Chapter Three: Somebody's Praying Me Through (Allen Asbury)

The sparse, clipped text message from their Boss set off a storm of return texts, all of which went unanswered. Team One finished changing into their uniforms and pretty much descended on Winnie's desk to see if she had heard anything – she hadn't – and use her phone to make a few calls. None of them wanted to tie up their cell phones in case the Sarge tried to call.

The tussing for the phone had just gotten underway when Commander Holleran appeared; Team One froze, with Ed and Wordy in the middle of using their respective heights as a weapon both against each other and Spike, who'd been fastest to Winnie's desk, while Lou did his best to budge Wordy away from Spike – he wasn't getting anywhere with that. Sam and Jules were staying out of range and Winnie had rolled away from the phone in self-defense.

Holleran frowned at them and cleared his throat rather pointedly. Reluctantly, Team One disengaged from each other and looked at their commander sheepishly. "Sergeant Parker contacted me from the hospital; they're in the middle of determining what the problem is. This morning, Greg and Lance found Alanna on the floor of the living room, unresponsive and clutching her head. Anything more is going to have to wait until Sergeant Parker contacts me with an update." The tall black man paused, giving Team One time to absorb his report. "Team One, I'm standing you down for today and taking you off-rotation pending Parker's next few reports." He shifted back, turning to go, then looked back. "If you kill each other trying to get to that phone, I will be very unhappy."

As Holleran left, Wordy huffed, glaring at both Ed and Spike. The stand-off continued until Spike held up a hand in the 'scissors' position. Two furious rounds of Rock, Paper, Scissors later, Wordy had won first crack at the phone. Wordy headed for the desk and grabbed the phone, reaching over the desk and dialing. After a moment, Shelley picked up the phone and Wordy told her, "Shel, 'Lanna's in the hospital. We don't know what's wrong yet, but Holleran's going to keep us updated."

Shelley's shocked gasp was audible to the rest of the hovering team. After a breathless moment, Shelley replied, "Do you know where she's at? Greg must be beside himself. And Lance…that boy adores his sister."

Wordy frowned. "I bet they're at Metro General right now, but if it's bad enough, they might move her. Hold off till we get some better info; I think Sarge's got his hands full right now. Sorry, but I got to give everyone else a shot at the phone."

"Okay, Kevin. If you can, tell them I'm thinking of them."

"Will do, Shel."

Wordy dropped the phone on its cradle and pulled it back up to pass the phone off to Spike. Spike leaned over, punching the numbers, then brought the phone up to his ear. "Mamá? My Boss's niece got taken to the hospital this morning. Can you and Papá pray for her?"

Spike's mother let out a brief sputter of protest before Spike's words penetrated enough for her to understand what she was being asked. Then her voice turned sympathetic. "Of course I will pray for her, Michelangelo," she reassured her son. "Do they know what is wrong?"

"Not yet, Mamá," Spike admitted. "We're leaving our cell phones free for the Boss to call, so I need to hang up and give the phone to Ed."

"Of course, of course," Mrs. Scarlatti replied. "Let me know when you have news. That sweet, charming child…I will tell your Papá now and we will pray for her safe recovery."

Spike grinned a little as he hung up and passed the handset to Ed. Leave it to 'Lanna to charm his mother when she normally hated anything and everything to do with his job. Ed dialed the phone and when his mother-in-law picked up, spoke briskly. "Hi, it's Ed; I need to talk to Soph." When she sputtered, he just said, "Now, please."

It took a minute or two, but soon Sophie came to the phone, with an irritated, "Ed, why are you calling me?"

"Soph, the Boss's niece just got taken to the hospital. I know you're mad at me, but could you just keep her in mind or something…?"

Sophie gasped, her surprise at Ed's news clear. It took a moment for her to absorb the news. Then she asked, "Do you know anything, has Greg called, do they have any idea what's wrong?"

"Soph, I don't know any more than that. The Boss sent us a quick text and Holleran gave us a few more details, but I don't think even the Boss knows what's wrong yet. I'll call when I get more information, okay, but we just don't know yet."

"Okay." Sophie's voice had gone from angry to soft and worried. "I…I'll tell my mother and we'll see if we can do anything from up here, all right?"

"Thanks, Sophie," Ed breathed, before hanging up the phone and letting out a breath.

Winnie's eyes were wide as she looked up at them. "Could I…make a few calls of my own?"

Ed blinked, then realized she wanted to let a few people know herself. "Ed, we should let Commander Locksley know, too," Lou pointed out from the side. "And Onasi."

The team leader considered, then nodded. "Okay, I'd rather keep our cells open, but faster to just get it done, yeah?"

More than a few other members of the SRU had overheard the commotion and the news and they quietly spread it amongst themselves. Ed, after calling Roy and asking him to update Onasi, called Dean Parker to rely the news to him. Unbeknownst to Team One, the initial sharing of news touched off a chain reaction that soon spanned a far greater distance than any of them could have anticipated.

Spike's mother didn't stop at informing his father; she soon had her evening prayer group updated on the news, with a promise to keep them informed as things developed. Her prayer group, in their turn, spread the news to their friends and family. Spike's father temporarily dropped his antagonism towards his son and his son's job to inform the men he'd once worked with of the news; once again, the news spread far beyond just that initial contact.

Dean Parker didn't tell his mother or stepfather, but he did depart his home in Dallas shortly after the phone call and rounded up his sports buddies to tell them his cousin was in the hospital. One of them, a churchgoer, led the group in an impromptu prayer and shared the news with his youth group later that night.

Roy was in his precinct when his brother called and his reaction to the news was loud enough that most of his coworkers found out without even asking him what was going on. That, coupled with a few office gossips hanging about when Roy told his new – and rather odd – partner, meant that Guns 'n' Gangs was on-board and fully briefed before the hour was out.

Onasi, once he was informed by Roy, headed for Madame Locksley's office posthaste to share the news and thence to Gringotts to let Silnok know; Greg had insured Team One's Auror liaison could contact the goblin in an emergency. Silnok sent two letters, one to Lord Longbottom, one to Lord Potter, and called the goblin emissary to Narnia into his office to dispatch him with the initial hospital report to Narnia.

Shelley and Sophie let their parents and, in Shelley's case, their in-laws know what was occurring. Their children would have to wait, but both women wasted no time contacting their friends and acquaintances, sharing the news.

And the man who'd been at Metro General and just 'happened' to spot a distressed Greg Parker and his nephew headed back to his church and shared, briefly, about the young lady he'd prayed for with the rest of his staff. The staff all agreed to keep the young lady in their prayers for the foreseeable future.

Commander Holleran reappeared once Greg called in his second report from Metro General, before he drove down to Rush. Team One, still hovering in the atrium, straightened to attention, looking at their commander with barely disguised hope that whatever was wrong was minor and Alanna would be out of the hospital in a day or two. Holleran crushed their hopes with two simple sentences. "Alanna has a brain aneurysm. She'll be going into surgery as soon as the ambulance reaches Rush." The atrium, already silent, went so quiet that a feather dropping could have been heard. "Sergeant Parker asked me to inform you that, until further notice, he'll be contacting me directly with any updates." The tall, lean man drew a deep breath. "Now, I know we're all shocked by the news, but it's not over yet. I'll admit, it sounds bad, but let's not count Alanna out."

Nods went around Team One…they knew how stubborn both kids could be. Still…brain injuries were tricky and almost always resulted in permanent damage. Before the next round of phone calls started, the team circled around Winnie's desk as the dispatcher looked up brain aneurysms online. When Winnie blanched and tried to click out of the page she'd found, Spike leaned farther over her shoulder and pulled her hand off the mouse. The tech swallowed hard.

"Guys, 'Lanna's only got about a fifteen to thirty percent chance of coming out of this with minimal damage," he reported grimly. "At best."

He turned to see his team go deathly pale…until Jules blew her breath out and pulled one of the oldest quips in the book out. "Never tell me the odds," she decided, tilting her chin up. "I'm not giving up on her, not till it's over."

"Copy that," Ed agreed firmly. "Okay, since the Boss is gonna be calling Holleran directly, we can stop avoiding our cell phones. Get the update out there; let's get this done."

As the hours ticked by, the news – and the accompanying update – spread farther and farther, until it stretched from what seemed like half the population of Toronto, both magical and tech, to a small pocket in Dallas, to the distant shores of Magical Britain, to the even more distant shores of Narnia. The updates Parker called in from Rush were just as quickly spread and dispersed. By the time evening fell, Alanna's 'support team' had grown far beyond her immediate 'family' and well beyond just the people she knew.

Far away, in Narnia, two parents huddled together at the news that their daughter, their baby, was sick in the hospital and they couldn't help. Queen Lucy tried her best to comfort them, but it didn't help much. Victoria Calvin looked at her husband, seeing her own helplessness reflected back at her. After a long moment, she twined her fingers with his.

"We have to trust them," she whispered.

He nodded. "They haven't let our kids down thus far."

"And…" Victoria choked, but forced the words out, "And if He thinks it's time for her to come home…they'll be there for Lance."

Artorius pulled his wife close. Please, Aslan, not like this, he prayed. "It's not over till it's over, 'Toria," he replied firmly. "Just keep praying; we might just pray her through this."

Author note: On the Real Life front, I (and my classmates) are officially in 'staging'...also known as sit, study, and get really, really bored while we hope for interviews. I hope I'm wrong, but right now I suspect I'll end up watching all my classmates get jobs while I'm left behind. At least...that's how it seems to be shaking out at the moment. I know God has a place and a plan for me, but I've never really gotten good at waiting like this. I prefer a more active kind of waiting.

Thanks once again for all your support and prayers. Hope you enjoyed and have a great rest of your week,
sunstarunicorn