Operation Rescue - The New Co-Ed; Chapter 17 free porn video

Operation Rescue: The New Co-Ed Chapter 17 - Ma A young man gets in trouble and loses his scholarship. It looks like his dream of college to escape a poor future is doomed - until he sees an ad recruiting 'adoption facilitators'. Tommi discovers a complication with her treatments, and another complication back home with her mother. [email protected] ********************************************************************** "Sorry, Tommi," Dr. Tina said sadly. "This happens sometimes." Tommi shook her head. "You're sure?" "You felt the symptoms. You know how you reacted. You tell _me_ that I'm wrong." Tommi sighed and let her head droop. "Okay ... okay, you're right. Now what?" She felt defeated - again. "Well," Dr. Tina began hesitantly, "medically, there are a few options. But this is more than a medical issue. It's personal, too. Maybe we should go talk with Rachel." Tommi slowly nodded. "I guess that's probably the best thing." She rose, following Dr. Tina out of the exam room, and down the hall. After a few turns in the corridor, Dr. Tina stuck her head in Rachel's office. "Got a few minutes?" Rachel nodded. "Sure. I was about to check out early, so I know my calendar is open." She saw Tommi following Dr. Tina into the office. "What's up?" Dr. Tina sank into one chair. "Tommi had an allergic reaction to her last dose of 'Beard Stop'," she said simply. Rachel glanced quickly at Tommi, who had taken another chair. "Oh?" Dr. Tina nodded. "Pretty severe reaction, too. One of the drugs we gave her to slow down her cycle must have over-sensitized her to the 'Beard Stop'." Rachel winced. "Not good." Tommi nodded her agreement with Rachel's assessment. "Big time not good. Without the 'Beard Stop', I'll have facial hair growing again. In fact, it's already started a little." "What are Tommi's options?" Rachel asked Dr. Tina, pretty sure she already knew the answer. "There are only three." She ticked off the choices on her fingers. "First, you can go back to shaving. Second, there's electrolysis, either electrical or laser. Third is the new chemical depiliation." Tommi wrinkled her nose. "Shaving every day won't cut it," she observed, ignoring her own pun. "And electrolysis is permanent?" She saw the confirming nod from Rachel. "What's the chemical depilatory? Is that like Nair or something?" "Something like it, but it's a one-shot treatment." "That sounds better than the other two," Tommi said hopefully. "It's a one-time treatment because it's permanent," Dr. Tina continued. Tommi's face fell. "So you're telling me that I don't really have _any_ good options?" Rachel nodded. "Depending on what you call _good_. From your point of view, though, no, there aren't any." Tommi sank back in her chair, drawing a deep breath. "What about just using Nair every so often? Won't that work?" Dr. Tina shook her head. "No. Some of the chemicals will be absorbed through your skin, and enter your bloodstream. Repeated use could be harmful to the baby." "Great," Tommi said bitterly. "So I either shave, or I permanently lose my facial hair, right?" "I'm afraid so," Dr. Tina confirmed. "Okay, I've heard that conventional electrolysis takes a long time and is very uncomfortable. True?" She looked at Rachel and Tina for an answer. Rachel nodded. "True." "That one is out. Shaving is out. The remaining choices I have are laser electrolysis and the chemical?" Dr. Tina nodded. "Laser electrolysis is less uncomfortable, but might take a couple of repeat treatments. The new chemical depilation is much quicker, but we'd have to check for sensitivity first." "And if we go the chemical route? What about effects on the baby?" Dr. Tina shook her head. "The Foundation's main lab developed the formula. They test _everything_ for fetal toxicity. We're pretty proud that anything from our labs is the safest thing on Earth for babies in utero." "But I'll be permanently hairless, right?" She shook her head. "That's like ... jumping off a cliff. There's no going back." Dr. Tina stood. "You probably want to talk with Rachel some about this." She left Tommi and Rachel to talk. Rachel watched Tommi, sitting slumped back in her chair, with her head hanging low. "This isn't what you were expecting today, is it?" Tommi shook her head. "No," she said softly. "This is ... kind of overwhelming." "Because it's permanent? Because it feels like you're taking another step toward becoming irrevocably female?" Rachel asked. Tommi nodded. "Yeah. That's exactly it. Just like so many things that have happened so far." "I know lots of men who'd love to not have to shave every morning. No more nicks, no more blades or shaving cream, ten minutes less of chore to get ready." "Yeah," Tommi countered, "but they _can_ grow a beard or moustache if they want to. If I go through with this, I'll never be able to grow one." "And what's wrong with that? Is your manhood is measured by your facial hair?" Rachel asked. "In some cultures, it is, yes," Tommi rebutted. "But not ours." "No, not ours." Tommi shut her eyes and took a few long slow breaths. When she opened her eyes again, she bit her lower lip. "Okay. Let's go ahead and get it over with. Let's go with the chemical treatment." "Are you sure, Tommi?" Rachel asked. She could see that this was a huge step for Tommi. "You don't have to decide right this minute." "Yeah, but the last treatment is wearing off, and I'll be a hairy ape in a couple of days. Let's do it." ********** Katie glanced over at Tommi as Tommi clicked off her cell phone. Tommi was white and her mouth hung open in shock. "What's wrong?" Katie asked immediately. Tommi shook her head back and forth slowly, as if she didn't comprehend. "Tommi," Katie repeated, more insistently, "what's wrong?" "Liz called." Tommi slowly turned toward Katie. "It's Ma." "What's happened?" Tommi continued shaking her head sadly. "She ... had a heart attack. She's ... she's in pretty bad shape." "She's still alive, then?" Tommi nodded. "Barely. She's in critical condition." She rose slowly. "I've got to go find Sara." Katie shook her head and stood. "I'll go find her," she offered. "You aren't supposed to overdo things." She gently pushed Tommi back down on her bed. Tommi nodded slowly. "Okay." She let herself fall onto her side and curled up into a fetal position. A knock sounded, then the door opened, and Jillian came in. "Hi," she said in a chipper voice. She noticed Tommi lying on her bed. "Are you okay?" she asked immediately, her cheerful disposition changing instantly to concern. "It's my Ma," Tommi said in a barely-audible voice. "She had a bad heart attack." Jillian sat down beside her on the bed. "Oh, I'm so sorry," she whispered. "Is there anything I can do?" Tommi shook her head. "No." She sighed heavily. "I ...." She paused, biting her lip. "Ma and I never got along. She ... hates me for not living up to what my Dad wanted, and she hates me more for what I'm doing now." "That's pretty tough to deal with," Jillian said. "Are you going to go see her?" Tommi sighed. "I'd rather not, but with Sara here ... I'll probably _have_ to." "I understand." The door opened and Katie entered, followed by Sara. As soon as Katie saw Jillian, she gave her a withering glare. "Jillian," she said simply in acknowledgement of the presence of the girl. Jillian looked up at Katie and frowned. "Katie, Sara," she said, sounding a little hurt by the animosity being displayed to her. She turned back to Tommi. "I've got to run, and your sister is here. Let me know if there's anything I can do for you." She stood, ignoring the continuing glares directed her way, and walked out with as much dignity as she could muster. Katie didn't wait for the door to close behind Jillian. "I found Sara," she announced. Sara looked down at Tommi, who was uncurling herself to sit up. "Is something wrong?" she asked. Tommi nodded slowly. "Ma had a heart attack." "When?" Sara was shocked by the news. "A few hours ago. I just got a call from Liz." "How is she? She's all right, isn't she?" Tommi shook her head. "I don't know. Liz said she's in pretty bad shape. She's in the hospital." Tommi glanced up at Katie. "It's not a big hospital. It's not good for critical cases like heart attacks. That's all I know." Sara stared at Tommi for several seconds. "When are we going?" she finally asked. Tommi shook her head. "I don't know if we can." "We've got to go." "But ... classes and homework and ..." Tommi said hesitantly. "She's our mother!" Sara said, frustrated that Tommi seemed to be hesitating. Katie nodded. "Tommi, you _have_ to go." "But ...." It was clear that Tommi _really_ didn't want to go home. "My car isn't in good shape, and besides, I have a calc quiz every Thursday." Katie moved over to sit beside Tommi. "Tommi," she began soothingly, "I understand how you feel. I was _there_ with you last Christmas, remember? How many times have we talked about your family and how much they hurt you? I _know_. But you still have to go." "But..." "But you _have_ to try! You have to reach out. What happens if she doesn't make it? Will you feel guilty for not trying to mend fences with your her?" Katie pleaded with Tommi. Sara added her voice. "Tommi, please. We have to go!" "But ... my car won't make it!" Katie solved that problem. "Take mine. You can leave Thursday after your quiz." Tommi glanced back and forth between Katie and Sara. "I don't think it's going to do any good," she mumbled. "But I'll go." ********** "Call if you need me," Katie reminded the two girls. "And be careful." Tommi nodded morosely. "We will." She rolled up the window and put the car in gear. As they rolled through town, Sara seemed nervous. "My driving's not _that_ bad," Tommi joked. Sara tried to smile but failed. "I got chewed out by Liz last night for not being there already," she explained. "Yeah. She ragged on me, too." "She said the doctors aren't very hopeful because Ma is so overweight and smokes so much." "Sara," Tommi started, but she stopped abruptly. "What?" "You may find that there's nothing there for you anymore," Tommi finished her thought. "And if you do, it's going to be ... painful." "Tommi, how much have I talked about home since I got to college?" "Uh, not much I guess." "How many times have I asked about going home?" "None?" Sara nodded. "Liz was so vicious to me that I don't really want to see her. And Ma - well, Ma wasn't nice to me _ever_!" "But ... you were the baby of the family!" Tommi protested in surprise. She couldn't believe the words she was hearing from Sara. "I overheard Ma and Dad arguing once," Sara confessed. "Dad blamed Ma for not giving him, quote, a bunch of strong, strapping sons, unquote. I was Ma's last chance. I think she took Dad's frustration with her out on me." "I know _I_ was a disappointment to Dad," Tommi admitted softly. The old wound had been reopened, and she felt misty-eyed. "So was I," Sara added. "You couldn't hear, because of where your room was, but sometimes, late at night, I could hear them arguing a lot." Tommi said nothing, trying to fit these new pieces into the puzzle that was her parents' lives. Slowly, she was realizing that the family she _thought_ she knew wasn't anything like reality. "Ma blamed both all of us for her not being able to go back to school and get her associate degree," Sara continued. "I never knew that." "Dad always said she didn't have time to go off to school. You remember when Rufe Johnson died?" "I remember," Tommi said softly. "After the funeral, Dad went out with the guys and got really drunk. When he got home, Ma and Dad had a real big argument. She said he was keeping her from bettering herself. She said that she could have been a bookkeeper or even a nurse's aide. She didn't want him working in the mine, because she was afraid it'd kill him, just like it did Rufe. Dad got really mad at that. You know that the mine was his life. He told her that she wasn't capable of that sort of job, since she wasn't even capable of giving him strong sons. She threatened to leave him and prove him wrong." "I didn't know that." "Dad beat her pretty bad that night," Sara said sadly. "Remember how she claimed she fell down the stairs?" "Yeah." Sara shook her head. "It wasn't the stairs. It was Dad." "I ... I suspected something like that happened," Tommi admitted very softly. "I guess I never wanted to admit it to myself." She sighed. She hadn't wanted to confront the awful truth of her home. "I think Ma started hating us both that night. Up to then, I think she just resented that we weren't the big strong boys Dad wanted. She resented how much time we took so she couldn't go back to school. Mostly, she was jealous of her best friend, Marlene, who _did_ get an education and had a good job in the hospital." Sara sighed. "But after that night, I think she started actually _hating_ us." Tommi sat silently, trying to accept confirmation of what she'd always tried to deny. "But ... Liz? She and Ma ..." Sara sighed sadly. "Liz and Ma were both angry and resentful, and they fed off each other's hate. They still do." "But, why would Liz feel so angry and hateful?" "She hated you from the day you were born. She was the first-born, and was special for a while. And then you were born." Sara shook her head sadly. "Sometimes, late at night, when she thought I was asleep, I used to lay quietly and listen to her curse you and the day you were born. She cursed me, she cursed Dad. Basically, she hated all of us. All but Ma." "I don't get it. I thought she hated Ma." Sara nodded somberly. "She probably does, in a way. I think she blamed Ma for getting pregnant with you and spoiling her place in the spotlight as the only child. She blamed Ma for getting pregnant with me and spoiling her role as Daddy's little girl. She blamed Ma for not getting an education before she had Liz in the first place so she'd have had a more privileged life. But in a way, she identifies with Ma, because that validates her self-pity. The one she really hated was Dad." Tommi was thoroughly confused. "That doesn't make sense. Why?" "Because he turned his back on his precious little daughter when you were born." "She always had to blame someone else, didn't she?" "Yup. And she's just like Ma in that regard." Sara sighed. "I was right when I thought she was pregnant. She was. She got married right away and moved out." "Just like Ma did when she was Liz's age?" Tommi speculated. "Uh huh. And she's smoking now, too. Just like Ma." Tommi shook her head. "And I bet she's blaming everyone but herself." "Funny thing is, every chance she got after she moved out, she'd come over, and she and Ma would sit around, watch TV, smoke like chimneys, and bitch about how everyone else had ruined their lives." Tommi sat silently, thinking. She felt pity for Liz and for Ma. They could have had more, if they'd accepted responsibility for themselves. Instead, Liz was following the same dead-end path that had trapped their mother. "Why?" Tommi asked simply. "Why, what?" Sara was perplexed. "Why were you so insistent that we go back? If everything is as bad as you remember, then why go back?" Sara sat back and closed her eyes, lost in thought. She turned toward Tommi after a few moments. "Because I have to prove to myself that I'm better than their hatred. I have to forgive Ma, so I know I'm not going down the same path of anger that consumed her and Liz." Tommi glanced at Sara, wide-eyed with surprise. "You sound wise beyond your years," she finally said. "I ... can't forgive them. Not after what they did." Sara shook her head. "But you have to, Tommi. You have to let go of the anger." She sounded like she was both begging Tommi and warning her. Tommi stared at her and started to laugh. "You sound like Yoda!" she guffawed. Sara giggled. "Anger leads to hate," she said in a high, gravelly voice. "Hate leads to the Dark Side." Tommi drove in silence for several miles. "Maybe you're right," she finally said to Sara. "Maybe I _do_ need to let go of my hate." She drove in silence for a long time, with only the background music of the radio playing. Sara had given her a lot to think about. "How do you know all this?" Tommi finally asked when curiosity got the better of her. Sara laughed. "Sometimes, Liz told me things just to try to hurt me. Sometimes, she wanted to get me on her side against you. Some of it, I overheard from Ma and Dad. And some of it - well, I overheard a few phone conversations that I shouldn't have." ********** "'Bout time you two got here!" Liz snapped as Tommi and Sara hurried into the hospital. Tommi ignored Liz's ill temper. "How is she?" "Not good, thanks to the two of you!" Liz continued her rant. "Can it, Liz," Tommi snarled. "We're here to see Ma, not fight with you." Liz glared at Tommi for a few moments. Without further word, she turned and walked to the elevator. Tommi and Sara followed. The elevator ride was mercifully short, as the tension between Liz and the other two girls was palpable. As soon as the doors opened, Liz led the way to the nurse's station. "We're here to see Mrs. Wilson," Sara said quickly, as she stepped around Liz. The duty nurse looked up, and upon recognizing Sara, smiled. " Hi, Sara," she said cheerfully. "She glanced at the chart, and her features clouded. "Your mom is in the Intensive Care Unit. Room forty-two." "Thanks." Sara turned in the indicated direction. "Um," the nurse cleared her throat as she looked at the trio. "Because she's in the ICU, only immediate family members are allowed to visit." She was looking directly at Tommi. Sara glanced at Tommi, suddenly worried. This was a complication that she hadn't expected. Tommi patted Sara on the shoulder. "Go ahead. I'll be right in." She turned to the desk, fishing in her purse as she did so. "Okay," Sara said hesitantly. She hurried down the hall to Ma's room. The nurse looked closely at Tommi. "The records list two daughters, Liz and Sara, and one son Tom." She shook her head. "And you don't look anything like a son." Tommi smiled. "I have here a letter from my doctor that explains everything." She handed an envelope to the nurse, who took it warily. Inside were a typed letter on the clinic stationary and a couple of pages of medical information, progress reports, test results, and the like. "And my doctor reminded me to tell you that you are now looking at medical records, so you're bound by HIPAA regulations against disclosure, under penalty of law." Tommi was grateful that Dr. Tina and Rachel had anticipated this and had given her the letter and material. The nurse read the letter, glacing at the other pages as she did so, Her eyes widened. She looked up at Tommi, then back at the letter, then up at Tommi again. "You're ... you mean ... this is ...."she stammered. Tommi smiled and took back the pages. "Google 'Morris-Henderson Organ Cloning' or 'Morris Foundation'. I think that'll answer all your questions. Now, may I go in?" The nurse, still wide-eyed, nodded mutely. Tommi followed the direction Sara had taken, and came into the room. Ma was lying in bed, her eyes closed. Nasal tubes were delivering oxygen, while overhead, monitors displayed information about her status. Sara was standing beside the bed, holding Ma's hand, while Liz sat in a chair in the corner, glaring at the two of them. "How is she?" Tommi asked. "She's not awake right now," Sara answered. "She comes and goes," Liz commented acidly. "She's unconscious most of the time." She sneered at Tommi. "I wondered how you were going to get past the nurses, since they were expecting a _man_!" Tommi decided to ignore the biting comment. "I'm going to talk to the nurse to see what I can find out." She turned and strode back down the corridor. In a few minutes, Tommi returned. "What did you find out?" Sara asked, anxious for some news. Tommi shook her head. "She couldn't tell me a lot, but she did page the on-call doctor to come to talk to us." Almost ten minutes later, the doctor entered the room. "Hi, I'm Doctor Schmidt," he said by way of introduction. "I understand you would like some information about your mother." Tommi and Sara nodded, while Liz just sat in the corner glaring. "Yes," Tommi replied politely. "We admitted your mother for a ..." The doctor stopped, and narrowed his eyes as he gazed at Tommi. "The policy is for immediate family members only in the ICU," he said carefully. Tommi sighed and pulled the envelope from her purse again, handing it to the doctor. "Um, hmm," he said as he read the contents. "I'm familiar with the process, but not the foundation." He looked at Tommi. "Interesting," he commented as he handed back the letter. "Very well, I understand who you are. Your mother had a massive coronary infarction, which is ..." "A major heart attack," Tommi finished for him. The doctor glanced at Tommi again, then continued. "We've stabilized her, but that's about all we can do right now." "Don't heart attack patients usually have a coronary bypass?" Sara asked. The doctor nodded. "That's correct. However, we found a complication, a significant complication that has weakened your mother. Right now, she very likely wouldn't survive the stress of bypass surgery. She has a large tumor on the right upper lobe of her lung, almost exactly where the bronchi enters the lung. It has grown to the point that her right lung is, effectively, blocked." "Have you done a biopsy?" Tommi asked quickly. The doctor eyed Tommi warily. "Yes, but we don't have the results yet." "But ... you suspect the tumor is malignant?" Tommi sounded certain of the answer. The doctor glanced at the girls, then nodded somberly. "Yes. It is near the juncture of the right primary bronchus and her trachea, which means it will likely spread to her left lung, if it hasn't already." "Her chances are ...?" Tommi prompted. The doctor grimly shook his head. "There's nothing we can do. Her heart isn't strong enough for surgery to remove the tumor, let alone chemo or radiation to try to stop it. On the other hand, the cancer has weakened her so much that she wouldn't survive bypass surgery." He winced. "I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do." Tommi nodded. "I understand," she said softly. She wrapped her arm around Sara, who was sobbing softly. "How long?" The doctor shrugged. "I don't know," he said simply. "The tumor is very large, and she's had massive heart damage. It could be hours, it could be weeks." "Is she in pain?" The doctor shrugged again. "We're giving her what we can for pain." "I understand." Tommi hugged Sara more tightly. "Do you have any other questions?" he asked. When they shook their heads, he added, "If you think of any, please let the nurse know." Tthe doctor turned and left. Tommi felt strangely devoid of tears. She _knew_ her mother was dying, but she didn't feel any pain, no sense of loss, no need to cry. But there was something that needed to be done. Tommi turned to Liz. "You realize that what Ma needs right now is a hospice, not this hospital room. But there isn't one anywhere close." "A hospice is where people go to die," Liz said angrily. "Ma needs the hospital." "Weren't you listening?" Tommi asked, incredulous. "Haven't you heard anything the doctors have said for the past couple of days? Ma is _dying_! She's not going to get better! She had a heart attack, and she's got lung cancer!" Liz glared at Tommi. "I'm not dumb," she snarled. "I heard them say she's got a tumor and had a heart attack. They need to operate to remove the tumor, then they can fix her heart." "They _can't_ operate! She's too weak for either surgery! She's dying!" Liz stared at him for several long and uncomfortable seconds. Finally, she dropped her gaze, and the fire seemed to go out of her defiant posture. "I ... know," she mumbled. After a bit, Liz looked up. "I suppose you two need the key to Ma's house so you've got a place to stay," she said, not disguising the bitterness in her voice. "I'll have to run home and get it for you." "No need to bother," Sara said simply. "We've made other arrangements." "Okay," Liz replied. She stood abruptly. "I've got to go home. I've got to take care of my little Jason," she said firmly. "He's a strong, growing little boy, you know." She walked out of the room. "She just had to get in a last dig, didn't she?" Sara asked. "Yeah. But it doesn't bother me. She's just a bitch." "It's late. Are you hungry , too?" Tommi nodded. "And we've got another twenty minute drive to the motel." "Pizza?" "Sure. Let's go." Tommi turned, and with one last glance over her shoulder at her Ma, left the hospital room. ********** "How did you get past the nurse? And what was in that envelope you showed the doctor?" Tommi smiled. "Rachel and Dr. Tina wrote a letter, with records documenting who I am." Sara's eyes widened. "You realize that the whole town is going to know by morning?" Tommi shrugged. "There's a little law about protecting patient privacy. Dr. Tina put it together so that it qualified as a medical record. And she wrote a little reminder that disclosure of patient information, in this case mine, is an act punishable by law." "Clever, but that won't stop the rumor mills in this town." Tommi nodded slowly. "I know. But it might slow it down some." She looked at her sister. "You handled it better than I would've thought, when the doctor was giving the rundown on Ma's condition." Sara shrugged. "I guess I expected it. During the summer, Ma started coughing and hacking a bunch. She said it was nothing but allergies." "Smoker's cough?" Sara nodded. "Yeah. I tried to get her to go to the doctor, but she wouldn't." "I can believe that." Sara leaned back, resting her head on the wall, and closed her eyes. She took a few slow breaths, then shook her head. "So what do we do? Go home now?" Tommi sighed heavily. "I think we should try to see Ma tomorrow, at least. Maybe she'll be conscious for a bit." Sara shrugged. "If she's doped up on pain meds, what good would that do?" "Aren't you the one who lectured me that we had to try to talk to her?" "Touche." ********** A soft moan sounded from the bed. Tommi and Sara both started, and they spun toward the noise. Tommi was the first at the bedside. "Ma?" she asked hopefully. "Can you hear me, Ma?" Sara, too, was at the bed, and she grasped her mom's hand. "Ma, it's me, Sara. I'm here, too." The old woman in the bed moaned again, turning her head slightly from side to side. Slowly, her eyes opened a crack. "Sara?" she whispered hoarsely. "Is that you?" "I'm here, Ma," Sara answered quickly. "Tommi's here, too." "Tom's here?" Ma turned her head, peering through her barely-open eyes. "Where's Tom?" As she moved, she moaned in pain. "Ma, it's me, Tommi. Remember?" "Uhhh," the old woman grunted. "Sissy-boy Tommi!" For a weak, dying old woman, she managed to get significant contempt into her words. Tommi shook her head sadly. "Ma, I know you don't like what I did. But I'm still your child." "Hmmph! Sara? I hurt. Make them give me something." Sara glanced at Tommi, who nodded. Sara turned and left the room, heading toward the nurse's station. "Ma, I need to tell you something," Tommi continued. "Hmmph!" the old woman grunted again. "Ma, you've always been mean to me. But I forgive you." "Hah! _You_ forgive _me_?" The old woman paused to cough. "After what you did to me?" She coughed again. "After you disappointed me and your father?" Tommi shook her head sadly. "I'm not you, and I'm not Dad. I never was, and I never will be." "That's for sure." "Why couldn't you ever accept me for who I am? Why did you always compare me to Dad?" "You're a disappointment," she coughed. "Never measured up." "Are you mad now because Sara and I found a way out, but you didn?t?" Tommi asked softly. The old woman coughed badly. "I need something for pain," she said again. "Sara went to get the nurse," Tommi explained. She gazed down at the old woman, and felt nothing but pity. "Ma, the doctors can't do any more. You've got cancer." "You know it all now, too?" Ma wheezed. "The doctor told us. You're ... dying." "Eh? Dying?" She coughed again. "Ma, you're my mother. I know you did your best trying to bring us up. I know it wasn't easy. But I want you to understand. I'm not Dad!" "He was so damned _disappointed_ in you," the old woman repeated. "Never let me forget it." She got into a coughing spasm that frightened Tommi. The nurse rushed in with a syringe in hand, with Sara close behind. She looked at the monitors, then pushed Tommi aside and injected the medicine from the syringe into her IV line. After disposing of the syringe, she turned to Tommi and Sara. "She should get some relief in a few seconds. She'll probably fade to sleep again in a bit, though." She glanced at the monitor again, turned, and padded softly from the room. Tommi spoke again. "Ma, I don't hold any grudges against you and Dad. You did your best. Can you try to understand?" "What? That you never lived up to what Ron wanted?" She coughed again, less violently this time. "You kids cost me my chance." Tommi sighed and shook her head toward Sara. "It's no use," she said to her sister. "She's never going to understand." She glanced at Ma, then back at Sara. "You want to try to talk to her?" Sara sighed and nodded. "If it will do any good." Tommi nodded and stepped out of the room. She slumped into a chair by the nurse's station. She'd tried, but Ma had rejected her attempt at reconciling. They'd spent a day and a half at the hospital, waiting for Ma to regain consciousness, if only for a bit, so they could talk to her. Tommi was aware that the nurses were giving her the eye. By now, the nursing staff must know that Tom Wilson was now Tommi Wilson, and that she was home to see her dying mother. She wondered how long the secret would last in this town. Privacy rules didn't seem to matter much here. Tommi knew that sooner or later, the town was going to find out, and there'd be trouble. Sara came out of the room, a sad expression on her face. She shook her head as Tommi stood. "Nothing," she said softly. "So now what?" Sara sighed. "Let's go home." It was more than obvious from her comment that "home" was the college and their friends. "Okay. Liz is here, and she was at least civil enough to not barge in while you were talking." Sara looked around. "Where is she?" "She went out for a smoke," Tommi said. Despite the anger that Liz had directed her way, she felt sad for Liz. "I wish she'd stop before she ends up like Ma." Sara nodded. The two girls walked to the nurse's station. "The doctors tell us there's nothing anyone can do," Sara said matter- of-factly, "so we're going back to college" The nurse looked up at them and nodded sadly. "It's out of our hands, now," she said compassionately. "All we can do is to wait." "Thank you for all you _have_ done," Tommi acknowledged. "I know you'll keep her as comfortable as possible." The nurse looked up at Tommi. "I still can't believe you're little Tom Wilson," she said softly. "I would have never guessed!" Tommi sighed. "It saved two babies' lives, and it pays for college," she answered simply. She turned, and with Sara beside her, walked to the elevator. As they exited the hospital building, Tommi spied Liz to one side, in a small covered smoking area. She turned toward her older sister. "There's nothing more we can do," Tommi said simply. "We're going back to school." "I see," Liz replied coldly. "You're going to dump it all on me?" She took a drag on her cigarette. Sara sighed and shook her head. "There's no pleasing you, is there? If we do anything, you get mad for us interfering. If we leave it alone, you get mad at us for dumping it on you." "Why, you little ..." Liz fumed. She exhaled the smoke angrily. "I should ..." "Drop it, Liz," Tommi snapped. "We came up here to see if there was anything we could do for Ma. There isn't. It's not worth us fighting over. That won't help Ma." "There's one thing I need to ask of you," Sara interjected." "What?" Liz seemed put off that Sara would dare ask _anything _ of her. "Look at Ma. She's in her mid-fifties, right? Lying in that bed, she looks like she's seventy or eighty. She can't breathe. She's dying." Sara shook her head. "Please, stop smoking so you don't end up like her." Tommi nodded. "Liz, I know we've never gotten along, but you're still family. Please stop. Please don't pass up the chances that Ma missed." Liz stood, too shocked by the sincerity of their request to answer. It was obvious that she'd expected a confrontation, and was stunned by their concern for _her_. Tommi and Sara turned and walked slowly toward the car. Without saying a word, they both knew that they'd never come back, probably not even for Ma's funeral. This town no longer had anything for them. ********** (to be continued)