Chapter 37: No stress
O'Hara woke up to the morning sun and smiled as he looked down at Jewel. She was sleeping so soundly. He kissed her on the head making her stir then snuggled against him "Hmm, it's morning already?" asked Jewel. "Yes, is it. But I think we should stay in bed all day."
"You can't do that," Jewel chuckled "you have work to do."
"I'll pass it to someone else. It'll be fine."
"Lord Cornwallis, trusts you. You're the best he has, aside from my brother. I'll be fine. I just need to rest."
Jewel and O'Hara's attention was turned to a knock at the door.
"Who is it?" asked O'Hara.
The door opened and Kelly came in "Just me," she said smiling then smiled bigger when she saw her mom was awake "Mum," she shut the door then rushed to the bed and sat on the left side of Jewel "It's good to see you awake. How are you feeling?"
"Tired and sore. Was trying to convince, Charles to leave and go to, Cornwallis."
"Yes, and I told your mother, no."
Kelly chuckled "Well, now that you mention it, Lord Cornwallis was actually looking for you." She then looked at her mother's hand "Whoa, where did that come from?" she asked smiling.
"It was my mother's ring. She told me to give it to the woman I intend to marry and if the ring fit her finger, it was a set match."
"What? Does that mean-," Kelly gasped "Oh! When is the wedding?! Shall I make up a guest list?"
Jewel laughed "Kelly, calm down. There isn't a date set yet, but don't tell anyone."
"Can I tell, Seth?"
Jewel sighed "Since he is the only other one that knows about, Charles and I, then yes,that's fine," said Jewel then groaned holding her stomach.
"Mother?"
"Jewel, is it your wound?"
"It's fine. They come and go."
Kelly looked to her mother "I'll go get the doctor to give you more medicine."
"Kelly."
O'Hara placed his hand on Jewel's shoulder "Just let her go get the doctor," he said. "There is no shame in needing more."
Kelly opened the door then jumped "Oh! Uncle William!" She gave a side glance to her mother. Jewel looked at O'Hara who got off the bed slowly then sat in the chair."
"Is your mother, awake?"
"Yes, she is and already ignoring medical advice."
Tavington nodded and smiled "Must be feeling better," he said then entered the room. His smile faded as he saw O'Hara "General."
"Colonel."
"Tavington clenched his jaw "And what may I ask, are you doing here...sir?" He said the last word in distaste.
"I came to see how Jewel was doing. That's all, Colonel."
"Ah, and now you're on a first name basis then? Isn't that interesting."
"William, stop. Please don't start. Not now."
"Is that a problem for you, Colonel?"
"As a matter of fact, it is."
O'Hara scoffed "Well, I suppose that's your problem then, Colonel. Not mine."
Tavington walked closer to O'Hara "Honestly...sir, I'm getting rather tired of seeing you with my sister, all the time."
Jewel closed her eyes and thought "If you only knew, William, how much he has seen of me."
"And I really don't care what you think, Colonel. In case you have forgotten, I outrank you, so I would be VERY careful on what words you say to me."
Tavington laughed "If it wasn't for you, she wouldn't be in this mess! She wouldn't have almost died! I held her as she was dying in my arms, General."
Jewel blinked her eyes feeling dizzy. Something felt wrong.
"I do take partial responsiblity, Colonel, but if you're going to blame me, you should blame yourself as well."
Jewel gripped the sheets as it started to get harder for her to breathe "Please, stop!" she shouted.
Tavington continued to look at O'Hara, not realizing that his sister was in pain, only thought she thought them annoying "No, he needs to hear everything I have to say!"
She laid back gripping the sheets again, only harder this time, not understanding what was happening except that she was in a lot of pain. Jewel groaned aloud getting the attention from her brother and O'Hara.
"Jewel?" questioned Tavington.
"Ahhhh! Gods! Make it stop!" she cried. Jewel yelled and arched her back then started to thrash back and forth "Please!"
Before either of the men could touch her, Doctor Pegg ran in with Kelly "What the hell is going on here?!" He ran to Jewel's side "Jewel, can you hear me?"
O'Hara looked at the doctor "What the hell is going on with her?"
Jewel groaned again.
"Damn it. Kelly, go get the doctors. You two help me hold her down so she doesn't rip her stitches open. Jewel, I need you to listen to me. Can you understand what I'm saying right now?" She could do nothing but cry in pain.
The other doctors came running in. She stopped thrashing, but started to sob harder. Dr. Pegg looked at the men and Kelly "I need you gentlemen out of here. You too, Kelly. Out of here, now!"
"Hell no! I'm not leaving!" said Tavington.
"Uncle William, both of you need to go. Let them work."
Tavington grunted then walked out with Kelly and O'Hara following. "What the hell was that?" asked Tavington.
"I suppose it's my fault as well," said O'Hara.
"Very good, General."
"It was both of you!" Kelly snapped. "You were both arguing weren't you? Real smart. What is the matter with you two? Mother, just got stabbed in the stomach, twice, and she is under enough stress as it is, then you two going at it in front of her doesn't help! Why don't you think?!"
Ban hearing the commotion, turned the corner and walked towards them "What's wrong? I could hear the yelling from down the hallway."
"These two," Kelly pointed "they fought in front of my mother and got her more upset. The doctor's said that she can't have a lot of stress which she does, then these two add to it! Ugh!"
Ban gulped "All right. You two, go to your rooms." O'Hara and Tavington both gave him a look. Ban blinked "I'm serious. Scoot."
"Ban, I will kill you. So help me, I will kill you."
"Nah, you'd miss me. At least I would hope you would."
"Would you like to try that theory of yours?"
Kelly rubbed her eyes "I don't believe this."
3 hours later, the doors opened with the surgeons coming out then Doctor Pegg who came out last.
"How is she?" asked O'Hara.
The doctor cleared his throat "Better now, no thanks to you two. I gave her some more pain medication, so she should be all right. The last dose I gave her began to wear out which would explain why she just had that episode. She might have been fine however, if she hadn't witnessed an arguement to make her more stressed out than she already is."
"What...what was it?" asked Tavington trying to cool down.
"Colonel, the poor girl has been through a lot, psychologically, physically, mentally, and emotionally. You've got to understand that for starters. But as to what caused that, she had a seizure. She had caught an infection from the wound, but we are treating her the best we can. But you still should not have argued in front of her like that, stressing her out. There's only so much trauma the human mind can bear. Now, I don't know what is going on between the two of you and I don't care, but Jewel is my patient and I will do what's best for her and if the both of you can't be in the same room with each other without starting a fight, then either solve the problem, grow up, or be in there at seperate times because if this happens again, seizure or not, if so much as stress her out again, I will personally go to Lord Cornwallis and tell him to post guards out her door and forbid you both from seeing her until she's fully recovered. Is that clear?"
"Yes, doctor. Although, I can't see why the General should be allowed in there period. He isn't family."
O'Hara glared at Tavington then looked to the doctor and gave a nod "I understand as well. Thank you for helping her. Can we go in and see her?"
"Yes. She's resting for the time being. Now, shake hands, shut up and go see that woman in there and apologize to her. You owe her that much."
O'Hara cleared his throat then went back into the room followed by Tavington and then shut the doors.
"Wow, doc. How exactly did you do that? That was professionalism," Ban smiled.
"Having five kids tend to do that to you. Thank you for coming to get me, Kelly. Do me a favor and keep an eye on them."
"I will."
Doctor Pegg smiled and patted Kelly's shoulder and walked off.
"Five kids? Whew."
"What? You don't want kids, Ban?"
"What are you kidding? Can you imagine a bunch of little Ban juniors running around?"
Kelly clicked her tongue "Good point. That actually is a frightening thought," she smiled, making Ban smile. She turned on her heel to walk away.
Ban's smile disappeared after realizing what Kelly just said "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
O'Hara and Tavington stood next to each other facing Jewel. O'Hara gulped then sighed "I'll leave you alone with her. She needs her brother," he turned to Tavington who was looking back at him. "She needs you more than even you know about."
"How is it you know so much about her, General? What is going on? I will find out one way or another and for your sake you don't want the other as an alternative."
"Be careful, Colonel."
"Please," Jewel said softly. "Please don't fight. Please."
Tavington and O'Hara walked on either side of the bed. O'Hara on the left and Tavington on the right. Tavington took Jewel's hand and sat on the bed "How are you feeling?"
"Is that a trick question?" Jewel smiled.
Tavington looked at O'Hara "Thought you were leaving."
"William," Jewel groaned "Don't."
He shook his head "I'm sorry."
"No,he's right. I did say I'd give him some time alone with you. I'll check in again later and let Lord Cornwallis know."
"Thank you, General," Jewel said tiredly. He gave a nod then left the room. Jewel looked to her brother "Would it kill you to be nice?"
"With him?" he looked to the side then back to her and nodded "Yes. Most definitely. Actually, just thinking about it makes me suffocate."
Jewel sighed "Oh, Will," she shook her head.
"You used to be the same way, sister. Hated him, threatened him constantly and now you two seem to be best pals and to be honest, Jewel, I don't like it. I mean, you might be giving off the wrong signals. He is a man."
Jewel gasped in sarcasm "No! You don't say! Dear me, I must have missed that detail!" she chuckled.
"Very funny. Look, I just don't want him near you. I don't want him getting the wrong idea."
"He saved my life, William. Without him, I wouldn't even be here. Cut the man some slack."
Tavington sighed "I'll try. As much as it will pain me, I'll try."
Jewel gave a glance down towards her left hand and closed her eyes then sighed "William," she looked at him "There's something I need to tell you."
"All right," he shrugged. "What is it?"
Jewel gulped "I...um...I'm-." She stopped when the door opened and saw it was Ban.
"Ban, what the hell, mate?" questioned Tavington.
"My apologies, Colonel. Jewel. But we have one of the rebels that raped, Jewel."
Clenching his jaw, he looked at his friend "Which one, Ban?"
"Elijah, I think."
"What information have you gotten from him?"
"Not much yet. Bordon is interrogating him. The only thing he's said was who he was and that he was with O'Connor and that he had a brief discussion with whoever Jewel had killed."
"Quaid and Evan," Jewel swallowed.
"Right," said Ban.
"I want to come with you," said Jewel.
"Oh, no," Tavington said "You are not going anywhere. Doctor Pegg will have my head if I let you get up. You had a seizure, Jewel. You had and infection. They did everything they could to help you with it and I think it's too soon. You need rest, not more stress."
"William, I am going with you. Go get Doctor Pegg and he'll give me more medicine to control the pain."
"Jewel, damn it, no!" he stopped her from getting up "You can't! You were stabbed twice because of me! I'll be damned if I let-"
"William!" she shouted "I have to do this. Please understand."
"No, Jewel. Not this time. I'm sorry," he said as he started to get up.
Jewel glared up at her brother "You weren't the one that was raped! I was and I want that son of a bitch to see that I am still here!"
Doctor Pegg came bursting through the doors "Damn it! What did I say? No stress! What is going on?"
Tavington cleared his throat "Well, we have one of the rebels that beat and raped, Jewel before, and she wants to go with us to interrogate, the prick. That's what."
Doctor Pegg looked at Jewel "Is this true?"
"Yes."
"Jewel," he shook his head "As a doctor, I strongly advise against this. You are extremely lucky that you're alive and you have been sewn up and worked on. Not to mention the infection and the shit we had to do for that and I still don't know if it's going to work. You may still have another seizure."
"You don't understand."
"I do," said Kelly walking in with Bordon.
"Bordon, I thought you were doing the interrogation," said Ban.
"I was. Wilkins is with him right now."
O'Hara and Cornwallis walked in the room. "What's this about a rebel being captured?" asked Cornwallis.
"We have, Elijah. He's one of the men that...that raped, Jewel," said Ban.
O'Hara looked to Jewel who was looking back at him. He wanted to kill this man.
"Well, who is doing the interrogating then?" questioned Cornwallis.
"Me," said Bordon. Cornwallis looked at him confused. "I mean, I was, my Lord. Wilkins is with him now."
"All right, so, why are you up here?" asked Tavington.
Bordon cleared his throat "He wants to talk, but not to me, and I even tried force with a little extra. Took everything in me to not kill him, my Lord."
"Well, if he wants to talk, we'll get him who he wants. Who does he want to talk to?" asked Cornwallis.
Bordon rubbed his eyes with his thumb and index finger sighing "Major?" He looked to Cornwallis "My Lord, he said the only person he'll talk to is...Jewel."
"Fuck that," said Tavington, Ban, the doc, and O'Hara at the same time. Jewel rolled her eyes, threw the blankets off her, and started to scoot off the bed. She winced as she got up and took a deep breath.
"Jewel," Tavington shook his head. She looked to O'Hara seeing that he desperately wanted to hold her and gave him a slight nod then looked to her brother "I'll be fine. You'll be with me."
"We all will," said Ban. Tavington sighed "I don't like this. I mean, I really, really, really, really, hate this!"
"I know, but if this bastard wants to talk to me, I want to show him he can't beat me down. Let's go."
Everyone left the room after her. Tavington rubbed the back of his neck and sighed "All right," he said to himself then followed the others.