Beyond the Family Ties

Part 35

At the hospital, time seemed to move quickly, but pass slowly, and Becky kept up a constant vigil at one beside or another, while an endless stream of doctors, nurses and visitors swept in and out of the rooms. Eliza came to visit two days after the operation, bringing flowers for her daughter, and a stuffed teddy bear and Lego set for Laurel, which she dropped off to the little girl when she came to visit her. One by one, Freen's friends visited, as well as her coworkers and the various nurses and doctors she knew at the hospital as well. Slowly but surely, both patients started to heal, the wounds closing up, stitches coming out, and permission to make slow walks around the ward granted to both of them.

It was ten more days before Laurel and Freen were both discharged from the hospital and sent home with Becky. It was a long process, involving multiple trips back and forth the hospital, as Becky took Freen home first and got her settled, before going back for her daughter and bringing her home as well. Angel came over as soon as she finished work for the day, bringing a packed duffle bag for Freen and her sister's favourite Chinese takeout for all of them, and Winn came over after his shift at his diner ended, bearing gifts of pie and fresh coffee.

It took a day or two for a routine to settle in, and Becky found herself fretting over both Laurel and Freen, fetching them their medication, making sure the dressings on their scars were regularly changed and that they went for a walk every day to get some gentle exercise. While they both napped, she pored over a cookbook, trying to boost their nutrition intake, and tidied up the apartment as quietly as she could. In the nights, she drank by herself, sneaking glasses of whisky and wine when everyone had already gone to bed, standing outside on the balcony and sneaking a furtive cigarette without Freen's disapproving eyes on her. Becky knew that she was starting to delve back down into some bad habits, but she was worried, even though the source of all her worries was dead and buried now.

Despite the comfort that her brother's death brought her, after the initial few days of numb shock, Becky found herself unable to sleep. Whenever she did, trying to cram a night's worth of sleep into twenty minutes as the sun started to creep over the horizon, lightening the sky a few shades, she'd wake a short while later to the sound of gunshots ringing in her ears. Trembling and covered in a cold sweat, she'd look down at her clean hands and see the ghost of the blood that had covered her palms. Not wanting to worry Freen, she didn't tell her, although it must've been clear on her face that she wasn't sleeping well, if at all.

But things carried on, and Becky was devoted to looking after her daughter as well as Freen, the latter more so because she felt like she owed it to her rather than Freen's actual need to be looked after. Still, Becky was there, handing her painkillers at set times, making sure Freen ate all of her food, and usually a second helping too. The most shocking moment came when she saw her surgical scar for the first time.

Becky had seen Laurel's in the hospital, a horrified look on her face as she took in the stitched bullet entry wound and the curving scar that followed her ribs on the right side of her torso, where her liver had been removed and Freen's had been transplanted in. But the first time she saw Freen's was shocking. Perhaps it was because she was bigger, so the scar was proportionally bigger, following the curves of the bottom of both rib cages, while also branching up along her sternum too. It was pink against her pale skin, a three-pronged shape that was healing well, but stretched from one side of her abdomen to the other, and high enough up that Becky could see it peeking out just above the middle of Freen's bra when she walked into the bathroom to find the blonde dabbing a silicone cream onto the surgical scar.

She walked back out immediately, mumbling an apology at the intrusion, while guilt slammed into her. If Becky had been more careful, stuck to their usual routine, had been smart enough to stop Sunny before they'd even made it to the park, Laurel wouldn't have been shot, and Freen wouldn't have had to donate her liver. Still, Freen showed no signs of resentment at having to save Laurel's life. In fact, she was almost inseparable from the little girl, reading her bedtime stories, building Lego towers on the living room floor and watching an endless stream of cartoons and Disney movies. Becky appreciated Freen's ability to distract her daughter from the healing surgical scar, and the occasional pangs of pain.