Surprises in the Medical Center
Keith's POV
A few weeks after Operation Brighton, we're finishing up the repairs to the Union. I was helping Sven repair the wall on the 2nd floor that was blown out, "Have you checked up on Kate recently?"
Sven shook his head, "Not today, but the last time I saw her, Jamie was taking a nap on her bed and she was joking around with her dad and Spenser."
I smiled, "That's good; do you know when she'll be at least able to come back from the tents on the roof?"
He shook his head, "Nope, I talked to the doc, but he says we'll have to wait until she gets some new piece of medical equipment. I'm assuming it's a new hearing aid or something."
I was puzzled, but decided not to ask questions. We finished up putting the dry wall back up and were starting to place back the tile. I tried my hardest not to think pessimistically about Alley Cat. It wouldn't do any good if I kept all these bad thoughts in my head, I shook my head as if that would clear the thoughts.
We finished gluing and grouting the yellow tiles in about an hour. Sven left to go get lunch with Wendy while I went up to Alley Cat's tent. I opened the flap and gingerly walked in, "Hey, Alley Cat, how are you feeling?"
She looked ecstatic to see me, "Keith! Thank Mewtwo, I was about to rip the sheets out of boredom!"
I laughed, "I seem to remember someone gloating to me on how she was on bed rest for 2 weeks."
She rolled her eyes at me, "Yeah, but at least I could walk around a bit. Here, they throw a hissy fit when I'm getting up to use the bathroom!"
I laughed at the mental image, "How's your hearing doing?"
She looked kind of grim, "It's 80% gone. The doctor wants me to get a Cochlear Implant, it taps into your brain and lets you hear. But the procedure is really expensive. I know my dad would try to cover the cost somehow, but I need to recognize realities and look into other options,"
I felt sorry for Alley Cat, here was a girl whose only obstacle that's separating her from her hearing is monetary issues, "How long until you can ditch the tent?"
She smiled, "Once my new piece of equipment comes in, I can leave!"
"That's great!" I heard Wendy calling my name, "I got to go; Wendy is calling my name. I'll come visit you later."
She smiled and waved goodbye as I left the tent. I walked down to the 2nd floor where I saw Wendy filing away paperwork.
"Hey Keith, I was wondering if you could help Sven with the glass doors downstairs." I nodded and went down to the first floor to see Sven cursing out piece of glass.
"This #?*!$&% piece of glass! I'm going to break this piece of %#$*!" I was struggling to not to bust out laughing.
"You do realize that yelling at the glass won't make it work any better." He turned around and just smirked.
"Yeah, but it helps me." I rolled my eyes and helped hold up the glass pane that was going to be the new door.
I held up the door as Sven hammered the hinges in, "You know, for someone who has a rep for being even-tempered, you sure get mad when you want to."
He smirked and rolled his eyes, "Shut up, Keith."
I laughed as we put up the other door frame and tested it to see if it worked. After that, Sven took Wendy out to lunch while I went up to see if Chairperson Erma needed anything.
"Well, I have nothing I need you to do, but Kate asked me to send you up to her once I saw you." I followed her up to Alley Cat's tent and Erma walked back down to the 3rd floor.
I tapped on the tent flap and peered inside, "Alley Cat, you in there? Erma said you wanted to see me."
I heard some rustling from inside and then her head popped out, "I'll be right out, but back away about 5 feet from the tent and close your eyes."
I warily backed away and closed your eyes, "Alright, here I come, Fuzz Ball."
I heard her move outside and then she tapped my shoulder, giving me the signal to open my eyes.
I opened them to see Alley Cat standing in front of me with a prosthetic on her right leg from the knee down. That nasty gash on her forehead was now a thick, white scar and her torso was still wrapped up in bandages. In other words, she had never looked so beautiful to me. I ran towards her and hugged the living daylights out of her, this was the first time since Operation Brighton that I had been able to hug her. It felt nice until she broke away from me.
"Well," she twirled around as if she was trying on dresses, "What do you think?"
I smiled, "I have never seen a person rock a prosthetic leg as much as you do."
She blushed a deep red as she came over to me and hugged me again, "I never got the chance to thank you for saving my life during the opp."
I hugged Alley Cat again, "You don't have to thank me, Alley Cat. I'll always save you, no matter what."
She looked at me with a smile, "Thank you. I got to go, the doc wants to run 1 more test before he clears me to go to back to our room."
I waved goodbye to Alley Cat, as I walked back downstairs, I realized 1 major fact. I was hopelessly in love with my Alley Cat.
A.N. I hope y'all love this new chapter as we find out Keith's big secret! New chapters will be updated tomorrow as we find out what will happen to Kate next! Disclaimer: I still don't own Pokemon.
