried about you too. You know he’ll be in to see you soon as they let him.”

Maria took everything in for another moment and squeezed his hand one last time. “I gotta go, but I’ll see you soon, Kyle.” Slowly she backed away from the bed and made it back to the door where his parents were still waiting.

“It’s so horrible,” his mom cried and leaned her head against the window.

“He’ll be okay,” Maria told her and squeezed her shoulder. “Kyle’s strong. He won’t let a stupid accident get in his way.”

“You seem to be so sure,” the woman sniffed and looked at the brave young woman in front of her. She knew she belonged to his son’s closest circle of friends but she had never really been in touch with them.

“I am.”

Jim approached them and handed his wife a plastic cup of water. “Thanks, Maria, I’m sure he knows you were there.”

“I hope so. My brother’s here at the hospital so I’d like to visit Kyle again if that’s alright. Even if it’s just for a few minutes.”

He nodded. “I think that’d be fine. I’m sure once he’s out of ICU it’ll be a lot easier to get in to see him. For now I think they’re gonna be cautious about letting anyone in.”

“That’s okay. I’ll stop in and check, get an update on his condition if nothing else.”

“You stop in anytime. Or call.” He patted his pockets and pulled a business card out of one, handing it to her with a smile. ”My cell number’s on there. Feel free to call me anytime.”

“Thanks, I’ll do that.”

She went back to her friends, using the last couple of minutes before they came into view to collect herself because she wanted to look brave and positive. The last thing everyone needed was a horror story about Kyle’s status – they all needed something positive to concentrate on.

“You okay?” Tess was the first to approach her when she joined them.

“Yeah, I’m good. Thanks,” Maria willingly accepted the hug she offered while everyone else circled around them.

“How bad is it?”

“Not as bad as I thought it would,” she said, her gaze on Michael, who was just coming through the automatic door from outside.

“Did they say when he could have visitors?” Tess asked.

Maria shook her head. “His dad said we might be able to see him tomorrow, but same as today, it’s just gonna be a very brief visit and just one person at a time.” She shrugged tiredly. “They might allow him to have a couple of visits throughout the day. I guess it just depends on how he’s doing tomorrow.”

“He’ll be better tomorrow,” Tony said with certainty. “Valenti just kinda takes things at his own pace.”

“Carter’s right,” Michael said as he joined them. “It’ll take some time but he’s gonna be fine.” He draped his arm around Maria’s shoulder and hugged her to his side. He knew what she had seen in that ICU room; the injuries Kyle had sustained and the surgery afterward to repair the damage would’ve left him looking like death warmed over. If she could she’d find someplace dark and quiet where she could curl up in a ball and cry it out all alone. “Why don’t we go check on your mom an’ Cody and then maybe make a plan for all of us to get outta here for a while, huh?”

“I don’t know. I’ve been here all day. Maybe I should stay with him.”

“Maria, you’ll be back tonight,” Tess supported her brother’s suggestion. Going out to get some air for a couple of hours sounded good. “We can talk to your mom, give her the night off to go home while we stay.”

“You wanna stay in the hospital?”

“Why not?” Tess shrugged. “Got nothing better to do anyway.”

Michael smirked slightly at his little sister’s attempt to convince his best friend to leave the hospital with them for a while in the afternoon.

“Okay, cool, I guess that’ll work,” Maria agreed.

****

Max leaned back to study his work, more than satisfied with the clean lines of the tattoo he had just finished. He carefully prepped the area and bandaged it to protect it from infection while it began healing. He rattled off the instructions for caring for the skin while it was healing and then made sure the client was given the information in writing as well before sending him to the front for payment and turning to clean up his work area.

His hands were tired from the constant gripping and being held in one position for so long and he flexed them several times. The tattoo had taken several hours to complete and he knew the client would be satisfied once it was healed and ready for viewing. He rolled his shoulders and stripped the gloves from his hands, tossing them in a separate trash bin and moving to the sink to wash his hands.

He heard the swinging doors behind him open and he turned his head slightly. “No more walk-ins today, Amber. That was our last appointment and…” he grabbed a handful of paper towels to dry his hands and turned to look at her when she remained silent. “Amber, what’re you… Liz?” Her face was streaked with tears even though he could tell she was trying hard to hold them in. He tossed the towels aside and hurried over to her. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“They took him away,” she sobbed and threw herself into his arms. “They took him!”

He frowned as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her tightly against his body. “They took him,” he mumbled. “Aaron? Who took him?” But he knew. It had to be CPS.

“Some woman came to your apartment when we got home after visiting Cody,” she explained while his presence calmed her. “She asked a bunch of stupid questions and wanted to talk to Aaron...”

“Why’d she take him? What reason did she give?” He didn’t understand what grounds the woman could’ve had for taking the boy.

Liz snorted. “She said she can’t let Aaron stay because she doesn’t think he’s safe with us.” Okay, those weren’t her exact words, but she couldn’t remember them and it was pretty much what she had said.

“That’s bullshit.” His mind was jumping ahead of him, searching to put everything into some semblance of order so he could begin working on the problem at hand. “Okay, what’s our next move? We have to have some options, some way of contesting this decision. Did she say?”

“She said something about us getting our chance in front of a judge.”

He shook his head. “We’re not waitin’ for that.” He scratched the back of his head. “I know Kathleen’s in court for the afternoon but we’ll call her office and leave a message for her to contact us as soon as she can. And after that I think we should go spend some time with our friends.”

“Oh my God,” she gasped and laid her hand over her open mouth when reality hit her. “I totally forgot about Kyle after all this… He’s hurt, did they tell you?”

He nodded and rubbed her arms. “I talked to Alex. He called, said everyone’s gonna head over to the park for a while to get some fresh air and clear their heads. I think we oughta go.”

She agreed with a quiet nod. Even though she felt like curling up in a ball in bed, she knew it would only depress her more. These people had supported her the last few weeks and they would support each other now as well. “Did he say how Kyle’s doing?”

“He’s holdin’ on. I guess the first 24 hours are critical and if he makes it past that his chances increase. The injuries sounded pretty bad but Valenti won’t just give up. It’s not in him.”

“What’s happening?” she muttered without expecting an answer as she leaned into him.

“C’mon, why don’t you sit down over here and I’ll call Kathleen’s office? Soon as that’s done I’ll finish cleaning up and have Amber close up and we’ll head over to the park.”

“Okay,” she agreed and sank down on a chair nearby. She watched him as he moved around to put everything back into its place, but her thoughts were with her little brother the whole time. “Do you think she can find out where they took him?”

He paused as he was checking off the ink he’d used on his inventory list. “I don’t know if they’ll release that information. I mean, the system might view that as a potential threat to the foster family and in that case it’d be protected information.” He didn’t like the thought of Aaron being put with some family he didn’t know. “If she can she’ll find out though.”

“He must be so scared,” she said and new tears filled her eyes.

The little boy was probably terrified and confused, he agreed silently, but didn’t want to say it so bluntly. “Liz, we’re gonna get him back. You’ve gotta believe that. He took Rabi with him, right?” He went on when she nodded. “I know he’s scared and he has no way of understanding what’s going on, but you know that raggedy little toy gives him comfort. When Kathleen calls back we’ll ask if there’s any way they’ll allow us to talk to Aaron on the phone until we can see him.”

“Okay,” she nodded and looked at him. “I’m glad you’re here Max. I couldn’t do this all alone.”

“I’m not goin’ anywhere.” He moved over to her and crouched down, taking her hands in his. “We’re in this thing together, no matter what.”

“It’ll be my first night without Aaron since I took him in,” she shook her head. “I mean, I’ve had to work late before and Mrs. McGinty’s kept him for me, but I’ve always been there in the mornings.” She inhaled a shaky breath. “I know, these thoughts won’t help, right?”

He shook his head with a gentle smile. “No, they won’t, but it’s not like you can just shut them off either. It’s only natural that you’re gonna worry about him and feel edgy about him bein’ gone. But it’s just a temporary thing,” he assured her. “They’ll tell us what we have to do to get him back and whatever it is, we’ll do it.”

“Alright,” she agreed and tried to smile bravely. “We’ll manage this somehow.”

“Yeah,” he nodded. “Okay, gimme a few minutes, I’m almost finished and then we can get outta here.”

Earth2Mama: Max is trying very hard to hold it together for Liz. He knows she’s on the verge of falling apart and she needs him to be strong.

Maria’s visit with Kyle was difficult but it gave her hope. His situation is a tough one but he’s got a solid group of friends to help him through it. He and Michael do have some things to work through.

We’ll have to wait and see what happens between Kyle’s parents.

kismet: We’ll get a break from the drama today. The gang needs a rest too.

Everything will be done to get Aaron back as quickly as possible.

keepsmiling7: Lol, we’re working on it.

Philip does support his son, he just doesn’t know how to get beyond their past differences.

Max will be a solid support for Liz and we have a feeling she’ll do the same for him.

Lol, oh, never say that. There are so many things that could still go wrong.

Alien_Friend: Lol, perfect timing!

Staying positive is important but everyone has to be able to deal with the more negative feelings and emotions. It kinda keeps the balance. Everyone in our gang has their good and bad moments but they also have the support of friends and family to help them get through them.

They all need a little break and they’re gonna get that in this next part.

It’s a tragedy that innocent people are put in positions to plead guilty in order to receive a lighter sentence because a guilty verdict is the more likely outcome when they go to court. Max is lucky to have his dad and a good lawyer on his side. Wouldn’t it be interesting if they had to get married? Lol.

So far things do seem to be looking up for Kyle.

Natalie36: Things are heating up for everyone… and eventually that’ll include those who are making life hell for them.

CandyliciousLovah: We’re really happy to be back! Our gang will be having an easier time in today’s update.

sarammlover: Max and Philip don’t have the best relationship but his dad’s belief in him may just go a long way to helping them find common ground. Liz is really having a hard time with this situation but she has a solid support system to lean on, that’s going to be so very important.

Tess wants badly to go in to see Kyle, but there’s the fear that with what’s happened between them her voice might not be the one he needs to hear. You’re right, she has to find her own time.

begonia9508: Thanks, vacation was great!

Kyle’s age is definitely a factor that works in his favor when it comes to recovery.

Philip will do everything he can to help Max and Liz.

Trent should pay for everything he’s put them through and in time, he will.



Part 106

The Glue Between Us

“Here, spread the blankets out on the grass, I’m gonna go and get some drinks,” Isabel told her brother and gestured to a little vendor’s cart near the street that sold drinks and ice cream. She didn’t wait for a reply and started to walk away, hoping it’d help her get over her irritation that Alex had come with them.

They hadn’t really talked after their disagreement about the mysterious pictures and she had thought that he’d happily stay at distance afterwards – which was what she had wanted too, because she didn’t want him to get into trouble. On the other hand she was glad he was there since it meant that he truly cared beyond the money deal they had made.

“Let me help you with that,” Tony approached Michael and took one of the blankets out of his hands to spread it on the ground. They had found a nice shady spot in Central Park that was fairly secluded to just hang out and get over the day’s events.

“The city’s definitely a lot hotter,” Ava said as she bent down to roll up the cuffs of her jeans.

“Shorts, babe,” Maria told her and pointed at her twin and herself.

She made a face. “My skin is not as perfectly tanned as yours. I’m a Mom.”

Tess smirked. “Moms don’t tan well?”

“They don’t see the sun that much.”

Michael rolled his eyes at the conversation. “Who cares?” He shook another blanket out to spread on the ground and made a show of covering his eyes when he looked at Ava. “Damn, girl, do you get any sun? Those legs are like vampire white,” he teased. They weren’t as pale as she seemed to think they were, but it would annoy her to have him teasing her about them in front of Tony.

“Shut up. I’ll bet your hairy legs aren’t that tanned either,” she rolled her eyes at him.

“They’re probably tanned better than his ass is,” Tess commented as she flopped down on one of the blankets.

Alex took a place near Ava and patted her shoulder. “I’m a member of the basement-tan as well.”

She laughed and nodded. “See? Some of us just have a lot going on and don’t have time to spend sunning ourselves.”

“I don’t care about your tan,” Tony whispered in her ear when he sat down behind her. “I wouldn’t mind seeing more of your beautiful legs in the future though.” He squeezed her leg slightly and hoped she was okay with the physical contact. They hadn’t really started to date yet, but the events of the day had made him tired and he longed for some comfort.

“Play your cards right and maybe you will,” Ava murmured as she leaned back into him, craving the comfort he provided. She could only imagine what he had seen and dealt with before the Captain had finally sent him home for the day. She placed her hand over his where it rested on her leg and she tipped her head back to look up at him. “How’s your head?”

“Okay,” he replied and turned his hand under hers to link their fingers.

“Of course it’s okay,” Michael said as he threw himself down and stretched out. “Damn thing’s hard as a rock.”

“You always have to make a smartass comment, don’t ya?”

“You’re surprised?” Maria snorted.

“I know I shouldn’t be,” Ava said as she wiggled around to get more comfortable. It was nice to have someone to lean on, literally and figuratively.

Michael shrugged, unconcerned with their comments. It was a way of keeping the darkness at bay and anyone who really knew him was aware of the tactic. “Anyone get hold of Evans?” he asked as he yawned.

“Texted him earlier that we’d be here, but I didn’t get a reply,” Tony said and accepted the drink from Isabel when she came back.

“I talked to him a while ago,” Alex mumbled as he leaned back on his hands to look up at the sky. It was such a bright blue that it almost hurt to look at it. “He said they’d be here if they could.”

Michael frowned while he tried to decide if he should be confused about the fact that the nerd-king had talked to Max. Could he even be called the nerd-king anymore? “Cool,” he said finally and stretched out on the blanket. It felt good to finally stretch out, though the dark cloud over his head didn’t seem to want to go away.

“Have you called Dad and Nicole?” Ava asked as she watched her brother.

“Yeah, while we were driving over here. Chase was just getting a hand on the water hose in the garden, so Dad had to hang up quickly,” he snorted. “They said they’d keep him for the night.”

She nodded and chuckled. “They’ll be worn out by morning.”

“The boy behaves much better when he’s with someone besides you,” he teased. Chase was a rowdy little guy, testing his mother whenever he could, but he was much easier to handle when he was staying with someone else.

“Whatever. Just because he was on his best behavior last weekend you can’t judge by that. He was around new people and he was able to hang out with other little boys.” She made a face. “And I’m sure it wasn’t his idea to put bugs in your bed.”

“Nope, I’m sure that one was Cody’s to express his love for Courtney,” Maria chuckled and shot an apologetic look at Michael, although she didn’t feel bad about it at all at the moment.

He shrugged, unconcerned. “They’ll grow out of it. Little boys always do shit like that.”

Isabel snorted as she took a drink of her soda. “How old are you again? You still do stuff like that. Wasn’t it last year when we took that trip to the beach that you put that creepy garden snake in Maria’s bed?”

He stuck his tongue out at her. “They’re completely harmless.”

“And gross,” Maria added and smacked his arm a few times. “I haven’t punished you for that in a long time.”

He laughed and tried to roll out of striking distance. “C’mon, it wasn’t that bad. And you deserved it after you totally blew my chances with that hot girl in the bikini.”

“I just saved you from Chlamydia. You should thank me!”

“That’s disgusting, RP, and unless I missed it she wasn’t wearin’ a sign that announced an STD.”

“She was wearing a flashing red sign that said: I’ll take everyone I can get. Two or three if I get the chance.”

“She’s right, little brother,” Isabel said and made a face. “I saw that girl and you dodged a bullet. You really need to be more discriminating.”

He rolled his eyes. “I’m trying in case it’s escaped your notice.”

“No, it hasn’t escaped my notice. And for your first attempt I suppose…” she shook her head. “Nevermind, it’s not important.” That was a sure-fire way for the two of them to end up in an argument.

If it had been any other day he’d have been more curious about her smart comment, but he let it go this time. The last few hours had been exhausting, emotionally above all else, and he didn’t need to get into more of that now.

“Somebody oughta make a pizza run,” Tony said as he tried to stop a yawn.

“That sounds good.” Michael gave Maria a gentle shove with his foot. “Why don’t you call Maxie-Max since he just loves you?”

“Why do you – “ She stopped when she saw Courtney nearing them from a distance. Ungh, he had invited her as well? Great! “Ya know what, I’ll make that run. But you’re gonna pay for it.” She got up and grabbed her bag.

He pulled his wallet out and slid one of the credit cards out, holding it up to her along with his keys. “You won’t forget the hot wings, right?”

Tess made a grab for the keys. “I’ll go with!”

“Hey! Do not strip those gears!” he yelled when she walked backwards and stuck her tongue out at him.

“He didn’t say anything about his bumper, did he?” Maria asked loud enough for him to hear and then turned to Tess. “Thanks for helping.”

She smiled. “Thanks for letting me help.” She shrugged as they made their way to the street. “Besides, I don’t mind avoiding a gag-fest while watching my brother and his,” she made a face, “girlfriend.”

“Yeah, ditto,” her friend sighed and glanced around before she hurried to cross the street where Michael’s Avalanche was parked. “Ya know what,” she said and pointed at a diner across the next street.

“Their pizza’s good but costs a fortune,” Tess said.

“I know, but your brother’s paying so who cares? Besides, making a run through traffic won’t be that much cheaper.”

“Good point.” She shrugged. “Their deep dish pizza’s the best and they have the hot wings that big brother just can’t do without.” She snickered. “Although, that chicken he’s dating might just make him get over that particular craving.”

“Think she could get him to eat a salad?”

“No.” Tess rolled her eyes. “What’s the incentive? She’s already putting out.”

“True,” Maria agreed as they walked over to the diner. “Should we get a salad for her? Or a corncob to nag on?”

“I don’t know… are there any calories in it?”

“Yeah, probably too many.” Both girls laughed as Maria hugged one arm around Tess’s shoulder.

“She’s gonna eventually try to convert him to a super healthy diet and he’ll never go for it. Just watch and see.” She pulled the door to the diner open and inhaled the scent of baking pizza. “Gosh, that smells so good!”

“Yeah, I haven’t really eaten anything all day.” Her thoughts went to Kyle and how he was pinned to the hospital bed. A wave of guilt washed over her, but she pushed it away. They couldn’t do anything for him right now.

“Are you thinking about Cody?” Tess asked as they waited at the counter.

“More about Kyle right now,” Maria admitted and leaned against the glass where tons of pizzas were lined up.

“Yeah.” Her mood took a nosedive. “He’s gonna be okay, right?” There was so much left unsaid between them.

“He has to!”

“You’re right.” She swallowed hard. “I wish I could see him.”

“You will.”

“You think he’ll even want to see me? I mean, what if me bein’ there just upsets him because of this thing or whatever it is that’s between us?”

Maria glanced up when a guy probably around her age appeared to ask for her order. “Hey,” she smiled. “We’ll take two extra large with pepperoni and double cheese, one with bacon, ham, sausage, and cheese, and one of your specials with everything.”

“All for you?” he asked her with a wink.

“Uh-huh, we’re pretty hungry.” She turned to her friend again when the guy went to put their order together. “I doubt he’d be upset. He reacted like an ass the other night at Tony’s, but he probably just felt trapped.”

“You forgot the hot wings,” Tess said as she turned to lean back against the counter. “He was an ass but I guess I wasn’t much better. I was pushing and maybe he’s not ready for anything serious. Maybe he just doesn’t want anything serious.” She sighed. “Or maybe it’s just me he doesn’t want.” She snorted. “No, that’s not it. It’s gotta be one of the first two.”

Maria nodded at the guy when he gestured to the hot wings. “Maybe he just needs time to think about stuff. He’s never been in a relationship and he probably wasn’t considering it for the near future, but sometimes things change.”

“I guess I should’ve told him what I wanted.” She rolled her eyes. “Well, what I wanted beyond that moment. I know he’s never really done the relationship thing and I’m sure with his parents going through a divorce now he probably won’t be interested, but…” she sighed. “It’s just hard to put yourself out there when you have no idea how the guy’s gonna react, ya know? And, Michael’s reaction really hasn’t helped things at all either.”

“I know everything about putting yourself out there when the guy has no clue,” Maria smirked slightly.

“Think you ever will?”

“I don’t know,” she stretched her aching back muscles. “Right now I guess I’m still hoping for a magical departure of my feelings.”

“Is that what you really want? I mean, yeah, I can see where it’d be easier, but now that you know what you feel for him’s more than friendship, could you really go back?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted and pulled her cell out, rolling her eyes when she read Michael’s message before she showed it to Tess.

“Could you bring a chicken salad as well? Seriously?” She rolled her eyes. “Tell him later you didn’t get that in time. The bitch can eat pizza or die if ya ask me.”

Maria smirked. “Perfect,” she shoved her cell back. “I don’t know if I could go back. I don’t even have anything to compare it to, ya know? We’ve never kissed or anything.”

“So kiss him.” She laughed at the look Maria shot at her. “Well, it’d give you something to compare, wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah, well, I don’t think the comparison would be that easy if he wasn’t kissing me back.”

Tess snorted. “When have you ever known any guy to NOT kiss you back?” She snapped her fingers to get the pizza guy’s attention.

“What can I do for you?”

She pointed at her friend. “Say she kissed you, like outta the blue… would you kiss her back?”

“Tess,” Maria huffed. She was already behaving like old times.

“Hell yes,” the guy said without a doubt and flashed a smile at her, showing off his perfect white teeth.

“Thanks.” She grinned at him and shooed him away. “See? You kiss a guy and he’s gonna kiss you back.” She flipped her hair back over her shoulder and studied her nails, unconsciously mimicking a move she had seen Isabel do a thousand times. “And with that photo shoot coming up for Max’s studio…” she shrugged. “Just sayin’ it’s the perfect opportunity.”

“It’s different with Michael,” Maria denied. “We know each other better than most people can say and it’s not like I could just avoid him if the plan backfired.”

“That’s true. Well, whatever happens with the two of you we have to get rid of Shitney. She’s just got to go.”

“Yeah,” Maria was at a point where she could only agree.

“Four pizzas and a large order of hot wings to go, ladies.” The guy behind the counter winked at Maria. “And if you change your mind about that kiss just gimme a call.” He tapped the receipt taped to the top of the box of wings. “Name’s Brent and my number’s on the back.”

“Okay, Brent,” she told him amused and handed him the credit card.

He grinned as he rang up the order and ran the card through.

Tess rolled her eyes as they stepped back out onto the street. “One of these days I hope you get to take that risk, Maria.”

“Maybe,” she shrugged. “If he sends me some kinda sign that there could be more or whatever.”

“Well, if that ever happens it won’t be subtle.”

“If he stays with Shitney then I don’t think anything will happen. I don’t wanna get in a bitch fight with her and I don’t want him to look at me like the person who ruined everything.”

“That’s gonna run its course. Please, can you really see him stayin’ with her for any serious length of time?”

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “A few weeks ago it would’ve been a straight no, but he told me he really wants to try, so…”

“Of course he really wants to try! Everyone keeps telling him he can’t do it and you know how he reacts to anything he sees as a challenge.”

“Well, maybe you should all challenge him about kissing me,” Maria said with a snort.

“Okay,” Tess said easily. “I can get everyone onboard with that. Oh, and Max would be the perfect one to start with because he enjoys annoying Shitney.”

“Oh boy,” she laughed at the thought.

“I’m serious. The guy’s pretty easygoing but he doesn’t like her. He’s not overt about it but he doesn’t miss an opportunity to drop a hint about you and Michael.”

“I don’t doubt that, I was just wondering what kinda mess it’s gonna get me into.”

Tess snorted. “My brother’s too dumb to figure out the motive behind it.”

Maria laughed and handed her the wings while she carried the pizzas. “Hey, about tonight. You don’t have to stay at the hospital. It’s uncomfortable and with all the nurses in and out you don’t get that much sleep.”

“Are you saying that because you wanna be nice or because you don’t want me to stay?”

“The first,” she stopped and looked at her. “Tess, really, that’s the truth.”

“Okay,” her new old friend nodded, “then I’m gonna tell you that I’m gonna stay anyway.”

Maria smiled. “Okay, but I warned you.”

*****

Liz sighed as the weighty feelings of failure, loss, and fatigue pulled at her and threatened to bury her. No matter how she tried to understand it she just couldn’t. What real danger had Aaron been in? He was cared for, loved, and finally someplace that was safe from the constant hateful words Trent enjoyed throwing around. But that wasn’t good enough. That woman had attacked from every possible direction and then taken Aaron with her. He would be stuck in some foster home, left in the care of strangers, and she could imagine how scared he would be.

“Hey.”

She looked up and dried her eyes for the umpteenth time when Max called her. “I wish Kathleen would call back.”

He reached over and took her hand as he squeezed into an empty spot next to the park. “She’ll call as soon as she can,” he assured her. He hoped being around everyone might make her feel a little better because as hard as he was trying nothing he had said or done had really helped. He was getting ready to get out when he spotted Maria and Tess crossing the street carrying what looked like food. “C’mon, little fresh air’ll do you good.”

“Yeah, okay,” she agreed and opened her door to get out. It was loud for a moment when a fire engine passed them with the sirens turned on, but then she heard Max whistling after someone. She followed his gaze and recognized the two girls across the streets.

“Hey,” Maria called over with a smile when she saw them. “Glad you made it.” She willingly let Max carry the pizzas when the couple joined them.

“Yeah, we could use some air too,” he agreed and kissed both of the girls’ cheeks briefly.

“What’s wrong?” Tess frowned when she noticed the odd, sad tone in his voice.

Maria’s eyes fell on Liz and it didn’t take much more than a second to realize that something bad had happened. “Is Aaron okay?” She rushed to the other girl’s side and held her in her arms, shocked when she immediately started to cry.

“CPS paid us a visit this afternoon and they took Aaron,” Max explained quietly when Liz couldn’t say anything and the other girl’s questioning gazes zeroed in on him.

“Oh no,” Maria whispered, horrified, and tried to soothe the brunette as much as possible. Just the thought that someone would walk in to take Cody away from her was something she couldn’t bear, how awful must it feel for Liz right now?

“Sorry,” Liz muttered after she had forced her breathing to calm down again. With both hands, she wiped her tears away and straightened up. “It seems like I can’t control myself whenever someone mentions Aaron.”

“You’re with friends, you don’t have to,” Maria assured her.

She gave a shaky smile and nodded. “Yeah, but you know how it is.”

“Yeah, I know.” She hated to break down and fall apart too. Sometimes it was necessary, but when it happened she preferred to be alone.

“You guys called a lawyer?” Tess asked. “If not, Dad’s got a great lawyer.”

“We’ve got a call in to my lawyer,” Max answered. “We’re just waitin’ to hear from her.”

Liz cleared her throat. “How’s Kyle doing?”

“As good as possible,” Maria tried to sound optimistic. The last thing they needed was more bad news. “They operated and patched him up as good as possible and now all we can do is wait.”

“Were you able to see him?” Max squeezed her shoulder lightly. It seemed like when shitty things happened they always came in a package lately.

“Only one person was allowed to see him, so I went in for a few minutes. I don’t know if he somehow realized I was there, but I tried to be supportive.”

“Kyle’s a fighter.”

Maria smiled and hugged one arm around Tess and the other around Liz. “He is and so are all of us. So let’s go join the others an’ have some pizza.”

“Lead the way,” Max said and was glad to see that the visit already seemed to be affecting Liz in a positive way.

Michael lifted one hand to shade his eyes when he heard the girls approaching and he pushed himself up on his elbows. “What’s up?” He frowned at the serious look on Max’s face. “Why the long face? Someone run over your dog?”

Maria kicked him as hard as she could as she passed him. “Insensitive much?” she hissed at him.

“What the hell?” He sat up and rubbed his hip where she’d kicked him with the side of her foot. It didn’t really hurt that much but, damn, did she have to be so violent? Those thoughts fled when he caught sight of the brunette’s face. “Hey, what’s goin’ on?”

Liz just shook her head and sat down, feeling her nerves start shaking all over again when he reached over and placed a hand on her shoulder. She leaned into Max and let him do the talking because it all just felt like too much.

“CPS paid us a visit today,” he started after swallowing down the own lump in his throat.

Isabel glanced between them. “CPS,” she said slowly. “Where’s Aaron?”

“They took him with them.”

“I’m so sorry.” She reached over and placed a hand on Liz’s arm for a moment. “What can we do to help?”

“Right now we have to wait and see what our lawyer advises us to do,” Max glanced at his cell, but there still wasn’t a call from Kathleen.

“They’re gonna put you guys through the hoops,” Tony said as he shook his head. “But you know if you need anything we’re all here.”

Michael couldn’t believe what was happening. Just yesterday he had spent time with the little man and now he was probably in to a foster home. How horrible was that for little Aaron? Although he wouldn’t show it to everyone, it deeply hurt him. “Yeah, if you need anyone to testify about your ability to raise Aaron a lot better than some stupid foster family we’ll convince the stupid system.”

Max nodded and squeezed Liz’s hand. “We appreciate it. The woman they sent out wanted contact information for you guys but Liz wanted to wait to make sure you guys were cool with that. Chances are good whoever made the report already gave her that information because they knew an awful lot about our situation.” He scratched the back of his head. “I was sure Trent would be the one to make the call but... from some of what that woman said I’m thinking it wasn’t him.”

“Maybe he paid someone,” Maria suggested and put the pizza cartons in the middle of the blankets so they were in everybody’s reach. “Oh, by the way, I got your text about the salad after we had already left the diner, sorry.”

Courtney waved her off. Okay, it had been a little while since Michael sent the text but she’d just give her a pass. “That’s okay, I’m sure you have enough on your mind.” She forced a smile. “I’ll just pick the toppings off.”

Michael looked at her. “You sure?”

“It’s fine. I can grab something better later on.”

“Okay,” he agreed with a nod. “So if it wasn’t Trent, who do you think’s behind that call?”

sarammlover: Why? You’re not the only one wondering that. Well, we do know… it’s true. But can we really say? LOL. The girls are getting back on solid ground and that’s good because they’ll need each other’s strength to lean on.

lilah: Lol, well, only time will tell. Yeah, it’s hard to say who would win in that race… Maria or Max.

Earth2Mama: We’ll have to wait and see. But until then it looks like there’re plenty of suspects.

CandyliciousLovah: You’re not the only one thinking that, lol.

keepsmiling7: Liz certainly does but she’s in the right place.

Wait and see… that has yet to be revealed.

You never know, we could check in on Aaron sometime soon.

Alien_Friend: Hey girl, we hope you are feeling better. *hugs*

The group sticks together in times which matter and Liz become a part, so she’s getting the full supporting package.

Thanks!



Part 107

Thick as Thieves

“I don’t know.” Max rubbed his face. This was getting exhausting and all he wanted was some peace of mind. “Maybe someone he paid like Maria said.”

“Well, whoever it is we’ll figure it out,” Isabel assured them.

“Maybe I know someone who could help,” Alex said and it brought every pair of eyes to him, which made him pretty uncomfortable, but he shook it off quickly. “I’ve got a total computer freak in one of my classes. He’s pretty much able to find anything that went out over a computer or the internet.”

“What kind of information would he need?” Liz asked quietly. “I mean, if he’s even willing to do it.” She met Alex’s gaze. “Couldn’t he get in trouble for that?”

“Well,” he smiled, “it’s not legal to hack into other people’s computers, but I’ve heard he’s pretty good hiding his tracks. You couldn’t use the information at a trial, but maybe there’d be a hint where to look,” he shrugged.

“A lot of people who hack just do it for the challenge,” Ava said.

“We can pay him if necessary,” Michael said and made a grab for a piece of pizza.

Alex shrugged. “I’ll talk to him, find out what he’d need, and if he’s willing to do it. Did the lady from CPS leave you any paperwork?”

“Just her card and some papers,” Liz said, touched that everyone was willing to help without a question.

“You’ll receive a summons to appear in court, probably family court, and it’ll happen pretty quickly. The lawyers will go back and forth, you’ll be asked a bunch of questions, they’ll probably bring in character witnesses,” he gestured to the group, “and when that’s all over the judge will probably give you a list of demands. Do this, do that, change this and that, and then after so many weeks or months, you’ll get another day in court to show that you’ve met his demands.”

“How do you know so much about this?” Liz asked with a frown.

“I have a cousin who got dragged through the system. In her case she needed it because she had gotten herself into a bad situation, but even though this’s different, the procedure will be the same.”

“We’ll do whatever’s necessary,” Max squeezed her arm. What if the court decided she would only get Aaron back if she ended their relationship? Could they even demand that?

“Just be prepared because they’re gonna want things from both of you.” He tapped his thumb on his knee, absently keeping time with the music blaring from a car stereo on the street behind him. “Your ex has to be involved for her to know your situation. Somewhere, somehow, he’s pullin’ the strings. Making the call himself would’ve been too obvious, but getting you on the hook and keeping his name out of it, that’s the smart move. Sick, but smart.”

Liz sighed and snuggled up against Max’ chest. “This’s a nightmare.”

“Let’s look at this more positively,” Maria said and gestured at the pizza to get everyone to eat. “It can only get better.”

“Maria’s right,” Tess said and grabbed a slice. “It won’t do us any good to wallow in all of the bad things that seem to be going on. We need to focus on the positive stuff.” She motioned to the pizza. “Now let’s eat this before it gets cold.”

Tony squeezed his legs together to get Ava’s attention. He waited until she raised her head up to look at him and his eyes focused on her lips just for a moment before he spoke. “Can you hand me one with the extra cheese topping?”

“No wonder you and Chase get along so well,” she said with a teasing smile. She grabbed a slice for him and then one with all the toppings for herself. “I can’t get him to even look at a pizza if it has anything but cheese on it.”

“He’s a very smart guy,” he winked at her and took the slice from her.

“He is that, but eventually he’s gonna have to branch out and try new things.”

Michael snorted. “He likes cheese pizza, leave the kid alone.” He made a face at the slice she was eating. “I wouldn’t want that thing either.”

Her eyes narrowed at the kind he had chosen. “He wouldn’t eat that either.”

“Guess we’ll never have to worry about fightin’ over pizza then, will we?”

Out of the corner of her eye Maria watched Courtney as she picked on the tiniest piece of pizza she had found. God, if she pulled off anymore the only thing left would be the crust. She rolled her eyes unconsciously and earned a smirk from Tony when he saw it.

“That crust oughta taste real good,” Max mumbled around a mouthful of pepperoni and double cheese pizza.

“You guys went to that totally overpriced diner across 59th Street, didn’t you?” Michael asked knowingly and shook his head, amused. He didn’t mind since their pizza was really good and it was the closest place to get it.

“Well, we could’ve gone down the street and stopped at that place that makes the five-dollar special.” Tess nodded when he shot a look at her. “Yeah, didn’t think so.”

“Hey, I’m not complainin’, just sayin’ you can taste the difference.”

Maria snorted at that. “I would hope so.”

“Besides that, the staff is much hotter in the diner,” Tess said with a wink at her friend. “The guy scribbled his number for Maria on the receipt.”

“Way to go, Deluca,” Max said with a grin and held his hand up for a high-five.

She slapped in and laughed. “Thanks.”

“See, that’s why you’re so perfect for the tat ad we’re gonna shoot.” He glanced at Courtney as he leaned forward to snag another slice.

Courtney bit her inner cheek painfully. For some reason the guy liked to tease her and made sure he found a way every time to rub her nose in the fact that Maria belonged to Michael and no one else. You’re wrong, she thought and leaned against her boyfriend’s side.

“So, that new contract you got… some kinda dog magazine or somethin’?”

“Shut up, Evans,” Michael warned him.

“What? It’s just a question. I seem to recall someone mentioning a spread for a vet’s office or somethin’ related to dogs.”

Courtney laid a restraining hand on Michael’s arm. “It’s alright, I can handle this.” Asshole, she thought as she stared at her antagonist. “And no, it wasn’t anything related to animals of any variety.”

Max shrugged, unconcerned. “You know what you’re getting with dogs.”

“How’s Cody?” Liz asked, elbowing Max as a warning to drop it.

“Nothing new on that front,” Maria told her. “He hates to be in the hospital and he doesn’t understand why he has to stay, that’s the worst part.”

“Yeah, things like that you just can’t explain in a way that makes them understand.” She picked a pepperoni off and nibbled on it.

“Yeah.” It sucked, but Cody didn’t need to hear every detail of his condition.

“Hey, as crazy as this week’s been have the two of you been able to even think about looking at any apartments?” Isabel asked as she picked an olive off and flicked it away.

“Thinking yes, doing any research…. Nope,” Maria replied and cleaned her hands on a napkin before she lay down on the blanket again and grabbed her cell to set some quiet music up for everyone.

“Same here,” Liz said.

“We have tons of different newspapers from the patients at the hospital, I can get the apartment ads out before they throw them away,” Isabel offered.

“Cool.” Maria closed her eyes and listened to the music.

Everyone sat there and ate in peace while Tess’ eyes wandered over the gang. Max and Liz were curled up together tightly, Isabel and Alex sat a few feet apart and something seemed a bit off, but they talked quietly anyway. Those stupid photos… Did he know about them?

Her gaze wandered to Tony and her twin. You could almost see the sparks flying between them and she had to admit that they would make a cute couple. Funny how she had changed her style a bit for the man. Her ear to nose piecing had been switched to a simple stud and though her hair color usually changed frequently it was now a soft blonde with just a few strands of black.

At last she switched to her brother and though the view was disgusting, she couldn’t look away either. He was kissing Courtney and it wasn’t that usual kind of kissing she had witnessed at parties. It was… ungh… gentle. So wrong! Grabbing a coke, she laid down next to Maria. “You wanna snuggle with me? Because it seems like we’re the only ones without a man around here.”

“Yeah, what’s up with that? It’s not like either of us have ever had a problem in that department and suddenly we’re both in this freakin’ limbo.”

“I’m not sure,” she sighed and rested her head on her arm while she stared up at the sky.

Maria turned her head towards her male best friend and felt a slight pull in her heart when she saw that he was totally focused on his girlfriend. God, SHE wanted to be that girl so badly right now. “I think I need to puke,” she muttered and turned her back to him to face Tess again.

Tess gave her a push and laughed. “You’d better not.”

“Don’t worry, if I do, I’ll puke on her,” she whispered back.

“Go for it. Just give me fair warning so I can be outta the line of fire.”

“Oh, I so wish I could just do that, but that’d be totally disgusting and I doubt your brother would think any differently.”

“Well, it might not win you any points with him but Max would get a kick out of it.”

“He could use some amusement, huh?”

“Yeah.” Her expression sobered. “You think they’ll get Aaron back?” she asked quietly.

“They have to. That asshole Trent can’t win.”

“Can you imagine how wrong that would be?”

“Yeah, talk about upsetting the balance of the universe.” She giggled as she remembered one of the rare visits with Tess’ mother. “Does your mom still believe in all that horoscope crap?”

“It’s gotten worse,” the curly blonde rolled her eyes. “She’s trying to make money out of it now. Totally embarrassing, and another reason why I had to come back.”

“I still don’t know how her and your dad ever got together.” She rolled her eyes. “I just can’t picture it. Do you remember that one time she was visiting and she was supposed to have you and Ava for the day but your sister backed out at the last minute? You said she took you with her to go see some psychic to have her tea leaves read.”

“Ungh, yeah,” Tess giggled when she remembered that day.

“Your mom’s one of those new-agers?” Tony murmured in Ava’s ear when he overheard the quiet conversation.

“I’d say she’s one of those freaks,” she replied. It was so easy to fall for the man when he was so close like this.

“I have a great aunt who believes she’s psychic. She’s never been very good at it but you can’t change her mind. I guess if you shake anybody’s family tree long enough you’ll eventually find a few oddballs hidden somewhere in there.”

She laughed. “That’s probably true.” Her hand unconsciously went over his in a gentle manner while she thought about her mom. “She’s not that bad, but she kinda doesn’t take her role as a mother too seriously. I never understood why she actually had five kids with her free spirit attitude.”

He laughed warmly while his eyes followed her fingers. “Who knows why people do some of the things they do? I’m glad she did though.”

“It was a nightmare when we were younger sometimes. Our house was always loud and crazy, but now that we’re all grown up it’s good to have my siblings around. It was a hard time when Matt died, but I guess it brought us all a little closer.”

“It’s good that you guys pulled together. Somethin’ like that, it tears a lot of families apart.”

“Do you have any brothers or sisters?”

“Nope, just me. The good thing about that is I got spoiled rotten growing up.” He winked when she turned her head to look at him. “Didn’t have to share all their attention.”

“They should’ve had more,” she teased. “What a waste of such a good gene pool.”

“Well, my parents have made no secret of the fact that they’d like plenty of grandkids.”

She snorted. “I hope they don’t expect them in the near future.”

He laughed and shook his head. “According to my parents I’m already behind schedule.” He nodded at her skeptical look. “They got married young. They don’t push me to get married or to have kids right away, but they love to tease me about it. By the time they were my age they’d already been married a couple years and had me.”

“How old are you, buddy?”

“All of 23.”

“I think you’re not too old to get married and all that stuff then,” she patted his leg and threw her head back to grin at him.

“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” he growled and cupped her chin as he leaned in for a brief kiss.

She looked at him dreamily when he backed off. How had she managed to suddenly get involved with a great guy like him? He had come out of nowhere and she seriously hoped he wouldn’t disappear again. Without doubting what she was doing, she turned just enough to grab his collar and pull him closer again.

Isabel tried not to laugh when Michael shook his head at them. “You were doing the same thing not five minutes ago,” she said with a roll of her eyes. “Leave them alone and try to mind your own business like you think you do.”

He flipped her off and then started to get up.

“Are you leaving?” Tess looked up from where she lay next to Maria.

“No, I’ll be back in a minute.”

“I have an appointment, so I’ll see you guys,” Courtney said to no one in particular.

“See ya later,” Alex said politely.

Michael didn’t miss the fact that no one seemed to be the slightest bit interest if his girlfriend left or not and it bothered him. She was a part of his life now, but everyone seemed to put it off as something that would pass quickly. “Come one, I’ll walk you to the street,” he said and pulled her with him.

“Your brother’s gonna start takin’ it personally if you guys keep giving his new girlfriend the cold shoulder,” Alex said as he watched the couple walk away.

“Think it’ll make him realize she’s not the right person for him?” Isabel followed his gaze.

“I think that’s probably somethin’ he has to figure out on his own and eventually he’s gonna feel like he has to choose between all of you and her.”

She made a face. “Yeah, but if we totally accept her then he’ll never start to think.”

“Maybe you’re looking at this all wrong,” Alex mused. “If you let her into the group more he might see sooner that she doesn’t fit in.”

“Alex has a good point,” Liz mused.

“It makes sense,” Tony agreed. “If we ignore her he’s only gonna blame us, not her.”

“True, and we don’t want that,” Tess said.

Everyone fell silent when Michael joined them again. He knew he had to talk to his friends because for some reason they tried to avoid any interaction with Courtney, which was just ridiculous because she hadn’t done anything rude to give them a reason. He decided to let it pass for now because the day was already too emotionally charged so he just sat down quietly on the blanket.

Maria shuffled over slightly and nudged him with her elbow. “Hey,” she said quietly.

“Hey,” he replied and looked at her briefly.

Ava watched her brother for a minute when he seemed lost in his thoughts. “What’re you doing on Sunday, Michael?”

“Gotta work the early shift, why?”

“Nicole wanted me to see if you guys could all make it out for dinner on Sunday.”

“Shouldn’t be a problem for me.”

“Tess? Isabel?”

“Should work out,” Tess agreed and glanced at her brother. “We could ride together.”

“I’ll be there,” Isabel agreed.

“Good, I think after today that’ll make them feel a lot better. Of course, you know how they are... the rest of you could be invited over before Saturday night.”

Michael snorted and fell back on the blanket. Would they want to get to know his girlfriend? Because with his sisters around it would only mean more awkwardness.

“Cool.” Ava tipped her head back and brushed a kiss against Tony’s jaw. “Just in case... how’s your Sunday look if they ask and you’re interested?”

He smirked slightly. “Same shift as Michael.”

She smiled and turned her gaze to Isabel’s... boyfriend? “And what about you, Alex?”

Her older sister bit her lip before she could tell her to shut up. It wasn’t like she would have a problem introducing Alex to her parents, but first they weren’t together and second, he had to stay away so he wouldn’t get pulled into the mess with Richard again.

“Um…” he replied and shot a quick look at Isabel. “I don’t think that’s a place where I belong right now, but thanks.”

“Well, that’s just ridiculous,” Tess said, tipping her head to the side as she tried to decide whether the fat, fluffy cloud overhead looked like a dog or something else. “You’ve been to the beach with us, spent the weekend in Isabel’s insufferable presence, so I’d think at the very least you deserve a decent meal.” She pushed herself up on her elbows to meet her sister’s gaze. “The parents will love him and now that he’s in the picture,” she said pointedly, “I think he should meet them sooner rather than later. Don’t you?”

I am going to kill you, Isabel thought. “If you wanna come…” she said and looked at him.

Michael interrupted when he started to shake his head. “Are you workin’? Got a Sunday class? Visiting your sister in the evening? Goin’ to church?” He nodded when he received a negative response to every one of his questions. “Then plan on hangin’ out.” If his sister wanted to be a pain about accepting his girlfriend then he was gonna go out of his way to accept her boyfriend because it didn’t seem like she could make up her damn mind one way or the other what she was doing with the guy. He looked at Max and Liz. “You’ve got enough drama in your lives right now, but chances are good you’ll end up with a comedic break if you come out with us on Sunday.”

“I’ve got the late shift, but maybe someone will switch with me. Sunday nights are slow so it’s a shift everybody wants,” Liz told him when he looked at her questioningly.

Max nodded. “No promises yet, but if nothing else comes up, we’re in.”

Michael looked at Maria. “You’re in too, right?” It wasn’t really a question. She was always included in family stuff. Invitations weren’t necessary, hadn’t been since... well, they had never been necessary.

Watching Michael probably introducing his girlfriend to his parents was nothing she really wanted to witness, but staying away while everyone else was going was stupid too. “I’m gonna check with Mom first and see if she’s got any stuff to do. If not, I’m in.”

“Good, got that all settled then.”

Ava smiled and congratulated herself for a good idea that had been executed to perfection. Dad and Nicole enjoyed any opportunity to have their kids and their kids’ friends underfoot and she knew after the stress of the day it would be good for all of them to be together under the watchful eye of Adam and Nicole Guerin. And knowing how dangerous their son’s job was it would be good for them to have their kids around to fuss over too.

Everyone straightened up when Michael’s cell started to buzz on the blanket. They had told Kyle’s parents to call him in case anything changed with his condition, so they were all holding their breath when Michael checked the caller ID. “Just Dad,” he muttered and got up to walk a few feet away before he answered the call.

“You think your parents are ready for an invasion?” Maria asked Tess and laughed at the thought.

“Yeah, they’re used to craziness and a houseful of people.” Tess stretched out. “I wish Kyle could come as well. I’d rather sit with him at the table in awkward silence than this…”

“Yeah.” Maria squeezed her hand. “We’ll get him there, it’s just gonna take a little time.”

“What’s with the guy who was down there with him? Dan, right?”

“Yeah, he’s been partnered with him since he got hired.” She sighed. “I don’t know how bad his condition is.” She sat up enough to look at Tony. It was more likely that he had heard something about a fellow firefighter’s condition. “Hey, T-man, have you heard how Dan is?”

“They haven’t told us anything yet,” he shook his head.

“Do you know his family?” Tess asked.

“Not really, seen his wife an’ kids a few times around the station, but that’s it.”

“Michael does,” Maria said. “He’s been to their home for barbecues a few times.”

“Maybe he can give them a call then.”

“We might see them in the hospital,” Isabel said as she watched her brother.

“I hope he’s okay. This day’s been a real piece of shit.” Maria sat up and grabbed a bottle of water. “It can be over now if ya ask me.”

“That idea has my vote,” Liz said tiredly.

Max wrapped his arms around her a little tighter for a moment and kissed her shoulder from behind. “We need to be – “ he started but was interrupted when his own cell started to ring. Moving around enough to get it out he glanced at the display and got to his feet. “It’s Kathleen, I’m gonna take a little walk.”

Natalie36: Hopefully that’s coming soon!

keepsmiling7: Thanks!

That’s definitely one possibility.

Aaron will give us a little insight into his situation very soon.

sarammlover: Lol, well, guess she’s gonna have to be included at some point. Funny you should mention Chase’s father… that comes up briefly in this part. We’re getting closer to checking in on Kyle’s situation.

begonia9508: Lol, we understand. RL tends to get in the way from time to time.

We’ll have to wait and see if she had any role in this fiasco.

As far as we know Courtney has no prior knowledge of Trent.

Eva: Lol, warm weather has that effect – we understand, really!!!

They really did need some downtime to regroup after all of that drama. But being together, supporting each other, it’ll help them back on track and to seeing that light at the end of a very dark tunnel.

kismet: We’ll find out in time.

Kathleen probably doesn’t know too much just yet.

Alien_Friend:: Max is up for more, lol.

Tess and Maria will need each other in future parts. They are kind of in the same shoes right now – considering the guy situation – that will bring them even closer.

Thanks! We hope real life is good to you again!!!

CandyliciousLovah: Thank you!

Tova? Lol, that sounds nice!



Part 108

New Day – Same Problems

“Call me if she needs to know anything,” Liz said before Max could move.

He nodded and hurried a few feet away before he picked up. “Hello.”

“Is that your lawyer?” Tess asked.

“Yeah,” Liz nodded and rubbed her hands together nervously. Would she have any answers?

“She’ll be able to get you in front of a judge pretty quickly,” Alex said when he saw the worried look on the brunette’s face.

“I hope so, but right now I just wish she had some information about where they’ve taken Aaron.”

“They probably won’t release that information.” He shook his head. Yeah, his cousin’s situation had been drastically different but the foster family could potentially be put at risk if that information was given out.

“Yeah, I know.” She pressed her lips together tightly.

“This’s gonna get straightened out, Liz,” Maria said.

She nodded wordlessly and kept her gaze focused on the ground. She felt on the verge of crying again, which wasn’t really anything new after they had taken Aaron and also the reason why her boss had sent her home after only a short time at work.

Maria glanced at Tess and they both nodded before they got up and walked over to her to squeeze the brunette between them for a tight hug.

“Gosh, I can’t imagine,” Ava murmured sympathetically.

“Kennedy’s a stupid asshole,” Tony agreed and buried his nose on her hair. Weird how easily things seem to work out with her, he thought and let his arms slip around her. “What about Chase’s Dad? He still around?”

She snorted. “No, Derek took off the second he found I was pregnant.”

“Obviously an idiot, but lucky for me.”

That made her smile. “Thanks to Dad he gave up his parental rights so he couldn’t change his mind one day and come back for Chase.”

“Any guy who runs from the responsibility of bein’ a father is a loser in my eyes,” he shook his head. “Relationships may not always work out, but that kid’s always gonna be yours.”

How was it possible he hadn’t been snapped up already? “Derek had a completely different opinion. But now I’m okay with that. He didn’t deserve Chase.”

“She wouldn’t believe me before when I told her that guy was a waste of time,” Michael said as he came back and overheard his sister’s comment about her ex. “Dad says hi and everyone’s invited for Sunday.”

Maria laughed when his sisters all rolled their eyes at the same time. “Does he feel better now that he’s talked to you in person?”

“I suppose,” he shrugged and sat down on the blanket, closer to her than he had been before.

Liz looked up, holding her breath when she saw Max approaching, his expression pensive.

“I gave her the details,” he said and sat down again. “She’s gonna to start with some calls and she mentioned a friend in family court who owes her so she’s gonna try to get a date soon.”

“She’ll make them understand, right? They’ll see that we’re not bad parents and Aaron’s safe with us.” she asked, not even realizing what she had said. “She has to, right?”

“She will,” he promised her.

“Okay.” His reassurance made her feel marginally better. “Did she think she’d be able to find out where he is? Or when we can see him?”

“She said she’ll try to get some information, but they probably won’t tell her.

“But she’s gonna get you guys into court soon,” Tess said with an encouraging smile. She motioned to all of them. “And you guys have all kinds of character witnesses to let that judge know you’re great parents to Aaron.”

Michael glanced up when a football landed in the middle of their blanket and a moment later someone joined them. “Sorry,” the younger guy said.

“No problem, man,” he said and handed the football back.

“Anyone interested in a game? We could use a few more people:”

“I’m in,” Tony said. “C’mon, guys, it’ll be good for us.”

“Ooh, if it’s shirts an’ skins make sure you lose the shirt, Carter,” Ava said when he stood. She looked up at the guy who had asked about the game. “No tackling this one.”

“Ava, I’m fine,” he protested.

“Yeah, and we wanna keep it that way, don’t we? Concussions are nothing to play around with even if they’re mild.”

Michael patted his shoulder with a smirk. “Already regretting it?”

“Let’s go, Alex,” Tess said and leaned over to give him a shove. “Get out there and show ‘em your stuff.”

“Yeah, why not?”

“What about you?” Michael looked at his best friend. “You’ve got a good arm.”

“Dude, you wanna girl to play?” the guy asked when he realized who was being asked.

Maria grinned and held her hand out to Michael. “Let’s show these kids how the game’s played.” She didn’t really feel like it but maybe it would take her mind off of everything for a little while.

“You too. Go,” Liz urged as she gave Max a little push. “Get out there and show those skills off.” She forced herself to smile. “And I’m with Ava, lose the shirt.”

“Hey, if you guys wanna be skins I’m good with that.” The guy with the football winked at Maria. “You’d probably rather just be shirts though, right?”

“Well, ya know, I was planning to take a dip in Lasker Pool later so I’m good with no shirt,” she stripped her tank top off to reveal a bikini top.”

“Hell, yeah!” the guy hollered. “That was like the hottest thing ever!”

Tony snorted. “This kid must not get out much.”

Maria slapped his arm with a grin. “Shut up. He just knows what’s good.”

He jerked his shirt off and he couldn’t help but smile when Ava took it and started to fold it up. It had to be a mom thing, he thought.

“Come on, Guerin,” Maria picked at his shirt when he was the last of the guys who was still dressed. “Put some weight on?”

He stuck his tongue out at her. “No.”

She rolled her eyes and stood in front of him, showing the string end of her bikini top to him. “Could you do a double-knot? I don’t want this thing to fall off during the game.”

“Can’t have that,” he mumbled as he tied the requested knot.

“Thanks,” she glanced over her shoulder and winked. Okay, that was as much flirting as she would ever dare!

He stared at her for a moment while he tried to figure out what was going on. It was just the exhaustion, he rationalized. He hadn’t slept much the past few days and everything was kinda skewed. “Welcome,” he said finally.

“One day I’m gonna hit him with something heavy,” Tess started when the guys and Maria went to play. “Then he’s gonna to lose his memory and when he wakes up we’re just gonna make him believe that Maria was his girlfriend.”

Isabel just shook her head. “I think he knows, he’s just afraid to let himself see it because when he does it’s gonna change everything.”

“And therefore he dates a girl with similar looks?” Ava snorted. “I’m with Tess, he needs a good slap over the head.”

Liz laughed. “How did he survive growing up with the three of you?”

“That question should be the other way around,” Isabel corrected her. “How did we survive with HIM? And our older brother Matt? He was just like him. A nightmare for sisters.”

“They must’ve been a handful.”

The three Guerin sisters nodded with a smile, although it was a sad smile. “We should go an’ visit his grave together again. It’s been a while since we all went together,” Ava suggested.

“Yeah, it has been,” Isabel said quietly. She pulled her legs up and wrapped her arms around her knees, watching the game as it got underway.

*****

“Hey, what can I get you?” the dark haired woman behind the counter asked and showed off a perfect row of white teeth when she shot a flirtatious smile at him.

“Four coffees, medium size,” Michael replied and didn’t bother to flirt back. It had been another short night and he was tired. He had hoped that exhaustion would pull him under when he went to bed, courtesy of the last few days with little to no sleep, but his brain had refused to give him any rest. Thoughts of the fight with his best friend, the accident, his friends’ refusal to accept Courtney, and the memories the debris-filled scene had brought up had kept him awake for hours.

He leaned against the counter and suppressed a yawn while he waited for the woman to fix the drinks. “Anything else?” she asked as she placed the Styrofoam mugs into a cup holder.

His eyes roamed over the glass counter where different kinds of food were showcased. “Yeah, gimme the same amount of blueberry muffins too.”

“Sure,” she grabbed a paper bag and placed them inside before she returned and took the credit card he was already holing out. “Thanks for your visit, Michael.”

For a moment he looked at her in confusion, but then he realized she had gotten his name from the card. “Bye.” He grabbed his stuff and left the coffee shop to turn the next corner where the entry of the hospital was, hoping that maybe Maria already had gotten some good news from Valenti.

His feet carried him to the elevator quickly and he almost missed his coworker’s wife, but recognized her when he had to stop in front of a fat guy who was blocking the way. “Mrs. Gilyard?” he asked carefully.

Rachel Gilyard turned around when someone called her and her eyes went over the younger man in front of her. “I’m sorry, you look familiar, but…”

“Michael Guerin,” he shook her hand and hoped that her puffy eyes didn’t mean more bad news. “I work at the station.”

“Oh right,” she forced a smile. “I remember now.” How embarrassing, she thought. He’d been to the house more than once for barbecues.

He nodded. “May I ask how Dan is doing?” Her features turned into a grimace as he asked the question and he wasn’t sure if he wanted the answer now.

“Not so good,” she said and struggled for control. “He’s hurt pretty bad and the docs say we can only wait and hope that he wakes up again.”

Michael took a deep breath before he replied. “I’m very sorry.”

She squeezed his upper arm for a moment. “Thanks, Michael. How’s your friend Kyle?”

“I’m on my way to check now, but yesterday they were at least able to stabilize him. He’s hurt pretty badly as well.”

“Mom,” a boy called impatiently from where he waited for his mother a few feet away.

Rachel turned to look at her son and then back at Michael. “I’m sorry, I need to go.”

“No problem.” He took a step towards the elevator and pressed the button. “When you see your husband, tell him we’re thinking of him.”

She smiled slightly and just nodded before she left.

The ‘bing’ of the elevator announced its arrival and he stepped in to take it up to Cody’s floor. He had a feeling the hospital would become their second home now and he really wasn’t looking forward to that.

“Hey, Michael,” Charlie greeted when he stepped out into the hallway from the little boy’s room. “He’s sleeping so be quiet when you go in.”

“Alright, thanks,” he went on and opened the door quietly as requested, finding Maria in the bed next to Cody.

She looked up when she caught movement out of the corner of her eye and she smiled when she noticed Michael. “Hey…”

“Hey,” he whispered and walked in quietly. “Tough night?”

“Yeah, he didn’t fell asleep until three this morning.”

“Where’s my sister? She still here?”

“Yeah, she needed to move around for a while to loosen her stiff muscles.” Maria made a face when her whole left side tingled as well from the room to move. “Can you help me up without waking him?”

“Yeah, sure.” He set the coffee carrier aside along with the bakery sack of muffins and then moved over to the bed to hold his hand out to her. As soon as her palm slid across his he wrapped his fingers around hers tightly and pulled her up. “Ran into Dan’s wife on my way up,” he said, flexing his hand unconsciously when she released it.

Maria groaned slightly when she felt every muscle in her back aching. “What’d she say?” she asked and rolled her head.

“Here, c’mon over here an’ sit down,” he said, motioning to one of the chairs at the table. “Just that it’s a waitin’ game. Waitin’ to see if he regains consciousness, waitin’ to see if he lives...”

She obeyed and went to sit down. “I went to check on Kyle this morning, but they didn’t let me in because the docs were with him at the time.”

“Get one of those muffins an’ eat it,” he ordered as he rubbed his hands together before placing them on her shoulders.

“Aye aye, sir,” she saluted and took one.

He snorted and brushed her hair aside to press his thumbs into the knotted muscles at the back of her neck. “I thought maybe when your mom gets here we’d go down an’ check on Valenti together.” Safety in numbers, he thought absently.

“Yeah, sure,” she agreed and groaned when he hit a sensitive spot at the back of her neck. “Gosh Michael, that feels good.”

He shifted and nearly dropped his hands. What the hell was goin’ on? “Anyway, I thought it’d be a good idea if we all went together.”

“Sounds good.”

“Cool. I didn’t hear anything from his folks overnight so hopefully no news is good news.”

“Yeah,” she got up when he dropped his hands and turned to look at him. “Are you okay?”

“Just...” he shook his head. “Never been hurt this bad before, ya know?”

“Hey,” she made him look at her. “Y’know, this friendship works both ways, right? You’re not the only one who’s always been there for me when shitty things have happened.”

“I know.”

She studied his handsome face. “Okay.”

“We’ve been through a lotta shit together and we’ve had more than one fight but... this last one, it got ugly. I mean, we cleared the air at work. We kept it professional. But we haven’t really settled anything between us.” He shrugged one shoulder. “I just don’t want him to,” he moved to look outside, “ya know, cut out with this hangin’ between us.”

“That stupid fight isn’t important, not anymore,” she told him quietly and rubbed his upper arm gently. “Don’t blame yourself for it, Michael. Stuff like this can always happen after you’ve said something mean to someone, but it doesn’t mean anything.”

“Was I wrong?” He turned to look at her, his expression as serious as it had ever been. “Puttin’ our friendship on the line over what happened with him an’ Tess.”

“You were wrong,” she told him because she didn’t want to lie to him. “But I understand why you reacted the way you did as a big brother and all.”

He grimaced. “Thanks.”

Maria smiled softly. “Don’t worry about it.”

“You’re the only person I’ve ever known who could make me feel better when everything’s so dark.”

Then open your eyes and take ME, she wanted to tell him, but instead she stood on her tiptoes and hugged him tightly. “You’re that person for me as well, Michael.”

He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her as he sighed heavily. “Tell me today’s gonna be a good day.”

She pushed her disappointment away when he didn’t let her words really sink in or get a clue of the real meaning behind them. “That has yet to be seen, I’m afraid, but it can’t get much worse and Kyle’s gonna get through this.”

“You get a chance to talk to your mom about dinner tomorrow?”

“Yeah, she said she’s going to stay with Cody so I’m free to go.” Slowly she released him again. “So is tomorrow the big night where ya introduce Courtney to your family?” Enjoy torturing yourself much, Deluca?

“I don’t know, RP.” He paced back and forth in front of the window. “What’s everyone’s problem with her anyway? It’s like they’re only tolerating her because I’m datin’ her but that’s it. No one’s givin’ her a chance.” His frustration was clearly expressed in his voice.

Ungh, so he had noticed. Of course he had. “I don’t know, maybe they haven’t gotten over the shock of you dating seriously yet,” she tried.

“So what do I do about Sunday? Invite her and subject her to more of that shitty behavior or not invite her and hurt her feelings?” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Or maybe I just shouldn’t go at all.”

She reached out to stop his pacing so he wouldn’t wake Cody. “You shouldn’t go? That’s a joke, right?”

He looked at her helplessly. Somehow it was hard to form a clear thought with all the shit going on.

“Michael, you ARE going, it’s your family. Whether you invite Courtney or not is something only you can decide. If you think it’s not the right time to introduce her then don’t. I mean, you’ve only been dating for a couple of weeks now, so she shouldn’t be mad if you tell her you wanna to wait a little longer.”

“Do you like her?” he asked directly.

Maria looked at him, stunned as she desperately tried to find a good answer that was honest but hid her feelings for him. “She’s okay.”

“She’s okay alright,” he snorted.

“No, look, let me explain. I’ll admit it’s not easy for me to see you with her all the time. You’ve never had a relationship before so it was always just... us. Now I suddenly have to watch what I do or say around you so she won’t get jealous. You understand what I’m tryin’ to say?” He probably thinks you’re crazy now.

“I guess,” he nodded slowly. If Courtney hadn’t been in the park yesterday, chances were good they would’ve spent the day snuggling and hugging after what had happened.

She was relieved he didn’t seem angry. “I don’t blame you, Michael. I totally understand. It’s just probably a lot easier for you to accept the changes than it is for me. It has nothing to do with Courtney as a person and I’m dealing with it.”

“Yeah, well…” He shrugged and leaned against the window frame, using one finger to brush the blinds aside to look out. “Even if everyone liked her I’m not sure it’s the right time to meet the parents. That’s a pretty big deal and even if I was ready it’s not somethin’ I wanna do with everyone I know there.”

“Just go with your gut, CB. Isn’t that what you always tell me? Trust your instincts.” And I hope they’re paying more attention than you are, she thought with a mental eye roll.

“You’re right. I mean, we have only been datin’ for a short time so she’d have to understand if I’m not ready to take that step. I mean, maybe I am, I don’t know, but if I’m not she shouldn’t feel like that’s any reflection on her.”

It was too early in the morning for the mindbender he was taking her on. “Give it some time, Michael. Just think about it and when you see her next time do what you think’s right. Dinner isn’t until tomorrow night and it’s not like it’ll be a hardship for your parents to put an extra plate out if you decide to invite her.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” He shook his head and turned to look at her with a lopsided grin. “What would I do without you?”

She rolled her eyes. “You’d be lost and screwed.”

Michael chuckled and pulled her closer to him again. “Yeah,” he admitted seriously and kissed her hair. A lot of people had come and gone in his life, but there were only a few who had managed to get to know him – the person he was when you took away everything that could blind. “I don’t want you to feel less important because I have a girlfriend, okay? Whenever you need me, you tell me.”

“I will,” she promised and rested the side of her face against his chest. Maybe it wasn’t a promise she could keep, but she wouldn’t tell him that. His relationship with Courtney affected them and especially her considering what she suddenly felt for him – there was just no way around that.

They lifted their eyes when the door was opened quietly and Tess walked in with Amy. “Good morning,” the older woman greeted and went to kiss her daughter’s cheek and hug Michael.

Tess hugged her brother as well and grabbed one of the coffee’s he had brought with him. “I really need this right now.”

He smirked and gestured for Amy to take one as well. “There’re muffins in the bag too, ladies.”

“How was the night?” she wanted to know and took a cup as well.

“Long,” Maria answered.

“I’m here now,” she nodded in understanding. “So why don’t you guys get outta here for a while?”

“Listen to your mom and let me get you outta here for a while,” Michael said as he nudged her.

Tess rolled her eyes. “I’m still here too, ya know.”

“Did you wanna come along?”

She punched his upper arm. “Well, since you’ve made me feel so welcome…”

Amy smiled as she watched them. “You kids go on and try to relax for a few hours. You all need it.”

“You guys go on and I’ll meet your downstairs,” Maria said. “I’m just gonna let Mom know how Cody’s night went and then I’ll be there.”

Michael nodded. “Alright, but don’t make me have to come back up here to get you.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “You don’t have to. We’re gonna check on Kyle, right?”

“We’ll do that first,” he agreed and squeezed his sister’s shoulder when just the mention of his name made her stiffen. “C’mon, Tess.” He guided her to the door and stopped at the bed to caress the little boy’s head. “I’ll come back later for him.”

sarammlover: Lol, that’s very true. She did take a step and we’ll see if she gains confidence and takes more. Well… she may be irritating things for a while. We’ll check in with Kyle today.

Earth2Mama: Derek is an idiot and one day he’ll probably realize that. But, that leaves the way clear for Tony and Ava.

Lol, yeah, that slip of the tongue was revealing.

We’ll check in on Kyle today.

keepsmiling7: Thanks!

Would you like to check in on Aaron today to see how he’s holding up? He may just pay a little visit.

Liz certainly let her inner thoughts loose in that comment, didn’t she?

Lol, that would sure cause a ruckus!

CandyliciousLovah: Tony’s very happy about that too!

Natalie36: We’re working our way towards that… slowly, but surely.

begonia9508: Thanks! And, yes, he is, lol!


Part 109

Maybe It Isn’t All Darkness

Megan Caldwell, tall with dark hair and gray eyes, stood in the living room doorway of the modest three bedroom home she shared with her husband, three foster children, and two black Labradors. She watched the kids through the picture window playing a game of basketball with some of the neighborhood children for a few minutes before moving to the little boy Ms. Tremont had dropped off before dinner the night before. He was sitting on the floor in the corner, his legs pulled up to his chest, and his arms tightly hugging the stuffed rabbit he had brought with him.

She and Vince had started taking in foster kids nearly 15 years ago and in that time they had seen their share of children damaged by their parents, their situations, and outside events. Not every kid could be saved and that was something that didn’t get any easier to accept over time. But this little guy, she thought, this little guy wasn’t one of them. They had been advised of the boy’s situation before agreeing to take him in and when Ms. Tremont had come to drop him off he had done everything possible to get away from the woman.

They had worked with the social worker for the past seven months and she had often wondered why she hadn’t retired by now. Marilyn Tremont had become jaded after seeing too many cases that hadn’t turned out well and now she tended to seek reasons to remove kids rather than looking for a way to resolve the issues.

She moved further into the room to sit on the couch, leaving plenty of room between them so he wouldn’t feel threatened. “Aaron, would you like to go outside for a little while?”

He shook his head without looking at her.

It wasn’t unusual for children to be resistant to integrating into a new family. After being taken from their homes the last thing they wanted was to be surrounded by strangers no matter how well-intended they were. He had refused to eat the night before and again when she had served breakfast earlier that morning. She knew he had to be hungry but he seemed to be content to chew on the tip of the stuffed rabbit’s ear.

“What about eating a little something, hmm? It might make you feel a little better if you get something in your tummy.”

He shook his head. “I’m not ‘posed to eat nothin’ from strangers,” he mumbled.

She smiled. “That’s very smart. Did your mommy teach you that?”

He shrugged and continued to stare at the floor.

“Well, she’s right, but right now it’s important that you fill that little tummy up. You wanna stay strong, don’t you?”

“I wanna go home,” he insisted and used the toy to wipe his face on.

“I know you do, Aaron, and hopefully we can get everything straightened out so that you’re in the best, safest place possible.”

“That mean lady said Lizzie an’ Max was bad, but she told a lie! An’ you’re not ever ‘posed to tell a lie.”

Her heart ached for the little boy when a car door slammed and he quickly got to his knees to look outside. The disappointment on his face saddened her. He sighed loudly and curled up in his corner again and she looked up to see her husband getting something out of the trunk of the car. He stayed outside for a few minutes, playing with the kids, before coming in and dropping his purchases on the kitchen floor.

He came in and leaned over the back of the couch to kiss her cheek before nodding at the newest addition to their family. His expression turned thoughtful when she shook her head in response and he walked over to crouch down facing the boy.

“How’re you doin’ today, Aaron?” he asked, his deep voice rumbling. At nearly six-foot-four Vince was a big man; he was broad-shouldered, nearly bald, with laughing blue eyes and an easy smile.

The little boy stared at the toes of his shoes and shrugged.

“I’ll bet you’d feel a lot better if you ate a little somethin’. And I know for a fact Megan makes the best grilled peanut butter an’ jelly sandwich anywhere around.”

Aaron wrinkled his nose and looked up at the man. “Nuh-uh, you don’t cook peanut butter an’ jelly.”

“No, it’s true. I swear,” Vince said and held his right hand up. “Makes ‘em all crunchy and buttery.” He reached out and placed a tentative hand on the boy’s lower leg, ready to pull it back if the little guy reacted negatively. “Why don’t we have one of those special sandwiches to get your strength up and then give your sister a call?”

His eyes widened. “I can call Lizzie an’ Max?”

“Absolutely. Now how’s that sandwich sound?”

“Weird, but if I can talk to Lizzie an’ Max I’ll eat it.”

“Then we’ll get that cooked up for you and call you when it’s ready.”

Aaron waited until they had left him alone and he looked down at the toy he hadn’t let go of since the mean lady had taken him from his home. “Did you hear that, Rabi?” he whispered. “We get to call home.”

Vince leaned back against the counter and looked at his wife as she put the sandwich together. “With all the kids we’ve had in our home over the years this little fella just doesn’t seem to fit.” He nodded when she held a slice of bread up, silently asking if he wanted one. “I know a lot of kids are close to their abusers, they identify with them to some degree, but nothing about this boy indicates he’s been abused or neglected.”

“No, but we’ve both been at this long enough to know the signs of abuse or neglect aren’t always visible right away.”

“Point taken.” He reached around her to grab the peanut butter jar and a spoon from a drawer. “What does your woman’s intuition say?”

She chuckled and placed the first sandwich in the frying pan, quickly followed by the second. “That you’re right. But even if Ms. Tremont did act too quickly and whatever problems exist in his home could’ve been resolved without removal, the judge will know more after the court-appointed psyche evaluations and the hearing.”

“Be a shame if she jumped the gun and it could’ve been handled without disrupting his life.”

“Yeah, it would. At least the phone call should help him settle a little bit and we shouldn’t have long to wait before his evaluation.” She flipped the sandwiches over and pulled a couple of plates down. “Why don’t you go get Aaron since you convinced him to eat?”

He gave her a brief salute and grinned when she rolled her eyes at him.

*****

Sarah Valenti watched every move the nurse made as she checked Kyle’s vitals and noted the results. The woman was efficient and she had tried to make small talk until she had realized her patient’s mother wasn’t interested in conversation. She checked one of the drainage tubes and glanced up at the woman hovering on the other side of the bed.

“Mrs. Valenti, you may want to step outside or look away while I change these dressings,” she suggested gently.

“I’m fine,” she insisted stoically.

“Sarah, why don’t we step out for some coffee and let the woman handle this,” Jim suggested tiredly. He had been reluctant to leave his son’s side since they had been allowed into his room but they had been warned that due to the injuries he had sustained and the resulting surgery there were incisions that had been left open.

“I don’t – “

“We need to let her work in peace.” He took her arm and applied enough force to make her move but as soon as they were in the hall and the door closed behind them she yanked it free of his grip.

“How dare you!” she snarled. “That is my son in there!”

“Our son,” he corrected. “And the nurse was right to suggest we leave. Kyle’s receiving the best care in the city and getting in their way won’t help things.”

“This’s your fault you know. You’re the one who encouraged him when he came up with the ridiculous idea of becoming a fireman. You could’ve changed his mind, but did you? No,” she waved her hands in the air, “no, you practically pushed him into a job that could kill him.”

“I’m not gonna argue with you over that anymore,” he said tiredly. “This is what he wanted to do – “

“Oh, yeah, this’s what he wanted: To be lying in a hospital, his body broken, and barely hanging on.” She shook her head. “If he dies it’ll be your fault.”

“I’m not gonna stand here and let you blame me for something no one’s responsible for,” he growled angrily, but kept his voice low in consideration of their surroundings. “Things like this happen can happen while you’re sittin’ on your couch, they can happen when you cross a harmless street, while you’re – “

“That’s not the point. This isn’t about bad luck, it’s about knowingly putting yourself in danger,” she told him stubbornly.

Maria glanced at Michael and Tess uncomfortably when they overheard the argument between the Valenti’s as they waited outside of their friend’s room. Kyle had told her about the problems they had been having and obviously the blame game had taken on a whole new level with this situation.

Michael coughed slightly to let them know they were there and nodded in greeting when they turned to look at them.

“Good morning,” Tess spoke up first.

Before anyone knew what was going on, Sarah Valenti walked over to Michael with a determined stride, her index finger pointed at his chest. “Why did you let him go down there? You should’ve stopped him! He’s your friend.”

Maria’s eyes narrowed on the woman. “How can you say that to him?”

“S’okay, M’ria.” Michael reached over and placed a hand on her arm. His posture stiffened as he faced Kyle’s mother. “That’s right,” he said slowly, “he is.”

“Then you should’ve kept him from going into that situation. This job – “

“Do you even know your son? Kyle loves bein’ a firefighter.” He shook his head. “It’s not just a job to him. It’s part of what makes him the man he is. There’s a reason not everyone’s suited to this job. The men and women who wear that uniform are a special breed and they don’t sit back or look for an easy out when there’s danger.”

“No, they run right into it with people like you encouraging them!”

Tess insinuated herself between them. “Mrs. Valenti, we’ve never met. I’m Tess, Michael’s sister. You must’ve had such a difficult night.”

Sarah stared at the girl for a moment. “Yes. Yes, it’s been very hard. You’re a friend of Kyle’s?”

“Well,” she smiled, “we’ve hung out a time or two. Why don’t we go down to the cafeteria and get a cup of coffee? You could probably use a little break.”

Although Jim wasn’t sure his wife would be good company, he was glad when the girl made the suggestion. He nodded when Sarah looked at him. “Go, I’ll stay here with him.”

“You sure you wanna do that?” Maria hugged Tess and whispered into her ear.

“We’re not all allowed to see him anyway, right? So let me distract his mother while you check on him.”

“Okay, we’ll come after you afterwards.”

Tess tightened the hug for a moment. “Alright.”

“Is there any news?” Michael asked Jim when his sister had dragged Sarah away. It was a normal reaction to blame people in situations like this, but it stung anyway.

“It was a difficult night,” the older man said tiredly and rubbed his face in exhaustion. “His vital signs dropped around three this morning when his heart started to beat erratically.”

“Oh God,” Maria whispered and leaned her forehead against her friend’s upper arm while she squeezed his hand.

“Probably because of the bruise his heart sustained,” Michael muttered and felt sick to his stomach but he put on a brave face. “They got it under control again, right?”

“Yeah, they did,” Jim nodded, relieved. Although at the time it had seemed to take forever.

“Are they gonna let anyone visit with him?”

He forced a smile for the girl his son counted as one of his best friends. “They’ll only allow a very brief five-minute visit but it’ll probably be a little while before they let you in.”

Maria nodded. “Why don’t I go get you a cup of coffee? You look like you could use one and I’m sure you don’t wanna be very far away in case he needs you.”

“I’d appreciate that, thanks.”

Michael leaned back against the wall, giving Jim the room to pace. “Kyle’s tough. He can pull through this.”

“Yeah, he can.” Jim ran a hand through his graying hair and sighed. “Michael, what Sarah said to you… She was just upset, son.”

He waved the excuse off. “Don’t worry about it. I appreciate you letting Maria have a few minutes with Kyle.”

“I’m sure he’d agree if he could right now,” the older man said and stopped to look at him. “To be honest, you probably know a lot more about his life and him than we do right now.” He shook his head and glanced at the closed door of his son’s room. “Sarah and me, we’ve been so focused on our own problems that I’m sure we’ve probably missed a few things in his life.”

“Sometimes things are distracting and Kyle’s a man who can live on his own pretty good. I don’t think he blames you.”

Jim smiled sadly and hung his shoulders. “You always realize you could’ve done better when things like this happen, don’t you?”

Michael nodded and remembered his own ugly words, which he had thrown at Kyle for sleeping with his sister. “That’s true…”

“You boys do a helluva job out there, Michael.” He squeezed the younger man’s shoulder and felt the tension there. “I know you’d like to see him and I will make sure you get a few minutes with him.”

“I’d appreciate that.”

Jim pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. “He doesn’t… Does he have a girlfriend? Maybe a girl he’s been seeing regularly?” He sighed roughly. “I should know this!” he bit out as he started to pace. God, why had he gotten so wrapped up with things, wallowing in self-pity over his ruined marriage?

“Jim, Kyle knows you’ve been goin’ through a rough time.”

“So he told you.” He threw his hands up in the air. “Of course he told you. You’re his best friend.”

Michael tipped his head back to rest against the wall. He certainly hadn’t been acting like it lately. “He doesn’t have a girlfriend.” He closed his eyes for a moment. “Maybe, if it’s alright, in a few days my sister Tess can see him for a little bit.”

“It’ll be okay if I have anything to say about it,” Jim agreed. “I believe it helps him to hear your voices.” Maybe it helped more than those of his parents right now, he thought sadly.

“I believe so too. Kyle knows we’re all here, he’d do it for everyone is this group too.” No doubt about that, even with their fight, he was sure he’d be right there if he was the one in that room right now.

They stood there for a moment in silence until Maria returned and handed the hot mug of coffee to the older man. “I didn’t know if you liked cream or sugar – “

“Black is fine, thanks,” Jim took it from her and glanced down the hallway. “I’m gonna talk to the nurse and see if it’s okay for you to go and see him.”

Maria glanced at Michael with a helpless look in her eyes. “I hope this nightmare’s over soon.”

“I know,” he sighed and pulled her pale figure against his side.

God, what would she do if it wasn’t Kyle but Michael lying in that bed right now? Would she even be able to breathe? No matter which of her friends was hurt, every scenario was horrible, but the thought that her best friend could be the one scared her.

Tess walked along the hallway, her pace measured to match that of Kyle’s mother. The woman had been tense and silent while they walked to the cafeteria for coffee and she hadn’t uttered a word as they walked back. She had tried making conversation at first but had given up on it when she hadn’t received a response.

“Are you and Kyle seeing each other?” Sarah asked.

She looked up when the woman broke the silence. “No, he’s just a friend.” He wasn’t even that really but it wasn’t like she could just blurt out the truth. No, we’re not friends, we just had sex once and now we can’t seem to talk to each other. Yeah, that probably wasn’t what his mother needed or wanted to hear.

“I hate his job.”

“Why?”

Sarah stopped and turned to face the girl. “Why?” she echoed. “My son’s lying in an ICU room in critical condition and you’re asking me why?”

“I just meant that he’s doin’ what he loves. Being a firefighter means so much to him.” She shrugged when his mother just shook her head in disgust. “Mrs. Valenti, I lost my oldest brother on 9/11. I was there with my best friend, doing whatever we could to help out, and yeah, the job he does is dangerous, but while I was there I really gained an understanding of just how important it is and how much the men and women in that profession put into it.” She paused. “How much they sacrifice. It’s not something he really talks about but what he does is important to him. Even if you hate it, you have to love him enough to respect his choice to put his life on the line to save others.”

The older woman stayed quiet for a while and Tess started to wonder if their conversation was over. “He’s always had a big heart,” she started after what felt like a small eternity. “When he was a kid, he used to work in a small veterinary hospital near where we lived. Every day of his vacation time he would be there at 7 in the morning and he’d stay the whole day to help the staff with wounded animals like dogs, cats, an eagle once, birds, and he didn’t get a cent out of it, but he didn’t care.” She smiled sadly at the memory and held the freshly brewed coffee between her hands. “During dinner he was always so excited to tell us about his day, that he always forgot to eat.”

“He’s a good guy,” Tess agreed with tears shimmering in her eyes. It was nice to hear some positive things from his childhood, things that only underlined her real impression of him.

“Yeah,” Sarah sobbed, “he really is.” She wiped her tears away quickly and straightened. “I hope he’ll find a woman who sees those good things in him.” A snorting sound escaped her mouth. “God knows, he can hide it so well.”

She wanted so badly to wave her hands in the air and shout from the rooftops that she was the one and she knew what a great guy he was. But it wasn’t the time or the place and she knew that too. “Some girl out there knows, Mrs. Valenti.”

“I hope so. He has so much to offer the right girl.”

She forced a smile. “I know.”

“I realize the two of you are just friends but do you know… I mean, is he seeing anyone special? Not one of those little tramps he’s been known to spend time with but someone who might be special to him?”

Just twist the knife, Tess thought. “Oh, I really don’t know. Like you said, he has a tendency of hiding the things that are most important to him.”

Sarah nodded sadly and stared at her hands. “Jim and I… we’re not really a part of his life right now. We hardly even see him.”

“Life can get pretty busy sometimes.”

“Yeah,” the older woman agreed, “but that’s just a lame excuse as parents.” She smiled sadly and took a deep breath to shake the thought off. “So your brother works at the station as well?”

“He does – not as a firefighter though. Michael’s an EMT.”

“That’s a tough job as well,” Sarah admitted and glanced at the girl in front of her. “I’m sorry I said those things to him, I was just…”

“Worried, I know,” Tess finished with an encouraging smile. “But if you want to apologize to him, I won’t hold you up. He plays it tough, but the accident shook him up pretty bad as well.”

An alarm sounded somewhere down the hall and several nurses raced to one of the rooms, the flashing light above the door to some other unfortunate soul’s room allowing them to breathe easier.

“Every time one of those things goes off I feel like I can’t breathe. I just don’t know what I’ll do if…” She brought her hand up to cover her mouth before she could say the words.

“You can’t think like that. If anyone can pull through something like this, it’s Kyle!” Her own nerves felt like they had been stretched too tightly and she suddenly felt the need to escape. “Why don’t we get back so you can see for yourself that he’s alright.”

“Alright,” Sarah whispered. Would things ever be alright again?

She breathed in relief when the mother of her crush agreed. They walked along the hallways back to the ICU quietly and only looked at each other again when they reached their destination.

“Any news?”

Jim shook his head from where he was leaning against the wall next to Michael. “Maria was allowed a few minutes with him.”

“Good,” Tess nodded and looked at her brother, who was just staring at the ground with his hands shoved in his pants pockets.

“I’m sorry for what I said earlier,” she heard Sarah saying suddenly as she touched Michael’s arm lightly.

“It’s alright,” he shrugged it off.

“I should’ve said you’re not responsible for what happened to my son. I know that.”

He nodded mutely and wondered if Tess had said something to cause the apology. “I think I need some air,” he suddenly said and pushed himself from the wall to walk outside.

Tess grimaced as she watched his slumped figure walking out of the ICU section with a slightly hurried pace.

“You can go after him if you want. I can let Maria know – “ Jim started.

“No, it’s okay.” She looked at him and tried to smile but failed. “He won’t talk to me anyway. My brother’s like that. I’ll give him a few minutes.”

“He asked if you could visit with Kyle when the doctors allow him to have visitors for more than a couple of minutes and I just want you to know that as soon as he’s stable enough we’ll let you know.”

Nothing could’ve surprised her more at that moment. “Michael asked you that?”

“Yeah. I’d like nothing more than to be able to let all of you in to visit him, but – “

“No, Mr. Valenti, please don’t apologize. We’re all here for Kyle even if we can’t see him right now.”

He smiled and nodded. “Call me Jim.”

She turned her head when the door to Kyle’s ICU room opened and she held her breath as she leaned forward hoping to catch a glimpse of him.

*****

Maria was sitting in the chair next to her hurt friend while she held his hand with both of hers. She had told him about the past few hours since she had left him the last time and then she had fallen silent, unsure what to say anymore. What if something she said upset him?

Her eyes moved to the bed and she could’ve sworn she had felt movement, but with his eyes bandaged and his body pinned flat to the mattress it was hard to tell. “Kyle, I’m here,” she whispered quietly.

A slight groan escaped his lips suddenly and she shot up from her seat to lean in closer. “Kyle, can you hear me?”

She felt his body stiffen at her question and a moment later he tired to move.

“Easy,” she told him gently and pressed the button to call a nurse before her hand wandered back to stroke the bit of hair that flopped over the bandages covering eyes. “Don’t try to move. Everything’s okay.”

He tried to speak but something was preventing his vocal chords from working. He was totally disoriented and fogged from the heavy pain killers.

“It’s alright. Your eyes are bandaged. Don’t worry about it; they just need to heal first.” She looked up when a nurse came in. “I think he’s awake.”

The woman nodded and went to check his vitals.

Kyle tried again to speak, his fuzzy mind incapable of letting him know if he had actually spoken.

Maria smiled sadly and didn’t care when her tears ran down her cheeks and dropped on his blanket. Had he tried to say her name? “Yeah, it’s me. We’re all here with you. Don’t worry, okay?”

He tried to swallow, thinking maybe if he could moisten his throat it would allow him to speak, but a moment later he realized something was preventing him from breathing and he tried to fight against it. As consciousness began to return and he realized that not only was he having trouble breathing, he couldn’t see anything, and he couldn’t move, he started trying to jerk violently in an attempt to take control of himself.

The nurse called for more help and spoke to him soothingly while she was waiting for it to arrive. It wasn’t uncommon for patients to react in this manner when regaining consciousness after whatever procedure or emergency had put them in the ICU in the first place. It was a natural instinct to fight the ventilator tube. They just had to keep him calm until they could remove it to prevent him from further injuring himself.

“What’s happening?” Maria asked fearfully.

“It’s a normal reaction,” she assured the young woman. “Patients wake up with a tube in their windpipe it’s uncomfortable and because it’s essentially breathing for them it usually causes them to panic. It’s a good sign though. If he’s able to breathe on his own we’ll be able to take him off of the ventilator sooner rather than later.”

Maria watched the woman as she continued to talk to Kyle, assuring him everything was going to be fine and reminding him to stay calm. She crept closer to the bed, cautious of staying out of the way, and she reached out to rest her hand on his arm. “Kyle, you have to stay calm. This part will be over soon,” she promised. She looked up when the door opened and several more uniformed people rushed inside. As much as she didn’t want to she moved back out of their way and in spite of her minimal protest she was escorted out of the room while they began the process of removing the breathing tube.

Earth2Mama: That’d really scare anyone. Regaining consciousness is a very good sign. Recovery will take time but he has a lot of support to help him get there.

What Sarah said was wrong and she absolutely owes Jim a huge apology.

Vince and Megan are good people and they may just be instrumental in this situation. Allowing Aaron to make that phone call will be helpful for all of them.

Natalie36: Looks like we’re seeing some good signs coming out of this mess. We’ll be checking in with Cody soon.

CandyliciousLovah: Lol, love the enthusiasm, but he hasn’t found his voice just yet.

begonia9508: Thanks!

Unfortunately the good families that exist in the foster system are often overlooked due to the publicity given to those that aren’t so good. Aaron did land with a wonderful family though. Aaron won’t forget Vince’s part of the deal.

Kyle’s has a rough road ahead of him but he’s gonna get there.

sarammlover: Yes, lol, don’t forget that H… it makes all the difference. She definitely attacked everyone possible and Tess was brave to step in and handle that situation. And don’t worry, Tess will get her chance to talk to Kyle and finally get things out in the open.

Vince and Megan will stay true to their instincts and they’ll learn a little bit more in this update.

keepsmiling7: We’ll be checking in with little man again this week.

Have you ever tried a grilled PB&J? Lol, really!

Aaron isn’t letting that old crab get away with telling that lie! And he’s gonna tell anyone who’ll listen that she’s not telling the truth.

xilaj: Hey girl! We are glad you are back!

Our little Liz/Max/Aaron family is in a tough place right now and ripped apart, but we are working to get them back together eventually.

Michael is blaming himself right now and he is worried that the things he said to Kyle before the accident were the last things he ever said to him. But things are looking up a bit for Kyle, so there is hope that they still got a chance to figure things out. And maybe Kyle can help then with the Maria / Courtney dilemma?




Part 110

Alone In A Crowd

A nurse stood in the hallway with the Valenti’s, explaining the situation and assuring them that this was normal. She wanted to believe them but she had felt his fear and confusion, and she could only imagine what must have been running through his mind as he struggled to breathe, to move, and to see, only to be denied each time.

“What happened?” Tess rushed to her side when she saw the devastated look on her friend’s face. Her heart had been beating a mile a minute since the action around his room had started.

“He woke up,” her friend replied and blinked, but her view remained blurry. “I don’t know, it felt like he was scared and like he didn’t know where he was.”

Tess glanced at the closed door of Kyle’s room with a horrified expression.

“They say it’s normal though. He wants to breathe on his own, but the tube is preventing it, so they’re removing the thing right now.”

Both girls hugged tightly. “It’s good if he woke up.”

“Yeah,” Maria agreed, trying to be positive.

“And the doctors didn’t seem to be super rushed,” Tess continued and looked at her friend. “They would’ve been more rushed if it was something serious.”

“Right.” The other blonde looked around and frowned. “Where’s Michael?”

“He went outside.” She lowered her voice. “Kyle’s mom started trying to apologize for what she said and telling him that it’s not his fault. And you know Michael.”

“Yeah, at that point he would’ve said he needed some air.”

“Yep. He hasn’t come back inside since then.”

“Why don’t we go find him and let him know that Kyle’s awake? That’ll make him feel better.”

“He’s probably so scared right now, Maria,” Tess whispered and hugged her tighter. “He wakes up disoriented; he’s on the ventilator, he can’t move, and he can’t see. That has to be so terrifying for him.”

“I know. But he’s gonna get better. It’ll just take some time and we’re all here to help him.”

“Not sure he’ll let me help him.”

“Don’t let this stupid fight get in the way,” Maria shook her head and squeezed her friend’s shoulder encouragingly. “Things like that don’t really matter in these situations, you’ll see.”

Hopefully she was right, Tess thought. She didn’t want to stay away from Kyle because of the things that had happened before his accident. No matter who was right or wrong, they were still kinda friends and they had known each other for a long time. “You go and find Michael and I’ll just wait until one of the Valenti’s comes back to give us some news.”

“You sure?”

“I’m sure. Besides, my brother won’t talk to anyone but you. We both know that.”

Outside the temperatures were already rising and when she walked out through the automatic doors it felt like walking into a wall of fire. She swallowed hard when that thought made her pause and she thought about her friend lying in a hospital bed. He was going to be okay, she thought as she forced herself to keep walking.

She looked around, scanning the sidewalks that were already filled with people, searching for Michael and knowing he would have gone looking for someplace quiet. It didn’t take long before she spotted him, sitting on a bench across the street. There were times when words seemed to fail him, times when he felt things so deeply that he couldn’t talk about them, but she knew how to handle him.

He had been like that since he was little. He had no problem talking about nothing, running off at the mouth when he wanted to clown around or start a fight with someone who had pissed him off, and in those moods anyone in their circle could get him to talk. But the other moods, the quiet and introspective, the pensive, the hurt, or the deeply wounded moods, she was the one he responded to.

She quickly crossed the street and joined him on the bench, sitting close but leaving enough space if he felt crowded. Most people didn’t know him well enough because he let very few get that close, but she knew the signs, knew when moving closer would be welcomed, knew when to back off, and she knew when a little gentle urging would make him relax and open up enough to let her get whatever was bothering him out of him.

Michael glanced up briefly when she joined him and he wasn’t surprised. If he could count on anything, it was Maria coming after him no matter what kind of mood he was in. He frowned when he saw the dried tears on her face and his internal alarm started going off loudly. “Why’ve you been crying?” he asked, but his voice almost didn’t sound like his own.

She was surprised to hear him speak so soon, but then she realized it was because he thought something bad had happened. “He woke up.” Her hand went out to rest over his where it lay on his muscled jean-covered thigh. “Kyle woke up just a few minutes ago.”

“He did?” Michael straightened up.

“Yeah, and he,” she swallowed to get her voice back, “it was weird, he seemed to…”

“He was disoriented and probably panicked.”

She nodded and looked at him with a grimace. “Yeah, he was fighting against the machines and tubes.”

“It’s normal,” he assured her and moved closer to take her in his arms when he could tell that she was obviously upset by it. “People waking up after somethin’ like this usually don’t remember what happened. They don’t know why they’re there and it makes it worse that they’ve got him strapped down so he can’t move and his eyes are bandaged so he can’t see anything.” His voice was calming and deep as he spoke and it helped her to relax. “The breathing tube’s really uncomfortable and some people say it feels like someone’s strangling you from the inside, but I’m sure if they remove it and he can breathe on his own they won’t have to keep him on it.”

“They said that,” she agreed.

“He’s young and he’s strong, RP. Those are two things that’re working in his favor. Not to mention he’s got a ton of support to help him get through this.”

“It’s just…” she swallowed hard. “He’s so broken, Michael.”

He hugged her tighter. “It’s gonna take time. The most important thing is that he’s getting the best care and he’s awake. Yeah, he’s gonna be in pain and miserable for a while but he’ll get past that.” He gave her an encouraging and slightly teasing smile. “Pain fades, wounds heal…”

“But glory lasts forever,” she said, filling in the movie quote and laughing quietly.

“The wounds are more serious than ever before but him bein’ awake so soon is one of the best signs that he’s gonna fight his way through this.”

“He’s gonna have a rough recovery.”

“And we’ll be there to keep his spirits up, bully him when we have to, and make sure he gets up on his feet again.”

“He’s gonna to be a pain in the ass when he can’t move around as fast or as quickly as he wants to,” Maria mumbled against his shoulder and turned her head to rest her cheek on it.

“Yeah,” he agreed, “he is, but the injuries he has are gonna take time to heal.”

“At least he can’t run away when Tess wants to talk to him,” she snorted and wiped her eyes before she leaned back to get a closer look at him – the real reason why she had come out here in the first place.

He shifted and looked away, squinting against the sun. “Yeah, well, I guess that’s a good thing.”

“It’s gonna to be interesting,” she mused. Who knew, maybe there could be something between the two of them? Stranger things had happened... like her sudden feelings for the man next to her. She rolled her eyes slightly, but caught herself in the middle when she realized he could see her.

He tipped his head to study her when he caught the aborted eye roll. “You really think Kyle could be interested in her like that?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I’m just hoping for it because it’d make your sister happy... or maybe he really could. They slept together, so it has to mean something.”

He snorted and rolled his eyes. “It could’ve easily meant the same thing it means to anyone else who’s horny and just lookin’ to get laid.”

“As you would know better than anyone else,” she rolled her eyes for real this time.

“I don’t deny that.” He shrugged. “I’m also tryin’ to change, ya know?”

Ungh, don’t remind me, she thought. “Can I ask you something?”

He elbowed her. “Since when do you ask me that?”

“Okay,” she swallowed and stuck her hair behind her ears. “When you first saw Courtney... was it like you knew already that she was different for you or was... I don’t know... what made you go into this different than usual?”

“Well, it wasn’t some kinda love at first sight thing,” he said and laughed. “I mean, she’s hot and she is pretty cool. And when we went out I figured she was a sure thing but she pretty much shot me down at the end of the night.” He made a face. “I don’t know, I guess at first it was kind of a challenge but the more time we spent together the more I thought maybe it’s more than that.”

Why did I ask in the first place? What’d I think he’d say that’d make me feel better? “So if she hadn’t shot you down the first night...”

He shifted and shrugged. “I would’ve gotten laid and moved on.”

Fate really was a bitch, she thought.

“Why’re you askin’? You think maybe Tess is different for Kyle?” Because it sure hadn’t seemed like that to him.

This has nothing to do with them, dummy, she thought in frustration. “I don’t know. Maybe?” She shrugged. “No one thought you and Courtney would be different, so why not them too?”

“Thought? No one thought?” he asked with a scowl. “No one THINKS that, Maria. Did you see them all yesterday? It’s like they’re just tolerating her to placate me.”

“They’ll get over it,” she told him, hoping they wouldn’t have to go into that in detail.

He shrugged. “You gotta work today?”

“No,” she sighed in frustration. “Not really any jobs for me lately, but at least I got the money from the rent back, that helps. Tony asked if I wanna move in while I’m looking for a different apartment and I guess I’m just gonna go with it to save money. I’m here most of the time anyway.”

“You’re movin’ in with Tony? Hell, you could’ve crashed at my place.”

She snorted. “Oh, yeah, to add more drama to you an’ Courtney? No way.”

“She just doesn’t understand me an’ you, that’s all.”

“I don’t think she’d like me hanging around at your place all the time anyway,” Maria told him.

He knew that much was true so he dropped the subject. “I decided I’m not gonna invite her over for dinner with the parents tomorrow night.”

It took all her strength to not shout out a YES! in front of him. “Okay.”

“What d’you think about Tony an’ Ava?” he asked, switching gears again.

“I think they make a cute couple and she couldn’t have found a better guy for her.”

“Yeah, I guess so. Chase really likes him and he’s good with kids.”

“He is,” she agreed. “And he’d never just have her around for sex with Chase in the picture. He’s a keeper.”

“That’s a relief.” He stretched and looked at her fully. “Okay, what about Isabel and Alex? What is going on there?”

“Not sure about that,” she admitted. “Your sister’s not much of an open book.”

“That’s for damn sure. It’s weird, as different as he is from her it’s like they click, ya know?”

“Maybe she finally realized that assholes aren’t her type.”

“He’s definitely not that. I can’t figure him out though. We’ve been givin’ him shit for I don’t know how long and he seems to be a genuinely nice guy.”

“Guess we were wrong about him and he was also a little wrong about us.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Somehow he had a feeling they had been more wrong than he had.

“A few weeks ago our group was a bunch of partying singles and now look at us... well, all of you I guess.”

“Amazing how fast things can change.” He hugged her. “You’re gonna find a good guy, RP.”

Already have, she thought and leaned into him, but didn’t say anything.

*****

Aaron squirmed around in his seat at the kitchen table after finishing not one, but almost two of the sandwiches. He watched the other kids that had come running as soon as they had heard their mommy was cooking the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. He hadn’t bitten into the first one, not expecting to like it, but as soon as the buttery flavor of the grilled bread mingled with the warmed peanut butter and jelly his eyes had widened and he had quickly taken another bite.

The girl sitting next to him had been staring at Rabi and he hugged the stuffed rabbit tighter when she shifted closer. His eyes narrowed when she reached out and grabbed a handful of Rabi’s fur and he howled in outrage when he saw the grape jelly matting his beloved toy’s fur. He jerked Rabi free of her grip and she nearly tumbled out of her chair, saved from the nosedive thanks to Vince’s quick move to grab her.

“Tonya, you know better than to take things that don’t belong to you,” he said as he righted her and made sure she was alright.

“I just wanted to touch it,” the six-year-old muttered mutinously.

He crouched down to look at her directly. “Did you ask Aaron if you could touch it?”

“He doesn’t talk to anybody, he just sits there and cries like a little baby.”

“You were sad a lot when you first came here too, weren’t you?” Megan said gently as she nudged her husband and nodded towards the living room.

Vince got to his feet and went to the sink to get a dishcloth, running it under the faucet and then wringing the excess water out of it. He went after the little boy, finding him back in his corner where he seemed to feel safest. “I think if you wanna hand your little buddy over for a second or two we can get that jelly out of his fur,” he offered as he sat down close to him and stretched his long legs at the ankles, waiting patiently to see if he’d agree.

“Are you mad?” Aaron asked after a while.

“Mad?”

“’cause I yelled at that girl.”

He chuckled. “No, I’m not mad. We do try to resolve scuffles over toys or anything else without resorting to a round of tug-o-war though.”

Aaron nodded quietly and reached over to tug on the rag. “Max said it’s not nice to hit people, but ‘specially not girls.” He started rubbing it over Rabi’s fur. “He said that’s bad so I din’t do that.”

“Max sounds like a smart man.”

“He is. Can I call him an’ Lizzie now? You said I could if I eated my sandwich an’ I did.”

Vince smiled and got up to lean over the boy to reach for the cordless phone that sat on the end table next to the couch. “Do you know your phone number, Aaron?” He tapped the edge of the phone against his chin thoughtfully, watching the little boy when he rubbed the worn, soft fur on the stuffed rabbit for a moment before turning away slightly. He smiled when he heard the quiet sound of Velcro being separated and a moment later he was presented with a laminated square of paper that had been folded in half. The handwriting was sharp, slanted to the right, and it was distinctly male.

There were several phone numbers and he studied the notes scrawled beside them. The three-digit emergency number was listed first, followed by Max’ cell number, Max’ work number, Liz’ work number, and then a number for someone named Mike. He looked at the little boy. “Can you read, Aaron?”

“I can read numbers an’ some small words.” He got up on his knees and leaned over to point at the words on the paper. “Max made it so I can read it. See? He putted the 911 first ‘cause he said if somethin’ bad’s happening to always call that first. Then his name ‘cause Lizzie don’t got no cell phone, an’ his work ‘cause he’s the boss an’ I don’t gotta wait to talk to him. Lizzie’s boss can be mean sometimes an’ he won’t let her talk on the phone, so he put Michael’s number too for when her boss is mean an’ I need her. He hided it so Trent wouldn’t find it ‘cause Trent’s mean too, but he’s real mean, an’ Max was scared for me an’ Lizzie.” He shook his head. “Not scared like afraid, ‘cause he could beat Trent up if he wanted to, but Max says sometimes you gotta be the bigger man an’ not fight even when the other person is bad. I don’t understand all that but he said I will one day.” He wrinkled his nose. “I think maybe that’s a long time away though.”

“That’s somethin’ it takes most of us a long time to really understand, Aaron.” He tapped the small square against his knee, trying to reconcile what Ms. Tremont had told them with what he was hearing from the little boy who clearly worshipped the couple who were raising him. “Is Max at work right now?”

Aaron thought for a few moments and then he shrugged. “Lizzie was sad when that mean lady made me go away an’ Max don’t like it when she’s sad.”

“Think he’s at home with her?”

“Yeah, he’s with Lizzie,” he said decisively.

Vince nodded and handed the paper back to the little boy. “Then I guess you’ll wanna call his first number then, huh?” He pressed the talk button and handed the phone to Aaron, smiling at his slow movements as he focused so hard in an attempt to get it right on the first try. The little guy’s features suddenly became animated when he put the phone up to his ear and it was answered on the other end.

*****

Courtney stopped just as she was about to cross the street to go into to the hospital. Her hands clenched at her side when she saw her boyfriend on a bench, practically wrapped around his best friend in a tight hug for what seemed like an eternity. It took all her strength to not go over and yell at him. No, instead she took a calming breath and told herself it was only natural in the situation they were in. Kyle was hurt pretty bad and of course the gang would look for comfort from each other.

She began to walk again and when she almost reached them hers and Michael’s eyes locked for a moment. She could see the slight panic in his face at the same time as his arms dropped from around the other girl.

“Court,” his voice was one of surprise, “what’re you doin’ here?”

Maria looked up when he suddenly let go of her and she felt a pinch in her heart when she saw the reason. Without a breath she moved over to sit at the other end of the bench.

“You left me a message that you were gonna be at the hospital this morning. I know we aren’t supposed to see each other before tonight, but I was on my way to a job and since I was early I thought I’d come by and check on you to see how things are going.”

He nodded and stood, wondering why he felt awkward about the quick kiss he gave her. “Kyle woke up so things are lookin’ up.” He cleared his throat. “So where’s the job?”

“Just a few blocks from here, in a penthouse.”

He nodded. “Cool.”

Maria rolled her eyes. “Well, I think I’ll go see if Tess is ready to get out for a while.”

Michael turned to look at her and nodded. “I’ll be there in a minute.”

“Okay.” She hated to leave but at the same time she couldn’t stand to stay.

He turned back to his girlfriend and checked her face. “Are you mad?” he asked when he couldn’t decide.

“No, of course not. It’s uncomfortable to see the two of you together like that but I know you’re all having a difficult time so I do understand.”

“Good,” he said, relieved as he wiped his face. “Yeah, it’s not easy right now with all the shit going on... Hard to think straight.”

“I’m sure it is.” She looked at the hospital over his shoulder. “Have the doctors said what Kyle’s prognosis is?”

“It’s still too early to say much. He woke up, so there is some light.”

“I guess maybe that’s the most important thing. Have you been able to see him?”

“No, just Maria.”

“Oh, well, they were involved, right?” Maybe this would give Maria a nudge in the right direction, she thought. It would keep her focused on Kyle instead of Michael.

“That’s been over for a while, but they’re still close. She’s got a calming voice so we decided she’d be the best for visits.”

Of course. “I’m sure it’s good for him to hear a familiar voice. It probably helps like, guide him back or something.”

“You never know,” he agreed.

She looked at him, his features tired and his entire appearance somehow lifeless. “I understand if you need to cancel our date tonight, if – “

“No, it’ll be good to get away from everything. Just hang out and spend some time together.”

She smiled when he wasn’t planning on backing out on her. “Okay, I’m looking forward to it.”

He nodded and forced a smile. “I’ve got a family thing on Sunday. The parents kinda wanna take a look at us and make sure we’re all in one piece.”

“That’s understandable,” she nodded and tried to calm her pounding heart. Was he planning to invite her? If so, it would be a huge step!

“It was hard for them to accept my job,” he said slowly. “I mean, they supported me, don’t get me wrong, but I know it was hard for them. So, after somethin’ like yesterday they just need to know their kids are all in one piece.”

“Since ya gotta work the early shift, you gonna be over there tomorrow night?” she guessed and waited to see where he was going with it. Was he just telling her or was he inviting her?

“I’ll head over after my shift.” He reached up to rub his eyebrow. “They just need a few hours with us.”

She nodded and tried to hide her disappointment. It’s too early, she told herself, but at the same time she was wondering if Maria would be invited or not. “I hope it’s gonna be fun and not like a depressing mood or something. If so, you can always stop by later.”

“Nah, it won’t be depressing or anything. But, if I’m not too beat afterwards I’ll come by.”

“But first we concentrate on tonight,” she smiled and kissed him briefly. “Since I know you’ve got your mind somewhere else, let me make a little plan for us, okay? Don’t worry; it’s nothing that’ll require a lot of energy.”

“Yeah, okay, that sounds good.” He grinned. “Wanna gimme a hint?”

“Hmm, let’s see... I have to talk to a friend first to check, but if it’s okay we’re talking good food, comfortable huge soft chairs, open air, and cocktails.”

His eyebrows lifted. “Music?”

“Of course.”

“No idea where you’re plannin’ on takin’ me but it sounds good. Well, not so much with the cocktails, but as long as they’ve got beer, we’re good.”

She smirked against his lips. “Bet they got some blankets to make out under as well.”

“This someplace public?”

“Public but not crowded.”

“Okay,” he grinned and shook his head. “I look forward to it.”

“Me too,” she winked and finally let go of him. “Seven?”

“Pick you up at your place?”

“Sure.”

He looked at her and smiled. “I’ll see you at seven then.”

“Can’t wait,” she stepped away and hurried so she wouldn’t be too late for her appointment.

He watched her for a minute, smirking as his gaze dropped to her ass. He turned to go back to the hospital and wondered if not inviting Courtney out to meet his parents was some kind of sign.