Chapter 16: Neither One's Prepared

She stood before him; her sad, scared eyes piercing his heart. Sully reached out to her, but Michaela flinched and stepped back towards the vehicle. His anxiety and distress for her now mounted. "Michaela?"

But silence was all the response that Sully would receive from her. Silence and the gaze of fear and devastation that glazed Michaela's eyes.

Taking another step towards her, Sully attempted once more to talk to Michaela. "Michaela? What happened…?" But he was cut off by Michaela's voice; a voice that shattered his heart with it's diminishing quality, so contrasting to her usual one.

"It's nothing Sully…nothing happened…" Her tone was cold and concealing, much like the look in her mahogany and olive eyes.

Michaela's words bit his heart as the frigid air nipped at his face. Her attempts to denounce the obvious shocked Sully; furthermore it crushed him to know that Michaela refused to tell him what had bothered her to tears. "Michaela…what…?" However, Sully's words were lost once again to an interruption by Michaela.

"Nothing happened, Sully!" Michaela found herself shouting, more to herself than anyone. Breathing heavily, while trying to recompose herself, Michaela broke eye-contact with Sully, and gazed down at the glass bottles, which had never left her tight grasp. "…Please, excuse me…I need to tend to the children…" But her voice was lost to a decrescendo leading itself to a far off pianissimo, as Michaela walked away from Sully's arms which meant to grasp her.

Secretly, Michaela had sensed Sully's welcoming arms which attempted to greet and comfort her; but she refused them, and continued her journey to the front door. As much as she hated herself for it, Michaela felt that she couldn't let anyone, especially Sully, see her so distraught. Her childhood habit of always being strong had diminished when her father died the previous year, but now that feeling of need for redemption and concealment seemed to reinstate itself in Michaela's mind.

Sully stared after his love, as she turned from him and walked through the front door, closing the door behind her…closing the door to him.

A million thoughts and emotions played in his gut. While his thoughts tangled inside of him, Sully jumped from his reverie when he heard the loud clamp of a car door closing shut. In all the confusion, he had failed to realize that William was still in the car, waiting for the best time to exit.

Sully glanced at William, a helpless and annoyed look sketched across his face. "Will…do you…did she tell you…?" But Sully couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence. He realized that the answer would only cause him more misery. For while he understood that Michaela had know William for far longer than himself, Sully couldn't bring himself to think that after all they had been through, that Michaela would refuse to come to him and instead confide her troubles to William.

Unfortunately, William missed Sully's apprehension to know. "Look Sully…I was kind of, well…I was able to get to her right afterwards and…"

"What do you mean 'get to her'?"

"William sighed. "Well, she was running out of the hospital, but…"

"Running? Why was she running? Did someone catch her?" Sully interjected.

"No…well, I mean yes…but that's not why she was running…" William attempted to explain, while trying to keep Sully from acting on impulse or rashly.

"Well, why did she run?" Sully demanded.

William hesitated to respond. "…Sully…she…well, he…" William let out a breath he had been holding, unknowingly, as he tried to calm himself. "Sully…look, you need to talk to Michaela…I hardly know…"

"Well, Michaela won't speak to me right now…" Sully interrupted agitatedly.

"Maybe she's afraid you'll act irrationally…" William suggested.

Suddenly, Sully's suspicions grew clearer. "Why would I act irrationally, William? What could have happened to cause me to be rash?"

William froze; this was not where he had hoped that comment would lead him to. "Uh…well…"

"William, why would I want to act irrationally?" Sully repeated as anger began to bite the syllables of his diction. When William failed to answer again, Sully decided to try one of his predictions. "William…did someone meet or come up to Michaela?"

"…Now Sully…"

"Answer the question, William!" The anger becoming increasingly prevalent in Sully's voice.

"Well, yes…but you really…"

"Did he hurt her?" His voice shaking with bitterness.

"They…well…yes, but I…" William tacked up towards the car as Sully advanced towards him slowly.

"Who was it, William?" Sully's tone full of menace.

"Sully…" William quivered.

"WHO WAS IT?" Sully bellowed, shattering William's courage.

Michaela leaned against the solid oak, feeling the warmth from the distant fire smothering her form. Closing her eyes, she tried to control the emotions that threatened to break from her fortitude. Part of her yearned to break free, run to Sully's outstretched arms, and cry out her fears and pains. But all that Michaela could think about was how weak and submissive she was becoming.

Before her father had died, Michaela felt unstoppable and on top of the world. But then that day of fate and woe came, and Michaela lost the only person, up until that time, that had fully supported her in what she loved to do. Since then, Michaela felt her spirit weakening gradually with each new conflict that came her way.

Seeing what she was slowly becoming, Michaela refused to allow this dampening to continue. "I need to be strong…I should forget…" She sighed, bringing her hands up to massage her temples.

Suddenly, Michaela felt the uncanny sensation of an unidentified object, creeping up her leg. Initially swatting at it, Michaela quickly realized that it was merely Colleen, who was waiting patiently for Michaela's attention.

For the first time that day, Michaela found her face forming a smile that reached her eyes, while she scooped the young child into her arms. "And how have you been, Miss Colleen?" Michaela grinned as she lightly tickled the fair-haired child.

Colleen burst into a fit of contagious giggles, which lit up the formerly gloomy room. Allowing Colleen to relax from her laughing-fit, Michaela carried her into the kitchen, where Dorothy sat with the other children.

"Oh, Michaela! You're home early…is everything alright?" Dorothy leapt to her feet when she saw Michaela enter the room.

Michaela hesitated initially, but pushed herself onward. "Yes…everything's fine…I got the medicine, here…" Michaela pulled from her jeans pocket the small bottles.

Dorothy looked at them with doubt filled eyes. "Will that be enough for all of them?"

Michaela nodded with the utmost certainty. "Oh yes, there should be plenty…" Michaela's voice trailed off as she gazed out the window, distracted by the sight.

"Michaela?" Dorothy's voice echoed softly into Michaela's ear, but was never fully registered.

Michaela continued to watch the scene outside unfold, seeing William and Sully in an obviously intense conversation. She watched as Sully's body gradually became more and more rigid, while William's form seemed to grow weaker and weaker. Then, at what appeared to be the climax of the conversation, Michaela watched William's lips move in silence to form a name. "David…"

"Michaela! What is wrong?" Dorothy repeated to a seemingly deaf Michaela.

But Michaela remained silent, as she saw Sully's head turn towards the window, glancing at her with revengeful eyes, before he rotated back towards William, pushing him from the car and getting into the driver's seat.

"I need you keys" Michaela whispered in a hush.

"What?" Dorothy asked perplexingly.

"Your car keys…I need them now!" Michaela said more forcefully, lowering Colleen gently to her feet.

Completely confused, Dorothy retrieved her keys from her pants pocket hesitantly. "Ok, but why do you need…"

However, once Michaela caught sight of the shining keys, she grabbed them from Dorothy and rushed to the door, before Dorothy could finish her inquiry.

Slamming the front door behind her, Michaela dashed from the porch to where Sully had been only moments before. Unfortunately, she found only the tracks from the tires, left in the glistening snow.

"Why didn't you talk to him?"

Michaela jumped at the voice behind her, finding it to only be William. "Will…where did he go?" Michaela asked breathlessly.

"Where do you think he went Michaela? I mean, if you were afraid that he would try to kill David for it…" William said with annoyance.

"I'm not going to talk about this…now; did he say where he was going to go?" She said with more urgency.

William shook his head. "No…he just pushed me away from the car and left without a word…I imagine he'll try the hospital first, but…hey where are you going?" He shouted after Michaela, who had since sprinted towards Dorothy's car.

"Oh, no ya don't!" William ran in the path Michaela had taken, but failed to catch up before she had started-up the car and began to back down the driveway. "Michaela! Michaela, no don't…go…" William shouted after her. But his words were lost to the echoes of the mountains, as he watched Michaela drive off after Sully.

He gripped the wheel with shaking hands as anger tormented his entire being. How dare he lay a hand on her…not once but twice…Sully raged inside his head. I should have gotten him for it the first time; I shouldn't have promised Michaela…Sully beat himself up for his failure to take action sooner. "Well, we won't have that problem this time…" Sully thought out-loud as he pulled up to the hospital entrance.

His entrance into the hospital was a blur to Sully, as anger and an abnormal need fro revenge distorted his vision and memory. Somehow, Sully managed to find himself at the front desk, where a nurse sat waiting for him to respond. "Sir?"

Sully halted his search for David and stared at the young nurse with urgent eyes, "What?"

"…Can I help you?" The nurse repeated.

Sully nodded jerkily. "Ya, um…is Dr. David Lewis in?"

"Oh, you heard about his return…well, I'm afraid you just missed him, he left about thirty minutes ago." The nurse said politely.

Sully sighed in frustration. "You wouldn't happen to know where he went, would ya?"

The nurse bit her lower lip for a moment, hesitant about giving out such information. "Well, since you seem to be so adamant about seeing him…I know he used to go down to The Hilliard Club near Sawmill after work…but I'm not sure…hey wait!" But Sully had already dashed from the waiting room and was bounding back to his car…with a new destination.

Michaela feared for the worse as she ran into the waiting room of the hospital. Seeing that no destruction had occurred thus far, she let out a breath of relief.

"Michaela! Where have ya been?" A familiar voice rang out.

Michaela turned towards the direction that her name had been uttered. "Oh, Miriam…" Michaela exclaimed to the young nurse walking towards her. "…I don't have time to talk, but have you seen a man, about twenty-five years old with shoulder-length hair…"

"Oh him…the friend of David's…yeah, he came in about five minutes ago, I sent him to the Hilliard Club where David used to hang with the rest of the interns." Miriam shrugged.

Michaela's face paled. "Oh…oh ok, thanks Miriam…" Michaela turned on her heals and dashed out the hospital door.

"Hey wait! What is with everyone today?" Miriam shook her head puzzling, before she headed back to her desk.

Sully walked into the dark, empty club, where neon lights ranged the ceiling and walls.

"What can I get for ya?" The sauntering voice of the barkeeper sounded from afar.

"Nothing…I'm lookin' for someone…" Sully spoke bitterly, as his eyes searched the room.

"This someone got a name?" The long-haired bartender questioned.

"Yeah, Lewis…David Lewis…"

"Someone called?" Came the conniving voice from across the room.

Sully's eyes locked with David's, before he began to advance on his prey. The bartender, who had sensed the formation of a fight, stepped between Sully and David, pushing them apart. "Hey! If that's what you're here to do, then I suggest ya take it out back!"

"With pleasure, Hank." David's voice echoed tauntingly towards Sully, as David walked to the side exit and strolled through the door into outside's twilight, with Sully at his heals.

Without any exchange of words, Sully threw a punch at David, who dodged. "Well isn't that a way to greet an old pal!"

"You tried to hurt her again…" Sully circled with David in the small alleyway.

"Oh well, I wouldn't put it that way…I was merely trying to let her see how she truly felt about me…remove herself from the lies you've stored in her head." David taunted as he just barely dodged another punch from Sully.

"You're the one who's telling lies David…most of them to yourself…"

"Well isn't that interesting…on second thought, why don't we let Michaela, here, decide who's telling the truth…" David nodded towards the end alley.

Sully turned toward the direction David had indicated. There, he saw Michaela staring at him with fear grazing her face. Her eyes flicked to his side and Sully could hear her gasp into the night. Out of the corner of his eye, Sully saw the flash of metal before he felt a blade tear into his side.

A distant scream; quickened footsteps; her soft hand on his cold, pale cheek; the soft whisper of "Ilove you";

...then darkness…

Well, that was an adventure...oh, I hope this is ok! Thank you to all who have reviewed or left notes at my blog! As always, please continue to review! Thanks again!

Penny