DISCLAIMER: Not mine. If they were, would I really be stuck in the middle of Kansas working at a Wal-Mart?
SUMMARY: Tara's been rushed to the hospital after passing out during a panic attack. Tommy still hasn't figured out who she is.
A/N: To those who have reviewed, thank you. I hope that this next chapter lives up to your expectations.
As they pulled up to the hospital, Tommy's cell phone rang. "Tommy Oliver."
"I hope so, bro."
"Hey, Jase. What's up?" 'Why would Jason be calling me right now?'
"Well, I'm standing in my sister's apartment and wondering why she's not home yet. I thought school let out about 2:30?"
"It does. Wait a minute, your sister? I don't remember ever meeting your sister."
"You never did. But I showed you pictures. She was too shy for me to bring along to our hang time. In fact, in kindergarten, kids used to try to beat her up. They thought she was stuck up. Mom and Dad shipped her off to private school thinking that that might help."
Tommy had a creepy feeling coming over him. He was now walking toward the emergency room entrance. "Describe her to me."
"Really petite. Currently stands about 5 nothing and about 85 pounds. Long black hair that she usually wears in a braid. Big blue eyes." Jason paused. "What's going on, Tommy? Where are you?"
"Come down to the hospital, man. She had a panic attack in the hall after school and we're at the ER now."
"Be there in five."
"Who was that, Dr. O?" Kira asked him as he caught up to her.
"Tara's big brother. He'll be here in about five minutes." 'And when Miss TaraLynn wakes up, she and I are going to have a little chat,' Tommy thought as he ran through the conversation she had had with him earlier that day.
"What's the look for, Dr. O?"
"What look, Kira?" He didn't give her a chance to answer because he walked up to the triage nurse to try to find out which room Tara was in so that he could tell Jason as soon as he got here.
"I'm sorry, sir, but if you're not family, I can't tell you anything in regards to a patient."
"Then you can tell me," Jason's voice sounded from behind his friend. "Thanks for trying to have the information for me when I got here, bro. I forgot how stubborn hospitals can be when it comes to giving out information."
"Five minutes, Jase?" Tommy smiled.
"So I went a little over the speed limit. My little sister is here and I need to be there when she wakes up. Otherwise, she might go right into another panic attack and I don't want to see that. And trust me on this one, neither do you."
"What happens?"
"Sometimes she goes into convulsions. I've even seen a couple of times when she went completely catatonic." Jason stood still for a moment until the nurse came back with the information he needed.
Just about the time Tommy and Jason were hanging up, Tara's eyes fluttered open to see two strangers standing next to the bed she was laying on. She felt the oxygen mask over her face and reached up to pull it off.
"Wh-wh-where am I?" The doctor turned around at her question and reached out to put the mask back on her.
"You're safe, young lady. You're at the hospital."
She flinched away from him, rolling off the side of the bed. "Don't touch me." She felt her breath getting shorter and shorter. 'Shit! Another one! Where's Jason? I need my brother.'
"Miss, please get back on the gurney. You need more oxygen."
Shaking her head, the young woman backed herself into a corner and crouched down, sitting on the floor. She drew her knees up to her chest and sat there just staring at the doctor with tears running down her face.
"Miss, please. You need to come back up here." The doctor didn't understand why she wasn't responding to him. He walked over to where she was sitting and reached out a hand as if to help her up.
He was stopped short by an imposing figure in the doorway. "Don't! You don't understand what you're doing to her! Just get out! I'll take care of her. She's my sister; I'll take care of her." Jason stepped over to the corner his baby sister was huddled in.
He knelt down in front of her and made sure that he was in her line of sight. "Tara? Tara, honey, talk to me. It's Jason. Come back to me. Tara, please come back to me. I need you here with me."
He continued in that vein for about another ten minutes before Tara showed any signs of responding to his pleas. That was when she stretched out her legs and lay down with her head on her brother's lap. She slipped her left hand into his right and held it gently.
"That's my girl. Sissy, I need to put you back up on the gurney. Okay?" She nodded sleepily and Jason picked up the tiny frame and settled her back on the bed. He pulled the oxygen mask back over her face and pulled the stool over to her side in order to hold her hand. "You can come back in now, doctor."
"How did you get her back up there?"
"I told you. She's my sister. No sudden moves. Tell her what you're doing before you do it. She's very skittish."
Tara kept her eyes on Jason the whole time the doctor was checking her over, making sure she hadn't hurt herself in the fall. She saw a movement behind her brother and flicked her eyes to the doorway. Tommy stood there and he didn't look happy.