It's been a while. I'm sorry. Combination of real life and a sucky work situation keeping me busy. However, to hopefully make up for the wait I am posting two chapters at once. I could've made it one super long chapter, but I thought a certain moment deserved its own space to shine so to speak. Chapters 12 and 13 follow immediately after chapter 11. There will be time jumps coming in following chapters.
Thank you so much for your comments and feedback and your endless patience. :-)
"….and then he took a Nerf gun out of his desk and turned it on us," Cory said through laughter. "Classic." He stared at the cards in his hand. "Angela, do you have any fives?" She sighed and handed over a card. "Ha!"
"Yeah," Shawn reminisced, "every once in a while Mr. Feeny would do something to remind us he was human and not a robot in a sweater vest and glasses."
Topanga frowned, unable to place the incident. "I don't remember that. When did it happen?"
"I don't know…sixth grade? Seventh?"
"Then where was I?"
"Maybe you were sick?"
"Please, Cory, I don't get sick." She studied her cards. "Frankie, do you have any twos?"
"Go fish."
Afternoon evolved into night and there had been no further updates on Mr. Feeny. Word spread quickly about the educator and former students and colleagues had been dropping by all evening. Amy, Alan, and Mr. Turner fielded their questions, giving only the most basic, "he's stable," response. No other details were given save for a few exceptions. Frankie was told what was going on and Topanga explained the situation to Minkus when he called to check in, remorseful that he was unable to immediately get on a plane and visit. Otherwise they were going to let Lila handle what to tell and who to tell it to.
Mr. Feeny's niece and the few other family members he kept in touch with were contacted, but would not be able to make it out for a couple of days. So for now the group in the waiting room would keep vigil. Lila came out occasionally to check in, though she had no further updates. Each trip out she told them to go home. They stayed, however.
"It's your turn, Eric."
He jumped. "Huh?"
"Your turn," Frankie repeated. It was clear he had zoned out. "The cards?"
"Sorry." He studied his hand before showing it to the table. "Gin."
"Um, wow, that's actually a great gin hand, but we're playing Go Fish."
"Count me out of this one. I can't focus." Eric tossed his cards on the table before getting up and walking away. There were too many people around right now.
Angela placed her cards face down in the middle of the table. "I'm out, too. I'm going to make sure he's okay."
"Shawn, Naomi," Frankie began after an extended silence, "have I thanked you yet?"
"Thanked us for what?"
"For the invitation to your wedding, the Save the Date came in the mail a couple weeks ago and we put it right on our refrigerator. Frankie Jr. is excited to buy a new princess dress and my boys think they can use the dance floor as a wrestling mat like they did at my cousin Marvin's wedding, but I am already setting them straight on that."
"Um…thanks, Frankie, we appreciate it."
"You are quite welcome. I would hate to cause you grief on a day of great joy. I know my wedding day was one of the most special days of my life." He looked down at his cards. "Oh! I win. I have four threes. That gives me four matches."
Mr. Turner had been walking around the waiting area and caught the tail end of the conversation. He pulled Shawn aside. "Frankie Stecchino is coming to your wedding?"
"Yeah, him, his wife, and three kids."
"I didn't realize you guys were close."
"We're not. It's a long story, but Cory invited him by mistake. He's paying for them though and Frankie offered to give us a hand with the flowers." He shrugged. "It works out I guess."
"How did Cory accidentally invite five extra people to your wedding?"
"Jon, if I have to think about everything that led up to it I'm going to get pissed at him again. So just drop it."
"Consider it dropped." He leaned against the wall and stretched out his bad leg. "You'd think after all these years…."
"Does it hurt?"
"Not right now, just tight."
Shawn was instantly taken back to a room in this very hospital over a decade ago. Turner was in a bed, most of him covered in casts and bandages. The doctors weren't sure if he would pull through and-
"Hey, Shawn, you okay?"
He slowly slid down the wall until he was seated on the floor. "I really hate hospitals."
/
Eric wandered a few halls until he found himself standing in front of the vending machines. His parents tried to stress that no news was good news, but he wasn't buying it. He stared at his beverage options, but nothing appealed. He still fed some money into the machine and picked something at random.
"You hate cream soda," Angela said, coming up behind him.
"I know."
"So why did you buy it?"
Eric shrugged and turned around to face her. "It's something to do."
"Are you okay?"
"You can ask me that as many times as you want but the answer isn't changing, not until Feeny is in the clear."
"Sorry."
"That's okay. It's not your fault."
She slipped her hand into his and led the way back to everyone else. "Do you want something to eat?"
He shook his head. "That answer's not changing either."
"Do you at least want me to get you something that isn't cream soda?"
"If I say yes will you stop babying me?"
"Yes, for now anyway."
"Okay, knock yourself out."
"Thank you. And fussing over you is giving me something to do. So deal with it," she ordered with a smile.
"I can't argue with that, can I?"
"No."
"If you happen to text Gina and see if she has any new pictures or videos or Georgia…."
"I'll see what I can do."
While waiting for Angela to come back with his drink, Eric picked up a brochure at random and skimmed through. It was about insurance, billing, and how to set up payment plans. It hit him that Feeny was going to have a lot of medical bills coming his way. Even with insurance, hospitals were expensive. He had the invoice for Georgia's birth to prove it! After the hospital Feeny was going to need rehab. That was more money. He and the Dean have been retired for a few years. Were they going to be able to handle this?
"I got ginger ale and cherry cola. If you want something else I'll need to make more change." She put her hand on his shoulder when he didn't respond. "You okay?"
"Yeah. No. I don't know. It's so much."
"I know, but the doctors are-" She looked up briefly when she heard Cory's voice go up a few decibels. He was standing by the elevators with Shawn, Naomi and Topanga. From what she could gather Shawn had had all he could take of the hospital for one day and Cory wasn't happy with him leaving. "The doctors are taking care of him and this is a very good hospital, the best in the city. Do you think I would've delivered Georgia just anywhere?"
"Yeah, but can he afford this? He's retired. Mr. Feeny is the smartest person I've ever met but even he can't see the future and didn't have a stroke fund set up. I think I want to take care of his medical bills, or at least help out. I make more than anyone else so I can afford to do it."
"Eric that's very admirable, but you don't know what kind of figures we'd be looking at. I love Mr. Feeny and of course we will help him in any way we can, but we have to think about Georgia and plan for her education and her future." Angela hated saying this. She felt like the bad cop squelching Eric's giving spirit. "She has to come first and you know Mr. Feeny would tell you the same."
He sighed and put his head in his hands. "I know. And he is the one always saying stuff about Georgia getting into Harvard. I just want to help him the way he's always helped me."
"And we will. We just have to be practical about it."
"Um, excuse me."
Angela and Eric jumped. Even when speaking softly Frankie's voice had a booming quality to it. "Yes, Frankie?"
"I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but your generous offer has given me an idea, Eric."
"What's that?"
"How about instead of putting the burden on one person to help Mr. Feeny, we all pitch in?"
"What do you mean?"
"We could have a fundraiser."
"A fundraiser?"
"I could offer a special through my flower shop where the proceeds for every rose sold go to help Mr. Feeny. I know I cannot see a rose without thinking of dear, Mr. Feeny."
"Wow…that's actually a really good idea. What would I do?"
"You are the most popular news personality in Philadelphia so you could help spread the word. He had so many students over the years who I'm sure would jump at the chance to give back."
"And I still have an in at the newspaper," Angela said. "They can publicize, too."
The bully turned florist clapped his hands together. "Excellent."
"Maybe I can even…." Eric looked to his girlfriend when her phone chimed. She frowned at the message this time. "What's up?"
"It's Gina. Georgia has been crying for a while and is virtually inconsolable. Gina said she's tried everything but as soon as it got dark it was like Georgia's personality changed. I should probably go get her and bring her home."
"Yeah, this is the longest she's been away from you in a while and she's in a strange house with people she doesn't know well."
She stood, but was hesitant to leave. Eric needed her, too. "Will you be okay without me?"
"As okay as I ever am."
"Eric?"
He squeezed her hand. "I'll feel better knowing Georgia's happy."
She nodded. "Tell Lila I said good-night."
"I'll walk you to the car."
/
A couple hours later, with some ideas from Cory and Topanga's organizational skills, they had a rough idea of how the fundraiser would work.
Eventually the waiting room crowd dwindled down to Eric, Cory, their parents, and Topanga. Frankie left to take care of early morning deliveries and Mr. Turner had to teach an eight AM class. They both promised to call tomorrow to check in.
"I just don't understand why we can't see him," Cory lamented, waking the dozing crowd. "It's just looking through a window. Why can't we do that?"
"Hospitals have rules, pal," Alan answered. "Intensive care especially, they don't let just anyone go strolling back there."
"No, but they let family go back there. And we're Mr. Feeny's family."
"The doctor said the most important thing was for him to rest. That's what he is doing now."
"But, mom-" Just then Lila came through the doors, not looking surprised to still see people hanging around. "Any news?"
"No, Cory, and there likely won't be any news for the rest of tonight. They just gave George a powerful sedative to help him sleep. He's going to be out until morning. So I am ordering all of you to go home."
"But-"
"No arguing. If his condition changes or I need anything I will call, but for right now I need you to go home and rest."
"But what about you," Topanga asked.
"There is an extra bed in George's room and a nurse already brought me an extra blanket. Apparently they feel for me, being married to the difficult patient," she teased.
Alan smiled. "Still giving them hell?"
"They've given up counting how many times he's pulled out various tubes. I've been calling him the menace of the ICU."
"Good for him."
"Yes, so as you can see if he is doing well enough to drive doctors and nurses crazy you can go home and rest comfortably."
"Are you sure?"
"Quite. He's sleeping, I'm going to try to sleep, and if I know you are out here I won't be able to. So go- before I have to call hospital security on you."
They hugged Lila goodnight with promises to return in the morning. While they were cleaning up the food and beverages that littered the area Eric pulled Cory to the side. "Get Topanga to go home with mom and dad and say you're going to drop me off at the station to pick up my car."
"Isn't that the plan? But why do I need to ditch Topanga?"
"Just do it."
"I'm going to need a reason."
"You still want to see Feeny, right," he whispered.
"Definitely. I won't sleep until I do."
"Okay, I think I can get us back there but your wife is too much of a goodie-goodie rule follower to go along with us."
He looked at his wife across the room. "You really think you can get us to Mr. Feeny?"
"Yes."
"Okay. I'll lose the goodie-goodie."
/
"Eric, are you sure about this," Cory asked, grabbing onto his brother's arm. They had snuck into the ICU when another family was leaving. Now they were trying to find Mr. Feeny's room, but that was easier said than done.
"You're not wimping out on me, are you?"
"What if we get caught?"
"We won't if you look like you belong."
"But there are nurses and security guards and…" He rounded the corner and came face to face…well, face to chest, with a rather large man. "…and big orderlies who could make us patients."
"Do you two have permission to be back here?"
"Well, uh…"
"Yes," Eric said confidently. "Yes, we do."
"Where are your visitor's badges?"
"Right here on our shirts."
"Those are the badges for the waiting area and regular floors of the hospital. You need a yellow badge to be back here."
"Even me?"
"Who are you?"
Eric laughed. "Come on. It's me. Eric Matthews, I do the weather on WIXB. I've been voted most popular for a lot of years in a row."
"I don't watch channel five."
"You don't know me? But everyone knows me!"
"I'm calling security."
"No," Cory exclaimed. "Wait. Look, I'm sorry, we're just really worried about our…our…" He couldn't say teacher. They wouldn't let them in for teacher.
"It's family only. Who are you here to see?"
"Our grandpa-"
"-uncle."
The orderly narrowed his eyes and stared them down. "What?"
"That's right," Eric took over. "Our parents are brother-sister-cousins and we're here to see our cousin, Grandpa Uncle George."
He shook his head. "Man, no wonder you two are messed up."
"Cory, Eric, what is going on," Lila asked, appearing in the doorway. She heard the commotion in the hall and came to investigate.
"Grandma Aunt Lila!" They rushed her and gave her a hug. "Save us from the scary man," Eric whispered.
"Are they with you, lady?"
"Do you think I let random strangers hug me? Clearly they are my…nephew grandsons."
"Well, technically grandson nephews, but who's keeping track?"
"You guys cause any more trouble I'll throw you out."
"Don't worry about that. They will be leaving in two minutes."
The orderly nodded. "I'll be back to check. Let me know if they won't leave and you need back up."
"Oh, I will." Once the orderly was gone she turned around to face them. "Now, care to tell me what all this fuss is about? I believe I ordered you to go home."
"We just want to see him," Cory pleaded. "Just for a minute."
She sighed. "He looks a little different than you're used to."
"That's okay."
"All right," she relented. "Two minutes."
/
/
"How are you not sleeping yet, little girl? You spent all day playing with other kids. You should be exhausted." Angela watched, moderately impressed, as the baby stacked the soft blocks. "Mama sat on her butt all day and she's ready to pass out. But look at you, branching out into construction…" She swung a tiny arm out and sent the blocks toppling to the ground, "…and now demolition. You're quite the multi-faceted young woman, Georgia Matthews."
"Or maybe she knew daddy would need some cheering up so she stayed awake to see him."
Angela turned around and saw Eric standing in the doorway. He looked exhausted. "Hey, I didn't hear you come in."
"Sorry. Cory drove me to the station to pick up my car and then he and Topanga were sleeping at mom and dad's tonight."
"I figured you'd be sleeping at the hospital."
"That was my plan, but Lila ordered the rest of us to go home- wouldn't take no for an answer. She promised to call if anything changed."
It was weird to hear him refer to Lila as, well...Lila. For as long as Angela's been back in Philadelphia he's affectionately called her 'Dean Feeny.' "Max and Gina said they'd be on standby if we needed them to watch Georgia again. Janine called me, too, and said if we needed her baby-sitting services this weekend she would be happy to do it."
"That's good to know. I work with some fantastic people." He sighed and took a seat on the floor beside her. Despite his exhaustion he couldn't help but smile at how, in the midst of the chaos, their daughter was oblivious to it all and happily playing. It was how it should be and exactly what he needed to see after a day like today. Georgia was still untouched by the negatives of life. He'd give anything to keep her this innocent forever. "So, what's with our little night owl?"
"She's been wired since I picked her up. It's not even that she's fighting sleep- just wide awake. I tried to go through our normal routine, but she wanted to treat me like a jungle gym. I finally gave up when she got too fussy. I brought her in here to wear her out." Angela laughed quietly. "I don't think it's working though. She seems more awake than ever."
Eric kissed her temple, but kept his eyes glued to their daughter. "Do you think she understands what's going on right now? Does Georgia know Mr. Feeny is in the hospital and that's why we weren't with her tonight? Is she...can she feel anything about that yet?"
"I'm sure she's picking up on our moods and tonight was the first time we left her alone with people who weren't family. She knows something's different."
"Maybe that's why she's still awake," he wondered aloud, "to have things back to normal with us before she goes to sleep."
"That's certainly one theory." Angela tucked her head under his chin and wrapped her arms around him. "And it's a nice way to end a pretty lousy day."
"It is."
They sat together quietly for a few minutes just watching their daughter play. "Not to bring the mood back down, but how was Mr. Feeny?"
"No change since you left: serious, but stable condition. They gave him drugs to help him sleep. Everything else is the same."
"Is Lila okay?"
"She seems to be doing better than anyone else which is weird to me." Eric tightened his hold on her. "Tell me this is a nightmare."
"I wish I could."
"Me and Cory snuck into the ICU."
"You did?"
He nodded. "We couldn't leave without seeing him for ourselves."
"And?"
"It didn't seem real. I was just at his house picking up the desk and the-the...I mean...I was just with him in his house and stuff a few weeks ago. It's Feeny. He's invincible. To me he's always been this ageless being. Tonight in that hospital bed he looked very small…and so old. When did he get to be an old man?" He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to rid the image from his mind. It wasn't how he wanted to think of Mr. Feeny.
"Hey, you okay," Angela asked, looking up at him. Sooner or later the events of the day were going to hit and she wanted to be there when it happened. "Because it's fine if you're not. There's no one here you have to be strong for."
"I know I always joke around about him being a million years old, but that's all they're supposed to be- jokes."
"I know. He does, too."
"Mr. Feeny is supposed to outlive all of us and teach Georgia's great-great grandchildren and tell them what life was like way back when." He shook his head and let out a humorless laugh. "Stupid, huh?"
"I think that's very sweet and if anyone deserves to live forever, it's Mr. Feeny. Maybe it's an unrealistic thought, but no, not stupid."
"Is it okay if we're not realistic right now?"
"You want to be in denial?"
"Just for tonight, yes…and tomorrow and the next day….and maybe the day after that, too."
There was no harm in indulging his delusions, at least temporarily. Reality would no doubt rear its ugly head soon enough. "Okay." She kissed his cheek. "Make room in the tent for me because I'll camp out in denial with you."
"Thanks. And thanks for being so-" He stopped talking when two of Georgia's blocks hit him, one right after the other: one in the chest and the other striking his knee. He looked at the baby and found her staring back at him, her head tilted to the side as if she was wondering how that happened. Eric knew she was at the age where she started learning cause and effect, but she had never purposely thrown an object towards another person. He was impressed by her distance. Maybe there was a future little league pitcher in her. "Uh-oh, Georgia," he exclaimed, shrugging in an exaggerated fashion, "what happened?"
She attempted to mimic him and lifted her arms above her head. "Oh-ah bo-po mada booey!"
Eric was entertained as he listened to Georgia seemingly try and explain in her own language, repeating the same sounds over and over. She stated her case with such conviction, too. "Really? The blocks flew out of your hands all by themselves? Those sneaky blocks!" He held out his hands. "You want to hug it out? Come on," he prompted, "come to daddy." And, like the old pro she now was, Georgia moved easily from a sitting position to crawling. She appeared to be heading right for her father, but at the last moment she veered off and crawled into Angela's lap instead. "Hey!"
"What are you doing, silly?" She ran a hand along the baby's back. "You were going to daddy."
"She knows what she's doing."
"What makes you say that?"
"Just look at her. She knows." The baby kept peeking at him from behind Angela's arm, a coy grin on her face. "You're being a little smart ass, huh?"
"Eric!"
"It is how she's acting right now."
"I don't think that's within her scope of abilities just yet. I think that behavior comes with the toddler years."
"Then you are severely underestimating your daughter. She's advanced…like light-months ahead."
"Light-months?"
"You know, instead of lightyears? Since she'll be one in a few months…light-months?"
"Oh." She reminded herself that he'd had a long day. They all had. "Fine, but do you want to own it when her first word is ass?"
"Smart butt just doesn't have the same ring to it."
"Just admit that you've lost the ability to criticize my language since you are just as bad."
"Okay, I cave. If she makes it through kindergarten without us having to be called down to school for obscene words we can consider ourselves successful parents."
"Deal." He melted when Georgia migrated over, laid her head on his leg, and smiled up at him. "What are you doing, goofball?" She blew a raspberry in response. "Very mature behavior, thanks. But you are giving me more proof to show mama that you're acting like a…" He paused momentarily. "…smart butt."
"And where do you think she gets it," Angela deadpanned.
Eric picked Georgia up and held her close. "Mama thinks she's a comedian," he remarked, resting his cheek against the baby's. "What do we say to that, huh, Georgia?" The infant let loose another well timed raspberry. "Ha! And we didn't even rehearse."
"I rest my case." She stood and moved to leave the room.
"Where are you going?"
"I'm going to make you something to eat. And don't say you're not hungry because your stomach has been making noise since you got home. I know you didn't eat in the waiting room."
"I was too nervous to eat," he called after her. Once they were alone Eric looked at his daughter. She was studying him and had one of her expressions where he knew she was thinking and her wheels were turning- like she was trying to figure something out. He wished he knew what went on in her brain sometimes, to see things through her eyes. He stood Georgia up so they were face to face. She liked being face to face and immediately latched onto his cheeks with her tiny hands. "Mama will hate me for saying this, but I'm glad you were awake when I got home." She babbled back to him, mimicking his tone. "Yeah, I am. Daddy needed a reason to smile tonight. And you, little girl, always give me a reason. You were the only reason a lot of people smiled tonight.
"Mama kept showing your picture off in the waiting room. I'm sure you're wondering why were we in the waiting room." Rationally he knew she was a baby and wouldn't understand what he was about to say, but it still felt like a heavy, adult conversation. "Part of me doesn't want you to know this because I want you to think the world all good and only full of good people where only good happens, but what kind of daddy would I be if I sent you out blind like that?" She pressed her mouth against his chin and let out a high pitched squeal that made him wince. "You're right. I wouldn't be a very good one. The truth is that sometimes life sucks. Things don't always go your way and bad things happen to good people. It's my job to prepare you for that stuff." He took a deep breath. "Today something bad happened to Mr. Feeny.
"You see, he had a stroke. According to doctors much smarter than daddy that means…" How did he explain this? "You know your Big Bird toy that sings and dances? Remember how he slowed down and talked and moved weird when he needed new batteries? That's kind of what happened to Mr. Feeny. His brain battery messed up and now he's having trouble talking and moving like we're used to." Georgia was watching him, her expression serious as if she understood everything he was saying. She already had Angela's penetrating stare down cold, which was unnerving. Did they practice when he was at work? "But don't worry, the doctors and nurses are taking very good care of him so he can get better and come home." He kissed the top of her head. "I bet we'll be standing in his backyard yelling for him to open up and let us in real soon. In fact…yes, that would be such a cool get better present for him. What else could top daddy doing the Feeny Call but daddy and Georgia? Can you say Feeny? Feeny. Fee-ny. Fee-ny. Feeny. Come on. Say Feeny." He listened in anticipation. If there was ever a time for her to chime in with a perfectly placed jabber it was now. Eric got his wish, but unfortunately it sounded nothing like Feeny. "Did you just say potato?"
Georgia pressed her face into his shoulder and squirmed in his lap. "Are you getting sleepy? I know mama is the lullaby person, but is it okay if I sing tonight? Daddy doesn't have a happily ever after story in him right now." He held her close and swayed side to side. "I hope you like Madonna."
When Angela returned to the nursery Eric was lying on the floor and Georgia was asleep on his chest. His eyes were closed but she knew he was awake because he was singing softly and rubbing slow circles on their daughter's back. She set his plate on the dresser before crouching down beside her family. "I made you grilled cheese and tater tots." He nodded but continued to sing. "Interesting song choice."
His eyes remained closed, but he smiled. "It was the only song I could think of. I heard it on the radio on the way home. They played two songs per artist for some reason. It was either this or Like a Virgin. No way in hell was I going to sing that to my daughter. There's not enough therapy in the world."
She covered her mouth to stifle her laughter. "I agree. Material Girl by a landslide."
/
/
"Cory, what are you doing?" Topanga had rolled over and reached for her husband but had only found sheets. She sat up and saw him sitting in the window, staring out into the backyard.
"It's weird not having Mr. Feeny out there."
She wrapped a blanket around her body to fight off the spring chill and shuffled over to him. "It's three-thirty in the morning. Mr. Feeny wouldn't be outside even if he wasn't in the hospital."
"You know what I mean. He's always been there. I liked knowing he was there….working in the garden. It was comforting to know that at any given moment he could dole out his wisdom and advice."
She could point out that his statement was full of revisionist history and that he didn't always appreciate their former teacher's advice and frequent unsolicited appearances over the fence when they were kids, but what would be the point? "I know, me, too."
"If he's not in his garden he's supposed to be in his house- waiting to garden. What else does the man have to do at his age?"
"He and Lila just got back from visiting friends in Rhode Island. They travel more frequently than we do."
"Well, now you're just making us sound more pathetic compared to the senior citizens, thanks for that, honey."
"Tell me what the right thing to say is and I'll say it."
He shrugged. "The only thing I know is that Mr. Feeny isn't supposed to be laying in that hospital bed. Aren't you supposed to build up immunity to this stuff by being a good person?"
"Unfortunately life doesn't work that way. If it did bad people would simply drop dead instead of continuing to wreak havoc."
"That would be cool."
"Cory!"
"Think of how much easier things would be if creeps eliminated themselves from the planet."
"It would be harder for me and my fellow lawyers to make a living and put those bad guys behind bars for one thing."
"Okay, in the interest of your career, we can keep a few of the lower tier criminals around: like pickpockets and litter bugs. You need make money, too. Take some financial pressure off me."
She chuckled and sat beside him. "Thank you."
"Although you have to admit that some lawyers are just as sleazy as the criminals they defend or try to put away."
"Excuse me?"
"Not you, other lawyers."
"And you have to admit that this is a pathetic attempt at distraction. Not from you, I'm talking about the other curly-haired guy sitting here with me."
He smiled sadly before kissing her hand. "Is it wrong to want a distraction right now?"
"No, I'd say it's pretty normal."
"Eric and I snuck back there."
"Back where?"
"To the ICU…after you left, we went back there."
"So that's why you insisted I ride with your parents," she concluded.
"You're too much of a goody-two shoes to sneak into a restricted area of the hospital. And we didn't want to hear whatever lecture you would've had for us."
"Did you make it? Did you see him?"
"An orderly caught us, but luckily Lila came out. She told the guy we were family and they let us in for a minute."
"And," she prodded. "How was he? How did he look?"
"He was sleeping, but they have him hooked up to these tubes and machines that kept beeping." Cory leaned his head against her shoulder. "I didn't realize it until tonight, but I don't think Mr. Feeny has aged to me since we were in sixth grade. Whenever I thought of him that was the guy I pictured, even if that wasn't the guy standing in front of me. Does that make sense?"
"Sure. The mind can play amazing tricks on us."
"I'm scared I'll never get the image of him in that hospital bed out of my head, that that's going to be the visual I'm stuck with forever now."
"That won't happen."
"How do you know?"
"Let's just go to sleep, okay," she suggested after being unable to come up with a satisfactory answer to his question. "Maybe you'll dream about the sixth grade and your mental picture of Mr. Feeny will go back to how it always was."
He let her lead him back to bed. "Sure," he grumbled, "just what I need: risk reliving the time I totally bombed the geography bee and missed being the batboy for the World Series. There's no way the smarty-pants that won appreciated it the way I would have!"
Not this story again. "You could get lucky and dream about our first kiss. That also happened in sixth grade."
"Topanga, we've kissed millions of times since then. This was a chance to be batboy in the opening game of the World Series. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Ow!" He held his arm where she pinched him. "What did you do that for?"
"Our kisses could happen about as often as you attending a World Series game if you don't choose your words more carefully."
"I'm sorry. It's been a rough day. Can't I get a pass for verbal stupidity based on that alone?"
"Okay," she relented with a sigh, "you're forgiven. Let's try to get some sleep."
He followed her back to bed. "No good night kiss?"
"Are you kidding me?"
/
/
"Amy, what are you doing out here?"
She briefly glanced at her husband before turning her attention back to the flowers. "Before everything happened George mentioned he needed to catch up on the yard after being away on his trip. I thought I'd give him a hand."
"In the middle of the night? Don't you think that's a little insane?"
"No, insane would be breaking out the lawn mower."
"There are noise ordinances in this neighborhood."
"And that's the only thing stopping me."
"Why don't you at least wait until the sun is up? Then you'll be able to see what you're doing." Alan crossed over into George's yard and helped Amy to her feet. "We have a few hours before we have to get Josh up and off to school and then I have to put in at least the morning at the store to make up for not going in at all yesterday. Just come back to bed before the day starts."
"I'm not going to be able to fall asleep. I'd rather be useful."
"I get that. No one hates sitting around doing nothing more than me." He sighed and leaned against the fence. "It has been a long twenty-four hours."
"Not even, more like sixteen or seventeen hours."
"Do you have to nitpick now?"
"I don't think a difference of seven or eight hours is nitpicking. That's an entire night's sleep."
"Amy…."
"I'm sorry." She moved to rest beside her husband against the fence. "Maybe after I take Josh to school I will swing by the hospital and see if Lila needs anything. I can bring her a change of clothes, some books so she doesn't get bored, and whatever else she needs from the house."
"That's a good idea. In all the craziness I'm sure she didn't bring more than her purse."
"I'm amazed by how calm she is. If I were in her position…." Amy shook her head. "I don't want to think about that, but I know I would be a wreck."
"You'd be fine. You've always been the stronger one when it comes to this stuff. I, on the other hand, was a basket case when I was in Lila's shoes." It had been a few years now, but Alan still hated thinking about that day. He nearly lost his wife because some idiot was too focused on his phone and ran a red light. "George was the steady one- he and Lila both held everything together."
"Now we get the chance to pay them back and be there for them."
"I'd rather do it with a gift basket or a card. They didn't need to literally replicate the situation for us to repay them."
"I know." She sighed.
"What?"
"George is such a fixture of the backyard, has been since the day we moved in. It was so strange last night to look out the kitchen window and not see him back here." He nodded. "I still remember the first time I met him. You were away for the weekend in the Reserves and Eric had snuck over when I was feeding Cory. George caught him spraying his rose bush with grape juice from a water pistol. Then Cory dropped a big spoon of oatmeal on his shoe when he came to return Eric. I promised to keep the boys out of his hair- I'd say we failed spectacularly in that."
"I think the first time I talked to him beyond a simple hello was one night after we got into a huge fight we took out here so we wouldn't wake Eric and Cory. You went back into the house and George came to see if everything was okay. When I said it was then he lectured me about being out here and yelling at eleven o'clock at night. Even though we woke him up he still sat out here and talked to me until well after midnight. And it was a school night, too."
"We're so lucky he didn't judge us based on first impressions. Instead he's become part of our family, he and Lila both."
"Yeah…you know maybe we should wait and not fix up his yard just yet."
"Why? I just want to make things easier on him when he comes home."
"If he finds everything done that he's always taken care of he might think that we believe he's not capable of it anymore, that he's too weak."
"But he's going to have an uphill battle already with the physical therapies and his age-"
"It's how I would feel if I came home and everything was taken care of for me. Maybe it's a guy thing, but I know I'd feel useless." Alan saw that she still wasn't convinced. "At least wait longer than a day before you dive in and start taking over."
"Fair enough. I'll talk to Lila first and see if she has anything she wants done." She sighed and rested her head against his shoulder. "I suppose we should try to get those few hours of sleep."
"That would be smart."
"I'm still not tired."
"Me either."
"I could get an early start on a nice, big breakfast. Since Cory and Topanga slept over I know there will be people to eat and appreciate it. I can even call Eric and Angela later on so Georgia can try grandma's blueberry pancakes. For such a little thing she sure loves food."
"Josh and I appreciate the food you make. Maybe we don't say it, but we do."
"I know, honey, I'm just looking to keep my mind occupied. When you really think about it, we're not that far behind George and Lila- age wise anyway."
"There's nearly thirty years between us."
"The universe is billions of years old. Thirty is nothing."
"Maybe not for trees, but for people, yeah there's a difference." He wrapped his arm around her and they ventured back over to their yard and to the house. "I'm healthy, you're healthy, our kids are healthy, and our granddaughter is healthy and growing like a weed. Let's just be grateful for that, okay? Don't wonder what if. Be thankful for what is."
"You're right."
"Of course I am. Now, back to this big breakfast you teased me with a minute ago…"
/
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