Part III: Family Matters

Chapter: Take me home

Margot screamed.

She cried out like someone, who's being tortured, whose guts are being ripped to pieces, like someone who's dying.

But she wasn't dying - she was coming back from the dead.

Hearing her voice through the door to the hallway, her desperate, animal scream, Myers rushed into her room, not caring about Kat, who tried to hold him back.

Margot was in Jay's arms, clinging to him with all her strength, her fingers digging into his shoulders. Her whole form was shaking with uncontrollable sobs, tears ran down her cheeks and she wailed, her voice full of pain that shattered Myers' heart.

She's is back!

Myers could hardly breath! A relief so huge it almost made him black out, washed over him as he rushed to her.

He took her from Jay, into his own arms. Margot didn't resist, she was like a child who let herself to be picked up. Her fingers that had been gripping on Jay's shirt, grabbed on Myers now, as if she didn't even notice that she had been moved from one man's lap to another. The grip of her arms around his neck was desperate, she buried her face into Myers' shoulder and her tears soaked his shirt.

He winced, his broken ribs sending a wave of pain through his core, but he hardly cared.

"Hush, baby." he breathed into her hair. "You're safe now. It's going to be alright."

"John…!"

"Yeah, it's me. I'm here, it's okay."

Her slender form clung to his chest, so tiny and vulnerable, his arms around her were strong, and he felt his heart breaking for her.

He held her near, and slowly her cries calmed down, turned into silent sobs. Tears still ran to her cheeks, but he let his shirt absorb them. Feeling them on him, made it all just more real. The fact, that she was really here. It wasn't a dream. Her tears making his shirt moist, her warm breathing on the skin of his neck - they were real, not a dream like a thousand times before.

Myers hadn't even noticed, but everyone else had left. They were alone in the dimly lit hospital room. The only sounds were Margot's silent sobs and the ticking of the clock on the wall. It was 2 AM, Myers noticed, but time had no meaning for either one of them.

He didn't know how much time had passed since the moment he had heard her scream through the door - minutes, or hours, but it felt like nothing more than a heartbeat. She was here in his arms, she wasn't dead.

He would get to have a life with her.

Gently he ran his fingers through her hair. Heavens, he had missed this! Feeling her hair in his hands, the softness of her curls that now fell impossibly long to her shoulders and back like a waterfall.

Her scent was different than the faint odour of roses and cinnamon that he remembered. There were orchids and spices in it now, but it was still her, even if different her, and he inhaled it until he felt high headed. Her fingers were still grabbing his shirt on his shoulders, digging into the fabric as if her life depended on it.

Maybe it did.

Maybe she had missed him just as much as he had missed her.

He wanted to kiss her, so much that his mouth watered on the thought. Christ, he had missed it! Her lips on his, her breathing on his mouth, her sweet and salty taste on his tongue.

Slowly he let his hand wander from her hair to her cheek, to feel her mind - but at the touch of his fingers, she winced and withdrew, her hands letting go of his shirt.

"John, no!" she gasped, hiding her face. "Don't!"

A pain that had nothing to do with his broken ribs, shot through his core.

"Margot, I-"

"Just don't touch me." her voice was a faint plea. "I… I can't. Not yet."

"Okay." He pulled her back into his arms, making sure he only touched her clothes and her hair. Not her skin. "Okay, I'm sorry."

She was silent for a long while, still quietly sobbing. Her head rested on his shoulder, and she was slightly trembling, like a small animal, a bird or a mouse. Myers laid his hand on her back, to gently caress it, to smooth her tense muscles.

For an hour or so, they sat like this.

The clock on the wall ate time with the slow rustles of it's hands.

I hope someone called Dr. Heinemann. Myers thought. And my family. I should call Sue, she's been worried to death. And Amanda. Though Andu probably called her.

That thought made him frown. He still wasn't quite sure how he felt about the fact that Andu and Amanda were dating.

But somehow it all seemed insignificant now.

All that mattered was this, Margot's slender form against his chest, her head that lulled on his shoulder.

I get to have a life with her. We're married, and we are together.

I'll never let her go again. Not ever.

"I feel tired." Margot's faint whisper broke the silence.

"You want to sleep?" he asked, still cradling her in his arms.

She shook her head, her curls falling to his hands.

"No… I'm scared."

"Don't be. I'll stay with you. I'll watch your sleep."

She made a small sound, a sob or something else, he wasn't sure.

"Not here. Can I… can we go home?"

Her words made his heart skip a beat. How much had he longed to do that! To take her Home, their home, their own rooms. The bed where they'd made love a thousand times, where he had proposed to her, where he had held her near and shared her dreams as they slept.

He'd get to take her back there.

"Sure." he said, placing a gentle kiss on the top of her head. "I'll take you home."

An hour or so later, Margot was sleeping peacefully in their bed.

Myers gave her a one, last look, and then stepped into the living room. Yeah, he was so tired it felt like his head was going to fall off, and he ached all over, but he still had something he really needed to do.

He walked to the blue guy, who was casually leaning to the wall near the door, not looking a bit like he had just mind travelled to the death realm and back. He looked every bit as cool and mellow, as Myers had learned to know him, with his 'too hot to handle' surfer style and the permanent grin on his handsome face. But for the first time, Myers suspected there was more than met the eye in him.

That annoying blue bastard had risked his own life, to save Margot, without a moment's hesitation.

That told Myers something about his character.

"You wanted to talk about something?" Jay asked, with a sly smile. "Or you just wanted to spend the night with me?"

Making a mental note, not to let Jay get under his skin with his rude jokes, Myers answered with a smile. He offered Jay his hand.

"Thank you, Jay." he said, looking Jay straight in the eye. "You saved her. I don't know how I can ever repay what you did."

"Nah, don't mention it." Jay gave a laugh, but took his hand nevertheless. "Besides, it wasn't me she came back to. It was you."

"What do you mean?"

"Just that." Jay said. "She loves you, man. Enough to come back from the other side"

A moment of silence. That was probably the most sincere thing Jay had ever said to him, and Myers felt suddenly moved.

"Yeah, but she couldn't have done it, not without you. I owe you, Jay. Whatever you need, just tell me. I'm in your debt."

"Whatever I need, you say?" Jay grinned. "So, how about a nice threesome - you, me and your pretty wife? When she's recovered, of course. Don't want to be a brute."

Myers froze for a second or so, but then broke into a laugh.

"Yeah, in your dreams, Jay." he gave a him a pat on the shoulder. "But seriously - thank you. At least let me offer you a beer."

"A beer, huh? Makes me feel like we're on a date." Jay said, with a wink, but Myers didn't take the bait. Jay could tease him all he wanted to. He knew now, it was nothing but talk.

They were on the same side. What side that was, he wasn't quite sure, but he knew he could trust this blue duracell bunny with his life.

"So… you're heading back home now?" Myers asked, handing him a can of bud.

"Nah, don't think so. We'd better stick around for few days, in case something unexpected happens with Margot. And your ribs still need fixing too. Besides, Andu probably wants to hang around for a while, you know, because of Amanda. It's hard to date a girl if you're in alternate realities."

"Andu and Amanda, huh? So, tell me, is it… serious?" Myers asked with a frown. He opened his own beer, and took a gulp.

"Ask them." Jay shrugged. "How should I know? But isn't everything serious with Andu? Amanda is the first chick he's had in decades, you know."

"Huh." Myers replied. "But yeah, I guess it's okay. Andu is-"

"-not me?" Jay raised an eyebrow.

"That's not what I meant." Myers said, his voice serious. "You're alright. I've gotten over the-"

"-fact that I slept with your wife?"

"She wasn't my wife back then." Myers shrugged. "But what really annoys me about you, is that you keep interrupting me."

"Sorry. A bad habit." Jay took a gulp of his bud. "Myers, go to bed. You look like shit."

"Gee, thanks." Myers said, but didn't argue. He didn't even remember when was the last time he had slept, if short naps in a chair by Margot's hospital bed didn't count.

Besides, Margot was sleeping in their bed as he spoke. And he had promised to watch her sleep.

"You're right." he said to Jay, placing his beer on the table. "We mortals need our beauty sleep. But hey…"

"Yeah?" Jay asked, sipping his beer.

"I'm glad you'll be around."

Jay laughed. "Seriously, go to bed. You're delirious!"

And with a 'bamf', he disappeared, taking the six-pack of bud with him.