"Hello- hello? Is someone inside?"
Kim glanced up from her work on the Knucklehead. She went to the garage door and opened the human sized door just a bit. A diminutive older woman stood there. She looked frazzled and frightened. "Do you have a phone perhaps?"
"What's wrong ma'am?"
The woman's eyes darted all around, "A tire went flat on my car."
Kim grabbed an electric lantern from a shelf by the door, stepped outside, and locked the door behind herself. "Let's go change it then."
The woman looked Kim up and down. "You will? Not your husband?"
Kim smiled, "I'm Kim- Kim Legaspi. No husband, but, I've been changing tires practically since I could walk."
When they got to the car an older model Toyota Corolla wagon. The woman paused and turned towards Kim, "Florina Lopez."
Kim shook Florina's hand, "Good to meet you Mrs. Lopez. We'll get your tire fixed up and you on your way."
"Thank you Miss Legaspi."
oOOOOo
The TV was muted and Henry simply looked up and over at his mother.
Kerry smiled, "Yes... you can stay up. but- the moment-"
Henry nodded, "The minute it's over, I promise, I'll go to bed." Henry paused and laid his head against his mother's shoulder. "I am tired..."
"Well- we'd better keep you awake somehow then. Wouldn't want you to miss the rest of the game."
Henry nodded as he yawned. He watched the ads on the TV for a minute before he spoke again, "I love you Mama... and believe you, I just..."
Kerry brushed a lock of Henry's hair out of his eyes and put her arm around his shoulders, "Want to go home and for more than just a vacation. I know Henry."
"And, I know it's not really easy like that Mama, it's just... I miss Uncle Carlos, and Aunt Elena and Pappa... and sometimes even Nanna."
Kerry managed to hide her grin, "Sometimes even Nanna? Why only sometimes?"
Henry shrugged, "Sometimes she grumbled about you Mama. Is it because... because of Mama Sandy? Or..." He paused, "Because you were my two Moms?"
"No. No Henry, for once, it's much simpler. Happens with men and women who get married too. Sometimes... you just don't get along with the mother of your spouse. But, she's a good lady Henry, so, you can miss her too."
"Ooh, unmute it, unmute it..."
Kerry smiled as the Overtime period got started. She wondered just a bit if it was going to be past 11:30 or even midnight when the game got over, or if someone would score the golden goal before then.
She didn't have to wait long, only 3 minutes and 35 seconds into the OT, the Blackhawks won, again. Kerry thought that the shot right at the end of the game that should have won it was much prettier, and she still wasn't quite sure why it didn't count, but, all was well. The Blackhawks were going to face the Kings in the Western Finals. "Up and at -em kiddo."
Henry stood and disappeared from the living room. But, only a moment later he came back and leaned down, giving Kerry a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you for trying Mama. I know... I know that it's all hard and stuff and... Uncle Carlos says that I should say thank you all the time to you..." Then, he was gone again. His mushiness meter tapped out.
Kerry sat there, totally wiped. She didn't really root for or against the Blackhawks, or any sports team for that matter, but still, she was glad that the Blackhawks had won. It would be significantly easier to live with Henry for at least four more games.
She blew out a breath. Next she had to figure out what to do about... Chicagoan768111, Ms. Turing, Kim Legaspi. Kerry wasn't one hundred percent sure that it was Kim. But that line in the last message. It was nearly the exact words that Kim had used on that fateful Thanksgiving after she'd told Kerry about the death of her older brother Miles Jr. As Kerry thought back to the tone of the messages. They sounded like Kim too.
The question was. Did she want to go there? Or, perhaps that wasn't the only question. There was also the question of, did Kim know that Kerry was H_LsMom?
Kerry sighed again, "Damn." She got up from the sofa, there was one thing that she knew. She wasn't going to respond to Kim in her current state, which if she didn't get to her bed soon would be asleep on the hallway floor.
oOOOOo
Florina glanced up at the wall towards in the garage's office as she and Kim came into it. It wasn't just the wheel that was broken, and so Kim had towed it into the garage and offered Florina the use of the office phone to get someone to pick her up. "Oh my... I apologize. I made you miss the ending of the hockey game."
Kim started writing the car take in paperwork without looking at the screen, "Did we win?"
"I believe we did. In OT? I've never understood the game, but my son and dau... my son watches it constantly. Do you watch it?"
Kim looked up at the screen, "I do. Yes. As for the game. Since we won, that means that there'll be at least four more. I think I'll live." She handed the landline phone over the desk. "Here..." And continued on the paperwork. She didn't listen as Florina spoke in rapid Spanish to the person on the other end of the line.
Florina hung up, "Thank you."
"You're welcome. I think your car should be ready by tomorrow. I'll give you a call if it shouldn't be." Kim paused, "Your husband?"
"My son Manuel is on his way home from his police shift." She smiled, "He's a good boy."
Kim leaned back against the wall, "Do you have other children?"
"Carlos, he's my baby, a firefighter just like his brother Eduardo, and like his sister Sandy was. Elena is an EMT, and Manuel is a police officer."
Kim smirked, "Ah, so he's the black sheep of the family huh?"
That brought a small smile to Florina's lips, "Yes. My Guillermo was a firefighter as well." Florina went a bit pale, and tried to take a full breath a few times. "I... I..."
Kim came around the counter, "What hurts?"
"Can't... breathe. Stomach feels..."
"Like someone's sitting on it?" Florina nodded. "Can you walk?" Florina gave an even shorter nod. "You're sweating too. Ma'am, I think you're having a heart attack." Florina's eyes flashed with alarm, "Let's get you to the ER. County's right around the corner."
Kim wasn't kidding. It practically took longer for Florina and Kim to get to and into the car than it did to get to County General Hospital. On the way Kim got Manuel's phone number and once there Kim explained what she was pretty sure was going on. They took Florina in and Kim called Manuel Lopez.
Then, she just sat there. She hadn't been inside County General for 12 years. Some of those years she hadn't been in Chicago, and, for some of them, she'd gone to other hospitals or clinics because she wasn't sure if she could take it. As she looked around it wasn't as bad as she'd thought it would be. So much had changed that she barely recognized the ER.
She started when her name was called, "Dr. Legaspi?"
She looked up. "Abby?"
Abby approached her and without missing a step enfolded the blonde in a crushing hug. "What are you doing here? Are you okay? I can take a look if..."
Kim put her hand over Abby's mouth. "I brought someone in. I'm fine, and... it's not Doctor anymore. I haven't practiced in two years."
"Oh... hey, c'mon into the Doctor's Lounge and wait there. Don't want you catching something out here."
Abby pulled a mostly unresisting Kim into the Doctor's Lounge, sat her at the table and placed a mug of coffee in front of her. "You're living here?"
"I am."
"You look like crap. You're practically a skeleton."
Kim gave Abby a smirk, "You look great too Abby. Good to see you. I need to..."
Abby put a hand on Kim's shoulder and pushed her back down. "I haven't seen you for... for..."
"12 Years."
"Not even a peep. What's going on with you?"
Kim sighed, "I don't... I don't want to do this dance Abby. There's a reason that I didn't contact anyone from County. I didn't..."
"...want to know whether or not she took your advice." Kim stared at Abby as if she had three heads. "What? You think that Kerry is the only one who could know everything that goes on in this place." Abby paused, "So, which would be better? If she had a happy life, or not?"
Kim stood and moved away from the table to the window that looked out onto the ambulance bay. "Neither. That's the point." Kim turned back toward Abby, "I loved her Abby... If she's happy with someone else, I won't screw that up, and if she's unhappy and miserable I just couldn't take it. Get it?"
"I... she..." Abby made a noise in the back of her throat, "She's one of my best friends now Kim. How can I just..."
"Don't. Now, I need to go."
Abby frowned and managed to get in between Kim and the door, "Tomorrow, at New Magoo's. Because, we are going to talk, and eat, maybe even things that are so bad for you that Cardio won't let me back in the building."
"You're not going to let me leave without agreeing."
"I'm persistent."
"Stubborn."
Abby smirked, "Well, I have a kid, so, it comes in handy no matter what you call it."
Kim did a double take, "You have a child?"
"Tomorrow, lunch, noon-thirty." Abby winced as the words came out of her mouth. "Sorry."
But, Kim laughed, "Noon-thirty huh. Yep, can't tell you're a Mom at all... Tomorrow... at Noon-thirty, New Magoo's. We'll see."