Chapter 9
Amanda called out to Matt and he appeared. He pulled her out of the other Amanda's sleeping body to stand beside the bed. "I want to see Lee in my time and my timeline," Amanda said firmly.
"That may not be possible at this time," Matt hedged.
"To those that believe in the impossible, all things are possible," Amanda said, as she looked at Matt pointedly and stood with her arms folded over her chest.
Matt held up a placating hand and said, "Okay, gimme a minute." He closed his eyes and began whispering under his breath as though conversing with someone Amanda couldn't see. Then he nodded vigorously and opened his eyes. "I had to do some horse trading, but I can do it," he said and gripped her upper arm. "Here we go."
They faded through the bedroom wall and into her hospital room. Lee sat there in the chair by the bed. His face was haggard and his body was wasted. "Oh, my poor poor Lee. How long have I been unconscious?" Amanda asked and moved to stand beside Lee.
"Um, let me see. 34 days, 19 hours, 46 minutes and 23 seconds," he said, looking at his watch with some concentration.
"Oh, my gosh," she said and reached to smooth the hair away from Lee's forehead. She noticed that his hair was much greyer than the last time she had seen him. She looked into his eyes and saw unimaginable grief, as though she had already died.
"Please end this torture for him. He looks as though he has lost any hope of me ever regaining consciousness," Amanda pleaded.
"This journey will take only a little while longer. I promise," Matt said.
Amanda knelt near Lee's chair and brought her lips close to his ear. "I love you, Lee. I'm coming back to you. I am with you each day in my heart. I'll be with you again soon. Please have faith, have hope." She got up and came to stand next to Matt again.
Lee raised his head and looked at a point right in the middle of Amanda's chest with eyes far away as though he wasn't quite awake. "If you are coming back to me, please do it soon. I am losing the battle. I can't hold out much longer. All of my hope is gone and I have nothing left," he said, his voice sounding strained and far away. He sighed heavily and buried his head in his hands.
As Amanda stood there, she tapped her chin with her forefinger, before she asked, "Matt, I've been thinking... What happened to Lee in the other timeline?"
"I knew that you would ask me that sooner or later," Matt said. "Since you met him at the hospital, the timeline has been altered and we do not know what will happen from that time forward. In other words we are in uncharted territory. The demons seem to have been caught off guard as well. Let's hope they remain off balance for a little while longer. When fate has been thwarted, she can be tenacious indeed. It appears that your destinies are inextricably intertwined. You and Lee were destined to meet, no matter what and fate always has a backup plan. Love like that doesn't happen by accident. Yours is a rare love, one for the ages that cannot be denied; it is that exquisite meeting of two infinitely compatible souls. It seems that your paths will continue to cross until your destiny has been fulfilled."
Amanda blinked. "But what about the known path? What would have happened to Lee had we never met at all?"
"It is a very sad and tragic tale," Matt said, looking down and shaking his head.
"It can't be any worse than all the mess I've been through with Dean," Amanda said, her eyes shifting to look at Lee sitting slumped in the chair, his head still buried in his hands. "Tell me, please," Amanda pleaded.
Matt cleared his throat and looked at her sternly. "My superiors warned me against telling you this. But since you asked and it may give you some insight into the relationship in your own time and place, I will tell you."
Amanda looked up and nodded silently. She waited as Matt cleared his throat again and gathered his thoughts. "As you know, shortly before you met Lee, his partner was shot and killed in the line of duty. You were not there to sooth his grief and give him something else to focus on besides his growing guilt." Matt paused and shifted slightly, making his robes sway. He got a far away pained look in his eyes as he continued. "Charged with keeping you safe and out of danger, he was less likely to engage in high risk behavior himself. Without you there to assuage and mitigate his grief and guilt, he began a slow slide into burn out. He began drinking to excess, gambling, driving too fast and deliberately putting himself in dangerous situations during intelligence operations. Then he lost his much adored classic Porsche to an unfortunate accident during a case. He won enough at Poker to put a substantial down payment on a Porsche 911 Turbo Carrera Convertible. He died three months later, on a rainy night when he had had a few too many and took a curve way too fast. The street was slick and he lost control. He plowed through a bus stop shelter and into a light pole doing in excess of 90 mph. He died instantly and luckily no one else was injured. Though Lee's death was ruled an accident, Billy and Francine believed it was a suicide. They had suspected that he had been trying to get himself killed for months and that he feared the eternal consequences of putting his service issued semiautomatic to his head and pulling the trigger. He had few friends and his only family was his uncle, Colonel Robert Clayton."
When Matt finished his story, Amanda took a deep breath and stood there with her head hanging in the silence, the only sound Amanda's tears dripping and hitting a strap on her sandal. "Oh, my gosh!" she exclaimed. "Billy told me more than once that meeting me had saved Lee's life. I didn't understand how right he was until now."
Matt placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and said, "We do not understand the significance of our presence in someone's life until that presence is gone. And when it is, as in the case of you and Lee, it leaves a raw and jagged hole." Matt glanced at his watch. "It is time for you to return to your other life. Come."
Matt and Amanda materialized next to the other Amanda's bed. Amanda waved as she lay back into her counterpart's soundly sleeping body once more.
LSAKLSAKLSAK
Amanda won the bet, since she went into labor the following afternoon. Dotty conceded as she drove Amanda to the hospital. Amanda sat in the passenger seat and breathed through each contraction.
Dotty parked in front of the Emergency Entrance at Galilee General and commandeered a wheelchair. As she helped Amanda into the chair, Amanda inhaled sharply and grabbed her arm in a vise like grip. A small puppy whine escaped her clenched teeth as she worked her way through the building pain.
"Oh, my gosh. That was a good one," Amanda said when she could breathe normally again. "I don't remember the pain being this bad with Jamie."
"You're not supposed to remember, dear. It's one of the miracles of childbirth, forgetting the pain and struggle so you'll want to do it again," Dotty said and patted Amanda's hands still wrapped around her upper arm, though with much less strength than before. Amanda smiled and released her grip, as Dotty wheeled her into the emergency room.
The nurse behind the desk immediately called an orderly to take Amanda to Labor & Delivery. With Amanda in good hands Dotty went to park the car and joined Amanda in her room several minutes later. When Dotty got there, the nurse handed her a stack of sterile scrubs and pointed to a restroom. When she came out, dressed in blue from head to toe, Amanda, though in pain, had to smile.
"You know, Mother," Amanda joked. "I've been thinking about redoing the kitchen in just that shade of blue." She immediately got a flash of a cozy kitchen and a discussion about blue curtains and a matching area rug under the dining table.
Dotty rolled her eyes and came to the side of the bed. "How are my girls?" she asked and stroked a stray lock of sweat soaked hair out of Amanda's face.
"My contractions are 4 minutes apart and I'm dilated to 6 cm," Amanda answered. "The baby and I are doing just fine."
"Should I call Dean?" asked Dotty, hoping Amanda would say no.
"No, Mother. I'll call Dean when I get good and ready, preferably when Victoria is ready to graduate from high school," Amanda huffed.
Dotty grinned at this. Even in pain, Amanda was trying to keep a sense of humor. This, she thought, was a good thing.
Suddenly, Amanda looked at Dotty and rolled her head back and forth on the pillow as though struggling for breath. "I feel really... strange and... my chest... hurts. Hard... to... breathe," she said and closed her eyes. Then she went limp and very still. Dotty darted for the door and screamed for a nurse.
The nurse came in and checked Amanda's vitals. She picked up the phone and called a Code Blue. Seconds later a team with a crash cart came into the room. Dotty stood plastered against the wall, her face showing her shock and fear. Under her breath, she whispered, "My babies. My babies. My babies."
After only a few moments, they were able to get Amanda's heart back in rhythm again, thankfully without shocking her. Apparently, the baby had hit a nerve and caused Amanda's heart to go into A-fib and out of rhythm. The doctor told Dotty that Amanda would be all right, since her heart was back in rhythm, but she would need to be closely monitored. After a little while Amanda took a deep breath and opened her eyes. "I saw a tall man with hazel eyes dressed in a white robe with a gold cord belt and leather sandals beside the bed and he glowed with a soft golden light. I was standing next to him, but I looked older somehow; I had the beginnings of grey in my hair."
Dotty shook her head and had nothing to say to this. Was it an angel of death come to collect her daughter and the baby, but never got the chance? she thought and shivered inwardly.
