Jacobi Hospital, ICU waiting room. Thursday evening. February 26, 2004.
After Peter announced that his team believed Neal's Flashback overdose had been an attempted murder, he watched Henry, most worried about his reaction.
It wasn't a big surprise when Henry came to his feet and started to swear. He paced, ran his hands through his hair and finally stood still to say, "If someone tried to kill Neal, I will tear them apart."
In waiting rooms of a major hospital like Jacobi, there were always people milling around. Peter had tuned out the other families and staff passing by, and hadn't been paying attention to the couple walking toward them. But this couple stopped, flanking Henry. The man had steel blue eyes and the bright silver hair that some people got instead of ordinary gray. The woman had green eyes and golden hair that Peter guessed was colored to cover gray. She kissed Henry's cheek and said, "I'll help."
Noelle stood up. "Peter, Elizabeth, I'd like you to meet my parents: Irene and Edmund Caffrey."
###
Elizabeth watched Neal's grandparents with awe. Tall and slim like Neal and Noelle, they moved with a grace that belied their age. They zipped through meeting and greeting everyone with the aplomb of seasoned diplomats. Without seeming rushed, and yet barely two minutes after arriving, Irene insisted on being taken to Neal. In a charming voice like Neal's on a con, but with a hint of a southern drawl, Irene politely deflected all attempts to fill her in first on Neal's condition and what had happened to him. Instead she zeroed in on Henry as the most likely to comply with her wishes. She took Henry's arm and smoothly turned him in the direction of the ICU saying, "I've been on pins and needles since your mother called us in January to say she'd spoken to Neal. You asked us to be patient till he was ready to meet us, but there are limits and I've reached mine. We're going to see him now, come hell or high water."
El hoped to be like Irene someday. Curious to see what would happen, she told Peter she was going to the restroom, which was conveniently located on the other side of the ICU. She'd be able to follow the family on their way to see Neal.
"They don't like visitors during their evening shift change," Henry warned, but he started walking.
"Let them try and stop me. No one gets between me and my family," Irene said. "I stood by and let the Marshals take that dear boy away, and that will never be repeated."
"Even you can't hold back death," Henry said, his voice becoming shaky. "Mom told you he might not make it, right?"
"You wait and see. If it comes down to that we'll give the grim reaper a run for his money. He might win, but at least I'll see my grandson first."
Noelle walked beside her father and asked, "Did she tell the pilot to fly faster because her grandson needed her?"
"She restrained herself admirably," Edmund said. He held Noelle's hand. "I can't believe we're finally about to see Neal again after all of these years."
"Mom always believed he would come back to us," Noelle said.
Edmund shook his head. "No matter how many times I told her we had to be realistic and not hold out false hopes... I swear, if anyone can will Neal into surviving, it's your mother."
"Before you see him, you should know..." Noelle swallowed. "He looks a lot like David."
There was a hitch in Edmund's stride at the reminder of his son, the Air Force pilot who had died last year. He squeezed Noelle's hand.
Henry had reached Neal's room. He waited at the entrance while his grandparents went inside.
El heard Edmund gasp, but Irene seemed to ignore all of the tubes and machinery surrounding Neal to focus on her grandson. "Oh, Edmund, he's beautiful."
###
George Knightley returned and conspired with Irene Caffrey to talk the ICU staff into letting someone stay in Neal's room throughout the night, as opposed to the five-minute visits every half hour that had previously been mandated. Graham Winslow went back to his hotel around 10pm, making Henry promise to call with any updates. Everyone else took turns staying at Neal's side.
While Henry was in Neal's room, Elizabeth observed a debate going on between Noelle and her parents. Then the woman disappeared for a few minutes. When Noelle returned, she looked pensive. Wondering if she'd heard something from the hospital staff, El asked, "Is there any news?"
Noelle plopped into a chair, in what El thought was the most inelegant movement she'd ever seen from the woman. Neal's aunt drank from the cup she had been clutching and made an expression of distaste. "I forgot to freshen my coffee. This is cold." She stood up again.
El stood up. "I could use some coffee, too. Will you show me where it is?"
Noelle nodded. When they were out of sight of the waiting room and Neal's grandparents, Noelle paused. She closed her eyes, and took a few deep breaths.
"What's wrong?" Elizabeth asked.
Noelle walked to bench in the wide hallway and sat down. "I just had the strangest conversation with my sister."
El sat beside her. "Neal's mother? Isn't she in WITSEC?"
"Yes, and I know I'm not supposed to call her. My father reminded me of that in no uncertain terms. But if it were Henry in there..." Her voice broke. "Even if I couldn't be here, couldn't do anything but pray, I'd want to know if my son were in Neal's condition."
"Of course you would." Elizabeth waited a moment to ask, "Can you tell me what she said?"
"She already knew. Someone had told her, and she wouldn't say who it was. I tried to convince her to go to the Marshals and ask them to move her again. If someone has found her, she could be in danger. I think I talked her into it, but she sounded so despondent. She said if Neal dies, he'll have his revenge."
"What does that mean?"
"I have no idea." Noelle closed her eyes again for a moment. "Curiosity is a besetting issue for our family. We're like cats. But for once, I'm facing a puzzle and I'd rather not find the answer."
Elizabeth pulled out her phone. "I understand you don't want to worry the rest of your family about this right now, on top of everything else, but I think Peter should know. It could be pertinent to the case. Do you mind if I send him a text? He could meet us here, away from your parents."
"Go ahead," Noelle said.
###
When Peter took his turn watching Neal, his head was swimming with the information Noelle had provided, on top of all the other questions surrounding the case. Who would want to kill Neal? Who had access to Flashback and supplied it to Highbury? Was the use of the drug for blackmail, for looking for Adler, and for trying to kill Neal all connected? Who knew Neal was in the hospital and also knew how to contact Neal's mother even though she was in WITSEC? When Peter had questioned Noelle, she couldn't say for certain if the person who would get revenge if Neal died was the person who had called Meredith, or Neal himself. Noelle admitted that her sister's comment could be taken either way.
And beyond that, there was a set of questions about Adler's safe. What was so important about those passports, that they had been commissioned nearly a year ahead of when they were needed? Why give Gil Goddard that bond to blackmail Neal into opening the safe, rather than simply sending Gil and Kate the combination? And what was Seamus Bickerton's interest in the safe?
Peter wanted to run all of those questions by his team, including Neal. Neal was so much in the center of this that Peter suspected they would need his help to unravel everything. That in itself could be a murder motive: getting rid of the one person most likely to figure out what was going on.
Around 2am, Peter heard a change in the beeping from one of the monitors in Neal's room. Moments later an RN popped in to check the reading. Then she looked at Neal, taking his pulse and laying a hand on his chest.
Before Peter could insist on an explanation, she said with a hint of a Jamaican accent, "He's starting to breathe on his own." She smiled, and in that moment she looked like an angel. "I need to call the doctor. He'll want you out of the way while he makes a few adjustments here. If you want to go out to the waiting room to tell the rest of Mr. Caffrey's family the good news, the doctor should be done in about ten minutes and I'll pretend not to notice if everyone comes by to see our patient as long as they're quiet."
Ten minutes later Peter led the group back to Neal. George and El stopped at the desk to talk to the RN while everyone else squeezed into Neal's room. He was still unconscious, but at least there were fewer devices attached to him now. Everyone was hugging and smiling.
George stepped into the entry of the room, taking in the information from the machines monitoring Neal. "He's still fighting."
Peter thought that sounded good, but George's tone indicated otherwise. "Is that a problem?"
"He's going to wear himself out. Now that he's breathing normally, he needs to relax and get some rest. The sooner he regains consciousness the better, and being exhausted isn't going to help when it comes time to wake up."
Irene looked at her husband and said, "There's an extra blanket on that shelf behind you." Edmund handed the blanket to his wife, who draped it over Neal with the expertise of someone used to tucking children into bed. Almost immediately, the readings on one of the machines slowed and Peter held his breath.
The RN walked in, looked at the machine and at Neal. She adjusted the blanket so that it didn't cover the IV leading to Neal's hand. She smiled that beautiful smile again and said, "He seems to be resting comfortably now. I can give you a few more minutes, and then you need to clear out. He won't wake for at least four hours, probably longer, so I'd recommend you all get some rest." She slipped back out to check on another patient.
"How did you know what to do?" Henry asked his grandmother.
"I've always known what puts my grandchildren to sleep. For you it's hearing calming music. For Angela it's being rocked. Neal sleeps best when he's warm."
Peter's eyes widened but he didn't say anything.
Henry took a ragged breath. "In Chicago, the doctors said he needed to get more sleep before he'd be recovered enough to be released. He was too tired to stay awake, but too keyed up to rest. I had no idea what to do for him. Finally I called Mom in a panic."
Noelle slipped an arm around her son's waist. "I said hospitals tend to be cold, and you should ask them to give Neal another blanket."
"It worked in the hospital, and I used it in the hotel later, to make sure he slept. I can't believe I'd forgotten that." A hint of a smile crossed Henry's face. "That first night out of the hospital, I threw a couple of extra blankets over him in the hotel room. I went out for some food, and when I got back to the room the door slammed behind me. It startled him. He started fighting to get out of the blankets and rolled right off the bed. He lay there on the floor, completely covered in blankets, and I held my breath, not wanting to spook him again. He was so quiet I thought maybe he'd fallen back to sleep, but then he said my name. I said, 'Yeah,' and walked over. He said, 'This isn't a very good bed,' and I said, 'Yeah, well that's because it's the floor.' And then he said, 'Oh, okay,' and untangled himself enough to get back into bed."
Everyone chuckled, more from relief than from amusement, Peter suspected. George volunteered to stay with Neal, with everyone else planning to return after a few hours of rest to be there when the kid woke up.
In the waiting room, Noelle told her parents she had an extra bedroom in her hotel suite and invited them to stay with her. Peter thought he'd get away without facing any questions, but on the way outside Noelle lagged behind as her parents walked with Henry. "Something about keeping Neal warm struck a chord, didn't it, Peter?"
He shrugged. "When Neal was sick in St. Louis, he muttered something about being cold when I got back to the hotel room one night. I found an extra blanket and once I put it over him he was out like a light."
Elizabeth squeezed his arm. "That was sweet."
Noelle smiled. "Yes, it was. But more than that, by your doing something nurturing that he associated with family, it helped cement the bond between you."
Peter pondered Noelle's words on the drive home. That day in St. Louis, Neal had jokingly referred to Peter as his stepfather. By the time they returned to New York, it had ceased to be a joke. Perhaps Noelle had identified the point when the joke turned real.