Chapter 7: What She Needed

The doctor pulled away from Arthur, a comforting smile upon her dark cheeks as she wrote down her diagnosis upon a yellow pad of paper, "Your friend will be fine now. All of his vitals are in check, and he isn't showing any signs of another attack coming on," she looked down at the yellow notepad, rolling her chair against the wall as she checked a few things off, "You said you're usually dependent upon caffeine, but haven't had it in quite some time, right?"

Arthur nodded, still somewhat dazed and disoriented but coming back fast.

"Then I'd call that the cause. Otherwise, your blood sugar is healthy and there's no sign of a fever. You and your friends are free to go whenever."

The team had hopped aboard an ambulance after reaching the Shrocker house, travelling alongside Eric and his very worried father for what seemed like an eternity of thank yous and gracious actions. Arthur had fallen asleep immediately, and though the paramedics were adamant about waking him up to make sure he was alright, check which side of his brain was down, etcetera, Lewis wouldn't let them. Both him and Vivi knew, from the wisdom of his deceased grandma, that possession seizures weren't fatal unless complete.

Lewis looked up at Vivi from his chair in the hospital room, much too big for the tiny piece of plastic and padding he was sitting upon, "Don't we need to pay? I'm pretty sure none of us have insurance."

"We're good. Arthur's still on his Mom's plan, the rest was easy enough to pay out of pocket," Vivi waved her wallet at Lewis, "and thus the emergency fund comes in handy. Who would've thought my senseless babbling and saving might actually be for something useful?"

"Alright, can we just get out of here then? I'm seriously sore, I feel like I just sprint twenty miles. Plus, I don't want my family to know I-"

Arthur was too late.

"Arthur Eugene Blecher!" a shrill voice cried out. There was a vigorous pounding down the hall, high heels clacking upon the hard floors as nurses jumped out of the way and wandering patients looked on in stunned silence. In a whirlwind of cheap perfume and pencil skirts, Arthur's dear Mom had entered the hospital room with the presence of an angry principal. The doctor, sensing impending doom, quietly slipped out unnoticed.

His mother was just as thin as her son, eyes brutal and calculating. Wverything about her screamed dominance, that she was the alpha female in any situation, and though her physique may have resembled her son's her personality was a far cry from it. Here was the stereotypical PTA mom who's overbearing and restrictive nature had led to a very awkward, very terrified child, but whose love was still present as she gripped Arthur in her arms tightly.

"Don't you dare do that again. Vivi," She looked up at the girl who had been like a daughter to this single mom, the stone eyes of the best brimming with fearful tears, "thank you so much for bringing my boy out of danger, just as you always do. He can never keep himself safe."

"Come on, she was the one who made me go in the maze anyway!"

Vivi smiled at the two, always finding the relationship between them comical at the least and charming in a few ways, "Thank you, , but it was Lewis who carried him out."

Lewis scratched the back of his neck nervously with a very uncomfortable smile directed at the mother of his best friend. Ms. Blecher had hated the football player-esque boy on sight, telling Arthur that he'd only get him into violence and drugs and gangs. When Lewis reflected upon it, part of that was correct, he guessed.

seemed to forget about all of this. Dragging her boy choking from the edge of the hospital bed, she gripped both Vivi and Lewis in a suffocating show of affection, her voice edged with sobs, "I could never have asked for better guardian angels for my boy. Bless you two children."

They were stuck in that awkward yet obligatory silence for quite some time before Lewis finally pulled away, his grin simple and sweet before fading into a frown of fear and a gasp of surprise. When he left the arms of , he was met by a sight even more tear-jerking, something he wasn't quite sure he wanted to see-or did he? How would they react?

Standing in the doorway, a very short and chubby hispanic woman gripped her two children next to her while a very tall, very buff husband shadowed her protectively with a toddler gripping his powerful hands. His wife couldn't have been taller than five-three while her husband was nearly seven feet tall, making the height difference a shocking but somewhat comical observation. Still, it nearly brought Lewis to tears.

"Oh mijo, cariño, my sun and stars and bright sky," the woman walked into the room slowly, lifting her hands to Lewis' face as though he were a phantom, "Why do you scare your mother so?"

"I...how did you know I was here, Mami?"

If Lewis had chosen to look at Vivi, he would've seen her smirking brightly at the newly reunited family. After telling her team that she was going to use the restroom, she found the Garza family's number in a phone book next to a payphone, calling them in the dead of night to tell them that their son was at the hospital and that, if they wished to see him, they better hurry fast. She had to admit, the way she had spoken over the phone probably made it seem like their son was dying, but what mattered was that the family he cared so much for was there to see him before he fled.

His mother didn't take her eyes off of her son, tears welling up in them as Lewis' father came up behind her, his hand placed comfortingly upon her back as he reached forward to grip his son on the shoulder. Behind him came the ragtag group of younger children, ranging from two years old to eight. The five year old, a stunningly beautiful child with shimmering black hair to her knees and almond eyes larger and brighter than the sun, came up to grip her brother by the hand with the biggest smile in the world.

"Lewey, you came back."

At this point, Lewis was seriously overwhelmed. All the fear he had that he wouldn't be accepted by his family began to melt away from the mountains of his mind, and he kneeled down next to the sister he had cradled in his arms as a babe, looking into her eyes as he grabbed her tiny hands in his gargantuan ones. Her smile widened.

"I never left, mi hermana pequeña."

"Mami told us you're a hero, you were on TV! You saved someone like Superman!" The eldest of the three, the eight year old boy, cried out in excitement and anticipation. From the footie pajamas he was sporting, complete with red cape upon blue shirt with large 'S' symbol, it wasn't too far to infer that the little boy might have a slight obsession with the one he compared his brother to.

Lewis went to deny that claim, but his parents were already enveloping him in their arms and reassuring him that they were so, so proud of him. This sort of tear-jerking family reunion was not exactly Arthur's favorite environment. Vivi glanced at her suffering friend, still being covered in his mother's compassion and kisses.

"It's technically Friday. How about Arty and I grab a really early breakfast and let you catch up with your family, Lew?" She grinned down at the curious eyes of Lewis' younger family, looking back up to see Arthur's relieved expression as he was able to push his Mom away just a little bit.

"Yeah, I'm sure Denny's has got to be open or something," he brushed off his now wrinkled vest, tutting at how it folded upon itself after that excursion, "and I'm really hungry, Mom. I'm sure I'd get healthier a lot quicker if I went and had breakfast at two in the morning with your favorite daughter, Vivi. Doesn't that sound just wonderful?"

was only halfway buying it, glowering at both Vivi and Arthur with suspicion, "I'm pretty sure you need to be sleeping right now, little man. If anything, some home cooking will do you a lot better, along with your old bed and a nice pair of PJs. I don't want to know how many nights you've slept in those clothes."

At the complaints of the mother, Vivi gestured with her eyes towards the still embracing family behind her, hoping that would understand that they needed a little alone time. The mother looked back at them, then again at Vivi, finally sighing in defeat.

"Okay, but so long as you promise you'll get him something at least a little healthy to eat. None of that greasy death food he used to bring into my house."

Vivi nodded as she grabbed Arthur and glanced back into the hospital, beaming with the brightness of the stars in the sky. From above the shoulder of his father, Lewis smiled at her with thankful eyes that were bordered with tears. She wondered if, maybe, the reason he had been so jittery and confusing over the past few days had to do with this, the missing of his family? She wouldn't know: she didn't have one, and the one she had was with her now.

What mattered was that they were with him now, and that Vivi had helped them find each other again. She knew, deep down, that what she had done was a very, very good thing.

" , this really isn't necessary." Vivi smiled, eyes wide and greedy as the table in front of her was set with a feast, "offering me room to stay was kind enough, but inviting me to your table is just too much."

The stout woman waved off the politeness of the girl at her table, placing plates and folding napkins expertly and efficiently from years working at a restaurant, "Nonsense, you are our guest. Lewis talked so much about you, I must come to know this beautiful woman he has been travelling with."

Vivi grew red at such words, "Thank you, Mrs."

"Do not call me Mrs! In our house, you call me Mirabel. Excuse the silence of my husband, he does not know much English. We only moved here when Lewis was a young boy, and while I had to learn in order to man the shop, he only needed to know how to cook," She smiled, placing her hand on her husband's shoulder for him to grab tenderly with a mustached smile, "He very much likes you. He sees that you make our boy happy."

"You said Lewis was a boy when you moved here; does that mean he was born outside of the U.S.?" Vivi tried to divert the conversation, beginning to feel somewhat uncomfortable at the praise she was receiving.

"I was born in Nuevo León, in Mexico. The city of Guadalupe, right?" Lewis butted in, entering the dining room from the kitchen with a steaming plate of chicken and vegetables balanced on the palm of his hand. His two eldest siblings, a fifteen year old boy and a girl of fourteen, came rushing in behind him with the rest of the food in their own.

"Yes, Guadalupe. Our relatives made a new life for themselves here with a business they began, making beautiful traditional jewelry while still selling it fairly. My husband was always a wonderful cook, with so many family recipes and secrets-he had a gift, but he was never able to reap it in Nuevo León," The family began to sit down, "In America, we were able to live comfortably while still living joyfully. It is all we asked for."

At this time, the family bowed their heads respectfully in what Vivi assumed was prayer. The father, so silently that Vivi had to strain to hear, began to recite what she could only assume was a Spanish form of grace, eyes closed and hands folded as his words swirled around the food. As he finished, quickly yet with slight hesitation, the large family burst once again into life as though nothing had paused them in the first place.

"So why weren't you there to greet me so early this morning, Amado and Marisol? I felt so unloved without you two there…" Lewis teased, drawing a fake tear down his cheek and pouting dramatically.

"The school hosted an overnight event for the choir, which they are both a part of, of course. I didn't have time to pick them up!" His mother replied, ruffling the hair of the older boy. He tried to act cool about it, but was smiling just as wide as any of the family.

"What about the other boy, the one that Lewis saved? Is he not coming to see us, Mami?" the girl, Marisol, asked. Maribel glanced at Vivi for an answer.

"He was feeling really sore after what happened last night, he went to sleep at about four this morning and hasn't been awake since. All Arthur needs is a little rest at home is all, I'm sure he'll come around to say hello." She lied. In all actuality, Arthur was probably playing video games in the Mystery Skulls van outside his mother's house, but this sort of social interaction wasn't exactly his forte.

Vivi began piling food onto her plate, choosing carefully and somewhat less than she would usually eat, but as the family continued to stack their towers of food higher and higher she felt a little more comfortable. Lewis pointed out the dishes that were really spicy, the ones that weren't very, and so on-she could take a little bit of heat, but in no way was Vivi as tolerant of it as his family was.

"I made almost all of this myself, you know. In a way, this is the first meal I've cooked for you, V." Lewis grinned thoughtfully, edging a glass of milk towards her with the knowledge that she'd need it eventually, "It didn't really cross my mind when I was cooking it, but here we are."

He always talked of his family cooking, taking pride in his own as well. With a knife and a frying pan, Lewis was a god, and had planned on taking over his father's place or at least helping in the kitchen when he got a little older, maybe as a side job for college. Everytime he watched Vivi and Arthur eat junk food, he gagged, complaining about the lack of a stove and proper kitchenware with the promise that, sooner or later, he would cook a magnificent meal for his team.

And here it was, alongside a chattering family and a couple of smiles too big for this world.

Halfway through her first bite, Vivi was gulping down the milk with tears in her eyes while the family laughed cheerily at her first bite of authentic Mexican food, but something about their playfulness made it less of an insult and more of a tease. She felt more than a little ready to tough out the rest of the meal, knowing that the surrounding family-and especially Lewis-had cooked just for her. It was the spiciest food she had ever tasted, but also some of the most delicious, and the people around her were more than social: they were compassionate, loving, and loyal.

Vivi had never had a family like this.

Until she met Arthur, dinners had been a lonely thing. Even when she adopted him into her life, they only ate together once a week with the exception of a few meals with his mother or uncle Lance. This family, within this house of welcomes and brightness, was much different from anything she had ever experienced before: whereas the other social dinners had been thick with polite conversation and mostly silent eating, the Garza's acted as though Vivi were just another child of theirs, another mouth for feeding and talking and snoring. Under this roof, Vivi had more than just her friends and a dog-she was exposed to a loving family.

She sometimes caught Lewis' father staring at her critically, but he always smiled when she noticed his gaze. Even if he didn't talk much and, when he did, she couldn't understand it very well, she wasn't scared of the large man-just like Lewis, he looked less to her like a bodybuilder and more like a teddy bear.

When dinner ended and the table began to disperse into separate tasks, Vivi watched Lewis' father pull him aside with a very serious gleam in his eyes. Both hands gripping the shoulders of his boy, he relayed a message that she couldn't hear from across the room, gave her a wink, and left Lewis blushing very, very brightly.

Vivi joined her teddy bear with the dishes, leaning in close to him in an attempt to get him to spill the beans, "What was that about? You look like a tomato."

Lewis stopped scrubbing his plate as she asked, trying not to look at the girl as she leaned over to get a better look at his face, "He, uh, misunderstood our relationship is all. Nothing to think about, you don't have to worry, nope." He was trying to sound calm, but his tense muscles and overall scared nature denoted something else.

She bit her lip to stop any laughter in its tracks, "What kind of misunderstanding, Lulu?"

He resumed scrubbing his plate vigorously and without mercy, "Oh, you know, he just gave me...gave me permission to marry you is all, no big deal. Just a little bit of a misunderstanding between us, no biggie."

Vivi couldn't hold back her laughter now, "I think I've fallen in love with your family, Lewis. Can I marry them instead?"

That reassured him a little bit, and his scrubbing went back to normal speed, "Really? I was afraid that they were coming off a little strong. We're always so noisy, it never really occurred to them that they might be a bit overwhelming. I was so scared that you'd think they were, I don't know, weird?" he was clearly touched by her words of acceptance towards his family, "I don't know, it just means a lot to me. And they really like you, as you can probably infer by my father's attempt at arranging a marriage between us."

Just then, a hand reached up to tug at the skirt of Vivi, a pair of very worried almond eyes looking up with determination but a little bit of fear as they asked a question of life and death, "Vivi, could you read me a book?" the second youngest Garza mumbled, her hand covering her mouth as she searched for an answer. Lewis squatted down to look at her square in the eyes.

"Vivi's probably very tires, Perla. I'll come down to read to you if you can wait just a little bit longer."

"No, it's fine," Vivi grinned, heart melting at the adorableness of the shy girl in front of them, "I'd love to read to you, Perla."

That beautiful smile poked out from the cheeks of the tiny girl, and she offered a hand for Vivi to take lightly in hers. They both looked back at Lewis' face, brimming with a happiness neither truly understood, before running through the hallways and into the room of the young girl, her older sister, and the spare bed for Vivi. After curling up in a thick comforter and reading Where The Wild Things Are at least ten times, the two fell asleep on top of each other, leaving the spare bed empty and Vivi's heart filled with a form of love she had never known she needed.

For Lewis, falling asleep in his old bed with the oldest of his three brothers, the love Vivi showed his family and what she received in return was not only a relief, but a call to action. So quickly, she had become another part of the family, and be it his parent's eagerness for the boy to have a friend or their overall accepting nature Vivi was no longer a stranger to the house but an addition to.

Before they came back to their hometown, Lewis swore that he would ask Vivi to be his, to truly be a part of his family. As his father had told him, struggling to relay his words in broken English with an accent so thick yet sincere that Lewis just had to listen, Vivi 'was a keeper', and he needed to keep her close.