48 hours after returning home, she stood in the Maverick police department next to James 'Jimmy' Darth, lawyer extraordinaire. He looked like a little troll, wispy, black hair going in several directions and beady brown eyes. His short stature was amusing, especially with his rotund belly, though he looked professional in his black suit and tie. Julia was nervous about trusting little Jimmy Darth, but Chess trusted him. He was Chess's lawyer.
But James 'Jimmy' Darth made her business his business and they sought him out specifically for advice on how to proceed. She wanted to walk in to Maverick PD, explain the situation and Jimmy advised against that till he heard the facts of the case and then spoke with her personally. The whole case hinted at shady and convoluted, especially after the justice she had carried out on the white male in her hallway, she disappeared similar to the intruder. He had disappeared like Houdini post mortem and no one had located him or determined his true identity.
Chess gave him a brief rundown of her case and then he requested the presence of all four of the individuals involved in his office. The day after they'd made their way home from Oakland, Maryland, the four gathered after business hours and sat with Jimmy. The fact there was an individual in front of him that had no identification and used Ray Morgan as an identity was troubling. Jody's involvement complicated matters and Julia felt strongly that he should be left out of it if possible. The police were unaware of Jody's presence and he was not counted as a missing person, because no one knew he was missing to begin with.
The four arrived and handed over statements with Jody in tow. He and Julia explained the entire ordeal once they arrived and awoke infected in Oakland, Maryland to the time they left. They omitted their conditions and they omitted specific details. Conspiracy, explosions, a zombie training town 4 hours away in small town Maryland. Jimmy was fit to be tied and had no precedent to go on. If Julia spoke the truth, they'd think her crazy.
"They already think I am crazy." Julia remarked and admittedly so, she had a history of mental illness and drug dependency.
"This is the way it'll go down. Little information, base it on the truth. Once detectives dig a bit, they'll be cut off at the pass." Jimmy advised her that he would meet her at the Maverick Police Station at 10am the next day and that she should arrive looking as battered as she arrived to his office.
"Battered." Julia repeated, giving herself a once over. She had her lumps and bruises. She had her composure though because days with lumps and bruises and scratches and scars were a regular damn day when combatting the dead.
Jimmy Darth tucked their statements in the file that he'd made specifically for this case and he bid them all farewell.
Very simple and lacking great detail, their statements were handed over to the local police department. The four who were at the home that day in question were advised to write simple yet coherent statements. Julia's was the longest and most detailed. It was concise and bare boned statement. She had a tendency to ramble, so the lawyer said keep it simple. Keep to the facts, don't speculate and that was what she did. She didn't feel as though it gave a very clear picture of what happened. The should haves and could haves were out the window. "You did what you did. It was justified. It's already been determined as justified, Mrs. Keller." The lawyer told her as she sat nervously in the police department's chairs. Waiting. She had been questioned by detectives before. She knew they only wanted facts and answers as well as anyone else.
The detective moved them both from the chairs to an interview room. She looked tired and she looked abused. The lawyer said to look as victimized as possible. "I am the victim here, Jimmy." She insisted. James Darth, her attorney, eyed her quietly. She insisted on calling him Jimmy.
They settled into seats, Jimmy Darth at her side and the detective seemed put off by this entire case. A dead body, a definite home invasion case, a justified shooting by a kid who knew very well how to aim and fire a glock, shooting to kill. She hadn't been as scared as she made herself out to be. She owned several weapons and knew exactly how to use them, staying calm in the midst of chaos.
"This doesn't explain where you've been since the shooting, Mrs Keller." The detective said, holding onto his cup of coffee as he sat across from Julia and the lawyer.
Julia looked to Jimmy who, at this point, was at a loss for words. He was informed of Oakland, Maryland and the events that unfolded from the moment she woke there until Jay and Chess arrived to the small abandoned town. The real story unfolded after she was abducted. The real story involved someone who had no statement and no verifiable identity. The lot of them, Jody, Jayson, Julia and Chess, all sat at Jimmy's office the day before and he was bound by law not to repeat any of it. He didn't see the point to repeating any of it either. No one would believe it. No one would...
"I understand that, yes." Julia replied, squirming uncomfortable in her chair. She had visible bruises and lumps on her. She'd been through the modern day apocalypse 4 hours south in Maryland. That and anything else that had transpired was none of his or anyone else's business.
"So, where were ya?"
"Off the record." Jimmy offered after a nudge from Julia.
"Ok, then."
"Oakland, Maryland." Julia responded like the detective had any clue about the place. It didn't appear to ring any bells, she had not said Disney World after all. "It's a matter of national security and when you check, you'll see that."
"Is there a written statement for the-"
"No. I won't write one." She answered. "I was abducted by Homeland Security. The man who was killed in my home was an agent, Special Agent Frances Pierce. His partner, Special Agent Paul Ford, removed me from the home and placed me in Oakland, Maryland." She paused to see if the detective was interested, disinterested or buying any of the story she was selling. "When I was in my room after I killed Agent Pierce, which I wholehartedly admit to, because it was me or him, you know, I was tranquilized and rendered unconscious."
"Tranquilized?" The detective repeated.
"Yes." Julia nodded. "I was also infected with the Z virus. I have been vaccinated. The point to Oakland, Maryland, was to observe how well my vax worked, whether I would then make it out alive."
"Out of Oakland, Maryland alive?"
"Yes." She nodded again. "I spent the good part of a week recovering with little food and water. Plus I have a bum ankle. So..." She paused, thinking of where she should pick up with her details. She wouldn't figure Jody into this ordeal. "I escaped once well enough and I returned home of my own accord."
Julia gave him a quick overview of Oakland, Maryland. It was fenced off, a zombie infested small town, part of a training course for agents and military alike. It was a place to showcase skills and survival capabilities. She volunteered to return with the detective, to Z-Town. "It's completely survivable, Sir."
"You do realize how far fetched this sounds."
"I do." She admitted.
"Let me get this straight-"
"You heard me correctly. There's nothing to get straight." Julia cut him off. "I can honestly say that if I didn't have a fracture and a one year old to deal with, there would have been 2 dead agents in the house that day."
"No doubt. You shot to kill."
"Well, honestly, that is what guns are for. When I aim one, I do not threaten or warn. The way I see it, the choice to die was made when he-" The lawyer placed a hand on her arm to quiet her. She had a habit of getting off on rants, he'd been warned. "Every shot hit chest or head. It was him or me."
He slowly rose from his seat and asked them to wait while he looked into the specific information she provided. Names, locations. It would take all of a few minutes to run the specifics and the coordinates to confirm her story. He stopped by the door and before exiting the small room, he asked, "How did you get out of small town USA?"
"I fought my way out."
"Alone."
"Yes." She replied. "Do you have any idea who I am?" She smiled softly. "When you make your inquiries, ask about Julia Morgan, not Julia Keller. Keller, you'll get no answers." She hadn't made a name for herself yet with the surname Keller and doubted she ever would. Anyone who knew her called her Morgan like a nickname similar to Jody. Keller didn't have a ring to it. Yet.
"Know anyone named Westinghouse, Mrs. Keller?" The detective asked when he returned to the interrogation room.
"What his true rank is, I am not sure, but I call him Commander-General." She answered. She didn't recall giving him commander general's phone number or his name.
"Lieutenant General Ronald Westinghouse speaks highly of you. You're free to go." It became evident that he had called the detective and not the other way around.
"Got your corroboration?" Julia asked, holding onto the lawyer and the table as she got to her feet. Damn ankle was throbbing.
"Off the record." He answered, holding the door open for her and James Darth.
She glanced at Darth and wondered what she even needed him for. To keep her out of the cells or the looney bin. Either way, she was free to go. Darth gave the detective a firm handshake and a business card. If there were more questions or concerns, the detectives were to contact him prior to his client.
Jimmy Darth accompanied her to the lot where Jayson waited by the car for her. They separated with a handshake and he reaffirmed that there was to be no further communication between herself and law enforcement. She was advised to call him first, any time, and he would address any further inquiries with her.
"Ok, so we're good?" Jay asked, giving her an arm. He waited as she got in the car and then closed her door.
"I suppose so, Jay."
"Feel like bar-b-q'ing? Chess wants us to stop by. I think he wants me to move furniture or some shit, like his brother isn't across the street."
"I guess." She replied dully.
They passed a few hours at Jess's house. Chess handed her a new pair of alien nerd glasses and he sent her to hang out with Jess and Tarin. She was going back on sitter duty in the morning. Life was going to get back on track for everyone, but it wasn't really on track for her. She purposefully derailed, forgot what it was like to live normally. She felt so tethered to the family, so purposefully married to it and she didn't need any rings to prove it.
Tavin showed up after work, taking a beer from the fridge and a seat on the patio with her and Tarin. She updated him on the case and her new glasses. Outside of that, she had nothing to say. Jess sat with her feet propped up, swollen ankles and feet. Julia sat with her leg propped up and wrapped.
"Ya alright?"
"My damn foot hurts." She complained. It was that simple. It had been weeks of it and the pain was making her miserable. Tylenol and Motrin didn't touch the pain and she had given up on both of the over the counter analgesics. "I want a script for Percocet or some oxy or something."
"Too late for that." He replied, thinking no one would give her a script this late in the injury.
She opened her phone and she scrolled through her emails. She kept a long list of contacts in that email in case she ever lost the phone. Before she dialed a number, she looked at Jess. "He can get me drugs."
"I don't know." She replied, nonchalantly like she had a clue what Chess was or wasn't into.
She closed the email and set her phone aside. One of them needed to start this bar B Q before long, because she was hungry. She put a hint or two in Jess's ear and they decided together to get everything together and then move it all outside to the table.
"Tav, cook please."
"Me? I'm a guest." He answered, getting up from the seat he'd taken. He started the grill and did as asked.
"Where's Kell?"
"No clue." He answered. She sometimes stayed at home and sometimes she stayed with Jess or Sandy's. Depended on her mood and wherever she went, she kept in mind her babysitter. Jess was a fill in for Julia while she went to school. "I'm gonna sell the house."
"Again, Tav?" She asked.
"We'll talk, and I'm serious this time." He replied. "We'll talk, Julia, ok."
"Yeah, sure. I think it doesn't matter what I think."
"Don't get pissed off. I'm giving you back what you put into it."
"Not mine to give to me. Give it to Chess."
He had already had this discussion with Chess. During the week that they were away and his house was destroyed by MIB, his son placed in danger, he decided he wanted nothing more to do with it. He needed to separate himself and his son away from that madness. He also severed his relationship with Kelly. Julia let him carry on a full conversation with himself in front of the grill, didn't hear five minutes worth of his ranting and most of it was done under his breath.
When Jay and Chess came downstairs, found them on the deck, it didn't look too much different from the usual at home activity. Julia on her phone ignoring Tavin at the grill while he bitched about his life.
"Percs, Chess. Find me some." She demanded as she pointed at her ankle.
"Why me?"
"I need something better than Tylenol."
"I'll get ice, baby." Jay volunteered from the fridge as he got a beer.
"Fuck the ice." She whined. She had tired of ice and over the counter pain management. She was tired of going to the place in her head that remedied the pain. It didn't work for her like it worked for Fry. Fry learned to embrace pain. "I don't wanna do this anymore."
"Wanna get high, Julia?" Jayson asked, rolling his eyes.
"What?" She asked. "I want the pain to go away. I don't-I know I have an addiction, but god damn it, my foot hurts. I don't wanna get wasted, Jayson. I want to feel good."
"I asked if you wanna get high, not wasted." He stated.
"You don't understand me."
"You don't understand me, Jules. I asked if you wanna smoke. I heard you."
"Oh, well sorry then, Jay."
"I been listening to you. I listened to you at the ER and when you were at home before you disappeared and then when you came back home, all the way through a 4 hour drive. If you wanna smoke, then you fucking can. I don't have percs."
"I'm sorry, Jay. I'm hurting."
"Ok, understood."
"What happened to the special part of your brain?" Chess asked curiously.
"I'm not her. I don't hide in there. Besides," She said, getting to her feet. "I don't like it there."
"Why? If it'll help-"
"It doesn't help." She snapped at him.
She felt highly irritable and moody. She spent part of her day explaining herself and her actions to a detective who already had justified the shooting. She had to do it alone, despite the fact that Jimmy sat next to her. She couldn't share Jody's side of the story and he had been victimized as much as she had, if not more, having been purposely infected with a virus that could have and came close to killing him. The crime that Agent Pierce carried out was bad enough and it should have ended there. The crimes that were further dished out to her and the man Agent Ford perceived to be Jayson would never be brought to justice. It wasn't fair. And Jody couldn't complain to anyone other than his family. Legally, neither of them had recourse. Neither had protection from a government that wished to play games.
Tavin opting to sell his home and move and somehow extract himself and his kid from the conspiracy was a delusion. It served to hand over his control and his power to a governing body. She felt angry that he'd made that choice and then she felt horrible that he was faced with that choice. Tavin believed in some way, shape or form that he could self exit this conspiracy. He could not. They could live and deal with it or expose it, but they could not escape it. He was kidding himself.
In her brain, she felt like her usual self. The chemistry that coursed through her and around her, she still separated from. Julia Fry's essence flowed through her blood, hardwired in her nervous system. Even though her soul was silenced, part of her true essence had been left behind. Julia had mentioned to Jay a couple times since the switch that it was like living as a Siamese twin. The other one was always right there with her, every where she turned. Live with it and deal with it, but until Julia herself was gone, Julia Fry still existed to some extent. She had transitioned.
But they didn't get it. Every day was a bad damn day. She hadn't had a good day in years. She had many purposeful days and she had touched lives in both reality and the flipside, but purposeful was much different from happiness. They were not the same achievements. How would she fight to live when she didn't want to live most days? She kept that quiet, between herself and her Siamese twin. She knew she should feel grateful to be alive, to have another chance. But to what end? Change and acceptance were tangible, but always just out of reach. She had no goals, no life, no meaning. She was as empty as she had ever felt. Were they all feeling the same way? Was she the only one who felt void and empty? So, she posed the question to Jay as they sat in the rear of Jess's yard beneath the willow tree, smoking the first joint that she had smoked in months. She hadn't enjoyed weed in a minute, had preferred other more potent recreational drugs and alcohol.
"No, I'm alright." Jay replied, passing her the joint.
"Why do I always feel like this?" She took a drag and filled her lungs with smoke. The thick, unfiltered smoke was heavy in her chest. She held it deep inside and coughed it out. Red eyes, dry mouth, coughing. Percocet didn't have that effect. She floated on oxy's. Pot made her head swim.
Jay could speculate and explain and think about that question she asked, but he doubted she wanted any answer. Pain had a strange effect on her. "Jules, stay off the foot."
"Easy for you to say." She whispered, then took another hit off the joint before passing it to Chess.
He took a hit and then watched the two of them have this strange silent communication. He'd seen this from time to time when Jay would take care of her and his actions spoke louder than words. He was always so soft and gentle with her. So tirelessly nice and sweet with her. Chess knew he wasn't answering that question of hers. He wasn't in the mood to indulge her. Not that he couldn't fathom her pain or understand a good portion of it and from where it stemmed, but there were days he tired of her as much as she tired of herself. His mood wouldn't enlighten her or make her feel any better.
"Well?" She asked, bringing him from his own thoughts and back to reality.
"I'll make a call, get your Percocet." He replied. He'd rather drug her and have her happy than withhold the drugs and have her in unnecessary pain.
"Oh, well, thanks, but-"
"Jesus, did you ask me for them or not? I am not in the mood for your issues, Julia."
"I don't want anything, then. Not if you think I'm making this up, no."
"No, no, no. Jules, please don't start." Jay whispered.
"Me?"
"Yeah, you." Chess answered her. "You're so selfish sometimes."
"Selfish?"
"It's what I said."
"You've done enough for me. Don't do one more thing, Chess. I don't mean to sound bitchy or ungrateful, but I'm in pain."
"Quit acting like this. You weren't on the fuckin flipside and you don't have to go through this game you play because you got stuck in Zombie town."
"Game."
"Poor choice of words-routine may be a better description."
Jayson had a pretty good grip on her at this point, but the mouth he wouldn't be able to control.
Shared circumstances, shared emotions, shared experiences. It was all so depressing. One more time she had endured and lived to tell about it. One more time she stabbed and exploded and shot her way to civilization through a horde of inhumanity in order to preserve her own humanity. And what for? What was the point? Was her family cursed? She was tired of living with a target on her back, running and avoiding the apocalypse fulltime in reality, but embracing it like a long lost friend on the flip side. The more she thought and mulled over the experiences in real time, the more confused she found herself. The pain shooting through her leg was an unwanted bonus.
"I'm not drug seeking." She said with tears in her eyes. "That's what you think, isn't it? You think because I'm-my leg is broken. It is swollen and it is still bruised and you try to walk around on it and you try to deal with it and still fight off the dead and-why bother arguing?" She sighed, wiping tears away from her cheeks. "I won't say another fucking word." She stood up and wrestled her arm away from Jayson.
"Kinda harsh, Chess. She's serious, man. She cried all night long."
"Take her back to the ER, then. I don't trust her."
"Well, dammit, she's high now." Jay looked as she limped away. "I'll take her when she comes down."
"Getting her high was not a good idea, Jayson."
"I know, but she needs something. She didn't even enjoy the pot. She loves pot."
Chess was quiet.
"She said no one ever believes her. She said-"
"I don't believe her."
"She can get drugs, Chess. She doesn't technically need you for drugs."
"You enable her, Jayson. You believe every thing that comes out of her mouth without a second thought."
"We should give her the benefit of the doubt, though. Sometimes." Jay got up and caught up to her. "Wanna leave, babe?" He asked, putting an arm under hers.
"No," She cried. "There's nothing wrong with me." She tried to smile and she tried to find some truth in Chess's assumptions.
"Hey, why ya crying?" Tavin asked.
"I'm drug seeking." She frowned and kept moving past him.
"Nah, if you wanted drugs, you'd go get them." He told her as he took her arm and then sat her down. He crouched in front of her and he unwrapped her foot. "Looks worse than the day you injured it, Julia."
"I'm a drug addict." She cried as he moved her foot all around, flexing and extending and feeling for pulses.
"Even drug addicts feel pain, Julia." He said. "And not only that, the pain receptors in our brains are turned off by the illegal drugs. After a while, we cannot manufacture our own natural pain killers. We got them, you know."
"And ours are turned off."
"Kinda, sorta, yes. Go get this x-rayed again. You could have reinjured this."
"I did when I was carrying Tarin upstairs." She whispered. "The day that man came in our house. I had to get him upstairs, Tavin, and hide him from-so he wouldn't see or get hurt."
"Well, you got some limited range of motion. Pulse is good, but-" He looked to Jay. "Take her to the ER, please."
"She just smoked."
"So let her come down some and take her over there."
"In the morning." Julia told him. "I will, in the morning. Remember what happened last time we went to the ER?"
Jay woke early, went for his run and then when he got home she hadn't come downstairs or even attempted to get out of bed. Chess had got her 10 Percocet and sent them home with her, but they still sat sealed inside a small bag on the table next to the bed. His words had hurt her, his assumptions had hurt her, he'd insulted her and she refused to self medicate in case he was right and she was wrong. She spent hours debating whether she was actively looking for a reason to get high or whether she felt true pain.
When he showered and came in the bedroom, she lay crying in bed. He forced her up and out and once she was done in the bathroom, he took her back to Maverick General's ER. She hadn't had anything to eat or drink since the night before, having absolutely no appetite. Her blood work came back and her labs were off. Her blood count was low, her white count that indicated infection was high. She had an IV started and the nurse started an antibiotic while they waited for transport to take her to the x-ray department. She had laid on a stretcher for 2 hours while the staff made the normal inquiries and drew labs and set up some plan of care. The ER was practically empty at that hour of the morning. Jay sipped coffee and waited while she was oddly removed and quiet.
The nurse mentioned a fever, which was no surprise to either of them, but 102.4 was excessive even for her. Her over the counter pain medicine had been masking the signs of her true infection, which showed on the x-ray when it resulted.
"Mrs. Keller, we're admitting you." The ER doc said as he approached the stretcher.
"My foot hurts." She said.
"The fracture is healing and improved."
"My foot hurts." She repeated, crying softly for what would start the third hour in the ER.
"You have what we call osteomyelitis. It was seen on the x-ray. You need IV antibiotics."
"I need morphine." She complained. "My foot hurts."
"How long will she be in here?" Jay asked.
"A few days. You should start to feel better after a day or so of antibiotics."
The ER doc left her and Jayson in their curtained space and prepared to move her upstairs. Before they rolled her out, the nurse gave her a dose of morphine through her IV port.
"It's painful, what she has?" Jay asked the nurse when Julia fell asleep.
"Yes, and she's a very sick girl."
"Morgan, Julia-022695, Pennsylvania Original Infantry." She mumbled. She could hear herself speaking tired words through swollen lips. She refused to lose consciousness. She refused to let them break her. Normally she would say that she had been through worse, but at that point in time she had her doubts. She kept her eyes clamped shut tight, avoiding eye contact and avoiding the humiliation they handed her. All of them, one after another. Through the tears and the pain and the violation, she remained quiet only whimpering as it went on. Initially she screamed and sometimes, the weaker ones, she fought tooth and nail.
"Hold her down, she's stronger than she looks."
She had taken hit after hit. She felt the blood running from her mouth, the metallic taste of iron and she spit on them.
"I can't do this anymore." She muttered internally and she finally gave up to the brutality and the violation of many upon her. She gave up, allowing her limbs to fall limp, to succumb to the madness. In order to play this game, one had to be as violent and as absurdly insane as those who played against her. Such is life.
"Such is life." She moaned, dragging her sore body from the corner toward the heat source in the room. She had been loosely and she had no clothes on, still naked only bloody and dirty and sore in areas she didn't volunteer to the men who'd raped her.
15 years ago...I could not bring myself to admit that act had been carried out on me. I can admit it now.
Men slept around her, those who perpetrated the crime and slept soundly. The odor of flesh in the room. Her face swollen, her lips fat and sore, her tongue cut from her own teeth, her eyes swollen shut from the hits to her face. She would cry, but feared the tears may sting. She sought the warmth of the fire. She craved warmth as her body shivered and she was post trauma and her muscles were tensed and aching. She shivered inside and outside.
I would prefer death to this...
As she lay as close to the flame as her bindings would allow.
"Want something?" A familiar voice asked.
"Water." She replied.
She heard, yet did not see, the lid unscrewing from a canteen. A calloused hand touched her chin, tilting her head and the canteen was held to her lips. She drew water into her mouth and swished it around the stinging, bloody hole. It took every thing she had not to swallow it. Instead, she spewed it as hard as she could in to the air in front of her. "We have a spitter." He remarked, hand still under her chin. "Don't bite the hand that feeds, Morgan." He commented as his free hand slapped her hard against an already battered face.
"Fuck you. Kill me." She laid back and hopefully away from him.
"My men, they were not brutal enough? I'm surprised you're alive."
Because nothing can kill me...
She had no idea where she was or how she had arrived in this place. She recalled little of her day that led to this. They had completely taken the compound. They had completely decimated the nest and were moving in. She had sent D off to canoodle with Katara. He'd taken a liking to the small and tough child. He swore she returned the sentiment.
"Pull out, D." That had been the last memory she had until the burlap bag went over her head and the ties bound her wrists and ankles. Hands on her body, she couldn't fight while secured in ties.
She lay by the heat and absorbed it. This...is why...there are no females...in infantry.
"Morgan," Raven summoned her. "Heading out."
"My name's Keller." She heard herself shout, then awoke suddenly. The room was dim, the over head light was out and the IV dripped into her arm. Morphine...had the morphine taken her to Jersey to visit Jack 'Raven' Daniels...like the whiskey? She shuddered at the thought. Had she linked to future Julia or was that only a dream? When she woke, she recalled the entire day, but it had become a bit blurry once the morphine was in her system.
"Julia, you Ok?" Chess asked, rising from the seat next to the bed.
"Hmm, yeah. I think so." She answered, stretching and moving around on her bed. "I feel so much better."
"You were knocked out." He whispered, taking a spot on the mattress with her. He held her hand. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" She asked, holding his grip and pulling herself up to a sitting position. "Wow, how long have I been out? I feel good."
"5 hours or so. Jay went home to get a few things. I told him I would stay with you till he got back. I didn't believe you, Julia."
"I was so mad. I was up all night crying again. I didn't even take the percs." She frowned purposefully at him, scrunching up her face.
"But you're really sick."
"Looks that way, huh?" She replied, tugging at his hand. She pulled him to her and hugged him. "I'm gonna be ok. They said I would be Ok." She wiggled her toes and flexed her foot. "Hey, look at that." She whispered against him. She pulled back the blanket and moved her foot around. "See, I told you. Don't beat yourself up over anything, Chess."
"I feel bad though. I shoulda paid better attention."
"It's all you've been doing lately. Take a break."
"I should have taken your feelings into consideration."
"I was not making you smile on the inside, Mister?" She held an arm around his neck and poked his belly...like Julia would...that one little touch, small gesture took him to a different time and place to a different girl who looked just like her. She kissed his neck because that's where her lips were, head resting on his shoulder.
"Julia?" He asked quietly, cocking his head to look down at her.
"Hmm, yes." She replied, her voice ever so light and calm.
He felt the familiar little pin prick on his palm. His stomach flopped and he pulled his hand from hers. "Don't do that." He cautioned her.
"Do what?" She asked with a slight giggle.
"What's your safe word?"
"Strawberries." Julia answered, a whisper in his ear. "Ha, it's always been strawberries, like forever."
"Yeah, I miss you, you know."
"I know. But you're making up for the loss, I think. You're being so sweet and doing things no one asks you to do. It's like you already know what I need before I need." Her lips brushed his neck again, ever so soft and he pulled away.
Don't go there...don't go there...he reminded himself to stay out of the memories and the feelings for one or both and he pulled away. Not the right time and not the right place. In no way, shape or form would he allow...history to repeat itself.
"Stop it, Julia. What is it with you and hospital beds?" He recalled briefly the last time they shared a hospital bed. In the lab, he tied her to it. Jesus...he stood up and moved completely across the room from her. What was she doing? "Are you high?"
She raised her right arm, "Morphine." She answered honestly. "I feel no pain. It's delightful. I haven't had a shot in so long I forgot what it felt like to feel no pain at all. It's nice. I could get used to it."
He sat in the chair and folded his hands in his lap. "Which one am I speaking to exactly?"
"Both." She shrugged, laying back on the bed. She straightened out her hospital gown that was ten times her size and she hoped Jay would bring her some pajamas from home.
"Because of the morphine." Chess assumed.
"Forever linked and the morphine brings the little beast out." Julia laughed, flexing and extending her ankle. "I feel so good though." Her mannerisms changed with the inflection of her voice. "Morphine." Julia repeated. "I'm allergic to morphine." She whispered, looking at Chess. "I'm not allergic to morphine." Julia sighed. "It was not an allergic reaction, it was an overdose. Duh." She couldn't help but have these thoughts aloud and she sounded insane to listen to.
"Twins." Chess mumbled. If anyone could handle the duo it would be Jayson.
"Siamese." Julia snorted, reaching for the remote control.
"Hey, but I am allergic to an antibiotic. Which one?" The pensive and serious tone to her voice puzzled him as she debated in her head the antibiotic.
"I have no damn allergies."
"I do, though."
Julia glared at Chess. "No more morphine." She stated in a matter of fact way. "Man, she's right fucking here with her mouth." Julia grabbed her forehead.
"Penicillin, I think." Chess told her.
Julia reached up and turned the light on above her bed. She glanced at her IV bag. "Vancomycin 1 gram." She said reading the name of medicine on the bag. "Well, I'm not dead yet, so I would say-" She was cut off or paused, he wasn't sure which. "Look it up. Can you, my Chess?" She batted her eyelashes at him and he cringed. Which one was that? They both addressed him as 'my Chess' in the past.
"Jay's bringing your phone, Jules. Research all you want when he gets back."
"You never came for me." She snapped at him, spinning her body over the side of the bed and nearly got up. If it hadn't been for the IV tubing, then she would have been in his face.
"What?" He asked. "I did come for you. We searched high and low for you and we found you. What the hell is wrong with you, woman?"
"I told you I never wanted to see your face again." She hissed at him, balling up a fist as she went for the IV tubing. "You, I will kill you in your sleep, you rotten piece of shit." She yelled at him.
"Babe, what are you doing?" Jay asked as he entered the room. He hadn't seen her so angry in a long time and every time she got angry, it had always been with Chess.
Her head snapped toward his voice, her entire face contorted into shock and then her jaw dropped open. "Jay..." Her voice barely audible, only a breath that said his name. Then the tears flowed freely.
"On that note, good night, brother. Julia, I love you and your legion. Call if you need anything."
"What the hell did he do now, Julia?" Jay asked as he caught her, kept her from falling as she placed that left foot directly on the floor.
"Oh, Owwww, what's wrong with my leg?" She asked, pulling it back from the cold floor and allowing Jay to catch her.
"You have a broken ankle and you have a bone infection, so get back in the bed."
"Broken? Where's my cast?" She asked unaware of her status.
"It's healing well. You didn't need one." He guided her back to the edge of the bed and sat her down. He set the bag down on the floor and then sat with her a moment. It was then she allowed herself to forget Chess Morgan ever existed all over again. She embraced the boy she hadn't laid eyes on in decades and held him tight enough he couldn't get free of her arms if her tried. "I brought you some things I thought you'd need. Lemme go, I'll put your phone on charge."
"Phone? Like a cell phone?" She asked, separating slightly and looking at the bag on the floor. She took a moment to look around, eyes scanning the room and the monitor and the IV. "Oh, I'm in a hospital."
"Yes." He nodded. "Are you alright, Julia?"
"This, my Jayson, is a moment that I have only had the pleasure of dreaming for twenty-five years. I'm not at all interested in the cell phone."
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