Chapter 25: Awakenings

May 10, 1992 - Sunday

Rob hurried through the hospital entrance, with Ellie right behind him. Again, Alan was in charge of parking, and the long trek, through the parking garage, was beginning to bother his otherwise healthy right leg. He tried not to let it bother him, as he finally made it to the entrance, and then made his way to the fourth floor. Ellie was standing in the hallway, alone, when he arrived.

"Something wrong?" he whispered in a concerned way, as he looked past her and toward Kara's room.

"No. I just wanted to give Rob some space, to talk to his father."

"That's impressive," he said, smiling.

She gently hit him in the chest.

"Don't start," she warned.

"Okay, sorry."

"I could go nuts at any second, you know," she said, smiling.

"Oh, I know all about that."

"What does that mean?"

Alan's smile quickly faded, turning into a blank stare.

"Nothing," he simply stated. Ellie was about to say something not so attractive, when Alan interrupted her, "You know what would be a good thing?"

"You shutting up?"

"Uh, no," he said, laughing.

"So much for wishful thinking. What then?" she joked.

"If your mother would meet up with Rob's father."

Just the mere thought of them being in the same room, made Ellie laugh a little louder than she probably should have. She looked around them, hoping that no one was staring, and then she regained her composure.

"That would be something wonderful to see, wouldn't it?" she was finally able to ask, calmly.

"Your mother is scary, but this guy . . . he's a real screwball."

"I could only imagine what kind of attitude adjustments she would have in store for that guy," she said.

"It's fun to imagine, though, isn't it?" Alan said, smiling.

"Oh yeah. I mean, she wanted to kill you, so I could imagine what she would want to do to someone who was really not fit to be in this world."

Ellie was still laughing, but noticed that Alan wasn't. She looked at him strangely.

"Your mother wanted me dead?" he asked, totally floored.

"Hmm. Well, no, no. Not really."

Alan continued to stare.

"It was a figure of speech, honey," she said, hoping that she could convince him that the lie was true.

Rob exited Kara's room and walked toward his awaiting friends. Ellie sighed with relief as she turned toward him, happy to get out of the conversation that she had cornered herself into.

"How is she?" she asked.

"She's holding her own."

Rob Sr. walked out from the room, causing Ellie to slightly glare at him. He looked completely wiped out, physically and emotionally. She decided to give the fighting a rest, thinking to herself new day, new attitude. The outspoken man didn't even look at her, so maybe he was thinking the same thing.

"Where is that damned doctor?" his father questioned to no one in particular.

"I don't know," Rob answered, as he looked around.

"Getting sick on the weekend isn't just an old wise tale, I suppose," Rob Sr. commented, "I'm going to the nurse's station . . . again. I'll be right back."

Rob nodded, and then at his friends.

"You want to see her?" he asked.

"Yes," Ellie answered.

Rob led them into the room, where his sister was still unconscious. Ellie wasn't entirely sure, but she thought that Kara's color was a little bit better. Alan was right behind them, with an arm around Ellie's waist, more for his support than hers. Seeing people in a hospital had always made Alan feel weary, and this was no exception.

"She looks good, Rob," Ellie whispered encouragingly.

"I think so, too," Rob answered with a smile.

Rob's father stepped back into the room.

"The doctor is on this floor. He should be here shortly," he said, somberly. As everyone looked toward him, he nodded to Alan, "Sorry about hitting you yesterday. It was uncalled for."

In one short sentence, Rob Sr. managed to shock all of them, Rob especially.

"Well, uh, that's . . . that's okay. You were upset," Alan said.

"I just wanted to apologize, since it was bothering me for some reason," the primary reason being he was trying to get out of a possible future lawsuit with this man, as he looked like he desperately needed money, "It's not like me to attack a stranger."

As they all stood, staring at one another, the doctor walked into the room. He made his way past them and to the right side of Kara's bed, checking various medical devices. Alan and Ellie quickly made their way out of the room, to give the family some privacy.

Rob stood up and stretched, glancing at the clock, as he did so. It was 3:00PM. His father was resting at the same hotel Rob was staying at, leaving Rob with his friends and sister. Kara's outlook hadn't changed. She was still lying comfortably in the hospital bed, in stable condition, and the doctor just wasn't certain about the time frame at this point.

"Rob, I think you should go downstairs and eat something," Ellie suggested.

Rob looked up at her. He hadn't even thought about food, but now that she had mentioned it, he was very hungry.

"I think that's a good idea," he said. He looked back at Kara, "But I don't want to leave her alone."

Alan stood up.

"I think she'll be fine for a half an hour, or so," he said.

Rob nodded, knowing that his friend was right.

"Okay. Lead the way," he said, glancing at Ellie.

Ellie smiled and headed out of the room, followed closely by Alan. Rob stood up, leaned over, and gently kissed his sister on the cheek.

"Be right back, sis," he whispered. The doctors weren't sure if Kara could hear people talking, but Rob totally believed that she could. He talked to her often.

After looking at her for a second, Rob finally straightened up, and followed Alan.

They went down to the third floor, where the cafeteria was, and Ellie insisted on getting Rob's food. She had talked him into going to find a table, and that's where he was already. The way the hospital was set up, he couldn't see Alan or Ellie because there was a wall in between where you get the food, and where you eat the food.

"Does Rob like vegetables?" Ellie asked, trying to order lunch from the woman waiting impatiently.

"Yeah, I think so."

"What kind?"

"I don't know."

"Some friend you are," she joked.

Alan just stared at her, as he grabbed a chocolate chip cookie. He heard her order Rob the same thing that she had ordered for herself, and then she called him over there. He was in the middle of getting himself some soup. He placed the soup on his tray, and made his way over toward her.

"You want something from here?" she said, gesturing to the woman preparing the meals.

"No, I'm good with soup and a cookie."

"You are such the nutritious type, aren't you?" she said.

Before he could answer, she set all of Rob's food on his tray, causing it to tilt.

"Hey," he complained.

"You don't have anything on that tray, so quit whining," she said.

Alan was thinking of complaining further, but he was interrupted by a tall and pleasant man, who was suddenly standing next to him.

"Alan Grant!" the man asked, in way too cheery of a voice for a hospital.

"Yes?"

The man smiled and looked toward Ellie.

"Ellie Sattler?"

"What do you want?" Ellie said, answering the question with a question.

The man handed a folded piece of paper to both of them. Alan had to balance his food tray, in order to take it.

"Thank you! Good day!" the man said gleefully, and then turned to walk away.

"What the hell was that all about?" Alan wondered aloud.

Ellie had already unfolded the paper, smirking and smiling at the same time, if that were possible.

"It's a subpoena. To appear at the Greg Diamond and Raymond Knox trials."

"When?"

"End of July."

Alan grunted. The idea of having to spend a day or more in a courtroom annoyed him. The thought of having to wear a suit and listen to that violent night, from last year, being rehashed was not appealing to him in the least. His time could be better spent digging.

Ellie felt the same way, but then something else entered her mind.

"Rob . . . I wonder if he got Rob, too," she said.

Before Alan could answer, she hurried him along to the cash register. He paid, and then they found Rob

sitting at one of the tables . . . holding a folded piece of paper.

"Ah, I see you got one of those wonders of joy, too," Alan said, sighing.

Alan carefully set the tray of food on the table, and sat down across from Rob.

"What is this for?" Rob said, holding it up, "I'm not in any trouble, am I?"

"No," Ellie answered, sitting next to Alan. She placed Rob's food in front of him, like a mother would, "We all just need to testify at a trial for those guys, who beat up Alan last summer."

"I hate courtrooms," Rob said, exhaling heavily.

"Don't worry about it right now. Just eat," Ellie said. Rob nodded and began to eat. Ellie looked at Alan, who was equally depressed about the whole courtroom thing, "You eat, too. You men need your strength. It takes a lot of energy and endurance, to whine the way you do."

Alan smiled at her and obeyed, taking a few sips of his hot soup.

About a half an hour later, they were back on the fourth floor. The three of them were still talking and laughing about going to court when, to Rob's surprise, they found his father back in Kara's room.

"What are you doing back so fast?" he asked.

"I couldn't sleep. I don't know why I thought I could," his father answered, and then he added, "What's this about court?"

"Oh, that," Rob said, trying to figure out a quick way to get the explanation over with, "Apparently, we're testifying next month for an assault case."

"Who did you assault?"

Rob knew right away, that his explanation didn't sound right. And he also knew that his father would take it the way that he did, but he was still upset that his father thought of him as being violent. He walked farther into the room.

"Why do you always assume that I'm the one at fault?" he asked.

"Because you usually are," Rob Sr. simply stated.

Alan got in between them.

"Look, this isn't the time or place to get into this."

"Why are you always sticking up for him?" Rob Sr. asked Alan.

"I was the one that was assaulted . . . by a couple of people," Alan began to explain.

"Four people," Ellie interrupted.

"Rob showed up just in time, before they probably would have killed me," Alan said, not really answering the question that was presented to him.

"Oh, I see," Rob Sr. said, looking away.

"I'm not always the bad guy," Rob said, looking at the back of his father's head.

"Can't you two just shut up already?" A female voice asked, interrupting them.

Everyone in the room looked toward the bed. Kara was still in the same position, but her eyes were open.

"Kara!" Rob shouted, as he made it to the right side of the hospital bed.

His father rushed to the other side. Kara didn't only have her eyes open. A smile was also prominent on her bruised face.

"I'm so glad to see you awake," Rob Sr. whispered.

Kara looked around the room, focusing on her family. It was only then, that she realized she was in a hospital.

"What happened?" she asked. Her vision was somewhat fuzzy still.

"You were in a car accident," Rob answered.

With that bit of insight, violent images began to invade her mind. She turned her head slightly, and began to tear up some.

"It was rainy. There was a turn. I missed it. There was a tree . . . " she trailed off, and began to sob.

Rob held her free hand, and began to sob with her.

"That's over now. The important thing, is you are going to be all right," Rob Sr. said, taking a more unattached route, trying to steer away from the emotions, about to erupt inside himself.

Kara turned toward him, tears coming down her cheeks. She gently reached her hand to her father's face, being careful of the I.V. that was attached.

"You're not going to give me a 'don't cry' lecture, are you?"

The older man leaning before her began to cry himself. Rob had only seen his father cry once. At his own father's funeral, all those years ago. It was, to say the least, a little shocking to see the man fall apart.

"No," their father managed to say between sobs, "Cry all you want. It's perfectly okay."

The three of them embraced, as close as they could with all of the hospital machinery attached to Kara. Alan held an arm around Ellie's waist, as they stood in the doorway, smiling. The moment was interrupted by a nurse, showing up behind Alan.

"Excuse me, what is going on here? Her pulse has just gone up dramatically," she said, as she pushed her way through the people. She saw that her patient was awake, which made her happy, but the amount of people in the room really upset her, "And . . . at least two of you . . . need to leave right now."

Alan didn't remember seeing this nurse before. She had a different color outfit on, making him think she was possibly the head nurse on duty. She was very direct and kind of snooty, but he took the advice as an order, and decided to vacate. He looked at Ellie, who didn't even seem to hear the nurse.

"Let's give them some privacy," he whispered to her, and then he looked toward Rob, "We're heading to the waiting room."

"Okay, Alan," Rob said, glancing at them.

"Alan?" Kara asked, in a happy voice, trying to sit up a little bit, to see him.

Alan stopped and turned around.

"Yeah, it's me. Glad to see you coming around," he said awkwardly.

"You're just as nice and handsome, as I remember," she said, smiling faintly.

"Kara, don't inflate his ego. It's bad enough already," Rob commented, smiling.

"Out!" The nurse said, in a very direct and intimidating way.

Alan smirked at her, and then looked at Kara, "We'll talk later, I'm sure."

"You can count on that," she said, her voice heavy with fatigue.

Alan smiled, and then followed Ellie out of the room. The nurse continued to monitor the machines, sighing a few times, as she did so.

"Something wrong?" Rob asked.

"No, sir. Some of the stats aren't where I like them to be," she said, in a cold manner.

The rediscovered family stayed close, continuing to embrace for a few more seconds, and then Rob and his father sat down in the chairs, on either side of the bed.

"Are you having any pain!" the nurse asked.

Kara shook her head no. She wasn't exactly sure how she was feeling at the moment, as everything was still a blur. The nurse nodded, and checked off something on the sheet of paper on her clipboard, and continued to ask a long series of questions, placing checks in the appropriate boxes.

"Is the doctor coming back in any time soon?" Rob Sr. asked, in an equally cold manner as the nurse. Rob thought that the two of them could probably go to a Halloween party as dead people.

"I'll inform the doctor that she is awake. He should be here shortly, I would guess."

"Thank you," their father said.

The nurse strolled out of the room, leaving Kara with the two men in her life. They took turns explaining, the best they could, about the surgeries she had undergone. She watched as they both looked at her lovingly, looks of real care and concern on their faces. Every once in awhile, she would notice them giving each other an unpleasant stare, which really got on her nerves.

"Do you think the two of you could get along . . . for once?" Father and son glanced at each other, but said nothing, so Kara continued, "For me? Cause you love me?" she said, briefly smiling.

From Rob's side of the bed, he could see the right side of her face wasn't exactly working properly. When she would smile, it would make for a lopsided grin. He wasn't sure why he hadn't noticed it at first. It was probably because his emotions had experienced an overload. His thoughts were interrupted by his father's voice.

"Okay. I'll call a truce, if it will make you get out of here quicker."

Rob looked on, genuinely surprised.

"I'll go along with that," he said.

"Good," Kara said, relieved, "There's nothing that I would want more, than to see us get along for more than a minute or two."

Rob smiled, and saw that his father did the same. They were far from actually smiling at each other, but it was more of a start than the past ten years or so had been. He watched his sister reach up and touch her head, where the brain surgery had taken place. The surprised look on her face, when she realized part of her hair was gone, angered Rob in a way that he hadn't quite expected. She should have been safe and sound, at home. Not on some long drive on her way to see him. He fought away the feelings of guilt that were creeping up on him, and forced a smile.

"It'll grow back," he said.

"I know that, jerk," Kara said, half smiling again.

Rob laughed. He wasn't expecting to hear her say that in the least. She was laying in that bed, looking pretty awful, but yet, she was trying to smile and joke around. She was in good spirits, so he went along with it.

"I know you know that you think I didn't know that you knew that . . . loser."

"It's not nice to try and confuse someone who just had brain surgery," Kara joked.

"What is the matter with you?" Rob Sr. asked his son, raising an eyebrow in anger.

Rob just looked at him. He thought about how stupid that would have sounded to someone who had no idea what the whole 'jerk/loser' thing was about. He was going to attempt to explain himself, but Kara's laughter interrupted him, which relieved him in a big way.

"Dad, it's just something we've always done. As kids. Relax," she explained. She waited for him to nod, before she continued, "Could you go get me something to drink?"

"You have water right here," her father said.

"I don't want water. I want something with caffeine."

"I don't think you should have caffeine, until after the doctor says it's okay," Rob said.

"You two are no fun," she sighed.

"Why don't you have some water," her father suggested again.

She nodded, so he poured some water into a dixie cup and carefully brought it up to her lips. She took one small sip and made a face.

"It's warm."

"Okay, I'll go get some ice," her father said.

"Thanks," she said, smiling.

Rob and Kara both watched him leave the room. When Kara turned to look at her brother, she could see a few tears forming in his eyes.

"It's okay, Rob," she whispered.

"I hope so," he said, looking at her, "How do you really feel?"

"Not bad. Probably shock, or something."

"Yeah."

"I am getting tired, though."

"You need all the rest you can get," he said, standing up.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Nowhere," he said, laughing, "just stretching my legs."

"How long have I been here?" Kara asked, out of the blue.

"About two days."

"Two days . . . " she said to herself quietly. Just as the words came out of her mouth, the realization that it was possibly an important date came to her. She looked at Rob, and he was already smiling, showing that he had just figured it out, too. "Happy Birthday, Robster," she said.

"Happy Birthday, sis."

Rob walked close to the bed, leaned over and hugged her. Under the circumstances, it was kind of a sad birthday, but the simple fact they were together, all but out-shadowed the almost tragic events that transpired. Kara hugged her brother as tight as she could, and then relaxed, laying back into the bed. As she watched him sit down, she suddenly remembered something she had wanted to ask, from a little earlier. There were a bunch of jumbled up thoughts running through her head, but there was one, in particular, that was standing out in the front of her mind.

"Who was that woman?"

"What woman?"

"The one with Alan."

"Oh," Rob said, "That's Ellie. A friend from the dig site. They came over here with me, when they heard about what had happened."

"How close of a friend?" Kara asked.

"Close to me . . . very, very close to Alan," Rob answered.

Kara looked a little sad.

"Lucky woman," she said to herself out loud.

Rob laughed at her.

"Oh, God. Don't tell me you've had a secret crush on that boring scientist?" Kara gave him a strange look, trying to cover up her uncertain feelings. "You do!" Rob said, laughing even more.

"So what," she said, glaring at him, "He's a nice person. I was just saying that she's lucky to be able to find such a nice person."

Rob wasn't buying it, and barely even heard what she had said anyway.

"What is it? It's got to be that goofy accent, because otherwise, he's just a pure and plainly dull individual," Rob joked. Kara didn't answer, she just looked at him, so he added, "I wish I had a gimmicky accent to lure the ladies."

"Shut up, Rob."

"Drab."

"Shut up."

"Boring."

Kara rolled her eyes again, and then finally smiled. Her brother was definitely the insane one in the family.