Chapter 52

Downs was feeding Agent Barnes. That, in itself, was amusing, as he could only use one hand. Jessica, who had shooed off her mother and my parents, was taking very good care of me.

Barnes complained, "I'm going to get fat if you don't stop."

Downs pulled the fork away.

"Well, give me that last bite at least!"

Jessica, Downs, and I snickered.

"What?" Barnes said. "This is good! Too good for my waistline."

"You should have seen Fiona," Jessica said. "When Antonio said the meatballs looked good, I thought she was going to cry. She helped make them. I think her Mom saw Fiona get like that. My guess is that she'd never realized how much she'd pushed Fiona away. I'd never survive if my Mom did that to me, but don't tell her."

Downs looked at Jessica and said, "Can you repeat that last statement. Come just a little closer."

He tapped on his watch as though it was recording, and we all had a good laugh.

After dinner, Downs wheeled Barnes off to get her dressings changed. Theresa and my parents came over to where I was.

"Mom," I said, "you're just going to have to get over it."

"Over what?"

"I saw that look. You're perturbed that Jessica is taking care of me. I'm no longer a boy. I don't live at home any longer, and this is what I want. Not that I don't want you to be my mom, but I don't need mothering from you, anymore."

She looked hurt. I knew she would. But then she said something that I didn't expect.

"I wasn't ready to give that up, yet. This is sort of hard, seeing yourself replaced."

"It is hard for me, as well," Theresa added. "I wasn't ready to see my daughter go from a little girl to a woman, either."

"Well, we need to figure out someway of making this transition work. Theresa," I said, looking her right in the eyes, "when all of this ends, and we get back to our normal lives again, I would still like you to be my nurse."

"Oh," was all Theresa said.

She looked like 'a deer in the headlights, ' sort of stunned. I went on, knowing it would be best to do so.

"Of course, I have two legs out of commission now, so I will need more care. With that in mind, you can charge me more."

My father added his two cents.

"Son, how are you going to pay for that? From what you said, you were pretty much covering expenses as it was."

I gave him the best 'perturbed' look I could. I didn't want Theresa knowing she got almost everything I was getting.

Responding, I said, "I got the rundown on how this will work. I will receive more, from the same fund that pays me now. You know Jeanie will get her house rebuilt, and stuff? The people who the FBI are after have money. They will have their assets frozen. As Downs told me, the top guys won't need much, as they're looking at life in prison.

"Every one of us may well get a lump sum payment for what has happened. I'm not worried about all that. I am worried that Theresa may not want to take me on. I come with complications."

"One leg is easier than two," Theresa said and then looked directly at me, when she realized what I was referring to. "Oh, that."

In a trying not to be timid voice, Jessica asked, "Is there something we can do, to make it workable?"

"I will need to think about that. Don't look for an answer today, ok?" Theresa said.

"I expected that," I replied. "That's why I asked now. When we head home, I'd like to know where I'm going."

"And you don't want to stay with us," my mother added.

"You're right. If you want to feel bad about that, go ahead. I know better. You're never home. I'd have some nurse, or a rotation of nurses that I didn't know. That wouldn't be good for me. Besides, I know just as you do, that you don't really want me to come home."

My father, true to his nature, wasn't going to let that line of conversation go on any longer that it already had. He quickly changed the subject.

"Have any of you heard where we're spending the night? Oh, and the next big question. I don't remember any luggage. What are we going to change into?"

I gave him a little smile and he winked back at me. Jessica, Theresa, and my mother took those problems to heart, and the conversation excluded my father and I.

I woke, once again, in the middle of the night, this time to noises. I listened intently. My eyes had been half open when I woke, but I closed them tight.

After what I thought might have been five very long minutes, I said, "At least you could have brought Jessica with you. I have nothing to occupy my senses, and I can hear every little thing."

There was silence, and then laughter.

"Some secret agents you two are!" I retorted.

"I don't think Theresa would forgive me, if I brought Jessica in here," Downs said.

"Does she have to know?" another voice said.

It was suddenly silent, again.

"Jessica?" I said in a raspy voice.

I knew it was her by the sound of her voice. One just says the obvious, at times.

Her hands touched me and I jumped. Then she giggled.

"You two could take a lesson from her. How did you get in here without us hearing?"

"You were talking when I opened the door," Jessica replied.

"You're over where John is," Downs said. "We weren't talking all the time, and there's a lot of stuff in this room."

"I've always been light on my feet, and I have excellent night vision."

"Now what were you planning?" Barnes asked.

"I don't know," Jessica said. "I just haven't been able to spend any time with him."