The Tackle Pt. 02 - Consequences

"Of course, just making you aware of what to expect. Go through those doors, the nurse will take you the rest of the way. Until he gets out of recovery your friends will have to wait here."

I nodded and began to walk. I heard Rebecca say something. I didn't make out what it was but it was reassuring. I walked down the halls, smelled something awful, heard the quiet beeps of the machines. Finally, she ushered me to his side. He was in a large room with many beds in it. There were only baby blue curtains for privacy. Huh, baby blue.

Oh god. I knew what he would look like but it still shocked me. I was sickened and then felt guilty for being sickened.

He didn't look like himself. I felt so much pain and love for him, but I just wanted him to look like himself again. He was swollen with injury and fluids; filled with needles and covered in bandages. I said his name, he did nothing. He was still out. I decided that I would stand by him for a while and hold his hand. I talked a little. I told him that our friends were there, and they missed him. I told him I loved him, but I was afraid to say how much.

I could never shut off my mind though. So I let it work. I spoke with one part, and let my mind build the story of what happened. He had a massive bruise on the inside of his left arm. The left side of his head was bandaged. His legs were both secured firmly and I suspected both were fractured. I turned his hand over in mine. They had cleaned him well but there was still a great deal of blood under his fingernails. And there were light scrapes on his knuckles, which glinted with particles of glass.

That fucking bitch. How could she pretend to care about him and then do that? How could I be so stupid? Why didn't I warn him? I even knew that she drove a silver Nissan.

It would have to be her, the only one that looked like me. But not as hot. I smiled despite myself my anger. That's what he had said, without thinking.

After a while, I don;'t know how long, it was too short. The nurse ushered me out. They were going to do some tests and then make sure he had the right medicines and then he would be put somewhere. She didn't know where, but she told me that she would be out to tell me as soon as he was situated. She promised to do it herself. I hugged her, which she didn't expect, but it was important to hear the promise that I would see him again.

I went back out. I told them the news.

"He's...he's out. You'll all be able to see him once he gets moved. It wasn't an accident. Amy tried to kill him. She tried very hard."

Everyone looked at me. No-one said anything. Had I offended someone? It was hard to tell when they were all as emotional as I was.

"Um," Julian said, "the officer was just here and he called it an accident."

I shook my head, sadly. I understood now. I saw him and I saw him the way I see things. Not like them. I sighed.

"He has to say that. But it was her. Greg saw her silver Nissan parked out front during the party. She had probably watched him for a long time. I'm sure she was still texting him, trying to get his attention, but I can't prove it. He was hit intentionally though, and she seems the most likely to have done it."

"Ok," Irwin said, "but would you mind, um, sharing? How you know?"

Irwin probably just would have taken my word for it had he been the only one there. He knew my mind pretty well. But the others didn't.

"He was hit from the passenger side. His body shifted to the right in the impact and his left arm caught on his seat belt, bruising him very badly. Then the left side of his head impacted the window on the way back, probably cracking his skull."

Julian winced, and I felt bad for him, but I couldn't stop now.

"Then he was upside down. His hands weren't seriously hurt but there is a lot of blood under the nails. They cleaned him up but didn't get there. That was because he was hanging upside down and his blood was pooling beneath him."

Rebecca had her hand to her mouth. I think Trina wanted to throw up, but I couldn't stop.

"All this means he was hit almost at a perfectly ninety-degree angle, which is rare, at terrific speed. I could calculate if I saw the impact damage. I think a passenger would have died. The way he takes to work only goes by a few residential side streets off to the right that are long enough to get that kind of speed in a four cylinder Nissan. Of those, only one doesn't have speed bumps that would make it impractical. That one is right before he turns for work, where he would be slowest and most vulnerable. That's why she was following him, to find the perfect spot"

"I wonder if she survived," Stevie said, "I wonder if she meant to."

"I think so. I know she survived the first impact so she was wearing her seat belt. His hands had scratches on them, and the scratches had small pieces of glass embedded. He didn't get that from the first impact, but from when she backed up and hit the car again. At least once. Then his knuckles scraped the ceiling where they were hanging and got scraped and picked up the glass that had fallen there. I think that's when she broke his legs. If her car still worked after that then she probably just drove away. But I bet it didn't and she had to walk."

Trina ran for the bathroom. I felt bad, but I had to get it out. To share it with someone. Rebecca hugged me. The image haunted me. And now they saw it too. I was sorry that they did, but I couldn't have stopped. It would have burned me if it had stayed inside me.

"Wait," Ellie said, "do you think he was still sleeping with her?"

I laughed. He was both too loyal and too busy to have done that. The things I had said the other day were from my own insecurities and apprehension about the baby.

"No, he doesn't even have the time to cheat and wouldn't do it anyway."

Oh shit.

Ellie looked confused. Irwin and Rebecca shared a look. Trina had just left the bathroom and her eyes got wide.

"If he isn't seeing anyone, how can he be cheating?" Ellie said.

No. My stupid thoughtless mouth. Always getting me into trouble.

"Now...now really isn't the time to gossip about my brother's sex life." I tried to sound appropriately offended.

"Oh god, you're right, I'm sorry."

Thank god Ellie backed off. She had already noticed that I'd been more tired lately, always asking if I needed anything. I think she'd guessed that I was pregnant, and she couldn't stop her mind any more than I could. I could see her lining up all the men in my life, like suspects. She wouldn't ever try to hurt me or Mike, but she might, given her crusading personality, think that he had somehow taken advantage of me. Or that we both needed psychological help. They she'd tell people no matter what I wanted, for my own good. One more thing to worry about.

A man in a rumpled suit came in, a badge hanging from a lanyard on his neck. This must have been the detective who came and spoke with everyone.

"Ms. Parnell?"

I nodded

"I apologize for bothering you, but we need to clear some things up. We've apprehended the individual who we believe is responsible but she's making some rather strange claims. She appears to have been stalking your brother for some time, and from what she's said it's likely that she was in fact spying on him last night."

Last night. When we had been...oh no.

"She said she saw your brother having sex with a small blonde woman. Were you home last night? Did you see anyone like that? We'd like to talk with her to see if she might confirm some details for us."

He asked the question so innocently, pretending to be unaware that he was talking with a small blonde woman. I could see that despite his careless appearance, this was someone who would follow this chain of questioning to the end, even if it wrecked the lives of the victim and everyone around him. He had a need to get to the truth. In the past I wouldn't have been able to tell this, but even before we had become lovers Mike had sat with me and explained how people lie and manipulate. He'd even role-played scenarios out with me so I could be better prepared.

People would love to judge our relationship but find me another man who would have done that for me, for no reason other than I needed help.

"Sir, I...I don't feel comfortable speaking about my brother's affairs while he's like this. I'm sorry but it just seems wrong. He was a victim and he deserves his privacy."

The detective sighed.

"Ms. Parnell, I can understand your concerns, and I know this is a difficult time. But a crime was committed, an attempted murder, in fact. So I will need to know everything and I will know everything, sooner or later. I'll come back tomorrow morning, and if you continue to be obstinate I'll have to be a lot less friendly about the way I go about my investigation. I'm sorry."

As he left the lobby I could feel Ellie's eyes boring into me. I could envision her trains for thought as logic eliminated one possibility and then another. Soon only the truth would be left. I had to do something about this, and soon, or else Mike would wake up to public humiliation, or worse.

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Dark Certainties - Jaime

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I loved my brother, and I respected him, but after being with him for so long as both his little sister and now his lover, he had a really hard time of keeping any secrets from me. I knew that if we were caught, his plan was to take all the blame and pretend that he had taken advantage of me. What terrified me was that it might work. It wasn't hard to imagine a scenario where despite my pleading he was arrested and we were separated forever. The thought made me shudder.

I would not allow that to come to pass, no matter how noble his intentions were. Better to out us now and endure the shame and rejection.

Still, there were our parents. It would horrify them, and they would become the source of endless gossip and speculation. How bad were they that their children had broken such a taboo? I didn't think that they would disown either of us, not once they understood that we were both consenting adults when we got together and that we loved each other very much. Having said that, it is likely that they would lose their friends, much of the rest of the family would stop speaking to us, and locals would stop purchasing dad's art. We could easily wreck their lives, while we simply managed to escape elsewhere and start over.

I would not allow that to come to pass, either.

The real problem was that my pregnancy would get out. Probably tomorrow when the police came back, but certainly later. Ellie knew that neither me nor my brother were dating, as would the police, soon. They at least suspected that he was having sex with a blonde woman. Of course, they would suspect that Amy was lying, but to what end? And Ellie would dig if she wasn't satisfied with the answer. We needed an answer that satisfied all parties: friends, family, and police. I needed help.

I apologized to Mike in my head. He would not end up being the first person that I told of our baby.

"I'm going to go get some food at the cafeteria. You guys can go home for the night. I'm going to stay but I'll be fine."

While I said it I looked at Irwin, significantly. I hoped he got my meaning.

"Oh..hey, I'm hungry, why don't we go with you," he said, indicating Trina and Rebecca.

Perfect, exactly the three people that I needed to speak with. I thanked everyone for coming, hugging Ellie extra-hard. She might have been a pain but it was from the best of intentions, protecting me and wanting to fuck my brother. I could empathize.

After they left, the four of us went down the hospital cafeteria. It was late but they were still selling sandwiches and drinks. We got some and I led us to the most isolated part. We sat down in silence. Everyone started eating, but not talking. I think they wanted to wait to hear what I had to say. I did one more mental checklist before I asked. It was a big ask, and I wanted to be sure that I didn't have a better option. I couldn't think of one. I finally spoke.

"Irwin, I need a favor."

He looked up at me, surprised at the breach of the silence, but nodded quickly

"Name it. Anything."

"I need you to be my baby's father."

Rebecca spat out her cola and Trina's jaw dropped. I realized that I had made a basic communications error but I didn't have a lot of time. Irwin must have suspected what I was getting at because he just nodded.

"Trina, if you could have an affair with Mike that would really help me out with the cops."

She and Rebecca looked at each other and then me. They clearly understood.

"What I'm asking you to do will be embarrassing, and if it gets around some people will think less of you. They might see both of you as cheaters or worse, in Irwin's case. They'd think of him as someone who knocked up a girl and abandoned her."

Trina and Irwin looked at each other and held hands. Then they both looked at me and nodded. Somehow they still loved each other intensely, and both of them loved Rebecca as well. It worked for them, and I wasn't going to judge.

"Oh my god this could be a lot of fun," Rebecca suddenly said, "we need a story. Something juicy enough that people will want to buy it but not so depraved it fucks up your friendships."

To my shock, Irwin and Trina looked just as amused as she was. I didn't entirely understand my friends, but I loved them. I realized that I was crying a little.

"If it doesn't work, and things go badly...I want you to know that I love you and appreciate what you're doing. What you've already done. Mike would agree with me. He always tried to protect me. Always. It's my turn now and you're helping me. So thank you for that."

Tomorrow was coming, fast. I hoped that we were ready enough.

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Decisive Actions - Mike

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I remember being in and out. I saw people. Once I thought I saw Jamie holding my hand and talking to me softly. I really don't have any detailed recollections from then.

My first real memories were coming to in the morning, being groggy, and surrounded by family and friends. That made feel warm and happy inside. Well, it was that or the morphine.

Jamie was close and looked down at me. She looked so tired. Why wasn't she sleeping? When no one was looking she put her fingers to her lips. Did she not want me to talk? Huh.

"Ok, I won't say anything," I said.

She put her hand to her forehead. Everyone else in the room looked at me. Oh hey there were cops here.

"Why are there cops here?"

There were two officers in uniform and one guy in a suit with a badge around his neck. He had to be in charge.

Our parents were there, and so were most of our friends. Something big must have happened. I wish someone would tell me what, I felt dumb being the only one who didn't know. And why was I laying down while everyone else was standing? I was obviously being very rude. I tried to stand up, but Jamie gently pushed on my shoulder and shook her head. I trusted her judgement.

Plus, it hurt to move. A lot.

The uniformed officers were talking with my parents. They looked at Jaimie with concern. The detective walked over to her.

"Ms. Parnell, I'm going to need to ask you some questions now. I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to be direct with you as your brother doesn't seem to be in any state to answer. We have reason to believe that the suspect isn't lying, but we need to know who your brother was having sex with last night. We need to speak with her to verify certain details...If you don't tell us, we're going to start making assumptions..."

Oh shit. Ellie looked like she had just realized something and had a little "o" of surprise on her face. I was suddenly a lot more aware of what was going on. This was it. We were caught, and it was time for me to step up. I opened my mouth to speak but before I could...

"It was me," Trina said, "I was fucking Mike. I came back afterwards and seduced him."

Holy shit, I didn't remember doing that. But I was really out of it so I guess it could have happened and I just forgot. God, that was a dick move. I looked at Irwin.

"I'm sorry man, that was a dick move. My bad."

But Trina, who had come over to stand beside me with her hand on my shoulder, wasn't done.

"But it was revenge! I mean we loved every minute of it, Irwin, but we only did it because of what you did with Jamie. You bastard."

Trina was really emotional now. The detective and the officers looked uncomfortable. Ellie looked like she was watching a really amazing soap opera. Mom and dad were just really confused.

"Oh god," Jamie said. She covered her face and looked so sad. I really wanted to comfort her.

"Yes," Irwin said, putting his arm around her, "Its true. I slept with Jamie."

Oh shit. That was so not cool.

"Irwin man, that is so not cool."

"I know, but it only happened the one time," Irwin said, "we were drunk, the moon was out, it was a mistake!"

"It was enough though," Jamie said quietly, all eyes on her, "I'm pregnant. I'm about two months along."

Holy fucking shit, I thought to myself.

"Holy fucking shit," I said loudly.

The fog that had been around my brain began to clear. I didn't remember much right before the accident, but the day before was crystal clear. I knew I was with Jamie. So everyone must be covering for us.

And also I was going to be a father.

I reached out and held Jamie's hand. Mom ran over and hugged her. In the background I was vaguely aware that Irwin and Trina were yelling at each other. Our friends looked horrified. Except for Rebecca who was having a hard time keeping a straight face. The detective was backing slowly out the door. The uniformed officers were long gone. Everyone looked unhappy.

I wasn't. I had a huge stupid smile on my face. Jamie saw it and smiled back, tears appearing in her eyes. I couldn't say anything, but she knew how I felt. That was the important thing.

Now Irwin and Trina were calmer and seemed to be talking things out. Did they work out a script? It looked like Rebecca was mouthing their lines from the back of the room. Drama students.

Irwin kissed Trina. Stevie and Greg were hugging. Julian was crying. Although it was fake, it was really touching. Not least of all because two people I loved had just embarrassed themselves and one had taken responsibility for our baby, publicly. There would be no shadow of suspicion over Jamie or over our child.

"This is seriously like some Grey's Anatomy level shit, guys." Ellie finally said. It was all the drama she could ever have hoped for.

Mom and dad didn't care about the rest of it. One child was injured but would recover with their help. The other was pregnant and needed their support. That was all that they cared about. At that moment I appreciated them more than I ever had.

Nothing would be easy, but at least we had a chance.

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Recovery Options

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I should talk about how hard it was to recover. I mean, it was. Really. It took time and effort. Even though one of my legs healed quickly, they told me that the ankle of my left leg would probably always be somewhat sore, and that I would most likely need a cane for the rest of my life. The doctor said it with a somber tone like he was telling me that I had cancer. Maybe because I was still so young. I smiled and thanked him, to his confusion.

Walking with a cane is a ridiculously small price to pay for my youthful carelessness. I mean, yeah, I work on my leg constantly, the same kinds of exercises that I'm going to end up putting others through, but if I have to use this stupid thing forever, I won't complain. What makes me most grateful and that keeps me from hating Amy or myself, is that Jamie wasn't in the car. And so her and our baby were unhurt.