Were in the City Ch. 06

Jessie was in hospital for 10 days. The pain was bad for the first few days, pain meds left her confused and sleepy. Her left leg was a clean break so she'd need a cast for about 6 weeks; her concussion was significant and she'd have to deal with headaches & dizziness for an unknown number of months. The rest of her body was a mess of cuts, bruises and pulled muscles - it would take a long time to feel like her old self again and she'd have lots of scars to remind her of this. She had been very lucky, it could have been so much worse.

A police office came to take her statement about what happened, and told her the initial Hummer explosion was likely some kind of gang action. There were a number of her neighbours in hospital too, injured by all the collateral damage from her house blowing up, but nobody died. Even Darren had survived damn it! Jessie was normally a kind and caring person but this time she did think the world would be a better place if Darren wasn't in it. At least he was in a different hospital, under 24 hour guard (whew).

The officer also told her that her house was a write-off. Luckily she had house insurance, so she'd have to work through all the paperwork and permits etc. but she could get her home rebuilt. That would probably take more than a year. Her insurance covered about four weeks of emergency accommodation somewhere, then she'd be on her own to find a place to stay. Given the high rents and low vacancy rates in the city, and the reduced income of short term disability leave from her job while she recovered, Jessie didn't know how she'd find somewhere to live.

The officer told her she'd been rescued from the remains of her house by her neighbours, brothers Don and Connor Elliott. Jessie thought maybe it was a result of her concussion because she couldn't place the names. Who were they? Connor Elliott had even accompanied her to hospital and stayed until she was taken care of. She wanted to thank them and asked the officer for their contact information. He was able to give her a phone number.

Jessie had a few visitors, mostly neighbours checking in, comparing injuries and swapping stories. Two friends from work came by, one brought her a new cell phone and helped her get it set up. By the time Jessie was feeling well enough to watch TV for short periods the news cycle had passed on the excitement in her neighbourhood and was on to other things, but she did see some video online from that night. She was amazed that she'd survived - it was a huge mess.

She called the Elliotts a week into her hospital stay and had a 15 minute conversation with Connor Elliott. She thanked them for helping her and found out they only lived a few blocks away from her home. They'd been going to work out at the gym and heard the first explosion. Connor asked if she knew her house was a wreck and she told him the police had told her it was a write-off. She was very worried about some things in the house she wanted to salvage, family keepsakes mostly. She didn't know how bad it was and asked if he thought she'd be able to get to a closet under the stairs where she kept those things. Connor explained that he ran a construction company and could get a permit to salvage her home if she was willing. He could drop by the hospital and have her sign some paperwork to get that done. Given the time of year, all the rain, she quickly agreed.

When he dropped by during visiting hours the next day Jessie liked Connor almost immediately. He was just a few years older than herself, tall, dressed in jeans and a black hoodie with slightly tinted stylish glasses. He was obviously in good shape and would probably look really great if he shaved off his beard (she wasn't fond of male facial hair). He had a great smile.

Jessie found herself wishing his first impression of her wasn't so nasty - no hospital patient ever looked good but she was a black & blue mess, slightly loopy on pain meds - and she hadn't had a shower for a week. Ug! Connor explained what he'd do to salvage what he could from her house and she signed the papers. He didn't shake her hand, but then who does in a hospital?

They talked for a few more minutes and Jessie said she was very worried about where she was going to live until her house was rebuilt. They agreed it would be hard to find something for a reasonable rent. As Connor was on the way out the door to her room, he stopped and turned around to say "Look, we've got an unused 2-bedroom basement suite in our house. We could get it set up in a few days. We could let you rent it for $900 a month. Could you afford that?" Jessie knew that was more than reasonable - it was a deal in this city! She asked if she could see pictures first and Connor agreed to email them to her by the end of the day. He took her contact info and left.

The basement suite looked just fine when she saw the pictures and it was only 4 blocks from home. What could be better? She quickly said yes to renting it, then realized she'd have to furnish it. How was she going to do that in a few days when she was barely mobile? She'd have to move into a hotel for a while until she could arrange to get the basics for living in the basement. She emailed Connor to say she'd move in when she could get furniture and he very generously said he had contacts that could get good prices on what she needed. Would she trust him to purchase what was required? He'd confirm prices with her before he spent her money and she could pay him back. Of course she said yes, who wouldn't in her circumstances?

The doctors were impressed with how well she was able to handle pain, to move through it to sit up and walk (and, OMG, go to the bathroom by herself) so quickly - apparently most patients would be far worse off than she was even after a week. Jessie had never been seriously injured or ill before so she had no way to know what "normal recovery" was for her but she was glad she was a fast healer. She wanted out of the hospital so bad. On day 10 she showed everyone that she was mobile enough to look after herself, took all the pamphlets and handouts they gave her on wound care, rest, community support services, trauma counselling and got the hell out of there.

When she was released from hospital she took a taxi to her new temporary home, feeling odd dressed in clothes the hospital had given her from their lost & found as she had nothing of her own. She had the driver go by her destroyed home. It was devastating - the place she'd live most of her life was gone. Connor had said they would be pulling it all down as he salvaged it, and they'd been busy. There was not much left. The houses on either side were badly damaged too.

She got to the Elliott house and met Connor there. He gave her the key to the basement suite and showed her in the door at the side of the house, waiting patiently as she hobbled slowly on her crutches. It was simply furnished but it was enough to get by. He'd even bought groceries to get her started.

He smiled. "I've put what we could salvage in the second bedroom for you to go through later. It's all in bags because it a reeks of smoke but its dry. It's not a lot. We found your purse, I think your laptop came through ok, and we were able to get all the boxes out of the closet under the stairs. And I have a surprise for you. Your car came through it all with hardly a scratch. Apologies, but I took the key from your purse and drove it here. The car's in the garage."

Jessie couldn't believe everything Connor had done for her. "Thank you so much. How will I ever be able to repay you? This is far more than I expected."

Connor laughed. "Just be a good tenant and we'll be fine. We are in and out a lot so I hope we don't disturb you too much. If there is anything you need just call. I've left the wi-fi password on the kitchen table. I'll leave you now to get settled."

Jessie was tired and in pain. She took some more meds, moved on her crutches into the bedroom and lay down on the bed. She was asleep in minutes.

When she woke up, it was after 8pm. She hobbled to the bathroom and discovered the hot water coming out of the tap wasn't very hot and made note to ask Connor about that as soon as possible. She was enjoying some tea and toast in the kitchen when she heard a truck pull into the driveway and two voices, one Connor's. Jessie figured she could just pop her head out of her door and catch him about the hot water, so she did.

When she started talking, "Hi Connor, I just ..." the two men standing by the truck turned towards her. She stared at them for a few seconds - they looked so much alike, neither of them wearing glasses - and then she gasped "Holy crap! It's you isn't it? You're them!" She backed up too quickly, got a crutch caught in the door, and slid down to sit in the doorway.

Connor looked at his brother. "Damn it Liam, you win. It wasn't even 24 hours before she figured it out."

They looked at Jessie. "How did you know?"

She took a few deep breaths, calming herself down, then squeaked out "You are standing together the same way your coyotes do - Connor slightly ahead and Don (Liam?) to the left - and your eyes are the same."

Connor got his work gloves out of the truck and put them on, walking over to help Jessie up. She looked at his hands, puzzled. "What am I, poisonous or something?"

Liam muttered very softly to himself, " ... more like a very rare juicy steak ..."

Jessie suddenly looked scared. "You want to eat me??!!"

Connor looked puzzled. "Of course not, don't be silly."

Liam muttered, " ... depends on your definition of eat ..."

Jessie blushed. Liam caught on. "You can hear what I'm saying can't you?"

"Yes, for your information I hear very well. It's why I don't like loud concerts or parties or crowds ... too much noise hurts." Jessie put out her hands. "Please help me up."

Connor pulled her up and got her steady on her crutches again. "Connor, I just came out to say that the hot water isn't very hot. Can it be turned up?"

"Yes, I'll do that right now ... and by the way, even though we are Connor and Don to the rest of the world our real names are Jacob and Liam. You can use either with us in private but only C & D in public, ok?"

"Ok, I'm sure there's a reason for that but I'm too tired to ask right now. My headache is getting worse and I need to go close my eyes for a while." Jessie wobbled and Connor grabbed her arm to steady her. He walked with her inside to her bedroom and watched her lie down. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you who we were while you were in the hospital but we were not sure how you'd react and we couldn't risk having you do or say anything odd in public."

Jessie yawned and wiggled a bit to find a comfortable position for her leg in its cast. Connor took the blanket that was draped over a chair and laid it over her, his hands clenching several times before he backed up.

Connor turned to leave. "I just have to turn up the settings on the tankless hot water heater in the utility closet and you'll have hotter water right away. I'll lock your front door on the way out."

"Uh, huh. Thanks." Jessie was fading fast. She heard Connor (Jacob?) doing something out in the kitchen area and voices talking softly by the door.

"Brother I have no idea how we are going to do this, she's too close. Her scent is going to be EVERYWHERE in this house! She's exhausted and in pain ... all I want to do curl up next to her and comfort her."

"I know. We are going to be a mess. We have to go slow and just hope this is going to work out. She has to heal, get to know us. One day at a time brother, one day at time!"

Jessie wondered just what the hell she'd gotten herself into ... but doesn't everything look better after a good night's sleep? She'd start with that.