Undone

Chapter 6

Three days later, Archie and his mom were involved in yet another argument. Although, Fred had shown a few signs of improvement over the course of the last few days, Archie was still determined to stay at his bedside with only a few short breaks here and there. Mary, on the other hand, thought that it was time for Archie to go back to school and to get back into a somewhat normal routine.

"Archie, you've already missed so much school. You're almost to the point where you won't be able to make up all the work you've missed."

"I don't care, Mom," Archie stated firmly. "I need to be here."

"No, you don't, sweetie. Dad is slowly getting better and you sitting in this hospital room all day and night isn't healthy. You haven't been outside of these hospital walls for almost two weeks."

"I'm fine."

"This isn't up for discussion, Archie. Starting tomorrow, you're going back to school. And starting tonight, you're going home and we're going to eat something besides hospital food."

"No, I'm not," Archie replied matter-of-factly.

"Archibald Andrews! This really isn't up for discussion."

Before Archie could offer up any more protest, his dad's heart monitor started beeping loudly. Archie and Mary both looked up frantically to see Fred's heart rate increasing at an alarming rate. Before they could say or do anything, a nurse entered the room to check on Fred.

"What's happening?" Archie asked frantically as he looked on.

The nurse pushed a button on the monitor that silenced the loud beeping and quickly pushed another button that would automatically check Fred's blood pressure. After checking a few other things, she finally turned back to Archie and Mary.

"Well, his blood pressure and heart rate are both up a little bit and he's breathing a little faster than normal. He could be experiencing a little bit of pain or it could be that he's starting to wake up more." Stepping back over to the bed, the nurse checked his pupils with a penlight and spoke directly to Fred. "Mr. Andrews, can you hear me? Can you squeeze my hand?"

Archie stepped quickly over to his dad's other side and grabbed his hand. "Dad! Dad, can you squeeze my hand?"

After what seemed an eternity to Archie, he felt the tiniest bit of pressure across his fingers. "He did it," Archie yelled loudly, his voice squeaking in excitement. "He squeezed my hand! Dad, I'm right here! You're okay!"

Mary stepped up next to her son and pulled him into a hug. She wasn't surprised when she felt Archie's body sag in both exhaustion and relief. She knew that he was almost to the point of complete exhaustion, both mentally and physically, and it was time to start insisting that he take better care of himself.

Archie quickly straightened himself back up and was once again leaning over Fred's bed. "Dad, can you hear me? Can you open your eyes?"

"Archie, don't expect too much all at once, okay?" the nurse said gently. "Give him time to wake up on his own."

"Okay," Archie agreed immediately. "But, this is a good sign, right? He's going to wake up? Everything is going to be okay?"

"It's definitely a good sign," she agreed. "I'll update Dr. Casey the next time I talk to him. In the meantime, I'm going to give your dad a little bit of pain medication to make him more comfortable."

Archie and Mary watched as the nurse medicated Fred and then repositioned him in the bed. After the pain medication was given, they watched as his heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure returned to normal. After almost an hour of watching Fred's every breath and listening to every blip on the heart monitor sound out each heartbeat, Mary turned to see that Archie had fallen asleep in his chair, his hand still grasping one of Fred's.

"Archie….sweetie, wake up," she called out gently. Archie didn't stir at all. "Archie," she called out a little louder. When he still didn't budge, she stood up to gently nudge him. As she stood up, her purse dropped to the floor with a loud thud. To her surprise, Archie jolted awake, jumping out of his chair with a yelp. By the way he was looking around wildly, Mary could tell that he wasn't quite awake yet and that most likely, the loud thud of her purse dropping to the floor had sounded quite like a gunshot to him. Quickly stepping over to him, she gently grabbed his arm.

"Archie, it's okay," she started.

"Dad!" Archie yelled as he frantically looked around the room.

"He's right there, sweetie," she said as she motioned to the bed. "He's okay."

Archie's eyes finally landed on the shape of his dad's body in the hospital bed and Mary immediately noticed the resigned look on his face as everything came rushing back to him.

"He's okay, Archie," she repeated.

"No, he's not, Mom. He's not okay. Nothing is."

After arguing with his mom again about going home (and dreadfully losing that argument), Archie reluctantly left the hospital. They had at least worked out a plan so that one of them would be with Fred at all times, much to Archie's relief. The thought of his dad waking up alone was terrifying, to say the least, and Archie was determined that that wouldn't happen.

With his mom sitting at his dad's side, Archie made his way back home. On his way, he texted Veronica to let her know that he had left the hospital and within minutes, they had hatched a plan to meet up at Archie's house within the hour. Once Archie arrived at home, he went straight upstairs to take a shower. For the first time since his dad was shot, Archie was able to take a shower and actually enjoy it. Although, he really wished that he was still at the hospital with his dad, he had to admit that it felt good to be home. After getting out of the shower, he went to his room and fell onto his bed. While he laid there, he couldn't stop his mind from reliving that day. Now that he wasn't so focused on whether or not his dad was going to survive, he was finally able to really think about what had happened. For the first time, he wondered if Sheriff Keller had any ideas on who the man was. Had he caught him? Did he have any leads at all?

Without hesitation, he grabbed his phone and made a call.

"Archie? Is everything okay? How's your dad doing?"

"Better," Archie answered tersely. "Listen, Kevin….I was wondering if you know anything about what's been going on. Does your dad have any leads on who shot my dad?"

There was a fairly long silence, making Archie think for a second that the call had disconnected, before Kevin answered. "Archie, didn't your mom tell you?"

"Tell me what?" Archie asked. "Did they catch the guy?"

"No, they didn't catch him, but my dad isn't working the case anymore."

"What?! What do you mean? He can't stop until he catches the man, Kevin!"

"He didn't stop, Archie. The FBI took over the case a few days ago. My dad told your mom all about it."

"Why would the FBI get involved? That doesn't make any sense."

"I don't know if I should tell you, Archie. It could get my dad into trouble."

"Kevin, you have to tell me! I have to know."

After another long silence, Kevin continued. "All I know is that this guy's MO matched something that the FBI has been working on. It's something much bigger than just a random robbery. That's all I know, Archie."

After saying a quick goodbye, Archie ended the call. He couldn't believe that his mom didn't tell him that the FBI had taken over the case. Seconds later, he found himself dialing his mom's number, anger coursing through him as he waited for her to answer.

"Archie, is everything okay?" she asked right away.

"How's Dad?" Archie asked.

"He's fine, Archie. The nurses just came in and turned him again, so he's resting right now."

"Why didn't you tell me, Mom?" Archie asked angrily.

"Tell you what?" Mary asked in confusion. "Archie, what's wrong?"

"Why didn't you tell me that the FBI took over the case? Kevin said his dad told you that several days ago. Why didn't you tell me?"

"Archie, I didn't think it mattered," Mary admitted. "And I didn't want to worry you more than necessary."

"You didn't think it mattered?! You didn't think it mattered that this wasn't just some random robbery gone wrong?" Archie yelled.

"Sweetie, we need to focus on Dad right now. Sheriff Keller and the FBI will focus on the rest."

"You should have told me, Mom," Archie said. He ended the call before allowing his mom to reply and threw his phone down to the floor.

"Archie? Are you okay?"

Archie jerked his head up at the sound of Veronica's voice to find her standing in the doorway to his room.

"I knocked on the front door, but you didn't answer. The door wasn't locked, so I let myself in. You should really learn to lock the front door, Archie. At least, until they catch the man who…" Veronica left the rest unsaid, but Archie obviously knew what she was going to say.

Until they catch the man who shot your dad…..

"Ronnie!" Archie jumped off of the bed and crossed the room in two large steps. Pulling her into his arms, he hugged her tightly. "I'm glad you're here," he said quietly.

"What's going on, Archie?" she asked. "I could hear you yelling when I opened the door. Is everything okay?"

"Sorry, I was just, um….talking to my mom."

"Arguing is the word you were looking for, I think," Veronica said.

"We were just discussing something, Veronica. It's no big deal."

Veronica decided to just let it go before Archie became even more upset. "Well, then, what do you want to do, Archiekins? Watch a movie? Go for a walk? Go to Pop's?"

Archie flinched at Veronica's words. "Oh, my God, Archie…I'm so sorry!" she cried.

"It's okay, Ronnie."

"No, it's not! I was trying to get your mind off of everything, but instead I just made you remember the place where it all started."

Archie pulled Veronica over to his bed and sat down, pulling her onto his lap. "It's okay," he said again. "I appreciate you trying to distract me, at least."

"Maybe I can distract you in a different way," Veronica answered softly, right before pulling Archie in for a kiss. Archie didn't fight her in the least and half a second later, his mind was completely focused on the way her lips felt against his.

Author's note: Well, if you're all still interested, I thought I'd post another chapter. I know it's a bit shorter than the usual, but I just recently had surgery on my arm and I'm taking things a bit slower. I hope you all enjoy this chapter and I would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks for reading.