Part 9 -

"Excuse me," I leaned on the intensive care unit counter.

"Can I help you?" A nurse moved to sit behind the computer. Her dark hair was held back so tightly that I wondered if she got many headaches.

I smiled tightly at the woman as I leaned back up from the counter. "I was told by the people at post-op that Alexandria Webb has been moved up here?" I hooked my hands over the far edge of the counter and stretched my back.

"Are you a relative?" The keys rattled as she looked for her in the database.

"Partner," I nodded in the affirmative.

A puzzled look crossed her features and her fingers stopped. Hands hovering over the keyboard, she turned her face toward me. "Business partner?"

I smiled a full smile at the common misunderstanding. "Life partner."

Her hands dropped to the wrist rest below the keyboard. "You're not a relative?"

"Not by blood, no." Now I was the puzzled party.

"Then I'm sorry Miss. I can't divulge any information to you." She stared at me for half a second before swivelling in her chair and walking smartly away.

I must have stayed standing with my mouth open in utter disbelief. A chuckle at my side alerted me to the arrival of Mara and Ellen. They had waited in the lobby for the elevator instead of taking the stairs.

"So, where is she goldfish?"

"I…" Mara looked at me quizzically as I tried to sort through what had just happened. "I don't know."

"Did you ask someone?" She looked at me with real concern.

My jaw clenched and I looked away as I focused on one statement. "I'm not family." I ground out slowly.

"We'll see about that." Mara physically grew in front of me and I could feel the anger coming off her in waves. Ellen clutched the back of my leg, understanding that her mummy wasn't very happy right then. I almost regretted telling her.

Another nurse wandered out of a room with her head over a clipboard. I saw Mara's back straighten and felt sorry for the lady walking towards us.

"Oh, hello." She took a moment to glance around as though something or someone were missing. "Can I help you?" She smiled pleasantly. I wondered if they taught them all that smile at nursing school.

"We're here to see Alexandria Webb." Each word was clipped. The anger seemed to drip off Mara's tongue and sit in the air.

If this nurse noticed, she hid it well. She was a braver woman than most.

I reached out for Margaret. "It wasn't her." I received an almost imperceptible nod in return.

"Are you all family?" She turned and caught up another clipboard from a stand next to the wall.

"Yes." Mara wasn't going to let this go so I let her take charge.

"Can I ask what relation?" She leaned toward the computer where the last nurse had been.

"Margaret Kingsley, I'm her older sister. This is my daughter Ellen." She stopped and turned to scoop the toddler up.

"And I'm Jordana Michaels, Alex's life partner." Mara waited.

She stopped typing. "Okay then, follow me."

I sighed in relief but Mara seemed ready to challenge her.

As she walked ahead, she talked. "My name is Betty. I'm going to guess you're protective of your sisters Mrs Kingsley, but you have nothing to worry about. This hospital is very understanding, and so am I."

"That's not how it seemed before you turned up." I was glad Mara was doing this part of the conversation. I just wanted to see Alex.

"I see." She stopped outside a white door with a window. "Please come and see me before you leave and we'll talk about that some more. If you need anything while you're visiting, just press the button on the headboard."

As Betty walked away, I opened the door and looked at my love. All the anxiousness that had been brewing in me fell away when I saw her there.

"I could like that nurse," came from outside the room. Mara turned into the doorway and stopped when her eyes focused on Alex. "I almost forgot about all of that," she gestured toward the multitude of tubes and machinery.

Ellen climbed down from her mum's arms.

"I didn't. I dreamed about it all night." A tear escaped and I let it fall.

"Aunty Lexi?" Ellen was at the edge of the bed, trying to see her favourite aunty. She looked and sounded scared.

I kneeled down behind her and hugged her to me, "It's ok honey." Mara walked to the chair at the head of the bed and sat down. She seemed lost and just stared at Alex blankly.

"Come on, I'll show you around." Ellen looked at me peculiarly but took my hand as I stood. "First off, Aunty Lexi got hurt pretty badly because a car hit her. It might take a while for her to get better ok?"

Ellen nodded. I was so scared of doing this wrong but when I looked back at Mara she had focused again and nodded at me to continue.

I walked us to the end of the bed and lifted Ellen onto my hip. I pointed to the stuff around Alex's leg. "This is to help the bones in her leg heal." I put her gently down on the bed next to it. "You can't touch it because it needs to stay clean."

"Who cleans it?" There was so much understanding in this girl. It sometimes seemed like I was talking to a four year old adult.

"The nice nurse who walked us here." Pointing back to Alex's leg, "That will take a long time to heal and she won't be able to walk until it's better. When it's better, you might have to help us teach her to walk again because it'll be very weak."

"What's that?" Ellen pointed to the machine on the other side of the bed. The screen changed constantly and wires seemed to come out of it everywhere. She started to manoeuvre herself gently toward this new toy.

"That tells the nurses how fast her heart is beating. It lets them know if the blood is going everywhere it should and tells them if she's breathing enough."

"Oh." She stared at the machine for a while and reached out to trace the line on the screen. "What's that?"

"That's Aunty Lexi's heartbeat, see?" I picked Ellen up and positioned her higher on the bed before placing her hand over Alex's heart. "Just be careful where you sit. Her arm is hurt like her leg, ok?"

She nodded but I kept my hands on her because she was completely engrossed in matching the on-screen pattern to Alex's heartbeat. Mara smiled at her baby but stayed quiet.

"Since that one looks after her heart, this one looks after her head." I steered Ellen toward the tubes on the machine closest to Alex's head.

"She hurt her face," Ellen stroked gently across the bandages.

"Yeah, Ella-Bella. She had to get that fixed too."

"Watch out sweetie," Mara leaned forward to catch Ellen's hands. The youngster looked up with wide eyes. "You need to be very, very gentle, okay?"

"Gentle."

"That's right, Ellie." Mara moved the chair she was sitting in closer to the bed. "How about you sit on mummy's lap and watch Aunty Lexi sleep?"

"Okay," Ellen turned out of my grip and fell into Mara's lap. She climbed up and kissed her mum's cheek as I collected a chair from near the door.

I parked the chair beside Mara and Ellen, and within reach of Alex. I tucked my left hand inside Alex's and took comfort from the warmth there. While I stroked my thumb over the back of Alex's hand, I felt Ellen start to play with the fingers of my right hand.

I leaned my head on Mara's shoulder to settle in.

The machines around us hissed and beeped at their silent watchers.


To Be Continued...