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Author's Chapter Notes:

There were two ways to move this portion of the story, for better or worse, this is the path I selected. Hope you enjoy!

911

Janine awoke in a hospital bed to the sound of a steady high pitched beeping sound, the area smelled of antiseptic and there was a tube in her nose and an intravenous line taped to the back of her right hand. Sliding a hand under the heavy blanket she felt down to her crotch, finding a catheter inserted in her urethral opening. Her skull ached, a dull throbbing sensation, and she felt foggy, mind blunted by medication.

What happened? She tried to remember. The car? Yes, she was in the car with her dad and, wait, with her dad and Tom. She moved her hand back to her crotch. There was no Tom.

There was a voice through the mist clouding her mind, rolling her head to the left, she tried to focus.

“Only you could make this look good,” joked the blonde woman standing there.

She instantly recognized the speaker, it was Jessica, her older sister.

“Jess?” she croaked, voice slurred. “What are you doing here?”

Jessica Lindholm smiled and nodded. Four years older than Janine, she was a few inches shorter than her sister. Under normal circumstances it would be easy to tell the two were closely related, possessing similar features and hair color..

“Mom gave me a call and I came right away,” she answered, reaching above Janine and pushing the nurse call button
“Dad?” Janine asked, throat dry, voice raspy.

Jessica’s body language conveyed concern, “He’ll survive but you need to focus on you right now. Mom was here just a while ago, but she’s with him right now,” she answered, reaching down and patting Janine’s leg through the blanket.

“Tom?” she asked.

Jessica shook her head, “Sorry?”

“Where’s Tom?” she queried softly.

“I don’t know what you mean, who’s Tom?” Jess asked, but Janine had begun to drift before lapsing back into unconsciousness again.

A nurse showed up, checked a few of the readings, offering positive assurances briefly before exiting. Just after she left, Lina returned.

“She woke up, I called the nurse, she says the swelling in her brain is coming down, so it’s a good thing,” Jessica relayed, “But she’s out again.”

Lina nodded, eyes full of worry for her baby girl. Walking over to the chair near the bed, she slumped down. The accident had been bad, the car rolling a couple of times before coming to rest upside down, but it could certainly have been much worse. Thank heavens for seatbelts, airbags, and solid German engineering.

Doctors were keeping Francis in an induced coma while they waited for his cranial swelling to subside. He fractured both bones in his lower right arm and had multiple contusions. Janine sustained a severe blow to the left side of her head but fortunately there was no neck trauma or any broken bones, though they suggested there may some soft tissue issues for the next while as she convalesces. The fact she woke on her own was definitely a good sign.

Looking at her eldest child, she smiled, “I’m glad you were able to come, it was a lot to bear on my own,” she said softly.

Jessica smiled warmly, “She asked after dad, but I didn’t tell her about the coma. She also asked after someone named Tom,” she said, shaking her head and shrugging.

“Tom?” Lina asked. Why would Janine be asking after him she wondered? In her delirium maybe she was just confused. It didn’t make much sense, Tom was back with Tess, unless. Oh my god. Did she somehow wrest him back from Tess? Was it possible he had actually been with her during the accident? If he had been, where was he now?

“That’s what she said, ‘Where’s Tom?’” she informed.

“As far as I know, it was just the two of them in the car,” Lina answered, mind examining the host of possibilities. “Tom is a boy from her school.”

“Probably just confused by the pain medication,” Jess surmised, nodding her head.

Lina closed her eyes and massaged her temples. As if a daughter and a husband in the hospital wasn’t enough, now the thought of the young man she had been having a brief but uniquely torrid sexual affair with might also be somewhere in the area, except he was no bigger than the smallest finger on either of her hands. Janine, you silly girl she thought, gazing at the sleeping girl. Smiling weakly at Jess, Lina got up, “I need a minute,” she said.

“It’s okay, I’ve got to use the washroom, then I’ll peek in on Dad,” Jess said, moving in and hugging her mother affectionately.

Lina waited for her daughter to leave before fishing out her cell phone. There were a handful of missed calls from Tess’s number. Touching the screen, she called Tom’s sister. After the second ring, the girl answered.

“Hello?” Tess said.

“Hi Tess, it’s Lina,” she replied, eyes lingering on her slumbering daughter as he chest rose and fell.

“Hi Lina, I’ve been trying to call you,” Tess started.

“I’m sorry, there has been a situation and I realize this is going to sound odd, especially coming at this point in time, but, do you still have Tom in your care?” Lina inquired.

“No, he was abducted from my room yesterday by one of the teachers here who in turn was bullied into surrendering him over to Janine yesterday afternoon. Janine has him again, that’s what I was trying to call you about,” Tess stated.

Leaning forward in her chair, Lina massaged her temples anew with the thumb and forefinger of her free hand. “Tess, there’s been an accident, Janine and her father were involved in a motor vehicle accident earlier today,” she informed.

“Oh my god, is everything okay, I mean you know, how is Janine?” Tess asked, the concern in voice bleeding through the phone.

“A few bumps and bruises but basically alright,” she answered, nodding to herself and letting out a long sigh as she considered the ramifications if Tom had been with Janine. He obviously wasn’t with her now, so he could be anywhere between where the accident occurred and the hospital. If the impact had dislodged him from Janine, he might even be lying hurt inside the car or at the crash site, no one would have even thought to look for him. He could have been stepped on and crushed by emergency responders. He might have fallen out in the ambulance, or he might even be somewhere in the hospital. A doctor or a nurse might have found him still tucked away inside her panties. The number of possibilities were staggering.

“Lina?” Tess asked.

“Perhaps you should come down here,” she suggested. “It’s very possible Tom was with Janine when the accident happened and,” she left the rest unsaid, but the implication was clear.

“I’ll be there straight away,” Tess replied, urgency in her tone.

 

Chapter End Notes:

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