Dr. Gene Metarie wasn’t known for mincing words when the time was right. “Janice,” he said, “someone should be shot for the way you were treated, but I guess they already were, weren’t they?”

“Yes, Cody saved my life in more ways than one. I’ll owe him for that for the rest of my life.”

They were partway through what was proving to be a pretty comprehensive physical examination, and Dr. Metarie had found several things he wasn’t happy about. However, at least most of them appeared to be in the past and Janice was at least in the process of healing.

There was the evidence of the physical brutality, of course; he’d been expecting that. But there were other things – the girl was close to thirty pounds underweight on a slight frame, and Metarie kept to himself the comment that he could have played her ribs like a xylophone. She wasn’t underweight from anorexia, like a lot of teenage girls he had seen; it took only a little work to establish that she was thin from sheer starvation. It was amazing that she’d been able to eat what she had over the last few months – the school lunches, meager as they were, had proved to literally be a lifesaver for her. One of the things that often happens to malnourished women is that their periods shut down, just from the lack of energy to sustain them. Janice’s had months before, which he thought was the only thing that had kept her from getting pregnant from the repeated rapes that had been going on since the summer.

“Candice,” the doctor asked. “She’s been eating pretty well since she’s been with you, hasn’t she?”

“I wouldn’t say overeating, but she seems to be eating fairly well,” Candice confirmed. “She probably eats more than I do. We haven’t been weighing her, but I think she’s putting on a little weight.”

“Good, keep feeding her well, that’s really the most important thing I can say beyond just dealing with the healing from all the injuries. I’d say to try to keep her from gaining weight too fast. Try to limit it to a pound or two of weight gain a week, so she won’t overshoot a reasonable weight and go too far the other way. Make sure she starts to get some exercise so it doesn’t turn to pure fat.”

There was more – much more – and there were some things that wouldn’t be settled before lab tests came back. But Dr. Metarie’s verdict was that Janice was on the mend and would continue to get better as long as she was cared for halfway decently. “That’s about it for today,” he finally announced. “But I want you back in a couple weeks so I can check your progress. Candice, I’d like to talk to you in my office.” He turned and smiled at Janice. “This isn’t about you, it’s about billing.”

“Gene,” Candice said, “she’s going to need some help getting dressed.”

“No problem, I’ll have Heather come in and help her. Let’s get this done. I’m already running late.”

“I’ll be right back,” Candice told Janice, knowing that the girl was very nervous about being left alone. “Heather is a nice lady, and I should be gone only a minute or two.”

“I’ll make do,” Janice said a little nervously but stoically.

Feeling the need to hurry, Candice followed Dr. Metarie down the hall to his private office. He was already sitting behind the desk when she got there. “Candice, shut the door,” he said. “I’ve got to step out of line a little here, and there’s no point in anyone overhearing.”

“I understand,” Candice said, closing the door and finding a seat across from the desk. She counted Gene Metarie as a friend – not the closest of friends, but a friend in any case.

“I always thought Jack and Bobby Lufkin were assholes,” Gene sighed. “I guess that just proves it. You tell Cody from me that a nine millimeter was about the right medicine to treat them for that condition.”

“I have to say that I’ve come to agree,” Candice sighed. “So what’s the real story?”

“She’s basically going to be all right. It’s going to take her some time and care, but it ought to work out. In six months, you won’t believe she’s the same girl. I’m a little concerned about STDs, but there are no visible signs or symptoms, so I’m not going to worry about it too much until I get the lab tests back. Of course, I’ll let you know about that as soon as I know. Any other concerns?”

“Well,” Candice said, a little embarrassed. “She is still a teenage girl and she seems very fixated on Cody. Considering her condition I don’t think anything is going to happen soon, but I can’t rule it out.”

“Yes, I can see how that could be a concern. It’s not going to be a major concern until her periods start up again, and then you probably ought to be thinking about getting her on the pill, just in case. I’d recommend against it for right now since she’s got enough other stress on her system. In any case, if her period doesn’t start up after some good nutrition, we might want to consider getting her on contraceptives to give things a jump start. Let’s not worry about that this time, but I’ll bring it up with her next time.”

“Good,” Candice said. “I told John that at their age, babies are for all practical purposes a sexually transmitted disease, too.”

“No fooling,” the doctor smiled. “And there are too many people around who don’t seem to understand that. Anyway, that’s not what I wanted to talk about. Mavis said that you’re not putting this on your insurance, that you’re paying for this out of your pocket.”

“That’s right. Since she’s not a relative, she couldn’t go on our insurance anyway.”

“That stinks, but I guess that’s the way it is. All right, I’ll tell Mavis to not charge insurance rates, so that’ll keep it at a minimum.”

“Thanks, Gene. That’ll help. This is going to cost us a lot, but we all think it’s going to be worth it. It burns my butt that the doctor down at Camden General ordered home health care nurses, and they’re charging two hundred bucks a visit. It’s not going to take long for that to add up to really expensive.”

“That stinks too,” the doctor shook his head. “All right. She does need regular nursing visits to change dressings and generally monitor things, but not at the rate those jokers charge if you don’t have insurance to cover it. I’ll go ahead and write up an order to stop the visits, and then I’ll see if Heather can drop in on her way home. That’ll be a private deal, between you and her, but she’s done this kind of thing before. She thinks twenty bucks a visit is fair, and she can use the money.”

“Thanks, Gene,” Candice shook her head. “That’ll be a big help. What with everything else this has been a big pain in the neck so far, but maybe things will smooth out when we get everything worked out.”

“Yeah, it usually takes a while,” Gene admitted, “but there are some positive things about that kid I’m going to be interested in watching. You say Cody is sweet on her?”

“No,” Candice frowned. “I can’t really say sweet. They’re around each other all the time. She really dotes on him to the point of dependency. He is very responsible toward her, but then he’s a responsible kid anyway. But to say they’re sweet on each other? Not really. It’s like Cody has a sister he’s really concerned about.”

“Let her get filled out a bit,” Dr. Metarie grinned. “Get a little sparkle in her eye and a little iron in her spine so she doesn’t seem quite so beaten down, and then try to come and tell me that.”

“I can see it happening,” Candice smiled as she got out of her chair. Janice had been waiting a while, and even if Heather were helping her get dressed she’d be getting nervous by now. “Why do you think I brought up the subject of birth control?” And that, Candice thought, is an issue that needs to get addressed before things get out of hand.

It was a little surprising to find the house empty when they got home. “Where’s Cody?” Janice asked,

“Oh, he’s probably not back yet,” Candice temporized. “He told me before we left that he had a few things he needed to do, and while we were gone would be a good time to do them.”

“Well, I guess,” Janice sighed. “I suppose I’m being a big baby about this, but I really do feel a lot better when he’s around, just knowing he’s there if I need him.”

“He’s been very good about taking care of you, but he does occasionally have to have a life of his own.”

“I suppose,” the girl replied, “but still, I feel better when he’s around.”

“He’s been around you most of the time,” Candice said and wondered if this was the right time to bring up the question. After all, this was a woman-to-woman thing, and neither Cody nor his father was around. “Look, Janice,” she said, taking a deep breath and resolving to get on with it. “Is there something going on between you and Cody?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, I mean like falling in love or sex or something.”

“Oh, no,” Janice smiled. “Well, he did give me a kiss goodnight on the cheek last night, and I thought that was kind of sweet of him, but that’s all.”

“Well, good,” Candice said, a little relieved. “I mean, with the two of you sleeping in the same bed every night, well, it’s something to wonder about.”

“Oh, it’s not been anything like that,” Janice said. “Cody knows I’m not in any condition for that right now. I’ve just been sleeping in his bed so I can feel safer knowing that he’s there.”

“That’s good to know. Like I said, it would look a little, well, suspicious if I didn’t know what was going on.”

“I understand,” Janice told her. “Look, I have to be honest about this. You’ve been good enough to me that I don’t want you thinking the wrong thing. Like I said, nothing has happened so far but that kiss on the cheek, but I can tell you right now that when the time comes that Cody asks me to have sex with him, the answer is yes.”

“Yes?”

“Candice, I owe Cody my life, and I don’t know how I can ever repay him. As far as sex goes, that’s one way I can pay him back a little. Like I said, when the time comes, if he wants it, he gets it, and it’s not like I haven’t done it before. I know I’m not in very good shape now, but I won’t be like this forever. Eventually he may want me, and probably will want me. When he does, I’m ready whenever he asks.”

Candice let out a long, slow breath in order to buy time to think. Really, Janice’s position wasn’t surprising, but the fact that she was so up front about it was more than a little surprising. “Well, at least you’re being honest about it,” Candice said, grasping for words, “and I think I can understand why you feel the way you do. Don’t take that to mean that I’m endorsing it, but I can understand it.”

“Thank you,” Janice smiled. “I wouldn’t want there to be any misunderstanding. Like I said, Cody understands that I’m not ready for it yet, so I hope you won’t make me quit spending the night with him, at least until I can sleep by myself a little better.”

“Well, not for now,” Candice replied, a little surprised that she said it. “Up the road, well, we’ll have to see.”

“Believe me, I don’t want to cause any trouble over this,” Janice said flatly. “But as far as I’m concerned, Cody comes first with me, and he always will.”

“That’s pretty close to my position,” Candice smiled, wondering helplessly if Cody knew what Janice had just told her – and, for that matter, what he would say if he didn’t know and found out. “Just for the sake of being careful, though, when I was with Dr. Metarie, I raised the issue of birth control pills. He said you need to be a little stronger before you start taking them, but he’ll talk to you about them the next time he sees you.”

“Good,” Janice smiled. “I don’t think I’m quite ready to be raising a baby yet, and I’m a little surprised that I’m not, considering the last few months. But again, if Cody should decide he wants a baby, my answer is still going to be yes.”

Oh, boy, Candice thought. Cody and I are going to have to have a little talk, and the sooner, the better, and probably not with Janice around and putting her two cents worth in. Just how the hell am I going to manage that?

The chance came sooner than Candice expected, which was just as well as the issue was very much on her mind. Cody came back not long after Candice had her talk with Janice, and the two kids sat right down with an English textbook and assignments to work on catching her up. It was hard to look at the two of them sitting on the couch, working on homework like a couple of regular kids, and think of the flat statement that Janice had made.

Although Dr. Metarie had said that he would cancel the expensive home health care nursing service, it was still scheduled for that afternoon. Candice figured that the visit might as well take place, although she’d use the opportunity to pass on the word that she was going to terminate the service. When the nurse showed up late in the afternoon, Candice and Cody helped Janice up to her bedroom, where the nurse could change the dressings, take vital signs and do a few other things, including a large stack of paperwork. It would take a half an hour or so, Candice knew from her other visits, so this might be the best chance she would get.

“Cody,” she said once they had Janice settled on the bed and the nurse getting out a blood pressure cuff. “While Janice is occupied, I’ve got something down in the basement I need your help with.”

“Sure, Mom,” he said. “Jan, I’ll be back in a few minutes. You just let the nurse take care of you. I’ll be in the house somewhere.”

“OK, Cody,” Janice smiled. “I’m sure you’ll be there if I need you.”

Cody followed his mother down to the basement. “OK, Mom,” he said once they were down at the bottom of the stairs. “What is it you need?”

“Mostly I need to talk to you without Janice around for a minute. That’s getting a little hard to find the last few days.”

“Yeah, it is,” Cody agreed, “but I don’t mind. She seems to do better when I’m around.”

“She sure does,” Candice agreed. “Look, I don’t know how to say this, but a little while ago Janice and I were talking about the two of you sharing the same bed.”

“It’s no big deal, Mom. We’re not doing anything. Well, I kissed her goodnight on the cheek last night, but it was just teasing a little bit. She’s really scared because of the nightmares she was having, and being close to me seems to drive them off. Really, I don’t mind if it makes her feel better.”

“You’ve been good to her, and good for her,” Candice agreed. “In fact, very good, and I’m impressed. However, you have to admit, the two of you sleeping in the same bed, well, it makes me wonder if there’s something else going on.”

“No, Mom. Honest, there’s nothing going on.”

“I sort of figured as much. She said the same thing, but Cody, have you talked with her about sex and things like that?”

“No, not a word. I mean, it’s never come up, not even that you and Dad might think we were up to something.”

Candice let out a long breath. There was a large cat that needed to get let out of the bag, and there didn’t seem to be a much better way to free it than just saying it outright. “Maybe you ought to talk to her about it,” she said finally. “She told me that she knows she’s not physically ready for sex right now, but when she gets better, quote, if Cody asks, the answer is yes, unquote.”

“She said what?”

“That she’s ready when you’re ready. All you have to do is ask.”

“No, Mom. No way. Not now, not soon, maybe not ever. Not with Jan. God, I can’t believe she actually said that.”

“Oh, she said it, just like that, and I’m sure she means it,” Candice sighed. “What she said is that it was no big deal to her, that she owes you her life and if she can repay you a little bit that way, it was fine with her.”

“Oh, hell no,” Cody shook his head vehemently. “Like I said, not soon, maybe not ever. In fact, most likely not ever. Look, Mom. Don’t get me wrong. There are any number of girls around school that if they came to me and said something like that, I’d be looking for a place right now. But not Jan. It’s not that I don’t like her, because I do. In fact, I like her a lot. But Mom, I shot her father and her brother while they were raping her, and that’s something that’s so solid in my mind that I’ll never get over it. Never. Like I said, I like Jan a lot, but I can’t even think about doing something with her that would cause her to associate me with her father and her brother. I don’t think I could manage it if I tried, anyway.”

“Oh, cripe,” Candice shook her head. “I never even thought of that angle. I mean, I got to thinking of you as a typical teenage boy, and I should have known better. I don’t even have to ask you if you really mean it, because I can see you do. So now what do we do?”

“Hell if I know. You’re the parent; you’re the one I come to for advice.”

“Let me tell you, parenthood isn’t as easy as it looks, especially when questions like this come up,” Candice sighed. “Believe me, I’m open for ideas.”

Cody looked around the room for a moment, not particularly looking for anything but inspiration. “She’s never said anything like that to me. Not ever. This really comes out of nowhere. Did it seem to you like she was really anxious for it, or just open to it?”

“I can’t say anxious,” Candice said after a moment’s thought. “Willing, yes, but not like it was a big issue to her.”

“Well, that simplifies things a lot,” he said after a moment. “At least for now. All I have to do is make a point of not asking. Don’t get me wrong, while I like her a lot, I’m trying to think of her as my sister, not anything more.”

“You may be the damnedest kid I’ve ever seen,” she replied, shaking her head. “I can’t imagine your brother turning his back on a chance for a little action.”

“So I’m not Shay, and you’ve known that all along. Besides, this is different. Way different.”

“Yes, it is. But I ought to at least point out that things may not always stay the same between you and Janice.”

“They may not,” he agreed. “But it’s going to be a long time coming if it comes at all. Mom, you have no idea of how scared and absolutely pathetic she looked when I literally shot her brother off the top of her. I don’t think I actually thought of it right at that moment, but I guess that was when I made up my mind I was never going to do anything to hurt her, and instead try to help her out the best I could.”

“You haven’t gotten over it, have you?”

“Hell no. How could I?” Cody replied heatedly, his intensity just about overwhelming him. “Oh, I don’t have any problem with shooting her father and brother. I mean, from what I saw them do they deserved it, and from what I’ve learned since if I had to go through the same thing again I’d have emptied the clip into them to make real sure they were dead. But how could I get over seeing her beaten and raped and scared and miserable like that, and so pathetically glad that I saved her life? Why do you think I’ve put so much effort into trying to help her? My God, it was a miracle that she managed to survive long enough to give me the chance to rescue her.”

Candice shook her head sadly. “More than you even know. I found out today that she had been systematically starved, along with everything else. You may not think much of the lunches at school, but they were about the only way she managed to eat enough to stay alive for months.”

“She said something about how good the lunches had been, back when she was in the hospital,” Cody replied, a lot of the fire having gone out of him. “But I guess I didn’t equate it with that.”

“I really doubt that we’ve heard the whole story yet,” she shook her head. “And we may not ever hear all of it. At least she seems to be healing, which may solve some of the problems. So what are we going to do about the two of you spending the nights together?”

“Not a thing, as far as I’m concerned,” Cody said flatly. “If it helps make her feel better, in the slightest way, I’m willing. I feel like not only do I owe it to her, the world owes it to her. As far as I’m concerned, sex isn’t an issue. It’s not going to happen, at least until I can be damn sure that if I do it with her she’s not going to lump me in with her father and brother. That’s just that, and there’s no room for argument.”

“Well, that’s good enough for me, for now,” Candice smiled, “but I think maybe you’d better make your position real clear to Janice before she gets disappointed in you.”

“I’ll do it if and when I need to,” Cody agreed. “Since she hasn’t told me what she told you, there’s no point in my making an issue out of it right now.”

“Well, that’s true. But somehow, I don’t think that’s the last discussion we’re going to have on this.”

“Me either.” Cody agreed. “Maybe we’d better get back upstairs before Jan starts to wonder what happened to us.”

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