Chapter Five
The
Emergency Room was in its usual state of chaos. Saying that she and Kat were
sisters, Lissa learned from one of the nurses hurrying by that Kat was in Room
3. With Alex in tow, Lissa navigated the busy ER until she found Room 3. With a
deep breath, Lissa pushed open the door.
"I'm telling you, Howie, I'm fine, really. You're making way too much of
this," Kat was saying, trying to edge off the bed while holding the back
of her hospital gown closed.
"I hit you with my car," Howie said, gently, then not so gently
urging her back onto the bed. "At least get checked out for my piece of
mind, okay?"
"I'm telling you, I'm fine," Kat insisted, then caught sight of Lissa
and Alex just inside the doorway. "Oh, hi, Liss, what are you doing
here?"
Lissa opened her mouth then closed it again. She took a deep breath, then
asked, "I could ask the same of you. I get this phone call that you'd been
hit by a car..."
"Damnit, Howie, I told you NOT to call her. Don't you listen?" she
asked. "Of course not," she answered her own question. "Why else
would I still be sitting here when I am fine?"
"So, you weren't hit by a car?" Lissa asked.
"Yes, she was," Howie said just as Kat opened her mouth. "And I insisted
that she be checked out," he added, when Kat gave a disgusted snort.
"I'm fine," Kat insisted once more.
The door opened, and the doctor entered, reading the chart. "I'm Doctor
Kelly. Let's see, what have we here?" she asked, then looked up.
"What exactly is going on here?"
"It's all a misunderstanding," Kat began just as Howie explained,
"I hit her with my car, and she was having some trouble walking." He
ignored the glare Kat gave him. "Will you take a look, Doctor?" Howie
asked.
"Really, Doctor, I'm fine," Kat said, hopping off the table. Her
right leg promptly gave way when she tried to stand on it. Howie, not smiling
but still managing to look smug, helped a glaring Kat back onto the table.
"Let's take a look at this leg," Doctor Kelly said, bending over to
look at Kat's leg.
"We'll just wait outside," Lissa said, ushering Alex out the door. As
the door shut behind them, Lissa spotted a small bench along one wall, and
motioned Alex over to it. Lissa sat back, shaking her head and laughing softly.
"She'll be alright," Alex reassured her.
Lissa grinned at him. "I worried for nothing. She's fine." At Alex's
confused look, she explained, "If she can complain like that, and still be
flirting with the man, she must be okay."
"Flirting?" he asked.
"You did notice that she wasn't trying too hard to keep that hospital
smock closed, didn't you?"
Alex chuckled, "Guess not, but then, I was too busy being worried about
you."
She blushed. With an embarrassed smile, Lissa apologized, "Sorry I sort of
freaked like that...but all Howie said was that Kat had been hit by a car and
that she was in the hospital."
"Howie does overreact sometimes," Alex admitted. His smile softened
as he reached over and gently ran one knuckle down her cheek. "I still
can't make dinner," he said, "but how about later tonight?"
"Later tonight?" Lissa asked. "But I thought..."
Alex shook his head. "I have something I have to do early tonight, but
after nine," he grinned, "I'm all yours."
A blushing Lissa nodded assent. "Sounds like a date," she said with a
smile.
The door to Kat's room opened, and Howie came out, running his hands through
his hair. Seeing the pair on the bench, he came over to them. "She is the
most frustrating, most pig-headed, most stubborn..."
"Don't pig-headed and stubborn mean the same thing, D?" Alex asked
with a grin.
Howie glared at him. "Yes, but she is the most..." he sighed,
"the most real person I've met in a long time."
"Kat is...unique," Lissa chuckled. Howie smiled in response, and
Lissa held out one hand. "I'm Lissa, by the way."
"I'm Howie," he introduced himself, shaking her hand. "Sorry if
my phone call scared you."
"It's okay," Lissa said with a shrug.
"No, you just totally freaked her out, D. No big deal."
Howie gave Alex a long look. "What's up with you two?"
Lissa and Alex shared a grin, but all Alex would say was, "I'll tell you
later, D."
"Tell him what?" Kat asked, joining them as she hobbled over with a
crutch. Lissa jumped up to give Kat her seat, but Kat motioned her down. "This
is the doctor's idea, thank-you-very-much-Howie."
"What happened?" Alex asked.
"I hit her with my car," Howie said.
Kat snorted. "He swerved to miss hitting this pothole, and I got nervous,
and...fell off my bike."
Lissa nodded, and ignoring Kat's glare, asked, "So you arranged some kind
of meeting, and....what?" Lissa asked when Kat shook her head.
"I didn't have time," Kat said.
"Time to do what?" Howie asked.
"Only all afternoon," Lissa chided.
"Time to do what?" Howie demanded.
"Call you," Lissa answered as Kat shushed her.
"Call me?"
"Yes, after all, you are the one with, what did you call it, Kat? 'The
great chest'?" Lissa asked with a grin.
"Great chest?" Howie asked her.
Kat turned to Lissa. "You are so dead."
Howie put his arm around Kat's shoulders. As Howie started edging Kat toward
the exit, Lissa heard him asking, "Great chest, huh?"