Chapter 12

Dixie stayed at Elise's bed side for a couple of hours, while she slept, but once she was awake her sisters began rotating through to keep her company. Elise woke long before John did and although she asked about him often she made it very clear that he was not to be awakened on her account.

Everyone involved with Elise's care, noticed the apprehension Elise had for the women who were sitting with her and trying to keep her company. During those times Elise fought sleep with everything in her, and her vital readings were climbing beyond where the medical professionals wanted them. Even her sisters realized that she didn't trust them. They also knew why, and voluntarily kept their visits shorter and never entered the room without Rachael, Uncle Milton, or Aunt Clara. They were now fully aware, that the choices they made against their sister's will were not the right choices. When they put themselves in Elise's place they realized that they would be afraid of them too.

When Elise had another mild seizure, and one of the nurses stated to another nurse, that she might need to be put back into a coma, while Vanessa and Joanie were still in the room. Against their sister's instructions and, with tears of guilt for their previous actions, they knocked at the closet door where John was sleeping.

It was a curly haired Chet Kelly that carefully opened the door to the women; as soon as he saw the tears in their eyes his hand was on John shoulder and gave him a gentle shake.

John was slow to wake, but finally managed to sit with his legs dangling over the side of the gurney and was shaking his head and yawning. When he heard Vanessa say Elise had another seizure John's head jerked in her direction, suddenly very awake. When Joanie mentioned they were thinking of putting Elise back in a coma, John was on his feet and heading for Elise's room, totally oblivious to the fact that he was barefoot and wearing pajamas.

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Meanwhile the nursing staff, working with Elise, called Dr. Early with a report of the changes in her readings and the recent seizure. The nurses had guessed, that Elise might be stressed by the visitors she'd had and Dr. Early was sure they were right. He sent Dixie up to talk to her and report back to him as to what she thought was needed. Whether it was more medication, or limiting the visitors to only John for a while.

"Hey, my friend," Dixie began the conversation, "I was told, that you do remember me. Is it alright if I sit down and we talk for a few minutes?"

Elise agreed with a nod of her head and a calming sigh, as Dixie sat down. "So tell me what's got you so stressed out, is it your sisters?"

With another calming sigh, "Yeah," Elise admitted and her stress just seemed to melt away, "I must be really bad or going crazy, why are they being so nice to me now?"

Dixie could tell, the nurse before her, needed a good old nurse to nurse evaluation talk. With a smile on her face she started to fill Elise in, "of course their nice to you, that's the only way John would let them see you. Add to that, the fact that the surgery they were fighting has already happened, so there's nothing to fight now is there."

Elise sighed again, and the monitors showed that she was even more relaxed. "But why are they being so nice to John, I mean, I know he's wonderful and all but they don't like anyone, who has any ties to the reservation. I mean they really don't like anyone with any kind of ties to the reservation."

Dixie smiled and leaned closer to Elise, as if the two were school girls sharing a secret. "They've watched John while you've been in here. He didn't leave your side the whole time you were in the drug induced coma, and they've also noticed, that you've been calmer with him at your side. I think they're a little jealous of all the attention he gives you. I would have to say that John is using, that Gage charm of his on them too, and has at least for the time being won them over."

Dixie, at this point looked up at the monitors to see for herself, that Elise's readings were coming back to where they belonged, when she noticed John's reflection on the screen and knew John was standing just out of sight in the doorway listening to all that was being said.

"But what about Tom and Greg, they're not here are they? Tom wants some land I have and will do anything to get it and Greg . . . "Elise was starting to panic once again so Dixie quickly placed her hand on the woman's arm in a calming manner.

"Those two, more than, met their match in John Gage. With the aid of his friends at the fire station, they've both been arrested and shipped back to Montana. I understand, that Greg got off, successfully claiming the Dr's orders had been too confusing, but I know I'd, never hire a person who would make those kinds of judgment errors, nor would I have one on my staff. I'm sure he'll get what's coming to him, one way or another. As far as Tom Sulston goes, I understand he's working with the FBI, to help bring some others down, to hopefully cut some time off his prison sentence. If either of them even as much as set foot in the state of California there's a protective order to keep them from ever coming close enough to you to even be seen."

Elise now took two calming breaths as tears began to streak her cheeks. "How could I be so selfish? How could I do this to John?"

Dixie smiled and pulled a couple of tissues from the nearby box and dried Elise's tears. "I know that you don't remember right now, and that's very understandable, given the surgery and all, but you and I have had this discussion a few times before. I assure you that it was not selfishness at all on your part. I know for a fact that John Gage wore your resistance down and won the battle by getting you to put yourself in his shoes. You both agreed that whatever time you had left in this life you wanted to spend it together. I can also attest to you, that whether you had agreed to marry John or not he would have been right here at your side every step of the way." Dixie paused to smile and lock eyes with Elise. "And every person who has ever known John Gage is totally amazed in his transformation since you've joined him here. I have never seen him happier and more full of life as long as I've known him and for him that's saying something."

The two women shared a moment of thoughtful silence and then Dixie patted Elise's arm. "I need to get back to work but I know you'll be alright now." Dixie got up and moved toward the door, pausing to place a hand on John's arm and look up at him with a warm and moist smile of approval.

John moved in to sit at the bedside and take Elise's hand in his once more, neither of them cared what John was wearing.

Dixie talked with Dr. Early, who in turn talked with the other doctors on Elise's case and three hour blocks were set aside, on each shift, where the only visitor allowed was Johnny. It was the nephew Johnny, who was a smart aleck and claimed he was the one being talked about. But they all knew it was Elise's husband. Better yet, they had all seen enough of his care for Elise and the calming his presence made, that they made no effort to challenge the doctor's orders.

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Whenever Elise was awake John would help her work on regaining the use of her weak hand by asking her to squeeze his and then pull against his hand. Each time she did so she seemed stronger and more in control of her extremities. He also had her pulling and pushing with her feet to build the strength there. These exercise sessions happened, from between every half hour, to every hour and by the time they were lasting nearly ten minutes, Elise was moved to a step down unit.

John sat at her side and patiently watched the different therapists work with his wife as they had her perform tasks, to help them establish a base by which to measure future progress. After each therapist left the room John would sit at Elise's bed side and talked to her of how good she was doing and reassuring her that she would get back on her feet real soon.

One evening JoAnne and Emily came together, with several photo albums to show Elise, the many events that she could no longer remember. While Jo and Emily were there John left for a while. He needed to get some things done before the construction workers arrived to start remodeling home station in the morning. Before he left John tied the handkerchief around Elise's hand, as Jo and Emily watched in curious wonder, and then with a quick kiss he left, promising to be back as soon as the construction team arrived in the morning.

Before Elise's surgery, she and John had explained to their guests what was going to be done and that the guest rooms would have to be emptied. The plan was to pile all the guest room furniture in a corner of the bay, and their guests where to be relocated to the upstairs training center. The crew from the station would be by to help him move everything as soon as they got off shift in the morning, but there was some stuff that had to be done before then, to make sure the construction team could get started as soon as they arrived.

To John's total surprise, after he opened the bay door, he found that his usual parking spot was filled with furniture. After parking and entered through the front door, he caught Jacob and Johnny helping Uncle Milton move the last of the things from the extra lockers, to add to the pile.

John could only stand and watch until they noticed he was there. When they stood to face with him, hoping that he approved of what they'd done, John could only say, "Thank you."

"Now you can get a good meal and a good night's sleep before the hammer and nail guys show up in the morning." Uncle Milton commented. "By the way, they called and asked if we'd be ready for them to come at 7 in the morning. I told them we would."

John made a quick run through of the building, to make sure everything was ready, before finding the blue prints he and Elise had agreed on and placed them where they'd be easy to find. He then called the station, to tell the guys that everything was done so they could go home and rest when they got off shift in the morning. It really felt good to be able to tell them that after all they had done for him, especially since he and Elise were married.

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It was Joanie that was catering to John as he sat down to eat his late dinner. John thought it strange that the others had cleared out, but he felt some relief when Brandon hobbled in half way through his meal and sat with him at the table.

There was a strained silence as he finished eating and then the dishes were taken and simply set aside before Joanie sat down next to her husband.

"John," John knew something was up and was actually relieved that some sort of communication had begun. "We need your advice on something. Something rather serious."

Afraid to say anything John just turned his full attention to Joanie, with an occasional glace at Brandon, and Joanie began to speak.

The Doctors here have talked to us about a couple of fairly new procedures that might be able to help Brandon gain more use of his arm and leg."

"No promise," Brandon added, "Too much money."

Joanie waved him to silence and continued to explain, but John realized why they hadn't talked about what the doctors had told them before now. "It is an experimental procedure, so our insurance won't cover it. We only found one place in Montana that will do it and it is quite pricey. We'd have to sell the ranch and possibly our home to be able to afford it."

"To Much," Brandon was vetoing the program.

"I don't want to go through the rest of our lives together, wondering if this could have given you a fuller life." Joanie spoke to her husband, more than John. "Elise was right, if you don't take chances and make the most of every situation you're just giving up." Tears started to spill from Joanie's eyes. "Brandon I love you, and I'll stand by you no matter what, but I wouldn't be much of a wife if I didn't want what's best for you or to try and give you every chance to improve."

John leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table and cleared his throat to get both of their attention. "I'm not at all familiar with the procedure and therapy you've been told about. It's nothing personal, but I'm sure if you tried to tell me the procedure you were advised to consider, I still wouldn't know much more than I do now. There's a lot of things that could get lost in the retelling.

"But, I do know that if it's an experimental procedure, there are programs that will do the procedure free of charge or at a small fee, in order to establish effectiveness. Now you have to understand that you will be a guinea pig so to speak, regardless of where you have the procedure done and I suspect, the place you found in Montana is actually less qualified to do it than here in California. "That said, I would recommend that you sit down with the doctors here, and tell them what you've told me. If you would like, I could be there with you, just in case I might be able to translate some of the medical terms so that you could understand them better."

John leaned back and let out a deep breath, at the thought of what he had just agreed to do, and for a woman that less than a month ago, couldn't stand to look at him. He also smiled at the progress that had been made in their relationship and realized that Brandon was very much an instrument in that progress.

"I do have to agree with Brandon, that selling your home and livelihood is too high of a price to pay when there is no guarantee of the results. I'm slightly suspicious of the program you've found, good medical programs just don't do that sort of thing, and there are a lot of other options to check out before we start making any kind of a decision."

John gave them a moment to think about what he had said, "If you'd like I can ask Dr. Early, when I see him in the morning, to set up a meeting to get a better understanding of the procedure and your options."