A/N: Hey guys! Here's another chapter for you, and I've got a few things I'd like to announce/ask.
1. Since this story is being so well received, I am definitely going to write a sequel. I have ideas for a sequel already so I think it will be fun. My question is, would you prefer the sequel to be added on to this story so you don't have to fish for a separate FFdot net entry for it, or would you prefer the sequel be submitted as something like "Motives 2" as a separate entry? Let me know what you think.
2. BIG thanks to Wepul, SiberianTiger, and StarFire for your wonderful new reviews. In particular StarFire- I was kind of blown away to get such a good review, ha. Part of me feels like my story isn't deserving of that level of praise, but thank you very much nonetheless - I really appreciate it, and it's stuff like that which encourage me to continue this story.
3. The story's conclusion- at least, the "first book", will most likely be in the next chapter. I originally planned for 10 chapters for this, though it might be 11 if I can't realistically tie off the 'grand finale' in one chapter. However, since I WILL be writing a sequel, there will be more, so if you enjoyed this story so far I hope i can continue to provide interesting material for the second book. It'll probably be shorter, though, just to warn you.
4. Also, I forgot to mention this: the names of Scout's brothers are a tribute to the fan-fiction "Why Rainbows Make Me Cry." I actually didn't intentionally do this to begin with; I actually named Scout's brothers after what my room mate called them in a private roleplay we did, and so I used the names she used, and she just informed me today that she got most of the names from "Why Rainbows Make Me Cry". So if you are the author of that story, I'm sorry if this bothers you- it was purely unintentional at first but I decided not to go through and change the names because I am assuming you won't mind- if you do i will change them immediately! And to anyone reading this, go look up that fic, because it's good!
Thanks for your continued interest in "Motives" and i look forward to seeing your reactions to the finale, and future installments!
My brothers went to their room after a while, but I stayed in the lounge, curled up on a couch. I wasn't able to sleep, even though I was pretty damn exhausted. I was too worried about my ma. There was still a chance we were too late. Spy went back to the ambulance to take it back to the hospital, and Engineer took Friedrich's van to pick him up and bring him back.
Some time after my brothers went back in their room, Spy and Engineer finally came back home. They came over to me, finally out of their doctor costumes. They took their seats on the recliners nearby. For a moment it took us a while to say anything… we were just sitting there. We went through so much to get here, and now that we were finally here… it seemed all there was left to do was just breathe.
Then, it was Spy that spoke first.
"...You surprised me, Scout."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know how you managed to form this friendship with the RED Medic. But if you hadn't… he wouldn't be here… and neither would she."
"Friendship?" I blinked at the Spy. "Look, all I did was pull his heartstrings a little. Got him to feel bad so he'd come help us."
"Do you even know anything about that man?" Spy asked. There wasn't any edge in his voice, just… exhaust. He still seemed to be having trouble processing everything.
"Yeah, I do." I straightened my spine a little.
"He does not care at all what happens to us. He only cares about one thing. He's only working as a mercenary for his son. He has no motivation or obligation to the rest of his own team, even less so, the BLU team. So how did you do it? I have a hard time believing that some, eh- 'heartstring tugging' would've convinced him to travel halfway across the country for her."
My shoulders slumped slightly as I tried to process this. To be honest, now that I thought about it… It was… surprisingly easy to convince Friedrich to come. Heck, based on what I knew about him, he had absolutely no reason to come.
"The only thing I can think of for why he did this is that he actually cares about you." The Spy continued. "Which puzzles me to no end. I'm surprised. You've caught me off guard, Scout."
And then to hear the Spy admit something like THAT…
The Spy's been watchin' me since day one. I always knew he was watchin'. Keepin' tabs on me, hoverin' behind me like some kind of hawk. It was an uncomfortable feelin' and I wasn't always sure why he was watching me so much and so long. I could only guess my ma asked him to keep up with me for me. He's been dating my ma for the past several months, for what reason, I have no idea. I honestly don't know why she'd go for a slimy guy like Spy.
But besides that… what really threw me for a loop was what he said about Friedrich. The old man really cared about me? I had a hard time believing that.
Finally, Dell spoke before I could get a word in. I hadn't heard him talk in a long time, not much since the wreck. In the back of my mind I was a little worried about him, kinda.
"…Until today, I knew nothin' about that doctor." He said. "I just wanted to spend my vacation with my family… wasn't expectin' to get dragged across the country for this." He tugged uncomfortably at the collar of the hospital coat he wore. "…But I… I don't regret it. I'm glad I came."
"Really?" I asked. "Even… after that wreck?"
"…It was my fault. I shouldn't have pushed his buttons. I… I didn't know about what he went through in Germany. I really thought he was a former Nazi."
"I did too." I said quietly.
The Spy didn't say anything. Whether or not he already knew the doctor's background wasn't clear. He just folded his fingers across his chest and leaned back in the recliner.
"How did you guys manage to get out of the hospital so fast, anyway? I wasn't… thinking the plan would've gone that smoothly." I asked.
The Spy chuckled and the Engineer rubbed his tired eyes and groaned, "oh man."
"It was a close call, I'll have to admit." The Spy answered. "A nurse saw after I cloaked and snuck into a worker's lounge to steal some clothes. I had to… put her out."
"You killed her!?"
"No, of course not! Just knocked her out for a bit. She'll probably be fine, headaches aside." The Spy waved his hand. "After I suited up, a few finishing touches with some make-up and I was looking fairly close to your mother's doctor."
"I had to follow the real guy all the way to another room where he was talkin' with another patient." The Engineer replied. "After he was done with his conversation I had to engage him in small-talk… he kept tryin' to get past me, so I had to keep makin' up more things to say. He almost saw the Spy when he went into your mom's room- luckily I was able to distract him enough and keep him from goin' in there."
"If another patient hadn't buzzed for him to come in and help them with something, we wouldn't have gotten out of that one." The Spy continued. "He caught a glimpse of me and his curiosity would've convinced him to come take a look."
"After that, we managed to get her out of there… luckily the Spy knew what he was doin', because I don't know a thing about hospitals." Engie replied. "Somebody did ask us where we were goin'- we just told them it was an emergency and they didn't think to stop us."
"When her real doctor figures out she's missing, he'll look for her." Spy said. "But I already prepared for that. I entered in to the hospital system where she's been relocated to. By then, I'm sure Friedrich would've worked his magic and then she will have shown enough improvement to stay."
"So we still might have to deal with the hospital…?" I sighed.
"There was no way around it. They may insist on taking her back."
"What if they press charges or somethin'?" I asked.
Spy shrugged. "Then the story will come out. I'll explain that I was the one who took her back here, as I am her fiance. But it should be obvious at that point that by doing this, her life was saved."
I blinked. Twice.
What?
"W-wait a second, wait a second. Fiance!?"
Spy's eyebrows shot up. "Oh? It seems I forgot to tell you."
"You're ENGAGED to her!?"
"I am."
Oh man. Oh man oh man oh man. I was gonna get the SPY as a father! As if my life couldn't get any worse already! I just stared at him, jaw-dropped.
"Well, thanks for the enthusiasm." The Spy sighed and took a cigarette out of his pocket, lighting it and sticking it in his mouth.
"Well, sorry, dad, for not showing my undying support."
He chuckled and didn't say anything else.
After a brief silence, Dell looked over in the direction of Mom's room and murmured, "I sure hope she's okay. The Doc's been in there a while…"
Some time passed. "A while" turned into "hours." Friedrich was in there with her for hours. As far as I remember, it didn't take long for the Medigun to fix somebody. So why was it takin' him so long now?
I sat there for so long… the evening darkened as the moon was covered up by clouds, and the trees outside swayed in a strong wind. There was a storm coming. Before long, the wind howled and rain pounded on our roof. Thunder boomed somewhere in the distance. I rubbed my arms and lowered my head. I was cold, but I didn't bother getting up to get a blanket. Engie was snoring. Spy was still awake, still with a cigarette in his mouth. Probably his third one by now.
And finally… finally, there was a sign of life from Ma's room.
Friedrich opened the door and stepped into the hall, approaching the living room. He dragged his feet and his head was held low. His entire posture seemed to speak of defeat.
I felt my heart jump to my throat and I tensed on the edge of my seat. "Doc?" I squeaked through a tight throat.
He lifted his head to look at me, his gaze exhausted and defeated.
Then, a crooked smile spread on his lips.
"She's fine. I got to her just in time."
My mouth hung open for a while, then I let out a half-chuckle, half-sigh. "Don't scare me like that, Doc." I choked. "By the look on your face, I thought she was dead…"
Friedrich shook his head. "No, she's fine… I healed all that I could vith zhe Medigun, but zhere vas much more I needed to do vith surgery. I'm sure she vill vake up in a few hours…" He continued dragging his feet into the living room, and crumpled into the nearest seat he could get to: the one right next to me on the couch.
When he sat down I heard him let out a long breath, as though he had been unable to really breathe for ages. He leaned his head back. I saw sweat glistening on his forehead under the dull light shining through our windows. He was probably just exhausted out of his mind- we all were.
"Did you hear that, Spy?" I looked over at the Frenchman, but although he was still sitting in the chair with a cigarette clenched between his lips, he seemed to be asleep.
My shoulders slumped and I returned my attention to Friedrich. His heavy eyelids seemed glued shut, and he, too, seemed to already be out cold.
I got up off the couch and slipped a quilt off of the back of Spy's recliner. I had to tug it a bit to get it out from underneath his back, but eventually I got it free without waking him up. Then, I walked over to Friedrich and draped the quilt over his body as carefully as I could.
"…Thanks, Doc."
I watched him for a few more moments, then left as quietly as I could. I went back to my old room and slipped into my old bed. I fell asleep, knowin' my family was gonna be okay.
.
I didn't get to sleep very long. Some people from the hospital came by to interrogate Spy a few hours later. I heard bangin' on the door and Spy answered it, his tired voice addressing some strangers. I could tell from their voices that they sounded official. Quietly I got up out of bed, joinin' my brothers to eavesdrop on the conversation.
I can't exactly remember everythin' they said. I was pretty shaken up. But I do remember the officials comin' to check on my ma, and that's when I cracked my door open to take a peek. Two police officers and a hospital doctor stood in the hall, with Spy standin' in front showin' them to my ma's room.
When they went into Ma's room, I could hear her voice. She sounded so weak, so tired, but I heard her. She was talkin'. She was … flirtin' with them. Flirtin' with the police officers.
"As you men can see, she has completely recovered even as the doctors at the hospital insisted she was going to die within hours. As her fiancé, I had to do something. I wasn't going to leave her to die in a hospital. She needed to be here, with her family."
"There were other ways to communicate that to the staff-"
"And waste precious time? As you can see, her condition has completely reversed."
After some silence, I heard the doctor say, "…This is impossible."
"Miracles happen, sir."
"…She seems to have almost completely recovered. I-… I've never seen anything like this before. I don't know what to say."
"Mmm… that's my wonderful, handsome man…" I heard my ma say to Spy, "…I wouldn't have wanted it any other way…"
After some more talk about legal stuff I didn't care really to listen much to, the officials and the doctor all left the house… and they didn't take Ma with them. After hearin' her voice, knowin' she was awake, I had to go see her. We all had to go see her. Me and my brothers all went into her room, with me in the lead.
There she was, layin' in the bed, her dark hair spread about the pillow. She had life in her face, color in her cheeks, and although her eyes drooped with weariness, she smiled bright when she saw me and spread her arms out in a familiar invitation to hug. Tears came to my eyes. I shuffled over to her like a baby.
I leaned down and carefully hugged her, burying my face in her neck and feelin' her arms cradle me, as they always have, ever since I was a boy. She even smelled the same. Everythin' about her was the same- just as I remembered. I finally felt that I was home.
.
It happened to be Thanksgiving day that morning. I'd completely forgotten about Thanksgiving, but now I remembered the whole reason why we were able to get leave from mercenary work to begin with. And now that it was here, I couldn't think of a more ironically appropriate holiday possible to celebrate. When dawn broke, I went into the living room to find Friedrich still on the couch, now spread out over it instead of sleeping sitting up, all bundled up in that quilt I gave him like a burrito. I couldn't help but to find it a little funny.
Dell was still asleep in the recliner as well, but Spy was in the room with my ma. He was talkin' to her- he's been talkin' to her all morning. It didn't bother me. I was able to talk with her for a while too, but she needed her rest, and so did I. I went back to sleep a while after I saw her that night, and I got back up when the sun came out, as did my brothers. They were usin' our telephone all day, tryin' to get a hold of my other brothers. When they finally did, they arrived later that morning when they heard the news: George and Harris. Now all that was missin' was Mike and Nate, but, no one knew where they were anymore. They vanished a long time ago. Nate's been in an out of jail and Mike, well… I hope he's okay. I liked him a lot growing up.
When they showed up, they actually brought food with them. Which was great, because I realized how damn hungry I was. Apparently when Vince called them, he told them to bring food, and lots of it. They brought turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green beans, potatoes- you know, all the stuff you'd expect to see at a Thanksgiving dinner. Sure, it was all store-bought and wasn't cooked by Ma, but it didn't matter to me. I was just glad to have somethin' to eat.
Spy brought Ma in to the kitchen in a wheelchair. She couldn't walk yet, but it was great just to see her with her whole family now. Friedrich and Dell woke up when they smelled the food, so we waited for everybody to get to the table before we had dinner. I don't even remember what all we talked about. I was just so damn hungry I spent more time crammin' my face than actually talking. Mostly it was my brothers who blabbed everybody's ears off.
There was a lot of laughing, that I remember. I laughed too. Hell, I laughed my head off. I laughed until I cried. Or maybe I really was crying.
I just couldn't believe this was happening.
My Ma was alive, and almost all of my brothers were here. On top of that, Dell and Friedrich were here too and they didn't seem all that upset. In fact, they seemed happy, too. Like they were glad they came. As I thought about it, I realized somethin' about both of them that I never thought about before.
I wasn't sure if I believed in God or not, but I did believe this: Friedrich and Dell… and heck, even Spy… they were miracles.
We got to have Thanksgiving, after all.
.
We couldn't stay for very long. That was the only downside to our "vacation" at home. We had to go all the way back to Kansas or we'd miss our deadline and risk gettin' fired, and no one could afford that- especially Friedrich.
Speakin' of Friedrich, he looked terrible. I mean, physically. Dell looked bad too, but Friedrich looked worse. I mean, I wasn't expecting him to look bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, but he was so weak he could hardly keep his eyes open. After we ate, he fell back asleep on the couch and didn't say much at all. We'd all been through a lot to get up here and the stress was probably doin' a number on him. So, to save on money for train tickets, Spy decided to come with us on the way back to Kansas, and he offered to take turns drivin' with Dell to give the Doc a break.
The more I thought about it, the more… bad I felt. Friedrich saved my mom's life. I owed him a lot- more than I could ever give.
After a few hours of restin', I said goodbye to my brothers and my ma. I knew they were going to take good care of her. She was lookin' better and better as the day went on. It was sad havin' to say goodbye after such a short time seein' them, but at least she was alive, and I knew she would be alright. I hugged her goodbye, Dell got Friedrich up, and the four of us headed back to Friedrich's van. Dell actually had to help him walk.
When we were all in the car and on the road again, things were sort of a blur. I was still tryin' to process everything that happened to us up until now… and when it was finally over, I still didn't feel like it was. It was a strange feeling… like things haven't exactly ended yet. Spy was drivin' on the way back, Engineer was in the passenger seat and the Doc was in the chair next to me. It was leaned back as far as it would go, which wasn't very far, and he was asleep again in moments after setting on the road again.
I don't remember much. Just the world going by, and my mind spinnin' at a million miles an hour- too fast to really remember what I was thinkin' about, but I knew I was thinkin' about a lot.
I don't remember how far we traveled until this happened, but I do remember everythin' comin' back to reality when the Doc spoke up, seemingly out of nowhere.
"Dell? Are you avake?"
"Mmhmm. I'm drivin,' fella."
I opened my eyes. The Spy was asleep in the passenger seat now and Dell was the one who was drivin'.
"…I'm sorry."
"Huh? What are you sorry for?"
"I never got a chance to apologize to you. Zhat accident vas my fault. You could have died."
"Huh? Oh… that. It's okay, I wasn't mad at you or anythin'… honestly I thought I should be the one apologizin'."
"…You vere just expressing your beliefs. I should have respected you."
"It's okay. I… I wasn't respecting you, either."
It took me a while to remember what the heck they were talkin' about, but then I remembered. It was actually MY fault for bringing up that topic to begin with- I remembered it now. But since it was fresh on my mind, I decided to risk yet another exploration into the topic. Mostly because it was somethin' I was thinkin' about, and I wanted to get it off my chest.
"…I know you guys have different opinions on God and stuff…" I spoke quietly, "…and I don't know what I think, myself…" I fidgeted a little bit, not sure why. "…But I can't help but to feel like... you guys are a miracle. And… I wanted to thank you guys. Especially Friedrich. You… didn't need to come all the way out here- heck, I'm not sure I-… I'm not sure I even deserved it." I looked down and interlocked my fingers nervously.
I'm not sure what I saw on Friedrich's face when I looked over at him. But whatever it was, it was… content? Happy? Even as it was weary, somethin' there was genuine. He didn't say anything.
"…We don't deserve a lot of things. None of us do." Dell said quietly. "…But I think that's all the more reason why we should give people what they don't deserve. Because that says somethin' about us, and it says soemthin' about them. That even though we don't deserve somethin'… we're worth it. Kinda strange… but I've found most of the true things in life, are a paradox."
As we drove towards the barren lands of Kansas with the sun shrinking and the sky darkening around us, I couldn't have felt more happy, more grateful, more alive.
