Surprised? An updated withing 3 weeks of the last one? Yeah so am I haha!
No but really, this chapter has been in my mind for so long, and I've been writing and tweaking it for what feels like forever. This isn't focusing on Troy or Gabiella, but seeing as Troy is now back home I thought it would be important to introduce some of the characters from his "home". You'll see later why *wink*.
Anyways, I hope you like this chapter and the characters introduced!
It sounded like he had more to say but his voice disappeared mid-sentence. "Get some rest Troy, we can talk more when you feel better," I told him, yet I didn't really want to hang up. I just knew it was for the best at this point.
"Thank you, Brie," he whispered to me giving me a grateful smile. "Love you."
"Love you too Wildcat, talk soon," I said before we ended the call.
As the image of him disappeared I was left with the blank Skype background. I had serious decisions to make and I had about three weeks to do so.
When I applied to RCE I was so sure it was what I wanted. I still had the same feeling deep within, but now that I had officially declined Stanford's offer it all felt more real. It was a scary feeling.
June 10th - Tuesday
Ted's POV
It was a rather quiet morning in the office. With head of security Lee having travelled with most of the team to Japan yesterday, the pace had slowed down. Troy was still down sick, and as usual it always got worse before it got better. The added jetlag he had wasn't helping his situation either.
Somewhat fortunately Troy rarely got sick, but when he did it was usually a bad case. Nothing serious, fortunately, but he and Rafi rarely had much to do on those days. I had almost finished on of my rounds when my phone rang. An un-known number but still I answered.
"Hello, Ted Farndale speaking."
"Good morning Mr. Farndale, this is Harriet Robinson calling on behalf of your daughter Raleine. She was involved in a quite severe incident with another student during recess. Therefore, her teacher have asked if you could come to the school imminently to speak with her, as well as collect your daughter."
"Of course, Ms. Robinson, I will be there as soon as I can. If you don't mind me asking, have you tried to reach my wife?"
"Yes, we tried reaching out to your wife multiple times, but we were unsuccessful in getting a hold of her."
"Thank you, I will be there within the hour," I answered fairly confident that I would be able to slip away for the time needed.
Heading back to the office, only a handful of people were left in the room. Spotting Emiko she was seated at her usual spot at one of the desks tucked away in the 'comms corner' as everyone knew it as.
"Hey Emiko are you busy?"
"Not at all, what's up?" she wondered with her usual bright smile. Emiko was one of the younger people on the team, much to the dismay of Lee, yet she was experienced in the field already. Both as a bodyguard but also with technology and communications which had landed her the job.
"Would you cover for me for an hour? Raleine's school called asking me to come. Seemed like something serious had happened."
"Of course, but I feel obligated to remind you of the meeting at noon that Lee requested. He will question why you're not there," Emiko said with a sigh as we all knew how much of a pain he could be.
Glancing at my watch I saw I had about two hours before I needed to be back.
"I should be back before then. Thank you," I told her before I headed out.
A short fifteen-minute drive later I pulled up to the twin's high school. Finding a parking spot, I got out making sure the car was locked. Pushing open the front door I knew approximately where the office was. In the years the twins had been in school this was the second time I stepped foot in here. I was puzzled as to why the school had asked me to come get her. By the sounds of it seemed like she was in some sort of trouble, but that wasn't like Raleine.
Walking through the deserted hallways towards the office, I felt out of place. Usually, Myra was the one to handle parent-teacher meetings, and in general contact with the school. I was only the back-up, such as now, when they weren't able to reach her.
"Hello, I was contacted regarding Raleine Farndal," I told the lady at the front desk.
"One moment please," she stated picking up the phone, pressing a button. "Raleine Farndal, yes, her father is here. All right I will," she stated before hanging up. "You may go through; her teacher wants a word regarding the incident."
Giving the lady a short nod, I walked towards the door she was gesturing towards. Knocking on the door, I heard a voice before I entered. Sitting near the end of the table I saw a woman turning her head to look at me as I entered.
"Hello I am Mrs. Norris, your daughter's teacher," she stated standing up from the chair she was seated in, walking towards me, extending her hand.
"Ted Farndal," I greeted her politely, shaking her hand. As I had walked into the room, I had almost expected to see Raleine sitting there, but we were alone. Where was she if this was so urgent?
"Now I would briefly like to discuss the incident your daughter was involved in, during break. It was brought to my attention by one of the students that she had been involved in a fight with another student in her year. When confronted about it she denied her involvement, accusing the other student of starting the fight. As we have other students who witnessed the interactions, this is something we look quite seriously at."
"Was there any teachers present, or only students?" I questioned as I had a feeling Mrs. Norris were only receiving half of the truth.
"Only students but there were more than one witness giving the same explanation about your daughter starting the fight. I do sincerely hope you see the seriousness of the situation."
"Of course, I do. I am just trying to get a picture of what has happened. I can assure you we do not agree with this behaviour and I will speak with her later," I told her teacher, feeding her with information I knew she wanted to hear. I couldn't get two and two to add up, Raleine had never been the one to pick a physical fight, so I would speak with later about what really happened.
"Good, so it has been decided from the school that the incident will not be on her permanent record, because this is her first serious offense. However, it has been decided that she will receive a two-day suspension for her actions."
"That is understandable," I nodded as there was still one question bothering me, "now may I ask, where is Raleine?"
"As I was speaking with her, she complained about a headache so she was sent to the school nurse. I think we are done here Mr. Farndal, I assume she is still at the nurse. Down the hall, second corridor on the right, third door on the left-hand side," Mrs. Norris explained to me, giving me a thin smile.
"Thank you, have a nice day," I wished her, as she opened the door for me.
"You too, goodbye."
Following Mrs. Norris directions I soon found the door labelled Nurse's Office. Knocking softly on the door, I hear a voice from inside, asking me to enter.
Walking inside, I saw Raleine laying down on one of the benches, her friend Hina sitting close by. "Hello, you must be Raleine's father?" the nurse stated, offering me a soft smile.
"Yes, how is she doing?"
"She does not seem to be able to recollect much of the incident. Her friend Miss Ikeda was with her and was able to shed some light on the situation. It seems that your daughter fell during the fight and briefly lost consciousness afterwards. Since then, it seems like she has experienced a persistent headache. The symptoms she is exhibiting concurs with a concussion so I strongly advise you to bring her to the hospital for a proper check."
"Thank you, I will," I stated looking briefly over at Raleine.
"Miss. Ikeda I will give you a note excusing your absence from class," the nurse stated walking over to her desk taking a notepad and a pen.
"Hey Raleine how are you feeling?" I questioned walking over to her, as she opened her eyes looking up at me.
"Dad?" she questioned surprised, "you're here. What's the time?"
"Just after ten thirty. Now come on, we have to get you to the hospital for a check."
"My bag, it's still in the classroom," Raleine muttered with a sigh as she slowly sat up.
"I grabbed your stuff from the classroom while you spoke with Mrs. Norris," Hina told her friend, motioning towards one of the chairs where I saw her bag and blazer.
"Thank you Hina," Raleine smiled gratefully as Hina walked over to hug her friend.
"Get better soon, all right? I'll text you later tonight," Hina told her, before giving her one last smile, walking out of the office.
Picking up her bag, I offered Raleine her blazer before we walked out of the office.
"Are you mad?" Raleine questioned quietly as we walked through the hallway.
"No," I told her softly. "I have a feeling Mrs. Norris didn't have the full picture?"
"No… I don't remember much but Hina and I wanted to get some air so we decided to go outside. As we stood there talking Carly and her friends approached us and then it's blank before I remember looking up at Hina," Raleine shared and I heard in her voice it must take some effort for her to remember. "Hina filled me in with the rest. I don't remember much of what she said but um… Carly pushed me and I fell which is why I think I have so much trouble remembering stuff. It's not a good sign, is it?"
"You are right. It's not. The nurse was right in assuming a concussion. The fact that you have a hard time remembering and that you fell it all points towards a third-grade concussion. I don't know if your teacher told you but she gave you a two-day suspension, however you will be out of school for longer than that."
"Will it affect my college options?"
"It shouldn't. Since it was your first offense it wouldn't be on your permanent record. How are you feeling now?" I wondered as I opened the front door for her.
"Not great. My head hurts and my vision got blurry on and off just now."
"That's not a good sign. Let me know if you get worse, okay?"
"Mhm, I will," Raleine said as we neared the car.
Walking Raleine into the hospital the lady at the front desk was quick to ask a nurse to show us to a room, before telling us a doctor would be with us shortly.
"Feeling any better?" I wondered as Raleine was resting on the bed.
"No."
"I'll try to call mom again, I'll just be out in the hallway should there be anything," I stated, giving her a small smile before stepping outside.
Pulling the phone out of my pocket, I was quick to dial Myra's number. Lifting the phone to my ear I could her the call connecting, but it kept on ringing. "Hello I'm sorry I can't take your call at the moment, leave a message and I'll get back to you," her voice stated but I hung up. I re-dialled her number but were eventually meet with the same message.
"Hey it's me, um… the school asked me to come pick up Raleine so call or text me as soon as you get this message, bye," I stated ending the call. Looking down at the phone I saw I had to leave soon in order to be back on time for the meeting.
"Ted?" I heard a familiar voice question and as I looked up, I saw Kean standing there.
"Kean nice to see you," I greeted him with a small smile, putting the phone back into my pocket.
"What are you doing here, is everything all right?"
"I wish it was," I revealed with a sigh, "I had to pick Raleine up from school, she's been involved in an incident and the nurse said she is rather sure she has a concussion. I also have to be back at work before noon for a meeting, and I can't get in touch with Myra."
"Well, you will be glad to hear that Raleine is my next patient, and we will start by establishing if she is suffering from a concussion. Then we need to find out how severe it is by running a few tests. It will probably take a while before we have all of the test results so you should head back to your meeting and I will give you a call when we have the results," Kean assured me.
"Thank you, Kean, it means a lot to me. I wish I was able to stay for her sake, but I'm afraid I don't have much of a choice."
"I get it, trust me. I have been in that same situation more than once before. I promise I'll keep a careful eye on her and call you as soon as I know more. As I said it will probably take some time before we have all the answers and find the best treatment."
"Thank you. It means a lot," I stated before we both headed inside the room.
"Hello Raleine," Kean greeted as Raleine turned her head looking at us. "Hey."
"So, I couldn't reach mom, and I have to get back to work but Kean promised he'd call me should there be anything," I explained to her as she slowly nodded her head.
"We are going to do some tests to determine how severe a possible concussion is. This might take a couple of hours, so I'll update your dad once we know more and we'll take it from there."
"Sounds good," Raleine agreed looking at the both of us.
"Do you have your phone with you?" I questioned Raleine who looked over at her blazer.
"Um, yeah it should be in one of the pockets," she stated as I walked over to double check. Feeling the phone in her pocket, I turned to look at her. "All right, I promise I'll be back as soon as I can. Love you," I told her, giving her a hug.
"Don't worry dad, love you too," Raleine assured me before I walked out the door.
"Everything, all right?" Emiko questioned me discreetly as she noticed I was back.
"It's been better," I told her with a sigh. "A couple of students in her class, and year, has been out to get her for quite some time, and they got into a fight today. Raleine got knocked over and is now in the hospital where it looks like she has a third-grade concussion. I also tried calling my wife, but I couldn't get a hold of her."
"I am sorry to hear that. You sure you should be here?"
"It's fine, but I appreciate your concern, Emiko. Besides, we're a bit short staffed here today, and the doctor treating her is a good friend of mine. He promised he would call me when he had the answers to the test he was running, but it could take a few hours."
"All right, but let me know if I can help you in any way."
"Thank you, Emiko, I appreciate it," I stated grabbing a cup of coffee, before taking my usual seat at the table.
The meeting wasn't all that exciting. Lee had travelled with the team to Japan, but he still insisted to have a video conference with us, to check in. Honestly it wasn't much to report on with most of the team abroad, and Troy being sick. As far as I know, he hadn't left his room in a couple of days, and it didn't look like it was changing anytime soon. Also, with the large time-zone difference between Iwaki and Albuquerque, along with the jet lag, he was awake and asleep at some odd hours of the day.
After an hour, the meeting finally ended. Lee was always so insistent on covering every aspect of what had been going on here, despite him not being able to be here to oversee it. At this point, it would have been easier if Lee had stayed back here, but on the other end it would have been a pain for the team in Japan…
"So, at the end of the shift today, I don't think we need a meeting, the next shift should get the necessary information by reading the notes. Does anyone have anything they wanted to bring up?" Hilton stated looking at everyone in the room.
"I have something," Emiko stated as Hilton gave her a short nod, indicating her to go on.
"People, before Lee comes back and finds out, I need you guys to remember to write up the radio ID before taking them during the shift. I warn you now, if Lee knows he will explode and I do not want to be on the receiving end, so prepare to be scapegoats," Emiko stated firmly looking at everyone seated around the table.
"All right, if no-one has anything else that's it," Hilton stated dismissing everyone. People started getting up from their seats some grabbing another cup of coffee, while some left the room to do rounds. Reaching into my suit pocket I pulled out my phone checking if I had any missed calls or texts from either Myra or Kean. Not seeing any notifications, I unlocked my phone before typing in my wife's number. Bringing the phone up to my ear, I could hear the call go through, but it kept on ringing. A sigh left my mouth as I was about to hang up when the sound stopped.
"Hello?" Myra's voice came through the phone.
"Hi finally, did you get my voice mail?" I wondered getting up from the chair, heading out into the hallway.
"Um, no? I just got out of a client meeting and I was going to check up on an email when I saw you calling. I had it on silent. What did it say?"
"I had to pick Raleine up from school, the school said she started a fight with Carly and was suspended for two days…"
"Our daughter started the fight? I have a hard time believing that?" Myra questioned and I had to smile.
"It seems that Carly and her friends all said the same thing to the principal making it seem as if Raleine is to blame. Hina was as the school nurse with her, and told the other side of the story."
"So, is she home alone now?" Myra questioned as I could hear someone speaking in the background.
"Um no, she was sent to the nurse because she complained of a headache, and the nurse advised me to take her to the hospital fearing she might have a concussion."
"You knew that already, didn't you?" Myra questioning lowering her voice as I nodded to myself.
"Mhm… She's going to be away from school for more than two days, all her symptoms point towards a third-grade concussion. I was able to stay with her for a little while, but I had a meeting to get back to. Kean is treating her and he promised he would update me as soon as he had any updates. Raleine was still kind of out of it when I left her."
"How long ago was this, and have you heard anything yet?"
"Um, I left the hospital a little more than an hour ago but I haven't heard anything yet. Kean did say it might take some time before they had a definitive answer."
"I know you have responsibilities there, but is there any chance you could pick her up later? I wish I could be there but I have to speak at a meeting in thirty minutes."
"Most likely, things are kind of slow here…"
"I'll see if I'm able to do some of the work remotely, but I'm in meetings until three thirty at least."
"Don't worry about it, I'll make it work somehow."
"All right, text me when you know more or if you can't make it work all right?"
"I will, and good luck with your presentation."
"Thanks, look I got to go, text me all right? Love you."
"I will, love you too," I stated before she hung up our call. Checking the text once more there was still no news from Kean.
Heading back inside I saw Emiko sitting at the end of the table, scribbling something down on a piece of paper. As I walked over, she looked up at me with a curious glance.
"Everything okay?" she wondered quietly as I took a seat in one of the office chairs beside her.
"Kind off, there is still no updates yet. But I do have a question, my wife is stuck in meetings all day, would you be able to cover for a while if I need to head out early? I'll text Rafi about anything he would need to know before his shift."
"Of course, anything happening?"
"Absolutely nothing. I spoke to Troy earlier and he was feeling somewhat better, but he's still sleeping off the jetlag."
"Sounds good."
"Thank you, Emiko, I owe you one. I'll let you know when I hear something." I told her as she nodded her head.
"Until then, could you do the south round? Just come back if you need to."
"I will," I confirmed making sure my radio was still on the correct channel.
Walking through the castle and the outside area we defined as the south round, things were quiet. Occasionally in one or two spots we would encounter a tourist group taking a tour of the castle, but these rounds were mostly to ensure no one from the tour were wandering into places they shouldn't be. Walking along one of the many hallways I was just about finishing up when I felt my phone vibrate in the pocket of my jacket. Pulling out my phone I saw Kean calling me.
"Hello Ted speaking."
"Hi Ted it's Kean. I have news on Raleine. I don't know if you would like to come or if you would like the news now?"
"Please, how is she?" I told him knowing it couldn't be much worse than I originally thought.
"Our preliminary tests confirm a third-grade concussion, but based on her symptoms we would like to do a CT just to rule out anything serious, but we need you to come down and sign some paperwork since she is still a minor. Do you have any questions?"
"Okay, um is it a bad sign that she needs a CT scan?"
"No not necessarily. I won't sugar coat it but it can be. However, in Raleine's case it is just to rule out any other injuries since she fell when she got the concussion. It is merely to ere on the side of caution given her symptoms. Yet overall, it is still early, but she seems to be doing good and her prognosis looks good as of now."
"Thank you, Kean, I appreciate it. I got someone to cover for me so I'll be there soon," I told him making my way back towards the office.
"No problem, see you soon," Kean said before ending the call.
On my way back to the office, I texted Myra with the updates. Walking inside I headed over to the corner where Emiko was seated.
"Everything good?" she questioned as I nodded.
"Yeah, it was quiet. So, I heard back and she seems to be doing good. They still want to do some more tests which I had to be there for, but he was optimistic that as of now everything looed good which is a relief."
"Well, that's good to hear. I assume you're heading out?"
"Yes, thank you for covering," I told her as she gave me a small smile.
"No worries, good luck."
The drive over to the hospital seemed longer than normal, and I let out a sigh of relief as I made it to the parking garage of the hospital. Pulling into an open spot, I parked the car before heading inside. Walking up to the nurse's station one of them greeted me with a smile. "Hello how can I help you today?"
"I got a call about my daughter. Raleine Farndal," I stated as she typed something into the computer.
"She is in bay 6, you can go head in and see her while I page her doctor."
"Thank you," I told her walking past and soon spotted her. "Hi Raleine how are you feeling?" I wondered as she turned her head, looking at me.
"Hi dad, I'm okay just tired. Did Kean call you?"
"Yes, he told me they confirmed you had a pretty bad concussion. You will probably be out of school for longer than the suspension you were given," I told her with a small smile.
"I don't mind too much; it will give it time for everything to wind down… Is it wrong that I am really looking forwards for high school to end, and college to start?" Raleine wondered as I couldn't help but smile.
"No, not at all. I'm sorry school has been so tough for you."
"Its fine dad honestly. It's just been worse recently, but I think it's because Carly's jealous. She knows I was accepted to RCE and Carly wasn't. I think deep down she had hopes of rubbing shoulders with you know…" Raleine said and I knew at once she meant Troy.
I gave her a nod to let her know I knew who she meant.
"Is there any chance she knows?" I wondered.
Raleine thought for a split second before scrunching her nose. "Unlikely. I can't think of a time she would have seen us. I think its pure jealousy just knowing we will be attending the same school and she won't have a shot. I can't imagine it ever crossed her mind I already know him."
"Well, that's something at least, after this year you won't go to school with her again. You know even though summer is almost here, you can come talk to me or mom if there ever is anything okay?"
"I know dad, thank you," Raleine said just as Kean pushed back the curtain.
"Hello, so how are you feeling Raleine?" Kean wondered holding some papers in his hand.
"About the same as last time."
"That's good. So, I asked your dad to come down now because we need one more test just to be on the safe side. It's a CT which is a machine that will take pictures of your head so we will be able to see if you got any internal injuries when you fell. The scan itself shouldn't take too long, but it is always a bit of trial and error to get the angel correct so we get the pictures we need." Kean explained looking between the two of us.
"Now the CT machine is like a circle with a hole in the middle. You would be laying on a board and your head would be positioned just at the opening. When we take the picture there will be some noise but it shouldn't be too loud. Any questions?"
"No, it seems pretty straight forwards," Raleine stated as Kean handed me the clipboard with a form attached.
"The consent form. Unless you have any more questions, you can sign at the bottom. Glancing at the paper I took the pen drawing my signature at the bottom before giving it back to him.
"We're all set, they will come get you any minute," Kean told Raleine before he turned to me, "and it shouldn't take to long. Probably less than thirty minutes."
"Thanks, I'll be here waiting."
Phew, a long one I know but I think you guys deserved it!
Thank you to rachel. for the reviews and yeah as you point out I know there are typos but it was back in chapter 6 from over six years ago, so my English have improved tremendously since that time. But I really apreciate you letting me know! Maybe one day I will do a complete overhaul and check of this story but not before its finished.
As always comments and feedback is greatly apreciated!
-FreeFlyingWriter