“No, I'm fine” Nick spoke down the cell phone as he paced the hospital halls. He wasn’t exactly sure how long he’d been there, and hour, maybe two. “I’m just going to stay a while” he explained to his girlfriend, Amanda, on the other end
“Did u hit her?” the squeaky voice hissed through the phone
“God sakes no”
“Then why are you staying? Do you know her?”
“No, but-“
“But what? God Nick, you did your thing, you took her in, you don’t need to stay there”
“I’ll be home soon” he hissed down the phone before hitting ‘end’
He looked at the phone again before dialing a second number.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Mmmm” Brian moaned as his lips traveled down his wife, Rebecca’s stomach
The phone rung beside the two entangled in sheets. Brian shook his hand signaling for Rebecca to ignore it.
“Bri, it could be important,” she laughed, pushing him off her
He sighed, annoyed, as he reached over for the phone.
“Hello?” he chirped into the phone
“What are you doing home? Shouldn’t you be in the studio” Nick smirked down the phone line
“Ha, like you’re I suppose” Brian retorted
“Did I interrupt something?” Nick snickered
“When are you going to find yourself a nice women?” Brian laughed, changing the subject
“I have a girlfriend, remember Amanda”
“Gee’s Nick I said NICE, not the spawn of Satan”
“Shit Rok, enough alright, I’m not here to discuss my private life”
“Really? Then to what do I owe the pleasure of your call”
“I need to talk to Becca”
Brian handed the phone to Rebecca who was covered loosely by a this silk sheet.
“Nick?” she answered
“I need a favor”
“Surprise, surprise” she smiled
“Seriously, I need you to find out about someone”
“Nick I’m not really a reporter you know, I’m a columnist, big difference”
“Yeah, but you have pull, please, I need to know about her”
“Her?” Rebecca smirked
“There was a girl involved in a car accident, a hit and run-“
“You didn’t hit her right?”
“No and why does everyone ask that? Look the hospital cant find any relatives or anything, someone doesn’t realize their daughter or sister, or hell even mother, is in an emergency room”
“Okay Nick, I’ll see what I can do, do we have a name?”
“Ashlee Jean Ryan, birthday 16 October 1980. That’s from her drivers license, that’s all we have”
“I meet you at the hospital in an hour, just don’t hold your breath”
“Thanks Becca, I owe you”
“Yeah you do” she smiled as she replaced the phone into the cradle.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Nick watched as the same doctor he’d seen attend to Ashlee walked down the corridor. Nick gently took his arm, gaining his attention.
“Excuse me, the lady you bought in a few hours ago, brown hair, uh, big coat, Ashlee Ryan” Nick endeavored to explain “Is she, okay?”
“Are you a relative?” the doctor questioned, standing a little shorter than Nick
“Uh no, not really”
“I’m afraid then all I can tell you is that she’s stable”
“Have you found any relatives?”
“The police are trying to find them, that’s all I can tell you, now if you’ll excuse me” he smiled, edging past
Nick strolled down the hall in the opposite direction, peeking in any windows he could, he stopped outside a door, a strange feeling coming over him. He reached for the handle, and looked around before turning, the door opened, into a dimly lit room, the curtain pulled and a soft beeping coming from over by the bed. He walked in and shut the door behind him, and wandered quietly up to the bed. He looked down at the occupant, it was her alright.
She was lying deathly still, her eyes closed peacefully, her lips soft and pursed into an almost smile. Her head was covered in a white bandage, her face was riddled in cuts and grazes from the road she skidded across. There was something about her, something he couldn’t quite place, something that made him follow her to the hospital, something that made him stick around for her and something that made him stand there.
“Sir, are you supposed to be in here?” a nurse questioned, standing in the doorway
“Uh, I um” Nick stuttered “I’m her boyfriend” he announced without thinking
“Oh, I’m sorry about that, I’ll leave you be” she smiled, closing the door as she walked out
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Do we have to be here?” Brian whined as the walked through the corridors of the Orlando Sentinel, the local paper where Rebecca worked
“Sssh, wait here, I’ll be back in a little bit” Rebecca smiled “One of the boys here has a little crush on me, and the plan wont work if my husbands there”
Brian smirked as he flopped down into one of the waiting room chairs.
“Mike” Rebecca smiled as she leant against the framework of his cubical
“Becca” the short guy ginned as he straightened his glasses
“I need a favor, do you think you could do it for me?” she pouted, if there was one thing Rebecca knew, it was how to get her own way
“Uh, sure, uhuh, yeah, I can do it for you now” he stuttered
“Great, I need you to do a background search on Ashlee Jean Ryan, birthday 16th October 1980, think you can do that for me?”
“Sure, no problem”
“Great, I’ll be wandering around when you’re done” she smiled quickly before walking off
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
It had only been about half an hour when Mike returned with a manila folder, he grazed past Brian and handed the folder to Rebecca.
“Not much there, just a few addresses past and present, a work address, social security number”
“Contact?” Rebecca questioned flipping open the folder
“Nup, no siblings no parents mentioned, not that I could find anyway, just previous address mentions some guys name, that’s about it” he announced pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose
“No parents?”
“I could dig deeper, its possible she changed her name or something”
“Could you do that for me Mike?” Rebecca questioned, blinking her long eyelashes
“Sure, no problem”
“Thanks, see you tomorrow” she declared before standing up and gesturing Brian to follow.
“That guy is checking your ass out” Brian muttered, turning his head back around as the walked away
“So? So did you when we first met” she laughed
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Nick sat quietly in the hospital room, he wasn’t sure why an hour on and he as still there. He sighed quietly as he stood up, he expected Rebecca and Brian to arrive soon. The doctors had come and gone checking IV’s and the other bunch of things hooked up to her, it was then they told him she was in a coma, the car had hit her pretty hard causing serious head injury and spinal trauma. The police had come and gone too, asking him questions about the car in front of him, he couldn’t remember much, just that it was a silver BMW and he never saw the driver, needless to say, that wasn’t the most useful information.
He walked out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him.
“Boo” Brian laughed from behind him, startling Nick
“Good one Rok” Nick sarcastically responded “Did you find anything?”
“Eager beaver aren’t we”
“I think someone needs to know she’s here”
“Sorry Nick, we didn’t find much, just a work address a apartment in the city center and the name of what looks like some old boyfriend”
“No parents”
Rebecca shook her head.
“I tried Nick I'm sorry, she could have changed her name or anything, but don’t worry I have someone at the office working on it, just might take longer”
“Well thanks anyway” Nick half smiled as he took the folder
“Its weird you know, I feel like I already know her from somewhere”
“Ex girlfriend?” Brian laughed
“No, something different”
“Fate” Rebecca whispered softly