Author's Note
It's been funny watching people complain about the snow, and my city acts like they're stupid. They sat in front of cameras and said, "We had no idea" bull. There were two different statements saying to watch out for the snow, and they still expected the city to run with no plows or salt trucks and for the school buses to run as well. Yah, good luck with that. I declared snow day and slept in (until I found that I had to go to work later that night). Thanks to EcoSeeker for her reviews and unknown Guest that will get they're answer at the end of the next chapter.
The ABC's of Perfect Mistakes
Chapter Twenty-Three: W is for War-torn
The favourite part of his job was going around and checking on his patients. Slim always prided himself on being the doctor with the biggest heart. These people weren't just his patients, they were somebody's friend, sister, brother, father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, wife or husband -and sometimes multiple things. He already checked on the family of burn victims, that he guessed wouldn't survive the night, and the group of guards that sang out when they found out that Torn was their new Commander -he'd also heard the nurses telling them to shut up several times. He passed them now, like giddy school girls they were still up whispering among themselves, although they hushed when they saw Slim walk by -he gave them a brief nod.
At the end of the hall, protected by a guard, was Amberly's room. Slim paused before it, he considered going into her room but the head doctor, and Ashelin, all agreed she needed some quiet time. He continued on, peaking in on the babies and giving a small wave to the mothers-to-be. He slipped inside one of the many war victim rooms, after the Metal Heads attacked his emergency rooms flooded with countless victims. He filtered them out, leaving the ones to die in the cold with their families and the other ones that had a chance he treated them as soon as possible -but he knew he couldn't save all of them.
He passed a group of sleeping nurses, all curled up on the hospital beds and open couches in the waiting areas. He opted not to wake them, he feared them more than the Metal Heads. He stopped outside of a hospital room and leaned on the wall. It was just like old times, he walked into the room with a smile and draped a hospital blanket over Lena and Parker. After Jak left with Keira, Lena must've pushed his bed against Parker's so they could sleep together like old times. His smile flattened when he saw the propaganda flyer he saw a group of civilians passing around. It claimed that Jak helped Krew get the Metal Heads into the city, and he needed to be punished. He grabbed the piece of paper and crumbled it up.
He sighed to himself, "And things were just finally starting to calm down."
Parker rubbed her temples as the clock ticked down, it all came down to the math. How many minutes were left until the new shield was brought down, how many seconds did the Saviour Stone give them and, of course, how long until they were all dead? She spent many hours asking herself this and asking Lena, but nether of them knew. Many people believed that the Eco Grid was fixed but that was far from true. Besides a virus in the system, they found that the Eco Grid couldn't support the Saviour Stone -the grid was just too powerful and it needed more than a little stone to keep the shield up.
And it came full circle, how long until everything went to shit?
"What are we doing?" Parker grumbled to herself.
"What else?" Lena asked from behind her, Parker turned to look at the girl. She spun in her chair, first going left several times before going right. "Figure out how to fix the system."
"It seems like I'm doing all the work."
"Because I've accepted our destiny," Lena stopped and grabbed Parker's chair to steady herself. "No matter what we do in here, our doom is inevitable and my foreseen death is steadily approaching."
"That's a very morbid thought."
"And thats why we're going to Daxter's party tonight, so we can drink ourselves stupid."
"Nooooo." She chuckled folding her legs under herself. "No."
"Why not?"
"Because," She leaned back in the chair. "We're busy and we need to save the city."
"What part of 'our doom is inevitable' and 'my foreseen death is steadily approaching ' don't you understand?"
"Well we have to do something, we can't just wait around for the heroes to save us."
"And if they don't?"
"Then we get off our asses and do something!" Parker shouted.
"I am doing something, that's why you should trust me and come to Daxter's party. And maybe you can steal a kiss from a tall cynical blonde."
Parker blinked. "...Tess?"
"No, Jak."
Parker glared at her as she rolled past her and put the computer in stand-by mode. "I want to punch you in the face, so bad right now, you have no idea."
"Come on," Lena said jumping off the chair. "Let's go before the traffic gets to bad."
Parker groaned and followed her friend. She glanced back at the Power Station, she could still run back in and work on a plan to help the city. She thought better of it, following Lena down the ramp to their awaiting KG car -something Lena 'borrowed' before the shield fell. Lena told her that a couple of Krizmon Guards came looking for it, Lena refused to return it since it belonged to her. Parker wasn't surprised to see that she'd carved her name into the front door and the hood.
The drive to the Hip Hog was a slow one, Lena had to break or reverse because of the countless Metal Heads, KG and citizens. Eventually, after a cursing match with a group of drunk Slummers, Lena went the long way to the bar, going through the Barzaar. Lena parked outside and didn't wait for Parker to get out of her car, she basically kicked the door open and shouted she needed a drink. Parker glanced up at the giant glowing Daxter, she raised her eyebrow at it before jumping out of the car.
Inside the Hip Hog, she saw Lena already doing shots with Torn and Ashelin. She spotted Jak and Keira sitting together at the bar, Jak had one arm looped around Keira's waist. They were talking with Samos, Tess and Pecker, they looked solum as Samos spoke. Torn slid a drink down to her, she caught it and glared at him.
"What is it?"
"Tequila." He said with a smirk.
"Drink!" Lena shouted banging her drink on the table and then downing it. Parker did the same, tasting the powerful burn in her stomach. She coughed and everyone laughed. "It's been a while! Next round!" Lena cheered.
Parker drank three more shots before calling it quits, ignoring the comments of wimping-out and losing the game. She felt very heavy on her feet and walked slowly out of Daxter's bar. She dropped to her butt just outside the bar and then fell on her back, she stared up at the sky as fireworks went off in bright pops of lemon yellows, fiery reds, impossible blues and shocking greens. She could hear the cheers of the town's people, celebrating the success of the city. The doors open and someone came to stand over her.
"Lena said you were drunk." Jak said looking down at her.
Parker giggled. "Just tipsy."
"Should you really be drinking with a concussion?"
She sat up and stood, dusting herself off with both hands. "I don't have a concussion, I was cleared by Slim hours ago." She glanced behind him as Samos, Sig, Daxter and Pecker all came out together. "And, I had work to do."
Jak raised an eyebrow at her but didn't blink an eye when Daxter jumped onto his shoulder. "Like what?"
She shrugged. "It's not your concern."
"My boy!" Samos cheered stepping between him and Parker. "You saved the city and more. Metal Kor and his menace are history," He motioned to the sky. "And somewhere out there, an ancient race has begun again."
"I'm just glad to be home." Jak answered.
"Yeah? Well rest up! We've got a lot to do and so much time to do it in."
Jak winced. "Don't say time, the Rift Ring was destroyed, remember?"
"You know," Sig started looking towards the sky. "My momma used to read bedtime stories about Mar when she'd tuck me in. She'd give me a nice glass of warm yakow milk... and my little Poopsy bear."
"Bedtime stories? Warm milk? Poopsy bear?!" Daxter shouted. "Buddy, ya just blew ya image!"
"I've got a feeling we'll meet Mar someday. He may be closer than you think..." Samos said with a smile.
"You're the designated driver!" Sig said handing Jak the Ruby Key.
"Oh no... I am done with adventures." Jak said holding the key out to Samos, but before Samos could take it Parker snatched it. She tossed it in the air and caught it again.
"I'll take that, can't be too careful with dangerous, priceless artifacts, eh?"
Jak glared at her before looking back to Samos. "Besides, you'll tell us before something happens next time, right Samos?" When the man didn't answer, he asked again, louder. "RIGHT, SAMOS?"
Pecker squawked. "You never know what the future may hold."
"Wait... you know something, don't ya feather breath?" Daxter shouted.
"Who? Me? Ah... no... We're just, ah... guessing, right Samos? Today... tomorrow... Only time will tell!"
"No! You're gonna tell... RIGHT NOW! Aggghhh!" Daxter launched himself at Pecker, Parker jumped back as they rolled together over her feet. She stepped to the side as feathers and fur flew around them. Parker bumped Jak as Sig picked Pecker and Daxter off the ground. He glared at both of them as Samos stepped in front of them motioning to the sky.
"Jak, my boy, the future awaits!"
"I say we drink to our future!" Parker cheered, turning on her heel and running back into the bar. She ran to Lena's booth and snatched a bottle from the table.
"Thief!" Lena shouted tossing her full-house of cards onto the table. Parker heard Torn let off a string of curses followed by Ashelin's laughter, but she ignored both and drank straight from the bottle. She propped herself onto the whack-a-mole game in the corner and drank some more whiskey, licking her lips are Jak came in. Keira waved to him as he looked around the bar, nodding to his girlfriend before looking at Parker.
"What are you doing?" Jak snapped.
"Enjoying the last days of my life, cheers to your hero." She smiled.
He glared at her. "Okay, you did it, you've got my undivided attention. What's going on?"
"The city's going to break down, what else?"
"I defeated Kor and the Baron's dead. What else is there?"
"There's always something," She whispered. "Even when everything seems peaceful."
He grabbed the bottle. "Are you done?"
"Maybe..." She grumbled, she jumped off the game and walked over to a booth, stumbling at the last second before crashing onto the cold cushions. Jak sat across from her as she held her head. "I can feel the hangover coming."
"Then maybe you shouldn't drink enough for a whole army. And a hangover normally happens when you're done being drunk."
She shrugged. "So I'm drunk, then. What are you going to do about it hero?" She snapped, saying hero as if it was an insult. "Why did you really come back?"
Jak rubbed his temple. "I told you already, this is my city, I started here."
"Don't give me that phony bullshit you're giving everyone these days." She snapped. "I thought we were past that. There has to be a better reason then that." She gasped looking at him. "That's right, you promised you'd kill me after this war was over." She laughed. "Guess what it's never gonna be over. You didn't really kill Erol or Praxis, as for Krew, I'll give you that one. It's a cold thing to leave someone to die."
Jak crossed his arms. "Are you done?"
She swayed. "Maybe."
"You proved that you're not the evil bitch I thought you were."
"Then you're mistaken." She mumbled falling over onto her side. Her stomach turned and she felt the burn of the tequila coming back up. It pushed past her teeth and burned her mouth, she cried out as she bit her tongue and tasted the iron in her mouth. She pressed her cheek against the cool cushion of the booth, she gave a pathetic whimper as the music changed and the lights started to strobe. Jak came around the side and sat beside her, he pulled her into a sitting position. "Enjoy the show?" Parker grumbled.
"No, I don't enjoy watching my friends suffer."
"Oh, so I'm your friend now?"
He paused with his hand on a napkin, he grabbed it and wiped a line of vomit from her chin. "We have an agreement not to murder each other."
"I don't need your pity." She snapped.
"And I wasn't planning on giving it."
She forced herself to stand. "Why do you try so hard to hate me?"
"Funny," Jak said. "I was going to ask you the same thing."
TBC...