Disclaimers:

We don't own any characters although it would be nice to borrow them sometime.

This is not really a science fiction, so the effects of any future technological advances are minimized - for all we know, Katie could have cloned Jessie.

Rating: A couple of love scenes, but nothing really smutty

======================

CHAPTER 12: Taking You Home

SUNRISE

Katie and Karen were sitting in the waiting area, still anxious for news about Jessie. They had hardly said a word. Not that they felt uncomfortable around each other; they were still just lost in their own thoughts. Karen looked over at Katie and realized that Katie really did love Jessie. She never thought the girl had hurt Jessie on purpose by moving to London, but she knew how badly Jessie was hurt and she never wanted to see that happen to her daughter again.

"So, I heard you finally got to see the cabin?" Karen said, finally breaking the silence.

Katie looked up at her and smiled, "Yeah, it's really nice up there. " She bit her lip to stop from crying as she recalled the week that she and Jessie shared at the wonderful mountain retreat.

Karen sensed that Katie was about to break down again and tried to reassure here. She moved over and put an arm around her. "It's going to be okay. "

They were startled by a voice above them.

"Someone looking for me?" Jessie managed to get out of her exhausted, haggard body.

They both looked up and immediately jumped up and hugged her. It hurt her but she was so happy to see them.

"Ouch, easy guys," she said. Katie and Karen eased back.

"Oh my gosh, are you hurt?" Katie asked through the tears.

"A cut on my forehead and probably a broken rib, I think, but I'll be okay," Jessie said.

=======================

Jessie tried to pick herself from this rubble, her head throbbing and her side aching. She was still alive, she finally realized. She was not having some near-death experience where you're supposed to see the light at the end of the tunnel and all your dearly departed relatives waiting by the Pearly Gates. A piece of luggage hit her on the head and she was violently thrown around like a yo-yo as her car train jack-knifed, but they were nowhere near the train that exploded into a giant fireball after the collision.

She reached out for her backpack, still lying next to her, and reached out for her flashlight. She was a doctor, she always carried these things everywhere, that's why tiny purses from Kate Spade would never ever make its appearance in her wardrobe. And she had a stethoscope for every imaginable bag and luggage, the same way some people always made sure that each of their wallets – actively used or stored - had a $10-bill in it. She even had those stethoscopes in different colors with different Warner Brothers characters adorning the ear piece…

"Don't move," she told the young man across her seat, who just hours before seemed the most obnoxious person in the universe as he bobbed his head in unison with some real awful sound coming out of his CD player.

She tried to find a pulse and listen for any sound of life, but he was gone. He was probably hit in the head by something more blunt other than a luggage – there were metal poles bent and hanging all over. Jessie proceeded to walk through the wreckage, putting a torque on one, giving CPR to another…

She had been so involved with everything after the train crash she'd hardly had time to worry about herself. There were so many people that were worse off and she immediately took it upon herself to put her medical skills to use. She had helped out in the field for hours until she accompanied a young boy with what seemed like internal injuries to the hospital.

Jessie felt like hell but she was so happy when she saw her mother and Katie sitting there waiting for her. She looked at both of them standing there watching her and she just started crying. It was the release she needed for all those feelings she'd been holding in all day. Katie moved to her and gently took her in her arms.

"The sunrise took you away from me… and now it brought you back…" Katie whispered, "Welcome home, Billie…"

======================

Around 10 That Morning

"We better get you home," Katie beckoned Jessie as the nurse put the finishing bandage on her forehead sutures. Earlier, Jessie and the ER doctor examined some of her X-rays and decided that there really was no rib fracture. The ER doctor just gave her some morphine to ease the pain, instructed the resident to suture the gaping wound on her forehead - hastily covered by an oversized band-aid - and discharged her with the solemn instruction that she seek medical help if anything developed.

"Doctors are the worst patient!" the ER doctor reminded her as he walked to the next bed.

"And you're work? What about Lebanon?" Jessie threw Katie a worried look.

"Everything's taken care of," Katie dismissed. She had called the office earlier and explained the emergency. Her boss, the UN Director of MidEast Economic Policies, would attend the meeting in her place; she just had to put together a presentation that he could take with him. Helen of course was very thoughtful of her predicament as she volunteered to get the flowers again for "this Jessie person" provided that Katie reveal her current whereabouts and contact numbers. In case somebody started looking for her again and Helen just absolutely had to find her. Katie laughed and said her mobile and GPS phones would be available.

"And my work? Did anyone call the hospital?" Jessie continued, still worried.

"I called them and I spoke to Ted," Karen said, referring to Dr. Garrett, Jessie's boss. "I told them you had been in an accident and we would call them as soon as we're in Boston. Ted is very worried about you he asked if he should send someone to medi-vac you to MassGen…"

"Thanks, mom…" Jessie said as Katie helped her to the wheelchair.

==============

JESSIE'S CONDO

Beacon Hill, Boston

Later That Evening

"She's sleeping," Karen said as she walked out of Jessie's bedroom.

Katie tried her best to smile, but she was very tired, really tired. Neither she nor Karen had slept for over 24 hours. But neither one of them wanted to go to sleep, both of them just wanted to stay next to Jessie in case she needed anything. Finally, the worn, sleep-deprived body won over the lofty aspirations of the heart and Karen stood up.

"Well, I'm going to sleep in the loft," Karen said. Jessie's apartment, like in a lot of older brownstones-turned-condo on Beacon Hill, only had one bedroom and an extra sleeping loft, a 10 x 12 open structure built right between the cathedral ceiling and the living room. Although Jessie used the loft as her office, she had also furnished it with a futon for the times that her mom or dad or brother visited.

"Did you call Rick?" Katie asked as Karen stood up, "I mean, to tell him that Jessie's okay, a little shaken and bruised, but okay."

"I did," Karen smiled at this obvious thoughtfulness, "and I called Grace and Eli to tell them the same thing."

"Thanks," Katie said, standing up to give Karen a quick kiss on the cheek, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Katie," Karen said returning the kiss as she proceeded to walk up to the loft before she turned back and stared at Katie, "And thank you for loving my daughter. She's lucky to have you."

Katie smiled, "You're welcome, and on the luck department, I think I am way ahead of Jessie."

True to her word, Katie put together some numbers and slides for her boss, and using Jessie's laptop -which fortunately did not travel with her to New York - she sent the file to Helen. Around midnight, she went to the bedroom where Jessie was sleeping soundly. She climbed next to her, turned on her side and just gazed at Jessie. And she gazed and gazed until she could no longer control the drooping of her eyes.

"Goodnight Billie," Katie whispered as Jessie moved slightly, and then she very gently kissed those lips before she closed her eyes.

====================