- Bonds, Lame Bonds part 4/6
Date: Tuesday, June 27, 2000
SJ <hantaks@mtco.com>
(Part 4)
Laura was moved to a private room later that day. She was awake,
but sore as hell. She had been put through the wringer that fateful
day. Miraculously she made it back to her apartment before she
collapsed. The doctor explained that she may have cracked her
ribs in any one of her harrowing instances. Her lung may have
collapsed after a slow leak aggravated by the exertion of walking
all the way home or may not even been punctured until later.
Twisting her body the wrong way or even a sneeze could poke the
rib into the lung. Adrenalin could easily have masked the pain
for hours.
Frances felt it was her duty to be there since Laura wouldn't
let her call their mother. She continued to dote over her. Frances
was also oblivious to the whole fiasco between her sister and
Remington. She blathered on and on about the beautiful flowers,
how concerned Mr. Steele was, how lucky Laura was to find such
a wonderful man. Laura was beginning to miss the stringent visiting
policies in ICU and those peacefully numbing sedatives. At least
when she was unconscious, she didn't have to listen to her sister
drone on about quitting her job and settling down. Laura couldn't
just lay there. She needed to do something to keep her mind off
other *things*
"Frances, I'm a bit tired, would you mind letting me sleep
for a while," Laura tried to be diplomatic.
As soon as she left the room, Laura gingerly reached for the
phone.
"Remington Steele Investigations," Mildred announced.
"Mildred it's me, Laura...yes...yes...they moved me to a
private room...612...no I don't want to talk to him. Mildred
PLEASE- I just want you to reschedule my appointments and messenger
over the Unidac file and the quarterly statements."
"Miss Holt, you're going to do work?"
"Mildred, I can't just lay here and do nothing. Do you have
any idea what's on daytime TV these days? And if Frances keeps
dropping by I'm going to be a guest on one of those I- Killed-
My- Sister shows..."
Mildred was relieved that Laura seemed to be back to her old
self. "Do you know when you'll be released?"
Remington overheard Mildred talking to Laura. He picked up the
extension, "Ahhh Laura, so nice..."
Laura cut him off mid-sentence, "Mildred, I think there
is a problem with the phone. I'll call you back later. Goodbye."
Mildred looked in Remington's direction, "You have your
work cut out for you, Boss"
"An impossible challenge, Miss Krebs, the kind I live for."
he clarified.
Before Remington went to the hospital, he stopped at Donald's
office.
"Mr. Steele!" Donald shouted in surprise. "What
are you doing here?"
"I need your help. Do you have a few minutes?" Donald
motioned for him to take a seat while he closed the door.
"This sounds serious."
"I'm afraid it is, mate" Remington sighed heavily,
"I don't know how much you know about my relationship with
Laura..." Remington gave Donald a fairly accurate account
of the chaotic circumstances that led up to the present situation.
Mr. Steele found it a welcome relief to confide in another man.
"I have a plan, though. I need you to keep Frances and Abigail
at bay so I can *help* Laura when she needs it."
"You really think Laura is going to let you help her after
all that?"
"She won't have a choice, it will be doctor's orders."
"I'll do what I can, Mr. Steele."
*********************************************************
Remington knocked on Laura's door before entering. Laura flinched
in pain as she raised herself up. She rolled her eyes when she
realized it was him, "Didn't you get the hint that I didn't
want to see you?"
"I thought you called for a messenger," he held up
the envelope containing the work Laura asked for.
"Shouldn't you be on your honeymoon or something?"
Laura smoothed out the covers trying to sound disinterested.
"Wedding was cancelled. The groom was found to be mentally
deficient."
"So, when is immigration coming to haul you away?"
"Got an extension...Mildred put me on the right path."
He set the envelope on the tray table at the foot of her bed.
He also brought a shopping bag filled with an assortment of goodies.
The last thing he pulled out was a tape player with headphones.
"What's that?"
"Thought you might want to listen to some music. I had a
special mix made. Promise me you'll listen to it when I leave."
He sounded so serious so sincere for once. "Sure...but it's
not Rocky Sullivan is it?"
"Now Laura, why would I subject you to that?"
She passed on the opportunity to say *it's seems that you enjoy
watching me suffer* and turned her attention to the envelope
from the office. "Can you hand me that, please. I don't
want to get too far behind."
"Do you know when they intend to release you?"
"My doctor makes rounds in the evening. Maybe he'll parole
me soon."
A nurse came in with a tray of medication for Laura and turned
towards Mr. Steele, "Could you step out for a moment, I
need to change her bandage."
"Sure..." He cautiously bent down to Laura kissed her
on the top of her head. He whispered close to her ear. "Remember
to listen to your tape, eh?" Remington left Laura's room
in search of her doctor.
When Laura was left alone, she inserted the tape and pressed
play. She recognized Tracy Chapman's voice, but it was the first
time she ever heard the song:
Sorry,
Is all that you can't say
Years gone by and still
Words don't come easily
Like sorry, like sorry.
Forgive me
Is that all you can't say
Years gone by and still
Words don't come easily
Like forgive me, forgive me
But you can say baby
Baby can I hold you tonight
Maybe if I told you the right words
At the right time, you'd be mine
I love you
Is that all you can't say
Years gone by and still
Words don't come easily
Like I love you, I love you.
But you can say baby
Baby can I hold you tonight
Maybe if I told you the right words
At the right time, you'd be mine
Baby can I hold you tonight
Baby if I told you the right words
At the right time, you'd be mine
You'd be mine you'd be mine
The song was repeated over and over in a continuous loop. *That
man does not play fair* she thought to herself.
After having a short chat with Laura's doctor, Remington went
back to Laura's room. She still had the headphones on when he
reentered the room.
Laura yanked the headpiece off and accused in a highly agitated
state, "Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to stay
mad at you when you do things like this?"
"So now you're mad at me for not being mad at me?"
"It sounds so absurd when you put it that way...but it's
accurate." Laura said with a nervous smile.
*That's some progress* he thought to himself.
He sat on Laura's bed with his right leg up and body turned to
face her. He reached out, held her hand with his left and covered
it with his right, patting it gently, "Laura, I'm truly
sorry for this whole mess."
"I don't know if I can believe you anymore. Just when I
was beginning to trust you, to trust myself, to trust what I
feel for you..." she stopped not ready to face all this
at once. She pulled her hand out of his, eased back against the
pillows, and looked in the direction of the windows, avoiding
any eye contact.
He inched up closer to her, leaned in and put his finger under
her chin turning her back to face him. Just as he was about to
kiss her. Her doctor, trailed by several young interns, barged
into the room.
Mr. Steele rose from the bed to allow the doctor to examine Laura.
He passed the doctor with a discreet wink confirming their earlier
discussion. Remington glanced at his watch and gestured that
he would wait outside in the hall.
-
- Mildred dropped in after she closed
up the office. She saw Remington waiting in the hall outside
Laura's room. "Evicted again Mr. Steele?"
"Actually I think I made a bit of progress. The doctor is
in examining her."
"You still think this plan of yours is going to work?"
"Donald is on board. That just leaves the good doctor to
do his part."
- End Part 4
- To Part
5
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