Chapter 14: Expect the Unexpected
Life's motto usually goes something like "Expect the unexpected". We as humans are conditioned to be ready for those things we don't see coming. Early in life mothers teach their children to become good parents, fathers teach their sons how to fix a flat tire. There are some things though; we cannot even begin to prepare ourselves for.
Evelyn stood there in complete silence for a moment with her hand over her mouth as she tried to let the shock enter her mind. Lynette instinctively stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her daughter in an attempt to comfort her.
"Evelyn what happened? Where are the kids?" John asked quickly walking towards them. He didn't make if far before Bree lightly tapped him on the arm and motioned for him to follow her. John hesitantly walked away hoping for an explanation.
"I have tried to call him all week and couldn't get a hold of him." Lynette let go of Evelyn and put her hands around her thin and frail face as she spoke. "He is probably so angry I went with John and I didn't even get a chance to explain it" she cried as the tears rolled down her face.
Lynette nearly let her own tears fall. She saw the panic and fear that lie in Evelyn's eyes. How in the world did she not figure it out sooner? Her daughter was in love with Mike Delfino.
"Oh Baby" Lynette sighed as she took Evelyn in her arms once more. "It's going to be alright".
Evelyn let go of Lynette and quickly turned around when they heard rubble fall and watched the house settle further into the ground. "We got one!" they heard a fireman say and Lynette and Evelyn moved closer to the yellow police tape. Everyone cheered when they saw the police pull Ida Greenburg out from underneath the rubble. She let out a cough and slowly walked to the side of the house where greeted her with a warm embrace. Evelyn looked expectantly towards the rubble and saw a group of fireman lift a frame off the top of a huge pile of siding.
"Mom, where is he?" Evelyn said silently, not really looking for an answer because Evelyn knew there wasn't one.
"There is someone else down here!" the fireman yelled and everyone turned to see who they had found. They dug for what seemed like hours which in turn was probably about ten minutes until they pulled Mike's lifeless body from underneath the rubble.
"Mike!" Evelyn screamed frantically crawling under the police tape and running towards him full speed. She was quickly stopped by the strong hands of a police officer.
"Maam you've got to wait. We need to get him on a stretcher and stabalized so we can get him to the hospital". Evelyn stood on her tip toes and caught the first glimpse of him. He was gray from head to toe and completely covered in dust. There was blood coming from a cut in his head but not from anywhere else she could see.
"I've got one seat back here" an EMT said from behind the police officer. Evelyn turned to see Susan standing next to her.
"I am his ex-girlfriend I should go" Susan said taking a step towards the ambulance.
"I am his current girlfriend" Evelyn said and watched Susan's expression turn to one of shock. The EMT reached down for her and pulled her up into the ambulance. "Sorry" he said to Susan as they shut the doors and the ambulance pulled away.
Evelyn had been sitting in the waiting room of Fairview Memorial Hospital with her mother and John for six hours now. She lost count of how long it had been since she had slept, exhaustion pulled at her eyelids but she kept trying to fight ambulance had pulled right up to the hospital and unloaded Mike but there were so many people with so many injuries she figured he was probably at the bottom of their list of priorities. She looked around at everyone sitting around her. There were mothers cradeling small children with bloodied cuts waiting to hear if their husbands were all right, men waiting to hear if they would ever get to see their brother again and daughters hoping their mothers were going to live. It amazed Evelyn how quickly something could devestate a small city like Fairview.
At least she knew Mike was still alive. In the ambulance after being hooked up to an IV and oxygen, he opened his eyes and reached out for her. She gently placed her hand in his, thankful that he knew she was there.
She leaned over and placed her elbows on her legs and let her forehead fall into her hands. She felt John's hand rub her back and she looked up at him and smiled slightly.
"It's so hot in here" Evelyn said, taking off her jacket. Shoving 60 people in a room meant for thirty created a wave of warmth that settled around her and felt suffocating.
"Here" Lynette gestured from her right side and Evelyn handed her jean jacket to her mom. Lynnette sat the jacket in her lap, folding it and smoothing down the pockets. She leaned back and began to really look at Evelyn; she could see the ridges in her spine.
"Evelyn have you been eating?" Lynette asked softly.
She broke out of her concentration and looked over. "What?"
"Are you eating?" she asked again. "You look so thin. I bet you have last ten pounds since I last saw you. Ten pounds you didn't need to lose".
"Of course Mom, when have you ever known me not to eat?"
"When you get sidetracked or distracted you tend to skip meals" she said looking over at John.
"We ate mom, I can assure you" Evelyn said, then leaned back down and placed her head back in her hands. Lynette took the hint and dropped the subject for now though she could see a great physical change in Evelyn and she didn't like it.
"Is there someone here for a Mike Delfino?" she heard a voice say from the waiting room door. Evelyn jumped up and followed the doctor through a set of double doors. "I am sorry we have to take the long route to the ER beds. There is no more room since the storm hit" the nurse said turning another corner. "I am amazed at just how minute his injuries are considering the paramedics said they found him trapped underneath a house."
"So he is going to be alright?" Evelyn asked.
The doctor smiled, "He is going to be just fine. He has broken a couple of ribs and has suffered some smoke inhallation. That's nothing compared to what some others have come in with."
They reached a row of curtains and the nurse pulled one back to reveal Mike sitting on the side of the hosptal bed. He still had an IV in his arm and half of his bare chest was wrapped in a tight bandage.
"Mike" Evelyn let his name fall off of her lips filled with longing and relief. He looked tired and he was groggy but he managed to look at her and smile.
"I've missed you Evelyn Scavo" he said. She walked over and grabbed his hand. He kissed the top of hers…his lips felt warm but dry on her skin.
"Your CAT scans look good" the doctor said as he pulled a flashlight and checked Mike's eyes. "No concussion. I would prefer to keep you here overnight but since we have so many coming in I am going to go ahead and discharge you". He quickly scribbled a perscription on a pad from his pocket and ripped it off, handing it to Evelyn. Mike was given strict instructions to take it easy for the next couple of days and to come see him again in a week.
The car ride home was slightly strange with her Mom and John in the front seat and she and Mike in the back. By the time they reached their neighborhood the sun was coming up over the trees. They were all surprised at how quickly they had gotten the roads cleared. Though there was still debris in the trees and in the yards, they had cleared out the street so that vehicles could get down it. Lynette pulled up into Mike's driveway and they all helped get Mike upstairs and into bed. Evelyn promised she would quickly return. She imaged it wouldn't make too much of a difference anyhow, she could hear Mike lightly snoring the moment he hit the pillow.
She and Lynette walked outside and saw John leaning up against Mike's truck lighting a cigarette. Lynette lifted her hand off of Evelyn's shoulders and lightly touched her face. "I will leave you two to talk but come home as soon as you're done and get some breakfast".
"I will Mama" she said kissing her Mom on the cheek and watching her walk away.
"I swear girl, craziness just follows where ever you go" he said pulling out a cigarette and offering it to her.
"Thank you" she said taking it and putting it to her lips. Smoking was a dirty habit and one she planned on quitting just as quickly as she started.
"I can't believe it. One day everything is perfect and still standing and then the next…Boom, Total chaos. I am just glad everyone is okay."
"That was a pretty close call with Mike huh?" John asked as he put his cigarette out on his boot.
"Yeah it was, thank you for getting me here so fast John. I swear everyone I meet I put through hell."
"Yeah but your sweetness makes up for it" he said playfully knocking her in the arm.
"So this whole you and Mike thing" he said gesturing towards Mikes house and back to her. "…it's pretty serious ".
Evelyn pulled her cigarette away from her mouth and dropped it on to Mike's driveway, stepping on it a few times to make sure that it was out.
"John, how many times are we going to have this conversation?" Evelyn asked letting out a sigh.
"I just want to be sure that you are taken care of" he said turning towards her with a very serious look on his face.
"You probably should have thought about before you left the first time" she said.
John put his hand over his heart as if he had been stabbed. "Guess I deserved that one". John pulled out another cigarette and flipped it over in his hands a few times before he lit it. "Listen I am going to head out".
Evelyn's head snapped up. "You have got to be kidding me John, we have been awake for two days there is no way you should be driving all the way back to Texas this morning. Why don't you come inside and eat some breakfast, you can rest and then you can head out.
John began to shake his head. "And be here to watch you take care of Mike…No thanks". John began walking towards Lynette's driveway where his bike was parked and Evelyn followed.
"Don't blame this on me John. You left, you're the one who slept with me and then bailed. Mike was here, he is my best friend what was I supposed to do?"
"I love you Evelyn" he said quickly turning around causing Evelyn to run right into him.
Evelyn pushed him hard in the chest but that only caused John to step back a few feet. "I don't trust you John. I don't" she said screaming and throwing her hands up in the air. "Can you blame me?"
"Well then why the hell did you beg me to take you to North Carolina with me huh?" he asked.
"If you didn't trust me why did you come with me? Why did you crawl in bed with me the night you passed out on the porch, why did you let me hug you and touch and why did you want to spend all of that time with me if you didn't trust me huh?" he asked stepping towards her.
"I don't know" she said honestly. She really couldn't explain it.
"You wanna know why you don't know, because you used me Evelyn. You used me to get what you wanted at the time".
"That's not true John" Evelyn said feverishly shaking her head.
"Yes it is!" he yelled getting up into her face. "You don't want to admit it because you have this perfect little life and a perfect neighborhood with your perfect family and your perfect friends and you can't admit it when you're wrong."
Evelyn laughed in his face and started to walk away but turned back around in anger. "What the hell do you think is perfect about my life John? Please inform me as to which aspects of my life you deem perfect". Evelyn began to rub her forehead. "The most important person in my life is dying, she is dying and there is nothing I can do about it….Nothing" she said gesturing at her house. "I don't feel safe anywhere, not even in my own house and a tornado missed every street in the subdivision but mine, so I don't know what you define as perfect but I willing to bet that our definitions differ".
"Do you love me Evelyn?" he asked seriously, looking at her expecting an answer.
Once again she let out a nervous laugh. "I can't believe you're asking me this now John. Whatever you think we have isn't going to work. I am with Mike."
"Do you love him?"
Evelyn thought for a moment. She didn't want to answer him. She knew how she felt about Mike but when it came to John she was scared and completely confused. He was unpredictable and she didn't trust him. She loved John, she really did but she wasn't going allow herself to get hurt again or let herself hurt Mike.
"Yes, I love him" she said almost in whisper with much less vigor than she had hoped.
John shook his head and threw his cigarette to the ground not bothering to step on it to put it out. He looked back at Evelyn one last time and then walked towards the Scavo house where his bike was parked in the driveway.
"John wait!" Evelyn screamed after him but it was too late. By the time she made it back to her driveway his bike was already started and he was halfway down the street. She sighed and collapsed in her driveway pulling her legs close to her and laying her head on her knees. How the hell had she managed to mess things up this bad? She didn't know if he would come around again, not after that.
Evelyn's concentration was broken when she felt something nail her in the back and grab her by the neck.
"Evelyn!" Porter screamed wrapping his arms around her so tight that she thought she was going to suffocate. She grabbed him and moved him around so she could hug him.
"Hey buddy. I missed you so much!" she exclaimed kissing his forehead.
"Evelyn your back!" Kayla yelled from behind her. Sure enough Parker and Preston followed behind, all pummeling her like a pack of wolves.
"You will never believe it!" Porter exclaimed. "We were in McClusky's basement and the whole house came down and we were trapped underneath there!"
"Mom and went after some stupid cat but Mrs. Greenburg and stayed with us and the windows busted and the staircase fell like BOOM!" Parker said imitated his best explosion and throwing his arms open in an effort to illustrate it.
She was hit with a pang of pain in her chest. She wouldn't know what to do if something were to even happen to her brothers and sisters."What are you guys doing up? Are you going to school after all that?"
Kayla rolled her eyes. "The boys have to go tell all of their friends the story about how they almost died so since they are going Daddy and Lynette said I had to go to".
Evelyn smiled; poor Kayla would find any reason to avoid school. Evelyn looked up as she heard the bus come down the street. All of the kids quickly kissed her and headed for the end of the driveway. Porter stayed behind for a couple seconds while everyone loaded the bus.
"You're going to be here when we get home right?" he asked, worry lie behind his little eyes.
"I will be here when you get home buddy. I promise" she said standing up and pulling him into her arms. "Pinky promise" she said holding out her pinky finger. He quickly grabbed it smiling and ran towards the bus. "Have a good day at school!" she yelled. Sweet Porter, he was always the first one of the kids to worry about her.
She let out a deep breath and walked towards the house. She looked up just in time to catch Tom running out in his pizzeria uniform. He stopped and looked up at her before walking towards and her and almost picking her up off the ground.
"Thank God" he said before he let her go. "I've missed you kid".
"I missed you too. How is Mom doing?" Evelyn said concerned.
"She's doing alright. She has missed you though. She's been moping around the house ever since you left. You ought to go in an eat breakfast with her. That will make her day".
"I think I will. We have a lot of catching up to do" Evelyn said smiling. She kissed Tom on the cheek. "Have a good day work I will tell you everything when you get home" she said walking backward towards the front porch. Tom waved and jumped into the car and headed to work.
Evelyn walked into the house and closed the front door, her front door, the front door to her home. It felt so good to be back. She glance over and saw her bag sitting by the door, someone must have gotten it off of John's motorcycle last night. "John" she whispered to herself, before she pushed him out of her mind. She walked into the kitchen and smiled immediately upon seeing her mother sitting at the kitchen table. Her smile faded though when she saw who was standing at the coffee pot.
"Stella!" she asked looking at her mother and then back to her grandmother. "What the hell are you doing here?" she asked.
"Expect the unexpected" they tell us when we are younger and usually we can. Nothing though can prepare us for the time when we must face those childhood demons that haunt us the most.