Chapter 201
Sara woke up feeling as if she was hit by a train. Her body ached and her head was throbbing. She rubbed her eye and flinched when she touched the sensitive, bruised skin around her eye. She looked over at her sister sleeping next to her. Tegan was breathing slowly, indicating she was in a deep sleep. Sara looked at the time on her phone. 5.50. She walked to the bathroom and inspected the bruises on her face after using the toilet. "Fucker" she mumbled.
Sara made herself a cup of coffee and quietly opened the door to the balcony. Tegan just grunted and moved onto her back. Dawn was breaking outside. Sara sat down on the patio furniture and looked at the open field in front of her while sipping her coffee. The birds were chirping away, greeting the day and Sara gave a sad smile, suddenly thinking that life was indeed still beautiful. She thought about her two beautiful girls back home and started texting Kate.
"Hey you. Just wanted to say good luck with your surgery today. Everything's going to be okay. I love you". Seconds later her phone rang. Sara answered immediately in order to not wake Tegan up. "Katy" she said.
"Hey sweetie… how are you?" said Kate.
"Okay thanks, how are you?" Sara lied.
"Good, nervous" said Kate.
"You're going to be amazing my love" said Sara.
"Thanks… Sweetie, I can't talk long. I need to get bambino dressed and fed and over to aunt Lindsey in the next 30 minutes. But I just wanted to say…. That I miss you, and that I can't wait for you to be home" said Kate softly.
Sara took a deep breath to contain her emotions before answering. "I love you too sweetie…. Go be awesome. And give Amelia a big kiss from me" said Sara.
"When will you be home?" asked Kate.
"Um… Hopefully tonight, we'll see how we go. I'll keep you updated though" said Sara. "Okay, just text Abby. I'll ask her to update me in surgery. Be safe sweetie. I love you" said Kate.
"Love you too… bye" said Sara before hanging up. She wanted to tell Kate what happened with everything in her but she knew it would upset Kate tremendously and she didn't want her operating like that.
Tegan woke up about an hour later and yawned. She looked over to where Sara should be sleeping but found nothing. "Sara?" she mumbled and sat up.
The heavy hotel curtains made the room dark. Tegan noticed that the bathroom light that she left on the previous night was now off. She hobbled over to the window and pulled the curtain open fast. Sara jumped up outside and spun around.
"Holy crap you scared me" said Sara.
"Sorry… You scared me too… couldn't find you" said Tegan groggily.
"Didn't want to wake you up so I just… had some coffee outside" said Sara.
"How are you feeling?" asked Tegan softly.
"Sore… emotional… but okay. That sleeping pill was a godsend. How are you feeling?" said Sara.
"I'm fine" lied Tegan. Truth was that her foot was throbbing and her neck hurt just to swallow. Sara could always tell when Tegan was lying.
"You don't look fine" she said.
"No really… I'm a bit tender but I'm good" said Tegan.
"Sit down, I'll take your BP and pulse ox" said Sara.
"No Sar… I'm fine… sit down, relax. I'm going to make some coffee" said Tegan.
Tegan ordered some room service and made some coffee before putting her head out the room door.
"Morning guys" she said to the cops sitting outside the door.
"Tegan, did you sleep okay?" said the bartender cop getting up fast.
"Yeah, we actually did… both of us" smiled Tegan.
"How are you feeling?" she asked.
"Sore but okay" said Tegan.
"That's good" she sighed relieved.
"Why don't you guys go home… we're okay. It's light outside" said Tegan.
"It's fine, we'll stay until you're ready to leave" said the girl. Her partner shot her a dirty look.
"Guys… hotel security is actually pretty good" said Tegan pointing at a camera in the hallway.
"We're just going to have some roomservice breakfast and get going soon" said Tegan.
"Okay, we'll wait until your breakfast arrives before we go" said the girl.
"Thank you… for everything" said Tegan sincerely.
Tegan sat down next to Sara with her coffee. "Ordered us some room service" said Tegan.
"Thanks but don't you think we should get going? We have a long drive ahead of us" said Sara.
"Sar… do you want to… I dunno… just drive to the nearest airport and fly back home?" said Tegan.
"No not really" said Sara.
"I just thought that… maybe… uh" said Tegan.
"Do you want to fly home? Your ankle hurting?" asked Sara.
"No, I'm good for the drive if you are?" said Tegan.
"We're not going to be in LA by dark. If we push… maybe we'll be there by 9… or 10" said Sara.
"Or we could sleep over somewhere another night" said Tegan.
"Hell no" said Sara.
"Okay! Calm down" said Tegan.
"Tee… I think I need this time to… to just… make my peace with this" said Sara.
"I understand Sar" said Tegan and went to open the door for room service.
"Eat up and make it fast. We're behind schedule" said Sara.
"Yes M'am" said Tegan.
"I'm taking some of this to snack on in the car" said Sara. Tegan laughed.
"You're hilarious. Your lower middle class is showing Sar, you may want to tuck that in" said Tegan.
"Shut up… I just don't want to stop a thousand times because you're hungry and half of this is going to go to waste" said Sara. Tegan just held her hands up defensively.
After a couple of hours of driving, Tegan just couldn't hold it in any longer and was desperate for a break. Sara insisted that she keep it in for a while longer.
"Sara stop the car or I'm going to wet myself" said Tegan.
"Stop being so dramatic" said Sara.
"Sar my bladder is aching… fuck it, please… I'll do it behind a bush!" pleaded Tegan.
"There's a stop 5 mintes from here okay. Just close your eyes and…. Fucking meditate or something" said Sara annoyed.
"Agghhhh…. Hurry the fuck up" complained Tegan. Sara rolled her eyes.
"No Sara stop… I'm not going to make it to the loo on the crutches… please stop now…. Pleaaaase" said Tegan holding on to the door handle.
Sara pulled over onto a piece of dirt and stopped abruptly.
"Ouch" shouted Tegan as the seatbelt tightened over her bruised shoulder. She stumbled out of the car without her crutches and hobbled behind a bush.
Sara felt uncomfortable, she looked around nervously. One or two cars passed.
"Tegan hurry up" shouted Sara.
"Almost done" yelled Tegan and closed her eyes leaning again a tree.
Sara looked in the rear-view mirror and saw a car stop behind hers. "Tegan!" she shouted nervously.
A young guy got out of the car and walked up to Sara. Sara felt her heart race and she started the car and locked her door.
"M'am… are you okay? Do you need any help?" asked the guy.
"No thanks, we're fine" said Sara.
Tegan started breathing fast. She desperately looked around the tree for some sort of weapon. The only thing she could find was a large branch. She hobbled out behind the tree.
"Hi, can I help you?" she said loudly.
"Just checking if you're okay… thought your car broke down" said the guy.
"We're fine thank you" said Tegan.
"Okay, just wanted to help. Have a great day" said the guy.
"Thanks man! We're good" smiled Tegan.
The guy got back in his car. "Get in the fucking car Tegan" seethed Sara.
A couple of minutes later they were at the rest stop.
"Let's have lunch while we're here. Get me a coffee so long please. I want to phone Linds" said Tegan.
"Are you… telling her?" asked Sara.
"Yeah… I'm telling her" said Tegan.
"Please ask her not to tell Kate" said Sara.
"Sar you're going to have to tell her sooner or later" said Tegan.
"Yeah I know… she's in surgery the whole day. I'll tell her when I get home. I have to… I mean look at my face" said Sara pointing at the bruises under her eye and on her jawbone.
Sara watched Tegan through the window hobbling up and down, talking on her phone. Tegan shook her head. She sat down at a small outside table and put her foot up. Her animated discussion continued for a least twenty minutes. Sara knocked on the window and pointed at her watch when Tegan looked up.
"Sorry 'bout that" said Tegan sitting down a few minutes later.
"I ordered for you" said Sara.
"How do you know what I want" said Tegan.
"I don't… but I also don't have half an hour waiting for you to finish your telephone conversation" said Sara.
Tegan just snorted and folded her arms. "How'd it go?" asked Sara.
"How do you think it went? She's freaking the fuck out!" said Tegan.
Sara just looked down and stirred her coffee.
"Of course she wants us to get on a plane and fly home" said Tegan.
"It's going to take us hours to get to an airport… then hours of waiting for the flight and…" said Sara.
"I know, I know! I told her we're driving, end of story" said Tegan.
"Here… got you a gift" said Sara and put something on the table. Tegan picked it up and frowned.
"Pepper spray?" she said.
"Yup… and I got a tazer gun too. Can't believe they sell that at a rest stop" said Sara.
"Oookay" said Tegan shaking her head.
"Tegan, I'm not going to be a victim again… the next fucker that tries something like that gets his face blown off by pepper spray and his head kicked in" said Sara.
"We should consider doing a self defense class when we get home" said Tegan.
"Well you defended us pretty well there" laughed Sara.
"Yeah well… if that cop didn't show up I…" said Tegan before being cut off by Sara.
"Can we not talk about it please" said Sara suddenly looking upset.
Tegan swallowed hard. "Okay" she said.
"It's not that I don't want to talk about it, I just think we've talked enough… and I don't want to spoil my lunch" said Sara.
"Okay… but Sar… you should talk to a professional" said Tegan.
"Are you going to?" asked Sara defensively.
"I am in fact… I've been seeing Violet every second week" said Tegan, seemingly very proud of herself.
"Yeah…. Except since Jeremy died you haven't seen her once" said Sara.
Tegan just clenched her jaw and stared out the window.
"I will okay… I promise I will" said Tegan.
"Good" said Sara.
Tegan was glad to see the food arrive to break the awkward silence.
-0-
Tegan took the next driving shift. Her foot was throbbing more by the minute. Three hours later Sara woke up from her nap and looked at her sister resting her elbow on the car's door and holding her head.
"Tegan? You okay?" asked Sara.
"Yeah" said Tegan looking surprised at the question.
"You look really pale and you have sweat beads on your forehead" said Sara.
"I'm okay… my foot is just really sore" said Tegan wiping her brow.
"Pull over, I'll drive" said Sara.
"No, don't worry it's fine, we can switch at the next rest station" said Tegan.
"Are you sure? You really don't look well" said Sara.
"Yeah no problem" said Tegan.
Twenty minutes later Tegan stopped at the rest stop and got out of the car after fueling up. She could suddenly not put any weight on her foot.
"Ouch… fuck… Sara, hand me my crutches please" said Tegan.
"Go to the ladies… I'll go buy some ice for the ice packs" said Sara.
Tegan struggled to the toilets and back and took a seat in the back of the car. She was breathing heavily after the excursion.
"Here you to Tegan. Put your foot up and get the cast off" said Sara.
Tegan gingerly took the air boot off and gritted her teeth. "Fuck me" she breathed.
"Jeez Tegan… this really doesn't look good" said Sara looking horrified when she saw Tegan's very swollen foot looking a dodgy shade of purple. She took a thick jacket out of the trunk and propped Tegan's foot onto it. Tegan was now crying in pain.
"Okay Teegs… Sorry! Hang in there… Here you go, one of those pain killers and an anti-inflammatory" said Sara handing Tegan some water and tablets.
"I don't understand… it was fine yesterday" said Tegan.
"Yeah well… maybe you kicking somebody in the nuts wasn't a good idea after all" said Sara.
"It was a fucking brilliant idea" said Tegan.
"It was a hard nut to crack" said Sara and burst out laughing. Tegan laughed too but soon just threw her head back in pain.
"How can I make you more comfortable?" asked Sara.
"Um… could you hand me my backpack please" said Tegan.
"What's wrong… are you breathing okay?" asked Sara sounding scared.
"I just want to check my sats… feeling a bit… light headed and... out of breath" said Tegan.
Sara did as instructed before filling two large zip lock bags with ice.
"Sats?" asked Sara peering back into the car.
"Um… it's a bit low but it's okay. I'll just breathe a bit of oxygen, I'll be fine. Let's go" said Tegan.
"Tee, maybe we should just stay put for a while until you have your pulse ox under control" said Sara.
"No I'm fine, let's get home" said Tegan.
"I don't know" said Sara.
"Sar… I'm fine, let's go!" said Tegan sounding annoyed.
"I'm going to lift your leg now" said Sara.
"No no… please don't touch it" said Tegan fast. She slowly lifted her leg while biting her bottom lip before putting it down on one of the bags of ice.
"Oh fuck it hurts" Tegan moaned. She put another bag of ice on the top of her foot before switching on the O2 concentrator and holding the mask over her mouth and nose.
"Go Sar… long road home" said Tegan. The pain meds knocked her out pretty fast and she sat sleeping in the back seat as Sara continuously looked into the rear view mirror. Tegan was out cold for a couple of hours and woke up looking groggy. She pulled out the nasal cannula and took a drink of water.
"Teegs? How are you feeling?" asked Sara over her shoulder.
"A bit better I think" said Tegan clipping the pulse ox back on her finger.
"Sats are back to normal" said Tegan.
"Want me to take over driving?" asked Tegan.
"No no… I'm still hundred percent" said Sara.
"Don't lie" said Sara.
"I'm not lying. Anyway… you can't drive when you're in pain and you can't drive on pain meds" said Sara.
"I guess… we need to take a break soon in that case" said Tegan looking at her watch.
"Sure… only about 4 hours to go" said Sara.
Tegan almost cried when she put her airboot back on in order to go to the toilet.
"I've never wished more for a catheter" said Tegan through gritted teeth.
"Tegan… let's just stop for the day… you're in so much pain" said Sara.
"I'm okay… don't worry about me" said Tegan. She managed to get to the toilets okay and found Sara waiting for her in the restaurant.
"You look like hell" said Sara.
"Well look who's talking" mumbled Tegan. She ordered a coffee but no food.
"You should eat something" said Sara.
"I'm not really hungry" mumbled Tegan.
"Please? You can't have more pain killers on an empty stomach. Force yourself" said Sara.
Tegan reluctantly had something to eat before taking some more painkillers.
Sara tried to get them home as fast as possible. Tegan tried her best to talk to Sara and keep her awake and alert for the drive. She drifted in and out of sleep though and Sara had to stop the car a few times and jog around it to refresh herself. It was dark outside already when Sara jumped back in the car after a quick bathroom break.
"Ninety minutes to go. Sure you don't need the loo?" asked Sara.
"No… I'll hold it in" said Tegan. She simply didn't want to get up to go. Sara rubbed her temples and started the car.
"I'm not stopping for you to make a bush pee again" said Sara.
"You won't have to... haven't been drinking much" said Tegan.
"You should stay hydrated Tegan... this isn't good" said Sara.
"Yeah yeah... You okay?" asked Tegan taking a sip of water.
"Sure, just stiff… and I have a bit of a headache" said Sara. In reality it was more than a bit of a headache, her head was throbbing making her feel a bit nauseous.
Half an hour later they felt the car wobble a bit.
"Fuck! I think we blew a tyre" said Sara and pulled over. It was dark.
"Dammit…. I'll phone triple A" said Tegan.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck… does it ever end" yelled Sara into her hands.
"Calm down… it's okay" said Tegan, she phoned, relayed their position and they started waiting in silence.
The dark made Sara feel scared and vulnerable. Twenty minutes later she couldn't take it any more and jumped out.
"Where are you going?" asked Tegan.
"I'm changing the tyre…. How difficult can it be" said Sara.
Tegan just rolled her eyes and listen to Sara swear as she unpacked the trunk to get to the spare tyre.
"Are you getting anywhere?" Tegan shouted from the back seat.
"This is…. It's fucking confusing… shit… we should have gotten dad to show us how to do this" said Sara before yelling out a loud "ouch".
"What's wrong" yelled Tegan.
"Hurt my finger with this fucking wrench… it's dark!" said Sara.
Sara noticed a truck pull over and slowly drive towards them.
"Fuck" said Sara and very quickly felt for the pepper spray in her jacket pocket. She put her hand on it and watched as a man slowly got out of the truck.
"Hi!" he said sounding upbeat. Sara couldn't really see his face, the lights from the truck blinding her. She felt frozen with fear.
"Sara?" Tegan called from inside the car.
"Oh dear… blowout. You need help fixing that?" asked the guy.
"No thank you… we're okay" said Sara, her voice shaking.
"No problem at all" said the guy and walked up to the spare tyre on the floor.
"I said we're okay thanks" said Sara.
"M'am this will take me a couple of minutes. It really is no hassle at all, needed a bit of a break anyway" smiled the truck driver.
Sara felt like crying, she was completely terrified.
"Sara!" said Tegan and came hobbling around the car on her crutches. "Sir" she said politely.
"Hi, so where are you guys headed?" asked the man as he started loosening the bolts.
"Driving down from Canada to LA" said Tegan.
"Wow, that's quite a drive. Beautiful one though" said the guy making short work of fixing the flat tyre.
"Sure is" said Tegan. Sara was breathing fast next to Tegan. Tegan put her hand on Sara's arm in the hope to calm her down. The truck's lights were bright and Tegan squinted.
"You girls okay? You look hurt" said the guy.
"Yeah we just… had a bit of a… mishap. Nothing serious" said Tegan.
"Why don't you go wait in the car Sara" said Tegan.
"Sorry, no can do after she's jacked up. Don't worry, I'll be done in a few minutes, besides, shouldn't you be sitting down and not your friend" said the guy pointing at Tegan's crutches.
"No, I've been sitting down the whole day" said Tegan.
The guy worked further in silence. Sara clenched her pepper spray in her shaking, sweaty palm. Tegan turned her head and looked at her sister. Sara's eyes were glistening with tears.
"There we go… you're good to go" said the guy after he changed the tyre and packed everything back into the trunk.
"Thank you so much. That was really nice of you, thank you" said Tegan.
"My pleasure. You girls be safe now" smiled the guy and walked back to his truck. "See, I didn't bite" he smiled at Sara and waved.
Sara stood still in one spot until the truck pulled away. She finally let go of her pent up fear and sobbed loudly.
"It's okay… Sar… it's okay, you're safe… not everybody is out to hurt you" said Tegan hugging her sister.
A/N: They seem to be holding up okay, all things concidered. They're almost home! Hope to have another chaper up soon so keep checking. Review please!