Never Again

Chapter 10

It was the next day and Cora was back at St. Thomas Hospital, Gemma having driven her there. Her first task of the day was to finish up Wendy's paperwork; all Cora needed was Wendy's signature. Once she had that, then Wendy would be ready to start rehab as soon as possible.

Then, once everything with Wendy was handled, Cora had to go to her job interview. Thankfully, her boss in Tacoma had already made some calls and talked her up a bit, just as promised. Cora felt that she had a good chance of getting hired.

Taking a deep breath, Cora made her way to Wendy's hospital room, her work bag in hand. As she neared the door, it opened, and out stepped Tara.

Cora smiled at her in greeting before asking, "Is Wendy awake?" She peered around Tara, trying to see inside the room from where she stood.

"Yeah, she is," Tara confirmed. "And she's ready to talk to you." Tara paused looking over her shoulder briefly. "She seems excited for rehab, which is good."

Cora nodded in agreement. She moved to walk around Tara, but the doctor stopped her, putting a hand on her arm. There was more that she wished to discuss.

"When Jax was visiting with Abel earlier, he said that you were moving back here to be with Unser." She paused a moment, looking Cora in the eyes, as if searching for an answer. "Is this true?"

"Yeah," Cora mumbled quietly. "He has stage three bladder cancer." She watched as shock coated Tara's face.

"I'm so sorry," she lamented. "That must've been a really tough choice to make. I know how much you loved being in Tacoma." She offered a sympathetic look to Cora, patting her arm in an attempt to be comforting.

But Cora merely shrugged. "Yeah, it was a tough decision, but I love my family. Some things are worth giving up." Tara gave a solemn nod.

The two friends looked at one another for a moment, silence falling over them until Cora was reminded of her upcoming interview. "I'm applying for a position here at St. Thomas," she confessed, a slight smile overtaking her face.

Tara grinned back at the young counselor, happy for her. "Well, I hope you get it. It'd be nice to have a familiar face hanging around."

Cora nodded. "Yeah, it would."

As she stared at Tara, she was reminded of their days in high school. The two had gotten along well, often studying together and working on projects. After graduating, however, they had fallen out; while Cora went off to Tacoma, Tara moved to Chicago, wanting to have an entirely clean slate, a life free of the MC.

Yet, after eleven years, she was back; and even though Cora hardly felt like she knew her anymore, Cora couldn't help but still respect the doctor like she had in high school.

She cast a smile as Tara said her goodbyes and left, having more patients to tend to. Cora entered Wendy's hospital room, eager to tend to her own patient, and to finally wrap up the situation which had brought her back home in the first place.

Closing the door behind her, she approached Wendy's bed, waving lightly. Wendy looked up, setting aside the book that she was reading; she motioned for Cora to sit.

Cora took a seat next to Wendy's bedside before promptly removing Wendy's paperwork, and handing it to her along with a pen. "All I need is your signature," she announced with a smile.

Wendy nodded, returning the grin. She took the pen and paperwork from Cora's hands, studying them, a smile of disbelief overtaking her face. "Thank you so much," she beamed; Cora could see the tears forming in her eyes. "I promise I'm going to get better."