Chapter 8: Hath vs. Jon

Thursday, November 8th, 2007

We got to the hospital, and I asked the driver to wait for us. I had a feeling we wouldn’t be there too long; we needed to get Jon and Richie back to the house. David commented as we went inside, “How long do you have the drivers for?”

“The week,” I said, flapping a hand at him. “My boss arranged it. Where’s ICU?”

We found the front desk and got directions to the ICU. When we got there, I stopped David with a hand on his arm. “Do I look like I’ve been crying?” I looked in the window and saw Jon sitting on one side of the bed, and Nathan pacing. Cori and Richie must have gone to the waiting room.

He just looked at me. “No, but what difference does that make?”

“I am not going in there looking like I’m falling apart. That’s not what they need to see, and Sam will sense if there’s sadness around her.” I didn’t leave any room for argument. David’d better get used to this now. This is me not in GSA mode – all emotion and take-no-prisoners.

“No, you look fine.” David looked in the window. “Will you be alright in there if I go say ‘hi’ to Richie first?”

“Absolutely.” I gave him a quick hug and shooed him away.

I breezed into Sam’s room and went directly to her side, opposite Jon, and gave her a kiss. “Hey, Mom,” I said in my normal speaking voice, sitting in the chair by her bed and smoothing her hair. “How are you feeling?” Of course there was no answer. I took her hand, and closed it between mine. “I brought David with me, but he chickened out and went to see Richie. I don’t think he likes hospitals very much.” I looked at Jon and winked, startling him. “None of us do really, so if you could please just get on with it, I’d really appreciate it.”

I looked over my shoulder at Nathan, and he was smiling at me. He thought I was funny. Well, at least someone does. “Sam, I’m guessing that’s your brother over there? How about an introduction?”

Nathan came over and put a hand on my shoulder. “You must be Goddess,” he said.

I half turned and covered his hand with mine. “It’s Hathor or Hath to my friends, and it’s nice to meetcha, though I would have rather have done it a different way.” I stood to give him a hug.

“Thanks for coming,” he said, “and me too.”

“Of course we came. She’d do the same for any of us,” I replied, softly, then sat back next to Sam. “Wouldn’t you, sweetie?”

Jon still hadn’t said a word, and I think he was just on overload. His eyes looked sunken, and were smudged from lack of sleep. He’d been up for more than 24 hours, and it showed. “What’re you doing?” he asked me.

“What do you mean? I’m visiting with my friend.”

“You’re acting like nothing is wrong,” his voice was getting very quiet and filled with steel.

I sighed, stood again, and motioned Nathan into my chair. I pierced Jon with a look and strode across the room, hissing, “Get your ass over here.” Too shocked to do anything else, he obeyed. “Now you listen to me,” I said, poking his chest. “Sam can hear everything that is said in this room. She’s not dead, she’s resting. I’m all for letting her rest, but you’ve gotta quit acting like this is a death watch.”

His shocked expression said it all. “Fuck you,” he said.

“I’ll pass, but thanks for the offer,” I said. “Listen. I’m not blowing smoke up your ass, and I’m not looking to bust your balls. But I know that she can hear you. The more you mope, the more bad energy you’re generating. Now,” I smoothed his hair and straightened his collar. “You march your narrow little ass over there, kiss your woman, and talk to her. Like you mean it. Be sad. Be angry. Be something. But talk to her -- don’t just sit there looking all hopeless and glum.” With tears in my eyes, I turned from him and made to leave the room. Richie and David were standing in the doorway, mouths gaped open. I shouldered past them roughly and went out into the hall.

“She’s right,” David said to Jon, and followed me out.

David wrapped an arm around me while I got myself under control. “Oooh, he made me so mad,” I fumed.

“Really?” David laughed. “I didn’t notice.”

“How long were you guys standing there?” I asked.

“Right about when you turned down his offer,” he said. “Good call, by the way.”

I burst out laughing, and threatened to go hysterical. I grabbed David and held him close. “Thanks,” I whispered in his ear, a second before leaning back to kiss him. This was the first kiss we’d shared since he handed me up into the train last week. This was as wonderful as I remembered, too.

We heard Richie clearing his throat behind us. When we turned, he gave us a sad smile. “Hey you two, the nurses want Jon to crash somewhere for a bit.”

“We’re all staying at Sam’s, and there’s a car waiting for us outside.” He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “You’re not the only people who can make things happen, you know,” I said.

Richie laughed. “You are in the zone, aren’t you Hath?”

“You’d better believe it, darlin’,” I replied with a wink.

One of the nurses came out of Sam’s room; Patti, according to her name tag. “He won’t leave,” she said.

“Oh yes he will,” I said, gearing up for round two. Richie stopped me.

“I’ll get him out, you call Lucia and let her know we’re coming?” he asked.

I nodded and strode to the elevators, dialing on the way. David trailed behind me, chuckling the whole time.

David and I were waiting by the car, chatting with the driver when Jon and Richie came out. Nathan had agreed to stay with Sam, and Cori was going to spell him during the night. The five of us got into the car. Richie, as the biggest, sat in front with the driver. I was wedged in between the two men in the back. I could sense the hostility coming off Jon. He was still mad at me for the way I spoke to him. Too damned bad. I wasn’t too thrilled with him either at the moment. I just rested my head on David’s shoulder and ignored Jon. Eventually, I could sense him relaxing, and that instinct thing kicked in again. I said softly, “She will come back to you, Jon. She loves you, and has both you and the baby to think of. She’s one of the most selfless people I know. She won’t make you suffer much longer. I promise.”

“How can you say that,” he asked, really wanting to believe me, but afraid to. “How can you possibly know?”

“She just knows,” David said, meeting Jon’s eye over my head.

Jon nodded, and turned to gaze out the window.

When we got back to the house, Diva was excited to see Jon, but still was looking for Sam. We tried to get Jon to lay in Sam’s bed, thinking that the familiarity of it would be comforting, but he refused. He wound up on the couch, Richie and Lucy on an air mattress in the living room so Richie could keep an eye on Jon, Steph in the spare room, leaving Sam’s room for me and David.

As we were getting ready for bed, David said, “He’s not really mad at you, you know.”

I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter if he is. If it helps him to be mad, let him be mad. Once he’s had a chance to put this behind him, once Sam’s awake, he’ll realize that I wasn’t saying anything he wouldn’t have said to you or Richie in the same situation.”

“You’re right,” he said.

“Of course I am,” I answered, looking down my nose at him. “I’m nearly always right.” I giggled softly and turned to put my dirty clothes in a neat pile on the floor.

David came up behind me and wrapped his arms around me. “You are one of a kind,” he said to me.

I turned in the circle of his arms and said, “You’d better believe it, baby,” and kissed him soundly. We fell asleep almost instantly, tangled together in the middle of the bed.