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I am sitting up in a lounge chair by the window. This is huge! I have been conscious for the past six days and able to stay awake longer and do more each day. Today I managed to walk the seven steps to this chair by myself.
The Death Star theme song starts up on Gail's phone just as Dov wheels Chris into the room, his leg in a giant cast. I watch her wave at the boys, frown at her phone, and hit the red button.
"Oh my God! Chris! What happened to you?" I can't help staring "And Dov… What is that thing on your face?"
I laugh, Dov with the mustache, sideburns and solpatch. Wow! Crazy! I can't quite wrap my head around it.
Gail is laughing too, "Yeah, I know. It looks like a caterpillar is trying to eat Dov's upper lip."
Chris snorts. He is trying to keep a neutral face, but it isn't working. "Yeah, but that pathetic little wisp of hair on his chin is the worst."
"He grew that for our undercover in the club scene. But I think it's got to go…" Gail snickers
"Hey! Chloe likes it!" He protests.
"And there you go.." Chris raises his eyebrows with a smirk.
"Oh my God. Don't encourage him!" Gail moans
The three of them are like watching a finely tuned circus clown act, sometimes silly, sometimes dizzying, but never boring. Dov and Chris are like an old married couple with Gail thrown in to keep them on their toes. They make me smile.
"So Chris, really, what happened to you?" I ask again, feeling more nervous about this question than I should.
"You honestly don't remember?" He is looking at me with an odd expression, halfway between alarm and concern.
"Uh, no." I reply. They are all quietly looking at me now.
"What?" I demand.
The Death Star theme song starts up again. Gail looks annoyed and hits the off button on her phone.
Chris sighs. "You're going to have to answer that sometime."
"No I don't." Gail pouts
"You don't really want her ambushing one of us to get to you again, do you?" Dov is looking worried
Gail sighs and turns her phone back on. "You're only saying that because you don't want to have to live your life under an alias forever."
"So Holly," Chris is looking at me intently now, "What exactly do you remember?"
This is the question that everyone has been avoiding ever since I woke up. Gail is looking at him like she has seen a ghost. What is up with that?
"Uuuhh… I don't know…" And I didn't. In truth, the simple acts of focusing on anything like eating, or bathing, or even keeping my eyes open for any length of time, is so overwhelming I haven't really thought about it too much. My head is starting to hurt again. I rub my eyes behind my glasses.
"Don't push her Chris!" Gail hisses, looking like she might fly at him across the room.
I reached out to rest my hand on her arm. I smile when she looks at me. She is so cute when she gets herself all worked up over nothing! I would never say that to her, but it always makes me smile. I see her eyes soften just a little, and it makes me smile more.
She sighs, "You're killing me, Holly." She murmurs.
Her phone lights up again. It's the theme song from Superman this time.
"Just answer it." I sigh and close my eyes.
"Hey Steve, are you calling to do Mother's dirty work, or do you want something else?" I hear her pick up the call. "No, I don't know when I will stop being an embarrassment to her and go back on active duty."
I open my eyes and watch the boys watching her pace around the room.
"Oh please!" She rolls her eyes, "Listen, if you really want to drop by, we could use some Chinese takeout."
Leave it to Gail to get Steve to buy us lunch.
"Yeah, yeah, I'll do that." She looks up at me, "Traci sends her love."
She paces some more, fidgeting with the end of her braid, "Yup. Ok. Yeah. YES! Bye!"
"Did he make you promise to call your mom?" Chris asks
"Uh huh." She is still pacing.
"And are you…"
She stops and glares daggers at him. "Are you kidding me? What do you think? No!"
"Told ya!" Dov smirks.
Chris shrugs, rummages in the pocket of his shirt, and hands Dov a five.
I laugh, even though they are making me tired. I try to stifle a yawn. Dov shifts and says. "Hey, Chris and I will be going for a walk now. We'll be back in about an hour. I hope Steve goes to the place with the good eggrolls…"
"Uh, yeah." Chris says "See you Holly!" He nods at Gail, "Gail." He reaches out and pulls her into an awkward hug.
She is watching them go as I yawn and say, "Gail, do you think you could help me back into bed?"
As she turns I see something flicker in her eyes, but then she smiles, "Oh Holly, I love it when you talk dirty to me!" She teases and tries to keep it light, but I know that look when I see it, however briefly.
My arms are around her neck as she helps to lift me from my seat. As I steady myself on my feat, her arms come up around my waist. I lean my head on her shoulder and breathe her in. She fidgets and starts to back out of our embrace.
"Come on." She begins to steer me toward the bed, one arm still wrapped around me. I sit and she helps me lift up my legs as she tucks me under the covers. She turns to go, but I pull her back.
"Stay with me." I scoot over to one side of the bed making room for her. Looking into her eyes, I know what my face must be saying.
"Holly, I…" She fidgets and looks at the floor.
"Stay with me." I repeat. I reach out and tug at the bottom of her shirt. "Please?"
She looks up at me and the longing is back in her eyes. She sighs, kicks off her shoes and climbs into the bed. I can't help myself, I lean over and kiss her. It's something I have wanted to do all day.
"Holly…" she looks away.
"Shhh…" I turn her face back to me and kiss her again, longer this time.
"You're killing me, you know that right?" sighs into my mouth.
"I've missed you so much!" I whisper as I snuggle into her neck and feel myself begin to drift.
"You remember?" She asks quietly.
"Mmmm… not really, but some." I close my eyes.
There is a knock on the door. I feel Gail's body jump and then go ridged beneath me. Steve and Traci are standing in the doorway looking amused and slightly embarrassed. Something smells delicious! Gail is groggy and struggling to get up. Steve laughs, "It's ok Gail! You can stay right there!" He places two large bags from Dragon Chef on the window ledge.
I reach down and work the controls on the bed so it sits us upright. Traci moves the table in our direction. Steve is dishing us out paper plates of fried rice, Hong Kong style noodles and some kind of crispy chicken when the boys reappear and start to fight over who gets the last eggroll.