True North
By Jaclyn Parker

"I only put my arms around those I fear that I'll never see again.
-Angivel of Zanarcadia
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For the life of her, Carly couldn't remember where her other black ballet flat was. With one foot bare and the other wearing the mate to the shoe she searched for, Carly was getting anxious. They only had 15 minutes before they had to leave and she was no closer to finding her shoe than she had been a half hour before. Then she remembered that she had slipped them both off downstairs last night before the girl's night with Sage started. Not even bothering to try and figure out why she had only brought one shoe up to her bedroom afterwards, Carly just headed for the stairs.

"Boys, I need you to hurry up. We've got to pick up Sage at dance class before I drop you off at the farm!" Carly yelled over her shoulder, hoping her sons heard her. Getting no response, she half-turned and opened her mouth to try again. As her bare foot began to land on the first step, she didn't see the danger lying in wait.

It was a miniscule item; an inch long, glittery, purple butterfly hair clip that belonged to her daughter. Normally it would have been no problem, but as many people have come to innocently find out, when the hard plastic of a butterfly hair clip meets the soft arch of a bare foot it can cause a shooting pain like no other.

Which is precisely what happened to Carly.

The yell to her boys turned into a gasping cry of pain as she instinctively lifted her foot again off of the offending object. However, in doing so, she also lost her balance and proceeded to tumble head first down the stairs. Time seemed to slow as Carly watched her world go by end over end, before she slipped completely into darkness.

Parker and J.J. both heard the commotion and ran out of their room, cries of "Mom" on their lips. They caught sight of their mother lying at the bottom of the stairs, her head on the floor, hair fanned out around her face and the rest of her body sprawled across the last few steps.

"Oh, God, Mom!" Parker yelled and ran down the stairs, J.J. right behind him. He knelt down and gently shook her shoulder. "Mom, are you okay? Mom, wake up!"

"Parker, is she…?" J.J. asked trailing off into a silent question, his eyes wide and fear in his voice.

"No, she's breathing. I think she hit her head pretty bad though. Call 911!" Parker said, his own voice trembling but firm. He was feeling the same fear as his younger brother but he couldn't show it.

J.J. grabbed the phone and dialed. Moments later he was speaking to the dispatcher and describing what had happened. Parker half-listened but most of his attention was on Carly. He gently smoothed hair away from her face and whispered to her.

"Come on, Mom, wake up. The ambulance is on its way, but it'd be really great if you could just wake up now."

"They said they'll be here in a couple of minutes." J.J. said, breaking into Parker's thoughts. He was now kneeling on Carly's other side, his eyes roaming over their mom's face.

"Good, that's good." Parker answered and then stopped as a low moan caught his attention. "Mom?"

Another moan and then Carly's eyelashes began to flutter. It seemed to take great effort but finally they were fully open. She frowned and glanced from one boy to the other.

"Parker? J.J.?" Her words were soft and slightly slurred, as if she were saying them around a mouth of peanut butter.

"Yeah, Mom, we're here." J.J. said and she frowned more, closing her eyes against the glare of the light.

"What happened?" She asked, trying to raise her left arm to shield her face. She gasped as pain radiated from her wrist up her entire arm.

"Hold still, Mom. You fell down the stairs and hit your head really hard. I think you also landed on your wrist." Parker told her and Carly swallowed, before nodding slightly. She remembered…vaguely.

"The ambulance is on its way." J.J. said and before Carly could say anything the doorbell rang. J.J. grinned at her as he leapt to his feet. "Perfect timing!"

The next ten minutes were slightly chaotic as the EMTs gathered information from Parker and J.J. about just exactly what happened and if she had moved at all from her current position on the floor. Finally they dismissed any type neck trauma other than possible whiplash but they put Carly on a stretcher to take her to the hospital anyway, amid her vehement protests.

"Well, Ms. Tenney, the fact that you're conscious is great, but your pupils aren't reacting as well as we'd like so we need to take you in." A young blond EMT said, whose name tag read J. Dawson.

He braced himself as he saw Carly starting to get worked up again. He and his fellow EMTs had a feeling that this was one lady you didn't cross, no matter how distractingly beautiful she was.

"Now, you listen to me..." Carly began to argue again but J.J. broke in.

"Mom, please, just do what he says."

She looked at him and then at Parker. Both of them were trying hard to act like tough teenagers, but she could read the undercurrents of fear in their faces. Sighing, she nodded again, trying not to show how much that simple physical movement actually hurt to do.

"Fine, but my sons come with me." Carly said and the EMTs looked at each other then back at her. Her eyes narrowed into a no bullshit expression and they all simultaneously swallowed.

"That's fine, ma'am." J. Dawson said again, still apparently the only one brave enough to speak to her, and within moments they were in the ambulance to the hospital.

They were just arriving at the hospital and setting Carly up in an exam room when she suddenly gasped.

"Oh my God, Sage!" She cried, struggling to sit up. The EMT closest to her, gently pushed her back down, trying to calm her. "No, you don't understand. I was supposed to pick up my daughter from dance class 10 minutes ago!"

"Mom! Mom! It's okay. I'll call Lily to pick her up." Parker said, waving his cell phone in her face as if to physically show her he had the means to do it. He motioned to J.J. for him to stay there with their mom and stepped out into ER waiting room.

The phone rang 6 times before going to Lily's voice mail and Parker frowned in frustration. For a brief moment he actually thought about calling Janet, but immediately dismissed it again. Knowing how his mom, not to mention Sage, would react he quickly decided that it wouldn't be in anyone's best interest to start a whole other mess.

Hitting the "end" button he looked down at his phone before making a solid decision. Pressing the speed dial number 3, he once again put the phone to his ear. The person on the other end picked up after only 2 rings.

"Parker?"

"Hey, Dad."

"Hey bud, what's up?" Jack asked, surprised that his son was calling him after barely speaking to him for the past couple of weeks.

"Can you pick up Sage from dance class?" Parker asked.

"What do you mean can I pick up Sage? Dance has been over for 15 minutes already. Didn't your mom get her?" Jack said, frustration rising in his voice.

"No, she couldn't exactly. She was kinda busy." Parker said, shuffling his feet as he tried to avoid what he knew was coming.

"Why not? You mean, she just left her there? If she had a last minute meeting or something at Metro why didn't she call me sooner?" Jack asked, incredulously.

"Dad, stop! Mom fell down the stairs and hit her head. We're at the hospital, okay?" Parker said, cutting off one of his dad's famous bull headed tirades. Then he immediately wished he had relayed the situation a little more gracefully when he heard the sharp intake of air on the other end. "Wait, Dad…"

"I'll be right there!" Jack said and then all Parker heard was silence. Realizing his dad had hung up on him before he could tell him that Carly was okay, Parker just stared at the phone.

"Oh crap."

Parker sighed and lightly hit his head against the wall by the vending machines. He knew that there was nothing he could do now but wait until his dad flew into the ER like a crazy person. He just hoped his mom didn't completely flip when she found out who Parker had called instead of Lily. But the more Parker thought about it, the more he knew that this had disaster written all over it. He sighed again and braced himself as he went to go push back the curtain to his mom's room, briefly wondering how much it would cost to move to Hawaii and how he could access his Aunt Rosanna's trust fund.