WELCOME HOME

Four more days passed and still no sign of pneumonia. Though Alistair was quite weak and tired easily, the doctor was letting him go home, with certain cautionary instructions in place as well as being accompanied by an Inogen One. "I still want you to have
oxygen therapy available," the doctor explained. "Not that you'll need it constantly, but use it at night for a while and during the day if you feel you need to."

The Inogen One was an Intelligent Delivery Technology for oxygen, very portable as it was 11 1/2 inches by 6 and weighed less than 10 pounds. "It's a concentrator that makes its own oxygen so it never has to be refilled," he smiled, showing Alistair and Ahnna how the device worked. "It's also very quiet, which is nice when you want to rest, and is so intelligent it detects shallow mouth breaths while you're sleeping and increases or decreases the oxygen flow according to your needs."

Getting dressed was more activity than Alistair had had for some time and wore him out. By the time he'd been discharged and wheeled to the patient pick-up area, he was sagging markedly. Maximus and Joimus had come to take him and Ahnna home in their station wagon, and the General held carefully on to Alistair's elbow during the transfer from the wheel chair to the back seat of the car. They weren't even out of Coffs before Alistair had sagged to the side and was sleeping on Ahnna's shoulder.

She was feeling very uncertain by now that he was truly ready to leave the hospital, but the doctor had said what he really needed now was a lot of rest, a lot of chicken soup, and a lot of tender loving care. As he sagged more, she pulled his head down to her lap, loosening his seatbelt enough to accommodate that.

Cort had spent the morning on a walk with Merry, then brushing her till she shone. He sat a long time with her, rubbing behind her ears, leaning his forehead on hers. "It's time, girl," he whispered, "time to go back to your Master." It had been not much over a week and a half that he'd been taking care of her. How could he so completely have lost his heart to her so quickly? He'd known better than to let himself love another man's girl. At least he'd thought he had. Obviously it wasn't the case, however. Looking up at a wall clock, he sighed. "Time, Merry, time to go," and got to his feet, going with her out the Meridius' front door. He was going to walk with her to the mill, stretching out the moments remaining to him.

Maximus pulled the station wagon as close as possible to the door of the mill, then went around to help Alistair out. Alistair had woken about five minutes earlier, and smiled as he looked out the window, glad to be back, glad to be away from the sounds and smells of the hospital.

"Take it easy," Maximus urged, holding his arm tightly.

"Easy is all I do any more," Alistair smiled wryly.

They were steering him toward the bedroom but he protested that he wanted to see his office first. "After all the community has done to restore it," he said, "I owe them at least a quick look."

His eyes widened as he went through the doorway. Everything, absolutely everything, was fresh and new and clean, much better than it had been before. With the money from the sidewalk sale and Andy's jar, Joimus had been able to buy new furniture for the room. "It...it's just like the one I had," Alistair said wonderingly, resting his hand on the back of a new recliner.

"That was deliberate," Joimus explained. "The relationship between a man and his recliner is a nearly sacred thing."

Alistair was walking on his own now, admiring the newly-built wall, the paint job, the curtains and carpet. There was a magnificent antique roll-top desk with dozens of cubbyholes. "Where...?" he asked.

"Maximus," Joimus said. "He saw it at a shop in Coffs and said you needed it."

"Than...," he began, his eyes still lingering on the desk as he just began to turn.

The front door opened and Merry thundered through the living room, immediately scenting Alistair. She ran headlong into the office and leapt up on him. He was totally unprepared for it and she completely knocked him off balance, sending him falling sideways into the table beside the recliner, both him and it landing on the floor.

Cort, horrified, and hard on Merry's heels, grabbed her collar while Maximus and Ahnna bent over Alistair, who seemed slightly stunned. "Are you all right? Are you all right?" Ahnna kept repeating frantically.

Alistair couldn't talk for a moment and just pressed his hand to his chest. Maximus slipped his own hands under Alistair's arms and got him into the recliner. Merry, aware she had done something less than circumspect, tucked herself behind Cort's legs. "I'm so sorry," Cort said. "I...I didn't think she'd do that."

Joimus had fetched the Inogen One as Alistair seemed to be gasping a bit for breath. When Ahnna had him settled and his cannula in place, she looked from Cort to Merry to Maximus. "I think it's too soon, maybe way too soon, for Merry to be around Alistair." Her eyes went back to Cort's. "Would...would you mind keeping her for the time being? We just can't have a repeat of this." She turned to Alistair, who was pale, had his eyes closed, and was just quietly letting the oxygen flow into him.

"Of course," Cort replied, nodding as he still maintained a tight grip on the pup's collar. "Are you all right?" He repeated Ahnna's question that Alistair had not yet answered.

"I...I'll be fine," Alistair wheezed. "No harm done."

"Not this time," Maximus said, "but we'll not have another."

When Cort had gone, taking Merry with him, Maximus and Ahnna helped get Alistair to bed. He slept again immediately, the oxygen still in place. As Maximus went to the bedroom door, Joimus appeared on the other side. "Ahnna, I've stocked the refrigerator with home-made chicken soup. Should be better than what he's been getting in the hospital." Taking Maximus' hand, she added, "We'll leave you two now but we're only a phone call away, Ahnna. Day or night."

"Thank you both," Ahnna replied appreciatively. "You are the best friends we could possibly have."

She heard the station wagon drive away. She and Alistair were home and he was in their bed where he belonged. For the first time there was room, was freedom from wires and IVs. The Inogen tube went off one side of the bed, a small matter compared to all she'd been dealing with for so long, and for the first time there was room for her on the bed beside him, beside him where she belonged. Slipping her shoes off, she lay down, cuddling against him, tears of gratitude stinging her eyes.