"Thought you were leaving." Jake hobbled around to see Elizabeth standing in the doorway of the clinic's exam room. "I still might." Elizabeth laughed. "Where are you gonna go?" She looked as he favored his injured leg. "And how ya gonna get there? Car's kinda broke and…uh…ain't walking very far on that leg." Jake jumped up to sit on the bed in the room. "Good point." He winched. Shouldn't have done that. Elizabeth laughed at him again. "Suck it up." She jumped up on the bed next to him. "You really had us worried big brother." Jake put his arm around her and pulled her close. "Sorry baby sister." He kissed the top of her head. "You ok," he asked.
"Honestly I am scared out of my mind."
"You're not the only one. Everyone is probably in the same boat."
"I just spent the past six hours going over every possible scenario of who, why, and how. Then I started thinking about what we need to do now. How we need to get try to get things back as normal as possible. You know, stuff like that."
"Our first woman president hard at work." Elizabeth gave him the you have to be kidding me look. "Never wanted to be president. To much work involved. Way to much pressure."
"I'm surprised you weren't hounding Dad to let you help him out."
"I did. He gave me the job of babysitting Mom. Hence the long hours of doing nothing but thinking."
"I heard that," Gail said, standing in the doorway. She went over to her child and gave them each a hug and kiss. Johnston and Eric appeared behind her. The family looked at each other, everyone silent. It had been a long time since they were all together in the same room. No one thought that a tragedy like this would be what brought them together. Elizabeth broke the silence, because, well, that's usually what she did. "So Dad, what's the game plan?" Johnston looked at his daughter and shook his head. "No idea sweetheart. I guess I really need to come up with something, don't I?"
"You are the mayor." The family laughed and it felt good. "Well," Johnston said. "if the future mayor in the room had some ideas I would love to hear them." The family looked at Elizabeth, who looked back kind of annoyed. "Not going to be mayor. Never wanted to be. To much work and to much pressure. I'm a behind the scenes girl." Again the family laughed together and again it felt good. Jake put a hand to his head. It hurt to laugh. This caused the family to laugh harder. "Wow, didn't think I would hear laughter. Everyone in this town is kind of…down," April said, coming in to check on Jake.
"Let me tell you it helps," Gail said. "We were just seeing if the next Mayor Green had any suggestions of her own of what the Jericho government should do now."
"To much work and to much pressure. Not Lizzie's cup of tea. I see her working at FEMA or something like that"
"And this is why I like Dr. Green better then all of you. She get's me," Elizabeth said, getting up to stand next to April.
"Dr. Green," April asked.
"The second you let me take this annoying thing off my wrist you will be April again." April laughed. Gail was right, it did feel good to laugh. "Listen to me missy. You will be playing again and when you do, you don't want to be injured, do you?" Elizabeth rolled her eyes at April and then glared at Eric. "You had to marry a doctor, didn't you?" The family laughed again, much to the dismay of the lady walking past the door. They were probably wondering why anyone could be laughing at a time like this. "Alright everyone funs over," April said, always the doctor. "You need to get Jake home he needs his rest." The Green family got ready to leave. "April has a point," Johnston said, pulling his daughter aside. "April has a point. You have been a crisis solver for your whole life. That is what that poli. sci. degree would have gotten you into. Tomorrow me, you, and Eric will sit down and sort things out. I really want your opinions on what to do honey. Sound good to you?"
"Thank you so much dad." Elizabeth was really excited. She always wanted to work with her dad. The only downside was the situation that got her to live her wish. "I won't let you down." Johnston gave his daughter a huge hug. "Now make sure your brother gets home." And with that he was walking out of the door with the rest of the family. "I have to baby sit Jake now," Elizabeth screamed down the hall. "SO…NOT…FAIR!!!" She turned to face her brother who had met her at the doorway. "So," was all she said.
"Not going anywhere."