Sorry about no clear scene shifts, wont let me do them that well for some reason sigh.
Anyway, I'll work on it, and thank you so much for the reviews! I love getting them, they make me happy!
Also I would have posted sooner but I haven't had a chance to get online in days, so 'pologies for that.
Again, thank you my wonderful reviewers!
Ice Lynx
"I have some good news and some bad news, in the opposite order," Dr. Phyllips said, entering the room where Steph now sat with Remy. "Bad news; you did indeed break your arm. The good news being it is a clean break, already straight and will heal quickly with no need for a cast."
"Then what will I need?" Steph asked.
"This." Dr. Phyllips pulled out a sling. "You will need to wear this for four to six weeks until your arm heals enough that you can go without it. I would be especially careful right now, no more reporters wrenching it around, got it?" He smiled but Steph frowned, not thinking it funny at all, and Remy's expression remained neutral as he leaned back in his seat.
"So dat's it?" he asked.
"That, and it appears you sustained a concussion when the building fell on you," the doctor said. "Frankly I surprised you still have your memory intact, that you remember your brother at all." Something in his voice when he said 'brother' told both Steph and Remy that he was not completely convinced by the lie.
A small noise sounded, and Dr. Phyllips looked down at his beeper, then walked over to a phone on the counter and picked it up, listening for a moment. "Yes," he said. "She's here..." He looked over at Steph and handed her the phone." Apparently your family in America has found you," he said.
Steph took the phone carefully.
"My family?" she repeated, completely taken aback that they even existed, even more so that would find her.
Remy was sitting straight up, arching an eyebrow as she put the phone up her ear.
"Hello?"
Hank almost collapsed in relief when he heard Steph's nervous voice answer him.
"Stephanie," he said, trembling slightly. "Oh Stephanie, I feared…that doesn't matter. How are you?" Sam's already keen ears perked up at the sound of her mother's voice as well, and she reached for the phone.
"A…alright," replied Steph.
She looked over at Remy for help as the man on the other end started talking rapidly about different people. She didn't recognize any of the names except for Sam, but at the same time they all felt familiar to her. Remy just shook his head and shrugged.
"Stephanie," the man said again, as if he could not believe it. "We were so worried! But you must be feeling awful?"
"Um," said Steph.
"Are you alright?" the man asked.
Steph thought for a moment about telling him she had no idea who she was talking to, and had her mouth open to say it, when he started to speak again.
"No, of course you're not, a building collapsing on you? And the reports say hardly anyone else got out alive…." He choked and Steph suddenly knew that whoever he was, he was someone who'd do anything for her, and she realized that she felt the same about him. An unforgettable love was embedded in his voice and her heart.
Now she was confused, she could ask him his name and completely confuse the entire situation further, or she could listen to him and try to remember.
"And...and you?" she asked.
He paused.
"I've been worried sick," he whispered. "I…it doesn't matter, nothing does except you getting back home, do you know if you can soon?"
Steph closed her eyes as her head bowed, this guy wasn't giving her any more hints at all.
"No," she said truthfully. "No idea, I don't even know how..." Seeing as I have no clue where home is, she thought bitterly.
The man exhaled slowly. "But you're alright. Stephanie..."
Hank couldn't say anything else, his throat completely choked up as a tear fell down his cheek. Sam looked at the dark streak and reached up carefully, touching the wet fur with one finger and then bringing it down so she could sniff it. Unable to determine exactly what it was she reached up again and patted his cheek, and even as another tear of relief fell he chuckled.
"Sam misses you," he said. Something was wrong with Steph, but at the moment he was too happy to hear her voice to register it. "She saw your face on the news first, that's how we knew you were at Saint Peter's, and if Ruhko's translations are accurate she thinks you are hiding in the television." He chuckled again.
"Ruhko?"
"Yes, by the stars, she's taken her duties as baby translator to an even higher level," Hank said, shaking his head and still smiling. "But that's not to be unexpected, she's a willful child and will not tolerate anyone second-guessing what she thinks Samantha is saying."
"Sam," Steph said again in a whisper. "How…how is Sam doin'?"
The man chuckled. "Still immensely curious in all the little things, a bit more adventurous than usual, most likely because she hasn't been out doors in days. She did find a butterfly on a windowsill the other day though. She thought it was a fairy, like one of the creatures from that book you were reading to her."
"Yeah?" Steph said, thinking about the child.
"Ahem, Bobby is telling me to give you a message," the man said, pausing for a moment. "Ah, yes, of course, he is telling me to inform you to stay put and he will hijack a plane and come pick you up." He laughed and Steph's eyebrows shot up. "Oh dear, no, he says he's serious. But Scott says Kurt is on his way…you should stay in the hospital anyway and wait for him."
"Sure..." Steph said. Kurt? Who is Kurt?
"Tell…tell him I'll find a way," Steph said. "No…. I'll get a, a plane or something. I'll get back, um, finish reading to Sam, yeah."
"Yes," the man said, his voice much less strained then it had been when he first greeted her. "Stephanie, we all miss you."
"Yeah," Steph said in a tiny voice. "I miss ya too." I miss knowing your name and what ya look like, I miss being able to recognize the names of people that are so desperate to find me they'd break laws and risk their necks. I miss knowing the people who love m; I miss knowing Sam...
"I love you, my sweet Stephanie, with all my heart," he said. "We'll get you back. They cannot keep you there forever, we'll get you home in no time, you wait and see if I don't."
"I…" Steph said. Then she looked up and saw the doctor and Remy both staring hard at her.
"Yes, you'll be back soon," he said. "Or my name isn't Henry McCoy. Only hold on, my sweet Stephanie."
"Yeah," Steph said weakly. Henry? No…. Steph paused as a thought coming to her suddenly. He has another name...
"Henry..." she said.
"Yes?" he asked gently.
"I'll…I'll be back home…." She stopped, seeing Dr. Phyllips look pointedly at his watch. "I have to go, Henry…."
"We'll get you soon, don't worry," he said again. "I love you Steph."
"Yeah," she said and hesitated, seemingly powerless to say anything else, but equally unable to hang up and lose the only connection to her home. Finally Henry, thinking she had left already, hung up, leaving her quite alone.
