by V R Tapscott
Bailey spoke up, “May we see him yet, doctor?”
“We’re allowing immediate family only, at this time. If the family wishes you to accompany them, that would be up to them.” He spread his comments to the rest of the room. “Your visits must be very short. Mr. Shun is quite tired and will likely not be entirely conscious.”
Dai Shun thanked the doctor and stood. “Ms. Bailey, Ms. Daship, would you care to go along with me to see Mr. Shun?”
Bailey and Olive nodded, and gratefully went with him to the nurse’s station, where they were given a guide to take them into the Coronary Care Unit. They trailed the guide down the hallway until they came to a set of double doors, which he strode confidently though. A new hallway, much like the previous one, and then they turned into a doorway.
Lying on the bed, sprouting a multitude of wires and tubes, was Cai Shun. His eyes were open as they entered, and they brightened considerably on seeing visitors. His eyes darted around, and they looked disappointed. Bailey supposed he was trying to find Jane, so he may not be aware of how little time has passed. At any rate, he looked back at the little group, and his mouth twitched, likely his current approximation of a broad smile.
“Hey, Cai! Good to see you! That was quite a dive you made, good thing Jane was there to pull you up, huh?”
His eyes looked confused, then cleared a bit. His mouth twitched again.
“Jane’s here at the hospital too, haven’t heard much about her yet. We’ll be here when she wakes, though. I’m sure she’ll be raring to go soon, and you with her.”
Dai said something in Chinese, and Cai remained impassive. Dai sighed and stepped back.
The attendant said, “Best you don’t tire him. He needs to rest and relax those muscles so he can get better.”
“Cai, you behave now. We’ll take off and see you again soon.”
Olive went over and gave him a gossamer kiss on his cheek, and winked.
He made the mouth twitch again. We backed out the door and waved as we went. The nurse took us back through the maze of corridors to the waiting room, where we resumed waiting.
Dai looked at us and said, “My father and I have not gotten along well in some years. We had a disagreement as to my choice of profession.”
Bailey nodded in understanding. “That seems to be one of the top issues for disagreements among families. Cai’s friend Jane has the same sort of issue with her mother.” I rolled my eyes toward Jeannie, and he bowed slightly.
Olive and I sat there, a little desultory chat among the three sets of people sprouting up from time to time, then dying out.
After a while, Bailey rose and said, “I’m going to go find some coffee.”
“I’ll come along.” This from Olive, who looked like she had the jitters bad enough that the last thing she needed was coffee.
They meandered down the hallway, following the requisite yellow line, (Cafeteria, 250 feet) and stepped through the doorway into the cafe. It was open and probably would look exactly the same in the daytime, considering it was located in the basement. It was just another institutional food location and apparently no one considered the cafeteria worthy of a window. Bailey grabbed a coffee to go, although to keep from worrying about someone yelling about theft, Olive waited to “have” hers until they sat at one of the many small tables.
“Can you actually taste that, Olive?”
Olive shrugged. “I don’t have any baseline to tell me what it really tastes like, but I have a very good simulation of what it smells like turned into what I think it should taste like. Someday if I ever manage taste-buds, I’ll probably be disappointed. One way or the other. At what I’ve been missing out on, or thanking the Maker that I didn’t have to taste it before.”
Bailey sat and sipped her coffee, as did Olive. They looked mostly at the walls and the institutional artworks hung to “brighten” the space. After a while it became just another waiting room, only with less comfortable seating, so they returned to the original waiting room. Finally, Bailey slumped over against the chair arm and Olive slumped over against her and they both slept. At least to outward appearances. Olive’s processes stayed on full alert, just in case someone else should slide into the seat beside her and she’d need to “wake up” to ward them off.
Bailey slept fitfully, twitching and making odd little noises in her sleep. Olive watched her and her heart swelled, listening to the so very human person next to her. Bailey seemed to have it together normally, but right now, she seemed like an unhappy child in need of her mother.
Olive also watched Jane’s mother. She became aware, over time, that Jeannie Bond was just as worried about Jane as they were. She tried to hide it, but in her own sleepless way, she was behaving much the same way as Bailey. The occasional tears and head bob told the story far more than anything she could have said, and Olive cataloged it all - resolving to possibly cut her some slack later on when she became the “army bitch” again.
Morning came. Everyone had slept in some way, none of them comfortable. Dai went to see his father again, but came back shortly.
Finally, after several days passing - that was really only 9am arriving - a doctor came out. He looked dead tired, but smiled at the waiting room in general. “Are there any of you who are here for Jane Bond?”
Nearly everyone in the waiting room sat up and paid attention, and he looked a little bemused at the differentiation between the groups.
“Jane is resting. She’s still very much in danger, but barring complications, she’ll pull through. She had extensive damage to her left lung and intestinal tract, but we were able to repair that, and she should recover just fine. One shattered rib we pieced back together and as long as she’s careful in her movements it should be fine. As long as she rests. She is in very good health, and that contributes to her eventual recovery. She will need someone to be with her though. Will any of you be available to help her through the next several weeks while she works at becoming whole again?”
Three hands popped up immediately. Bailey, Olive and surprisingly enough to Bailey, Jeannie Bond.
The doctor nodded. “Very good. I must get back. You may visit her for very short amounts of time. We are requesting family and close friends only, at this point.”
He turned and walked off into the never-never land of any large hospital.
Jeannie eyed Bailey and Olive. “I suppose we can all go, but if you excite her, I’ll clear you out myself.” To the silent ABU-dressed military minions sitting, she said, “Go back to base. I’ll submit your new assignments, as it looks as if I’ll be in Seattle or Chelan for a while.” They nodded as one, rose as one and trooped off - as one. She smiled proudly after them, then turned toward the nurse’s station and set off without further comment.
On arrival at the desk, she fastened her gimlet eye on the nearest nurse. “I’m Jeannie Bond, I’m here to see Jane Bond. I understand she’s available for visitors. These are family friends who will be accompanying me. They should also be signed in as family friends to obviate interference at any future visits.”
The nurse at the station seemed to be mesmerized by the woman and she simply took down Bailey and Olive’s names, then called for a guide to take them to the ICU where Jane was being watched over.
The guide, this time a short dumpy female, took them through the maze of corridors, finally pointing them through a doorway. She followed them in and stood fairly unobtrusively against the wall.
The pitiful lump on the bed hardly looked like Jane. If anything, she had more tubes and wiring around her than Cai did. However, unlike Cai her eyes were open and while not much animation was there, she was definitely Jane.
A whisper from the bed. “Mother? Mother, what are you doing here? Oh, and Bailey - and Olive.” She made an almost smile, but it was obviously something she had to struggle to do.
And then something very strange happened. Old battle axe Jeannie Bond, combat decorated, multiple campaigns, two-star general - she bent and kissed her daughter
’s forehead and decorated it with tears. “I love you, little one. I’m so glad you’re ok.” And then she stood back against the wall stiffly, motioning Bailey and Olive forward.
Blinking back tears at the sight, Bailey stroked Jane’s cheek, “We were so worried about you, but you made it. You’re a tough old bird.”
Jane’s eyebrows went up and she rasped, “Old bird? You’re older than me!”
Bailey smiled and drew back, and Olive came forward, giving Jane one of her gossamer kisses. “You scared me so much, I’m not so sure being human is a good idea after all!”
Jane grinned, an almost Jane regular grin. “Being human is always a good idea, sweetie.” Her voice faded out at the end though, and her eyes closed.
The nurse herded them back out of the room and pointed the right path to follow, and soon they were almost back to the waiting room.
Bailey said, “Um, let’s all go into the cafeteria.” She made the turn without seeing if they were following, but when she arrived at a table, Jeannie and Olive were there behind her. Bailey sat and Olive scrunched in beside her. Jeannie took the other side of the tiny table.
Impulsively, Bailey reached across the table and took Jeannie’s hand. She found it cold - and trembling. “You’re not exactly who I expected, Ms. Bond.”
Jeannie looked at her a beat, then replied, “I’m not exactly who I was yesterday, Ms. McCallum.”
Bailey looked around the room, then asked “Coffee?”
“Tea please, with two cream, two sugars.”
Bailey chuckled. “If there was any doubt, that erased it. But do you expect everyone to follow your orders?”
“I do, Ms. McCallum, I most assuredly do.”
Bailey shrugged expressively. “Then I guess I won’t disappoint you. This time.”
She came back shortly with her coffee, tea for Jeannie. She smirked at Olive. “You can get your own.”
With a dramatic sigh, Olive went over to peruse the choices, coming back with something that looked like water but with bubbles. “Sprite.”
“Have to be different, don’t you?”
Olive smirked devilishly, “Yep.”
Jeannie glanced around, then leaned in. “All right, what’s really going on here?”
Bailey looked around as well, then also leaned forward and with her forehead nearly touching Jeannie’s, she said, “Jane’s hurt and in the hospital.”
Jeannie’s head snapped back as if she’d been slapped. “Ms. McCallum, I’d suggest you find a better tone and story. So many things can be made so much more inconvenient for you.”
Fire came into Bailey’s eyes and voice, “There’s nothing you can do but wait - the same as I am, bitch. She may be your daughter, but she’s been my best friend for years and she hasn’t seen YOU much at all in that same number of years. Stand down or be rolled over.”
This last came out in Bailey’s patented boardroom hiss and it seemed to push back Jeannie Bond’s attitude to nothing. Shockingly, she said, “I ... I’m sorry, Ms. McCallum. I’m ... she’s my only child. And nearly 40 years of training doesn’t just go away.”
Bailey sat back and said, “My name is Bailey, Jeannie.”
Jeannie Bond blinked, but said, “Very well ... Bailey.”
“Anything that needs to be talked about can wait until Jane is here in person to discuss it. She’s in charge of this little group, and we don’t make a move without her.” Which was patently a lie, but oddly truthful as well.
To her credit, Jeannie took it in stride, commenting only, “Do you have a place here in Seattle, Bailey, or should we acquire lodgings?”
“I have a small apartment not far from here, actually. It will be tight, but I doubt we’ll be doing much sleeping anyhow, at least until Jane is out of the woods.”
“What happened to her?”
“It’s for Jane to decide what to say when she wakes. She’s really the only one that can.”
And Jeannie had to take that for an answer.
Chapter Nineteen
The aftermath
They got back to the waiting room and there was a new arrival there. He was just about six feet tall, jeans and a button-down shirt. Boots on his feet, and a hat in his hand made him Dale. Bailey went over and gave him a big hug and he smiled and hugged her back.
“Just got in, how’s she doin’, Bailey.”
“She’s gonna make it, Dale. She’s hurting pretty bad, though.”
He looked around the room, then drew Bailey off to one side and bent toward her. In a low voice, “She was your best friend, did she talk to you about anything ... um ...”
Bailey smiled slightly at him. “Not until just a few weeks ago, but I know what you’re saying - about the strange stuff.”
Dale blew out a gusty sigh, “I thought this was over with - that Kit was gone, and she’d be free of getting into dangerous messes. What happened to that happy idea?”
“It’s complicated. And not something we can talk about here. Jane’s mother is here, for one thing.”
“Oh, great, that should make Jane happy.”
“Yeah. I had to put the bitch in her place already this morning.”
Dale’s eyebrows went up. “How the hell did you manage that?”
Grimly, “I’ve lived in a shark tank for years ... but also, I think she’s hurting more than I would have expected.”
Bailey pulled him back over to where Jeannie and Olive were still waiting, staring at the new arrival. “Guys, this is Dale McDaniels. Dale, this is Olive Daship and Jeannie Bond.”
Jeannie appraised him and nodded. “Good to meet you, mister McDaniels.”
“Likewise, Ms. Bond. Is Mister Bond here as well?”
“No, not yet, Joe is stuck trying to find transport. He should be here shortly, however, I believe he flew into JBLM not long ago. He’ll be here when he can get transportation.”
“If you’ll pardon me, ma’am, what’s JBLM?”
“Oh. Joint Base Lewis-McChord. It’s the airlift base near Tacoma.”
He nodded in understanding. “Ok.”
He turned to Olive. “And you, ma’am?”
Olive grinned. “I’m Olive, I’m the sidekick.”
Dale chuckled. “That make you Robin or Jimmy Olson?”
Olive flexed a hand at him, her fingers in claws. “I’m more Catwoman.” She smirked a patented Olive smirk that she’d no doubt been practicing in the ‘mirror’. “I’ve heard all about you, buddy.”
Dale raised an eyebrow. “Should I feel honored or threatened?”
Olive, again with the smirk, “Yes.”
He grinned. “Ok, so should I go see Jane or let her alone?”
Jeannie spoke up, “It took us about five minutes to tire her out and she looked like she was sleeping when we left not more than ten minutes ago. Perhaps you should let her rest.”
Dale frowned, but said, “Ok, I guess.”
Bailey put a hand on his shoulder. “She’s probably right, but Jane was conscious enough to make a sarcastic remark at me, so I think she’s gonna be ok. Maybe wait a couple hours and we’ll all go invade her space.”
Dale shrugged. “Ok. Y’all got rigs to drive?”
“Olive’s got her smartcar here, but it’s only big enough for about one and a half people, so maybe we can take your truck?”
He barked a laugh. “I guess you do know Jane, if you know I gotta have a truck no matter where I go. Yeah, I got a four door Jimmy out in the lot. We can all take it - what, to IHOP? I looked it up, it ain’t too far.”
Olive spoke up, “I’ll drive my own car. We’ll probably want t’ settle in at Bailey’s ‘partment afore we come back here, too. It don’ sound like we’ll be leavin for a few days.”
“Ok, we’ll meet you at IHOP, then.”
They split off, Olive heading over to where she’d left the ship, and the others following Dale to his truck.
At IHOP, where mysteriously Olive arrived first and had a table before the others got there, they sat
and ate. After the long stressful night, they were all starved and were fairly silent until the food was delivered. Then they started eating. They each shared a story or two about Jane, and that made them all people to each other, their commonality - Jane.
Food gone and all of them stuffed, they met at Bailey’s apartment. Thank goodness it was a ground floor flat with a garage, otherwise they might have had to make up a story about why Olive couldn’t join them. It was difficult anyhow in such close quarters, but at least as long as Jeannie was there, Olive’s secret had to stay deep and dark.
It was a small two-bedroom apartment. Bailey and Olive would share Bailey’s room, Jeannie would take the guest room and poor Dale was relegated to the couch. At least it was a large comfortable couch. Of course, Dale wound up spending most of this time at the hospital anyhow, sitting by Jane’s bed, hour after hour.
Jeannie got a call, and came back looking a combination of devastated and steamed. “That was Joe. He stopped in at the hospital, saw Jane - who was asleep - and then ... and then he left. He flew back out of JBLM just a few minutes ago.”
Since no one in the room was quite able to come up with something to say, no one said anything. But Bailey hugged her hard. Maybe that was enough.
Chapter Twenty
Recovery
Iwoke up hurting all over and barely able to open my eyes. I realized that my mother was bent over and staring at me.
“Mother? Mother, what are you doing here?”
I looked a little past her and saw, to my relief, Bailey. And thank goodness, Olive.
“Oh, and Bailey. And Olive!” I tried to smile but it just hurt too much.”
And then it was just weird. My mom, cranky grump that she is, bent down and actually kissed my forehead. She said, “I love you, little one. I’m so glad you’re ok.” I don’t remember that happening since I was just a little kid. I must be in bad shape for her to be that emotional.