Chapter Eleven

The Black Sheep

Ryan and Marissa were speculating over what was wrong with Summer -or more, Marissa was confessing how worried she was for her friend while throwing out theories on what had happened to her while Ryan held her hand and nodded at the appropriate times- when Dr. Browning returned without Summer and Seth followed him. Marissa instantly turned her attention to him. "Where's Summer? Is she all right?" She questioned.

Dr. Browning didn't give her a straight answer. "I took her to visit the on call therapist." He said. "We'll hear back soon enough." Browning retrieved the clipboard he had set aside earlier. "Now, the real reason I stopped by was to tell you that the doctors that would be able to perform your operation have an opening in their schedules tomorrow afternoon. I went ahead and scheduled your operation for that time." He explained.

As Marissa listened to what he was saying, she was unsure of how to react; if the operation was successful, she would be able to walk again, tomorrow, and that thought sent excitement coursing through her body. However, if the operation didn't work, then she'd never be able to walk again; she never thought that her future would be in the hands of a handful of people she had never even met.

Despite these thoughts running through her mind, Marissa forced a smile to spread across her face. "That's great." She said, hoping that she sounded sincere because a part of her was. But more of her was nervous, frightened even and she hoped that that part didn't show.

Ryan smiled at her and he didn't seem to see the misgiving in her eyes. He looked so certain that everything was going to turn out all right that Marissa was almost certain as well.

A few more words passed between them before Browning left the room; Ryan turned to look at Marissa, a smile still on his face. "See, everything's going to turn out all right." He assured her. Marissa could only nod halfheartedly. "This is just the first step before everything starts to go back to normal." He almost looked like he believed what he was saying.

But Marissa didn't really believe her operation was going to fix everything. If this was the first step, it was the first of many.

Shortly after the doctor left the room, the Cohens and Coopers entered, some looking more worried then others; Julie still looked like the fact that she had spent two nights in a hospital with her daughter hadn't sunken in yet and she sat down in the chair that Summer had left unoccupied, smiling at Marissa.

Kirsten instantly headed over to Ryan. "What happened to Summer? I saw her and Seth leave with Marissa's doctor but Seth wouldn't tell me what was going on." She questioned, looking concerned.

"Summer had some sort of breakdown." Ryan answered. "The doctor took her to some therapist and Seth went with her."

Marissa looked even more nervous and worried at the mention of Summer. "I hope she's all right." She mumbled, more to herself then to anyone else. Ryan offered her a wane, yet still comforting smile but Marissa didn't return the gesture. She didn't feel much like smiling at the moment.

Julie entered the room a moment later with a smile on her face that was halfway to creepy. "Guess who came to visit you, Marissa?" She questioned and everyone in the room turned to look toward the doorway. No one seemed very interested. The smile didn't disappear from Julie's face. "Luke." The woman announced.

As soon as she had spoken, Luke Ward entered the room with a smile on his face, bouquet of flowers in his hand, feeling much like he was performing in a play. Only yesterday had he been told that Marissa was in the hospital and had arrived to visit her as soon as he could. "Hey Marissa, how are you doing?"

There was a moment of silence as everyone waited to see what Marissa would say; if she decided to tell him about her impending operation and the fact that she might never walk again, then it was her decision and no one else would make it for her. "I'm all right." She answered. "Aside from the obvious."

Luke handed her the flowers, which she set on the bedside table with the other bouquets she had been brought recently. The silence continued, only now it was an awkward sort of silence; Kirsten was almost relieved when her cell phone starting jingling in her purse. "Excuse me." She quickly exited the room even as she pulled the phone out.

"So, when are you getting out of this place, Marissa?" Luke questioned, trying to lighten up the mood even though it was nearly impossible to do so.

Marissa shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know." She answered. "Whenever they decided that they're tired of my company I guess." Right now she was tired of Luke's company and everyone's company except for Ryan's when you got down to it.

Luke seemed to sense her weariness and impatience with nearly everyone in the room because he said, "I think I'll go down to the vending machines, does anybody else want anything?" No one did and he left.

Marissa looked over at Jimmy, Sandy and Julie and decided now was a good a time as any to tell them about the fact that her operation was a lot sooner then they had all anticipated. "So, the doctor said that I can have my operation tomorrow." She remarked lightly, as though she was saying something about the weather.

Jimmy's eyes lit up. "Really, honey? That's great." He grinned and suddenly Marissa let herself smile a little as well. Just like with Ryan, she felt assured when her father seemed certain that everything was going to be all right.

"Then we can start to put this whole thing behind us." Julie muttered, so low that Marissa almost didn't hear what she had said. But she heard none-the-same and almost couldn't believe it; how did her mother think that everything was going to go away once she was able to walk again? Oliver was still dead, Summer was still suffering from some unfathomable mind trauma and she would always have the scars, they all would, in a way. This wasn't just going to go away but obviously Julie Cooper couldn't see that fact and, as bad as Marissa wanted to inform her, she couldn't bring herself to do so. A part of her wanted everything to go away as well.

Kirsten answered her cell phone as soon as she stepped out of Marissa's hospital room, despite the No Cell Phones Please signs posted all around and the stern looks the doctors gave to her. She wished she had let it ring, however, when she saw that the caller was her father, Caleb Nichol.

"Hi Dad." She answered wearily. "What do you want?"

"And I fine hello to you too, Kirsten." Caleb responded just as wearily. Their relationship had not improved over the years and, if anything, was getting worse. "I was just calling to see why my favorite employee wasn't at one of the most important meetings of the year."

Kirsten sighed; had the meeting with Wolfram & Hart, one of the most important real estate agencies in the Los Angeles area really been today? With all the drama going on with Marissa she had been preoccupied, as she should have been, and all thoughts of work and especially her father had slipped her mind.

"That was today?" Kirsten muttered as she headed out of the hospital and into the parking lot, where cell phone use wasn't frowned upon.

Caleb's tone changed immediately. "Don't give me any of that crap, Kirsten." He snapped and she knew that the meeting hadn't gone well. "You knew very well that the meeting was today."

"I was at the hospital, I really did forget." Even though she was in her thirties, Kirsten always felt like she was defending herself in front of her father. It wasn't a feeling that she liked and knew that her father enjoyed making her feel that way.

There was silence for a moment. "The hospital?" Caleb repeated. "Why were you at the hospital?"

Kirsten realized then that no one had had the time to mention to Caleb that Marissa had been shot, Oliver had killed himself and they had all pretty much set up shop in Lakeview Hospital for the time being. He would have wanted to know that the daughter of his ex-flame was suffering from a gun shot wound. "Marissa's in the hospital." She informed him. "That kid Oliver shot her a couple of days ago."

"What? When did all of this happen?" Caleb questioned. "I hope that Oliver is being properly punished."

Kirsten sighed, that was her father, always thinking of the wrong after effects. "Oliver's dead, he shot himself after he shot Marissa." She told him. "Is that punishment enough for you?"

Caleb didn't seem phased by her words. "Would you please tell Julie that I'll be by later." He requested. "To visit Marissa." He added almost as an after thought.

"Sure." Kirsten mumbled, though she wasn't quite sure she would. If she forget, then she forget, what was she supposed to do about her faulty memory. But she knew that forgetting to tell Julie that Caleb was stopping by wasn't going to keep Caleb from stopping by.

Before her father hung up, Kirsten said, "How was the meeting?" She didn't know if she was actually curious or if she just wanted to push Caleb's buttons.

Caleb muttered something, though it sounded more like a disgruntled nose and hung up the phone. "That bad huh?" Kirsten muttered to herself as she flipped her phone closed and slipped it back into her purse. She headed back into the hospital and returned to Marissa's room shortly after Luke had left to go to the vending machines.

"That was Caleb." Kirsten said when the occupants of the room turned to look at her when she entered. "He wanted me to tell you that he's stopping by later." She spoke to Marissa instead of Julie as the man had wanted but there was no mistaking the look on Julie's face at her words.

"Fantastic." Julie beamed. "It's been a while since I've seen him."

Jimmy rolled his eyes. "It's been two days." He pointed out, gruffly. He had never liked Caleb, not when he was Kirsten's father and even less when he was his ex-wife's lover. "I think we could all go a little longer without seeing that man." Sandy laughed under his breath, signaling his agreement with the man's words.

Kirsten looked at the two men, as though instructing them to play nice, even though she didn't entirely disagree with them. Julie didn't seem to notice their words or, if she did, she didn't seem to mind. She was too intrigued at seeing Caleb because a part of her wondered whether or not he was coming to visit Marissa to see her. She hoped it was the latter.

Marissa and Ryan watched the whole exchange in silence, slightly more amused then they would have let on; one of the things Ryan liked about life in New Port was that every little thing was like a scene right out of a soap opera, his current situation included. Marissa just liked to see the adults that she actually cared for poking fun at her mother, who was mostly too dumb to realize it, who she was trying to learn to love. But loving a woman like Julie Cooper was a difficult thing to do, something that she had known for a rather long time.

"I wonder if Cal's had lunch yet." Julie mused to herself, though she was speaking aloud. She was weighing her chances of being taken to a fancy restaurant as Caleb tried to comfort her about the current state of her daughter. Perhaps she had best work on her worried face and some tears to go with it; but not too many tears, they were smudge her makeup.

Jimmy looked at her with an unreadable expression; he had been married to the woman for nearly eighteen years and knew exactly how to read between the lines of what she said. And so, it didn't take him long to figure that she was more concerned about Caleb's dining habits then her own daughter. Seeing a confrontation building, Kirsten deciding to intervene, at least for the time being. "Wow, I had no idea how late it was." She said, sounding much like a contestant on a game show that was trying to go for surprised and excited when all they had won was cookware. "Sandy, maybe you and I should go home and make lunch for everyone."

Marissa smiled slightly at Kirsten's suggestion. "That would be great, I'm so tired of eating this crappy hospital food." She wrinkled her nose at the thought of it. Ryan couldn't help but smile at her expression, it was so much like the old Marissa.

"All right then, we'll be back as soon as we can." Kirsten said and prodded Sandy to make sure that he knew that he was a part of we. "And if Seth comes back, tell him I went home to fix lunch." Ryan nodded.

Kirsten and Sandy left the hospital room and as they headed down the hallway, they could hear the beginnings of another one of Jimmy's comments about Caleb. "Great, the gruesome twosome back together." Sandy remarked. "Just what we all need right now."

Kirsten punched him lightly on the arm but she had a smile on her face as she did so. Everyone, with the exception of Julie, in New Port felt the same way about Caleb Nichol and she wasn't going to go out of her way to deny it. The Cohens managed to make it out of the building without bringing up the gruesome twosome again and rode most of the ride home in contented silence.

As Sandy pulled the SUV onto their street, he turned to his wife and asked, "So, have you managed to figure out what's been bothering you so much about Hailey?" He didn't know why he was bringing it up again but he had just the same.

Kirsten didn't answer right away and the SUV was in front of their house before she even spoke. "No, but I think I'm starting to have an idea." Her eyes were fixed directly ahead and Sandy followed her line of sight.

Sitting on the front stoop, with only a small duffel bag at her feet, was Hailey Nichol, her hair cascading across her face, obscuring it from view, but it was easy for Kirsten to tell that it was her sister sitting in front of the door. Kirsten saw her sister but for a moment, didn't believe it was actually Hailey; the Hailey she knew always had her head up and smile on her face, or if not a smile then at least some retort that made the person on the receiving end of the words not too happy. But this Hailey certainly wasn't smiling and looked like a crumpled, broken shell of that proud and smart girl that she had once been. And that was how Kirsten knew something was really wrong.

"Hailey?" Kirsten said as soon as she left the car, not seconds after it had pulled into the driveway. Her sister looked up, taking great pains, it appeared, to keep her hair over her face. "What are you doing here?" She meant the words to sound worried, not demanding and she wondered if they came out that way.

Hailey didn't answer, she didn't have to, because Kirsten saw the reason her little sister was hiding behind the only defense she had left. Hailey's right eye was black and purple, swollen almost completely shut and her cheeks were bruised as well; completing the picture of heartbreaking abuse was Hailey's split lip, which looked almost fresh.

"Hi Kirsten." Hailey muttered, not missing the shocked look on her sister's face. She knew very well what her sister was thinking: the black sheep of the Nichol family had come home again.

I tried to make this chapter a little longer, since it's been a while since I updated. Also, I know that the name of the real estate company Caleb and Kirsten had their meeting with is the company from Angel, but just try to forgive that fact. Anyway, review and let me know how you liked this new chapter! Thanks.