ForevaXena's FanFic . . .
Heaven
On Earth
by Julia Ford
Disclaimers:
The characters Xena, Gabrielle, and company are owned by
MCA/Universal/Renaissance Pictures/Studios USA (have I missed anyone?).
Kennedy and Dawn may seem familiar and I thank X:WP for the inspiration.
Many of the places in
Toronto that are described really exist…come & visit sometime.
Subtext:
Oh yes. If you object to
intimate relationships between two women and/or if it is illegal where you live
or for your age, do not read any further.
Violence:
None worth mentioning.
Thanks:
To Dango for ensuring I don't mangle the English language too much and to FX for
giving my stories a home <g>
Inspiration:
A double wedding in the Xenaverse <g> and my own journey through
the priesthood.
I’d
love to hear your thoughts about my creative endeavors :-)
I can be reached at
fordju@attglobal.net.
Chapter 10
As
Julie sat in the intensive care waiting room she had been able to control
herself until she heard a member come out of the unit saying that they hoped the
Chaplain would get there soon. To
Jules that meant only one thing…that Joanne needed to have last rites said
over her. At first there was just a
tear or two welling up in Julie’s eyes and trickling down her face, but the
more she thought about losing Joanne the more tears came until they were a
torrent.
The
night before had been the ecstasy before the agony.
Julie had been absolutely blown away by Joanne having decided that she
wanted to share love with Julie more than she had wanted to protect her
vocation. So surprised was she that
Joanne actually had to take some time to convince her that this was indeed what
Joanne wanted. They had consummated
their long denied love in tender night of passion.
Little did they expect that their first night might also be their last
night together.
It
was the thought that Julie might never see Joanne again to hold her tight and be
one with her that was causing the heartbreaking sobs that Kennedy and Bishop
Dawn heard as they entered the waiting room.
Kennedy
sat down and gently put her arms around Julie who immediately responded by
burying her head in the strong shoulder of the dark-haired priest.
As Julie sobbed Kennedy asked, “Is Joanne dead?”
“No,
I don’t know, they called for the Chaplain, they wouldn’t let me in to see
her after her heart stopped,” came the muffled reply.
Kennedy
looked up to see Dawn talking to a young Priest.
“Bishop,
am I glad to see you. How did you
know to come?”
“Well
Stephen, Julie is my Assistant and she is Joanne’s best” the Bishop paused
for a split second “friend. She
called us. Now why did they call
you?”
“They
know Joanne is a Priest and they have called me to do last rites.”
“Last
rites as a precaution or because she is going to die?”
Kennedy could feel Julie start to sob harder in her arms.
“I
don’t know Bishop. I just got
here.”
“Well,
let’s go in and find out. Kennedy?”
“Dawn
go on and do what you must. I’ll
look after Julie.”
The
Bishop walked over and placed her hand on the crying woman’s head, smiled
sadly at Kennedy, and then walked into the Intensive Care Unit with the
Chaplain.
**
“Dr.
Sands, this is Joanne’s Bishop – Bishop Dawn.”
The
doctor reached over and shook Dawn’s hand and said, “Let me give you a run
down on her condition…”
The
rundown only took a minute, but it was obvious that Joanne was in serious
trouble. The doctor was fairly
certain that respiratory problems post surgery were connected to some sort of
allergic reaction that Joanne had to the anesthetic.
The heart failure had surprised everyone and although they had restarted
it quickly they were concerned about the root cause and were not prepared to
believe it wouldn’t happen again. The
request for Last Rites, then, was precautionary in the sense that it was not
obvious that Joanne was certain to die. However
she was definitely at risk.
“Doctor,
how sedated is she?” asked Dawn as she watched the respirator force air in and
out of the Joanne’s unmoving form.
“Very
lightly. We did not want to
aggravate the reaction that caused her to stop breathing in the first place.”
“So,
she should be able to hear me?”
“I
expect so. The brain wave monitor
indicates that there was no obvious brain damage as a result of either
episode.”
“Good.
I want to talk to her for a bit before we decide if Last Rites are the
best thing to do for her now. Will
you give me a few minutes?”
Both
the Doctor and Chaplain nodded and moved away from Joanne’s bed while Dawn
positioned a chair as close as she could to Joanne’s head.
Holding the hand that did not have an IV stuck in it Dawn started talking
to Joanne in a very quiet voice. She
told the Priest about how much her letter had been appreciated.
She told her that she and Kennedy had taken her words to heart.
She told her how pleased she was for Joanne and Julie and that she
understood the great courage it took to take that step.
How pleased she knew God would be….
Finally
Dawn said, “I want you to be courageous one more time.
I want you to live. For the
sake of you and your life together with Julie, I want you to concentrate every
ounce of energy into keeping that heart of yours beating strongly and regularly.
Imagine it working perfectly. Imagine
your lungs working perfectly. And
know that you are being loved and supported by those of us here and by the Lord
above.”
Doctor
Sands was standing back watching not the Bishop and his patient, but instead all
the monitors hooked up to Joanne. The
heart monitor was particularly fascinating.
Before Dawn sat down Joanne’s heartbeat was what could be described as
“thready”. It wasn’t beating
particularly strongly nor was it particularly regular.
Yet, by the time the Bishop had finished talking and was just sitting
there stroking the Priest’s hand the monitor was showing a strong and steady
beat.
After
about five minutes of silence, the Bishop once more spoke to Joanne.
“You hang in there. I’m
going to go and get permission for Julie to visit you for a bit.”
Dawn could have sworn she felt Joanne squeeze her hand.
“Dr.
Sands, there is a woman outside waiting for Joanne.
I think it would do well for her to come in and sit with Joanne for a
bit. More good than Last Rites.
Do I have your permission to get her?”
“Well,
if she has the same affect on Joanne as you do, it can only be good.”
Dawn
smiled and as she walked towards the door said, “Oh she has a much better
affect on Joanne than I do.”
**
“Kennedy,
what is taking so long in there?” Julie
had cried herself out in the safety of Kennedy’s strong arms and was now
pacing in the floor of the waiting room.
“I’m
guessing she’s paving the way for you to get in there and sit with Joanne for
a bit.”
“Call
me the pessimist, but I figure Joanne’s dead and nobody wants to tell me.
What is this anyway, punishment for our night of sin?”
Julie
felt herself being jerked around until she was facing Kennedy.
“You don’t actually believe that do you?”
Julie
squirmed in Kennedy’s grasp for a bit and then stopped to look in the
Priest’s blue eyes. There she saw
a combination of fierce determination and huge pity.
“Kennedy,
I don’t know. It was sublime last
night and I always learned that the gods don’t like mortals being too
happy.”
“Well,
the Greek gods perhaps, but not the God I believe in.
Our God loves us as we were created.
Gay or straight, it doesn’t matter – and Joanne needs all the
positive thoughts we can give her right now – OK?”
Julie
nodded and Kennedy’s grasp on her shoulders started to relax when Dawn walked
into the waiting room.
“What’s
this? Can’t leave you two alone
without fighting?” Dawn smiled at
their sheepish grins before she continued. “Julie,
you can go and sit with her for a bit. Have
you ever been in an ICU? No?
Ok, let me give you an idea of what you will see before you go in so
it’s not a shock.”
After
Julie was briefed, Dawn went in and got her settled and promised that she and
Kennedy would stay and wait for her outside.
**
Back
in the waiting room Dawn wearily sat down beside Kennedy, close enough to be
touching her, but far enough away so as not to be obvious.
“Kennedy,
I think Joanne is going to make it. I’m
so glad you’re here.”
“I
want to always be with you,” said the Priest as she put her arms around the
Bishop and gave her a quick hug.
Dawn
shivered in delight as she felt the warmth of Kennedy’s arms because they
reminded her of the joy of the night before.
Realizing she was in a public place Dawn decided she should change
topics.
“Why
did you have Julie by the shoulders and almost on her tiptoes when I came out
from ICU?”
Kennedy
sighed. She almost didn’t want to
answer the question. “I was trying
to shake a bit if sense into her. Julie
was wondering if God wanted to take Joanne away from her because they expressed
and acted on their love last night.”
“Christ!”
“Exactly.”
**
Joanne
had found herself drifting in and out of consciousness.
When conscious she was vaguely aware that she didn’t seem to be able to
move and that control of her breathing wasn’t her own.
She was also aware that she was scared…oh so very scared.
Her fear was of the unknown…she had figured out that something had gone
wrong, but she didn’t really know what…and fear of why this had happened to
her. In her love for Julie had she
done something wrong in God’s eyes? In
her semi-conscious state the question rattled around in her brain and she
couldn’t focus enough to banish it. In
some ways Joanne was ready to let go and accept death just to get the question
to stop.
Into
this fear came the calming and encouraging voice of Dawn drowning out all other
noise. As Joanne heard her say the
words that God was pleased with her the fear started to abate.
As she felt Dawn’s touch on her hand she knew she wouldn’t be
abandoned. As she heard the
encouragement to focus on her heart and imagine it was working well Joanne was
able to do just that and the darkness started to melt away into the light.
When Dawn told her she had to go Joanne’s fears returned for a split
second until she heard that Julie would come and sit with her.
Julie
didn’t have the skill of Dawn in perhaps knowing exactly the right things to
say at the right time…but Joanne could feel the fierceness of her love and
that too allowed Joanne to turn from her fear.
No longer did she think that perhaps life wasn’t worth living.
It was worth recovering and living to the fullest.
Dr.
Sands had been up all night and by rights he was due to go off duty, but
something made him hang around the unit and monitor Joanne’s progress.
He had been amazed at the affect the Bishop had on Joanne and as
Joanne’s vital signs wavered a bit after the Dawn left he was concerned that
she wouldn’t respond as well to her friend.
He needn’t have been concerned. As
the Bishop had predicted Joanne reacted even better to Julie.
As he watched he realized anew that the power of love – this was no
“friend” sitting with Joanne – was a greater healing power then anything
else on earth.
“Julie?”
“Yes
Doctor Sands?”
“I
want to try and take her off the respirator, but I want you here to hold her
hand while I do it. She seems to be
asleep now so why don’t you grab some lunch and come back in an hour or so?”
Julie
smiled at him and nodded. Then she
turned to the sleeping Joanne and kissed her gently on the forehead and said,
“I’ll be back soon and we will make it through this together.”
**
A
considerably relieved Julie walked out of ICU and into the waiting room where
Dawn and Kennedy were still sitting.
“Well?”
asked Dawn as Julie walked up.
“She
continued to improve and seems to be resting comfortably now.
The Doctor hopes to remove her from the respirator a little later today.
He asked me to come back after lunch to hold her hand.”
“Excellent!”
Just
as the Bishop spoke her stomach growled loudly enough that one of the other
people waiting looked up and smiled.
Kennedy
laughed and said, “Well, we had better feed this one before the hospital has
another patient on their hands!”
Dawn
playfully jabbed her in the ribs as the three headed out to find lunch.
To Be Continued . . .
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