Master of Sardonic Wit

November 28 1993

Mark hadn’t been lying, for the two days that he had met his brother every morning he woke up. Sometimes, he would excuse himself but James couldn't complain. He got through his day with a routine that was repeated every day, something that annoyed him but he couldn't exactly do something against it. His doctors told him each day that he was making progress and that it would only take another couple of months before he would be released from the hospital. His brother helped him with several memories, bringing pictures from when they were younger and by telling stories.

James appreciated the small things his brother did for him each day, together with Kayleigh, the two made sure that James had a somewhat comfortable during his remaining stay there. He was already able to walk down the hallway and back to his room without problems, but he would need a small moment to recuperate before doing anything else again. It was small, but it was progress and only cheered him up. He still had to use the trusted cane the hospital had given him for a little bit of support.

It was just because he still wasn't allowed to put all his weigth on his legs immediately. He found himself to look rather ridiculous with the cane, feeling older than he really was. Mark often joked around whenever he saw his brother with the cane but even James himself knew that it wasn't for long so he allowed his brother to have a little bit of joy. Talking has been progressing too, he finally could form somewhat decent sentences except the basis ones he needed and it amused him greatly to learn new words every day, helped by his immense amount of reading he did each day.

Kayleigh still brought him books whenever he needed some, admitting that she also read several of them before or after she gave them to him. James chuckled at the young girl and was surprised by her honesty towards the older man. The amount of vocabulary and knowledge he got from just reading the books Kayleight brought him, and the internet, even though he knew that it was filled with nonsense and things that didn't even matter as much.

Sometimes, he was given morphine, just to make sure he didn't suffer too much pain from walking around all the time or using his still stiff limbs but they did it in moderation, knowing that it would be better if he learned how to deal with it. Stretching after doing certain exercises was a first, he didn't forget this little detail as his doctors kept telling him when they brought him back in his room. Of course, he had learned this the hard way when he had forgotten this one time and almost couldn't move his legs for the next two days.

Mark had laughed when he told his brother 'I told you so' after he heard the news of his brother's ache and clearly remembered himself reminding James to stretch afterwards, James, being the stubborn man that he was, told his brother he would be fine and purposly forgot to stretch. Of course, James had pouted and complained about his brother teasing him about it for the following days but had taken it and knew that his brother was right, after a few times of rolling his eyes at him of course.

Kayleigh, being the kind girl that she was to James, (and Mark even hinted at him that she might think of something more even though he hadn't met her yet), had made sure his hair was cut, not professional of course, but it had to do for now. It wasn't like he was constant in the spotlight, his waking up had been kept a secret to the business world, who would probably love to get through with him and get him back to work as soon as possible. James had never been more happy to know that he was just a normal guy and didn't appear in the news every day like those celebrities he saw on television nowadays.

Not that he watched a lot of tv, he had his nose more in the books than anywhere else. Mark was suprised by his brother's reading, noting that James had never been a reader before, always claiming to be too busy to do nonsense like reading a book. Of course, Mark didn't protest against the reading habit, him being a writer himself felt himself appreciated when he had seen one of his own books between the stack.

“Where did you get this book?” Mark asked, curiousity taking over him as he looked at the cover of his own book, James looked up from the one he was reading at the moment and frowned a little before shrugging.

“Kayleigh must've brought it with the stack yesterday, why, does it look interesting?” James closed his book and tried to grab the book from his brother who slowly gave it to him.

Looking over the cover, a small smile graced his lips as he read through some of the pages. He nodded and then placed the book on top of the stack next to his bed.

“I'm going to read that one next,” James said with a wink, looking at his brother but probably not even realizing what his brother had with the book.

“Did you even look at the cover?” Mark raised an eyebrow at his brother before James frowned and looked next to him, squinting his eyes to read the title and author of the book.

“Symphony In Flesh .. by ... Mark J. Euringer,” James' eyes lit up as he looked at his brother before shrugging, “well what do you know, it's yours! I never look at the author really, I just read the book and see if it's any good.”

That Mark started to blush when he realized his brother would read one of his books made James laugh. It was something so trival, yet, it meant a lot to Mark apparrently. Of course, seeing that he was only half-way through his current book made Mark sigh slightly in relief and he only hoped James wouldn't get it in his head to start reading it while he was there. James smiled peacefully and closed his book before adding it to the pile of books next to him.

When a young woman entered the room, Mark jumped up slightly, ignorant to the soft knock that she had given them as a signal to her arrival only seconds earlier. James nodded to her in greeting and Mark looked at her appearance really quickly. Her clothing was simple, loose jeans hugging her waist while her t-shirt was too short and showed a small part of her stomach. Her arms were filled with books and a small dark green bag was swung over her shoulder.

“Here let me help you with those,” Mark suggested, taking the books from the young girl's arms and smiling at her sweetly before placing them on the free table against the wall. She thanked him greatfully and placed her bag next to James' bed before giving him a small kiss on the forehead and asking him how he was doing.

Mark watched the two of them and sat back down in the chair he had been occupying for the past few days he had been there. The girl chose to sit down on the small side of the bed next to James and smiled at him.

“Oh, Mark, meet Kayleigh, the one I keep talking about, Kayleigh, this is Darth Vader, damn, I mean, Mark, my brother!”

Mark and Kayleigh nodded to each other in greeting but didn't move away from their spot that they were currently occupying. James smiled and sat up on the bed, stretching his arms above him and swinging his legs over the side of the bed, clearly having the urge to go outside instead of being trapped in the hotel room while it was somewhat nice weather outside, for the time of the year that is.

Shivering slightly but not really caring about the cold wind outside, James was quickly helped by Kayleigh and Mark, who supported both of his arms for a brief moment before he slapped them away, telling them he could handle it while a grin was played over his lips.

Some of the trees on the parking lot outside were starting to loose their gold- and red coloured leafs. It made James msile as they filled the whole open space beneath his small balcony and gave it so much colour even a painter would be jealous of them. Mark and Kayleigh watched him as he clearly enjoyed the silence around him. When they had tried to leave him alone, he had stopped them with his hand and shaking his head in protest.

Looking at him and slightly worrying at the same time, Kayleigh walked closer to him and placed her small hand on his shoulder. Spinning around on his heels, James looked at them grinning before walking inside with a small limp.

“Okay, what was that all about?” Mark asked as he looked at his brother in wonder, actually asking himself why they had just gone outside like that.

“Enjoying nature,” James simply answered with a smile before climing back on his bed, his slippers still on his feet, something that made Kayleigh smile as she saw that her present was put to good use.

“Well clearly, I think that was rather obvious, don't you?” raising an eyebrow at James, Mark crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked at his brother.

“Oh relax Mark, some fresh air never hurt anyone,” Kayleigh said smiling and shrugged slightly before returning to her spot on the bed next to James, who smiled and kept his legs over the side, swinging them a little and looking amazed at the slippers even though he had gotten them almost three months ago.

December 7 1993

James sat on his bed with a map on his lap and a small piece of paper on it. His hand moved slightly from left to right as he wrote several words after each other in a sloppy handwriting. At least, that's what he thought, Kayleigh and Mark both envied him with his classical and loopy handwriting and they didn't hide it. Looking at his own handwriting and taking in the things he had written down, James had to admit that his handwriting had those classical curves and loops, unlike Mark's handwriting he had seen earlier.

Like most writers, Mark wrote small pieces of text or ideas randomly in a notebook, carried with him at all times, just in case. That being known, James often asked his brother for the notebook and read through it. No matter how much Mark complained about it, James would always win the arguement, much to the amusement of Kayleigh, whenever she was there of course. Something that lacked lately.

Exams, she had told him with a sad smile. That didn't stop her from coming over most of the time, accompanied by her books. James didn't mind the studying girl in his room and learned some new things from her and her books or just explained some things that he understood enough to explain it to her in simpler words, even though that wasn't all too hard since he hardly knew any difficult words.

This of course, was a great help to Kayleigh, who was often confused with what was printed in her books. Mark seemed to be of great help too and filled in when James couldn't help.

Every day, the young girl would tell them how the exam went, the good and the bad questins and what she thought to be her score. After that, she would disappear for a few hours to study and return later to do the same but instead of in her room, she would do it with James. It was a routine that lasted a little over 10 days.

“So that means you passed?” James pointed at the 64% with his index finger. The number was printed at the bottom of the page, under a line of many other different numbers. Kayleigh nodded excited and sat down in one of the chairs, sighing happily that the stressful time was over and that she had done well. Standing behind the chair, Mark smiled and placed his hand on her shoulder, giving it a soft squeeze and congratulating her on her score.

“Thank goodness, I was afraid I wouldn't pass Chemistry, yet I did, but just barely, thanks to you actually 'cause I didn't understand shit of it before you explained it to me, ever thought of being a teacher after all of this?” Kayleigh said with a grateful smile shot in James' way who shook his head and waved the complement off.

“You did it all by yourself darlin', I was just there to help you along the road,” James winked before leaning back and resting his head a little.

“Do you have any idea when you're to be released from here? You've been in here for a long time already, it's time you get out and see the world again,” Mark said, moving so he could sit on the chair at the other side of James' bed. James shrugged and rolled his eyes.

“Knowing those doctors, I won't be out of here anytime soon,” James noted, even pouting a little as his eyes fell on the calender on the wall next to his bed where Kayleigh had marked 'Christmas Eve' and 'Christmas' in big pink letters on the right dates. Mark followed his eye and smiled sadly at his brother before placing his hand on James' shoulder.

“Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get out soon, and if you don't, we'll just have some cool Christmas party here, no sweat,” Mark shrugged, assuring James that he would at least celebrate Christmas with the two people that he loved the most and that they didn't care if it was at the hospital or at someone's house.

“Thinking of Christmas, what would you two like to have?” Kayleigh asked, looking at the brothers with a smile. James frowned a little and then shrugged, not really knowing what he needed since he's been in the hospital for the past 5 months.

“No idea,” Mark said, also answering for James who looked at his brother and nodded in agreement. Kayleigh sighed a little and pursed her lips together before leaning back in her chair.

“I'll find you two something, don't worry,” Kayleigh smirked before yawning a little, it was still early in the afternoon yet the day had already worn the poor girl out and the past few weeks have been rather tiresome on her with all those exams and all the studying she had to do.

“Anyway, what do you want Kayleigh? I mean, you've been helping me out a lot lately and I want to repay you for that in some way, is there anything special you want?” James asked, looking at the girl who looked shocked at his question. She hadn't exactly thought of the fact of getting presents herself and was surprised by the question coming from James.

“The things I want are way to expensive anyway, forget about it,” Kayleigh muttered, shrugging a little and making James frown.

“Well there must be something you want,” Mark frowned, knowing that it was just the question that James was asking himself right now.

“Perhaps just a cute teddybear, I got a fetish with them,” Kayleigh admitted shy, blushing a little. James looked at Mark and smirked before shaking his head at the girl's request.

"I'm sure I can find something," Mark smirked, eyeing the girl and seeing her shocked look at his answer.

"This seems like such an embarrasing question to ask right now but, Mark, do you know why your parents never picked up the phone when the hospital called them that James had woken up?" Kayleigh asked, looking rather uncomfortable under Mark's gaze after she asked the question.

"James made sure of that himself actually, he cut out anyone from his family out of his life in fear they would hinder his succes, except me that is because for some crazy reason we always kept some sort of contact, even though it was only one phonecall a year," Mark shrugged, looking at James before hitting his shoulder playfully. James mocked a hurt look on his face and then rubbed the sore spot where Mark had just hit him, pouting.

“Have you thought up on where you're going to live already? I mean, you got to live somewhere after you get out of the hospital,” Kayleigh asked curious. James frowned about it and started to think about it. He hadn't really thought of his life after he'd get out of the hospital.

“The apartmentbuilding where I live still has the penthouse for sale, it's not really classy like most penthouses in New York but it's completed decorated already. If you want I can look for it so you can buy it,” Mark exclaimed, smiling a little at his bed-ridden brother who smiled gratefully.

Kayleigh clapped her hands several times and jumped up and down in her chair in excitement. Both Mark and James looked at her with a raised eyebrow and made the girl blush severly.

“What made you so happy like that?” James inquired, not getting his gaze of the young girl who quickly looked down to the floor to hide her reddening cheeks.

“The thought of you getting out of here of course, this place is driving me crazy and I'm not even staying her day and night! I don't even know how you stand it out here,” Kayleigh admitted, pointing at James who chuckled slightly.

“I'll look for the apartment first thing in the morning but now I really got to run, I'm meeting my publisher in half an hour about the next book,” Mark hurried out of the room and waved over his shoulder briefly. James chuckled at his brother's haste and saw Kayleigh close the door behind Mark since he had been in such a hurry that he had forgotten it.

Patting the free spot on the bed next to his legs, James smiled when Kayleigh chose to accept the invitation without a word and settled down on the spot. Yawning slightly, Kayleigh stretched her arms above her head. Seeing this, James shook his head with a smile and pulled down Kayleigh by the sleeve of her fake-leather jacket so she rested her head on his chest.

“James-” Kayleigh protested against the man as he wrapped his arms around her waist but didn't say more as she found out that laying on his chest like that was actually rather comfortable. He was warmer than she was right now, being covered with a warm blanket the whole time and she had to admit that she was way too tired to protest against the gesture right now.

James silenced her and stroke her hair slightly, smiling when he noticed that she had fallen asleep in his arms. He had expected mroe struggling from her but apparantly she was too worn out to do so. Planting a small kiss on the crown of her head, James leaned back so he was more comfortable and closed his eyes himself, falling asleep only a few minutes afterwards.

December 23 1993

“Silver or red?” Kayleigh asked herself as she looked at the little tree she had placed in James' room with Mark's help. It was a real one, not like the other rooms had, which made James feel special in some sort of way because he guessed that they had gone through hell to get acceptance of the doctors to even place a real tree there.

“What about both?” Mark said, sitting in his regular chair next to James' bed, both him and his brother were forbidden to help Kayleigh with the decorating of the Christmas tree even if Mark tried to inch closer to her to help her anyway, she would glare at him that he had no other choice than to sit back down, putting up his hands in defense.

“What if I don't want both?” Kayleigh pouted, turning around from facing the still bare tree and looking at Mark and James who were biting their lip to make sure they didn't laugh out loud at the girl's persistence of choosing only 1 color. She had arrived at the hospital with 4 boxes of Christmas balls and some more decorations for the tree, existing out of four colors: red, green, silver and even black for some reason beyond James'.

“Just pick one already,” James chuckled as Kayleigh threw her arms in the air and muttered something about them being no help at all. Mark smirked a little and glanced at his brother who was wide awake after three cups of coffee, normally he didn't drink so many of the hot beverage but he couldn't help it. Mark kept saying that his brother was slowly getting addicted to the drink but James kept denying it, claiming that it just kept him awake and that he wasn't addicted at all.

“But I can't!” Kayleigh whined, stamping her foot on the floor and protesting against the fact that she had to choose. James raised an eyebrow at her outburst but shrugged it off as just a woman that is getting annoyed that neither James or Mark were helping her choose but rather annoy her about it.

“Sheesh woman, it's just a color,” Mark smirked, deciding that teasing Kayleigh was the most fun that he could have while sitting there in his chair. Kayleight looked over her shoulder and shot a warning glare at Mark before sighing and sitting down on the floor cross-legged with the two boxes of Christmas balls next to her.

“But it's the theme color of our little Christmas tree so we have to pick it carefully!” Kayleigh complained and pouted slightly at Mark who sighed and sank deeper in his chair, his eyes half-closed. Unlike his brother, he hadn't had three cups of coffee before and felt the effects of sitting down the whole time.

“Fine, then pick red!” James said, chuckling a little and wondering if the girl would start protesting again or just accept it and use red. Kayleigh looked at him and blinked several times, opening and closing her mouth a few times.

“Why red?” she asked, smirking at James who's eyes widened before he groaned and sighed, letting his head hang before shaking it.

“Because I don't like silver, now start decorating that tree woman!” James said, smirking himself and letting the girl know that he was only teasing her. Kayleigh cocked her head to the side for a while before nodding and turning around, taking up the red decorations and starting to put them in the tree.

“It's on moments like these that I wish I could've gotten out of here before Christmas,” James said, looking sat the two people in the room with him. Kayleigh was happily decorating the tree, humming the traditional songs under her breath and Mark had just started to hastly write down some things in his notebook. James was grateful, both of them could just leave and celebrate Christmas with their friends or other family members but instead, they chose to stay with him in the hospital, making sure that he got into the holiday spirit.

He would be lying if he said he didn't appreciated the things the two did for him. Kayleigh especially was doing a great job as staying happy as ever, having brought a radio and dancing to a CD of Christmas carols. Even some of the doctors and nurses had come into his room to see where the noise was coming from, only to leave again with a shake of their head.

Kayleigh took pride in decorating the tree and would sometimes start all over again because she claimed she could do better than what she was doing at the moment, often receiving a groan from Mark who just told her to get it over and done with, yet, always with a smile and letting the girl know he was just teasing her.

“There! All decorated and pretty!” Kayleigh exclaimed and took a step back to admire the small tree. Mark looked up from his notebook and paragraphs of text he had just written and frowned slightly.

“It's missing something,” he muttered, taking in the details of the decorations and the bright lights flickering in the tree. Kayleigh frowned and found herself hitting her forehead with the palm of her head.

“We forgot to put the presents under it!” Kayleigh half-yelled before darting out of the room and leaving both men in a daze with their mouths slightly open at her reaction.

“Well we can't forget those,” Mark rolled his eyes and grinned a little. James sighed and swung his legs over the side of his bed, standing up with the help of his trusted cane that was now ever present next to him.

“What are you-?” Mark sighed and then shook his head before putting his hands in his pockets and muttering a soft 'nevermind'.

“Laying in bed all day is boring enough, but try if for five months and then it starts to really annoy the hell out of you!” James blurted out as he walked around the room for a while, “can't you like, bring me some new things to do?”

“Well...” Mark started, “not reallly.”

Knowing that he was going to be stuck here for a little while longer, James sighed and nodded before walking to the balcony and taking in the fresh air, glad to have the possibility to actually go outside without really leaving the hospital. He had been told that not a lot of rooms had a balcony so he was grateful for having one.

“One thing is sure, It won't be a white Christmas,” James pouted, “damn movies, always portraying that the perfect Christmas is one with snow while we barely have snow in the first place.”

Mark chuckled at his brother's annoyance. He had made sure that James had seen all of the most important Christmas movies, just to get him into the spirit and to entertain him during the long days. Knowing that it wasn't going to snow this year, James would just pout and blame it on the movies for getting those hopes up.

“I got the presents!” Kayleigh's sing-song voice came from inside before she dumped them on the table next to the tree and ran outside, practically dragging James back inside by his sleeve before pushing him down in one of the chairs so he was sitting down again.

“If you get sick on your first Christmas. I'll ... I'll ... I don't know what but I'll damn do something!” Kayleigh threathened him, pointing one finger at James while her other hand was resting on his shoulder in a way to keep him down.

Carefully entering the room after Kayleigh and James, clearly enjoying the interaction between the two yet, looking at the girl in fear that she might yell at him too. James however, took it all in and started to grin befroe taking Kayleigh's hands in his own and standing up, easily towering over her. He gently pushed her down the chair that he occupied earlier and bend down to her eyelevel.

“I appreciate the mothering. I really do, but I won't die from a bit of fresh air darling, and if I get sick, you can hit me or whatever,” he smirked before letting her hands go.

Kayleigh blushed slightly and bit her lip, refusing to make eye contact with James. She was still a little jumpy whenever James touched her for long periods of time and made eye contact with her at the same time. She claimed that it was because of what had happened a few weeks prior when she had fallen asleep on his chest. James patted the girl's head and stood up straight again before slightly limping to his bed and sitting down on it.

Visiting hours are now over, a monotone voice said over the intercom. Kayleigh looked up in alarm and grabbed her cellphone to check the time.

“Mom will kill me if I'm too late for the early Christmas dinner!” she muttered before pecking both brothers on the cheek.

“I'll be here first thing in the morning! Goodnight boys!” she yelled over her shoulder as she ran out of the room in a hurry, her bag swung over her shoulder in a sloppy way.

“Well that was ... interesting. I'd better get home too then, mom will call about Christmas again and we certainly don't want to miss that” Mark rolled his eyes in sarcasm at the last part before leaving the room.

James smiled tiredly and grabbed the first book on the stack next to him. Maybe a little reading could calm his nerves about Christmas eve tomorrow. Although he doubted it would since both Kayleigh and Mark kept telling him that he was just like a kid on an overdosis of sugar waiting for santa to arrive. The only difference was that he wasn't a kid and that it was an overdosis of coffee.