Chapter Sixty-Five Squib ran through the halls of the hospital towards his daughter, by-passing many doctors and nurses yelling at him to walk. When he got to the ICU, he couldn't get past the nurses' station.
"Gary, I-"
"It's Squib. Squib now. I mean…Squib again."
"Uh…Squib then. Your daughter has made an amazing recovery- the doctors are convinced it's a miracle. She's been moved from this ward. She's in a normal room now." The nurse smiled hesitantly, as if afraid the young father with the weird-new- name would hurt her.
"Where?" he said breathlessly. He leaned over the desk and picked up a post-it and a pencil and shoved it at her full chest. "I-sorry…I'm so happy she's getting better!"
"Yes, well…understandable…anyways, she's on the third floor. Room 314." She scribbled it on the pad and passed it to Gar-Squib Furlong, who thanked her and sprinted back down the hall.
"Walk! Mr Fur-ahhh what's the use." She waved a hand at his figure and returned to her work.
Squib got off the elevator and ran down the hall again, calling out, "Squib-Furlong-Mabel-Myer's -father-sorry-thanks-bye!" as he passed by the nurses' station. "Oh…kay…" they all said as he whooshed by.
"Mabel…Mabel are you awake, Mabel? Honey?" he buzzed. "Mmph…dad?" she murmured, cutting into his Amble's. Her eyes opened. "Dad!" Her arms flew up and wrapped tightly around his neck, hampered slightly by the multitude of tubes attached to her veins. "I'm so sorry…I was in the car and it just lost control but- what's that in your hand? A tennis racket? You don't play tennis, dad! I've never seen you even pretend to serve a ball!"
"I…I used to play. A lot. Didn't I mention Cascadia?" asked Squib, much subdued.
"Yea…I thought you just went to boarding school. Isn't there where you met…my mom?"
"Yes, it was…but Cascadia was a tennis academy. The first time I saw her, I was playing the orientation games- an obstacle course, to decide which dorms the boys would get. We smoked them, of course…" Mabel had already heard this story, but was too tired to mention that. Her dad smiled while he was talking, "and then she wrote this article for the newspaper about all the tennis jocks in our school- people like me. And ever since then I just fell in love with her…"
"A tennis school dad? Why should you hide that?" asked Mabel, in a tired voice now. "Because…because when you were born, I'd decided to devote my life to you. Look, Cascadia wouldn't even let me date your mother after our little adventure in New York…if I hadn't left on my own, I would have been kicked out. But I'm so happy, because without you I'd be no where right now." Squib laughed. "Buzzsaw Furlong wouldn't have lasted long in the pro world."
"Buzzsaw? Awesome name!" squealed Mabel from her bed.
"I had the hair to match." Squib smiled wanly and continued talking. "But when I heard you were in trouble, I came to see you, and then…I drove home and pulled out my old racket. It brought back all of these memories…like your mother, yes, but also from Cascadia. Hun, when you get out of here, I'm going to take you there. The only place I've ever seen her live. And it's the place where…where I saw her die, too." A tear fell from his eye, but Squib smiled anyways. "It's our old home."
Authors Note: The "Squib again" quote is really familiar to me- I can't remember where it came from, but I have a feeling it's been done already. Secondly, I couldn't see decide whether Squib should take Cody's name or not, but they were never married, so I decided not to. Mabel does, however, because Squib wanted her to have her mother's name. Anyways, looks like Squib and Mabel are headed to Cascadia! Unless the next writer decides to change it.