Something always comes up

Endless gifts

Cara went to her room and lay on her bed after going to the bathroom, and somehow immediately fell asleep.

In the morning, the doorbell woke her up.

A few minutes later, they knocked on her door.

"Yes?" She answered, getting out of the bed slowly.

"Where do you want us to put it?" The man asked. He seemed like a delivery guy.

"What is that?"

He got inside the room and put the huge box next to her bed.

"You're new temporary bed" Nathan said, following him

"What?"

"It's a mechanical bed so it will be easier for you to get out of with your injury. And that way you can still sleep with your mom and nobody has to see Stuart wearing his Mickey underwear on in the morning."

"Oh that's nice but I can't accept that. Plus we get to see him this way every morning so…"

"Of course you can!"

"No, I can't. It's really nice of you but these things are expensive and I don't need them that much! I'll be back up in a week or so!"

"Consider it a gift!"

"What for, again, thank you, I love the thought, but I can't"

"Like a late birthday gift then. I didn't get you anything"

Cara wanted to say no again, but she knew it was pointless.

"Well thank you then. But can I donate it afterwards? I won't need it and there are people who really do"

"Well, it's a gift… but I guess, yeah, it's yours now"

"Thank you" she said, hugging him.

She let them set it next to her bed and ate breakfast with everyone.

And then she sat with Nathan to talk about what happened before the incident.

"Well, I didn't want to say anything since we didn't even get to talk about it" he said "not that I'm complaining, why this change of mind?"

"Well.. I thought about it, and why not! I mean, things can change right? Maybe, hopefully for you, I'll feel the same way"

"So you're… forcing yourself?"

"No! I'm not forcing anything, I'm clear about it aren't I? I, at the moment, don't feel any romantic attachment to you. But I like you so anything can happen"

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure. Come on! Hey guys!"

Mary, Stuart, Caroline and even the delivery guy looked at her.

"Nathan and I are gonna start dating" she told them

"What about…" Stuart started but Mary put her hand over his mouth.

Mama doesn't need to know.

"Yay!" Mary said as Caroline just smiled.

"Mom?" 

"I thought you already were dating when we met!"

Everyone smiled.

Then Nathan stood and said he was coming back in a few hours. Cara didn't know, but he was going to the airport to pick up her brothers who came to surprise her. Caroline had asked him if he could go.

A few hours later, he came back and as her brothers entered, Cara screamed of joy, hurting herself a little as she got up too fast.

They hugged her and said they weren't planning on doing anything.

"But since you can't move…" Ben said

"What, everyone knew?" Cara asked as they greeted each others like nothing

Everyone nodded.

"How long was this planned?"

"About a month" Alex replied

"Omg you guys it's so good to see you" Cara said, still smiling

"Yeah well, I had to wait with Nathan for THREE hours because his plane was late" Alex said, pointing at Ben. "But it was cool" he added

"So, hum, now I really have to go" Nathan said "see ya"

They all waved at him before getting back to talking about life and everything.

"How long are you here for?”

“I’m leaving with mom” Alex said

“And I’m leaving the same day” Ben said

About a week later, Cara could walk and live with no problems, just not get back to work. She spent the week going out with her family, visiting New York and discovering new restaurants.

On the weekend, Nathan asked her to meet him outside her building.

“Hey” She said, kissing him “What’s up?”

“Remember when I told you the bed was your birthday gift?”

She nodded

“Well, I lied. I just wanted you to keep it. Here’s your birthday gift” He said, showing her a yellow convertible.

“The car?” She asked

“Yeah” He said, smiling and handing her the keys.

But she was not happy.

“What’s wrong? You don’t like it?”

“I like that you thought about getting me something… But I can’t accept this”

“Of course you can”

“Nathan. I already have a car. I don’t need a new one.”

“But it’s a gift”

“It’s a way too expensive gift. I really don’t wanna seem mean, I really appreciate the gesture, but you can’t get cars for people as a gift. It’s too much. Especially since we don’t even know each other for that long”

“It’s not expensive to me…”

“I know. But it is to most people. And I don’t want you to spend this much money on things that are not needed. At least, not for me” She handed him the keys back. “Please take it back”

“I can’t”

“What do you mean you can’t?”

“I’ve registered it everywhere. It’s too late”

Cara sighed before she caressed his arm.

“Can I gift it to someone else?”

“You really don’t want it?”

“I don’t need it.”

They sat in the car, her on the driver seat and him on the passenger’s.

“Are you mad?” She asked

“No, I’m not mad” He replied “I’m sad”

She leaned her head over his shoulder.

“I’m sorry. But I don’t want you to spend money on things I don’t need. You can buy them for yourself, but I don’t want it”

“What would you like then?”

“Things normal people can buy? Things I could buy by myself. Not things I can’t buy just because I want it in the moment”

“Like a trip?”

“Yeah, for example. Or shoes. NOT thousand dollars shoes, normal basic shoes you can find at the mall nearby”

“Like things you could buy whenever you want?”

She nodded

“But I can afford way more, I could buy you things you want but couldn’t”

“I know. But I don’t want you to. If you wanna spend that much money, it’s better spent for people in need. I don’t need a car, but I know someone who does. Can I give it to him?”

“Sure. It’s yours, you do what you want with it. Who is it?”

“There’s this guy, from the night shift, in my house. Mitch. His car broke last month and he’s been looking for one since then. Thing is, unlike you, he cannot afford one on the spot. And he also has three kids, so I could afford it before he could.”

“That’s nice. Do you wanna go now?”

She nodded.

“I’ll follow you” he said, getting out of her car to get to his.

She parked in front of the entrance, blocking the fire truck's way.

“Hey Moore, just because you’re good doesn’t mean rules don’t apply to you” Christian told her as he saw her get out of her car.

“Chris, Chris, Chris. It’ll only be a minute, is Mitch here?” She asked after hugging him

“Yup” He replied before shouting his name. “Miiiiitch”

Mitch joined them outside the firehouse.

“Hey Cara” He said “What’s going on?” He asked Christian

“Cara wanted to see you. And get your damn car out of the way.”

She smiled and turned to Mitch.

“Did you find a car yet?”

“I’m still trying to get the price down on one. Why?”

“Catch” she replied, throwing him the keys.

“What’s that?” He asked as she smiled and showed him the car

“That, is your brand new car”

“What?”

“Hey guys, come see what Cara got Mitch!” Christian shouted, calling everyone out.

“Are you serious?” He asked as she nodded, still smiling

“You’re lying” he said, touching the car

“Oh my God” he added, hugging her.

“Don’t squeeze too hard” Cara said

“Oh sorry, wow, thank you thank you” he said, kissing her on the cheek. “But why?” He got inside.

“Now get that out of the way” Christian said, making everyone laugh. And as he started the car and drove it a few feet away, Cara stopped smiling and put her hand on her chest. A sudden weird pain struck her. She couldn’t breathe.

They ran towards her and helped her lay down as the medics grabbed the bag and intubated her, without knowing what was going on.

Nathan had ran out of his car as he saw her fall.

She could finally breathe, with the tube in, but couldn’t talk.

She grabbed nathan’s hand and wrote “mom” with her fingers

“I’ll get her” He said, running to the car.

After a fast exam and a few hours of surgery, Cara opened her eyes to see her mom, Nathan and her brothers.

"Where's the cop?" She asked

They both looked at her weird.

"What cop?" Caroline asked

"The asshole one" Cara replied

"What are you talking about?"

"What happened after the scan"

"You lost consciousness during the scan" Nathan told her

"Oh" Cara said

And then she told them about her dream, which she thought was real. They had found a bullet in her chest and she kept saying she doesn't remember ever being shot. And the cop insisted until she had a pannick attack and turns out they had lied to her to catch the cop being bad.

"You actually had a pannick attack during surgery" a doctor told her as he heard her.

"Wow" Cara said

"Actually you just had trouble breathing but we didn't know why. I guess now we do. I'm doctor Zahir" he said "what really happened to you is a piece of you rib went through all the antibodies and got stuck near your oesophagus, causing you trouble breathing. We got it out, we also did a few checks to make sure it won't happen again"

Cara nodded as he kept explaining to her what happened.

"You should be back up in a few days."

"Could I get back to work?"

He smiled.

"Sadly, no. It's gonna take you a few months considering your work"

Cara nodded. She had to try.

"Well, we were supposed to leave tomorrow, are you trying to force us to stay?" Ben asked

"Well, if you can!" She replied

" I called the company to get another flight and it's more expensive than this ticket itself to change the day"

"I can buy you a new one" Nathan said

"Thank you but no. I don't want you paying for things like these"

"Please, I'll be happy to"

Caroline kept refusing.

"I gotta get back to work" Alex said as Cara looked at him. "Did you really think mom would survive with her retiree money" he added

So she looked at Ben.

"I'm a foreigner in a new job. I can't risk losing that" Ben said "but hey, you have your fire family, don't you? And Nathan" he added as the latter looked at him

"Hey how about we go to the airport tomorrow and I'll try to convince them to change the date?"

"I really tried everything" Caroline said

"Please let me try?"

She finally agreed and they all left Cara as visiting hours were over.