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Story Notes:
Instructions: You must use the above line of dialogue in your story exactly as stated. Don't forget your submission can be any length - from one line to a full-length story - and it can be SMK, B5 or anything else as long as it has a link to either SMK or B5.
Author's Chapter Notes:
*The usual disclaimers apply. Scarecrow and Mrs. King belong to WB and
Shoot the Moon Productions and not to me. I hope everyone enjoys
it-I'm having a not-so-great day so the story may be not-so-great
either. Please let me know if you like.*
Another Fine Mess You've Gotten Yourself Into


Galilee General Hospital

1:30 AM

The doors to the emergency room burst open. White coated paramedics
wheeled in an unconscious figure whose face was covered by an oxygen
mask-a man? A woman? Lee really couldn't tell. He heard words like
`been shot', `blood', and `surgery, stat' and watched as the guy was
wheeled through another pair of swinging doors.

Dear God, how he really hated these places, Lee thought. He shifted
around in the slippery orange plastic seat, desperately trying to get
comfortable and failing.

"Well I told my brother that the motorcycle was too much for him to
handle," the young woman sitting across from Lee was telling the
police officer. She was brushing tears from her eyes. "But he wouldn't
listen to me-and now this." The police officer simply nodded and
scribbled into his notebook. Lee turned his attention from that and
onto the talk show on the nearby television, where some woman was
about to throw a chair at another woman for `sleeping with her man'.
Why did they always show this garbage at this time of night?

The nurse up at the front desk looked like she was half-asleep.
Should he bug her again? Lee wondered. Probably not a good idea,
considering that her last words had been `don't make me call security,
Mr. Stetson.'. Lee sighed, resting his elbows on his knees and running
his hands back through his hair as visions of what had happened played
through his head:

~~~~~
The sound of a high-pitched shriek, followed by a thud that seemed to
shake the house…

Going into Jenna's room, seeing the open window, the curtains flapping
in the wind. The rain outside left small drops and puddles on the
window-seat…

Running outside, calling Jenna's name over and over- not caring at all
about the rain that soaked his clothing and muddied his feet…

There had been a flash of lightning at that point-bright enough to
make the night seem like day-that was the point that Lee had seen
Jenna's body, lying motionless underneath the tree. Her right leg had
been twisted at an odd angle and there was blood on her forehead. The
first-aid he'd been taught had always said not to move an injured
person, but with the storm raging outside Lee didn't really think he
had much of a choice. He'd lifted Jenna and she'd groaned, her eyes
opening slightly.

"I'm here, munchkin," Lee had told her. "You'll be just fine. Don't
try to talk." Jenna's eyes had closed again. Amanda had called an
ambulance and he'd taken Jenna inside to wait.
~~~~~

"I called Mother." Amanda's voice startled Lee-he looked up to see
his wife carrying two small cups of coffee. "Just to let her know what
was going on, since she was supposed to be taking Jenna to summer camp
in the morning. Also, I thought you could use this," she said, handing
him one of the cups of coffee. "It's from a machine-it's the best I
could get right now."

"Thanks," Lee said, taking a small sip of the bitter liquid.

"Have you heard anything yet?" Amanda said, sitting on the chair
beside him.

Lee laughed shortly "You're kidding, right? I really think they like
to torture you in these places-they make you wait for the news as long
as possible." Amanda took his hand in her own, squeezing gently.

"Why did she do it?" Lee said. "We told her not to, Amanda-and she
deliberately turns around and disobeys us. I can't believe this."

"Well Jenna's always been hard-headed, Lee," Amanda said. "You've said
so yourself."

"Oh she's hard-headed all right- stubborn-she's just like you," Lee said.

"Hard-headed like who?" Amanda said, raising her eyebrows. .

"Like both of us," Lee said. "I keep thinking that if I hadn't heard
that thump and gone to check on her she could've been-I don't even
want to think." He looked down at his watch. "It's been two and a
half hours, Amanda. What the hell could be taking them so long?"

"I'm sure we'll hear something soon," Amanda said, giving his hand
another squeeze. Lee let his thumb caress her fingers.

"Mr. and Mrs. Stetson?" A tall grey-haired man in a lab coat came
over to them. "I'm Dr. Carey. Jenna's going to be just fine."

"Thank God," Lee said. Dr. Carey continued.

"She has a moderate sprain to her right leg and a very mild
concussion-but because she's suffered a previous head injury we'd like
to keep her overnight and tomorrow for observation. The CT scan that
we ran showed no problems."

"How about the cut on her forehead?" Lee said.

"A scratch," Dr. Carey said. "All it needed was some antiseptic and a
band-aid. She's a very lucky girl-it could've been much much worse."

"Can we see her?" Amanda asked.

"Of course," Dr. Carey said. "She'll be in room 322."

SMK SMK SMK SMK

"So what do you suggest we do?" Amanda said as they made their way
through the maze of hospital corridors.

"I don't know," Lee said. "Ground her?"

"What would be the point?" Amanda said. "She'll already be grounded in
a sense because she hurt her leg, Lee. Jenna was looking forward to
this camp and now she won't be able to go- I really think that's
punishment enough."

"I just don't want her to pull another stunt like that again," Lee
said. "She scared me to death, Amanda. When I saw her under that
tree-I thought for one moment that she was-" he took a deep breath,
unable to say the word that he was thinking. "I just don't want it to
happen again."

"Neither do I," Amanda said. "But children do these things. I remember
the time that Philip rode on someone's handlebars down a hill and fell
off-he got his leg caught and was dragged along for about twenty
yards-scraped up his entire left side. And I once caught Jamie about
to leap down off the tree house and onto an old mattress for a dare."

"I don't remember any of that," Lee said.

"Well you wouldn't-that was before you knew us." Amanda said.

"Amanda does it ever get any easier?" Lee said. "Do your children
ever stop doing things that just about make you have a heart attack?"

"Maybe, but I haven't found out yet," Amanda said. Lee groaned.

"What should we do, then?" He said.

"Talk to her," Amanda said, pushing open the door to room 322.

SMK SMK SMK SMK

Jenna was sitting up in the bed when Lee came in. Her lower leg was
swathed in bandages and elevated on a stack of pillows. There was a
small band-aid on her head.

"Hey," Jenna said.

"Hey sweetheart," Amanda said, giving her daughter a brief hug and a
kiss. "How are you?"

"Okay," Jenna said. "But I'm worried about Oscar." She looked over at
Lee. "Did you ever find him?"

Lee took another deep breath, trying to force himself to calm down. It
didn't work. "Jenna, Oscar is just fine. We found him on the front
doorstep-at least he had the sense to stay out of the rain. Cats can
take care of themselves, didn't I say that? Didn't I tell you to stay
inside?" Jenna opened her mouth but Lee didn't give her a chance to
speak. "Whatever were you thinking?" he asked.

"I just wanted to know that he was okay," Jenna said, her voice
quavering slightly. "The weather outside was so bad-I couldn't sleep
thinking that Oscar was out there in it."

"So you decided to put yourself out in it too, right?" Lee said.
"What exactly happened?"

"Well I opened the window and climbed out onto the tree branch," Jenna
said. "I've climbed the tree before, only not from the window but from
the ground-I thought it would be okay, only it was dark and the tree
was wet. I guess I must have slipped-the last thing I remember is
screaming and falling."

"It's lucky you did scream-that's what woke us up," Lee said, his
voice rising slightly. "All you had to do was stay put-that was it.
But no, you had to disobey us."

"Lee," Amanda said. But Lee wasn't listening.

"Do you realize what might have happened, Jenna?" He said. "That you
could have died? Cats have nine lives but you have only one."

Jenna brushed tears from her face. "It wasn't like I fell on purpose,"
she said. "It just happened. I was just worried about him-I love my
cat."

"Well we love you, Jenna," Lee said, his voice softening as he walked
over and took her hands in his. "And we don't want anything to happen
to you. I wouldn't be getting this upset if I didn't care. Do you
understand?"

Jenna nodded. "I understand." She said. Lee bent over and gave her a
hug.

"I'm sorry about summer camp, munchkin," he said. "Sorry you have to
stay in this place overnight too."

"It's not so bad," Jenna said. "The Doctor was telling me about a cute
boy my age who's just across the hall-" she yawned. "Only I might be
too tired to meet him tonight-I think I might go to sleep now and meet
him tomorrow."

"Cute boy?" Lee said faintly. Suddenly he felt the need to sit down.

"Well that's fine, sweetheart," Amanda said, carefully lowering
Jenna's bed. "You get your rest and we'll talk about cute boys
tomorrow."

The End
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