Friday

June 13, 2008

1:25am

Dr. Polydefkis turned on 59th & Maryland and pulled into the hospital’s parking garage, took the elevator to the 2nd floor, then walked across the bridge to the patient’s side of the complex.

He took the elevator up to the 8th floor, and went to his office, quietly letting himself inside. He double-checked the fluid filled syringe in his pocket; something new he’d gotten from overseas. It was something prisoners were given, to put them into a coma-like state. Prisoners given this reported afterward, that they could hear and feel everything, only couldn’t respond to anything going on. Like being under general anesthesia, the kind that didn’t work like it was supposed to; the kind where patients said they could feel the operation going on, but were mute with terror and paralyzed. He smiled. It was just the kind of drug he liked. He’d have lots of fun with William before he sent him on his way to L.A.

Another half-hour and he’d go and administer the drug before the people from x-ray came and got him.

1:25am

Lynn Russo was coming out of the restroom when she saw Dr. Polydefkis coming off the elevator. She stepped back a moment into the doorway and watched him walk to his office, "That’s really strange," she thought. Somewhere in her gut, she didn’t have a good feeling at all, plus the order for William to have a x-ray at 2:15am. She walked back to her desk, tapping a pen against her leg, wondering what was up.

"I ought to call Dr. Ogilvie," she said to the other nurse on duty.

"Yeah, he’ll like that!"

"I know, especially if it’s nothing, but it doesn’t feel like nothing. I have to think about this," she said, frowning.

"Know who you could call?"

"Who?"

"Dr. Turner, he’s always been the most reasonable about late night calls, plus William Worthington was his patient, until yesterday."

"Susie, I think I love you," Lynn said picking up the phone.

1:30am

They were still outside the outpatient entrance trying to come up with a plan how they would get William out, when Dr. Turner’s phone rang.

"Dr. Turner," he answered.

As soon as Lynn Russo started telling him about what was going on, he motioned the others to be quiet, mouthing to them who it was.

"What other patients do you have on the floor now?" he asked her.

She listed the 8 other patients by name.

"You’re right Lynn, something is going on and it would seem that Dr. Polydefkis is up to no good, we, I mean I think he’s trying to get William Worthington out of there tonight and into someone’s hands who means him harm," Dr. Turner said.

"Who?"

"Listen, Lynn, I can’t go into it all now, in fact, I don’t even know the whole story, only that I believe it or I wouldn’t be here right now myself."

"You’re here?"

"Yes, I’m downstairs. I need you to do me a favor, which may buy us some time. I need you to switch the rooms of Mark Mason and William Worthington as quickly as possible. Can you do that? Good. No, don’t put it in the charts. Then I need you to do keep Polydefkis off the ward if you can. Don’t try to be a hero, just keep him out. If he does get on, he’ll think William is still in 814. And one more thing…"

"What?" Lynn asked.

"I need you to look the other way a couple of times when some people come and go tonight," he said, hoping he wasn’t putting all of their jobs in jeopardy.

"How am I going to know which people are which, with people from x-ray coming up for William in about an hour?"

He thought for a minute, "They’ll ask you if you’re going to the staff party at the Downtown Hilton next Friday, okay?"

"That’s the ‘secret handshake,’ she said, laughing.

"Yeah, off the top of my head," he said, groaning.

"Works for me."

"I’ll be up in a couple of minutes," Dr. Turner said.

"Listen guys," Dr. Turner said, "I think I’ve got a solution," he said and filled them in.

Once Dr. Turner had gone into the hospital, Willow motioned for Buffy. They walked over to the corner of the building.

"Buffy, wouldn’t it be better, if Dr. Polydefkis gets up there after all, to Spike, I mean William’s room, and looks at the other patient but thinks he’s actually seeing William?" Willow asked.

"Yeah, sure, but what are you saying?"

"I’ve got an idea," Willow said, and proceeded to tell her.

1:50am

"Come on Susie, let’s get these straps off, so we can put William in a chair.

"Wha? What’s…Elizabeth come?" William asked, groggily, thinking Dawn was still there.

"Come on William, no time to talk right now, let’s get you up. Good, now sit down, careful! Okay, good," Lynn said, pushing the wheelchair to the door. She looked out and seeing nobody about, pushed him to room 802.

Once inside 802, William sat in the chair while Susie and Lynn got the other man up onto a gurney.

The other patient, Mark Mason, was a malicious serial killer who had strangled at least 50 people over an 8-year period. After being sentenced to jail for life for at least a half dozen murders, and after serving a half dozen years, his lawyer got his case overturned on a technicality. His sentence was then changed to life in a mental institution with no possibility of his being released. There was a special unit of the Illinois penal system for people like him, but they were working on construction right then, and there had been no other place to house him. He had come to The University of Chicago psych unit under very heavy doses of sedatives and Thorazine, for maximal control and the safety of both the guards and hospital personnel. For this reason, he was being constantly kept in a semi-unconscious state, until the unit he was to return to was finished. The hospital had agreed to this arrangement for two reasons. The first reason was money; a hefty dividend was given to the hospital when it had to host one of the most hardened criminals in the state. The second was that one of the trustees of the hospital also sat on the board of trustees of the prison system.

"Come on, William, lie down here," Lynn said.

"Wh…?" William looked at her, not comprehending.

"Look at me William," she commanded; "it’s only for a short time, I believe. Just do this for me now, okay? Good," she said as he lay down. She hated to put back on the straps, but she thought it was for the best.

"Good luck, William," she said as she walked to the door, to push the other patient out and to William’s room.

1:55am

Dr. Turner got off the elevator on the 8th floor and made his way over to the nurse’s station.

"Lynn," he said, motioning her over, "did you switch them yet?"

"Yeah, just got finished. What do you need me to do now?" she asked.

"I need Mark Mason’s chart for a minute. I need to pronounce him dead, as of this afternoon," Dr. Turner said, then explained, "it’s only for a little while. Just long enough to…never mind, you probably don’t want to know."

"Not really. ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ is my motto tonight as far as you’re concerned. And a certain patient."

"Good. I’ll change it back later."

2:00am

"You’ve got to be kidding me!" Buffy exclaimed looking at the morgue cart.

"Well, that’s what we use to get dead patients off the floor, so nobody else can see them, I figured it would be a good way to get William out without anybody seeing him!" Leroy said.

"He’ll freak, if he’s at all conscious," Buffy said.

Dawn nodded.

"Why don’t you get in there with him?" Leroy asked.

"Huh? How?"

"You could ride up there inside the cart, then the both of you could ride down together," Leroy suggested.

Buffy slid the lid down and looked in. Well, there might be room if she lay on top of him or vice versa. She was small, and he wasn’t very large. In spite of the forced intimacy, at least, hopefully, she could keep him calm.

"Willow," you’re going to have to be our morgue worker, Dawn’s already been up there tonight, so they might recognize her.

Willow nodded, "You ready, Buffy?" she said, as she finished pinning a nametag to her morgue worker’s lab coat.

"Dawn, you call Bernie. See if we can get him, otherwise, Leroy, you go and get your car and meet us by the old employee entrance."

"I’m ready," Buffy said and stood on a chair to get in. The lid slid over her and she swallowed hard, as she fought back a feeling of claustrophobia and the memory of fighting to get out of her own grave.

2:05am

The elevator door opened on the 8th floor and Willow pushed the cart through. She walked over to 8 West and buzzed. Lynn came to the door and looked at Willow skeptically.

Willow cleared her throat, "You going to the staff party at the Downtown Hilton next Friday?" she asked.

Lynn looked at her for a moment, then realized what she’d just said, more importantly, what it meant.

She opened the door for Willow, "Yeah, hear it’s supposed to be a good one," she answered, "room 802," she added pointing.

"Thanks," Willow answered.

She wheeled the cart to room 802 and opened it and pulled the car inside.

She slid the cover back and helped Buffy up.

Buffy stood up and hopped down.

William was facing the window away from the door, toward the window.

Buffy came around to the side of the bed and knelt down, gently stroking his face.

"William," she said, as she waited for him to open his eyes, "it’s Elizabeth, I’ve come to get you out of here, to take you home."

He didn’t want to open his eyes, didn’t want the dream to end, the dream that once again, Elizabeth had visited him, that once again she put her lovely hand on his face. Didn’t want it to be true, like the doctor told him, that he would never see her again, that he would never leave this place.

"William, please wake up, we have to get out of here now William!" Buffy said, more insistent this time.

Slowly he opened his eyes and saw her smile at him and nod.

"Elizabeth," he said softly.

"Yes, William, it’s me," she said nodding, as Willow undid the restraints, "I’m here to keep my promise to you, though not in the way I thought it was going to be, but a promise is a promise, right?"

He nodded.

"Can you get up?"

"I, I think so," William said.

"Listen to me, we have to sneak you out of here. You and I…we’re going to ride down together in this," she said, pointing to the cart that Willow had rolled over to the side of the bed.

He looked at it and violently shook his head no.

"You have to. We have to, William, there’s no other way," Buffy said, pleading with him.

"I can’t," he said, whispering.

"Why?"

He didn’t answer.

"Why William?"

"I’m…I’m afraid…of…of the dark and of…it looks like a coffin, " he motioned to the cart.

Buffy’s eyes filled with tears of understanding. The irony was heartbreaking, William, afraid of both the dark and coffins.

"I know, William. Me, too. But you want to get out of here, don’t you?

He nodded.

"Then you, rather, WE are going to have to put our fears aside for a few minutes until we’re out of here. It won’t be long, I promise. Maybe 5 minutes, and then, you’ll be out of here forever. I can take you home," she said looking him in the eyes, "what do you say?"

He just looked at her for a minute. Was she his dream? Would he say yes and then get stuck in some dark place?

She took his hands in hers, putting one on her face, "I’m real William, you’re real! Please have faith in me, please!" she said, kissing the palm of his hand.

He hand moved of it’s own accord, caressing her face and hair as he looked into those eyes that he remembered from yesterday. Eyes that saw him, "Are you really here?"

"I am, and what’s more, so are you, William, so are you. Now, what do you say we get the hell out of here?"

"Okay," he said, nodding.

"Hi William, nice to meet you. I’m Willow. I know you don’t remember me, but I’m Buffy’s, er Elizabeth’s best friend."

"Nice to meet you, too. Again, I guess," William said.

"How do you want to do this?" Willow asked, "William on the top or bottom?"

2:15am

Dr. Polydefkis rang for the night nurse. Lynn Russo came to the ward door, flinching inwardly at seeing who it was.

"Can I help you?"

"I’m here to see William Worthington, I wanted to make sure he’s alright before he has to go down to x-ray in a little while."

"He’s fine, he’s sleeping comfortably right now," Lynn said.

"Well, I thought I’d check up on him myself, if that’s alright with you," he said in a condescending voice he reserved for all nurses and most females.

"I’m afraid that you can’t see any patients tonight," Lynn said.

"What?" he asked, his face getting red, "I have full hospital privileges, I demand to see my patient!" he yelled.

"I’m sorry, but I’m not sure what’s going on right now, and until I’m satisfied, nobody gets in to see him. There’s been a notation made regarding this on his chart."

"At least open this door up and let me see the chart," he said, trying to sound reasonable.

Reluctantly, Lynn buzzed him through and followed him to the nurse’s station. He sat down and looked at the chart.

"Where does it say this?" he demanded.

She looked, knowing she wouldn’t see it, either, "It said it earlier, then it disappeared."

"You must be seeing things," Dr. Polydefkis told her.

"No, I wasn’t and neither was the other nurse who brought it to my attention. Since I can’t verify anything at this hour, I’m going to have to call Dr. Ogilvie at home and get his input."

"Go ahead and do that. I’ll just wait," he said.

Lynn turned around and Dr. Polydefkis quickly took out a small bottle and poured some liquid into a handkerchief. Coming up behind her, he grabbed her, putting it over her nose and mouth.

A few minutes later, Susie returned from checking on one of the patients, "What’s wrong?" she asked seeing Dr. Polydefkis standing over Lynn, who had her head down on the desk.

"I don’t know, after she let me in, I was looking over a chart and all of a sudden she said she felt dizzy and passed out," he said, with his hand on Lynn’s pulse.

As Susie came around to the other side, Dr. Polydefkis grabbed her from behind with one hand, putting the hand with the rag on her face.

Susie fought back, kicking over a chair, as the ether had partially evaporated from the cloth.

Holding onto her, as she fought and kicked, Dr. Polydefkis brought the bottle to her face and holding the top still with one hand, twisted the bottle, allowing the liquid to pour onto the handkerchief. Within seconds she was out cold.

2:15am

"I could get on the bottom," Buffy said, shrugging.

William looked aghast, "No! I’ll…I’ll be on the bottom," he said.

"What was that?" Buffy asked, hearing a loud bang coming from down the hall.

"I don’t know. Let’s hurry," Willow said.

Willow laid a blanket on the bottom of the cart and she and Buffy helped William up and then into it. He was weak from the more than 24 hours of heavy drugs, and it took both of them, firmly holding onto him, to get him in. Buffy nodded at him and he took a deep breath and lay down.

Next, Buffy stood on a chair and knelt on either side of William’s legs then eased herself down, so that she was lying on top of him. Her face in the crook of his neck.

"Make yourselves as comfortable as you can, because it will be a little while before we can get you out. Not too long," she said, smiling at William reassuringly.

Buffy adjusted her arms, so that one was behind his neck and the other on the side of his head. He awkwardly put his arms around her back.

Willow started to close it up and at the last minute, they found that he’d have to turn his head in order for her to slide the lid shut. He turned his head toward Buffy.

"Okay, guys, this is it, don’t make any sounds or movements," Willow said and pushed open the door to his room and into the hall.

As she was coming out of the hall she saw a man coming down the hall, he stopped in front of room 814. Willow inhaled and proceeded forward.

2:20am

Dr. Polydefkis noticed a cute little redhead coming toward him with the Morgue Cart.

"What do you have there? I wasn’t aware of anybody dying up here today," he said.

"It’s Mark Mason, from 802, found him dead this afternoon," Willow said.

"And you’re just coming to get him now?" Dr. Polydefkis asked.

Willow shrugged, "Guess the order got lost," she said.

"You need to get dead bodies out of here quickly," he said to Willow, looking down at the cart, "otherwise they start to decay. Do you know what a body looks like when it decays?" he asked.

"Of course," Willow said, looking at him with some alarm.

"Describe it to me," he said to her.

"Describe it?"

"Yeah, describe it, the decaying process."

Willow didn’t know this was Dr. Polydefkis, but everything that she’d learned for all the years she’d lived in Sunnydale, plus her years of studying under the auspices of the coven, told her this was evil she was dealing with.

As she started to tell him all about it, she was remembering how to do a specific spell, should she need it.

"I see you’ve studied Williams & Williams Decomposing of the Human Body," he said.

"Yeah, great piece of work," she said.

He nodded, admiring her for her intelligence and wishing he had the time to take her back to his place.

You’re new, right?"

"Um, yeah, pretty new," Willow answered.

"Well how about you letting me take you out sometime?" he asked, leering at her.

"Sure, that’d be great," she said, thankful that she remembered the name on her tag, "I’m Lisa, just ask for me down at the morgue."

"I’ll do that, Lisa from the morgue. I’m Dimitri Polydefkis, by the way."

"Nice to meet you," she said, now understanding.

"Hey, before I go, how about letting me have a look at the body? Not many times one gets to see a mass murderer, dead or alive," he said.

"You know, I would," Willow said, trying to think quickly, "but as you pointed out, I didn’t get up here very quickly and the body is…shall we say pretty ripe? Honestly, he smells just like shit, which is what he lost when…and I’m about to take my break in about half an hour, I really don’t need to be smelling that right now."

Looking down at his watch, he shrugged, "Next time then, Lisa from the morgue," he said winking at her, as he pushed open the door to ‘William’s room.’

Willow hurried away down the hall.

2:25am

Dr. Polydefkis walked over to the bed and looking down, he saw the sleeping figure of ‘William.’ He jabbed him in the arm with the syringe and emptied the contents into his arm.

The man’s eyes flew open.

"Yeah, that’s right, you piece of shit, try to yell, try to cry out," he said, with a mad gleam in his eye, "you’re more trouble than you’ve been worth to me, that’s for sure. But I think you’re going to be well taken care of by Angel. Yeah, that’s right, Angel has plans for you and you won’t ever see anybody you know again."

Willow looked around the nurse’s station, but didn’t see the nurse who had buzzed her in. Finally, she located the buzzer for the ward door and let herself out. She had to put a paperweight on the buzzer, because it didn’t stay down automatically. She had a bad feeling about why the nurses weren’t about, but she couldn’t stop to investigate now.

She pressed the elevator button repeatedly; hoping it would soon come.

The elevator reached the basement and Willow quickly wheeled the cart to the laundry room, where they’d stored their things.

"We’re here, guys," she said, "pulling back the lid, just in time to see Buffy and William’s lips unlock.

Buffy looked up sheepishly, William looked confused.

"We have to go now," Buffy said to William, taking Willow’s hand as she helped her up.

Next, they both pulled William into a sitting position then brought a chair over for him to step down on. Shakily, he made it down and now stood between the two women, looking back and forth at them.

Buffy quickly took him by the hand and pulled him down an aisle holding laundry bags on both sides. She reached up and grabbed her backpack and quickly pulled out his pants and handed them to him, "Put these on," she directed, as she put her arm under his and looked the other way. Gratefully, he leaned on her and put them on, pulling them up, under the hospital gown that he’d been put into, after the move to 8 West.

Next, Buffy untied the straps in the back of his gown and handed him the T-shirt, once more, looking away.

She looked at him, pleased, "That’s better, huh?"

He nodded, they may be strange clothes, but at least they were clothes.

She took the hospital gown from him and shoved it into one of the laundry bags.

Looking down at his feet, she realized he had no shoes. This wouldn’t do.

"Wait here a minute," she said, and went down the aisle to where Willow stood waiting.

"Willow, I hate to ask, but….Spike, doesn’t have any shoes. Do you think…?"

Willow looked at Buffy, "You want me to conjure up shoes?" she asked, with a mock, shocked expression.

"Well, it will look pretty suspicious if someone sees him without any shoes," she said, shrugging.

Willow grinned mischievously, "Well, I don’t think this is the major mojo they were talking about granting me before I left, but I suppose this could be considered somewhat in the line-of-duty. Okay, what size shoes does he wear?"

"Uh, I’m don’t know," Buffy said, trying to think in terms of men’s foot sizes.

"I got an idea," Willow said, and with a few words, a couple of dozen pair of shoes appeared.

"William," Willow said, "come here."

William came down the aisle and Willow motioned over to the shoes, "We found these, you need some shoes, so take a pair."

"Whose are these? Won’t someone miss them?" he asked.

"I think these are shoes that are from the lost and found, I don’t think they belong to anyone," Willow answered.

He frowned.

"Please William, you can’t go walking around barefoot, if we want to get out of here," Buffy said.

He sighed, but began looking. He bypassed the Nikes, the Reeboks, and all the casual footwear, until he came to a pair of Doc Marten’s. He tried them on, then looked at Buffy and Willow and nodded, both thinking that some things never change.

"Good," Willow said, "now let’s get going!"

2:40am

Buffy, William, & Willow walked down the hall of the basement and took the elevator up to the second floor.

As the elevator door shut, William looked alarmed and grabbed for Buffy’s hand. He’d never stood in an elevator before, in fact, he’d only been in one when he’d been unconscious.

"It’s okay, it’s just taking us up to the second floor," she told him.

The door opened, and they started to make their way to the bridge that would take them to the other side of the hospital and to the outpatient door.

They took the stairs down to the first floor and started walking down the corridor to the outpatient sector. As they did they passed two burly looking men, with lab coats that said ‘x-ray’ on them, pushing a gurney. They looked over at the trio with a disinterested glance and continued on their way.

2:45am

Dr. Polydefkis buzzed the two men from x-ray into the 8 West ward, and took them to room 814.

He’d made sure that the nurses were still out, by once again, putting the ether soaked handkerchief to their faces and locking them in a utility closet. He’d noticed that someone had let themselves out, because he’d heard the buzzer going off earlier, and had seen the paperweight placed on top of the button. He figured it was Lisa from the morgue.

"Here he is, one Mr. William Worthington," he said, as he watched the biggest man look at a description of the man that Angel had sent. He nodded and both men put him roughly on the gurney and secured him with straps.

They handed Polydefkis an envelope. He took a quick look inside. There was an open airplane ticket, a check for $500,000 for his apartment, and the rest was filled with thousand dollar bills. He smiled, "Tell Angel thanks and it was nice doing business with him."

"Yeah, we’ll do that. You sure this patient isn’t going to wake up?"

"Probably not for a couple of days, at least. I gave him a paralyzing agent," Dr. Polydefkis said.

"Wait a minute," he told the men, as he quickly wrote something on a piece of paper and grabbed some tape. He then buzzed them and himself through.

He waited for them at the elevator, "Good luck," he said, as they got on."

"Yeah," they said as the door shut.

Dr. Polydefkis then taped the OUT OF ORDER sign he had made on the outside of the elevator, and went to his office to gather the few things he had there that he didn’t want anyone to find. He knew that very shortly someone would find out about the nurses and the missing patient and he didn’t plan on sticking around for that.

2:45am

The wind was blowing hard and it had started to rain as Dr. Turner, Leroy, and Dawn waited inside Bernie’s cab for Buffy, William, and Willow. Finally, they came out the door.

William inhaled the smell of flowers that were planted around the entrance and was reminded of a kind of flower his mother always liked. He told himself he would try to remember the name.

Dr. Turner came out of the cab and over to them.

"William," he said, smiling, "I’m releasing you to the care of your wife Elizabeth, I’m sure she’s going to take very good care of you," he put out his hand.

William hesitated, then extended his, "Thank you," he said.

"And William or Elizabeth, if you have any questions, concerns, need my help or advice, please call me anytime. Promise me that you will."

They both nodded.

They were standing by the cab. Leroy got out to make room for the three of them. Dawn was up front with Bernie.

William hesitated. He turned to Elizabeth and whispered, "I don’t remember ever being in an automobile before," he said.

"I know, but it’s too far to walk, where…hey, where are we going?" she asked.

"I got a place you can stay as long as you like, it’s about an hour from my house in Indiana. Bernie will explain. I’ll meet you there in about an hour. As soon as I get my car, I’ll pull around and you can follow me. If you lose me, Bernie’s got directions.

"Come on, William, you can sit between Elizabeth and me" Willow said, getting into the car and pulling William in by the hand.

Dr. Turner motioned to Buffy, "So much for the Medical Power of Attorney and all that, huh? Look, no matter what his real story is, William, right now, is still a very frightened, confused man. Try to not get him over-stimulated. There’s so much he doesn’t remember, he may freak out if he’s exposed to too much, too soon. Here are some mild tranquilizers and some mild sedatives if he needs them," he said, handing her a couple bottles. "Like I said, don’t hesitate to call me if you have any questions about how to proceed with his treatment. He can call me too, just to talk, it may help."

"I can’t thank you enough for all your help," she said, shaking his hand.

"You’d better get going it’s really starting to rain," Dr. Turner said, closing the door after she’d climbed in the back. Just then Leroy pulled up and Bernie nodded and put the car in gear. Dr. Turner gave the cab a pat and went walked off to get his own car.

Part of him wondered what it was about William and Elizabeth, and this whole case, for that matter, that had him ignoring all hospital policy.

The other part of him was more than satisfied that he’d done the right thing.

2:50am

"You ready?"

"Ready!"

"One, two, lift!" the bigger burly man said, as the two of them lifted the man on the gurney into the delivery truck.

"Good, let’s get to Meigs Field," said the second man.

2:53am

A severe thunderstorm had now developed in earnest. The air crackled with electricity seconds before lightening struck the hospital’s tower, sending all buildings into darkness for the few seconds it took the emergency generators to kick in.

Joe, the midnight engineer got on the radio and told all maintenance to put OUT OF ORDER signs on all the elevators.

Ralph Small walked up to the 8th floor and saw that the elevator already had a sign already posted. Figuring that one of the nurses had done so, he walked back to the stairwell and continued up to the other floors.

3:02am

"All the signs are up," Ralph said to Joe on the radio.

"Okay, thanks, I’m turning them off."

3:05am

Dr. Polydefkis finished stumbling around in his office, taking what he wanted, and now closed the door behind him. He patted his inner jacket pocket, and smiled as he made contact with the bulky envelope.

He carried two medium size boxes over to the elevator and pressed the button, "Waiting right here for me," he said, having not heard the elevator come up or down, as the door opened.

He took a step and fell 9 floors to the basement, immediately dying upon breaking his neck. His body would not be found until two days later when everybody taking the elevators or anywhere in the vicinity of the elevator, noticed the terrible smell.

Lisa from the morgue was responsible for the body. After pocketing the $50,000 in cash that she happened to find in his inner jacket pocket, she took out William’s & Williams Decomposing of the Human Body and identified the state of Dr. Polydefkis’ decomposition before releasing the body to the Lake Shore Funeral Home. Nobody claimed the body and he was buried in a pauper’s grave in Cicero.

Lisa put a nice down payment on a condo for her mother in the suburbs and bought herself a nice sports car she’d always wanted.

3:05am

William sat gripping Buffy’s hand as the Bernie turned from Midway Plaisance onto Stony Island. He felt his stomach churning as the cab increased speed once it reached the Indiana Toll Road.

"How you doing?" Willow asked him.

"I think I’m going to be sick," William said, after the first tollbooth.

Bernie stopped the car at the McDonald’s rest area and Buffy got out of the cab and helped William out. He leaned against the trunk of the car and threw up, as she held onto him.

"Maybe it would be better if he laid down," Buffy said.

Willow nodded and got up in the front seat with Bernie and Dawn.

Buffy let William get in first and then got in, closing the door. Gently, she pulled him over onto her lap.

"Try to close your eyes and get some rest," she said, stroking his hair, "it’s not too far."

William nodded, closing his eyes, as he tried to fight the feeling of nausea caused by the frightening sensation of speed he’d never experienced before. Still, in spite of being overwhelmed by everything, he felt comforted lying in Elizabeth’s lap, and was soon asleep.

Leroy had seen the cab pull over and had pulled over to the side of the road to wait for them. He now put his car back into drive as he saw the cab pull out of the rest area.

"How’s he doing?" Dawn whispered after about 10 minutes, when they were just at about the East Chicago exit.

"He’s out," she said, looking down on him.

"Poor Spike," Dawn said.

"Yeah," Buffy said, looking down at him with a mixture of awe and sympathy, "poor Spike."

"So, where are we going, Bernie?"

"Leroy’s house in the Miller Beach section of Gary?"

"Gary? As in Gary Indiana, Gary Indiana?"

"Yeah, just like the music man."

"Isn’t Michael Jackson from Gary?" asked Buffy.

"Ug!" Dawn and Willow both said.

"Hey, forget Michael Jackson, Gary used to be a very progressive town in the earlier part of the century. Well, last century. Best education system in the country. William A. Wirt developed the work-study-play model that the whole country still uses. Octave Chanute flew a glider plane off of the dunes in Gary before the Wright Brothers did at Kitty Hawk. Steel Mills made the town, but the loss of those jobs, plus a bunch of racial crap brought it down in the 70’s. Then in the 90’s, the politicians and Donald Trump thought they could bring lots of money into the city with gambling boats, but somehow, the benefits were negligible, so it’s still struggling, but it’s better.

"How do you know so much about it?" Dawn asked.

"I used to live there about 40 years ago, still have some family in the area," Bernie replied. "Anyway, sounds like Bernie lives right on the lake."

"Are we staying with him?" Willow asked.

"I think he’s got somewhere else in mind," Bernie answered.

Friday

June 13, 2008

3:50am

Bernie followed Leroy off of the Toll Road onto Dunes Hgwy. or Hgwy. 20 as it was locally called, through the small town of Miller. They drove around the beach, finally, taking a left at Sullivan Street, then a right onto the narrow, barely paved road that fronted the beach on the eastern end, called Lake Shore Drive. Not nearly as elegant as the one in the city, but it described it just as well.

William awoke just as the cab came to a stop, "Here we are," Bernie said, yawning.

"Poor Bernie, we’ve kept you quite busy these last few days, haven’t we?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah, that’s okay though," he said, getting out of the car and coming around to open doors.

Bernie opened the back door, just as William was sitting up.

"How you doing William? Sorry if the ride made you sick," he said.

"I’m just not used to…automobiles," he said, accepting Bernie’s hand to help him out.

Buffy got out the other door and came around to where William was standing.

"You okay?"

"I…I think so. A little weak still, I guess," he said, as his legs felt a little rubbery.

"Is that water?" Buffy asked, hearing the waves nearby.

"Yep, beautiful Lake Michigan. Come on inside, you can see it from the deck. We’ll have a bite to eat out there and then I’ll give you directions to my other place," he said, "where you can all stay as long as you’d like."

They all went into Leroy’s house. It was built in the 1950’s and had a low, wooden, paneled ceiling, with recessed lighting. Wall to wall deep maroon carpeting contrasted with white leather furniture. The walls were decorated with large African paintings of women and men in various motion of dance and there were also half a dozen Caribbean and African carvings set on 5 foot ivory colored pedestals around the room.

They walked into the kitchen from the living room. It was rather small, but modern looking with the latest in modern appliances, which were all in chrome. There was a flattop stove, deluxe built-in refrigerator, 3 sinks, and pots and pans that hung above an island with yet another stove below them on an island.

"Wow," Willow said, "do you like to cook?"

"Yeah, I do, so did my ex-wife. We each had our own stove. I liked gas, and she liked electric. That’s why there are two of them. She still likes to come over and cook sometimes," he said shrugging.

"Wow," Willow said, again.

"Sandwiches okay?" Leroy asked.

They all nodded and he took them out to the deck.

Immediately they could hear the waves and see the whitecaps of the waves from the deck. A short staircase lead directly down to the sand.

"This is really nice," Buffy said, as she held onto William’s hand.

"I like it," Leroy said, "that’s why I don’t move into the city. I’d have to give up this great view I have every single day.

"I can understand that," Buffy said, thinking of the house in Julian.

"Okay, I’ll bring some fixin’s out and everyone can make their own sandwiches. Be right back."

They all took a seat at the large, tempered glass, rectangular patio table. Dawn pushed some odds and ends that were on the table toward the middle in order to make some room. Willow walked in to help Leroy with the food.

A few minutes later, Leroy and Willow returned with plates, lunch-meats, breads, rolls, condiments, and a cake that he said his favorite, older, white neighbor lady Jean, liked to make for everyone in the neighborhood.

William hadn’t said anything since they’d been at Leroy’s except when he’d first gotten out of the car.

"Do you want to make yourself a sandwich or do you want me to make it for you?" Buffy asked.

"I can do it," he said, finally taking a plate, a Kaiser roll, and other things to make a sandwich.

Leroy looked at him, "You don’t remember me, do you?" he asked.

William looked at him, afraid to say the wrong thing, so he kept quiet, but shook his head.

"I was your nurse when you first came to the hospital. You couldn’t believe that there were male nurses, let alone, ‘Negro,’ male nurses," he said laughing.

"I’m sorry," William said.

"That’s okay. Man, you were out of it," Leroy said. "You’re gonna be better now; Elizabeth’s gonna take good care of you, man. I just know you’re gonna to be better."

William didn’t say anything, but Buffy gave him a gentle pat on the leg, while deftly changing the topic.

"How long you lived here?"

"Here? About 12 years. In Gary, all my life."

Bernie made his sandwich, then stood up, "I’m sorry to take my food to go, but I got to be getting to work pretty soon, so I’d better take off. Luckily, I’ll be able to call it a day after noontime."

"Thanks for everything, Bernie," Buffy said, getting up and giving him a peck on the cheek, as well as giving him a couple of hundred dollars.

"You don’t have to give me THIS much," he said, trying to hand some of it back.

"No, you’ve earned it. Hasn’t he earned it, Dawn?"

"Every penny."

"Well, if you insist," he said.

"I do, I most definitely do."

"Alright then, take care everyone," he said, "I’ll just go around to the front from here," he said, taking the deck steps down.

"Bye Bernie," they all said.

"Bye everyone, bye Elizabeth, take care, and get William all well now."

"I will," she said, smiling.

Bernie stopped at the bottom of the steps, "William, this woman has gone over and above what I’ve ever seen any woman do for any man. I hope you can appreciate it."

William stopped eating and looked from Bernie to Buffy, then back again, "I do. Thank you for telling me that," he said.

And with a final wave, he was off.

"Now, how ‘bout I tell you about that other place?" Leroy asked.

A/N Just a short disclaimer to say that of course, I don't own any of the main characters, secondly, that any character that I did make up is a construct of the author and not anybody real, and third, I actually like The University of Chicago, in fact, I took my daughter there. It's awesome. But I did have to have a hospital setting in Chicago, so I chose to write what I know.

Spuffyness ensues: