209. Call It

Bridgeport, present day...

They were at Mike's Cornerstore, doing some last minute shopping for the triplets' birthday in two days.

While Leigh picked items from the shelves and filled up the trolley, Krisis was up to his usual no- good self; he kept trying to get her to give in to his proposal.

"Come on Leigh, tell me you're not tempted," he nuzzled her neck and pressed his body close to hers.

Leigh rested her head on his shoulder, and sighed, it was a dreamy, wistful sound. She’d be lying if she said she wasn't tempted. A secluded cabin in Sunlit Tides, away from everyone, especially their noisy preschoolers, sounded like a dream. But the timing was all wrong, the triplets were starting school in a week, she couldn't just up and go and leave everything to Patty.

“We can't go right now, but give me four weeks, and I’m all yours," she began as turned around face him. 

“And if you’re really good, I might just throw in that skimpy bikini you love so much." She added as she traced the tip of her tongue on the corner of his mouth. She felt his smile on her lips before she heard his deep chuckle. It was the best sound in the world, and she realized then how much she'd missed it. Over the past few weeks, with everything they'd gone through, Krisis had laughed less, and the light in his eyes had dimmed a little.

"Okay, Mrs. Frost, I’ll be extra good," he lowered his head and locked their lips in a tender kiss.

At that moment everything was perfect, but then his cell phone had to ring, shattering their intimacy...

While Krisis was on the phone with the band’s management, Leigh carried on with her shopping.

“Jay,” she squealed delightedly when she bumped into J.D. in one of the aisles.

J.D. gave her a giant hug and kissed her on the cheek. “Where’s Krisis?”

“He’s on the phone with your people,” Leigh jerked her head back, indicating the next aisle.

“So Syn’s craving those, huh?” She smiled at the pile of choc chip cookies in his basket.

“It’s weird,” J.D. nodded his head and laughed, “With Michaela, she never craved any junk food.”

“Maybe it’s a sign you’re having a boy,” Leigh said teasingly.

J.D. could see right through her playful banter, she was fishing for the baby’s sex. “Nice try, Leigh,” he swatted her arm playfully.

“How is she by the way, aside from her cravings of course?” Leigh asked after Krimsyn.

J.D. assured her both mommy and baby were doing great. The same couldn’t be said for Michaela though.

“I’m sorry,” Leigh squeezed his hand. She wished there was more she could do for her niece. It pained her to see her push everyone away, but her sadness was nothing compared to the heartache JD felt.

“I’ve let her down, Leigh. I failed her as parent,” his eyes were dark with sadness when he said this, and Leigh didn’t know what to say to him. But he was hurting and she couldn’t ignore his pain.  So she did the only thing she could think of, she pulled him close to her and held him..

“You did the best you could,” she cried over his shoulder.

“At what cost though, Leigh? At what cost?” He asked. 

Leigh didn’t need to answer that, it was a rhetorical question. They both knew the cost, a shit storm was on the way, the paparazzi were not letting up on Joshua’s death, and their interest had sparked that of Bridgeport’s Police Department, and the VIA. Thornton couldn’t cover this up, and they all knew it. It was just a matter of time-

“So this is where you’ve been hiding,” Krisis’ voice behind them pulled them back from the brink of hopelessness.

“We were just talking about our nephew,” Leigh turned to him with a smile.

“Ah, so it’s a boy?” Krisis asked.

And J.D. shook his head; he was determined to stay mum on the sex of his baby.

“I could just ask Ariel you know,” Krisis taunted him.

“You wouldn’t dare,” J.D. fired back. Before long the two of them were playfully wrestling each other on the floor, and Leigh had a silly smile on her face as she watched them. Despite the 400+ years between the two of them, they were still very young at heart.

With the silly smile still plastered on her face, Leigh pushed the trolley towards the cashier. It was getting late, they had to get going; Patty would be worried, and Ariel got restless if she disappeared for more than a couple of hours, she hadn't let up on her prediction, in fact it was all her daughter talked about lately.

She was just paying for her groceries when a man clad in a ski-mask stormed in. It was so sudden, so unexpected, but she knew they were all in trouble when she saw the gun in his hand.

“Nobody fucking moves!” He screamed as he flung the duffel bag at the cashier and motioned at her to fill it up.

Krisis, just rounding the aisle with JD, tried to warn Leigh, he tried to tell her to do as she was told; there was no reasoning with a mad man waving a gun around.

But whatever she saw in the robber’s eyes must have scared the hell out of her; she half turned, getting ready to sprint back towards him.

But the robber didn’t give her a chance to get away.

That half second, between the time the bullet left the chamber and hit Leigh on her back, was the longest of his life. Krisis wanted to die when he saw the look of shock and disbelief in her eyes as she felt its full impact.

“I said nobody fucking moves!” The man said in a gentler voice, as if his earlier orders justified his senseless actions.

Leigh’s pained screams when she hit the floor were his unraveling. Not caring at all about what the robber would do to him, he rushed to Leigh’s side. Every part of his brain screamed at him to kill the man, and he would have, if he still had his glock,  but he'd gotten rid of it because Leigh hated guns. He shouldn't have…

His sudden movement was the distraction J.D. needed. He launched himself at the robber and wrestled him for the gun, allowing the handful of shoppers to scramble out of the store.

As Krisis cradled Leigh in his arms he could hear sirens in the distance. Help was on the way, but Leigh was bleeding out too fast, and he knew she wouldn’t last long.

With his body shaking from rage and bewilderment, he did the one thing he never wanted to do right from the start, he bit Leigh in a bid to save her life, and prolong it for as long as he could.

The whole time he was forcing her to take in his blood, he kept hoping he was doing it right, he’d never turned anyone before, never wanted to, and even now it was still something he hadn't made peace with. But losing Leigh wasn’t an option…

______

On a long stretch of road, just as the sun was setting, J.D. broke his own speed record.

At some point he forced himself to slow down though, he couldn’t see the road in front of him, it was blurred by his tears as he listened to his best friend sing to Leigh.

“Drive faster!” Krisis yelled at him from the back seat.

“I’m trying okay,” J.D. screamed right back at him.

“Jay, is that you?” Leigh asked weakly.

“Yeah it’s me baby girl, just hang in there, we’re almost there,” he brushed his tears away again, feeling furious with himself for breaking down.

“If anyone can get us there, I know it’s you,” Leigh tried to laugh, but it came out in staggering breaths, and Krisis hushed her up with a kiss.

“Save your strength love,” he kissed the corner of her mouth, feeling his own tears mingle with hers.

“I’m so tired, Krisis.” Leigh cried weakly. He knew what she was saying, but he refused to hear it.

“Remember what I said on our wedding day?” He asked her, trying to distract her, and hold on to her for a little while longer.

Leigh, remembered his vows, but she shook her head no, she wanted him say them again, she could listen to his voice forever.

“I told you that now that I’ve found you, I’m never letting you go. So brace yourself, this is the beginning of our forever, there’s no getting rid of me, Mrs. Frost.”

A solitary tear trickled down Leigh’s cheek then, and Krisis brushed it away with his thumb.

J.D.  cried harder in the front. Their pain and bewilderment, their fears and hopes were too much; they sliced through him like a knife.

Five minutes later, they were at the hospital and Leigh, who was now unconscious, was taken into surgery.

Krisis tried to go in with her, but the doctors refused, and J.D. had to use all his might to restrain him.

Krimsyn, Cameron and Michaela came to find them an hour later, they’d heard on the news, about the armed robbery gone wrong at a convenience store in downtown Bridgeport, Leigh was the only casualty reported.

Krisis, sitting with his head in his hands, had no reaction to their arrival; he was too numb to speak, he couldn’t understand how their simple store run could end so horribly wrong.

“What can I do to help?” His twin asked him as she sat beside him.

He'd never really believed in God and miracles, but at that moment he could do with one, and he told her this.

Michaela thought they should notify Devon and Eloise, they were still on honeymoon in Champs Les Sims. Krisis knew she's right, but he thought it best to wait until they knew more about Leigh's condition.

As the evening made way for the night, and they heard nothing from Leigh’s doctors, Krisis found himself bargaining more and more with God, making all sorts of promises just to trade to places with Leigh.

Three hours later, one of the surgeons’ who’d operated on Leigh came to find him. And when Krisis saw the smile on her face, he said a silent prayer of thanks.

“Mr. Frost, the surgery was a success. Your wife is resting now,” The doctor had barely finished what she was saying when Krisis hugged her.

“Can I see her?” He asked sheepishly when he realized what he’d just done.

The doctor looked hesitant. She explained that Leigh was still unconscious and she wouldn’t even know he was there; it was better if he went home and got some rest. But Krisis refused to leave without seeing her.

“Okay, but only for a few minutes,” the doctor relented.

A nurse was taking her vitals, and another was checking the IV tube when he let himself into Leigh’s ward. When they were both satisfied she was resting comfortably, they left him alone.

He’d just sat down when the machines Leigh was tied to beeped an alarming sound, he didn’t have to be a doctor to know she was going into cardiac arrest.

Within moments the room was buzzing with nurses and doctors.

One of them pushed him out of the room, but he could see everything through the glass from the other side of the door.

Krimsyn and J.D. tried to pull him away, but he refused to budge.  He just stood there, unable to part from his wife, hoping with all his heart, the doctor’s would bring her.

As Krisis watched the doctors battle to save Leigh’s life, all he kept thinking about was Ariel. Everything she’d predicted had come true. He should have pushed her harder for answers, he should have paid more attention, he should done something, anything, just to prevent this day from happening...

“I should have known. I should have known this would happen!” A small voice kept screaming inside his head.  But with Beau out of their lives, he’d allowed himself to relax, falsely believing they were out of the woods. He shouldn’t have.

The first defibrillator shock didn’t work.

And then it was two. And then five. And by the seventh the doctors knew they were fighting a losing battle, but like him, they refused to give up on her.

The tenth shock, the final one, failed to perform the one miracle he needed.

“Call it.” Krisis lip-read the doctor’s words.

Through his tears he saw one of the nurses look at the watch on her wrist before breaking his heart with her announcement.  “Time of death 10:43 pm.”

________

Note: Volume 5 is a wrap. Volume 6 will commence in late November. Please do not feel obligated to read it, and if the serial has become a drag for you, I respectfully ask that you stop reading. I do this for my enjoyment and the few people that still find the story entertaining.

With that said, a big, big, big thank you to everyone who's read and commented on Krisis, your support has been incredible. 

A special thanks to the guys in The Coffeehouse, you know who you are and what you do...

And to Karima and Fae, for the love and the light, always...