"Goddess. Damn. It. ALL!" Krystal slammed the water down on the DJ counter. "Where the hell is Benedict Cumberbatch when you need him?" She leaned over the DJ booth as if reading something really small and froze there for a long moment. Picking up the mic she spoke to the rest of the patrons, "We're going to take an extended break, folks, so feel free to talk to someone you haven't met before and don't forget to tip your barkeep." After that she slapped the mic to knock it off the DJ table and turned back to watch Zoey helplessly.

It didn't take long for the ambulance to arrive. The paramedics got to work right away, checking Zoey's vitals. Her breathing was labored and her heartbeat was racing. As they worked on her, Zoey's muscles began to twitch uncontrollably. "What did she take?" one of the paramedics called out.

As the Paramedics arrived, Tom watched Zoey with an ever-deepening frown. "Why is this not working? Alcohol is definitely a poison, no doubt about that... This should have worked. What did I miss?"

Slowly, deliberately, he repeated the incantation (definitely not Latin), and lightly brushed Zoey's forehead.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:16, Wed 05 Mar 2014.

"Alcohol? No, no Zoey was working. She doesn't drink alcohol when she is working. She drinks soda, Mountain Dew most likely. She wants the caffeine." Jack said.

"Her cup is over there." Jack indicated the spilled beverage container. "Take it. Test it if there is enough left." he said to the paramedics. Jack looked distraught. He had reluctantly backed up upon their arrival to give them room to work. "She is my niece. I want to ride with her if I can."

"Sir, you need to step back!" The paramedic exclaimed as he tried to position himself between Tom and Zoey. Tom moved with cat-like reflexes and still managed to reach around the other man and gently touch Zoey's forehead. The paramedic frowned at him as he pushed Tom's hand away. "GET BACK!"

Frank stepped forward, with Hondo at his side. "I'm sure you mean well, but why don't you let them do their job." His voice was firm, perhaps even a bit threatening as he spoke to Tom.

Frank's attention turned toward Krystal, "What the hell are you doing? SIT DOWN!" He faced the crowd. "Everybody calm down. Move back, and let the paramedics work!" Frank tried to gently, but firmly, direct Krystal to a chair away from the DJ booth. Hondo continued to stand next to Tom, never taking his eyes off the high bast.

The paramedic looked at Jack. "Wait, this isn't an overdose? You think she was deliberately poisoned?" The paramedic's eyes briefly passed over Tom, Krystal, and the rest of the inebriated crowd. "Maybe somebody should call the cops."

Tom looked at Frank, and his pupils shifted from round to vertical: "I did that last time. Stepped back, let the professionals handle it. Didn't end so hot. That's why I asked the Goddess for an ace up my sleeve."

Then he turned to face Jack: "But that was my best shot, Jack, I'm sorry: if it doesn't work... I don't know. There's something's different. This is not exactly like Ashley. Almost, but not quite. Krys? Anything?"

Krystal was already moving to a chair, as indicated by Frank. "Yeah, I got a new pack of Djarum Black and a chair." In Krystal speak that translated to 'No.' She headed for the door to position it outside. Once sitting she managed to find a way to light up a clove cigarette and being smoking angrily.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:28, Fri 07 Mar 2014.

A patrol car arrived, almost on cue. They were in the area and figured they could help with crowd control. One of the officers started directing the crowd, while the other approached the paramedics to find out what had happened. The first paramedic muttered something about a probable drug overdose, but the second one gestured toward Jack and said, "He thinks she was poisoned." They bagged Zoey's glass to take it with them to the hospital. "We're taking her to Thorek Memorial," the paramedic said to Jack. "But, you can't ride with us. I'm sorry." They loaded Zoey into the ambulance and drove off with lights and sirens blaring.

'Cause there's no comfort in the waiting room
Just nervous pacers bracing for bad news
And then the nurse comes round
And everyone will lift their heads
But I'm thinking of what Sarah said
That "Love is watching someone die"

So who's going to watch you die?...

What Sarah Said ~ Death Cab For Cutie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGFgpAZZzvo

Zoey had apparently vomited in the ambulance, but nobody would tell Jack if that was a good thing or a bad sign. At some point she stopped breathing on her own and, by the next day, she was on full life support in the ICU. The doctors were still waiting on lab work to find out what had happened.

The soft sounding pad, pad, pad, of footfalls of the sneaker-wearing volunteer was rudely punctuated by the sharp irregular screech from the one cart wheel in need of maintenance.  Jack's jangled nerve still was relieved as the java cart rounded the corner of the ICU waiting room. The grandmotherly woman removed the near-empty and cold coffee dispensers and hefted new ones into their respective places. Deftly, she picked up fragments of sweetener packets and wiped the Hospitality Station clean. Since dawn was streaming in through the windows, a bowl of fruit and a plate of fresh baked muffins was added. She smiled warmly at Jack, who was watching her every move. "Have a blessed day" she said as she departed in the direction she had appeared from.

Jack shuffled to the Hospitality Station with little more life then he appeared. Haggard, hair mussed, and slightly hungover, Jack tossed the remains of his old coffee down his throat. He refilled the paper cup with the steaming black liquid, but this time, he fitted the insulator wrap around it so his fingertips would not be burned. Jack slipped a banana into his coat pocket and selected a cranberry muffin before he returned to the seat he had claimed as his for the night. Others in the room followed Jack's lead.

He mechanically ate. The muffin was really good, but Jack got no joy out of it. He felt helpless and alone. Zoey had given him more then he had realized till this moment. A sense of family. A feeling of belonging that he did not have for a long time. By her simply being there, seeking him out and staying nearby, that had altered Jack's life path. He was on the road to ruin, most likely to become one of Chicago's alcoholic homeless. A place where Jack would have accepted in time. But since getting to know Zoey, it was a place he would no longer accept. Jack had a long road to travel still, but at least he knew where he didn't want to be.

For now, there was little left to do but wait. And although Jack had forsaken Him a while ago, he prayed. Just a little.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:21, Sun 16 Mar 2014.

Krystal paced back and fourth, lighting a new cigarette off the old one and singing to herself. Her words were mumbled and the tone was slow and sad but she either didn't care or didn't notice. Stamping on the old smoke in favor of the new she paused just long enough to acknowledge she was chain smoking. Not a good sign.

"And I'll take, with me these memormmhmss.. to be th-mmhumm, after the rahm-hm..." She took a long drag and looked at the building across the street as if she could see through the windows of the hospital, then returned to her pacing and singing.

Blowing up some things and setting them on fire always had a relaxing effect on Tom's nerves. Had he been a human, maybe he would have worried about that.

Things being the way they were, Tom worried about little. Friends, such as they were, was one of the things Tom did worry about.

Walking up to Krystal he couldn't help to notice the terrible smell first, and the small pile of cigarette butts next.

Sometimes he wished he could worry less about his friends. {Hello, oh precious ruby. How are we doing? Want some company?}

Krystal shook her head as if a chill hit her. She'd been too distracted to notice a cat walking the block. Most people would probably give Tom a glance and then little more. One stay cat wasn't a reason to call the SPCA. That just left the thoughts in her head, as jarring as the tap on the shoulder - with a frying pan.

Oh, good. You're here! She put the cigarette out, tossed it away and moved up wind from the land of ashed tobacco. She always tried to make it look unintentional, but the coincidences were a bit obvious to any with more than human level perception. I'm worried about Zoey. Would you mind checking in on her first? After that I could really use someone to talk to. The moment a young man sat down on the bench and smiled in greeting Krystal got right back to her feet to find somewhere else to sit. Okay, fine. By "someone" I mean, you. And by "talk to" I mean be cheered up by.

{It shall be my pleasure.} Tom retreated in an empty side street, and came back out in human form, approaching Krystal once again: "Let me just give Jack a call first."

He flipped open his cell phone (which always gave him Star Trek memories) and dialed Jack's number.

Jack nearly threw his coffee cup as the melodic tones of Shotgun Blues sang out of Jack's cellphone and the vibrations shocked his nerves. "Sorry, sorry about that." he said to the others in the waiting room. He set the cup down and quickly dug the phone out of the cloth folds of his pocket.

"Hello?"

"Hi Jack, it's Tom. I'm here outside the hospital, is it OK if I come in to see Zoey?"

"Oh, hi Tom. Yeah, sure. It's okay by me. I'm in the ICU waiting room. Just waiting. See you in a few."

"See you soon." He closed his phone and looked at Krystal:"Alright dear. I'll go see how Zoey is doing, maybe try to cheer up Jack, the man sounded about as down as you can be... I'll be back for you, promise. Please go easy on the stinky sticks while I'm away." He smiled reassuringly at his friend (still a strange word, that, even after all these years) and went for the entrance.

Spirits didn't usually bother Tom they way they did Krystal: maybe they instinctively recognized that his nature made him less sensitive to the problems of being dead - he'd been there a few times already, after all, and he'd always gotten better. His idea of helping the dead out was telling them "just quit whining and go enjoy the afterlife".

Still, hospitals were a bit of a downer for him. When he reached Jack he couldn't help but notice that he looked more tired than he sounded, and that was saying something.

"Jack." He extended his hand for the other man to shake. "How you holding up? Any news?"

Jack noticed Tom's hand. He leaned forward to rise, but only partly stood. Instead, Jack just extended his arm to weakly shake Tom's hand. Crumbs from the muffin rolled and bounced off of Jack's chest to scatter on the floor. With a quick brush of his hand, the remaining bits joined the larger ones.

"In a couple of words, 'poorly' and 'no'."  Jack indicated for Tom to take the seat next to him.  "I haven't heard anything in a while, but what I did hear, ... it isn't good.  They've got a tube down her throat, Tom.  She's on a God Damn respirator!  She hasn't woken up.  I've asked for updates and all I get it is the 'the doctor will come speak with you soon' crap line.  They should just print that on a card and hand it out.  That gives me as much information as a blank CD."

Jack turned his head away and blew out the rest of his breath. He was angry and he knew it. That could only be counter-productive. He tried to box the anger away. Slowly, his head rotated back to face Tom once again.

A dark-haired man in his thirties, and dressed in typical doctor attire, approached Jack. "Mr Jennings? I'm Dr. Simon. Your niece had a rough night. Her heart rate was extremely fast and irregular when she was brought in, but she seems to have stabilized now. In fact we were able to remove the respirator and she's breathing on her own. Her blood glucose is elevated and her potassium is dangerously low. We're replacing the potassium intravenously. We're still not sure what caused this. The lab-work didn't show any toxins in her system."

Jack stood as Dr. Simon called his name. He listened closely for key words and phrases that punctuated bad news. What he heard was concerning, but didn't sound fatal.

"So you don't know what was wrong, but she is responding to treatment and stabilizing?" Jack paraphrased the doctor's news, just for clarity. "And she is off the respirator. That, that is great news Doc." Jack's gloomy mood lifted with renewed hope for a good outcome.

"Can I, can I see her?" he asked cautiously.

The doctor nodded. "Sure, but you'll have to keep it short. She needs her rest."

"I understand, Doctor. I just need to see her." Jack turned to Tom. "I'll catch up with you and Krystal as soon as I can, Tom."

Tom nodded: "I'll go give the good news to Krystal. I'll see you later."

---

Tom walked out of the hospital to find Krystal, and as he saw her he sent her a message: {Good news, for once... She's stable, and she's breathing on her own. Jack's with her right now. I don't want to tempt Mr. Murphy's demon, but... Well, I don't want to tempt Mr. Murphy's demon.}
This message was last edited by the player at 06:44, Fri 18 Apr 2014.

Tension visible left Krystal's shoulders as if she was going to melt. She nodded, "No, no. Perfect. I want to put positive energy out to the universe." she said aloud. Pacing in a circle she checked her phone to see if it was too early to drink. There was nothing magical around her that I could sense. Do you feel up to running through things with your glasses again? I worry we got lucky this time. There has to be a reason this is happening. She pulled out her pack of smokes and realized it was empty. With a frustrated sigh she threw the empty pack away and stared digging through her messenger bag as if expecting to find another pack.

Tom pulled on his ear and looked around as he replied telepathically: {I am certainly willing to give it a try... I'm not sure it will show us much, though: we were both there, and neither of us sensed anything weird. We can both see spirits and sense magic, and while I'll readily admit I'm easily distracted, I would expect a burst of magic to grab my attention.}
This message was last edited by the player at 16:26, Mon 28 Apr 2014.

"Damn it!" Krystal kicked a stone support with her steel toed combat boot. "I feel useless. Sure, we could do some re-search but will be done long after this thing go south. Any ideas?" She realized she was talking out loud and nodded for Tom to follow.

Jack followed Dr. Simon through the double doors that marked the boundary of the ICU.  Jack hardly noticed the medical and housekeeping staff flitting in and out of his view.  It was the air of the place that he took note of.  The atmosphere just seemed heavy; lifeless and foreboding.  A semi-circular space with a nurse's station at the hub.  The rooms of the ill and injured fanned the nurse station like spokes on a wheel.  Soon enough, they arrived at the room that Zoey occupied.

Machines hovered around the head of her bed.  Flashing red and blue lighted displays beeped and pulsed distractedly as wire leads attached to his niece fed the machines.  Those boxes recorded and repeated a human life, albeit a digitized, soulless facsimile of life.  At least the one machine with the cloudy white corrugated hose was pushed back against the wall and silent.  Jack felt as if it was not truly dormant, but watching and waiting for the next time it would be required to force air deep into someone's lungs once again.

Jack moved passed Dr. Simon to reach the bedside.  He lightly brushed a hair away from her face, taking note of the stickiness on her cheek where the tape residue had not yet been wiped clean.

"Oh Zoey, please get better soon", he stated quietly.

Zoey twitched slightly as Jack's hand brushed her cheek. At the sound of his voice she struggled to open her eyes before finally gazing up at her uncle. "Jack?" she strained her face in confusion. Looking down she tried to survey the room but her head didn't lift very far from the pillow. She gave up quickly before clearing her dry throat, "What happened?"

"Hey, hi there." Jack spoke soft and gently. "You are in a hospital. You kind of passed out at the club. Gave me a bit of a scare, but you're doing much better now." He smiled warmly.  "How are you feeling?"

"Like shit" Zoey promptly replied, before she mustered up enough strength for a small smile. "So...what are the theories? What'd the doctors say. All I know is, I got really dizzy, my heart started thumping and now I'm here...I mean what is that, a heart attack?"

Jack did a quick look over his shoulder at Dr. Simon. "He muttered something about your glutes were high and your possum was low." Jack said jokingly. He tried to quell Zoey's anxiety a bit. "Bottom line is, they don't seem to know the cause, but you are responding positively to whatever the hell they are doing and your getting better."

A nurse entered the room. "I'm afraid she needs her rest, but you can come back later."

Jack shot the nurse a glare. "I know it was suppose to be a short visit, but that was more of a micro-visit" he thought. He softened his glare at the nurse as he turned to face Zoey.  "Okay, they're afraid I'm gonna keep you from healing or something. I'm not going far. I'll be just down the hall until I can take you home. I have a comfy spot all scoped out. You just rest and get well."

"Okay, hey Jack, don't worry about me, I feel better already okay? I'll see you soon" Zoey smiled as she watched her worried uncle leave.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:06, Tue 06 May 2014.