Perseverance (The Resident FF) by Frances51163

CHAPTER NINETY-EIGHT: Unravelling

By the time Conrad returned to the hotel it was gone six in the evening.   He refused to tell his old friend how he had spent the day although he had divulged that he had breakfast with the General.  For his part Jude was not impressed when he caught his first proper look at Conrad after he went to their room after being alerted he had returned by reception.   Leaning back against the door with his arms folded the Surgeon eyed his companion as he came out of the bathroom after a shower with a towel wrapped around his waist.

"So you want to give tonight a miss?"
"No," Conrad didn't even pretend he didn't know why the query was being made as he quickly dried himself and then donned a pair of briefs and jeans.
"You look like hell.  Did you take anything?"
"Had a salad earlier with a couple of DFs.   I'm good."
"James won't mind if we cancel."
"You want to cancel?"
"No but ........,"
"Good because we're going to be late if you don't get changed."
"Okay whatever you want man," Jude threw up his hands in surrender and opened his suitcase to retrieve some clothes before throwing them on his bed and heading for the bathroom, "won't be long."

As soon as the older man left Conrad sank down on the bed tiredly as he put on a black shirt.   Truth was he would prefer lying down for a few hours instead of having dinner but he had pretty much made up his mind to head back to Atlanta the following day so this would be his last chance to see Jim.   He sighed as he carefully bent his head to put on his socks and boots willing the pain in his head to subside.

Later the group sat at a large round wooden table after finishing their last course in Azure the inhouse restaurant at the Royal Hawaiian which was, like the rest of the luxury hotel, plush in its' surroundings.   

"So Tom mentioned ye won this trip in a competition," Macy commented as she sipped some white wine, "what kind of competition?"
"Oh it wasn't a competition just a hospital raffle for charity," Jude corrected hastily hoping to derail the conversation as he did not wish to lie to the family, "so Conrad how about you finish telling us about Pearl Harbor and the Titanic?"
"I'll only bore ye ....," the fair haired man rubbed his bruised eyes.
"No man you promised!" Logan cut in with disappointment.
"Now Logan maybe Conrad is tired and needs to rest," Macy suggested sending her exuberant grandson a mild look of rebuke.
"No M'am it's not that," the pained man insisted, "just figure ye might have enough of it."
"Well we would like to know," Thomas put in, "so if you're sure you're up to it please continue."
"Okay," Conrad began to nod but just stopped himself in time, "so where was I?"
"You had gone over the contributing factors which caused the Titanic sinking but you never told us the other factors involved in the sinking of the Arizona," Logan prompted easily, he was really fascinated by the topic.
"Yes well although the attack was the eventual cause of the sinking a number of things happened beforehand which led to it being worse than it could have been.  Take for instance the fact that some of the Japanese aircraft were mistaken for U.S. aircraft returning to base.  If the aircraft had been recognised as Japanese maybe just maybe some people might have been saved."
"And unfortunately once the attack commenced a U.S. squadron returning to base was mistaken as Japanese and shot down," Tom put in sadly, "there are always friendly fire incidents in war."
"Damn," Pete cursed softly before sending an apologetic look to his grandmother for the curse.
"Another factor in the Arizona sinking was it was fully fueled ready to leave port.   It's likely it wouldn't have sunk so fast if the fuel explosion hadn't been so big."
"Those things though are factors over which people had no control," Logan frowned, "the factors in the Titanic sinking weren't random."
"Yeah," the fair haired man agreed, "definitely the Titanic ones were preventable.    Cost cutting was done deliberately, using cheap rivets and cutting the amount of lifeboats were each a step towards a disaster people should have foreseen.   In both cases though the absence of some  of those factors could have changed history."
"Well now that we've been educated on Pearl and the Arizona," Logan stated gratefully, "I'm never going to look at them the same again."
"So when are ye heading to the Big Island?" James wondered as he sipped some beer.
"Day after tomorrow," Jude replied as the pale man beside him stayed silent, "when would be a good time to call in for a ride?"
"We're heading back tomorrow," Logan explained.
"So any time after ye arrive is good," James continued with a smile of anticipation, "it will be great to show ye the place by air.  It's amazing."

After saying their goodnights and goodbyes in the hotel lobby Conrad and Jude headed up to their room.   Out of deference to his friend the older man only turned on the bathroom light and pulled out the door so that only a small bit of light drifted into the bedroom.

"So do you need a shot?"
"No Dad," Conrad sighed as he eased out of his jeans, his eyes were mangled and he just wanted to sleep.
"You'll have a better chance of sleeping if you take a shot," Jude persisted as he sat down on his bed, "tomorrow is our last full day.   You want to take it easy we can."
"I'll let you know in the morning," Conrad cursed the timing of the eye episode as it would make his decision to go back home harder the following day.

Something woke Jude from his sleep several hours later but he couldn't work out what it was as he tried to focus his eyes and look around the dark room.   As usual they had left the curtains open to allow air into the room during the night so a beam of moonlight provided some visibility.   Sitting up and getting out of bed he looked over st his friends' bed more closely.   It was empty.   Worry etched his features.   He checked, relieved to see his friends' knapsack where it had been earlier beside his small gearbag.   Frowning he noted the bathroom was in total darkness and as he quickly pulled on his jeans ready to check the hotel another sound caught his attention.   Stopping his movements he listened intently and  realized the sound was coming from the bathroom.   Flicking on his bedside lamp he walked over and pushed back the door to allow some illumination trickle in.  Although he wanted to see his friend he was almost sorry he now could.   The younger man sat on the floor his knees up to his chest.    His head banging the wall behind him.  There were streams of tears running down the pale cheeks but no sound emerged from his lips.   A face cloth lay on the floor, long forgotten.

"Hey buddy," the Surgeon cautiously approached, unwilling to startle his friend as he crouched down in front of him, "looks like you've been in the wars."
"Jude?   What are you doing here?" Conrad asked in confusion, raising his head fully for the first time as he squinted in the dim light.
"Think I should be asking you that.   Your eyes got worse.   You remember coming in here?"
"No," Conrad replied hoarsely as he wiped his face, "where is he .......,"
"Who?"
"My father."

tbc