Family Portrait: Laurie and Crystal - Phone Call

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Crystal receives a phone call from Laurie and picks her up from the hospital.



Laurie paced in front of the wall of phones, gnawing at one of her thumbnails. She knew waiting hours would be over soon and she needed to get someone to come pick her up. She just didn't want them to see her looking such a mess, there'd be questions and possibly wanting of discussion about what was going on and she didn't really want to talk.

Deciding, she flipped her mobile out of her pocket and dialled Crystal's mobile number. She was one of the few people Laurie knew who didn't tend toward nosey questions when traumatic events were involved.
Only a select group of people knew the different phone numbers that called her cell phone; still, as she always did, Crystal checked her phone to see who was calling before she answered. It helped to know what language she should use to answer, too. Although she wasn't planning on staying in New York for too long, Crystal had given her United States number to her former suitemates at Xavier's.

"Hello, Laurie." Crystal answered the phone in a friendly tone, her voice carrying to the small headset she wore.

"Crystal, I need a favour." Laurie said, trying to keep her voice sufficiently professional sounding to stave off any of the usual croaking that came when she was feeling emotional. "Do you think you could come pick me up? Mom's not...she's not well, and she's going to be staying here for awhile."

It was an understatement, and one that had her almost in tears yet again. How did you explain to someone that your mother had just told you that she might die? How did you explain that you suspected that it was possibly your fault. Better to not say anything at all, better to do some research first and then think about the possibilities later.

"Where is 'here', Laurie?" Crystal asked calmly, a hint of concern creeping into her voice. Crystal didn't want to act as if nothing was the matter when clearly everything was not all right with Laurie if her mother was ill enough to require a long-term stay in a hospital, but she also didn't want to make a big fuss and make Laurie feel worse or uncomfortable.

"Local county hospital, private wing. Mom collapsed this morning during her show, they brought her here right away. I just, I need to come home and get a shower, I guess or something. They won't let me stay after visiting hours."

It was hard to think of things like showers and food and what she'd tell everyone, especially since this morning's show had been live and someone must have seen it.

"Do you know the name of the hospital or do you know its address?" Crystal wanted to get Laurie as soon as she could, but there wasn't much she could do without knowing where her former suitemate was. Another thought occurred to Crystal. The air scrubber... Laurie was obviously not in the best frame of mind and she had just decided to give up her air scrubber.

She'd forgotten, and it took a moment for Laurie to find the address she'd written down on a piece of paper for just this situation. She finally fished it out, opening the crinkled paper and staring at the words for what seemed like minutes before she could read them. She was exhausted, scared and just wanted to go home.

"It's the St Jerome hospital in McIntyre Street, just turn left at the Mickey D's." Laurie replied. "Is that enough? I can give you the full address if you need it."

"That is enough information. Thank you, Laurie. Do you want me to stay on the phone with you until I arrive?" Crystal didn't want to pressure Laurie into talking to her, but the idea of hanging up the phone felt like it would be leaving the distraught girl all alone.

"I..."

She didn't want to hang up, but she also didn't want Crystal to be distracted from driving either. But the other girl had offered to stay on the line, so she'd know what she could do, wouldn't she?

"I'd like that, if it's not going to distract you from driving." Laurie replied finally.

"Oh, do not worry about that; I will not be distracted while driving," Crystal replied after a brief moment's pause, the slightest hint of amusement creeping into her voice. Laurie must have thought she knew how to drive, had a driver's license, and owned a car. She didn't. Already, while Laurie had been deciding what to say, Crystal had motioned to her driver and the two had begun to head out of the store. Shopping could wait. "How are you doing, Laurie? Power-wise, that is. Is everything fine without your air scrubber?"

"Oh!"

She hadn't even thought about it, focussed on everything else and not thinking about one of the most important things.

"I...I think I'm doing okay. I can't feel any leaking so it should be okay. Although, maybe I'll go and wait outside for you?"

Crystal wasn't sure she liked the idea of Laurie being outside by herself, alone. The best thing right now, though, was to keep Laurie as calm as she could. "Is there an area where you can wait inside until I arrive?" she asked, her pace quickening. She could get to the hospital faster if she flew, but she wasn't quite sure of the exact location of the hospital and Laurie needed a car to ride home in anyhow.

"Yeah, they've got a bunch of small waiting rooms but I don't really want to be in any of those. There's this little garden near the entrance though, they use it for patients who want to have a smoke or something I think. I could wait there for you." Laurie said, grimacing at the thought of a waiting room full of people and bad television programming, they never had the TV set to anything worthwhile. Although, were she truly honest with herself, she'd admit it was merely the presence of others that made her shy away from the place.

There always seemed to be this desire in the non-sick companions of people waiting to talk about their worries. She didn't _want_ to be there for anyone right now, especially not some random stranger.
"I have always thought that smoking right outside of a hospital was a rather silly thing to do," Crystal commented as she got into the car. "Of course, I believe that smoking anywhere is rather senseless."

"I never really understood it either." Laurie said, walking down a hallway toward the garden she'd spoken of. "But then I never understood how doctors could smoke either, but some do. I think the world's full of really silly things, and not much of it ever makes sense."

Where had her normal bright outlook gone? She couldn't say, just that right at this moment it seemed almost impossible to see a silver lining anywhere.

***

"We are pulling up right now." The Chrysler 300 came to a stop in front of the hospital and a moment later the driver got out of the car and opened it for Laurie. Inside the car, Crystal gave a small wave to her former suitemate.

Laurie quickly wiped her eyes with the remains of a tissue and got into the car, trying to smile but failing. "Thanks so much for picking me up, I wasn't sure I was up to answering any of the questions the others would have asked me."

"There might still be questions," Crystal said gently as the driver's door closed. "Your mother collapsed on live television. People are going to be concerned for you, I am sure that they most of them will not wish to pester you, but if one of the, how should I put it? not quite tactful people makes a journal post that you do not wish to answer, just ignore it."

"I know, I think pretending not to see the posts is a good idea for now." Laurie replied, sounding tired and looking even worse.

She leaned her head back against the seat and turned her head to stare outside as the car began to move. She knew it wouldn't take them too long to get back to the mansion and she wanted to do a few things before she went to sleep. She'd need to come back to the hospital in the morning, as there was no way she was leaving her mother to cope with this alone.

"Crystal? Do you think you'd be able to bring me back tomorrow? I don't really want to ask anyone else."

"I will bring you back tomorrow, Laurie." Tomorrow was the first day of the new school year. There was no need to point that out to Laurie right at this moment, though. Crystal didn't know how ill Laurie's mother was and didn't know what was wrong with her, but whatever her condition was, Laurie was obviously extremely worried. "I have e-mailed Mr. Summers and Ms. Munroe to let them know that you and I are returning to Xavier's now." She was sure that the headmaster and headmistress of Xavier's already knew about Laurie's mother, but letting them know where Laurie was and that she was coming back to the mansion seemed like the responsible thing to do.

"Thanks." Laurie said, relieved that she wouldn't have to contact them. She didn't think she could be more then vaguely coherent to anyone right now, and she didn't want to have to go over what was wrong with her mother with anyone. At least, not until she'd gone over it in her own head enough that it felt real, because right now it was like a bad dream. "I'll talk to them tomorrow; let them know what's going on. I suppose I haven't been thinking of the practicalities much."

"You are hereby granted a temporary reprieve from the need to think of the practicalities," Crystal told Laurie with a small smile. She was fairly certain that the people at the mansion would understand Laurie's lack of desire to talk about her mother's condition. Most people, that was. If John's lack of tact extended to the point where he was bothering Laurie, he just might find himself somehow being transported into the middle of the lake.