Later that night, Janet arrived at the convalescent center, with a large bag containing some clothes for Frank and the thermos of "special" coffee for Larry. She was a nervous wreck as she approached the reception desk, but managed to give the attendant her most cheerful greeting.
"Hi! How are you tonight?"
The attendant smiled at her. "I'm fine, ma'am. But I'm afraid visiting hours are over."
Of course, Janet was expecting this response. She smiled and shrugged her shoulders in a "What can you do?" gesture. "Oh, I know. But I really need to give this to my grandmother." She lifted the bag. "I have some clothes in here she asked for this afternoon, and she'll drive everyone nuts until she gets them. I didn't have the chance to get back here earlier tonight, and I have to go out of town – I'm leaving right from here. If you'd just let me drop this stuff off, I'd really appreciate it…" she laughed and continued, "and so will everyone on the staff who has to deal with my grandmother."
The attendant looked at her curiously. "Who is your grandmother?"
"Mary Weiss."
Hearing the name, recognition dawned on the attendant's face. "Oh. Well, under the circumstances, I guess you can go ahead. Don't bother signing in. But please, leave as quickly as you can, OK? I don't want to get in trouble."
Janet smiled. This was the first time her grandmother's difficult nature had actually been a good thing. "I will. Thank you so much."
She took off in the direction of her grandmother's room. However, once she was sure she was out of the attendant's line of sight, she went down an adjoining hallway and made her way to Frank's room. Outside the door, looking more than a little bleary-eyed, was Larry.
"Hey, Larry! Still on duty?"
He rubbed his eyes and smiled at her wearily. "Yeah. Another two hours to go. I don't know how I'm gonna make it." Suddenly, an expression of confusion crossed his face. "What are you doing here at this hour?"
Janet answered, "Well, I think I made some progress with Frank this afternoon, and I wanted to try again while things are still fresh in his mind. And…" she reached into the bag, "I figured you'd be pretty tired by now, so I brought you some fresh coffee."
He couldn't have looked more thrilled if she'd told him she'd brought him a $10 million winning lottery ticket. "Janet, you are the best. If you ever break up with Brad, you'd better give me a call." He shook his head and smiled. "I don't know how a geek like him managed to get a hot babe like you in the first place."
Good question. Despite that heretical thought, Janet laughed and gave Larry a playful slap. "You're awful!" She approached the door, opened it, and turned back to him. "I shouldn't be too long. He's probably not much in the mood to see me."
Larry grinned. "If he's not, he's an idiot."
She smiled. "You're still being awful." At that, she walked into the room and closed the door softly behind her.
She looked over at the bed and saw that Frank was, again, asleep. Well, it wasn't as if he was given anything to help pass the time…there was no television, no books or magazines, not even a radio. She approached the bed and gently shook his shoulder. "Frank, it's me."
He stirred and turned over to face her. Sitting up and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he smiled and said, "I can't believe you actually came back."
Janet was slightly hurt. "I promised I'd be back. You thought I'd go back on my word?"
He shrugged. "Well, I thought perhaps you would have an attack of common sense, and decide it wasn't a good idea. Had that been the case, I really couldn't have blamed you."
She smiled and sat down next to him on the bed. "Nobody ever accused me of having too much common sense." She handed him the bag. "Here are the clothes. I have a few other things in a suitcase in my car. I gave Larry the coffee. He was tired to begin with, so he should be asleep in no time. I can't wait for that, though, because I was just supposed to be dropping stuff off in my grandmother's room. Give it about 10 minutes. When you leave, go down to the end of this hall and make a right. That'll lead you to the exit. I'll be keeping an eye out for you."
Frank nodded. "All right." He smiled and, to Janet's surprise, enfolded her in a warm embrace. "I don't know how I can ever thank you for what you're doing."
Suddenly, the last thing in the world Janet wanted to do was walk out of that room. However, after allowing herself a few moments to enjoy the sensation of being in his arms, she reluctantly pulled away. "Don't worry about thanking me. Let's just get you out of here."
He laughed as she walked to the door. "Yes, ma'am."
As soon as Janet closed the door, Frank hurriedly stripped off the hated hospital gown and put on the clothes she'd brought for him. After estimating that ten minutes had gone by, he cautiously opened the door and peeked out. Slumped in the chair positioned next to the door, snoring gently, was Larry.
Frank smiled. Up yours, Dr. Scott. He followed Janet's directions to the exit, passing the attendant as he approached the door. He could only hope she didn't know about him – or at least that she didn't know what the prisoner in the guarded room looked like. He smiled at her and called out, "Good night!"
She looked at him with some surprise. She'd never seen him before, she was sure – the number of young, attractive men that passed by her desk was small indeed. He must be some new therapist she hadn't met yet. She replied to his greeting in the same fashion, "Good night!" Silently, she added…and come back soon!
**********
Author's note…I'm debating whether or not to change the rating of this story to an R for the next chapter. Unfortunately, given ff.net's rather prudish default of only bringing up stories rated G – PG13 unless the reader knows to change the rating, using an R is the surest way to banish any story to instant obscurity. I usually post new chapters pretty regularly, so if more than two or three days go by without an update, check for R-rated stories to see if it's there. Thanks!