~Part Two~

"Steven?"  Kate Fleming paced around the room, turning over newspapers and magazines, hoping to find what she'd spent the last thirty minutes looking for.

"Yes?"

Tossing another unread issue of Home and Garden aside she walked to the foot of the stairs, "Have you seen my diamond earrings?  I can't seem to find them anywhere."

After a few seconds the dean of Rawley Academy walked out of his home office, holding up a small pair of earrings to show her.  "These ones?"

"Yes!  Thank you sweetie," she replied, taking them from him and giving him a quick kiss before proceeding to place them in her ears.

Just as she'd begun inserting the second one their phone began to ring, playing to be one more obstacle on their first real night away from text books and grading assignments.  "Could you get that Steve?  I still have to grab my shoes."

Heading down the stairs and into the kitchen, her husband picked up the phone, "Fleming residence."  After a few minutes of listening to the voice at the other end of the line he gave a quick thank you and set the receiver down.  "That was the hospital," he said, walking back into the living room and grabbing his coat off of the coat rack.  "One of the student has been in an accident and they need me to go down to the emergency room."

Kate looked over, startled from the position she was in of sliding her feet into the shoe in her hand.  "Are they alright?  Did they say who it was?"

Grabbing his wife's coat off of the coat hanger, Dean Fleming helped her slip it on, "They said that she would live, and they also said the name they got off of some history class notes in the bag said it was Jake Pratt.  Isn't that Hamilton's friend?"

"Yes, it is," Kate replied, shrugging into her coat and heading out the door.  "But it couldn't have been Jake if they said it was a female student."

"I'm guessing it must be a friend of his.  One he probably loaned the notes to," Steve replied, opening the car door for his wife.  "We'll just have to find out when we get there."

Kate watched as her husband climbed into the drivers side of their car and started the engine, "I suppose we will."

.  .  .

It was hard to mistake the familiar sights and smells of the Emergency Room as Steven and Kate Fleming walked in through the doors, heading straight for the receptionist's desk.  It was almost as if the hospital was busier during the late hours of the night than it was during the long hours of the day.

"Can I help you?" the receptionist asked, looking up from the small stack of paperwork that she had been organizing in the desk.

"Yes, I received a phone call about a student that was emitted here.  I'm Dean Fleming from the Rawley Academy School," he told the thin woman, stringing his coat over his left arm to hold there.

Looking through a few charts that had been hooked onto the wall she finally came across the right one.  "Here it is; Pratt, Jacqueline.  She's in room three hundred seven.  It's at the end of the hall to your left," she told them both, indicating towards a small dimly lit hallway to her right.

"Excuse me, did you say Jacqueline Pratt?" Dean Fleming looked at the woman, not certain he'd heard her right.

Looking up at him the nurse picked up the clipboard once again to inspect it.  "It says right here patient: Jacqueline Pratt," she replied, hanging the clipboard back up on the wall.

"Thank you," the dean told her, heading for the indicated room.

Following closely behind, Kate attempted to keep up with her husband's quick stride.  "You don't really think it could be Jake, do you?"

The dean clenched his jaw, turning the corner and stopping directly in front of the room.  "If it is...she's got a lot of explaining to do," he told her, practically growling under his breath.

"Steven..." Kate said, grabbing hold of his hand before he could turn the knob.  He looked over at her, slightly annoyed.  "You're staying out here until you calm yourself down.  You're going to scare the poor girl into an early grave if you go into that room demanding an explanation," she told him, putting herself in front of the door so that he couldn't go in.

"Kate, you're being unreas..."

"You go take a walk and get us some coffee, I think we're going to need it.  In the meantime I'll get things straightened out."  Pushing him back towards the lobby Kate gave him her best 'no nonsense' face.  "And you're not to set foot in this room until you have calmed down, is that clear?"

Mumbling to himself Steven Fleming turned around, striding back the way they'd just come.  "Of all the women I had to marry..."

Sighing inwardly to herself Kate tapped lightly on the door before letting herself into the small hospital room.

It was a single bedroom, larger than she might have supposed for the small town.  The doctor had been standing at the end of the bed, blocking her view from the patient as she walked in.  Turning around the doctor smiled in her direction, "Can I help you?"

"Yes," she told him, walking in and quietly closing the door, "I'm Kate Fleming from Rawley Academy.  I believe one of our students had been emitted to this room."

"Mrs. Fleming, I'm glad you got here so quickly.  Miss Pratt is doing quite well considering the conditions of the accident," he told her, standing up so that the girl was now in Kate's view.

Jake's eyes were staring wildly at her, fear creeping along every inch of her skin as she swallowed the large lump in her throat.  A large cast had been placed on her right arm, and a white blanket covered the rest of her body from view.  Smiling slightly in reassurance Kate turned back to the doctor, "Could I have a minute alone with her?"

"Certainly.  I have another patient to visit, so I'll be back in a little bit," he told them both, letting himself out and heading down the hall.

Pulling up the swivel seat next to the bed Mrs. Fleming sat down.  "I think we have a lot to talk about Jake," she began, setting her purse onto the desk nearby. "You'd better start from the beginning."

Nodding her head slightly and looking down at her hands as though she'd written the answer to the seemingly difficult question there Jake took a deep breath, "I guess it all started when I came across the Rawley Academy website..."

.  .  .

"So, he was dating Sheryl Price and you didn't even know about it?"  Kate was flabbergasted at the thought that her own son would do such a thing.

"I don't want to be causing problems between you and your son, Mrs. Fleming," Jake stated, pushing herself up into more of a sitting position.  "I just... I just wanted to go home and figure things out."

"Oh, don't worry about me and Hamilton.  We already have our problems, but our relationship always bounces back.  Besides..."

Just as the door opened, the doctor from earlier popped his head into the room.  "Am I interrupting anything?"

"No, we were just chatting," Kate told him, standing up to walk back out into the hall.  "Do you know if my husband is around?"

"Yes, I was speaking to him before I came in.  He's right outside," the doctor replied, watching Mrs. Fleming leave the room.

Sitting with his head tilted back and his eyes closed, Dean Fleming let out a loud huff.  Feeling a hand rubbing his arm tenderly he opened them again, looking into his wife's face.  "A broken arm, one broken leg, a fractured ankle and three broken fingers," he stated, taking Kate's hand in his own.  "Also, a recommendation of very little travel and closely watched care as she recovers.  That, in and of itself, poses a problem in getting her home for the school break."

"Well," Kate began, sitting up straight and contemplating the situation, "I guess there's only one thing we can do."

Steve raised his eyebrows, scrutinizing her.  "That doesn't sound very reassuring.  What have you got up your sleeve now?"

Glaring over at him Kate hit his arm lightly.  "Don't even start Steven Eugene Fleming.  There's only one logical thing for us to do right now and that's to have Jake come and stay with us until she recovers."

The dean looked at the hospital door a bit upset.  "So it was Hamilton's friend.  She's got a whole lot of explaining to do."

"She's already explained it all to me, and don't you dare jump on her case about this."

"Kate..."

"She's a teenager who made a mistake Steve, not a criminal."

Sitting for a moment he considered her words, rubbing his worn eyes.  Standing up and walking toward the lounge he called over his shoulder, "If she's going to be staying with us I guess I'd better go home and make some preparations.  I'll be back in an hour."

Smiling to herself Kate stood back up, walking into Jake's hospital room.  "Change of plans, she told her, taking a seat in the chair near the foot of the bed.  "It looks like you've got a new place to stay during the summer..."

.  .  .

"Here we are," Dean Fleming grunted as he set the two suitcases of Jake's down in her new room.

Kate followed closely behind as she pushed the rented wheelchair Jake had been sitting in through the door.  I know this is Hamilton's old room, but Steve put most of his stuff into the attic and if there's anything else that you'd like taken out you can just let us know," she told the young girl, shooing her husband out.  "You've had a long day and it's already late so we'll let you get some rest."  With that Kate headed towards the door.

"Mrs. Fleming?"

"Yes Jake?" she asked, pausing a moment.

Jake smiled, looking over the room, "Thanks.  You know, for everything."

Smiling back, Kate closed the bedroom door quietly, "Good night Jake."

"Night."