Chapter 2: Reunion
"Happy anniversary you two". "It is now, even if you did use that wicked sense of humor on us". We eventually break apart and sit down. Peter gets coffee for Vivian and himself. We just stare at each other, and hold their paws across the table.
"So, where's DeDe"? Vivian just smiles, "DeDe has moved in with her husband". "She's married"? "Yes, she married Rocky. Daniel it was the darndest thing, I had always heard about or seen about love at first sight in movies, but had never seen it in real life. But it happened to the two of them. as soon as they saw each other, they said "it's you" and proceeded to hug each other. Terry said he felt their bond snap into place". "Well good for them, I'm glad they found each other".
Susan holds my paw and asks the question. "Guys was I violated while we were in the coma"? Grandma lets out with a sigh, and grandpa gets tears in his eyes. "We were hoping we would never have to explain this, but here's what happened. You two had just been moved back to long term care, and been there for about three weeks. The video showed that the night orderly tried to rape you". "What stopped him"? "You did, you guys had been on the stim suits for about two weeks, and Davis, Rick and Mavis had been trying to get them working right". "Perhaps I should take over the narrative from this point". "What do you know about this Mavis"? "Ah, I was kind of instrumental at this point". "This is news to us, why have you never said anything until now"? "Mammals will believe what they want to believe". "All right tell us what you know".
"About a week before the night in question, I had finally got the hang of what the suits could do, I had control and was exercising the two of you. When the night nurse left for her lunch break, the night orderly shut off your suit Susan, at this point the camera feed went crazy. It was a bit before I could figure out what had happened. I found the scrambling device and neutralized it. When I got the video back, he had uncovered you Susan, and hiked up your hospital gown. He then dropped his pants and proceeded to crawl onto the bed. I then activated the remote "life signs Monitor" attached to you. The night doctor saw this and hurried to the ward. But he would not get there in time".
"As he got into position, I reactivated the stim suit. I activated your muscle in sequence and punched him in the jaw, I may have used a bit too much power as his jaw was broken. He then reared up to his knees holding his jaw. Again, I reactivated your muscles and bunny kicked him with your legs. Again, I did it with a bit too much power, he flew off the end of the bed hitting his head on the bed across the isle. He was laying there in a growing pool of blood, when the doctor came in. the doctor saved his life, but was concerned with what he saw. Instead of calling security he called the ZPD. The hospital tried to sweep it under the rug, but it refused to go away". "Thank you, Mavis, for protecting me". "Your welcome Susan". "Well that makes a lot more sense than you waking up, and then going back under".
"We'll take it from here, Mavis". "Very good". "After the attempted rape of you, and it was attempted, your hymen is still intact. Things were changed at the hospital. Two orderlies have been in the room at all times. The jamming device was found on the ward's security cameras, and was taken away for study by the ZPD's I.T. department. The orderly had been working on the ward for about four years, and the ZPD requested the video footage for that time frame".
"They found 162 video scrambling's of the ward's cameras for that time frame. They were having trouble descrambling them till DeDe gave the videos to Mavis. Mavis had them descrambled in about a week. He was charged as being a serial rapist. It went to court, and he was found guilty. He was declared a dangerous offender and was locked up for life". "But he died, didn't he"? "Yes, about 4 months in, he was killed by two other inmates. One of the inmates has a sister on the ward". "How did you know of this"? We look at each other, "we know this, as we were given a choose to condemn him or to forgive him, we choose to forgive him". "We then had you guys moved here, the hospital has paid for the day nurse to look after you. Peter and I look after you at nights".
The front door opens, and Miss Watts comes in the house. She hangs up her jacket and looks down the hall to the monitors. She just sighs, and enters the kitchen. Her paws fly to her muzzle, and her eyes tear up. She comes over and hugs us. She doesn't say anything as she starts to make breakfast.
"Do you still want me to do the morning alarm"? "Won't be necessary Mavis, Susan and I will wake them up". We re-establish our link with Scott, our littermates, and all our siblings. Susan and I both send "happy birthday you guys". The reaction is almost instantaneous. We can hear doors fly open and the patter of paw pads coming down the hall. Susan and I just sit on the floor, and we are mobbed by everyone. Grandma and grandpa just laugh at the joyous reunion.
Elisabeth comes in and just hangs back. "I look at her, don't you think it's time Izzy"? "I guess your right Daniel. Morning grandma, morning grandpa". Peter and Vivian have their muzzles hanging open, Miss Watts is kind of floored too. "Elizabeth you can speak"? "Yes, but before you ask, I would like mom and dad here as well, I don't want to tell the story more than once". It was a few when grandma looks at me. "Daniel why did you call her Izzy"? "Her story grandma".
Susan and I crawl back into our chairs, we are close to reaching our max level of endurance. We have fun at the table and are caught up on all that has been going on.
Nick and Judy walk home arm in arm from the precinct. It has been a long night and they are ready for bed. As they come in the door, they can hear the laughter and chatter coming from the kitchen, they can see the monitors down the hall, no change. Nick plasters a grin on his face, "happy birth…". he stops dead in his tracks, Judy bumps into him. "Hey, what gives Nick"? In answer Nick just pushes her forward into the room. Her paws fly to her muzzle. Both of them now have tears in their eyes. In unison Susan and I say "morning mom and dad". We get up and go and hug them both, "we are really awake dad", I say as I lay my muzzle on his shoulder. Dad hugs me back with a fierceness, like I was not real. Susan and I just switch parents. I slowly get up from my knees after hugging mom. We sit back down at the table.
Nick and Judy take their customary chairs. "Mavis you can turn the monitors off now, and thanks". "Your welcome Daniel". Nick looks at Judy, "do you get the irony of this situation"? "Yes Nick, I get it". "Daniel when you get well enough Judy and I are goanna paddle your butt". "Sorry dad, but I'm bigger than you, but if you would like, you can take me on in the ring". "Damn, I forgot how your sense of humor works". Miss Watts then serves us all breakfast, it tastes divine.
We all finish, and Vivian looks at Izzy. "All right grandma no need to bore holes in my hide with your eyes". Nick and Judy's mouth's hang open. "Elizabeth you can speak"? "For about 9 months now, yes, I can". "Why haven't you spoken before now"? "Please don't ground me for what I'm going to tell you". "Is it that bad"? "In a manor of speaking, yes". "All right we won't ground you, but what did you do that's so bad"? "I killed myself".
"Dad, mom, this not the first time I died, it's the third. William my brother, I saved you the first time I died. Just so the cat is fully out of the bag, I'm Izzy". "How can you be Izzy"? says William with heat in his voice. "William the first time I died; you were protecting me. You threw me into that drain while the other kits beat you up. They then threw you in after me. You were so messed up, and your left arm was broken". "Did you say his left arm"? "Yes grandpa, it was broken about thee quarters of the way up. I aligned the bone as best I could and then I pored power into the break. It healed but not perfectly". "Well that explains why you had a break with no record of that break". "I then poured all the power I had into you and healed all your internal injuries. But in doing so, I had nothing left to heal myself".
"I found myself in the meadow with Gab, and he made me eat a strange fruit. Gab taught me the ways of power that night, but warned me it was a temporary measure. What I had done by instinct to you, I now had to do to myself every day. But while I was in the meadow, I went to a quiet spot and asked to see my family, and to love my family. I felt a sort of agreement".
"Izzy it is you, no one knew about that night, except Izzy and I. I came too, and you were so cold on top of me, but I passed out again, and when I came to, you were warm and breathing". "So now you run away a short time later, I can feel you living in the park down the road. But they won't let me out of their sight, and no one would take me to that park, I was so lonely. I felt you cry out in pain when those mammals hurt you. But I could do nothing, but silently cry. You passed out from the pain. I waited for you to regain consciousness, and I told you to call out for help. You did which brought our brother and our parents to us. And then came the morning I couldn't repair myself any more, and I died a second time".
"My next memory was of being born to our mom. When you dad named me Elisabeth my heart leapt with joy I was back with my family. But I could tell things were different, I couldn't speak, and I couldn't figure out why. Till I realized that I wasn't wholly here. I was Izzy but I was growing as Elizabeth. I had no bond with anyone, I felt so alone. I sat back and let Elizabeth form and I just watched. It was good to see you all, but I wanted more. I did not try to push Elizabeth out, and she did not try to push me out. We had our own bond with each other".
I can see not a dry eye around the table, no one wanted to speak, so Elizabeth continued. "The third time I died, you and mom had just gotten back from the hospital, and I could see how sad you were. At this point I was not fully myself, I was mostly just Elizabeth. I had bits and pieces of myself from before but couldn't talk about it. I couldn't speak because that part of my brain had been blocked. I was not supposed to talk about what was on the other side of the veil, still can't".
"I saw how sad you both were, and decided I would offer myself in exchange for Daniel and Susan. When I got to the meadow, Gab was nowhere around, so I took off for the veil. Gab nearly caught me, but his paws raked through my tail as I passed through the veil. As soon as I passed through, I died. I talked to the being that was there and he refused my bargain. I could see two balls of light beside him, one red and one gold and I felt it was you two. I could not talk to you. I wanted to tell you how sad mom and dad were, but I was blocked from speaking. I started to cry, he held me and said he would give me a gift, and with that I found myself back in my body. The gift he gave me was myself. I had all the knowledge I had before, and then some. It's quite the burden knowing you had died before; I wasn't handling it very well".
"I then saw how you dad were not healing very well. So, through sign language I offered to give you massages to help with the pain. I was actually healing the damage in your knee. I did it over a long time so you wouldn't get suspicious, and I wouldn't drain myself. Mom, I did the same for your elbow and eye. Susan, I did the same for your eye which was destroyed in the accident. All the while I was trying to figure out how to heal myself. I knew of all the ways you all had tried to become a whole being, and none of them worked.
Till the day I saw you shuffle a deck of cards, and found that would be perfect. Elisabeth and I started to layer our memories together, alternating the memories, good ones on top of bad ones tell finial we pushed them all into one pile. Elisabeth and I kissed, and hugged each other. I was the fearful one and Elisabeth was the happy one, but Elisabeth stepped into me, and we both exploded with joy. I became what I was meant to be. I am a power healer, and a whole being. After this I could talk, but decided to wait".
"Izzy would you like the link back"? "Please Daniel, I've missed it". With that I bond us all together, she now has a personal link with everyone. With tears in her eyes she just says thank you.
"Well that's quite the story Elizabeth, says dad, but I'm having a hard time in believing it". "What part don't you believe dad"? She asks wiping the tears out of her eyes. "Well that you remember dying, and this whole being thing". "Dad most of us here are one with ourselves we are whole beings". "What does that mean exactly"? "Dads would you like a demonstration of this"?
"Yes, it would help me believe". "Hang on Peter, I know what's coming". Vivian says this as she clutches Peter's arm. All of us switch our eyes to primal slits and look at dad, some even project savageness. Not all of us can do this yet, Scott, Justin and William still have to learn. Mom lets out a squeak and faints, she's still breathing though. Dad just backs up with horror in his eyes. "Do you believe me now dad"? "Yes...yes, I do". We continue to look at dad with primal slitted eyes. "Alright guys I said I believe". We all switch back. "Wow, that's quite the convincer", says Peter. Judy wakes up and punches Nicks arm, "Nick when are you going to learn that when our kits say something about themselves, it's the truth"?
"Ah guys, Susan and I are at the limit of our endurance, could we get some help back to bed, Please"? Dad and grandma help Susan up, and putting their arms around her support her back to our bed room. Peter supports me, "wow Daniel your heavier than you look". "Now you know why I'm number one". Peter just laughs. I just strip down and am put to bed, I just spoon into Susan's back, Susan moves back into me, and putting my muzzle in her neck, we fall asleep. Our parents and grand parents just smile at us as they close the door.