DISCLAIMER: Anakin and Obi-Wan belong to George Lucas. The staff of Cook County General are the property of NBC. All of them are used here without permission. Note: I am only a high school student, so please, please, PLEASE don't sue me!
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is an ER/Star Wars Crossover. Please enjoy!
One Day
"Okay now, let's review," Obi-Wan Kenobi said to his apprentice as they rode a nearly-empty train.
"Okay," Anakin Skywalker said, closing his eyes tightly and scrunching up his face in a look of concentration.
Obi-Wan nearly laughed, but he managed to keep a straight face. "Okay, what's your name?"
"Um, Andrew...Andrew..."
"Smith," Obi-Wan supplied.
"Right, Smith," he echoed.
"What's my name?"
"Ben Smith."
"And who am I?"
"My...brother?"
"Right. Now where are we?"
Anakin was able to rattle this off easily. "We are in Chicago, Illinois, in the country of the United States of America, on the continent of North America, on the planet Earth." He continued without being prompted. "We are from New York City and we just moved here yesterday."
Obi-Wan smiled. "Very good, Ani."
The two Jedis were taking a vacation, and what better place than a backwater planet in a galaxy far, far away? Or so that was what Anakin thought.
In truth, they were there because the Jedi Council was worried about the threat of the Sith, particularly concerning Anakin. They were afraid that the little boy full of talent and anger would be an easy target for the Sith. They feared that the boy would succomb to the Dark Side, fueled by the pain, fear, and anger he felt because of his and his mother's enslavement.
And so Obi-Wan had been told to take Anakin far, far away for a vacation while the Council dealt with the threat. Obi-Wan personally thought that this was a good idea and welcomed the opportunity to relax. He and Anakin had assumed false identities and had been prepared for their trip.
He watched Chicago pass by. It was a beautiful city surrounding a huge lake. Lake...Michigan. It lay nestled like a jewel among the buildings of the city.
Obi-Wan tore his gaze from the lake long enough to watch the train pull away from their stop. "Ani?"
Anakin jumped, likewise tearing his gaze away from the streets where people drove strange vehicles on the ground. They weren't as fast as speeders (or, of course, podracers), but it was interesting to watch the little metal things maneuvering through traffic. "Yes, Obi-um, Ben?"
"I'm afraid that we missed our stop," he said calmly. "We will have to get off at the next stop and walk back."
"Oh, okay," he said, gazing once more out of the window. "Ben?"
"Yes, Ani?"
"Can I fly one of those things?"
"I believe, Ani, that the word is "drive," and those are cars. And to answer your question, no, you may not. You have to be at least sixteen to drive a car."
"Then why don't you?"
"Because I don't know how, Ani. Would you like me to crash into something with one of those cars?"
His eyes lit up. "That'd be wiza--I mean, of course not."
Obi-Wan sighed and rolled his eyes. "I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that."
"Okay!" There was a pause, and then Anakin said, "Um, Obi-uh, Ben?"
"Yes?" Obi-Wan replied, choosing to ignore Anakin's lapse.
"Can I call Pad-I mean Ami-um..."
"Yes, you may call..." He paused while he tried to think of a human name. That strange book, The Chicago Phone Book, had been very helpful in that respect. That was how they had chosen their names. Andrew was relatively close to Anakin, and Smith was apparently a very common human last name. There had been several pages of Smiths in the book. As for his name...well, that was a different matter altogether. "...Amy when we get home."
"Thanks!" Anakin said cheerily.
Obi-Wan couldn't help but add, "She is a little old for you, don't you think?" He raised his eyebrows slightly for emphasis.
"She's not that old! I'm already eleven and she's only, um..." Anakin started counting on his fingers. "...sixteen." His eyes lit up. "Hey, maybe she could come and learn how to drive!"
Obi-Wan resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I don't think so, Ani."
"Oh," he said, looking slightly letdown.
Obi-Wan was about to say something when the train stopped. "Come, Pad-Ani. It's time to go."
The two slowly walked out of the train and down a flight of steps onto the street below.
"Which way do we go?" Anakin asked, peering around. The cars were bigger than they had seemed from the train, and he was slightly wary of them.
"Um...this way!" Obi-Wan said, setting off towards their apartment building.
Anakin trotted after him. "Slow down!" he called. He paused for a moment and kicked a tall pole. "I hate these stupid clothes!" he said.
"Ani, it's not like we could run around in our clothes, now could we?"
"I guess not, but they sure'd be a lot more comfortable." He tugged at his green and brown striped shirt. He also wore a pair of stiff blue pants called jeans and heavy white shoes called sneakers. Obi-Wan was similarly garbed in a blue shirt, jeans, and sneakers. Anakin thought that they both looked ridiculous, but appearantly no one else did because they were all wearing the same silly clothing. "These pants are so stiff I can barely move!"
Obi-Wan waited for him patiently. "Maybe they'll get better once they've been worn for a while," he suggested. "Now come on."
Obediently, Anakin followed his master, grumbling to himself about the crazy people here. Obi-Wan smiled faintly but did not say anything.
Obi-Wan stopped when they reached the edge of the street, and Anakin bumped into him. "Hey!" he said. "Why'd you stop?"
"We have to cross the street now, Ani," he responded tersely, his eyes scanning the street. "Stay close to me."
Anakin nodded his head and watched the cars zoom by. Finally there was a gap in the traffic, and, without thinking, he darted across the street.
Anakin heard Obi-Wan's voice scream "NO!", and then he felt his body thrown to the ground. As he rolled underneath a car, he could hear the screeching of tires. Then there was a sickening thump. After that, there was a moment of silence before all hell broke loose.
*****
Carol and Doug were on their way to Chicago Cook County General. Each one was carrying a twin. While Carol completed her last day at Cook County before moving to Seattle with Doug, after walking her to work, he was going to take the girls to the park.
As they walked past the El, however, they noticed that there was an accident.
Carol walked over towards the car. "What happened?"
A haggard-looking woman ran her hand through her head. "Oh God!" she moaned. "I-I swear that I didn't see him. I mean, I was just driving along, and this kid ran right in front of me." She buried her face into her hands. "Oh God!" she groaned.
Carol wasted no more time there. She knelt down by the side of the car. "Are you all right?"
A small boy with blond hair peered up at her. "I-I guess so," he said. "I mean, yeah, I am." She noticed tear-streaks on his face. "Wh-what happened--?"
"You were hit by a car," she said gently.
"No," he said. "I mean, no, I didn't get hit by the car; I just rolled under here when someone knocked into me. I meant what happened to, uh, Ben? He-he's my brother," he added, grateful that in this emergency, he had not forgotten their cover story.
"Do you want me to look for him?"
"Yeah, that'd be great." He gave her a wavering smile.
"Okay, just lie there and don't move, okay?" Carol got up off of the pavement. "Doug, can you go get Mark? Tell him we need one--no, two stretchers." For in that moment, she saw what had happened to the little boy's brother. And she knew who had pushed the boy out of the way.
And she knew that his brother might not walk away from this.
*****
Anakin wondered where that nice lady had gone. She had popped her head underneath the car to talk to him, told him not to move, and gone over to see where Obi-Wan was. She still hadn't come back. He tried to twist his head so that he could see, but nothing helped.
Anakin decided to take stock of his situation. After being thrown to the ground, he had rolled underneath the car. As he neared the back wheel, his right arm had gone up automatically to shield his face. Now he was lying on his side facing the back left wheel. Although he had been scared to death, he was unharmed.
Wow, he thought, I got off lucky. I'll walk away without a scratch.
He still couldn't tell what was going on. He wondered where Obi-Wan was. And then a chilling thought flashed through his head.
*What had the car hit that had stopped the back wheels from running over me? What had the car hit that had caused that huge bump?*
*****
"Okay, now, we're going to get you out of there."
Anakin craned his neck upward so that he could see the faces of his rescuers. A tall, thin man with glasses knelt down with the pretty lady who had seen him before. Another lady with a dark ponytail knelt besides the thin one. Both of them held one end of a funny looking orange board. A bed with wheels stood nearby.
"We're going to roll you onto this board now, and on the count of three, we're going to get you out of here, okay?"
"What's happening?" he asked.
"It's okay," the nice lady soothed him. "We're going to check you out at Cook County General Hospital to make sure that you're okay."
He remembered from Obi-Wan's lessons that a hospital was a place where healers took care of sick people. "Okay," he said.
The thin man put the board on the ground beside Anakin and rolled him onto his back. Then he and the lady strapped him to the board.
"Okay, now, we're going to put you on the stretcher and wheel you to the hospital. One, two, three!" They picked up the board and placed it on the stretcher, which turned out to be the bed with wheels.
As the two men rolled him away, he suddenly remembered something. "Where's my brother?" he asked the nice lady.
"What's your name?" asked the tall man.
"An-Andrew Smith," he answered. "Where's my brother?"
"Don't worry, we're going to take good care of you," the other lady said.
"But--" he protested, but by then they were down the street and nearing the hospital.
*****
Carol turned away from the stretcher as the second one was loaded. She was grateful that Kovac, Maluchi, and Malik had the sense to wait to load the stretcher until the little boy was gone.
"On three: one, two, three!"
As they hoisted the board onto the stretcher, Carol winced inwardly. The young man's face and body were a mass of bloody injuries and broken bones. He looked terrible. He face was pale, his eyes were closed, and he wasn't breathing.
"Okay," Kovac said, "let's get him to the ER." He noticed Carol. "What are you doing here, Carol?"
"Today's my last day," she said. "Doug and I got off the El and saw the accident."
"Do you know who the patient is?"
She thought back to what the little boy had told her. "Ben Smith. He and his brother were hit by the car."
"Okay, let's go."
*****
"One, two, three!"
Kovac, Maluci, Malik, and Carol hoisted the man's body onto the stretcher in Trauma 1.
"What have we got?" Peter Benton demanded, pushing through the doors of the Trauma room.
"30-year-old male hit by a car, BP's 90/60 and falling, pulse's 53."
"Okay." Benton walked to the side of the stretcher. "Let's get a CBC, 'lytes, Chem 7, type & cross four units." He looked at the patient. "Where the hell is all this blood coming from?"
*****
"Andrew, look at me, please."
Anakin stopped squirming long enough to follow the light with his eyes. "Ani."
"What?"
"Everyone calls me Ani."
"Oh, okay, Ani," said the lady with the ponytail. "I'm Dr. Lockhart." She checked one of the monitors. "Do you have any pain in your neck?"
"No." Doctor? Oh, yeah, that was their word for a healer.
"Okay, we're going to get you off of this board now, Ani. Sit up, and I'll help slide you off of it."
Anakin did as he was told and found himself sitting upright on the bed in the yellow room. "Am I okay?"
"Yeah, you're fine. We're going to move you onto one of the regular beds, and once Dr. Greene checks you out, you can be discharged."
"Then can I go home?"
"Yeah, you can."
"Great!" He grinned. "Where's Ben?"
"Who?"
"My brother. Where is he?"
"Um...I'm not sure. We're going to move you know, okay?"
"Okay." As Dr. Lockhart and a nice nurse named Chuni wheeled him out of the room, though, he saw several people surrounding the bed in the green room next door, and he wondered who was in there.
*****
Dr. Greene turned out to be the tall, thin man. He checked Anakin out and said, "Well, you seem to be fine. I'll discharge you, and you can leave now."
Anakin sat up. "What about my brother?"
"Your broth...oh, yes, well, he's still being treated, so why don't you go into the lounge? You can get something to eat and hang out there until something can be figured out."
Anakin wanted to ask him what he meant by that, but the man wrote something down, closed the funny pink thing, and stood up. "You can discharge him now, Abby, and why don't you show him to the lounge?"
"Sure thing, Dr. Greene," she said. She helped Anakin off of the bed and guided him to a room across the hall from the treatment area. Inside she opened the refridgerator. "Are you hungry? Thirsty?"
"No, I'm okay."
"Okay, then. I'm going to go now, but you can watch some TV if you want." She showed him how to turn it on and then left.
Anakin considered leaving, but he soon became hypnotized by the images and sounds. He leaned back and settled down to watch some TV.
*****
An hour later, Anakin awoke when someone opened the lounge door.
"Huh?" he asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," the girl answered. She opened the refridgerator door and took out a can of soda. "Do you want one?"
Anakin nodded, and she handed over the can. The cold drink revived him, and he felt much more alive when he asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm Rachel Greene. My dad's a doctor here. What about you?"
"I'm An-Andrew Smith," he answered.
"Oh, your the one they're looking for," she said nonchalantly.
"Who's looking for me?" he asked, hoping that she would say Obi-Wan.
But instead she replied, "Everyone. There's a social worker who wants to talk to you."
"A what?"
"A social worker. She wants to talk to you, I guess because of your brother."
Anakin felt a knot form in his stomach. "What happened to him?"
"I don't know, but if they called down a social worker, it's probably because he got hurt, and they have to put you someplace until he gets better." She paused before adding, "Or maybe he's dead."
Anakin's stomach twisted even worse. "Where is she?"
Rachel shrugged. "She went over toward the patient rooms," she said.
"Great." Anakin stood up and ducked out of the room. He didn't know where he was going, but he did know that he had to get away from that social worker before he wound up in an orphanage or something.
"Where are you going?" Rachel asked.
"I don't know, but I've got to get out of here."
"I'll go with you," she offered. "I know where everything is here."
"Thanks," Anakin said gratefully.
Together the two children ducked out of the room and ran out of the ER.
*****
"Where are we?" Anakin asked.
"The cafeteria," Rachel answered. "You want something to eat?"
He searched through his pockets. "Um...I don't have any money."
"That's okay. I'll buy you something. What do you want?"
They were walking over to the line when a hand settled on each of them. "What are you two doing?" a voice asked.
The two children looked straight up into the face of Elizabeth Corday.
"Um..." Rachel said.
"You know that everyone is looking for you?" he asked Anakin.
"Um...yeah, that's why we came down here," he explained. "I wanted to get away from there."
"What? Well, I have to take you both back there right now." She steered both of them toward the door.
"No! You can't!" Anakin cried, wrestling away from her. "I won't go back! You can't make me!"
She stopped him. "Sit down," she said. "What's wrong? Why did you run out of the ER in the first place?"
He sniffled. "Rachel said that someone was looking for me who would put me in an orphanage." He tried not to cry.
"What?" She gave Rachel a stern look before turning toward Anakin. "What's your name?"
"Ani."
"Ani, listen to me. You are not going to go to an orphanage."
"Then what does she want?" he asked.
"She just wants to talk to you. Your brother--"
Anakin looked terrified. "Is he dead?" he whispered.
"No, Anakin, but you can't stay at the hospital forever."
"Yes I can! I can get food here, and I can sleep in the waiting room. I'll be okay, and I won't get in the way, I promise!" he replied earnestly.
"Ani--" She started to reply, but her beeper went off. "I have to go to the OR," she said after checking her pager. She paused while looking at the children. "You are coming with me," she decided. "I don't want you two roaming the hospital alone. Once we get up to the OR, I'll have a nurse escort you back down to the ER, all right?"
The children nodded and followed her out of the cafeteria. They rode up an elevator and stepped out onto a different level.
"Excuse me?" Elizabeth Corday called. "I was paged."
"Oh, yes, Dr. Romano needs you to scrub in. He's in OR 2."
"Thank you. And oh, could you please take these two down to the ER?"
"Of course, Dr. Corday," the nurse replied.
"Thank you."
Dr. Corday walked into a little room and washed her hands. Then she walked into the room. Anakin watched through the glass in the doors. He watched as she walked toward the patient on the bed. The doctors were shouting, but he couldn't make out what they were saying.
Anakin looked closer. There was blood all over the place. The doctors had blood on their clothes, and there was blood on the floor.
At that moment, the doctors moved, and Anakin gasped.
The patient on the bed was Obi-Wan.
Numb with shock, Anakin backed away from the doors. He turned and ran away, consumed with fear and pain.
*****
Anakin wandered for quite awhile. Time seemed to disappear as he walked up and down stairs and corridors. He didn't talk to anyone, and as he moved through the hospital, people seemed to become less and less aware of his existence, concerned as they were in their own matters.
He found himself on the roof. He wasn't exactly sure how he had gotten there, but it didn't really matter.
The numb feeling had worn off, allowing him to fully feel his own pain and fear. How could this happen? Obi-Wan couldn't die! He couldn't!
He realized that he didn't even know if Obi-Wan was dead or not. He couldn't tell through the Force; his mind was too jumbled. He took a few deep breaths, but no sense of peace and clarity came to him. He simply felt closer to tears.
He walked to the edge of the roof and sat down, letting his legs dangle over the edge. The height did not cause any lurching of his stomach; he was far too preoccupied. He tried to choke back a sob but failed. Tears ran down his face as the boy sobbed loudly, burying his face in his hands.
Finally he felt calmer. The sobs tapered off, and he wiped his eyes on his sleeves. Still sniffling, he turned away from the edge of the building and found himself face-to-face with the pretty woman from the accident. Had that only been this morning? It seemed like ages ago.
"Are you all right?" she asked gently.
He nodded. "I'm okay," he mumbled.
She sat down next to him, although further away from the edge. "I've been looking for you everywhere," she said.
He nodded again. "I know. It's because of the social worker, right?"
"Partly." She paused for a moment. "Your brother talked to her and worked everything out."
"Obi--um...Ben? He-he's okay?" he asked anxiously.
She nodded, smiling. "He was pretty badly hurt, but he'll be fine in a couple of weeks."
"But he-he's alive?"
The look of relief on the boy's face was incredible. "Yes, he's alive, and he's very worried about you."
Anakin stood up, not noticing that the woman closed her eyes, terrified by his lack of concern for the edge.
He turned around and walked toward her. "Can I see him?" he whispered.
"Of course, Ani." She stood up and walked toward the door with him. "My name is Carol," she added as they walked downstairs.
"Hi," he said.
Neither one spoke as they walked down. Outside, she paused. "This is the surgical ICU," she explained. "ICU stands for intensive care unit. Ben will stay here for a while, and then in a few days he'll get a regular room."
"Okay." Anakin started to go in, but Carol stopped him again.
"Ani, I want to explain to you what happened to your brother."
"How did he get hurt anyway?" he interrupted.
She paused. "I'm not sure if I should tell you..."
"Why not?" He watched her expression. "Please tell me."
She sighed. "Fine. Ani, do you know what happened to you?"
"Kind of. I was walking across the street, and a car came. Something pushed me out of the way, and I rolled under the car." Suddenly Anakin paused.
"He-he-he pushed me out of the way?" he half-sobbed. "Th-that was that bump, wasn't it? That's why the car didn't run over me--it hit him." Anakin began to cry.
Carol wrapped her arms around him. "Hey, it's okay. Really it is. Your brother will be just fine."
"It's all my fault!" he cried. "If it weren't for me, he'd be okay. It's all my fault!"
Finally his sobs tapered off. Carol continued to hold him until his sobs became nothing more than dry shudders. Then she continued.
"I want to tell you what happened to him. He broke his arm. Several ribs are broken, so we taped up his chest to keep his ribs from moving while they heal. We had to stitch up several cuts. We also had to operate. There was some injury to his liver, so we had to remove part of it. He'll be okay, though."
They took out part of his liver? Yuck! Outloud, though, Anakin simply said, "Thank you. Can I see him now?" He was careful not to show any of his fear, guilt, or pain. Obi-Wan might me sick, but he would still lecture Anakin.
Inside the room it was very quiet. Machines hummed, beeped, and hissed, but other than that, there were no other sounds. The silence seemed eerie, as if here life was suspended.
Carol led him over to Obi-Wan's bed. "Ben? Your brother is here to see you."
Obi-Wan opened his eyes. He looked pale and weak. His chest and stomach were covered with bandages. A cast was wrapped around his left arm, and a series of stitches ran across his forehead.
"Ani!" he said, his voice weak from exhaustion. "How are you?"
"Fine. How are you?"
"I'm all right. The doctors here are very good. They say that I should be better in a few weeks." He paused. "May we be alone?" he asked Carol.
"Of course," she said, walking out of the room.
Once she was gone, Obi-Wan turned back to his Padawan. "Ani, I will speak to the Jedi Council about this."
"Why?" Anakin asked, imitating his Master's low voice although he was nervous. Would his Master tell them that he had been hurt because of Anakin?
"Well, I thought that either someone could come here to take care of you, or that you could go back to Coruscant and stay at the Jedi Temple."
"What?"
"Well, Ani, I can't take care of you while I'm here."
"I don't want to go back to Coruscant, and I don't want someone else to come and take care of me. I want you to take care of me."
He sighed, but Anakin noticed a small smile tug at his lips. "Well, then, Ani, I'll have to talk to the social worker again. You may have to stay with someone until I get better."
"Can't I stay here?"
"I don't know. Perhaps. I was thinking about that, actually. I don't know though. We'll discuss it in the morning." He patted the side of his bed. "Until then, Padawan, climb up."
Anakin dutifully climbed up and lay down next to his Master. "I can just stay here tonight?"
Obi-Wan shrugged slightly. "Probably not, but I don't mind. Now go to sleep, Padawan."
"It's too bright," Anakin protested. A single light shone overhead.
"Close your eyes anyway. You'll fall asleep. It's midnight, and you must be very tired."
Anakin closed his eyes. He started to protest again, but he felt himself drifting away.
*****
Carol walked back into the room. It was very late, and she was going to take Anakin back down to the ER to sleep in an empty bed. Tomorrow a permanent decision could be made.
She walked over to the young man's bed. She smiled. The two had fallen asleep side by side. Funny, they didn't look like brothers. They certainly were close, though.
She turned down the light and tiptoed out of the room. She didn't want to disturb them. Tomorrow they would have a long discussion with the social worker. Until then, though, she would let them sleep.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is an ER/Star Wars Crossover. Please enjoy!
One Day
"Okay now, let's review," Obi-Wan Kenobi said to his apprentice as they rode a nearly-empty train.
"Okay," Anakin Skywalker said, closing his eyes tightly and scrunching up his face in a look of concentration.
Obi-Wan nearly laughed, but he managed to keep a straight face. "Okay, what's your name?"
"Um, Andrew...Andrew..."
"Smith," Obi-Wan supplied.
"Right, Smith," he echoed.
"What's my name?"
"Ben Smith."
"And who am I?"
"My...brother?"
"Right. Now where are we?"
Anakin was able to rattle this off easily. "We are in Chicago, Illinois, in the country of the United States of America, on the continent of North America, on the planet Earth." He continued without being prompted. "We are from New York City and we just moved here yesterday."
Obi-Wan smiled. "Very good, Ani."
The two Jedis were taking a vacation, and what better place than a backwater planet in a galaxy far, far away? Or so that was what Anakin thought.
In truth, they were there because the Jedi Council was worried about the threat of the Sith, particularly concerning Anakin. They were afraid that the little boy full of talent and anger would be an easy target for the Sith. They feared that the boy would succomb to the Dark Side, fueled by the pain, fear, and anger he felt because of his and his mother's enslavement.
And so Obi-Wan had been told to take Anakin far, far away for a vacation while the Council dealt with the threat. Obi-Wan personally thought that this was a good idea and welcomed the opportunity to relax. He and Anakin had assumed false identities and had been prepared for their trip.
He watched Chicago pass by. It was a beautiful city surrounding a huge lake. Lake...Michigan. It lay nestled like a jewel among the buildings of the city.
Obi-Wan tore his gaze from the lake long enough to watch the train pull away from their stop. "Ani?"
Anakin jumped, likewise tearing his gaze away from the streets where people drove strange vehicles on the ground. They weren't as fast as speeders (or, of course, podracers), but it was interesting to watch the little metal things maneuvering through traffic. "Yes, Obi-um, Ben?"
"I'm afraid that we missed our stop," he said calmly. "We will have to get off at the next stop and walk back."
"Oh, okay," he said, gazing once more out of the window. "Ben?"
"Yes, Ani?"
"Can I fly one of those things?"
"I believe, Ani, that the word is "drive," and those are cars. And to answer your question, no, you may not. You have to be at least sixteen to drive a car."
"Then why don't you?"
"Because I don't know how, Ani. Would you like me to crash into something with one of those cars?"
His eyes lit up. "That'd be wiza--I mean, of course not."
Obi-Wan sighed and rolled his eyes. "I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that."
"Okay!" There was a pause, and then Anakin said, "Um, Obi-uh, Ben?"
"Yes?" Obi-Wan replied, choosing to ignore Anakin's lapse.
"Can I call Pad-I mean Ami-um..."
"Yes, you may call..." He paused while he tried to think of a human name. That strange book, The Chicago Phone Book, had been very helpful in that respect. That was how they had chosen their names. Andrew was relatively close to Anakin, and Smith was apparently a very common human last name. There had been several pages of Smiths in the book. As for his name...well, that was a different matter altogether. "...Amy when we get home."
"Thanks!" Anakin said cheerily.
Obi-Wan couldn't help but add, "She is a little old for you, don't you think?" He raised his eyebrows slightly for emphasis.
"She's not that old! I'm already eleven and she's only, um..." Anakin started counting on his fingers. "...sixteen." His eyes lit up. "Hey, maybe she could come and learn how to drive!"
Obi-Wan resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "I don't think so, Ani."
"Oh," he said, looking slightly letdown.
Obi-Wan was about to say something when the train stopped. "Come, Pad-Ani. It's time to go."
The two slowly walked out of the train and down a flight of steps onto the street below.
"Which way do we go?" Anakin asked, peering around. The cars were bigger than they had seemed from the train, and he was slightly wary of them.
"Um...this way!" Obi-Wan said, setting off towards their apartment building.
Anakin trotted after him. "Slow down!" he called. He paused for a moment and kicked a tall pole. "I hate these stupid clothes!" he said.
"Ani, it's not like we could run around in our clothes, now could we?"
"I guess not, but they sure'd be a lot more comfortable." He tugged at his green and brown striped shirt. He also wore a pair of stiff blue pants called jeans and heavy white shoes called sneakers. Obi-Wan was similarly garbed in a blue shirt, jeans, and sneakers. Anakin thought that they both looked ridiculous, but appearantly no one else did because they were all wearing the same silly clothing. "These pants are so stiff I can barely move!"
Obi-Wan waited for him patiently. "Maybe they'll get better once they've been worn for a while," he suggested. "Now come on."
Obediently, Anakin followed his master, grumbling to himself about the crazy people here. Obi-Wan smiled faintly but did not say anything.
Obi-Wan stopped when they reached the edge of the street, and Anakin bumped into him. "Hey!" he said. "Why'd you stop?"
"We have to cross the street now, Ani," he responded tersely, his eyes scanning the street. "Stay close to me."
Anakin nodded his head and watched the cars zoom by. Finally there was a gap in the traffic, and, without thinking, he darted across the street.
Anakin heard Obi-Wan's voice scream "NO!", and then he felt his body thrown to the ground. As he rolled underneath a car, he could hear the screeching of tires. Then there was a sickening thump. After that, there was a moment of silence before all hell broke loose.
*****
Carol and Doug were on their way to Chicago Cook County General. Each one was carrying a twin. While Carol completed her last day at Cook County before moving to Seattle with Doug, after walking her to work, he was going to take the girls to the park.
As they walked past the El, however, they noticed that there was an accident.
Carol walked over towards the car. "What happened?"
A haggard-looking woman ran her hand through her head. "Oh God!" she moaned. "I-I swear that I didn't see him. I mean, I was just driving along, and this kid ran right in front of me." She buried her face into her hands. "Oh God!" she groaned.
Carol wasted no more time there. She knelt down by the side of the car. "Are you all right?"
A small boy with blond hair peered up at her. "I-I guess so," he said. "I mean, yeah, I am." She noticed tear-streaks on his face. "Wh-what happened--?"
"You were hit by a car," she said gently.
"No," he said. "I mean, no, I didn't get hit by the car; I just rolled under here when someone knocked into me. I meant what happened to, uh, Ben? He-he's my brother," he added, grateful that in this emergency, he had not forgotten their cover story.
"Do you want me to look for him?"
"Yeah, that'd be great." He gave her a wavering smile.
"Okay, just lie there and don't move, okay?" Carol got up off of the pavement. "Doug, can you go get Mark? Tell him we need one--no, two stretchers." For in that moment, she saw what had happened to the little boy's brother. And she knew who had pushed the boy out of the way.
And she knew that his brother might not walk away from this.
*****
Anakin wondered where that nice lady had gone. She had popped her head underneath the car to talk to him, told him not to move, and gone over to see where Obi-Wan was. She still hadn't come back. He tried to twist his head so that he could see, but nothing helped.
Anakin decided to take stock of his situation. After being thrown to the ground, he had rolled underneath the car. As he neared the back wheel, his right arm had gone up automatically to shield his face. Now he was lying on his side facing the back left wheel. Although he had been scared to death, he was unharmed.
Wow, he thought, I got off lucky. I'll walk away without a scratch.
He still couldn't tell what was going on. He wondered where Obi-Wan was. And then a chilling thought flashed through his head.
*What had the car hit that had stopped the back wheels from running over me? What had the car hit that had caused that huge bump?*
*****
"Okay, now, we're going to get you out of there."
Anakin craned his neck upward so that he could see the faces of his rescuers. A tall, thin man with glasses knelt down with the pretty lady who had seen him before. Another lady with a dark ponytail knelt besides the thin one. Both of them held one end of a funny looking orange board. A bed with wheels stood nearby.
"We're going to roll you onto this board now, and on the count of three, we're going to get you out of here, okay?"
"What's happening?" he asked.
"It's okay," the nice lady soothed him. "We're going to check you out at Cook County General Hospital to make sure that you're okay."
He remembered from Obi-Wan's lessons that a hospital was a place where healers took care of sick people. "Okay," he said.
The thin man put the board on the ground beside Anakin and rolled him onto his back. Then he and the lady strapped him to the board.
"Okay, now, we're going to put you on the stretcher and wheel you to the hospital. One, two, three!" They picked up the board and placed it on the stretcher, which turned out to be the bed with wheels.
As the two men rolled him away, he suddenly remembered something. "Where's my brother?" he asked the nice lady.
"What's your name?" asked the tall man.
"An-Andrew Smith," he answered. "Where's my brother?"
"Don't worry, we're going to take good care of you," the other lady said.
"But--" he protested, but by then they were down the street and nearing the hospital.
*****
Carol turned away from the stretcher as the second one was loaded. She was grateful that Kovac, Maluchi, and Malik had the sense to wait to load the stretcher until the little boy was gone.
"On three: one, two, three!"
As they hoisted the board onto the stretcher, Carol winced inwardly. The young man's face and body were a mass of bloody injuries and broken bones. He looked terrible. He face was pale, his eyes were closed, and he wasn't breathing.
"Okay," Kovac said, "let's get him to the ER." He noticed Carol. "What are you doing here, Carol?"
"Today's my last day," she said. "Doug and I got off the El and saw the accident."
"Do you know who the patient is?"
She thought back to what the little boy had told her. "Ben Smith. He and his brother were hit by the car."
"Okay, let's go."
*****
"One, two, three!"
Kovac, Maluci, Malik, and Carol hoisted the man's body onto the stretcher in Trauma 1.
"What have we got?" Peter Benton demanded, pushing through the doors of the Trauma room.
"30-year-old male hit by a car, BP's 90/60 and falling, pulse's 53."
"Okay." Benton walked to the side of the stretcher. "Let's get a CBC, 'lytes, Chem 7, type & cross four units." He looked at the patient. "Where the hell is all this blood coming from?"
*****
"Andrew, look at me, please."
Anakin stopped squirming long enough to follow the light with his eyes. "Ani."
"What?"
"Everyone calls me Ani."
"Oh, okay, Ani," said the lady with the ponytail. "I'm Dr. Lockhart." She checked one of the monitors. "Do you have any pain in your neck?"
"No." Doctor? Oh, yeah, that was their word for a healer.
"Okay, we're going to get you off of this board now, Ani. Sit up, and I'll help slide you off of it."
Anakin did as he was told and found himself sitting upright on the bed in the yellow room. "Am I okay?"
"Yeah, you're fine. We're going to move you onto one of the regular beds, and once Dr. Greene checks you out, you can be discharged."
"Then can I go home?"
"Yeah, you can."
"Great!" He grinned. "Where's Ben?"
"Who?"
"My brother. Where is he?"
"Um...I'm not sure. We're going to move you know, okay?"
"Okay." As Dr. Lockhart and a nice nurse named Chuni wheeled him out of the room, though, he saw several people surrounding the bed in the green room next door, and he wondered who was in there.
*****
Dr. Greene turned out to be the tall, thin man. He checked Anakin out and said, "Well, you seem to be fine. I'll discharge you, and you can leave now."
Anakin sat up. "What about my brother?"
"Your broth...oh, yes, well, he's still being treated, so why don't you go into the lounge? You can get something to eat and hang out there until something can be figured out."
Anakin wanted to ask him what he meant by that, but the man wrote something down, closed the funny pink thing, and stood up. "You can discharge him now, Abby, and why don't you show him to the lounge?"
"Sure thing, Dr. Greene," she said. She helped Anakin off of the bed and guided him to a room across the hall from the treatment area. Inside she opened the refridgerator. "Are you hungry? Thirsty?"
"No, I'm okay."
"Okay, then. I'm going to go now, but you can watch some TV if you want." She showed him how to turn it on and then left.
Anakin considered leaving, but he soon became hypnotized by the images and sounds. He leaned back and settled down to watch some TV.
*****
An hour later, Anakin awoke when someone opened the lounge door.
"Huh?" he asked, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," the girl answered. She opened the refridgerator door and took out a can of soda. "Do you want one?"
Anakin nodded, and she handed over the can. The cold drink revived him, and he felt much more alive when he asked, "Who are you?"
"I'm Rachel Greene. My dad's a doctor here. What about you?"
"I'm An-Andrew Smith," he answered.
"Oh, your the one they're looking for," she said nonchalantly.
"Who's looking for me?" he asked, hoping that she would say Obi-Wan.
But instead she replied, "Everyone. There's a social worker who wants to talk to you."
"A what?"
"A social worker. She wants to talk to you, I guess because of your brother."
Anakin felt a knot form in his stomach. "What happened to him?"
"I don't know, but if they called down a social worker, it's probably because he got hurt, and they have to put you someplace until he gets better." She paused before adding, "Or maybe he's dead."
Anakin's stomach twisted even worse. "Where is she?"
Rachel shrugged. "She went over toward the patient rooms," she said.
"Great." Anakin stood up and ducked out of the room. He didn't know where he was going, but he did know that he had to get away from that social worker before he wound up in an orphanage or something.
"Where are you going?" Rachel asked.
"I don't know, but I've got to get out of here."
"I'll go with you," she offered. "I know where everything is here."
"Thanks," Anakin said gratefully.
Together the two children ducked out of the room and ran out of the ER.
*****
"Where are we?" Anakin asked.
"The cafeteria," Rachel answered. "You want something to eat?"
He searched through his pockets. "Um...I don't have any money."
"That's okay. I'll buy you something. What do you want?"
They were walking over to the line when a hand settled on each of them. "What are you two doing?" a voice asked.
The two children looked straight up into the face of Elizabeth Corday.
"Um..." Rachel said.
"You know that everyone is looking for you?" he asked Anakin.
"Um...yeah, that's why we came down here," he explained. "I wanted to get away from there."
"What? Well, I have to take you both back there right now." She steered both of them toward the door.
"No! You can't!" Anakin cried, wrestling away from her. "I won't go back! You can't make me!"
She stopped him. "Sit down," she said. "What's wrong? Why did you run out of the ER in the first place?"
He sniffled. "Rachel said that someone was looking for me who would put me in an orphanage." He tried not to cry.
"What?" She gave Rachel a stern look before turning toward Anakin. "What's your name?"
"Ani."
"Ani, listen to me. You are not going to go to an orphanage."
"Then what does she want?" he asked.
"She just wants to talk to you. Your brother--"
Anakin looked terrified. "Is he dead?" he whispered.
"No, Anakin, but you can't stay at the hospital forever."
"Yes I can! I can get food here, and I can sleep in the waiting room. I'll be okay, and I won't get in the way, I promise!" he replied earnestly.
"Ani--" She started to reply, but her beeper went off. "I have to go to the OR," she said after checking her pager. She paused while looking at the children. "You are coming with me," she decided. "I don't want you two roaming the hospital alone. Once we get up to the OR, I'll have a nurse escort you back down to the ER, all right?"
The children nodded and followed her out of the cafeteria. They rode up an elevator and stepped out onto a different level.
"Excuse me?" Elizabeth Corday called. "I was paged."
"Oh, yes, Dr. Romano needs you to scrub in. He's in OR 2."
"Thank you. And oh, could you please take these two down to the ER?"
"Of course, Dr. Corday," the nurse replied.
"Thank you."
Dr. Corday walked into a little room and washed her hands. Then she walked into the room. Anakin watched through the glass in the doors. He watched as she walked toward the patient on the bed. The doctors were shouting, but he couldn't make out what they were saying.
Anakin looked closer. There was blood all over the place. The doctors had blood on their clothes, and there was blood on the floor.
At that moment, the doctors moved, and Anakin gasped.
The patient on the bed was Obi-Wan.
Numb with shock, Anakin backed away from the doors. He turned and ran away, consumed with fear and pain.
*****
Anakin wandered for quite awhile. Time seemed to disappear as he walked up and down stairs and corridors. He didn't talk to anyone, and as he moved through the hospital, people seemed to become less and less aware of his existence, concerned as they were in their own matters.
He found himself on the roof. He wasn't exactly sure how he had gotten there, but it didn't really matter.
The numb feeling had worn off, allowing him to fully feel his own pain and fear. How could this happen? Obi-Wan couldn't die! He couldn't!
He realized that he didn't even know if Obi-Wan was dead or not. He couldn't tell through the Force; his mind was too jumbled. He took a few deep breaths, but no sense of peace and clarity came to him. He simply felt closer to tears.
He walked to the edge of the roof and sat down, letting his legs dangle over the edge. The height did not cause any lurching of his stomach; he was far too preoccupied. He tried to choke back a sob but failed. Tears ran down his face as the boy sobbed loudly, burying his face in his hands.
Finally he felt calmer. The sobs tapered off, and he wiped his eyes on his sleeves. Still sniffling, he turned away from the edge of the building and found himself face-to-face with the pretty woman from the accident. Had that only been this morning? It seemed like ages ago.
"Are you all right?" she asked gently.
He nodded. "I'm okay," he mumbled.
She sat down next to him, although further away from the edge. "I've been looking for you everywhere," she said.
He nodded again. "I know. It's because of the social worker, right?"
"Partly." She paused for a moment. "Your brother talked to her and worked everything out."
"Obi--um...Ben? He-he's okay?" he asked anxiously.
She nodded, smiling. "He was pretty badly hurt, but he'll be fine in a couple of weeks."
"But he-he's alive?"
The look of relief on the boy's face was incredible. "Yes, he's alive, and he's very worried about you."
Anakin stood up, not noticing that the woman closed her eyes, terrified by his lack of concern for the edge.
He turned around and walked toward her. "Can I see him?" he whispered.
"Of course, Ani." She stood up and walked toward the door with him. "My name is Carol," she added as they walked downstairs.
"Hi," he said.
Neither one spoke as they walked down. Outside, she paused. "This is the surgical ICU," she explained. "ICU stands for intensive care unit. Ben will stay here for a while, and then in a few days he'll get a regular room."
"Okay." Anakin started to go in, but Carol stopped him again.
"Ani, I want to explain to you what happened to your brother."
"How did he get hurt anyway?" he interrupted.
She paused. "I'm not sure if I should tell you..."
"Why not?" He watched her expression. "Please tell me."
She sighed. "Fine. Ani, do you know what happened to you?"
"Kind of. I was walking across the street, and a car came. Something pushed me out of the way, and I rolled under the car." Suddenly Anakin paused.
"He-he-he pushed me out of the way?" he half-sobbed. "Th-that was that bump, wasn't it? That's why the car didn't run over me--it hit him." Anakin began to cry.
Carol wrapped her arms around him. "Hey, it's okay. Really it is. Your brother will be just fine."
"It's all my fault!" he cried. "If it weren't for me, he'd be okay. It's all my fault!"
Finally his sobs tapered off. Carol continued to hold him until his sobs became nothing more than dry shudders. Then she continued.
"I want to tell you what happened to him. He broke his arm. Several ribs are broken, so we taped up his chest to keep his ribs from moving while they heal. We had to stitch up several cuts. We also had to operate. There was some injury to his liver, so we had to remove part of it. He'll be okay, though."
They took out part of his liver? Yuck! Outloud, though, Anakin simply said, "Thank you. Can I see him now?" He was careful not to show any of his fear, guilt, or pain. Obi-Wan might me sick, but he would still lecture Anakin.
Inside the room it was very quiet. Machines hummed, beeped, and hissed, but other than that, there were no other sounds. The silence seemed eerie, as if here life was suspended.
Carol led him over to Obi-Wan's bed. "Ben? Your brother is here to see you."
Obi-Wan opened his eyes. He looked pale and weak. His chest and stomach were covered with bandages. A cast was wrapped around his left arm, and a series of stitches ran across his forehead.
"Ani!" he said, his voice weak from exhaustion. "How are you?"
"Fine. How are you?"
"I'm all right. The doctors here are very good. They say that I should be better in a few weeks." He paused. "May we be alone?" he asked Carol.
"Of course," she said, walking out of the room.
Once she was gone, Obi-Wan turned back to his Padawan. "Ani, I will speak to the Jedi Council about this."
"Why?" Anakin asked, imitating his Master's low voice although he was nervous. Would his Master tell them that he had been hurt because of Anakin?
"Well, I thought that either someone could come here to take care of you, or that you could go back to Coruscant and stay at the Jedi Temple."
"What?"
"Well, Ani, I can't take care of you while I'm here."
"I don't want to go back to Coruscant, and I don't want someone else to come and take care of me. I want you to take care of me."
He sighed, but Anakin noticed a small smile tug at his lips. "Well, then, Ani, I'll have to talk to the social worker again. You may have to stay with someone until I get better."
"Can't I stay here?"
"I don't know. Perhaps. I was thinking about that, actually. I don't know though. We'll discuss it in the morning." He patted the side of his bed. "Until then, Padawan, climb up."
Anakin dutifully climbed up and lay down next to his Master. "I can just stay here tonight?"
Obi-Wan shrugged slightly. "Probably not, but I don't mind. Now go to sleep, Padawan."
"It's too bright," Anakin protested. A single light shone overhead.
"Close your eyes anyway. You'll fall asleep. It's midnight, and you must be very tired."
Anakin closed his eyes. He started to protest again, but he felt himself drifting away.
*****
Carol walked back into the room. It was very late, and she was going to take Anakin back down to the ER to sleep in an empty bed. Tomorrow a permanent decision could be made.
She walked over to the young man's bed. She smiled. The two had fallen asleep side by side. Funny, they didn't look like brothers. They certainly were close, though.
She turned down the light and tiptoed out of the room. She didn't want to disturb them. Tomorrow they would have a long discussion with the social worker. Until then, though, she would let them sleep.