From: TajuddinA@aol.com Date: Tue, 7 Jan 1997 01:33:27 -0500 Message-ID: <970107013008_644307245@emout13.mail.aol.com> Subject: child 9/10 "Like As a Child" pt. IX It was the truck. Sam didn't entirely know how to get to the store and so when Jody got immeditely in the right lane and tuned into a parking lot, he couldn't get over because there was a truck in the way. Sam thumped on the wheel in frustration while he found a place to turn around. "There goes plan B," he muttered. "Now would be a good time to come up with a plan C, Al, because I don't have one." By the time he reached the store, she was already in there. Her car was parked haphazardly in the fire zone and Sam pulled up right behind it. He jumped out and yelled to a bystander, "call the police!" Without stopping to see if anyone was complying, he raced into the store. Jody stood there, a small handgun in her hand, pointed at a cashier. Sam's stomach twisted when he saw the name on the cashier's nametag: Jennifer. She seemed okay, but her breathing was coming a little too hard. So was Jody's, for that matter. "Jody," he said, straining to keep his voice even. She wasn't even trying to be discreet about the robbery and Sam began to wonder if that was her intention in the first place. She seemed unsure of her objectives herself. "Jody, why are you doing this?" She shivered. "I have nothing. I need....I need..." She shook her head slightly as if to clear it and then tightened her grip on the gun. "What, Jody? Whatever you need, this isn't the way to get it." Another inch closer. She turned to see him out of the corner of her eye. "I'm worthless." "No," Sam said gently. "Why would you say that?" "It doesn't matter. None of it matters." "What about Michael? Doesn't he matter?" he pressed, trying to get close enough to disarm her. Her grip on the gun tightened. "He doesn't deserve this," she said. Sam took another step towards her. "Stop," she said sharply and Sam froze. He could see he wasn't reaching her at all. There was something else in the way. "Sam." Quietly, to his immediate right. "It's about time," Sam hissed out of the corner of his mouth. "Got any bright ideas?" "Yeah." There was a sharp intake of breath and a pause and Sam tore his gaze away from the gun still trained on Jennifer to glance at Al. "Well?" was what he intended to say, but the word died in his throat. Al stood there, his gold covered jacked covered in specks of blood, _his_ blood, and his arm was wrapped in some kind of makeshift bandage. He held a white bandage to his head which was already being stained red. Sam could see Verbeena because she was holding onto his good arm, keeping him steady. The doctor in him kicked in and he could see it wasn't as bad as it looked, but the sooner they could finish this and he could get the attention he needed, the better. Especially considering the severe blow to his head; that could cause complications. "Ask her about what happened six months ago. We don't know what it was, but she was involved." The words were strained, but steady. Sam desperately wanted to know what happened. "Jody," he said evenly, smoothly. "Jody, tell me about what happened to you six months ago. What _happened_?" he repeated, looking at Al this time. He raised his eyebrows. "Let's just say that Winters' thugs got off a lucky shot. I should be okay according to Beeks. I got hit in the arm with a bullet and in the head by a table. My arm stings like anything and I am really dizzy, but doc says I should be all right, so concentrate on Jody, not me, Sam." "I don't know what you mean," Jody said quietly and Sam almost couldn't hear her response over Al's. "Yes you do," Sam said, forcing his attention back to her. "Tell me what happened, Jody." "I.....shot him. I didn't mean to. I just shot him." Al closed his eyes and Callie, who still had his hand, tightened her grip convulsively at his reaction, even though she didn't hear the comment made. Dr. Beeks whispered something to him and he nodded, then she vanished from Sam's sight. "Jody, listen to me. That doesn't matter now. Whatever it is, we can fix it. We can take care of it." "No." A sob escaped her. "No we can't. I can never." But the muzzle of the gun lowered minutely. Sam ignored the crowd of people staring at them and took one more step towards her. "Please, Jody. It's me, Chris. This isn't the way. You can't find your peace this way." That broke the dam. The gun clattered to the floor and she collapsed on Sam's supportive arm. He hugged her tightly. "It's okay," he murmured. "Whatever it is, we'll take care of it." He looked up and Al smiled at him. "Can I help?" asked a woman to Sam's left. He looked over and saw her clad in the garb of a medical intern with the nameplate "Dawn" on her vest. "No, thank you, I've got everything under control now." Sam smiled now, happy to see the two people who had been rescued from history's grasp. "Somebody call the police." He turned back to Al and noticed for the fist time a little girl clinging to his hand. "Callie?" he mouthed. Al just smiled wider. "Sam, she's okay," Al said over the wail of sirens in the distance. "She does go to prison for a couple of months, but then gets probation for good behavior and she marries. Lives in LA still." He paused as a wave of nausea and dizziness passed over him. Sam winked and a blue light enveloped him. Al began to feel the dizzying feeling increase and Sam's leap out caused him to lose his balance altogether. He reached out for Verbeena's support, only to find empty air. He fell ungracefully to the floor and landed hard on his left arm. The pain, which had subsided to a low throb, flared up again and he left the world for the second time that day. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- "See? He's fine. I told you, the man just needs some sleep. I tell him that all the time, but he never listens." The chatter he identified as Verbeena's reached him first and he opened his eyes. "Ah, here he is. Admiral? Al?" She leaned over him. "Is it over?" he asked. She smiled at him. "Yeah, Sam leaped and you just collapsed." "My arm?" She patted him on the shoulder. "Oh, you landed on it pretty hard, but it should be okay after a week or so." He noted with amusement that she had it in a sling and wondered absently if she actually expected him to keep it on. Especially seeing as she had obviously put some hefty medication in his system. He felt like he just had a sharp headache and the pain in his arm was now just a background noise. "So I can go up to my room?" he asked. "Sure. You want Tina to go up with you?" she asked with a glint in her eye. "Nah. Maybe later. I have someone else to take care of right now." "Okay, Al." She cast him a look that he was unable to decipher and left the room. He went up to his room, rubbing his throbbing head. "Callie?" he called. No answer. In a minor panic, he checked all over his quarters, the music room, Tina's room and came up empty. Then, slowly, something began to dawn on him. He went back up to his room. Sure enough, nothing of her's was there. "No...." He called up Ziggy's archives on his computer terminal and decided to do his research without her help. Callie Essman: Daughter of Jody Hawkins Essman and Francis Winters. Currently resides in Los Angeles, CA with Jody Essman, Tom Essman. Born January 6, 1989. "She was a month pregnant and we didn't even know it," Al said quietly to himself. "I guess.....when she went to prison, Callie went to her father." He stopped as the final piece fell into place. He hit a few more comands and called up another set of records. Francis Winters: medical record He scrolled down until he found what he was looking for. Admitted to Central Hospital on 7:30 PM, December 3, 1987 for a gunshot wound to the leg. Source unknown. Police records restricted. Further inspection related that Jody had charged him with abuse a year after she married. Al sat back in his chair and looked over his quarters, which seemed very quiet. A glance at his head in a mirror revealed nothing more than a bruise and a closer inspection of his arm led him to believe he had only fractured it. And everything felt very empty.