Friday
Lola yawned and stretched. She laid there feeling the rejuvenation of ten hours of uninterrupted beauty sleep. She rolled over to thank Lana for not waking her up when she got back from doing whatever she was doing.
She lifted up her sleep mask to see that Lana wasn't in bed. Had she slept in? No, the alarm clock read half past six. She must have left before her. She threw off the covers and stepped onto the floor and put on her usual pink dress. She left the room as her other siblings left theirs as well heading for the elevator. They called an elevator and all stepped in.
"Morning Lol's," Luna said to her as the doors closed.
"Good morning to you too."
"How'd you sleep?"
"Slept like a baby. Say, have you seen Lana come by?"
"Nope."
The doors slid open and they spilled out into the hallway towards the diner. As they passed through the atrium they saw that the Christmas Tree had been replaced, albeit bare of any decoration. They entered the diner and took their seats at the table. Lily was already at her high chair and their parents at a nearby table talking.
Looking down at her plate she saw she had been given a pancake with a dollop of whip cream adorned with a strawberry. She looked around at her siblings and saw that their meals were also thought out, a step above yesterday's oatmeal. Over at the other table Mom nodded to Dad. He stood up and walked up to the table and made a coughing noise to get their attention.
"Uh, good morning everyone," he began. There were a few returns of the greeting, then silence.
He swallowed, trying to think of the right words to say. "I, uh, just wanted to say that," before stopping again.
"I'm just going to cut to the chase. I wanted to apologize for being so over the top on Wednesday. I shouldn't have yelled, and I said and done some things that I shouldn't have."
He looked at Leni. "Leni, I want to apologize to you especially. I know that you would never let Lily be hurt, and I'm sorry for saying otherwise. You can watch over Lily again."
"O-M-Gosh! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Leni squealed. Dad, emboldened by Leni's joyous outburst, went on.
"As I'm sure you guys have seen, I brought in a new tree last night. I wanted to top it off by having us all decorate it together."
Lola and the rest of them cheered. Dad watched them waiting for the clamor to die down. "After we're all here, of course. Lola, have you seen Lana anywhere?"
"No I haven't. She wasn't in the room when I woke up."
"Oh. Has anyone else seen her?" They only shook their heads. "Oh. We'll just have to find her then."
"Maybe she's just outside. I can go check," Lincoln volunteered.
"Thank you Lincoln. And if she is out there bring her in quickly, I don't want her catching a cold."
Lincoln stood up and walked out of the diner. Dad stood around for a little while afterwards before going back to sit with Mom. Lola looked back down to her breakfast and finally began to eat her pancake.
Lincoln walked over to the tiled floor of the entrance, towards the jumble of winter clothes by the plush chairs. He stuck his hand into the mound and pulled out his pair of winter boots and hat. He wouldn't be needing the rest, he wouldn't be outside for that long. He stepped into one of the boots, then the other before leaving.
He placed the brown cap on his head as the doors to the outside slid open for him. He slightly shivered at the chill before looking around for Lana. Beyond the cover of the overhanging cement was a uniform layer of snow, unbroken by what Lana might be wearing. He looked left, then right.
His eyes were caught by a gleam on a pile of snow pushed up against the brick wall at the end of the glass wall. Was that… Lana's coat? He didn't care that she was immune to seemingly all diseases, she was going to catch a cold.
"Lana! I know you're out here. You got to wear your coat or you're going to catch a cold." He walked over to her coat and pulled on the sleeve and jumped back with a yelp. He felt an arm in it.
"Lana?" he asked out loud. The arm stuck out of the snow without moving. He got up to it again and reached down further. He gripped the sides of the jacket and tugged upward. The snow shifted and tumbled down revealing Lana curled up on her side.
"Lana, what are you doing?" She didn't respond, her arm still limp.
"This isn't funny, you're scaring me." He put her sitting up but she began to fall over. He grabbed her around the waist and then noticed how cold she was, how shallow her breath was, how hard she was shivering.
"Lana? Lana!" She still stayed silent. He picked her up and pressed her against himself, feeling what little warmth he had being sucked away. He shuffled back to the sliding doors and when he made it back inside broke into a run heading for the diner.
"Mom! Dad!" he cried out. He turned through the archway to meet Mom and Dad who were already rushing out.
"What's going on, what's wrong?"
"It's Lana! I found her outside under a bunch of snow, she's not awake!"
Mom brushed away the icy bangs on Lana's forehead and laid a hand down. "Jesus Lynn, she's freezing!" She scooped Lana out of his outstretched arms holding her tightly. "I'm going to take her back to her room, you get the medicine bag!"
"Got it," Dad said before they both ran off, Mom carrying Lana towards the elevator and Dad heading for Vanzilla. By now his other siblings had got away from the table to rush him with questions of their own.
"What happened?"
"Is Lana okay?"
"What's going on?"
Lincoln stepped futilely back before his sisters could surround him but was still swarmed by them. "I don't know, I found her buried under some snow outside, she didn't seem awake or responding to what I was saying!"
"Do you think something fell on her head?" Lola asked.
"No, she was completely covered in snow!"
"Wh-what if she gets frostbite?" Lola fretted. She started to hyperventilate and Luna kneeled down and hugged her. "Calm down Lol's, deep breaths, deep breaths," she said softly. Lola's breathing became slower and more controlled. Luna picked her up and carried her towards the elevator followed by the rest.
The elevator door opened and Rita rushed out into the hallway. She ran past the doors until she came to the Twins room. She threw the door open and set Lana down on the bed. She stepped away and Lana raised her arms feebly, trying to grasp at her mother's warm embrace.
"Oh Lana," Rita nearly sobbed as she felt a rush of emotions, despair that her little girl was suffering, and relief that the cold had not taken her away. She picked her up again and Lana slowly curled her arms and legs around her. "Maaa," she croaked out before breaking into a fit of coughing.
Rita, holding Lana in place with one arm, went to the dresser and began rummaging through it looking for Lola's snow gear. She finally found it and picked up the parka. Dry, puffed, covered with fur in the interior. She grabbed the rest of Lola's gear and tossed it onto the bed.
Lana weakly resisted being set down on the bed. Rita began taking off her snow gear, to which Lana began to curl up in protest. "Cold," she whimpered. Her shivering became more pronounced as one article of snow caked clothing after another was removed. She felt a rush of gratitude as she removed the gloves and boots, seeing that they spared her toes and fingers of frostbite. Rita then began placing Lola's gear onto her and her shivering decreased, finally disappearing.
The door flew open once more and Lynn Sr. rushed in. She saw the kids outside the room as the door began to shut itself. "I got the medicine," he said as he pulled out a thermometer. Rita took it from him as he began to search for Amiodarone. She held the thermometer above Lana's forehead and waited for the results.
"Eighty nine! Where's the medicine?"
"I'm trying to find it, what's it called?"
"Cordarone, Nexterone, Pacerone," Rita listed off before being cut off by another hacking cough from Lana.
"Got it!" He pulled out a bottle of tablets and shook out a single pill into the palm of his hand. He knelt down next to Lana. "Is she awake?" Rita nodded and he turned his attention back to Lana.
"Lana, I need you to take this medicine for me." She made a noise, then silence again. He wrapped his arms around her in a hug. "You just have to swallow it. That's all. It'll help make you better."
She loosened her jaw for the medicine. He put the tablet on her tongue and she swallowed. She sipped at some water from a bottle Rita held out for her and went silent again.
Rita took a step back and sat down on the other bed. Lynn leaned against the wall and took a deep breath. She looked at Lana, now wrapped up in pink. She had sunk back into sleep. The crisis, for the time being, had been managed. Which now left only questions.
"How did Lana get outside?"
Lynn looked up. "What?"
"How'd Lana end up like this? She would have had to have been outside all night."
"I didn't see her when I was getting the new tree. Hell, she was asleep on that bed when we sent them to bed!"
"So… we just wait now?"
"That seems to be all we can do. We just let the medicine take its course and she'll slowly get better and back to normal."
"Should we let the kids check on her?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'll let them in. I'm going to make some soup for Lana." He went to the door and opened it, gesturing for the kids to come inside. They rushed past him and he slipped out, closing the door behind him.
They surrounded the bed in somber silence. Luna was carrying Lola, who looked down on Lana with teary eyes.
"Is she…" Lucy began to ask.
"Yes she's fine, she's just asleep," Rita said. The kids let out a collective sigh of relief.
"Now, she still needs to recover so you'll need to let her rest. Hopefully, she'll be back on her feet before our vacation ends." Taking the hint, the kids began to depart one by one. Lola nudged Luna to put her down and she complied silently.
Luna left followed by Rita, leaving Lola alone with her twin. She climbed onto the bed careful not to disturb Lana. She sat next to Lana and looked down at her, trying to figure out what to say.
"Lana, I know that you can't hear me. But I want you to know that…" She faltered, the eloquent speech for Lana's recovery disappearing. She turned and wrapped her arms around Lana's pink parka in a hug.
"Please get better," she whispered in Lana's shoulder. "Please get better."
The family had been on edge for hours, each one still worried sick to their stomach over Lana. Rita had been with her spoon feeding her the soup Lynn Sr. brought up from the kitchen. She had turned off the lights, keeping only the lamp in the corner of the room on.
There was a faint tapping on the door. Rita stood up from the plush chair and walked over to the door. Upon opening it she saw that it was Lisa.
"Oh, hi Lisa."
"Hello Mother. May I inquire about Lana's condition?"
Rita looked back to the bed. Right now Lana was sleeping, though she had been slipping in and out of consciousness. "I think she's still the same as when we found her." Better than saying that she hadn't gotten better.
"May I offer my assistance in Lana's recovery?"
"Yes, thank you dear. What are you going to do?"
"Just a simple check up to determine our next course of action." She walked past Rita to the bed and began laying things out on the adjacent nightstand.
"What is her temperature now?"
"Ninety degrees when I last checked," Rita answered as she sat back down. Lisa produced a cotton swab and climbed up onto the bed.
"Uh, what are you doing?"
"I'm going to see if Lana has contracted anything from her exposure outside. Do I have permission?"
"Yes. Just be gentle with her."
"I will Mother." She opened up Lana's mouth and stuck the swab in. She slowly rubbed it against the side of her throat, causing Lana to start coughing again. Lisa removed the swab and wiped the phlegm off her glasses. She hopped off the bed and began testing the swab. After a few minutes she walked over to Rita and held up two strips of paper, one stained purple and the other pink.
"I have found that Lana has outside pathogens developing in her, one gram positive and one gram negative in close proximity as seen here." She crammed the paper slips into her pocket. "Basically, Lana has at least two pathogens from being in the cold for so long. They are currently underdeveloped, but can progress into something life threatening."
Rita put her head into her propped up hands. "So, she's going to get worse?"
"Not necessarily. Lana may be able to nip them in the bud, though it seems her immune system has been weakened considerably. I would suggest visiting the hospital for proper analysis and medication, to be safe rather than sorry, as the saying goes."
The door opened up again and Lynn Sr. came in carrying a fresh bowl of soup for Lana. "I got Lana's dinn… what's going on?"
"Lisa, could you leave us for a bit? Me and your father need to talk." Lisa picked up the things from the nightstand and left the room. Rita took a breath before speaking.
"Lisa came up here and asked if she could do a check up on Lana, which I agreed to."
Lynn put the bowl of soup down on the nightstand before sitting on the other bed. "And what did she say?"
"She said that Lana caught some things from being outside. She said Lana might get worse."
"She might get worse? How likely?"
"Lisa didn't say, it either happens or it doesn't happen, from what i'm getting."
Lynn shook his head. "Lana will get through this. She rolls around in all sorts of things at home and never gets under the weather!"
"Lisa said that her immune system has been impacted by hypothermia. I think we should take Lana out of here and to the hospital for treatment."
There was silence. Then Lynn lifted his head to look at Rita with a look of moderate confusion. "Get her out of here? You mean just… leave the hotel?"
"Yes Lynn! Lana needs the-,"
"No! We are not going to end this vacation just because Lana caught some glorified cold," he snapped as he suddenly stood up from the bed. "I entered into an agreement with the hotel to watch it for the entirety of the break, and I will not ruin the kids' vacation because of whatever Lana might have done! She went outside and is being punished for it, just like the others when they screwed up what we have!"
Before Rita could say a word in response Lynn turned and threw the door open before storming past Lisa and out further in the hallway. Lana started to stir and Rita began to slowly shift her to lull her back to sleep as she tried to understand what had just happened.
Lynn Sr. stamped down the stairwell, the one away from the entrance and the rest of them. He had started to reconcile with them, forgiving them too early, only for Lana to go and fuck things up.
He came to the bottom of the stairwell and walked into the hall. Oh, how he wanted to lash out at the plush sofas and mahogany desks lining the walls. As he progressed he heard the sound of faint music in the distance.
The music was coming from the bar. He looked through the doorway and saw Dell standing behind the counter scrubbing a glass down, a radio sitting by his elbow. Scattered across the room were a handful of patrons enjoying a glass of whatever Dell had to offer.
Lynn walked up to Dell and set his hands flat on the counter. "Hi Dell, I'm back."
"Evening Lynn. The usual?"
"Of course." He set the glass down, filled it with some whiskey and slid it forward for Lynn. "Oh, I've been needing to tell you, that friend I was talking about is here."
"Where is he?"
"Black hair and blue shirt, the table closest to the window."
"Thank you Will. See you around."
"Yes I will," Dell said as he left. He walked up to the table and got a better look at the guy. Slick, combed back black hair, belted slacks and the look of a nine to five office worker.
"Excuse me?" They guy looked up at him. "Yeah?"
"Can I sit here?"
"Sure." Lynn pulled out the chair opposite to him.
"Hey, you wouldn't happen to be the caretaker here, would you?"
"Indeed I am."
"Dell over there was telling me all about you. Nice to meet you," he said as he extended his hand across the table. Lynn reached out and shook it. "Lynn Loud Senior."
"Jack Fox," Jack said as he brought back his hand. Lynn felt a sudden pang of recognition. He racked his mind but couldn't think of where he had met or heard of Jack before.
"Have we met before?"
"No, I don't believe we have."
"Huh." He took a sip of whisky before continuing. "Dell recommended you when I was telling him about my troubles."
"And what's troubling you?"
"I brought along my family for Christmas Break. It seemed like a great idea, but the kids just keep ruining things! L.J. covers our entire floor in snow, they start what could only be a food fight the next day, tip a tree onto the piano and today Lana got sick from sneaking outside!"
"Huh. A tree onto a piano? That's a new one."
"I told Dell all this and he said that you had to deal with something like this."
Jack's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly. "Yeah, you could say that. It was just like the situation you're in. You try and you try to keep things together but somehow, they will manage to cause trouble, over and over again until you finally snap." He stopped to take a deep swig of his drink. "In the end I fixed the problem by taking the whole family for a little trip outside, for them to appreciate what I had given them."
"Well, that doesn't help me. How do I fix this?"
"Well then, let me tell you…"
Rita placed a sleeping Lily down into her crib. She covered her in her lavender blanket before sitting at the red couch next to the crib. After his outburst Lynn was nowhere to be found. After she had gotten over the shock, she had fed Lana her soup and went downstairs. Dinner had been set out for all but him and the kids hadn't seen him make it. She had left Lana with Lisa and Leni in case something were to happen while she was asleep.
What was going on? She had never seen Lynn act like this before. He should have sped off to the hospital when he heard about Lana. But, he had just stormed off saying that 'this was Lana's punishment.'
She needed some rest. Maybe, just maybe, Lana would be able to fend off whatever she may have. She would have to deal with Lynn tomorrow however. She flipped the light off and trudged away to bed hoping that nothing else would happen.