I've been updating as much as I can, but it does take time to write this stuff, especially with two other stories on the go. Anyway, here's chapter eleven!
Chapter Eleven: The Usual Random Happenings (...And NigelBlogdotcom)
Garret's mouth formed a silent 'oh' as Jordan filled him in. He mind whirled. Kate. They had forgotten about Kate. Completely forgotten her.
Woody was nervously shifting from foot to foot and rubbing the back of his neck, as was habit.
"She wasn't awake when I went in," explained Jordan, "But I think she knew I was there. I still can't believe we forgot about her. When she was just starting to feel like part of the family, too..." Jordan shook her head. "I still can't believe it."
"After all the hard work to make her feel welcome..." Woody shook his head and put his hands on Garret's desk, leaning forward. "How could this of happened?" Garret was still trying to get over the shock of it all. He put one hand on his head and shook it (his head, not his hand), at a loss for words. This, of course, had never happened to Garret Macy. At least, not in a very long time.
"We're gonna have to make it up to her, aren't we?" asked Jordan, putting her hands in the back pockets of her dark jeans. Woody looked to Garret for advice.
He stopped shaking his head from side to side, dropped his hand and nodded. "Yeah, I suppose we are."
XXX
Kate was sitting up in bed eating a bowl of soup on a tray when someone knocked on her door. Kate looked up from her meal and smiled with genuine surprise. In the doorway was Henry McGregor, the man who was dog-sitting Binky while she was in the hospital. He also happened to be her neighbour.
"Henry! What are you...?" She noticed the little dog in her next door neighbour's arms. "Binky!"
"Ssh! I had to smuggle him in. He wanted to come visit Mommy," said Henry, entering her room and sitting down in a chair next to her bed. Kate made a face when he referred to her as Binky's 'mommy', but otherwise looked pleased to see him.
"I'll swap you: soup for Dandie Dinmont Terrier." Henry smiled and plucked the tray off her lap, putting her beloved fluffy white dog there instead. Kate grinned and made an affectionate cooing noise, to which Binky responded by licking her face.
Henry put the tray on her bedside table, watching as owner and dog were happily reunited. He had had his doubts about doing this; sneaking a dog into the hospital. But it was worth it, just to see the happy look on both of their faces.
A nurse, Ali, actually, stopped outside of Kate's room. She peeked in the window and saw Binky. She smiled, but decided not to rat her out. She might be a gossip, but she sure wasn't a tattle-tail.
"Warf!" said Binky, happily wagging his tail. He finished licking Kate to death, spun on the spot a few times and settled comfortably into her arms.
She smiled at her little dog, who yipped again.
XXX
"I can't take it anymore!" yelled Jeffrey, carrying a crying Madeleine into Bug and Lily's room. All four people in the room awoke suddenly; Bug, Lily and both of Bug's parents. Woody had gone to see where Jordan went a while ago, and the four had talked themselves to sleep. Lily sat bolt upright and held out her arms. "Make her stop crying, please!" He handed her daughter to her mother, who started to gently rock her.
"I thought you could handle her for a few days?" said Lily mildly, trying not to sound sarcastic. "Not as easy as it sounds, eh?" Maddie had calmed down a little, but was still fussing. Bug's parents were watching this episode with straight faces, but Bug's brow crinkled. He had a headache and didn't want to have to listen to that noise.
"Here," he said, pulling off his covers and putting his feet down on the floor. He cross the three steps to Lily's bed and removed Maddie from her arms. Lily was too busy yelling at Jeffrey to take much notice; but Maddie became quiet as soon as Bug picked her up.
She stared up at him with her clear blue eyes and smiled at him. He walked back to his bed and perched on the side, rocking Maddie and looking from his beautiful but furious girlfriend to her ex-fiancé.
Bug's father smiled. His son always had had a way with children. He seemed to think that kids hated him, but that was not true at all. He sometimes made them nervous when he first met them, but they usually grew to like him very much. It
was that shy, almost childlike aspect to him that made them want to be friends. Or become relaxed and resist the urge to cry, in Madeleine's case.
Jeffrey sighed. "You know what, you're right. It's not easy. It's hard. Why won't she ever stop crying? I thought the colic... thing only lasted two months or so!" Lily rolled her eyes.
"She does stop crying. Just not for you. Is she crying now?" Jeffrey noticed the silence and glanced at his ex-fiancée's arms, which were not filled with a screaming little girl. He looked over at Bug, whose attention was on Madeleine. He was singing to her softly in Indian and letting her grab at his finger, while she made a little gurgle that Bug took to mean that she was happy.
"Uh..." he said, taking it all in. His baby, his baby, was being quiet and adorable for that short Indian man. She was happily making baby noises and watching him like he was God. He pulled a face. "No?"
"Exactly." Lily put her hands on her hips. She looked at Bug affectionately. Jeffrey took this as his cue to leave.
"I'll just... go, then. You seem to have everything under control. Call if you need anything." He turned and left swiftly, his cheeks turning red, not with embarrassment, but with anger. He still got angry every time he saw that man.
That woman-stealing, bug-hugging, tree-hugging, Lily-hugging idiot had gotten everything. Lily had been his. Madeleine was his. Yet somehow he ended up with both of them, and Jeffrey had squat.
"That was your daughter's father?" asked Pravin, raising his eyebrows at Lily. She nodded.
"Unfortunately." Bug's mother said nothing to that comment, and neither did Pravin, as it was obvious that she not only wished her baby had a different father, but that the father was their son. Pravin noticed how his son was looking at the baby named Madeleine; whether Mahesh knew it yet, or not, he was sure that he son would make an excellent step-father one day.
XXX
"Can I at least use a computer? There's got to be one around here somewhere. Or is this place still stuck in the twentieth century?" Nigel whined to a nurse after she refused to let him leave his room. "I got the least exposure. Shouldn't I be out by now? I really need a computer... everyone'll be worried if I don't talk to them!"
The nurse rolled her eyes, then sighed. "Fine. I'll let you use my laptop, if you promise to shut up and not go through my files." Nigel put a hand on his chest.
"Scouts honour," he said, "I will not go through your files, and I will keep my lips shut tight. I just need to send a few e-mails." The nurse left to get him the computer, and Nigel grinned like a six-year-old.
When the nurse returned, she was carrying a pink Mac notebook under one arm and looking unhappy. "Be careful with it," she warned, "You break it, you pay to have it fixed." Nigel nodded, and accepted the computer, putting it on his lap and opening it.
"You can have it until the battery dies, but then I expect it back." Nigel nodded again, already logging on.
"Mm-hmm. Right-ie-oh." He was already on hotmail and typing up a letter to his Aunt Bea.
A letter to his Aunt Bea, Emmy, Garret and a guy he knew from the poison control lab later, Nigel was bored. He Google and typed in his name; just for fun. The sidebar read: Results 1 - 10 of about 323,000 for Nigel Townsend. (0.23 seconds) Nigel grinned and looked at the first result.
'NigelBlogdotcom Down for Good, Readers Complain,' it said. Nigel smiled as he remembered his old blog. NigelBlogdotcom had been a hit from the start, until Hangman went and ruined it. He clicked the link and began to read.
'For months, no, for YEARS, readers enjoyed a blogger named Nigel who made everyone's day. He was a criminalist, a great mind, a funny guy, to be sure; but a failure to us who needed him in the end. He hit a devastating blow to readers worldwide. He made us laugh, he made us cry, he made us THINK... and then he left us in a ditch when a murderer threatens his career. Idiot. He should have known we would need his comfort, his sense of laugh after an episode like that. But NOOOO, he goes and quits the blog altogether. Now we'll never know what's happening at our favourite morgue! What happens between him a Katezilla, when it looked as though he had a crush on her? What happens to Lily and Bug since she's got a baby now? Are they together? What happens to Jordan and that (rather cute) blue-eyed detective all us fan-girls seem to have an (unrealistic) crush on? What happens now? Nothing, that's what!! I've started my own blog, AnnaBlogdotcom, but it won't be the same. Not for those who still faithfully check Nigel's blog for updates, even though there will be none. To you, fair readers, I apologise for his mistakes. I'm sorry he couldn't see that his work was bigger than himself and he needed to continue for the wellness of others. I'm sorry he stopped making us laugh, cry and think. I'm sorry, but he is gone... And he's not coming back.'
Nigel blinked a few times and stared at the blog. He scrolled to read the comments, and it seemed like most of his readers were posting there.
'I miss him so much. I wish he was still blogging. I just had a baby, and I was going to ask him advice on names... I've never even met the guy, and I depend on his so much! It really sucks that he's left the virtual world,' said Alexandria.
'I miss him too!' said Fran.
'Why won't he come back? I mean, sure, a murderer used him and his site... but that's no reason to give up blogging forever!' said Dani.
'We love you Nigel! Come back to us!' said Kendra.
Nigel felt a stabbing pain in his chest. It seemed his readers missed his blog as much as he did. Making a quick decision, he clicked the address bar and typed 'NigelBlogdotcom'. He opened a new entry, entered the date and started to write.
"Dearest bloggers," he said aloud, though quietly, as he typed. "Nigel here. I have missed you all so much! It seems you have missed me too, as I have read the first entry at annablogdotcom. Nice fan-girl, her. Here's a shot out to you, Anna! Thank you for telling me the truth and giving me the kick in the behind I needed to restart my blog. I will be blogging again, if less frequently, and probably with shorter posts, too, but I love you all and I am home!
"I am currently in the hospital, using one of the nurse's computers. No, I am not dying. I was accidently poisoned. Kate, Lily, Bug and, unfortunately, Maddie got exposed as well. I hear that our favourite baby, Maddie, that is, is doing fine and will make a full recovery. It seems we are all getting better, thank the Lord, and we will all live to see our next birthdays. Mine will be my thirty-ninth. My Goodness, I am getting old, aren't I?
"Many viewers are probably wondering the status of my best friend Bug and his girlfriend. Yes, that's Lily. She's living with him, and both she and the baby are doing great. Bug is like a father to that adorable little girl... more so than her real father, I mean. Or should I say genetic father? I think Bug is her real father, to tell the truth.
"Jordan has had most of a brain tumour removed, and is recovering fine. Though she acted a little strange when she first returned... I mean, she baked us all COOKIES! And they weren't even that good...
"Did I mention we were in a plane crash? We almost died, but Bug and I were able to rig up a radio signal and get us off the mountain we were stranded on.
Good thing, too, because Dr. Macy had internal bleeding. I broke my arm, but was otherwise uninjured. I feel awful for Kate; she hates flying, and then a crash... needless to say she held onto me with a deathlike grip on the helicopter ride to the Boston General. And I'm not too upset about it. wink wink, nudge nudge Plus I still think she smells nice. What?! She does!!
"Speaking of Kate (we were speaking of Kate, right?) I think she might have a soft spot for me. She came to visit me the other day. Snuck out of her room and came down with her IV! It was so funny when the nurse walked into on us... uh... well, we were snogging. Only a little! And I wasn't the one who started it! Honest! She's just so pretty and smart and stubborn and unreachable... all the qualities I used to like in Jordan. I still do, but not in a romantic way. No, she's like my little sister now. And my little sister is growing up. She's with our good old farm-boy-from-Wisconsin, Woodrow, now, too, for those readers who care.
"I must go now, as the battery on this laptop is running low. But I wish you well, and I will be blogging again sometimes soon... probably when I get out of this hospital. I'll be out sooner or later. And I hope for sooner rather than later! This place is like a prison.
"Love you all, so until next time, I'm Nigel, and you guys rock!" He hit the 'post' button and closes his eyes. The post had been longer than he had expected, but oddly fulfilling.
He briefly wondered if he should have mentioned his and Kate's kiss... but no one he knew read the blog anyway. Kate read it once; but she thought, along with everyone else, that he had given it up. But he was back.
He closed the computer and lay back in the hospital bed. Shifting his cast into a comfortable position, he tried to fall asleep. He was tired, yet happy. Life was good.
XXX
"Hey good-looking," said Jordan with a small smile, leaning over a body of a tall, dark-skinned John Doe. "Do you always come to watch me cut people open?" Woody smiled a dimple-filled smile from the doorway of Autopsy 1.
"Eh, no. We have a lunch date." He paused. "Did you forget?" Jordan put down the scalpel she had been about to use to cut a Y-incision into the John Doe.
"No..." she said, pulling a sheet over the body, "I just... lost track of time." Woody smiled and nodded toward the doors.
"Off we go then, fairest maiden, to the luncheon of thou dreams," he said, and Jordan raised her eyebrows.
"Is that supposed to sound Shakespearean?" she asked, pulling off her rubber gloves, "Because I don't think there were medical examiners back then." Woody rolled his eyes, and offered her his arm.
"True, but there weren't proper cops, either. I'm going to take you to this wonderful outdoor eatery..." His phone began to ring. He stopped talking and reached for it, an apologetic look on his face.
"Hoyt," he said briskly, flipping it open. "I'll be there." He flipped it closed. "Sorry, Jo, but it looks like there's a murder down on Myrtle..." Jordan nodded then reached into her pocket. Apparently her phone was set on vibrate.
"Cavanaugh," she said, and then grinned. "I'll catch a ride with a detective." She winked at him, and offered him her arm after flipping her own phone shut and shoving it back into her pocket. "I got assigned to it, you lucky detective. Now, let us go. Though, 'parting is such sweet sorrow'."
Woody looked blank, but took her arm anyway.
"It's Shakespeare..."
"Oh."
"You know, 'Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing. Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night till it be morrow.' ...Romeo and Juliet. Not ringing any bells?"
"Uh..." He smiled, his dimples showing. She shook her head.
"Never mind."
XXX
When they arrived on the scene there were already two police cars outside of the house.
"Cavanaugh!" yelled a young, nauseous-looking cop with a boyish smile and long, light-brown hair, "Hurry up! Wilson told me to tell you we don't have all day." Jordan rolled her eyes. Wilson was a very annoying detective who both she and Woody hated; he must be co-handling this one with Woody.
"Great," said Woody sarcastically, "It's just what I always wanted; another case with George Wilson."
XXX
"Wilson," said Jordan, walking up to him and the body in the living room of the large, Victorian-style home, "What've we got?"
"Gunshots heard by the neighbours, looked like the husband shot the wife," said Wilson coldly, like he said everything, "Typical marriage: it always ends in divorce or homicide." Jordan gave Woody a shocked look.
"He and his wife just got a divorce," he said so quietly he practically mouthed it. Wilson didn't notice because he was too busy fuming and ranting about the disadvantages to being married.
"Oh joy," said Jordan, leaning over the dead woman by her feet. "Looks like two bullet holes," she said, pulling the collar of the woman's shirt aside a little to get a better look at the one in the neck, then rolled it up to look at the one in her stomach. "Stomach, near liver area, and neck, nicked the carotid." Wilson stopped talking to listen to Jordan.
"Looks like a downward angle..." she said, "Sixty or seventy degrees..." She looked up at the ceiling. "Bullet holes in the ceiling confirm." She paused and looked at Wilson. "I think this was an accident."
XXX
"All you have to do is sign the release papers, and both you and Dr. Vijay...aragha...haven...sat..." Nurse Ali Donner stumbled over his friend's name. "Eh... Dr. Vijay works. Both you and Dr. Vijay are healthy enough to leave now." Nigel grinned.
"Well, it's about time, Love!" he said as she handed him the form. He scribbled his messy signature on the provided line and handed it back to her.
"Yes, it is," she said with a smile, "Also, we'd like all of you who were poisoned to start taking antibiotics as a precaution." Nigel nodded.
"To prevent an infection in the healing tissue. I understand." Nurse Ali nodded.
"Are you taking any long-term medication? Nothing is listed here, but..."
"No. Why?"
"Well, this particular antibiotic tends to cause them to not do their jobs... so we have to ask to be sure..." Nigel nodded again and took the small prescription bottle she offered him.
"What about Kate and Lily?"
"If things keep going as they're going they'll be out in a few days or so... a week, tops, and they'll be taking the same antibiotics as you are..." Again Nigel nodded with a grin.
"Well, I'll be off then..." Ali smiled at him.
"Don't forget to come back next week to get your cast off. Your arm is healing quite nicely, I hear."
"Yep."
Nigel collected his belongings and left the hospital in high spirits. He got Bug to drive him home, took a shower then decided to go back to the hospital to see Kate. Again, he got Bug to drive him (he wasn't too happy about being Nigel's chauffer). While Bug was at the hospital he stopped in to see Lily some more, and to take Madeleine home with him.
XXX
There was a knock at Kate's hospital room door.
"Come in," she said with a sigh, putting aside the book she had been reading. Nigel opened the door and cautiously poked his head around.
"Hey," he said. She smiled weakly at him.
"Hey," she said, a blush creeping up her neck. "You got released?" He nodded and pulled a chair up to the side of her bed.
"How're you feeling, Love?" Kate shrugged.
"Better, but they refuse to let me go until at least tomorrow. They want to keep me for another week! And they're making me stop taking my Xanax until I finish a months' worth of these antibiotics."
"They're making me take them, too. It's just a precaution..." Kate gave him a look.
"Nigel, I'm a doctor, and I do know why people take antibiotics. And why they're making us take them. I'm not as stupid as you seem to think I am." Nigel blushed.
"I don't think you're stupid, Kate, I think you are a highly intelligent, self-sufficient woman. I just keep forgetting because I usually have to explain things to
people," he explained, the blush still there. "Your intelligence is probably the first thing that attracted me to you." Kate's eyebrows skyrocketed.
"Wait... what?" said Kate, "Since when are you...?"
"Since... forever. Why do you think I like bugging you so much? Bombarding you with questions? I wanted to learn everything about you. Get to know you more. Because you are a very special person. And I sort of... I have... feelings... for you." Kate smiled at him sheepishly. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. He was confessing to liking her.
"Really?" asked Kate, her eyes lighting up.
"Really, Love. I can't make this stuff up." Kate stared into his big, brown eyes. He was expecting for her to say it back, she realised. She hadn't told anyone her feelings in a long time. Words to express her feelings for Nigel Townsend didn't exist yet.
"Nigel, I..." She took a deep breath. What to say, what to say! "I don't know what to say," she confessed, and a look of disappointment crossed his face. "Except that I feel the same way." It was his time to have a look of disbelief.
"Really?" he asked, staring into her blue eyes and liking how they stared back. She nodded.
"Really, Nigel. I just didn't think..." Nigel put a finger to her lips.
"Don't think." He leaned in and kissed her, smiling as he did so. She grinned as she kissed him back. They broke apart, both still smiling.
"So... what was the second thing?" asked Kate, grin still there. Nigel stared at her blankly.
"What was the second what?"
"You said my intelligence was the first thing about me that attracted you," she stated, as if it were obvious, "What was the second thing?"
Nigel blushed. "Oh, right. Well..." Kate put her hands on her hips. "I really shouldn't say... it's not proper..."
"Ooh..." said Kate, grinning at him. "Now you've got to tell me." Nigel shook his head, his hair flying from side to side a little.
"I really, really shouldn't..."
"Come on, you can tell me." She put on her pouty-face. "Please..." she whined, extending her bottom lip. Nigel gave in.
"Well, there was this one outfit you came to work in..." Kate tilted her head to one side.
"Which one was it?"
"Black pants suit with pink blouse..."
"Oh. Really? I would have thought you were talking about something more revealing..."
"It was more revealing that you thought it was..." Nigel was blushing a little more now.
"Oh, yeah? How so?"
"Well, you bent over the computer... and gave detective Seely and I an eyeful." Kate's jaw dropped a little, and she opened her mouth to defend herself.
"Oh... oops. That top always was a little loose..."
"Yeah, but you should have seen Matt's face... his eyes bugged out and his jaw dropped. It was hilari..." He stopped when he saw the look on Kate's face.
"He's a pig."
"Yes he is. No use beating yourself up over. You're just lucky Stiles wasn't in the room. He would've..." He paused again. "Never mind."
"I don't want to know, do I?"
"Nope."
You guys were requesting more Kate/Nigel-ness, so... I couldn't help myself from making at least one purely-fluffy chapter...