Chapter 4: Bethany and Jennifer

St. Stephen's Day, 1984, Indianapolis, Indiana

I went to see if Ed had returned and found him and my sister sitting with Kara. Ed looked even happier than he had earlier, so I assumed my sister had properly thanked him.

"She's awake, but groggy," I said. "She has no idea what happened, though. Ed, why don't you go see her?"

"Thanks!" he replied, giving Stephanie a quick kiss.

"I see you properly thanked him!" I teased after he left.

She laughed, "I did. Twice!"

"You weren't gone THAT long, Squirt!"

"He's not you. Nobody is you! But he knows how to make me cum!"

"Now we're getting into 'too much information' territory!"

"Oh, give me a break, Big Brother. Back when we were involved that way, I could see you being squeamish. But now? You and I should be able to talk about it."

Kara giggled, "Oh, stop it, you two! How is Bethany, really?"

"Weak and tired, but her heart and lungs seem sound. She has a long recovery ahead of her. If they were right about the problem with her chest, then the incident from a couple of days ago was an anomaly and isn't a concern. At some point, the doctor who performed the surgery will be back. I was thinking, maybe you want to go home today, Kara. I'm going to be in Bethany's room a lot, and I'm sure that I'm going to need to talk to Jennifer. You could come back on Saturday, if you wanted."

"I was wondering about that, too," Kara said. "Maybe I'll just go to Milford and wait until you're back in Chicago. After all, Jennifer is going to be here, and then you have to figure out what you're doing with Tatyana."

"I think bringing her to Indianapolis makes sense. We'll go back to Chicago for our Christmas celebration on the 7th, which is also her birthday, but otherwise, we'll probably just stay here in the hotel."

"Then I'll go to my mom's house tonight. Promise me that you'll call me with updates and let me know if you need me?"

"I will. I really appreciate everything you've done to support me. Are you going to hang around to see Jennifer?"

"No, I think I'll head out now. Honestly, I'd rather make the drive in daylight."

"I understand," I answered, then turned to my sister. "Squirt, I'm going to walk Kara back to the hotel so she can get her stuff. I'm assuming that you're staying in Indianapolis for a while?"

"You need a car. Dad said he'd come get me when I want to come home. You can borrow my car until you get yours back. I'll stay at least until Saturday."

"Thanks. Why don't you go down to Bethany's room? Now that she's out of the coma, and it's normal visiting hours, maybe they won't give you grief."

"Thanks, Big Brother! I'm going to ask Ed to go with me to get Jennifer."

"Ah, a budding romance!" I teased.

"No, this afternoon just kind of whetted my appetite. I need him to fuck me silly later. We just have to negotiate the terms!"

I laughed, "Good luck!"

I took Kara's hand and walked her to the hotel. She packed her bag and then came to stand close.

"You know, that sounded like a good idea!" she smirked.

"And which idea is that?" I asked.

"Think Bethany will miss you for an hour?" she giggled.

I pulled Kara to me and kissed her hard. We started out slow and sweet but after a few minutes of our bodies moving gently in unison, Kara demanded that I fuck her hard and fast and about ten minutes later, we were both groaning as my orgasm, and her third, crashed over us. We caught our breath and then went to the shower to clean up.

"Thanks," she said, giving me a gentle kiss after we'd dressed.

"You're welcome!"

I grabbed Kara's bag and walked her to her car where we kissed again and she got in and started the engine. She rolled down her window.

"I'll call you in about three hours to check that you arrived home," I said.

She blew me a kiss and then backed out of the parking spot and drove away. I went back to the hospital and went up to Bethany's room. Her parents, Ed, and Stephanie were there, and Bethany was asleep.

"She ate her broth," Nora said. "I had to help her. It was like when she was a baby."

"I suspect there's going to be a lot of that for some time," I said.

"She asked for you," Harry said.

"Sorry; I needed to help Kara get her things so that she could head to Ohio."

I saw Stephanie smirk. She knew exactly what I had been doing.

"I need to head to the airport soon," Stephanie said. "Is it OK if Ed goes with me?"

"Sure," Mr. Krajick said. "But who's at the airport?"

"Jennifer Block," I said. "She was supposed to visit me in Chicago this week, but I had her take a flight here from Chicago when she got in from Seattle. She and her girlfriend broke up and Jennifer needs a friend."

"Girlfriend?" Nora asked.

Stephanie and Ed left the room hand-in-hand.

"Yes," I replied. "Girlfriend. In any event, they broke up. I have to take Jennifer to Chicago for a job interview tomorrow. She and her now ex-girlfriend had planned to move there. I'm not sure what the plan is now. Did Doctor Hicks come in?"

"Yes. He talked to us about the rehabilitation and it's going to be lengthy, just for her chest. Lots of range of motion exercises with a physiotherapist. He said that he'll talk to the orthopedic surgeon, Doctor Franks, about coordinating the therapy for her arm and chest."

"Has anyone said anything about the skull fracture?" I asked.

"No. Just what Doctor Barton said to us. I guess it's just going to heal itself. He was here with some students while you were gone. He said to say 'hello'. He said you should stop by to see him before you go back to Chicago."

"Cool," I said.

A few minutes later, Jessica Wilton came to the door. She was wearing street clothes, not scrubs, and her short white lab coat.

"I wanted to check on Bethany," Jessica said. "How is she?"

"About like you would expect, I guess. Her chart is there."

"I'm not allowed to look at patient charts without express permission from a doctor. I'm just here as Jessica, not in any official capacity."

"Mr. and Mrs. Krajick, this is Jessica Wilton, a medical student. She's Doctor Barton's protégé!" I said.

"It's nice to meet you both," Jessica said. "You have a lovely daughter. Steve was kind enough to share her pictures with all of us."

"Thanks, Jessica. What year are you?"

"I'm Second Year. Steve's right about Doctor Barton. I want to be a surgeon, and I observed Bethany's surgery with other medical students and Steve. I just stopped in to see her and I'm glad to see that she's doing OK. Steve, can I talk to you really quick?"

"Sure," I said.

We stepped out into the hall.

"Fiancé?" she asked. "When did that happen? I thought she was just your girlfriend."

I chuckled, "I guess you saw that when you looked up her room? A bit of fiction by her parents to let me see her outside of visiting hours. Our relationship is complicated."

"Complicated? I thought you said she was your girlfriend?"

"I did. But it's complicated. She's my absolute best friend in the world. We've known each other since eighth grade. We've dated off and on for years. I might well marry her in the future. But who knows?"

Jessica laughed, "So she's a friend you fool around with? Is that what you are trying to say?"

"It's more than that. I love her to pieces. And she loves me."

"Now you're confusing me!"

"You aren't alone. Let's just say all of my relationships are complicated."

"So you're not taken?" she asked with a cute smile.

I laughed, "It's complicated. What was true was what I told you — I need to focus on Bethany getting better."

"If you want a cup of coffee or tea, I'm buying," she said.

I checked my watch, and it was 4:15pm. I had around 45 minutes before Jennifer would arrive, assuming that she didn't need to have her hair done, or whatever. Bethany was sleeping. I could have coffee with Jessica without affecting either of them.

"I can get a cup of coffee in the visitors' lounge, you know," I grinned.

"You certainly could," she smiled.

"Sure. Let me tell Bethany's parents that I'm going to get some coffee. I just need to be back when my sister comes back with Bethany's brother and my friend Jennifer from California."

"Just how many of these friends do you have? I saw you with an absolutely stunning blonde earlier."

"As I said, it's complicated!"

I went back in the room and let Bethany's parents know I was going to get a cup of tea and that I'd be back in about 45 minutes. I followed Jessica to the elevator, and we went down to the cafeteria. I got a cup of tea and she got coffee and we sat at a table for two by a window.

"Where are you from?" I asked.

"Plano, Texas. I went to UT for my undergrad degree. I applied to medical school here because of Doctor Barton. I also applied to a school in Los Angeles and one in Chicago that have top trauma surgeons on staff."

"How the heck did you decide on trauma surgery?"

"It's the hardest. I like a challenge!" she said, smiling sweetly.

I laughed, "Is THAT why you're having coffee with me?"

"You figure it out. Doctor Barton thinks that you're very smart. Let's see how smart and observant you are."

"You said you don't date doctors, or medical students, because they already think the only thing that you're good for is sex. You are extremely smart, and you need someone who is not only your intellectual equal, but someone who'll treat you as an equal, not look down on you because you're a 'girl'," I made air quotes, "and not be intimidated by you. You're independent, headstrong, self-confident, and an egomaniac. You need a guy who can handle all that, AND," I added with a smirk, "who can curl your toes."

"Very good. Anything else?"

"You think I might fit the bill. But you also are ethical, so you backed off when you found out I had a girlfriend. That said, you made sure I knew you were interested and did it in a way that could easily be rejected without either me feeling bad or you feeling rejected. You couched it as 'if', and I answered the same way."

"That about sums it up!" she said with a smile.

"Your turn. Why did I accept the offer of coffee or tea?"

"Well, if you were like the usual guys here or in college or High School, I'd say it was the chance of getting into my pants. That's usually enough to get any guy's attention. But not yours. I get the drift that your friends are much closer than you let on, so you're getting plenty of sex from gorgeous girls. That means it's not the prospect of sex. It's not a conquest thing, either; you don't give off that vibe.

"So I'd say that despite having that hot blonde, and Bethany, and this girl from California, you haven't found what you're looking for. So you decided to have coffee with me to see if I might be that one girl in a million who is smarter than you are, and has whatever it is that the other girls are missing. Just out of curiosity, how many girls are there?"

I laughed, "Wow. You got all that? Just from a few minutes yesterday and today?"

"I observed just as you did. I saw a bunch of signs. How many?"

"Five, I guess. But the California girl is lesbian, so despite the fact that she was my first choice, that's going nowhere."

"And the last piece falls into place! There IS a girl, but you can't have her."

I nodded, "Now that we've analyzed the situation, what do you want to do?"

"Well, there are three possibilities. First, we say goodbye and go our separate ways. Second, we keep in touch and when the crisis with your friend has passed, we go to dinner and see what happens."

"And the third possibility?" I asked.

"Third, we cut to the chase and go knock boots," she said with an inviting smile. "We'll see if you are as good as you seem to think you are!"

I laughed, "Excuse me? I've said nothing of the sort!"

"You didn't have to. In fact, the fact that you said nothing, that you're not flirting, and that you're not even trying, means you have extreme confidence in who you are and your, ahem, skills."

"Are you sure you're not working on a psychology degree?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Psych major for my undergrad degree. I wanted to be able to figure people out."

"Ah, so you're cheating!" I teased.

"No more than you are. You coldly and coolly analyzed me like I think you would one of your computer programs. In fact, the only thing you've said that was even slightly risqué was your comment about curling my toes. You're a cool customer, Steve Adams."

"And so are you, future Doctor Jessica Wilton."

"So, which option?" she grinned.

"The middle one. I think you'll make a good friend. Let's stick to that for now, shall we?"

"Friends like your other 'friends'," she asked, making air quotes.

"That is not what I meant. Not that it isn't tempting, but right now, I'm preoccupied with Bethany. And, as I said, I may well marry her. Let's be friends, Jessica Wilton."

"Deal, Steve Adams," she said. "You passed the test. You made the right choice."

I smiled and nodded, then drained the last of the tea from my cup. Jessica wrote out her name, address, and phone number. I did the same, and we said 'goodbye' and I headed back towards Bethany's room.

Jessica was interesting, but at the moment, the last thing I needed was any more complications in my life. That said, she struck me as someone that I would very much like to have as a friend. As she'd observed, I didn't need any new sex partners. But friends, especially very smart ones, were something I could always use.

When I got back upstairs, Bethany was awake again, and talking with her mom.

"Hi, Sweetheart!" I said.

"Hi, Steve," she said.

I walked over and gave her a careful kiss on the lips.

"How are you doing?"

"Probably about like I look. They cut off my hair?"

"A lot of it. They had to stitch a nasty laceration. I'm sure it'll grow back."

She sighed, "The orthopedic surgeon was here while you were getting your tea. I have surgery scheduled for Monday. I guess it's going to be similar to Melanie's."

"I would guess," I replied, then smirked, "Do I need to make the same promise to you so that you do your rehab?"

She smiled, "We don't have a Prom!"

"We'll make our own!" I answered. "Speaking of which, I thought about calling UW and to see if you can still finish your project and graduate. You told me that you had enough credits."

"I do. But I don't know that I can work on my project while I'm in the hospital, or even in Milford."

"I'm sure between your parents, my sister, and me, we can make sure you get whatever materials or help you need. Wasn't your research done?"

"I need to revise it based on the critiques from my professors, and then defend it in front of the department chairman," she sighed. "It's kind of like a Master's thesis. I don't know if I'll be up to that even by May."