A Series of Unfortunate Events

Chapter 26

"What's the problem?" Andy asked concerned for Sharon.

Patrice sighed before explaining, "Well, with the way she's been experiencing all the different side effects of Midazolam withdrawal, I'm afraid she'll experience the seizures that sometimes go with Flumazenil the antidote for Midazolam. It looks like, for her to go through this cold turkey is the best option, but I need to talk to Sharon because ultimately it is her choice and of course, cold turkey is risky as well."

Suddenly there was a scream! A very loud scream! Andy ran for Sharon's and his room. When he came through the door he saw that Sharon was wrestling on the bed with the covers. She was struggling and trying desperately to get free. Andy rushed over and untangled her. Then, he pulled her into a sitting position so he could hold her but she struggled to get free. She was breathing heavily, gasping for air. Andy suddenly remembered her inhaler. Where had she put it?

Patrice saw him looking around. "What is it what are you looking for?"

"Her inhaler!" Andy said in a panic.

"Oh! Could it be in those white pants she was wearing?" Patrice questioned quickly.

He nodded as he held Sharon but had another thought, "or in the back seat of the car. Hurry find it! Please! She's turning blue!"

"Give her mouth to mouth! I'll get the oxygen from the foyer. Since the bombings, I keep it with me for Louie, in case of emergencies!" Patrice ran to get the oxygen while Andy gave Sharon mouth to mouth.

Between the two of them they were able to keep Sharon breathing and helped her calm down.

After a moment of letting Sharon get her breath back, Andy asked concerned. "Are you okay?"

Sharon nodded, exhausted from her latest ordeal. She had an oxygen cannula up her nose, and her color was starting to come back. "Well, that was the fifth or sixth time I almost lost you, but then who's counting?" Andy said jokingly trying to lighten the mood.

"Apparently you are," she deadpanned, her voice was low and gravelly.

"I can't help it. You are my world, Sharon. I can't imagine my life without you, but every time I turn around lately, it seems circumstances seem to be trying to make me imagine it."

Sharon cleared her throat. "You're my world too, Andy, but now maybe you can understand how I felt last year when you were thrown off that car, got a blood clot in your carotid artery no less, had surgery, and then, just when we thought things were getting better, you had a heart attack."

"I do. Believe me, I do! After all you were in two bomb explosions, back to back, had pneumonia, faced Gary down shot him but got shot yourself, while holding the baby, no less. Then, while I'm mistakenly being told my wife is dead from a graze from a bullet, you got put in a psych ward under someone else's name, just missing shock therapy by a hare's breath, and then you just now stopped breathing! Well, I'd say you won in the one-upmanship game. I concede!" Andy said glibly.

"Hmmm," she hummed.

"You two can stop the one-upmanship game anytime now," said an annoyed Provenza. Andy and Sharon both looked at him standing in the doorway. "I for one can't take much more, especially if you keep pulling me in on it!" Provenza said grumpily.

"Oh, that's right, Louie it's all about you! Sharon almost dying, several times in the last month let alone the last few days, is all about you!?" Andy asked incredulously. Shaking his head in disgust.

"Don't get your panties in a twist, Flynn. I was just joking just like you were, by the way." Sharon smiled fondly at her fiancé and her second-in-command. Now this was the Proflynnza dynamic she was used to.

Provenza glared at his partner then looked over at Sharon. "Commander… Sharon, the Cathedral City police called Andy's phone while you were sleeping and said you could get the baby's stuff from the Lewises house now. Sooo, I took it upon myself to explain to the kids and your parents all that had happened and what I saw at that hospital. Then I told them that the best use of their time, rather than waiting around to be able to see you while you were dealing with everything, would be to go to the Lewis home and sort out the baby stuff they had and put it into two piles. What she needs now and what she will need in the distant future, put it in a U-Haul, take it back to the condo and a storage space. They've agreed to do this, but would like to have a chance to see you and give you a hug, before they go."

Sharon was both relieved and worried. She liked the fact that her family wouldn't be hovering, but she was worried that her parents would do more than what would be good for them. Provenza for all his grumpy bluster was intuitive in some occasions and did not hesitate to assure her. "Don't worry Sharon, your parents will do the sorting and the kids will do the lifting."

"Thank you, Lieutenant. I hate to have you send them away, but I hate the idea of having an audience for this," she said waving her hand to indicate the oxygen which to her was just another symbol of the whole withdrawal experience.

Provenza nodded and assured her further. "Rusty is staying here with the baby, so that Patrice can concentrate on helping you through this. With her here, Patrice can keep an eye on her and well, for the other reason as well," he mumbled.

She attempted to smile, "thank you again, Lieutenant. You can send them in now, I guess."

Emily was first. As she came in, her eyes widened when she saw the oxygen cannula up her mother's nose. "What happened? You weren't wearing this earlier when you got here. I heard you scream but Lieutenant Provenza wouldn't let us come in." Emily voice trembled as she spoke from being worried for her mother.

"I'm okay, now Em. I had a really bad nightmare and got tangled up in the sheets. Then I couldn't catch my breath and the medication I was given caused me to stop breathing for a second, but Andy and Patrice worked together to help me start breathing again." She tried to reassure her daughter.

Emily was shocked, "You stopped breathing?! That's awful, wait shouldn't you go to the hospital! I mean, that's serious!"

"No! I'm not going back to any hospital," Sharon said loudly, almost shouting. Andy, was sitting beside her, at the head of the bed facing Emily, who was sitting beside her mother's hip. He touched Sharon's shoulder gently, to signal that she needed to calm down. Realizing that she had just shouted at her daughter, she closed her eyes for a moment to calm herself, "I'm sorry for shouting, Em. I mean that I don't want to go to the hospital unless I... unless, I have no choice, but I trust Patrice to know what to do. She's a nurse and she worked in the emergency ward for many years. I trust her and… I haven't exactly had great experiences with hospitals lately. So, that's the last place I want to go right now."

Emily's voiced calmed as she talked to her mom, "Lieutenant Provenza told us what happened, but I still can't wrap my mind around it all."

"Well, Em, you're not alone. I was the one it happened to and I can't wrap my mind around it either, but suffice it to say that I'm experiencing withdrawal from the Midazolam, they gave me in that..." Sharon shuddered as she thought of all she had been through before continuing, "that place. They would inject me with it every time I turned around. It's a strong drug, used for sedating people. Getting off of it, is proving to be quite difficult because I'm experiencing just about every side effect associated with going cold turkey off of it instead of being weaned off of it. It's going to be a rough time for me for the next day or so and other than Andy and Patrice I really don't want an audience hovering over me while it's all happening. It has nothing to do with how much I love you, and your brother, you know that don't you?"

Hesitantly Emily nodded. "I noticed, you're not sending Rusty away," she said a bit petulantly.

"Emily!" Sharon said frustrated by her daughter's apparent lack of understanding of the situation and losing quite a bit of her patience. She let her head fall back on the pillow as she tried to think of a way to explain things so her daughter's feelings weren't hurt and she didn't show her irritation.

Andy decided to step in and answer for her seeing that she was using up her energy and she still had to speak to Ricky and her parents. "Rusty needs to care for his sister, Em. Bella's very delicate and she's been sick, and needs to be near Patrice, who will be doing double duty, taking care of both your mother and the baby. We need to keep Rusty close because we found out recently, that Stroh is back in the states," Andy explained simply.

"Oh, I had no idea." Emily's eyes widened, "I'm so sorry. Ricky said that I shouldn't say anything, but I was upset when I heard Rusty was staying here and I didn't hear Lieutenant Provenza say anything else."

Sharon nodded. "There's another reason Rusty isn't going to the Lewises house. Em, his mother, his biological mother was murdered in that house. Listen Honey, you'll be helping us tremendously by packing up… the baby's things, and getting them to the condo. It will be a really big help for me, Andy, and for Rusty. I'm not sure he is ready to face that chore yet, especially as it involves being in the house where she was… killed."

Emily was concerned as she asked, "but how will we know what to pack for the condo and what to put in storage? I don't have kids, so I'm not exactly sure what everything is, much less what she'll need now, versus later."

She patted her daughter's hand. "Let your grandmother guide you. put her in charge of sorting. She's very smart and has had four children. She'll know what to do even if she doesn't recognize everything. Your grandpa knows how to put things together and take them apart, so let him help Ricky with the furniture, but don't let either of them do any heavy lifting, please," she said with her best Darth Raydor glare.

"Okay! Um, when we're done can we come back and visit? You know, before we have to go back to Palo Alto and New York?"

"Of course, dear. I should be… feeling better by then. I'm so sorry, Em, for all of this. I know it's a lot to ask and I hate to…"

Emily lightly hugged her mom as she said, "Mom, you don't have to apologize. I don't know how I'd feel if I was in the same situation. I'd probably wouldn't want to be hovered over either. I love you, Mom. I want to help, I came all the way here to help and support you. If this is what I need to do to be of help then so be it."

"Now that's my girl!" Sharon beamed at her.

Emily smiled back at her. "It's me that should apologize, anyway. I was being a spoiled brat."

"No, you have a right to be upset. You came all the way out here to see your mother and I'm unable to spend time with you," Sharon said sadly.

"It's okay Mom, it's not like it's your fault. I love you and I'll see you soon and I'll call you," she said as she bent down and gave her mother a kiss on the cheek.

Sharon nodded, overcome with sadness. "I love you more," she said as she watched Emily wave to her on her way out of the room, blowing her a kiss. She blew one back.

Ricky was next. He came in and took Emily's seat beside Sharon's left hip. When he saw that his mom had tears running down her face, he scowled. "What's wrong, Mom? Why are you upset? Did Emily give you a rough time?"

Sharon patted her oldest son's arm. "No, I'm fine, really, it's just that she got her feelings, hurt that's all. We've cleared up everything and it will be okay."

"Are you sure? She asked about why Rusty was staying, didn't she? I told her not to, Mom. That girl is so stubborn!" Ricky said sternly, but he was smiling mischievously.

"She's also your sister… cough… and she has a right to express her feelings, young man. Just like you have a right to… cough… express yours." Sharon suddenly started coughing more and was having a hard time stopping. Andy helped her sit up higher and gave her a sip of water. Patrice suddenly showed up with Sharon's inhaler. She handed it to her and Sharon removed the oxygen cannula and used the inhaler. Her coughing subsided after a few minutes. She took a deep breath, and then let Andy hook her back up to the oxygen.

Ricky watched his mother bury her face into Andy's chest as she curled into him. Watched as Andy kiss her forehead, murmur to her reassuringly, and lovingly. He realized as he watched them that his mother had never really had that with his father. His so-called father had always expected her to be there for him and she had, until he broke her heart one too many times, but Jack Raydor had never once been there for her like Andy was, that Ricky ever remembered. His eyes teared up. No wonder his mother really only wanted Andy, he was all she needed, really except of course for Patrice and her medical knowledge that is. He knew that being this vulnerable was hard for his mother. The fact that she was allowing Andy to see this side of her, spoke volumes about her feelings for him and her trust in him. If Ricky had ever had any doubts about the man his mother was going to marry they were gone now.

"Listen Mom, we'll get this done and we'll see you soon. Don't worry about the grandparental units, they will not be picking up anything," he smiled at her knowing that she would be worrying about her parents. Then he continued, "Grandma can sort, Grandpa can help me take apart and put together the furniture. Do you... uh... want us to bag Sharon Becks stuff? Put it in storage? So, Rusty doesn't have to deal with it until he's ready?"

Sharon nodded and smiled at him tremulously. Overcome with love and pride for her oldest son. She wasn't exactly surprised that her son could be this caring and intuitive, he'd always been, even as a child. That's why she had been so taken aback when he had voiced his initial objections to her adopting Rusty, but once Ricky decided to accept Rusty into the family, the boys had become very close. Seeing her older son take the initiative to protect his younger brother was heartwarming to Sharon and it brought tears to her eyes. She cleared her throat again and swallowed. "Yes, that would be great. Thank you. I appreciate it."

"No, thanks necessary Mom, it's what families do. They take care of each other. You taught me that." He reached down and kissed her cheek, "love you."

"Love you more," she told him.

He left then and her parents came in behind him. Eileen sat by her hip like Emily, and Ricky. AndRichard brought up a chair from the vanity table. "Hello, Sharon darling. How are you feeling?" asked Eileen, as she stroked her daughter's cheek and noticed how pale she was.

Sharon knew she couldn't lie to her parents. They'd see right through her. "Rather rough, I'm afraid. Every time I think things are starting to level off, some new side effect manifests itself. Knowing that you and the kids won't have to witness me coming unglued every ten minutes and knowing you're getting... um... the baby's stuff from the Lewises is a huge help. I can't thank you enough. Just don't hurt yourself, please."

"Ohhh, don't worry, we've already been told that by Lieutenant Provenza, his wife, a lovely girl, both the kids and Rusty. Honestly, you'd think we were in our second childhood and didn't know our own limitations. We'll be more than happy to let the younger set do the heavy lifting, we are too old to be doing it ourselves. That being said, we may be old but our brains are still intact."

Sharon looked ashamed. "I know, Mama. I'm sorry if anybody treated you as if you didn't have sense, including me."

"Oh darling, everybody, including you were very diplomatic, but you know even though your outerself grows old in your mind, you still feel young." Eileen shrugged, "it can be a bit… off putting to have the younger set automatically treat you as if you're incapable of figuring out what's good for you."

Andy guffawed as Sharon chuckled, then he and Sharon both said, "don't I know it," at the same time.

Eileen was pleased that she'd made her daughter laugh. "Okay, we'll be going and if I have any questions, I'll call and ask. If that's okay?"

She smiled at her mom. "It's more than okay, Mamma. I love you."

"I love you more." Eileen smiled too and kissed her daughter's forehead.

Turning her head Sharon spoke to her dad, "I love you too, Daddy."

"I love you more, Sweet Pea." Sharon grew teary eyed at her father's nickname for her and the "love you more" was something they always said to each other as she was growing up. She'd passed it on to her own family. She hadn't realized how much she missed hearing it from her parents until they'd said it to her just now.

When her parents left, she felt bereft. She turned away from Andy and buried her face in the pillow. He could see her shoulders shaking as she sobbed quietly. He got in the bed behind her and held her close, stroking her hair. He murmured to her, "it'll be okay, Sweetheart. We'll get through this and then you can see them again."

She wiped away the tears on her cheeks as she asked, "but what if I don't survive this?"

"You will! You're the strongest woman I know. You will survive." Andy believed deeply every word he said to her.

"I don't feel strong, I haven't felt strong for a long time," Sharon said sadly.

Andy suggested, "Why don't you take a little nap? I'll stay with you and then when you wake up we'll go out in the living room and spend some time with the baby? Would you like that?"

"Hmm yes, I've been longing to see her. I would love to hold her and smell her baby scent, and see her smile, but…" Sharon added worriedly, concerned what could happen, "don't leave me alone with her please."

TBC...

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