Finn Part 6

Finn slept that night, albeit rather restless. Meeting Brent had not left her as cool as she would have wanted to. Not that she’d ever considered getting back with him. But something in his attitude had scared her. And she wondered what had happened between Becky and him.

A knock on the door in the morning woke her up. “Housekeeping.” A cheery voice yelled. Finn walked up to the door to answer. Going to countries where men had no respect for single women, had taught her to lock the door to her hotel room whenever she was in.

“I don’t need…” She didn’t get to finish her sentence. Rudely the door was pushed open wide. Brent walked into the room. Finn could see him hand some money to the housekeeper. “Thanks love.”

“What the hell are you doing here?” She was hardly awake, but smart enough to stay out of arm’s reach. He wore the same clothes he had the night before. They were wrinkled as if he’d slept in them. His breath smelled of whiskey, and his coordination seemed off. Finn could defend herself fine, if necessary. But she knew Brent was well trained and strong. She’d rather not have to do it. Her gaze went through the room. Lamps were all screwed down. There was very little she could use to defend herself.

“You tramp. I saw you leave with that guy last night, where is he?” His drunken brain ignored that there was proof of only one person in the room.

Finn refused to excuse herself.

“That’s none of your fucking business. Even if I had every man from that party up here. That’s what you think of me, right?”

He closed in, she found herself with her back to the desk.

“You’re mine, Fiona, mine. I thought you knew.”

“Ha! Fuck you, Brent. I’m not yours. You dumped me, and that was the best thing that ever happened to me. Is this what happened to Becky? Did she piss you off so hard that you hit her and she didn’t stand for it?” He’d never hit her. Because she’d always been smart enough to back down before it came to that.

He launched himself at her. She dove aside, tripped over his legs and hit the small table with her head. Crap.

Still on the floor, she reached out to her toiletries bag on the nightstand. She took the deodorant from it, and when he bent over to pull her up, she sprayed it in his face. He howled like a wounded animal. His confusion gave Finn time to get up and move around him. His hands covered his eyes. She yanked his arm and in his distress could direct him to the door. For a split second he seemed to regain control again, but then she pulled the door open, right onto his face disorienting him long enough for Finn to push him out into the corridor. She didn’t wait to see what happened. Instead, she closed and locked the door and called reception to send security. She hated to get a maid fired, but this was too much for her to handle on her own.

She didn’t waste any time, packed her bags and as soon as she could be sure Brent had left the building, checked out and rushed to the station. She didn’t want to hang around any longer than necessary, after that.

Not until she was on the train did she feel the pain in her face. She’d always been good in ignoring it while she was still busy. She took her pocket mirror out of her purse and checked. Dammit, she looked like she’d been hit square in the face. Maybe she had been. It looked bad, and she didn’t have an ice pack on hand to reduce the swelling. How was she going to explain this one to her father? She’d not told him when she’d be back, so maybe she could avoid running into him until she could properly cover it up with makeup. She had before, with success. Or maybe the fact that she chose to cover it up, made that he didn’t stress it to her. She didn’t think that too far-fetched.

The hours on the train made the adrenaline in her system settle down. All that there was left when she got home was tiredness. Tired to the bone. And a fierce headache. Grabbing the big bar of chocolate she’d bought at the train station, she crawled into bed. She heard her phone ring in the distance a few times, yet ignored it. She didn’t want to talk to anyone. Not Brent, not her father, no one.

Her phone ringing woke her up. It was late in the evening if she’d have to guess. The sky outside was dark. Then she heard her front door. And her father’s voice. “Finn!” She’d locked it from the inside; he could only open it an inch.

“Let me. I’ll kick it in.” She heard another voice. Jaime?

“I’m okay.” She yelled out. “Give me a moment.” The ringing and knocking stopped. “Finn?”

“Coming. Give me a second.” She turned on the light. The chocolate had smudged her bedding somewhat. They wouldn’t see it, she decided. Her head pounded. She got up and had to lean to the wall not to fall over. A wave of nausea came over her.

“Coming.” She yelled again as she ignored all the pain and discomfort.

“What’s with the panic?” She asked as she’d opened the door. She turned away and walked into the bathroom.

“I got a call, from Brent! He wanted to know if you were okay, it seems he…” Via the mirror, Alex saw his daughter’s face. “Sweetheart, what did he do to you?”

“Nothing.” She said. She rinsed her mouth. The taste of blood was still on her tongue. She looked like shit. Her hair was all over the place as it usually was. There was a dark bruise on the side of her face. The chocolate had smudged her face and pyjamas. “Give me a moment to get changed. Make some coffee. I’ll be right there.” There was no denying something had happened.

“Finn.”

“I’m fine, dad.” She said. She turned to face him, the room spun around her, and she couldn’t keep her balance anymore. The last thing she saw were the tiles of the floor closing in. “Finn!” Her father yelled. It didn’t help.

When she came to, the entire world seemed to move. She tried to look around. “Stay where you are.” A stern voice told her.

“What?”

“Taking you to the hospital. Don’t move. I might drop you.”

Slowly it got through to her that she was being carried. Her head rested on a shoulder. It felt nice and warm, she thought.

“Let me sleep it off.”

“Nope, no sleep, Finn. You have to stay awake. Wrap your arms around me. Help me out here.”

“What?”
”Don’t argue, please. Your father is worried sick. Let me help you. Help me help you. Your arms.” She could feel her body shift in his arms and was scared to fall again. In a reflex, she stretched her arms and wrapped them around Jaime’s neck. She’d never been carried like this before. It felt odd. And safe. And nice. Thoughts were tumbling through Finn’s head.

“Oh, oh.” She said.

“What?”

“I have to…” She couldn’t finish the sentence and Jaime didn’t wait for it. He shifted her, so she stood on her legs, still held her tight though. She bent over and vomited on the sidewalk.

“There you go, better out than in.”

“Finn, are you okay?” It was her father. Did she look okay? Clearly not, because they were carrying her to a car so she could go to the hospital.

“I’m fine.” She’d not realised she’d started crying.

“Was that it?” Jaime asked curtly. He couldn’t completely hide the worried tone of his voice, although he appeared calm as day.

“Sure. I’m okay. Don’t need to go…”

He’d swung her back in his arms because he felt her legs were too weak to carry her. “Yeah, I know. You don’t need to go to the hospital. Humour us.” He calmly said.

She wrapped her arms around him and rested her head on his shoulder. The bouncing didn’t do her head any good. She was so tired.

“Stay awake now, Finn. No drifting off.”

“Tired.”

“I know you’re tired, Hun. You can sleep soon. Just not now.”

“Was that blood you vomited? What happened, Finn?” Alex had to hurry not to fall behind.

“Chocolate,” Finn admitted. “Comfort food.”

“Smart lady. You should have gone to see a doctor though.”

“Didn’t feel this bad this morning.”

Did Jaime chuckle? Did she feel that correctly?

They’d reached the car. Jaime put her on the back seat. Her father crawled next to her. “Keep her awake, Alex. She shouldn’t fall asleep right now.” Jaime ordered.

“I know,” Alex answered.

It seemed to take ages before they reached the hospital. Jaime dragged her out of the car and dropped her on the first available stretcher while someone yelled at him for parking where he did.

“I’ll park the car,” Alex yelled from somewhere behind them. “You bring her in.”

The movement made Finn vomit again. Jaime quickly turned her to her side and made sure there was a towel underneath her mouth. It wasn’t much anymore. “You’ll be fine.” He reassured her. His hand ran through her short hair. “Just a concussion, you’ll see.” She wasn’t sure who he was trying to comfort, but it felt very nice.

A nurse caught them in the corridor. Jaime left her for a moment to catch up with her father. Meanwhile, the nurse did the basic neurological test. There was quite a wait for the doctor.

Finn was transferred to a real bed. She hardly noticed it. All she wanted was to sleep, and everyone around her seemed dead set on keeping her awake. Surely nothing was wrong with her, only a little concussion. Both Alex and Jaime refused to leave her side.

When the doctor came, Alex and Jaime were ruthlessly kicked out of the room. Finn told what had happened, with breaks to catch her breath and her thoughts.

“I think we can skip the CT scan.” The doctor finally said, “And go straight onto the MRI to see how much damage there is. It seems you’ll spend at least tonight with us.”

“Can you send them home? I’m good now.” She asked, pointing at the door. “I want to sleep.”

“In a bit.” The doctor promised. “Anything else we need to take care of? I mean, did any of them…”

“What? No. Why would you even think that?” Finn asked. The doctor chuckled. “Didn’t think so, but we have to ask, you know.”

“It was my ex. In London, this morning.”

“This morning? Why didn’t you get your head examined any sooner? This is dangerous, you know.”

“Didn’t feel this bad earlier. Should have gotten my head examined years ago, way before my ex ever became my ex.”

“Can’t help you with that one.”

Finn suspected that in the IV in her arm, they’d put something nice for the pain because the strain and headache fled out of her system. Leaving a nice feeling of nothingness. No more nausea, pain or emotions for that matter.

“She’s safe for the night. We’re going to do an MRI in a bit, and after that, she’ll be brought to a ward for observation.” The doctor explained to Alex and Jaime. “You can go home now. She’s in good hands.”

“Are you sure, Finn? If you want me to stay, Jaime can go home and I…” Finn looked at her father. He held her hand and looked at her face. Suddenly she saw an old, frail man. She’d never seen him like that before. As if being in the hospital made it more visible.

“No, dad. Go home. Get some sleep. Thank you. And thank Jaime for me.” She still sounded weak. As if her voice came from far away.

“If you’re certain.”

“I am.”

He kissed her forehead, stroked his hand over her head. “Finn, you have to be careful.”

“I know, dad.” There were tears in her eyes. “Can’t do any harm now. I’m pretty sure these people will tie me up if I try.” The nurse nodded when she said it. “Go home. You be careful too, okay.”

Shortly after they left, Finn was finally allowed to sleep. The MRI technician had to get things ready and best she could do until they were, was rest.

A nurse woke her up again and helped her wash up a bit and get into a hospital gown.

“I ate some chocolate,” Finn said when the nurse stared at the stains. “Lots of chocolate.”

The nurse didn’t say anything, merely smiled. Clearly, Finn had tried to self-medicate. She’d only picked the wrong thing to remedy. Broken hearts had time to heal. Broken skulls, on the other hand, needed immediate care.

Finn looked a little more alive when Alex arrived the next day. He had brought her some comfortable clothes and to be sure a few pyjamas. She’d ended a discussion with her doctor. The MRI had shown some internal bleeding. Not very bad, but she would have to be monitored. Finn had said she could go home. The doctor had agreed as long as there was someone to take care of her, to check up on her. She couldn’t expect her father to sleep on her couch. And knowing him, he’d refuse to take her bed. The other option was even worse. “Staying with my dad is not going to make me feel better. Besides, I can’t expect a nearly 80-year-old man to wake up every hour to check up on me.”

“Then you’ll have to stay here with us.”

“Fine.” If that were her options, she’d vastly prefer it over going to her father’s house.

“When are they going to let you go?” Alex asked. Finn took the sweater he handed her. “Might be a few days. There’s some fluid leaking into my brain. They want to be sure it’s stable.”

“Because I thought. Well, maybe you could come home to recover. I can keep an eye on you.”

“I wouldn’t do that to you, dad. I can’t ask you to sleep on the couch, and I know you wouldn’t allow me to sleep on it either.”

“No, not your home. My home. Home, home.”

She swallowed. Hopeful Alex looked at her. Jaime would laugh about this, she was sure of it.

“Dad, you’re not twenty anymore. I can’t ask that of you.”

“I’m offering. In the daytime, there’s the housekeeper. And Jaime can stop by to help if that’s necessary.”

“Well, it’s not, because I’m not…” She closed her eyes not to have to see how much she hurt her father with that. It was one of those things they’d disagreed on for 20 years.

“I know it’s your home, dad.” She didn’t know how to save herself from this. She was tired and cranky. And that headache still lingered in her head.

“What did happen, anyway?” Alex lightly stroked the bruise on her cheek.

“I ran into Brent at a party, in London. He wanted to see if we could get back together. Becky seems to have dumped him. I laughed at him. Next morning he bribed housekeeping to open my room for him. He tried to attack me. I dove away. Hit a table on my way to the ground. Then I sprayed his face with deodorant, hit his face with a door and kicked him out.” There was a hint of pride in her voice.

“Oh, good. I was so scared.”

“I know you were. I can take care of me, you know. You taught me.”

“I know I did. But, well…”

“It’s okay. But you said he called you?”

“He said he’d seen you at the party and had heard you had a bad fall. He wanted to see if you were okay, but you weren’t answering your phone.” A good way to worry her father. “You didn’t either when I called. Jaime was at my place. He offered to drive and come along, in case…”

“In case someone had to break down my door.” Finn sat back on the pillows. “Is that exactly what he’d said?”

Alex saw he couldn’t fool her. “No. He said he was afraid that seeing him had upset you and you would hurt yourself because of it.”

“Asshole.”

A nurse came in. “When can I take Finn home?” Alex asked before Finn could stop him.

The nurse checked the chart at Finn’s feet. “Today, if there’s someone to take care of her.”

“I already spoke to the doctor, dad. I’m better off here. They can keep an eye on me around the clock.”

“Nonsense,” Alex said. “I have a room ready for you. Don’t worry. It’s not your old room, it’s the one next to mine.” He said when he saw the look on her face. “I’ll be close by if you need anything.”

“Dad, I…”

“Oh, that’s so sweet.” The nurse threw in her two cents. “You don’t see many dads offering to take care of their grown daughters. I’m sure Finn will be much more comfortable at home than she’ll be here in this noisy hospital.”

“No, I’m fine here. It’s better to stay here.”

It resulted in Finn getting dressed and with a bag with some medication she was beside her father in the car.

“You’ll see it will be fine.”

To Finn’s surprise Jaime and Emily, the housekeeper, were waiting for them when Alex parked the car. Jaime hurried towards her, to offer his support. Finn swayed away from him. She didn’t want his support. If there ever was a need to prove she could handle herself, this was it. Maybe she could convince her father that she could go home that night if she showed him she was fine during the day.

“You look a little better,” Jaime said. He respected her need for space, didn’t touch her. Yet he walked next to her as they walked towards the house. She climbed the steps to the back terrace with her hand clutched to the railing. She couldn’t suppress the memory of her mother doing the same thing when she still could walk. The memory threatened to overwhelm her, and she had to pause a moment.

Jaime was beside her immediately. Probably because if she fell over, Alex wouldn’t be able to catch her.

“I’m fine.” She bit and regretted it immediately. Alex waited on the terrace and saw the look on her face. She looked up at him. It was as if he could read her mind. And without words, he tried to tell her that this was different. She was not her mother. Her mother was dead. Had been for years.

Jaime had walked her to those stairs on purpose. The alternative was entering through the kitchen door and braving the lower ground floor. Something he wanted to spare her from. She was already brave in coming over. Of course, Alex and the nurses would hardly have given her a choice.

“I know you’re fine,” Jaime said calmly as he stood back again. The kindness in his voice hit Finn harder than the memory. Tears were so close to the surface those days. She would not cry in front of them. She refused to.

Instead, she took a deep breath and walked on, ignoring the feelings, the headaches.

“Straight to bed, or would you like a cup of tea first?” Emily asked.

“A cup of tea would be nice, Emily. And maybe some light food. I’ve not eaten anything substantial since yesterday.” That in itself was a lie. The only thing she had eaten the previous day had been that blasted bar of chocolate. That morning in the hospital she’d still been too much under the influence of the medication to eat. Amongst the medication, she’d gotten from the hospital was pills against nausea. Finn decided to take one before eating.

She was directed to the couch in her father’s library. Her father and Jaime sat down on the handsome chairs that completed the set. The fire was burning, making the place feel warm. It was one of Jaime’s touches. He had told Alex it was imperative that Finn should be kept warm. It was under the excuse of a threatening chest infection after what she had been through.

“What happened?” Jaime asked. Finn merely told him she’d fallen over. She didn’t owe him an explanation. Her father disagreed though and related what she had told him at the hospital, about Brent.

“He’s a right asshole, isn’t he?”

“He is,” Finn confirmed. “He thinks the world revolves around him. I can’t imagine having fallen in love with him.”

“He was different.” Her father helpfully explained. “You loved everything new, different, and most of all, far away from here.”

Finn swallowed away the lump in her throat. Her desire to be anywhere but here, to be with anyone but the people she knew, had been a humongous mistake.

“Are you allowed to fall asleep?” Alex asked Finn. Emily put a tea tray on the table. Complete with scones and sandwiches. Finn thanked her before answering her father. “I am. I do need to be woken up every hour though. Although…”

Jaime stared from one to the other. He’d not counted on that. It would do the old man in for sure.

“I can stay here too for tonight.” He offered. “I mean, there are rooms and beds enough. We can take turns in checking up on you.” As much as Finn disliked the thought, she had to see reason. She didn’t want to ask too much of her father. And maybe, it was a weird idea that floated through her brain. She’d feel safer with Jaime around. She remembered his strong arms holding her. His genuine worry about her.

“That might be a good plan. I don’t want to inconvenience anyone though. Dad, you should have let me stay at the hospital.”

“Nonsense,” Jaime repeated what Alex had said.

When Finn looked up at him, she expected to see a victorious look in his eyes. That he forced her to spend time in the house, as much as she didn’t want it. She didn’t find it. Only a truly worried look.

“I’ll sleep in your old room. That way I’ll be close by if you need anything.” The other options were the attic or the bedroom on the lower ground floor. That day Jaime wanted food to be the only reminder the lower ground floor even existed.

When Finn drank her tea, her father retreated behind his desk. Jaime claimed he had a few chores around the house to do. Later he’d go home to pick up a few things, and he would do some groceries too so that he could cook for them that evening. “Is handy and he cooks. Dad, if I were you, I’d marry him.” Finn said when Jaime had left the room.

“By all means do,” Alex said without looking up from his laptop.

Finn relaxed. It wasn’t all too bad, she thought. No ghosts of the past here. She ate some of the things from the tray. More than she’d thought possible. They were really tasty. Calming down for the first time in ages, in this place at least, meant that she finally could taste and smell things that were not history.

Having eaten, she stretched out on the couch. Alex smiled when he saw she’d fallen asleep. He got a blanket and pillow and made sure she was comfortable. Most probably he should send her to bed. Right now he wanted her to be comfortable mostly. Anchoring the feeling that she was safe.

Finn was only vaguely aware of the life around her. Emily cleaning in some of the rooms, singing out loudly. Her father typing away on his keyboard. Jaime doing whatever, sometimes singing along with Emily. They succeeded in what they set out to do. Finn felt safe in the house she’d hated all of her adult life.

It was hours later when Finn woke up. When she stretched out, she nearly fell off the couch. She had completely forgotten where she was. When she opened her eyes, reality seeped back in. Her father was no longer behind his desk. She heard his footsteps in the corridor. Along with Jaime’s voice.

The door opened, Emily came in. “Oh, you’re awake. I have lunch set up in the dining room.” The woman happily said.

Finn sat up. “Oh, that’s nice.” She was still a bit unstable when she got up. She stopped in the bathroom for a bit. She felt rested and calm and looked the part.

Alex and Jaime got up when she entered the room. “Hey, you’re awake.” Jaime held out her chair for her.

“A true gentleman, thank you so much.” She sat down and looked at the food on the table. She couldn’t believe she was hungry again.

The gentlemen were dead set on making things as easy for her as possible. They didn’t ask difficult questions, yet tried to make small talk. And it worked. Finn had to admit it.

The nice food and company made Finn drowsy again pretty soon. She wasn’t well at all. Still, she wanted nothing more than to sleep.