Dream A Little Dream Of Me

[Maria Graziano]

buzzbuzz. I zip to the right to avoid a wall. There's got to be a deliciously warm blooded creature around here somewhere.

Did you know that only female mosquitoes bite? That's right. File that away for a night of Trival Pursuit! We, female mosquitoes, need the blood for the development of our eggs. Male mosquitoes stick to a diet of nectar only. The losers don't have the nads to go after a being a million billion times their own body weight. It's really not all that surprising, is it? Women are pretty pesky like that, right?

My life will be short. I'm on day three from hatching and, if I'm lucky, I probably have another ten days left in my lifetime. Whoa! Incoming swat! Twist to the right! If I get smacked by that hand, it'll be a lot shorter.

There! Look, at those sailors coming off that ship! Yummy! I'm actually attracted to body odor so I land on the back of the neck of a particularly smelly sort. He's not human. Maybe part ogre? Whatever. He'll do. I stick my proboscis into the flesh of his neck. It's very sharp and so thin that he doesn't even feel it going in. There's anticoagulants in my saliva that keep my donor's blood from clotting, allowing me to get a decent meal. The blood flows into my abdomen, filling it with warmth.

Instantly, I know that there is something wrong with his blood. Parasites. They won't bother me but it'll suck for whomever I bite after this. Although, we transport both viruses like Yellow Fever and parasites like Malaria from one host to the next, we ourselves our immune to their effects. Why? Well, according to scientists, we have an ability to cut off the genetic code of viruses rendering them harmless. However, your scientists haven't figured out how we handle the parasites. So the next time you curse "stupid mosquitoes" just remember that we have evolved to the point of being able to not be impacted by the viruses and parasites that kill millions and millions of you all every year.

Just some food for thought. Pun intended.

The sailor suddenly twists his neck disturbing my meal before I'm full. I'm forced to pull away and I'm none to happy about it. If there is any justice, his immune system will go into overdrive at the sign of my saliva causing one heck of a red, itchy bump to appear on the back of his neck. In a hard to reach spot no less! A couple of my sisters on other parts of his and his friends' bodies follow along as we zip our way through the city in search of a filling meal.

The Red Dragon Inn and its patrons seem like a fine place to escape the early spring chill. My sisters and I slip into the warmth of the common room from a back alley door left propped open while a delivery man brought in supplies. Some of my sisters stay in the common room and the rest follow me down the stairs into the depths of the basement dueling arena where there are warm bodies and sweat. Love it!

We fan out to find victims. Little do our victims (or any of the other victims that we chose over the rest of our short lives) know we are now infected with those exotic parasites from the sailors. We could not care any less. Mosquitoes have been around for nearly a hundred million years and probably long after humans have killed themselves off with war, infectious diseases, or obesity, we'll still be around, sucking the blood of whatever is left.

I nip into the back of a shoulder of a brunette but she's too restless. I'm forced to pull out before I'm full once again. My sisters seem to be having better luck. It's a room full of willing donors. Most are too busy watching the action in the rings to notice that we're taking their blood and giving them the parasite in return through our saliva. I land on the arm of a particularly brutish sort of man at the bar. My proboscis slips through his skin and into his arm. Just as I settle in for a nice hearty meal, I realize that he's spotted me. I release my hold and pull out my proboscis... but its too late! His large hand comes bearing down on me.

Flutterflutter. There's no way I'm going to be able to clear that gargantuan hand in time! His hand comes down on me, smooshing me against his arm. My legs are crumpled. My wings fail to respond. This is not looking good. My sisters don't even notice. They're too busy filling themselves on the locals. The brutish fellow flicks me off his arm and my broken, battered body to the floor. What a pathetic end for a creature as perfectly evolved as I am! Flutterflutt--

[Maria Graziano]

Entry on Demonicalite from the "Encyclopedia of Exotic Parasites".

Demonicalite

Overview

Demonicalite is an infectious disease caused by the parasite Presinus Demonicalite and spread by mosquitoes. Although rare in most corners of the known universes, there are some worlds in which the tropical and subtropical populations have struggled to cope with the problem. Due to misdiagnosis in regions outside these worlds, it's hard to get exact figures on how prevalent it has become. Researchers suggest that there are approximately 100 to 150 million new cases of Demonicalite every year. Demonicalite is an emergency medical situation that can prove to be fatal if not treated promptly with an aggressive round of antibiotics.

Symptoms

Symptoms often begin as flu-like, including fever, chills, nausea and vomiting, headache, muscle pain and weakness but if left untreated can lead to complications such as anemia, convulsions, coma, and systematic organ failure. There is a great deal of variation in symptoms and the severity of the disease depending, in large part, to the general state of health of the patient, the patient's species, and any magical intervention which can actually encourage the patient's rate of decline.

Causes

Demonicalite is caused by the Presinus Demonicalite parasite and is transmitted primarily by mosquitoes. There have been cases in which it has been transferred by blood transfusion but this is rare. In humans, the parasite migrates to the liver where it releases into another form in the blood stream to infect the red blood cells. The parasite often escapes notice for much of its lifespan from the host's immune system by remaining in the liver and red blood cells which allow it to be relatively invisible. The red blood cells rupture within 48 to 72 hours causing more red blood cells to be infected with the parasite.

Flu-like symptoms generally begin at this first explosion of red blood cells. However, depending on the patient's species and genetic make-up, the symptoms can remain dormant for 7-10 days and, in rare cases, up to two months.

Treatment

Demonicalite should be promptly diagnosed and treated for the best chances of survival. In most cases, it can be treated with one or a combination of the following medications: Chloroquine, Quinine sulfate, Doxycycline, and Polyroine. However, as is often the case with parasites, some forms have become resistant to known medications. Researchers continue to experiment with different combinations and new drugs in an effort to stay ahead of the resistant parasite.

It is important to note that magical intervention is strongly discouraged. As the parasite can lurk in the patient's red blood cells without detection by the immune system, it is often able to escape detection from magical healing and, in the worst of cases, use such healing to its own advantage, replicating itself at a faster rate.

[Maria Graziano]

((This is in response to Kalamere's article here.))

The first phone call had come in at 5:15 in the morning which was thirty minutes before Maria had to be up, forty-five minutes until she had to be out of the shower, an hour before Adie typically woke, and a full two hours before she and Adie needed to be walking out the door to drop her off at preschool. Thirty minutes -- that's 1800 blissful seconds -- of sleep was shattered when a phone began vibrating angrily.

Yes, phones can vibrate angrily.

"Tical, get your damn phone and if that's some still drunk club girl makin' a booty call I'm gonna kick your ass," Maria growled under her breath, kicking the sheets off of her to turn over to try to beg him into compliance.

But the other side of her bed was empty. The phone vibrated again somewhere in the room as Maria shoved herself up and rubbed at her forehead. Slowly the pieces fit together. She was in her bed, not Tical's because she had been too exhausted to walk the extra three blocks. And Tical wasn't in her bed because Adie had spent this week at her house, not Bode's. Tical knew Maria's rules and respected them. In fact, he hadn't even questioned what some would deem antiquated.

So the phone that was still vibrating had to be her's, not Tical's. Clearly whomever was on the other end wasn't taking the hint that she was in no mood to talk. A hand lifted to cover a hacking cough as she swung her bare feet onto the floor. She had felt so crummy when she had finally gotten to bed last night that the Crew hooded sweatshirt had been abandoned on the floor. The phone vibrated again, thumping against the floor boards. She fished it out from the center pocket and fell to a seat on the chest at the end of her bed at the sight of the caller's ID.

Marty. She had missed his first two calls in her reluctance to get out of bed but it didn't seem to matter as he continued to call in rapid succession. This wasn't going to stop until she actually answered it. She punched the green phone button and pulled the phone up to her ear.

"What in the hell, Marty?" The words came out hoarse. This virus had claimed its newest victim -- her voice box. It wasn't bad enough evidently that she had chills, that her head was pounding, and that she was incredibly congested. No, what she really needed now was to lose her voice.

A shower was suddenly shut off on the other end of the line. Marty was clearly calling from home. Whatever the issue was, he too had been woken up to receive it. "What in the hell is right, Maria? What in the hell are these reports about you walking around looking like the living dead? What in the hell is this game that you are playing with Kalamere months after your divorce and while you're hooking up with the teammate I told you not to touch? And, most especially, what in the hell is this about you dropping out of the Madness Tournament in protest?"

The last question caught her by surprise and caused her to lift a hand to pull her dark hair away from her face to consider the possibility of having called the Madness Tournament committee while high on cold medicine. "No way. I didn't drop out of the Madness Tournament. Jake and I are fightin' tomorrow night."

"How quickly can you meet me at my office?" Marty didn't give her time to respond. He simply rambled on, brain storming out loud. "We need to contact Jake's people and make sure this isn't coming from them. Maybe we can put out a joint press release talking about how ridiculous the whole thing is."

So much for that 1800 seconds of sleep. So much for the pipe dream of walking Adie to preschool and then skipping her morning jog to try to relax and kick the cold she had caught. The realization that this day just became ten times longer than it was going to be otherwise strangled all her remaining strength. With a heavy exhale and a resolute nod that Marty would never see, she responded, "Two hours. I'll be there as soon as I drop Adie off at preschool."

"I need you in an hour," Marty replied briskly before disconnecting.

[Maria Graziano]

"Oh no, Tic, I'm absolutely thrilled that you are fighting a challenge for the honor of your ex-girlfriend. Absolutely thrilled." Sarcasm dripped heavily from every word as Maria emerged from the dark of the passenger compartment of a town car with her phone pressed to her ear. She mouthed a "thank you" to the driver who merely nodded in reply as he pretended to ignore the conversation. "Can't you tell? This is my thrilled voice."

The car door was slammed shut behind her as she stepped towards the front entrance of Cuban Pete's Cafe, heaving a heavy sigh and forcing herself to reduce the irritation in her voice with every step. "I know we talked 'bout this. I'm sorry. I'm just grumpy."

She slowed her pace towards the restaurant's entrance and reached up to rub her forehead at Tical's next question. How much did she end up lying to Tical these days? How much did she lie to Marty and Jaycy and Teagan and Myria and Ria and Tony and Chris and Bode and her mother? No, I've got this. No, Adie and I are doing great. No, I don't need to hire a daytime nanny. No, I don't need you to come over. No, I don't need help. "No, I feel fine. It's just a cold. I don't have time to be sick. Just hurry up and finish there so you can meet me here."

"Alright. Yeah, I will. See you soon," Maria replied into the receiver before punching the red button to end the call with a groan of frustration.

No precious minutes were wasted on collecting her temper before heading into the restaurant. Maria didn't have such a luxury. Every minute in her day was sacred and scheduled down to the last second. As she finished her path towards the front door of Cuban Pete's, she set herself a reminder in her PDA -- every working mother's brain since their own can no longer be relied upon -- that Adie needed brownies to take to preschool for some bake sale for charity in two days. There was no way in hell that Maria would let her take something store bought. The time to bake them from scratch would just have to be found. Unfortunately, finding the time typically came at the expense of sleep.

She locked the screen and dumped the phone in her purse as she stepped into the restaurant. The thumping music caused her head to pound louder than it had all day. This impending cold should have been handled by the several hours she had spent in a tank at GnomCorp the night before. The properties of the ooze should have heightened her immune system causing it to strangle the virus. Clearly, however, it had not. If anything, she'd gotten worse.

Before she had time to consult her PDA to find a time to pencil in a couple more hours in the tank, Cuban Pete's owner, Pete, swung by and swept her into salsa hammerlock turn perfectly in time with the beat of the music and the pounding of her head. With a laugh, she tossed her arms around Pete upon completion of the turn. "I have not seen you in forever! How're you?"

"Fantastic," Pete cried with delight as he pulled back, making a show of admiring her form and her black dress. Maria wasn't the sort of woman who had a keen sense of style all on her very own but she did have a great stylist who knew exactly what looked good on her body and, for the most part, avoided color since the only colors other than black and white that Maria seemed to wear without a fight was Crew navy blue and silver. "And you look fantastic. What do I have to do to get you to come by and dance with me more often?"

Maria smiled brightly at him. It was another thing to schedule. Even her fun had to be penciled in between photo shoots and work on the foundation and PTA meetings. "I promise that I will make a point of stoppin' by soon. I must admit that my dancin' is incredibly rusty, though."

Pete's smile never faltered as he took Maria by the arm and began escorting her towards her table, shaking his head at a hostess who offered to take her there instead. His thick accent and the lyrical rhythm of his speech was always instantly soothing. "Nonsense. You are light on your feet by nature. Dancing and dueling really aren't that different."

But they were. Dueling was lethal and brutal while dancing was an utter joy. She didn't understand the people who dueled for the fun of it, including the man who often occupied her bed. Maria fought because she was compelled to fight. Those words could not be spoken out loud. They never had. She had never admitted how much she hated herself for having to fight. Maria Graziano was not the type to bare her soul. Thus, she only patted Pete's arm as he escorted her to a long table in the back already full of some of her dearest friends.

"MG!" With a talent gained by his position, Paul Hile, the Kitsune Fox's starting catcher, was quick to his feet in order to wrap Maria into a hug as Pete departed.

Maria waved greetings to the rest of the table over Paul's back with a warm smile. It had been too long since she had seen many of them. A wave of heat rushed over Maria from forehead to toes and she was glad Paul was steadying her on her feet. He kept a hand on her arm as he pulled back. "Happy birthday, Paul. Are you drinkin' tonight? Right in the middle of spring trainin'? How completely irresponsible of you."

"Thank you," he replied at the birthday wish while grinning as she teased him. "Where's Tical? He didn't bail, did he?"

"No, no," Maria reassured as she dropped her purse into a chair. "He's at the club finishing some things up. He'll be here before George is tipsy enough to start getting grabby."

George's halfhearted protests that he was not, in fact, grabby when drunk and had quite the alcohol tolerance started a round of stories about his drunken episodes from those flanking him and Paul took a seat to join in on the retelling. With a soft tired sigh, Maria leaned down to press a kiss against Melinda Hile's cheek. Paul's wife gave her arm a squeeze at the gesture. "Hey, Maria. I'm glad you could come. I haven't had a chance to sit and talk with you since..."

Melinda trailed off but she didn't need to finish the sentence. Since Maria's financial troubles became public knowledge. Since news of the demise of Bode and Maria's marriage broke. But Maria had to admit that she hadn't wanted to see Melinda. She didn't want to discuss it. Sucking it up and dealing with it was the only option. There was no deep soul cleansing to come from talking about her problems. They were all of her own making and the last thing she wanted to be was a victim. "We'll talk tonight. Promise. And Ria, Chris, and Tony are supposed to be stoppin' by as well."

"Good," Melinda smiled brightly with a nod. "Paul and I are so thrilled about you and Tical. It seems like it's been forever in the making."

The comment drew a soft uncomfortable laugh. It was yet another subject that she wasn't particularly thrilled to dive into. From the moment Ria first found out and started a crazed marriage rant, Maria had instantly regretted not keeping the secret longer. Everyone wanted to make this about something more than it was. It was just really great sex and friendship. That was it. That was all Maria would allow it to be. Period. End of story. Yet, it would seem that she would have no choice but to discuss the subject tonight. However, she could at least delay it. The room was spinning and the bathroom seemed the perfect place to regroup. "I'll tell you everythin' but first I'm going to go to the bathroom."

"Don't be long. I can only stand drunk George stories so long," Melinda joked as Maria began picking her way through the crowd.

Several steps away from the table and the warmth of her friends, she pressed a hand against her aching forehead. The lurking nausea nearly overcame her but anger and frustration drove her on past the bar and its laughter and mojitos. This just couldn't be happening. Didn't this virus know that it was absolutely not scheduled in her PDA and, therefore, it could not happen? With that thought, the room tipped dangerously and then suddenly went dark as her knees gave out beneath her. The last thing Maria heard before she slipped into unconsciousness was the crash of a tray that a passing waiter dropped as he tried to catch her on the way down. After that, there was nothing but blackness.

[Maria Graziano]

And then there was light. It was the bright, painful light of waking up at midday when you don't know how long you've been asleep. Hours? Days? Weeks even?

Maria's head pounded as she blinked her eyes, trying to focus in on something. Anything. The ceiling finally came into focus. She was staring up at a ceiling from some sort of hospital bed covered in a layer of sticky sweat.

Suddenly Teagan's face popped into her line of vision with a bright smile lighting up the pretty blonde's face. She gave a giggle and pulled back from view. Confusion settled in heavily. Where was she? Why in the hell was Teagan there? Maria tried to shove herself up into a sitting position so that she could take a look at her surroundings but she found her wrists clamped down to the bed with cloth ties. A panicked yank on both wrists failed to set them free.

"You're awake!" Teagan appeared once more with her dopey grin and a furry stuffed puppy under her arm.

The fight with the ties came to an end as Maria concentrated on focusing her brown eyes on the young woman looming over her cuddling a stuffed animal. "Where the hell am I, Teags? What's going on? And why in God's name are you snuggling with that thing?"

"Thing? Don't talk about Joey like that!" Teagan screeched back, turning from giddy to hurt in a split second. Maria furrowed her brows at the juvenile ebb and flow of Teagan's emotions. The unpredictable young woman was never the most emotionally reliable person in the city but she suddenly seemed almost childlike. Something was off. "You're in our room. You're coming out of one of your spells," Teagan replied sullenly before retreating.

With a pained grunt, Maria shoved herself up onto her elbows so that her eyes could follow Teagan's path to the narrow single bed on the opposite side of the room. She flopped down on the edge of the bed, hugging 'Joey' tightly to her chest. "Teags, get me outta these things. What in the hell is goin' on?"

Teagan lifted her eyes from the floor to shift her pout on Maria. Silence hung in the air as the young woman tried to decide whether or not to answer the question or give Maria the cold shoulder. Finally, she gave a heavy exhale and slid back to her feet. It was only then that Maria noticed that, instead of shoes, Teagan was wearing fuzzy green slippers in the shape of some sort of horned monster. "I should go get Sartan," Teagan stated slowly.

"Sartan?" Maria's question was not answered as Teagan slipped her way to the door and then escaped into the hallway. With a groan from the pain radiating from her temples, Maria thumped back down on the bed, giving up her fight against her restraints. A cool early spring breeze floated in through the cracked window catching Maria's attention. She turned as much as she could with the wrist restraints in order to get some better idea where she and Teagan... and evidently Sartan were.

The view out the window from what appeared to be on the third story was not spectacular by any means but it still took her breath away. Large shade trees broke away to reveal a residential street. It all seemed achingly familiar. Queens. She was somewhere off Hillside Avenue. Maybe in Hollis? No, no, it couldn't be. Maybe she was in some part of Old Temple or New Haven that she'd never seen before which just sort of resembled Queens. Panic swept over her in a sudden clammy wave.

Sartan appeared in the doorway, twisting his lips into a thin smile as if preparing himself for a fight that he knew was coming. "Maria. It's good to see you awake. Take it easy, okay? We'll get Koy to come in here and explain everything to you. Promise."

"To hell with Koy. Let me the fuck out of these right now," Maria growled at him as she snapped her wrists back to demonstrate the restraints.

Sartan heaved a heavy sigh as he slowly and cautiously approached the bed. "I can't do that until you calm down, Maria. Why don't you just lay back down and rest until Koy can get up here? We don't want to have to get Dr. Talanador?"

"Doctor what? Why don't you just go screw yourself, Sartan?" Humans are hardly the only animal to allow panic to boil over into rage. Every animal seemed capable of lashing out at an attacker when they were cornered. Maria merely followed her natural instinct to fight as she flung herself against the wrist restraints at the man. The restraints didn't budge and, instead, snapped her back down in place.

Two more quick steps brought Sartan to her side and he placed his hands on her shoulders, driving her into the bed to keep her from making the same mistake twice. "Come on. Don't do this. Everything will be okay. Just calm down."

Suddenly G'nort appeared in the doorway with Teagan hovering behind him. The scruffy redheaded man in a white lab coat approached the bed while Teagan remained in the doorway with 'Joey' and a sullen expression. G'nort flashed a chipper smile as he produced a syringe and reached for Maria's left arm. "Well, good afternoon, Maria. It's nice to see you among the living again! We're going to give you something to help you calm down and when you wake up, you'll feel much more relaxed."

"Get the fuck off me, G'nort." Maria hurled herself viciously his way but between the wrist restraints and Sartan's hands on her shoulders, she barely moved.

The needle pierced the skin of her arm, causing a brief grimace, and dumped its payload into her bloodstream. G'nort pulled away and shook his head slightly, lifting his free hand to tap the name tag reading "G. Talanador" which was pinned slightly askew on his coat. "I don't know how many times I've told you this, Maria, but the 'G' stands for Gary and I would prefer that you call me Dr. Gary or Dr. Talanador. Now close your eyes and rest."

The order was not needed because whatever had been in the syringe was making her eyelids feel like two ton boulders. G'nort -- or Gary -- gave a polite professional nod to Sartan before slipping from the room, giving Teagan a consoling pat on the shoulder as he passed. Slowly the fight drained out of her body and Sartan eased his hold off her shoulders. Her brown eyes gave up their struggle to remain open and they fluttered shut as a deep sleep took hold.

[Maria Graziano]

When Maria awoke, the restraints had been removed and neither Sartan nor Teagan were in the room. The fading light from the window suggested that night was fast approaching. Maria didn't have the strength to reach the door. She got as far as the chair by the window before collapsing into it. The drug that G'nort had injected in her system lingered, calming her nerves and zapping her of the energy needed to flee. Her forehead slumped forward to rest on the cool window glass and she stared down below at the faint figures of people passing and cars zipping by. Three little girls were playing double dutch on the sidewalk across the street. Their mouths moved in unison with a chant and although distance and glass kept their voices from reaching her, Maria could almost hear the rhyme about the buttons down Miss Mary Mack's back or about third grade angels.

God, it had been so long. Yet, all those silly songs came back in a bitter familiar rush.

"Maria?"

Maria turned from the window to watch the woman entering through the door to her room. Even with her dark hair swept up allowing rounded ears to be visible, there was no mistaking the woman stepping through the door. "Koy?"

"I'd like to sit and talk with you for a while," Koy stated softly as she eased into the room's second chair. "Are you feeling up to it?"

"I've got nothin' better to do," Maria replied, lifting a shoulder into a shrug as she turned in the chair to face her visitor more fully. She couldn't take her eyes off of Koy. There had to be answers some where in this mess.

A closed notebook rested in Koy's lap and her hands clasped on top of it as if to signal to Maria that she would give this conversation her undivided attention by not even taking notes on what was said. "How do you feel?"

The question gave Maria pause. One moment she had been about to sit down to mojitos, sangria, and pollo asado with her friends and family and the next she was waking up in some hospital. With a soft, humorless laugh, she lifted her shoulder into a shrug once again. "Confused."

"That's typically how you feel when you start to come out of one of your episodes. Is there anything I can clear up for you?" It took a moment for Maria to realize that Koy's voice was devoid of any accent foreign to Maria's ears. Koy sounded like a college educated woman who had spent her entire life in the states.

"I'm in Queens?"

"You are. This is Holliswood Hospital and I'm your social worker," Koy responded patiently. It was a wonder how quickly the geography of home came flooding back her despite having been away for eight long years. An image of the large white washed building instantly popped into her head. Holliswoodz was an inpatient mental facility that sat on Palermo St less than a half mile from Cunningham Park where Chris, Tony, Myria, and Maria had many little league games growing up. She knew the area like the back of her hand.

Maria lifted a hand to rub her forehead, pursing her lips into a tight frown. "What happened to me?"

"You've been sick on and off for about eight years," Koy stated slowly. It came with the practiced repetition of a story that she had repeated time and time again over the years. "Your episodes started your senior year of college. At first you thought your brothers were missing even though nothing had happened to them. Your family became concerned and then suddenly you just began believing you were living in this alternate universe."

Leaning forward slightly, Maria reached up with a hand to rub at the instant ache that suddenly pounded in her head. "RhyDin?"

"Exactly. RhyDin doesn't exist. You have always been right here in New York." The bespectacled version of Koy nodded. This Koy was just as smartly dressed as the RhyDin version albeit a little less edgy and a little more professional. Even her glasses looked expensive. However, both versions of Koy seemed to be that rare sort of woman that could toss on bargain bin clothes and still look like she just walked off a runway in Bryant Park during fashion week. "You seem to take things from this world and twist them into your own reality. People, places, events. They all get turned around inside your mind. We think it all stems back to what happened to you when you were fifteen."

Her bottom lip was drawn in between her teeth at the flash of physical pain that always seemed to accompany a mention of that night. Eventually, she collected herself enough to release her lip and collect her thoughts. "How do you know 'bout that? Only Tic and Marty know 'bout that."

"It has come up in your therapy. We've been dealing with it. In fact, we thought we'd made great strides with the therapy and medicine. You were well for several years. You married your college sweetheart and had a baby. She'll be two this summer." Koy's words were hesitant as if she was trying to decide how much to lay on Maria all at once. How many times had the woman before her given this speech? How many times had she had one of these 'episodes'?

"Married? A two year old?" The words all came at her in a rush. No one thought could be processed before the next came. She searched her memory banks for something other than RhyDin. Maybe there was a hint there. Yet, she came up empty handed from the search.

"You don't remember any of this?" Koy frowned. Her fingers tightened their hold on the spiral rings of the notebook in her lap. She pushed on without giving Maria time to answer her question so as not to force the woman to admit such a defeat. "This is what we feared. Your memory will get better over time. The important thing is not to push your recovery. It seems that you're coming out of the fantasy now. That's a really good sign, Maria."

Panic set in deep within her gut. It was primal and visceral. Her heart was being ripped straight out of her. Blood pounded in her ears and her face grew flush with fear. It reminded her exactly of that time in the market when she had let go of Adie's hand for no more than thirty seconds to sign an autograph and when she turned around Adie was no where to be found. After ten minutes of anxiety-ridden searching, Adie had been found admiring the bracelets at a vendor's stand. Maria's tongue felt thick but eventually she made it comply. "What about Adie?"

Koy's bottom jaw hardened. Clearly, this was the part of the story that she hated to relay the most. "Adie isn't real. You made her up. Bode was another patient here during your first stay at Holliswood. With medication and counseling, he's recovered and is living in South Carolina now. The two of you were never married. You never had a daughter together. Your real daughter's name is Catherine. She's an adorable little chatterbox."

Catherine. It had been her grandmother's name and she had always loved that name. Why hadn't she thought of using it when Adie was born? There seemed to be an answer to that question but her mind simply could not search it out. There was a big boulder in front of the door that would allow her access to that memory. Maria's brows twisted in confusion. Catherine.

"I think you should rest now, Maria. Don't push yourself." Maria hadn't even realized Koy was still in the room when the woman spoke as she rose to her feet. Maria felt no need to give her any parting. Instead, she turned her brown eyes out the window to watch the girls spin their jump ropes and in her mind she repeated the old rhymes. With every passing moment another one came rushing back to her. Catherine, Catherine, Catherine.

[Maria Graziano]

The sting of losing Adie was nearly too great to bear. The sharp witted, stubborn little brunette was pure joy and enthusiasm. But even Maria had to admit that an unhealthy amount of her life -- or at least her fantasy life -- had been focused on that little girl. Besides sneaking in and out of Tical's bed in the wee hours of the morning and him slipping into her brownstone when Adie was away, Maria's entire life was centered on providing for and taking care of Adie. It was a lot of pressure on a four year old.

But that four year old didn't exist. And how can your mourn the loss of something that never existed in the first place? Wasn't that just silly?

"Hi!" A bright but hesitant voice from the doorway interrupted her thoughts. Maria turned her eyes away from the window to find an exact doppelganger for Kalamere standing in the doorway of her room. This version was no less handsome than the one back in RhyDin. He was tall with a slender build and blonde hair pulled back in a low ponytail at the nape of his neck. Blue eyes were attractive on any man but Kalamere's always twinkled with a surface mischief. Yet, there was a sense of hardness to the lines of his face that suggested that they weren't always lightened by smiles and wisecracks.

With the doppelganger, the similarities ended there. Kal's strong posture and confident smiles were no where to be found. This version of the former Overlord seemed uncomfortable in his own skin. His shoulders were slightly hunched forward as if to make himself shorter and less intimidating. He shifted his weight from foot to foot nervously and those sparkling blue eyes were hidden behind a pair of wire framed glasses that did not flatter the shape of his face. Kal stumbled over his words under the weight of Maria's stare before he could find his voice once again. "I guess you probably don't remember me. Teagan said you just woke up from one of your episodes. I'm Kal."

"I know," Maria replied as she frowned at his lime green t-shirt which read in big block lettering, "Carpe DM (Sieze the Dungeon Master!)". How in the world had she twisted this Kalamere into one of the hottest bachelor's in RhyDin?

Kal pressed his lips together in an uncomfortable frown and scuffed a sneaker on the floor. "Oh."

Silence settled over the room. Well, not silence so much as a lack of conversation. Kal's sneakers squeaked against the tiles, grating on Maria's already well worn nerves. Eventually, she pressed for the reason for his vist. "Did you need somethin', Kal?"

"Oh, right!" His cheeked flushed and those bright blue eyes jumped from the floor back up to Maria as he shoved his hands into the side pockets of his jeans. "I was supposed to come here to tell you that Dr. Carter wants to see you in his office."

"Dr. Carter?" Her heart plunged deeply at the two words. Tical was a doctor here? What had she been expecting? That he had been the mystery husband? Of course not. Releasing a shaky exhale, she steeled herself for the encounter with a resolute nod but hedged when she realized that she had no idea where Tical's office was in the maze of a building she had only just begun to explore... or re-explore as Koy told her. "Maybe you should walk me there."

He gave a polite nod and waited patiently just outside the doorway for her to join him. That he found this situation and probably any situation involving social interaction awkward was immediately apparent by the way he shoved his hands into the side pockets of his jeans. She followed along at his side, allowing the silence as her brown eyes searched the hallways and people passing. Something here had to jog a memory. Maybe if one small memory was recovered, the rest would come rushing back. Koy had said they were all there, locked in her head. Maria would find a way to access them.

Eventually the silence felt uncomfortable even to her and her eyes turned on her escort. "Why're you here, Kal?"

Kal's brows furrowed in confusion as he processed the question. He stumbled over his tongue as he tried to fill the empty void between them. In that hurry to find the right words, he took her question the wrong way. "To show you where Dr. Carter's office is since you don't remember," he responded innocently. Perhaps, however, she wasn't giving him enough credit. There was a sly sort of intelligence in his eyes. It was the same look that made her wary of the RhyDin Kalamere. Perhaps he had taken her question in the manner that he wished to.

Maria was never one to be led away from a topic by tact. Curiously, she plowed on. Her attention was split between the man at her side and memorizing the path towards Dr. Carter's office. Maybe this conversation was just a cover to forget where she was headed and who she was likely to meet at the end of the journey. "No, I mean why are you here in Holliswood?"

"Oh! Well... because I'm shy." The words were hurried. Perhaps if he were more used to talking with people, he'd be better at hiding just how uncomfortable he was with this line of questioning.

Still his vague response did not cause her to release her tenacious grip on the subject. Not only did she not give him the benefit of changing topics but she plowed ahead with barely a pause for air. The tiles beneath her feet no longer held her gaze. Her brown eyes jumped back up to his face for a careful study of his features. "You don't check into a psych ward 'cause your shy."

His eyes, on the other hand, never left the black and white tiles beneath their feet as the hallway opened up into the day room. Perhaps it was the cover of the patients' chatter gathered within that allowed him to finally answer Maria's question to the best of his ability. "I am afraid of going outside and... and whenever I have to meet new people I get so nervous I break out into hives and then puke."

"Wow. Okay, yeah, you need to be here," Maria admitted with a shrug of her shoulders. Kalamere seemed to find no need to defend himself or reply in any manner to Maria's assessment. Yet, he wasn't given much time to linger on it either as Maria's attention was drawn to a door that seemed to lead out of the day room into the heart of the hospital. It was painted a pale green in direct opposition to the hospital's mainly white doors. And just as they passed, Sartan -- who she still thought looked utterly ridiculous in his orderly scrubs -- slipped out of the darkness on the other side, producing a key ring from his pocket to lock the door behind him. Something beyond the doorway sung to Maria in a tone too low to be audible. "Where does that door lead to?"

Kalamere's bottom jaw tightened in response. Maria couldn't exactly tell what emotion passed across his face at the mention. Anger? Fear? Panic? His voice came firm and determined. He didn't sound a bit like the man from five minutes earlier. "You can't go in that door."

The juxaposition of the firm tone on the anxiety-ridden man caused Maria to force her eyes from the door. Her brows furrowed curiously as she fought off the feeling that whispered voices from the other side of the door were calling her name. Maybe those calls were just another part of her sickness. She didn't want to be sick anymore. She didn't want to hear voices. She didn't want to live in a fantasy world. "Why?"

"You just can't," Kalamere replied stubbornly. Then with a conversational ease that he failed to demonstrate when speaking of himself, Kalamere turned the subject back on Maria. The corners of his lips twisted into a hesitant smile. "I like when you talk about the me in RhyDin."

The comment caused a short laugh. Even her laugh sounded foreign, though. The Kal that stood before her looked exactly the same save the rounded ears rather than pointy ones. But the extroverted, charming Kalamere wouldn't recognize the painfully shy, scared man before her. "You're pretty bad ass there. And hot. Very hot. All the women want you."

The scarlet flush that colored Kal's cheeks was unsettling to Maria. Seeing the RhyDin Kal blush? She was pretty sure that there was nothing she could say or do that would shock or surprise the man into blushing. He was the definition of 'cool' and this version seemed lucky that he could walk down the hallway without tripping over his shoelaces. It was no wonder her mind had twisted him into this perpetually smooth playboy. "Even you? And Teagan?"

"I want everythin' that I can't have and RhyDin Teagan's all over RhyDin Kal." Maria knew she shouldn't allow herself to think of RhyDin. Koy had reminded her in the morning's session how important it was to focus on the present, on reality. Yet, the thought of Teagan wanting to be declared Kalamere's favorite drew a smile to Maria's face. "You know you've got everythin' that he's got. The good looks, the intelligence. You just need the swagger."

"The swagger?" The word sounded as wrong rolling off his tongue as it would have been rolling off the tongue of the RhyDin Kalamere. The RhyDin Kalamere didn't need to discuss his swagger. He simply had it. Although, he would have certainly laughed if someone accused him of it. All Maria had to do was find a way to inject a little of the RhyDin Kalamere's swagger and charm into the Reality Kalamere. Maybe then he would have a chance at Teagan. It shouldn't be all that hard. It wasn't like she had a whole hell of a lot of options. They were locked up in a mental hospital after all.

"Yeah," Maria confirmed with a shrug of the shoulder closest to him. Although, he'd never asked for help, she took on the task with a sudden decisiveness. If she was going to be stuck here, she might as well find some constructive way to spend her time. It would be the perfect way to spend some time not thinking about Adie and RhyDin. "I'll give you swagger lessons. Promise. You'll be him in no time flat if that's what you want."

The offer wasn't immediately accepted but a grin did cross Kalamere's face. Perhaps he took the offer more as an order and didn't feel that he was being given a choice not to accept. Either way, he didn't argue the point and as a result became the first student in Maria's School of Swag. "Here we are," Kal announced motioning towards one of the hospital's many white doors. This one had a placard beside it that read "Dr. T. Carter".

Maria released a shaky exhale at the sight of it as anxiety rushed forward to replace the fallen distraction of Kalamere. He offered a sympathetic smile even though he had little idea what concerned her behind the door. As he disappeared around a corner, Maria gathered her courage to lift a fist and rap on the door.

The voice that emerged from the other end was unmistakable, eliminating all hopes of convincing herself that "Carter" was a common enough last name. "Come in," the voice on the other side of the door called and Maria followed the order instantly. Even now knowing that their relationship would not be as it was in RhyDin, she wasn't able to resist seeing him. Maria twisted the knob of the door and stepped through the doorway, her heart sinking further with every step.

Like Sartan, and Teagan, and Kal, and Koy, the real Tical looked exactly like the RhyDin Tical. His bottom jaw was firmly set in concentration as he made notes in an opened folder on his desk. There were no personal pictures but Yankees' memorabilia was scattered throughout the office. Without looking up, he motioned with his pen for her to take a seat before fluidly setting pen back to paper to carry on in his note. "Good afternoon, Maria."

"Tical?" His name slipped out and she couldn't deny the hope that it floated on. Maybe this was all just a bad dream. Maybe Tical would show her the way out of all of this. The sight of him caused such an intense swirl of emotions that she couldn't set her mind on just which one she would be. Instead, she sunk onto the chair he had indicated.

The hope and desire in her tone caused Tical to lift his light brown eyes from his notes to her face. When their eyes locked, the realization sunk in that this Tical was not the same Tical that had shared her bed for so many nights. That Tical only existed within her mind. His face never softened as it did in her fantasy at the sight of her. A physical pain shot up her side, joining with the intense throb that longed for Adie. He spoke gently when he found his voice once again. "Dr. Ticallion Carter. Let's stick wit' Dr. Carter, alrigh'?"

The relief she thought would come from seeing him was missing. This man could not give her comfort. He did not have the power. Suddenly, Maria wanted out of these four walls. She wanted to run back down the long hallways to the safety of the single bed wedged against the corner of the room she shared with Teagan. Instead, however, she remained seated in the chair before his desk. "So what did you wanna talk to me about?"

"How are you adjustin'?" He dropped the pen and clasped his hands over the top of the papers on his desk. The fantasy Tical had grown into the role of a businessman over the past eight years and no longer looked completely ridiculous sitting behind a desk. He took his brash confidence in the ring and had applied it to his other ventures and he had succeeded. Maria had always been proud of him for that. It was just another thing that she hadn't told him.

"Fine, I suppose." Her bottom jaw tightened to steel herself against the twisting, turning emotions that seeing Tical was resurfacing. Her palms fell to her jeans, running from her thighs to her knees restlessly as she turned her brown eyes out the window. She just couldn't meet his any longer. "I guess we're not really seein' each other."

"No, Maria, we're not." His reply came quickly and firmly. Maria. He was calling her Maria. It hadn't even registered at first. Tical -- the RhyDin version -- had been the first to start calling her "M" after the "M. Graziano" on the back of her TDL jersey. She'd allowed very few others to get away with it. Never once had she admonished Tical for shortening it. She never realized how good it sounded until that moment. There was no such thing as TDL. Tical was her psychologist, not her friend. There was no reason for him to have a nickname for her. He continued, ripping Maria away from her thoughts. "Even in your fantasy world we weren' right for each other. You told me tha' yourself. Why is that?"

Tical and Maria were certainly not right for each other. She wanted to laugh at the statement but she was having a hard time finding humor in any of it. Eventually, she accepted the question on face value and concentrated on putting together a coherent answer. "My brothers aren't exactly cool with it. You are like another sibling for them. And we're both Type A personalities -- dedicated to our careers and maybe a little self-absorbed. Our tempers clash from time to time."

"An' there's more?"

Much, much more. Maria had more excuses for why she should not want a relationship with Tical than there were days in a year. It was a carefully thought out list and she had a tendency of repeating over and over to herself just when she feared slipping in too deep. "I'm a divorced mom and you're the hot club-ownin' bachelor. I've been settled down for years and even if you were lookin' to settle down it should be with a girl who you could have a normal relationship with. You deserve that."

"Right." Tical gave a slow nod as if to agree with her reasoning. He had clearly made her repeat the list before. He knew the answer to the question before he had asked it. He had wanted her to run through them. The point of the lesson had been to force her to realize that her fantasy world was far from perfect. The lesson didn't end there, though. Tical pushed on. "From the way you describe things you really hate your life there."

There was a lot she hated about her life in RhyDin. Had it always been that way? Even when she and Bode had been happily ignorant by avoiding their issues and the Crew had been the fiercest force in TDL, had she still hated so many aspects of her life? Her complaints came quickly. They were just as well known to her as were the reasons why she and Tical could not be together. "I hate the paparazzi. I hate that violence is what I do for a living. I hate that my daughter is being raised in an environment where everyone pretty much expects her to follow in my footsteps. Instead of being a lawyer or a politician, she's expected to swing a bat at people's heads for money."

"You wanna know wha' I think?" Tical leaned back in his chair with a familiar self-satisfied smirk. He had led her to the point where he had wanted to end up. "Tha' all your hatred for tha' life is jus' you tryin' to break free of it. Your life here is amazin'. Please try to embrace it. Keep an open mind."

Maria allowed the words to settle in. Adie didn't exist. Tical did not soften his smile just for her. This was the way this world worked. There was nothing she could do about it. She needed to be happy. She needed to come out of this. Eventually, Maria lifted her shoulder into a shrug as Tical waited for a response. "I promise."

[Maria Graziano]

Mornings flew by in a maze of sessions with Koy or Dr. Carter or Dr. G'nort/Gary and she forced herself into the day room in the evenings to waste away a couple of hours watching television with Teagan. ER was off the air but, according to Kalamere, most of the original cast had left near the end so it wasn't that much of a loss but Survivor was still on and evidently getting pretty decent ratings. With her mornings and evenings full, it was the afternoons that dragged on relentlessly.

Teagan would settle in to set her hand at some craft project or another in the day room. Kalamere would find a quiet corner even if it were a stairwell to read a book. Maria, on the other hand, never had the patience for crafts and try as she may she could not focus on a book at the moment. She'd read a sentence over and over until it had no meaning and still be no closer to understanding. Instead, she spent the early spring afternoons staring out the window of her room watching strangers go about their normal routines. Her life continued to be held hostage by her mental illness. With each passing moment she became more resolute to bury Adie and her life in RhyDin. She would not continue to watch others live their lives. She had to be out their living her own.

The door swung open, grabbing Maria's attention and a familiar figure appeared in the doorway of her room. The book that Kalamere had assured her was a "light read" (which is a term that she had always used for trashy romance novels good for reading while laying on the beach but Kalamere seemed to use to describe some heavy-handed work of historical fiction) clattered to the floor as Maria immediately jumped to her feet and crossed the cell-sized room to embrace her youngest sibling in a tight squeeze. "My!"

"Hey, Maria." Myria had one hand full so the hug ended up being a single arm thrown around Maria's body. There was a flash of a smile on her face even if her words were grumbled. Myria couldn't say that she was happy to see Maria. She never could. The youngest Graziano seemed determined to also be the toughest but Maria was sure that she was almost as thrilled to see Maria as Maria was to see her. "Ugh. Geez. Don't go breakin' my ribs."

The hug was broken finally but more because Maria wanted to allow her brown eyes to travel over her sister's form than because she was worried about breaking her sister's ribs. She was surprised by the hope and delight in her own voice. "Is Chris with you? What about Tone?"

"Nah," Myria stated in an uncomfortable tone as she peeled away from Maria and set down the photo albums she had in hand on the nightstand beside the bed. Reluctantly, she turned back to Maria while easing to a seat on the edge of Maria's bed. "Ta be honest, Maria, Chris and Tone ain't exactly thrilled with you. They don't get your relapse but you're back on your meds 'n soon you'll be home 'n everythin' will be right again."

Could she blame them really? According to Koy, the first five years she'd been in Holliswood Hospital had been filled with small steps forward and giant leaps back as they attempted to find the right combination of medicine to control her delusions. Then after five years of trying, they seemed to figure it out. She'd gotten married, had a baby, and lived a normal life. Then, for some reason unknown to Koy or Dr. Carter, Maria had inexplicably stopped taking her medication and slipped back into her old habits until six months ago her husband had checked her back in. She could only imagine how livid Tony and Chris were that she hadn't remained on her medication. Her lips pursed in an angry frown of her own at the behavior of a woman that seemed foreign to her.

Myria sensed the change in the mood and quickly changed the subject. She motioned towards the photo albums she'd set down on the nightstand as she rocked back on the heels of her sneakers uncomfortably. "I brought you those. Pictures always seem to help jog your memory. The sooner we can get your memories to come back, the sooner we can get you back home."

"Thanks, My. That's awesome." The picture albums provided the need distraction. It was all Maria could do to keep from ignoring Myria's presence completely to crack them open. They provided the promise of so many answers. Who had she become in the missing eight years? What was her life like? What did Catherine look like? A distant smile settled on Maria's face as her brown eyes found her sister's face once more.

Myria was never comfortable under such scrutiny and was quickly on her feet once more, jutting a thumb towards the door. It didn't take a sister's intuition to know that Myria was looking for some air. She needed to escape the four walls of this room for a moment to gulp fresh air to keep from getting emotional over the reappearance of a coherent Maria. "Your hubby came with me. He's not sure you'll wanna see him."

More answers. Her stomach twisted into knots. Would she even know the man on the other side of the door? Her arms crossed protectively over her chest as she nodded firmly to Myria. "I do."

"Alright. I'll be right outside the door if you need anything. Anything at all," Myria promised gently as she stepped towards the door. She paused with her hand on the knob to look back over her shoulder at Maria. "And remember to be gentle on him. It's hard for him to know that you don't even remember marryin' him or havin' your kid or anythin'."

The words were a bitter stab of pain. Her refusal not to take the combination of drugs that kept her delusions at bay was inexcusable. The man on the other side of the door must be a saint to have stood by her side through this. That Myria was so interested in protecting his feelings was only more proof of the quality of husband she had landed herself. She responded to Myria's order with a timid nod of her head. Myria disappeared into the hallway and quiet words were exchanged before a tall figure appeared in her place.

He drew a hand over his closely cropped hair as he crossed through the doorway. It was a nervous gesture that she knew well. His polo shirt was just tight enough to show off a muscular build but loose enough to come off as casual and unassuming. The hint of strong black lines of a tattoo peeked out from the sleeve before disappearing up his bicep. Mocha skin and almond shaped eyes hinted at what he had always called a truly American breeding. His hand dropped to his side and a hesitant smile slowly formed as he tilted his head at her slightly.

Something was wrong. Something was very wrong with this picture. She wanted it to be true. She wanted to rush forward to squeeze him up into a hug and cry with relief. Yet, she remained frozen in place as her mind searched for the answers. They were there somewhere. Justin Alexander could not possibly be her husband.... but she couldn't remember why the sight of him would be such a shock.

"Maria." He whispered her name with a bone-jarring sense of familiarity. For a moment it would seem that he could find no words other than her name but eventually he found the will to proceed. "It's really good to see you."

The sound of his voice burst open the dam on her relief. All thoughts that there was something impossible about the situation were brushed aside. Her love for the man before her swept back over her in one swift blow. She took a quick step forward which he met in kind. "Justin!" The declaration came out in a delighted laugh as she tossed her arms around his neck for a hug. He needed no further encouragement to draw his arms around her and press a warm kiss against her cheek.

The air had been crisp with the promise of an early frost that fall when she had seen Justin sitting across a crowded freshman lecture hall. He was the popular son of a former NBA star and she had been just another girl from Queens struggling to make ends meet with a part-time job and an academic scholarship. For some reason that he'd chosen to never fully explain, he'd asked her out and not wanting to be just another notch on some rich kid's bedpost, Maria had turned him down. And he had tried again. And she had turned him down again. The more attitude she had given him, the more interested he had become.The dance had continued all semester until eventually his persistence overcame her bluster.

"I haven't seen you in--" She caught herself mid-sentence as she pulled back to find his face. He didn't need her to finish the line of thought. The pain over her inability to remember their past was fresh on his face. The look caused her smile to fade into a sad smile as she reached up to cup his cheek in her palm. "Well, I'm guessin' it hasn't been the years that I think it has."

"I was here Friday but you were pretty out of it." Justin's hands lingered on her and his eyes never left her face. His fingertips dug gently into the denim at her hips as if trying to will her mind to stay with him. His desperation hung in the air and Maria ached for the hurt she must have put him through.

She took a step back away from his grip and a hand reached to his to pull him along with her. There was no denying his gaze, though, so she blindly sat on the edge of the bed without parting from that locked gaze and he followed suit. Butterflies flapped nervously suddenly in her stomach as the initial joy of seeing Justin ebbed and the reality that she knew nothing of their married life together returned. "How long have we been married?"

Her hands fell into her lap and he made no attempt to recover them. The question caused him to finally allow his eyes to fall off of her. He studied the tiles on the floor with a heavy exhale as he collected his thoughts. "I kept visiting while you were sick the first time. I dated around but nothing stuck. About the same time I got out of law school, they figured out a way to keep you here with us. At first, I came around because your mom asked my mom to send me over. She said you needed the support of old friends. But as soon as we were in the same room together, I realized nothing had changed. You were the same girl I always knew. Vivacious, courageous, funny. We got married three years ago and had Catherine twenty months ago."

"I always did have you fooled," Maria teased lightly. "Tell me about Catherine."

The smile that lit up Justin's dark face was nearly blinding. He radiated pure joy at the mere mention of their daughter. "She's beautiful," he declared in no uncertain terms. There was hardly a pause before the usually understated man launched into a vivid description of the toddler. "She does something new and amazing every day. Her vocabulary is getting more and more impressive every day but I feel that I'm only understanding about half of what she's actually saying. Her Aunt Myria has her somehow convinced that Tony's real name is 'Oscar the Grouch' which doesn't make Tony the least bit happy. You made sure she has the most impressive library that any child has ever seen and she treats each and every book like it's a work of art. Your ma says she's never seen any child much less a Graziano be so gentle with books. She'll sit and read for hours. Cat's our angel."

The image of the fantastically multiracial little girl was already building in her head. She couldn't wait to flip through the photo albums Myria had brought to see just how gorgeous she really was. Maria drew a leg up under her so that she could turn to fully face Justin. "Where do we live?"

Her enthusiastic questioning brought a smile to his face. Clearly he was taking it as a good sign that while she didn't remember their life together, she was interested in finding out every detail of it. Having become immune to Maria's style of rapid fire questions, he did not even falter when one followed the next with barely a pause to digest the last answer. "We have a place in the Village. You've done a great job making it a home."

"In the Village? Really?" She couldn't imagine her mom being okay with her living outside of Queens if their was a grandbaby in the picture. However, Justin's parents had a place in the Village and his mother could be just as ferocious as Maria's mother. Had there not been more pressing questions flooding her mind, she may have pushed the issue to see how that argument had gone down.

"Yeah," Justin replied with a nod. Unconsciously, he leaned in towards her, resting an elbow on one of his knees. The tension was draining from his shoulders. Slowly he was relaxing in her presence. "You know where 6th meets West Washington?"

"By Saint Joseph's?" Encouraged by how easily she recalled the geography of that area, including the Catholic Church with its wide white pillars, Maria's smile returned. She had forgotten how easy it was to smile when Justin was around. Life had been so simple back then and Justin had been at the center of so many beautiful memories. Those beautiful memories had been buried. Why? Why had she tried so hard to forget them? Because when she thought she was in RhyDin she didn't think there was a way to get back to the life she'd had here? No, there was something more but her mind blocked the path to those memories.

Justin's tone was a bit sheepish and he lifted his shoulder in a shrug. A decade had made Justin no less comfortable with his family's wealth than he had been the day she was introduced to him. "Right across the street. We're a block from Washington Square Park."

"Wow." A brow arched at the location and a teasing grin appeared. Justin wouldn't have accepted that much money from his father. Evidently, law was treating him pretty well. Not that she had any doubts that he would be successful at whatever he did. He had an undeniably bright personality and coupled with his intelligence it made him an unstoppable force when he put his mind to accomplishing something. "What do I do? I'm guessin' I'm not a cop."

"Nah, you knew after getting sick that you wouldn't pass the background check. You've been raising Cat. You couldn't figure out what you wanted to do and you talked about going back to school. I make enough money that it doesn't matter. We agreed that you should just find something you were happy doing. But as soon as you had Cat, everything changed. You didn't want to miss one minute of her life. You wanted to be there for every milestone," Justin stated with a smile that betrayed both pride for his daughter and an intense love for her.

If he had told her in college that she would someday want to stay at home with their children, she would have laughed in his face. She knew differently now. The desire to meet Catherine swirled anew and her bottom jaw tightened to keep a sudden rush of tears from springing forward. She couldn't keep the emotion out of her voice, though."And now I've spent six months missin' them."

Justin reached out suddenly to cup her chin in his hand, guiding her eyes to him to make sure she was listening. The somber expression that had settled on his features tugged her into silent submission. When he found his voice, his words were swollen with heartfelt hope. "We're going to get you back, Maria. We can get through this."

[Teagan]

Teagan stood silently at the foot of the hospital bed. It had been troublesome enough trying to convince people to let her have some time alone in the room without actually begging that she was happy to enjoy what quiet the situation had to offer, outside of beeping machines that were busy constantly reading Maria’s vital signs. The blonde eyed them curiously as she tried to guess which ones did what jobs, though she assumed she was wrong anyway.

Her teeth tugged at her bottom lip nervously as she gazed through the small bit of bright sunlight let through between closed window curtains. One of the machines beeped again and Teagan broke her silence as if a timer had gone off in her mind.

“I am sorry… for being upset before. About not getting anything out of being loyal to Ticallion. It was very selfish of me.”

Knuckles had turned white from her grip on the foot of the hospital bed. Slender fingers slid across the cold metal as Teagan slowly made her way around to the side of the bed. As she sat in the chair she hesitated long enough to check the room door then reached to rest her hand on top of Maria’s, letting her fingers curl slightly.

“I had plans to go home for a little while to see my parents. When I heard you were here it just seemed more important, although I know you probably do not think so. I know I am not in your close group, but I think you are in mine.”

A beep interrupted the blonde’s thought. Blue eyes trailed up Maria’s arm to her face. The scene, as serene as it was, caused Teagan to let her eyelids close, then a light sniffle followed.

“That is not completely true, I suppose. I can see my Dad and my brothers. It is always such a big deal when I go home now. This time should be worse than ever. I have not been home in over half a year because I am not certain what will happen when my family finds out that I killed myself. “

Teagan thought she could hear those last words echo through the quiet room and glanced to the door once more. A shaky breath was exhaled and she squeezed Maria’s hand lightly, not convinced it was as much for Maria as it was for herself.

“When I can get away from the chaos… the novelty of my being home… there is a field behind the house. This reminds me of there, by the way. There is a large stone next to her, by her headstone. I sit there and talk to her sometimes.”

Her gaze lowered to the floor and blonde hair fell to veil her face. She thought it was silly that she was hiding her tears from her unconscious friend.

“I miss pancakes in the morning. I miss her smile and her laugh. I see her when I look in the mirror and it is so hard to look away, but I am not her. I miss her so much, Maria. So much…”

“I was not home when she died. I was out with a boy and… that is its own story. The house was really quiet. The kind of quiet where you just knew something was wrong…”

That quiet was present again after those words. Teagan looked at Maria’s face again with a thoughtful tilt of her head. Her fingers squeezed the woman’s hand again as she made the decision to shut her mouth. Rising to her feet, she watched Maria’s face. Her eyes narrowed slightly, studying her peaceful expression.

“Do not get too comfortable. I do not think it fits you well.”

[Maria Graziano]

Catherine was every bit as beautiful as Maria could have expected and that wasn't just a mother's bias. All the nurses, orderlies, and doctors she'd seen over the next twenty-four hours had been assaulted with pictures from the album. The results were unanimous. Cat was the most adorable toddler in at least the state and very likely the entire eastern seaboard. The photo albums had provided answers beyond just what Catherine looked like but with every set of answers came more detailed questions. She'd taken to jotting the questions down in a notebook so that Justin or Myria or Koy could answer them for her.

She'd discovered from the wedding pictures and conversations with Justin that they had chosen to elope in the Dominican with only their closest family members present to witness it. They had honeymooned in Greece because Maria had always wanted to visit the Mediterranean. Maria was sure that despite the countless professional airbrushed photographs she'd seen of the RhyDin Maria, she had never seen herself look more beautiful than she did in the shots from their wedding and honeymoon. In fact, she didn't even know she was capable of the smile and light that she exuded in some of the pictures.

So enthralled was she in the photo albums that Koy was struggling to keep her attention in their late morning session. She tapped her pen on the notebook before her as Maria examined a photo of herself in a hospital gown still in bed smiling down at a squawking Catherine as she held her for the first time.

"You were telling me about a dream you had of Teagan," Koy prompted once more.

Maria lifted a single shoulder in a shrug as she traced a finger around the edge of a photo. The smile that had suddenly formed at the intense pride in Justin's eyes in the photo of him holding his newborn daughter for the first time disappeared at the mention of the dream. She shouldn't have told Koy about it. The dream had to be a sign that she wasn't getting better. "I don't remember much of it. It's unimportant."

But it was a lie. She remembered every detail of the dream. Although she saw nothing in the dream, she heard every sound. There was the beeping of hospital equipment in the background as Teagan -- the RhyDin Teagan -- whispered on about her family, her home, and, most shockingly, her death. Teagan had cried. The whole thing was disturbing and Maria was determined to forget it. She would not think about RhyDin. She would not think about that Teagan. She would not wonder why that version of Maria was unconscious in a hospital bed. She would distract herself with the beautiful life that she had waiting for her here.

Koy's lips pursed but she didn't give in to frustration. She had worked with Maria for too many years to allow simple stone-walling tactics to drive her away from the truth. In fact, those the employment of those tactics were usually a good sign that she was on the right track... or at least an important track. "Tell me about Teagan, Maria."

Maria flipped a page with more than a little annoyance, refusing to lift her eyes from the pictures to Koy. "What do you want me to tell you?"

"You told me once that she was incapable of human emotions. Do you really believe that?"

For a long moment, the only sound in the room was the squawking of finches outside the window. It wasn't until Koy opened her mouth to repeat the question that Maria finally jumped in with a response in a brisk tone, hoping to end the line of conversation. "I said that to Kal a couple weeks ago."

"No, you said it to me," Koy countered with stubborn persistence. "Do you believe that?"

Maria knew that she should be more patient with Koy. From what she had been told, Koy had been a big part of her recovery years ago and had remained in contact with her, encouraging to continue with outpatient therapy and to remain committed to her medication. Yet, at the moment, Maria couldn't summon patience. She wanted to be left alone with her albums. She wanted to imagine the life that was waiting for her outside these four walls with Justin and Catherine and her family. "I don't know. I haven't put much thought into it. Why are we discussin' Teags?"

"I don't believe that. I don't believe that a highly analytical person like you hasn't fully thought through the personality of the woman you're sharing a room with." The designer glasses were shoved up the bridge of Koy's nose in a gesture of defiance. The woman was just as much a bulldog as Maria and she wasn't giving up on this so easily. "You were telling me a story about a time when Teagan got mad at you in your fantasy world. Do you remember?"

"Yeah," Maria stated with a shrug, lifting her brown eyes from the photo album to Koy. Maybe if she just answered the questions Koy would go away and leave her to her attempt at recovering her memories. "I may have led Teagan to believe that she had a chance of steppin' in when Anubis challenges Tical in order to get somethin' that I wanted at the time. I told her that I would help her out but I knew that there was no way that Tical would take her help or anybody else's for that matter."

An exhale of air relaxed Koy's shoulders as Maria finally cooperated. "So you lied to her to get what you wanted?"

Maria's bottom jaw tightened instantly at the slight. But it was true, wasn't it? There was no way she was going to go twenty rounds with Tical on Teagan's behalf. Simply put, Maria had lied to get what she wanted. Guilty as charged. She offered yet another careless shrug as her attention dropped back to the photo album once again. "Yeah, I suppose I did."

"And she was upset?"

Maria snapped the photo album shut and leveled an irritated glare on Koy. Why would she not just let this drop? Why could they not talk about the future? Why were they lingering on the past? The dream of the RhyDin Teagan had frightened her. Maria was desperate to get well. She didn't want to slip back into her fantasy world. What if those dreams were the first step to her delusions reclaiming her? No, she had to get well. "She got over it. Why are we talkin' 'bout this? I don't want to think about RhyDin or my dream last night. I want to get well. I'm done with RhyDin."

Koy gave a patient nod, setting her pen down momentarily so that she could focus on her patient's fear. "You must still have issues about it that we need to resolve or else you wouldn't still be dreaming of RhyDin. Are you sure that Teagan got over it?"

"What does it matter if she didn't? What do I care?"

"That's exactly it, isn't it?" Sensing the opportunity to hammer the connection home, Koy leaned forward in her chair, dropping her elbows onto the open notebook in her lap. Her eyes bore into Maria, compelling her to take the words seriously. "Teagan likes you. She's put herself out there for you. Clearly, there's issues in her past that make that hard for her. Even without knowing much about her history, you must know that. Yet every time she tries to be there for you or needs your help, you push her away."

"That's not true," Maria denied weakly.

"It is." The glasses were pulled off her face and folded neatly as Koy pushed onward. Each word was heavier than the last. "How many friends would you say that you have, Maria? I know you don't remember in real life but what about your fantasy?"

The air was electric with Maria's tightly coiled anger. Her entire body was one tense muscle ready for a fight. Her fingers coiled around the pages of the photo album. "I have my family. I have people that I hang out with. What do I need friends for?"

Perhaps sensing her patient was hovering on the brink of a violent outburst, Koy backed down. Her voice turned on a dime from pointed to gentle. "You need a support system, Maria. You don't even ask for help from your family and when people make the effort to be your friend you find some way to use it against them and make them regret it. I'm not really sure if you even realize that you're capable of loving someone other than yourself."

"That's bullshit. Absolute fucking bullshit ." No matter how gentle the tone of voice, the words were too dark to be tolerated. The photo album was snapped shut and dropped onto the bed as Maria launched to her feet, pointing a finger at Koy angrily. "I love my Adie and I will cut a bitch who says otherwise. Do you fucking understand me?"

Koy's posture tightened but she did not rise to her feet. Her reaction to the display was calculated to not ratchet up the level of tension but she refused to show fear either. Instead, she remained seated with her chin tipped upward as Maria loomed overhead. "Typical, Maria. Very, very typical and predictable. Leap straight for violence and threats when someone challenges you to take a deep look at what you've allowed yourself to become. You try so hard not to be seen as a victim that you've actually turned into the villian."

With a dangerous exhale of humorless laughter, Maria rocked back on the heels of her sneakers, shaking her head at Koy. "Violence? Predictable? Comin' from you that's a hoot."

"You confuse me with the Koy inside your head. I am not addicted to violence like she is. She and I are two entirely different people."

"You're not as different as you seem to think. You're both self-righteous asses ," Maria advised her counselor as she stalked towards the door of her room. The door was forcefully retched open and she motioned for Koy to take her leave.

Realizing that her point had been made and that Maria had effectively shut down the line of communication, Koy slid her glasses back into place, flipped shut the notebook and then slowly rose to her feet. "Think about what I've said, Maria."

"Go to hell," Maria replied as she slammed the door shut behind the woman.

[Maria Graziano]

Try as she may, Maria couldn't stop thinking about Koy's words. They bounced around in her head, mocked her behind her back, and whispered in ghostly tones. It had taken a good solid six hours for her to calm down enough to realize that Koy had never said she was not capable of love but that she didn't realize she was capable of love. An hour or two more and she realized that she didn't think Koy was talking about familial love or motherly love but a love through friendship. She was referring to the sort of love in which Maria would have to open up to give and to receive. And, yeah, Maria was pretty sure that Koy was wrong. There was no way Maria was capable any longer of opening up in that sort of soul-bearing way.

The thoughts were at the front of her mind as she settled into a chair for group session beside Kalamere. He flashed her a shy smile but could not gain the courage for more than that and she was in no mood to force social interaction.

Most of the faces in the room she knew from RhyDin in one capacity or another. Teagan had pointed Jake out to her several days earlier in the day room. He did indeed look like what she would imagine a fully human Jake would look like and he was now sitting in a chair that seemed too small for his body. To be frank, the sight of Taneth wearing a rainbow colored tutu over her jeans and a t-shirt that read "It's my duty to please your booty!" here in Holliswood Hospital wasn't the least bit surprising. There had been plenty of occasions in which she had wondered if the pretty little blonde didn't belong in such a place. Jake was pretending to ignore her as she used his shoulders as a ballet bar but a second look showed that he was keeping his shoulders dipped low and kept very straight to be the best ballet bar he could be. Teagan had mentioned that Jake didn't talk much... or at all stemming from issues with PTSD and Maria didn't need Teagan to tell her that Taneth more likely than not had some sort of dissociative identity disorder.

As the last of the group's members filtered in and found seats, Kheldar, who seemed to be the counselor for group therapy, tried to bring order to the room. "I'd like to start off group therapy today by--"

"I'd like to start off group therapy today by saying this is a load of crap," Harris chimed in from his seat which was the only one in the circle turned backward so that it could be straddled. Just a couple days back in this reality had shown Maria that the one person the least different from RhyDin was Harris. He was a pain in the ass no matter what reality he was in. Maria gave a roll of her eyes and sunk deeper into her chair, crossing one leg over the other. Clearly, this was going to be a long hour.

"That's how you start off group therapy every week, Harris." Kheld managed to keep his tone unchanged. It was polite and professional. She found it awfully entertaining that Kheld was actually a psychologist in real life considering he'd spend so many years in her fantasy playing psychologist to the Crew. As thankless as job as leading this group therapy seemed to be, it had to be far easier than trying to talk sense into a bunch of Grazianos.

"Well, it makes it no less true," Harris replied with his trademark you-know-what eating grin.

"We're going to try to be constructive today." Kheldar's tone was a bit more stern when he started again, putting heavy emphasis on the word "try". He flipped open a small notebook in his lap before taking a good long look at the faces gathered before him. "I want to discuss how we can create a positive team environment between this group and I want your input."

"Our input? Everybody's?" Teagan repeated from her seat to Kheldar's right. Teagan was that kid in school that always sat in the front row of class and seemed desperate for the teacher's approval. Her ice blue eyes lingered on Kheldar, not wanting to miss a single word.

Kheld offered her a warm smile and a nod. "Yep, Teagan. Everybody's."

Typically Kalamere couldn't stand sitting with a group of people much less talking in front of them so there were a couple of surprised expressions around the room when he found his voice to add in. "We should bond more. Maybe we can have group gatherings were we can interact in fun ways."

The warm smile that had appeared on Kheldar's face brightened further at Kalamere's addition to the conversation. "That's a great idea, Kal. I'm very glad that you're participating today."

"We should play strip poker," the husky voice of Kalinda added in. She was the same inappropriate statuesque blonde that she was in RhyDin and had been quick to tell Maria that she was here for a sexual addiction. Maria was pretty sure that Kalinda had been lying about the sexual addiction but it seemed that these days everybody used that term when they really meant to say that they had a failure of conscience. This Kalinda seemed to have as unique a sense of propriety and morality as the RhyDin version did.

"Nobody here wants to see anybody else here naked," Emo Jaycy chimed in. This version of Jaycy was one of the biggest surprised about Holliswood Hospital. Her hair was a pitch black with big chunky bangs constantly having to be brushed out of her eyes. T-shirts for bands that Maria had never heard of and skinny legged jeans seemed to be almost a uniform on the young woman. From what Teagan had told Maria, Jaycy was committed by her third husband for suicidal thoughts. Maria couldn't imagine the Jaycy she knew having suicidal thoughts. Homicidal? Probably. But suicidal? Never. It wasn't a stretch, however, to imagine that she was on husband number three.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Kalinda replied, making no bones about giving Jaycy a very obvious once over.

Until this point, Matt had remained relatively silent from his seat with his collection of rocks situated in his lap. He went no where without them it seemed and unsurprisingly each of the five were painted -- red, blue, black, yellow, and green. Evidently, they each had their own special power and personality. It was all very complicated. As Matt spoke up, he lovingly pulled the yellow one a bit closer since it had shifted towards the end of his lap. "Maybe a board game night?"

"That sounds like fun," Teagan declared in response with a luminescent grin. Once again, Maria was startled by her beauty. Her smile could light up her entire face with this overwhelming sense of serene innocence. She was clearly burying deeper, darker issues with this sunny light just as the Fantasy Teagan had distracted everyone from her overwhelming insecurities with sexual innuendo and a sharp tongue.

Harris gave a derisive snort as he reached up to give his blue hair a fluff. "You would think a root canal sounds fun and to be perfectly honest it would have more of a chance for fun than hanging out with you losers."

Teagan's grin instantly disappeared and she curled her shoulders inward in an almost protective gesture. Maria pursed her lips into a frown before leaning in to whisper to Kal who was frowning at the scene as well. "You should stand up for Teagan," Maria encouraged.

"You think?" Kal's whisper was hesitant and uncomfortable at the prospect.

Maria gave a firm nod. "I think she'd be really grateful."

Clearing his throat, Kal jumped into the conversation. A proud grin formed on Maria's face at the strong, determined tone he took to defend his crush. "That's ridiculous, Harris. I'd have fun hanging out with Teagan watching paint dry. She's just a joy to be around."

Stunned silence swept over the room. Even the usually quick witted Harris seemed shocked and amazed that Kal of all people had been the one to stand up to him. A shy smile swept over Teagan's face as she beamed at Kal. He blushed a deep scarlet at the look of utter adoration that appeared on her face.

"So would I," Kalinda stated firmly with a suggestive smirk aimed Teagan's way.

"Me too," Taneth piped up in a singsong tone while Jake nodded his head in silent agreement.

Emboldened by the strong stance towards the bully, Matt bobbed his head along with Jake. "Me three."

"Listen carefully, Rocks For Brains." Eventually Harris' sharp wit had shook off the shock and he issued a sneer towards Matt. "I think the red stone is telling you to shut the hell up."

The way that Matt's face fell at the comment was the final straw. Maria hated to get involved and the RhyDin version of herself would doubly hate that she was getting involved in order to stick up for Matt but she couldn't resist a second longer. She gave a firm shake of her head and summoned up a stern, motherly tone. "Cool it, Harris."

"Yeah, don't talk to Matt like that, Harris. You're being a complete asswipe," Jaycy spoke up with a her head tilted to the side and arms crossed over her chest in a challenging fashion. Jaycy was the one acidic tongue in the room that could compete with Harris' wit.

"Alright, alright," Kheldar broke in, deciding that an early break was needed. He motioned towards a table at the side where snacks had been set up. "I think we should take a couple minutes. Go get some cookies."

"Sweet!" Teagan grinned and leaped to her feet eager to be the first in line.

The rest followed her towards the table but Maria was slow to her feet. Sticking up for other people was a draining experience for her. As she slowly uncrossed her legs, she saw Matt struggling to balance his rocks in his arms as he too rose to his feet. As Jaycy passed, he offered her a bright smile. "Do you want to hold one of my rocks, Jaycy?"

A quick decline of the offer seemed to be on Jaycy's lips until the realization dawned that this was his way to thank her for sticking up for him with Harris. An amused smile crossed Jaycy's lips and she gave a slow nod as she reached forward towards her pile. "Sure. Why not? The green one's kind of pretty."

"Maria?"

Maria turned at the sound of her voice to see Kheld crossing the room towards her. Her relationship with the RhyDin version of Kheldar had always been rocky. He was too insightful, too skillful at seeing through the Graziano bluster. It had always made him difficult to deceive. He didn't believe her when she said she was fine or that she could handle everything on her own and he certainly didn't seem to believe her when she told him she was perfectly happy. Yet, in this world she had nothing to hide and there were no lies to tell so as Kheldar approached, her face split into a wide, warm smile for him which he returned in kind.

He dropped his voice low for just her to hear as the rest of the group chatted over an array of cookies. "I just wanted to say that I appreciated what you did just then. I saw you encouraging Kal to intervene. Instead of the group ganging up on Matt and Teagan, you got the group to work together and stick up for each other."

"It was nothing." Uncomfortable with the selfless act, her brown eyes couldn't remain on him. She watched as a beaming Teagan blabbed on to Kalamere who actually seemed to be adding in a word or two of his own here and there.

"No, Maria, it was something." Kheld countered. His tone demanded her attention so her eyes slid back to him unwillingly as he continued, "I want you to recognize how you can change situations that you're in. You are a leader. You know how to get through to people. Stop sitting on the sidelines and watching bad things happen around you. Do something about it."

"What you're telling me is to stop being so self-centered?"

Kheld gave a short laugh and a twist of a grin as he reached forward to pat her arm. "Just remember that you said it, not me."

[Kalamere]

The crystal candy dish spun in circles as I flipped it again into the air. The room was dark, darker still in the corner I'd chosen to sit in, but the neon indicator lights from the monitoring equipment refracted off the clear edges and sprang to life in a torrent of color. I caught the bowl smoothly as it plummeted and tossed it back up, distracting myself with the lights rather than allowing my gaze to linger on Maria's sleeping form.

At least on this visit, entrance to her room had gone off without drama. When I had come by on Sunday afternoon it was sheer chaos. Even beyond the sea of Graziano siblings and offspring, the place had been packed to bursting with Crew team-mates, Maria's personal assistant, the nanny and publicist, and a flock of photographers trying to find a way past her agent and manager. Marty, at least I think that's his name, gave me a glare as Teagan and I slipped through the crowd towards the nurses station. I think he's still ticked about the April Fools thing. Luckily, he had his hands too full with the media to deal with me.

Teagan did her best to negotiate our way past the duty nurse to see Maria, but the woman had been insistent. Only family were allowed into the patient chambers. I couldn't tell if Teagan was on the verge of tears or violence, though I feared the latter. We weren't there too long when the shift changed.

The new nurse on duty turned exhausted brown eyes towards Teagan and me as we walked back up to the desk. I offered a smile and spoke over the din of the crowd behind us. "We were hoping to see Maria Graziano?"

"Your relationship with the patient?" she asked, unimpressed with what I thought had been a perfectly charming smile. Teagan and I are both tall with blond hair and blue eyes. The odds of us passing ourselves off as Graziano's were pretty slim.

"Pool boy and Au Pair."

"I'm sorry?" she asked, looking up, quite certain she'd misheard.

"Hmm?" I helpfully explained.

I was fishing through the pockets of my cloak to find some coin and attempt to bribe our way past, but before I could produce them a handful of the press corps managed to break clear of Maria's staff and flood down the hall. The nurse was quick to follow, as were Teagan and I since they seemed to know where they were going. What was already a fairly bright hallway lit up like high noon as the photographers shoved lenses inside of Maria's room and set their flash bulbs flaring. We ducked into a vacant side room while security stampeded in and herded the press back out.

Once they were gone we slipped unseen into Maria's chamber to spend some quality time. Nobody had much to say, Maria not being much the conversationalist in her condition and Teagan seeming oddly uncomfortable. She puts up a strong front, but I think she's pretty unsettled by the whole thing. I can't blame her. Knowing what little I know about her ordeal from a few months ago, I'm betting she's got as much magic flowing through her veins right now as Maria. So do I for that matter. A random encounter with a mosquito like Maria's and we could all have adjoining rooms. It's a pretty disconcerting realization.

The silence stretched on and, slowly, I came to the conclusion that part of Teagan's discomfort was that I was still standing there. While it had been her idea that we make the trip together, I could tell she needed some alone time with Maria. "I'll give you ladies some time to yourselves, I'm thinkin'," I said quietly, offering her a gentle smile. She gave me a nod and turned those blue eyes back on Maria while I made my way out.

One side of the room had been devoured by flowers, balloons and an assortment of other "get well soon" gifts. After I left, I called on Kattria to help me put together something I could add to the pile. Katt's twice the pick pocket I am and then some, so the task wasn't a difficult one. Once we'd mingled with the press corps for half an hour or so we had what I needed and called it a night.

Like I mentioned, getting in this second time was easier. I'd appropriated a doctor's coat and come around the long way so as to avoid the nurses station and Marty. Being alone also left me free to be a little more stealthy. Of course, had I brought Teagan maybe I could have talked her into a nurse's uniform.

The equipment hooked into Maria continued to beep regularly, almost hypnotically, keeping the steady pace of her heart. I set the crystal dish to it's areal acrobatics once more while considering the sleeping baroness.

"You do realize, lass, this is an extreme measure to take just to get out of having to eat my cooking." I said, catching the bowl again as I stood and walked closer to the bed. "That particular bet set some interesting wheels to motion. You'd best be awake ta see how it all plays out."

"And, don't think I'm done with you. Never bet against a Graziano," I repeated the words she'd said to me after her win. "At the very least, we still need a tie breaker."

I set the candy dish on the table of flowers and assorted gifts, reaching into the pocket of the long white doctors coat while I did. My gift gave the distinctive sound of hard plastic clattering against the same as I dumped a handful of the lifted SD memory cards into the bowl. There's little to nothing I could do for her physical condition, but at least I could return a little bit of her privacy the news corps had attempted to steal. I folded up the note I'd written and signed to place atop of the digital devices, speaking the lines as I turned for the door.

"Get well, darlin'. We'll be missing that smile in the duels 'till you do.. and gods know we need someone around to keep Harris in line."

[Jaycy Ashleana]

Jaycy cheated. She knew that with the popularity of the young woman the nurses would be extra vigilant in who they allowed visiting privileges and she wasn’t exactly family. She glanced sidelong at the woman next to her as they made their way to the nurses’ station, grinning for just a moment. She’d cheated her way in – she made a Graziano take her.

Ria met Jaycy’s gaze and scowled, then shook her head. “Ya owe me, lady.” The two weren’t really friends, but of course they knew each other. Ria knew, too, that the three baronesses had been connected fairly often as of late – especially with regards to the Center they were working on – and who knew what might pull her sister-in-law out of the coma she was sunk so deeply in? Paranoid worry and the hope that something would prove helpful caused the Graziano-by-marriage to agree to the gypsy’s request.

Whatever response the Baroness had was swallowed as they reached the station. Green-gold gaze focused on her companion as Ria rested her elbows on the top of the elaborate desk area. They had come in the very early morning, trying to avoid the full press of reporters. First, because it was frankly a zoo and second because the woman seeking entrance wasn’t exactly unknown to those very same nosy story-mongers.

“I’m takin’ ‘er in,” the young woman quietly informed the nurses settled behind the counter, tilting her head to indicate Jaycy. Rita, the usual night shift nurse, furrowed her brows as she took in the tiny redhead who happened to be looking away. “Who is she?” she asked, a confused frown settling across her lips to match the wrinkled brow. “Only family is allowed, Ria, and...” She trailed off, flicking a glance toward the intruder, the ‘she doesn’t look anything like family’ left hanging unspoken over the station.

Ria turned to look at the woman in question, then smirked slightly. “She’s tha red-‘eaded stepchild.” The quip seemed lost both on nurse and victim and Ria rolled her eyes when Rita simply motioned for the pair to go ahead to Maria’s room. They pulled away from the station and continued their trek down the hall.

“Did my hair color really matter?” Jaycy looked toward the taller woman, sincere curiosity in her tone. Ria grunted in response, shaking her head. “Don’t ask.” The gypsy nodded to that and the last few steps were taken in silence. Hazel met green-gold momentarily as they paused outside the room then Jaycy reached for the knob, turning it and pushing the door forward. “I won’t be long.” She stepped through the opening and moved deep enough to allow the door to shut slowly behind her.

Ria politely remained outside, taking a lean against the wall across from her sister-in-law’s room. She folded both arms and ankles, shoulder pressed into the light blue stucco to keep her upright in the pose. A few lingering reporters stirred restively, finally realizing that one of the Grazianos was in the building. They pointed down the hall and snapped pictures of the grouchy woman, muttering among themselves as they puzzled out who actually entered the room when they weren’t paying attention.

***
Jaycy turned slightly to confirm the door was closed before shifting her full attention toward the woman on the bed, surrounded by wires and beeping, unnatural things. She frowned at the contraptions even as she moved closer, sparing them a thought, then looked again to the young woman held captive beneath them by tubing and copper and plastic. She tugged the chair that had been haphazardly swept aside closer, slowly settling onto the seat and leaning forward, elbows touching her knees and hands clasping.

She didn’t immediately speak. Even though she had been encouraged to talk out loud – you never know what might bring someone out – she wasn’t the type to talk at someone who couldn’t or wouldn’t respond. At least when she wasn’t being sarcastic or saying goodbye. She watched the rise and fall of the brunette’s chest, quietly, gaze moving slowly from that telltale movement of life toward the woman’s slack face.

Blonde, brunette, redhead. The three women had become something of a fixture in the Arena these days; the three of them. Each wildly different yet similar enough that they could come together easily, both in council decisions and in the work of the Center. Jaycy smiled slightly at the thought of it. It could even be said that the three of them ruled the council and were this generation’s “Golden Girls of the Arena.”

“Sometimes it’s easy to forget how long you’ve been here – both you and your entire family.” She finally spoke, quietly, green-gold eyes focusing on the woman’s face, her brown hair. “People don’t know Chris; they didn’t realize how noted all of you were. Chris may have had more titles, but I think you were the more feared.” The gypsy chuckled, lightly and briefly. “I like you; you remind me of all the best women I’ve known here. Kappy, Morgan, Ellisa, Red. Not just as a dueler, of course. I mean, you remind me of Summer and Arane, too.” She paused in her monologue, grinning slightly. “I don’t think you knew any of them except Arane. I think she was around when you first came.” She shook her head.

“You’ve got the fire, Maria, whether you say you fight because of your daughter or because you like it. That’s why I like you.” A sigh escaped from her lips and then she slowly pushed to her feet. “You’re almost like the little sister I never had. Almost. In ways.” Another fleeting grin crossed her face before she leaned over, to press a very light kiss to Maria’s forehead.

“You may not be the best woman dueler in the Arena right now, but you’re a damn close second,” she whispered in the woman’s ear, grin widening a hint. The gypsy pulled back and turned to go. Before she opened the door, however, she glanced toward the bed. “Just don’t tell Teag I said that.” A wink to the prone form, and then she slipped out.

[G]

After visiting hours. That's the best time to do something unconventional and sneaky. G'nort casually walked through the ER doors as if he owned the place, thus looking as though he completely belonged. He smiled at the night shift nurses as he walked down the hall, hands in his pocket and a pouch tucked under his arm. They gave him a second glance, but incorrectly judged that he belonged here due to the way he carried himself.

G turned the corner, walked a bit further, then took the first flight of stairs to the second floor. Following instructions in his head, he counted three doors on the left until he reached a doctors office that was unlocked. Reaching down to the handle, he twisted it and stepped inside. He flicked the light on and closed the door behind him, locking it. He moved towards the desk, running his fingers lovingly over the stained mahogany before moving to take a seat. He began humming "Would you like to swing on a star." as he opened the larger drawer on the lower right hand side of the desk, reaching into it and pulling out a box roughly the size of a shoebox.

He stood, placing the pouch containing the doctors bribe on top of the desk and walked towards the mirror on the wall. He settled the box on the sink and opened it. Inside was a note that gave a room number, and instructions on how to get there. Simple enough. Also, there was a fake beard, prosthetic nose and an eyebrow brush with dye. Looking in the mirror, G hummed the tune again as he placed everything on as it should be to properly disguise himself. He then took the box and put it back into the drawer, but kept the note and slid it into his pocket. Best to have blackmail material for letter. Foolish doctor wrote the information down on his personal stationary.

He moved to the closet where everything remaining should be in place. He opened the door and there was the white lab coat hanging with something in the breast pocket. G took it out and smiled, then shrugged his way into the lab coat. He hooked the item on the coat, and patted it down.

"Doctor Jack Shephard reporting for duty."

He hummed his way down the hall, having also acquired a clipboard and stethoscope along the way, completing his disguise as Doctor Jack Shephard. He followed the instructions to the room and stepped inside. He moved towards the bed, where he looked down at the young woman laying unconscious. He chuckled softly and pulled up a chair that had been used by many others already.

"Well, Maria. Looks like we have our alone time, finally." G chuckled, reaching into the lab coats left pocket to pull out the two remaining items. A syringe and a vial.

"Don't worry, my dear. You won't feel a thing." G leaned forward like a practiced professional. He turned her arm out to expose the vein needed. He rubbed some alcohol over the area, tapped her arm, then carefully slid the needle into her arm. He looked up and smiled at Maria.

"There. Now that wasn't so bad, was it? You know. I enjoy our little rivalry, and the business we do together is quite beneficial and profitable. So it wouldn't do for you to get any worse." G then pulled back on the syringe to fill its contents with a healthy sample of her blood. "I'm sure this has been done plenty of times already, so no one will notice a little more being taken. I can't wait to see what the Gnomes are going to make of it. Or with it."

He pulled the needle free of her arm, then pulled the stopper free of the vial. He put the needle into the vial and pressed down, filling it with Maria's infected blood and capping it with the stopper again.

"You know. You've got a match coming up soon, for the tournament you're in. Might want to get better soon." He put the cover on the needle and placed it and the vial into his pocket. "I love our little chats, by the way. It would be nice if you contributed more to it, however."

G then stood, placing the chair back to its previous position and turned for the door. As he reached to the handle, he stopped and turned to look at Maria's unconscious form and frowned. Hesitating. Then he shook his head and shrugged.

"Get well soon, kiddo." He said, and he opened the door, stepping out into the hall and picking up his humming from where he left off, and instead of going back to the doctors office to change, G'nort walked straight out of the hospital, unnoticed with the exception of one nurse who wished him a good night.

[Maria Graziano]

There was nothing but darkness and voices. They were so distant that she could barely hear them. It felt like a deep void separated them from her. At first she didn't even know who they were talking about.

"I'm sorry to say that it's not looking good. Her fever is not breaking. Several of her organs are showing the first signs of shutting down."

"There's gotta be somethin' else you can do."

"Unfortunately, we've done all we can. Most of the time in humans this parasite is not fatal but by entering that GnomCorp tank when she thought she had a cold, she actually introduced the restorative and healing properties to the parasite. It has made it even more difficult to remove from her system. We should know something more in the next forty-eight hours."

Time passed but she could not tell how much. The voices came and went. Sometimes they were clear. Sometimes they weren't.

"Everythin'll be fine, My. Nobody tells her what she can and can't do. She's a fighter."

"And, don't think I'm done with you. Never bet against a Graziano. At the very least, we still need a tie breaker."

"You’ve got the fire, Maria, whether you say you fight because of your daughter or because you like it. That’s why I like you. You’re almost like the little sister I never had. Almost. In ways.”

"I love our little chats, by the way. It would be nice if you contributed more to it, however."

In the dead of night, Maria awoke in a cold sweat, lurching forward to sit up with a soft cry of pain. In her foggy cloud of sleep, she couldn't tell if it was physical or emotional pain. A hand pressed against her forehead and drew her hair back away from the clammy skin of her forehead. Her dreams mixed with reality and reality with her dreams. Was she in Queens? Was she in RhyDin? Was that Tical's hand? Jaycy's? Justin's?

"Shh, Maria" It was Teagan's voice that called to her softly in the dark from her perch on the edge of Maria's bed.

With a ragged exhale, Maria complied, sinking down into the covers once more. "What happened?"

"You were having some nightmares? You woke me up talking in your sleep," Teagan explained as she continued to pet Maria's hair with a soothing hand.

Sleep called at her once more. She was so tired. Too tired. Why in the world was she so tired? Her mind fought the hazy fog that reached out its ropey arm to reclaim her in its talons. "What was I sayin'?"

A sliver of light from an outside street lamp slipped through the part in the curtains to illuminate the profile of Teagan's face. She was biting her bottom lip in indecision as she contemplated telling Maria the truth. Eventually, she gave in with a shrug of a shoulder. "You were telling somebody to let you go. You told them you were too tired to fight and you wanted to die. You just repeated it over and over until I woke you up.

Let me go. I'm too tired to fight. I want to die. Let me go. I'm too tired to fight. I want to die. The disturbing mantra flew through Maria's mind, refusing to be brushed aside. Her lungs felt encumbered as if it were difficult to get a good deep breath. For a moment the air tasted processed as if she was breathing from an oxygen mask but the sensation dissipated almost as quickly as it had appeared. "I keep having these dreams of RhyDin -- you and Jaycy amd G'nort and Kal and Tical and my family. Everybody's talkin' to me, tellin' me not to give up."

"Go back to sleep, Maria. Go back to sleep."