TITLE: Once More (2/6)
AUTHOR: Pedellea
E-MAIL: pedellea@hotmail.com
DATE: July 28, 2003
RATING: PG
SUMMARY: Delia falls into grave danger. How will it effect Andy and Ephram?
SPOILERS: none
DISCLAIMER: Everwood belongs to Greg Berlanti, Mickey Liddell, Everwood Utah, Inc., Berlanti Liddell Productions, and Warner Bros. Television. Thanks for creating the show!
AUTHOR'S NOTES: After months of work, it's finally ready to be published - my first long(er) Everwood fic! Notice the winter setting... obviously started in the winter months. Takes place sometime before "Home." It was a challenge and always a delight to tackle the father-son relationship between Andy and Ephram.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this piece. Feedback always welcome!


ONCE MORE (2/6)
By Pedellea

"Thanks for letting her tag along," Ephram told Amy on the ice as they watched Delia lace up her skates.
"Not a problem. I hope the lake isn't too bumpy for her."
"She'll be fine. Unlike me, she actually knows how to skate. Pretty good at it, even."
"Good. So I won't have to have two Browns hanging on my arm."
"I don't hang on your arm."
"When you don't, you just walk on the ice like an old man."
"It's slippery!"
"It's skating! You're supposed to glide."
"I glide..."

Ephram promptly fell on his rear when he slid one foot in front of him. Amy laughed, and extended her arms to pull him back on his feet.

"Your 'glide' needs some work."
"Tell me about it."

They watched as Delia glided over to them, ever gracefully.

"You're a natural," Amy smiled.
"Thanks. My mom taught me how."

Amy gave a quick glance to Ephram, knowing that the topic of his mom was a sensitive issue for him. He only smiled at his sister, as if remembering happier times past.

"Did your mom take you guys skating a lot?"
"Not me. I was always slaving away at my piano. She took Delia quite a bit. I was never the ice skater type, you know?"
"It's never too late to learn. Especially if you're living here in this town. I heard it snows a lot."
"You know, if you never told me, I wouldn't have known."

Amy laughed.

"C'mon. Do you want to learn or not?"
"Coming, master."

Amy smiled and glided along the ice, and Ephram stumbled behind her. After a series of spectacular falls on his part, he shook his head and staggered back to the bench on solid ground, snow covered and defeated.

"That's it. I'm officially declaring myself a hopeless cause for skating."
"Giving up so easily?"
"It's hard not to when you've just broken the record for the most frequent falls on your butt while ice skating. You know, I think I spent more time on the ground than being upright in that half hour."
"Well, I guess we can't be good at everything."
"Yeah, thanks for the moral support."

Just as Ephram finished pulling off his skates, there was a movement on the ice followed by a chilling scream that pierced the air.

"DELIA!!!"

Like a scene from the horror movie, Ephram watched as his little sister fell through the ice into the frigid waters below. He ran onto the ice with his socked feet, stumbling several times and finally falling onto his stomach where he slid towards the small hole where his sister had fallen. His heart leapt out of his chest when her head disappeared, and he plunged his hands into the water in hopes of grabbing a hold of Delia. Ignoring the pain that coursed up his hands, he pulled at the fabric that he felt between his fingers. Delia's toque came off into his hands.

"Don't you DARE do this to me!"

Ephram threw aside the toque as Delia's head bobbed up above the water. She began sinking again as he screamed her name, trying desperately to grab a hold of her. He finally caught hold of more cloth, and began hoisting it up. It was slipping from his hands.

"Amy, help me..."

Amy slipped her cell phone into her pocket with which she had dialed 911 and grabbed at the fabric that emerged from the water with all her might. Her head soon appeared, and Ephram put his arms under her shoulders and pulled her out. Delia's lips were bluish-purple, and she was motionless.

"Oh God, Delia. Stay with me!"

Ephram laid Delia out on the ice and began performing CPR on his sister as Amy got on the phone with the emergency operator with what had happened. His hands shook from pain and fear as he carried out the procedure. He breathed a small sigh of relief as Delia coughed up the water in her lungs.

"Hey you... you'll be alright."

She blinked several times up at her brother before closing her eyes again. As Ephram picked up his little sister and stumbled back onto land, Amy listened to instructions of what to do before the ambulance arrived and relayed the message to Ephram.

"Take her jacket off."
"What?"
"It's making her cold 'cause it's wet. You need to take it off."

After laying Delia carefully on the bench, Ephram fumbled with the zipper on his sister's jacket. Amy took her jacket off as he tried clumsily to take off Delia's jacket.

"Here, let me help you."

As Amy took over Ephram's job, he held his sister's hand. The sound of sirens was getting louder.

"You hang in there, Delia. You're not allowed to leave me alone here, you hear me?"

Ephram half expected her to get up and end this horrible nightmare, half expected her to remain motionless. He continued staring at her face as he heard the shouts of approaching paramedics. In an eternal blur, his sister was given emergency treatment and loaded up onto a gurney.

"Ephram, let's go."

Amy tugged him gently on the arm as they loaded Delia onto the ambulance. He faintly heard Amy asking if they could ride with Delia, and with the okay, followed the paramedics onto the ambulance. His eyes never left sight of his sister as they rushed to the hospital.


Ooh the suspense! Anyway, please submit a review or send me an e-mail at pedellea@hotmail.com. Thanks!