1989 - The Meteor Shower
Pamela was against the idea of Alexander going on a business trip alone with his father from the start, but her vote didn't count for enough to make it worth voicing. Then again, she couldn't exactly blame Lionel when the boy was injured in the meteor shower.
Pamela sat beside Lillian for long hours past her paid work day while Lillian tore her hair out, panicking about her baby. For reasons Pamela would never quite understand and yet understood all too well, given the kind of man Lionel was, Lionel had refused to send back the helicopter right away. Pamela stayed at the mansion and held Lillian's hand while she wept and worried, and she felt the worry right alongside Alexander's mother.
A day later, when Lillian had taken off for the hospital, Pamela stayed behind at the mansion. She couldn't stop worrying even now.
Before Alexander returned home from the hospital, Lillian warned Pamela that he looked a little different. Having heard about the meteor shower, Pamela was expecting scrapes, bruises, maybe burns. She readied herself to give no reaction, nothing that would scare him as to the seriousness of his injuries.
But it was nothing like she had imagined. He wasn't disfigured or visibly injured. He was bald.
That was nothing to her. All she felt was a bit of curiosity as to how his particular injuries could have lead to that. But she wouldn't have cared at all, except that he clearly did.
Despite Lionel's ongoing abuse, the boy's spirit had never really been broken by his father. But this seemed to have broken him. He entered the house quiet and subdued, cringing, walking gingerly with his eyes darting, as though he were naked.
Pamela smiled as she approached him, keeping her eyes his face rather than his head. He needed to be treated as though nothing had changed; even Lillian wasn't managing that. "Good to see you, Alexander," Pamela said.
He gave a little nod, then he looked away.
"Hey. I made you some macaroni and cheese. Are you hungry?"
His lips curled into a very, very slight smile, and he nodded. He reached out and took her hand for the first time in years, and he allowed her to lead him into the kitchen.