Sohna and Vivian - My Brother's Keeper

"Julie ..." the jogger whispered. With a soft thunk, the phone fell to the ground, unnoticed. His eyes no longer saw the scene before him, but had returned to a windowless room, full of cold stainless steel drawers, the atmosphere heavy with disinfectant - a drawer being opened - a form zipped into a black plastic body bag - the bag unzipping - endlessly - forever - frozen in time - and then her face - bruised and purple, encrusted with blood - dead. Dead.

He gasped and jerked, scraping his elbow on the bark of the tree. Two men materialized just behind the woman. The one nearest her screamed, "Virginia!" Then, as the jogger watched, he changed his shape. There was no other word to describe it. His eyes began to glow, and as he took off after the skinheads, who had run from him in terror, he changed more and more with each step, his body bending forward, his teeth lengthening, his fingers transforming into long claws. The woman called ominously after him: "Wolf, no! Come back!"

The jogger blinked. Far away he heard a telephone ring. It rang again, twice more. He looked down. It was his phone. His hand shaking, he picked it up and opened it; heard his name being spoken, a request for him to go. He switched it off and set off back the way he had come, his pace increasing until he was racing away as fast as he could.

Virginia watched helplessly as Wolf dashed off after the gang of men. She'd felt a little twinge of cramping, but nothing worse than her period had ever given her, and it hadn't lasted long - the change had come over him so suddenly. It was nothing compared to what she'd gone through in the dungeon, but she wondered momentarily how often it was going to happen and if that was really a good thing. Any further thoughts she might have had on that subject got pushed aside, however, as she realized that Wendell and Rupert needed help badly.

"Just let him go, Virginia. He'll be fine," she heard her father say. "We need to do something for them here."

She knelt down by Rupert, who was closest to her. He wasn't quite unconscious, and he moaned and tried to raise his head. She looked at his bloody nose, bruised face, and the blood streaming from a cut in his temple and told him to just lie still and not move. He didn't appear to hear her, so she tried holding him down, but it only made him struggle harder.

"Dad!" she cried.

"Yes, I know!" he called back from where Wendell lay. She looked up and saw that he was having the same problem, though with a bit more success since her father was a lot more massive than the king.

Finally, Rupert quit struggling and she thought she'd gotten her message through to him.

"We've got to call someone, Dad," she said. "Like an ambulance."

As if in answer to her statement, she suddenly heard a siren. She looked up in surprise, realizing she was hearing it inside the park, getting closer to them. Her dad suddenly stood up, his expression changing to that of a trapped animal.

"Oh, my God," he said. "Virginia, I'm still wanted for that robbery! If I'm here ..."

"Go on," she said. "I'll meet you at the new apartment."

"I can't leave you here by yourself!" he insisted. "Where the hell is that Wolf?"

"Dad, just go! I'll be fine! They're almost here!"

He gave her a pained expression, but ran off towards Fifth Avenue. A few seconds later an ambulance appeared, bouncing across the unpaved ground from the opposite direction, a police car serving as its escort.

Oddly enough, it was the woman he recognized, with her short, wavy brown hair and pixie features. Only after he had walked halfway over to her did he realize she was standing next to the man he'd hallucinated as changing his shape. The recollection made him stop for a moment to reconsider the offer he was about to make. He stared down at the waxed green vinyl of the E-room floor. Could he trust his judgment enough should it become necessary to make a formal statement, he wondered? He'd thought so, but that was before what he'd seen today had brought it all back to him.

No, he thought, I owe it to them. I should have stayed there and rendered aid until the ambulance arrived. The call I responded to was not an emergency.

Trying not to look at the man, he walked up to the woman. She looked at him curiously with wide blue eyes.

"Excuse me, Miss?" he began, then hesitated uncertain how to proceed. He could feel the man's gaze boring into him, and forced himself to look him in the eye and include him in what he was saying. To his profound relief, the man had perfectly normal human eyes of an indeterminate bluish-green - a stark contrast to the olive skin and black hair - but there was nothing supernatural about them, or about the man at all. He even needed a shave.

He felt silly then for apparently expecting something else, and continued, "I was in the park jogging earlier, and I witnessed the attack on your friends."

"Oh, are you the one who called the ambulance?" the woman asked.

"Yes," he admitted, "But what I wanted to say was that if they need a witness - if the police do, that is - please have them call me."

He pulled a card out of his wallet and gave it to her.

"Thank you," she said, sounding like she really meant it. "And thank you for calling an ambulance."

He nodded, smiled and left. Truthfully, he hadn't wanted to be thanked for the little he had done. He felt too guilty for not sticking around.

Virginia looked down at the card. It read: Thomas Oberon, M.D. OB/GYN.

"Now you remember our agreement," Tony reminded him.

"Oh, yes, mast ... sir," he replied.

Tony looked around. In front of him was a long counter, with several people busily working behind it but none of them had looked up as he'd entered. He started over to it, but Murray scampered in front of him.

"Shall I inquire for you, ma ... sir?" he asked hopefully.

Tony started to say no, resisting the impulse to shove Murray out of his way. He was already tired of his constant servitude, even though he'd managed to persuade (read: order) Murray & Co. to refrain from calling him master and kissing his butt in public. But he held the thought that he wouldn't have to put up with him much longer and decided that it might be best overall if Murray did make the inquiry since they might have hidden cameras and he, Tony, was still a wanted man.

So he said, "Sure, go ahead."

Murray smiled happily, but just then Tony saw a familiar figure come out of a doorway down the hall.

"Never mind," he told Murray quickly, and called to his daughter, "Virginia!"

"Dad!" she exclaimed, and walked up to them.

"What happened?" he asked. "How are they?"

"They'll be all right," she assured him. "They're just beat up pretty badly. Wendell's nose got broken and they think Rupert has a concussion. Both of them have a couple of cracked ribs too. But they're acting pretty normal, so that's good. Look, why don't you go in and see them? I've got to go to the ladies' room."

She was right, he decided, after he'd ordered Murray to stay out in the hall and had gone on in. They were acting pretty normal.

"Antony!" Wendell had exclaimed. "Thank goodness you're here! Do you realize they expect us to stay here and remain hooked up to these appliances for who knows how long?" He indicated the IV still inserted into his arm.

"Something definitely has to be done," Rupert agreed. "They're ordering Wendell about! I mean I know he isn't king of your world, but you can't imagine the indignity of what he's had to put up with!"

Tony noted that they were both still wearing their own rather bloodstained trousers and hadn't yet had to suffer the indignity of wearing a hospital gown. He smiled and said nothing. Not that he could have if he'd wanted to. Wendell continued on, "Virginia told us we had to stay here because if we tried to leave they'd demand payment of the bill. Is there some way you can take care of that?"

Tony said yes, he'd brought Murray along just for that purpose.

"Wonderful," sighed Wendell. "It couldn't be soon enough, as far as I'm concerned. Not that I have any quarrel with the medical treatment we've received, you understand, don't you Antony - I'm certain it's the best possible here - but we're used to a bit less primitive conditions."

"Quite," chimed in Rupert.

Less primitive? thought Tony. Are they kidding? No, they didn't look like they were.

Some of his confusion must have shown on his face, since Wendell sighed again and explained, "Magic, Antony. Our doctors have routine access to magic, which of course isn't available here."

"Oh," he replied, then looked around, realizing for the first time that something was missing. "Where is Wolf?" he asked. "He's not still out chasing down those ...?"

"No, he's here," Wendell interrupted. "Somewhere, though I haven't seen him in awhile."

Tony decided that Wolf probably had the right idea. He really couldn't imagine shutting himself up listening to these two complain if he didn't have to.

"Well, I'll just go and pay the bill," he said, turning to leave.

"Yes!" cried Wendell after him. "And hurry!"

After dispatching Murray to take care of their bill, Tony walked back up to the front desk himself, in the direction Virginia had gone. He decided she was taking an awfully long time in the bathroom. Sure, she was pregnant, he thought, but he was starting to get worried that something was wrong. Twice in the last week Wolf had abruptly gone through that "change" that Millie had said caused Virginia to nearly miscarry. And though she'd assured him it hadn't bothered her that way the first time, and it apparently hadn't bothered her earlier today either, he was still worried that she might be having some kind of delayed reaction. So he sighed with relief when he turned the corner and found Virginia and Wolf sitting on the sofa together in the waiting room, staring at the television.

"There you are," he said as he walked over to them.

"Oh, Dad, hi," whispered Virginia abstractedly. "Shhh." She pointed towards the television.

He looked at it in time to see a blonde woman in the middle of delivering the news:

" ... tentatively identified as the gang who attacked and robbed two men in Central Park earlier today, claim to have been chased through the park by a werewolf. In other news ..."

"Oooohhh," murmured Wolf worriedly.

Virginia patted him on the knee.

"Don't worry about it," she told him. "No one will believe them anyway. They'll think they're just trying to get out of being punished for what they did to Wendell and Rupert. And besides, we're going back to the Fourth Kingdom right now. Right, Dad?"

"Yeah, I think so," he replied. "Murray's paying their bill now. Oh, by the way, I wanted to tell you that I ordered Murray and his family to be your servants as well as mine. Except for the ass-kissing, of course. I wish I could un-order them to do that for me, but I've tried and they won't listen."

"No, that was part of the wish," said Wolf.

"And I've got them looking for a doctor for you, Virginia," he continued. "But I made it clear that I didn't want the doctor to be one of them. And they'll pay for everything."

"Oh, that's wonderful!" exclaimed Wolf.

Virginia gave him an admonished look.

"Okay, Dad," she said, then looked past him.

He turned around to see Murray walk up, a smile on his face. He handed Tony some papers.

"Everything is paid, mas ... sir," he said. "But they need to sign these release forms."

Tony took them.

"All right. I'll be right back," he said. "Tell you what, why don't you go get the car? I don't think they're going to be able to walk all the way back to the park."

Murray nodded and left. Tony went back to the room, where Wendell and Rupert were now arguing with a thin, gray-haired nurse. Wendell looked up in relief as Tony entered.

"Antony!" he exclaimed. "Would you please inform this woman that we're not staying? I can't seem to get that through to her."

She turned to them.

"They are obviously in no condition to ..." she began, but Tony cut her off.

"Yes, they are leaving," he said. "I happen to know you can't hold people against their will."

He handed each man the appropriate piece of paper.

"But you each need to sign one of these forms to get out," he said.

"What is it?" asked Rupert. Wendell was silent for once, busily reading the page.

"It just shows that you're aware the hospital doesn't think you should be released, but that you intend to leave anyway," Tony explained.

Wendell finished reading and scribbled his name onto it. Rupert followed his example. The nurse pursed her lips.

"You are both going to be very sorry you did that," she warned, but she removed their IVs.

As they'd piled into the car, Murray'd gotten a call on his cell phone. He beamed happily at Virginia as he hung up.

"Good news, Mistress!" he announced, "We've found you a doctor. One of the best in the city! And we were able to get you an appointment for one o'clock next Wednesday, if that is convenient for you, of course."

"It's fine, I guess," she replied. "Who is it?"

"Dr. Oberon," he said happily, "Thomas Oberon."

Virginia reacted to the information with what Tony perceived as mild shock. He wondered why. Did she think he was jumping in and trying to run her life? Was he? But then he noticed that a smile had crept onto her face, so decided he couldn't have done too much damage.

Murray dropped them off in front of the Grill. There was quite a bit of traffic, however, so he was unable to pull away immediately, and they didn't want to set off for the mirror while he was still in sight.

"Why don't we sit down and order something?" Wolf suggested.

"Yes, good idea," Wendell agreed. "Let's sit down."

"You going to make it to the portal?" asked Tony.

"Of course we are," replied Wendell indignantly. "There's just no point in standing around while we wait for that Murray person to leave."

Tony noticed, however, that he and Rupert did look rather pale. But he didn't say anything about it.

Amy approached them.

"Oh, my God!" she exclaimed. "What happened?"

They were saved from explaining it all to her when she continued, "That wasn't you that ambulance came to get, was it?"

They admitted that it was and she fussed over them for a while longer until they finally made it clear they'd really like something to drink and she left.

Wendell leaned across the table.

"Antony," he began, "I've been meaning to ask you - when those hoodlums attacked us, they called us ‘faggots'. Of what significance is that? Does it mean something in particular?"

Reluctantly, Tony told him what it meant. Wendell stared at him incredulously.

"Do you mean," he said, "That in this completely moralless society - and forgive me Tony, but that's what it is - they have arbitrarily invented some ... some pseudomoral just so they can have someone to prosecute?"

"No," Tony replied. "It's just that some people see it as threatening. So they attack out of fear."

"Threatening?" Wendell nearly shouted, then realizing he may have raised his voice too much, continued more quietly, "How can it be threatening?"

Clearly uncomfortable, Tony recited to him the arguments he'd heard - of how some heterosexuals thought those like Wendell would try to seduce or entrap them. Virginia looked pointedly away.

Wendell was nearly livid.

"Then the contention is," he spat, "That I must also surely be a rapist?!"

"Not exactly."

"What else would you call it?"

Tony didn't reply. He considered trying to explain how AIDS fit into the problem, but didn't want to bog himself down in a lot of medical arguments about which he knew virtually nothing. And he suspected that his own lack of knowledge in that area would only serve to prove Wendell vindicated in his outrage, since if Tony was ignorant, then so would be most other people. Not that he didn't think Wendell had a right to be outraged. Tony didn't think anyone had a right to be beaten half to death for minding their own business, no matter what business it was, even though until he'd met Wendell, he'd never been especially tolerant himself.

He looked away in embarrassment and his eyes met Wolf's. In them he saw some secret amused knowledge, heavy with irony. It made him wonder suddenly what the half-wolf was thinking, but his pursual of that thought was cut short by Amy returning with their drinks.

"I should like to return home as quickly as possible," Wendell stated.

"Oh, I don't blame you," Amy sympathized. Then to Virginia, she said, "So do you have any idea yet when you might be back in the city?"

"Oh, yeah," replied Virginia, and looked at her father. "Next Wednesday, isn't it?"

"Okay, good! We can have your shower then."

"Oh, wait a minute, no. I'll be busy in the afternoon."

"Well we can do it in the morning," came the reply just before Amy bounced off to greet another customer.

"May I remind you, Antony, that it's in our best interest to return to my kingdom as quickly as possible?" Wendell intoned. "At least I presume we still intend to scour the records room at the palace for any evidence of that Grimm person's visit?"

"Yes, yes," he replied. "We'll go. Just drink your drink."

They managed to make it through the mirror that time without any incident, although Tony noticed that Wendell and Rupert looked quite pale by the time they'd arrived in the dungeon cell where the mirror was now guarded. Servants were called for at once to tend to the two. Tony realized they were in no condition to research Grimm's visit and probably wouldn't be for quite some time.

"Wendell," he began, "We could get started on the research if you could just have someone show us to that record room."

Wendell looked at him, confused.

"What research?" he asked.

"On Wilhelm Grimm," Tony reminded him. "On when he was here."

"Who is Wilhelm Grimm?"

Mystified, Tony glanced at Virginia. She looked as alarmed as he felt.

"You mean you don't remember what we were going to do?" she asked Wendell.

"We returned so that Rupert and I could be treated by our own doctors," Wendell informed her, then, after a moment of consideration, amended what he'd said to, "Fourth Kingdom doctors, that is."

Tony looked at Rupert.

"Do you remember?"

"Remember what?" he asked, frowning as if they were playing a trick on both he and Wendell.

Tony took a deep breath.

"You watched the play," he explained carefully. "It showed where we found a date carved into a beam in the dungeon by Wilhelm Grimm, who is from our - mine and Virginia's - world. But the date was before the Golden Age, so we came back to research exactly when he had been here and for how long. You said there was a records room in your palace that would have an account of his visit in it."

Wendell looked steadily at him.

"I don't have the slightest idea what you're talking about, Antony," he said.