Post by GO FUCK YOURSELF NICK on Jun 19, 2015 15:10:31 GMT -6
The hospital in Tijuana was actually very nice. The buildings were two stories and made of clay, with carefully landscaped gardens along the pathways that connected the buildings. There was even a view of the coast. But no matter how pretty it was, Jennifer Smith still felt trapped there. She had doctors and residents coming in every few hours to check on her progress and discuss her case. Apparently it was one of the worst knee injuries the hospital had ever seen, which left Jennifer feeling a bit like a circus freak as people paraded in and out of her room. She was stuck with her leg in traction and because of that, was unable to be moved just yet to a facility across the border in the United States. Her primary doctor, in his gracefully accented English, had explained that much to her father, who had arrived that morning.
It seemed like since he had gotten there, he had done nothing but argue - with the doctors, with the nurses, even with his hotel. Jennifer understood that no parent wanted to get a call that their child was hospitalized in Tijuana, but this was getting excessive. When her primary doctor finally declared that he had other patients to see, Jennifer looked up from the book her father had brought her and rolled her eyes at him.
“You shouldn’t do that,” she told him, folding down the corner of the page so she wouldn’t lose her place.
“And you should be resting,” he retorted, pulling up a chair alongside her bed. “You’re going to need your strength. I can’t understand how these quacks can stand there and tell me that there may be fragments missing -”
“Because my knee got smashed with a lead pipe. Repeatedly. It was an open break and the paramedics had to take their time stabilizing my knee and getting me calmed down enough to load me into the ambulance. Just like they told you when you first got here.” She sounded exasperated, but she didn’t have time to be offended by her father’s sharp look. Her phone dinged with a text message, and she grinned as she answered it.
“Who is that? I haven't seen you smile like that since... there's a boy, isn't there?"
Jennifer looked up from her phone and nodded. "Yeah, there's a boy. A boyfriend, if you want to get technical."
"Oh yeah? Tell me about him. Where did you meet him?"
"Here, actually. Well, I mean, not here in Tijuana. Here as in here in EXODUS. His name is Anderson and he wrestles in (R)Evolution. He's really amazing, and not just in the ring. He's been -"
"Jennifer Lynne Smith."
"What?"
"I know you're a big fan of this wrestling stuff, but isn't this taking it a bit too far? First you take a job, writing fan fiction of all things for this company, and now you're telling me you're dating one?"
"Please, you're acting like I'm dating a meth head. Anderson is a good guy and he really cares about me. And I feel the same way about him. He's one of the best things to have happened to me. So is my job. I know it looks ridiculous on paper, trust me, but it pays really well and it’s something that I absolutely love. Everything that’s happened in the last six months has been because of my involvement with EXDOUS, and I wouldn’t change that for anything."
Jennifer’s father shook his head and leaned back in his chair, looking at his daughter with skepticism in his eyes.
“You’re sitting here in a hospital bed with a shattered kneecap that may or may not heal. You could potentially need another surgery to replace the joint so you’ll be able to walk normally again. And where did this injury happen again? Oh right, backstage at a wrestling show for the company you’re working with. How is this good for their business? How is this protecting their employees? And where was this Anderson kid when you were getting attacked by some psychopath?” His voice got progressively louder, his anger and resentment and fear showing themselves once more. Jennifer put her hand over her father’s, forcing him to look up at her.
“Don’t blame Anderson for this. He was in the ring, competing, like he was supposed to be doing. The person who we think did it - she’s absolutely batshit crazy. But she’s been mostly harmless up till now, unless you count trying to feed Anderson chocolate with her own blood as an extra special ingredient…” She rolled her eyes and was about to chuckle at the memory, but her father’s expression of abject horror made the laugh die in her throat. The painkillers made it difficult to put her brain-to-mouth filter to use, and Jennifer knew she probably shouldn’t have brought up the blood chocolate thing.
Her father was looking at her like she was a stranger. “Jennifer, I’m going to have to draw a line somewhere. Your mother and I have been supporting you throughout college and while I appreciate that you’ve found a job, this is dangerous for you. You are spending your time around people who belong either in a jail cell or a psychiatric ward. We were supportive when you wanted to study English instead of business, even though you know we want the company to stay in the family after we decide to retire. We were supportive when you chose to stay in San Diego instead of coming home to Tiburon like we asked you to, so that you could familiarize yourself with the business. But now, you’ve been seriously injured and you’re telling me that not only are you fully planning to continue your association with this business, but that you’re dating a wrestler. We did not send you to college so that you could fuck around with crap like this! You need to start seriously thinking about your future, Jennifer.”
She sat up as best she could, looking her father in the eye. “Daddy, stop it. You and Mom know I don’t want the business. I never did. Software development just doesn’t interest me. I want to be an editor and I want to stay in San Diego, where I have friends and a job and an apartment and a life. Sure, I’ve got you and Mom up in Tiburon, but my life is in San Diego.” Jennifer crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at her father. “I’m twenty-two years old, and I’m fully capable of making my own decisions regarding my future.”
“A two-bit wrestling company no one’s even heard of is not the place to put your future! You’re throwing your life away on nothing! What’s going to happen in a year or two, when this kid knocks you up and leaves you for some slut? You’ll be alone, working in the same place this kid is, having to deal with seeing him day in and day out, with no other job prospects because your resume looks so ridiculous that no other place will hire you!”
“Oh my god, will you stop with the doomsday crap? Anderson’s not that kind of a guy. He’s not going out banging every girl that looks at him twice. If he was, I wouldn’t be with him. And will you please give me credit for being smart enough to use birth control? Goddamn it.” Jennifer sighed and leaned back in her hospital bed. “Look, Dad, why don’t you go back to the hotel and relax? Anderson’s supposed to be coming by soon, and I’d really rather not have the two of you meet right now.”
“Jennifer, I am your father.”
“Yes, and right now you’re busy trying to make a guy I really like and really care for out to be some kind of rampaging demon manslut. So I’d rather not have to deal with you trying to pick a fight with him to prove your point like you do to literally everybody else.”
“I am just trying to give you the best life possible. I want you to have every opportunity to succeed and I want you to actually take them, instead of just coasting along! You’re not going to be in college forever, Jenny. It’s time to get serious about your career and the men you date. What kind of future can he really offer you?”
Jennifer bit her lower lip. “Look. It’s only been a few months with Anderson. So I don’t know what kind of future we have together. But what I do know is that I want to find out. Even if I gave up my job and broke up with Anderson right now, there’s no guarantee that I’ll be happier in another career field or with another guy. I could go off and marry some doctor or lawyer and be president of the company and I could be miserable. I’m happy now, with being the fanfiction girl for EXODUS and dating Anderson. I know you want the company to end up in my hands someday, but I’m not ready for that now. I don’t know if I ever will be.”
“Then you should get used to being away from this for awhile. When you’re able to travel, I’m having you transferred to a hospital in San Francisco. You can recover there, and when you’re fully healed, then maybe we can talk about you coming back to San Diego.”
“Dad, no! There are perfectly good hospitals in San Diego! You know, where my friends and my boyfriend are. I’m not going to let you lock me away like some princess in a tower.”
“Young lady, this is not your decision!”
“If you had it your way, NOTHING would be my decision!” Jennifer was yelling now, her hands balled into fists at her sides. She tried to push herself forward, only to fall back to the bed in frustration as she realized once more that she couldn’t move her leg. “God DAMN it! I’m fucking trapped here, Dad! I’ve heard the doctors talking; I know I’m going to need to have my knee replaced. And I know that’s at least another two weeks in the hospital from whenever they schedule the surgery, plus three months of physical therapy and rehab to make sure the new knee is functioning. Why the hell would you want me to go through all that by myself in San Francisco?” Tears pricked her eyes and Jennifer gasped for air. In all the chaos, she hadn’t had time to really think about what was ahead of her - or perhaps more accurately, she hadn’t wanted to. But the idea of having to go through all that away from her friends and Anderson made her feel like she couldn’t breathe.
So this is what a panic attack feels like.
“You can’t, you can’t you can’t you can’t,” she babbled, digging her nails into her palms to try and stop herself from spinning completely out of control.
Her father leaned in and took one of her hands in his, his other stroking his daughter’s hair. “Jenny, you need to calm down! This can’t possibly be good for you.”
“I know. Dad, I’m trying, I just… if I’m all alone, the person who did this could hurt me again if they don’t get caught. The Mexican authorities are looking into it and Anderson and I are pretty sure we know who did it because who else carries around a fucking lead pipe and talks to it like it’s fucking sentient?” The doctors had spent so long on her knee that they had neglected to mention other possible effects of the blitz attack in the locker room, like post-traumatic stress. Jennifer knew what it was, she knew her reaction wasn’t strictly rational, and she was immensely grateful that only her father had seen it. She wanted to be strong and show everyone that despite what had happened, she wasn’t a coward. And she also didn’t need Anderson feeling worse about the situation than he already did.
For awhile, she and her father were quiet as her heart rate slowed down and Jennifer felt like she could breathe again.
“Look, I know you want to stay, but like I said, Anderson’s going to be here soon and I’d kind of rather you… weren’t here. If that’s okay?”
Jennifer’s father looked like he was ready to start another debate on the subject, but he swallowed whatever he was going to say and nodded. “I’ll go to the hotel and call your mother to discuss transferring you to another hospital. But I’ll be back later, and at some point the three of us are going to have to sit down and have a very long discussion about your future.”
She sighed heavily. “Yeah, okay. But I can tell you right now, the two of you better bring your A-game. Or just get used to the idea of having a wrestler for a son-in-law, because this thing with me and Anderson? It’s not going anywhere anytime soon. No matter how much you may want it to.”
“Does this kid have a last name?”
“Yeah, it’s Cobalt.”
“...That has to be made up.”
“It’s a ring name, yeah. But my friend Ginny married a wrestler back in January, and pretty much everyone refers to her by his fake last name.”
“Do you even know his-”
“Dad, you’re really bad at not arguing, you know that?”
“...Fine. I’ll see you later, Jennifer.”
He leaned down and kissed his daughter on the forehead, promising to call her from the hotel so that she would have his room number in case of anything. She settled herself back against the pillows and turned on the television, settling on a telenovela. Her Spanish was rudimentary at best, but it was fun to try and figure out what was going on in the scene and it gave her something to do until either another doctor or another visitor stopped by her room.
It seemed like since he had gotten there, he had done nothing but argue - with the doctors, with the nurses, even with his hotel. Jennifer understood that no parent wanted to get a call that their child was hospitalized in Tijuana, but this was getting excessive. When her primary doctor finally declared that he had other patients to see, Jennifer looked up from the book her father had brought her and rolled her eyes at him.
“You shouldn’t do that,” she told him, folding down the corner of the page so she wouldn’t lose her place.
“And you should be resting,” he retorted, pulling up a chair alongside her bed. “You’re going to need your strength. I can’t understand how these quacks can stand there and tell me that there may be fragments missing -”
“Because my knee got smashed with a lead pipe. Repeatedly. It was an open break and the paramedics had to take their time stabilizing my knee and getting me calmed down enough to load me into the ambulance. Just like they told you when you first got here.” She sounded exasperated, but she didn’t have time to be offended by her father’s sharp look. Her phone dinged with a text message, and she grinned as she answered it.
“Who is that? I haven't seen you smile like that since... there's a boy, isn't there?"
Jennifer looked up from her phone and nodded. "Yeah, there's a boy. A boyfriend, if you want to get technical."
"Oh yeah? Tell me about him. Where did you meet him?"
"Here, actually. Well, I mean, not here in Tijuana. Here as in here in EXODUS. His name is Anderson and he wrestles in (R)Evolution. He's really amazing, and not just in the ring. He's been -"
"Jennifer Lynne Smith."
"What?"
"I know you're a big fan of this wrestling stuff, but isn't this taking it a bit too far? First you take a job, writing fan fiction of all things for this company, and now you're telling me you're dating one?"
"Please, you're acting like I'm dating a meth head. Anderson is a good guy and he really cares about me. And I feel the same way about him. He's one of the best things to have happened to me. So is my job. I know it looks ridiculous on paper, trust me, but it pays really well and it’s something that I absolutely love. Everything that’s happened in the last six months has been because of my involvement with EXDOUS, and I wouldn’t change that for anything."
Jennifer’s father shook his head and leaned back in his chair, looking at his daughter with skepticism in his eyes.
“You’re sitting here in a hospital bed with a shattered kneecap that may or may not heal. You could potentially need another surgery to replace the joint so you’ll be able to walk normally again. And where did this injury happen again? Oh right, backstage at a wrestling show for the company you’re working with. How is this good for their business? How is this protecting their employees? And where was this Anderson kid when you were getting attacked by some psychopath?” His voice got progressively louder, his anger and resentment and fear showing themselves once more. Jennifer put her hand over her father’s, forcing him to look up at her.
“Don’t blame Anderson for this. He was in the ring, competing, like he was supposed to be doing. The person who we think did it - she’s absolutely batshit crazy. But she’s been mostly harmless up till now, unless you count trying to feed Anderson chocolate with her own blood as an extra special ingredient…” She rolled her eyes and was about to chuckle at the memory, but her father’s expression of abject horror made the laugh die in her throat. The painkillers made it difficult to put her brain-to-mouth filter to use, and Jennifer knew she probably shouldn’t have brought up the blood chocolate thing.
Her father was looking at her like she was a stranger. “Jennifer, I’m going to have to draw a line somewhere. Your mother and I have been supporting you throughout college and while I appreciate that you’ve found a job, this is dangerous for you. You are spending your time around people who belong either in a jail cell or a psychiatric ward. We were supportive when you wanted to study English instead of business, even though you know we want the company to stay in the family after we decide to retire. We were supportive when you chose to stay in San Diego instead of coming home to Tiburon like we asked you to, so that you could familiarize yourself with the business. But now, you’ve been seriously injured and you’re telling me that not only are you fully planning to continue your association with this business, but that you’re dating a wrestler. We did not send you to college so that you could fuck around with crap like this! You need to start seriously thinking about your future, Jennifer.”
She sat up as best she could, looking her father in the eye. “Daddy, stop it. You and Mom know I don’t want the business. I never did. Software development just doesn’t interest me. I want to be an editor and I want to stay in San Diego, where I have friends and a job and an apartment and a life. Sure, I’ve got you and Mom up in Tiburon, but my life is in San Diego.” Jennifer crossed her arms over her chest, glaring at her father. “I’m twenty-two years old, and I’m fully capable of making my own decisions regarding my future.”
“A two-bit wrestling company no one’s even heard of is not the place to put your future! You’re throwing your life away on nothing! What’s going to happen in a year or two, when this kid knocks you up and leaves you for some slut? You’ll be alone, working in the same place this kid is, having to deal with seeing him day in and day out, with no other job prospects because your resume looks so ridiculous that no other place will hire you!”
“Oh my god, will you stop with the doomsday crap? Anderson’s not that kind of a guy. He’s not going out banging every girl that looks at him twice. If he was, I wouldn’t be with him. And will you please give me credit for being smart enough to use birth control? Goddamn it.” Jennifer sighed and leaned back in her hospital bed. “Look, Dad, why don’t you go back to the hotel and relax? Anderson’s supposed to be coming by soon, and I’d really rather not have the two of you meet right now.”
“Jennifer, I am your father.”
“Yes, and right now you’re busy trying to make a guy I really like and really care for out to be some kind of rampaging demon manslut. So I’d rather not have to deal with you trying to pick a fight with him to prove your point like you do to literally everybody else.”
“I am just trying to give you the best life possible. I want you to have every opportunity to succeed and I want you to actually take them, instead of just coasting along! You’re not going to be in college forever, Jenny. It’s time to get serious about your career and the men you date. What kind of future can he really offer you?”
Jennifer bit her lower lip. “Look. It’s only been a few months with Anderson. So I don’t know what kind of future we have together. But what I do know is that I want to find out. Even if I gave up my job and broke up with Anderson right now, there’s no guarantee that I’ll be happier in another career field or with another guy. I could go off and marry some doctor or lawyer and be president of the company and I could be miserable. I’m happy now, with being the fanfiction girl for EXODUS and dating Anderson. I know you want the company to end up in my hands someday, but I’m not ready for that now. I don’t know if I ever will be.”
“Then you should get used to being away from this for awhile. When you’re able to travel, I’m having you transferred to a hospital in San Francisco. You can recover there, and when you’re fully healed, then maybe we can talk about you coming back to San Diego.”
“Dad, no! There are perfectly good hospitals in San Diego! You know, where my friends and my boyfriend are. I’m not going to let you lock me away like some princess in a tower.”
“Young lady, this is not your decision!”
“If you had it your way, NOTHING would be my decision!” Jennifer was yelling now, her hands balled into fists at her sides. She tried to push herself forward, only to fall back to the bed in frustration as she realized once more that she couldn’t move her leg. “God DAMN it! I’m fucking trapped here, Dad! I’ve heard the doctors talking; I know I’m going to need to have my knee replaced. And I know that’s at least another two weeks in the hospital from whenever they schedule the surgery, plus three months of physical therapy and rehab to make sure the new knee is functioning. Why the hell would you want me to go through all that by myself in San Francisco?” Tears pricked her eyes and Jennifer gasped for air. In all the chaos, she hadn’t had time to really think about what was ahead of her - or perhaps more accurately, she hadn’t wanted to. But the idea of having to go through all that away from her friends and Anderson made her feel like she couldn’t breathe.
So this is what a panic attack feels like.
“You can’t, you can’t you can’t you can’t,” she babbled, digging her nails into her palms to try and stop herself from spinning completely out of control.
Her father leaned in and took one of her hands in his, his other stroking his daughter’s hair. “Jenny, you need to calm down! This can’t possibly be good for you.”
“I know. Dad, I’m trying, I just… if I’m all alone, the person who did this could hurt me again if they don’t get caught. The Mexican authorities are looking into it and Anderson and I are pretty sure we know who did it because who else carries around a fucking lead pipe and talks to it like it’s fucking sentient?” The doctors had spent so long on her knee that they had neglected to mention other possible effects of the blitz attack in the locker room, like post-traumatic stress. Jennifer knew what it was, she knew her reaction wasn’t strictly rational, and she was immensely grateful that only her father had seen it. She wanted to be strong and show everyone that despite what had happened, she wasn’t a coward. And she also didn’t need Anderson feeling worse about the situation than he already did.
For awhile, she and her father were quiet as her heart rate slowed down and Jennifer felt like she could breathe again.
“Look, I know you want to stay, but like I said, Anderson’s going to be here soon and I’d kind of rather you… weren’t here. If that’s okay?”
Jennifer’s father looked like he was ready to start another debate on the subject, but he swallowed whatever he was going to say and nodded. “I’ll go to the hotel and call your mother to discuss transferring you to another hospital. But I’ll be back later, and at some point the three of us are going to have to sit down and have a very long discussion about your future.”
She sighed heavily. “Yeah, okay. But I can tell you right now, the two of you better bring your A-game. Or just get used to the idea of having a wrestler for a son-in-law, because this thing with me and Anderson? It’s not going anywhere anytime soon. No matter how much you may want it to.”
“Does this kid have a last name?”
“Yeah, it’s Cobalt.”
“...That has to be made up.”
“It’s a ring name, yeah. But my friend Ginny married a wrestler back in January, and pretty much everyone refers to her by his fake last name.”
“Do you even know his-”
“Dad, you’re really bad at not arguing, you know that?”
“...Fine. I’ll see you later, Jennifer.”
He leaned down and kissed his daughter on the forehead, promising to call her from the hotel so that she would have his room number in case of anything. She settled herself back against the pillows and turned on the television, settling on a telenovela. Her Spanish was rudimentary at best, but it was fun to try and figure out what was going on in the scene and it gave her something to do until either another doctor or another visitor stopped by her room.