More Jason & Mary Ellen (also of the Whitakers) - 4

Jason stood there, watching her, occasionally bending to kiss her forehead or her cheek and all that while clinging to that fragile hand that squeezed his as though that hand was her anchor to life and reality and there was no way she would let go of it.  He marveled at the change in her in the last couple of hours and a chill ran through him as he remembered that solid tone of the faulty monitor.  That memory brought tears to his eyes, tears that he couldn’t stop if he had wanted to.  He didn’t want to upset her but the thought of losing her now was more than he could stand.  And so the tears came and he watched her image distort through the salty wetness and loved her all the more.1

Mary Ellen watched him, not able to say anything but hearing every word that he said, feeling the warm grasp of her hand and it took all of her concentration to be able to squeeze back.  She was vaguely away that something terrible had happened but was still not conscious enough to completely process it logically.  She only knew that Jason was there and had said that he loved her.  That much had registered and, for her, that was enough.  Now she could see the tears in his eyes, one running down each cheek and he smiled and she couldn’t understand why but knew only that each salty drop was a measure of his love and she squeezed even harder on his hand.2

She realized slowly that she was in a hospital as her eyes began to function more completely and some of the fog began to leave her brain.  Why she couldn’t remember – she didn’t think she had been sick or anything.  But, Jason would tell her what had happened if she could only recover her voice to ask him.3

Then, there was another face beside Jason’s, talking to him, then looking at her.  It was Caroline she realized at last – her distant cousin Caroline and she smiled as she recognized her.  She and Jason were talking softly and Mary Ellen couldn’t hear what they were saying and wanted to tell them to speak up – but couldn’t.4

“Hi, honey,” Caroline finally said to her.  “Jason said you’ve just begun to open your eyes so I hope you can see me okay.”  She saw the smile return.  “Good,” was the quick response and Caroline moved to the other side of the bed.5

Mary Ellen wanted to watch her, hoping that she might explain what had happened but couldn’t force herself to take her eyes off Jason.6

“She won’t take her eyes off you, Jason,” Caroline said, putting words to Mary Ellen’s unconscious actions.  She smiled as she said it.7

“Well, he said,” grinning broadly at Mary Ellen.  “Right now that’s fine with me.”  He felt the familiar squeeze as slowly, the still brilliant green eyes turned toward Caroline.8

“Well, I suspect you can hear us, and understand, even if you can’t talk.  And, I don’t think there’s any way they could pry this guy away from your side.  I think tennis is taking a back seat all of a sudden.”9

A pained and almost panicked look flashed across Mary Ellen’s face as Caroline looked at Jason with one of those, “uh oh, what have I done now looks.”10

Jason bent over and kissed her forehead once again.  “I’m still playing tennis,” he said warmly, although he knew it would be a while before he did that again.  He wasn't “injured” but that didn’t mean he wasn’t banged up. And he did limp slightly when he walked, from the bump on his knee – the doctor had said to wait at least two weeks before he tried to play again.  He watched the puzzled look remain on that beautiful face and he was awed by that fact that she was so concerned about him, even in her only partly conscious state, and he knew he would soon explain what had happened.  He stood there watching, as the eyes began to drift closed, Mary Ellen not having the strength or will to prevent it no matter how hard she tried, and soon she was asleep, her grip on his hand relaxing.11

Caroline came around the bed and sat down.  “Obviously, you’re not going to use this chair so I think I will,” she said stretching her legs out and yawning.  12

“Thanks for coming up,” he said.13

“Sure.”14

“How’s Eric?”15

“Working or he’d be here too,” she said sighing, wishing that there was a certain someone there to hold her hand too.  “We finished the house thing,” she said.16

“Huh?”17

“I went next door and talked to the guy and we worked it all out.  I think we’re gonna be friends.”18

“Wow, I wouldn’t have believed that.  What an adventure that turned out to be,” he said shaking his head.19

“Look at all that’s happened just because Mary Ellen wanted to go to that old house.”20

“Butterflies,” Jason replied, smiling.21

“Sure was, and still is.”22

“Funny thing is, she sure didn’t start out wanting to fall in love with me – she just needed a strong body to help her out.”23

“And I found a distant cousin, after nearly scaring you guys to death.  Now, between the two of us, we’ve got to get this girl well.”24

Jason smiled down at Caroline.  “Right,” he said casually, not aware of what lay ahead of them.25