IN BED WITH THE BOSS

Vivian gave a ghostly smile. “When can I see him?”

“I’ll take you to him now.”

It was like some surreal nightmare as she followed the nurse through the spotless, soundless and gleaming unit until they finally stopped outside a cubicle.

Through the glass, Vivian could see Scott lying as still as death on the bed and she jammed her fis into her mouth and gave a soundless little cry. Her Scott- her strong, powerful Scott-with all that vitality just zapped away.

“What can I do?” she whispered. “To help him?”

“Talk to him. Stroke his hand. Remind him of things you’ve done together. Try to bring him back.”

Remind him of things you’ve done together. The words haunted her as she fearfully made her way towards the bed, towards that still and silent figure.

What shared memories did they have which might stir his sleeping mind? But the only ones she could think of were not the deep and meaningful memories which would arouse a man from a coma. Great sex and glitzy restaurants were not the kind of profound or precious memories which would arouse the sleeping mind. Were they?

She could, of course, say that she loved the way that his mouth sometimes softened when he was about to kiss her. Or that it felt as if she had just won a prize if something she said made him laugh aloud. Or that when he was sleeping she could see the boy in the face of the man and that he could look almost vulnerable.

But not this time. She flinched as she looked at the bruised and battered face. There was no vulnerability in Scott’s face today. It was barely recognisable as a face-man or boy-it was so distorted and discolored with bruising. And besides, those were not the kinds of things he wanted to hear, not from her and not from any woman.

So what the hell was she going to say to him?

She sat down beside the bed and began to stroke his hand. What did he like most about her? He liked the strong and in-control Vivian, and that was what she would be. She took a deep breath and smiled at the nurse.

“Scott McCall” she said, very softly. “You are nothing but an old attention-seeker! I’ve been woken up out of a deep sleep to come and see you, and you haven’t even the decency to open your eyes and say hello.” And then her voice cracked just a little. Oh, what the hell? “Wake up, Scott” she pleaded softly. “Wake up, darling.”

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Scott’s mother and sister arrived minutes later and Vivian had to fight the urge to burst into tears when she saw the pain in his mother’s eyes. It was a situation she couldn’t imagine being in as a mother, and she could do nothing but console them.

“I’m sorry” His mother said as she dabbed her eyes with a tissue. “Who are you dear?”

Again, Vivian had no idea how to introduce herself. “I’m Vivian…” she replied, “Vivian Sanchez ma’am. I’m your son’s personal assistant. We’re…. Close”

She nodded. “I’m Felicia McCall” she said and smiled at her. “And this is my daughter… Scott’s twin… Sara McCall. We’re really glad that you care here for him. You must really care for my son.”

“It’s very nice to meet you” Vivian replied, returning the smile. “And yes… I do care for him very much. He’s a remarkable man, Mrs McCall”

“I just can’t believe this.” continued Felicia. “Scott has always been the strong one. He’s very sensitive, but he hardly shows it. He believes that he should be the one to fix every issue, so he tries so hard not to show how he truly feels. It’s so hard to see him this way. If anything happens to him…. I… I don’t know.. Oh God”

“Nothing will happen, mom” said Sara, as she hugged her mother, who was beginning to sob again. “Scott is strong. He’ll get over this”

Vivian watched them… and all she could do was hope that he would be fine. He would pull through. He had to…

———-

For nearly two days he lay there while the nurses turned him and washed him and took his observations. And for nearly two days Vivian remained by his side, except when they forced her to go and rest in the small side room especially reserved for ‘relatives’…. Along with his mother and sister.

It was when the sun was going down on the second day that he finally stirred. His mother and sister had gone out to get some dinner for all of them and Vivian had been talking to him, still in the new, soft voice which she seemed to have specially acquired for this heartbreakingly one-way conversation.

“Things at the office are going pretty well,” she was saying. “I know you liked to stay on top of everything but everyone at the office is doing everything possible to make sure that things are done exactly the way you’d want them. And-”

She drew a deep breath and wistfully stroked the back of his hand, remembering a snapshot image of the day he’d followed her to the cheesecake shop and kissed her when she’d walked him to his car. Scott had looked so strong-as if he were the most alive person on the planet. She remembered the evening at his place when he’d played the guitar for her.

Knowing him now, as she did-or what little he allowed her to know- she realized that it had been a strangely intimate thing for him to have played for her. Never to be repeated.

“And now you know that when you come back to the office, you can trust your staff to handle things themselves sometimes.”

Through the heavy grey mists of a wasteland he seemed to have inhabited since the beginning of time, Scott heard a soft, sweet voice talking of lilies and he thought he had died and gone to heaven. He tried to move his mouth.

“Nurse!” Vivian stumbled to her feet and knocked the chair over. “Nurse!”

She bent over him. “Scott- oh, Scott! Darling, can you hear me?”

Something, or someone had superglued his eyes together, but with an almighty effort Scott forced them open by a fraction, but such a fierce and piercing light scorched them that he let them snap shut again.

“Nurse-he tried to open his eyes-I swear he did!”

Nurse? Nurse?

“Just move aside for a minute, would you, Vivian?”

Vivian? Was that a name, for God’s sake? Or some kind of mountain? His mind fuddled along.

“Come along, Mr McCall-try to open your eyes for me!”

A voice infinitely less soft and sweet was speaking to him again. A bossy kind of voice. “Come along, Mr McCall-open your eyes.”

With an effort, he obeyed-only to have Bossy-voice shine some God-forsaken light in them. If he could have groaned, he would have done, but his vocal cords seemed to have let him down.

“Yes, he’s conscious.”

“Oh, thank God! Thank God!”

The Sweet-voice sounded close to tears-a sound so poignant that he wrenched his eyes open. A beautiful face was staring down at him, with dark hair and eyes that seemed to look into his soul. It was all too confusing and Scott let himself slip gratefully back into that grey wasteland.

“He woke up!” Vivian said to his mother and sister when they returned. Unable to hide her happiness, that tears were falling from her eyes. “He’s sleeping again, but he woke up, Mrs McCall. He woke up.”

“Oh thank God!” Felicia said, grabbing Vivian and Sara and wrapping them in a warm hug.

Vivian put her hands around them too. She was so happy. Scott would be fine. Waking up was one step to recovery… and nothing else mattered at the moment. All she cared about was Scott. And he was going to be fine.

———

Scott awoke in the morning, and was greeted with the faces of his mother and sister, both staring at him with gratitude, happiness and love in their eyes.

“You’re awake” His mother said as she kissed his forehead. “You are awake and you’ll be fine. Oh Scott… you scared the crap out of us”

Scott managed a smile at them and listened attentively as they told him that he’d been in an accident and was brought to the hospital, but he was recovering gradually. He nodded, but some things still didn’t make sense to him.

Feeling tired, he closed his eyes, but opened them again after some minutes. His mother and sister were gone, but a nurse was staring down at him.

“So…. How are we feeling this morning, Scott?” she asked him.

Scott slowly opened his eyes wider. “Where’s Vivian?” he asked.

The nurse smiled. Men were a bit like animals-if the first thing a duck saw was a tiger, then it forever believed that the tiger was its mother! And Vivian , in this case-was the tiger!

“Vivian is just bringing the car round to the front of the building-and I’m here to help you get dressed.”