September 5th 2022

Chapter 248
Our Realizations of Support

For the first time in eight days, Nellie stayed home. She wasn't happy about it, and she would have gone anyway if not for her parents insisting that she take a break. They'd excused her out of school, the first few days primarily because she needed to recover, too. They'd let her be at the hospital, with Bobby, but it was a restless existence, and she was starting to wear thin, which played into why she hadn't gone back to school yet. She needed this, whether she could see it or not. Whether it would mean that she'd return to class on Monday morning remained to be seen.

They had all been dealing with the accident as best they could. Some were trying to live normally, if only as a show of faith that all would be well in the end, like Robert and Ethan Davis. For others, like Jeannette Davis, like Nellie, all they could do was be there for Bobby, for about as much as the hospital would admit them. Bobby's mother had more or less been living out there since that day, and as for Nellie, she'd been getting any one of her parents or grandparents to drive her there in the morning and pick her up in the evening when visiting hours ended. She might have taken the bus, and she'd tried, the first day, but then she couldn't stick it out. All she'd been able to think of, to see, was Bobby, lying there in the street, and she'd had a panic attack. She'd had to call home and ask someone to come get her and drive her. She had her license, same as Gracie did, both of them graduates of the Shawn Hunter School of Driving, but there was no way she would have been able to get behind the wheel in her current state.

So, they'd been driving her, day by day, because even if they didn't, she would find a way to get there. On the first few days especially, she needed to know what was going on. Trying to go through all the things that had been broken, dislocated, ruptured... It was too much, and even though Bobby had finally been stable for the last few days, his life considered out of danger, the road forward would continue to be a difficult one. There was no telling how much longer he would have to be in the hospital, but once he did get to go home, what would that look like? Would he ever get to play basketball again? More importantly to him, would he get to ride again? They didn't know, they couldn't know, not yet, and if that wouldn't make him hate being stuck in the hospital enough, then he could think of plenty more.

At least he had Nellie... At least... That was one of her arguments why she still had to go to the hospital today before Katy and Shawn had both put their feet down. She'd never felt shy about going out there and being with his mother and him in that room, and Mrs. Davis had been thankful, truly. It allowed her to leave the room when she needed to, knowing that someone would be with Bobby, always. Nellie would sit in silence when he slept, but when he was awake, she would talk to him, keep him entertained in whatever way she could think of, and it would make him happy... What would it be like, today, without her there?

When the Friars arrived at the Hunter Hart house, though she was downstairs - laid out on the couch and absently playing with the dog sat on her lap - Nellie had the look of someone who wanted any and all to know that she was present against her will. Not that this attitude registered as far as her little nieces were concerned...

Well, Marianne sort of saw it, just as she was the only one of the little Friars who was aware of what had happened to her and to Bobby. All they'd been able to tell her was that there had been an accident and Nellie was a little hurt and Bobby was hurt badly enough to be in the hospital for some time, but it was enough for her to be concerned, for both of them. She knew Bobby, she liked him a lot. He called her Miss Annie... And she knew that he was Nellie's friend, possibly understood their connection better than the two of them did, so she didn't need much to know, looking at her aunt, that she was hurting more than physically.

The others were a different story. The triplets all saw her and only ever thought, 'Auntie! We love Auntie, let's go say hello!' Then there was Mackenzie and was she ever looking thrilled at this new skill she had unlocked. She could walk, all by herself! She still tripped herself up at times, but then she would simply pick herself right back up and keep going, finding herself very, very powerful. It was the first time in this past week that Nellie actually saw her do it, and it caught her attention enough that she sat up and smiled.

"Mack Attack, you're walking..." she laughed in awe as she got up and crouched, arms extended at the ready for when her niece would get to her, so she could pick her up. Her own physical pain was for the most part managed by now, though the weight of the nearly year-old girl made her wince enough that she decided to sit back down and keep Mackenzie in her lap.

"Hey, Sunny," Maya smiled as she approached them. "Mind if I sit with you there?" she pointed to the spot next to her, where Nellie quickly got the dog to move. "Thanks..." Maya breathed.

"Didn't you just walk in from the car?" Nellie asked, looking as curious as she was concerned. Lately, anyone showing any sign of injury or illness would get those eyes from her. She couldn't take much more with what had happened to Bobby, and here was her big sister, as pregnant as she was...

"Hey, just because I can stand and walk fine doesn't mean I don't prefer to be seated or lying down these days," Maya pointed out, and Nellie took the excuse with a small smile and a nod. "Heard you weren't too excited about being here today," Maya slowly mentioned, leaning her head in her hand, elbow pressed at the back of the couch. Nellie was looking at Mackenzie, making faces that would make her laugh. "Nellie..."

"What do you want me to say?" she sighed.

"I know you're worried about him, and I get it. But what about you? Don't you think he'll be worried about you, too?" She had her there, no chance to deny it.

Maya would never tease her about her feelings for Bobby or his feelings for her, for as long as they had existed, quietly ignored or unrealized as they had been. It couldn't be denied that the accident had struck somewhere deeper than where a friendship free of ... romantic entanglements... would be involved, but nothing would be gained from pushing for Nellie to make a move she wasn't ready for. For all they knew, it would happen on its own, soon, or not so soon, or never... All that truly mattered right now was that Bobby would pull through his recovery and get his life back, as much of it as possible. Nellie's presence at the hospital had helped a great deal, and it would continue to. But for her sake, she needed a break.

"I texted him to let him know I wouldn't be there," Nellie told her sister, hugging her little niece as she'd stuck herself to her aunt in a very telltale 'it's cuddle time' move they knew well. "It's kind of awkward right now to text when his mother or whoever has to read it to him, or hold the phone for him, and then write for him. Sometimes I can tell if it's his mother doing the typing or if it's Ethan. If it's his dad, I can definitely tell. Typos everywhere."

"And what did he say?" Maya smiled. Nellie sighed, leaned her head against Mackenzie's.

"He said it was a good thing, that I took a day off." She smiled, chuckled. "He promised to behave while I wasn't there to guard him. That had to be Ethan with him. No way he would have made his mom or dad type that."

"Probably, yeah," Maya laughed along with her, made little faces at Mackenzie when she caught her daughter's blue eyes turned up to her.

"And I don't guard him," Nellie insisted. "He can't move the way he wants to, and it sucks, but that doesn't mean I'm going to let him hurt himself again."

"Good little guard pup," Maya chuckled, patting her sister's shoulder. Nellie smiled, though, after a beat or two, she retreated back into the cuddle zone with Mackenzie. "Hey, this is good," Maya reassured her.

"He almost died…" Nellie could barely say the word loud enough to be heard. "And I'm here making jokes."

"Yeah, well, so is he," Maya pointed out. "Would you prefer everyone being very somber and quiet? He's alive, he's recovering. Joke away."

"Yeah, I guess when you put it like that," Nellie hummed. This shifted into a yawn, which Mackenzie saw and soon emulated.

"Why don't you go back to bed?" Maya reached out, brushed at her sister's fringe.

"It's barely eleven in the morning," she replied with a frown.

"And if you'd been getting enough sleep, the two of you wouldn't be having a yawning contest. You're exhausted. No wonder Mom and Dad wanted you to stay here today. You should probably do it again tomorrow… and go back to school on Monday."

"No, but I…" Nellie shook her head.

"You can't keep this up forever, you know that. You're going to have to go back sooner or later, and there's no telling how long Bobby's going to be in the hospital, but it's going to be a while, and even once he goes home… That's the rest of the school year for sure."

"I know that, I do, but I…" Her eyes spoke volumes. Distress, fear… Whatever she'd felt or not, known or not, it had been easy to carry on so long as he'd been there, and unharmed. And then that bus had happened, and she'd been thrown into the thick of it, with no idea of where to go from there but a full awareness that something was brewing in her.

"Look, I know it matters a lot to you, as it should. But you need to be realistic about this, both of you. So, you need to get some sleep, and get back to school. And Bobby… You guys can figure out a way to compensate, like…" She thought for a moment, smiled. "You can write letters."

"That his mother will have to read… and write for him," Nellie frowned.

"Okay, good point," Maya tipped her head to her. "But you get what I'm saying. Find your something that might not make up for you going out there, on guard duty, no, but will get the closest to it, yeah?"

"I can try," Nellie nodded. Mackenzie was getting restless, so she was helped back on to her feet, the better to get walking again, trailing after the dog and laughing.

"Come here," Maya held out her arm, and Nellie leaned to her, away from what she'd been nicknaming 'the mean side,' the one with the still healing injuries. She set her hand against her sister's belly, feeling around in case of movement. In next to no time, her hand stilled… She'd fallen asleep. Maya breathed out. It looked as though she might be there for a little while, playing pillow. For her sister, she would happily submit.

TO BE CONTINUED


See you tomorrow! - mooners