A/N: Feeling generous today so here's a third chapter. Sara's a mess but at least they're all okay physically... REVIEW please!
Chapter 85
"Tegan... I want you in bed. You've had a long day" said Kate as Charles carried a sleeping Sara into the house. "Take her to the pool house" said Tegan. "She wouldn't want to sleep next to Emy tonight" she said looking sad. Emy walked around the corner looking sick with worry. "Sara! Oh my god is she okay?" said Emy looking at Sara's swollen lip and the IV still going into her hand. She had her hand in front of her mouth and started crying. "She's fine Em... she's going to have a massive hangover tomorrow but she's okay. Just two stitches to her lip and an IV to prevent dehydration" said Tegan hugging Emy. "Ahhgg..." said Tegan clutching her ribs again. "Are you hurt Tegan?" said Emy concerned. "Just some bruised ribs... nothing to worry about" said Tegan through gritted teeth. "I was Going crazy with worry! This is all my fault... I'm sorry Tegan I had no idea this is how she'd react." said Emy. "How'd you expect her to react?" said Tegan defensively. "The breakup was mutual by the way" said Emy. Tegan sat down and put her head in her hands. She sighed. "I'm sorry Em... I'm really so sorry" she whispered. Emy wiped some tears. "It was never gonna work... but I love her so damn much" sighed Emy.
Kate opened the bed and Charles lay Sara down on the crisp, white sheets. Kate fetched the IV stand in Tegan's room and hung the bag of fluid going into Sara's vein onto it. Sara was wearing some of Kate's hospital scrubs because her own clothes were filthy. The nurses cleaned all the blood and vomit off her in the hospital. Kate smiled at the pants that were rolled around about 5 times to be short enough. Sara looked drained... so tired. She softly pulled the covers over Sara and stroke her hair. "Goodnight Sara"
"I want to go check on Sara" said Emy. "Sara's just fine. Kate's taking good care of her. She's sleeping anyway" said Tegan. "Tee... is there... do you think there's something between them?" said Emy. "What?" said Tegan sounding confused? "You know what I'm asking... and it's okay if there is... it wouldn't have changed my decision in any way... In fact I think it would make all this easier for me... knowing that she's got somebody special there for her. This is the hardest thing I've ever had to do" said Emy looking down. "I don't know Em... I really don't... I think there's some potential but who knows" shrugged Tegan. Emy smiled a bittersweet smile. "Let me make you some tea for old time sake Tegan" she said. "I'd love that thanks" said Tegan tiredly and leaned back in the couch. Lindsey came back up from the guest house "Are you coming to bed sweetie... you must be so tired" she said. "I just want to make sure Emy's okay. I'll be there soon baby" she smiled. Tegan and Emy discussed the situation for the next hour. Tegan was tired and emotional. "Let me walk you down to your place Tee." said Emy. "I'm going to miss you Em" said Tegan. "I'm going to miss you too Tegan. I would like it very much if we can still be friends? But I understand if you can't" she said looking down. "Hey... of course we're still friends. We'll always be friends... you're like a sister to me Em" she smiled. "And I know you'll always be special to Sara... But you'll have to give her some time to get over this" said Tegan.
Sara woke up with a massive, pounding headache and a queasy feeling in her stomach. She checked her watch in the moonlight. 4.17 am. She lay staring at the wall for a while. She very vaguely remembered what happened the previous day. She had no idea how she got to this room though. The door creaked open softly. Sara could make out Kate's familiar lanky outline in the door. The light crept closer to her face and she closed her eyes pretending to sleep. Kate walked in quietly. She sat down on the bed next to Sara softly. Sara felt Kate's hand on her wrist checking her pulse, she was afraid her heart was giving away the fact that she was awake. Kate replaced Sara's IV bag with a new bag of saline. She stood next to the bed staring at Sara for a while. Sara felt uncomfortable yet safe. "Sleep well sweet Sara" she whispered and closed the door behind her.
Tegan, Lindsey, Kate, Alex and Erin were all sitting on the veranda of the guest house having breakfast. "When are you going back to work Kate" asked Tegan. Kate shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "Um... yeah... I'm not... not for a while at least" she said. "What do you mean you're not?" asked Alex perplexed. "I've decided to... I'm taking some time off because I'm on the verge of burning out. I'm just... I just want to go surfing or play my guitar or go travelling or hiking or whatever or maybe just do nothing ... whenever I want... I just need to regroup, recharge my batteries" said Kate. "But you still want to be a doctor right? Because damn you're good at this shit" said Tegan. "Yeah of course I do, it's my passion... but I have other passions too that's been neglected. I've neglected myself too... plus there are other places to be a doctor you know" she smiled. "Yeah but... will they keep your job or.. I don't understand?" asked Erin. "Yeah... we've got a mutual understanding. They're keeping my job... I can come back whenever I'm ready and take as long as I need – or can afford" she laughed. "And Tegan?" asked Lindsey looking confused. Tegan kicked her under the table. "Ouch" said Lindsey out loud. Kate laughed, "Tegan's still my patient. She's my only patient right now. I'm sticking with your Tee... all the way to 100% okay. I'm not going anywhere" smiled Kate. "Oh cool... Listen Kate we want to... ask you something... don't say no right away please just hear us out" said Tegan. "O dear that's not a good way to start your argument councillor" smiled Kate sipping her coffee. "We've all had a... well a challenging couple of months" she said. "That's the understatement of the year" smiled Kate. "Uh huh... We're all tired and we all need a break... Need to get out of LA... So we've been thinking that perhaps we should go on holiday... you know just... go somewhere relaxing and fun... just to get our minds out of this rut... since I'm better now and..." Tegan got cut off by a smiling Kate. "I think that's a great idea" she said. "What were you thinking – somewhere close ... Santa Barbara? Big Sur?" smiled Kate. "Um... not exactly... Alex said that the studio is always nagging him to use this beautiful, big ocean front holiday mansion they have in Hawaii... and there's plenty of room for us all and... " said Tegan. "Tee... that sounds really nice but we need to be close to the hospital bud" she said Buttering some toast. "Why... do you think I'll need it again... You said yesterday I'm fine" said Tegan looking upset. "No... I just... I... Let's not forget you have a pregnant fiance" said Kate. "Yeah and we spoke to Adison about it already. She's okay with it if you go too... Linds and the babies are doing great. We only have a few more months after which she won't be able to fly at all. Kate we're not going to the middle of Afganistan you know... We'll still be in the US. Plenty of great hospitals around there" said Tegan. Kate stayed quiet for a minute looking at Tegan's puppy dog face. "Oh alright then... I guess there are lots of hospitals in Hawaii too" she smiled. Tegan jumped up "ouch" she yelped but gave Kate a huge hug from behind. "I need you to ask them where this place is and what kind of access there is to hospitals in the area so I can get in contact with them... just so they know about us... Hopefully we won't need them but just in case... you know" shrugged Kate. "Okay we're on it" smiled Alex.
They continued chattering about the upcoming vacation. Kate looked up and saw Sara standing in the door. She still had those ridiculously big scrubs on and she looked pale. "Sara" she whispered and got up. Tegan followed her as Kate led Sara back to the room. Lindsey looked mad. "Sara are you okay" asked Tegan. "I feel like crap, I'm embarrassed and I've puked twice this morning but other than that I'm peachy" said Sara. Kate pulled the IV line out of her hand gently and covered the spot with a ball of cotton wool and a band aid. She put a battery powered pulse ox meter on Sara's finger to check her pulse. "Mmm pulse is a bit fast but that's to be expected. Trying to get rid of all those toxins. Let me check your BP" she smiled, it made Sara feel a tiny bit better. Tegan offered Sara some water which she gulped up greedily. "BP's okay" said Kate. "I'm sure you want to take a shower before saying goodbye to Emy" said Tegan. Sara sighed, leaned forward and put her head in her hands. All the previous night's emotion was sucked out of her "Yeah... I guess" she said. "Guys... I'm sorry about yesterday... I don't remember much but I know it was baaaad. I'm sorry... I'm such an inconsiderate, irresponsible asshole" she said. Kate gave her a pitiful smile "You're not... Don't mention it again" she said and patted Sara's shoulder. Tegan stayed quiet and went to her room to go fetch some clean towels something for Sara to wear.
Sara looked a lot better when she got out of the shower. Her hair was still wet and she finally didn't smell like vomit anymore! She was still a bit lightheaded and silently wondered whether she was perhaps still drunk but she knew it wasn't possible. She walked into the kitchen to where Tegan saved her breakfast for her. Tegan turned around and smiled "Here's your coffee Sara... eat something" she said. "Thank you Tegan... You're always there to catch me... always" smiled Sara. Tegan hugged her from behind. "And I always will be... now eat up... you'll feel better when you have something in your stomach. And here's some ibuprofen for your headache" she said. "Do you... do you know what time Em's leaving?" asked Sara, her voice breaking slightly. "Yeah... she's leaving for the airport at 3" said Tegan. Her heart was breaking for Sara who looked like a scared, lost and lonely child. "It's okay Sar... what are you always telling me... Look forward now, not backward" she said. "Yeah... but I kinda hoped I would be looking forward with her" said Sara emotionless. "This may sound cliche but... Don't cry because it's over... Smile because it happened" said Tegan and shrugged.
Sara tried her best to force some food and coffee into her system. Lindsey came from outside and gave Sara a dirty look. "Well you must be feeling like shit right about now" she said Sounding mad. Sara just nodded. "Sara... I'm disappointed... Tegan was not supposed to get upset and worked up and then you go and act like a maniac causing your sister, who in case you forgot, is recovering from a fucking life threatening illness, to jump on somebody's back to pry him off you and then... " said Lindsey annoyed. "Baby... not now... chill please" said Tegan looking at Lindsey with wide eyes. Lindsey breathed in deep, "I'm not done talking about this Sara. Sara sat with her shoulders slumped looking down. "I'm sorry Lindsey... I'm sorry I don't know what came over me" she whispered. Tegan gave Lindsey a dirty look and turned to Sara who got up and headed for the door. She pulled Sara into a hug. "It's okay... everything's okay" she whispered. "Lindsey's right... you could've gotten hurt... you did get hurt" said Sara softly. "Hey it's okay... shhhhh... don't listen to her" she said leading Sara to the main house.