Sleepyside General Hospital

Monday

        The shower had been worth the argument.  Tessa, backed completely by both Diana and Honey, had been insistent.  After almost three days surrounded by dust and grime, a sponge bath just wasn’t going to cut it. As the doctors examined her, her confidence returned.  They thoroughly numbed, completely cleaned and bandaged her wounded arm.  The Wheeler’s had called in a plastic surgeon to suture it, but they were waiting for her fever to subside. In the meantime, Tessa had argued to be allowed to shower.   With her best friend and cousin backing her, the beleaguered nurse gave in, covering the cotton covering with plastic wrappings and accompanying Tessa all the way through her shower, to make sure the wound stayed well out of the spray.

        Now squeaky clean and wearing the soft cotton pajamas her aunt had brought with her from Manor House, Tessa sat quietly while Diana French-braided her hair. She had visited with and reveled in the love of her relatives, but they were leaving now, and she was a little relieved.  Tessa was staying overnight for observation.  The laceration on her arm was showing signs of infection, but after three hours and a dose of antibiotics, her fever had already dropped a few degrees.  With luck, she would be stitched up and released in the morning.

        Diana finished with her hair and tied the ends with a thin piece of purple ribbon.  “There you go,” she said cheerfully, giving her friend a gentle hug. “I’m going to let Mart take me out for a late lunch.  Can I bring you a hamburger from Wimpy’s?”

        “No, thanks, Di.”  Tessa said softly.  “I’ll be fine with hospital food for one day.  Why don’t you go on home with everyone else?”

        “I don’t want you to feel lonely,” Diana protested.

        “I won’t.”  She looked across the room at her remaining watchful uncle. “Uncle Andy will be here, and Dan said he’d be back.  Besides, my arm is starting to hurt, and if they give me something for the pain, I’ll probably be knocked out. You know I’m a lightweight.  Remember? The seasickness pills on the boat nearly put me to sleep.”

        Diana giggled.  “True,” she mused.  “Okay.  You rest, and I’ll go keep Mart from starving.”

        As her friend followed the rest of Tessa’s family out of the hospital room, Tessa leaned back against her pillows with a sigh of relief and a slight grimace of pain. Andrew pulled a chair close to her bed and sat himself down on it. Reaching for her right hand, he asked, “Do you want me to call the nurse, sweetheart?”

        “In a minute or two,” she replied. “Mostly, I’m just really tired, but I want to stay awake until Dan gets here.” She turned to him, her eyes worried.  “You don’t think anything’s wrong, do you?  He’s been gone for a long time.”

        “No,” Andrew assured her. “Spider spoke with all of us while you were with the doctor.  Dan’s not in any trouble, but there were a bunch of people who wanted to talk to him:  Police, fire department, FBI.  Trixie is there, too.  Nothing is wrong; these things just take time.” He gave her hand a squeeze.  “I’m sure Dan won’t care if you’re sleeping when he gets here.”

        “He won’t,” she agreed, “but I want to talk to him.  I know he’s blaming himself for what happened, and I...” The guilty look on her uncle’s face made her pause.  “You didn’t,” she stated flatly. The look on her face told her that he had, and she wrenched her hand away from his.  “Uncle Andy!  How could you?  Danny didn’t even know about crazy Dara.  I doubt he even knew her name!”

        “I know that now,” Andrew defended himself a little sheepishly.  “Both of your aunts reminded me constantly, but at the time, all we knew was that someone had kidnapped you, and your Dan has...interesting connections.”

        Tessa shook her head in a mix of despair and anger.  “Had,” she argued.  “Had some interesting connections.  And honestly, isn’t it more likely I’d be kidnapped by someone out to get my money or revenge for a business deal?  Would that make the situation your fault?  Or Uncle Matt or Uncle Wesley’s?  Seriously?”  She blew an angry huff of air and focused her eyes on the wall.

        “I’m sorry,” her uncle apologized.  “And to be perfectly fair, I never accused Dan of anything.”

        “No, of course not.”  She turned back to look at him, her voice dripping with derision.  “No, you just stomped around and glared at him.  You probably made him feel like he was something stuck to the bottom of your shoe.  No words necessary.”

        “You’re right.”  Andrew rose from the chair.  “I treated him badly because I was terrified over the thought of losing you, but we made peace when I...” He broke off, swallowing hard.  “...when I realized that he was even more afraid than I was; when I realized that he loves you as much as I do.”

        Tessa stared hard at her uncle. A smile started across her face, breaking wide at his obvious discomfort.  “Well, duh,” she told him.  “It took you long enough.”

        Andrew pulled a face at his niece.  Settling back in the chair, he reached again for her hand, and she gave it willingly.  “It wasn’t easy, you know,” he said, “but there he was, praying his rosary in the sunrise, looking as terrified, anxious and exhausted as I felt, and I couldn’t deny it anymore.  That boy is crazy for you.”

        “It’s mutual,” she whispered, her eyes welling as she considered the scene he had painted. “I love him, Uncle Andy.  I have for a long time, and it just gets stronger every day.”

        “I can see that.”  Andrew’s smile was a trifle bitter.  “It’s hard for me, though.  I want to be your hero, and I’ve had you in my life such a short time.  It’s hard to give up that place to a seventeen-year-old boy.”

        “A girl can have more than one hero,” Tessa told him.  “I have a bunch of them: Keoni.  Daddy. You.  You have your own special place in my heart; you always will.  Just like Uncle Peter, Uncle Kal, Uncle Wes and Uncle Matt.  You each have your place, and all of them different than Dan’s place.  Not better, not worse.  Just different.”

        “I guess I can live with that,” he told her, whatever else he had planned to say interrupted by the door opening.  They both turned to see Dan standing in the doorway.

        “May I come in?” he asked quietly.

        “Of course.” Andrew rose from his chair.  “I was just thinking about going to get some coffee and a snack.  Maybe you could sit with Tess until I get back.”

        “I’d be happy to,” Dan told him, stepping fully into the room.

        “Good.  I don’t want to leave her alone, and I know she’s been waiting for you.  Maybe you can convince her to take something for her arm.  I’m pretty sure it’s giving her some trouble.”  Andrew winked at his niece’s scowl. “Can I bring you back something?”

        “No, thank you, Mr. Belden.”  Dan’s words were automatically polite, but his eyes were focused on Tessa.  “My father took me to Wimpy’s and forced me to eat before he’d let me back over here.  That’s why I’m so late.”  His dark blue gaze locked with hers. “I’m sorry.”

        “It’s okay,” she said, her own eyes never straying from his face. “Uncle Andy, if you want to send in the nurse, I promise I’ll take the stupid pill.”

        “If you’re willing to take one pill, you probably need two,” Dan told her, making her laugh at something that was definitely a private joke.  “Does it hurt a lot?”

        “No.”  She winced a little.  “It’s more of a burny-achey thing.  I need stitches, but Aunt Lainey insisted that a plastic surgeon do them.  Since they won’t sew me up until they know it’s not infected, I have to wait.”

        “No more scars, huh?”  Dan sat down in Andrew’s vacated chair, his fingers reaching for and intertwining with hers.

        “I’m going to go now,” Andrew told them, shaking his head when the two only half acknowledged his words.  “I’ll send the nurse in on my way out.”

        “Okay,” was the vague answer, and he sighed as he exited the room.  Dan and Tess were already safely ensconced in their own private little world.  Andrew knew when he wasn’t needed.

        They sat quietly, hands touching, eyes engaged.  No words were spoken, none needed as they simply drank in each other’s presence.  The nurse entered with a paper cup containing a pain pill and a glass of water.  Tessa swallowed obediently, and the woman left.  Still the two had not spoken a single word.

        Dan broke the silence.  His voice quivered a little as he spoke.  “I am so sorry, Nani.  I had no idea.”

        “Stop.”  She shook her head.  “You aren’t to blame.” Seeing the doubt on his face, she asked, “Did you even know Dara?”

        “No.”  Dan also shook his head.  “I mean, I’d seen her around, but I didn’t know who she was or anything.”  He shuddered.  “I guess she knew me, though.”

        “You’ve talked to Di,” she acknowledged.  “So you know about the obsession thing?”

        He nodded.  “She told me everything, I think.  About Dara copying Ruthie and Josie. About the way she treated you.  I can’t believe I never noticed.”

        “Why would you?” Tessa countered.  “Despite your rather interesting reputation, you aren’t some heart-breaking Lothario.  None of the girls you’ve dated describes you as anything but sweet, kind and a really good kisser.”  She giggled when he blushed and looked away. Squeezing his hand, she continued,  “You aren’t a predator, Danny.  You don’t walk down the hallway scoping out your next conquest.  Dara stalked you, not the other way around, and Di and I should have told you, but we didn’t.  We didn’t take it seriously enough, soon enough.”

        “Molinson had Spider show me the crime scene pictures from where you were.” Dan’s voice brimmed with emotion. “I don’t know how she managed to get my jock.  The glove and the hat, I just thought I lost, but...” He trailed off.  “That thing she did with the dolls and the pictures?”  She nodded. “There was stuff like that in the cave, too. Pictures of us with her face pasted over yours.  It made me sick.”

        “I was sick when I first saw her shrine,” Tessa admitted.  “I think that’s when I really realized that I had underestimated Dara.  I was scared.  Scared she was coming back for me, and even more afraid that she would go after you.”

        “I wouldn’t have given her the time of day,” he said firmly,  “even before Di told me about her.  The whole time you were gone, all I could think about was getting you back. I couldn’t...” He broke off, taking a deep breath before he continued,  “I felt like I couldn’t breathe without you.”  He gave her a slightly embarrassed half-smile. “That probably sounds stupid, but it’s true.”

        “I know.”  She rubbed her thumb over the heel of his hand.  “I feel the same way about you.  I can’t say that I would die without you--I have a pretty strong survival instinct--but my life would definitely be less if you weren’t in it. A whole lot less. Empty.”

        Dan reached for her, rising from the chair to pull her close.  Careful of her injured arm, he found her willing lips. “Empty.  That’s it exactly,” he whispered between kisses.  Pulling away, he looked into her eyes. “Maybe you should take that pill you hid.”

        “You saw that?” Tessa giggled.

        “You mean when you let the pill slip out of the cup and down the front of your shirt?” he asked.  “Yeah, I saw that.”

        “It’ll make me sleepy, and I wanted to talk with you.”

        “I understand, but you should sleep, and if your arm is hurting...” He let his words trail off.

        “It doesn’t hurt much.” She  spoke honestly.  “Believe me, I’ve felt worse.”

        “Still,” he insisted, “you should sleep.”

        “So should you,” she countered. “Mart told me you’ve barely slept the last few days.”

        “True,” he admitted.   “I tell you what.  I’ll sleep, if you will.”

        “You’re going to go home?”

        “Nope.”  Dan shook his head.  “I’m not leaving until either you tell me to or they kick me out.  I’ll just have a nap right here.”  He rested his head on the bed, looking up at her.

        “You’ll end up with a stiff neck,” Tessa warned.

        “I’ve slept in worse positions,” he reminded her.  “Go on and sleep.  I’ll be here when you wake up.”  To prove his point, Dan closed his eyes.

        “Here,” she told him.  “At least take one of my pillows.”

        “Thanks.”  He got up and turned off the light, darkening the room significantly.  Returning to his chair, he plumped up the pillow and reached again for her hand.  “Sweet dreams.”

        “You, too, Danny.  You too.”  With her fingers laced through his, Tessa closed her eyes and waited for sleep to overcome her.

        Andrew Belden opened the door slowly.  As fluorescent light spilled in from the hallway, he spied the sleeping figures and quickly and quietly closed the door so as not to disturb them.

        “Something wrong?”  He turned at the familiar voice, and smiled when he saw Thomas Maypenny.

        He shook his head.  “No.  They’re both sleeping.”

        “And you don’t want to wake them.”  Maypenny nodded his understanding.  “Why don’t I buy you some coffee, and we’ll give them a little more rest?  I know Daniel hasn’t had much these last few days.”

        “Me either,” Andrew admitted.  “I just finished taking a walk down to the cafeteria.” He shuddered. “How about we hit the coffee shop across the street? I’m not overly fond of hospitals.  Tessa was hospitalized for so long...” He shook his head at the memory.

        Maypenny chuckled.  “The coffee shop it is, then.”

        Seated on shiny blue vinyl seats of the coffee shop booth, cups steaming in front of them, Andrew found himself at a loss for words.  He concentrated on his coffee, aware of Maypenny’s eyes focused on him. “Are you sure you don’t want some dinner, Thomas?” he asked.  “My treat.”

        “Pie is fine, Andrew,” the older man replied.  “I ate an early dinner with Daniel.”

        “Dan said you took him to Wimpy’s and made him eat,” Andrew ventured.

        Maypenny chuckled.  “It took a bit of persuading to get him in the door, but once he smelled those burgers, his natural instincts took over.”

        Andrew laughed. “I’ve seen my nephews eat, so I can imagine.”  He drank from his cup.  “This was hard on him.”

        “It was,” Maypenny agreed, picking up his own cup.  “Daniel loves that girl of yours.  He near drove himself crazy with her missing.  He didn’t eat, didn’t sleep.  Boy was a wreck.”

        “You don’t seem to have a problem with his feelings,” Andrew mused, his eyes narrowing.  “Don’t you think Dan and Tess are a little young to be using the word love?”

        “It is what it is,” Maypenny responded with a shrug.  “I wasn’t much older than Daniel is now when I met my Dee.  I loved her then, and I love her now, even though she’s been gone over thirty years.  We don’t choose love, Andrew.  It chooses us, if we’re lucky enough.”

        “I suppose you’re right.” Andrew sighed.  “Wesley, Madeleine’s brother?  He’s already warned me to prepare myself for the inevitable.”

        “They’re smart young people, Andrew.  Both of them.”

        “But it’s so hard.”  Andrew shook his head.  “It’s not like the old days, back when marriage and a family were the end-all-be-all. Kids have more choices.”

        “And if they choose each other?”

        Andrew covered his face with his hands, and Maypenny chuckled.  “They’ll be fine, Andrew.  They have more resources than most and a lot of family support.”

        “True.”  Andrew shook his head and reached for his coffee.  “I’ve never experienced that kind of love, you know?   The kind you had.  The kind Peter and Helen have.  But I recognize it when I see it.”  He grinned at Maypenny, his eyes twinkling.  “But I’m not going to make it easy on him, Thomas.  You know that, right?”

        Maypenny chuckled again, as the waitress approached with Andrew’s dinner and two plates of pie. “I would expect nothing less, Andrew.  Nothing less.  The harder the road, the sweeter the prize.”

        Tessa woke as the door slid silently open, and an unfamiliar figure stood in the light.  Dan woke, too, Tessa could tell from the way his breathing shifted, although he didn’t move.  She moved her hand, resting it on his head, her fingers twining through his hair.  Looking at the mysterious visitor, she quietly invited, “Come on in.  Who are you?”

        The man stepped forward, closing the door behind him.  He was a young man, Tessa realized, only a few years older than Brian and Jim, but even in the dim light, he looked tired and rumpled.  “My name’s Damien,” he said, his voice also low.  “Damien Prinze.”

        Tessa felt Dan tense beneath her fingers, his body instantly on alert.  She stroked his head calmly, and addressed the visitor in a cool voice.  “You must be Dara’s brother.  What can I do for you?”

        “Nothing.  I just wanted to see if you were okay and to apologize.”  Damien ran a hand through his hair.  “I don’t...Dara never...I’m sorry.  Very sorry.”  He turned to leave.

        “Wait.”  Dan sat up.  Damien turned slowly.  “Turn on the light, okay?” Dan asked.  The man hesitated but complied.  Both Dan and Tessa blinked rapidly at the sudden infusion of light.  “It’s not your fault, you know,” Dan stated.

        Damien smiled sadly.  “Maybe not, but she’s my sister.  I should have known something was up with her, but I didn’t notice.”  He shook his head.  “I’m a cop.  I should have noticed.”

        “You don’t live here, do you?” Tessa asked.

        “No.  I live in Albany.”

        “Then how could you have known?  Seriously.”  She offered him a small smile. “And in answer to your original question, I’m going to be fine.  How’s your sister?”

        A look of intense pain twisted the handsome face.  “She’s unconscious and can’t breathe on her own. Her brain function...” He shook his head, and a short bitter bark of laughter escaped.  “I shouldn’t be here.  I shouldn’t be anywhere near you, in case this ever goes to trial.  But it won’t.  She’s gone, even if they won’t...” He broke off.

        “I’m sorry,” Tessa said.

        “We both are,” Dan added.

        “Why?” Damien sounded genuinely perplexed.  “We all know that Dara drugged you and locked you in the school.”   He turned his attention to Dan.  “I’ve seen the pictures Molinson had. How can either of you feel sorry for her?”

        Tessa answered for both of them.  “I don’t.  Right now, I’m still very angry with your sister.  But she’s your sister, and it’s obvious that you love her.  I lost my brother, father, and grandmother on the same night.  My mother was killed a few months later.  I wouldn’t wish that pain on anyone. My sympathy, our sympathies, they’re for you.”

        Dan nodded his agreement.  “It’s hard losing people you love.”

        Damien’s face contorted again.  “Sometimes it’s even harder when they come back.”  His mouth twisted.  “I haven’t seen my father in twelve years.  I haven’t spoken to him in ten, yet now, he’s here.  Right here, in the hospital.  He and my mother have to make the decision whether or not to take Dara off of life support.  He hasn’t laid eyes on her since she was in pre-school, but here he is, insisting that they make the decision together.”

        “That’s rough, man.”  Dan stood slowly, facing Damien.  “I don’t know your sister, and I definitely don’t get what was going on in her head.  She’s sick.  But that doesn’t mean I want her to die.”

        “Thanks for that.”  Damien’s hands fiddled together.  “I apologize again.  I shouldn’t have come down here, and I certainly shouldn’t have laid all that on you two.  I just...”

    “It’s okay.”  Tessa stroked Dan’s hand.  “Dan and I, we’re going to be fine.  I hope that you’ll be okay, too.”

        “Thank you.”  He stepped closer and held out his hand.  Dan shook it.  “I’ll go now.  I just wanted to make sure you were okay, Miss Hart, and to apologize for what my sister did.”

        “I appreciate that, Mr. Prinze,” she told him softly, “but, as Dan said, there was no need.  You aren’t to blame.”

        He smiled sadly at her before turning and leaving the room.  Dan walked over and shut off the light again before returning to Tessa’s bedside.  She turned her face away from him, trying to disguise the sudden rush of tears flowing freely down her face.

        She was too late.  “What’s wrong?” he asked, reaching for her.

        Tessa just shook her head.  She wasn’t sure she could explain.  He sat down on the bed and gently gathered her close, rocking her silently.  “He’s so broken,” she whispered.  “His mother, her mother, she must feel…” The tears came faster and harder.  “’Dara’s gone’, he said.  I’ve been there, Danny.  I could have gone, and I chose to stay, because Uncle Andy was hurting so much, and because I knew you were out there, somewhere.  I stayed because I had something to live for, to hope for.  She didn’t.  All she had was that twisted fantasy she built for herself.  And now, the people she should have made her want to stay have lost her.  It’s so sad.” His arms tightened around her, offering her safety and comfort.  Suddenly, the exhaustion and emotional stress of the last few days overwhelmed her, and she surrendered to the intense sadness she was feeling.

        Tessa’s ability to almost instantly drop off to sleep never stopped amazing Dan.  One minute, she was sobbing against his chest, soaking his shirt with her tears, and the next, she was asleep, the occasional ragged intake of breath the only remaining sign of her distress.

        Slowly, so as not to wake her, he slid down on the bed until his head rested on the pillow.  Carefully pulling the covers up around her shoulders, he continued to hold her close.  He was fully dressed, and the room was warm, so he didn’t miss the covers at all.  Tessa’s breath was warm against his chest and lulled him back into his formerly drowsy state.  His eyes drooped closed, his mind blocking out the background noise as he joined her in sleep.

        That was the way Andrew and Maypenny found them when the returned.  Tessa lying under the covers, turned on her right side, pressed against Dan, her injured left arm draped across him.  Andrew noticed the tracks of tears marring her face and felt a twinge of guilt.  Maybe I shouldn’t have left, he thought.

        Maypenny stepped closer, prepared to wake Dan to take him home.  Andrew stopped him.  “Let him stay,” he whispered.  “You can send a change of clothes in for him in the morning.”  At the older man’s raised eyebrow, he smiled.  “They’ll both sleep better if they’re together.  Tessa will be released before noon. I’ll clear it with the charge nurse.”

        Maypenny considered the offer and nodded.  “I suppose I could leave his truck at the school, if you don’t mind driving me home?”

        “I’d be happy to,” Andrew replied.  He picked an extra blanket up off of the end of the bed and draped it over Dan’s sleeping form.   The boy didn’t move an inch. Moving around to the other side of the bed, he dropped a kiss on his niece’s forehead and whispered, “Sleep well, sweetheart.”  He followed Maypenny out the door.

Author Notes

Well, that’s the end. For now.

I couldn’t have done it without my dear editors, MaryN, WendyM and Susan.  They put up with a lot, believe me. a lot of commas, a lot of left off letters, a lot of dashes and ellipses.  A lot!

MaryN wants to go on record saying that the nurse who gave in to Tessa’s demand for a shower was a wimp.  No REAL nurse would allow herself to be badgered. LOL!

I hope you enjoyed this little escapade.  I’d like to say it’s going to be smooth sailing from here on out, but I don’t like to lie.  Next up is Regan’s story.  We’re going to back up a little, and then it’s full forward and not pretty. Thank you all for hanging in and reading.  I appreciate you all!

Winds of Change

Kidnapped! Part 9

Connections