felineflash
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Toujours dans mon coeur, Maman.
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Being
Feb 11, 2012 16:49:50 GMT -5
Post by felineflash on Feb 11, 2012 16:49:50 GMT -5
Chapter 90 - Kate
“Oh, God,” Chloe moaned as she opened her eyes. Disoriented at first, she wondered why she was on the wrong side of the bed, then remembered that there was no longer a wrong side, the bed was all hers. I’m not going to cry. Like I told Nicole last night, if this is Philip, I don’t want him. She staggered into the small sitting room and found a note on the coffee table.
“Chloe-
Wasn’t feeling so hot, so I left pretty early this morning. Guess I lived vicariously through you a little too much last night and vicariously have your hangover. I’ll call later. Try these for your hangover!
Hugs, Nicole”
Below the note, Nicole had listed several hangover remedies. Chloe smiled and shook her head, I’ve got my own, Nicole. Step one was a hot shower, especially since she could still smell Pete’s cologne. Probably my imagination, but really, not cool. She walked into the bathroom and brushed her teeth while she let the water heat up. God, I look rough. The bruises were finally healing, though. Her breath caught, and she felt the tears stinging her eyes. I said I wasn’t going to cry, damn it. It was no use, though, the tears were flooding her eyes and making their way down her cheeks. I knew it would happen. I knew it was too good to be true. It’s all my fault, anyway, if I’d never agreed to that stupid friends with benefits idea in the first place, none of this would have happened. He’s so…stupid. How could he be so stupid? How could someone so smart be so stupid? Why wouldn’t I want him? Why would I have stayed in the first place if I didn’t want him for who he is? She stripped off her clothes and stepped into the shower, only to be reminded of their night in the shower. And I’d just told myself to let him go. But I got sucked back in again, and I let myself fall in love with him again, and I knew…I knew it wouldn’t work. I knew he’d reject me again. He’s right about one thing, he certainly has changed. No…no he hasn’t. We both have, but we’re fundamentally the same. And I know that he loves me, I know that he does. But he…God. What is wrong with him?
It dawned upon her as she was rinsing her hair. He was too afraid, and he didn’t want anyone to see it. He didn’t know how to deal with his fear when someone else was around. After all, who did he have by his side the last time he was this scared? Victor, Kate and Henderson. Some doctors and nurses. Out of all of those people, the person most capable of giving him support was probably Henderson. It’s not like Kate or Victor exude warmth and charm. But what was driving this fear? Kate.
She got dressed and dried her hair, already feeling somewhat human again. She called room service for tomato juice, a soft boiled egg and toast, and forced herself to eat it all once the food came. She glanced at the clock, 11:30. Oh, to hell with it. So I might interrupt her lunch. I’m sure they can keep the cute baby animals warm for her. And having a hangover might actually make it a little easier to deal with her. If she pisses me off too much, maybe I can just toss my breakfast up on her. She took a last look in the mirror, grabbed her purse, and headed out.
“Hello, Kate,” she said flatly as she entered the hospital room.
“Oh, God. What are you doing here?” Kate hissed. “I suppose Philip wanted you to pay me a visit or something?”
“Guess you haven’t heard the news. Philip broke up with me yesterday,” Chloe told her.
“Thank God! He finally came to his senses. So what do you want?”
“I thought you’d be delighted to hear that. But you may not be delighted to hear what else I have to say,” she said as she sat down.
“No. No, no, no,” Kate closed her eyes, the color draining from her face. “You’re pregnant. How much do you want? I’ll pay you…”
“Would you just shut up? I’m not pregnant. God, I can’t even believe I’m here for this. Why would I even think you’d care, you horrible…”
“Get to the point, Chloe. You’re wasting my time. What do you want from me?” Kate demanded.
“I came here…” Chloe took a deep breath. Calm down. You can do this, just calm down. Suppress the urge to strangle her, she is sick, after all. “I came here to see for myself how you’re doing, because as delighted as I’m sure you are to hear that Philip broke up with me, I doubt you’ll be delighted to hear that he’s acting very…weird, and I think you’re the reason.”
“Oh, of course you think he’s acting weird, he finally dumped you!”
Chloe massaged her temples, the headache was coming on. Not just a headache, a gin and tequila induced migraine, and chit chatting with Kate wasn’t helping anything. “Damn it, Kate, I’m not joking. So tell me the truth…how are you?”
“Well, Chloe, dear,” Kate said sardonically, “I have cancer. I’m on my second round of chemotherapy.”
“Kate!” Chloe said through clenched teeth, “Are you doing worse than you let on? Have you told Philip something?”
Kate looked stunned for a moment, then said, “No. In fact, the last test results looked good. I’m responding well to treatment.”
“Would he…know something that you don’t?” Chloe asked cautiously.
“Oh, no. I’ve made sure of that. Daniel and Dr. Hahn are very open and up front with me, and they won’t say anything to the kids unless I allow them to. What are you getting at?”
“I’m getting at the fact that Philip is impossible to be around lately. Life at the mansion has turned into Philip’s personal pity party, and he’s being a bear to everyone…Victor, Henderson, the rest of the staff, Brady, me…everyone.”
“I saw him the day before yesterday, and he was just fine,” Kate said with confidence. “If he’s being a bear to you, well…”
“You saw him before he got into a fight with Brady.”
“Oh, those two have always had spats. It’s just like old times,” Kate shrugged.
“This was no spat, Kate. It was a knock down, drag out fight.”
Kate sat up straighter, “But Philip’s in a wheelchair!”
“Didn’t stop him,” Chloe shook her head.
“I suppose it was over you,” Kate spat.
“As a matter of fact, it wasn’t. I don’t even know…you know what, Kate, it doesn’t matter what the fight was about, the fact is, he beat the stuffing out of Brady. He’s been so…moody. And just plain feeling sorry for himself. Kate, he’s worried about you, he’s worried sick. That’s understandable. But he’s manifesting it by feeling sorry for himself and making everyone, and I mean everyone around him miserable. And he’s miserable, and I’m worried about him. That’s why I’m here. If he and I are through, then we’re through. But to see him doing this to himself and everyone else, this isn’t going to end well.”
“He’s acting like this towards his father? Towards Henderson?” Kate asked, eying her.
“Towards everyone, Kate,” Chloe nodded.
Kate sighed, “And you’re really worried about him.”
“I am. I’ve never seen him like this, even when we were kids and he was a lot more…emotional. He’s a mess.”
There was a knock on the door, and Daniel popped his head in. “Oh, sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt, I just wanted to talk to Kate for a moment.”
“It’s fine, I’m leaving,” Chloe said as she stood and walked to the door.
“I’ll talk to him,” Kate called out to her.
“Good,” Chloe replied, nodding a greeting to Daniel.
“Chloe, nice to see you,” Daniel smiled at her.
“You too,” she told him as she left the room. Strange guy, Daniel. But maybe Kate can talk some sense into Philip, before…before what?
Chapter 91 - Contagious
Philip hadn’t believed it would be possible to feel worse than he had the night before, but he’d been proved wrong. He felt as if he’d been run over by a train this morning. Luckily, he was already sitting in an exam room, hadn’t been in the waiting room long enough to crack open a magazine, and the nurse was doing her thing. She’d looked at him strangely when he’d rolled in with the fresh bruises and swollen lip, but she’d asked no questions and he’d offered no explanations.
“Wow. You’ve got a temp of 102.5. You must be freezing!” She exclaimed as she checked the thermometer.
“I told you I wasn’t feeling well,” he shrugged.
“I’ll turn up the heat in here. Dr. Johnson should only be a minute,” she smiled as she left.
A minute. That’s what they always say, and a half an hour later, the doctor finally shows up. He reached for an outdated Time magazine and was just about to start flipping through it when the door opened and Kayla walked in, scowling.
“Philip,” she nodded. “Ordinarily my patients look better a week after an accident. Care to explain?”
He grimaced, shrugged and said, “I…kinda got into a fight.”
“I see that,” she replied curtly. “It’s difficult for me to try and help a patient when they won’t take me seriously.”
“It…it just happened, it wasn’t something I planned on.”
“Of course not. Because you’d be intelligent enough to know that I was not over exaggerating the severity of your injuries and plan a cage fight,” she said as she examined his hip, causing him to yelp. “That hurt?”
“Yes!”
“Uh huh. I told you to stay off your feet, Philip.”
“And I have been,” he coughed out. “Really. The fight was…a mistake.”
“It most certainly was. Alright, looks like you’ve come down with something, let’s see if we can figure out what it is,” she set to work examining him, then stated, “let’s get you down to radiology to get some chest films and look at your leg.”
“What do you think’s wrong with me?” He asked warily.
“Aside from the obvious stupidity? Seriously, Philip, do you have an aversion to walking?”
“I’m sorry. Really. It won’t happen again. I promise. Really. It’s just…well, I feel like crap, so what do you think is wrong with me?”
“Have you had any contact with Ciara lately?” She asked as they arrived in the radiology department.
“Yeah, Thanksgiving. Why?”
“She probably gave you her bronchitis, but I won’t know for sure until I see your x-rays and get your other test results. Come back to my office when you’re done,” she told him as she left.
Fifteen minutes later he was back in Kayla’s office, and bronchitis was the confirmed diagnosis. “So what does this mean?” He asked.
“It means that you need to rest and take your medicine, stay off your feet and don’t get into any more fights,” Kayla told him. “Philip, have you seen your mother lately?”
“A few days ago. I’m actually going to see her when I’m done here…”
“No you’re not. You’re contagious. When did you start feeling bad? After you’d seen her?” She asked worriedly.
He thought for a moment, “Yeah, the next day. You don’t think I gave her this, do you?”
“We’ll monitor her. But for now, you have to stay away.”
“How long?” He asked.
“As long as your contagious,” Kayla said gently. “At least ten days…”
“Ten days? Are you kidding?” Philip exploded. “God, Kayla…ten days? Three weeks in this thing, ten days without seeing my mom…”
“Your mother’s immune system isn’t up to it, Philip, you know that. We can’t risk her getting sicker. I know it’s not want you want to hear…”
“Damn right,” he muttered.
“Philip,” Kayla said kindly, “I know it’s hard knowing that you won’t be able to see her, but I really can’t tell you anything different. It’s imperative that you stay away right now. I’m sorry.”
“I know, I know, it just…sucks. Everything sucks,” he grumbled.
“If you’d stay out of fights…” she teased gently, “I’m done with you. Make sure to make your appointment for next week and pick up your prescriptions. Stay off your feet, and no more fights,” she told him as she led him out of the exam room.
Well, now I’ve got a half hour to kill. He wheeled himself out to where Henderson was waiting and asked him to get him a coffee from Java Café. He’d planned on using the time in between appointments to visit Mom, but that wasn’t going to happen now. And there was no use leaving the hospital, he might as well just lurk around here and see if maybe he could find Daniel or Dr. Hahn and get an update on Mom. He asked a desk nurse to page Daniel, then sat back and closed his eyes. I feel like hell.
“Philip…”
The sound of that voice cut through him like a knife, and his eyes flew open to stare at Melanie. “What the hell do you want?” He spat.
“I…I didn’t expect to run into you. I…I’m sorry. I want to say I’m sorry. What I did…it was so stupid,” she reached out to him and he jerked back.
“Don’t touch me,” he hissed. “Stupid? Is that all you have to say? You could have killed people. Is that going to be your defense when you do kill someone? ‘Whoops, sorry, that was stupid’?”
“I…”
“Get out of my sight. Get away from me. Don’t ever, I mean ever come in my range of vision again, you hear me? I wanted to help you. You’re a lunatic, you know that?” He growled angrily. “Stay away from me. Stay away from Chloe, and stay away from my family. If you don’t…” he leveled a steely stare at her and reveled in the fear that radiated off of her, “you will hope that you go to prison, because you’ll feel safe there.”
“Your coffee, sir,” Henderson stepped in between them and handed Philip his coffee, giving him a warning look.
“I’m sorry, Philip, I really am,” Melanie moaned as she turned and ran away, the tears falling freely.
Philip opened his mouth to say more, but Henderson put his hand on his shoulder, “What time is your next appointment?” He asked, diffusing the situation.
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