Twice Over

Chapter Eighty - Unforeseen

unforeseen
adjective
1. not anticipated or predicted

"I'm Miss Twice's assistant, please let me through." I could hear Grant speaking loudly over the din around me, so I looked up and found him outside the wall of security, trying to make his way in. He wasn't going no where.

"Let him through, I need him. He's with me, please." I called out with a raspy, shaky voice. Mum noticed I wasn't OK, and rubbed my back gently.

"Are you OK, Lily?" Grant's eyes were full of worry and a little bit of fear. I think watching his friend almost get hit by a race car would do that to him.

"I'm, ah, I don't know?" I relied. "Can you come with us, just in case we need you for anything?" I asked him.

"Yep, sure, Ms Twice." Grant replied professionally. He sent a quick text then waved the phone to me. "Just letting the twins know you're OK. They were pretty shaken up too."

"Oh, yes. Thank you." I still felt numb, like I was moving like a robot.

"Let's go." She spoke as Grant slipped into the front seat next to Mr Denault who took the driving position. I swung my legs around and held onto the mug of warm tea someone had placed in my hands. Someone else clipped my seatbelt on and closed my door. Then we were moving.

My brother's sniffles reminded me that we were OK, that Jack hadn't just been squashed on the road and I just hadn't been run over. Again. I shivered as memories of my dying moments from before I was reborn started to resurface.

"Big Sis Lily?" A small hand wrapped around my elbow. I handed my drink off to Grant in the front seat and pulled Jac-Jac into my arms and started bawling my eyes out. It just all came at once, and I couldn't hold the flood gates closed any more.

I was still crying when we arrived at the hospital emergency centre. It took a bit longer for me to calm down. It was a mixture of adrenalin wear-off and grief from my last life, and the pain of almost losing Jac-Jac all over again.

"Hooo, OK. I'm OK, sorry." I nod and try to smile at everyone in the car. I don't think it came across as a smile, because everyone was still worried for me.

"We can sit for a moment longer. Wallace has just text saying that Eyva has just gone into surgery. He has Dr Styles' team is with her."

"Oh, that's good. He's gonna fix her up, real well." It sounded lame, even to me. Jac-Jac handed me a tissue from his mum's purse.

"Hewe, have dis. Yous got snot." I couldn't stop the hiccuped laugh that escaped my lips. I took it and wiped my face. Another two were passed over for me to blow my nose. My make up probably looked terrible.

"Do you have a mirror, mum?" I asked quietly. I know, I know. My step sister is in emergency surgery and I'm more worried about how my face looks. Don't hate on me, I've just bawled a year of my life away. I am bound to look like a ghoul with a panda complex.

"Here, you look fine, Lily." Mum handed me a mirror, then proceeded to wipe under my eyes and across my cheeks. I looked at the results and I still looked awful, but the panda eyes had been removed, at least.

We got out of the car and Mr Denault came with us, someone else taking the vehicle to park it. I started limping straight away, my knee twinging with an aching pain. By the time we made it to Wallace, my limp was concerning everyone around me.

"Are you OK Lily? We didn't even think to see if you were OK physically." Wallace lead me into a seat next to his assistant who had arrived at the hospital before us.

"I think I moved too quickly and twinged it a little. I'm sure with a little rest it will be OK." I tried really hard to convince the parental units that I only needed an ice pack and non-inflammatory medication. It didn't work. Especially when Wallace threatened to have me admitted over night if I didn't let the doctors in the VIP section of the emergency department to take a look at it.

One MRI scan later, and I was sitting in a wheel chair with an extra leg extension holding my sore leg up, an ice pack on the top. The scan came back showing my knee was healing perfectly well, but my actions of my fast sprint to save Jac-Jac caused bruising and swelling. I was off it for the next week. Grant was the only one nearby that was even interested in hearing my grumbling and complaining about using crutches all over again.

Wallace then spoke up, directing his words to both mum and I.

"How about you take the kids home, Brooke? I'll stay with Eyva until she's out of surgery. I'll call you then and let you know what's the prognosis." He looked tired, like I've never seen him before. He loves his daughter, very much, even if he has begun to see a nasty side to her personality over the last few months while I've been in their home. But that hasn't stopped him from loving her any less, it would seem. But I guess it makes sense, his oldest child just crashed into a pillar at high speeds. It would make any parent fraught with worry.

Grant wheeled me out to the new estate car, helped my mum get Jac-Jac situated, then helped me into the car after her, then he got into the driver's seat and drove us all home.