If the Shoe Fits… Part 14
A nurse woke Ken early the next morning to tell him that Jun was awake. Ken rushed over to her room, and walked in timidly.
"Ken…how nice of you to come…" Her voice sounded cool; she seemed angry about something.
Ken was confused. "Jun, are you okay? We were worried about you. We came looking for you."
Jun looked out the window. "Yeah. Real worried. You couldn't wait to replace me, could you?"
"What are you talking about? We didn't…" Suddenly,a look of recognition came over his face. "Oh….is that what this is about? Janet is not…"
"Janet? So that's her name, huh?" Jun gingerly crossed her arms across her chest. "You can leave now. As soon as I'm able, I'll be up and out of your lives…"
Ken's eyes widened. "But, Jun… let me explain…"
"Just go!" Jun began weeping quietly as Ken turned to leave with his head down.
Ken walked back to the waiting room and woke Joe up.
"Is it morning already?" Joe rubbed his eyes, waiting for them to focus.
"Yeah, Jun's awake." Ken said quietly.
"Good! Let's go see her!" Joe hopped up,but Ken pulled him back down.
"Wait… she's mad at us…mostly mad at me…" He sulked.
"Why?"
"Because, she saw our Swan double, and she thinks we've replaced her." Ken reached in his pocket and pulled out her bracelet, fingering it gently.
Eyeing the bracelet, Joe came up with an idea. "Okay,I've got a plan…"
While he was talking to Ken, Jinpei and Ryu joined them, listening in to the plan in progress.
About an hour later, Dr. Nambu approached Jun's room. He came in smiling, happy to see his patient recovering quickly.
"How are you feeling?" He asked.
"Still hurts, but they give great painkillers around here…" she grinned. "Thank you for taking care of me, even though I'm not on the team anymore."
"We'll always take care of you Jun, no matter what…" He began, but he was interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Special Delivery!" A delivery man came in with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a card. He sat the flowers down on a nearby table and handed Jun the envelope. Jun grinned as she opened the card.
"Dear Jun,
We just wanted to tell you how much you mean to us, and how much we missed you when you left the team. The person you thought was your replacement, was really a decoy (Hakase's secretary, Janet)…used to fool Katse and to save your cover. It worked. We just can't function as a team without the one member who keeps us together. You are so important to us. Please don't ever consider leaving us. We need you and we love you. Will you please come back to the team?"
With much love,
Ken, Joe, Jinpei and Ryu"
Tears flowed down her cheeks again as she read the card. It was so unlike them to express their feelings like that.
After a few minutes, her four comrades filed into the room. Ken walked up to her and extended his hand. "Will you come back to us?"
She looked down at his hand and saw her bracelet. Slowly picking it up, she cried, "Of course. I don't know what I'd do without you guys!"
"Welcome back, Jun…" Dr. Nambu gave her a gentle hug, followed by Ryu, Jinpei, Joe and finally Ken.
She smiled through tears at all of them as she said, "It's good to be home."