Serendipity By Rocky

CHAPTER 17

Carson slowly crawled up to consciousness and vaguely became aware of the smells and sounds around him. A quiet rhythmic beep came from up and to the left of his head, and the industrial sterility of chlorine and ammonia filled the air. The pain was gone like a bad dream, and in its place was a bone deep weariness that pushed him heavily into the hard, thin mattress of the hospital bed. He stuck out his tongue to taste the air in the room and then ran it over the teeth in his arid mouth. "Water." He begged--his voice thin and raspy.

When a straw touched his lips, Carson finally found the strength to open his eyes. A woman in a pale, pastel yellow overall bent over the edge of the bed, holding the cup at his lips in place. Drawing in a mouthful of water, he grimaced in pain when he tried to swallow.

"You had a tube down your throat for a while Mr. Stafford, it will be hard to swallow for a couple of days." The nurse explained.

"Where?"

"You are in the Cardiac Care Unit of Our Lady of Sorrows, Mr. Stafford; you had a heart attack."

Slowly it trickled back to him, the argument with that insufferable lawyer, the pain crushing his chest, then a vague series of disjointed feelings and sounds, and for some reason, that Winters woman's voice. The labor of waking, drinking, and discovery caught up with him and exhaustion pulled him back into sleep.

Hours passed before, finally, the doctor arrived at the door to the family room. He surveyed the women in the room and asked, "Which of you is Mrs. Stafford?"

"I am…" Trudy and Eleanor spoke at the same time.

Taking pity on the confused doctor, Amy spoke up. "It's complicated. How is my father?"

"He's resting as comfortably as possible. You can go in to see him for a few minutes, but no more than two of you at a time."

"Amy, why don't you take Mom, and I'll go with Trudy."

Speechless with surprise for a few seconds, Amy managed to focus on her sister, "Are you sure?" Seeing Sherri nod, she gently shook her sleeping companion until she woke up. "Baby," she whispered to Rory as the tall woman slowly came back to the real world with a yawn and a stretch. "I'm taking Mom to see Dad, I'll be back in a few minutes."

"Okay." Rory ran one hand into her hair and scratched her scalp. Yawning, she asked, "What time is it?"

"Nearly six." Amy answered, glancing up at the clock as she stood up. "Once we all get back, we'll go for something to eat." Stooping back down for a second she gave her lover a quick peck on the lips.

"Must you do that here?" Eleanor whined from the other side of the room.

Amy gave her lover a little apologetic look before hardening her face and turning to her mother. "Come on Mother, let's go."

When the door closed behind them, the silence in the family room was an uncomfortable one. Sherri watched with detached interest as Trudy ran her fingers over the hair of her sleeping little brother. 'My little brother.' The thought gave her a surprisingly warm feeling. She ran the thought around in her heart and found that she liked it there, in spite of the fact that he had a stranger for a mother, or that he was young enough to be her son. She smiled. "When is his birthday?" The words seemed to come from somewhere else--someone else's voice coming from her lips.

"March third, …why?" Trudy answered hesitantly.

"I want to know when to give him a present."

"You don't have to do…"

Sherri shook her head. "No, you don't understand, I want to." She moved off of the couch to kneel in front of Trudy and brush a lock of the dark curling hair away from the little boy's face. "Out of all this craziness, I think the one really neat thing is finding out I have a little brother. I want to get to know him and be a part of his life." She looked up at the other woman. "That is… if it's okay with you."

Rory sat quietly on the far side of the room watching the small drama take place. Her evaluation of Amy's younger sister went soared. Instead of Eleanor's shrewish little puppet, she now saw the gentle compassionate young woman that her lover had described. She pushed up to her feet and grabbed the crutches from where they leaned against the wall, "I'm going to step outside for a cigarette, if Amy comes back before I do, tell her I'll only be a couple minutes." She hobbled out and shut the door softly behind her.

Robert steered the rental into a convenient parking spot. He had been driving around the industrial subdivision for the better part of an hour looking for the address he had found in the yellow pages. All of the low, flat, two story, gray cinder block, type warehouses looked like they had been cut from the same mold, and as a consequence finding a single business amid the blocks and blocks of look-a-like doors was like finding a needle in a haystack.

Pulling open the generic aluminum and glass door, He heard a quiet bell tone of a door alarm, obviously letting who ever was there know that some one had entered the building. Walking across the small foyer, Robert leaned on the counter under a large sliding window, waiting to see if someone would respond to the signal from the door. He didn't have to wait long; a tiny older woman with Egyptian henna hair peeked up over the counter, scaring him half to death.

"Who're you?" She demanded through thick horn-rimmed glasses, which made her light blue eyes look like they took up her entire face.

Robert was sure that he had just screamed like a little girl and jumped three feet in the air. He blinked several times and reached up to loosen his tie. "A-a-ah… Yes. Ahem! Excuse me… I'm Robert Grayson, and I'm looking for a Mr. Hodgekiss?"

The magnified blue eyes looked him up and down. The little woman leaned back and screeched. "George! Where's Murray? There's some guy named Grayson here to see him."

George came in from a door behind her, wiping his hands on a greasy cloth. "He's not back from the hospital yet." The tall man crossed over to the window. He held one recently cleaned hand out through the window. "Hi, I'm George Riley, Mr. Hodgekiss' associate. Is there something I can do to help you?"

Shaking the man's hand, Robert smiled, immediately liking his warm and friendly manner. "Well Mr. Riley…"

"George."

"Alright, George then. …Um, I'm hoping that Mr. Hodgekiss can help me get in contact with Rochelle Winters."

A slow smile spread across the tall man's features as he realized who the young man was. He grinned down at the nest of orange hair of the older woman at his elbow. "Stella, this is the guy that hacked into your computer and copied your files."

Stella cackled with glee, and came scurrying around through the connecting door to grab Robert's hand and pump it up and down. "That was the most fun I've had in years!" she told him excitedly. "I still haven't figured out that last sequence that you used. You have to show me what you did."

"Um… sure, but I really have to get in contact with Mrs. Winters…"

Stella didn't even let the poor man finish and she was pulling him through the door and into the offices. "George, find Murray and tell him who's here and why. We'll be in my cubby."

Robert wasn't certain why but he allowed the small woman who barely came up to his elbow, lead him into a large workroom filled with the most mismatched collection of computer hardware he'd ever seen. At the back were shelves and shelves of random electronics, all in various stages of strip down, obviously scavenged for parts.

Then, on a combination of low tables and desks, was the Frankenstein of all systems. Computers that were never meant to be used in tandem, sat wired together. It was amazing. Robert had to rub his eyes and look again. 'My god!' He thought looking at one portion of the monstrosity, ' she's wired an Atari into an Apple IIe!'

In the center of a glowing stack of monitors was a thirty-two inch television, or rather what was left of one after all the casing had been stripped away. Stella hopped up onto a high rolling chair and gestured to another one slightly behind her. "Sit." she said, before banging away at a keyboard that looked like it was the bastard child of a C-64 and a cash register. The big screen lit up like the Vegas strip at midnight.

"How do you get that kind of resolution from a big screen like that?" Robert asked in fascination as he pulled up the offered chair.

He was gone. Pulled into never-never land by a redheaded sprite named "Stella".

They were still there an hour later talking excitedly and pointing to things on the big screen when Murray arrived back at the office. He and George stood in the doorway for a few moments watching and listening to the incomprehensible babble coming from the two new friends. "So that's the whiz kid that Stella's so excited about, huh?" He said in a hushed voice over his shoulder.

"Yup, he came in here looking for you. He says he needs to get a hold of Rory Winters."

"Did he say why?"

"He never got the chance, Stella dragged him back to her lair and the two of them have been bosom buddies ever since. I don't think the kid has thought about why he's here since he saw her system." George replied with a chuckle.

Murray shook his head and waved for George to follow him back into the other office. "I'll get a hold of Rory and check if she wants to see this kid and you keep an eye on him, although I doubt that either one of them are going to come up for air any time soon." He winked and sat down to use the phone.

The high heels on Eleanor's suede shoes, clicked loudly against the hard, shiny, industrial tile. It was all Amy could do to keep up with her as they rounded the corner to Carson's room. "Amanda, could you wait out here and give me a moment alone with your father?"

Amy bit back a snide comment about her true parentage and simply dropped into a chair in the hall outside the glassed-in CCU room. The curtains were partially drawn and from where she sat she couldn't see in. She was startled from her distracted study of the fingernails on her left hand by a high piercing shriek coming from her father's room.

"You bastard! You bastard!" Eleanor screamed, as Amy came flying into the room to find her straddling the ailing Stafford and pummeling him with meaty open-handed slaps. Amy leaped for the bed and pulled her thrashing mother off. They fell with a crash to the floor just as a nurse and an orderly burst into the room.

The orderly helped the young woman to restrain her mother and the nurse dashed to the aid of a moaning Carson. The machine, which up until a few moments ago had been making a quiet rhythmic tone, had now changed to something that more resembled the percussion for a Beer-barrel Polka band. For several tense seconds the nurse adjusted the wires and tubes and the beeping slowed once more to a routine pulsing beat.

Who ever said 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned' had to have been thinking of Eleanor Stafford. It took another orderly, a security guard and shot of Valium to subdue the fiery redhead. It was nearly an hour later when Amy finally made it back to the family room. She looked like been rolling around in a cement mixer. One sleeve of her shirt was nearly torn off and she had a fat lip, this combined with her previous black eye gave her the appearance of a back street tough from the wrong side of the tracks.

"Good Lord, Honey! What on earth happened to you?" Rory asked as she bounced from her seat on the couch and hopped over on one leg.

"Um…" Amy ran a shaky hand through her hair and sighed. "When we got to Dad's room Mom went psycho and started hitting Dad. I pulled her off."

Trudy gasped. "Is Carson okay? Can I see him?"

"Yeah, the doctor says that there was no further damage to his heart, but Mom did break his nose."

"So 'where' is Mom anyway?" Sherri asked from her seat on the other side of the room.

Amy sighed again. "She's in the Psych Unit, security is holding her there for evaluation. It was a choice of either letting the hospital admit her for observation, or letting them press charges. They frown on people attacking the patients in the CCU."

"I have to see him." Trudy announced and bent to gather Josh who was playing on the floor by her chair with two small toy cars.

Sherri spoke up. "Trudy, leave him with us. He'll be okay, I promise."

"Don't you want to see your father?"

Shaking her head, Sherri smiled at Josh's mother. "I'm not sure I wouldn't like to take at a poke at him too." Her smile turned subtly into a sheepish grin. "Go ahead, Josh is safe with me."

Trudy merely nodded and hurried out the door. Surprisingly Josh didn't make a fuss, he watched his mother leave and returned to playing on the floor.

Rory and Amy settled back down in their original positions on the sofa. The tall woman reached out and ran a gentle thumb over Amy's purpling lower lip. "No fair, " she whispered, "It was my turn in the 'booboo' lottery. …That looks sore."

"Mom got in a lucky shot. It's not as bad as it looks."

"Well it looks like hell"

Amy laughed. "I got off lucky. She bit a security guard on the hand and she kneed one of the orderlies in the nuts. I didn't know men could scream that high."

"Your Mom fights dirty?" Rory asked wryly and then chuckled, "Why am I not surprised?"

Hearing the conversation from the other side of the room, Sherri started to snigger, then to giggle. Soon she collapsed on the sofa in a fit of laughter. Finally she calmed down long enough to catch her breath. "How did Mom get her knee up high enough? What did she do? …Pole vault?" She wiped her eyes with a tissue and began laughing once more. Soon all three of the women were helpless with laughter. Josh ran his cars back and forth across the pattern on the floor, thinking sagely to himself that all big people were crazy.

The phone on the table rang and the Exec picked it up trying desperately to capture a sober demeanor. "Hello?"

"Mrs. Winters?"

"Yes?" Rory answered, trying to place the familiar voice.

"It's Murray Hodgekiss."

Rory's grin faded. "What can I do for you Murray?"

"I'm sorry to bother you but something, or rather someone, has cropped up. Robert Grayson is here in my office looking for you. I didn't want to tell him anything until I'd had a chance to talk to you."

"Did he say why he's looking for me?"

"No, actually I haven't even talked to him yet, all he told George was that he was looking for you."

Rory had to give Robert credit, even though she hadn't told anyone where she was, Harland's young PA had put two and two together and was now only a few miles away. It had to be important if he had come looking for her on a guess, albeit an educated guess. She put her hand over the receiver and turned to Amy. "Wanna get out of here for a little while?"

The blonde woman gave her a puzzled look. "Sure… Why?"

"I need to go to Murray Hodgekiss' office, Robert has shown up on his doorstep."

Amy wrinkled up her nose in confusion; Rory simply raised one brow and shrugged. It was funny; they had been a couple for little more than a week and they were already communicating in body language semaphore. Taking her hand from the mouthpiece, Rory told the private investigator that they would be there inside the hour and hung up.

The lines of code were scrolling down the screen with the jerky precision of a drill team. Robert was enthralled. "Stop!" He leaned into the desk and pointed to one particular line on the screen. "There. See it?"

Stella's fingers flew over the outlandish keyboard, amending the line of code. She saved the program and then set up to run it. Her finger hovered over the final key for a second. "Here goes nothing!" She held her breath and stabbed the button. The screen went black for a few seconds and then slowly lightened to show the Gill Bates Software logo.

The young man whooped, pulling Stella from her chair and they did a little dance around the room. "You did it!" Robert announced and held out his hand for the elderly hacker to give him a low five. "I have dreamed of doing this since I was a kid!"

Sitting back in front of the console, Stella grinned and cracked her knuckles. "Let's hang a tag and get the hell out, before somebody notices their back door is open." The clicking keys were interrupted by the sound of a clearing throat.

"Gran, I hope you're not using that thing to do something illegal?" Murray asked from the doorway.

Big blue eyes rolled behind the thick lenses. "Now would I do anything illegal?" The sound of keys resumed and the logo faded from the big screen. Stella turned and smiled warmly at her grandson. "…'Sides it's only illegal if you get caught, right Robert?" She winked at the young man seated beside her. "I'll bet you've found Ms. Winters."

Murray chuckled, "You got that thing set to read minds now too?"

"Nah, that's just the only reason why you'd be interrupting me and my new playmate here."

Murray crossed into the room holding out a hand. "Hello Robert, I'm Murray, I see you've met your arch nemesis and my grandmother. She hasn't been leading you over to the dark side of the force, has she?"

The young PA could only laugh and shake the man's hand. "Stella is a very special lady, I've enjoyed our time together very much. …Have you been able to contact Mrs. Winters, I really do need to speak with her."

"I spoke to her a few minutes ago and she said…" The door chime rang in the background. "…I guess that would be her now."

The three of them trooped out to the main office to find Rory and Amy chatting quietly with George. Robert suddenly felt embarrassed like a little boy caught in the arcade when he should be in school. "I'm really sorry about this Rory, but Harland said that if I didn't bring you back then not to bother coming back myself."

Rory looked at the young man who rubbed unconsciously at the back of his neck and tried to escape her gaze. "Robert, why didn't you just call me? And what could be so important that you came all the way out here and you weren't even sure this is where I'd be?" Murray had rolled one of the old wooden office chairs behind her and she sank gratefully into it and waited for Robert to answer.

He didn't know which question to answer first and decided to work backwards. "Harland thinks that you are being courted by State Unity Banks." He waited a beat.

The tall exec looked up from her chair like he had just sprouted a third eye in the middle of his forehead. "He what?!"

"Um… well, he sort of thinks that, that is why you were being investigated."

Rory closed her eyes and shook her head. "Let me guess, he added two and two and got five."

"That's about the size of it."

"You couldn't tell me this over the phone?"

"Your cell has been ringing out of service and when I couldn't tell Harland where you were… well you know the rest."

Amy started to chuckle from where she stood behind her lover. "I'm sorry Baby… I turned your cell off when we got to the hospital. They had signs up all over the place about how it screws up the monitors and stuff."

Robert frowned. "Hospital? Are you okay?"

Both of the women chuckled ironically, and Amy answered, "We're fine, my Father had a heart attack. We just came from the CCU where he's resting comfortably."

Rory turned to the odd trio that had moved to the other side of the room. "Thank you Murray, George and…" she smiled at the tiny little elderly woman. "I don't believe we been introduced."

Stella stepped forward and accepted the tall woman's large hand in her two smaller ones. "I'm Stella, Murray's Gran, and Girl Friday." She said with a smile, her blue eyes twinkling behind her glasses. "When that useless idiot Murray hired to snoop on you in your office came up empty, he had me go after you on the computer."

"Ohh…" Realization moved over Rory's features. "Pleased to meet you Stella." She grinned over at Robert. "So this is who you've been chasing all week." She turned back to Stella. "Thank you for keeping an eye on him." She gave Stella's hands a small squeeze and then reached for her crutches. "Come on Robert, you can follow us back to the house for a bite to eat and you can explain what kind of a dither that my bone-headed ex has gotten himself into about this whole thing."

(c) 2001 S. Day

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