Chapter 4.

As Kris and Jill were walking down the hall, a nurse walked towards them.

"Something wrong?" Kris immediately asked as they met up with the nurse, instantly feeling worried that something had happened. Kris had been down twice yesterday, first with Jill as she'd arrived to LA, and then together with Ella on their way home from school. Kelly had been tired, but she had looked a lot better since the first days, and she had been talking a lot before the medications made her fall asleep again. Of course, they had been talking about Charlie. It was the first thing Kelly had said as Kris and Jill walked into the room. `Guess who was here!´ Kris was sad she hadn't been able to meet him, but she was happy that he'd checked on Kelly, when she was awake. It was definitely time for him to show himself.

"Well, no, not really, but…" The nurse begun.

"But what?" Jill asked.

"We've planned on removing her bandage about an hour ago, but she told us she didn't want to take it off yet. We let it stay on, but we have to take it away today."

"We'll go in and talk to her."

The nurse smiled gratefully.

"Thank you."

Kris and Jill smiled, before continuing down the hall, into Kelly's room. Kelly was sitting up, staring into nothing.

"Kelly?" Kris said as she walked up to the bed.

Kelly jumped slightly, then quickly looked around to make sure it was just the two sisters. This immediately caused her head to spin and the headache to increase. She put her face into her hands, and tried to hide her sobs. Kris sat down next to her hip, carefully putting a hand on Kelly's leg and Jill stood next to her, putting a hand on Kelly's shoulder.

"Kelly, what's the matter?" Kris whispered.

It took a long time before Kelly finally managed to meet Kris' eyes.

"Where's Ella?"

"School. I'll pick her up about three hours, and I'll take her here later."

"Don't."

"What?"

"Don't. I don't want her to see me like this."

"Kelly? What's wrong? The nurse told me that you didn't want to take off the bandage?"

"They've… shaved my head. I don't want to see what I look like."

Kris looked up at Jill, as they both suddenly realized why Kelly was so upset. Like most women, she loved her hair. It provides comfort, it's something to hide behind, and to get you recognized. It makes you look sexy, and you can get a lot of compliments for it. And with compliments comes the pride and confidence. Hair is definitely a comfort.

"Oh sweet Kelly. You're such a fantastic woman, and you will look great in whatever you have on the head, hair or not. And you know what? It will always grow out. Come on. I'm happy you're alive." Jill said, and Kris agreed.

Kelly sighed, knowing Jill was right. She was happy she was alive too, and she could always wear a hat until her hair grew back. It was not like she had any choice, she couldn't wear the bandages until it grew out. A beanie would have to do.

They kept talking for a few minutes before the nurse came in. Kris nodded towards her, and the nurse smiled pleased as she went to get the doctor. They returned, and Kris sat in front of Kelly in the bed and held her hands all the time, Jill was on the other side of the bed, giving her support too, while the doctor and nurse removed the entire bandage. Kelly had her eyes closed, and she breathed heavy, she was getting dizzy since she was sitting up completely by herself, she couldn't lean back towards the pillows. Kris and Jill were observing her every movement, every breath, hating to see their friend look so sick.

As they removed the compress covering the wound, Kris couldn't help but look, and she was surprised to see such a little scar. She had thought it was a lot worse.

"How does it look?"

Kris looked back down and met Kelly's weak eyes.

"It looks good. I'm not a doctor…" Kris said, smiling up towards Dr Jackson who was cleaning the wound. "But the scar is smaller than I thought it would be."

Kelly smiled slightly, before wincing, trying to pull away from the doctor's hands.

"Sorry." He said, as he covered it up with a new compress. "There we go. It looks really well, it's healing fine."

"Good." Kelly whispered as the nurse and Dr Jackson helped her to carefully lean back against the pillows.

"For how long does she have to stay?" Jill asked, looking from Kelly who had closed her eyes, to Dr Jackson.

"Well, when she's managed to get to the bathroom by herself, then we can talk about discharging. I don't want to send her home if I'm not sure that she can take care of herself. But, she has recovered very well, so it should just be a few more days I'm sure." Dr Jackson smiled as he wrote something down in Kelly's journal.

"Okay." Jill smiled, looking down at Kris, noticing that Kris was observing the nurse who was giving Kelly some medications. Dr Jackson noticed the women's looks.

"Don't worry, it's just some meds to take away the nausea and headache. She's okay."

Kris and Jill both looked up at Dr Jackson and gave him a smile as he left them alone, the nurse following him. Kelly still had her head leaned back against the pillows, eyes closed. Both Kris and Jill were sitting in the bed, and Kris was still holding Kelly's hand. Kris squeezed the hand and Kelly slowly opened her eyes. She met Kris' eyes, and she smiled weakly.

"Thanks for being here." Kelly whispered, looking from Kris to Jill, then back to Kris.

"Of course we're here Kell. We're with you in all of this, and you know that. And if you'd need me, anytime of the day, just call."

Kelly nodded slightly, giving them a smile.

"I know. And I'm so grateful for having you by my side."

"Have Julie or Bosley been by today by the way?" Jill asked, wanting to meet them since they had missed each other yesterday.

"No, I talked to Bosley about an hour ago, he should be here after lunch, and Julie would join him."

"Have you talked to Bri or Tiff? Charlie said he would give them a call."

"I've talked to Bri, I managed to convince her not to come." Kelly said, closing her eyes for a few seconds, which gave the two sisters enough time to meet each other's eyes, giving each other a short smile, before looking back at Kelly. Kris observed her dear friend for a second. Sure, it was very weird seeing Kelly without any hair, it was quite a radical change from the long brown curls, but Kris hadn't though of how powerful Kelly's face could look. Kris wrote a reminder in her head to bring Kelly beanies when she brought Ella this afternoon.

"Tiff will probably call too, she's studying a lot right now so she probably doesn't have the time to call." Kris said, giving Kelly a smile as she opened her eyes.

"Yeah, probably something like that."

Kelly had given into the effects of the medications about an hour later, and Kris and Jill had been happy that Kelly had been awake during that hour. She was definitely improving. Kris and Jill drove back to the beach house and a little while later Kris went to pick Ella up at her school.

Ella was outside with her friends as Kris pulled up the cobra outside. Ella noticed her, took her bag and said her goodbye as she ran down towards the car and Kris helped her climb in.

"Are we going to mum?"

"Yes, but we're gonna go shopping first." Kris smiled.

The drove off to a nearby mall and bought an entire bag with hats, scarf and beanies in all sizes, shapes and colors to Kelly before they headed to the hospital. Kelly was awake, eating some pudding as they came into the room, and Ella immediately landed in her bed, hugging her close. She then sat down on her knees next to Kelly, looking at her bald head.

"Can I touch it?" Ella smiled curious, and Kelly just smiled and nodded. Ella leaned up and carefully touched Kelly's head, and both Kelly and Kris couldn't help but to smile. Kris showed Kelly the bags filled with the headwear, and Kelly laughed.

"How sweet!"

"It's so you don't get cold." Ella smiled and Kelly smiled grateful towards her, and then Kris.

"You're the best."

Kelly put away her pudding, and begun digging in the bags. She found a white, knitted one and pulled it onto her head, smiling.

"How do I look?" She said, looking from Kris to Ella.

"Your cheekbones really pop." Kris smiled, being truly honest. Kelly had amazing facial features, and with no hair to hind behind, her face was absolutely stunning.

"I don't care if you have a hat or head, you're the best anyway!" Ella smiled, crawling up and lying down, head leaning towards Kelly's chest.

"I'm glad." Kelly said, smiling.

Kris smiled, handing Kelly the pudding as she noticed Kelly glancing towards it.

"Thank you." Kelly smiled, happily continuing to eat, feeding Ella a spoon too as an open mouth suddenly reached the small plastic bowl. Ella smiled as she got her entire mouth filled, and Kris couldn't help but laugh. Those two were perfect together.

"By the way, did you speak to Charlie about work?" Kris asked.

"Not really, well, I told him I wanted out and he fully understood that. But I was so tired so he let he rest and said that he'd return later to discuss something work related with me. I don't know what that was."

"I hope he returns when I'm here so I have a chance to meet him too." Kris smiled.

"I hope so too. You too deserve to meet him, all of us should. He truly is a chicken, but maybe this forced him to open his eyes. He's realizing he's loosing all of us. You're leaving, I'm out and Bosley wants to retire. He said Julie's bored and wants to do something else too, I haven't really spoken to her."

"I haven't either really talked to her. Julie has been kind enough to take care of the paperwork on this case, I think she noticed that neither Bosley or myself are capable of it."

"I heard Bosley beat Danworth?" Kelly more asked than stated.

"Yeah, he kicked the door of the car so it slammed into him or something like that. We saw him here at the hospital, along with the police of course, and Bosley got really upset. But we were all so worried."

Kelly just nodded along; she really didn't know what to say. She don't even want to think about what she would have done it he'd shot Bosley instead. She would probably have broken his neck with her bare hands. Angry Kelly is not someone to play with.

"Anyway, I haven't really spoken to Bosley either. I think he might be a little mad about me leaving the agency, even though I know he wants the best for me."

"He'll miss you. We'll all miss you."

"But you're coming with me?"

"Yeah, that's what we've said, but I still doesn't have a job or house in DC, and I don't know when I'm ready to go to work. You're leaving within just two weeks, and I might not be ready to find a job that soon."

"Kelly, I've talked to my future boss, and he knows that I'm not moving until I've made sure that's you're completely healed and recovered."

Kelly smiled gratefully. "Oh, Kris, you don't have to do that."

"Yes, I do. Both for yours and Ella's sake." Kris smiled, looking from Kelly to Ella, who was still leaning towards Kelly, but she had stolen the pudding and spoon, and had almost finished it, not noticing the two grownups talking.

"I love you Kris. I really do. You're the best friend I could possibly get, and I'm so happy I have you."

"I love you too Kelly, and I'm happy too."

Kris and Kelly shared a hug, before being interrupted by Ella handing Kris the empty pudding-bowl.

"Hey, wasn't that mine?" Kelly smiled.

Ella looked up at Kelly, just giving her a wide grin, giggling.