Page 12 of Stonewall

“She needs me,” Gael replied, his eyes tearing up, not wanting to leave his mom.

Summer walked over, kneeling in front of Gael. “Honey, your mom, needs us to make her better, and I’m sure she’d feel a whole lot better if you were being taken care of properly. I promise you as soon as we are done, I will come to get you so you can talk to her,” Summer spoke in a soothing voice she probably had to use with patients all the time.

“Promise?” Gael asked Summer.

“I pinkie swear,” she answered, holding up her pinkie finger for Gael to take.

“Okay,” Gael relented, twisting his pinkie with hers and then putting his little hand in my big one, letting me lead him out with Germie following at his heels.

I went into the common area, where I saw Lord, Sophia, and Rowena waiting. Rowena jumped from her chair as soon as she saw Gael and Germie. “It’s a dog,” Rowena squealed, running toward Germie; Lord caught her before she could reach the dog. “Hold up there, Roe, not so fast you might scare the poor dog,” Lord cautioned her.

Sophia looked at Gael. “That’s a cute dog; what’s his name?” she asked as she leaned down to pet the dog.

“Germie,” Gael answered in a near whisper, inching closer to my side.

“I like dogs,” Rowena said, getting in front of Gael. “My name Roe; you wanna play?”

“There’s a playground out back. Would you and Germie like to come out and play with Rowena and me,” Sophia asked Gael.

Gael still wasn’t sure and held on to my hand tight. The kid trusted me; I liked that a lot.

Rowena, never one to meet a stranger, grabbed his other hand. “Come play; I have cookies,” she begged. That brought back a memory of another little girl offering a little boy cookies to get him to play.

“It’ll be fun, Gael, and playing will help pass the time before Summer comes to get you,” I told him. I was anxious to get back to Brooke but wanted to make sure he was okay first.

Reluctantly he let go of my hand. “What kind of cookies?” He asked Rowena as she grabbed his hand, pulling him to the door with Sophia following. I listened to the chatter of Rowena fade as they walked out the door.

“Thanks, Lord, I appreciate this,” I said when the door shut.

“No problem. I’m guessing Brooke is with Doc?”

“Yeah, that fucker Flex beat her and knocked her out,” I snarled.

“What a pussy, you gonna kill him?”

“Do you even have to ask?” I scoffed. “I’m going to be with Brooke. I may need Gael to stay with you for a few days; that okay?”

“You know it is; we’ll hang around for the rest of the afternoon until we know more,” Lord said.

“Thanks, I owe you,” I replied as I returned to Brooke.

WHERE WAS I? It looked like a hospital room, but the man prodding me didn’t look like a Doctor. I heard a woman’s voice talk to Gael, convincing him to leave the room with Lenny while they took care of me. I heard Lenny and Gael go. Then the woman who I heard came to stand by the doctor. “Gael will be taken care of, don’t worry,” she spoke, squeezing my hand. Her face was warm and open, letting me relax.

“Brooke, what hurts the most right now?” The doctor asked as he looked into my eyes with a light causing me to moan as a sharp pain went through my head.

“Flex knocked her out; she has a bump on the back of her head,” Lenny informed the doctor as he returned to the room.

The doctor lifted my head, feeling the bump. I felt like I was going to throw up. “Stop,” I mumbled, raising my hand to him.

“Are you nauseous?” The doctor asked, slowly lowering my head.

“Yeah, and it hurts,” I replied, my hand going to my head.

“You have a concussion, Brooke,” he said. “When did this happen?”

“This morning, I got there at eight, so probably around seven,” Lenny answered for me. I was glad it hurt when I talked, my mouth and my head.

“I don’t like that she is in so much pain. It concerns me. I will watch her for twenty-four hours to make sure there is nothing else wrong,” he told Lenny. Then he focused his attention back on me. “We need to check the rest of your body for injuries; I noticed bruising on your body, old and new, the same with your face. I want to make sure I’m not overlooking anything. Is it okay if Summer helps you undress?” he asked, his voice gentle.