The phone cord twirled around her finger as she waited for Larry to answer. The stress and the doctors coming in and checking on her had given her the stress and she needed to do something. Calling Larry was something that they told her not to do, the higher ups were telling her not to talk to anyone.
She needed someone to talk to and the number that she memorized was Larry's phone. She wasn't even sure if it was still active.
"Hello," Larry's voice asked upon picking up.
She sighed. "Hi, Larry, it's me. It's Abigail." She tried to sound strong but at the moment she couldn't make it happen.
It was the shocked and scared voice of her cousin Larry that worried Abigail.
"Abigail?" Larry asked, then there was a clanking of a glass being spilled. "Son of a bitch." She heard him curse.
"Don't worry, Mate, we got this." A deep English accented voice said.
"Hold on, please hold on." Larry said.
She could imagine that he was somewhere where he wasn't alone. Abigail sighed, looking at the ring she had placed on her right ring finger. It was the only ring that she owned. Then she glanced at the leg that was propped up on a pillow, fresh bandages wrapped around the stump of what should have been her left leg.
"Abigail, is it really you? Prove it, please." Her cousin begged.
"Windham Laurence Rotunda, you damn knuckle head." She cursed at him, smiling sadly knowing that he thought she was a dead person. "This isn't a joke, Larry. I'm alive."
"But how? You were dead."
"No, everyone thought I was dead. No, Larry. I'm fully alive. I've got some time before I have to go in for surgery. I wanted to call someone and your number just happened to be the only number I managed to memorize from so long ago."
"Surgery?" He sounded like the word confused him. "Surgery for what?"
"Nothing major, Larry. I'm at the Berlin Military Hospital right now. I can give you the address, I figured you would tell Aunt Steph that I was alive, tell everyone."
"I'm in London. I can get there faster than they can." His voice raced, along with her heartbeat knowing that a family member was going to be there for her. "I'll just have to tell my boss, I'll have to cancel some shows but…I'm coming. Give me the address and I'll be there as soon as I can."
Abigail gave him the address to her hospital and then reluctantly had to let him go because they were about ready to wheel her into pre-OP. All she had to do was wait now. Resting her head against the pillows behind her, she looked at the drop ceiling, looking at the small holes as she was being wheeled out of her room. She smiled for the first time in the last couple of days. From Iraq to Germany, she was glad to be so close to family, to getting back her normal life.
Then she frowned. No it wasn't going to be normal. Her leg pain, her aches and issues, they were still there. It wouldn't go away that easily.
As she was being wheeled towards surgery to fix her mangled leg, she was scared. She had been scared to fall asleep, she had been scared to go through surgery because she felt she would never wake up.
While getting put under, she saw him, she saw Karim looking at her, as he did any time she had closed her eyes. This time he wasn't alone, there were familiar shadows behind him. Shadows of people she had known for years.
Contacting his boss was a hassle. Triple H was not in Europe. He was home with his three girls. Triple H didn't like to travel to Europe when there was a tour on.
"Say that again?" Triple H asked, waking up slightly. "Your cousin is alive? But I thought she was dead."
"She was, she called me and told me that she was going in for surgery. But she's alive."
Across the room sat Stu in mid sit up. He and Larry made eye contact before Stu went back to his routine. Larry had to explain what was going on, which he had already told Stu earlier, along with everyone at the table.
"She wasn't allowed to call anyone. Her commanding officers said not to but she needed to talk to someone. So she called me." Larry explained. "I need to go, Paul. I just…I know I have that match with Reigns but…yes, I understand. Stu offered to go with me to Berlin."
Stu stopped in his sit up again before getting up. Apparently that was the end of that work out routine.
Triple H sighed. "Yes, I'll just change up the roster for tomorrow's show. How long do you need?"
"A day or two but…Stu Bennett offered to come with me."
His boss made a sound. "Fine, you and Stu can go see your cousin. I'll give you three days but you have to get back by next Monday's show in Scotland."
"Don't worry, we will. Thank you, sir."
Stu was now putting some of his cloths in his suitcase. "Are you almost ready?" Stu asked.
"About. There is a plane leaving for Germany in two hours." Larry said in a voice that didn't sound like his usual self.
"What's going through your head, mate?" Stu asked. "What's going on?"
"I just can't believe it, you know. I can't believe that she's alive. She has been alive for five years and no one knew about it."
"I know it's a shock. I don't really know what to tell you, Larry. Just hang in there and wait to see her again. We'll be there tomorrow."
Larry nodded before continuing on with packing up his stuff. Tomorrow was going to be another day.
It had been early the next morning when Stu had brought Larry to the Berlin Military Hospital. After flying all night and checking into a nearby hotel, both wrestlers made their way to the hospital in search of the missing Abigail Winters.
"Do you think she's okay?" Stu asked pulling into a parking spot.
"She's Abigail Winters and she's the toughest woman I know." Larry boasted.
"Did she say how badly she was injured?"
"No, she only said that she had to go in for surgery. We didn't talk after that. Her parents haven't even tried to contact me or anyone in my family, not since I last contacted my mom." Larry's voice darkened slightly as he sat back in the seat.
Stu hadn't heard much about Abigail's side of the family. He'd only heard about Abigail being with the Rotunda and the Windham families. He hadn't heard anything about the Winters family.
"I'll come to pick you up when you're through."
"Actually, I'd like some back up. I don't know what will happen if I'm there alone."
Luckily for him Stu didn't have any place to be, not that he wanted to go anywhere at the moment.
"You're lucky I'm your mate, Larry." Stu smirked opening his door.
"How is Tori taking the issue?" Larry asked as they started for the front of the hospital.
"She'll get over it. Besides, I need some time away from her."
Dropping the subject of Tori Crawford, Stu's long time girlfriend, the two men made their way to the hospital entrance. Larry was physically nervous and Stu obviously unsure. Yes, he visited American hospitals but those were children. He hadn't any idea what an American military hospital was like. American soldiers seemed to prefer American performers, at least that was what he thought.
"Can I help you?" the receptionist as. She had a slight German accent.
"I'm Windham Rotunda, I'm here to see my cousin Abigail Winters, Lt. Winters." Larry said.
"Yes, she is on the fourth floor." The woman motion to a nearby elevator.
"Thank you, Ma'am." Larry quickly told her before nearly jogging towards the elevators.
"Thank you," added Stu before following his friend.
The two of them checked in at the fourth floor reception area, getting their visitor badges and then heading into the unit. The room Abigail was in was 228, and as they got there they saw a doctor walking out of it. He wore a white coat and there was a nurse in blue scrubs coming out of the room as well. The doctor acknowledged them briefly before telling the nurse to up the penicillin dosage and she left back into the room.
"You must be Lt. Abigail Winter's cousin. Colonel Winters said you'd be coming. I'm Doctor Stein. I'm the orthopedic surgeon that over looked her surgery."
"Surgery, what surgery?" Larry's voice went hoarse for a moment, his brows disappearing up into his shaggy hairline.
"You weren't told?" The doctor sounded shocked. "She had to have surgery to fix her leg. We had told her parents, they said they would tell you when you got here. Anyway," he stepped into the room the two wrestlers following.
Abigail Winter had a nose breather but luckily she was not on life machine, breathing for her. Larry slowly made his way to her while Stu respectfully stayed at the doorway. She looked white, pale white, almost Sheamus white which contrasted with her dark wavy hair. Larry kissed her forehead, just as she would have done many times in the past.
"Abby, I'm here." Larry said.
Her forehead burned with fever. She didn't even move.
Stu saw the bandages covering parts of her body that he could see. While he was counting the various bandages the doctor spoke up.
"Karim."
"What?" Stu asked looking at him.
"It was the name of someone she would say. She kept asking for him when she came out of surgery but with the staff infection, her high temperature, I don't know who she's talking about."
Stu watched Larry look her over, until his gaze fell to her bandaged left leg, the one that had no lower half of it.
"Abby," Larry whimpered, pressing her unbandaged right hand between his much beefier hands.
"Is she going to make it?" Stu asked.
"If she can fight this virus, I do believe so. But she'll need a lot of help."
"Why?"
"She was defeated a long time ago. Lt. Winters will need help. She lost her unit, someone named Karim, being held for five years of who knows what kind of stuff she went through. She'll have more than just physical scars to deal with."
Stu stayed at the door, just watching Larry cry over his cousin. The woman was obviously someone special to Larry. Now he saw where Sister Abigail came from.
Abigail Winters was more of a sister to Larry than his cousin.
Larry finally stood up, wiping his eyes. "Watch after her, Stu. I need to call home and tell Mom what's going on."
"Okay." Stu moved to the side and let Larry out.
Out of curiosity the Englishman went to the hospital bed and looked down at the woman.
She had a long scar near her right ear, curling around down towards her chin. There was a bruise on her head, a goose egg bump that protruded from the left side of her head. But it was the fact that she had half of a missing left leg that was the most prominent injury that the woman had. Her brown hair was a mess, curly and unruly- sticking up in some odd places.
She wasn't a bad looking woman, she was skinny yes ut some pictures Stu had seen she was borderline muscular, much like the WWE diva Natalya.
"Karim," her eyes start to open. "Karim…"
"Hey, hey," he slightly placed his hand over her right hand. "Easy there, Abigail."
Her eyes opened and it took her a moment to look at him.
That's when she screamed bloody hell and took a swing at him with the hand that didn't have an IV in it.
This wasn't how Stu wanted to meet the famed Sister Abigail. Not in the least.
This was one of the hardest chapters that I had written so far. But this is the best that I could get it. I hope you liked it. I'll be back in a couple of days to update again, just hang in there.