"You may be my mother, but this is my house!" Amy insisted with as much strength as she had. "I'm going to work today."
"Amy, you were just in the emergency room last night, I'm sure the justice system can survive for a few days without you." Maxine pushed her daughter into a chair, taking her purse and coat away.
"Well they certainly haven't been able to so far…" she mumbled.
"Amy, just trust me all right? You need your rest, I will call Bruce and Donna and let them know, but right now you need to get back in bed." She commanded.
"Ma, as much as I trust you, I've got to go to work today." Amy said, pushing her way back up and out of the chair. She grabbed the coat and purse from an angry Maxine and headed towards the door, pausing for a moment as the world began to spin. "Whoa…"
Maxine was right on top of things as she saw Amy hesitate for a second; rushing over, she put one hand on her daughters back and another gripped her left arm. "Let's get you back to bed Amy."
"Okay, I think that might be a good idea." Amy said as she was nearly carried back to her bed by Maxine. While her fever had gone down tremendously overnight, she could feel it rising again as she leaned on her mother for support. As soon as she was on the bed, Amy put her head on the pillow and closed her eyes, willing her body to fight against the virus she'd caught. Her mind drifted and suddenly her eyes popped open, "Lauren!"
"She's going skiing with her friend Taylor, Amy." Maxine reassured her. "When she comes by the house to pick up her things, I'll try and get her in and out as quickly as possible."
"And then we'll have a party." Amy said in the delirium which had begun as quickly as it had ended the previous night.
"Of course we will, dear." She said as she walked out the bedroom door, heading down the stairs to where her sons were most likely eating breakfast.
"Hey, how's Amy?" Vincent asked with his mouth full of cereal. It wasn't that he was intending to be rude; more that he didn't want his breakfast ruined with a graphic description of how his older sister was doing. For that reason, he ate as quickly as he could.
"Her fever's back up, but I wouldn't worry too much about it." Maxine tried to convince herself and her sons.
"Coffee?" Peter asked, offering Maxine a mug.
"Thank you Peter," she said with a smile. "How's your relationship with Gillian? It certainly seemed a little better last night at the hospital."
"It's fine mother, just fine." He responded crossly, "I love having to call my estranged wife and going through a complicated family mini-crisis with her while our boys should be happily tucked into their beds."
"Well you could have just called a cab company, Peter." Maxine wasn't about to let her son off the hook for speaking like that to her.
"I know, I know I'm sorry." Peter said as he put down his half-eaten bowl of cereal and headed towards the door. "I might be a little late tonight; I've got a meeting with a couple potential clients set up for dinner."
Pointing to her cheek, she got the customary kiss from her son before he walked out the door. After downing her coffee and grabbing some things for her lunch which would no doubt be eaten at her desk in the office or somewhere in her car as she was driving; Maxine grabbed a pop-tart for her breakfast and dropped it into the toaster oven.
"Okay Mom, I've got to go." Vincent said, clearing his dishes and giving his mother a kiss on the cheek. "Charity waits for no man."
"Bye baby," Maxine said as she collected her pop-tart from the toaster oven and wrapped it in a napkin to eat it.
"So I just told her that we were going to…" Lauren stopped suddenly as she saw her grandmother standing in the middle of the kitchen, observing herself and Taylor walking into the house in mid-conversation. "Mom said I could go skiing with Taylor."
"I know that Lauren. Why don't you go on up and pack your things quickly, your mother's a little under the weather right now." Maxine smiled rigidly.
"Is she like…? I mean… does she like have a fever?" Lauren asked, hoping the answer was no. She knew how strange her mother could be when she was sick.
"Yes she does, so she needs her rest, the quieter you are… the less likely she is to wake up." Maxine encouraged.
"No problem!" Lauren called down the stairs as she took them two by two, "Just wait right there Taylor! I'll be down in like a minute!"
