That Wasn't So Bad... Was It?

They'd had time to rest, now. Thankfully... Duo was especially happy he hadn't had to go back to Sally just yet. Mia was, too. She didn't want to hear him keep whining. However, he had to go this morning.

Jess had gone into school for a SIFE meeting and to catch up with Barbara on what she had missed while she was gone, so Mina took him in. He wasn't allowed to drive, yet, not that he would have wanted to.

"I take it you guys are glad to be back," she said. She had talked to some of the others, but hadn't heard it from him, yet. Duo nodded.

"You could say that," he said, giving her a small smile. "It was a rough few days. I kinda wish I had been able to do more." Mina smiled.

"I'm sure everyone understood," she said.

"It's not really that, Mina... I just..." He shrugged. "I hate not being able to do anything." She chuckled.

"I know the feeling," she said. "If it makes you feel better, once you're ready, I'll even go the court with you." Duo chuckled as well.

"Yeah... and I know you hate basketball."

"I always was more of a volleyball girl." She shrugged, giving him a quick grin.

"Mr Maxwell?"

"That's you." He nodded and got up, a lot steadier now than he had been. Mina picked up her book as he followed the nurse into one of the exam rooms.

She helped him up onto the table and then placed his chart in the little bin outside the door. Duo propped his crutches up in front of him, folding his arms and leaning his chin on top of them as he stared off at nothing. After a few moments, he closed his eyes.

"Tired?" He looked up as Sally came in.

"I guess," he said as she closed the door behind her.

"Alright... let's take a look at you. Lay back." She took his crutches from him as he laid back on the table. He was thankfully no where near as stiff as the last time. Having a few days to rest up after the trip had helped, too, that was for sure. Sally noticed the difference right away.

"Well, you're improving pretty quick," she said, sounding pleased.

"Yeah... I guess so," he said.

"Those bruises will be there for a few weeks, yet," she continued, "but I'm hoping to get you off the crutches by next week. I want you to start trying to move around with just one."

"One?" He sat up and looked at her. She nodded.

"Opposite side, since that's how arms move for walking anyway," Sally explained. "If you're comfortable with it. If it's too much, don't do it. But... don't overdo it." Duo frowned. "I know you too well. Take it easy, and listen to what your body's telling you. If it hurts too much, or if you feel unsteady, go back to two. Only put as much weight on it as you can handle." He nodded. "In the meantime, I'm going to put you in an aircast for support. I don't want you walking on it without it, alright?" He nodded again.

"Alright."

"I see the swelling's gone down nicely," she continued. "You've been icing it like I told you?" He nodded. "It'll probably get swollen again as you put pressure on it... that's normal. Just keep putting the ice on it. If it gets really bad, then back off." She made a few notes on his chart.

"What's really bad?" he asked.

"If it gets as big as it had been when you first hurt it," she said. She smiled at him. "Don't look so nervous. You'll be fine soon enough." He gave her a sheepish smile. Sally chuckled. "It's going to take some time," she told him. "And it'll probably seem like a really long time for you... but you will get better. I promise." Duo nodded.

"Okay..."

Homeward Bound

"I can't believe it," Jess said. She was standing at the check-in counter, watching Marta repack her bags. One bag had come in over the limit for 'free shipping', so to speak. She was going to have to pay extra per pound. So, since the other was several pounds under, Jess was now watching her friend repack her bags so they evened out under the weight limit. "I told you there was too much," she said, feeling strange as Marta moved her clothing around.

"I'll get it..." she said, insisting. Once that was settled, the girl informed them that there was a two hour storm delay.

"Again?" Jess asked. "We have no luck with weather on this trip. We had a three hour delay on the way here." She sighed. "Are we at least going to make the connecting flight in Cleveland?" The last thing they needed was to have to redo their whole flight schedule again.

"Yes, that's already been taken care of," the girl said.

So, after going through an extremely thorough security checkpoint ("You want to put that wand where?"), they sat in the small waiting area past the gate for an hour and half as they waited for the plane to arrive.

"I should call my mom... I'm not sure what kind of ride arrangements my parents figured out for today," Jess said, pulling out her cellphone and calling. Not sure of new arrival times with the delay, Jess told her mom she'd call again once they were in Cleveland.

Back on the small planes, Duo had been stuck with the whole gate check thing again because of his crutches.

"I'm never flying again," he growled. "At least... not until there's some decent sized planes out there." Mia just laughed at him. The group rushed across the terminal in Cleveland just in time to find out they had another hour to wait.

"No wonder they said things were taken care of," Jess said. "Our next flight is delayed, too... she could have told us that." She flipped open her cellphone and called her mom again... but she'd already left work. Slight panicked, Jess called her dad after getting her mother's voicemail on her cell. "She already left work," she said. "I can't reach her."

"Alright... I'll let her know," her dad said. "Stay calm. It'll be fine." Jess nodded.

"Okay."

"We'll get it worked out, kid," he said. "I'll see you when you get home."

Jess's phone chimed after she hung up.

"Who's that?" Quatre asked.

"Voicemail... Strange... I didn't hear it beep while I was on..." Jess listened to the message, which she had received while on the plane to Cleveland. Michelle wasn't feeling well and was asking if she could get her the work for class that night. Jess laughed and called Michelle back, getting her friend's answering machine. "Sorry, Michelle, but I'm stuck in Cleveland at the moment trying to get home from the SIFE competition... we're not due to leave here until a quarter after 5. I doubt they'll get me back to Patchogue by 6, so I'm going to need someone to get the work from, too." She chuckled. "If you can get in touch with Theresa... ask her and then pass word to me if at all possible, okay? Thanks. Talk to you soon." She hung up and then took the gate check ticket from the attendant who was circling through the crowd. She attached it her to bag as she listened to Duo start complaining to the attendant about how they needed to get some bigger damn planes. He yelped slightly as Mia smacked his shoulder hard to shut him up.

Jess yawned as they boarded the plane for their fifth flight in as many days.

"I'm going to take a big nap when I get home," Marta said.

"I'm with you on that one," Jess said. She watched out the window as they disappeared into heavy cloud cover. Long Island was under dense fog. Next to her, Marta had closed her eyes as they felt like it was getting faster and faster in the landing. Jess watched, a solid grey out her window until suddenly they were only about a mile above the ground. Jess gasped.

"Don't do that," Marta said, but she looked nonetheless.

Once down, they came into the building and headed for baggage claim. Jess hugged her dad, glad to be home.

"Oh, here," Marta said, opening her bag. She handed Jess a box of spaghetti. "I had got this for you at job fair." Jess laughed.

"You really didn't have to," she said. Her dad gave her a weird look as Jess laughed and took the box anyway.

"I have so much to tell you," she said with a laugh. "But I think I'm going to take a long nap in my own bed first..." He laughed with her as they headed out, box of low-carb spaghetti in hand.

The Final Four

Everyone had met up at the finals. Jess kept going back and forth to get the free ice cream Healthy Choice had out for the students.

"It's my dinner," she said when someone asked.

Naturally, the final four schools were phenomenal. The automated presentations that were perfectly timed with the speaking members of the teams were filled with multimedia videos, music, and soundbites from the various projects. The teams didn't cover every project in their presentations, nor did they have them all in their annual reports. They had chosen to highlight the particularly successful projects that had been completed that year, and listed the bare stats for other projects on the last page of their reports.

Jess found herself completely impressed.

"We are so outclassed," Walter said quietly. The rest of the team couldn't help but agree.

"How can we possibly expect to compete with these people?" Janine said. "They've got teams of over 200 people. We only have 15."

"We're also only a second year team that made it to Nationals," Jess said. "Think of the bright side here. Some of these first time teams have been trying for seven or more years to make as far as we did in two." The group thought about that for a moment.

"We can do this again," Joe said. "You'll see. We'll be back next year... and we'll be better."

"Go SIFE!" Jill said. The group cracked up.

They waited to hear the winners, Flagler in the 4 year, and LSU at Eunice in the 2 year, and then gathered their things.

"Come on... let's go get a quick meal," Patrice said. "Some of us have an early plane to catch."

The Infamous Job Fair

Jess looked around as they came up the escalator for the fourth time that weekend.

"This is huge," she said, noticing all the companies there. "There's gotta be something here for me..."

"I hope so, too," Marta said. They started in, Marta stopping right away at one of the first tables. Jess wandered slowly, taking in the feeling of the place first. They weren't the only ones there, either. As they wandered, dropping off resumes (though Jess hadn't found a single direct IT position) and gathering small giveaways, they ran into Paul, Joe, and a few others. IT wasn't doing well, so it was going to take a bit more filtering to prevent herself from getting depressed over too many 'no, sorry's'. As it was, Jess didn't have much luck, and didn't get any offers for interviews either. She'd try again next year after she graduated to see what people thought. It was a long walk through the fair, too, and Marta was making sure she got everything the different companies were giving away.

"Dr Laube, there's free food!" she said.

"She's grabbed at least one of every item here," Jess said quietly to the professor as Marta headed off down the line. They sat at a table in the back of the fair. Jess's back had begun to bother her from being on her feet for what seemed like four days straight. She was glad she'd brought an extra pair of shoes.

"Here," Marta said, putting some stuff on the table. "I got this for you. It's free!"

"Thanks," Jess said with a laugh. "Of course, I have no room to bring it home with me. You're going to have to buy another suitcase at this rate, Marta." Dr Laube laughed.

"Professor Newman said same thing," she said, sitting down with them. "The finals are coming up," she then said.

"Do we have time to head back and change?" Jess asked.

"Not much, I wouldn't think," Dr Laube said. "When do they start?"

"I'm not really sure... I told the others about seven," Jess said.

"Hey, guys! It's starting!" They looked up. Joe Newman was waving them over.

"Guess that answers that," Dr Laube said. They gathered their things and headed over.

"My bag is so heavy..." Jess complained as she was dragged into the other side of the convention center.

Small Discussion

One of the biggest attractions at a SIFE competition is the job fair. Jess was thrilled with the idea hitting it and seeing what was available. After they got back from the Crown, Jess changed into her suit, grabbed a few resumes, and headed for the fair in the Convention Center.

"What time did she say they'd be back?" Mia asked.

"She wasn't sure," Duo said, flipping channels on the TV. "But the big competition is tonight."

"It's the finals, right?" Duo nodded.

"I think it's that last four," he said. Quatre looked up.

"They called it Final Four and Sweet Sixteen... though there were twenty in the semi-finals this year," he said. "I'm not sure what they called it though."

"Probably something to do with twenty," Duo said. Quatre blushed, but smiled.

"Probably," the blonde Arabian said.

"Are we going to head over for that?" Sage asked. "I'd kind of like to see it myself."

"I want to know who they lost out to," Rowen said with a small chuckle. "They had the semi-finals this morning, right?"

"Yeah," Mia said. "The two-year schools had their finals this morning, too. Their winner will be announced tonight with the four-year winner."

"What time is that at?"

"I think seven." Duo glanced at his watch. "We've got time if you want to take a shower," Mia said. Duo sighed.

"It's funny what you take for granted..." he mumbled, rubbing his leg.

Aftermath

Morning came. Jess had finally slept through the night. No one came banging through the hotel to wake people up, and that was somewhat reassuring to her. A small group got together to walk over to the Crown Center that morning, meeting up in the lobby downstairs.

The walk was longer than they thought, which illicited a few complaints from Marta and Kathie, but they made it well enough. Jess and Janine were amused that most everyone had worn their SIFE shirts and black pants while they had on 'normal' clothes.

"I didn't want to look that much like a tourist," Jess said. Janine laughed and nodded in agreement.

Traffic lights were out in town, which meant the power had been affected by the storm. It didn't seem to matter. There were a few cops on the busier corners, but even those corners weren't busy by the standards of a group of New Yorkers.

"I wonder what they would do if they ever saw New York City without traffic lights," Mia said with a small chuckle.

"They'd probably panic and run home," Jess said. They crested the hill and walked into Union Station. It was a large historical building that had once been a large train station. It had since been converted into a shopping center.

"Now this is what I was looking for yesterday," Marta said, finally happy. Joe pulled out his camera.

"Okay, everyone in front of the waterfall." He waved them all together. Jess whipped out her own camera and snapped a shot of him taking a picture. "Don't take a picture of me!" he said. Everyone laughed.

After checking a few stores, they crossed the walkway up to the main shopping area. Jess snapped a few pictures of the monument and the large fountain out front as they went. Inside, they found a ton of gift shop type places, including a cute little restaurant done up like a trolley. The name across the top was "Streetcar Named Desire". Jess took a picture of that, too.

They found all sorts of souvenir type things.

"This is better than Plaza," Marta said. Jess nodded.

"Yeah... we shouldn't have listened to that cabby..." she said. "I could have gotten that stuff at home."

"You did get that bag," Marta said.

"Yeah, but I need that for the trip back... I'm not dragging that suitcase around if we're going to be stuck on small planes again," Jess said with a laugh. "You had to go MacArthur."

"It was closer than JFK," Marta said.

"JFK's got bigger planes."

"We wouldn't have had to listen to Duo whine as much," Mia said. Quatre laughed.

"They might have had a direct, too," he added.

"Okay... next year we travel different," Marta said. Everyone chuckled.

"We also travel together next year," Patrice said.

"Within reason," Jess said. "Those times you got were nuts."

"The school wasn't going to pay for this to be a vacation," Joe reminded them.

"Not a vacation... just enough time for peace of mind," Jess said. "You saw how cranky everyone was when you finally got here... The four of us that arrived the day before were rested and ready to practice. Everyone else wanted a nap. It'll be easier the day before, not for vacation purposes, but just for the sake of sanity."

Once they had hit a few shops, they began the journey back to the hotel. Kathie suggested finding another way than walking, but there were too many of them for a cab. There was a bus stop right outside the Crown Center.

"We want that one?" Marta asked.

"Here... 56... Country Club goes right past the hotel... two blocks over," Jess said. "It's the one we took back from the Plaza the other day."

"No... we took 54," Marta said. Jess shook her head.

"No... look at the sign. 112th St."

"But... we took 54." Jess clenched her jaw.

'Why does no one listen to me?' she asked herself. 'Do I really look that stupid?'

"We could just ask the driver of the next bus that comes by," Janine said. And that's what they did... and Jess was right. She sighed as they took a seat, staring out the window as Marta rattled off how she was certain it had been 54 on Sunday.

'I can't wait to go home,' Jess thought.

The Competition

"What happened?" Duo frowned as the group took seats in the back of the room.

"I'm not sure... we just went over time," Jess said quietly. Some of them went to another room to watch some of the other teams.

"How? You guys had it perfect at Regionals." Jess shook her head.

"I could feel it about halfway through," she said. "It just didn't feel like us when we were up there."

"You didn't sound like yourself," Duo said. "You seemed scared."

"Me? or the group?"

"You." Jess sighed.

"I guess I was."

"We would like to welcome the next SIFE team," the room coordinator announced. The next team entered the room. Jess went to another room after the team was done to watch the World Cup Champions from two years ago, La Sierra University. Duo had gone back to the first room when he saw how crowded La Sierra was. It was standing room only, and he didn't want to get knocked over. Still unsteady on his crutches, Duo was nervous about falling.

As it was, they'd had to find an elevator for him in the building because the only other way up was an escalator again. Duo was really beginning to hate escalators.

Of course, getting him back and forth from the hotel and the convention center was getting to be another test in his balance. The hotel was on a steep hill and going down was rather precarious... even for someone not on crutches. Elsa had almost fallen the night before when they were returning from the opening ceremonies. Duo wasn't much better off. In fact, he was probably worse off for it.

Either way, when the competitions were done for the night, the group made their way back to the hotel and had a late night in the restaurant downstairs. They talked and drank and ate... and avoided mentioning the five tornadoes that were circling the city.

"Vultures, I tell you," Jess said. "They're circling like vultures."

"I remember a tornado..." Jill said. "We were in Florida. I threw myself on top of my daughter as the windows blew out all around the house."

"I've been in one," Walter added. "It gets really still right before it happens." Jess shuddered.

"I don't like the idea of them... I really don't," she said. "I don't mind thunderstorms anymore, and I'll even go outside and watch that incredible lightening streaking down from the sky like we saw earlier, but..." She shook her head. "I don't like tornadoes. They actually scare me."

"That and fires, right?" Duo asked.

"Fires... facinate and frighten me at the same time," Jess said. "I like watching them, but I want to know where it is. If I'm home sleeping and there's the chance that I might not wake up before it gets me... that scares me." She shook her head. "It took me a while to get past having my car burn to nothing when I was driving home from school several years ago." Mia's eyes widened.

"You never told us that," she said.

"I had bad car accident," Marta said. "Last year... They were surprised I survived. It's why I wanted to travel day before. My leg hurt a lot when we finally got here." Duo sort of made a face, but jumped in his chair a bit when Jess poked him.

"Well, I'm done," Patrice said at that point. Everyone had their fill of drinks and everything else by that poing. "I think I'll head up to the room." With that, everyone seemed to agree.

Everyone except Jess. She stayed in the bar downstairs, watching the weather channel.

"You can go to bed, you know," Quatre said. "I'm sure someone will come up and wake everyone if things get bad."

"I guess..." Jess watched as the red line across the bottom scrolled an update on locations across the screen. "I'm a heavy sleeper, though..." The TV began beeping again with the Emergency Broadcast signal. Quatre put his hand on her shoulder.

"Come outside... Jill, Julie, and Walter are out there." They walked outside. The small group was talking tornadoes as a streak of lightening came down outside town, right between the buildings. Jess shuddered again. Two other SIFE students from another school were also out there.

"Where are you guys from?" the one girl asked.

"New York," Julie said. "We're not used to this kind of weather." The group laughed.

"Neither are we. We're from North Dakota." Jess looked up as another streak made itself known across the sky.

"You know," she said, "I wouldn't normally look up standing on a city street like this." Walter laughed.

"Yeah, in New York, that's the mark of a tourist," he said. The two other girls laughed.

"Of course, it probably is here, too... like any large city... but there's no one around to notice that I'm looking up," Jess said. "I guess it doesn't matter much."

"It's really deserted here," Jill said. "And I don't think it's just the weather."

"No," Walter said. "It's hard to believe how quiet it is here."

"Even the Plaza was less crowded than I thought it would have been on a Sunday," Jess commented. "I mean... I really do feel like I'm up in Buffalo again. We had enough time to stand in the middle of the street up there and snap a picture without interruptions."

"What time?"

"It was like noon."

"Now that's deserted," Walter said with a laugh.

Eventually, the group broke up. Jess was still nervous about going back to her room. They were on the 16th floor, and she felt like she wouldn't wake up if someone pounded on the door to evacuate.

"I'm sure Kathie'll hear it," Walter said reassuringly. "She'll get you guys up." Jess nodded.

"Yeah... I hope so."

We're Now in Kansas, Everyone

"This is a city, right?" Jess asked Marta quietly.  Marta nodded.  "So... why does the concierge have to call for a cab?  Shouldn't there be some driving around looking for fares?"
 
"You would think..." Marta said with a shrug.  "The other not coming?"  She looked around.
 
"Mia's on her way down, as is Quatre," Jess said.  "Sage is in the workout room, Rowen's still sleeping, and Duo doesn't want to do anything that requires walking."  Marta chuckled.
 
"I understand... I was on crutches, too," she said.  "It sometimes hard."
 
"After watching Duo for the last few days, I could see how it would be."  Jess smiled a bit as Mia and Quatre joined them.
 
"So... do we know where we're going?" Mia asked.
 
"The Crown Plaza," Marta said.
 
"Isn't it Crown Center?"
 
"Plaza."  Jess blinked. Walter put out his cigarette and just shrugged.

"I'm just following you guys," he said.
 
"I don't remember," Quatre said.  "That van driver was just talking like crazy the whole trip."
 
"He mentioned that tall monument," Mia said.  "What's near there?"
 
"I have no idea," Jess said.  "Maybe the cab driver will know."

That was when the cab driver pulled up. They got in.

"So, where ya goin'?" he asked.

"The Crown Plaza."

"The Crown Center?" he asked. Marta frowned.

"No... Plaza."

"You mean the Plaza downtown."

"Oh my God," Jess mumbled.

"We want shapping place, to buy things," Marta told him.

"Oh, then that would be the Plaza," he said. "Where you from, anyway?"

"We're from Long Island, New York," Marta said.

"Oh! Well, the Plaza's like New York... Lots of shoppin' there."

"Uh-oh," Jess mumbled.

"I love how people think things are like New York," Mia said quietly. Quatre smiled.

"The shuttle said something about a Crown," Marta insisted.

"There's no shopping at the Crown," the cab driver said. "It's all at the Plaza. You know that Kansas City is the City of Fountains? We've got almost as many fountains as Paris."

Jess looked at Walter, who rolled his eyes. She leaned on the door and stared out the window.

"Not to mention we have to look like tourists in our matching outfits," she mumbled. "I so didn't want to wear my SIFE shirt and pants to go shopping." Walter coughed from trying not to laugh too hard.

"He said we could walk," Marta said.

"Oh, you don' wanna walk to the Plaza from there," the cab driver said. "It's really far. Up and over the hill... and there's lots of walkin' once you get there."

"Is it a mall?" Jess asked.

"A mall? Whaddya mean?"

"Nevermind..."

Once they determined that they were going to head for the Plaza, the group fell quiet. The cab driver complained a bit that they had taken the KCI shuttle from the airport instead of a taxi, but Jess didn't say anything on it. Marta was doing enough responding for all of them.

"We're going to need to go through our presentation again," Walter said. "We're not good on the time."

"I know," Jess said. "The thing is, we're not timing ourselves. We speaking from the hip. That's great and stuff, but it's not reliable for time. The presentation isn't organized enough."

The driver stopped. "Down that way is the Plaza," he said, pointing.

"I think we get out here," Marta said.

"You sure?" the driver asked.

"Yeah, this'll be fine," Jess said. "What do we owe you?" They paid him and got out.

"This isn't a mall," Walter said.

"We're not in New York anymore," Mia said.