by Palladian
“I’m feeling a lot better,” Lex said. “I’m really sorry for worrying everyone.”
Riss just shook her head. “Casey said you were getting stressed out.”
“I know,” Lex said as she picked up her toast once more, “I’ll try not to do it again.”
Riss only gave a small smile in return. After Lex had finished eating and was headed back to her room, the two of them parted in the hallway.
“Thanks for coming to watch over me,” Lex said with a wave in her friend’s direction.
“Just get some more sleep,” Riss replied as she turned away. Lex spotted the small smile on her face as she did.
To Lex’s relief, everyone managed to remain healthy until the next time Lily arrived. The group had been waiting for about an hour when Serena and Lily suddenly appeared in the main room.
“I’m very sorry,” Lily said before anyone could ask anything. “I couldn’t get away as soon as I thought I’d be able to, and so we’re late.”
Serena smiled and stretched. “Fine by me, because I got to spend a little extra time in Hawaii. Of course, I had to go before I could finish talking up that ripped surfer girl, though.”
Lily shook her head, but Lex thought she could detect the hint of a smile. “Thanks for the ride, Serena. Kate, are you ready to get started?”
Kate nodded but spoke before Lily could turn towards the stairs. “You’ll need to have a look at Lex while you’re out here, too. Do you want to do that later, or now?”
Eyebrow raised, Lily looked at Kate first, then Lex. Lex sighed and then gave a brief account of her latest headache. As Lex finished the story, she watched Lily close her eyes and sigh. “I’d hoped you’d be over those after you recovered fully.” She shook her head, then looked at Lex again. “Let’s go upstairs and have a look at what I can. I’m probably not going to be able to tell much more than last time, though.”
As they walked up the stairs, Lily quizzed Lex to get further details about what had happened, the time and intensity, and how long it lasted. “You know,” Lex mentioned, “I did have migraines before they even gave me the experimental drugs, but far less intense.”
Lily sighed again as she sat Lex down on her bed and rummaged through the bag she carried to bring out a few instruments. “Did you notice any other changes after you recovered?”
“Yes,” Lex said, trying not to sound guilty. She quickly described to Lily the new voice talents she and her friends had discovered that Lex possessed. Lily’s eyebrows raised, then she nodded with a smile.
After a moment, Lily asked, “Did you sing at all before this?” When Lex nodded in reply, Lily smiled as if she’d unlocked a puzzle piece. “It sounds like what has happened is that the drugs worked to amplify some of the things that you already did before. I’ve found that’s what occurred for others, as well.”
Lex nodded in reply and Lily continued. “It sounds like you ended up with enhanced voice talents…and migraines. I wonder if we’re in for any more surprises,” she finished, her voice trailing off as she looked toward the ground, her brow furrowed.
Finally, Lily looked Lex in the eye again. “Could you please lie down for a moment, Lex?” she asked, gesturing to Lex’s bed. “There’s something I’d like to try. I might be able to detect if you’ve grown a new structure in your brain using this method, but there’s no guarantee.”
“All right,” Lex agreed, getting comfortable. “What’s the big deal about growing some new organ, though?”
“Well,” Lily said as she put her hands on Lex’s head, “maybe nothing, but my real worry would be that if you grew a new part of your brain inside your cranium, well, it’s an enclosed space…”
Lily trailed off, but Lex gulped, suddenly quite aware of what the problem could be.
“All right,” Lily continued slowly, as if she was concentrating on something, “just try to relax, Lex. You might feel something warm where my hands are.”
Lex closed her eyes and tried to relax as she sank into the mattress, but she found it impossible as Lily’s hands seemed to go from warm to hot to almost boiling. Her hands had dug themselves into the covers and she could feel sweat dripping down her face by the time she heard Lily sigh and felt the other woman sit back.
“Sorry about that. I tried to push myself to see if I could find out what’s going on up in your head, but I couldn’t make it work. Sometimes I can picture what’s happening in someone’s body if I try that trick, but you turned me away somehow. All right, sit up and let’s go through the normal part of the exam.”
Lex patiently did everything that Lily requested, listening as the doctor sighed afterwards. “As I guessed, I couldn’t find anything new, so I’m going to give you some advice most doctors would give their patients who have migraines.”
Lily went through a list of dos and don’ts, finally asking, “Did my grandfather ever meditate with you?”
Nodding, Lex replied, “Yes, we practiced fairly frequently.”
“Good. I want you to start meditating every day. Since your headaches have become so severe, we need to do what we can to prevent you from having them. I’ll also write down some medications you could use; I know some you might have already tried, but if there are any you haven’t or any that have worked for you in the past, ask Riss to help you get these filled. Many doctors these days have automated systems for prescriptions, so I don’t think it should be too hard for the two of you to get it done, OK?”
“OK. Thanks, Lily,” Lex said as she stood, smiling at the doctor as the two of them began to walk back downstairs. “Also, I wanted to thank you for coming out here to help Kate. I don’t know what we would have done otherwise.”
Lily gave an extended sigh. “Please, don’t thank me Lex,” she replied softly. “I’m doing this because I owe you, all of you, all of us. I do what I have to in order to keep my family safe. I know it’s wrong, but I don’t know what else to do.”
Lex kept quiet as they reached the rest of the group, but mentally promised herself and the Chens that she’d find a way to get them free.
Kate and Lily had been about to climb the stairs when Victor appeared to have a quiet conversation with them before handing Lily something that looked like a pair of sunglasses and a small box. Serena, who’d continued to hang out because she wanted to talk to everyone, spoke up as Victor walked by on his way back to his laboratory.
“What was that?” she asked, looking at him curiously.
Victor smiled. “It was something I’ve been working on since I heard about what Kate and Lily would be doing,” he said. “The glasses have a small camera system on the side that goes toward the eye on Kate’s bad side. It can act as a microscope that projects what’s seen onto the glasses lens so that someone can see it from the outside. There’s a remote I gave Lily to allow her to focus in on what she wants to see so that they can tell what progress they’re making on healing Kate.”
“That’s excellent!” Serena said, voicing the enthusiasm that most of them seemed to feel at that moment. Casey and Lex grinned at each other, and then so did Lou and Casey.
As Victor went back into his lab, the rest of them dispersed into the front room. Lou worked on some of his bass parts for the band’s songs, sound turned down very low, while Casey did some research online. Riss sat near Casey, also doing something on her laptop.
“So,” Serena asked in a quiet voice as she and Lex sat at the table with some tea, “what are you guys going to be up to for the next week?”
“Well,” Lex replied, “I’m guessing we’ll all try to be quiet, and I think we’ll be doing a lot of cooking. Kate and Lily will both be using a lot of energy, so they should be eating and sleeping a lot. Otherwise, I guess we’ll just be crossing our fingers.”
They both exchanged a concerned look, then Serena smiled and changed the topic. Lex smiled in return, appreciating her friend’s attempt to lighten the mood, and they chatted for about an hour before Serena got up to go.
“OK, so yo
u’ll email me if you need me before next week at this time?” she asked, and Riss nodded in response.
“Don’t worry, we will,” Lex agreed, hugging Serena before stepping back to let the other woman go.
“You’d better watch that,” Serena replied with a grin, “or I won’t want to leave.” She laughed then and waved to everyone. “All right, see you in a week,” she finished before disappearing.
The remainder of Lily’s visit fell into an uneasy pattern. The rest of the house, aside from Riss, got up before Kate and Lily. Lou, Casey, and Lex all worked out before Lily would come to the head of the stairs. She always looked exhausted, but when Casey, Lex, Victor, or Lou brought some breakfast upstairs for the two of them, they would usually find that Kate looked even more tired, although she’d always showered and dressed by the time they saw her. The people who brought up breakfast would have an opportunity to visit while Lily and Kate ate, and then the two would shut themselves up in Kate’s room for the rest of the day. Someone brought up food periodically and removed any empty dishes. The rest of the household worked on various projects downstairs, but none of them could help looking towards the stairs periodically, wondering. Kate and Lily seemed too wiped out to reappear in the evenings in general, although once or twice Lily had come downstairs for a few minutes, informing them that everything was going as well as could be expected.
On one of the evenings Lily appeared downstairs, Lex happened to be the only one in the main room, with Riss sitting not far away at the kitchen table with her laptop. Lily collapsed more than sat on the other end of the sofa that Lex had been curled up on, reading a novel.
“Are you all right?” Lex asked.
“As well as can be expected.” After a moment, Lily gave a faint grin as she looked at Lex. “It’s going well, in case you were wondering.”
“Actually, I wanted to ask about your son,” Lex said, hoping she hadn’t overstepped a boundary. “I know it’s probably hard for him to be separated from you for so long. Is he staying with relatives?”
At Lex’s words, Lily looked down at her hands. “Yes. I did explain that I’d be back in a week, but I don’t think kids like to have their parents gone for so long at that age. As far as where he’s staying, he’s with his father’s parents.”
Lex felt her eyebrows rise, since Lily had never spoken of him before. She felt curious and wanted to ask more, but finally decided that it was Lily’s story to tell. “Ah,” she eventually settled on saying, which seemed to make Lily laugh.
“I can feel your curiosity all the way over here,” Lily said. “I didn’t know it when we started dating, but he was like us. He didn’t survive the labs, though.”
“I’m so sorry,” Lex replied, her hand halfway over her mouth.
“It was years ago, now.” Lily had closed her eyes and relaxed back on the couch, and it took a minute for Lex to realize that Lily had fallen asleep. After half-carrying the doctor upstairs, Lex retreated to her own bed.
Due to the lack of information, no one felt quite sure what to expect on the evening that Lily left. Serena had appeared as promised, but before they both disappeared, Casey had asked Lily what, if anything, they still needed to do, or if there were any instructions Kate should follow.
Lily sighed and yawned behind her hand before speaking. “Well,” she began, “I did talk to Kate about this, but she was pretty wiped out, so she might not remember it all. Make sure she eats well over the next week or so, at least. I noticed that her appetite wasn’t all that great even though she was expending a lot of energy, so if you could encourage her, maybe make things she likes to eat, that would be great. She’s still got something she’s working on, so if someone could check in on her a couple of times a day to make sure she’s fine and has everything she needs, that would be good, too. She should be fine now, but…well, I’ll let her explain the rest to you,” Lily said as she moved closer to Serena. “Thanks for all your hospitality,” she concluded.
Lex and Casey both shook their heads. “No, thank you for coming out,” Casey said. “I know it wasn’t easy.”
Serena and Lily both waved just before they disappeared.
The next morning, Lex worked out for a while, fitfully, before giving up. After she made a tray full of breakfast, she negotiated the stairs. She held her breath for a moment in front of Kate’s door, then gently knocked, figuring she would go back down if Kate didn’t answer. To her relief, she heard a tired voice telling her to come in, so Lex opened the door and pushed it wide enough to admit her and the tray.
Kate sat up in the bed but still looked tired, blinking and yawning. She smiled at Lex, though, and slid over to make room for the tray.
“Hey, you brought food!” Kate said with enthusiasm.
“Yeah, and Lily said we should remind you that you need to eat. So, I made one of your favorites: oatmeal!”
Kate laughed. “Yeah, weird that it would be. Thanks for making it.”
“Just put in a lot of nuts and raisins so that you can keep your strength up.” Lex hesitated for a moment as she watched her friend, looking at the eye patch she still wore. Finally, she shook her head and spoke. “So, how’s it going?”
Looking at Lex for a moment, Kate tilted her head to the side and shrugged. “Well, it’s not done healing, but it’s a damn sight better than before. Lily says that I’m out of danger as far as my body going crazy, but she also told me that I’m going to have to work on it for another week or so before it’ll probably be completely healed.”
“That’s great that you’ve come this far!” Lex said enthusiastically, through bites of her own breakfast.
“You’re right, I just…well, I just want to be able to go downstairs and show everyone I’m better, though, you know?” Kate said, giving Lex an intense look.
Lex nodded in response. “Yeah, I know exactly what you mean,” she said with a little laugh. Kate looked a bit sheepish, but Lex just shrugged. “So, can I tell Victor he can come up after we finish eating? I know he’s been worrying about you.”
“Sure, but I’ve got to get cracking after that,” Kate said with a grin.
“So, how about I come by after dinner and see how you’re doing?” Lex asked after they’d finished eating, as she headed for the door.
Kate smiled. “You’d better. I’ll go crazy if I have to sit in my room all day and not see anyone else at all.”
Lex arrived every morning that week to have breakfast with Kate, sometimes joined by others. In the evenings they’d tell stories or just hang around awhile until they had to go to bed.
Near the end of the week, Lex came into Kate’s room one morning to find her friend still sleeping. She turned, meaning to leave again, when she heard a noise and looked over to find Kate waking up.
“Good morning,” Lex said to her with a smile. “I can come back later if you want some time to get together first.”
“No, don’t bother,” Kate said with a huge grin. “Come over here, I’ve got something to show you.”
Lex sat on the edge of the bed, trying not to clench her fists together too hard and show her friend how nervous she felt. She held her breath as she watched Kate gingerly take off her eye patch, then she sucked in a breath. Kate had an eyelid that worked, and Lex watched those short lashes flutter as her friend’s new eyelid opened.
Jaw falling open in surprise, Lex took a good look at what she recognized as Kate’s new eye. It looked perfect, like any other one she’d seen, and Lex felt so shocked and happy to see it after having seen the infected-looking empty socket that Kate used to have that tears come to her own eyes. After a moment to take all of that in, Lex’s gaze slid back to compare Kate’s two eyes. To her surprise, the new eye had a completely different color than the original. The eye color Kate had been born with, an attractive hazel, complimented her auburn hair. Lex’s jaw fell open again as she realized the new eye had come in a deep indigo, a gorgeous hue that she’d never seen in any other eye she’d encountered.
When she
finally found her voice, Lex said, “You grew a new eye! And it looks…”
“I know, right?” Kate replied, laughing. “The color’s different!” After a glance down at her hands, Kate met Lex’s eye, her expression serious. “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything earlier. I thought about it, but…I didn’t want to give anyone false hope, in case Lily and I couldn’t manage it. She warned me it might not work, but somehow I guess we did it.”
“Your new eye is so beautiful!” Lex said, unable to stop a few tears from sliding down her cheeks. “I’m so happy for you. This is incredible; I can hardly believe it.”
She hugged her friend, and felt Kate’s strong arms hugging back. After a moment, Lex pulled back to look at Kate again.
“So, how does it feel? Does it work all right?” Lex asked, knowing by now that Kate appreciated straight questions.
“It feels fine,” Kate said with a nod, blinking her eyes. “As to how it works…well, I wasn’t getting anything at first, which was one of the reasons I put off showing anyone. Then, yesterday, I started to see light, and now I’m seeing light and shapes. I think I’ll work on it for one more day and then show everyone else tomorrow. I wanted to show you and Victor first, though.”
“Well, thanks for that,” Lex said, unable to wipe away the big smile on her face. “Do you want me to go get Victor?”
Kate gave her a big smile in response. “Yeah, that’d be great, thanks.”
So when Kate came downstairs the following morning to sit at the table, and then removed her eye patch, Lex and Victor just smiled in response. Casey had her hand in front of her mouth for the next few minutes and apologized for not being able to stop staring. Lou gave a smile and asked Kate if she really hadn’t just been hiding that eye under the patch this whole time.
Kate’s new eye was still under discussion sometime later when Riss came downstairs. She just stood there for a moment when Kate turned fully to look at her, blinking as she stared at Kate’s face. Finally, Riss sat down at the table with her laptop, facing Kate. She broke into a smile before she spoke.
