Chapter 16: New Enemies

Amanda opened her eyes and tried to move. She couldn't. Still groggy, she asked, "What happened?" She strained hard as she could to roll over. She could not. Panic struck her. "Hey," she yelled, "Where am I?"

Willow came within the range of her view. "You're in the hospital. That crazy fat man shot you. People beat him and kicked him and shot him with his own gun." She nodded her satisfaction. "If he lives he will carry a plastic bag with him where ever he goes. The bullets caused great internal damage."

"Why can't I move?" Amanda asked in a panicky voice.

"Because you are in traction. That bullet damaged your spine and they don't know if ... if ... if..." Mark's voice faded.

"Where are you?" she asked.

"I'm over here on the bed next to you. We're in the hospital," he answered and got off the bed to walk around so she should see him.

"Am ... I ... paralyzed?" she asked fearfully. "Why can't I move?"

"You are in complete traction. Your upper body is immobilized in a cast so it can heal properly." Willow answered.

"When will I get out of this thing?" Her voice sounded dull and lifeless. She waited to hear the worst.

"That is up to the doctors. You have been in a coma for three weeks. I rang for the doctor." Willow seemed pleased with herself.

A nurse came bustling into the hospital room. "Who pulled the cord?"

"I did," Willow answered in a pert voice.

Mark told the nurse, "Amanda woke up. I told you she would. She had to."

He struggled to speak and could not as his voice broke down and he began to sob, "Oh god, Amanda, what would I do without___."

"God damn it, Mark, please don't cry," Amanda interrupted him. "I can't handle it when men cry. Just talk nice around me, please." Amanda tried to reach for him. Her left hand made a fist in frustration as he heard her cry. "Please, just stop crying."

Willow saw her make a fist, "She clenched her hand!" she exclaimed, "I saw it."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," the nurse answered tiredly.

"Look for yourself," Willow ordered.

"Holy shit!" the nurse yelled. She ran out of the room shouting, "Code Blue, Code G, code Green, code something. We need a doctor in here Stat or something. She was hysterical. "Hurry, for God's sake. Get a move on. She's alive and moving!"

Willow looked down at Amanda and told her in a prim voice, "That was very unprofessional of her. She should act properly and with dignity around the patients at all times. It says so in the training manuals." She frowned and added, "They hire very cheap help at this hospital.

"Oh Amanda, do you know what this means? Mark became more excited.

"Will someone tell me what is going on? What is happening?" she yelled.

"Sweetheart, yesterday they were going to put you on life support in the vain hope you would live another thirty days. Then you moved your fingers."

"Why in hell can't I move the rest of me?" she worried.

"Hello, Wonder Woman," a dignified silver haired man greeted him as he came into Amanda's line of sight. "What's this I hear, that you moved your fingers? Which hand?"

"My left, what is the big deal?" She hated all the incomplete bits of information that kept coming to her without anyone ever explaining anything.

Then came the bomb. "The neurologist diagnosed your condition as hopeless. He said you would be a quadriplegic the rest of your life, that is, even if you woke up. You just made a liar out of him. Perhaps, just perhaps you might continue to improve until, well who knows? Let's take it one day at a time." He continued his examination.

Amanda heard Sam's voice as he burst into the room. "I just got the preliminary figures in. Mean Streets broke all box office records for all time. Christ I wish Amanda was able to hear the news."

"I can hear the damned news. Stop your yelling," Amanda ordered.

"What are you doing awake? They said you would not last..." Sam shut his mouth, embarrassed at his tactless outburst.

"Well, they were wrong," Amanda answered in a sour voice.

"I have an idea," Sam enthused, suddenly all business. "Mean Streets Two starts with a shot of Lardo when he shot you. We can use a double for that. Fade to you falling. We have all but the actual shooting, thanks to Dirk and Karl. Next fade to a Doctor Kildare type working to save your wounded self, followed by the frustration when you learn you are crippled for life. Then we shift to a montage of scenes of you working out, running your business from the bed and so forth.

"Sam, have you ever had an idea that involved me where I feel no pain?" Amanda asked sarcastically.

"Of course not. Who would pay to look at you if you were happy as a clam and doing nothing?" Sam gave his dearest friend a strange look, "Nobody, that's who. Now I have an idea for Willow and Mark to star as star struck lovers of the same guy."

"No, ' said Willow.

"Definitely no," said Mark.

"We have talked to Stanley and he is interested in Willow and me doing Alice In Wonderland as brother and sister who fall into a deep, bottomless pool and end up in Wonderland. Willow plays the part of Alice and I am her twin brother Argyle." Mark smiled at Sam and walked around to stand in where Amanda could see him. The doctor left shaking his head and talking to himself.

"Hi," he said, all at once shy.

"Hi," she told him in a sad voice. "I screwed up this time for sure, didn't I?" Her face mirrored all the personal anguish she felt deep inside.

"How do you figure that?" He looked down at her, a quizzical expression on his face. He bent over and kissed her.

"Oh hell, if I hadn't gone on this quixotic crusade against the crooks in government and tried to clean up City Hall single handed I would not be a helpless cripple. I'm so sorry I messed things up. God, how sorry I am."

"Don't be such a d-dumb sh-shit," Mark told her as he fought the urge to cry. "We are going to get you better and out of here and in time you will be your same old super hero self again." He smiled down at her and kissed her on the lips.

She didn't hear a word he said to her. "Hon," she told him in a sorrowful voice, "I had such great plans for us. I was going to ask you to marry me and have your kids and the whole ball of wax. But now, what can I offer you?"

"Well," he started angrily, "You can offer me the woman and the marriage and we can work on the kids. That's better than the sniveling whiner I see in bed in front of me right now."

Mark took a deep breath and started in again, "You have done more and earned more and accomplished more than almost any other person your age. Sam told me how you two planned crazy stunts that got you thrown in jail three different times while Sam hustled you to the studios. You had guts then. Now look at your crybaby self. Be brave, Amanda. Please just be brave and we will work our way through all this."

"How can I be any kind of a brave person when I'm going to be a cripple for the rest of my life? You heard the doctor. They are surprised I even woke up. He said..."

"Yes, I heard what he said, so shut the hell up." He looked mad enough to hit her.

"Hey, where did you learn to cuss like that and have such a smart mouth?" She looked at him as if seeing a stranger for the first time.

"It rubbed off from hanging around with you and Mike and Dirk and Billy and all the rest." His face softened and he continued, "Amanda, didn't you also hear you were supposed to be a candidate to become an organ donor? Instead, you woke up after they said you couldn't. You were diagnosed with total paralysis and you clenched a fist."

He reached under the covers down past where the body cast ended and rubbed her pussy. His finger lightly brushed her mound and slipped inside just a little.

"Oh migod!" she exclaimed as her sphincter muscles clenched when he slipped his finger inside her. Her pussy squeezed the intruding finger. Thrills squirmed through her groin and stomach.