The Wait of the Soul

Part 11

"He called me Arlette..." Letty whispered her eyes closing. She hung on to the hot, strong coffee as if it were an actual physical support.

"Newsflash cariad, it's ya name." Sue rolled her eyes. "Look girl you've been in and out of that ward practically every week for nearly a year. You know as well as I do that officially we don't know if a comatose patient can hear or not. But chances are they can."

"But no one here calls me that, only my mother calls me Arlette." Hunching over a table in the staff cafe, she stared into her cup in case the answer was hidden there.

He knew her; he'd heard everything she'd said. It was the only explanation. She must have mentioned her name, said...something.

But the look of desperate puzzlement in his storm sky eyes, like he needed...what? No, this was stupid; she had enough on her plate with Rob and his scheming demands. Then there was the bloody headache...it was then that it occurred to her that there no longer was a headache.

"Well, at least the brain pain's stopped." Letty pulled a face.

"Yea and that you wanna get checked out too, my friend. See your GP or I'll get one of the Freud Squad on your case," Sue threatened.

"Christ no, not the psychos!" Letty chuckled. "I'll see my own quack thank you. I've not been to see him on my own account since Sophie was born."

"What, never?" Sue was amazed.

"No chance to be ill hun, too much to do." Letty smiled and shrugged.

###

She had come to him, touched his brow. Spoken low, just one word, but it was sweet, gently said.

He wanted to laugh with the joy of it, till he remembered her collapse. He had startled her, grabbed her, croaking like a loon. He had forgot how to touch, how to speak.

With alarm he wondered if he had the capacity to stand, walk as other men. What if the Sergeant's injuries went beyond his mind's sleepfull state? What if this body could no longer perform the functions of a man in his prime years?

When he had first woken there had been a pipe inserted into his cock, he had learned, after he had wrenched it free, (a wholly foolish act that caused him great pain,) that it was there to draw off piss while the body slept. How his other functions were dealt with he was reluctant to even guess!

"Water...I would drink...I beg," he croaked.

Staff Sue was writing up his chart, she looked up and smiled, then grinned. "Sergeant Bourne, nice to meet you at last." She half-filled a plastic cup from the cooler and brought it to him. "Do you think you can sit up a bit?"

Under normal circumstances, a patient in a Persistent Vegetative State, and those few in recovery, were turned regularly to prevent pressure sores, had visits to the physios to move limbs in an effort to prevent atrophy of the muscles. But this was not a normal circumstance. MRI and CT scans had revealed remarkably healthy bone and soft tissue. His muscle tone, for a man prone and unconscious for almost a year, was significantly good. All in all Adam Bourne was doing very well.

The unit could be proud of it procedures, he was a success story.

"You, Sergeant, are a bloody miracle." Sue held the cup to his lips. "Play your cards right and you can have a bit of liquidised fish and chips for yer tea." She smiled at his puzzled look.

The water trickled at first, a cool, luxurious seep of sweet, simple water. A true gift of the gods to mankind. His mind reeled at the easy pleasure of it.

He gulped a mouthful... but the muscles of the throat rebelled, spasmed, forcing the water back up, choking him.

"No, no boyo, small sips. Tha's all you need right now." Sue wiped his mouth and eased him back as the coughing subsided. "OK, I think the fish and chips are off, but I want you on your feet ASAP. My friend Letty is literally falling over herself to get to know you."

Pressing the button to raise the head of the bed Sue found his large hand grip her wrist.

"Arlette?" the husked voice whispered. "She comes... will come...here?"

"Yea." Frowning Sue paused, to joke was one thing, but this fella looked serious. "Do you remember her coming to sit with you, is that it?"

He lay back with a sigh, released her hand and winced, rasping, "Fucking Christ, my prick's stinging to buggery."

She laughed. "That's what 'appens my love when ya decide you can remove your own bloody catheter!"

###

Letty sat trying to look casual, trying to look as if she hadn't made an effort with her clothes and hair. But she had, and it was for Rob's benefit. She wanted him to see she and Sophie didn't need him, they were doing just fine. He was an irrelevance.

"You look...edible." Rob wasn't smiling as he pulled out the chair opposite her. He'd seen her the moment he came through the door of the very chic restaurant. It had been his choice of meeting place, just a little reminder of what he could bring to the table, so to speak.

Comfort, security, money.

Having her come to his favourite restaurant, sit at the table and wait like the good girl she was, should have put him in control, but for some reason it didn't feel like it.

And she did look edible.

But those big dark, gold-green eyes didn't look up at him the same way anymore. The trusting, excited girl had gone. The replacement looked at him coldly, expecting a fight, wanting one.

"Don't bother with the charm stuff Rob, we're well past that."

He sat, forcing a grin. "Oh, we are so not sweetheart...But you're right, that's not what we're here for is it?" He lent forward across the table, about to take her hand in his, but she sat back crossing her arms.

He knew the 'tells'. She was shutting him out. Ah, but he was prince charming of the courtroom, knew his way around a reluctant witness.

"Let, I only want to help, see our child a couple of times a month, that's all. Nothing draconian. I'm not looking for joint custody, just..."

"This is about money isn't it?" It was Letty's turn to lean forward, elbows on the table, her chin resting on folded hands. "I'm guessing Isabelle is going to sting you for all she can and...you need an outgoing that can't be touched?" she smiled with mock understanding. "Of course, I'd have to play along, tell the court how we need all this money for Sophie's ballet lessons, the nanny, that sort of thing, and I assume the plan is to split the difference?"

"You really do have a low opinion of me...is me wanting to see my own child so hard to believe?"

The look she gave him spoke volumes.

"I'm older, things change; a man sees things differently..." Rob was losing, and he knew it.

"Oh, please, you'll be telling me your granny's dying next." Letty sighed in exasperation.

There was no way he was going to let her know about the inheritance held in trust, the one that his grandmother was going to give him access to, if he gave her a grandchild to play with.

"You've turned into a very bitter woman." He paused; a snide smile curled his pretty mouth. "No man in your life then?"

Before she could stop herself, it snapped out "Actually there is, his names Adam and he's in the army." Buried deep in her head, 'now that was stupid' rang out.