Hiding - Chapter 4
A/N: So, I'm going to incorporate details from the episode into the story. If you haven't seen it, then go watch it before reading this chapter! Thanks for the reviews!
*Jo's POV*
The doctors came quickly and they forced Danny and Lacey out of the room so that they could shine lights in my eyes, poke my toes to test my reflexes and ask me a bunch of questions. They asked me my full name, age, birthdate, my parent's names and occupations, where I went to school, my home address and all sorts of other questions. I barely had a chance to see my mother when they rushed me from the room to give me a CT scan.
When they'd finished, I was wheeled back into the room and another doctor came in and introduced himself before asking me even more questions. His questions, though, had to do with what happened from the day of the accident. I could only remember part of that day, but I remembered everything I experienced while in a coma, which they said had lasted two weeks. I made a point of not mentioning any of the stuff I saw, felt or remembered from my coma and focused only on what I could remember from the day it happened, which was surprisingly little.
After two hours of questions, tests, blood work and being poked and prodded, they finally left me alone with my mom. Danny and Lacey must have left because they were nowhere to be found by the time they were finished.
I slept for a while, since apparently being in a coma is not the same thing as sleeping. I woke up several times, long enough to hear the doctor placating my parents and telling them that the fact I was sleeping was actually quite normal.
When I finally woke up and felt genuinely rested, I began to notice the changes. At first, it was faint, but I began to see shimmering outlines around everyone. I blinked a couple of times and then remembered what I'd experienced during my coma and it began to make sense. I had been warned that changes would occur and that they would come quickly.
The shimmering outlines slowly developed various colors and I could tell what the colors meant right away. The nurse that came in and checked my machines and vital signs and asked me if I needed anything had a vibrant yellow and green outline. I knew the yellow meant that she was optimistic, happy and generally cheerful. The green meant healing and empathy.
As more people came in and out, I noticed other color combinations and what they meant. I couldn't see the outlines around people on television or in photographs, though. My mom had soft colors in her outline, like lavender and sage green. I knew this meant she was a calm, happy person who was more connected with living things and enjoyed people and creativity. My dad's outline was a powerful, radiant shade of red and blue, which meant protection, determination and strength. The colors could mean a lot of different things, depending upon how bright they were.
The entire experience was beautiful and strange. I could tell how people felt about one another when they stood close enough for the outlying colors to touch. When my parents got close enough to one another, the lights between them turned a vibrant pink which meant love. My parents stuck around as long as they were allowed too and the doctors determined that other than a small amount of amnesia from that day, I was fine and could home the next day.
Once my parents left to take care of errands, I managed to pull myself up and go to the bathroom. I was eager to see myself in the mirror and see what colors appeared around me, but when I stared at my reflection I didn't see any lights at all.
*Danny's POV*
Lacey and I were kicked out as soon as the doctors realized that Jo was awake and talking. We hung around for about thirty minutes and when it was clear that they were going to be running tests and taking their time, we left. I felt so overwhelmed with everything. First, my mom goes and tells Chief Masterson that she killed Regina and they arrest her. Since I can't stay at home on my own, I have to go home with Chief Masterson and Mrs. Masterson. This would be my first official night with them. At that moment, though, I was more concerned about how Jo and I would get along in her house.
As soon as we were alone, I said,
"We should have told her, on our own terms, rather than let her find out like this." Lacey sighed in annoyance.
"Well, there's no point in talking about what we should've done, Danny, because now she knows."
"How? How did she find out?" I wondered,
"Does it matter? What are we going to do about everyone else? If Jo knows, then it's only a matter of time before other people find out," Lacey replied.
"Well, it'll be hard, but then we could be in public together, right?" Lacey looked at me as if she were trying to understand something rather difficult.
"You do know that Archie will make your life miserable once he finds out? Sarita probably won't ever talk to me again and while I don't think she'll go out of her way to make my life harder, she has no problem making life harder for you. I wanted to avoid all of this, Danny! I didn't want people to know because they aren't ready to know!" She stopped walking and frowned at me.
"Maybe you underestimate your friends. Phoebe seems nice enough, I bet she would get it," I said. Lacey sighed.
"Danny, I'm worried more about you than about me, okay? After everything else that's been happening, there's no telling what might happen next." Although she didn't say it out loud, I got the distinct impression that Lacey thought Archie was behind some of the weirdness that had been happening lately.
"I think the most important thing we need to focus on right now is Jo. She needs us and she's probably mad at us for keeping it a secret," I said, "Plus, there's not a whole lot we can do about the other stuff, right? Not unless we reveal our relationship," I pointed out. Lacey nodded slowly.
"I have to go home, my mom's been texting me," Lacey said, checking her phone, "Is your mom still down at the police station?"
"Yeah, I don't know how long they'll be holding her. I'll be sleeping in the Masterson's guest room until they figure it all out." Lacey already knew about the fact that I would be staying with them. She'd even helped me pack some of my things to take with me. She did not like the idea and thought it would complicate everything, but I didn't have a choice in the matter. It was either that or Child Services and there was no way I wanted to go through the foster care system.
"I guess you should go back to the hospital, then," Lacey said quietly.
"Yeah, I'll talk to you later," I said, smiling. I leaned in for a kiss and she turned her head and walked away, hunching into the cold wind as she cut across someone's lawn and headed home.
*Jo's POV*
The next morning, they released me from the hospital. The lights surrounding people had become a steady thing now, and they became bothersome only when there were a lot of people gathered in one area.
When I woke up I remembered why I was angry with Danny and Lacey. Tyler showed me a video of them together, after Danny's party. I went to Danny's house while he was packing up to move in to our house temporarily to confront him. Lacey was there and I knew it was true, so I ran. That's when my memory got fuzzy again. Then I wondered: what would I see surrounding Danny when I saw him? Would I be able to tell if he was a sociopath based on this new ability?
The checkout process took a long time, my parents had to fill out paperwork and contact the insurance company. My mom said,
"Danny's in the waiting room, do you want to see him?" I was still mad at him, but…
"Yes, please," I said and she went and got him. My heart pounded the entire time. I looked down at my hands, even when I could hear their footsteps getting closer.
"Jo?" I heard my mom say and I looked up. Danny was surrounded by a shimmering, brilliant red with shots of yellow going through it; he looked like he was on fire. The red meant strength, determination, power and passion; it radiated off of him in waves. The yellow meant intelligence, cleverness and cunning. I blinked quickly in surprise; I didn't feel like anything radiating from his was bad or evil, just intense. Danny got close to me and I could see, when he got close, the colors that were near to me changed slightly.
The red and yellow faded to a pale, pale pink, which to me said friendship and happiness.
"Are you okay?" Danny wondered and I stopped staring down at his arm to look up at him. I couldn't tell him, I realized. He would think I was crazy. Everyone would.
"I think so," I said slowly, "I don't remember what happened, though. I was walking and then… I wasn't." I said. Danny nodded.
"The doctors, they said… they said you performed CPR on me until I got to the hospital, right?" I asked and Danny nodded again.
"Well, thank you. I don't really know how to repay you…" I said softly.
"What if you forgave me for keeping a secret?" he replied.
"Danny… that's different and you know it," I said. He sighed and sat down. I was in a wheelchair and he sat in the chairs that my mom had parked the wheelchair next too.
"I wanted to tell you, I really did. Lacey thought it would be a bad idea," he said.
"So… now that you're involved with each other, you're just going to do whatever she tells you?" I asked and Danny looked at me askance.
"She's concerned about what Archie might do, what other's might do, if they knew we were together. We're trying to keep it a secret, at least until people calm down." I looked down at my hands again.
"Danny, your mom just confessed to murdering Regina and you're going to be living at my house. Things are not going to calm down! How long will you let yourself be a secret? How long will you let someone else treat you like something they are ashamed of? " Danny leaned away from me suddenly and I looked up. The colors around him darkened slightly and I could tell I'd made him angry.
"It has nothing to do with shame and everything to do with how she feels. She cares about me enough to want to protect me from all of that extra drama. God knows I don't need anymore," he said. I hadn't seen Lacey, so I wouldn't know her true motivations until I could see what colors surrounded her, what she really wanted.
"How long have you kept this a secret?" I asked and Danny ran his fingers through his hair.
"Does that matter?" He wondered and I turned to look at him sharply.
"That sounds like something Lacey would say. How about you answer the question instead of dodging it!" I hissed, feeling myself get angry again. Danny looked at me quietly.
"Several weeks," he said, "we… we kissed at Fall Fest, after you and I danced," he admitted. I felt like I'd been punched in the stomach. That dance was something I liked to think about from time to time, something I could remember as special and meaningful, even. The dance had been a moment between Danny and I that was just ours, so I thought. Apparently it meant nothing to him or it only meant friendship and nothing else. I didn't know why I was so surprised, though. He'd said he thought of me as a sister to Tyler. Now, though, I knew…. I knew that he'd been lying to me.
"Jo?" Danny wondered. He reached out to take my hand and I drew it away from him.
"Jo, please don't…"
"Don't what, Danny?" I muttered, "Don't get mad? Don't feel like I've been made into the most horrible kind of third wheel there is? Don't be so sensitive? You know what? Leave me alone. I spent the last five years without you and I can spend the next five years without you too. I'm done being lied to and made to look like an idiot. I've been trying to help you ever since you got back and you apparently don't trust me at all because as soon as Lacey came along you decided it was okay to lie to me. You and Lacey can have each other for all I give a shit about it. I hope that lie comforts you when you sit alone at school, without your girlfriend, who won't acknowledge that you exist in front of her real friends," I hissed, grasping at the wheels on my new wheelchair, and steering myself down the hallway, refusing to look back at his shocked face.