Welcome to the Cassadines: Book II of Kismet

Chapter Three

***Confessions***

"Okay," Tommy said after he helped Sly get settled on their living room sofa. "What happened?"

"I broke my arm," Sly retorted. He leaned his head against the back of the sofa and closed his eyes. "Let's just leave it at that."

"Nope," Tommy grumbled. "Not this time. I missed dinner with Sabrina because of your latest trick. I wanna know what happened and I wanna know now."

"Or what? You'll break my other arm?" Sly chuckled.

"I might."

Sly opened an eye. Tommy's eyes glittered with irritation. Sly groaned. He supposed he owed his friend some kind of an explanation. "I was helping someone and it just happened."

"You can do better than that."

"That's it!" Sly exclaimed. "I can't go into details because my friend... Well, she'd rather remain anonymous. Family problems and stuff like that."

Tommy nodded and rolled his eyes. "So how did you break the arm?"

"You're sounding like a broken record, man," Sly complained. "Let's just give it a rest. I don't want to get into it, okay? I'm sorry you missed out on dinner with Sabrina. Why don't you call her and see if you can get some dessert? I'll be okay here."

Tommy's face twisted into an annoyed frown. "I called. She's not answering."

"Why don't you page her?"

Tommy shook his head. "The pager is for medical emergencies. I'll just wait for her to call me back."

The telephone rang and Sly gave his friend a hopeful smile. "Maybe that's her."

Tommy shrugged. He answered the phone. "Hello."

Sly watched Tommy's expression as he talked, and when his friend's eyes widened and a grin spread across his face, he knew that his secret had been revealed.

Tommy held out the phone. "It's for you. It's Allyson. She wants to make sure that your arm is okay. Uh huh... I didn't know you two were so chummy-"

"Give me the phone!" Sly grabbed the phone and held it to his chest. "Okay, you busted me. Now, give a man some privacy."

Tommy shook his head and laughed. "Wonders never cease."

After Tommy left the room, Sly lifted the phone to his ear and sighed as Allyson's soft voice drifted to him.

~**~

The hospital floor was void of its usual burst of energy. The late hour brought quiet and calm to its clean halls. The few nurses at the station waved at Zander as he headed towards Emily's room. Quietly, he entered her room. She lay asleep with a funny looking stuffed animal held tightly to her chest. He crossed the room and looked down at her. In slumber, she resembled a princess from a fairy tale and Zander what he ever did to deserve such an ethereal creature in his life.

"Zander?" she said, her eyelids fluttering opened. "I didn't think you were coming tonight."

"I'm later than I thought I'd be, but I wouldn't miss being with you." He sat on the edge of the bed. Raising her hand to his lips, he brushed his lips across her small knuckles. "How are you?"

"I'm fine."

He pointed at her stuffed animal. "I see that you've found something else to keep you company. It's cute."