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Chapter or Story 
Chapter or Story
Disclaimer: see part one
Author’s Note: Some more angst
~~~~~~~
The Past Always Catches Up Part 12
Safe; not sound
Jarod had gone with Jay in the ambulance. There hadn’t been enough space for Parker.
She had stood in front of the Centre and had let her gaze sweep around for a minute after the ambulance rolled away.
Police cars stood all over the place. People were coming out of the Centre’s entrance, leading others in handcuffs towards the nearest official vehicles.
She knew that most of the top players had already been arrested.
Lyle and Cox had been led out of the building as the troop set to make its way down to SL-27, had entered the Centre.
Lyle had shot her an icy glance and stopped. “You,” he had growled.
She had stepped up to him, invading his personal space. “Yes, me,” she had replied icily. “I’ve told you once that you should never underestimate me. And now you made the colossal mistake by taking Jay from us. You gave us no other choice.”
“Where is he?” Lyle had asked, looking around.
“With Jay,” she had replied, throwing him another glare, and then stepped out of Lyle’s way as they lead him out of the building towards the police cars. She had made her way down to SL-27 together with the agents and paramedics, to find Jay in worse shape than she had anticipated.
“Ma’am,” an FBI agent stepped up to her, drawing her out of the memory.
She turned and looked at the young man. “Agent Fitzgerald,” she answered tiredly, brushing a hand through her hair.
“Let me drive you over to the hospital,” he half suggested, half stated.
She was suspicious for an instant but then nodded. “Thank you,” she replied, gratefully.
When they were in the vehicle, following the ambulance, she looked over at him. “Does agent Malone know where you are?”
“Yes, he knows. I informed him before I came to you,” Martin nodded and smiled warmly at her.
“You won’t get any questions answered at the moment; not from me, not from Jarod and certainly not from Jay,” she looked at him suspiciously again.
“That’s not important at the moment,” he shook his head without turning towards her.
She observed him for some time but only saw fatigue, shock and disbelief. “You didn’t know what you were walking into when you came into the cell on SL-27 did you?” she asked.
“No,” he admitted, one hand leaving the steering wheel and brushing it through his hair. “But would you have been prepared for that had you been in my place?” he shot her a look.
Parker turned away from him for a second, contemplating his question. “No, I wouldn’t have. I knew what would await us and I was shocked how bad it was,” she mumbled. “And it wasn’t as if I hadn’t seen it before.”
“You have?” he asked, looking over at her once more.
A sad smile lingered on her face for a second when she met his gaze. “I sort of grew up in that place,” she shrugged. “Yes, I’ve seen it before. I saw some of what happened to Jarod but then I only saw tapes and not the reality… and the films were bad enough.”
Agent Fitzgerald nodded thoughtfully. “I can imagine. I’m glad that you decided to get the agency on the case,” he admitted after a few minutes pause.
The rest of the ride was made in silence.
~~~~~~~~
Sometime during the examinations Jay had started to come round. He had slipped in and out of consciousness from then on, sometimes seemingly clear and aware of his surroundings, but other times extremely disoriented and hallucinating. He had kept fighting and thrashing on those occasions forcing the doctors to strap him to the bed in order to not hurt himself or anyone else.
Time and time again, Jarod and Parker had tried to break through the boy’s panic, but Jay was still too deeply immersed in the effects of the drugs that were floating in his system.
The physicians had decided against giving the boy any more sedatives for the fear they could react with the drugs he had been given in the Centre.
Jay would have to ride it out - something that nearly broke Jarod’s and Parker’s heart. Seeing the boy so obviously in distress and panic, not recognizing his surroundings, and completely out of touch with reality, was horrible for them.
Sometimes when he woke up his eyes seemed to focus, but he didn’t speak or acknowledge Jarod or Parker’s presence.
Parker sat next to Jarod in the small hospital room where Jay lay in the semi-darkness. After the examinations the hospital staff had wheeled Jay into the room. A nurse came to check on his state every fifteen minutes, giving the parents a sympathetic glance every time she entered the room.
The examinations had taken a while but they hadn’t brought up any new shocking revelations about Jay’s state. The wounds had been treated, some of them stitched up, others merely disinfected and wrapped up again.
The night wore on, sometimes an eerie silence filling the room, merely interrupted by the beeps of the machines Jay had been hooked to in order to monitor his vitals. At other times the silence was broken with the echoing of frightened screams.
Parker let her gaze sweep over the boy’s battered body once more. The damage that had been inflicted from down the waist wasn’t visible - covered by a blanket - but his torso was bare. It seemed as if most of it was covered in bandages and plaster, and what wasn’t, was decorated with antiseptic ointment, stitches or multi-coloured bruises.
Jay’s eyes were sunken into his skull now that he was sleeping. Tubes were running into his body, providing him with fluids and medication.
The arms were strapped to the bed at the wrists and Parker knew that his ankles were equally secured even if it wasn’t visible due to the blanket.
She felt herself tremble and tore her gaze away from the boy, looking over at Jarod instead.
He sat in his chair, one hand resting in his lap and the other on Jay’s arm, running up and down lightly in an unconscious motion. He looked worn out and broken, shoulders slumped and eyes hollow.
“Hey, why don’t you get yourself some coffee?” she turned to him, gently taking the hand that was lying in his lap in her own.
“No, I need to stay here,” he replied automatically, without looking up from his younger self.
“I’m here. He’s not alone. Jarod, you look like hell. Go get yourself some coffee.”
“No, I can’t leave him now.”
“Jarod, you and I both know that he will need you soon. He’ll need you very badly and it won’t help him if you are too tired to be there for him and provide him with the attention, reassurance and help he needs. You are his security, Jarod. You always were and you’ll always be. You can’t help him if you are too drained out to keep yourself upright.”
He nodded slowly. “Maybe I can get the bed over there,” he stated, half turning in his seat to indicate the hospital bed that stood in the corner of the room.
“I’ll ask the nurse when she comes the next time. In the meantime, at least eat something.”
He nodded tiredly. “But you’ll stay with him?”
“Of course.”
“Ok,” he finally relented and got up from his seat tiredly.
Parker scooted closer to the bed and reached for the arm Jarod had caressed before. She gently drew her hand up and down Jay’s arm, repeating the motion over and over like Jarod had done before.
~~~~~~~
Night slowly turned into morning. Jarod had indeed got the spare bed and he was able to grab some sleep. Yet he was out of the bed whenever the boy woke up screaming, fighting imaginary monsters.
It was tiring and horrible for both Parker and Jarod. They couldn’t do anything. Over the course of both their lives, they had always been on the fighting-side, always acting and reacting, but now they were forced to watch their son fighting invisible demons and they couldn’t help one little bit. They could only sit by and try to reassure the boy, not even sure if he realized that they were there at all.
“Parker, you should get some sleep as well,” Jarod whispered when Jay had quieted down once more after an attack.
She looked up at him. “You’ll need it more than me once he’s lucid.”
“Maybe, but I got some rest. I’m fine now.”
“You’re far from being fine,” she shook her head, seeing the deep lines in his face and the tiredness in his eyes.
He sighed. “True, but sleep won’t help,” he said, looking at Jay with sad eyes. “You didn’t sleep the last few hours as well. Now it’s your turn.”
She nodded slowly. “Ok, maybe you’re right.”
~~~~~~~
It took another four hours for Jay to wake up. By then it was bright day; about fifteen hours after they had rescued Jay from the Centre.
Jarod was still watching over Jay. Everything had been fairly silent for the last two hours. The panic attacks and Jay’s waking, screaming, and fighting against something that only he could see had lessened gradually.
The boy let out a low moan, something that got Jarod’s attention. His eyes instantly flew over to Jay’s face. Sure enough, the boy’s eyelids started fluttering. It took him some time to work up the strength to pry them open. Once open Jay slowly let his gaze wander around the room.
It was when he tried to move his arms and found them tied down his heart rate speed up. The beeping of the monitor becoming more erratic, and his moves became more frantic.
Jarod instantly scooted closer and intensified his gentle grip on Jay’s arm.
Jay’s head spun around towards the person he hadn’t realized was there before.
“Hush, it’s ok,” Jarod mumbled the words he had spoken more often in the last hours than he had ever wanted to utter them.
When Jay’s gaze cleared again after the rapid movement of his head, his features relaxed once recognition hit. He started crying softly.
“Hey, it’s ok. I’m here. You’re safe now,” Jarod whispered once more and slowly got up from his seat. He sat down on the bed next to Jay, to be closer to him. He pressed the call button. Gently caressing Jay’s face, wiping the tears away without hurting him, he kept on whispering soothing words.
Despite the restraints, Jay tried time and time again to lift his hands from the bed to grab Jarod’s hand.
Jarod gently put his hand on Jay’s after one of the futile attempts. “It’s ok.”
“Why am I tied?” Jay choked out through his tears.
“Shhh, we had to keep you from moving around too much so that you wouldn’t hurt yourself,” Jarod replied softly, already starting to unbuckle the straps.
The door opened and the nurse came in, making Jay flinch and Jarod look up.
“He’s awake,” Jarod announced softly and then instantly turned back to Jay. “It’s ok. They won’t hurt you. You’re safe.” He kept on reassuring Jay for several more minutes.
“Where--” Jay started, but was interrupted by the door opening again, this time revealing the doctor.
Jay’s eyes darted over to the door and Jarod quickly ordered the doctor to stay where he was with a gesture of his hand.
“Hey, my boy, look at me,” Jarod gently ordered and Jay’s eyes came back to him. “You’re in a hospital. No one here is trying to hurt you, ok?”
Jay nodded uncertainly.
“I promise,” Jarod looked deep into the boy’s eyes and then motioned for the doctor to come over to the bed.
“Hello there,” Dr. Sanders said, keeping his voice down so as not to startle his young patient any further. Nervousness and fear radiated from the boy in waves and the physician kept a small distance away, giving his patient some space.
Jay eyed him warily. He would have long since tried to get away from the man if his father hadn’t been next to him.
The doctor smiled gently. “My name is Brian. Can you tell me yours?”
Jay’s eyes flickered over to Jarod who nodded encouragingly. “Jay,” he said slowly.
“Hello Jay,” the doc smiled but didn’t try to move closer to the boy. “Jay, can you tell me if you’re in pain right now?”
Jay looked at the man closely, suspicious still but relaxing slightly. The man hadn’t tried to get any closer to him. He shook his head slowly.
“Was that a ‘you can’t tell me’ or a ‘you’re in no pain’?” Sanders smiled at the teen, trying to get him to relax. The doctor still kept a close eye on the patient, paying attention to the signs he sent out. The boy was slowly relaxing but the physician knew that moving towards him now would destroy what little amount of trust he had managed to establish.
“No pain,” Jay shook his head slowly and wished he hadn’t.
“But a headache?” Brian asked, seeing Jay wince at the slight movement.
“Hmm.”
“Do you want something for it?”
“No,” Jay replied quickly.
The doctor barely kept his eyes from narrowing in confusion at the answer, knowing that the suspicious boy might misinterpret the gesture as anger. “Ok,” he barely replied.
Jay’s eyes darted over to Jarod. “I want to go home,” he mumbled.
“I know,” Jarod replied and gently stroked Jay’s head.
“I’m sure that you want to go home as soon as you can, Jay. I can’t promise you it’ll be possible right now but I’d like to get a closer look at you so I can assess your state and maybe already give you an idea when it’ll be possible for you to leave here,” Dr. Sanders said softly.
Jay briefly closed his eyes, swallowing the disappointment that he wouldn’t get out of the hospital soon. He was still disoriented and everything was fuzzy. He didn’t know his surroundings and he didn’t feel safe. When he opened his eyes again, the doctor hadn’t moved an inch. He was still watching him. “Ok,” Jay whispered.
“Do you think it would be ok if I came over to you so that I might examine you more closely?”
“Ok.”
Brian smiled and slowly stepped closer to the bed. He walked up and came to stand next to Jarod.
“Do you think I could take your father’s seat for a few minutes?”
Jay nodded insecurely. “But he’ll stay?” he asked fearfully.
“Of course,” Dr. Sanders nodded instantly.
Jay watched his face for signs of ingenuity but found none. “Ok,” he finally said.
Jarod slowly got up from his position on the bed and made room for the physician. He stepped closer to Jay’s head instead, knowing that Jay would want to have him close and where he could see him.
Jay relaxed slightly during the examination when he felt Dr. Sanders was no threat to him.
After doing some more tests, Brian smiled widely. “Well, Jay. That’s all for now. Thank you for letting me examine you.”
Jay’s lips turned into a hesitant smile.
“Jarod, maybe we could go out for a few minutes and talk about the results I already got back?” Brian asked.
Jay tensed instantly at hearing that he would be left alone. “No, don’t leave,” he whispered pleadingly and looked up at Jarod.
“Maybe the lady over there might want keep an eye on you for the time Jarod and I are outside,” Brian suggested, looking over to the spare bed where Parker sat.
Parker got up from her seated position on the bed that stood in the dark corner of the room. She had awoken shortly after the doctor had come into the room but she had stayed where she was, not wanting to frighten Jay with movements he could barely see out of the corner of his eye, and giving the physician the possibility to examine him without three people standing around. She had wanted to get closer to the boy she viewed as a son, but had restrained herself. Parker hadn’t known that the doctor had been aware of her being awake. She knew Jarod had been for their gazes had met briefly. She slowly moved closer to the bed.
Jay’s eyes flew over to her when Brian turned slightly into her direction. “Mom.”
“Hey Jay,” she smiled and sat down on the spot that the doctor had vacated just before.
“Mom,” Jay whispered again and a tear escaped him.
“Shhh, I’m here,” she bent down and kissed his forehead.
“Jay, if you need anything; pain medication or something, just tell your parents and they’ll call me, ok? In the meantime, I want you to get some rest,” Dr. Sanders ordered gently waiting for Jay to nod before turning to Jarod and motioning for him to follow him outside.
To be continued…
Wow people, you can’t complain about the length of this chapter! But I’m sure, you would have wanted it even longer, right? Anyway, the next chapter will be up soon. Please send me a review.
Author’s Note: Some more angst
~~~~~~~
Safe; not sound
Jarod had gone with Jay in the ambulance. There hadn’t been enough space for Parker.
She had stood in front of the Centre and had let her gaze sweep around for a minute after the ambulance rolled away.
Police cars stood all over the place. People were coming out of the Centre’s entrance, leading others in handcuffs towards the nearest official vehicles.
She knew that most of the top players had already been arrested.
Lyle and Cox had been led out of the building as the troop set to make its way down to SL-27, had entered the Centre.
Lyle had shot her an icy glance and stopped. “You,” he had growled.
She had stepped up to him, invading his personal space. “Yes, me,” she had replied icily. “I’ve told you once that you should never underestimate me. And now you made the colossal mistake by taking Jay from us. You gave us no other choice.”
“Where is he?” Lyle had asked, looking around.
“With Jay,” she had replied, throwing him another glare, and then stepped out of Lyle’s way as they lead him out of the building towards the police cars. She had made her way down to SL-27 together with the agents and paramedics, to find Jay in worse shape than she had anticipated.
“Ma’am,” an FBI agent stepped up to her, drawing her out of the memory.
She turned and looked at the young man. “Agent Fitzgerald,” she answered tiredly, brushing a hand through her hair.
“Let me drive you over to the hospital,” he half suggested, half stated.
She was suspicious for an instant but then nodded. “Thank you,” she replied, gratefully.
When they were in the vehicle, following the ambulance, she looked over at him. “Does agent Malone know where you are?”
“Yes, he knows. I informed him before I came to you,” Martin nodded and smiled warmly at her.
“You won’t get any questions answered at the moment; not from me, not from Jarod and certainly not from Jay,” she looked at him suspiciously again.
“That’s not important at the moment,” he shook his head without turning towards her.
She observed him for some time but only saw fatigue, shock and disbelief. “You didn’t know what you were walking into when you came into the cell on SL-27 did you?” she asked.
“No,” he admitted, one hand leaving the steering wheel and brushing it through his hair. “But would you have been prepared for that had you been in my place?” he shot her a look.
Parker turned away from him for a second, contemplating his question. “No, I wouldn’t have. I knew what would await us and I was shocked how bad it was,” she mumbled. “And it wasn’t as if I hadn’t seen it before.”
“You have?” he asked, looking over at her once more.
A sad smile lingered on her face for a second when she met his gaze. “I sort of grew up in that place,” she shrugged. “Yes, I’ve seen it before. I saw some of what happened to Jarod but then I only saw tapes and not the reality… and the films were bad enough.”
Agent Fitzgerald nodded thoughtfully. “I can imagine. I’m glad that you decided to get the agency on the case,” he admitted after a few minutes pause.
The rest of the ride was made in silence.
~~~~~~~~
Sometime during the examinations Jay had started to come round. He had slipped in and out of consciousness from then on, sometimes seemingly clear and aware of his surroundings, but other times extremely disoriented and hallucinating. He had kept fighting and thrashing on those occasions forcing the doctors to strap him to the bed in order to not hurt himself or anyone else.
Time and time again, Jarod and Parker had tried to break through the boy’s panic, but Jay was still too deeply immersed in the effects of the drugs that were floating in his system.
The physicians had decided against giving the boy any more sedatives for the fear they could react with the drugs he had been given in the Centre.
Jay would have to ride it out - something that nearly broke Jarod’s and Parker’s heart. Seeing the boy so obviously in distress and panic, not recognizing his surroundings, and completely out of touch with reality, was horrible for them.
Sometimes when he woke up his eyes seemed to focus, but he didn’t speak or acknowledge Jarod or Parker’s presence.
Parker sat next to Jarod in the small hospital room where Jay lay in the semi-darkness. After the examinations the hospital staff had wheeled Jay into the room. A nurse came to check on his state every fifteen minutes, giving the parents a sympathetic glance every time she entered the room.
The examinations had taken a while but they hadn’t brought up any new shocking revelations about Jay’s state. The wounds had been treated, some of them stitched up, others merely disinfected and wrapped up again.
The night wore on, sometimes an eerie silence filling the room, merely interrupted by the beeps of the machines Jay had been hooked to in order to monitor his vitals. At other times the silence was broken with the echoing of frightened screams.
Parker let her gaze sweep over the boy’s battered body once more. The damage that had been inflicted from down the waist wasn’t visible - covered by a blanket - but his torso was bare. It seemed as if most of it was covered in bandages and plaster, and what wasn’t, was decorated with antiseptic ointment, stitches or multi-coloured bruises.
Jay’s eyes were sunken into his skull now that he was sleeping. Tubes were running into his body, providing him with fluids and medication.
The arms were strapped to the bed at the wrists and Parker knew that his ankles were equally secured even if it wasn’t visible due to the blanket.
She felt herself tremble and tore her gaze away from the boy, looking over at Jarod instead.
He sat in his chair, one hand resting in his lap and the other on Jay’s arm, running up and down lightly in an unconscious motion. He looked worn out and broken, shoulders slumped and eyes hollow.
“Hey, why don’t you get yourself some coffee?” she turned to him, gently taking the hand that was lying in his lap in her own.
“No, I need to stay here,” he replied automatically, without looking up from his younger self.
“I’m here. He’s not alone. Jarod, you look like hell. Go get yourself some coffee.”
“No, I can’t leave him now.”
“Jarod, you and I both know that he will need you soon. He’ll need you very badly and it won’t help him if you are too tired to be there for him and provide him with the attention, reassurance and help he needs. You are his security, Jarod. You always were and you’ll always be. You can’t help him if you are too drained out to keep yourself upright.”
He nodded slowly. “Maybe I can get the bed over there,” he stated, half turning in his seat to indicate the hospital bed that stood in the corner of the room.
“I’ll ask the nurse when she comes the next time. In the meantime, at least eat something.”
He nodded tiredly. “But you’ll stay with him?”
“Of course.”
“Ok,” he finally relented and got up from his seat tiredly.
Parker scooted closer to the bed and reached for the arm Jarod had caressed before. She gently drew her hand up and down Jay’s arm, repeating the motion over and over like Jarod had done before.
~~~~~~~
Night slowly turned into morning. Jarod had indeed got the spare bed and he was able to grab some sleep. Yet he was out of the bed whenever the boy woke up screaming, fighting imaginary monsters.
It was tiring and horrible for both Parker and Jarod. They couldn’t do anything. Over the course of both their lives, they had always been on the fighting-side, always acting and reacting, but now they were forced to watch their son fighting invisible demons and they couldn’t help one little bit. They could only sit by and try to reassure the boy, not even sure if he realized that they were there at all.
“Parker, you should get some sleep as well,” Jarod whispered when Jay had quieted down once more after an attack.
She looked up at him. “You’ll need it more than me once he’s lucid.”
“Maybe, but I got some rest. I’m fine now.”
“You’re far from being fine,” she shook her head, seeing the deep lines in his face and the tiredness in his eyes.
He sighed. “True, but sleep won’t help,” he said, looking at Jay with sad eyes. “You didn’t sleep the last few hours as well. Now it’s your turn.”
She nodded slowly. “Ok, maybe you’re right.”
~~~~~~~
It took another four hours for Jay to wake up. By then it was bright day; about fifteen hours after they had rescued Jay from the Centre.
Jarod was still watching over Jay. Everything had been fairly silent for the last two hours. The panic attacks and Jay’s waking, screaming, and fighting against something that only he could see had lessened gradually.
The boy let out a low moan, something that got Jarod’s attention. His eyes instantly flew over to Jay’s face. Sure enough, the boy’s eyelids started fluttering. It took him some time to work up the strength to pry them open. Once open Jay slowly let his gaze wander around the room.
It was when he tried to move his arms and found them tied down his heart rate speed up. The beeping of the monitor becoming more erratic, and his moves became more frantic.
Jarod instantly scooted closer and intensified his gentle grip on Jay’s arm.
Jay’s head spun around towards the person he hadn’t realized was there before.
“Hush, it’s ok,” Jarod mumbled the words he had spoken more often in the last hours than he had ever wanted to utter them.
When Jay’s gaze cleared again after the rapid movement of his head, his features relaxed once recognition hit. He started crying softly.
“Hey, it’s ok. I’m here. You’re safe now,” Jarod whispered once more and slowly got up from his seat. He sat down on the bed next to Jay, to be closer to him. He pressed the call button. Gently caressing Jay’s face, wiping the tears away without hurting him, he kept on whispering soothing words.
Despite the restraints, Jay tried time and time again to lift his hands from the bed to grab Jarod’s hand.
Jarod gently put his hand on Jay’s after one of the futile attempts. “It’s ok.”
“Why am I tied?” Jay choked out through his tears.
“Shhh, we had to keep you from moving around too much so that you wouldn’t hurt yourself,” Jarod replied softly, already starting to unbuckle the straps.
The door opened and the nurse came in, making Jay flinch and Jarod look up.
“He’s awake,” Jarod announced softly and then instantly turned back to Jay. “It’s ok. They won’t hurt you. You’re safe.” He kept on reassuring Jay for several more minutes.
“Where--” Jay started, but was interrupted by the door opening again, this time revealing the doctor.
Jay’s eyes darted over to the door and Jarod quickly ordered the doctor to stay where he was with a gesture of his hand.
“Hey, my boy, look at me,” Jarod gently ordered and Jay’s eyes came back to him. “You’re in a hospital. No one here is trying to hurt you, ok?”
Jay nodded uncertainly.
“I promise,” Jarod looked deep into the boy’s eyes and then motioned for the doctor to come over to the bed.
“Hello there,” Dr. Sanders said, keeping his voice down so as not to startle his young patient any further. Nervousness and fear radiated from the boy in waves and the physician kept a small distance away, giving his patient some space.
Jay eyed him warily. He would have long since tried to get away from the man if his father hadn’t been next to him.
The doctor smiled gently. “My name is Brian. Can you tell me yours?”
Jay’s eyes flickered over to Jarod who nodded encouragingly. “Jay,” he said slowly.
“Hello Jay,” the doc smiled but didn’t try to move closer to the boy. “Jay, can you tell me if you’re in pain right now?”
Jay looked at the man closely, suspicious still but relaxing slightly. The man hadn’t tried to get any closer to him. He shook his head slowly.
“Was that a ‘you can’t tell me’ or a ‘you’re in no pain’?” Sanders smiled at the teen, trying to get him to relax. The doctor still kept a close eye on the patient, paying attention to the signs he sent out. The boy was slowly relaxing but the physician knew that moving towards him now would destroy what little amount of trust he had managed to establish.
“No pain,” Jay shook his head slowly and wished he hadn’t.
“But a headache?” Brian asked, seeing Jay wince at the slight movement.
“Hmm.”
“Do you want something for it?”
“No,” Jay replied quickly.
The doctor barely kept his eyes from narrowing in confusion at the answer, knowing that the suspicious boy might misinterpret the gesture as anger. “Ok,” he barely replied.
Jay’s eyes darted over to Jarod. “I want to go home,” he mumbled.
“I know,” Jarod replied and gently stroked Jay’s head.
“I’m sure that you want to go home as soon as you can, Jay. I can’t promise you it’ll be possible right now but I’d like to get a closer look at you so I can assess your state and maybe already give you an idea when it’ll be possible for you to leave here,” Dr. Sanders said softly.
Jay briefly closed his eyes, swallowing the disappointment that he wouldn’t get out of the hospital soon. He was still disoriented and everything was fuzzy. He didn’t know his surroundings and he didn’t feel safe. When he opened his eyes again, the doctor hadn’t moved an inch. He was still watching him. “Ok,” Jay whispered.
“Do you think it would be ok if I came over to you so that I might examine you more closely?”
“Ok.”
Brian smiled and slowly stepped closer to the bed. He walked up and came to stand next to Jarod.
“Do you think I could take your father’s seat for a few minutes?”
Jay nodded insecurely. “But he’ll stay?” he asked fearfully.
“Of course,” Dr. Sanders nodded instantly.
Jay watched his face for signs of ingenuity but found none. “Ok,” he finally said.
Jarod slowly got up from his position on the bed and made room for the physician. He stepped closer to Jay’s head instead, knowing that Jay would want to have him close and where he could see him.
Jay relaxed slightly during the examination when he felt Dr. Sanders was no threat to him.
After doing some more tests, Brian smiled widely. “Well, Jay. That’s all for now. Thank you for letting me examine you.”
Jay’s lips turned into a hesitant smile.
“Jarod, maybe we could go out for a few minutes and talk about the results I already got back?” Brian asked.
Jay tensed instantly at hearing that he would be left alone. “No, don’t leave,” he whispered pleadingly and looked up at Jarod.
“Maybe the lady over there might want keep an eye on you for the time Jarod and I are outside,” Brian suggested, looking over to the spare bed where Parker sat.
Parker got up from her seated position on the bed that stood in the dark corner of the room. She had awoken shortly after the doctor had come into the room but she had stayed where she was, not wanting to frighten Jay with movements he could barely see out of the corner of his eye, and giving the physician the possibility to examine him without three people standing around. She had wanted to get closer to the boy she viewed as a son, but had restrained herself. Parker hadn’t known that the doctor had been aware of her being awake. She knew Jarod had been for their gazes had met briefly. She slowly moved closer to the bed.
Jay’s eyes flew over to her when Brian turned slightly into her direction. “Mom.”
“Hey Jay,” she smiled and sat down on the spot that the doctor had vacated just before.
“Mom,” Jay whispered again and a tear escaped him.
“Shhh, I’m here,” she bent down and kissed his forehead.
“Jay, if you need anything; pain medication or something, just tell your parents and they’ll call me, ok? In the meantime, I want you to get some rest,” Dr. Sanders ordered gently waiting for Jay to nod before turning to Jarod and motioning for him to follow him outside.
To be continued…
Wow people, you can’t complain about the length of this chapter! But I’m sure, you would have wanted it even longer, right? Anyway, the next chapter will be up soon. Please send me a review.
