Disclaimer: See Ch 1.
Spoilers: Season 1, Between "Camera" and "Meow."
Reviews: Please! Thanks to all who've taken the trouble.
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"Get out now, before he changes his mind." Anna propped herself up in the bed, her tone adamant. "I've agreed to flu shots for the next three years and being stuck here, no griping, for two more days until Helen makes it back home." Logan was beginning to understand why Doctor Ryan had been quite cheerful when discussing his aunt's and the rest of the family's troubles getting back to Canalee. Storm damage and washed out bridges to the north had turned a six-hour drive into a two-day trip.
"He'll discharge you into Bling's care. Spend the night at the house and make a run for it in the morning before the old buzzard thinks twice about it." Logan smiled at the strength in her voice and the rising color in her cheeks. "I've made a deal with the devil for you lad. You'd better not let it go to waste." He thought better of laughing or suggesting that he had done his share of wearing the doctor down. When on her high horse his grandmother tended to ignore her sense of humor.
"We'll stay at the house and visit until the family makes it back."
"No Logan." Her voice softened. "I don't want you hanging around the hospital." She shifted in the bed, sitting up straighter and patting down a stray wisp of hair. "Anyway I'm not the best of company right now. Eugene even suggested I was a bit cranky." This time he did laugh, regretting it immediately, his grandmother's expression and the broken ribs making for a rather painful combination.
Her face reflected her normal good nature as Bling walked in, towering over both of them, muscles bulging beneath an extra large t-shirt stretched to its limits. "Ready to go? Car's out front and Max is hungry for dinner. Even she won't eat the hospital food here." He flashed a brilliant smile. Logan sighed; a cheerful Bling was more than he could handle right now. Anna, on the other hand, beckoned to the smiling man for a hug. "See you in the morning grandma, bright and early." He released her from a careful embrace as Logan raised an eyebrow, this time oblivious to any discomfort it caused.
One look at his friend's face and Bling decided to make himself scarce for a while. "Why don't I get your prescriptions from the hospital pharmacy. Be right back." Anna ignored her grandson's expression, preferring instead to study the closing door.
"Grandma?" She continued to study the door as it shut fully. "He called you grandma." The door could use a good coat of paint. "Exactly how long has he been calling you grandma?"
"Since I met him in the hospital in Seattle." Logan raised a hand to lift his glasses, forgetting they were still missing, and rubbed his eyes, as if shielding them from the cartoon light bulb flashing above his head. It all made sense now, the phone calls on especially difficult days when the darkness was threatening to close in on him, the inquiries about his rehab when he had achieved a significant goal.
"You were discussing me, behind my back." His head jerked up. Did he really feel the anger he heard in his own voice?
"He talked to me Logan, when you wouldn't." Her cheeks were reddening again. "When you were telling me you were fine and you were anything but. Be angry if you must, but there was no betrayal, and I will do anything it takes to keep you safe."
"I'm not a kid who needs watching."
"No, you're a talented, vital, intelligent man who has always taken the weight of the world on his shoulders. You don't have to Logan-you can share the load." He said nothing, not trusting his voice at that moment. Anna looked down, studying the sheets as she smoothed the cool fabric across her lap. "The first time I saw your father and Emily together was here in Canalee." Logan's eyes were drawn to the wrinkled hands now lying still and composed, palms down on the bedclothes. "Em brought him to visit during a spring break, when they were both graduate students. You should have seen them Logan, brimming over with drive, energy, determination, and so in love. Your grandfather didn't even argue when they said they were getting married, said it would be like standing in the way of a tornado." She laughed at the memory.
"What happened?" His voice was so low he hardly heard it himself.
"Life happened--career, ambition, deadlines, bottom lines. Emily said once she could have almost stood loosing him to another woman, but to see him slipping away to the company broke her heart. She was always his love, she knew that, but the company was his life and she knew that too. Not that she ever gave up on him, but after your brother died …well work was his salvation, or so he thought: a world he could control."
"Like he tried to control me." He could taste the bitterness in his voice.
"He never spoke of your brother's death, … neither of you did Logan." Her eyes sought his. "He can only control you if you let him." She could hear his sharp intake of breath, but his eyes remained fixed on her hands. "He was right in one way though, all those times he told you not to waste your time. Don't waste yours like he did, on arranging your life so nothing can touch you and the illusion of control becomes your reality. You have people who love you and want to be part of your life. You shouldn't waste a minute, not a second."
The familiar words echoed in his mind, only it wasn't his father's disapproving, disappointed voice he heard but Charlie's. Charlie, standing with Case wrapped in his arms, declaring his love for a woman he might never see again. He leaned forward closing his hand around hers.