Ora!

Author's Note: Today, I watched two episodes of a three-episode story arc where David James Elliott and Catherine Bell were guest stars on the most recent episodes of NCIS: Los Angeles. All I can say is that 14 years later, Harm and Mac are both still world-class idiots! I am now returning to my own little alternate universe where people are smart enough to allow happiness.

And, Alexa has just informed me that today is "Hug a Drummer" day. Honestly, I don't know where people come up with this stuff. However, the mere mention of such a date has given me a vague ideal for a future story line. I will let y'all know when the story becomes more than just a shapeless zygote; still waiting for its bones to form.

Steamboat: Laura has asked me to tell you that egg yolk is slimy, and she does not like slimy! That's why it can't touch her other food. Along those same lines, the oatmeal needed sausage because Aunt Mac made it. Apparently, her oatmeal is slightly runny and, therefore, also slimy. Uncle Harm's oatmeal is better; a bit thicker, but not so thick as to be considered cement-like. She also says thank you very much. It has come to our attention that very few readers pay that much attention to minor details. She and I are both tickled pink to know that there are at least a few of you out there who not only pay attention to detail when reading, but apparently, you also retain those details indefinitely. We love you!

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Sibley Memorial Hospital P.O.B

San Diego, California

10:29 HRS

Charlie Waters looks at his patient and sighs over the small insignificant bruises that are not hidden by her clothing. They are no more alarming then any of the normal scrapes and bumps that occur with most children her age. It's not their severity that worries him. It's the sheer number.

"How many bruises have you got in places I can't see, girl?"

Laura shrugs. "Just a couple. But must of them are just little ones, Charlie." She holds the thumb and forefinger of her right hand less than ¼ inch apart. When he offers her a look of skepticism, she adds, "I promise. There's only one bad one, and that one wasn't my fault." She twists sideways slightly from her perch on top of the raised therapy mat and lifts the tail of her T- shirt; putting the ugly purple bruise on her left side on display. She smiles happily as if the dark contusion is a badge of honor instead of cause for concern.

Charlie momentarily covers his face with his hands before he says, "Now look here, you beautiful little daredevil, when I gave you those walking sticks, it was so you can get stronger. It was not a license for you to become a stunt woman!"

Laura giggles and hugs him zealously. "Oh Charlie! You worry too much. I'm fine! It's just a bruise, and anyway, I told you, this one isn't my fault! It's not because I fell down. The little baby one are my fault, but not this one!"

"Well, then where did it come from?"

"I was practicing baseball… On the sand, not in the water! And, I swung at the ball, and I didn't fall over!"

Charlie looks to Harm, and Harm nods without alarm at the sight of the round bruise on his niece's side. "She's okay. Scared us too, but you should've seen it two days ago. It looks much better. She's on the mend."

Charlie chews on his lower lip and addresses his patient once more. "Okay, tell me the rest. If you didn't fall over, where did it come from."

Laura wrinkles her nose and shrugs again. "I told you I swung at the ball. I missed, but the ball didn't miss me," She grins again and touches the bruise with soft hesitant fingers. "Liam got me pretty good, huh?"

"Beamed you, did he?"

Laura nods. "Yeah, but he didn't do it on purpose."

Harm speaks up from his place among the small cluster of chairs usually reserved for waiting parents or other family members. "Liam took it a lot harder than she did."

"He was bumming me out!" Laura announces. "He got all sad and mopey like Eeyore until I yelled at him to stop it and dumped a bucket of ocean water on his head!"

Charlie squints. "The poor boy felt bad for hurting you, and you tried to drown him?"

Laura nods her head. "He was taking it way too serious, he needed to laugh."

"And a bucket of water over the head made him laugh?"

"Sure did! Then he knocked me over, and we went swimming."

Charlie smiles when Harm supplies, "I think she's been taking sparring lessons from her cousins. They are very competitive and a bit rough with each other."

"Ahh, I see now, and you've been reading Winnie the Pooh to your little cousins. Am I right?"

"And Paddington Bear too, because Uncle Harm used to read those to me, but how do you know that, Charlie?"

"I was just guessing that you might be a little too old for Eeyore unless you were reading books to entertain a younger audience."

"Shannon likes Christopher Robin. Noah likes Tigger and Pooh."

"And who likes Eeyore?"

"Charlie everybody loves Eeyore! You just can't help it. He's so sad all the time, you just want to hug him."

"Okay, on your feet, little mama. Let's test out this new brace, shall we."

Laura grimaces. The old one didn't hurt me like the one before it did. I don't know why I had to get a new one."

Charlie lectures patiently yet comically, "You're not supposed to wait until it hurts before you get a new one. And you needed the new one because I couldn't adjust your old one anymore. You've grown 4 inches taller in the last two years. Girl, if you don't want new braces, stop growing!"

Laura shrugs. "I have not. Not four inches. Only three and ¾. Aunt Mac says so. She measures me, just like she measures Shannon and Noah. She makes a mark on the back of their bedroom door. And anyway, I can't help it, Charlie. I don't think I'm allowed to stop growing."

"Well then, you're just going to have to suck it up and deal with new braces that are long enough to accommodate these growing legs of yours. Come on. Let's go, lazy bones, on your feet! You think I have all day? I have my own kids to go home and read to."

"Okay, okay! I'm comin'. Geez, Charlie! Laura grimaces, and Harm shakes his head, silently laughing at the pair of old pals.

Later, at home, Laura frowns when they walk in the front door to greet friends and family who have come over to spend Saturday afternoon doing nothing together, and her aunt's first question is, "How did it go."

"Charlie says no baseball or crutches for a whole week!"

Harm nods in response to his wife's raised eyebrow as she stands at the refrigerator, putting ice in a glass, and he removes Laura's walker from the coat closet, unfolds it, and exchanges it for the crutches she's on. "He wants to give her time to adjust to the new brace with the added support from the walker… And, he wants to give her bruises, self-inflicted or otherwise, time to heal."

"Ugh!" Laura groans.

Keeter laughs. "Give yourself a break, runt. Even prize fighters take a day off every now and then." He nods to the old brace tucked under Harm's arm. "Looks like he let you keep the old one."

"Yeah, he said he couldn't use it for his donated equipment program because it was custom made for me, and the odds of it fitting someone else perfectly… Well, Charlie says it would be easier to count half the trillions of stars in the sky."

Keeter shrugs. Hey, that's a compliment. It just means you're one of a kind, and we all knew that anyway. No surprise there."

"Yeah, but I don't know what to do with it unless…" Laura makes it halfway across the living room before she loses her balance and lands firmly on her backside.

After nearly a solid month of this type of occurrence, no one rushes to her side in a state of near panic. Every adult in the room simply gives her a modicum of attention; several of them calling her name and waiting for her to sound the all clear, letting them know that she is okay.

When it takes two seconds longer than normal to get a reply from her, Noah abandons his toys and toddles over to investigate. Squatting on his heels beside her, the concerned little boy studies her face. "Ora?"

Frustrated with only herself, Laura grimaces, but reaches out and pulls the boy into her lap, hugging him tightly even as she sighs. "I'm okay, Noah."

Taking her at her word, he disentangles himself from her embrace, but before returning to his toy blocks that are spread out all over the coffee table, he pats his older cousin on the head affectionately and looks to his parents to repeat, "Ora."

Laura is halfway back to her feet, before she catches on and pauses to look curiously at Noah for a moment before turning to her aunt. "Is he just babbling or …"

Mac spreads a hand over her chest in surprise and smiles softly. "No, baby, I don't think he is babbling. Sometimes the soft 'L' sound is hard for babies to manage when they first start talking."

Harm goes down on one knee between his son and his niece. He pats her on the head, emulating Noah. "Laura's okay."

Noah smiles and nods his head. "Ora."

Skates laughs when Trish crosses the room and scoops the boy up in her arms and kisses the top of his head, only to have him frown, grunt in protest, and squirm to be free once more.

"Oh alright!" She returns him to his feet and his blocks. "I know you don't care, Mister, but I'm proud of you."

Noah holds up one of his blocks, putting it on display. "Ora."

Smiling brightly, Laura crawls over to the coffee table, and takes the offered block. "You want to me to play with you, Noah?"

Noah gives her another block.

"Okay, little guy. I'm on the construction crew, you're the demolition man."

She stacks a few blocks together, building a short tower, and then lets him have the fun of in knocking it down. Then, she repeats the process, making the tower taller this time. "You keep talking, I'll keep building."

Noah nods his head with exuberance and impatiently watches her stack more blocks.

Patting the boy's head, Frank takes a seat on the sofa. "Hey, tell us about the new brace."

Laura shrugs. It looks just like the old one. Except it's a little bit taller and I got a different color design this time. Blue and green bubbles instead of pink and purple."

Keeter reminds her… "And you're going to do what with the old one?"

Noah knocks down another tower and claps his hands together happily.

Shannon and Ellie sit on a nearby blanket, playing together, and wonder what all the fuss is about.

Laura resumes construction as she raises an eyebrow; momentarily at a loss. "Oh yeah, I never said, did I?"

"Nope you didn't. You got interrupted when your six hit the floor rather abruptly."

"Yeah, I'm getting kind of tired of that, but Charlie says I'll get better support from the taller brace and It should stop happening as much. I can't give the old one away, and I don't need it anymore. I told Charlie maybe we would take it apart and use the pieces to help build one of our robots."

Keeter moves closer and inspects the vibrant shades of blue topaz, and lime green in the molded plastic portions of the new leg brace as he takes the old one from Harm. Looking it over curiously, he purses his lips together thoughtfully and nods. "Okay, maybe. If you don't mind robot parts that are pink and purple."

Laura shakes her head. "I don't mind at all."

Keeter turns a speculative eye on the vivid colors visible in both of her braces. After a moment, he points to his own obnoxiously loud Hawaiian shirt. "You and me kid! Not everybody can pull off these bold colors with such outstanding finesse!"

Laura wrinkles her nose comically. "Keeter, I don't know what you've got, but it's outstanding, alright. That shirt looks like it belongs on a Mexican pinata shaped like a parrot!"