When Al opened his eyes, he wasn't as surprised this time to see Rachel and Agnes in the same room.
"Oh, thank goodness," Agnes said. "I wanted to make sure you were awake before I felt okay enough to go."
Al blinked a few times and said, "Where's Emma?"
Rachel turned a little, and Al saw her asleep in a chair, still in her dress. They were all still dressed for the ice wine event. He imagined his tuxedo was ruined. There went his deposit. "You didn't go back to the hotel and sleep?" he asked.
"No, you jackass, we were too worried about you," Rachel said, leaning in to kiss him on the lips.
He smiled weakly, looking at his right hand, which to his surprise had a bandage around it; he must have cut it on the glass when he stabbed the guy who'd grabbed Agnes. "You didn't have to. I already knew I was fine, or that I would be, anyway."
Rachel frowned at him and said, "Forget for a minute that we might not have shared your certainty that you'd pull through. Explain how you came to that certainty."
"I saw Dad and Sam again, while I was out."
"What?" Rachel breathed, stunned to hear Sam's name again.
"This time I wasn't in a coma, just unconscious while I was being worked on. Here's the thing, though. I found out Dad and Sam weren't just figments of my imagination."
"What?!" Rachel squawked. "What are you talking about?"
"You saw your dad and... who's Sam?" Agnes asked with brow furrowed.
"An old friend who's no longer around," Rachel said curtly. "Go on, Al."
"They told me they were my brain's way of interpreting the signals I was getting from the..." He stopped when he saw Agnes' inquiring expression, and realized she didn't know about the nanobots.
"The what?" Agnes asked.
Al looked to Rachel, who shrugged. He looked around to make sure there were no other people close by, then beckoned Agnes in. Even raising his arm made the wound in his back ache, and he could feel the stitches under his bandage. "Okay, remember how I was in a coma? One of the people involved in the murder of Jordan, a woman named Naira, although that wasn't her original name, she injected me with something while I was out. Lauren caught her in the act. Part of the whole conspiracy around Jordan's murder was the fact that the people involved were developing nanotechnology that could interact with the body and help it improve its function. It communicates with the brain through the neurons, and that was how Sam and Dad came to be. I was basically talking with the nanobots."
Rachel and Agnes looked at each other. Agnes' expression was pained. "I want to believe you, Al, but..."
"The expedited healing," Rachel said. "The radio signal interference. It really is them."
"What?" Agnes asked again, confused.
"It doesn't really matter," Rachel said. "Maybe it was just your brain playing tricks with you, Al, or maybe it was whatever Naira injected into you, but you're here, and you're awake, and that's what matters. The doctors have been in and they've said you're stabilized. Your cousins have come to visit and they've all donated blood in anticipation of your needing it."
Al didn't expect that, and he was embarrassed to feel tears in his eyes. "How thoughtful of them," he said. "And here I thought Rick would be angry I ruined his party."
Rachel's smile was stiff as she said, "Yeah, well, I think it's more like Rick has suddenly discovered what kind of family his son is marrying into. I don't know what Jared and his fiancee did after her mother and father were arrested for questioning, but things must be tense between them now."
"I feel bad for that young woman," Al said. "Do you think she knows how awful her father is?"
"She must have gotten some idea if she grew up with him," Agnes said. She checked her phone. "Okay, I'd better go. Mandeep is waiting at the hotel with the kids. We need to get home."
"That man's a saint," Rachel said. "And now he's heading back to help Lauren out."
"Lauren?" Al asked, surprised. "Why does she need help?"
"Well, while you were getting stabbed, my love, Joanie was in Agnes' house being threatened by two gunmen wearing balaclavas. Lauren teamed up with retired Detective Rhodes, and they broke into the house and stopped them. Lauren's in a little trouble because she used her sword to do it."
"Holy shit," Al breathed. "Why did she have her sword with her?"
"Remember Naomi mentioning her heritage project for school? She wanted to use it as a prop during the presentation."
"She didn't..." Al felt his stomach drop. "She didn't kill anyone, did she?"
Rachel chuckled. "No, but she did injure one of them badly. It was Rhodes who shot the other guy dead."
"Fuck," he breathed. "She didn't pull another Trybek, did she?"
"No," Rachel said, chuckling, "not the pecker, but the achilles tendons. She was under a bed at the time. She did break through a window just like you all did at the Trybek house, though."
Agnes blushed at the mention of a pecker, but Al was even more unnerved at what Lauren did. "Shit. That will cripple the guy for life. I don't think you can entirely repair those to normal function."
"Would you rather Joanie be dead?" Rachel asked pitilessly.
"No, of course not. But I can see why she's in trouble. I hope Mandeep will help her."
Rachel nodded, then remembered something. "Oh, and guess who's also dead."
Al blinked in surprise. "I thought you said there were two gunmen."
"Yeah, but remember the creep from Friday night? Agnes talked to him at the front door? He forced his way in when Joanie wouldn't let him in, and one of the gunmen shot him."
Al stared at them for a few seconds before saying, "What a fucking mess."
"I know."
"If Joanie hadn't taken the tracking device to my house," Agnes said, "That man might still be alive."
"But he didn't have to go there," Al said. "If he wasn't such a creep he might still be alive."
"Well, in any case, the police are going to be in possession of the house for a little longer, and then the clean up and the repair of the window... would it be okay if we stayed at your townhouse a little longer?
"Of course it is," Al said. "We won't be moving in yet. I'm sure I'll be here a little longer, anyway."
"A few days, at least," Rachel said. "The doctors haven't said yet. You'll probably have Joanie for company for a little longer, too, Agnes, since she's still in the news with this latest incident."
Agnes nodded. "Poor Joanie. She's not going to live this down for a while."
She came forward and, brazenly, leaned in and gave Al a soft peck on the lips. "Thank you, Al. You put yourself between those men and Emma and me. I'll never be able to repay you."
Al smiled and said, "It really was an instinct, I didn't even think about it."
"But you saved that piece of glass. I saw you do it. You knew you might have to use it that night if one of us was threatened."
He chuckled sheepishly. "Yeah, well, I'd like to think I'd do it for anybody I cared about."
She touched his cheek, her hand cool and soft. "Get better soon, and then come back home."
"Will do."
"I'll escort you to your taxi, Agnes," Rachel said, opening the door for her. Al saw a uniformed RCMP officer standing outside the room, and guessed that they were protecting everyone who'd crossed the Mercers while they were closing in on them. He appreciated that Rachel was making sure Agnes was safely in her taxi before she left her, but Al suspected she was also going to give her a telling off for that kiss. He hoped she wouldn't be too hard on her, they'd all been through enough last night and today.
When Rachel returned, she said, "Oh, I almost forgot, Lauren wanted me to tell you something."
"Me?" Al said.
Rachel smirked. "Yeah. She said that when Rhodes had his gun trained on the two gunmen, he shouted, 'Freeze, Snackpants!'"
Al burst out laughing. It hurt like hell because the muscle spasms were pulling at the stitches in his back, but he couldn't help it. "I knew it!" he cried. "He calls the perps Snackpants!"
Rachel chuckled, but only because his laughter was so contagious. "You and Lauren," she said, shaking her head, "you have a weird sense of humour."
Al didn't deny it. He couldn't. He was laughing so hard he thought his stitches might rupture. It was so loud that it woke Emma, who sat up, breathing in sharply, and looked around. "Where's Agnes?" she asked.
"Oh, she had to go, honey," Rachel said. "We'll see her and the kids when we get back home."
Emma got up and, realizing he was awake, ran over and hugged him awkwardly on the bed. "You're awake!"
"Hey, kiddo," he said, patting her back. "I hope you slept okay in that chair."
"A little. I don't think Mum slept at all, though."
"I really want you two to go back to the hotel and get some sleep, I'll be fine."
"Maybe we will," Rachel said. "I'd like to get out of this dress and have a shower, then sleep for twelve hours straight."
Al tried not to think of Rachel slipping out of that dress and stepping into the shower, not with Emma still draped over him. "Sounds good. Look, if you can't extend your stay, just go back home, I can make my own way back once I'm released."
"Don't even think about it. I nearly lost you once, I'm not letting you out of my sight again."
Suddenly there was a knock on the door, and to Al's surprise, Uncle Richard and Daphne stepped into the room. When they saw Al they brightened. "Oh, thank God," Daphne said. "We were so worried."
"Hi, Daphne, Uncle Richard," he said. "I hope I didn't ruin your night last night."
"We're just glad you're okay, son," Richard said, and to Al's surprise, his eyes were a little wet. Daphne gave him a quizzical look, as in, did he mean son as in a young man who was dear to him, or in the literal sense?
"I heard you all donated blood. That was very kind of you."
"I couldn't because of my advanced age," Richard said with a smirk. "But I'd like to contribute in a different way, if you're interested."
"How do you mean?"
"We thought you might prefer to recover closer to home," Daphne said. "With the doctors' permission, we'd like to arrange for you to be airlifted back to the Lower Mainland, maybe to VGH or Royal Columbian, and we'll pay the expense."
Al blinked in surprise. "Are you serious? Like, go in a helicopter?"
"We think it's best for everyone if you're as far away from the Mercers as possible," Richard said. "It's the least we can do after what you went through."
Al looked at Rachel, who was smiling gratefully at them. "We would really appreciate having him closer to home," she said.
"Then it's settled," Richard said with a clap of his hands.
"Can I go in the helicopter with Dad?" Emma asked.
Richard smiled at her and said, "I think they only let the patient on those flights, and anyway you'd probably be more comfortable in a plane."
Rachel was beaming at Emma, probably because that was the first time she heard Emma call her Dad. She didn't remark on it though, because she didn't want to embarrass her in front of the extended family. Instead, she said, "Thank you. That means the world to us."
"Yes. Thank you," Al said. "For everything."
Daphne smiled and said, "We're family. It's what we do."
Thanks for reading this far! Things are starting to wrap up but there's a little bit left to be revealed. If you liked what you read so far, hit "Vote" to send this title up the ranks. Leave a comment and let me know what you think!
Let's fast forward to a month from now and see how everyone's settling back in by clicking on "Continue reading."