The change within
Chapter 14
Julius walked outside, his footsteps echoing on the cement, looking for Emily. Glancing once more inside the Quartermaine Mansion, where all the supposedly mourning Quartermaines were accusing and yelling at one another.
He knew that if they weren't doing that they were imposters, but still he'd think they'd take a few days off from it to say goodbye and get closure from the loss Edward Quartermaine. Shaking his head, not letting it bother him, he wasn't here for them he was here for Emily who was at the moment MIA (missing in action).
He had saw Emily leave, but new to the mansion, he had little idea where she would go, but remembered she loved her also dead Grandmother's rose garden. How to go there was a whole another question though. Still he improvised and soon saw a block of black in between the flowers.
Revolving around the flowers, he came to a small courtyard where a wooden bench was put, Emily sitting on it, looking at a water fountain that squirted water from the top. It was rather simple, just a few layered bowls, no cupid feature or anything special.
Without question, he sat down next to her, but Emily said nothing so he started the conversation. "This is the infamous rose garden of your grandmother's I take it?" He asked.
"Yeah, the family kept it going since her death but it's still never going to be the same again. Grandmother just had a green thumb that no one can match." Emily told him.
"I can see that, it is kind of lacking personality but I'm sure the gardeners are doing their best at making what it once was." He said encouragingly.
"I know, but they can never recreate the magic that existed here, the sense of calm and peace. That's all gone though." Emily explained.
"Is that why you came here then? To get that peace and calm it's supposed to produce?" Julius asked, curiously.
"Yeah but its healing components have died along with my grandparents. I always knew that it would happen of course, everyone and everything dies, but the reality of it happening is never comforting and always comes at the most obscure times in your life." Emily replied softly, but with little emotion, and a few silent tears. But that was only because she had dried and cried her tears and over exhausted her emotions throughout the last few days.
"No, you're right, and that is what makes it the hardest to move on sometimes, but then again you shouldn't rush into anything either." Julius said sincerely.
A few more footsteps approached them, this time Lucky's. "Em, are you out here?" He called as he stepped forward.
Emily showed no signs of answering, deep in thought, so Julius answered for her. "She's here by the fountain." He called out and with a turn and the sound of moving plants, Lucky came to join the group.
Emily, by then, had come out of her thoughts and was waiting for Lucky to appear eerily calm he now found, but was also happy she didn't go hysterical.
"I have to go, but I wanted to say goodbye and see if you were holding up okay." Lucky told Emily.
Emily wiped her eyes and sniffed before answering. "I'm all right; you can go, thanks for sticking around while you did, I know it wasn't easy." Emily said, referring to the Quartermaines treatment of Spencers.
"It was nothing Em." Lucky said after they hugged each other goodbye. "Call me if you need me anymore and I'll be there." He promised her.
"I will." Emily agreed as Lucky took Julius a few steps away to share a few words.
"Keep an eye on her okay?" Lucky asked him firmly, visibly worried. "She doesn't take mourning too well and usually puts up a strong front when she doesn't need to." He advised Julius.
"Is she always so eerily calm and unemotional in that way?" Julius asked for reference.
"Yeah, that will pass when she's ready to come out of mourning, but if she doesn't and this proves a bit too much, call me okay?" Lucky told him.
"I will." Julius agreed, looking to Emily. She kept his number close, despite Lucky living at his own place. When he returned to Emily's side and Lucky left, she was waiting for him.
"Do you think we can go now?" Emily asked him gently. Emily, being in no shape to drive, had let him do so.
"Sure, if that's what you want." Julius responded, "You don't want to say goodbye to anyone first?" To anyone alive he almost said, but caught himself and catalogued that as insensitive.
Emily firmly shook her head as an answer and they took the side route, to grab her purse and leave. When they arrived at the loft, Emily went to her room to rest some and came out when Julius was finishing his dinner.
"Did you get some sleep?" He asked her.
"Yeah, a little, I figured I'd need it if I'm to return to work tomorrow." Emily told him as she bit into the apple she grabbed.
"You're returning already?" He asked, surprised.
"Yeah, I've been out for two days and a half which is almost three days, its time to return to my routine and move on. Grandfather wouldn't want everything to stop just for him this long. He was a realistic man and knew this." Emily explained.
"Well, if you are sure, but don't work too hard alright? It's going to take a while to get in the groove of things again." Julius insisted. "I tried doing that when my father died and it didn't work. I was so sure I didn't care, after I paid my respects and thought it all said and done, I returned the next day and got burnt out in the end."
"I'll keep that in mind." Emily replied.
Still, despite all suggestions, Emily went to work the next day, Monica and Alan were still not in, but that meant nothing to Emily.
"Emily, I thought I wouldn't see you until at least tomorrow." Bobbie told Emily as she checked in. "I know your mother and father aren't coming to work until then."
"Mom and dad found it necessary to take another day while I just think its time to get on with my life. I know that is what Grandfather would have wanted." Emily replied.
"Yes, Edward would want that." Bobbie agreed and assigned Emily a few cases, but obviously overly enough given the situation. It was a slow day and two of them left early in the morning.
As she was checking them out, Elizabeth came to work and though cold to Emily, surprised to see her at work this early. "Emily, are you sure it's a good idea to get right into your work?" Elizabeth asked, perhaps a bit concerned.
"Yes, I'm sure it is a good idea." Emily told Elizabeth. "I have mourned, I have analyzed and I have thought some more, even attended the funeral and the reception afterwards. It's time to start back on my life." Emily explained.
"That is good to hear." Elizabeth commented, confused some. She had given her condolences a few days ago but Emily was too upset to more than nod as she left. Now she was just…there without real signs of life.
"Yes, well, these two patients just signed out and have left, so you can cross them out for the routine checks." Emily explained to Elizabeth as she got started.
"Okay, but don't work too hard." Elizabeth advised Emily but Emily just waved the ideas acknowledgment.
The day got busier as the hours ticked by and before Emily knew it she had agreed to take the night shift for someone who couldn't come in. Again, Bobbie asked, "Emily, are you sure that is wise?"
"Bobbie, I appreciate that you care and are looking out for me, but I do know what I am doing, so would you let me show you I can?" Emily requested.
Bobbie agreed but made sure someone watched her throughout the night, and true as Emily's word, she made it through without one mistake and a few controlled yawns.
That was how the next few days went on, as Emily was found to have a lot of energy and adrenaline. Julius called Lucky on his lunch break to make sure this was normal.
"Is she eating?" Lucky asked, just as confused about this behavior, it was strange even for Emily under mourning.
"Yeah, a small breakfast, decent lunch and a pretty good dinner from what I have seen and know." Julius replied truthfully.
"Is she sleeping a lot?" Lucky asked, it was a sign of depression though he still doubted Emily had it.
"Just like every other human." Julius visibly shrugged.
"Hmm…well, she's certainly doing everything as usual, but I'll stop by the hospital and see what her parents and my Aunt Bobbie thinks. I don't see anything to really worry about yet though." Lucky told Julius, but in the back of his mind he knew something was off and he promised he would find out what.
Lucky took the afternoon off and drove to the hospital. It didn't seem too serious, but it made him wonder just how Emily got that much energy. He certainly didn't have a clue, but maybe someone else would.
Going straight to the nurse's desk, he saw the nurse on call was Elizabeth, perhaps too happy to see him. "Lucky, I was thinking you were avoiding the hospital while I am working." Elizabeth commented.
Still, Lucky avoided commenting on that, if she wanted to have her pride and an oversized ego say something like that, so be it. That was a total lie though, he had been here numerous times when she was working, and she was just at lunch or with another patient.
"Do you know where I could find Monica and Alan Quartermaine as well as my aunt Bobbie?" He asked, cutting to the chase.
Elizabeth frowned at his frank and cool exterior. "Alan is in surgery at the moment, Monica has nothing planned so she'll probably in her office and Bobbie, and I'm not sure what she is doing." Elizabeth explained.
Disappointed only to find one out of the three he was looking for, he decided to take it. "Thanks." He said shortly and left without another word or glance.
Firmly knocking on Emily's mother's office door, he waited impatiently for an answer. Surprisingly his Aunt Bobbie answered the door.
"Lucky, just the person we were looking for." Bobbie told him, pulling him in the room and closing the door.
Glancing nervously between the two women, he felt like he had walked into a trap and more that he would forever regret it. "Um, whatever you are thinking I didn't do it." Lucky transferred back to when he was a child, making them burst out laughing.
"Lucky, really, it's not like that." Monica insisted, as Bobbie invited him into sit down.
"Okay, what is it like then?" Lucky asked the two women curiously.
"Predictably about why you are here, we are worried about Emily." Monica explained.
"And here I was hoping you would know what was wrong with her." Lucky commented, hiding a little disappointment with some humor.
"Monica and I were talking about it, but neither of us can come up with a reasonable explanation." Bobbie informed him.
"I know this is a long shot, but could Emily be on some type of drug?" Lucky didn't want to think so, of course, but that was all he could come up with.
"It's entirely possible that she is taking some kind of medication to help her sleep. Emily admitted to taking some over the counter stuff for the first few days, but said she had stopped using them. But even sleeping pills wouldn't do this." Monica reasoned.
"So, what is the problem?" Lucky asked.
"We are thinking Emily's mental state has a huge part to do with it. Perhaps she has run in her mind that this, death, happens and you can't dwell with it for too long. She doesn't fear death, made her peace with it long ago if she is working at being a doctor in a hospital. Still, this isn't right." Monica continued her theory.
"So we were hoping you could have a talk with Emily, figure out what is making her this way." Bobbie concluded.
"Um, I could try I suppose, but Em is known to put quite a thick defensive wall up." Lucky cautioned them.
"I'm sure you will do your best." Monica reassured him.
"Okay, I'll try but I promise nothing." Lucky told them and left the room after they told him of her possible whereabouts. Lucky found her in the third option, which really meant she had that intense energy all was talking about.
He waited outside the door, but observed Emily's behavior. She was alert, awake and happy, but not bright happy. Perfectly normal, which scared him; it was almost too normal given the situation.
Emily walked out of the room, spotting him. "Lucky." She said surprisingly. "Don't tell me my mom called you down here to check up on me."
"Actually, I came here on my own but Monica gave me the push to do so." Lucky informed her. "She means well though, and so do I." He insisted.
"Lucky, really I'm fine. I'm not on drugs and I'm not letting my mental state overtake me, this is all a natural high." Emily explained.
"Em, your grandfather died a week ago, you are expected to be sad and perhaps even a little angry." Lucky replied.
"Lucky, I really miss grandfather, his randomness and how he drove me and the family nuts. I forever will, his spirit is not something that can be easily forgotten, and I'm not shutting myself down either." Emily responded.
"Then tell me because no one knows, where have you got this energy and strength?" Lucky asked.
"Because I'm excited to finally be done with this internship, by today I will be done with the hours and long days, and I can finally decide what I want to do, not all this general medicine I've been doing. I am psyched on life, on moving on to better things and finally succeeding." Emily revealed. "Don't you remember high school graduation? Why everyone wasn't bothered with the money or lack of sleep? All that extra hard work finally paid off."
Lucky smiled, relieved. He knew how much Emily was feeling useless doing these mindless cases. "Yeah, I remember and now I am very much relieved. Congratulations, Em." Lucky said, hugging her.
"Thanks Lucky, but I really need to get back to work." Emily laughed, for the first time in days.
"Oh, yeah, sorry, I need to go and do some errands anyway, but tell your mother this news, okay?" Lucky requested of her. "She actually thinks it's a medical problem."
"I never had time before this, but I will as soon as I get an opening." Emily agreed.
"Sounds good then, call me with an update." He told her.
"I will, I have Thursday off, the lawyers are going to go over Grandfather's will." Emily informed him.
"Good luck with that. See you, take care of yourself." Lucky said as he slipped away, relieved and much happier.
Author's note: This chapter actually came out pretty good considering I hatethe world and its horrible job economy. Any ideas on possible couples? Just tell me, as usual I have no idea what I'm doing.