It had been weeks since she had last visited Jesse. Much longer than she'd like if she was being honest with herself.
She liked to visit at least once every couple of weeks, if not a little more.
He only had a few people to visit him. There was his brother Henry, Henry's wife Joan, who apparently Jesse did know before his wreck, and their sweet little girl Rebecca, who was just a year younger than Stephen, if that.
From what she understood, his old racing buddies had slowly stopped visiting him. Meaning that there were only four of them visiting Jesse.
She had visited often enough that she recognized all the nurses and they her.
She knew the route to Jesse's hospital room well and waved to the nurses as she walked to his room.
Her father had been anonymously paying for the majority of his hospital bills, as he felt, in part, responsible for him being in that state.
It was hard to believe it was now just past the five year mark since his accident. Making it nearly four years that she had been visiting him regularly.
She had a routine down for visiting Jesse.
The first thing she did upon entering his room was go to the chair to move it where she most liked to sit in the room.
Which just so happened to be close enough to Jesse that she might hold his hand if she so chose to.
It was a little bit awkward to handle the chair, so she'd always put her purse on it before moving it, starting to talk to him as she did so.
"Good morning Jesse. I hate that it's been so long since I last had the chance to visit. I was in Radiator Springs, looking after my nephews. They're so sweet at the ages they are. Stephen is going to be such a little gentleman when he grows up. It may be to soon to say so about Bernie, but he seems like he's going to follow more in his father's footsteps. They both seem to enjoy staying with me... and they've both grown so much since I've last seen them. But then I'm sure Rebecca seems to grow the same way."
After moving the chair while she was speaking, she moved her purse to the floor and straightened up to remove her gloves and coat, still looking away from him.
"And how are you today-"
"Better than I have been apparently."
She spun around in surprise.
She was sure that their expressions were mirroring each other.
Jesse was wide eyed staring at her, the shock evident on his face.
After a moment of staring at each other, she dropped her gaze and started to fiddle.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. I hadn't known you were awake and I just came in without so much as a knock. I don't even know you want guests today or not. I can leave if you'd prefer not to?"
He cleared his throat. "Ah- you don't have to go... ...It would be nice to talk to someone other than my brother, apparent in-law, the doctors and nurses..."
She started playing with a strand of her hair, twisting it before releasing it, unsure of how to continue now that he was actually awake. She suddenly looked up at him, feeling herself flush.
"I don't believe that we've ever been properly introduced to each other. I'm Emily Piston."
She held out her hand to be shaken, which Jesse did.
"Jesse Hudson, but I'm pretty sure you already knew that."
There was a pregnant pause before Jesse started to laugh.
"How ridiculous is this..."
It took her a short moment to join in with his laughter with her own giggles.
"It is sort of ridiculous... I've been visiting you here regularly for years..."
That seemed to take him by surprise.
"Really?"
She nodded her head.
"Why?"
"It seemed right, and like you could use a visitor who was different than your normal visitors..."
Jesse was silent a moment before he let out a soft thank you.
I really don't know how many parts this AU will have. Probably at least a couple more, though not likely anytime soon.