by Ali Vali
"Ok, let’s take it from the top, what happened here and better yet, what are you doing here?"
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"I was using the bathroom if you really want to know. As for the rest, I didn’t care for the breakfast selection they brought in." Harry was standing at the small sink in the room brushing her teeth and trying to get her hair to do something besides stand on end.
"You are not supposed to be out of bed Dr. Basantes, and stop terrorizing the staff by throwing jello at them. I swear, doctors make absolutely the worst patients." Harry tried directing a scowl at Desi but her head hurt so bad that she could only manage a weak smile.
"I don’t like stainless steel bedpans, and it is unnatural to have jello for breakfast Mrs. Basantes so leave me alone." Harry shuffled back to the bed and tried to look contrite.
"I’ll have them put bacon in it next time. Now behave or I won’t let you visit with your favorite person." Desi removed the blanket that was covering Jack and brought him over to the bed.
The night had been a whirlwind nightmare for both of them as Mona’s surgery went on for hours to repair all the damage Byron’s stabbing had done. Harry refused to be taken from Charity until she knew Mona would be all right, so they had all sat together down in the waiting room. Sally humored the bunch that consisted of all the parents, Rachel and her group, and Harry and Desi who were lying together on the stretcher with Jack. Once all the arrests were made, Roger had promised them a report in the morning as to how things had gotten so far out of hand.
"Come here my boy." Harry held her hands out waiting for Desi to deposit Jack into them. The moment he heard Harry’s voice, Jack picked his head up off Desi’s shoulder and looked toward the bed. In it was the person both he and his mother had used as a mattress the night before. The E.R. nurse Sally had made the comment when he had come in with Rachel, screaming his head off, that Jack was a doctor in the making.
"How are you feeling?" Desi sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed Harry’s leg through the thin gown she was wearing. The effects of the night before hadn’t worn off yet and she couldn’t seem to stop touching Harry.
"I’m ok baby, stop worrying. The important thing here is that we’re all ok, just a little bump on the head, nothing we can’t handle." Desi was about to protest when Dr. Harold Hebert walked in and backed up what Harry was saying. The chief of neurology at the hospital had been looking at the scans of Harry’s head for the last hour.
"She’s right. It seems from looking at all the film that I have been right about this patient all along." Harold rocked on his heels and smiled at the young cocky surgeon. Harry wasn’t all that different from him when he was her age.
"What?" Desi tightened her hold on Harry’s leg expecting the worst.
"Thick skull wrapped around a pea brain." The last of the strawberry jello hit with dead on accuracy on the left lens of the older doctor’s glasses.
"Harry I can’t believe you just did that." Desi laughed at the way the man calmly took off his glasses and wiped them down with the handkerchief he had pulled out of his back pocket.
"Despite the display of childish behavior, I’m releasing you to the beautiful woman sitting on your bed. And just remember, when you least expect it, you will find some hideous flavored jello somewhere where you don’t want it." Harold turned and left before Harry could respond to his threat.
"Come on menace, let’s get you dressed and we’ll go check on Mona. She’s down in intensive care, but her doctor let me know that she can be moved by this afternoon. I just hope she can forgive me all this when she comes to." Desi took the baby back and handed Harry a bag Raul had packed from home. Harry’s parents had been so supportive the night before as they had waited with Mona’s family for word of her progress. There was always that fear that the couple would just try and convince their daughter that she might be better off alone than with the baggage Desi had brought with her into Harry’s life. It made her feel good that the couple had fussed over her and Jack before they got to Harry and her injuries.
"What’s the matter my love?" Harry saw the flash of insecurity that marred Desi’s face for an instant. "I promised you and Jack would be all right, and I was right."
"I know, it’s silly but I just think you would have been better off with someone else after everything that’s happened. Who else could say that their lover’s ex-husband has broken into their house - not once but twice - trying to kill them?" Desi felt the long body press up against her back and she and Jack leaned into it.
"You, young lady are who I want to be with, and if the bastard lives and wants to break in again, he will meet with more of what he got this time and the time before that. You do realize that if you hadn’t come back to me, that we wouldn’t have this little guy in our lives? Just like his mommy, Jack is perfect and a very welcomed addition into my life." Harry put her arms around both Desi and Jack and squeezed just a little. They were still pressed together when the door opened and someone stepped into the room.
"Should we come back later, like when you are wearing underwear?" Roger’s voice was filled with humor when he saw the short hospital gown Harry was wearing, showing off more than she would want considering she was facing away from the door.
"And you don’t knock, because why?" Harry pulled her gown closed as she asked the question.
"I have a big gold badge, that’s why. It’s one of the perks of the job."
"Give me a minute to get dressed and we’ll head out and have some coffee for our little talk." Harry left Desi with the two officers as she went into the bathroom to get ready.
Harry bought them all something to drink and walked them out to a well-kept garden area that was deserted and a surprise to all but Harry, considering where they were. The doctor laughed at their expression when they took in the winter grass, wooden benches and tulips that were plentiful in the gardens that were mulched and weed free.
"How did you find this place in all this madness?" Desi pulled the fleece hat Jack was wearing over his ears and made sure his bunting was zipped all the way to the top.
"In my first year of residency here, I was walking around trying to stay awake and I took a wrong turn in there somewhere. I found this place, and I found Charlie." Harry sat along side Desi and put her arm around her to keep the smaller woman warm.
"Charlie?" Desi looked up at Harry whose head was haloed by the sun.
"He was one of the ground’s keepers here at the hospital. He was an older gentleman who had lost his wife and spent most of his time out here working in the gardens planting the kinds of flowers that were his wife’s favorites. In my four years of training here at the hospital, Charlie and I celebrated his wife’s birthday, their anniversary and all the other important dates he kept track of. We talked and got to be friends over the years, and it made him happy when I would come out to sit with him and brought a sack of some kind of bulb or another with me. They bloom all year long now and I still think I’m the only one who sees them." The softness of Harry’s voice when she spoke of the man told Desi that her lover cared for the man a lot.
"Does Charlie still take care of the flowers love?" Desi welcomed the soft kiss that Harry pressed against her lips. The two detectives were as curious as Desi to hear the end of the doctor’s story but didn’t want to interrupt the sweet moment they were looking on.
"No, he died three years ago. That’s why you never heard me talk about him, and with my schedule I don’t get out here as much as I did before, but I try and come out and plant at least one bulb in memory of he and his wife’s anniversary. The state doesn’t know it but I have our yard people from the house come out here once a week to keep it looking like Charlie did. I’ll bring you and Jack out here in the spring to see the wildflowers that come up every year." Harry kissed Desi again then turned to Roger and Oscar for answers. "Well?"
"I’ll start with what’s definite. Tyrell Lagrie is in custody and has admitted to pin
ning Byron to your bedroom floor with the knife that we found sticking out of him. Byron is in the prisoners’ ward with broken bones and a stab wound to the abdomen, and will remained chained to his hospital bed until he can be arraigned on new charges. His younger brother Mike is keeping him company in that ward with a severe fracture in his hip and left leg, and he is awaiting the same fate." Roger was about to tell them about the request Mike had made once he had been stabilized, but Desi interrupted him.
"He wasn’t there to help Byron, Mike was there to help me and Rachel." Harry looked at her partner in shock and it almost came close to the shock on Desi’s face for having said it. From the instant she saw the two brothers together, Desi had thought all of the lives in the bedroom the night before would be lost until Mike tackled his brother to the ground. His warning to run was still ringing through her head.
"What do you mean baby?"
"Just that Harry, Mike came in and got into a fight with Byron and that allowed Rachel to get out with Jack. That’s how all the furniture and doors got damaged."
"Baby if you had the chance to run out, then why didn’t you?"
"I couldn’t run and leave Mona there alone. Mike fought him long enough for Rachel to get out with the baby and that’s what was the most important thing to me at the time. He’s just a baby honey, I couldn’t let Byron touch him."
"He won’t ever get that chance Desi, when the system is done with him he won’t ever get out." Roger looked directly at Desi when he said it then lifted his eyes to Harry for the next part. The tall doctor was the more explosive of the two. "Mike asked to see you Harry as soon as he was brought in to the hospital. Don’t kill me for delivering the message, but I thought that you might want to know. He didn’t tell me what it was about, all he said was he wanted to see you. I know this sounds crazy now, but what was Tyrell doing in your house?" Roger asked the question of both of them, and Desi was grateful when Harry answered for both of them.
"Tyrell’s sister is a patient of mine and is currently in this hospital. Why and how he got into our house last night, I don’t know."
"Did you have any contact with Tyrell before last night?" asked Oscar.
"I didn’t really have contact with him last night detective, I was unconscious at the time. But to answer your question, yes I did." Their attorney would want to kill her if anything came of this, but Harry wanted to be honest.
"And you didn’t think to tell us about that?" Oscar leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees.
"You didn’t really ask me, and the conversations I’ve had with the man were about his sister’s care, which is not the police’s business. Are you accusing me of something detective?"
"No doctor, we are just trying to piece together what happened. The Simoneaux angle in all this makes sense to me, but the big guy was a mystery. He has been a model of civility since we brought him in, but again, he asked to talk with you too." Oscar closed his notebook and put it back in his coat pocket, as far as he was concerned the case was closed and all the bad guys were accounted for.
"Well it looks like I’ll have a busy afternoon." Harry stood and shook hands with both police officers before they left she and Desi alone. When the door back into the hospital clicked closed Harry sat back down and took Jack from Desi. She carefully put the sleeping baby’s head on the shoulder opposite Desi and turned toward her partner. Harry ran her hands through Desi’s new haircut and pulled the sweet face toward hers. They didn’t share any more words as they reconnected with lips and touch trying to convince their hearts that they had come out of the war unscathed.
Desi couldn’t help but touch Harry wherever she could reach. The lips that were coaxing hers open were driving her crazy but at the moment she didn’t care. Harry was alive and she had beaten Byron again at the physical game he loved to play. Harry, the woman who loved her so much was not the weak woman the man Desi had been married to was used to. Harry Basantes was passionate and strong at whatever she tried, but the most important thing Desi loved about her was that the good doctor belonged to her. This gentle giant would make it her life’s mission to see that Desi was happy and wanted, and Desi poured her feelings of happiness and belonging into her kiss.
"Do you like it?" Desi asked when their lips parted.
"Your kisses. Yep, always have."
"No goober, my hair. It’s not too short, is it?" She ran a hand through the short locks Rachel had cut the day before. Desi had gone shorter when she and Harry had gotten back together, but now it was way short.
"I love everything about you sweetheart, but if you need a definite answer, I love it."
"I want to go home honey." Desi leaned into the warm body again and felt so relaxed she could take a nap.
"Your wish is my command love, let’s go." Harry kissed her one last time and held her hand out for Desi to take.
"Are you sure that Mona will be all right?"
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"She’ll be fine. It will give us an excuse to wait on her for change of pace."
"I should have moved faster to get into that room before he had the chance to do that to that poor woman."
"Don’t worry about that now, like I said, she’ll be fine." Harry tried to find a comfortable spot on the chair she was sitting in and decided there wasn’t one, so she tried to make the best of it.
"Thanks for agreeing to see me."
"That was easy Tyrell, you gave your word and you kept it. When you showed up last night, you guaranteed that my family was going to survive. I am certain that if I had not shown up last night, Desi and my son Jack would have still been safe from that son of a bitch." Harry drummed the fingers of one hand on the Formica topped table while the others held up the phone she was using to talk to Tyrell.
"I had your back doc, after all, like you said, I gave my word. Did you keep yours?" The prisoner on the other side of the Plexiglas window looked even more imposing with the orange jump suit he had on. His brown eyes, so much like his sister’s, looked at Harry as if begging for good news. To hear it meant the weeks he spent out of jail would be worth the years they would tack onto his sentence.
"I kept my end Tyrell and she’s going to be fine. There was a lot to fix and clean up in there, but when Dianna’s done with me, I promise it will be because she’s better." Harry smiled to show she was sincere, but there was something that was still bothering her. "What happens now?"
"Legal aid will send some young pup over here who will hopefully work out some deal that won’t leave me bleeding too much. I had to try to get out doc; I hope you can understand that? Trust me, Bryon and those others were not in my plan. Hell I didn’t have a plan, it was mostly the circumstances of the moment."
"Yeah I can understand that and I don’t blame you for Byron." Harry hesitated a moment then asked, "Are you a prideful man Tyrell?"
"What are you talking about Dr. Basantes?" Tyrell leaned forward toward the partition with a confused look.
"There’s somebody outside who I want you to meet with and I don’t want you to worry about his fees because Desi and I will take care of that. Now call me Harry and agree with me without having to send my partner down here to get you to agree." Harry smiled and put her hand up to the glass since she couldn’t physically shake his hand yet. Tyrell smiled back at her and put his much larger hand up against hers. "Damn Tyrell, you would have been an awesome surgeon with hands like that."
Harry motioned the guard on her side to let Jerry in to talk with Tyrell. When the attorney entered she gave up her chair and was about to give up the phone when she told him one more thing. "He’s no young pup, but he knows his way around the courthouse. This is Jerry Castle, and he’s here to help you Tyrell."
"Thanks doc." Tyrell smiled at Harry. "Give Dianna my love when you see her."
"Will do." With a last pat to Jerry’s shoulder and a smile at Tyrell, Harry left them to their business and worked her way out of the building on her way
to make one more stop before she went to meet Desi.
"How did it go?" asked Desi. She was spending the day with Rachel until they decided what to do about the house. Harry had gotten hotel rooms for everyone else staying with them and had instructed Stephen and his crew to continue working on the roof repairs.
"All right I guess. I got to tell him thanks for keeping an eye on all of you until I was able to get up there, and I got him to talk to Jerry. Now I have just one more visit to make and I’ll be done for the day, so save me a spot on the bed so we can take a nap later."
"That spot is permanently reserved honey, don’t worry about that." Harry laughed before ending the call as she pulled into the parking lot at Charity hospital. She entered the building through the main entrance and walked all the way to the back of the building headed toward another separate building on the campus. Most of the general public in New Orleans never knew of its existence, and it was known by those who did as ‘Little Angola.’ The guards who were responsible for its security worked for the state prison and all the patients taking up beds were state inmates.
The guards had put Mike and Byron at opposite ends of the room and Harry could see that the medical personnel had Byron heavily sedated. His brother Mike was awake and watching the tall doctor make her way toward his bed. They had never officially met and had only seen each other on a handful of occasions, most of which were during the trial that had sentenced the brothers to Angola. It was that lack of knowledge of what kind of person Harry was that was giving Mike a hard time reading the expression on her face.
"You asked to see me?"
"Yes, thank you for coming. You don’t know me Dr. Basantes, not really, but I wanted to apologize to you for what happened. I was there last night to try and stop my brother from hurting anyone in your house, especially Desi and the baby. Something happened to my father and him in prison and they kinda lost their minds, it doesn’t make what happen right, but I just thought I would tell you." Mike wanted to shift in the bed but was in so much pain he just tried to ignore the lump he was lying on.
