There was an Accident

Kim skipped to his side, bent over and kissed him passionately.

"You do know we almost got caught this morning, right?"

"Yeah, I know, Todd, but we didn't. We weren't even under the same blanket. There wasn't anything to catch, other than a girl cuddling innocently with her brother."

"A hot girl in bed with her brother, you mean."

"OK, we can compromise, like we always have. A hot girl cuddling innocently with her hot brother."

Kim smiled sweetly at Todd, then kissed him again, gently on the lips.

"But I'm not hot, am I?"

He wished immediately that he hadn't said that. Kim's smile faded into one he could tell she was forcing, and tears welled up in her wide eyes.

"You are to me, always," she whispered.

"I'm sorry, Kim. I didn't mean..."

"Todd, I don't care. I really don't give a shit what your accident did to you. I love you. I've always loved you. Even if you never get out of this fucking hospital bed, I'll never stop loving you."

Her tears were running down her face, but the smile on her lips was genuine.

Todd didn't know what to say. He believed her. She had made love to him even before he could reciprocate. He still couldn't, but he could want to. She had been there daily, even before he was awake, always with a smile. She didn't pity him; she loved him.

He thought Dad pitied him. Probably Mom too.

"Now, Mister hottie, can your girlfriend get in bed with her boyfriend, or what?"

"That depends. Is she going to take advantage of him?"

"May-be..." she drew out the word as she smiled and pulled his blanket back.

Kim lowered the rail on one side of the bed and slipped under the blanket with Todd. Her bare legs felt warm and silky smooth against his, and she pressed her crotch against his hip as she got him and herself situated where she wanted them before she raised the rail back.

"I gotta put that up so I don't fall out of bed during the night."

She pulled his hand onto his chest, then slid hers underneath it.

"So you're spending the night with me again?"

"I want to. Is that OK with you?"

"I want you to, but if the wrong person finds out, there's gonna be hell to pay. And Mom and Dad are going to be suspicious if you suddenly stop coming home at night."

"I don't know. Mom and Dad hardly pay attention to me anymore. I think they've worried so much about you the last six months, they just don't have anything left for me."

"I'm sorry, Kim." Todd thought he's been apologizing too much to his sister the last two days, but he didn't know what else to do. She's been in so much pain, for him, that she deserves apologies. She never complained about it, either.

"It's OK, Todd. I'm happy. I have you. You're awake, you're being taken care of and getting better, and that's all that really matters.

"Tell me what happened today, Todd."

Kim was leaning on her elbow, looking down at her brother.

"I got to travel around the hallways again, and then they helped me lift my arms to my shoulders until I just couldn't do it anymore..."

"That's not what I mean. Something happened today. I don't know what, but they told me not to worry about what I told you anymore. Your TV is working now. Yesterday, I wasn't supposed to tell you most of what I told you, now today they say it's OK and suddenly your TV works. So, what happened today?"

"I let it slip that Zahra visited me, and the next thing I knew the Hospital Administrator, my doctor and my attorney were in my room. I didn't even know I had an attorney."

"That was one of the things on the list to not tell you."

"I guess there was an offer made."

"Zahra made an offer?"

"I knew there was something you weren't telling me about her."

"Sorry."

"No, we made an offer to her. We're waiting for, um, what's it called? She's supposed to make an offer back to us."

"She can be pretty hateful."

"She seemed nice to me."

"She's been pretty vocal about drunk driving for a long time. Long before her dad, um, before the accident. Drunk driving and people hating Arabs have been her main talking points during this whole thing. That's what she's hateful about. I just kind of assumed she was just hateful."

"Kim, I don't want to make you sad, so if you don't want to, I understand, but could he tell me a little bit about Kelly?"

Kim nodded, but didn't speak. She lowered her head to the pillow beside Todd and closed her eyes.

Todd studied his sister's face again. She has beautiful blue eyes, and he missed them when they were closed, like now.

Kim's nostrils flared as she took a deep breath, then her eyes opened slowly as she released it.

"We were pretty much inseparable growing up. Kelly, you, me, we ran in a pack. At school, at home, wherever we went, if we weren't together nothing seemed right. You and I slept in the same bed until we went to school, then we got bunk beds, in the same room. Almost every night, we ended up together in one or the other. Once or twice a week, Kelly would spend the night with me, and we'd all three end up in the same bed. Before sixth grade, they bought us beds, and put them in different rooms. They insisted we sleep separately.

"Since Kelly grew up with us, her and I picked up each other's mannerisms. We walked alike, talked alike, and even our handwriting was almost identical. We turned out to look almost identical too. It was almost like our mom's had gotten together and had a set of twins, one from each of them. Kelly was older than we are though, by a few months.

"Her and I dressed the same way, and by the time we turned fifteen, people thought her and I were the twins, instead of you and I. We were built pretty much the same, we walked the same, talked the same, had the same blue eyes and blond hair."

"Except yours was curly and Kelly had straight hair?" Todd interrupted.

"Except Kelly had straight..."

Kim stopped talking and looked at Todd.

"Kelly had long, straight, blond hair." Todd stated unquestioning.

"Todd? How did you know that?"

"I had a dream. We were on a beach. We were laughing and running around each other. Holding hands sometimes. I could never see her face, but her hair was blond like yours, long like yours, but it was straight, blowing around in the breeze. I thought it was you, until I woke up."

"Was this before or after you could move?"

"It was yesterday, maybe the day before, but it was definitely a dream, and not when I was trapped inside my body."

"You described Kelly! Maybe you're getting your memory back!" Kim almost squealed.

"I don't know if I want to remember, Kim. I don't want to miss Kelly when I'm with you."

Chapter 34

The alarm on Kim's phone went off at 5:00 a.m. She didn't plan on getting caught in bed with her brother today, or ever again, if she could help it.

She flicked her alarm off, then quickly pulled her panties off and nudged her sleeping brother. He didn't move, but just groaned a little bit. She slid her hand slowly over his belly and stopped on the bulge of his diaper, and squeezed. He groaned again.

She almost silently pulled the Velcro fastener open and reached inside. He wasn't completely erect in her hand, but with a few strokes of her soft hand, he was soon enough.

"Baby, can we make love before I go? I want you so bad right now," she whispered in her brother's ear.

"Kim, that feels so great. Don't stop."

"I think you're gonna like this more."

She carefully swung her butt to where her head had been, and her mouth soon replaced her fingers around his hard shaft.

Her butt felt silky smooth in Todd's hand as his sister raised his arm and balanced his hand against her. He squeezed his fingers around her round butt as hard as he could for a few seconds before he had to relax.

His sister raised her mouth off him.

"I love you to touch me, Todd. I'm so looking forward to you being strong again," then plunged her lips around him again.

Kim couldn't wait any more. She needed her brother inside her.

"Todd, I need you. I need you inside me. I just don't want to make it through the day without the memory of your cock filling me," she whispered as she repositioned her body over his.

"Ahhh," Kim moaned as she lowered herself onto her brother's hard cock until their pelvic mounds pressed against each other.

"Kim, your pussy is the sweetest thing I've ever felt."

"Mine is the only one you've ever felt, as far as you know," she giggled in his ear as she thrust herself the length of him inside her.

"Doesn't mean it's not the best," Todd moaned.

Kim thought she felt him moving his hips against hers as she moved. She smiled just a little to herself.

Todd felt his sister increase her pace, but he just couldn't lift himself against her thrusts anymore. He wasn't even sure he had, but he knew he wanted to. He wanted her so badly he could barely stand it.

"Oh baby, fuck me, Todd," his sister moaned into his ear. He could feel her breasts jiggle against his chest as she pistoned her body above his.

"Kim....Kim...Ughhh.." Todd groaned, then both he and his sister were certain they felt his hips rise to meet her as his cock twitched and spurt his cum into her womb.

"Oh, oh, Todd," Kim growled and thrust herself down onto him hard, and her body convulsed and her pussy constricted around him.

Kim tucked her brother's limp penis into his diaper, then fastened the Velcro back.

"I love you, Todd. See you tonight," she whispered into his ear.

She grabbed her red panties from the floor and left the room.

She smiled to herself as she closed the door behind her and felt her brother's cum slowly moving down the inside of her thigh.

Chapter 35

"What's all this? Who's the old guy in the weird red suit?" Todd asked as he was wheeled past the nurse's station outside his room.

"Not even Christmas? You don't remember Christmas or Santa Claus?" the tall man pushing his chair asked.

"Christmas, Santa Claus? Sounds weird, like something from a horror movie."

"Well, yeah, I'm pretty sure there is a scary movie or two about him, but no, it's a holiday."

"You mean like Presidents' Day and Martin Luther King Day?"

"Oh, Jesus! You remember those holidays but not Christmas?"

"So Christmas is the holiday? What's Santa Claus then?"

"Santa Claus isn't a what, he's a who. The old guy in red is Santa Claus."

"Sounds like a holiday to me. 'Happy Santa Claus'..." Todd mumbled, almost to himself.

"Dude, Christmas is when everybody buys anybody they love, like, respect, or fear a gift, then get together and exchange the gifts with people that bought them gifts, eat until you can't eat another bite, and drink until you're unconscious. It's a tradition. It's just what people do."

"What's Santa Claus do?"

"He's the one that, well, he crawls into people's houses through their chimneys, eats their cookies and drinks their milk, and puts presents under pine trees in their living rooms, but only after the people have piled tinsel, lights, balls and other odds and ends onto the trees."

"Isn't that like a felony or something?"

"It would be, if he were a real person, I guess."

"You say my brain is Swiss cheese. Who thought up that holiday?"

"Todd, you ask a lot of questions that I don't have an answer for."

"Yeah, you'd ask a few questions, too, if you were twenty years old and only remembered the last three weeks."

"Here you go buddy. We'll continue this conversation later."

"Wait. So today is Santa...I mean Christmas?"

"No, it's next week."

"So you put up decorations the week before? That's a little creepy, if you ask me."

"Come on Todd! Have a little holiday spirit!"

"And it gets even creepier!"

"Todd! Wait up!"

The voice belonged to Kim, and the mysterious meeting with Attorney this morning got even more mysterious. Or less mysterious. Todd decided he just didn't know what was going on, and it probably was no big deal.

"I thought I was going to be late. Traffic was a bitch this morning, or I'm just not used to being up at the crack of mid-morning."

Kim leaned down to her brother, cupped his cheeks between her hands and kissed him longer than quickly, but less than lingering.

Todd thought for a few seconds before speaking.

"They usually interrupt my perfectly good sleep around seven, and then lunch is at twelve. 8:30 isn't really mid-morning, is it?"

"I'm hoping your sarcasm grows back before anything else, little brother," Kim said mirthfully before opening one of the double doors into the hospital conference room and holding it open, with a bow, for Todd to be wheeled in.

While bending to lock the brakes on Todd's wheelchair at the table, the nurse whispered loudly toward Kim.

"His sarcasm is sufficiently robust already. Don't encourage him."

Todd looked at Kim sitting beside him. Her crooked smile and the twinkle in her eyes told him she was enjoying this.

"What's sarcasm?" Todd whispered, equally as loud.

"The kids made it. Now we're just waiting on the parents."

Attorney had been studying a thick file at the head of the table when they came in, but was now looking at the twins.

"Hi, Bill. What's up?" Kim asked him.

"We'll talk about that when everybody gets here. There's no point in calling a meeting if I'm going to talk to everybody one at a time as they come in."

"I think there are two of us here, so it wouldn't be..."

"We'll wait, Todd," Kim whispered loudly again.

"Todd, you look great. How are you feeling?" Bill asked him.

"Not much different, I guess. It's only been a couple of days since we met."

Kim turned sideways in her chair and studied Todd intently for a few seconds.

"No. I think he's right, Todd. You really are looking stronger. I like it."

"I haven't seen myself, so I can't comment."

Todd and Kim gazed at each other. He really, truly did love his sister. He wanted to tell her how happy he felt seeing her look so happy. It was also different seeing her dressed up and in the bright light. She looked radiant to him this morning.

"Sorry we're late."

A man and woman had entered while Todd was admiring Kim. They looked older, like his parents' age.

"We're still waiting on Karen and Thomas, so you're not late," Bill told them.

Todd wondered who Karen and Thomas were, and who these people were.

"Hi, Todd." The woman seemed embarrassed as she greeted him while she sat down on the other side of the table. The man just nodded in his direction and weakly smiled, barely making eye contact with him.

"Todd, this is Tyler and Annette Robbins. They're Kelly's parents," Kim announced after a short, awkward silence.

"Todd, it's good to see you again," Tyler said, then stood and extended his hand across the table.

Now it was Todd's turn to be embarrassed as he stared at the hand halfway across the table in front of him.

"Mr. Robbins, Todd can't...he's...um..." Kim stuttered. She was blushing too.

"I lost most of my strength in the coma. I can't move by myself much yet. Sorry."

Annette had her hand on her husband's sleeve, and appeared to be pulling on it, wanting him to sit down.

"Oh. I'm...Sorry, Todd. I wasn't thinking."

Todd heard the door open again behind him, and he wished he had gotten a seat on the other side of the table.

Todd could see some movement out of the corner of his eye, and turned his head slowly to look at his parents settling into the chairs beside him.

"Hi, Mom and Dad."

"Oh my! Todd you look wonderful this morning. I'm so happy to see you sitting up and out of that dreadful hospital bed!" his mom gleefully declared.

"Thanks, Mom. I think I am feeling better. I'm drinking three delicious meals a day, and usually get a wonderful tour of the hospital labyrinth almost every day."

"Yep, there's that sarcasm I love so much," Kim mumbled next to Todd, just loud enough for him to hear.

Todd felt his face redden when she put her hand on his, on the arm of his chair.

"OK, I'll get Todd up to speed on things first," Bill stood as he spoke.

"We filed a wrongful death and personal injury suit against the estate of Mr. and Mrs. Muzainah, seeking damages in the amount of fifteen million dollars plus two million for medical bills, plus attorney fees."

"Stop," Todd interjected. "Estate?"

"The money they had when they died." Bill looked at Todd.

"We've had some discovery hearings, and various other hearings. Trial has been scheduled for January fourth."

"Discovery?" Todd asked, again interrupting.

"We ask for details, in this case, mostly about the money."

"Trial?" Todd blushed again. It seemed like such a simple word for him to not understand it.

"We, um, go talk to a judge, argue about the facts, and he decides what will happen."

"OK."

"During discovery," Bill looked at Todd, and Todd smiled at him and winked, "we learned what we believe is an accurate number for the money in their estate. A few days ago, as we all agreed, we made a settlement offer to the estate for twelve million in damages, two million in medical costs, plus attorney fees."

"This amount was very close to the amount we determined to be in the estate."

"Of course, we're confident that if we go to trial, we will win, but the award could possibly be much less than the amount requested in the suit. The intention of our settlement offer was, naturally, to increase the chances that we could obtain a higher settlement. We expected, and would agree to a much smaller amount than we were asking for in our offer. We were waiting for a response from the estate, expecting a counter-offer."

"We got a response from the estate late last night."

Bill looked around the room. Todd followed his cue, and also looked around the room. Everyone seemed to be holding their breath, and staring at Bill.

Todd could feel the suspense in the room.

"They have accepted our offer."

Todd's hand hurt from Kim squeezing it. She kissed the side of his face.

"Your friend Zahra gave you and Kelly all her money," Kim whispered into his ear. "I guess she's not so hateful, after all."

"The estate has, as part of the settlement agreement, stipulated that the estate will finalize business and disburse funds on or before February first of next year," Bill continued.

"The only matter left for us is the Powers of Attorney for Todd's medical directives and finances."

Bill looked at Todd, then at his parents.

"In light of recent developments, and stipulations in both documents, their necessity should be revisited, at such time that his physicians deem practical, but as soon as possible."

Everyone stood up, except Todd, of course. The parents all went to talk to Bill, shaking his hand and giving him hugs, then hugs and handshakes all around.

"Kim, I don't really understand what just happened."

"You just got a boatload of money for what happened to you, and Kelly's parents got a boatload of money for...um...because their daughter is gone."

"I kind of know what money is, and that you buy stuff with it. I feel so stupid sometimes. It's like there are those things out there that I kind of understand, but they need to be tied to something, but I lost all those connections because I don't have any experience."

"Todd..."

Kelly was kneeling beside Todd's wheelchair, holding his hand with both of hers.

"I'll help you figure everything out, lover. You're my everything. I'll do whatever I need to, to help you," she whispered almost silently, so only he could hear her.

Chapter 36

"How do you feel about having these visitors, Todd?"

Todd was sitting in one of the chairs in his room. He had another doctor. She was sitting in the only other chair in his room. She looked different from Doctor, and the other doctors he saw in the hallways. She was dressed in blue jeans and a polo shirt, and she always looked relaxed. The regular doctors always looked like they were worried, or in a hurry.