Annie XXV: distance cousins

(Chronological index: Ray/Denise Married, Ruth known)

Ray picked his last army off of the board. Annie shoveled her invasion forces over to his former territory. He held his card where she could see it, then slid it into her pile.

"I've always wanted to go back to Alaska," she said. She turned to smile up to Ruth. "And now, the rulership of North America is a family affair."

"Like South America!" Pet said. She and Buttercup were defending that continent.

"Yep, just like," Annie agreed. She walked along the borders of Asia, comparing her forces to those of Ruth and Denise.

She was more worried about her owner-in-law invading than her sister and her troops were arranged accordingly. She finally plucked a ten-army piece from Alaska and placed it in the Middle East.

Satisfied, she signaled an end to her turn. Denise handed her a victory card and started counting out her reinforcements.

"And once again," Ray said in his radio announcer voice, "the world has become completely under the sway of the women." Ruth giggled. "Yes, I said women. I maintain that they are all women, even those with petite girlish figures."

"Eyes off Ruth's girlish figure," Denise snarled.

"I was talking about you, dear," Ray said, hand raised in oath. He got up and walked towards the kitchen. "And once again, I get to find something to do whilst the women-folk vie for domination."

"Ray, I swear, we aren't ganging up on you!" Buttercup said.

"Oh, yeah, I know," he replied. He paused at the table in the hall. An unopened letter drew his attention. "It just so happens that it's in everyone's tactical interest to drive the forces of Red off of the map." He opened the letter and started to read. "The fact that it's me is just a coincidence…"

"I think," Annie said, "that it's always in my strategic interests to take the giant down a peg."

"A peg?" Ruth asked. "Your stated goal with every roll of the dice was to crush the Ray, to see the Ray driven before you, to hear the lamentation of his women."

"And you are his women," Buttercup pointed out. "So where's the lamentation?"

Annie crossed her arms and chewed her lip for a second. "I'm not entirely sure what lamentation is…"

Denise raised an eyebrow. "A Lovecraft fan doesn't know what lamentation is?"

"Ruth?" Ray asked, stepping back to the table. "Annie? Do either of know if you have a cousin named Dionne?"

Ruth started to shake her head, then looked down at her sister. "Huh? No. Why?" Annie asked.

"She's apparently dying of leukemia. Her brother wants to talk to us about you saving her." He sat down and put the letter next to the Risk board.

"Me?" Annie asked. She walked onto the letter. Ruth read over her shoulder. "Arkansas?"

"Must be Uncle Parre's side of the family," Ruth said.

-----

"Thanks for meeting with me," Nigel said.

"Least we can do," Ray assured him, leading him into the living room. "What exactly is the problem?"

Nigel looked around the room for a second. Three sylphs were staring up at him from the middle of a coffee table. Two women were seated on a sofa behind them.

Ray stood at a chair to one side, gesturing for him to sit in another one. He sat, looking closely at the sylphs. "I've, uh, I've never seen any sylphs up this close before."

One stepped forward. "You get used to it," she said. "You're my Uncle Parre's nephew?"

"Yeah," he said. "Never had much to do with your side of the family. I never knew we were related to sylphs until Dionne got sick." He coughed. "Well, I guess I should say we never knew anyone in the family got sylphed. We're not related, really."

Five heads turned to glare at Ray. Nigel followed their gaze. Ray rolled his eyes and shrugged. "Fine, fine, you're related," he said. "Nigel, this is your cousin, Annie. And this is also your cousin, Ruth."

Further introductions were made and some backstory established. Nigel sat through it with growing impatience. Denise finally cut Annie's narrative short.

"And we've lived happily ever after since then including Ruth spending two weeks with us while her parents take a cruise. Now. You came here for….?"

"Ah. Well, Dionne's particular type of leukemia is resisting any treatment. She's had two bone marrow donations from close family members, but they didn't take."

He took a breath. "The problem is that the treatments that are keeping her alive kill off new marrow. But there's an experimental treatment. They get the bone marrow from a sylph. The sylph cells resist treatments aimed at real people's cancer."

"Full sized," Ruth said. Nigel blinked at the angry expression on her face. "Sylphs are real people. Their cells are smaller, but not unreal. So it's people and people, not sylphs and real people."

"Oh, I'm sorry, I, uh, didn't mean anything by-"

"Well, it sounded like you did!" Annie snapped.

"Guys?" Denise said softly. "His sister is dying. I'd think that if anyone were willing to cut him some slack at this time…?"

"Sorry," Ruth said. She reached forward to pick Annie up off the table.

"Yeah, sorry," Annie added. They both sounded sincere, Nigel noticed.

"Thanks," he said. "I just… Anyway. Well. What we need is some bone marrow from Annie, there, so we can try this treatment. It is literally her last chance."

"Sure!" Annie said.

"Wait," Ray said almost as immediately. "We need to look into this treatment, if you don't mind. Just to be sure it's safe for the sylph?"

"Isn't it my choice, Ray?" Annie asked. "I know, legally it isn't. But between you and me… Isn't it up to me to judge risks?"

"Yeah!" Pet shouted. Buttercup merely nodded. Ruth looked a little worried at the thought of any threat to her sister. Denise put a reassuring hand on the teen's shoulder.

Ray rolled his eyes again. "I ALWAYS lose at risk." He turned to Nigel. "I do want to look into it. Just to make sure it's a real treatment, if nothing else, not some fad or hoax."

"Oh, yeah, yeah," Nigel said. He stood up and pulled an airline ticket out of his jacket. "Do whatever you have to. But… There is a time limit. I don't mean to be cruel or anything, but if Dionne's going to have any sort of chance…" He put the ticket down on the table. "This is the last day you can show up."

He turned to leave the room. "I'll leave you guys to discuss it. It was great meeting everyone, but… I have to get back to the Rockefeller Cancer Institute."

The door closed behind him. The family all turned to stare at Annie or Ray.

--------

Ray shifted the strap of his shoulder bag as he left the security area of the airport. The sylph carrier dangled from his free hand. His eyes swept the area for Nigel.

They made eye contact and moved towards each other. Ray's thumb pressed a small button beneath the carrier's handle.

Several miles away, Buttercup saw the motel room TV come to life with images of the Little Rock airport. "He's here!" she called to the others.

"How was your flight?" Nigel asked.

"Nothing worth mentioning," Ray replied. They moved towards the baggage claim.

"I really appreciate your coming," Nigel said.

"Well, I still have reservations, but Annie wants to meet Dionne." They found the right carousel and stood in the crowd.

"What are your reservations?" Nigel asked.

"Near as I can tell, it's a working procedure. And it has a small but measurable chance to save people with Dionne's condition. The problem is, by the time you get enough material to have the smallest chance of success, it's almost certain to kill the sylph."

Nigel shrugged. "That's what they tell me."

"Did you know this was going to be lethal for Annie before you came out to Jax?" Ray asked.

Nigel looked him right in the eyes. "Yes. It's my sister. Or your pet. What decision would you expect?"

Ray nodded, apparently not upset. "Well, I'm against that. But as I said, Annie wants to meet her cousin. I suspect that she wants ME to meet Dionne, since the decision is mine." He moved to grab a duffel bag from the sliding belt.

"Not really," Nigel said.

"No, it's mine," Ray assured him. "See the Edgar Allen Poe nametag?"

"No, no," Nigel said. "It's not your decision." He waved to someone at the edge of the baggage claim area. "This is another cousin of mine." A tall man walked up to the other two. He glared at Ray. "Jeff here is a cop. I'm afraid we're going to have to serve the warrant, Jeff."

"Mr. Foster, you need to hand over the sylph."

"No, I don't," Ray said, still unexcited.

"Actually, you do," Nigel assured him. "Look, don't make this any more difficult than it has to be."

"I'm not," Ray said. "I'm perfectly aware that in Arkansas law, you can appeal to the state to get 'catastrophic custody' of a sylph. And that there is at least one precedent for using, or I'd say sacrificing, someone's sylph to ameliorate risk to a human's life."

He shrugged. "But all that said, you can't take Annie."

"You can't just ignore the law," Jeff said. "You're in my jurisdiction. You entered willfully and, apparently, in full knowledge of the law." He reached for the carrier but Ray swung it away.

"Very full knowledge," Ray admitted. "And this isn't a legal ploy or anything. You just can't have Annie right now."

"Then I have to place you under arrest for failure to comply with the lawful orders of a officer in pursuit of his warrant." Jeff reached under his jacket and placed a hand on his pistol.

Ray shook his head. "I'll sue your department for wrongful arrest." He turned to Nigel. "This is up to you. YOU don't have to make it any harder than it has to be."

"Take the thing," Nigel said. Jeff pulled out his weapon. People around the baggage area reacted in shock. The TSA cops, already briefed, escorted people away from the three men.

Ray shrugged and opened the carrier. A small form climbed out to stand on his palm. It waved.

"That doesn't look right," Jeff muttered.

"It's a remote," Ray said. "Annie's operating it from an undisclosed location somewhere within three satellites of this position."

Nigel looked stunned. Jeff put his gun away and started to gesture to airport security.

The group in the motel looked from the TV screen to the tiny bench where Annie lay. "Surprise," she said, her voice coming from her face and the TV.

"So," Ray said, putting the remote on his shoulder. "Can we go see Dionne?"

"What?"

"We came here to meet Dionne. And to see if you could be trusted. One down."

"One to go!" Annie shouted through her speaker.

---------

"He never even said hello," Annie said. She was pacing the dashboard on the drive to the hospital.

"I noticed that," Ray replied.

"No 'thank you for coming' or 'I'm glad your helping.' Nothing about acknowledging the sylph that may or may not help save his sister's life."

"I didn't think it boded well for the visit," Ray agreed.

"It's like he's already decided I'm not a person, just a biological container for something his sister has a clinical need for," she went on.

"I'm right here," Nigel said. "I can hear you both."

"Oh, yeah," Ray said.

"We know," Annie added. Nigel slumped down a bit in the driver's seat. Ray held his hand out. Annie steered the remote into his palm as he lifted it to his shoulder.

"I will say this," Annie said. "He didn't seem particularly proud of having to serve that warrant."

"That's true. Resolved, I'd say."

"Maybe even a little embarrassed?"

"Couldn't argue that. But he still asked Jeff to serve the warrant."

"Wouldn't you?!" Nigel shouted. "I mean, for a loved one!?"

"Annie is a loved one," Ray said quietly. She tilted her plastic head over to nuzzle against his throat. "Ow," he said.

"Oops. Forgot the antennae." She stroked his neck for a moment. "How long until the hospital?"

"Um…twenty minutes?" Nigel guessed.

"Okay. I'm going to shut down a bit. Potty break, some Mickey D's. If that's okay, revered master?"

"Quite alright," he assured her. The figure pulled a clip out from the back of the casing, made it fast to his collar, then fell into a slump.

"She's gone?" Nigel asked.

"Well," Ray replied, "she was only 'here' for a given value of 'here,' but yeah, she's gone."

"Why do you let her talk to you that way?" There was a long silence. Nigel glanced over to see if Ray'd gone to sleep. He was absently stroking the figure.

"Are you married, Nigel?" he finally asked.

"What? No. I'm, uh, engaged, but nothing… No. Why?"

"It's just…" He stared at the car ahead, trying to find the right words. "I've known Annie for twenty years. Can you imagine being in the twentieth year of your relationship, married or dating or brother/sister, and someone asks: 'Why do you let her treat you that way?' Or 'why do you put up with that?' Can you see any sort of difficulty answering that question?"

"Um…no. No, because if I marry Laura, she's a full human. She has rights to opinions, to expression." He glanced again, this time to see the other man's reaction.

Ray wasn't upset, though, he was just nodding. "But rights are an agreed-upon fantasy. Society may not believe that Annie deserves the right to self expression. But I do. At least, between us. As long as she doesn't violate certain rules or confidences, I'll support her.

"I'll tell you this for free, Nigel. You need Annie on your sister's side more than you need me on your side. Treat Annie as a person, it'll make things better in the long run."

"Dionne doesn't have a long run, not if Annie can say, 'no,'" Nigel muttered.

The remote figure suddenly came to life. It didn't move quite right as it unclipped and slid down Ray's sleeve. It jumped to the center stand and stomped over to stand by Nigel's elbow.

"The only reason we're HERE," Pet's voice shouted, "is because ANNIE insisted!"

"Who the hell-" Nigel asked. The car swerved a bit as he tried to look down at the protesting plastic.

"This is Pet. Annie's roommate and partner in crime," Ray said. He lifted the remote up to the dashboard. If the guy was going to be distracted, at least he'd be facing the road when it happened.

"Yeah, well," Pet went on, "you'd better be thanking God above that Ray puts up with Annie's shit, because right now, she's the only one in the mood to put up with your shit! Okay, mister!?"

"Okay," Nigel said in a shocked tone. "Okay, okay."

"Denise isn't in the room, is she?" Ray mused.

There was a scuffling sound from the speaker and the remote fell limply to the dashboard. Ray snagged it as Nigel turned into the hospital parking lot.

"Is she okay?" Nigel asked.

"They're just changing operators," Ray said. He watched the face screen for a moment. Annie's smile burst into view.

"Did Pet tell him off? Buttercup says Pet told him off. Was it a good telling?"

Ray turned to Nigel with a lifted eyebrow. Nigel nodded. He leaned over the seat to look into the screen. "Yes, Annie. Pet told me off good. I'm…. I'm sorry about everything. Really. I've been an ass, but…"

"Yeah, yeah," Annie said. She gave a brusque wave. "Sister dying, self-centered altruism, got all that. You gonna play nice from now on?"

"I…" He looked up at Ray. The other man's blank stare gave him no guidance. "I want to. I hope to. I… No promises, though."

"Honesty!" Annie said. She turned her face to the side. "Who had that in the pool?"

"I'm guessing Buttercup?" Ray asked. "Buttercup's the trusting one," he told Nigel. They got out of the car and headed for the entrance.

"Um…" Nigel paused at the elevators. "About Dionne…"

"She doesn't know we're coming?" Ray asked. "Because you had planned to be putting Annie's bones in the separator about now?"

"Yyyyyyeah," he said slowly, eyes on Annie. "I was just… Hoping…"

"You were about to put me in a blender and hit 'frappe' and you want me to do you a favor and keep your secret?" Annie shouted. Patients, staff and visitors paused in the hallway. Nigel winced. He stayed where he stood as the elevator doors opened.

Ray stepped inside and turned around. "Coming?" he asked. "You have to show us which room we're visiting."

"Right, right." He shook his head and entered, pushing the fifth floor button. "I guess I deserved that."

"Of course," Annie said after a moment. "If Dionne's family, then her duplicitous, murderous, warrant serving brother is family, too."

"There's probably an argument for that," Ray said. Behind the remote he silently mouthed 'beg.' He finished just as the head spun completely around. Annie looked at him suspiciously then turned back to her distant cousin.

"Annie, I won't beg for my sake," Nigel said. "But Dionne's pretty fragile right now. If you tell her…"

"Shut up," Annie said. "I haven't decided yet." The door opened. She waved to command Ray to step forward. He complied.

Nigel stepped quickly past them to lead them to the right room. He knocked gently and went inside. He gestured for them to wait for a second.

Annie was having none of that. She made a commanding gesture again. Ray was already pretty pissed at Nigel so he came in on the man's heels.



Dionne looked dead. Her pale form was shrunken in on itself. The twenty-year-old was probably at the same weight she'd been at fourteen.

Tubes and wires led to both arms, her nose, one finger and a handful snaked under the blanket.

She had a bandana over her bald head and there was a terrific bruise right behind her temple. She lay with her eyes closed and her hands carefully placed on her lap as she dozed.

Ray noted the plastic vomit basin sitting very close to her hands as well as the thick blankets heaped around the frail form.

Annie ignored the indications of medical condition and looked for signs of personality. The Care Bears on the bandana, for example, were bloody corpses. Get Well cards were stuck to the walls with throwing darts.

A world atlas had about sixty bookmarks sticking out of it, probably of 'things yet to do.' At least, Annie hoped it was forward thinking.

A clipboard near her head had a permanent label: Today's Shirt. A Xeroxed outline of a t-shirt had been filled in with a shaky hand. It said, "It is a sign of god's mercy and love that Chemo can be performed with Chocolate. Oh, wait…."

"I like her," the sylph said as she read the slogan. Nigel spun around in shock to find that the two were in the room with him. Ray glared, daring him to make a fuss. He shrugged and gently touched Dionne's shoulder.

"Dee? Dee, can you wake up?"

She opened her eyes. A gentle smile broke out as she saw her brother. "Hey, Bunky. How goes it?"

"Change of plans," he said. "This is, uh… This is Annie." Dionne looked confused as she heard a girl's name and saw Ray standing there.

He lifted the remote to stand it gently on the rail of the bed. "THIS is Annie," he said. "Sort of. I just carry her around."

"Ignore the minion," Annie said regally, "we must talk."

"Dionne, I-" Nigel started to say.

"We need to go find your doctor," Ray said. He took Nigel by the shoulder. "There's some stuff I found in researching your condition."

"There was?" Nigel asked. The slight possibility of hope kept him from resisting until they were out of the room and the door was shut.

Annie turned to face Dionne. "Hi. I'm Annie. I'm told we're related."

"I've never met a sylph before." She reached out a finger to softly touch Annie's shoulder. "Is this some sort of suit?" She giggled, a soft raspy sort of snuffling. "Leukemia isn't contagious."

"I know." Annie steered carefully across the bed to stand on the woman's lap. "I'm not really here. I'm over the state border, operating a remote control that moves this robot.

"I'm your cousin. From Florida. Through Parre?"

"Oh! Right. You lived?" Her expression sank a little bit. "Well, that's good for you, I guess."

"Lived?" Annie asked.

"Yeah. Nigel told me about your risky operation. And how even if you didn't make it, some good might come out of it." She sank back in her pillow. "I'm glad you survived." Her face and tone belied the sentiment.

"Ah. Well, yes, I lived. But there's still good news for you."

"There is?"

"Yep." The remote climbed up the blankets to stand on Dionne's shoulder. "Did you ever take a blood oath?" The great head shook in a 'no.' "Well, by this time tomorrow, I expect you're going to have two blood-sisters."

Dionne held the tiny figure in her cupped hands and stared at the face display.

"One of my owners," Annie explained, "works in a hospital." The remote head turned as if talking to the IV pump. "Effectively my owner," she said. "You'd get me if he died."

"Anyway," the sylph said to Dionne, "she knows one of the oncologists. They're aware of your experimental marrow thingy that your doctors want to try."

------

Down the hall, Ray was pulling a folder out of his back pack. Three doctors stared at the letter he was handing out copies of. Nigel just stared.

"Probably before your plane even left Jax, Denise was on the phone with Banik. One of the problems they saw in your process was just how long it would take sylph marrow to fill the bone space in a human bone. Especially if it's fighting cancer growths at the same time."

"Right," one oncologist murmured. "Twelve times as long."

"Eighteen hundred times as long, actually," Ray said. "And that's a big problem in someone going through chemo and all the other things you're doing to Dionne."

"Which is why we need Annie," Nigel said. "Her only chance…"

"And even with all the marrow in the sylph," another doctor pointed out, "there's only about an 11% chance of successful growth to a useful quantity."

"But," Ray said, "if you put the bone marrow in a healthy person, the chance of getting a useful quantity is substantially greater. Especially with… She told me the name, but it's all medicobabble to me. Banik said that she could accelerate the growth of the new marrow in the new environment."

"Who cares?" the third doctor said. She tossed the letter down on the table. "A healthy person could get a healthy amount of sylph marrow that she doesn't need, sure. But if we're trying to save Dionne, that doesn't help anyone."

"Unless," the second doctor said, one finger on the letter, "we then take that marrow out and give it to Dionne."

"What?" the third doctor asked. She picked the letter back up.

"Fantasy," the first doctor said. "We'd have to have a sylph that's willing to donate, a human willing to be a growth medium, and both of them would have to be acceptable donors for Dionne. And they'd have to be able to withstand this acceleration, whatever it is, without harmful reactions to the marrow."

"Wait," doctor two said. "What's the date on this blood test?"

"THEN," the remaining critic went on, lifting his voice slightly. "We'd still have to find some way to separate the sylph donor's marrow from the intermediate donor's marrow. In a way that doesn't damage-"

"Why?" Ray asked.

"What? What do you mean? We can't put human marrow in her. The treatments that are keeping her alive would kill them off."

"So, what's the problem? He said she had two donors that tried it and if nothing else, the human donations didn't make it worse."

Nigel stared open-mouthed. "Could it work?" he asked.

"Uh…"

"We'd still need those two perfect specimens," protest doctor insisted.

"Well," Ray said, "Ruth's parents left us medical power of attorney. It was for emergencies, but we did manage to call them about this. They're basically good people. Except for one huge blind spot, but that's another issue. They said-"

-----

"And you would not BELIEVE the size of the needle they stuck me with!" Annie was saying. She held a hand to where her hip would be. Dionne just smiled and held the figure over her permanent IV connection. "Oh. Yeah, well…"

"It's okay, Annie," the woman laughed. "I realize that lots of daily needles isn't the same as one the size of a crowbar." She lifted the figure up to her lips and kissed the screen. "Thanks. Even if it doesn't work, thanks for trying."

"You're welcome," Annie said. "But you have to thank Ruth, too. We promised to take her to Saint Augustine, and now she's in a hotel room with this huge-ass bruise over her pelvis."

"Is she with you?"

"Yes. And she can see you."

"Then thank you, too, Ruth. I can't wait to meet you. And even if it doesn't work…"

"Yeah, yeah," Annie said. "Noble to the end, grateful for the effort, it's an honor to be nominated. All BS aside-"

"It's not bullshit!" Dionne protested. She started to sit up in the bed. Some of the electronics on stands started to beep in protest.

Annie's face disappeared from the display. "She doesn't really think it is," a new voice said. "But you're getting emotional. Annie doesn't do emotional well."

"Ah…" Dionne waited until a new face appeared. "Who are you? Are you Ruth?"

"No, I'm Buttercup. A friend of Annie's. Denise is dropping Ruth off near the hospital. We still don't want your brother knowing where Annie is."

"What? Why?"

-------

Ray had held the remote up to show the floor and the room numbers as they arrived. Ruth already knew where Dionne's room was, so she went there.

She had just introduced herself to her cousin Dionne when doctors burst in and hustled her out. Ray gave a brief wave from the doorway, so Annie (and thus, Pet, Buttercup and Denise) knew he was watching over the teenager.

Then Nigel paced the room as Annie and Dee chatted. "He seems to love you a whole, bunch, heaps and lots, Dee."

"He does, Annie," she said breathily. Conversation with Dionne took a while. She faded in and out of clarity. Nurses continued their work while she slept, others quieted until she regained the strength to continue the conversation.

Everyone in the hotel room was pleasantly surprised at Annie's patience. She sat on the pillow and gently stroked the wispy hair. Then she cheerfully picked up the conversation right where Dee had faded.

During one of the little naps, she slipped out to visit the little sylph's room. On her way back to the remote, Pet stepped from behind the lamp and took her in a big hug.

"You're being so gentle and patient with her," Pet said softly. "I'm so proud of you."

"Yeah, yeah," Annie said just as softly. "I'm really good at sitting Shiva. Always wanted to attend a wake for someone half my age." Her voice caught in her throat.

Pet had no idea how to respond. She glanced around in a panic. Buttercup appeared and hugged Annie, too.

"It's not Shiva, Annie," she said. "You're being family. You're being wonderful family to someone you just met. You're really connecting. Even if none of the medical stuff works, you're really making Dee's day."

Annie turned her head on Buttercup's shoulder and started to softly cry.

"Annie?" the TV called.

"What is it?" Nigel's voice replied. "Did the batteries run down?"

"I don't know…"

Pet threw herself onto the couch and donned the helmet. "Hi, Dee!" she said cheerfully. "Hello, Nigel," she said, in a much lower tone.

"Annie's in the bathroom right now. I'm her roommate, Pet. So. How have you been?"

------

In the hospital room, Nigel's face clouded up. Pet realized her faux pas and covered her screen with her clamps.

Dee just giggled. "No one asks me that!" she said. She thoughtfully considered the question as she moved the remote down to her bed table.

"Well, I've met family I didn't know existed. I've made a friend I never heard of before today. And now I've met another…"

"Family!" Pet said decisively. "Ray and Annie's Mom say that sylphs slot into the family tree wherever their owner sits. So Annie and Ruth are your cousins, and Annie's owner's my owner-in-law, so I'm your cousin-in-law by marriage, twice removed. And that also means that Ray's your relative, not your friend, although Denny always tells me that the two are not mutually exclusive, so he can be both. And as far as Ray's concerned, there's just no point to making the distinction, you know? Family means friend means family. That's how his Mom raised him. And his Dad. And how they tried to raise Annie although it doesn't always show but deep down she's…"

Nigel and Dee stared at the remote as Pet drifted to a stop. She looked around for a second. Then she raised her hand and drew the clamp across her throat.

"Denise is making this motion at me. Does that mean I should stop talking?"

"CAN you stop talking?" Nigel asked.

"Not at all, Pet," Dee said. "You don't have to stop until the sun goes out if you don't want to."

"Oh! Okay. Well, I saw when Annie told you she liked your bandana. Do you wear that to indicate your mood as a warning to others? What other bandanas do you have? Do you have anything with Cthulhu on it?"

Ruth and Ray came in during the following conversation. The teen was in a hospital gown and a fluffy robe. She walked a little stiffly to the chair by the bed. Nigel rose out of it and helped her sit down by his sister.

He looked a question at Ray. Ray shrugged. "They'll be giving Dionne the shot in a few minutes." He raised his hands to show crossed fingers. Everyone in the room with hands crossed fingers.

Pet reported lots and lots of crossed fingers in the motel room.

--------

The hospital had small motel-like rooms for visiting family members. Nigel let Ray and Ruth have the one he usually used. He left to grab a few hours at his own apartment.

Annie prolonged her good-night with Dee until she was bodily pried from the bed rail and pocketed.

"You wouldn't treat me like this if I was really there!" she shouted at the end. Dee looked up at Ray.

"She's right," he said with a shrug. "She's a lot less fragile than the remote. I'd probably have to use a screwdriver to get her off."

Ruth kissed her cousin and let Ray escort her down the hall. They passed one of the doctors. "Her blood count's up!" she said giddily. "UP! Can you imagine it?"

"Well," Ray said, "they say that the sylphs were made by magic. Maybe they have magic marrow?"

"Pffft!" she replied. "There's no such…" She paused and shook her head. "Well, if there is, I'm glad it's helping Dee, not winning quidditch."

"Me, too," Ray's pocket shouted. "That Snitch-thing's a pain in the ass!"

They went off to bed.

Right before the remote was plugged into the recharger, Annie raised a hand for Ray's attention.

"We should probably put Cousin Jeff in our prayers, too," she said.

"What? Why?"

"Denise found a parking ticket under the wiper. Except it's the warrant for my 'catastrophic custody.'"

"Oh, my god," Ruth whispered.

"It's okay," Annie assured them. "There's a handwritten note. It says, 'glad there was another option because you really weren't too damned hard to find.' So, uh, we should thank him? I guess?"

"We'll have to," Ray promised. "Once my heart starts beating again."

"Oh, you should see Denise right now," Annie said. "Well? Radio Free Annie has completed its incredibly depressing broadcast day. We now invite you to think of gum drops and lollies as-"

Ray tapped on the feet, clicking them into the power connection. The figure stiffened and the screen went dark. He sat at the foot of his bed and looked across the room at his sort-of-sister. A partial divider gave them limited privacy.

"How you holding up, Ruth?" he asked. She glanced at the remote. "She's not going to be able to reboot the machine until I flip the switch."

"It hurts," she admitted. "I knew it would, you know? And, God, it's much better than having leukemia, but still…"

"You can say you hurt, Ruth," he said. "No one would think you're regretting the decision to help."

"I guess not," she said. She nodded goodnight and moved out of sight.

------

Nigel overslept and got to the hospital later than usual. Dionne's room was empty. That wasn't unheard of so he didn’t quite panic. Not yet.

He did notice that the daily T-Shirt hadn't been updated, but hoped that was a good sign. Somehow.

He walked towards the nurse's station to find out where she was. Then he saw Ruth and Ray. They were in the waiting room, up against the window.

She was crying into his shoulder as he looked more than a little shook up.

"What the hell…?" Nigel asked. He walked up to them.

"It was going so well," Ruth sobbed. "She was looking good, Ray. She was looking GOOD! How could this have happened?"

"I don't know," Ray said. He looked over at Nigel. "The treatment almost worked. The marrow was practically blossoming. But the drug that accelerated the growth? Turns out… Dee was allergic to it."

"What?" Nigel stumbled forward. "Wait, was? Is she…?"

Ray opened his arms to let Nigel join the hug. "I'm so sorry, man, I-"

"This is YOUR FAULT!" Nigel shouted. "YOU value your precious pet over a human life! You KILLED my SISTER!"

"I was looking for a way to get everyone out of this alive," Ray said through gritted teeth. The arm was still up in the air.

"Well, congratu-fucking-lations on that plan," Nigel sneered. "If you'd just let me have the damned thing while there was still time-"

"Thing?" Dionne asked. Nigel turned around slowly. His sister sat in a wheelchair at the door. Annie's remote perched on her shoulder.

"You're alive," he said quietly.

"So it's true? You were going to kill Annie? For me?" she said softly.

"Um…"

"Yeah," Annie said.

"Did you ever think to ask me? If I want to live because someone else died? Especially against their will?"

Nigel's mouth opened but nothing came out.

"G'head," Annie said. "Tell her I'm not a real person. See what that gets you."

"You weren't going to tell her," Nigel finally managed to croak.

"You begged," Annie said. "I distinctly remember that I never promised anything. And you really, really disappointed me at the airport."

"Dee, I just-"

"Wanted to protect me from all the important decisions. Just like always. But you never contemplated murder before…" She shook her head and grabbed the joystick. The chair turned and shot down the hall.

Nigel took a step forward. Ray grabbed his arm, then immediately took a step backwards. Nigel's fist swung through the air. Ray caught the overbalanced man before he could fall.

"I don't know what it will take to make things up with your sister," he said.

"I don't need your advice!" Nigel hissed. He staggered away and braced himself on the wall.

"I was just going to say," Ray said slowly and evenly, "that you don't want to go after her while Annie's in the room."

Nigel froze. He didn't look back at Ray. But he did give a half-turn in the man's direction, and a small nod. He walked out and went down the hall. Away from Dionne's room.

---------

The Fosters, and Ruth, stopped by at the hospital on their way to the airport. All six of them entered together. Dionne's condition was improving by the day and sylphs were safe in the hospital.

Her mood was slowly following. She still wasn't really talking with Nigel, but she tolerated his presence in the room.

Annie didn't. When Nigel looked up to see her in Ray's pocket he started to slide around the group, headed for the door.

"Wait," Annie said. "Please?" Everyone froze. She waved and Ray put her on the bed table over Dee's lap.

She beckoned Nigel to step closer. She kept waving until he put his hand on the table next to her.

The sylph leaned on one knuckle and looked up at his face. "My miserable owner has reminded me of my sister." Dee glanced over at Ruth, but Nigel's look never left Annie.

"I didn't know she even existed for 16 years. Now, as Ray points out, I'd sacrifice quite a bit if I thought it would save her.

"I can't… I can't say I approve of what you were going to do to me. But I can't honestly say I don't understand it. And… Well. Um." Ray cleared his throat.

"Okay, okay! Nigel. I'm not going to apologize for anything, and I don't expect you to. But I forgive you for being a- Well, a loving brother. And I hope your sister can eventually see things from your side."

"Thanks, Annie," Nigel said. He reached out a finger. Annie took the tip and they shook on it.

Dee swept the sylph up and held Annie to her cheek. Nigel hovered until she opened her other arm to draw him into a hug.

That eventually became a group hug that lasted until the nurses started angrily prying everyone off the patient.

Goodbyes were said, thanks expressed, and Ray finally got his charges to the door. Ruth was carrying Annie as they entered the hospital elevator for the last time.

"That was a nice thing you did, Annie," she said. "Helping them get past all the drama. I think it shows-"

"GOD I wanna shower!" Annie shouted once the doors closed. "Master? Can Ruth take me into the bathroom in the lobby? And can I burn these clothes?"

"Annie?" Pet asked.

"You can strip in the car," Ray said with a glance at his watch. "Once we're through airport security, you can take six showers if you want."

"To start," she muttered.

"Annie, what's wrong?" Ruth asked as they crossed the lobby.

"You were there! I had to forgive that manipulative, hateful, hurtful son of a bitch!" She twitched and rubbed her arms. "I feel so dirty."

"Yes, Annie," Ray said. He took her from Ruth's cupped hands and kissed the top of her head. Then he unlocked the rental and held the door for Denise. "It was so horrible, making sure your cousin still has a brother to lean on."

"Well, I sure didn't do it for him!"

Ray and Denise put the sylphs in the central cup holder. Buttercup and Pet glomped onto Annie.

"We're so proud of you, girl," Buttercup said.

"Get offa me! I wanted to set his shirt on fire. But nooooooooo, Ray thought I should be the bigger man. Which is funny as fucking hell, since I'm neither. But still! Leggo! LET ME GO!"

"When they're through, I want to hug you too, Annie," Denise said.

"Have you people NEVER heard the phrase, justifiable homicide?"

Ruth laughed as Ray pulled out of the parking lot.

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