Postscript
"What's going on?" Amanda shrieked as Jesse and Mark stumbled into the doctor's lounge, each with a suitcase in their hands.
"He's been kicked out of the love nest" Jesse cackled.
"That's not true" Mark corrected him sternly as he joined Amanda on the sofa.
"Cheryl was going to leave" Jesse began.
"I think she was a little embarrassed" Mark explained. "All this time she's been stalling, you know, finding reasons to stay at the beach house, waiting for Steve to be released from hospital." He paused "and now that it's happening I think she's worried as to how it may look."
"So if Cheryl wanted to leave how do you end up here with your bags packed?" Amanda asked, totally confused by the situation.
"Well I couldn't let Cheryl leave…." Mark explained
"Not now that Steve is being released…..," Jesse expounded.
"And I thought they could use a little time and space…."
"So we hatched a plan."
Amanda's head switched back and forward as the two doctors explained their ruse.
"I figured Cheryl wouldn't stay if I was there" Mark continued
"But if Mark were to be called away….."
"Say to a medical conference…."
"Then Steve would be home alone"
"And as he's still shaky on his feet……"
"His doctors were of the opinion……" Jesse grinned triumphantly.
"That somebody should stay with him" Mark concluded with a guilty smile.
"You two are as bad as each other" Amanda reprimanded them. "I'm just pleased you didn't involve me in this little scam."
"Ah well…." Mark smiled sweetly at his young friend.
"Whatever it is, the answer is no!" she told him, getting to her feet.
"It's just I told them the medical conference would be for a week"
"And there's no room for him at my place" Jesse added.
Amanda glared down at Mark. "If I let you stay then you're baby sitting all week."
"Not a problem, I'll cook and clean too."
"You know CJ has a new story book and nobody to read to now."
"I can do stories" Mark promised as he followed her out of the lounge trailing his cases behind him.
Half way down the corridor Amanda spun around. "You know Joanne McNally quit yesterday" she told an obviously shocked Mark.
"Oh why?" he asked, disappointed at the news.
"Seems she'd only really been hanging around until the trial finished, now I think there are too many bad memories for her here."
Mark sighed as they reached the elevator. "Don't suppose I blame her, it was a terrible thing to happen." The doors opened and they stepped in.
"At least she was the lucky one" Amanda reminded him, "Valerie Shome tossed a coin to the wrong guy and look what happened to her. Genie Anderson tried to show kindness to an old friend who everybody else had turned their back on because of his mental problems."
The doors pinged open. "Katriona Bennet gave a stranger directions, and Emily Waters sorted him out with clothes in the charity shop where she worked" Mark concluded.
"If he hadn't written that in his diary I don't think the police would have figured it out" Amanda admitted.
Mark nodded, "the doll was wearing the clothes, hence it seemed as though there was no trinket."
"Joanne certainly was a lucky girl" Amanda smiled pensively as they walked out into the car park.
"As was Cheryl, and Jesse was lucky too, those knife wounds could have been a lot worse." Neither of them could put into words just how lucky Steve had been. Lying alone and defenceless as Peters had come to kill him, not once, but twice, it was a miracle that he'd survived without a single scratch.
"Cheryl still feel bad about Officer Dawson's death?" Amanda asked.
Mark shrugged "she's come to terms with it I think. There was nothing she could have done any differently, Peters just became obsessed on getting to her and Steve, and Dawson, sadly, was in the way."
"I'm so glad it's all over" Amanda sighed as she opened the trunk, allowing Mark to dump his cases in.
"Me too" Mark agreed.
"What is it?" Amanda enquired, seeing the look on her friend's face.
"I was just wondering if I'm doing the right thing, leaving Steve alone like this so soon."
"Mark" she reminded him, "he's not alone."
"I know but maybe I should just stop by….."
"You just want to be nosy!"
"I do not, I'm just concerned for my son's well being"
"Well you should have thought about that before you went rushing off to a conference then, shouldn't you?" she smirked as they got into the car.
Mark's shoulders slumped "I guess you're right" he shrugged. "Now, Steve tells me Harry Potter is a pretty good read, think CJ would mind a second telling as his bedtime story?"
"Second?" Amanda scoffed, "try fifth or sixth, in fact forget the book he knows it by heart."
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"OK, easy does it"
Steve felt Cheryls guiding hand on his back as she helped him into his seat. When he was comfortable she moved the walker out of the way and pulled another chair up beside his.
"One hundred and twenty six day's in Community General, eating pig swill and staring at the ceiling. You have no idea how good it feels to be home!" Steve smiled as the sunlight hit his face and his eyes danced over the waves to the horizon.
"Well get used to the view" she warned him, "chances are you'll see as much of that as you did the hospital ceiling."
"I know, but at least there's air out here, and the smell of the sea, and the sun, and the people." He reflected a while; "there's life."
They sat looking at the ocean in silence before Cheryl suddenly remembered "Oh Master's said he'd drop by sometime soon"
"Well there's something for us to look forward to" Steve grimaced.
"He's pretty hacked off about the ruling." She waited to gauge Steve's reaction, but he seemed unfazed by her mention of the case.
"It's the old saying" he replied, "We've go the law in this life, and justice in the next. I'll never understand what he did, but I'll accept that it was beyond his control, an illness." He turned to Cheryl "chances are Peters will never wake from that coma. But if, by some miracle he does, he'll spend the rest of his life in hospitals of one sort or another. Masters has got a bee in his bonnet about getting this guy slammed in prison if he can't get the death penalty. With Diminished responsibility that's never going to happen. I guess Masters maybe never thought that the prison Peters was in before, locked in a deranged mind, or the one he's in now may be a million times worse than anything built of concrete and steel."
Cheryl was amazed at how calmly Steve spoke. His sentiments were ones she herself had toyed with, concluding, just as Steve had, that Peters would never have freedom, whatever happened to him now. She thought of him lying there in hospital, unable to move, and then she looked at Steve, smiling to herself as she watched him reach stiffly across the table towards the sheet of paper.
Cheryl stretched out and picked it up, passing it to Steve. Though most of the feeling had returned to his hands, his fingers were still a little clumsy. He placed the sheet quickly onto his lap before he had a chance to drop it.
"It's some notes and a schedule your dad left" Cheryl explained.
"House rules you mean" Steve's eyes scanned down the document. "Physiotherapy, aqua-therapy, occupational therapy, sessions with Dr Keller, relaxation and visualisation suggestions, additional exercises recommended or allowable, and a list of 'don'ts' as long as my arm." Steve grinned as he imagined his father studiously compiling the list, then reaching the last item he beamed. Cheryl nodded as he looked quizzically at her.
"I think Jesse added the last one" she said sheepishly.
"Aromatherapy massage and a list of suitable oils" Steve cast Cheryl a daring grin.
"I wonder how the medical conference is going?" Cheryl asked, neatly changing the subject. She wondered if Steve had reached the same conclusion as she had about his father's last minute plans. In her mind there was no way Mark would leave town for a week with Steve just out of hospital.
"Oh I wonder" he grinned back. "He's probably sleeping in the doctors lounge or crashing with Amanda or Jess."
"I feel terrible, driving him out of his own home."
"Well don't" Steve told her, "the way those three connive and manipulate, they deserve each other."
"And how about us?"
"Oh" he conceded, "we deserve each other too."
Cheryl picked the sheet from Steve's lap and cast her eye down it. "Busy schedule you've got here Sloan"
"Hey, it's tough taking it easy you know" he grinned.
"I'm just wondering when we're going to find time in the week for this hot date you promised me." She shuffled to the edge of her chair and Steve's eyes instinctively scanned down her body.
"Is that the date where we skip dinner and dancing?" he leant towards Cheryl, his eyes now fixed on her lips.
"That's the one" she nodded slowly extending her arms and snaking them around his neck.
"In that case" he reached for her hips, tugging her from the chair and spinning her around on her heels. Cheryl landed softly in his lap as he pulled her gently to his body. He continued "we'd better not waste too much time."
Together they sat as the waves rolled in, embracing warmly in the afternoon sun. Steve's strong hands ran up and down Cheryl's beautiful long legs. He soon found himself scattering kisses across her collarbone and up her neck. Cheryl giggled and squirmed slightly as his fingers found a tiny gap between her trousers and top, his fingertips shyly stroking the tiny patch of naked skin. But as Cheryl swivelled around further holding his head to her neck, Steve's shyness receded. Cheryl shuddered at the warmth and roughness of Steve's hand as it slid up her bare back, resting firmly between her shoulder blades.
Tugging at his hair Cheryl gently pulled Steve's head back from her neck so that she could see his face. Her smooth hand cupped his jaw firmly. "Do you think this hot date might be considered an additional exercise?" she leered.
"Depends how hard you plan to make me work" he replied, revelling in the knowledge that at last they were truly alone together. *This time* he thought to himself *this time I won't be asking her to stop. This time I know I can wake up sleeping in her arms again.* He gazed at her sensuous full lips and Cheryl released her clutch on his hair, allowing him to drift again towards her. Somehow he halted himself just before his mouth reached hers.
"But if we need more time" he whispered, "I'm sure Jesse can find another conference for dad."
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The lyrics quoted in Chapter 2 are from the song "Wake Up Sleeping" written by Leo Moran & Davy Carton and performed by The Saw Doctors. The song can be found on the bands album "All The Way From Tuam".
"Baby Can I Hold You" is quoted in full in Chapter 7. The song was written and performed by Tracy Chapman. The song can be found on the album "Tracy Chapman".
The poem in Chapter 14, "I never thought of death like this" is a little harder for me to credit. I read it or heard it many years ago but only the first two lines stuck and I couldn't track it down. So this is my 'version'; if you wrote it or own it my apologies to you for playing with your beautiful work.
Finally, thanks for reading this far, I know it was a bit of a hike. It was one of those stories that just ran away with itself and took me a long time to tame. Can I just say that I will never again put a lead character in the position where he can only talk and wink, it was frustrating beyond belief! Hope you enjoyed it, please R&R.
Castaway Jane.