Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Author's Note: Hello Everyone! How are you all? Hope you're all doing well! I'm so very sorry for taking so long to update. I really did try to update last week and even on Sunday but took some mini-vacations that kinda threw everything off. So very sorry once again! Hope you all can forgive me! It could've been worse could've waited till next month to update again, right? Hopefully by next month though I can get back to updating on Sundays. Think that was easier no? Or do you guys like Wednesdays better? Let me know! Couple of little notes. Firs off please remember I am not a doctor, a nurse, or anything else in the medical field, still watching House MD though…actually have it on right now :P Second note I'm sorry that this chapter is a little short—just a tad—I'll try to make up for it in the next one. Also must apologize if there are any errors or typos. I did reread it but I'm a mess right now feeling sick and feeling like an emotional mess I don't think I did a all too great job on my editing. Third note, there is a slight tissue warning towards the end, not even sure if you'll need it or not. I teared up writing but like I said I'm in an emotional state right now so the littlest things have been setting me off lol And fourth and final little note just wanted to say a great big thank you to all you wonderful readers and awesome reviewers! You guys are awesome! And are seriously the reason why I continue to write for this story! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Okay now because I've been up all night and just took some medicine I'm gonna see if I can take a little morning nap :D Hope you all like this chapter! Please review if you can and as always Enjoy!
Steven Hyde sat in the piano bench that he'd become more familiar with in this past day than he had in the five plus years he'd actually been living at The Forman House.
He had suggested to Kitty that they move back into the living room after she'd answered his previous question, reminding her that the living room was where they had planned on the video being filmed in the beginning and most of the video already on tape was in the living room. Truth was he knew Jackie would be returning from the task she'd gone off to complete soon and he was hoping that moving into the living room would give the video a few more Jackie free minutes.
"What are some of the things you would want to see your kids do in their lives?" he asked a question that he recalled being on the rough draft of his and Jackie's list.
Kitty smiled as she sat back in her spot in the middle of the yellow sofa, "There are many, many things that I would love to see all of you kids do in your lives." She answered but paused as her grin shrunk a tad, "Unfortunately I don't think I'll be able to see all of them. Or even most of them for that matter."
A sudden twinge filled with guilt hit Hyde, making him wish that he had asked a different question instead. Maybe that was why this question had been on the rough draft and not the final copy.
"But that's okay." Kitty went on, slightly surprising Hyde, "Because I would rather it be that I couldn't see those things happen because I wouldn't be there than it be that I couldn't see those things happen because you kids wouldn't be there."
Hyde thought that was such a Kitty Forman response—especially the part with her including all of them and not just her biologic children—he had to shake his head as he smiled lightly; he then had another very similar question enter into his mind.
"Are there any specific things that you wish any of us would do in or with our lives?"
She pressed her lips together, thinking over her answer before nodding her head up and down, "Yes."
He sat patiently, awaiting the longer explanation that he knew was coming.
"I wish that each of you are able to find and be successful in your lives. Now I don't mean the fancy schmancy millionaire kind of success, although I'm sure that would be fun. I mean the kind of success that makes your family proud to be part of your family, the kind that makes you wake up every morning feel proud of yourself. The kind of success that makes you happy." She explained, eyes on the camera, "I hope you all are able to find that someone or that something or that some place that brings you happiness. Because out of all the things I wish for you, I wish….I want you kids to be happy."
Another classic Kitty Forman reply Hyde thought as he smirked back at the smile she was flashing for the camera.
"But." Kitty continued with another 'but.' "If you're looking for more specific details, wishes, wants, and directions…wait right here."
Behind the camera Hyde frowned with puzzlement but continued to record his adopted mother stand up from the sofa and make her way up the two living room steps before disappearing into Red's den. She was in there for quite a few minutes, the sound of drawers opening and closing being documented by the camcorder.
At last she emerged from the small back room entering the living space with an arm full of what looked like those black and white composition books that were used in school
"What's that?" Hyde questioned still frowning.
Kitty neared the camera and placed her stack of notebooks on the coffee table before sitting down in her place on the sofa. Hyde shifted the camera lens downwards getting a good shot of the pile and his eyes widened some—there had to be at least fifteen books there.
She placed her palms on the journal on the top of the stack, "This is…well during the first few months after my diagnosis while I was sitting there getting some of the treatment I started to make a few lists. A list of places I wanted to see, a list of books I wanted to read, a list of groceries I needed to pick up on the way home. And a list of things I want you kids to do in your lifetime. Things I may not be able to be here to make sure you do."
Hyde could feel his face dropping as she continued on.
"I've made a list for each of you and wrote them down in these composition books." She explained and then took the first notebook handing it to Hyde, "This one is yours."
Not knowing what else to do, he grabbed the book and quickly flipped through it. It was filled with Kitty's elegant hand writing and it didn't look like there was one empty page in there.
Seeing the uncertainty in her second son's face, Kitty decided to reassure him a bit, "Steven, honey, if it makes you feel any better I filled up three of those notebooks when I wrote down my list for Laurie."
Hyde chuckled at both her words and her actions. Though he hadn't seen these book length lists before, now that he seen them he realized he should have seen it coming. It was just like Kitty to prepare a way for her to look after them when the time came that she was no longer there.
Kitty smiled as she folded her hands in her lap, "A mother can never be too careful."
0o0o0o
"So…"
"So…" Donna repeated not two seconds after Randy.
The couple was in the living room—the room they'd been 'assigned' to by Eric—sitting awkwardly on the yellow sofa. Though they were sitting beside each other, only a small gap between them, they felt miles apart. It was as if they were strangers forced to sit next to each other and communicate.
"Anything new happening with you?" Randy questioned, trying his hand at small talk.
Donna didn't appreciate the gesture or at least not the question he'd chosen as his opening question. She stared back at him with a half lidded stare.
"Oh right. I guess not." He said his eyes moving onto his clasped hands in front of him.
"Yeah. Nothing new really going on over here." She said deciding that this weak attempt of conversation was better than no conversation at all; she looked over at him, "What about you? Anything new happening with you…anything I'd want to know about.'
A light chuckle escaped Randy's lips before he spoke, "Nah. Pretty much the same old same." He paused for several soundless seconds and then looked up at her, "I've missed you."
She swallowed, "I've missed you too."
"Why didn't you call me?" Randy asked, not being able to hold in that question that had been running through his mind from the beginning, any longer. He needed to know the answer. "I left you the number of where I'd be, but you never called."
Donna stared back at Randy, first looking surprised by his question but before long a frown had made its way to her forehead "You never called me either. You knew the number of the place that I was at. Why didn't you ever call me?"
Randy sat there not knowing how to respond. He definitely hadn't been expecting that type of response from Donna. However, the more he thought about it, thought of what to say to that, the more he realized she was actually making a lot of sense and had a very valid point.
"You're right." He said with a nod of his head, "I should have called you. Just liked you should have called me. But neither of us did so how about we call each other now?"
"What?" the blonde woman asked, obviously not sure where he was going with this.
Randy on the other hand knew exactly what he was doing and seemed very excited about it. He swiftly tried to explain to her his plan, wishing that she would understand his idea, be on board with it, and that they would be able to accomplish what he was hoping they would.
"Yeah, right here. Right now. We'll call each other up on the phone and have that phone conversation that we should have had sooner." He eagerly shared with Donna though it only seemed to confuse her even more.
"How are we going to do that?" she asked before pointing out, "The Formans only have one line."
He thought over this obstacle and tried to find a solution and way around it. Mere seconds passed before Randy realized this was just a small speed bump and not a mountain that Donna seemed to have thought it would be.
"Okay, then we won't use real phones. We'll just make our own!" his tone of voice made it sound like it would be so simple.
The journalist's scowl deepened, "Out of what? Two paper cups and a piece of string?"
"No." Randy replied with a shy smile on his lips, "Something more along the lines of this."
Randy then took her right hand in both of his and though Donna was confused by the actions she also could help but feel a sense of warmth and comfortableness by the simple hand holding. With her hand still in his hold, he then pushed her three middle fingers so that they were touching her palm and only her pinkie and thumb were up in the air. Carefully he lifted up that same hand so that it was at the side of Donna's face, her thumb near her ear and her pinkie close to her lips, making it look like she was on the phone.
"Ta da!" he said as he moved his hands away from her, a happy grin plastered on his face, causing Donna to fight back her own, "Now since you already have your phone in your hand, why don't you call me?"
"No!" Donna argued, feeling angry about having been tricked—yet she hadn't destroyed her 'phone.'
He smirked, "I promise, I'll pick up."
"Fine." She grumbled grudgingly before slowly moving her 'phone' back to her ear; she let out a sigh before speaking, "Hi Randy…"
Before she could say more Randy quickly stepped in, interrupting her from whatever she was going to say next, "Wait, wait, wait! You have to do the rings of the phone."
The blonde scowled, "I'm not doing any ringing sounds, especially since you're sitting right there staring right back at me!"
"Alright, fine." Randy agreed almost too quickly before turning himself around so that he was now staring out the living room window by the piano organ and giving his back to Donna, "Okay now go." He instructed, never looking behind himself.
Donna had to hold in a laugh but allowed her smile to break out as she brought the 'receiver' back up to its spot near her ear, "Ring, ring, ring." There was no answer yet so she made the noises again, "Ring, ring, ring." Still nothing. She made the sounds again, this time sounding more aggravated than before, "Ring, ring, ring." There was no answer once again and her patience was now wearing thin, "Why aren't you answering?"
With his eyes remaining straight ahead he replied, "I can't answer on the first few rings. It'll make me seem desperate."
Not a fan of his answer, Donna reached over and grabbed a lock of his soft, smooth hair.
"Answer the phone, you dillhole." She ordered, pulling his head back towards herself.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Okay! Okay!" he agreed quickly, desperately wanting the pain to stop; Donna released him as soon as she heard his words. While he made his right hand into a receiver that matched Donna's he moved his left hand up to the back of his head to rub the sore area, "Randy speaking."
Donna smiled faintly, "Hi Randy."
"Hi," he retorted and then frowned, "I'm sorry who is this again?"
"I'm hanging up." Donna warned, her smile now completely gone.
"I'm joking, I'm joking!" he quickly said trying to keep her from disconnecting their 'call' "Here lemme start again." He cleared his throat, "Hi Donna! How are you? I wasn't expecting to hear from you."
Donna shrugged nonchalantly though her mind already had an idea planned, "Yeah well, you did tell me to call you. Remember, you said there was something you wanted to tell me."
"Oh no." Randy shook his head, having quickly caught onto what she was trying to do, "I think you got confused. I told you to call me because you said you had something to tell me. Remember?"
Not wanting to be the one to do all the talking first, especially since she did make the 'phone call,' Donna shook her head, "No. Goodbye Randy."
"No, no, wait….Don't…You hung up didn't you?" when he didn't get an answer Randy turned his head to find the sight of Donna off her 'phone,' both arms crossed over her chest, while wearing an upset frown. He sighed and then turned his whole self around, "Okay, maybe the whole phone thing wasn't the greatest idea. But we don't need those phones. We just need to talk. About us. If there is still an 'us.'" He paused, as if afraid to ask the next question "Is there still an 'us?'"
"I hope so." came Donna's soft response.
Randy nodded, "I do too."
A wave of silence fell upon the twosome. Both were too stubborn to say even the first word. However after giving it much thought, reminding himself that Donna had been the one to 'call' him minutes ago, and remembering Eric's words about Donna being old fashion in her own way, Randy took the bold move of speaking first, this time not even trying to beat behind the bush.
"Look Donna, I'm sorry I acted the way I did…but when I saw your reaction to Jackie and Eric kissing I thought you were jealous and that made me jealous. And a little afraid." He explained in a tone that told Donna he was speaking straight from the heart. "I was afraid you were still in love with Eric."
"Randy, I love you, not Eric." She tried to tell him again, hoping this time he would understand.
"That's not completely true, Donna." Randy started to say, "Yes, you love me but you also love Eric."
"No, I don't." she replied sounding very defensive.
Her tone of voice made Randy smirk as he went on, "Yes, you do. And that's alright with me because I know you don't love him the same way you love me." He shared with her, "You love him because he was your first love. He was a big part of your life when you were growing up. Even now he's still a pretty big part in your life. And you know it wasn't until just recently I realized how true that old saying is, you never really do get over your first love."
Donna took a few seconds to take in all that Randy had just said. It made a lot of sense and she found herself agreeing with what he said but there was something that made her curious and she had to ask, "So you still love your first girlfriend? Even though she died in that accident?"
"Well maybe not exactly love but she does hold a special place in my heart." He informed and then smirked a handsome smirk as he scooted an inch closer to her, "But you're the one who holds my heart."
The sound of Donna's light laughter filled Randy's ears and made his smirk double in size; he had to hold back the urge to put an arm around her shoulders.
She turned her head to look at him, her own smile playing on her lips, "You really figured all this out just today?"
"Yeah." He nodded, "Well I did have a little help."
"From who?" she asked inquisitively.
"Eric."
Donna's eyebrows knotted together at the sound of her ex-boyfriend's name, "Eric?"
"Yeah, we met up and talked about all this a little while ago." Randy informed in a casual manner.
"Eric." Donna repeated still shocked by the answer, "Eric. My ex-boyfriend met up with you my current boyfriend to talk about me his ex-girlfriend and your current girlfriend?"
"Yeah." Randy nodded and then frowned a bit, "It sounds even weirder when you say it."
Trying not to look or sound too upset, Donna had to know what exactly had gone on during this little meeting, "So what you guys just got together to talk about me?"
"Yeah, pretty much. I mean we didn't just talk about you. We…well we talked about the stuff I just told you. He was actually the one who helped convince me to come back over here to talk to you. The whole meeting was sort of his idea."
There was a twitch at corner of Donna's mouth when she heard this new piece of information.
"And he also filled me in on a couple of things."
"Like what?" she asked, this time trying not to let her worry become to obvious.
"Well like him running over your cat, Mr. Bonkers. My sympathies." Randy patted her hand and Donna smiled faintly, "And he also said it would be wise if I was the one to pick out our wedding rings. Our at least my ring."
Instantly Donna knew what that was referencing and she dropped her head into her hands as she released a groan, "Oh God…he told you about the man ring."
"Yup." Randy nodded, "Again my sympathies."
Laughing lightly Donna lifted her head up and at that same moment she realized what her boyfriend had said.
"Wait a minute. Our wedding rings?" she repeated, raising her eyebrows a bit, "Does that mean our wedding is still on?"
Randy looked back at her, "If you want it to be."
Hearing his answer made Donna's smile gradually grow as she stared back at him.
0o0o0o
Angela and Hyde stood outside the Forman's bedroom door just as they had an hour or two ago, and just like before there seemed to be nothing but silence coming from the other side of the door.
Hyde was sure that if Red and Kitty were awake with Lucy in there with them there would have to be some muffled sounds coming from their room. Then again this information about the couple being awake had come from Laurie who wasn't exactly known for her honesty, but on the other hand if their parents really were asleep where was Lucy?
While all these thoughts were swarming around in Hyde's head, Angela wasted little time in finding out whether her patient was awake or not and she knocked her knuckles against the door.
"Come in." a voice said not two seconds after the knock.
Angela's smile stretched onto her face before she grabbed the door knob and pushed open the door for herself and Hyde—who still seemed surprised by the very quick reply. She held in a laugh and walked up ahead of him in the effort to remain professional and not giggle at Hyde's shell shocked appearance as he staggered into the room.
"You're awake." Hyde said sounding both surprised and confused as soon as he saw the sight of Red, Kitty, and Lucy sitting in the large bed looking very much alert.
His words went unheard by the occupants in the room as Angela got ready to do her job.
"Hello Mrs. Forman." She greeted the older woman.
Kitty smiled up at the nurse, "Oh hello Angela, how are you dear?"
"I'm just fine Mrs. Forman, and I think I should be the one asking you that question." She teased lightly, before repeating the question, "How are you doing?"
Tuning out his wife's words as she explained the way she was currently feeling to Angela—he had already heard it minutes ago when she'd told him—Red stood up from his comfy spot on the mattress to give Angela any extra space she needed. Once he was on his feet he looked down at Lucy, ready to take her with him but decided against it when she saw Kitty's arm still wrapped protectively around the small girl. He smiled lightly at the scene before stepping away and walking over to where Hyde was standing.
"You're awake." Hyde said in disbelief as he stared at his surrogate father.
Red scowled in return, "Are you on dope?"
"No. No." Hyde was quick to answer as he shook his head back and forth, wishing that would help snap him back to normal.
"Oh and this is Lucy." Kitty voice traveled over to the standing men; she'd obviously finished discussing herself and was eager to show off her precious grandchild, "My granddaughter. Laurie's daughter."
Angie smiled down at the little girl, "Hello, Lucy, I've heard a lot about you."
Hearing this confused both Red and Kitty and the couple exchanged curious glances. Theses looks didn't go unnoticed by Angela or Hyde, who had luckily managed to get past the fake sleeping thing his adopted parents had apparently pulled on him, and so they began to explain.
"Yeah we were kinda there when Laurie broke the news to Fez." Hyde explained to the pair.
Though she was glad to learn that her daughter had finally shared her secret with Fez, Kitty wanted to know more of the details. "What happened?"
"What happened?" Red asked at the same time as his wife, although he was less interested in the little details and wanted to know if he need to get his hunting rifle out of the closet or not.
Hyde looked over at Angela and then back at his parental figures, "Well Fez fainted twice and then woke up with Ricky Ricardo possessing his body…." He paused and shrugged one of his shoulders, "So all in all, it wasn't all that bad."
"Fez fainted? Oh the poor dear." Kitty said sounding like any worried mother as she looked up at Angela, "Is he alright?"
"He's doing just fine, Mrs. Forman, so how about we our concern back to you?" Angela suggested hoping this time Kitty would tell her more about how she was feeling and not just about her healthy family members.
While Angela went on with asking Kitty more medical related questions, Hyde made himself comfortable in one of the two arm chairs near Kitty's bed. It didn't take long for Red to seat himself in the other one.
Red turned his head to Hyde and lifted his chin up a bit, "So, how's it really going with Laurie and Tonto?"
"I don't know really know, Red." Hyde answered truthfully, "What I told you was the last I caught before I heard them going into my room to talk things out."
"Your room?" the balding man asked with a frown.
He nodded, "Yeah, Eric sent them in there."
"Eric?" Red questioned, now even more confused than before.
"Yeah." Hyde nodded once again before continuing, "When things started getting kinda outta control he started ordering us all to go into certain rooms of the house."
"And you all just listened to him?"
"Yeah. He can actually get pretty scary, man." He admitted causing the older man to chuckle.
Over on the bed Angela was busy checking the IV on Kitty making sure it was dripping correctly, that things were in the right place, and so on. And while Kitty laid back against her pillows having gone though this so many times already—it was more than routine—Lucy watched Angie's actions with such curiosity and interest…she had to know what this lady was doing to her grandma.
"Why she doing that Granma?" she asked, tugging on her grandmother's hand.
"She's making sure my medicine is going in right, sweetie." Kitty explained trying to make the explanation as simple as she could, "Angela is my nurse and it's her job to take care of me."
Lucy frowned and titled her head to the side, "But Granpa take care of you."
Kitty nodded and smiled, "Yes, your grandpa does take care of me. Just like your Uncle Steven and Your Uncle Eric." she added in, "But Angela takes care of my medicine and helps tell your grandpa and uncles how they can take care of me. A nurse's job is very important because they take care of sick people and help them feel better."
"I wanna be a nurse!" Lucy exclaimed happily with a little bounce on the bed.
Angela grinned at the little girl's excitement, "I'm sure you'd make a wonderful nurse, honey. And you know, your grandma was a nurse too."
Brown puppy dog eyes went wide at this new piece of information, "You a nurse Granma?"
"Used to be, sweetie." Kitty corrected.
"I be a nurse just like you, Grandma!" Lucy declared proudly.
A large smile quickly made its way to Kitty's face when she heard her granddaughter's announcement. Of course she knew that there was no guarantee that the little girl would keep this career choice in mind years later, or even tomorrow for that matter, but hearing her say she wanted to follow her grandmother's steps in becoming a nurse made Kitty's heart swell with happiness and brought tears to her eyes.
"Okay Nurse Kiddo," Hyde said, suddenly at Kitty's bedside and taking his niece in his arms, "Let's move over here so Nurse Angela can have more room to finish checking on Nurse Grandma."
The two women smiled as they watched Hyde carry Lucy over to where he and Red were seated.
"Mrs. Forman, Steven was telling me you're only getting up to use the bathroom." Angela started to say, "I told him if you want, I can bring a catheter with me next time and…"
"No." Kitty firmly interjected.
"But Mrs. Forman, if you're having trouble…"
Kitty shook her head not letting the young woman continue, "Angela, I know where you're going with this and the answer is no. I don't need one of those things yet. And if you did put me on a catheter, those two over there would never let me out of this bed again." She commented as she gestured towards Hyde and Red who exchanged frowns, "It may only be a few steps but I enjoy getting out of bed and being able to take those small walks."
"Okay." Angela nodded knowing she had to respect her patient's wishes, "But when you do feel ready for one, you'll let me know, alright?"
The ill woman nodded in agreement, "Okay."
After several minutes and many questions later, Angela was wrapping up her visit, reviewing some of the changes and adjustments she'd made with Kitty and her family.
"I increased your morphine intake just a bit but it should be enough to help with the pain a little bit more." She said to Kitty but at the same time informing Red and Hyde, "And I think instead of waiting till Tuesday to come back, I'll drop in some time tomorrow to check on you. Is that okay?"
Immediately Red began to think the worst when he heard Angela's plan of stopping by tomorrow instead of skipping the day in between. Was Kitty getting worse and now needed to be checked in on even more than before? Hyde wasn't as panicked as he adopted father and even smirked slightly as he mind first went to thinking that maybe Angela was making her next trip so soon so that they could have another conversation like the one they'd had today. However as soon as he thought this, he had the urge to kick himself for being so selfish and immediately thinking about himself and not Kitty and her health which was most probably the reason for Angela's planned visit tomorrow.
Kitty didn't seem to have any concern like the other two and simply nodded her head, "That sounds just fine, Angela, thank you."
Angela nodded her own head as she smiled and stood up from her spot on the side of the bed, "Now I'm going to go ahead and take off so you can go back to spending time with your little granddaughter over there. Bye Lucy."
Seeing the pretty nurse wave at her Lucy lifted her own hand and began to wave back from her seat on her Grandpa Red's lap.
"Oh actually, I think Laurie will be coming to look for Lucy soon." Kitty said and then looked over at her husband, "Red, honey, why don't you take Lucy with you downstairs while you walk Angela out. That way Laurie will be able to find Lucy."
His wife's suggestion confused Red and his face showed it, "Kitty, Laurie will be able to find her up here. She's the one that dropped her off."
"I know. But it would just be easier and much quicker for Laurie to find Lucy if she was downstairs." Kitty said hoping this time Red get her message.
"Alright, fine." Red grumbled before grabbing Lucy off his lap and getting ready to hand her over to Hyde, "Here Steven. You take Lucy and walk Angela out while I stay here and…"
Rapidly Kitty shook her head and she jumped in to interrupt, "No, no, no, Red, I want you to do it."
"Why?"
"Because." Kitty started to say and then paused trying to think up an excuse. It looked like Red wasn't going to be able to figure out what she was trying to do so she was going to have to get him out of here on her own, "Because if Laurie needs your help with handling Fez you'll already be there."
Red took a few seconds to think over Kitty's words before he nodded his head, "Good point."
With that said, Red rose from his seat, holding his granddaughter in his arms and headed for the door. However, it wasn't the door that lead out of the bedroom and Kitty notice this.
"Red Forman, you leave that gun in that closet." She warned in a stern tone of voice.
Not wanting to upset his sick wife, Red reluctantly stepped away from their closet door and turned himself around to open the bedroom door.
"Come on Angela, I'll walk you out." Red muttered before stepping out into the hallway.
The young nurse smiled and waved at the two people left in the bedroom before following Red and Lucy out of the room's exit.
"Alright, Steven," Kitty said as soon as they were alone, "let's hear it."
"Hear what?" Hyde asked, confused. Though he had figured out that she wanted to talk to him alone from the way she had been persisting that Red go downstairs, he couldn't figure out what it was she wanted to tell him.
"Hear what you've been wanting to tell me since you and Angela first walked in."
Hyde frowned, "I didn't wanna say anything."
"Sweetie." She said with a sigh, "I don't want to spend whatever time I have left trying to crack your Zen code. Please just tell me."
"It was nothing." He said as he shifted in his seat, "I just…wanted to ask you if you had a nice fake nap."
Kitty giggled, "You figured it out."
"Yeah." Hyde smirked, "Well Laurie kinda spilled the beans too."
"I thought she would." She commented with a nod.
Sitting himself up straighter, he began to speak again, "So your plan was to pretend to be asleep so Angela would have to stay longer and wait to check up on you, forcing her to have a conversation with me."
"Now how do you know that was the plan?" Kitty asked trying to sound offended by such an idea, "Maybe Red and I pretended to be asleep so we could have some alone time and everything else just happened to work out the way they did."
With a smirk playing on his lips, Hyde shook his head as he stood up from his seat walking closer to Kitty's beside where he soon took a seat, "Nah, I know you guys didn't do it for some alone time. If you had you wouldn't have done fake sleeping; Red would have just literally kicked us out of the room."
"That's true." Kitty agreed while smiling.
Hyde shook his head looking down before looking back up at Kitty, "You're on your deathbed and you're still playing matchmaker."
Kitty smiled and laughed a small weak laugh as she reached over and grabbed Hyde's hand, she squeezed it so lightly, he barely felt it, "One day…one day you'll understand, Steven."
"Understand what it's like to be a meddling mother? Probably not." He said with a tilt of his head, "Understand the will to do whatever it takes to make sure my kid is happy…maybe."
The two shared a smile before Kitty asked the question she couldn't wait to hear the answer to.
"So how did it go?"
"It went pretty good." Hyde replied and then continued on with the details he knew his mother was waiting to hear about, "We went down to the kitchen, warmed up some coffee and talked. First it was mostly about you and the medicine and then we just started talking about random stuff." He began to smirk at the thought of the some of the things he and Angela had shared with each other. "You know she's an only child? And she wanted to be a nurse since she was a kid. She grew up in Florida but she hated the heat so after high school she left and came over here. Can you believe that? She actually came to Wisconsin for the snow."
Kitty's grin grew, it was so nice hearing Steven sound so excited and happy about something, "Sounds like you two had a very nice chat."
"Yeah." He nodded.
"Did you set a date for the next one?" she couldn't resist asking.
"You just heard it. Sometime tomorrow." Hyde answered, "So I was kinda hoping you could maybe do a repeat performance of the whole fake sleeping thing."
She smiled feebly, "I'll see what I can do."
Hyde noticed the lack of energy Kitty seemed to have now, she looked weaker than she did minutes before and even her voice was getting softer, and he quickly became concerned.
"You okay, Mom?"
"I'm fine." She replied through half lidded eyes, "Just tried. The new morphine intake… mixing with the other medication… is just a little too much for my body to handle… while I'm awake."
He nodded understandingly and began to stand up, "You want me to go so you can get some rest? I can go get Red…"
"No. No. Stay. Stay here." Kitty called out weakly as she held her hand out a bit as if it would stop him, "Please, Steven. Just keep talking to me. Tell me about what else you two talked about."
"Okay." Hyde agreed and then sat back down before filling her request, "Well I told her about the water tower and all the stories that go with it. Actually, I'm thinking of maybe taking her up there. Just so she can see it for herself you know. Haven't told her yet or the guys but…" he suddenly stopped his story when he saw Kitty's eyes had closed and there seemed to be a stillness about her.
"Mom?" he called out, feeling his heart beating faster than he ever thought it could.
He watched her, feeling more and more panicked until he finally saw the small movement of her chest rising and falling. She was breathing, slowly but still breathing. Hyde felt a wave of relief wash over him but still took a few seconds prior to standing up on his feet. He was about to leave the room so she could have some peace and quiet to rest in, but stopped in his tracks before he stepped away from her bedside.
Careful not to wake her, Hyde leaned down and placed a gently kiss on her forehead before softly whispering, "Thank you."
Author's Note: There you go Chapter 46 of "Two Weeks' Hope you liked!
Is Donna and Randy's wedding still on? Why is Angela coming on Monday instead of Tuesday? When will Fez get to meet Lucy? Will Lucy become a nurse? Will there be a repeat performance of the fake sleeping? And have Eric and Jackie finished unpacking the groceries yet? Confused? You won't be after the next chapter of "Two Weeks"
Until next time, thanks for reading, hope you liked, please review and lemme know what you think, stay tuned, take care, and have a nice day!