Just The Way You Like It - Under Construction

Chapter Fifty-Two

 Chapter Fifty-Two

Luke picked up, just like Alice knew he would. It felt good to know that she had someone around who would always be that reliable. “Hey Alice, long time no see. How are you?”

“Not good, Luke. I was hoping you could answer some questions for me.”

“Sure Sweetie. What's up?”

“What happened with Sam? I thought you were going to fire him.”

“Oh.” There was a long pause across the phone line, and Alice began to worry that she had brought up an uncomfortable situation. Still, she needed answers, and Luke was the only one that could give them to her. “It's a long story, Alice. What seems to be the problem?”

“I can't tell you, Luke. I'm sorry.” Alice still didn't want to put anyone in danger, not even the Sheriff.

“Oh come now, you know you can talk to me.”

“I'm sorry Luke, not about this. Not right now anyway. Just please tell me what happened with Sam.” She heard Luke sigh over the phone before he began his recount of the events a few months back.

“The day after he ran into you at the mall, he showed up at the station. I asked him for his badge and his gun, cause I didn't want a guy like him on my force. You know, its not cool to just not show up for work. All he had to do was call me or something, but not showing up for a week was not a good move.

“Anyway, he passed them over without a fight, and I placed him in a cell until I could get his paperwork signed over. Also, I was thinking about pressing charges, or seeing if you wanted to press any yourself. But anyway, low and behold, he asked for his phone call, and I certainly couldn't stop him, so he called someone and I had no choice to give him back his job. And honestly now, I'm glad he's back. He's been nothing but a saint since his return. Late for a shift once in a while, but hey, I'm late too some days.”

“I see.” It was obvious to Alice that there were people higher up that Luke pulling some strings to keep this game alive. “Do you know who he called?” Again there was a long silence at the other end of the phone.

“Sorry Sweetie, I can't say. Now, will you tell ole' Luke what's going on?”

“No Luke, I'm sorry. It's best you not know. I guess we all have our secrets, huh? Good night.” Alice hung up the phone, and lay her head down on the kitchen table, thinking hard about her options. Either follow Sam's advise, and get as far away from New Coven as possible, or stay and risk getting found. Either tell Luke about Sam's visit, or keep quiet and therefore keep Luke safe. Go see Blake and tell him she was wrong, or leave him be and keep him safe too. All her options seemed to point out that she was much better off leaving and staying quiet.

After crawling into bed, Alice stayed awake the rest of the night. Things weren't looking good, but she was pretty sure that if she closed her bank account in the morning, she would have enough money to get a bus ticket to somewhere far away, and hopefully have enough left over to keep her going until she got back on her feet.

Alice watched the sun come up, and heard Hank making his usual pot of coffee. Knowing he was awake, she slid back out of bed and joined him for breakfast. He checked Alice's cheek again, nodding his approval that it was already looking better. They drove to the hospital together, and Alice wished that she didn't have to say goodbye to Tess now. She knew Tess was sick, and Alice hated the idea of making her last memories with Tess in the hospital.

Hank and Alice walked into St. Micheal's side by side. It was eerily quiet, even in the lobby. Making their way over to the ICU, Alice felt a strange calming feeling wash over her as she reentered the place where everything had started. The nurses station was empty, and for good reason. Just down the hall, four doors down from Alice's old room, every nurse and most of the doctor's were cramped together in silence. Two of them had their ears pressed up against the door, relaying in whispered tones what was going on inside to their co-workers.