crowswork
"Lily!" Sam whispered much too loudly as the trellis he was climbing down creaked and threatened to pull away from the side of the house.
"Just hurry up, Sam." The slim, dark haired girl looked up and hissed. "Your feet are too big."
Simon James Banks jumped the last few feet and glared down at his best friend. "Of course my feet are big. Did you ever see my dad's."
"We have to go."
"How do you know something's happened?" Simon James, known -- only to Lily -- as Sam, had to run to catch up to the anxious girl. "You said you could hear Uncle Blair on the other end of the phone call -- he asked Mom to let you stay tonight -- not exactly unusual."
Sam was always the voice of reason. He was brilliant and wise beyond his years and he needed every ounce of patience and reason to steer Lily away from disaster.
"I only heard the last part." She snapped angrily. "And it was how he sounded. Like he'd been hit hard or something."
"We shouldn't have snuck out like that." Sam found the key to the garage his dad had hidden under a paver. He lifted out his bike and Lily's.
"Your mom was crying." Lily clenched her jaw until her teeth hurt. "Aunt Caro doesn't cry."
Sam patted her shoulder awkwardly as she got on her bicycle. He let her lead the way down the dark, winding street toward Cascade.
Lily stood in front of the police station for a long time, listening. Sam was getting scared when she began to run, swinging on to her bike mid stride and speeding away. He used his long legs to power his larger bike to her side.
"Is it my dad?"
"No it's mine." The girl said as she grimly pedaled away.
"All I heard was, 'Sandburg's at Cascade General with Ellison.' so they have to be here somewhere." Dragging the tall boy behind her, Lily stalked into the hectic emergency room as if she belonged there. It was eleven PM on a Saturday night and Simon James looked around in horror at the melee of injured and inebriated people crowding the hall and waiting room.
"We're going to get caught."
"Are you kidding." Lily's tone was harsh, sarcastic and eerily like her father's when he was frustrated. "We could be riding elephants and they wouldn't notice us."
"Oww, take it easy Lil." Simon James didn't pull his wrist out of her grip even though it hurt. "Just filter out the noises one at a time until you find something. Like Uncle Blair showed us."
"I can't find anything." Lily blinked away tears.
"Let's call Aunt Megan. She'll know."
"Aunt Megan is Daddy's partner and Uncle Blair's wife. If they're here -- so is she."
"Right."
"I hear your dad." Lily lifted her head and listened for a second before she took off running. Simon James followed, narrowly missing a nurse as he ducked into a crowded elevator.
"Damn teenagers." The older woman scolded in a low voice.
"She thought we were older." Sam whispered quietly to his companion who ignored him and punched the button for the third floor a few more times. "Good thing we're both tall. Other wise we'd probably be in juvenile hall and you know our dads said they would leave us there if that happened again and..."
The door slid open and Lily was gone before Sam could untangle himself from the crush of people in the elevator. He saw Lily disappear through a door at the end of a long darkened hall.
"Lily? What..." The scene that awaited him killed all curiosity. Sam didn't want to know. He didn't want to know why Uncle Blair was crying while his own father held him and patted him and cried too.
Lily stood just inside the doors, her spine stiff and her fists clenched She was shaking so hard it made Sam's stomach hurt even worse.
"Oh, Sam." Lily said. "Uncle Blair is all over blood."
All Sam could see that Blair was wearing a green shirt and pants like the doctors wore. Suddenly he had to know. "Daddy?"
Simon looked and groaned at the sight of the two children in the shadows by the door. "Blair. The kids are here."
"What?" Blair turned and fumbled with his glasses as he wiped his eyes. "Lily... Simon James... what are you doing here?"
Caroline chose this moment to run into the room, looking around frantically. "Here you are."
Simon took her arm and silenced her with a look as he said gently. "Let's leave them with Blair for a while."
"Is my daddy dead?" Lily looked up at Blair. "I'm not a baby. You can tell me."
"No, Lily Belle." Blair pushed back his thick hair and sat down on the sofa. Lily climbed on his lap and Simon James next to him, pressing close to both of them. "You dad and I... and Aunt Megan... we were investigating weapons smugglers. They were held up in an old house and we were out in the street, waiting for SWAT. Your dad shouted and he and Megan tackled me."
Lily reached out and touched an ugly bruise on Blair's forehead that disappeared into the short curly hair.
"Yeah, I hit my head." Blair looked like he wanted to cry again. "The men in the house were shooting at us. Your dad got shot in the leg... he's in surgery right now... but he'll survive. Aunt Megan... she got shot in the back."
"Aunt Megan?" Sam looked into Lily's eyes and understanding passed between them. If Jim Ellison was going to live, there was only one thing that could make Blair cry.
"It was a big gun. An army gun made to shoot through metal. We were behind police cars but the bullets just came through them like..." Blair's voice cracked and he hugged Lily and Sam tighter. "Aunt Megan died. She wasn't in pain and she got to say goodbye. She told me to say that she loved you both."
Blair, who Sam always thought of as the smartest, coolest adult he knew seemed squinch up into a knot of misery. Both children held him tight and cried with him as Sam knotted his fingers into Lily's. Megan had been like a mom to her and he couldn't imagine losing your mom twice in one lifetime.
"She's in heaven. Like my mother." Lily's voice quavered. "Naomi told me that when you die saving someone you love... it's like an E-ticket, straight to heaven."
"That's right, Baby." Blair kissed her forehead. "An E-ticket."
"I'm doing fine." Lily could hear Jim Ellison's voice. Blair had gone into the hospital room first. She swallowed hard as she waited to go in to see her father. The damage to his leg had been too much to repair and he had lost his leg below the knee. To Lily, her father had always been invincible... a larger than life hero. Now she was almost sick with apprehension about seeing him.
"Lily's outside."
"I don't want her to see me like this."
Lily gulped back tears. Was there more wrong than just his leg. A boy in her class had an artificial leg and he could run and everything. Sure it would take time but her daddy would get better. Unless he was hurt worse than the adults had told her. Her imagination painted a hundred dire possibilities.
"Jim. She's right outside."
"I just want to be left alone." Her father sounded angry. "Take her home for now. Just leave me be for a while."
"I'm trying to help you here, Jim."
"Take my daughter home. And stay there till I call you."
Blair stalked out of the room a moment later. "Come on, Lily Belle. We'll come back another time." He walked away and Lily watched him go. In the last few days, Blair seemed to get older. He walked like he was old with his shoulders slumped and no bounce in his steps. Lily felt a fierce protective feeling surge through her and she stormed through the door to the hospital room.
"Daddy." Her eyes took him in. His face was pale but he seemed the same. He was sitting part of the way up and she went cold as she saw only one foot under the covers. "Oh, Daddy." She ran and hugged him, laying her head on his broad chest and taking comfort in the strong beat of his heart.
"I told Blair..."
"Please, don't be mean to Uncle Blair." Lily looked up into his pale blue eyes. "He needs us now. He needs to help us, cause he's real sad."
"I can't ask... Ahh, Lily." Jim took her into his arms and held her tight.
Blair came back into the room. "Lily?"
"I'm sorry. Both of you." Jim held out his hand to his friend and -- when he took it -- pulled him close, too. "I'm going to need a lot of help for a while, Chief. I hate to put this on you at a time like this."
"You're my family." Blair swallowed hard and petted Lily's long black hair with his left hand while Jim clasped the right. "I promised Megan I'd take care of you both. She loved you a lot, you know?"
"You always took care of us, and always will."
"I need to be with you." Blair's voice cracked. "It's all that's keeping me going."
"Chief. You know you should feel free to hit me with something heavy when I start acting like an ass... er... I mean, acting like a jerk."
"Like a tire iron?" Blair's voice was still tight with emotion but Lily saw a hint of a smile when she looked up.
"Like a car." Lily suggested as she kissed her father's scratchy cheek.
"Wait till I get my new leg." Jim swatted her backside playfully. "Then we'll see. I heard about you and Simon James pedaling across Cascade in the middle of the night."
"It was an emergency." Lily answered firmly. "Sentinel Business."
"Oh?"
"And you're gonna kick my butt if I do it again, right?"
"With my new leg." Jim's smile was spoiled when he yawned.
"We better go." Blair lifted the lanky ten-year-old off the bed with one arm. "Before you terrify the poor little darling with your threats."
It was an old 'inside' family joke. So old, that it was one of Lily's first memories. To her it was also a sign, that -- someday soon -- things would get better. Maybe not perfect. Maybe not normal, but when were things ever normal in this family? They were Sentinels and Guides and that was better than normal any day.
The End