Unfounded Fears
Part 7
Annie made her way, unerringly, to Peter’s side. Peter brought his hand forward and grasped hers tightly. The warmth of the contact brought a smile to his mother’s face and she leaned towards him, placing a soft kiss on his cheek, "You scared us. . .again." Paul leaned against the far wall, shoulders slumped, hands stuffed in his jacket pockets, giving no response.
Kelly nodded in agreement, looked around the room and smiled, "Yeah. . .I was right. You were in this room the last time. What? Do they give you a frequent patient discount or something? There must be some reason you keep coming back here." Peter gave his sister his best 'disgusted' look, but realized she was right.
"Kelly. . ." Annie warned. Kelly bit off her words and sat silently in a chair next to her father. Annie kept a tight hold of Peter’s hand. "How do you feel?"
Peter thought about lying and giving the typical "not bad" kind of answer. But Annie always saw through to the truth anyway, so nothing was ever gained. "I hurt," Peter answered simply.
"Well, it’s no wonder," Paul said from his position across the room. "Two broken ribs. Possible internal injuries." The voice was not full of warmth as Annie’s had been. Instead it was cold and somewhat harsh. Annie glanced in the direction of her husband's voice, her mouth thinning to a straight line.
Peter looked into his foster father’s blue eyes. Kermit had warned him of this. He swallowed deeply, "I’m sorry, Paul. I screwed up."
Paul opened his mouth to respond, but before the words would come, Annie interrupted, "Let’s not talk about that now. The important thing is that you’re okay."
Despite Annie’s interference, Peter’s eyes never left Paul’s. Paul said nothing, but his eyes changed in seconds from cold, to fear, to anger. Peter shifted in the bed again, forgetting momentarily about the consequences, but then the stabbing pain reminding him. He grimaced, trying desperately to hide his discomfort from his mother. Of course, he was unsuccessful. Annie reached forward to cup her hand to his face, "Honey? Are you okay?"
Peter nodded, Annie feeling the motion. "Just hurts when I move."
Her hand left his face and made a trail to his hair line, the fingers stroking from his temple to the back of his head gently. "Have they given you anything for the pain?
Peter nodded again. "Right after they moved me in here." As if on cue, he stifled a yawn, suddenly realizing how tired he felt. Annie must have sensed it too.
"You need your rest." She pulled her hand away and lowered her face to give him another kiss. "We’ll let you go to sleep."
"Only on one condition," Peter reached out grabbing her hand again.
"What’s that?"
"You go home and get some sleep yourself."
Annie started to protest, but then nodded. "Agreed. I think we could all use the rest. We’ll be back in the morning to see how you’re doing, right Paul?"
Paul cleared his throat, "Yeah. We’ll be back."
Peter looked into his foster father’s eyes and felt a lump in his throat. Paul’s eyes were distant. Guilt overtook him. Paul was mad. Clearly that anger was directed at Peter. The younger man mentally kicked himself for having made his father feel this way.
Kelly approached her brother on the opposite side of the bed, leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, "Sleep tight. . .and, if at all possible, stay out of trouble," she grinned. Before Peter could react, she exited the room, chuckling.
Too late, Peter gave her another dirty look, but said nothing. Paul rose from his position against the wall, standing at the foot of the bed. He removed his right hand from the jacket pocket and reached down to gently squeeze Peter’s blanket covered foot. Only Peter could see the tremble of the fingers. His eyes met Paul’s trying in desperation to determine what his father was feeling at the moment. But as soon as contact was made, the older man removed his hand and diverted his gaze to look at Annie. "Come on, Honey. Let’s go home."
Annie nodded and took a step toward the sound of her husband’s voice. Paul reached out to guide her into his arms. Pulling her into a one-armed hug he led her out of the room.
Annie stopped at the doorway and turned towards her son, "Good night. Love you."
Peter smiled, "Thanks for being here for me. Love you too." Immediately upon saying the words, Peter saw Paul stiffen, but the older man said nothing. Instead, he guided his wife from the room without looking back.
Peter was alone. He closed his eyes, his memory flashing on the hurt in Paul’s face, the veiled anger in his actions, the shaking hand. Squeezing his eyes tightly shut, he harshly wiped away the tear which fell.
Paul led Annie to the waiting room, where they found Kelly sitting with Kermit, Caine and Lo Si. Upon seeing their arrival, Kermit rose, "So, did you come down hard on the Kid?"
Annie turned toward Kermit, giving him a stern look "I wouldn't let him. Now's not the time or the place."
Kermit shrank back from the gaze and returned to his seat. Annie, pushing down her rising anger, turned to her husband, "What happened tonight? Why did you act like that?"
"Like what, Annie?" Paul tried to ask innocently.
"Like your son was carrying the plague," Annie shot back, undaunted. "What in the world did he do tonight which was so horrible that you could treat him like that."
Paul looked at the woman he loved but was unable to answer the question. Annie shifted position, away from her husband, putting her hands on hips, "Paul Michael Blaisdell, don't you dare give me the silent treatment. What's going on?"
"Annie, I told you before, I'm just tired."
"Baloney. Don't try that with me." Annie retorted.
Paul opened his mouth, then closed it tightly, refusing to fall victim to her prodding. Annie took another step away, "Fine. If you want to act like a two year old, that's your choice, but don't you dare do that to Peter again. . .Not when he's in that kind of pain."
Caine rose from the couch, eyes narrowing in confusion, his gaze shifting between Peter's foster parents. As if knowing of Caine's observations, Annie turned around and reached out for Caine's hand. He took the smaller hand in his and squeezed warmly, "I'm sorry Caine, but my husband feels the need to act like a jack ass tonight, and I'm not sure why."
Caine tilted his head and looked at Paul, "Perhaps he is. . .frustrated. . .with Peter's behavior this evening."
Annie continued to ignore her husband, "Well, I'm frustrated with my husband. . .Captain Blaisdell's behavior now." Without turning, she followed it up with, "Kelly, would you take me home?"
Kelly rose quickly, unable to hide the worried look on her face at her parents' conduct. "Yeah, sure." She looked at her father guiltily, then shrugged and took her mother by the arm, leading her out of the waiting room.
End Part 7
To Part 8