Daria: Winter Is Coming: Emergency Part Two
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the property rights to either Daria or to A Game of Thrones. Characters, plot, background, and details belong to their respective owners. This work of fiction is written for recreation and for ego gratification, and the author neither expects nor deserves any sort of financial compensation for this work (Although reviews would be nice). Readers interested in finding more about Daria or A Game of Thrones should seek out their creators' official books and videos.
Daria: Winter Is Coming*Daria: Winter Is Coming*Daria: Winter Is Coming
Rikka dialed Aunt Helen's and Uncle Jake's number and prayed that somebody would finally pick it up before the answering machine kicked in. She'd already called twice and got the machine. She knew that Aunt Helen and Uncle Jake would be out, but Daria and Quinn were supposed to be there. She'd already decided that Quinn was unreliable: she'd called and called the number Daria had given her and got a busy signal each and every time, but she thought Daria, at least, was more reliable.
Maybe she was wrong, she thought bitterly, tears forming in her eyes. Maybe Daria wasn't what she'd thought. Maybe she was just a flake.
She dialed one more time. This time, someone picked it up.
"Hello?" said the voice. It was Daria.
"Gods damnit, Daria! Why didn't anyone pick up!" shouted Rikka. "Dad's at the hospital and I'm here by myself and could somebody please come over?"
"SHIT!" said Daria. She took a deep breath. She'd worried that something like this might happen and now it had.
"What happened to Uncle Ben? Just give me a summary: a car wreck, stroke, something else?"
"He fainted at the end of Temple services," said Rikka. "The Rabbi and a nurse who goes to Temple called EMS and they took him to the hospital. He's stable, there's a lady from the Temple with me. She's a nurse.
She's also a grown-up with her own life and someone from family ought to be with the kid, thought Daria. She briefly wondered what she'd do if she was the one in the hospital and if Dad or Mom was in her position. She realized that she already knew the answer and knew what she had to do.
"Hang on, Rikka, I'm coming," said Daria. She went upstairs to her room. She needed taxi money and she also needed to stop by Quinn's room and tell her what was going on.
She went over to where she stashed her cash. The Montana Cabin Fund was about to take a hit, she thought glumly, but family comes before it. She withdrew triple what she hoped was cab fare and put it in her purse. She also took off her boots long enough to put on some leggings; She'd put on her coat downstairs. March was almost over but it still could get cold at night and she didn't want to freeze while waiting for the taxi to take her to the hospital.
She then went over to Quinn's bedroom, rapped briefly on the door, and walked in. As she expected, Quinn was happily chattering away on the phone. Doesn't she ever do any homework, Daria wondered.
She plucked the phone receiver from Quinn's hand, told whoever-it-was who was calling to call back in ten minutes, then hung up.
"Hey!" said Quinn "I was on the phone."
"Yeah, and I just got a call from Cousin Rikka on the downstairs phone," Daria said unsympathetically, frowning in disapproval at her younger sister. "Uncle Ben's in the hospital. He fainted at the synagogue and he's still unconscious. Rikka's out there all by herself. I'm about to head for the Cedars."
"And this is my fault somehow?" said Quinn.
"Mom and Dad are going to be pissed off at both of us for not reacting faster and you'll get to share the blame, Sis," said Daria. "Rikka said that she'd tried to call our number several times and kept getting busy signals. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"
"Like no," said Quinn.
Daria scowled at her. You're a rotten liar, Quinn, she thought but didn't say.
"Anyhow, I went downstairs a couple of minutes ago and Rikka managed to get Mom's and Dad's home number and got through the busy signal," Daria continued. "I'm going to call a taxi and I'd like you to tell them what happened and where I've gone."
"Like that's my fault?" Quinn began.
Daria decided to leave notes behind for Mom and Dad as well as calling back on her phone. I'm already in enough trouble as it is and I don't need to make things even worse, she thought.
-(((O-O)))—
The taxi came less than ten minutes later. Daria rode in silence; she was in no mood to make small talk. Before she'd left, she had taped short notes where she hoped her parents could see them and resolved to call home when she found a pay phone or something at the hospital.
The taxi dropped her off by the main entrance. Daria strode up to the main receptionist's desk and asked where she was likely to find Benjamin Morgendorffer. The receptionist told her that he was in the emergency room and that there was a waiting room nearby. Daria asked for and got directions for getting there. It was late evening and there was little foot traffic as Daria walked the stark white neon-lit hospital corridors. She glanced at the doorways looking for something that looked like a waiting room.
She found it a couple of minutes later. There was a family seated in several chairs over in one side, a worried-looking girl in party clothes seated in another chair and an older woman sitting next to a smaller form seated facing away from Daria. The younger girl had coal-black hair and was wearing a dress. Daria walked around so she was facing the girl.
"Rikka?" she said.
"Daria! You made it!" she exclaimed. Rikka jumped out of her chair, hugged Daria and started sobbing. "Dad fainted, he's sick, I'm stuck here all by myself and I'm afraid that they're going to take me to a jail or an orphanage and I'm going to be left here by myself and I'm never going to see any of me friends and family again." Rikka clung to Daria like a drowning sailor holding onto a spar after a shipwreck. Despite the fact that Daria wasn't a huggy person, she held onto Rikka and let her cry her eyes out.
"It's OK, I'm here," said Daria. "We aren't going to abandon you." My God what are you saying, said a voice in Daria's head that she chose to ignore. Rikka continued to hug Daria for a long time, until finally the sobs changed into hiccups and a runny nose.
"Heh-hem," said the older woman who'd been sitting next to Rikka. She handed Daria a small plastic pack of face tissues. Daria extracted a couple and handed them to Rikka.
"You brought her over from the Synagogue?" said Daria, taking a guess.
"Yes," said the woman.
"Thank you, I really appreciate it," said Daria.
"Your cousin said she'd tried to call you several times," the woman said disapprovingly.
Yeah, I know how it looks, Daria thought glumly.
"My sister keeps the upstairs phone to herself and I'm usually up in my room and ignore the downstairs phone," said Daria.
"So where were your parents?" asked the woman.
"Date night," said Daria. "They weren't supposed to get back until later. They might be home by now."
"So what's your relation to Rikka?" asked the woman.
"I'm Daria Morgendorffer," said Daria. "I'm Ben Morgendorffer's niece and Rikka's cousin."
"I'd heard that she was Westerosi," said the woman.
"Adoptive cousin. That may change if my parents gain custody," said Daria.
"I'm Leah Trautman," said the older woman. "I'm a nurse here at the Cedars. I was sitting in the Sanctuary when your uncle passed out and I drove Rikka here."
"I really appreciate this," said Daria. "How's Uncle Ben doing?"
"It was the right thing to do," said Leah. "As for your uncle's status, we can check at the nurse's station again if you'd like, but the last time I asked, he's stable. They hooked him up to an IV feed and they want to keep him here overnight for observation."
"I think I'd better ask again so I'll have answers when Mom and Dad get here spitting flames," said Daria.
Together, Daria and Leah went over to the nurse's station in the Emergency Room and got a repeat of Uncle Ben's diagnosis from earlier. Daria helped the nurse on duty fill out some of the check-in forms for Uncle Ben as best as she could.
"You've been here a while," said Daria. It was now half-past ten.
"I'd like to go home, yes," said Leah. "You seem to be a reasonably responsible young woman. What year are you in college?"
"I'm a junior in high school," said Daria. Leah's eyebrows rose. She'd seen college juniors in hysterics in similar situations. "Uncle Ben's here, Rikka's got me, and I can hold the fort until my Mom and Dad get here. Speaking of which, can I make a call on your cell-phone?"
Daria called and got the answering machine. Leah told her that she was going home and told her to call her and tell her what happened, then left.
Daria sat down next to Rikka in the waiting room. Rikka nodded off and fell asleep, her head on Daria's shoulder. Daria resolved to stay awake until her Mom and Dad got there, but sleep crept up on her and she dozed off. She stayed asleep just long enough to dream about a stag wandering down Glen Oaks before her mother woke her up and said "Daria, what is going on?"