Chapter Nine
The Day After
Saint Peter's Hospital
He opens his eyes to a familiar face. "Hey," she says.
"Hey yourself, are you alright?"
She tilts her head and smiles, "Yes Bobby I'm alright."
"Am I alright?" he says.
"Yes, you're fine."
He takes her hand, "Is…is it still there?" he says tentatively.
She gives him a puzzled look, he gestures with his head, she looks down. "Yes Bobby your leg is still there."
He exhales, "Good now I can look down, I had a dream they took it and I was hobbling around the hospital trying to find it."
She laughs as she squeezes his hand. "I'm sorry Bobby."
"No it's fine I like the way you laugh."
She pulls the chair closer to the bed then sits down. "I take it you haven't seen your doctor yet?"
"No you're the first human being I've seen. What day is it?"
"Saturday afternoon the day after, you've been sleeping since you got here."
He sits up slowly as a low groan escapes his lips, "How is Ashley and the cat?"
"Both are fine, her parents came by to pick her up this morning and social services were there to greet them."
"Jesus, why?"
"Well, we did wonder why she was home alone, it seems that they have a gambling problem and will leave her on her own for days at a time."
He shakes his head in disgust, "Such a sweet little girl." He notices then remembers, "How's you arm?"
"They gave me a tetanus shot when I arrived, no fever or infection."
"That's good to hear," he reaches behind and tries to move the pillow, Alex lends a hand. "Thanks," he sits back. "Any casualties besides Kendall?"
"No, thank God and the only ones in the building at the time were us."
Alex turns as she hears the door open eyeing a rotund nurse. Alex stands. "You can stay Miss," the nurse says. "I have to check his vitals." The nurse performs her duties, "No fever and your heart rate and BP are normal." He watches her attentively as she positions a syringe and injects the liquid inside into the injection site on the IV tube, "What, what's that?"
She smiles at him, "Another dose of an antibiotic." She tosses the syringe into the hazardous waste can, "Are you feeling any pain?"
"It's throbbing a little," he reaches down and rubs his leg.
She checks the chart, "The doctor will be here shortly but I can give you a percocet if you want."
He hesitates for a moment before answering, nodding his head, "Why should I be in pain, OK."
"Be right back."
"I'll be here."
Alex stands next to the bed, "I'd better go," she points at him. "You look tired."
"Thanks for visiting." Thanks for visiting God you're such an idiot ask her damnit. If she says no, she says no. She turns to leave, he calls her name, "Alex," she turns back around. "Yes Bobby what is it?"
"I hope I'm not being too presumptuous but when I get out of here…I'd like….Would you have dinner with me?"
"Yes," she smiles sweetly. "I would love to have dinner with you." She lightly pats his cheek. He smiles, that wasn't so hard. He looks up at her as he raises his hand and traces the outline of her chin with his thumb. As he caresses her cheek, she looks down and their eyes meet, she leans down and they kiss.
She straightens up and smiles, "I'm going back to my room," she takes a hold of his hand. "And you do look tired. My Dad is coming by in an hour to pick me up."
"You get to go home already?"
Nodding her head. "Yes," she leans down and kisses his cheek. "I'll pop in before I leave." As she grabs for the door handle she suddenly stops. "Bobby," she turns to face him.
He looks up, "What Alex."
"Not to be pushy but I'd like you to meet my Dad."
Oh man meet the Dad already, no matter how old they are they always want you to meet their parents. "I'd like that," nodding his head. "See you later."
Alex and John Eames did indeed drop in before they left the hospital. When she opens his door, she finds him sitting up reading. He gives her a smile as he lays the book down on his lap. "It's good to see you."
"You look better."
"It's the drugs, I think. They would make anyone feel better."
The two visit with him for close to an hour, both secretly wondering why no one else has come by to see him. Then suddenly the door opens and four people, three men and one woman walk into the room He smiles at them, "How did you guys find out?"
Bernie responds, "It was on the news. Leave it to you and we'd never even know you were here."
Alex and John have moved to the other side of the bed. "Alex, you remember Bernie."
Alex nods, "Hi Bernie, it's good to see you again," before Bobby has a chance to speak, Alex says. "This is my father John, Dad this is Bernie White."
Bernie walks around the bed and extends his hand, "It's nice to meet you."
Bobby continues with the introductions, "Alex and John Eames this is Lewis Dixon," he catches Alex's eye. "He's the one who help me rebuild the Thunderbird."
Lewis says shyly, "Hi, it's nice to meet you."
Alex speaks, "Dad that was the car I was telling you about." She looks to Lewis. "That is one beautiful car, who did most of the work you or Bobby?"
Lewis stuffs his hands in his pockets, "Well…."
Bobby interjects, "He did, I only worked on it during the weekends." Bobby points, "And these are the Reilly's, Andy and Rachel."
They shake hands, "Andy is my oldest friend," Bobby feels a twinge of pain and it shows on his face. "We've been through a lot together." Andy remains silent, smirking at the man whom he has known since the second grade.
His visitors remain for another half hour, they continue conversing and then Alex notices that Bobby has suddenly become quiet. She moves closer to the bed, taking his hand, "Hey," she shakes his hand. "Are you alright?"
Nodding as he smiles, "Yeah I'm just getting tired."
Alex stands erect and walks into the middle of the room, in a commanding tone of voice she says, "Hey everybody. I think we need to let Bobby get some rest."
His visitors wish him a speedy recovery and one by one, they leave.
John extends his hand, "Bobby it was a pleasure to meet you."
"It was nice to meet you sir."
"Alex, honey I need to use the bathroom before we leave."
"Ok Dad."
John leaves the room, "Ah…. he's not so scary." Bobby says.
"Yeah well you're not 16 years old." Alex leans down and kisses his cheek, "I'll see you tomorrow." She straightens up. "Get some sleep."
"I will….now," he waves at her. "Go on home and get some rest yourself."
She smiles, "I will."
The Next Day
"Tomorrow, I get to go tomorrow. Thank God. Enough is enough I'm not use to sitting on my butt for days at a time." She remains silent. "Hey what's the matter?"
"Actually," she takes his hand in hers. "We did good in there, didn't we?"
He raises her hand to his cheek, "Yes we did."
"I was so scared," she says sheepishly.
"There is nothing to be ashamed of Alex," he expels a long breath. "I was scared too. I kept imagining the ceiling falling down on top of us." He lightly shakes her hand, which makes her look him in the eyes. "We took care of each other, we didn't panic."
Nodding her head in agreement Alex says, "We did keep cool heads and watch out for each other, all of us, hell even the cat helped."
He chuckles, "We kept talking trying to appease the other one." I've never really opened myself up to anyone like that before, not even Linda, it felt good. "And that's why we're here now, most of all we didn't try to dig through the rubble."
"Patience," Alex says. "I have to tell you something," she pauses. "Every few minutes I wanted to start digging but it would have been useless."
"Exactly and dangerous. Is that why you rushed to the hole?"
"Yes, when I saw that little hole I didn't want to wait anymore."
"I can understand that. If I could have moved quicker I might have beat you to it." She suddenly starts to cry, "Hey, hey what's wrong?"
"I wanted to leave, we heard the little cat meow and I wanted to leave."
"Most likely if we did leave Ashley and Cosmo would have survived I mean we weren't far from the apartment when the bomb went off."
"And what if I convinced you to leave. What if……….."
"Alex, Alex you can what if till the end of time. You were scared you wanted to get out the hell out of there. Don't feel guilty that you were thinking about surviving. To be honest with you I was certain that we had more time, I screwed up."
"No you didn't, Kendall was the one who is responsible and because of you…………"
He pulls her toward him, "Hey not just me, you too." She wraps her arms around him and they hold each other.
Alex says through tears, "We make a hell of a team."
He kisses the top of her head, "Yes I think we do."
TBC
