Chapter 20

''Mama!'' Becca demanded, for the third time in as many minutes. The novelty of being in the big bed next to her Daddy had clearly worn off - and as she grew a little sicker (and a lot crankier), she wanted her mother and simply no one else would do! She began to fuss, which only served to clog her runny nose and make her more uncomfortable. She clamped her lips tightly shut when the nurse tried to offer medicine...and shook her head vehemently when her Daddy tried to do the same.

''You'll feel better, Peanut,'' Steve promised.

Becca shook her head again and turned her face toward the nursery door. ''Mama!''

''Sweetie, your Mama's resting,'' the nurse said softly. Jaime hadn't even required more sedation. The ordeal with the poison had sapped her energy and with the shades drawn and only the night light illuminating the room, deep, healing sleep had come easily. A second nurse was there, expressly for sitting with and attending to Jaime so the doctors could reconvene at Clayton, to view test results and bring everyone up to date. In the meantime, getting Becca to take her medicine was proving next to impossible.

She cried - a tiny, hoarse little mewling sound that tore at Steve's heart - but even when he demonstrated for her (by taking his own meds like a champ), the little girl remained adamant. ''Mama...'' she whispered through her tears.

The door to the nursery opened and Jaime stood unsteadily against the frame, her eyes searching for her daughter. Becca's face brightened as both nurses helped Jaime over to the bed and perched her on the edge, next to her daughter.

''You should be in bed, Sweetheart,'' Steve interjected.

''Just let me do this,''Jaime told him softly. The nurse placed the medicine dropper in Jaime's hand and covered it with her own, guiding it toward a target that was still a little too small for Jaime to focus on.

It worked. Becca opened her mouth readily and at the right moment, the nurse closed her fingers around Jaime's, squeezing the dropper. Becca whined slightly..but swallowed. The cat, awakened by his favorite little human's struggle, jumped onto the bed and wedged himself between Steve and Becca, nuzzling the little girl.

''Kitty!'' Becca wheezed.

Steve moved to shoo him away. ''Get down, DC!'' he scolded.

But Jaime smiled (having felt him brush past her as he leaped into place). ''Please don't call him that,'' she chided. ''His name is Newman...or whatever Becca is calling him this week...and he's not hurting anything.'' Jaime had dubbed the cat 'Newman' because as he'd grown from a kitten and begun to show his full Siamese points, the fur's color had reminded her of Paul Newman. Suspecting the moniker was due at least in part to his wife not-so-secret crush, Steve had taken to calling the kitten 'DC'...for 'Damn Cat'.

''Can't be good for Becca to be inhaling all that cat hair,'' Steve grumbled. But the cat had clambered onto his youngest mistress's lap and was nuzzling her chin - and Steve knew that once again he'd been overruled. The cat remained on the bed and Steve shifted over to the very edge to allow Jaime to climb in for some quality family bonding time, until her nurse insisted that she return to Becca's room and lie down again. (For now, they were keeping the two measles patients together and having Jaime sleep as much as possible in the darkened nursery.

''We promised Doctor Wells you'd get plenty of rest,'' Diane said with a firm flourish of her arm that pointed the way back to the nursery. ''We have to give you another dose of the antidote and then you need to sleep.'' As reluctant as she was to break up such a harmonious picture, Rudy's orders had been firm and explicit - and she was just doing her job.

Jaime kissed her daughter and her husband's cheeks in turn, then took Diane's arm and headed back to the nursery. Newman/DC/Kitty gave everyone a highly insulted look, flicked his tail and stalked his way down to curl up at the foot of the bed.

''He was in a full flashback?'' Mark questioned.

''Whatever he was seeing, it wasn't anything in that bedroom,'' Michael explained.

Oscar listened with raised eyebrows that conveyed his shock. This was the first he'd heard of the incident. ''I was there not long after,'' he marveled, ''and Steve showed no signs of it; he never even mentioned it.''

''The fact that he was able to re-orient so quickly after surfacing again is a very good sign,'' Mark told Oscar (and the doctors).

''Why would this happen to him now?'' Oscar puzzled. ''After everything his family's been through, without a single crack in his exterior -''

''It's precisely because of everything he and his family have been through,'' Mark said. ''Steve has had to remain strong for too long and he was cracking on the interior until everything just imploded. He never should've been placed back into service...and as I recall, I did not clear him.''

''Neither did we,'' Rudy put in. ''Not this time.''

Before Oscar could begin to even try to defend himself, Frank Morrisey came striding into Rudy's office without the benefit of a knock. ''Finally tracked you down,'' the OSI's led attorney told Oscar. ''We need to talk - about Austin.''