Authors Note: Oh, hello there! You may have noticed, much like Daphne, I am very late. (Lame joke is lame) In light of this, I've decided to change the way I upload this. Instead of releasing an episode every month as I'd originally planned, I'll be releasing a new chapter weekly. (Every Monday, fingers crossed) This gives me time to write even when I'm stuck or personal problems arise. Deepest apologies for not meeting my initial goal but you have my word I'll stick to this new schedule, I already have a backlog. I hope you enjoy!
John was driving down a highway listening to 80's rock. All he could think about was what had transpired at dinner. One daughter was suddenly having a baby and the other was suddenly getting married, or at least he thought that was still the plan. It wasn't supposed to happen like this, not this fast. He was already a grandfather, this was true, and one of his children was already married but this was different. This was his little girls. When did they grow up so fast and how could either of them think they were ready for these enormous life changes? Suddenly John felt a sharp pain in his chest. He'd had it all day but now this time it nearly knocked the wind out of him. He tried to breathe through it, focusing on the road. His arm began to tingle and before too long he'd lost control of the wheel. He veered into the other lane and nearly hit a car before it swerved out of the way, screeching to a halt. John continued off the side of the road, coasting down the side of a hill before hitting a tree and being ejected from his seat. Everything faded to black as he heard the people on the road get out of their car.
John woke up under the soft press of his blankets, the morning rays piercing into his bedroom. "Katie!" He heard Kathryn call from the kitchen. "You're gonna be late!" With a sigh, John rose out of bed. He grabbed his smartwatch from the bedside table, it displayed the date 8/19/2030. John got on his feet, got dressed, and headed into the kitchen.
"Good morning, sweetie!" He smiled as he kissed his wife. Kathryn packed a PB&J sandwich into a brown paper bag.
"Good morning to you too!" She smiled back. "Katie, come on!" She shouted upstairs. A little girl with strawberry blonde hair and green eyes slowly made her way down the stairs and into the kitchen.
"I heard you the first time, Grandma!" She snapped.
"Woah, young lady!" John held out his hands. "You don't talk to your grandmother like that." Katie rolled her eyes. "I mean it! Say you're sorry."
"Sorry, Grandma." She said in a dramatic tone. Daphne came inside from the guest house, her hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she wore teal scrubs.
"Alright, kiddo." She grabbed a beagle from the counter. "You all ready?"
"Uh…" Katie looked around the room. "Yeah, I think so." She nodded.
"What about your bag?" Kathryn asked. Katie's eyes widened and she ran into the other room and grabbed a pink Barbie backpack.
"Okay, now I have everything." She said. "Oh! Hey mom? Do you think I could take taekwondo? They're offering lessons at the school."
"Err…" Daphne bit her lip. She bent down to be eye level with her daughter. "You know who you should ask about that? Grandpa!" Katie looked up at John with bright green puppy dog eyes.
"I'm sorry, sweetie." He explained. "Things are really tight right now, I don't think we can afford it this year."
"Ugh!" Katie screamed. "You never get me anything I want!" She stomped. "You're all the worst and I hate you! I want to go live with Dad." She stormed outside to the car. Daphne turned to J and K.
"Please!?" She clasped her hands. "Emmett's supposed to be giving me child support at the end of the month, I promise I'll pay you back!"
"Honey," John rubbed his forehead. "We're almost in the poorhouse. We've got bills, we can't wait for the end of the month." He admitted.
"If Emmett has the money," Kathryn began. "Maybe you could ask him to pay for the lessons."
"No." She grimaced. "I don't want to talk to him after what happened last month."
"Well, the courts decided he was paying too much!" John said. "It's not like he can help that."
"He can give me the money that he owes me for his kid that I'm raising!" She spat.
"That's enough, Daphne!" John said. "First of all, you could have had shared custody but you fought him. Secondly, 'the kid you're raising'? You're hardly ever home!"
"You know what? Fine! If you don't want to help me maybe Regina will!" She stormed off as well. Kathryn rested her elbows on the counters and began to cry into her hands.
"Damnit, John. Did you have to go and do that? We just got her back." She scolded him.
"It wasn't supposed to be like this." John shook his head. "This is...this is a nightmare!"
Suddenly, John woke up in a hospital bed. Kathryn and a doctor were at either side of him. "Wh-..." He said weakly. "What happened."
"It appears, Mr. Kennish," The doctor began. "That you had a heart attack at the wheel."
"It's okay, honey!" Kathryn said. "It's going to be okay!"
"How bad was it?" He strained to speak.
"Well, you broke a few bones, including your spine and a few ribs. You're lucky to be alive, Mr. Kennish. If someone hadn't have reported the accident…" The doctor trailed off. Bay ran over from the doorway.
"Daddy!" She hugged him gingerly. It had been years since she called him that. Daphne stood by the doorway, hesitant to enter the room.
"Daphne…" With a weak hand, he beckoned her to him. She sheepishly walked over.
"Yeah, Dad?" She asked.
"When I get out of here." He strained. "I want you out of that guest house!" He whispered into her ear. She pulled back and shot him a look both hurt and confused. Was he mad at her? Did he blame her for his heart attack? The doctor interrupted her train of thought.
"Mr. Kennish," He said. "We have a few tests we need to perform."
"Alright," John said. "What do ya got?" The doctor pulled back the blanket to reveal John's legs.
"We're just gonna do a quick peripheral response test, see where we're at." The doctor pulled out a small stick. "Okay, just tell me if you can feel that." He ran the stick along the bottom of John's foot. John shook his head. "Alright, how about this?" He did the same to the other foot. Again, John shook his head. "Well, what about this?" He moved up to his shins.
"Yeah, right there." John nodded. "I felt that one. Uh- A tingle."
"Alright, on a scale from one to ten? Ten being your usual level of feeling and one being no feeling at all."
"Oh, I don't know…" John thought for a minute. "Four?"
"Okay, four. Okay…" The doctor muttered. "And how 'bout…there?" He ran the stick across his other leg.
"Yeah, definitely!" He nodded. "A six."
"And…" He moved the stick elsewhere on the opposite leg and repeated the motion.
"Not- not really. Maybe a three?"
"Okay, a three." The doctor put away the probe and wrote on his clipboard. "Alright! Thank you, John. That was very good."
"Is everything alright?" Kathryn asked. "That- That's good right?"
"Oh yeah, definitely!" The doctor said optimistically. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "It looks like some nerve function is returning, and remarkably fast I have to say."
"That's great!" Kathryn cheered. "So, when can we get him walking again?" The doctor's smile dropped. He looked at John, then at the clipboard, then back at John.
He took Kathryn, Toby, and the girls into his office where they sat down to discuss John's recovery. "Kathryn," He took off his glasses and set them on the desk. "It's important that we manage our expectations. We're talking about months of very hard work and even then, the odds…" He paused. "They're not great!"
"But you can't know for sure?" Kathryn asked.
"No." The doctor leaned forward in his chair.
"What about physical therapy?" Bay asked.
"Well," The doctor said. "It'll be costly. I can refer you to a colleague, he's one of the best. You'd have to talk to billing for the details, but I'm sure we could start...next week?"
"That's not good enough." Daphne chimed in. "The sooner he starts, the better chance he has at recovering, right?"
"Yes, Ms...Vasquez." He began. "That's correct. But to start right away, that's very expensive."
"We'll pay." Kathryn said. "However much, we'll pay." They continued to discuss the details of his treatment. Daphne couldn't stay any longer, she couldn't stand sitting in that hospital for another second. She felt horrible, she felt like this was all her fault. She said goodbye to everyone before going to collect Emmett. She walked through the tiled hallway to the waiting room. She passed by the exam room where they'd found out they were having a girl. Such a happy memory, now almost tainted. Emmett sat in a chair across the room from Travis. When he saw Daphne, he stood up. "Hey, what's up?" He asked.
"Everything's alright. He has some nerve damage in his legs, they're talking about recovery right now. Come on, I want to go home." She nodded to the door. "I'm tired."
"Okay," Emmett pulled out his phone. "We'll call an uber back to your place and-" Daphne waved her hand.
"Not my place. John said he wants me out of there."
"What!? Why?" Emmett's brow furrowed.
"I don't know," She shook her head. "But I don't think we're in a position to argue."
"Alright, we'll go back to my house, see if my mom will let you at least spend the night." Emmett tapped on his phone. Soon an Uber arrived and they went to the Bledsoe house.
It was late when they arrived. Emmett opened the front door and together they walked to the kitchen. Regina and Melody sat at the kitchen table, talking over a cup of coffee. "Hey, Mom… What are you doing here?" Daphne signed.
"I figured you'd be around here after what happened." Regina sipped her coffee. "I wanted to ask how John's doing and apologize for earlier. Honey, I support you in whatever you decided. It's just...hard to believe I'm gonna be a grandma."
"I know. I forgive you, Mom." Daphne sat down. "John's doing alright. He injured his spine and needs to learn to walk again, but he's still breathing.
"Well, that's good to hear." Melody signed. "Why did you both come back here? Daphne, wouldn't you want to stay with your family at the hospital?"
"I...couldn't really stay there. It's just too much." She explained. "Plus like, hospitals are dirty and I can't be getting sick right now."
"That's true." Melody nodded. "But why didn't you go home? I'm sure you want to rest."
"Well..about that. I sort of got...kicked out?"
"What!?" Regina set her cup down. "John doesn't blame you for what happened does he?"
"I don't know. I just don't want to fight him on it. I already felt like I let him down, and now…"
"Well, where are you going to stay?" Melody asked. "You can stay here for now, but not forever!"
"We'll find a place." Emmett leaned against the back of Daphne's chair. He pulled out a newspaper clipping. "I saw this earlier, there's an apartment for rent in East Riverside."
"Well, how are you going to get the money?" Melody asked. "I'm in no position to help, neither is Regina."
"I'll get a job." Emmett explained. "There's a mechanics shop down the street from the place looking for people who can fix bikes. I've been fixing Ripley for years. It'll be a piece of cake!"
"Okay, that's still not a lot. Rent maybe, but utilities?"
"I can get a job." Daphne spoke up. "They say you can work up to a week before labor, right? Plus, Mom, aren't you still looking for a barista at the Cracked Mug?"
"Yeah, but honey, you'd only be making about eleven dollars an hour. And that's a lot of time on your feet, are you sure you want to do that?"
"Totally, if it gets to be too much, I'll find a desk job." She said. "After all, I worked for John for months before-" She stopped.
"Before you tried to blackmail a senator." Melody said. "Great job history!"
"Please, mom?" Daphne turned to Regina, ignoring Melody's comment. "Can I have the job?"
"Well…" Regina paused. "You'll have to submit an application like everyone else."
"Thanks, Mom!" She jumped up and hugged her. "You won't regret this, I promise." She pulled away and walked over to Emmett. "Anyways, I'm pretty tired. Any place I can turn in?" She asked.
"We have a guest bedroom down the hall and to the right." Melody explain.
"Or…" Emmett signed.
"Or, you could stay in Emmett's room." She rolled her eyes. "Besides, what more damage could you do?" She signed before sipping her coffee.