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Date Posted: 17:54:39 05/04/03 Sun
Author: dqfan
Subject: Re: Ghosts - ch.53 & 54
In reply to: dqfan 's message, "Re: Ghosts - ch.51 & 52" on 16:34:26 05/03/03 Sat

CHAPTER FIFTY THREE


"What the Hell's going on back there?"

Gunshots, screams, police sirens, and bullhorned voices… Gus heard it and Peter did, too, echoing the length of the tunnel like a bad "B" movie.

"Charity can take care of herself..." Peter prayed he was right because he couldn't allow himself to be sidetracked by anything or anyone right now - not even Charity.

Gus had always thought the same about Ivy: she could take care of herself. But, suddenly, he wasn't so sure. He had this weird, queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach, kind of like that time he and Ivy shared a pastrami sandwich for breakfast on their honeymoon…

Why in God's name was he thinking about their honeymoon now - no cash, living in a fleabag hotel, and happier than he'd ever been in his entire life? Why was he picturing how Ivy had looked that morning, with the sunlight shining on her hair? How she fed him his half a sandwich and chastised him in a whisper that he'd forgotten the mustard?

"Gus…" Spooked, Gus could have sworn she was whispering to him now, her voice filled with a gentleness he hadn't heard in years.

An involuntary shiver overtook him as he glanced backwards toward the shouts. Had the screams been Ivy's? Would it matter to him if they were?
Banishing those disturbing thoughts, Gus turned his attention to the River.

Tapping Peter on the shoulder, he pointed to the water. "The waves are slowing…Reggie and Bruno must've done their job."

"Great," Peter mumbled, distracted. For, whether there was one wave or twenty, two feet of water or ten, all Peter cared about was finding Sophie.

"There!" At last, Peter's eyes caught sight of the emergency ladder.

"No! God, no!" he gasped, petrified.

About halfway down the ladder he'd spotted Sophie. She was hanging from a rung, barely suspended above the water. Her head was slumped forward and the waves were lapping at her chin. She looked as limp and lifeless as one of Gracie's ragdolls. Was she even breathing? In that light, from that distance, it was impossible to tell.

"Is she?" Gus gulped, shivering again.

"SOPHIE!" Peter yelled to her, hoping she could hear him.

Tying the rope around his waist, Peter thrust the other end unceremoniously into Gus' hand. "Here! Hold this!"

"When I tell you," Peter whipped off his shoes as he spoke, "reel us in!"

Gus shook his head in disbelief at Peter's plan. The hydraulic pump may have been cut, but the current was still perilously choppy at that end of the tunnel.

"Go back to the footbridge and cross there!" Gus shouted a less risky option.

"That'll take too much time!" Peter barked, angrily. "Time Sophie doesn't have! Now are you gonna help me, or not?"

Gus saw the panic in Peter's eyes and nodded. Clearly, Peter loved Sophie more than life itself…more than Gus was probably ever capable of loving anyone - as much as he might like to think otherwise.

Quietly, Gus took the rope Peter had offered him. Looping it around his waist for leverage first, Gus then tied the end securely around the nearest wrought iron bench, bolted to the walkway.

"What are you waiting for?" Smiling wanly, Gus unfurled the cord as Peter lowered himself into the water.

"Go get her!"

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Peter hadn't swallowed that much water since the day he set off in the kayak to rescue Scott from the rapids. Gus was right. The current was still strong and attempting to swim across it was taking more strength than Peter ever imagined.

But his focus wasn't on the current - or on the icy water that plastered his white dress shirt against his chest like a second skin, as he swam toward her. Peter's eyes were fixed solely on Sophie. She wasn't moving. Could he be too late?

His tears washing into the River, Peter reached her in record time. "Sophie!" he choked with fear, seeing the gash on her forehead.

Holding her tightly around the waist with one hand, Peter immediately checked her neck for a pulse with his other. Feeling his touch, Sophie moaned weakly. It was the most beautiful sound Peter had ever heard.

"Sophie!" Peter covered her face in kisses. "Sophie…Honey…I'm here! You're gonna be fine…You hear me? Stay with me, Sweetheart…"

Desperately, Peter tried to tug her free, but the action only made Sophie cry out in pain. Horrified, he watched, as the water surrounding them turned red. Sophie was bleeding from somewhere other than her forehead…but where?

Taking a deep breath, Peter dove underwater. Feeling for Sophie's arms, he realized the problem…she'd been handcuffed and had somehow wedged her arms behind the ladder for support. Coming up for air, he lifted her gently, just enough to ease her arms from behind the rung. Slipping free, Sophie fell, unconscious, into his embrace.

Her wrists still handcuffed and bleeding, Peter tugged on the rope and shouted to Gus, "Pull!"

Hand over fist, Gus reeled them in, as Peter kept one arm tight around Sophie's waist. When they reached Gus, Peter raised Sophie's body - high enough for Gus to grab her.

"Careful of her wrists!" Peter warned him, climbing up onto the concrete, drenched and out of breath.

"Her blood was in the water…" Gus mumbled, shocked, as he laid Sophie on her side.

"How did you know?" he asked, stunned that Peter's vision was correct.

"There's no time for that now!" Dripping wet, Peter knelt in a growing pool of Sophie's blood.

"These handcuffs've got to come off!" Peter didn't dare move Sophie until he'd stemmed the bleeding.

"Find me something!" Helplessly, he begged Gus. "Hacksaw, grappling hook…anything, dammit!"

Gus knew what he was looking for. He just had to find it. His eyes darting in the shadows, he ran a few feet further into the tunnel.

"Hang on, Soph…" Hoping Gus knew what he was doing, Peter spoke lovingly to his wife amidst the sound of smashing glass.

Gus returned, breathless but successful. "How 'bout a fire axe?"

A tiny smile crossed Peter's face as Gus presented him with the weapon. "Cover her eyes…" Peter instructed him, aiming at the cuffs.

Protectively, Gus knelt beside Sophie and covered her eyes, turning away, himself, as Peter dealt the handcuffs two Herculean blows.

The metal cracked into two perfect pieces. Not a single shard flew. Sophie's arms fell to her sides without a sound. What Peter would have given just to hear even the slightest moan of relief escape her lips!

But she was still breathing and that was all that mattered. Delicately, Peter removed her backpack and handed it to Gus. Then, he eased each handcuff up a bit, exposing the raw, bleeding, skin on her wrists. He had to stop the bleeding! Anything dry and absorbent would do…

"Take off your shirt!" Peter ordered Gus. "Tear it into strips."

Within seconds, Gus provided Peter a handful of makeshift bandages. Carefully, he wrapped each wrist. Although the white fabric consumed Sophie's blood like a sponge, the tourniquets held - at least enough, for Peter to attempt moving her.

Not daring to run or jostle her in any way, Peter cradled Sophie gently into his arms and gestured for Gus to grab the backpack and start walking.

"Let's go…"

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The EMT's had arrived, along with a stretcher to load Ivy's body bag; Reggie and Bruno were comforting Charity; and, Harry O'Neill was preparing his men to proceed deeper into the tunnel, when...

Charity saw them first, heading toward her at a determined, but steady, pace: Gus, naked from the waist up; Peter soaked to the skin, his hair slicked back off his forehead; and, in his arms, what appeared to be, Sophie's dead body.

"Dear God, no!" Charity clasped Reggie's arm, as Gus sprinted toward them. Would this nightmare never end?

Harry shook his head sadly. "Better get another body bag, Phil…"

"NO!" Gus shouted, arriving ahead of Peter, Sophie's backpack looped around his elbow. "We need an ambulance…"

Charity's eyes glistened as Peter carried Sophie toward them. "She's alive, Aunt C.," he met her teary gaze with one of his own.

Immediately, the EMT's rushed in, scooping Sophie away, onto a stretcher. "Easy with her, please…" Peter begged, his arms suddenly empty and cold. How could they take her from him when he'd only just found her?

Following them blindly onto the elevator, Peter stroked Sophie's hair and whispered in her ear as they departed.

"Hang on, Sweetheart, please hang on…"

^^^^^^^^^^

Ordering his men to secure the area, Harry O'Neill wiped the sweat from his brow. All the casino raids in the world were gonna seem tame after this.

"I'll need statements from you folks, ASAP," he commanded sharply.

Then, noticing the miserable shape everyone was in, he amended quite considerately, "Well…I guess we could do it at the hospital - after you've checked on Sophie."

"Thank you, Harry," Charity sighed gratefully.

"You okay, Sir?" Solicitously, Bruno removed his jacket and offered it to an obviously freezing Gus.

Waving it away, Gus' eyes were fixed on a dark green body bag, lying atop a stretcher at the far end of the walkway. Who was it, he wondered? Everyone was here - Bruno, Reggie, Charity - everyone but…

"Ivy?" he asked Charity in a whisper.

Nodding, Charity answered softly, "I'm so sorry, Gus."

Strangely, Gus wasn't surprised. He'd felt it, in his own way, just as Peter had envisioned Sophie's blood in the water. Maybe that's just how it went when you loved someone…

"Understand you're her ex," Harry stood beside Gus. "If you'd like to view the body…"

"No…" Gus shivered, running his hands up and down his bare arms. "No, thanks."

Turning, Gus pressed the call button for the elevator. Silently, he motioned for Reggie, Bruno and Charity to join him as it arrived. Sophie needed them now.

There was nothing more he could do for Ivy, he realized sadly.

Except, maybe, to remember her eating pastrami, with the sunlight on her hair…

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

CHAPTER FIFTY FOUR Friday morning, 3am


"Sprained ankle, two bruised ribs, abrasions of the wrists, hypothermia, dehydration, blood loss, and a mild concussion…"

As the doctor detailed the particulars of Sophie's injuries, Peter listened intently, looking very much like a doctor, himself, in a set of green hospital scrubs the nurses had immediately offered him, in place of his wet clothes.

"She's received a blood transfusion, and we've wrapped her ankle, ribs, and wrists," the doctor explained briefly.

"You'll find her on intravenous fluids for the dehydration and she's covered in a special blanket, which will raise her body temperature gradually, over the next few hours."

"She's unconscious, but that's to be expected with a concussion." The doctor responded quickly to Peter's worried expression. "Her brain activity is completely normal. Her body's just taking the time it needs to heal."

"Your wife is a very lucky woman, Mr. Scarbrow," he assured Peter solemnly. "This could have been much, much worse…"

Gulping, Peter nodded, for he knew, in his heart, the doctor was right. He could have lost Sophie tonight. His entire world could have changed in an instant. Now, at nearly three o'clock in the morning, his life was beginning all over again.

"Can I see her?" Peter ached just to hold Sophie's hand.

"Of course," the doctor agreed with a smile.

"Right this way…"

^^^^^^^^^^^^

Charity had waited close by in case Peter needed her. Unobtrusively, she'd eavesdropped on the doctor's report, giving Peter an encouraging hug as the doctor escorted him into Sophie's room.

Standing alone in the hallway, she allowed herself to take the first deep breath she'd had in days. But, as she looked around, Charity realized she wasn't alone. There, on a bench, discreetly across the corridor, sat Gus.

His naked shoulders were slumped forlornly beneath Bruno's oversized jacket. Knowing he didn't belong, but feeling somehow that he should be there anyway, Gus kept his eyes peeled on Sophie's room.

Sympathetically, Charity approached him and sat by his side. "Where are Reggie and Bruno?" she asked lightly.

"I sent Frick and Frack down to the cafeteria," Gus wisecracked as always. "Thought you and Peter could use some food."

"That was very thoughtful of you," Charity smiled.

Then, realizing how worried Gus must be about Sophie, Charity, generously, shared the doctor's findings. "Sophie's going to be fine."

Gus looked at Charity with a cockeyed glance. He hadn't expected she'd treat him with such kindness. She was certainly full of surprises.

"That was very thoughtful of you." Slyly, he repeated her words.

Charity smiled again. Gus was as ready with the clever quip as she was. But, all the banter in the world couldn't hide the pain in Gus' heart.

Seriously, she tried to reach out to him. "You've lost quite a bit tonight…" she ventured, reaching for his hand.

Although his first instinct was to snatch it away, Gus found Charity's touch a true comfort. "With a shrug, he met her gaze. "Win some, lose some."

Unable to share his feelings further, Gus handed her the plastic "Personal Belongings" bag beside him on the bench. Inside was Sophie's backpack, soggy but intact.

"Why don't you give this to Peter," he winked in gratitude. "Think I'll head down to the cafeteria and check on Rocky and Bullwinkle."

"Gus…." Charity shook her head at the familiar forced bravado.

"Hey, what kind of sandwich do you like?" he asked, solicitously, hoping to change the subject.

"Oh, anything would be fine, really," Charity patted his hand, conveying silently that she'd be there for him if he needed her.

Appreciatively, Gus insisted. "C'mon, I might as well get what you like…"

"Pastrami…" Charity revealed, just to please him. "I like pastrami."

Stunned, Gus' eyes glistened. Apparently, it ran in the family. Maybe that was why he'd grown so fond of Charity. In Charity, Gus saw the best of Ivy - the woman she could have become.

"Shoulda known," he muttered softly.

Making peace with his past, Gus leaned over and placed a gentle kiss on Charity's cheek as he left.

"I promise I won't forget the mustard…"

^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Exhausted, Peter sat beside Sophie's bed, holding her hand beneath the warming blanket that covered her body. He had hoped his touch might stir her, but she lay still and unresponsive, only her steady breathing and trusty heart monitor reassuring him that she was all right.

"You're gonna be just fine, Soph. You take all the time you need. Just don't forget I'm here and I love you, okay?" Charity smiled as she walked in on Peter's encouraging pep talk.

Comfortingly, she placed her hands on his shoulders and made a suggestion. "Perhaps, I could ask them to bring a cot in here?" In addition to her concern for Sophie, Charity was afraid Peter might keel over at any minute.

"No…no…" Bravely, Peter shook the fatigue from his body. "I'm good…"

"A good liar, maybe…" Charity chuckled, massaging his neck. "Whatever shall we do with him, Sophie?"

Wishing Sophie would reply, Peter begged them both with a winsome shrug, "Keep me, please?"

Affectionately, Charity kissed the top of Peter's head. "I think that can be arranged…"

"Oh, I almost forgot," she added, reaching for the bag she had left by the door. "Gus thought you might want this."

Peering inside, Peter carefully retrieved Sophie's waterlogged backpack. Thankful for the care Gus had taken with it, as well as his invaluable help, Peter voiced his appreciation. "He's a good friend."

Then, with a sigh, Peter acknowledged what he should have realized from the start. "Sully was right…"

Perplexed, Charity questioned him. "Sully?"

Opening his mouth to speak, Peter closed it again, almost immediately. How could he explain the unexplainable?

"Never mind…" he excused, with a secret smile.

"Where 'is' Gus?" Peter asked, finding it curious that Gus hadn't been by to see Sophie yet.

"Cafeteria…with Reggie and Bruno," Charity explained. "He won't admit it, but he's mourning Ivy. The Ivy he loved, anyway," she revealed softly.

Charity had given Peter only the briefest details of what had happened in the tunnel, as they'd sat waiting for the doctor's report on Sophie. Now, slowly, the enormity of it all: Reggie's close encounter with a bullet, the destruction of Lila's painting, and, most especially, Ivy's tragic death, struck Peter with full force.

"You lost her, too," Peter commented sadly, "and Lila."

Charity hung her head and sighed. "The painting…the locket…this was all my fault, Peter. If I hadn't taken Ivy's bait…"

Swiftly, Peter interrupted, with a quiet statement of fact. "Then, she would have come after you some other way."

"You can't blame yourself, Aunt C.," he insisted, squeezing her hand.

Charity looked deeply into her godson's eyes. There was such love there. What she would have given to share a similar loving relationship with Ivy.

But, many things in Charity's life were not meant to be: children, growing old with Sam, being able to pick up the phone and call Rachel any hour of the day or night. Those were the losses that truly touched her heart.

As much as Charity would have wished otherwise, Ivy Wilcox was a stranger, and, through her own actions, would forever remain one.

But, Ben…Peter…Sophie…Reggie…even Gus and Bruno… Charity's quest had hurt them all. Her family and friends had risked everything to save her. Charity 'could' blame herself for that…

"I doubt Sophie would agree with you." Frowning, Charity brushed the hair from Sophie's bandaged forehead. No quest had been worth this.

"How can you say that?" Peter asked incredulously, reaching inside Sophie's backpack.

"Sophie loves you, Aunt C." Searching, Peter's hand rested on a familiar square object.

He hadn't seen it in so long, there were times Peter thought he'd imagined it even existed. A small, porcelain box, containing a few, treasured vestiges of his former life. How had it survived?

"She risked her life for you…for us…for this." Peter's voice choked as he brought the box into the light.

"Is that?" Charity could hardly believe it. "How?" she asked, stunned.

"I don't know…" Peter shook his head, mystified as well.

"Is there a key?" Intrigued, Charity took a closer look.

Astounded that the box had survived his insidious addictions, Peter doubted the key had, too. Vaguely, he recalled flinging it into a large body of water. Gulf of Mexico, Lake Michigan or the Mississippi, Peter couldn't be sure. Just that, somewhere between New York and Seattle, he'd made one last ditch effort to save the contents from himself by throwing away the key.

"No…no key." Peter felt certain. "But it shouldn't be hard to pop the lock." Searching, Peter located a pair of scissors on the nightstand. Painstakingly, he wedged them behind the latch, then pushed. The lock snapped open with a crack.

Hesitating, Peter rested his palm atop the lid. There were so many memories waiting for him inside that box. He felt a thousand emotions, all at the same time. He felt nervous, and excited, and above all, guilty. He didn't deserve to own any of these things. He'd abandoned that right with his very first line of cocaine. No, if the box's treasures were still safe, it was due to Sophie - and no one else.

Taking a deep breath, Peter lifted its cover. The blue velvet lining squished noisily at his touch. The expensive fabric had absorbed enough river water to remain soggy for days, but, miraculously, the items it cushioned were none the worse for wear.

Silently, Peter marveled at what he saw. Everything was there - right where he'd left it…exactly as he'd pictured it a thousand times.

His mother's simple gold band, Michaela's engagement ring, Lila's locket…

Contritely, Peter offered the locket to Charity. "I believe this is yours."

With awe and reverence, Charity held it gently in her hands. It didn't seem possible that after all this time…

"No…" Charity shook her head, gazing at it sadly. "I can't accept this. It should have been Ivy's…"

While Peter couldn't disagree, he certainly didn't want it for himself. The memories it represented, now, were best forgotten.

Fortunately, Charity was struck with the perfect solution, a cryptic smile crossing her face. "I know precisely who should have this…"

Reading Charity's mind, Peter nodded his approval.

"Would you like to come with…?" she invited him, heading for the door.

"You go ahead," he encouraged her, slumping back in his chair.

"I'm just gonna sit here and wait for Sophie…"

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