Chapter 15

Sunday, June 7, 1987-Morning

Startled awake by Maggie's nudge on his forearm, Donovan had fallen asleep on the waiting room couch.

"What time is it?" He looked past Maggie to the square clock on the wall behind her. 11:42… damn. "How's Julie?"

"Mike, I tried to call you earlier. Where were you?"

He'd retrieved several of her urgent messages on his answering machine, only after returning from Pico's lab. Donovan left Pico in Ham's care again, to shower, return to the hospital for an update on Julie's condition, then go home and rest.

"Sleeping," he lied.

"You sleep like a rock then," she said. "Never mind. Julie's mother is here." She stepped out of his line of sight giving him a view of the middle-aged woman sitting near Steve. Connie bore the same dimples and small nose as her daughter.

Donovan groggily stood, went over to the woman, and stuck out his hand.

"Mrs. Parrish, I'm Mike—"

She ignored his extended hand. "I know who you are, Mr. Donovan. Stevie told me all about the trouble you caused."

"Maybe you need to hear more than one side of the story," Maggie suggested.

Connie stood, snatching up her purse. "Oh, I will, later," she threatened, glaring at Donovan. "Doctor Akers has some questions for you."

Now he wants to talk to me? Donovan followed her to the doorway.

Steve started to get up.

"Wait here," Connie instructed.

Donovan was glad.

#

Moments later, Donovan found himself seated in a small office. Joe Akers leaned against his desk with Julie's medical chart in hand.

"How you doin', Mike?" Joe asked.

"Great. And you? More importantly, how's Julie?"

"She's a fighter, you know that."

"No, I don't know much of anything. You can't trust me, remember?"

"C'mon, Mr. Donovan," Connie pleaded.

"Look, Donovan. I'm sorry about yesterday," Joe apologized. "But I have to ask you some things. Julie's life might depend on what you know."

"What's going on with her?"

"She has an infection in her lungs. We're treating it."

"She's not improving?"

"She's stable. Connie's releasing that information to the media. Have you talked to your station in regards to this situation? Maggie said they were there when the police dropped you off at Science Frontiers."

"No, I haven't."

"Do you work this evening?" Connie asked.

"Not until tomorrow. But that depends on your daughter, doesn't it?" He stared at her. "I don't know what Maitland said about what went down yesterday, but it wasn't my intent to see her injured."

"And I told you we'll talk about that later, Mr. Donovan!"

He looked at Joe. "How can I help?"

"Due to the nature of her condition," Joe said, "I need to know if Julie was exhibiting any signs of a cold like coughing, or congestion… either yesterday or when you saw her the day before. Did she mention if she was sick or anything?"

He thought of Julie's edginess, from his first meeting with her on Friday evening, to how she'd acted after finding her files burned. She'd shed a lot of tears, but he'd assumed they were due to her frustration.

"No. In fact, she said she was supposed to meet Maggie at the beach yesterday afternoon. Did Maggie tell you that?"

Joe scribbled something down. "She had on a bathing suit under her clothes."

"Yeah… And flip flops."

"She had a cut on her foot when they brought her in."

"She stepped on a vial," Donovan explained.

"A vial?"

Donovan nodded. "In the room we were trapped in."

"What else was in that room?"

"Filing cabinets and records."

"But no other… uh lab equipment… vials?"

Shaking his head, Donovan said, "Strange, huh?"

"Did you see the vial? Was there anything in it?"

"To tell you the truth, I didn't get a good look at it. She was a little more concerned about her foot at the time, and getting the bleeding to stop."

"Think its still there?"

"Dunno. Why don't you ask the police? Lieutenant McIntire's an old friend of ours from the Resistance. I bet he could find out for you."

"Thank you, Mike. You've been most helpful."

"About Julie… has she woken up yet? Is she aware-?"

Joe shrugged and looked at Connie who shook her head.

#

Julie awoke later that evening to a series of beeps coming from the medical equipment at her bedside. Her throat hurt and she tried to clear it. With each shallow breath, nagging pain radiated from the right side of her chest. She took in her surroundings, from the IV bag hanging behind her head, to the plastic tube, which carried a mixture of blood and mucus out of the right side of her chest.

She tried to remember how she got here.

"You awake, Sweetie?" Wearing a green surgical mask, Connie leaned near Julie's face.

"M…mom?" Her voice raspy, Julie strained to get the words out. Tension tugged at the back of her throat. She coughed, and tried to bring her right hand to her mouth. But her hand felt as heavy as her head.

Connie ran her latex-gloved, cigarette-scented fingers across Julie's forehead. "That's right, Baby. Mama's here."

Julie coughed again, swallowing back a throat full of phlegm. "Wh-what?... Hap—"

"Shh. Shh." Connie put a finger to her lips. "You don't have to talk now, Honey. You need to rest. You were shot yesterday. Do you remember?"

Shot? Julie glanced at the drainage tube again.

Connie squeezed her hand. "It's okay, baby. You don't have to remember."

"T-tell… me," Julie begged.

"You were with your friend, Donovan."

It started to come back. "At Sci-ence… Front—"

Where's Donovan? Did he get hurt too?

Connie placed her hand on Julie's right shoulder, caressing it gently. "We can talk about it later. I'm just glad you're okay." A tear escaped from her eye then several more came. Connie's voice broke. "I was so worried about you. So is Stevie. He loves you so much, Honey. I know he's eager to see you. You feel like seeing him?"

Julie cleared her throat. "Where's… Don?"

"No. I mean, Steven. Want me to get him?"

"Donovan." Julie said again. He'll give me answers.

A nurse came into the room and stuck a syringe in a small vial.

Connie turned to her. "Juliet's awake now."

"I see." The nurse brought the syringe to the injection port of Julie's I.V.

Morphine… Don't want to be out… Julie drew a deep breath and said "D…on't!"

"Don't what, Sweetie?" Connie asked.

"Mmm-morph…"

The nurse eyed her. "It'll help with the pain, and help you sleep."

Not yet… "No."

"Awful demanding, aren't we?" Connie asked.

"Get...Mike."

"They won't let him in, Juliet. Family only," Connie said.

"…need to… t-alk," she gasped. "H-him."

"He's at home and you're in no condition to talk. You need to rest."

Julie squinted then blinked tears of aggravation away.