Close To You

Chapter 10

"Hey, kid!" Paul and Shawn called out from behind, finally getting Sean to slow down. They had just had their guest spots on Raw, so to speak, and both had went surprisingly well, so Sean assumed they were now going to want to celebrate. "Kid, wait up."

"Would you stop calling me that?" Sean laughed as he piled his stuff into his duffel bag. Paul looked at him.

"Why, kid? Does is bother you when we call you kid, kid?"

"Oh, yeah, real funny..Jean-Paul." Paul frowned.

"Alright, alright, you win...we'll TRY." Shawn looked at Sean, at the clean-shaven face and hair that reached barely below his ears. "No promises, though," he amended, just to reserve the right to change. Sean sighed; that was about as close of a yes as he was going to get.

"So anyhow, you wanna come with me tonight? We're gonna go clubbin'." Paul said.

"We?"

"Me, Shawn, Scott an' Kev. C'mon, it'll be fun...you know you want to."

"Actually, I'd rather not. I'm gonna call Eleanor and check on her."

"Well, that's okay. I didn't want you coming, anyhow!" Paul shot back jokingly. Sean threw a rolled-up pair of socks at his head. Just then, the cell phone at his side rang. "Looks like she beat you to it," Shawn observed as he examined the socks that had been thrown at Paul, also listening to the one-sided conversation.

"Hello?"

"Yes, this is him. Oh God. I...yeah, I remember. When? Do...do you know where? Uh-huh....uh-huh...yeah... I don't know when I can get there, but I'll be there as soon as I can. Uh-huh...yeah...thanks."

He flipped the phone shut, then just sat silently, staring at the phone in his hands for a moment as if it was not real. Paul and Shawn, realizing something was wrong, asked him what it was.

"It's...it's Eleanor."

"Toldja she'd call you first."

"No...it was the hospital." They grew silent.

"What....what happened?" Sean looked up at them, a single tear falling down his cheek. "She collapsed at work today and they said..." He choked on his words, struggling to get them out. "They said they don't think she has much longer." Paul gasped slightly.

"H-how long do they think she has?" Shawn asked.

"A couple days, maybe...if she can hold out that long." Another tear fell. Shawn walked over to his friend, putting his arms around his shoulder. Sean accepted the show of comfort and put his head on Shawn's shoulder, fighting to keep his wavering emotions at bay.

"I'm sorry, Sean," Paul whispered, knowing it wasn't helping but wanting to comfort him nonetheless. "God, Sean, I'm so sorry." Shawn released his hold on Sean when he fought out of it, then told him to tell Vince that he was going to have to leave. Within an hour, he had left for the earliest flight to Florida. The whole time there, while nothing seemed to make any sense, the only thing going through his mind was an old Carpenters song she once sung to him.

* * *

Sean burst through the doors to the hospital, carrying in his arms the startled six-year-old he had picked up from his sister's house along the way. After signing in, he was taken back to where Eleanor laid, hooked up to a countless number of machines Sean could not even begin to identify. He looked at the doctor nearby who just happened to be Dr. Watts, who, without even needing being asked, answered his question.

"We're making her as comfortable as we possibly can, Sean, but if you'd like, you may check her out and take her home, so that her last hours are spent peacefully some place she'd enjoy." Sean looked at her, at the tubes running every which way, and nodded.

"I..I'd like to do that."

"You do know, of course, that that will significantly reduce her lifespan?" Sean looked at him angrily.

"So what the hell difference is it going to make now?" Dr. Watts threw up his hands, not wanting to upset him any further. He began removing the wires and tubes and everything else, when Eleanor opened her eyes and looked up at him.

"Where are we going?" She croaked out in deep, struggling gasps. Sean, showing a tremendous amount of effort, held back the tears that had been threatening him for the past two days and just kissed her forehead.

"Home, baby...we're going home."