Chris reached over to the bedside table, smacking his hand on his alarm. It had been going off all morning, and his exhaustion was making it sound like his cell phone ringtone. He hit the alarm as hard as he could but it didn't stop. He blinked and rubbed his eyes, then looked again and realized it WAS his cell phone.

He took it and checked the screen. He'd just missed a call from Claire, probably asking to have dinner at a friend's house. He sat up and checked the list of missed calls on his phone. His eyes widened. Thirty missed calls, most of them from Claire, several from Jill, and a few from work. He could ignore the ones from work, but not Claire or Jill.

He hit the call-back button and got up, grabbing a pair of cargo pants and slipping them on with the phone jammed between his ear and his shoulder. After two rings, a boy's voice came in. "Chris?" he asked.

Chris wasn't sure if he should jump straight to anger, or stay in fear. "Who is this? Where's Claire?" he asked.

"This is Steve. We've been trying to reach you forever, man. Come to the hospital as soon as you can, Jill's with Claire now getting a cast put o-"

"A CAST!?"

"Yeah, but don't worry nothing's broken! I've already explained this story, I don't really f-"

"Steve, you're a good kid, and it'd be a shame if something bad happened to you. But if you don't tell me that story RIGHT NOW, I'll kill you myself," said Chris. He knew it was harsh, but when someone used the words 'hospital' and 'cast' in a sentence with his sister's name, there was no time for mister nice-guy.

"Okay okay, I'm sorry. Basically, Claire was running down the street and got hit by a car," said Steve.

Chris paused, trying to see a good-side to this story. "How the hell do you expect me not to worry about that?" he asked.

Steve seemed distracted, and his voice sounded distant, or muffled. Chris didn't like it. "Steve!" he yelled.

"Sorry, this nurse is yelling at me. I have to turn off the cell phone, but Jill says you should come down asap. Nothing's broken and Claire's fine, but she wants you," said Steve.

"...Jill wants me?" asked Chris. He couldn't help a smug grin.

"Claire wants you, Chris. I think she's scared of the doctors."
Chris sighed and finished putting his shoes on. "Well I'm heading out now, I'll be right there! I expect the whole story when I get there, okay?" he said.

"Gotcha. Seeya soon, Chris!" said Steve, way too excited considering the current events.

"Comfy?" asked the doctor.

Claire shook her head. "I get the feeling it's gonna get on my nerves within a day," she said.

"Most likely, yes. It'll become itchy, warm, and at some point just very irritating. But you can't take it off, or it'll be even worse," said the doctor. Someone else had applied the cast, but he'd come in to check and make sure it was on right. Most doctors never bothered.
Jill was sitting on a chair next to Claire. "Does she have to sit in that wheel-chair under the cast comes off?" she asked.

The doctor didn't bother to look up. "No, we'll be supplying crutches. Though I strongly advise not to stand on that leg for any reason, even if you think it's feeling better," he said. He picked up a pair of crutches and started adjusting them to match with Claire's height.

"I'm not going to school, then," said Claire.

"You wish," said Jill.

Claire looked at her. "I'll look stupid! Plus the kids already pick on me enough, I don't need to add onto that," she said.

"And you know for a fact that Chris will just let you stay at home this whole time?" asked Jill.

"Well, no. But he definitely won't want me out on crutches when there's a murderer on the loose," said Claire.

Jill blinked at the mention of the murderer, and smiled up at the doctor. She didn't want to cause panic. "No worries doc, I already know who the guys is. No need to panic," she said.

The doctor wasn't sure if he should offer an opinion, so he picked up a note-pad and began writing. "I'll write you a note allowing you one week out of school, but it's not to go party or anything. I want you to promise you'll rest that leg as much as possible," he said.

"One week?" asked Claire.

The doctor ripped out the paper and handed it over to Jill. "One week, then bring her back to see me," he said. He got up and shot Jill a wink. "Be seeing you again real soon," he said, and left the room.

Claire watched him leave, then smacked Jill on the arm. "Did you see that!?" she asked.

"Ouch...Yes, but why would you need to hit me?" asked Jill, rubbing her arm.

"Jill, he's super creepy! He winked at you like he's planning something."

"Claire...your doctor isn't planning anything. He just spent hours with you trying to help you, he's a good guy," said Jill.

Claire took the crutches and got up slowly, testing her balance. Jill stood as well, keeping an eye on her in case she suddenly dropped. "You know who's gonna be mad about this, right?" she asked.

Claire looked up. "Chris? Whatever, he's not even here so if anyone's got a right to be mad it's me," she said.

"No, I meant Leon. He seemed edgy when you mentioned Steve earlier...I have a feeling he won't be too happy when he hears what happened," said Jill.

Claire nodded, but wasn't really listening. She was walking in crutches, wearing her first cast ever, and it finally hit her that Chris hadn't been there for any of it. She took a step forward, felt a sudden pain in her leg and nearly dropped, but Jill caught her by the arm.

"Careful!"

Claire shook her head. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention," she said.

Jill sighed. "He'll show up," she said.

They left the room and met up with Steve. He got up and handed the phone back to Claire. "He called back, finally. Said he'd be here soon," he said.

Jill smiled to Claire. "See? I told you," she said.

Claire sat down on the chair, and Steve sat next to her. Jill left, exhausted, to go find some coffee and a soda for Claire, hoping she'd see Chris there when she got back.