Out Of The Past

Part 26 - The Ends Justify The Means?

By the time Melanie made it to the medical car, Roche was still on duty trying to keep her assistant out of the operating room. But with Melanie now present, Roche was all too happy to turn the man over to his employer to watch over.

Jackson's pacing outside the operating room simply echoed his agitation at not knowing what was going on inside the other room. Usually as stoic as a brick when he wanted to be, but always displaying the highest level of decorum, the man appeared now as nothing less then she expected of him; a father worried about his only child. And as such, Melanie kept herself firmly stationed in front of the operating doors just in case he tried to make a renewed attempt to get into the room.

The only thing she found odd was that every few minutes he would reach into his pocket and pull out the small communication cube, which would be flashing out some sort of code. Jackson would read the short message with an emotionless expression, then return the cube to his pocket without answering.

"Is it something important?" She ventured to asked once.

"No." Came the solid, flat answer as he continued his pacing about the room.

Over on Big Alice the medic snatched the small cube out of 'T's' hands.

"Give me that thing!" He all but snapped at the younger man as he grabbed the communication device. "Do you honestly expect an answer?"

'T' made an attempt to get the cube back, but the medic quickly passed it off to someone else. "He owes me an answer." 'T' replied in a firm tone. "He owes it to all of us."

The medic leaned down into the man's face. "What Manny likely feels he owes you right now is a knife in the ribs for letting this happen. As such, I wouldn't be so eager to make contact with him. Be thankful instead there's just so many cars between you."

"He knows I would do anything to protect her."

"What he knows," the medic answered, still just inches from the other man's face, "is that his little one was injured. What he doesn't know is who's responsible. THAT...is what he cares about, my boy. Now leave it be. Aren't you suppose to be in the engine room anyways? Covering for her shift?"

'T' got up from his chair and stalked off towards the door.

"'T'!" The man called after him, then added in a somewhat lower, calmer tone, "I'll try to reach him later. If we get an answer, I'll let you know."

'T' paused, gave a brief nod, then headed for the back of the train.

Sneaking a peek at the man sitting next to her, Melanie congratulated herself for being able to talk him into sitting down for a few minutes, if just to put an end to his relentless pacing around the small waiting room in the medical car. But as soon as he had sat down, he found a new 'fidget' in the small communications cube, which he was currently rolling about in his hand.

But after only a few minutes the small communication device began flashing out another code. With a deep frown, Jackson read the message, quickly sent a response, then a little more forcefully than usual, shoved the cube back in his pocket before he got up and resumed his pacing again.

"Is everything all right?" Melanie asked, following his movements around the room.

Her assistant gave the question a dismissive gesture. "Someone being a nuisance." He replied.

Melanie kept her attention on him. "For as many times as they've sent messages, I'd say it's someone being concerned."

Jackson gave the comment a less than favorable look. "A nuisance." He repeated flatly.

"She's managed to make it this far, Frank." Melanie finally offered after watching him pace for several more minutes. "And now that she's on Snowpiercer she'll get the best care we can give her."

"I have no doubt of that, Ms. Cavill." Came the stoic reply. But after a moment he turned to her with the smallest smile. "But you can not fault a father when he is trying to protect that last thing he has in this world worth protecting."

Melanie returned his smile. "Being a parent myself, I guess I can understand that. But if anything good can be said to come out of this, Frank, I guess it is that at least you'll get to spend more time with Eliah now. She's likely to need at least a few days of bed rest."

Jackson turned back to her, then walked over to where she sat and stared down at her with an almost stern look.

"Do you remember when I was here?" He asked.

Melanie gave a small nod. "You were less than a model patient, as I recall."

A small, well crafted smile came to the man's lips. "I was...'the good patient', Ms. Cavill. Be prepared for much worse when you tell Eliah she needs to stay in that bed for 'a few days'."

"Well, we'll deal with that when we come to it." Melanie replied. "Right now we have a much worse 'patient' we'll need to break that news to."

Jackson took his previous seat next to her. "Meaning Mr. Wilford."

Melanie gave a nod. "He'll want a reason she's in our medical car and that she needs to stay there for possibly a week."

Jackson seemed to fall into silent contemplation as he stared at the floor in front of him.

"What about an accident?" Melanie offered. "She's suppose to be in the Engine Room. It's the perfect setting for an accident to explain her injury. We could tell Wilford..."

But Jackson quickly waved her off. "We can't use the actual injury." He stated. "It has to be something else."

"But why can't we use her injury? It's the perfect excuse. We can just tell him she was injured by...a piece of metal."

"My contact on Big Alice said Wilford is aware one of the rebels was injured in an attack. Anyone showing such an injury will be suspect."

"But surely he wouldn't go so far as to suspect...?"

"When you worked for him, were you ever completely above suspicion?" Jackson asked knowingly. "In addition, if Eliah showed up with an injury that was similar in nature, such as a puncture wound, Wilford would have the Headwood's examine the injury. They would, with all likelihood, be able to tell a knife wound, which would be a clean cut, from an accident with a piece of metal, which would be more jagged and less symmetrical."

"Then what about a similar attack? Say...someone jumped out of a corridor and..."

Jackson equally waved the new suggestion off. "Wilford would blame your security as being lax and may stop allowing Eliah coming over after that. Sending a lesser technician, possibly that irritating Mr. Mullins, instead."

"Mullins?" Melanie asked quizzically. She had never heard the names of any other engineers on Big Alice.

"A train driver." Jackson replied dismissively, but with an equally deep frown. "An insignificant irritation."

A smile came to Melanie's lips suddenly. "An irritation?" She asked, glancing down at the pocket her assistant had last shoved the communication device into. "Is that the same 'irritation' that keeps trying to communicate with you?"

Jackson kept his stare fixed on the wall opposite them. "We need something that draws his attention away from the real injury." He replied, ignoring the question. "Given proper time to heal completely, should it be later discovered, Eliah could pass it off as an older injury than it is."

Melanie was about to asked another question when Dr. Pelton suddenly came through the doors to the operating room, still dressed in her scrubs.

Melanie stepped up to meet her while Jackson stayed in his customary place just behind her, adopting his usual only casually interested expression. She silently congratulated the man that he was able to hold his composure so well when his only child was laying in a hospital bed only a few feet away.

"How is she?" Melanie quickly asked so her assistant could get the only information he was interested in.

Dr. Pelton gave a small shake of her head, but with a smile. "Considering the size of that wound, she's doing very well. Whoever worked on her before me did a remarkable job. Very clean and concise. Most of those sutures were still in place, but she had managed to tear a few of them, which caused internal bleeding again. But considering everything, she should be fine. She'll need some blood, of course..." Pelton began to explain.

"Then you can start with me." Jackson suddenly spoke up, but then quickly added with a small smile. "I am, after all, here, and I am type 'O'."

Pelton gave him a small, curious smile. "A universal donor. That's always useful to know, Mr. Jackson. But very well. We'll get you prepped then."

Several minutes later, Jackson was wrapping a bandage around his arm as Melanie stood talking with Dr. Pelton still about her latest patient. Getting up from the table, he walked over to them with determined strides.

"Ms. Cavill had some questions for Ms. Elson, Dr. Pelton." He quickly broke into their conversation. "When might she be able to see her?"

Dr. Pelton considered the question a bit odd coming from her assistant when the train's First Engineer had been talking to her for the past several minutes about the woman, but never mentioned needing to talk to her directly.

"Ms. Elson came over to check some readings." Melanie spoke up quickly. "I did need to talk to her about them."

"Well, she's still slightly under the effects of the anesthesia. I don't know how coherent she might be yet."

Melanie turned back to the man next to her. "Maybe we should give her a few..."

Jackson quickly leaned down and whispered a few words to his employer before assuming his usual stance just behind her.

Melanie turned a forced smile back to Pelton. "If she can answer any questions, now would be better."

Pelton observed the two with a curious look, but finally gave a small nod. "All right. But only for a few minutes."

Melanie gave a brief nod, then followed Dr. Pelton, with her faithful assistant practically beating her to the door.

Once in the recovery room, Pelton turned back to them briefly. "Only a few minutes." She reiterated before turning to go finish cleaning up.

Inside the room a few nurses were finishing hooking up IV lines and making sure their patient was comfortable. But as soon as they exited the room, Jackson made straight for the bed, all but blocking Melanie's path as he hurried to his daughter's side.

Already looking up to see who had come in, a weak smile lit the woman's face at the sight of her father.

"Hello, Manny." Came the weak greeting.

The smile met with one of his own as he gently took hold of her hand and began speaking to her in a low, Russian dialect. For several minutes the two spoke back and forth, with the woman's pure pleasure at seeing her father obvious in her smile. She even managed a small laugh at something he said as they spoke. But as the conversation continued, Melanie watched as the smile slowly faded, replaced by a cautious look as Jackson continued talking to her in the same steady tone.

"Is everything all right?" Melanie finally ventured to asked when the conversation between the two seemed to come to a stand still.

Her assistant all but ignored her as he spoke once again to his daughter, the tone indicating clearly whatever he said was posed as a question.

In response, Eliah paused for a moment, then lowered her eyes with a slight nod.

Again ignoring the previous question, Jackson turned to his employer. "Eliah told me crossing the border she nearly fell, but she managed to pass it off to Wilford as a slight injury to her leg."

Melanie simply nodded at the statement, failing to see it's significance. "She told him it was due to a sparing incident with..."

But Jackson cut her off as he turned back to his daughter. "Which leg?" he quickly asked.

Melanie paused for a moment as she thought about the incident. "The right one." She finally answered.

"You're sure?" Came the quiet question as the man kept his eyes fixed on his daughter's face.

Melanie nodded. "I'm positive."

Stepping down the bedside, Jackson pulled the sheet up from over Elaih's right leg. Carefully he ran his hand over the leg, asking her a question in Russian as he did so. When he came to a spot about halfway on the lower leg Eliah suddenly stated, "Tam.", then quickly closed her eyes.

Without hesitation, Jackson pulled his hand back, then with a lightening quick, precision move, stuck the heel of his palm into the side of the leg.

Melanie swore she jumped more than the woman on the bed at the action.

"Frank!?" She cried out. "What are you doing!?"

With his usual emotionless expression the man turned back to her. "What needed to be done."

Melanie stepped up to him, as angry as she would be at anyone injuring someone on her train. "By breaking her leg?"

"It isn't broken." Jackson replied in the same flat manner. "Dr. Pelton will be able to confirm it is merely a fracture. Wilford will assume when Eliah stumbled at the border, this was the reason. After Dr. Pelton examines the leg, as Mr. Wilford so kindly insisted she do, she will be able to honestly report Eliah's leg suffered from just such an injury."

"We couldn't just LIE to him?!" Melanie stated just as firmly as before.

"Wilford will likely have the Headwood's check the leg in her post care on Big Alice." Jackson replied. "There needed to be a legitimate injury that indicated healing."

Melanie fell silent for a few moments as she realized the man was right. They needed a real injury, and Eliah's small lie at the border about her leg gave them the perfect set up.

But the reasoning still didn't make her feel any better about the act. Stepping up to her assistant, she met him with a solid gaze. "If you ever harm someone on this train again, for any reason, without discussing it with me or Mr. Layton first, there will be serious consequence, Mr. Jackson." She stated in a low, determined tone. "Do we understand each other?"

Jackson seemed to consider the implied threat for a few moments, the gave a slight nod. "Perfectly, Ms. Cavill."

Wilford met the news of Eliah's delay on Snowpiercer exactly as Melanie expected him to.

"What do you mean she's been injured!?" He demanded over the phone. "This is...I hold you completely responsible for this, Mr. Layton! Make no mistake of that!"

Melanie had filled Layton in on what had happened before he placed the call to Big Alice's leader. So he was no more surprised by Wilford's reaction than she was.

"Why are we being held responsible for something one of your Jackboots did, Wilford? We didn't injure the woman. And we're offering her help."

The statement seemed to give the man pause. "Did Eliah say 'who' this person was?" He finally asked.

"No." Came the short response.

Wilford gave a deep sigh clearly audible over the line. "I need my First Engineer returned to Big Alice. And I will definitely be wanting the name of the person responsible for this."

"In five days." Melanie's voice answered this time. "That is what Dr. Pelton recommends.

"It's a broken leg, not blessed brain surgery!" Came the sharp answer. "She can limp around on crutches as well on Big Alice as she can on Snowpiercer."

Melanie gave an equally deep sigh. "You know we have the better medical equipment, Joseph." She replied. "And Dr. Pelton was very insistent she not move around for a few days so as not to risk injuring the leg further."

A smile came to her lips as she could imagine the man trying to find a way to wiggle around her argument. But finally the same deep sigh came over the line.

"Very well." Wilford replied. "However, I expect nothing less than the very best care for her, and I will need to speak to her each day to insure this from her."

"Of course." Came the bland response from Layton as he quickly ended the call.

Back in her hospital room Melanie and Layton delivered the news to Eliah she was now the guest of Snowpiercer for the next five days. The woman gave a sharp laugh when Melanie informed her of Wilford's demand to know who had 'injured' her leg.

"Well," she stated with a smile, "I guess I'll just spend some time poking my nose about your engine while I think of which one of Wilford's Jackie's I hate the most."

Melanie gave her a silent response at the comment.

Eliah quickly read her expression. "What?"

"Eliah, you won't be able to 'poke about the engine' while you're here."

The smile quickly faded. "Why not?" SHe asked, reverting to the cockney accent of her other persona. "I thought we were all mates now, ducky."

"It's not because we don't trust you. You know that. But Dr. Pelton said you need bedrest. You can walk around the room, but nothing more."

Melanie didn't miss the fire suddenly flare up in the woman's eyes. Nor did the man standing next to her bed.

A hand quickly laid itself on her shoulder as she raised herself slightly off the bed, effectively holding her in place.

"You will do as you are told, Eliah." Came her father's firm instructions.

A sharp, heavily accented Russian phrase answered him.

A deep sigh answered her. "And you are always welcome to try." Jackson answered her in a deceptively calmer tone. "But know I am never far away, and on that leg, you will not be able to run very fast."

A sigh of frustration answered him as the woman all but threw herself back on the bed. A disappointed sounding tone answering him this time as she spoke several more words.

"And I am sure they will understand." Her father replied. "And just as when you were sick when you were a child," he added, reaching into his pocket, "look, I brought you a favorite toy."

Eliah's face lit with pure delight as Jackson pulled the communication device out of his jacket pocket and handed it to her.

Eliah almost snatched the cube from him and immediately began tapping out a code on it.

As Melanie watched, the response to her message came back almost immediately, increasing the smile on her face.

"Ohhhh," she all but cooed at the small cube ,once again using her cockney accent, "there're my lads. All worried about old Eliah."

Immediately going back to tapping out a code, Melanie let her know she was leaving her in good hands as she got back to her own work. The comment barely raised a reply as Eliah continued to happily chat with her counterparts on Big Alice.

As she left, she glanced back at the room once more. Jackson was now positioned on the side of her bed as he watched her tap out another code to her 'lads' on Big Alice, adding his own comments in Russian with a small smile as she did so.