by T. Jones
"Tell her the other thing, Danielle." Danielle shook her head.
"No fooling you, Fisher. My gift, is back, such as it is. No idea why. I started drinking coffee again, maybe that did it. I'm ready to get back out there, saving the world. At least I will be after a couple more weeks of rest. What's the deal with Madeline? Derrick outed her as a psychic, but nobody seems to be taking that seriously."
"Good thing probably, but I think that might work to our advantage. Just think, if there are psychics all over the world, and they see that video, maybe they'll wonder if she might be like them. Maybe they'll come looking for her and show up in Minneapolis. We can build a worldwide network."
"See?" Jenny looked at Danielle. "This is not the Callie Fisher I know. Where's the pessimism?"
"I've been hanging around you too long, it's contagious."
***
It was quiet on the third floor of the hospital, quiet and dark. Intensive care was at the end of the hall, thru a set of double doors that opened both directions, allowing gurneys to pass through unimpeded when necessary. It was brighter in there, and there was a charge nurse, playing a game on her phone. The woman stopped for a minute and spoke to her, then continued down the hall to the first door on the right. She wasn't sure how exactly, but she was here to kill the occupant of that room. His Fate was in her hands.
She pulled the door open and stepped in. Derrick Blackburn lay unconscious, tubes supplying him nourishment and oxygen. She knew he was in a medically induced coma, and that in a couple days he would wake up, and began his recovery, safely in a prison hospital, unless she interceded. She could hear the machine helping him breath, knew that he would never feel it if she pulled the plug. The nurse wouldn’t hear the alarm, she was in a deep sleep. She stepped forward, fixated on the cord, then froze. She wasn't alone.
A curtain hung from the ceiling, for privacy during delicate procedures, blocking part of her field of vision. When she leaned to her left, she could just make out a pair of knees, white slacks and tennis shoes. Another nurse? No matter, she would tell whoever it was to sleep and forget the encounter, just like the charge nurse at the front desk. She stepped around the curtain and looked down. Callie Fisher looked up at her and smiled.
"Hi Mom. Thought I might see you here tonight." Bess Fisher frowned, this was unexpected.
"It has to be done Callie. God knows what he'll do next time."
"Maybe, I'm still not real sure I believe in your God." Bess smiled, lowered her voice slightly and looked deep into her daughter's eyes. She sounded comforting.
"You need to go home now Callie. Everything will be fine here. I'll take care of everything."
"I don't think so Mom. But you shouldn't drive all the way home tonight, you can stay with us at the loft. Danielle would love to see you." Her mother frowned.
"Callie, I said you can go home." Bess tried again, concentrating. "I said I'll take care of this, everything will be fine here."
"Yes, I know it will, because I'm not going to let you unplug that machine." Bess stared at her, confused. "It's okay Mom. I understand now, what I'm meant to be, and I'm here to be sure you don't have to kill again, even Derrick Blackburn." The reality of it finally occurred to Bess.
"Why, after what he did to you? How can you protect him?"
"Neither of us knows what Fate has in store for him Mom, and one thing I have learned is that we're all redeemable. We can't take that opportunity away from him. Right now, it's you I'm protecting. How are you going to get into that heaven you talk about all the time, with his death on your conscious."
"You don't believe in heaven, Callie."
"Still not sure, maybe, maybe not. But I know you do. And in those last moments, when that day comes for you, I don't want you thinking about what you did to Derrick Blackburn. You've had to make enough tough choices like that. I don't want you to do that for me. Derrick didn't deserve his abilities, and they're gone now."
"You did that? How have you become so gifted, so strong?" Callie laughed.
"Growth, isn't that what you always say, Mom? It's because of Jenny, you and Dad, and all of the other great people in my life. You're why I'm strong." Callie stood and hugged her mother, then took her hand and led her out of the ICU. They stopped at the desk and roused a confused charge nurse. Callie laughed a little. "Wait until the grandchildren Mom, you're going to be blown away! You can sleep on the couch at our house tonight, it's lumpy, but it beats the hell out of a jail cell."
***
It wasn't a big wedding. Sixty-some guests turned to watch as the bride made her way up the aisle between the two rows of folding chairs. The day was warm for April, sunny and bright. Some thought it was lucky, but most knew better. The Sisters were there, and their significant others, some who didn't know that it was easy to pick the right day, when the future lay open to you.
Jenny looked over and winked at Callie, who nearly started laughing, but managed to contain herself.
Filipe Eklund pulled his hand from his pocket and checked the ring for the fifth time in the last hour. He smiled at his father and gave him a thumbs up. Callie looked down at the ring on her pinky, the ring Madeline was about to give to Jon Eklund. Jenny was standing on the other side of the wedding party, beside Filipe, and Callie leaned forward and gave her a smile, then made a show of admiring the ring. The redhead grinned, she knew her turn would come soon enough.
It was bittersweet. Callie knew that her biological parents would be leaving, to start a life together in Brazil. But they were all connected now. There would be visits and there was the business of linking their two groups, and finding more. And of course, Filipe. Callie knew he had a special purpose, for the world, and for Jenny and her. Danielle stood beside Callie, and she reached out to squeeze her hand gently.
It seemed like a lifetime ago that she had dreamed of Danielle in that alley, wondered if she were the one. But there was a whole lifetime yet to come, people to help, lives to save, and Callie was very glad that the strong, dark-haired woman was going to be there, helping her change Destiny. Losing her would have been unbearable. Fate could be cruel, but Callie knew it had been very good to her, she only had to look around.
After the wedding, there was a dance. Callie danced with Jenny, Jon, and Filipe; then finally pulled her father out onto the floor. She buried her face against his chest, weeping softly. He looked down, smiling.
"I'm guessing those are happy tears, right?"
"Yeah. I just love you so much Dad."
"I love you too, Princess. Next time I dance at a wedding, I hope it will be yours."
"You know it will be. Thank you, Dad, for always being my rock. You're always so practical and Midwestern all the time. No matter what kind of crazy shit you had to put up with, you've always just been there for me."
"Don't forget about your mother. She tells me we raised a very wise daughter. She said you saved her from doing something she would have regretted terribly. She said you're the most gifted of all."
"The time is coming Dad, when a lot of people, millions, maybe all of mankind, will be able to look into each other's souls and really understand each other. Can you imagine how great a world that will be? People will have to be better to each other then, won't they?"
"Sounds to me like you've found God, Callie."
"Not quite the way you imagine him." She laughed. "I sure don't have all the answers, maybe God is a part of my story. He sent me Jenny, after all. She and I, our children, everyone we love, maybe that's what God is, Dad." Her father smiled and stepped away as Jenny came up. The redhead laughed and they started dancing. She hugged Callie tightly, looking in her eyes.
"I am the luckiest person here."
"No, but you're looking at her, Jen. Every minute of every day, you just never stop being a good person. Spend the rest of our lives showing me how, okay?" They danced for a bit, then Callie looked into her eyes again. "I still have one secret that I've been keeping from you Jenny."
"Callie, I told y
ou, our future is all I care about. Our lives are perfect now and there's nothing you could tell me that will change that."
"That's what I saw Jen, you and I, and a full lifetime for us both, together till the end."
"So, you were the one holding the camera?" She laughed.
"How about you, Jennifer Mconvil, any predictions for our future?"
"Amazing things, Callie. I told you that from day one, you're going to do amazing things."
"You and I, Jenny. We'll do amazing things."
Just the Beginning