A Promise Kept
Chapter 25
Susan held up her nutrition shake and smiling, she spoke humorously.
"I drink to your speedy recovery Steve."
Grinning now from ear to ear as he watched the young woman in the bed drink from her shake, he shook his head and lifted his too.
"Thank you ... and I drink to yours."
He lifted the shake and sucked a little from the straw but seeing him take only a small bit, Susan frowned and then decided to rise to the challenge. Rita had told her that Steve had been having trouble eating and drinking things and so discarding the straw and lid off hers unexpectedly, she got a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
"Let's see who can finish theirs first. What do you say Steve? You up for it?"
Steve looked taken aback at first by the blatant challenge and then smiled at her ability to be in such good humor and retain her sense of fun despite her current bleak situation. He wanted to participate and not disappoint her but at the same time he didn't think that drinking the shake very fast was a good idea with his current track record.
"No, sorry ... I ... I don't think so ..."
"Aw come on ... Are you afraid you'll lose?" she asked teasingly. "Besides ... you have the distinct advantage with two weeks more of recovery behind you."
Steve laughed at her playfulness and felt himself rising to the challenge. Staring at Susan who was now grinning from ear to ear, he chuckled once more before discarding his own lid and straw in one quick movement and lifting it in readiness.
"Ok ... You're on."
Susan admired his going along with her dare and so positioning her drink carefully she announced.
"Ready, get set, GO!"
The two started to down the shakes at the same time but Susan seemed to have the overall advantage. Steve's gag reflex was hampering his progress as it fought against him to repel the drink that was now being swallowed down way too fast. As he struggled on valiantly and was nearing the end, Susan suddenly slammed down her cup and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she smiled and announced proudly.
"I win!"
Steve lowered his drink and coughed a little before accepting defeat as he wagged a finger in her direction
"I almost got you ... But you did win fair and square. "
Reaching out, Susan pulled down his cup to see how well he had done and was pleased to see that he had managed most of it down to the last few mouthfuls.
"Not bad. But ... seeing as you lost now you have to pay the forfeit."
Steve held up both hands in a feigned surrendering gesture.
"Hey, hey wait a minute! You never said anything about a forfeit."
"Oh come on. What fun is there in winning if I don't get some sort of reward?"
Steve laughed and strangely found himself actually enjoying the playful banter and fun with this endearing and inspirational young woman after the harrowing few days he had spent here in CCU so far. Feeling a little braver than he had been, he smiled warmly and found himself asking nervously.
"Ok. I guess that makes sense. But what's the forfeit?"
"Hmmm ... Let me see. Well I guess I better go easy on you so ... You have to tell me a bit about yourself. How's that?"
"Ok ... that doesn't sound too bad. What do you want to know?"
Susan beamed as her plan was working. Rita had asked for her help with Steve and so far she felt she was succeeding in leaps and bounds. She had gotten him to drink most of the Nutrition shake and gotten him to stop trying to hide his scar and thinking about it and he had only been here visiting with her less than ten minutes. If she could now just get him to talk about the shooting she would be batting three for three. Not a bad average. Bolstered by her success so far she asked confidently.
"Ok ... What happened to you to land you in this place?"
Susan watched as Steve's smile faded almost instantly and she cursed the fact that maybe her arrogance at her success so far had made her ask that question a little too soon. She watched as he swallowed hard and then looked away briefly before a forced, nervous smile finally replaced the original one.
"Boy! You certainly don't beat around the bush do you?"
Knowing she was going to have to regain lost ground quickly and rebuild his trust, she decided on another tactic.
"I'm sorry Steve. Maybe that was a bit too personal. I guess living with this condition, I've learned that life is short and very tenuous and beating around the bush is just a waste of precious time but ... you don't have to answer that if you'd rather not. It's ok ..."
Steve couldn't fault her response and found himself stammering in reply as he noticed her looking a little dejected by his reluctance to answer.
"No, no that's ok. I don't mind you asking. You just caught me off guard a little with that question, that's all ..."
He chuckled nervously and saw Susan look back at him eagerly as he licked his lips a second time as they seemed to dry up on the spot.
'I ah ... I was a Police Officer and we were looking for some kidnappers. Anyway ... we traced one of them to a phone booth and I was the nearest Officer to the location so I ... I responded ... to the call ..."
Susan saddened as she heard the audible difficulty he was having trying to relay the story to her, clearly in his voice.
"When I got there I ... I didn't really follow protocol ... "
Steve stopped talking as he focused on his last statement. Something he hadn't purposefully dwelt on since the shooting but that now seemed to stand out to him for no apparent reason. Susan saw the remaining colour drain from his face and reaching out she touched his arm again as he stared blankly ahead of him.
"Steve? What protocol?"
Her question made him look at her again and she saw the visible inner torment in his striking green eyes.
"I ah ... I didn't approach with caution. I just walked straight out and called her name. I didn't even ... have my weapon drawn ... She ... she was right ..."
Susan was starting to regret starting the conversation as she saw the worrying pallor in his face and the tortuous tone he was using. She looked up at the door, hoping that Rita would return soon. When it didn't open, she spoke herself again, feeling reluctant to probe further but feeling that having started this, she had an obligation to follow it though.
"Who was right Steve? What happened?"
Again Susan's direct question drew his attention and he found himself stammering incoherently.
"Barbara Ross ... She said I was stupid. I guess she was right. I walked right into it ..."
Feeling more uncomfortable with every question she felt she had to ask, she watched him closely as she continued.
"What? ... What did you walk into Steve?"
Steve wasn't looking at her now. He was staring at the floor but Susan knew his mind was not even in the room with her but back in that horror filled moment in time.
"I walked right into her bullet. She just looked me in the eyes and ... and she pulled the trigger. She shot me ... right in the heart."
As he relived the moment in his head and felt even more responsible for his own misfortune, he felt his head begin to swim and the first vague familiar effect of the morphine started to wash over him in one unnerving wave. He could feel himself panic a little. His time was almost up and he knew it would only be a matter of minutes before it would fully take hold of him and leave him struggling to string any coherent words together and yet here he was still in Susan's room with no sign of Rita coming back. Pulling unnervingly at an invisible collar that seemed to have appeared from nowhere around his neck, that suddenly felt like it was stifling him, he spoke weakly.
"Rita sure is taking a long time ..."
Seeing his visible distress, Susan grabbed Steve's arm tighter and spoke anxiously.
"Steve? You've gone really pale. Are you ok? What's the matter?"
"I ah ... I got pain meds a while ago. I think ... they're starting to kick in ..."
"Steve are you still on the strong morphine?"
"Yeah ... "
Before Susan could ask if she should press the call button, the door opened and as they both looked anxiously hoping to see Rita enter, instead a tall blonde haired young man entered carrying a bunch of flowers in his hand. He looked to be around the same age as Susan and he approached the bed cheerfully, bending down to place a tender kiss on Susan's cheek as he reached her and handed her the bunch of flowers.
"Hey Sweetheart. How are you feeling this evening?"
Steve watched Susan's face light up as she saw him and watched as she kissed him back.
"Not too bad Paul. Oh these are lovely! Thanks Honey."
Suddenly Steve felt like the proverbial third wheel and becoming more claustrophobic by the second as the drugs worked their way through his system he reached down to try and maneuver his wheelchair by himself with one hand.
"Hey, I'm gonna leave you two in peace. It was really nice meeting you Susan."
Failing miserably to move the chair very far with one hand, he merely succeeded in bashing it off the end of the bed clumsily as the young man rushed around to steady the wheelchair and spoke in a friendly manner.
"Hey! You don't have to rush off on my account. The name is Paul. Paul Forrester. " he said reaching out his hand to shake Steve's.
"Hi ... I'm Steve. Steve Keller. "
As Steve took the young man's hand and shook it, he spotted the mostly healed but similar telltale scar at the top of Paul's shirt and found himself dragging his eyes away from it to stare at the young man's face instead. Paul had seen Steve's reaction and smiled.
"Yeah ... I'm one of you guys too. "
Steve looked slightly taken aback but before he could find the words he needed, he heard Susan speak from the bed.
"Paul, Steve is from Room five. Rita brought him over to visit. Steve, Paul had heart surgery eleven months ago too. "
Steve couldn't help noticing that Paul's scar was a lot more easier on the eye than his was and found himself wondering if his would end up looking like that in another seven month's time. He found himself stammering out a sentence that he couldn't quite believe had left his lips.
"Your scar has healed very well ..."
Paul looked at Susan who gave him a knowing look and then he looked back at Steve and answered.
"Yeah, it's not bad at all. I know it's hard to imagine how the scar is going to look when it's still so raw and new but here it is eleven months afterwards." Paul said pulling his shirt open a little to reveal just a thin line down the young man's chest where the heart surgery had taken place.
"Does it ... still hurt?" Steve found himself asking, averting his eyes from the scar purposefully.
"I'm not going to lie to you. I still get an odd twinge especially from the ribs but it's getting better all the time."
Steve found some small comfort in Paul's words.
Susan's voice joined the conversation again, a touch of anxiety in her tone.
"Paul, Steve was a Police Officer. He was shot ... in the heart while on duty. He's FOUR weeks over his operation."
Steve didn't even notice the emphasis she put on the "four " part of the sentence as he tried to process all these new revelations with a decreasing thought capacity thanks to the morphine that was rapidly slowing him down but Paul caught the meaning and nodded understandingly in her direction before turning to address Steve again.
"Whoa! That's crazy. I can sympathize though except with me it wasn't a bullet, it was a bolt ..."
"A BOLT?" Steve asked incredulously.
"Yeah, crazy huh? I worked for a car manufacturer on an assembly line. One of the machines malfunctioned and starting throwing bolts. One got me right in the chest puncturing my heart.. My Line Manager knew first aid and was able to control the bleeding until the paramedics arrived. It was touch and go but Dr. Lowell patched me up good as new. Are you under Dr. Lowell, Steve?"
"Yeah ..."
"So is Susan. He's the best there is, Man. "
Steve was still processing the whole horrific story when Paul sat on the end of Susan's bed and spoke once more to Steve sympathetically.
"Four weeks is tough. I should know. When I hit four weeks, my life fell apart."
Steve felt another debilitating wave of lightheadedness wash over him but while what coherency he had left was screaming at him to get someone to alert Rita to his predicament, the rest of him badly needed to hear the rest of Paul's story so he took a deep breath and shook his head to clear it for now while he spoke in a shaky voice.
"It did?"
"Yeah, I mean before the accident, I had a good job you know and I had a girlfriend I was crazy about and then this happened and everything just fell apart. I mean I couldn't work and at four weeks my girlfriend just dumped me. She said she couldn't handle the scar. That it was " horrific". I was gutted. My heart had been ripped out in more ways than one. You know what I'm saying Steve?"
Steve felt as if his heart was now hammering in his chest and he could feel the blood pounding in his ears as his worst fears were being sounded out by Paul. He swallowed back down the lump he felt suddenly manifest in his throat.
"She ... dumped you? Just because of the scar?"
"Yeah Man. Like a hot potato. I really thought she was the one too, you know? I hit rock bottom Steve. I kept thinking how maybe it would have been better if I had died in the accident. I mean that's how low I got, you know?"
Steve knew only too well. He had had similar dark thoughts over the last grueling week and had cursed the fact that Ross hadn't fired the second shot on more than one occasion despite the overriding guilt and upset he frequently felt afterwards just for thinking it. His head was feeling lighter by the minute but he desperately needed to know how Paul had gotten through those dark times so he questioned him further.
"How? ... How did you recover from that?"
"I wouldn't have only for Rita."
"Rita?"
"Yeah. She was my nurse and she saw how low I was. She introduced me to the Heart Clinic support group. I didn't want to go at first but she finally convinced me. You see I had all these questions about what the months ahead held and I had no answers. I got those answers from the group and ... and that's where I met Susan."
Paul paused briefly and glanced up at Susan and Steve saw the mutual love clearly visible in the tender look they shared. Smiling at each other, Paul reached out and grasped her hand.
"She was my angel and when she was at my side I knew I could do anything. And next year we're planning on getting married and she's going to make me the happiest man on this earth."
Steve whipped his head around to look at where Susan was smiling at Paul and was heartened by their happy ending.
"That's great news ... Congratulations to you both ..." Steve stammered in as happy a voice as he could muster, grabbing the arm of the wheelchair at the same time as a stronger dizzy spell hit and made him feel unsteady even though he was seated.
He heard Paul address him again and tried to hide his discomfort as he forced himself to listen.
"Next thing I knew I got a hefty insurance payout from my employer for the accident and life was cool again. You know it's funny but if you asked me now I'd say that my accident was probably the best thing that ever happened to me. That other girlfriend wasn't the one. She didn't care for me and I hated that old job. Now I work in a library. Can you dig that? I mean I love books. I always have. Now I've got the perfect job and the perfect person in my life all because of what happened to me. I've become a firm believer that things in this life happen for a reason Steve. Are you going back to the Police Force?"
Steve took another deep steadying breath before answering.
"NO ... no ... I'm ah ... going to try teaching instead. Criminology ... at Berkeley."
"Far out Man. See! It's all good. You just have to hang in there and ride it out. It gets better around six weeks and in the meantime you should consider the Clinic. They can answer any questions you might have."
"He's right Steve. Everyone there is very supportive and you don't have to go alone or even all the time. You can come and go as you need to and you can bring a friend or relative with you if you prefer. Me and Paul still help out there from time to time as Volunteers. We feel we're giving back a little after all they did for us. "
Paul took a small business card from his pocket and reaching out he pushed it into the outer pocket of Steve's dressing gown.
"That's a card for the Clinic. It's a real life saver Steve. Think about it."
Steve nodded his thanks but was prevented from speaking as a particularly bad wave of lightheadedness hit and he suddenly felt instantly very weak. The noises and sudden raised voices around him sounded all of a sudden like they were echoing from another room and his head dropped forward onto his chest as the blackness threatened to engulf him. Susan watched with concern as Steve's demeanor changed in a heartbeat. His eyes rolled and then his head dropped alarmingly onto his chest. She called out for Paul to quickly get Rita and then as he left in a hurry, she moved herself carefully forwards a little in the bed so that she could grasp Steve's hand. It was shaking and she clasped it tighter and spoke to him loudly.
"STEVE? Steve talk to me. Steve PLEASE? Hold on ... Paul's getting Rita ...Just please hold on ... "
Outside Room Five : One hour earlier : 7pm
Jeannie exited Steve's room almost in a daze a few steps ahead of Mike. She couldn't quite believe how quickly the row with her Father had escalated or even why she had allowed it to. It was as if her words had taken on a life of their own and old memories and long buried feelings had been resurrected and had demanded to be addressed. Shamefully she had almost ceased to realize where she was as the row had continued and cheap points had been scored at each others expense. She remembered the deep and distressing sight of Steve as the nurse had entered and drawn their attention to him and seeing a chair a little way down the corridor she stumbled towards it and practically slumped into it, the upset finally bubbling over as the tears rolled down her cheeks and her breathing became ragged with aching sobs.
Mike exited a few moments behind her and not seeing her outside Steve's door, he quickly looked around and seeing her he rushed towards her, his heart breaking further at the fact that the two people in his life that mattered the most were currently so upset and inconsolable. Reaching her he placed a strong fatherly arm around her shoulders and ignoring the sore muscles that were still acting up around his sore knee he dropped to his haunches to look up into his daughter's face.
"JEANNIE? Sweetheart it's ok. Please don't cry. Everything will be alright ..."
Before he could say anything else, Jeannie turned and buried her face into his right shoulder, her arms coming up to hug him tightly around the upper body as she spoke between sobs.
"Oh Daddy ... I'm so sorry for all those horrible things I said to you. I don't know what came over me ... I ... I was just afraid that you'd send me back and ... And I just want to be here with you both. I NEED to be here Daddy. I can't bear to be so far away from home right now with all this going on ... Please forgive me ..."
Mike's heart broke in two at her words. He could hear the deep worry and upset in her voice and realized in that moment how difficult it had been for her to return to Arizona a week ago and suddenly knew why she had needed to return so badly. He hadn't considered all the facts and now felt even worse for his part in the argument. Hugging her back even tighter he found it hard to form the words he needed to say. Swallowing back the guilt and sorrow he felt, he took a deep breath and stroking Jeannie's hair like he used to do when she was a little girl and came to him upset, he whispered softly.
"There, there sweetheart. It's ok. I was every bit as much to blame for that argument as you were, maybe even more so. I guess I hadn't stopped to think about how hard it was for you to be so far from home during all this mess. There's nothing to forgive but we do need to talk Jeannie. Things came up in that row that well ... We've never fully addressed ... Have we? Especially about ... your Mother and what happened then ... "
Jeannie lifted her head from Mike's shoulder and looked her Father in the eyes. Her eyes were red and puffy from the upset and she was breathing heavily.
"Daddy I ... I shouldn't have brought that up ..."
"NO, no I'm glad you did Jean. That talk is long overdue ... And I think that now is as good a time as any for it ... "
He looked lovingly at the tear stained face of his beloved daughter. She was getting more like Helen all the time and he smiled at the pride he felt for his only little girl. He reached up with both hands and wiped the tears that were still wetting her cheeks and smiled as a long forgotten memory returned and he repeated it word for word as it came back to him.
"Dry those tears ... Wipe them away ... "
Before he could finish, Jeannie looked at him and as the memory returned vividly to her too, she smiled and finished it for him.
" ... Bring back the smile that lights up my day ... Oh Daddy, you used to say that to me when I was a little girl whenever you saw me crying ..."
"You remember."
"Of course I remember ... It always worked ..."
"Do you remember what I'd do then?"
Jeannie smiled even wider, a low chuckle escaping subconsciously as she recalled those special and fond memories.
"Yes ... You'd do magic to make me forget why I was sad in the first place ... and then when I'd stopped crying we'd talk ..."
Mike grinned and then releasing her briefly he made a few slight hand movements and a coin seemed to appear as if by magic into his previously empty hand. Jeannie laughed and then watched as after another couple of quick and cleverly disguised moves he made a handkerchief appear magically from his fist. Handing it to her, she giggled again. Still sniffing between her giggles, she took the handkerchief he now offered and wiped at her tear stained face and her nose.
"Those two tricks were my favorite ones ..."
"I know ... " he admitted as he returned his arm around her shoulders.
Looking up lovingly at her Father, her face darkened again momentarily as her gaze crept sideways over Mike's arm to stare back up the corridor at the now closed door to Room five.
"I wish you could use your magic to make Steve all better Daddy ..."
Those words hit a chord with the older man and his face saddened along with Jeannie's.
"Honey, you have no idea how much I wish I could too ... Come on ... You've been on that bus all day and you probably haven't even eaten yet have you? "
"I brought snacks for the journey ..."
"Snacks huh? But no dinner?"
Jeannie shook her head.
"I don't think I'm very hungry ..."
"Let's go somewhere nice and we'll talk and maybe ... Well you might change your mind about eating. What do you say? Will you humor your stubborn old man, huh?"
Jeannie smiled and cupped his cheek.
"I guess I inherited that stubborn streak from you, huh?... Two Stones head to head is never a pleasant prospect, huh?"
Mike laughed.
"NO! I think the world is a safer place when we're both on the same side. What do you think?"
Jeannie laughed and nodded her head at his observation.
"Ok ... But Daddy. What about Steve? He was so upset. We really hurt him by arguing like that in front of him. What must he be thinking?"
Mike looked guilty and remorseful all at the same time.
"I know. We owe the boy one hell of an apology but ... well if we go barging back in there now we might only make things worse. He needs to calm down himself and Rita will look after him. I trust her Honey. She's an excellent nurse and a very warm and compassionate human being. He's in the best hands for now. After we've talked and cleared the air, we'll come back here and make it up to him, alright?"
Jeannie seemed happier after hearing his words. She knew he was right. The row was still too recent and raw to heal the hurt they had caused. Perhaps it was better to leave it for now and do as Mike said. She wasn't looking forward to their talk as she feared what would come of it but he was right about that too. It was something they should have discussed in greater detail a long time ago. Instead they had tiptoed around the hurt and the result of that was the overflowing build up of hurt that had just erupted from nowhere. She smiled at her Father as she stood up and seeing him wince as he tried to stand back up too, she helped pull him back upright. As concern came into her voice, she questioned him protectively.
"Daddy? Is your knee acting up again?"
"Oh no! It's alright. I ... I just tweaked it a little when Steve fell ..."
Seeing Jeannie's jaw drop, he remembered too late that Jeannie hadn't been aware of that incident and stopped mid-sentence.
"When Steve FELL? ..."
Knowing that Jeannie was getting wound up again this time out of concern he smiled and took her hand in his.
"Hey, hey calm down now. I promise I'll tell you ALL about it over dinner. But for now, let's just start with the formalities that we missed back there so shamefully. Huh?"
Jeannie's face softened and her hand tightened around her Father's as they began to walk slowly together towards the double doors of CCU.
"Formalities?" she asked out of curiosity.
Mike smiled his widest smile as he planted a surprise kiss on her cheek as they walked.
"Yes ... Welcome home Jeannie ... Your old Dad's really missed you ..."
Tears sprang forward again into Jeannie's eyes as she leaned in closer to her Father as they walked and she spoke emotionally.
"Thanks Daddy ... I've really missed you too ..."
Opening the doors, Mike allowed Jeannie to exit first before he cast one last, long and sorrowful look back at Room Five and made a silent wish that Steve would be ok until they got back.
They walked hand in hand to the elevators in silence, glad of the comfortable invisible bond that still held them together despite the hurtful words they had just exchanged. When all else in life failed them, they had always had each other and they both knew that wasn't going to change anytime soon. Sure there were issues that needed to be discussed but both Mike and Jeannie knew those issues weren't irreconcilable and that they would emerge from their talk, hopefully stronger and more united and in a better and stronger position to help Steve through his recovery. Suddenly, feeling more hopeful than he had in recent days, Mike found a new spring to his step. As they exited the elevator on the ground floor and Jeannie veered towards the Hospital Cafeteria doors, Mike steered her back towards the main doors of the Hospital.
"Oh no! Not in there. I'm going to take my little girl to Mama's. Only the best for the best. "
Jeannie smiled and wrapped her arm around Mike's waist and together in companionable silence they made their way out into the evening air and under the glow of the San Francisco sunset they made their way towards the car. As they arrived at the car which was parked a little ways up the street, Jeannie stopped at the passenger side and looked back up at Franklin Hospital briefly while Mike went around the front and unlocked the car from the driver's side. Wondering which window was Steve's, Mike looked across the roof at her and sadly glanced in the same direction, knowing exactly what she was thinking about. Speaking softly but loud enough to attract her attention , he spoke reassuringly.
"He's going to be ok Jeannie. After all ... now that he has two Stones back in his corner, what chance does adversity have, huh?"
Smiling back across at him, she answered with more strength and conviction in her voice.
"None whatsoever Daddy ..."
Slapping the roof triumphantly, Mike then sat into the car followed by Jeannie and together they drove off into the evening flow of traffic.
A/N : Huge thanks as always to all those following and still sticking with this story. It is speeding to its conclusion with just a few chapters now left and we are nearing the end. Thanks for your patience and your feedback. My sincere gratitude is yours. I shall be sorry to see this end but all good things must... Thanks for sharing the journey with me. It has been a fun ride to explore what happened to them in detail after Thrill killers and a story I am glad I took a chance on :-)