Author Note: ….last chapter before 2011 winds down….hopefully I'll end this on a good note in 2012…so on with the story!

T7S

Chapter 26 - Rolling Along

T7S

Every sound was louder than needed to be. Every ache built on the previous one and if the pain wasn't dull in the hollow of his chest, it was piercingly sharp in the shattered bones of his arm and ribs. The drugs they gave him wore off slowly and that pending pain was waiting at the threshold of his consciousness like a Yeti –almost a like a phantom….yet real as it crashed around him until the next shot went into his IV.

Eric could barely contain himself when his mother said spoke and then went into the patented Kitty Forman laugh, "Ahahahaha – isn't that right Red?" The high pitched laughter pierced his brain like a migraine. Then his dad's lower timber was strangely soothing. Every nurse wanted to jostle his arm as they took his blood pressure and every doctor would come along and poke him with something. Why the hell couldn't they leave him alone so he could heal?

With the one good hand he had, Eric reached lamely for the cup of water with the bendy straw only to spill it over his tray and onto his bed. He thought, "I'm such a screw up." During the bleaker hours of his pain, his mind kept straying back to the seconds he and Jackie were thrown around inside the Vista Cruiser like wet clothes in a hot dryer. He remembered holding onto her with his broken arm and could still feel everything crashing down on his head and body and then he was air born. It might have only been for a split second but that was the last time he remembered that nothing hurt.

If it didn't hurt to cry, he would have sobbed.

The sounds of Dr. Fontenot and his staff or team of torturers were coming back. "Good afternoon Mr. Forman," the doctor said much too cheerily, "Looking at your chart I see that you are consuming some broths and other liquids. Good very good – the next step will be to have you eating solids. Are you in pain?"

Eric almost laughed hysterically. Pain? Doesn't he know what kind of ache Eric Forman was constantly living in? Was he an idiot? This guy needed the stupid helmet! Someone started jiggling his legs and the motion moved his broken ribs. Eric could barely contain the groan. "That's fine intern. We'll be taking him in for more MRI's tomorrow."

Eric tuned out Dr. Fontenot's voice as he ordered blood work and a trial of new prescriptions that might lessen the pain but make the patient more cognizant of his surroundings and then they would scheduled a spinal tap as a course of regular testing.

Eric's eyes flew open. WHAT THE HELL? A spinal tap? They wanted to stick some big ass needle into his spine? Eric's arm flailed against the table beside his bed as he struggled to find the remote on the bed so he could sit up. "No!" he managed to croak.

Dr. Fontenot turned around and smiled, "Ah, Mr. Forman. No? What are you saying no to?"

Eric grimaced at the new transplanted skin on the side of his face tugged, "Spinal tap. Don't want it."

The doctor smiled kindly and replied, "I'm sorry but until you get the feeling back in your legs and you can move those ten little piggy's….that's my job. You concentrate on healing the soul. I'll send a nurse in with a sedative." He turned back to his staff. "On to room 7B everybody! The patient has presented several signs of kidney failure…" The doctor's voice faded out and Eric was left in the bed alone and feeling bereft.

Bereft and bereaved.

The Eric of old was dead.

He was sad to see him go.

T7S

"Heidi-ho Jackie! The nurse gave me the remote control to bring you cuz I was coming this way. Bob Pinciotti pulled the privacy curtain to the side and was stunned to see nothing but the floor. No hospital bed. No injured Jackie Burkhart. He looked around the side of the opposite curtain and even so far as the bathroom.

She simply disappeared. Bob was perplexed. Where could she have gone? Bob set the television remote on the window sill and stood in the room doorway. He waved his hand to catch attention of a passing orderly. "Excuse me? You sir….yeah you, could you come in here for a minute?"

The green clad scrubs of the orderly stopped and replied, "Does the patient need anything?"

Bob pulled the curtain aside, "Well she would if she was HERE! What shamockery is this hospital working? My step-daughter is missing and you better find her!"

With Bob's wig curls bouncing around on his head and pink cheeks sweating, the orderly freaked out. "Uh….yes sir, I'll find her…" The orderly skidded on the glossy floor, "Nurse! We have a missing patient!"

Hyde rolled the hospital bed into the large elevator and pushed the button to close the door. Jackie smiled," What floor is he on?" Hyde looked at the display and slapped the button for the fifth floor. "He's got his own room but there's always a doctor or nurse nearby. I'll try to get you as close as I can."

He saw the eagerness in her eyes and held up his hand, "No promises. If we don't get in…I'm taking you back before anyone knows you snuck out."

Jackie looked up at Steven, "You know…Eric was going to light the Vista Cruiser on fire for me." She said rather proudly.

Hyde looked shocked. "Forman was gonna blow up his car?" If Jackie could have clapped she would have, "Yes! Just for me. ME! Oh! On our last night, I was making snow shoes and Eric was making a rope to pull me on the ice chest lid. He really was trying to save me."

Now Hyde was impressed. "Seriously? He'd blast his vehicle just to rescue you?"

Jackie brushed her hair from her cheek, "He loves me. Steven, I feel good about this. I mean, I'm all busted up but I could be a whole lot worse. And your little comment about falling in love in the car? I've been falling in love with him for a long time. I just didn't see it."

The elevator dinged for the fifth floor and Hyde pushed the huge hospital bed out into the hallway, "Yeah yeah, I don't have time for all this mushy stuff. Let's find Forman's room and get you back before I get busted."

Overhead the intercom was buzzing, "Paging Doctor Zimmer, seventh floor emergency. Paging Doctor Zimmer….emergency, seventh floor."

Jackie giggled, " Hurry Steven! I think we're busted already!"

T7S

AN: The author does not know what protocol a hospital uses for missing patients nor does she know how medical institutions tracked patients prior to computers – this is all fiction and just fabricated.

By the way...HAPPY NEW YEAR