Chapter 12:
Ororo took an elevator up to the floor Andi was on. She had to sidle sideways off the elevator to get out carrying the huge bouquet of flowers, and smiled apologetically to the other occupants. The nurse at the desk waved her in without a word; after a couple of days coming here whenever she could, Ororo was acquainted with all the nurses. She walked down the hallway into Andi's room and stopped.
Andi was trying to fend off a nurse with a syringe. "Not again, please not again," she was begging the nurse. "Please, can you please wait just a little while? Please, I'm still hurting from the last injection…"
The man holding the syringe frowned. "I'm sorry, miss, but the Doc said you were to have one every three hours until you got your three doses. I know it hurts; but just think, there's only today and tomorrow to get through."
Ororo set the flowers down on Andi's bedside table and sat down on the bed beside Andi, holding her in her arms. "Tell me what's wrong," she said quietly to the nurse.
"The Doc prescribed these muscle stimulator shots for her to get her intestines working again," the nurse said. "She got her first one three hours ago; she needs to have the second one now. Then the third one in another three hours."
"But it hurt," Andi whimpered. "Oh, Ororo, it hurt, I don't want it, I'm afraid of the pain, can you make them wait just a little while longer? Please?"
Ororo stroked Andi's hair. "I'm afraid not, child, if the drugs are to take effect, I rather expect that they need to be taken at the time the doctor prescribed them. If we put it off, they might prove ineffective, and all the discomfort you've put up with will be for nothing. Would you feel better if I held you while he gave you the injection?" Andi thought for a moment, then nodded. Ororo stroked her hair as the nurse pulled back the sheet and slid the needle into Andi's left hip. Then he left, and Andi lay back.
"They're lovely flowers," she said to Ororo. "Who are they from?"
"Charles," she said. "and this," she handed Andi a book, "is from me."
Andi read the title. "Shakespeare. All of his works? How did you know he was my favorite writer?"
"I remembered seeing among your things a worn-out copy of 'Twelfth Night', and I decided to get you this, as it seems as though you will be here for some time--" Ororo broke off as Andi tensed. "Andi? What…"
"The shot," Andi said through gritted teeth. Without another word, she turned onto her side, curled up tightly, and squeezed her eyes shut. Ororo watched her face twist in pain as the muscle stimulant caused her intestines to cramp up. "Oww," she moaned, "Ow, ow, ow,"
Ororo held her hand until the cramps finally subsided, and Andi turned back over and stared at the ceiling with misty eyes. "Why do I have to pay the price for what others did to me?" she asked no one in particular. "It's not fair."
Ororo felt tears prick her eyes at the despairing sound of Andi's plea. "Life isn't fair, Andi. I don't know why the Goddess chooses some of us to endure more than others; but She does, and all we can do is bend in the winds She sends and try not to break. It isn't fair; but that is the way life is. And maybe someday you'll find that there was a purpose to everything you've gone through."
Andi turned to her. "Purpose? What kind of purpose could there be in making me suffer through those beatings, the electroshock, and the violation? It hurt, Ororo, it really hurt, he didn't stop when I begged him, he just kept going, and I was tied over a table and I couldn't get him off me…I tried to kick him, I tried to fight, and Dr. Hebron took his belt and beat my legs until they were numb and I couldn't feel them anymore, and he just kept going…" Ororo hugged her tightly until Andi's sobs finally subsided into sleep.
She slid off the bed and went out into the hallway. "I'd like to talk to the doctor who is in charge of Andi's care," she said to the nurse.
In short order, a kindly-looking older woman walked up. "I'm Doctor Daniels," she said. "What can I do for you, Miss Munroe?"
Ororo said, "Alexandra is terrified of men. Understandable, after what happened to her; and I do understand she has to get over it; but I think having a male nurse give her the injections, and in such an intimate place, is expecting too much of her too soon."
"A male nurse? I assigned a female nurse to your young ward, Nurse Johnson." Dr. Daniels turned to the attendant at the desk. "Jenny, didn't Frances Johnson give Alexandra Sanderson her injection?"
The woman flipped through the chart. "Uh, I have an F. Johnson signing off for the injection, but I think the writing is Fred Johnson's."
"Too many Johnsons working this wing," Dr. Daniels said irritably, taking the chart and making a notation on it. She handed it back to the attendant. "Please note that only female nurses are to enter and care for Alexandra," she said. "The note is there, on her chart; and I would appreciate it if you would notify your relief." She turned to Ororo. "I am sorry; in the future it will be female nurses. Is there anything else?"
Ororo said, "The injections--"
Dr. Daniels nodded. "I thought that was coming. I have never had to have them, thank goodness; but I have seen children who were victims of molestation suffer through them, and they told me what it felt like. One of the nurses here went through the same thing; she told me it was like having contractions." She sighed. "I know it's a lot of discomfort for someone so young; but she needs to have them. However, I could have a dose of local anesthetic mixed with the injection; it won't get rid of the cramps entirely, but it will dull her awareness of them so that they will not be as intense. Will that be sufficient?"
"That will be fine. Thank you, Doctor."
Ororo returned to the room, saw Andi was still sleeping, and decided not to waken her. Poor child. She pulled the blanket up over the sleeping girl and dropped a kiss lightly on Andi's forehead before she left.
* * *
Ororo pulled up in front of the house. Jean and Rogue were already there, she noted as she saw the cars parked in the driveway. She parked her convertible in front of the mailbox and went up the front walk.
She had been doubtful when she had first seen the house. A cozy little rancher, set well back from the street with a large yard and small inground pool, it had not been kept up well by its previous tenants. The carpets were ragged and dirty, there were holes in the walls and dirt on the kitchen floors. Jean, on the other hand, had become cheerfully enthusiastic, and she and Charles had both promised Ororo that the house would be ready to be lived in as soon as Andi came back from the hospital.
She was surprised at the difference in the house. Rubbish had been cleared out of the large fireplace in the family room, making it ready for use; in the kitchen, she saw Scott and Remy measuring and cutting (with the help of tightly-focused optic beams) adhesive floor tile in a bright, pale-gray pattern for the kitchen floor. The large patio had new walls built around it, and large windows to let in plenty of light. One wall had been left solid, and Rogue was busy hanging mirrors on the wall, fitting them closely together. Ororo spied a long wooden ballet barre sitting off to the side, in sections.
She wandered back through the kitchens, where Scott and Remy were now arguing about whether the last tile placed was actually positioned right; and out into the hall that started between the kitchen and the family room. It had been re-carpeted with a plush powder-blue carpet. The bathroom, when she peeked in, was done. White tile was set in the shower with pale blue shower curtains, towels, mat, and décor completing the ensemble.
There was a small room just across the bathroom, barely more than a small closet. When Ororo looked in she saw a desk along one wall, shelves of books along the other (mostly hers; but Andi could add her own books later.) Hank was in the process of trying to hook the computer up ("Bobby! Not there, there!") with Bobby's help. She smiled.
The third bedroom was done in blond woods and deep jeweltones; there was a deep amethyst carpet and a deep rose carpet. Ororo knew instinctively that Andi would like the room; and wondered how her friends knew. Her question was answered by the sight of the shopping bags still full of the new, unworn clothes Andi and Ororo had bought. Most of the clothes had been in blue, green, violet, and mauve colors. Ororo smiled to herself, then continued on to the two master bedrooms. One of them, she saw immediately, was hers. Her own bed was here; amber spread, pillows, and curtains; the floor was carpeted in earth-brown and other warm colors that reminded her of the grasslands of her native Africa. She smiled to herself. Her friends knew her.
She went into the last bedroom, and was surprised to see almost everything white; bed, furniture, and everything else was in ice white or ice blue. She stared in some astonishment as the figure hanging curtains by the window turned, and she saw Emma Frost, the Headmistress of Xavier's now-closed Massachusetts Academy. "Emma!" she said, "What in the Goddess's name are you doing here?"
"Charles called me," said the blond woman, smiling at Ororo's surprise. "He said he had a student who need raining in learning to handle her empathy, and also that she might benefit from having a female instructress. He did not tell me why; I assume that he wants the girl to tell me herself. So I came, and he told me to fit out a bedroom here, since I might be staying for some time."
Ororo reflected on that. It would be of advantage to have a telepath here. Charles had already said he was going to take down the shield around Andi's mind as soon as she was settled in the house; Andi would need to have someone here who could shield her until she learned to shield herself. Still…"Was it necessary to call you all the way out here? Could not Jean have come?" As soon as she said it, she realized that Jean couldn't.
Emma was shaking her head. "No. Jean will be taking over your duties as dorm mistress for the girls' wing back at the school until you return. I understand, Ororo; we haven't really gotten to know each other, but Charles decided I should be here for the girl; and I think he had the right idea. So here I am."
Jean popped her head out of the small half-bathroom in the corner. "Okay, I think we're done," she said. "How do you like everything?"
"It is all wonderful," she said. "I'm sure Andi will like her room."
"I stuffed the suitcase with all her other clothes in it under the bed. If she wants those horrid uniforms her parents bought her, they're there. I don't think it likely, but she should have all her stuff."
"So when yah bringin' her here?" Rogue popped into the room where the three women were standing. "I can't wait tah see how she likes her dance studio."
Ororo smiled. "I saw it. It was admirably done. I think she will be pleased."
"Good." Rogue grinned. "And there's gonna be a small piano in the fam'ly room, Charles says. She really loves music; maybe she'll enjoy it more if she ain't compelled ta practice all the time." Rogue sniffed disdainfully, and left the room.
"I hope she will be happy here," Ororo said quietly as Emma left to inspect the studio.
"She has you," Jean said quietly, looking into her best friend's eyes. "She finally has someone who respects her and cares about her. And loves her. Because you do, don't you?"
Ororo smiled lightly. "Reading my mind again, Jean?" she said.
"I don't need to," Jean said. "It's written all over you. You care more about her than her parents ever did; look, you even gave her Ali. She needs that, 'Ro. She needs to feel loved, she needs to feel like she's cared about, wanted, needed, valued. She needs someone to love, too. She has a lot of feeling in her, 'Ro. It shows in her music. Did you know she writes music?"
Ororo looked at Jean. "I did not," she said. "How did you find out?"
"When we were packing up her things I found some sheets of music she had written. I can't play, of course, but I went to Charles' piano and picked out some of the notes. She's incredibly talented. I wonder why Fate chose to give such an extraordinary child to such unfeeling parents as the Sandersons. It must have nearly killed her, having to hide what was in her soul to be what her parents wanted her to be. It's not fair. She should have been born to some parents who loved her enough to let her pursue her passions." Jean sighed heavily. "I guess we'll never know, will we?"
"Someday the Goddess will make it all clear," Ororo said serenely. "Until then, all we can do is bend in Her wind."