Chapter Five

Two o'clock in the mornin', an' I'm still tryin' to figure where it all went so wrong. The glass in front of me's not helping…….don' even know why I ordered it, I hate tequila, but I couldn't be bothered to talk to the bartender much, so I just pointed at something and ordered that. I needed something to do with my hands while I'm sitting here making a plan.

A plan, now that's funny. I don' even seem to have a plan left……. Not after what happened in the hospital.

What happened in the hospital, the moment I knew our lives had blown apart an' fixin' 'em was gonna be the hardest thing I've ever done in my life before.

So……..I'm sitting there, me an' Charlie, hoping and praying that Alphonse is gonna wake up, an' he'll be sore at us, but basically things will be fine and we can get back to where we were a week ago. Is it only a week, it seems longer. So, I'm sitting next to the bed, an' I take Alphonse's hand, his fingers move to close against mine, that's the way it's been for the last two days, he's responding to us but he's still unconscious. "Alphonse," I lean in closer, "come on man, y'can do it……for us.." His hand moves again but nothing more.

The door opens behind me and Laura slips in, comes close, her scent wraps round me like a warm blanket, her hand comes down on my shoulder, "How is he?" soft, gentle, sympathetic; I still don't get why 'Phonse has such a down on her.

The fingers resting limply in my hand convulse. Alphonse moves. He gasps and arches his back slightly. "Alphonse!" I lean in again. "Alphonse", Charlie gets to his feet and moves closer.

Suddenly, 'Phonse's eyes open, for a second he stares wide eyed at me, then he screams, snatching his hand from my grasp and trying to push back against the pillows!

I'm stunned. Adam and Dylan must have been waiting outside the door, because they burst in, together they try to settle their father down. Pandemonium breaks out all around us. Lucy appears, followed by Maria, Chrissy and Corky, then half the nursing staff. A doctor starts to push us all out, and I catch a last glimpse of 'Phonse, eyes screwed tight shut, clinging to his daughter like a drowning man clutches at a straw.

Hours pass, or it seems like hours. I pace backwards and forwards, mainly cos then I won' need to talk to the others. I don' know what to say. For the first time in my life, I've no plan, no comeback. I jus' keep seeing the terror in 'Phonse's eyes. Then the hatchet falls, jus' like that, no warning…….a doctor appears, he gathers us around, Alphonse is conscious, but in a lot of pain and there's something else………the blow to his head has effected his short term memory….an' our presence in the room upsets him. The patient's welfare has to come first, so we're banned, Charlie an' Chrissy an' me.

It hurts. God, I didn't think it would hurt this much! Chrissy bursts into tears, Corky goes to comfort her, Charlie just stands there, Laura tries to say something, but I can't……….I can't deal with that…….I tell her so……quietly………..but I've gotta get outta there before I blow it….I can feel myself flooding……………….an' I can't lose it in front of the others.

So I walk away………the doors swing shut behind me…..with a little plastic snapping sound. That little click is so final.

An' here I am……….swirling a drink in a glass……..a drink I don' even like…..trying to figure out a way to get through to 'Phonse………that whatever we've done, I'm sorry…..we never meant to hurt him………we never meant to leave him out there…………exposed………at risk.

Ice sat at the bar, alone, just swirling the drink around in the bottom of the glass, and trying to figure out what to do next. Every which way he turned he was coming up with nothing. A simple hit an' run….yeah, like I belie' that. That the Alphonse Royo I know's, scared o'me. 'Phonse ain't scared o' anything……..okay, may be Lucy, but nothing else. He's bold, an' cocky, an' fearless, an' so totally reckless that…………………..

Ice swirled the drink again.

"Ye gonna drink that or jus' look at it."

The strong Scots accent startled Ice. He looked up, Ali was standing there. Ice frowned.

"No. Naebody sent me. Ah came tae find ye, cos we need ye. More than ever."

"Alphonse don't need me."

Alistair McBride pulled a stool out and parked his substantial frame upon it. "Yon man's been hit by a car, driven at him deliberately, he's got a broken leg, multiple cuts and bruises and a bang on the head which would finish the best o' us. He's no thinkin' straight. He needs ye more than ever."

Ice tried to concentrate on what Ali was saying.

"Maybe ye're lookin' at this all wrong?" Ali continued now that he had Ice's attention. "Forget who ran 'Phonse down, an' who killed yon girl, concentrate on the paintings, that's were it's at. The paintings."

Ali eyed the drink. "Ye gonna drink that?"

Ice pushed it towards him. "No!"

Ali downed it in one gulp. "Thinkin' makes a man thirsty." He put the glass down on the bar. And they walked out into the cold, wet night.