~ Chapter 4 ~
The sound of the phone ran through the bedroom causing a tremendous amount of chaos.
After tripping over piles of clothes and even one pissed off cat, he finally made it to the phone.
With the toothbrush still in his mouth, he made his way unskilled to the nightstand. Careful not to lose his towel in the process
Finally the ringing stopped when he lifted up the phone from its holder and brought it to his ear.
“Huloom?” He sputtered. He forgot he had the toothbrush still in his mouth and ripped it out while swallowing hard. He grimaced as the horrible taste of Colgate slid down his throat slowly.
“Hello?”
“De? What’s wrong?” Her voice sounded urgent and Jr got a tad nervous.
“I got a call!”
“You did?!” What did they say?”
“We have a place for the drop off. They said tonight at 9 o’clock. They will give us more information then.”
Junior sighed and shut his eyes. They had waited a whole week before getting any kind of word from Kevin’s kidnappers.
“Yeah so… all I have to do is get it all together.” Delana let out an exasperated sigh over the line.
“Do you need help?”
“Jr… I told you to not ask. We had some money saved and Richard is helping us. I would never ask you for money.”
“Delana I don’t care! I want to help somehow!”
“You are helping… You’re here for me.”
“Fine… Can I come tonight then?”
“Of course… I was hoping you’d ask THAT! I can’t stand going about this alone anymore.”
Tears started forming and Jr could hear it in her voice.
“Awww Delana stop it! I’m not supposta cry! I’m a guy! You got me this close!” He held up his pointer finger and thumb to show the small amount. He didn’t take into account the fact that she couldn’t see him.
“What would I do without my friends? You’ve been so good to me Dale.
There was a silence on the other end and De was beginning to think she was talking to herself until she heard a rare thing coming from the phone.
“’I’ll be there for you! When the rain starts to fall! I’ll be there for you! Like I’ve been there before!!’” Delana sat stunned for a second as she listened to DALE JR singing through the phone, complete with snapping fingers.
She laughed for the first time in weeks.
“Thanks Jr”
“Anytime.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Lost in an other world?”
Dale Jr was thrown from his memories as a hand was placed on his shoulder.
“Yea…”
“Penny for your thoughts?” Richard Childress said while taking the empty seat next to the younger Earnhardt.
“Just remembering a couple days ago.”
“Oh… thought you’d be back on the track beatin and banging with Kevin in that brain of yours”. He said while running his hands over his face.
“Naw… I can’t think of happy moments much. It makes me more upset.”
“I see.”
The two sat in silence for a while listening to the bustle of the ER.
“I can’t believe this is happening…” Richard said. He placed his hands on his knees and leaned back.
“At least we got him back. That’s what’s important.”
“Oh most definitely! But I have to be honest with you. When I watched the cops slam that asshole on the top of the police car… my whole being cheered.” Richard said with a smirk.
“Mine too.” Dale let a small smile out.
“I can’t believe he would actually believe he could get away with it.”
“The guy wasn’t right Richard. He was money hungry and didn’t care how he got it.”
“I’m just shocked people would work for him!”
“Like I said… money hungry.”
“Hey…”
Both men looked up to see Delana standing in front of them. Her eyes were red and her hair was a mess. She crossed her arms protectively.
“My 5 minutes was up.” She whispered to them.
“How is he?” Richard said while standing up to engulf her in a hug.”
“He started shaking again so they took him up to a private room.
“Want me to take you home?” Jr asked while standing up.
“NO.” She snapped. “I’m not leaving.”
“De you need sleep… plus the doctor told you to go home.”
“I’ll sit down how’s that? I’m not leaving him again.”
Jr sighed and shook his head.
“Look… if you think for one moment I’m gonna let you go in there and see him without sleeping a wink your SADLY mistaken!”
“DALE! I am not leaving this friggin hospital!”
Richard watch all this with wide eyes. Delana was arguing with an Earnhardt?! Normally he’d know who the victor would be but right now he wasn’t so sure! He was counting the minutes before some of the others in the other waiting room heard the noise and came running to see what was up.
“If your not gonna leave then you’re STILL gonna sleep… Now get on the couch and take a nap.”
“I don’t want to nap!”
Junior looked back and forth from Richard to Delana and finally sighed.
“Fine… just sit on the couch then.”
Delana sat down on one of the two couches in the waiting room and crossed her legs and arms.
Suddenly the door opened slowly as 4 pairs of eyes peered in at them.
“What do you want?” Jr snapped while walking over and opening the door wider. Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart and Elliot Sadler slipped in with their hands in their pockets.
“We heard yelling and just wanted to check up on things.” Jeff said while trying not to take in any of the Earnhardt Glare.
“Is everything ok?” Tony questioned as he looked back and forth from Delana to Jr.
“Fine.” They said in unison. They were both stressed and tired and they both knew there wasn’t a problem between each other. They were just both strong willed and neither of them was giving up. Finally Richard had to speak for them.
“Well Jr wants Delana to rest and she’s being stubborn about it. Looks like someone defeated the Earnhardt… It was quite amusing.”
The 4 drivers looked in shock at the thought of someone defeating an Earnhardt. Jr looked up at them with his arms crossed and gave them a glare.
“Shut up.” He said and sat down next to Delana on the couch. The other 4 sat on the other one and Richard took a seat in an other chair.
“So umm… Any word yet?” Jimmies voice was reluctant but the question needed to be asked.
“They are gonna give him the night. We’ll see what’s going on in the morning.” Jr answered unconsciously. He was too busy noticing Delana yawning.
“Is he gonna be ok?” Jeff started to get a little nervous.
“We don’t know.” Richard answered.
Delana’s eyelids started drooping and she tried shaking the sleep away. It was obvious to everyone in the room that she needed sleep.
“Elliot hand me that pillow.” Junior said pointing to one resting on the couch the other drivers were sitting on.
“I don’t want a pillow.” De mumbled as she rested her head on his shoulder. Her eyelids closed and she sighed loudly.
“Dee let me get up so you can lay down.” Jr said while taking the pillow from Elliot.
“mmm no…”
And within seconds Delana was out cold.
“So who won that one guys?” Jr whispered while shifting a little so he would be somewhat comfortable with Delana leaning into him.
“That pesky Earnhardt of course!” Tony said a matter-of-factly.
“I told you she was tired.”
“Alright Jr… tell us… seriously.” Jeff said while sitting on the edge of the seat.
“Yeah how is he? What’s going on?!” Jimmy chimed in.
“The bastards drugged him.” Jr seethed through gritted teeth. He was trying to keep his voice down so as to not wake up Delana but it was gonna be tough.
“WHAT?!?” The drivers were shocked.
“Shhhh… Yeah… They drugged him and he got an OD on the shit. He was shaking like crazy and to be honest with you it was tough to stomach.”
He looked down to make sure Delana was asleep and let out a sigh.
“Guys it was one of the worst things I’ve ever seen. It looked like he was foaming at the mouth and he just looked so… scary.”
The group was speechless. They couldn’t’ believe this happened. They couldn’t… and didn’t want to picture Kevin with the description Dale just gave them.
“Then the doctor told us that the drugs could effect him mentally. I wanted to say… ‘No shit Sherlock’ but I held my tongue.”
“I feel like getting my ass up and making them let me in that damn jail cell. Although what I wanna do to him wouldn’t make up half of what he really deserves.” Tony was pissed and he couldn’t’ look at anyone in the room right now as his eyes burned red with fury.
“I can’t believe this… All for Money…” Elliot mumbled to himself.
The room was silent for a few minutes till Jr started laughing softly. The rest of the room looked at him like he had lost his marbles.
“What’s so funny?” Jimmie asked with fused eyebrows.
“Ahh man… I was just thinking about that time Kevin Dressed up in that TNT racing suit like Matt Yocum and interviewed Kenny.”
“He was ribbing Matt something awful last year!” Elliot giggled at the memories.
“He still does!” Jeff added.
“And always will.” Tony said. The room was silent again till Richard Stood up.
“Alright. I’m gonna go now… I’ll be back in the morning though. I’m old. I need enough sleep to tackle those reporters in the morning.” He gave them all a smile and slipped out of the room quietly.
“Yeah we better be going. We’ll let the other ones know how things are going in the other waiting room before we leave. We’ll be back tomorrow ok?”
“Yeah Jimmie… guys… thanks.”
The room was now empty and Jr noticed his own eyelids becoming as heavy as stones. He didn’t want to move cause he would disturb Delana but he needed some sleep too.
With a yawn he set the pillow Elliot handed him on the arm of the couch and rested his head on it. He to in minutes was out like a light.
