Cat and Mouse
Chapter 10
Discoveries"Life is tough enough without having someone kick you from the inside." Rita Rudner
…
The boys wore their Mickey Mouse sweatshirts every day, much to Shal's chagrin and Emma's secret delight. But even the twins were soon tired of it after 10 days…
New Year's came and went with no further incident. Emma and Shal decided that they had had enough excitement for the holidays and decided to turn in early that night.
The next morning found them both racing to the bathroom, each getting sick in turn.
"And to think, we didn't even have any champagne last night!" Emma moaned.
"What would have happened if we did?"
Emma grimaced at the thought. She went back to bed and groaned when the twins came skipping in. "Go bug your uncles this morning. They were up late." Emma buried herself back into the sheets.
Shal crinkled her forehead at Emma's tone. "Sweeties, go have Grandpa give you some saltines for your mama and me."
"Ok" they chorused and ran off giggling.
"Chessy?" Jori asked.
"Hhm?"
"Do you remember what Katya told us?"
"Yeah." Chessy turned to look at her twin sister.
"That Mama would be sick at first, then get better. And then she'll be here."
"You don't think?"
"Shhh—they don't know yet." Jori warned Chessy as they came around the corner and ran into Adam.
"Who doesn't know yet?" Adam asked the girls who were having a hard time not giggling.
"Mama and Mommy."
"What don't they know yet?"
"It's a secret, Grandpa." Jori answered first.
"Mommy sent us down to get saltines for Mama because she has an upset stomach." Chessy chimed in right after.
"Alright. Be sure to tell your Mama to let me know if she needs anything else."
"We will," they chorused as they ran off with the box of saltine crackers.
…
Mare', Tabby and Star were so excited about King's Day, January 6, the official start of the Mardi Gras season. Their boss was out of town, so they were in charge of Faces. Mare' stopped at Gambino's Bakery to pick up the King Cake for the club, and also to send one to Emma and Shalimar on her way into work that day, since they had never had one. She picked out a doubled filled one for them: pecan praline and chocolate cream cheese. She hoped they would like it.
Then she headed to work, not knowing her world was going to change drastically in a few hours.
…
The club stayed packed all night, until closing at 4 am. Mare' headed upstairs with the night's receipts to pay her girls. She flicked open her Blackberry and happily noticed that Emma was still on. She sent her an Instant Message: hey girl! Good morning!
What are you doing up?
Closing at the club – King's Day – We had a good night here.
I couldn't sleep, so I got up to drink some warm milk.
I need to pay the girls, so sweet dreams, Emma.
Be careful.
The two girls signed off Emma thoughtfully went off to bed and to snuggle up against Shalimar.
…
15 minutes later
With all 15 dancers paid, Mare', Star and Tabby were the only ones left in the club. Mare' went back upstairs to double check that the safe was locked, while Star and Tabby wiped down the bar and put away the last few glasses.
A big explosion out front rocked the building.
Star was trapped under the mahogany bar when it collapsed.
Tabby was blown through the dressing room into the alley behind the club.
Mare' was blown over and around the safe and down the one story into the alleyway. Bleeding and dazed, but still holding onto her backpack, she crawled over to where Tabby lay deathly still and blood pooling around her.
She pulled Tabby up and hugged her tightly, rocking back and forth, crying her lover's name. "Tabby, wake up honey. Look at me, please." It was only she and Tabby now. Nothing else mattered except for Tabby…
…
45 minutes later
Somehow she managed to crawl and drag Tabby to a secluded place, out of the way of the pitched sirens of the police cars and ambulances, and the questioning voices of the growing crowd.
Dimly aware, she felt Star's distress and tried to calm her from where they were hidden…
…
A short time laterShe saw them carry Star out and into a waiting ambulance. Nobody saw her and Tabby lying there…
…
Another short time later"Mare', what happened?" Tabby whispered.
"I don't know, Tabby cat."
Tabby whimpered, "It hurts."
"I know, shhhh. Some one's out there."
"Mare', where's Star?"
"Ambulance took her away awhile ago."
They continued to lie there, holding on to each other.
"Why don't you get a hold of Emma?"
"I don't want to bug her."
"This is one of those emergency kind of times, Mare'." Tabby's eyes blanked out and fluttered.
"All right, all right. I will, sweetie." Mare' pulled her cell phone out but couldn't get a signal. She spotted her Blackberry and smiled. She sent an Instant Message to both Emma and Shalimar, hoping somebody was awake and soon. Her eyes closed in pain…
…
About 6:30 am, Sanctuary
Shalimar woke to feel many waves of fear rolling off of Emma, who sat up, eyes unseeing and screaming loudly. "No! No! No!" Shal held her tight and cried along with Emma's distress, unable to calm her friend down.
"Emma, wake up please."
As quick as the screaming started, Emma stopped screaming and hid her head in Shal's shoulder. Shalimar patted her head and held her until Emma stopped shuddering. "What was it, Emma?"
"Explosion. Fire. Something's happened to Mare', Tabby and Star. Everything was ok with them when I laid down." She pulled out of Shalimar's arm and ran out of the room, Shal and the twins following, who had been awakened by Emma's screaming.
Emma sat down and logged into the computer. She stopped briefly when she saw a message waiting from Mare'. She opened it with trepidation. And then she uncharacteristically swore in front of her daughters. "Shit! Somebody destroyed the club right after I talked with her."
Adam, Jesse and Brennan joined them around the computers. Jesse moved to his computer to check the news. He read aloud from his screen, "A car bomb exploded on Bourbon Street earlier this morning. The Faces Lounge was damaged. At least one victim has been taken to Charity Hospital. Names are being held pending notification of the next of kin."
Emma sat down hard and answered Mare's message. Mare'! I'm here now.
A few seconds went by.
Emma!!! We need help badly.
Can you move? Where are you?
No, I crawled here. I'm somewhere on Burgundy, behind the club. Hiding.
Where are Tabby and Star?
Tabby's here. Star in ambulance.
Adam picked up the phone and called the New Orleans safe house. "Hey, Tommy! I need you to go rescue three people down there……. Yes, we heard about the car bombing. That's who. One is at Charity, that's Star." He looked down at Emma's screen. "The other two are Mare' and Tabby. On Burgundy."
He turned to Brennan, "Brennan, prep the Helix now." He resumed his conversation with Tommy. "Yes, we'll be there shortly to help."
Adam spotted Jori and Chessy sitting near Emma, taking it all in. He squatted down to talk to them. "Jori, Chessy. I want you two to go get dressed and set out some clothes for your mothers."
He stepped over to Jesse after the twins left. "Jesse, go get dressed too. We'll be dropping the twins off at the Estate House on the way out of here."
Then he went over to Emma and Shalimar, and talked gently to them. "Emma, go get dressed. Shal, go with her. We'll find them." He promised.
He took Emma's place at the computer. He was the only one fully dressed that morning, considering that he hadn't been to bed yet. It was going to be another long day.
Mare', this is Adam now. I'm sending some friends to get you and Tabby. Their names are Chassidy, Jeanie and Tommy. They will take you to the safe house where we'll be in about 40 minutes, including Emma and Shalimar.
Thanks, Adam.
…
Mare' closed her eyes in gratitude and rubbed a few tears away. Her left side was starting to hurt badly. She looked down and tried to guess at her injuries. Her hip and leg was alternately painful and numb. Tabby's abdomen was still bleeding. She pushed up the t-shirt and regretted it a few seconds later.
She pulled her backpack up and pulled out her dress. At least blood will wash out, she thought to herself. I will not loose Tabby this way. She pressed her dance dress against Tabby's abdomen and pulled the t-shirt back down.
They waited.
…
Emma ran to their room to change quickly into the clothes the twins set out for her, afraid that they'll be too late for the three girls.
…
Everybody crowded into the Helix and Jesse took off as soon as the doors were closed. Emma transferred the computer session to the screen at her seat to keep in touch with Mare'. A few minutes later they dropped the twins off at the Estate House.
Emma?
Still here, girl. We're in the air.
There are some guys in suits searching around. They were in the club earlier.
Emma swallowed hard.
Keep quiet then. Turn the sound off and wait until they leave.
K
Adam 's phone rang. It was Tommy calling them back. He put it on the speakerphone for all of them to hear. "Chassidy is at the alley way, but there are GSA agents all over the place."
Adam asked Emma, "Isn't Mare' a telempath too? See if she can project a false image that they are elsewhere."
Emma nodded and turned to the screen again and started typing. Mare, Chassidy is near you, but can't get to you because of those guys. She needs your help. Remember how you get those tips? Think hard that you and Tabby are at Caf' du monde eating beignets, or something like that.
Ok, I'll try.
A few minutes later, Tommy reported to Adam that they had Tabby and Mare' and were headed to the safe house.
"Good, we should be there in less than 20 minutes. What's the status on Star?"
"Jeanie's there but they won't release her," Tommy answered.
Adam thought for a minute. "Jesse, head to the hospital on stealth mode. We'll spring her out."
Jesse nodded and made the course correction.
…
At the safe house, Tommy and Chassidy were working frantically to stabilize Tabby and Mare'. Tabby still had not regain consciousness and Mare' was getting frantic. She kept pushing their hands away, and reaching for Tabby.
Emma took one look at the situation as they walked into the safe house and blasted Mare' into unconsciousness. Adam sighed, and quickly stepped in to triage. It was a wonder that Mare' had even been still conscious. Her whole left side: the pelvis on down was one mess of shattered bones and muscles, as well as dislocated ribs, a fractured shoulder and cheekbone. They bundled her into a compression splint for her leg for the trip back to Sanctuary.
Tabby's injuries were severe, and there was a lot of internal bleeding and they had difficulty in finding the exact one that was still bleeding. They finally located it and clamped it down.
Star had a punctured lung and some bruises from where the mahogany bar had fallen on her. Nothing that the med-lab back at Sanctuary couldn't handle.
The three girls were stabilized and then they were transferred under heavy sedation back to Sanctuary.
…
The whole of Sanctuary watched and waited. Mare' kept having horrible nightmares about the explosion and the aftermath. One minute she would be holding Tabby and Tabby was safe and sound. The next minute she would be watching Tabby die and she wasn't able to reach Tabby's side. Adam kept her sedated as much as he dared too, but the shattered bones were quite painful. Emma was finally sent to bed when sheer exhaustion took over. She had been up for 3 days at that point. She was also not in control of her fears and that was upsetting the three patients. Emma was afraid that their dancing days were over.
Shalimar was worried about her lover and refused to let Emma up out of the bed, even though she herself wasn't tired. She trapped Emma down and held her, while Emma cried silently and finally fell asleep. The twins were still at the Manor House, so they had their suite to themselves.
…
Mare' finally awoke. She was confused by her surroundings and tried to sit up. A man came into her view and talked softly, "Mare', I'm Adam. I need you to lie still. You have some serious injuries from the explosion. I'm going to run a scanner over you and then I'll help you up." Mare' nodded aware of all the aches and bruises all over her body.
"Where's Tabby and Star?"
"In a minute. I know you have a million questions." Adam started the scanner, his heart aching for this girl. He opened up the com-link. "Shalimar, Mare's awake."
"We'll be right down."
Adam looked up at the clock on the wall and sighed. Emma only had about 4 hours of sleep; he hoped that would be enough for what was ahead…
Mare' tried to figure out what Adam was feeling. He seemed to have some mixed feelings about something. She kept still as he requested, but her eyes darted around the room, taking in her surroundings. A well –stocked room that was obviously used for medical purposes, it looked like the one that Emma talked about.
Emma and Shalimar came into the room. Mare' took in the dark circles around Emma's eyes and frowned. She wondered how long Emma had been up. Emma took her one hand while Shalimar took the other one. Adam cleared his throat expectantly.
"I'm not sure where to begin. You have many shattered bones and dislocations on your left side. You must have hit something when the explosion went off. You shouldn't have been able to move, but you did. I've had your x-rays analyzed by several experts and none have come to any good conclusions. Your genetics also show that you have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, the hyper-mobile type." Mare' nodded as she had been told this already. "This will complicate your bones healing. I've placed your leg in a compression splint, which we can adjust as your leg heals, but I don't know how good it will heal. My equipment here can speed some of the healing up, but your collagen around the joints will be pulling the bones out of place. I'm afraid you're going to be stuck in a bed for at least 4 months until your leg is strong enough to support you."
Adam paused before going on. "Your ribs and cheek will be healed in about a week, though."
"What about Tabby and Star?" She asked.
"Star had a punctured lung that I was able to seal. She also had a few broken ribs because the bar fell on top of her. She'll be up and around in no time." Adam said this and looked away briefly to meet Emma's eyes. Mare' looked at the two of them and tried to guess at the private exchange.
"Mare', Tabby is not doing good. She has a lot of internal injuries and bleeding. We managed to stop it, but her system is in shock. I've done everything I can for her. It's up to her now." Mare's eyes teared up.
"Can I see her?" She whispered.
Adam sighed. He looked around for the wheelchair and pulled it over. "I'll let you go over to her bed, but only for a few minutes. She hasn't been awake since…" He pulled the leg rest up and locked it. Then Emma and Shalimar helped him transfer Mare' to the chair. Emma's eyes were bright with unshed tears again.
They made a slow procession over to the curtained bay where Tabby was lying. They parked the wheelchair as close to the bed as possible and then they moved back away to give Tabby and Mare' some privacy.
"Tabbycat, it's me. Your seashell." She used one of the nicknames Tabby had given her, a variation of her first name. "Please wake up. I need you." But there was no response from Tabby's lips. Mare' held onto Tabby's limp hand and squeezed it gently. She thought she felt Tabby squeeze back. But even this little effort tired Mare' out and she slumped in the chair.
Emma ran back to Mare's side when she felt the change. "Mare'?" She rubbed Mare's undamaged cheekbone. Mare' opened her eyes and cried softly because she had thought Tabby was stroking her chin. "Can I stay here a while, please?"
Emma looked around to Adam, who nodded cautiously. "Let's see if we can get you on something a little more comfortable than this wheelchair though." She spied the portable stretcher and ran over to bring it next to Tabby's med-bed. Mare' nodded gratefully. They got her comfortable on the stretcher perched on her right side. She reached over and made sure that Tabby's hand was firmly in hers. She wasn't going to let go, not yet.
Mare' then looked up at Emma and Shalimar. There was something different about the two of them, a glow that seemed to emanate from deep inside. She smiled, recognizing that particular glow. She had had it herself right after she first came to New Orleans. "You two are glowing so much, you must be pregnant."
Emma and Shalimar looked at each other, almost aghast. That thought had not passed their minds. "No, I don't think so, Mare'. I think the pain medicine Adam is giving you is making you see things." They laughed lightly together.
Mare' looked from one to the other. "Ok. If you are sure about that…" They nodded.
"Now, you need to rest, Mare'. Somebody will be in to check on you periodically," Emma told her as she and Shalimar exited the med-bay.
"Pregnant? Oh, lordy. Where did she get that idea?" Shalimar whispered.
"I don't know." Emma returned. "I haven't been with any men for over a year, except at that club we went to." She raised an eyebrow at Shalimar. "Your friend?" She barely remembered that incident.
Shalimar dismissed that thought, "Nah. It wouldn't have been, at least not for me. I wasn't in heat that night…"
TBC
A/N: I apologize for the delay in getting this chapter out. Between computer viruses and Hurricane Ivan evacuations, I wasn't on my computer where I could work on this for about two weeks.
