The Cost Of Winning

FIANNA'S POV :

I wake up to some sort of weird beeping noise that I don't recognize , and wonder for a second if Ash has bought some annoying new toy for Bren . But as I force my eyes to actually open , I realize that I'm not at the house .

Okay , when the hell did I end up back in the hospital ? And where's Brenna ? I feel something on my wrist , and when I turn my head , I see Ash slumped in the chair next to the bed , sound asleep , with his hand on my arm . I manage to slide my arm out of his grasp , and tap him on the arm , which causes him to nearly teleport out of the chair .

"Fi , you're awake !" , he exclaims . "How do you feel ?"

"Lousy . My side hurts just like it did when I had the surgery , my head hurts , and how the hell did I get here ? And when ? And where's Bren , if you're here ?"

He sits back down and pours some water into the glass . After he holds my head up so I can take a drink , he says , "Okay , working backward through the list : Bren is at Web's house , and Miki and Ryan are there with her , too . You've been here since yesterday afternoon , and the reason your side hurts is because you had another operation when you came in . The useless motherfucker who did the first surgery left some sort of equipment or something in there , and it got infected . You passed out in the bathroom , and your temperature was so high you were hallucinating , and you had a seizure in the ambulance . Scared the shit out of all of us ."

"Is Bren okay ? She isn't sick too , is she ?" , I ask , and he puts his hand on my shoulder and shakes his head .

"No , Fi , she's fine . The doctor looked her over yesterday , and said everything looks good . Apparently at least Abernathy knew what the hell he was doing ." , he answers . "Now I'd like you to answer a question for me , if you don't mind . Why the hell didn't you tell me , or Miki , or somebody , that you weren't feeling well ? Nobody can fix a problem if they don't know it's there !"

"I didn't think it was that big of a deal ." , I tell him . "I called Dr . Reser the other day , and he said it was normal , unless it didn't go away by the time I finished my prescriptions . So there didn't seem to be any need to worry anybody over nothing ."

"Worthless , incompetent piece of shit !" , he practically growls , and I actually almost flinch away from the expression on his face . He didn't even look this angry the night we broke up . "That fucking scrip was written to last for a month , and you've taken almost half of it , so there's no way it was 'normal' to still feel that bad this far in . That fucker is losing his license , if we have to keep his ass in court for the next decade !"

I must look confused when he says this , because he explains that Web called a malpractice attorney he knows , and that she's apparently already getting all the paperwork together for a lawsuit against Dr . Reser , and also possibly the hospital , if they try to cover for him .

"Smidge must have been so scared , to be pulled out of bed and dragged in here like that , not knowing what was happening ." , I say , and he sort of shakes his head .

"Fianna , the noise when you passed out woke her up , and she was the one who yelled for me and told me what happened ." , he informs me . "But she talked to Web while I was on the phone with 911 , and she was pretty brave most of the time . It did scare her when you had the seizure , but I totally understand that , 'cause it scared the fuck out of me , too . I just had to make sure she didn't know that ."

"Poor baby ! I need to call her , and let her know I'm okay ."

"Don't worry about that right now . As soon as Miki or Ryan can get here , I'm gonna go home and get my laptop , and then I'm going to go spend some time with her and let her know you're awake ." , he says . "Then I'll come back a little later and let you Skype with her , so she can see for herself ."

The door opens , and a blond woman in a white coat walks in . "Good , you're awake . That's a promising sign . Since you weren't awake for our first meeting , I suppose I should introduce myself . I'm Dr . Wesson , I performed your surgery yesterday . Has Mr . Purdy explained to you what happened ?"

I tell her that he has , and she says , "You're actually quite lucky , Ms . Chandler . If that infection had gone another day or two without being caught , it probably would've spread , and I don't know if we could've beaten it if that had happened ."

"I was just telling Ash that I didn't think it was that serious , the other doctor said that was pretty much standard for this kind of surgery ." , I tell her .

"Some soreness is to be expected , and maybe a bit of nausea for the first couple of days , but redness and swelling are definite red flags , and anybody who tells you otherwise needs to lose their license ."

"Fi , you wouldn't have accepted that if it had been Bren , would you ?" , Ash inquires , and I have to admit that I wouldn't have , so I shake my head .

"I understand that you don't like not being able to do anything , and Miki told me what you said about not wanting to be in my way , but you don't even need to be thinking about that ." , he says . "You and Brenna are both welcome to stay with me for as long as you need to , hell , as long as you want to ! I want you both to be healthy , and able to do whatever it is that you want to do , before you even think about moving out , okay ? To be honest , I actually like not having to come home to an empty house every day , so I'm in no hurry . Are we clear on that now ?"

"Yeah , we're clear ." , I reply . "As long as you promise to tell me if we do start getting in your way ."

"I don't see that happening , but if it does , I promise I will let you know ."

Dr . Wesson finishes checking me over , and pushes the call button for a nurse , telling her to send for a breakfast tray for me when she shows up . Then I turn back to Ash , and say , "You don't have to wait for somebody else to get here , go on and be with Bren for awhile , I'll be fine . I have the call button if I need anything . She's probably scared to death without either of us there , so she needs you now ."

He spends the next few minutes arguing with me , but finally agrees to go , saying that he'll bring me some books and stuff when he comes back , after the doctor informs us that she plans to keep me here for at least two or three more days . He comes over to the bed and gives me a hug , hands me my phone out of his pocket , then walks out . Dr . Wesson tells me that she'll check back in later , and as she's leaving , someone shows up with my breakfast tray . Not the best breakfast I've ever had , but reasonably decent for hospital food . After I eat , I go back to sleep for a bit , and wake up a couple of hours later . Since I don't have my project bag , or anything to read , I turn on the TV , watch the news , and then try to find something else that doesn't suck . This seems to be mostly pointless , so I just default to the retro sitcom channel , and get lucky , because they're having a "Mork and Mindy" mini - marathon , and I love Robin Williams !

Someone brings me lunch , and as I eat , and watch Robin's antics , my phone rings . I look at it , see that it's Miki , and pick up the call . "Hey there ! How are the munchkins behaving for you ?"

"They're fine , how are you ?" , she responds .

"I've definitely felt better , but apparently I'm much better than I was yesterday ." , I tell her . "Although I have to tell you , their salisbury steak leaves something to be desired ."

She laughs , and says , "Well , we're all coming down to see you in a little while , so maybe I'll try to smuggle in something that's actually edible for you ."

"If you can do that without getting yourself in trouble , I'll love you forever ."

"You will anyway , and you know it ! We'll see you in an hour or so , bye !"

"Bye , Mik ! Give Smidge a kiss for me , willya ?" She says she will , and ends the call , so I go back to the TV for awhile ."Mork" goes off , and is replaced by "Dharma and Greg" . I'm watching Greg freak out over their weird ideas for naming her hippie parent's new baby , when the door opens and a nurse walks into the room . I expect her to go look at my chart , or take my blood pressure or something , but she just stands by the bed looking at me , not saying anything . Finally , she just sort of shakes her head a little bit , and says , "Yeah , I figured he was just trying to piss me off ."

"Excuse me ?"

She gives me a rather un - amused smirk , and walks closer . "The bastard tried to tell me that you were better looking than I am , but now I can see that he was just blowing smoke up my ass . And even if he actually managed to convince himself of that before , there's no way he could think so now , is there ? Not when you're gonna be all scarred up from your surgery ."

This tells me exactly who I'm talking to . "Megan , right ? From what I understood , he dumped you because you couldn't accept that our daughter was more important to him than running after your plastic ass , it had nothing to do with me ."

"Only because you managed to guilt trip him into it !"

As calmly as I can manage , I say , "He made the decision that he wanted to be part of her life , nobody forced him into anything . Just because you're incapable of thinking about anybody but yourself doesn't mean that everyone else has the same problem ."

"And I guess you think you're gonna tell him about our conversation , and get some more attention , don't you ? Well , maybe your doctor should restrict you from having visitors while you're here . Then he'll have a break from you playing the 'poor little me' card , and maybe he'll pull his head out of his ass and realize that you and your brat are smothering him , and he needs to have some fun ."

"First of all , shut your big yap about my daughter , and second , even if he came to that conclusion , I'm pretty sure he's smart enough not to come anywhere near you again ." , I tell her .

"We'll see , won't we ?" , she snickers , as she picks up my chart and starts writing .

"What the hell do you think you're doing , Miss Pratt ?" , a voice says from the door , and the chart and pen both go flying as she spins around . I turn my head at the same time , and see Dr . Wesson standing in the door , along with Ash , Miki , and Ryan , and all four of them look incredibly pissed .

"Seriously , Purdy ?" , Miki says incredulously . "Geez , if you'd told me her last name , I could've saved you a lot of trouble . She was an obnoxious twat even back in middle school !"

"Nobody asked you , Bradshaw !" , Megan shouts . "Why don't you mind your own business ?"

"Somehow , I don't think that an old school feud is your biggest worry right now ." , Dr . Wesson observes . She sticks her head out into the hall , and tells someone , "Get the nursing supervisor on the phone , and tell her I want to see her in room 227 immediately ."

Megan goes pale , and says , "Come on , Dr . Wesson , please don't do that ! I didn't actually do anything , I was just blowing off some steam , I didn't mean anything by it !"

"Well , I suppose you'll just have to convince the review board of that , when they have the hearing to decide if you're just suspended , or if you need to seek employment elsewhere . At the very least , your behavior has been egregiously unprofessional , and I won't tolerate it from you or anyone else on the staff , I don't care who your parents are !" , the doctor retorts , and she turns even paler .

The door opens again , and a middle - aged woman in a dark green skirt - suit walks in , saying , 'You wanted to see me , doctor ?"

"Yes , I did . I've already decided on the action that will be taken , but I wanted you to hear about it beforehand , instead of getting an inaccurate version later ." She then proceeds to recount what happened , and Megan and I both realize that they were apparently outside the door listening well before we knew they were there .

The other woman , who is apparently the head nurse or something , walks over to Megan , and inquires , "Tell me something , Megan Marie . Did you get up this morning and tell yourself , 'I think I want to embarrass my parents today .' ? If you did , then congratulations , you're a resounding success ."

"But Mom , I just ..." , she whines .

"I don't even want to hear it , so just stop . Your father and I were just talking a few days ago about how it seems like we spoiled you a bit too much when you were younger , and apparently it's even worse than we thought . Well , unfortunately for you , it stops now . Whatever consequences you get for your behavior are entirely your problem , neither your father or I will get involved this time . We apparently did that far too often when you were younger , and gave you the idea that you won't be held accountable for your actions . This time , though , you'll have to muddle through on your own ."

"That's not fair !" , Megan screeches . "You act like I'm supposed to just sit back and smile when he dumps me like I'm radioactive , just because some insipid little teenybopper slut manages to convince him that he's her baby daddy , and he gets a guilty conscience ! And he has the gall to say that she's prettier than I am , when I've been better looking than that every day of my life !"

Miki lets out a snort , and asks , "Really ? If that's true , can you explain why your nickname all the way through high school was 'Flat Pratt' ? Probably better than seventy percent of your body is as plastic as Tupperware , and I think I may just post some old pictures on Facebook to remind everybody of that fact ."

Megan's face goes bright red , and gets even redder when Ash says , "And just to make myself perfectly clear , even if Fianna looked like fucking Gollum , she'd still be more attractive than you are , because she's a decent , caring , honest person . Not a shallow , selfish , dishonest attention - whore like you ."

"Nobody talks to me like that , you asshole !" , she yells , and then looks at Miki . "And that goes for you , too , you pathetic poser bitch !" She raises her hand , like she's going to take a swing at Ash ,saying , "You prick , I'm going to ..." , and the next thing anyone knows , her arm is stopped in midair and she's slammed into the chair hard enough to make it creak .

Everyone , including Megan , is just staring gape - mouthed as Ryan basically looms over her and says , in a frighteningly calm voice , "What you're going to do is sit your ass down and shut your big , ugly , Mick Jagger looking mouth , because I'm tired of listening to your delusional bullshit . And if you say one more word , unless someone asks you a direct question , I promise you that I will put that empty head of yours right through the motherfucking wall . I've never raised my hand to a woman in my life , but you are very close to becoming the first . Do I make myself clear , or are you stupid enough to test me ?"

"That won't be necessary , since we'll be going to clean out her locker ." , her mother says . She then turns toward me and Ash , who has moved over next to my bed , and says , "I apologize for my daughter's behavior , this was totally uncalled for . I'm not sure exactly what happened between the two of you , but I can't blame you in the slightest for putting your child first ."

Ash looks over at Megan , and suddenly , he has the same look on his face as he did when I first told him I was pregnant , that vaguely nasty grin that made my stomach flip over , so I know something unpleasant is coming . He turns his attention back to her mom , and says , "You have nothing to apologize for , ma'am . Megan is supposedly an adult , and you're not responsible for her behavior . But I do thank you for understanding my position , since it seems that Megan will never be able to do that ."

Megan's eyes get huge , and she starts shaking her head at him , mouthing , " No , no !" , which causes her mom's eyebrows to go up . "Now you've made me curious . What exactly does that mean , young man ?"

His grin gets a bit wider , and he says , "Since you have to ask that question , I'm guessing that you'll be as surprised as I was when I found out that she's had herself fixed . She made it very clear that kids have no place in her life . Why don't you ask her about how happy she is that your son moved out of state , so he couldn't , and I quote , 'Stick her with his little monsters all the time .' ?"

The poor woman looks completely stunned , and Megan yells , "You weren't supposed to tell her that , you shit sonofabitch ! You knew that was supposed to be a secret !"

"You mean like you planned to keep it a secret from me ?" , he responds . "Sorry , but I never said I wouldn't tell anyone . Like she told you earlier , it's time for you to accept the consequences of your actions . Karma's a bitch , babe . But then again , so are you ."

Notes