Chapter 10

"Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Johnson." Dr. Kelley addressed the couple that was seated on the far side of Megan's bed. Looking back at Megan he continued, "How are you feeling today? Is this one of your good days or bad days?"

"It's more middle of the road, Dr. K." Megan answered in a soft voice. "What are you doing here today? I wasn't expecting you."

"Actually, I brought you a couple of special visitors. Megan, I'd like to you to meet some new friends of mine. I'm pretty sure I won't have to introduce you." With that, Bob stepped aside and Shirley, Laurie and Keith stepped forward into Megan's line of sight.

Upon seeing her idol standing not 5 feet away from her, Megan's jaw dropped and when it finally sunk all the way in, she began to cry softly.

"Megan, are you alright?" Mrs. Johnson asked as she grabbed Megan's right hand.

Megan could only nod.

"Megan, we just wanted to stop by and talk to you for a few minutes, but if that's too much, we can come back later." Shirley offered, not wanting to put the already weakened girl into further distress.

"Oh, no please!" Megan said, "You just surprised me, that's all. And, I must look just awful."

"You look beautiful, sweetheart." This from her father who had been surprised by the show of tears from his daughter who had been the strong one throughout her whole illness.

"Your father is right, Megan. You look wonderful." Her mother added.

Megan snuck a peak at Keith to see if his expression was one of disgust at her almost nonexistent hair and wane face. Instead she saw him grinning at her and, when he caught her glance, he winked. This unexpected response brought a pretty smile to her lips and a very becoming blush to her cheeks. Though her eyes were still swimming in tears, they now had a very happy sparkle.

Laurie, noticing the effect her brother was having on Megan, decided to jump in and ask some questions before the poor girl became a pile of mush. She asked her questions about school, clothes and music. Laurie found out that they had many like interests and the conversation flowed freely. Laurie made no comment as she noticed Megan, though trying very hard to look at Laurie while she talked to her, sneaking peaks at Keith every chance she had.

Mr. & Mrs. Johnson had come around to the same side of the bed and had engaged Shirley, Keith and Dr. Kelley in conversation so Keith wasn't aware of the surreptitious glances he was receiving. Laurie decided to take pity on Megan and pulled Keith into their conversation saying, "Keith, didn't you just say the other day that the new Clapton album was one of your favorites?"

"I sure did." Keith answered, "Why, Megan, is it one of yours too?"

"He's my second favorite musician." Megan said.

"Oh yeah? Who's your first?" To everyone else in the room, Keith's question was rhetorical taking into consideration all of the pictures of himself that surrounded them.

"Keith really. Don't make the poor girl state the obvious." Laurie chided her brother. It amazed her that at times he could be so unaware of how popular he was with the opposite sex while at other times he knew exactly how much power he held over them.

"Right. Sorry." Keith said a little sheepishly as he glanced around at the pictures of himself.

The adults in the room could only laugh.

Conversation picked back up between the three teenagers after Laurie broke the uncomfortable silence following the laughter by asking Megan if she was going to be able to start the school year on time. Megan was supposed to be released in about a week which meant she would miss several days of classes. So far, with the help of teachers and friends, she had been able to keep up with her class even though she had been in and out of hospitals for the last 3 years.

Shirley, noticing that the teens were having a great time together, suggested that the adults leave them alone for a while and get some coffee. Shirley, Dr. Kelley and Megan's parents made their way to a vending machine in a waiting room. "How would you like to meet the rest of my family?" Shirley asked as they headed toward the solarium.

Back in Megan's room, the conversation had turned towards school dances with Megan mentioning that she had missed the prom last year because she had been in the hospital. "No real loss there." Keith mentioned.

"No loss! Are you kidding Keith? Remember how you made the biggest sacrifice of your young life just to take Carol to your prom?" Laurie reminded him.

"Sure, I remember. Did you really expect me to forget that I sold my car just to be able to take her? But, the dance itself was no big thing." Keith said nonchalantly.

"Oh wow! You really sold your car to take a girl to the prom. I would have died to have someone do something that romantic for me." Megan said dreamily.

"I wouldn't exactly call it romantic." Keith was getting more uncomfortable with the conversation. Deep down he could admit he was a bit of a romantic, but to admit it to two females might make him seem soft. Romanticism had its place, like in song writing. He figured the girls would be pretty crushed to find out that he'd had more selfish reasons for doing what he had. Taking Carol to the dance had not been his only goal for that evening.

"Oh? I'd say it was very romantic. Probably one of the most selfless things you've ever done Keith Partridge." Laurie said.

Megan nodded and Keith was really beginning to squirm. No one in the family knew that night's outcome and he planned to keep it that way. Keith asked a question to deflect the conversation away from him, "So, Megan, who was going to take you to the prom you missed?"

"No one special. I was going to go with my girl friends. I haven't had a boyfriend since I got sick 3 years ago." Megan admitted. "What I wouldn't have given to have you as my date Keith."

At that last comment, Megan looked down, tears springing to her eyes and her face flaming with embarrassment. She was mortified that it had accidentally slipped out. I mean, it was obvious that she had a thing for Keith, but to admit it in words to his face, that was too much. She prayed that the bed would malfunction and swallow her up as it folded in half taking her away from what she was sure was the most embarrassing moment of her life.

"Laurie, could you give us a few minutes?" Keith asked noticing her mortification.

"Sure, Keith." Laurie headed quickly towards the door hoping that Keith could salvage a very special day for Megan.

Once Laurie was out of the room, Keith sat on the side of Megan's bed and grabbed her chin lightly turning her face up to his. "Open your eyes, Megan." He urged.

"I can't." She said, a couple of tears squeezed past her lashes and trailed down her still red cheeks.

"Yes, you can. Come on." Keith pleaded. "Megan, I'm not laughing at you. In fact, I'm very flattered. I wish I had known you at that time because I would have been proud to be your date."

At his comments, Megan peeked timidly through her lashes to judge his sincerity. At the very open and honest look on his face, she fully opened her eyes to gaze deeply into his.

"Tell you what, why don't I tell you how I think our date would have gone." At her timid nod of ascent, Keith grabbed her hand and continued, "I'd pull up in front of your house in the bus. Remember, I just sold my car so the bus is my only mode of transportation."

"Right. I remember. What are you wearing? I want to be able to picture everything in my mind." Megan said her eyes shining both from her recent tears and the excitement of fantasizing about a date with Keith Partridge.

"I'm wearing a black tuxedo with a bow tie. Danny even tells me I look like David Niven." Keith leaves off the part where Danny adds that Keith has longer hair, no mustache and is uglier. "What color is your dress?"

"It's emerald green." Megan closes her eyes to picture herself in her dream dress and Keith in his tux.

"Ah, a perfect match for your eyes." Megan's eyes spring open at Keith's comment. He'd looked at her closely enough to remember the color of her eyes. Megan felt herself falling further in love.

"I'd have a corsage that matched perfectly and I'd pin it on you in front of your parents. Completely uncomfortable the whole time, terrified that I'm going to stick you with the pin." Keith's honest and thorough description caused Megan to giggle.

Keith continued to explain in great detail their time at the dance. Megan helped Keith chose all of the songs they would dance to and the ones they'd rather sit out and chat through.

They were so lost in their fairy tale story that they never heard the door open slightly or noticed Laurie peak around the corner to see how things were going. She let the door close soundlessly and walked down the hallway looking for her mom. Keith was making Megan a very happy young girl and Laurie would not interfere. However, she could run interference with the adults and give Keith plenty of time to finish up with Megan's fantasy.

Keith's story was mirroring his dream night with Carol for his prom. He was certain that Carol wouldn't mind him sharing it in order to bring some happiness to a very sick girl. He had no intention of sharing the latter parts of the evening with Megan, but he could certainly give her all of the more innocent details. "When the dance ends, we would both be very disappointed, but we'd have memories to last us a lifetime."

"Oh, Keith, that sounds just wonderful." Megan's face was dreamy. "What happens next?"

"I'd drive you home and walk you to the door. But neither of us would want the date to end just yet."

"That's for sure. What next?" Megan's eyes were bright with happiness.

"Well, then I'd lean in and…." Keith put actions to his words and leaning forward he lightly kissed Megan's parted lips. He lingered and felt Megan's sigh rush over his lips. He took one more liberty before ending the kiss and that was to run his tongue lightly over her bottom lip. When Keith began to pull back, Megan moved forward hoping to retain the contact. Her dreams were coming true and she didn't want to wake up, not for a very, very long time.

Laurie, hoping she had given them plenty of time to finish up, was walking ahead of the group that was headed back to Megan's room. If they were still in mid-fantasy, she wanted time to warn them that they were about to be interrupted.

Making plenty of noise, Laurie pushed open the door and stepped quickly inside. She witnessed Keith ending the kiss while announcing, "We're back." She mouthed a 'sorry' to both of them as the rest of the adults filed into the room.

Keith quickly got off the bed and moved to stand next to Laurie. Megan, not wanting to lose her fantasy so quickly closed her eyes and licked her lips languidly. She could definitely still taste him. A very pleased and satisfied smile spread over her face while she wrapped her arms around herself as if to hold the memories as close as possible.

Mrs. Johnson, seeing the dreamy look on her daughters face wasn't sure if she should be upset at what had obviously taken place in her absence or to be as radiantly happy as her daughter presently was. Happiness for her daughter quickly won out. Mr. Johnson, though not nearly as sure of the reasons for his daughter's happiness was stunned to see a smile on his daughter's face that would shame angels. He had never seen her so happy.

Shirley Partridge also noticed Megan's dreamy state and looked assessingly at Keith. She couldn't read his face, but he wouldn't meet her look either. Regardless, he had made Megan very happy and she couldn't fault him for that. It was quite obvious that her son had made another conquest.

Dr. Kelley reminded everyone that Megan needed her rest and started moving the guests to the door. Mrs. Johnson, wanting to spend some time alone with her daughter asked her husband to escort the Partridge's out and make sure they were aware of just how appreciative the whole family was for their visit. Mrs. Johnson wanted to give Megan ample opportunity for some quality mother/daughter time. They had always been close and she was sure that Megan would want to share at least part of what had gone on in the absence of the adults. She was pretty sure that Megan had experienced her first kiss with a boy – the disease had struck just as she was beginning to like boys and she had not had a chance to date before her illness made it hard to meet boys who could look past the hair loss and other side effects of her treatments. Mrs. Johnson was almost brought to tears by how happy her daughter looked. Happier than she could ever remember, and certainly since the brain tumor had been discovered 3 years ago. Mrs. Johnson said a very quick prayer of thanks for the Partridge Family but most especially Keith. The joy that Keith had brought to her daughter that day was better than any medicine.

xoxo

The drive back to Kip's home was lively to say the least. The three youngest Partridge's were all sharing stories of the new friends they had made, each trying to talk louder than the next instead of waiting their turn. While the three youngest Partridges were all giddy with excitement, the two oldest were introspective and quiet. Shirley noticed the marked difference in her offspring and knew that it had everything to do with Megan and the other sicker kids that they had visited that day. She'd have to make a point of watching Keith and Laurie to make sure that they didn't suffer any lingering effects of their visits.

Once back at the mansion, it was decided that the rest of the day would be spent on the beach relaxing. Tomorrow morning it was off to Miami and then back home.

On the beach, Danny, Chris and Tracy all headed to the shoreline to build the most spectacular sand castle the state of Florida had ever seen or so they said was their goal. After much trying, they finally stopped bugging Laurie and Keith to help them and trotted off. Danny took charge and began issuing orders immediately upon reaching their destination.

Keith and Laurie deposited the cooler they had carried between the two of them under the umbrella Shirley had just erected in hopes that the ice inside would melt slow enough to keep the drinks cool for the rest of the afternoon. Shirley dropped into a chair next to the cooler and under the shade of the same umbrella to enjoy the book she had brought along to read. Keith and Laurie moved a little further down the beach, laid out a blanket and plopped themselves down in a last ditch effort to darken their tans before leaving the sunshine state.

After lying in silence for a good half an hour, Laurie finally broached the subject that had been gnawing at her since they left the hospital. "Keith, are you alright?"

"Sure, why do you ask?" Keith answered lazily. He had been half asleep when Laurie started talking.

"I don't know. I just thought maybe you'd be thinking about Megan."

"I am, but what about it?" Keith finally glanced over at his sister.

"I've been close to tears ever since we left. I just can't help but feel so bad for her. She'll probably never get to go to college, get married, have kids….there are so many things she may never get to do and it just makes me so sad." Laurie's eyes filled with the tears she was trying so hard not to shed.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm trying to do what Dr. Kelley said, I'm trying to find the happiness in today and file the sadness away in a place that is special." Keith said softly. "I'm not being very successful with that yet, but I'm still trying."

"I see what you mean – Remember the look on her face when she recognized us?" Laurie said smiling a little sadly. "I thought she was going to pass out when she noticed you were there."

"Yeah, that was not one of my favorite moments though. I preferred the look on her face after I kissed her." Keith grinned in memory of her dreamy look.

"You better explain that one brother dear. What exactly were you doing kissing her anyway?" Laurie asked

"Well, remember how she said she was sad because she had missed her prom?"

"Yes, I remember. What's that got to do with you kissing her?"

"Well, I borrowed parts of my prom night with Carol and took her on a make believe date. How else do you end a date, but to kiss her goodnight?" Keith said it as if the answer was obvious.

"You Casanova! Only you, Keith Partridge, would take the opportunity to kiss a girl you barely know and after only a make believe date." Laurie couldn't help but laugh at her brother's reasoning.

"Come on Laurie. You saw her hospital room. It's obvious she has a little bit of a crush on me." Keith said uncomfortably.

"A little! I'll give you the crush part, but you are way off with the 'little' part of your statement. That girl was head over heels for you and you know it." Laurie teased.

"My point exactly."

"I don't follow." Laurie really didn't get that last comment.

"Laurie, if a guy who wasn't going to live to experience all of the normal things that a teenager should get to experience was in love with you, wouldn't you have at least tried to give them part of that in any way possible?" Keith reasoned.

"Well, your reasoning is a little shady, but I have to admit the results were definitely first class. That girl will have a very happy memory to recall whenever life gets her down."

"Exactly." Keith agreed.

"It had nothing to do with the fact that she was a pretty girl and you just couldn't help yourself, could it?" Laurie was trying to get Keith to admit that his motives may have been just a little selfish.

"Really, Laurie, what kind of guy do you think I am?" Keith tried to look hurt, but a smirk was playing with the side of his lips.

"Oh, I don't know. A normal seventeen year old who only thinks about…"

"Laurie!" Danny called from the beach. "Give us a hand will ya?"

"Saved by Danny, of all things." Keith mumbled as Laurie's attention was drawn away from their conversation.

xoxo

After dinner that evening, they received a call from Kip apologizing that he wasn't going to be able to send his jet to get them from Naples to Miami. The Chicago airport was socked in with fog. They would need to drive or charter another jet. Reuben almost choked at the cost he was quoted for a private flight to Miami, so it was decided that they would drive, check into a motel for the night and catch their morning flight to San Francisco. It was also decided that they could not fit seven people and all of the luggage into one car. Mr. Nelson offered his vehicle as the second car so they wouldn't have to rent another car. Unfortunately, they were leaving late in the day and he suffered from night blindness so couldn't offer to do any of the driving. If Keith was willing to drive, Mr. Nelson was willing to be the navigator. In the lead vehicle would be Keith driving, Mr. Nelson navigating and Laurie and Danny would share the back seat with some of the smaller luggage. In the other car, Reuben, Shirley, Chris and Tracy and the rest of the luggage would follow. The drive was only a little over two hours, they should be in Miami by 11:30 or so.

Luck was not with them as the night was dark and it rained heavily making visibility poor at the best of times and downright nasty at others. This slowed them down considerably and was causing eye strain for both Keith and Reuben, not to mention Mr. Nelson and Shirley who did their best to help spot any problems. Even with two sets of eyes in each car staring intently through the windshield that the wipers were never really able to clear, it was inevitable that they would miss something. Keith, by luck, saw the blob of something in the road just in time to steer around it, but Reuben wasn't so lucky. Keith watched it happen through his rearview mirror. Reuben hit the debris with his right front tire. Seconds later his tire blew. As Reuben struggled to pull the car safely to the side of the road, Keith slowed and pulled over slightly ahead of them.

"Laurie, hand me my jacket will you?" Keith asked.

"Where are you going?" She asked as she handed the jacket over the seat.

"To help Reuben. Do you have a flashlight?" The last was addressed to Mr. Nelson who reached into the glove box and handed him a good sized flash light. "Thanks. The rest of you stay in the car." Keith instructed as he checked for oncoming traffic and then stepped out into the rain. He held his jacket above his head hoping to protect himself from the downpour as much as possible. Within seconds he was soaked.

He met Reuben standing by the front of the rental car. "How bad is it?" Keith asked

"There doesn't appear to be any other damage, but the tire is definitely flat." Reuben tried to joke, still a little shook up by his fight to bring the speeding car to a safe stop.

"You don't say. Got the keys? I'll get the spare and the jack from the trunk." Keith held out his hand and Reuben dropped the keys in his waiting hand.

"Be careful!" This from Shirley who had cracked her window to voice her obvious concern.

"We will." Reuben assured her as Keith stepped behind the rental and began unloading luggage so that he could get at the spare.

"Reuben, can you go and see if Mr. Nelson's car has a better tire iron, this is one of those cheap pieces of crap." Keith asked as he dropped the tire on the side of the road and began to work on popping off the hub cab that had somehow remained on the blown tire. He'd already abandoned his jacket to the hood of the car and reached up to push his wet hair out of his face.

Mr. Nelson's tire iron was slightly better but not the preferred four headed iron and Keith and Reuben struggled to loosen the air wrench tightened lug nuts. After they finally loosened the last nut, Reuben began jacking up the car.

"Hey, I think the rain is letting up." He commented as he continued to pump the jack to raise the tire off of the shoulder of the road.

"How can you tell?" Keith asked as he ran both hands through his hair that was now as wet as if he had gone swimming.

"That last semi that went by only sent a small wave of water at us instead of the usual tidal wave." He joked.

"Yeah, and me without my surfboard." Keith shot back.

Fifteen minutes later, they were ready to get back in their cars. "We should probably try to find an all night gas station and check that rear tire before we go too much further." Keith mentioned. "You probably hit whatever it was in the road with both tires and we don't want to risk another blow out before we get to Miami."

"Good idea. Keep your eyes peeled for one once we get going again." Reuben agreed.

"Don't drip on the upholstery. Remember it's a rental." Keith shot over his shoulder as he jogged back to Mr. Nelson's car.

"Very funny!" Reuben yelled as he slipped into the car. "Your oldest is a real comedian, Shirl. He just told me not to drip on the upholstery. I'm pretty sure dripping is several levels below what I'm capable of. Do you have a towel or anything?"

Keith and Reuben did their best to dry off enough to make the last leg of the journey just a little more comfortable. They both changed their shirts, but their pants would have to wait for more privacy. Even after drying off as much as possible, they were both still miserably wet.

Laurie had just found a towel in her carryon when Danny said, "You look like a drowned rat."

"What'd you expect? It's a downpour out there and it's not like there was any cover." Keith stated the obvious.

"Really Danny. You were even saying how hard it was to see what they were doing the rain was coming down so hard." Laurie said as she reached over and attempted to absorb the worst of the water from Keith's hair while he pulled back into traffic. At Keith's glance at her in the rearview mirror she continued, "Your hair is dripping all over your dry shirt."

"Well make sure you don't block his view of the road." Danny cracked.

"Put a sock in it Danny. Thanks Laurie, I appreciate that." Keith said as he checked the rearview mirror again to make sure Reuben was right behind them.

A short ways down the road they pulled off the highway and stopped at the all night gas station. The attendant working had them pull Reuben's car into the garage. Once under the lights, they looked the car over thoroughly and found no further damage. Both took the opportunity to change the rest of their clothes and were finally dry once again.

They were all beyond happy to see the motel that Mr. Nelson had recommended that was only a few blocks from the airport. It was now approaching 2 am and their two hour drive had turned into a 5 hour fiasco.

They checked in and carried the sleeping kids up to the rooms for the couple of more hours of sleep they could get. The adults, unfortunately, would definitely be lacking in sleep, a state that Keith was becoming very accustomed to lately. First on his agenda was a shower not sleep. Though he had been dry for the last stretch of the drive he hadn't had a chance to really clean up and felt downright dirty. Clean was a state he desired beyond anything else at the moment. Reuben had headed off to his room to accomplish the same thing.

Two short hours later, they were headed down to the café for breakfast and copious amounts of coffee.

"Do you always have these problems when you travel?" Mr. Nelson asked Reuben when they met outside the restrooms by the pay phones. Reuben had called the airport to advise them of their arrival and wanted to get security in place just in case.

"Not usually. We seldom travel by plane, but after this summer's successful tour, Keith's popularity just keeps growing. It's a problem I will not complain about. However, keeping him safe in situations like an airport are becoming a problem." Reuben went on to explain what happened in San Francisco and again at the hotel in Miami. "So, you can see why I've become ultra careful when it comes to security in public places."

"What I wouldn't have done to have that problem in my younger days." Mr. Nelson chuckled. At Reuben's puzzled look he continued, "girls chasing me everywhere I go."

"It may look glamorous from the outside and most of the time I think Keith really enjoys it. But, at times, it's like living in a fish bowl. His life is no longer normal once away from San Pueblo. At least at home, people seem to leave him alone." Reuben pointed out the downside of the Family's popularity growing every day.

"Well, its daylight now and I can drive the last stretch to the airport. Then Keith can just get out of the car and take off to wherever it is they need to take him." Mr. Nelson offered.

"Great! I'll drop the rental car off after taking Shirley and the younger kids to the terminal. You can pick me up at the car rental office and then I can make sure Keith gets through the airport without trouble." Reuben planned as they walked back to the family sitting around a big table finishing their breakfast.

"Everyone done?" At everyone's nod of assent Reuben added, "Then let's go. Our plane leaves in a couple of hours."

Reuben hoped that they would get to the airport early enough that the crowds would be fairly small and they'd be able to get through the airport without being noticed. He did not want a repeat of their earlier trip especially with Chris and Tracy along this time. They were little enough to get hurt in a crowd. And, beside that, Shirley hadn't been told of their last airport incident and he'd rather keep it that way. The less the leader of the Family worried, the easier Reuben's life was.