Part 10
'Mr. Pig'

-August 5, 2006-
-PV Hospital-

"Well…" Jamie said and placed the cup on the side table. That's when Maggie realized something she hadn't since waking up.

"Where are we?" Maggie asked as she sat up fully and looked around the room. This wasn't her room. This was not the room she fell asleep in last night.

"They moved you into your new room. They thought it'd be better to just bring you down here while you were still asleep." Jamie said looking guilty. "I thought you wouldn't mind. You wanted to leave the room and you were fast asleep through the whole—"

"Jamie-" He looked at her unsure until he saw her smile. "Don't worry about it. I was just curious and um…" Maggie looked down at her lap for a second. "…I just wanted to know where Mr. Pig is?" Jamie smiled brightly while Greenlee snorted and Maggie glared at the woman, who then tried to cover it up with a cough.

"Who's Mr. Pig?" Jack asked.

"He's Maggie's teddy bear." Greenlee answered with a reassuring smile in Maggie's direction.

"You named your teddy bear Mr. Pig?" Erica asked with widening eyes as she laughed lightly until Maggie glared at her and she stopped. "I apologize it's just—well it's an odd name for a bear."

"I named him when I was two." Maggie indignantly stated wondering why she had to mention Mr. Pig in front of Erica in the first place. Right now she just needed something to hold. Her dream had left her feeling whole and now that it was over she felt empty. "Oh…grab M&M too!" Maggie stated just as Jamie turned back towards her beg holding Mr. Pig.

"Um…" Jamie looked at the stuffed animals and then back at Maggie. "Which one's that?"

"The one with an M and half an & sign on it." Jamie turned back and nodded his head as he grabbed the bear. As he did he knocked over half a dozen other stuffed animals and Maggie laughed at him. He turned over his shoulder and glared at her, but she just smiled brightly back at him. He stuck his tongue out at her and she blew him a kiss instead.

Greenlee just rolled her eyes at their interaction while Erica and Jack watched it with rapt fascination. "You should get used to them. It gets worse." Greenlee stated with a smile as she moved to the bed and sat on the end of it. She patted Maggie's leg to get her attention. When Maggie turned to look at her she smiled. "How are you?"

"I'm alright," Maggie answered with a shrug of her shoulders, wincing as she did. "I'm just sore." Maggie stated when she saw three worried expressions cross the faces of the three new comers. "How'd your date with Kendall go last night?" Maggie asked smiling as she watched Greenlee fidget under her gaze. She didn't know all details about it but from what Greenlee was shouting at the top of her lungs on the inside something good happened.

"Date?" Erica asked and Maggie wondered if the woman even realized her voice had raised at least two octaves. Maggie laughed and Greenlee blushed. Ah-ha, well look at that, Maggie thought as Greenlee's cheeks reddened.

"My, my, my, Erica mind in the gutter so early in the morning?" Maggie teased and couldn't help but smile brightly at the now glowering woman. "Kendall had worried Greenlee last night and she'd left in a hurry to see if she was alright. I just wanted to know how it went, if Kendall's feeling any better."

"She's feeling better." Greenlee answered and smiled brightly at the thought of why she was sick to begin with. When Greenlee looked up at Maggie she saw a matching smile on the blonde's face and knowing eyes staring at her. Greenlee's eyes widened before she squinted at Maggie and turned her head to the side. "What do you know?"

Maggie only broke her stare with Greenlee to smile at Jamie as he handed her Mr. Pig and M&M. She held the two for a second before placing them on her lap next to each other. "I know enough."

"You won't…" Greenlee moved her eyes towards Jack and Erica and Maggie's smile became gentle.

"Of course not," Maggie said her words making a promise that couldn't be made in front of everyone else. That's when the light seemed to go off in Greenlee's head.

"How do you know anything?" Greenlee wondered why all of a sudden Maggie's smiles—all knowing as they were—started to annoy her.

Maggie shrugged. "I just do." Greenlee pointed an accusing finger at Maggie as she stuttered attempting to get out what she needed to say. "Take a deep breath, in—out…again…there you go." Maggie patronized and smiled as Greenlee started to get angry.

"You…I…when…damn you!" Greenlee stood from the bed and began to pace.

"You mind explaining what just happened?" Jamie asked as he sat on the side of the bed. Maggie looked at him as she moved to the right side and gave him more room to sit and lean back.

"I just scared Greenlee with…" my ability to read her mind. Maggie wanted to say but stopped herself. "Promise you won't say anything."

"Why would we need to promise anything?" Erica asked curiosity getting the better of her.

"Just promise me you won't tell anyone, especially the doctors what I'm about to tell you."

"I promise." Jamie offered up first. Followed by Jack then Greenlee. That left Erica. They waited another minute before she finally gave in to the pressuring stares and agreed not to tell anyone outside this room what Maggie was about to say. "I can read her mind."

"Excuse me?" Maggie turned and sighed. She'd forgotten how Kane-ish Erica could be.

"Oh, it's nothing," Greenlee stated as she threw her arms up into the air. "She can just read minds…wait what!" Greenlee stopped pacing and threw a dangerous glare in Maggie's direction. "That's why you made us promise not to tell anyone. You don't want to be put away to Oakhaven!"

"Precisely," Maggie stated simply. "That and so the docs don't think I'm nuts and keep me here any longer than I need to be."

"But if you think you can read minds, you are nuts!" Greenlee stated matter-of-factly.

"Says you."

"Ugh…Jamie, tell her she's crazy!"

"He already knows I'm crazy and he's fine with it, aren't you Jamie?"

"Uh…I plead the fifth."

"Some help you are." Greenlee turned on her heel and continued to pace the length of the room.

Jack smiled as he sat down in an empty chair to watch this play out. It was rather entertaining and he wondered what would happen when it was later in the day.

"What number am I thinking of?" Jack asked intrigued with the fact that Maggie thought she could read minds. Five.

Maggie turned to Jack and smirked. "Five." She watched as Jack's eyes widened and his mouth fell open.

Erica and Greenlee turned to Jack and they began to shake their heads. "She wasn't right, was she Jack?" Erica asked as she stared at her fiancé.

"How did you know that?" Jack asked dumbfounded.

Maggie just smiled. "I told you. I can read minds."

"No, no, no! It was a lucky guess. Here, try this. What color am I thinking about?" Greenlee said as she stepped closer to the bed, her arms crossed. She wasn't willing to believe this. Maggie realized none of them were willing to believe this. Maybe she should have kept her mouth shut. She mentally shrugged. It was too late now.

"Think about it as hard as you can," Maggie stated and Greenlee seemed to concentrate and Maggie smiled as an echo filtered through from the back of her mind to the front. Fire engine red. Odd, Maggie didn't even know that was a color, oh well. "Fire engine re…"

"No fucking way!" Greenlee exclaimed as she began pacing again. "That's impossible. You can't do that, how could you know that!"

"I already told you—"

"That you can read minds, that doesn't make it any less creepy, Maggie!" Maggie's shoulders sagged and she grabbed onto her teddy bears.

Greenlee saw the dejected appearance her friend took on and she sighed. "I'm sorry."

"You're right. It is creepy and it's scary and I don't know why I can all of a sudden read minds, or…the other things I can do but I can. I know I can and I can't explain how I know it I just do and it scares the shit out of me."

"Well…" Jamie started. "I think it's cool." Maggie laughed lightly. She placed her head on Jamie's shoulder and allowed him to wrap his arm around her shoulder.

"Thanks, Jamie."

"No problem."

Erica watched the two interact and wondered how all of a sudden everyone in the room was okay with Maggie being able to read their minds. How was it possible? It wasn't scientifically possible! Yet here Maggie was, making it real, and possible, and making it somehow okay. Nothing like this was okay. No matter what angle you looked at it, it wasn't okay.

"Erica," Jamie said as he looked at the older woman. "Maybe you should go and get some air." He didn't like the way Erica's eyes narrowed in on Maggie or the way Maggie cowered away from her stare. It wasn't right. Maggie didn't need this right now. She had enough to deal with.

"I think I will," Erica said as she looked around the room before leaving.

"I'll go make sure she's alright," Jack stated as he slipped from his chair. "I'll be back. Don't go anywhere." Maggie smiled when Jack kissed her forehead and squeezed her forearm and doing the same to Greenlee before chasing after Erica.

Maggie knew. Erica knew. That Maggie knew. That she knew what she was keeping Bianca from her. This was not something Erica had planned for. Then again how was she to know that Maggie would wake from her coma with the freakish ability to read other people's minds? Who gave her the right? What made her think that it was all well and good to go about reading other people's private thoughts! The nerve of that girl! The nerve! Oakhaven, Oakhaven yes indeed.

TBC…