#lostinthehalls

(With characters from my novels, “Lost in the Halls” and “Finding Justus”)

October 26th, 2013

 It had been five months since the shooting. Five months since Aria and Karter Selnon’s life changed as they knew it. Aria lying nearly lifeless in a growing pool of her own blood wasn’t enough though, it was the doctors informing Karter that her HCG levels were elevated and she was in fact expecting their third child that really sealed the deal on the situation. Aria always assumed that by her third pregnancy she’d be an old pro, but dealing with her body changing and healing from a gun shot wound at the same time wasn’t exactly what she had pictured when she imagined having another baby. And this time was different, after two boys (three if counting her 7-year-old, man-child husband) she was finally getting her girl, and if her pregnancy symptoms were any pre-curser on how their daughter would act, she was going to be a stubborn little fighter who enjoyed wrecking havoc on her mother’s body. Or as Karter swore, Aria’s little clone. There was no textbook written on how to recover from a gunshot while being pregnant, but it definitely didn’t include spending 8-12 hours a day breathing in autopsy fumes in the morgue, much to Aria’s dismay. She was all but ready to pull her hair out when she found out she’d have to take the entire pregnancy off from work. While she knew logically that her children and own health were more important, she didn’t know what she was going to do without her demanding job to occupy her mind. Too much time alone baby talking with toddlers led to overthinking, which led to poking around family members murders and trying to find killers, inevitably getting shot. While she was definitely in a unique situation doctors (including herself) didn’t see often, they recommended bed rest and having Karter take the rest of the pregnancy off from his job to tend to the needs of their two-year-old Noah and eleven month old Tanner. The first month she was too sick, in pain and overall weak to care that Karter was invading her personal space, but as morning sickness diminished and her gun shot started to heal Aria had to fight the urge to gouge his eyes out on a daily basis as she felt Karter was so close he wanted to share her skin. She was already sharing her body with one child and had Tanner physically hanging on her at almost all hours of the day; with Halloween approaching she needed to get out of the house--fast, or there was going to be another shooting.

 Being almost six months along and despite her skin stretching, the gun shot wound being all but healed up the doctor said it was okay for her to be on her feet for a little while. Well, that’s what Dr. Selnon said, and Karter knew better than to argue with her, especially having been kept away from her beloved murder cases for nearly six months. They could have gone anywhere she wanted. Over to her dad’s, take the boys to the park, go to the cemetery to visit her mom…but no. Halloween was a week away and Aria knew she couldn’t leave the task of the morgue’s annual Halloween party in the very capable hands of the other medical examiners, forensic investigators and detectives. Aria hadn’t gotten to visit the morgue as much as she pleased since the shooting, because due to her sutures she wasn’t able to drive and needed to depend on Karter to chauffer her around. He thought this was simply hilarious, as the person who always made fun of his driving habits she now needed him for even the simple task of driving to the drug store to get diapers or to the morgue to pick up a death record. She hadn’t gotten to visit her friends and colleagues at the morgue in a while and Karter could tell she was starting to go a bit stir-crazy as she’d never been away from work that long. She loved being able to spend time with her boys during the day and be there to feed them lunch, although missing out on the action was nearly killing her. Thankfully, it had been a slow couple of weeks and there hadn’t been any interesting or stomach turning cases she was forced to miss out on. No deaths often met dozing off at her desk but for being on medical leave it was a sigh of relief. Although she hadn’t officially been offered the position of chief medical examiner quite yet, everyone knew it was only a matter of time as she’d been running the morgue with an iron first since she first stepped foot in the building nearly four years before. But dropping by for a visit was very different than showing up in the morning to work. She needed to make sure there was no active murder cases that had her best friend Hattie and the rest of their crew hole up in an autopsy suite, and that it wouldn’t be a distraction to have her two babies all over the place, along with her husband who had a tendency to touch every little thing he found and whine about how creepy the place was. Thankfully though, the feeling of absence was mutual and as the rest of the morgue was itching to get their boss back offered to relieve her from house arrest and help with some Halloween preparations.

  “Are bodies here, mom?” Noah spoke in his tongue-tied toddler talk. The two year old did the best he could at scaling the stairs leading up to the autopsy suites and Aria’s office as he clutched his mother’s hand tight for balance.

“Yeah the bodies are upstairs baby.” Aria replied, stopping every few steps to look over her shoulder and see what happened to Karter and Tanner. She’d usually fly these stairs a good three times on a daily basis but she learned you walk a lot slower when you have a toddler walking up with you.

“I see them!” He exclaimed loudly, a bright smile covering his face. Noah was quiet like Aria, but when he got excited about something he’d start rambling with words you couldn’t even make out in his two-year-old tongue.

“I don’t know if you can see them.” Aria chuckled, “Mommy’s not working with the bodies today, we’re going to help Auntie Hattie with the Halloween party, does that sound like fun?”

“Yeeeoooaa. For Hall-eeen I go to bodies and say boooo!” Noah was so excited he used his hands to embellish that one, letting go of Aria’s grasp for a second before grabbing back on. That little boy made her heart swell; there was no doubt, even for a second that he was her son. From his giant brown eyes to crime loving heart, he was her kid. Stopping on the stairs once again, Aria turned around trying to spot her husband.

“Where did Daddy and Tanner go? We all drove here in the same damn car and started up the stairs at the same time.” She mumbled. “I swear out of all the times I try to lose him.” How long did it take to walk up a flight of stairs? She was pregnant, injured and walking with a toddler, it’s not like they were sprinting.

“We’re here!” Noah announced when they reached the autopsy floor. He may be the only two year old on the planet who was so excited about visiting the morgue, but it was where mommy was most of the time and the place he could run back and forth in the halls after hours. Moments later she heard labored breathing coming from behind her. She turned her to see Karter appear at the top of the stairs, winded, panting and holding the 35lb 11-month-old who was slowly slipping from his arms. He looked as if he had just run the marathon and now was about to face his death, and by the look on Aria’s face and daggers in her eyes it was very possible he was about to.

“What happened to you?” She insisted. “I didn’t know it was possible to lose someone on a stairwell.”

“Yeah…well…” He tried to defend himself but was coming up empty handed.  “You were flying up here like this room had the very last of the oxygen supply left on earth.” Aria was halfway through rolling her eyes when she heard the small whine coming from Karter’s arms.

“Tanner.” She cooed, extending her hands towards her husband. “Karter, give him to me.” Karter didn’t argue, desperate to pass over the roly-poly baby. The second he felt his mother’s skin on his, Tanner visibly relaxed and rested his round head on Aria’s shoulder. “Hi turkey.” She placed a kiss on his chubby cheek. “I missed you too, I only saw you every hour last night.”

“That kid needs to start walking.” Karter stated, clearly winded. “You need to start walking buddy, you’re almost at 40lbs.” Aria placed her hand under one of his leg rolls and hoisted him up, before shaking her head.

“Please wait Tanner. I already spend most of my days chasing boys; I could deal with this one being immobile a little longer.” Taking hold of Noah’s hand, she turned the corner, Karter close at her heels.

“We’re here!” Noah called out again, his little voice echoing off the walls. “’Tie Hattie” Was the best he could make out of ‘Auntie Hattie’ as he tore his hand out of Aria’s and running down the hall towards the fellow ME. Seeing the toddler coming full speed ahead, Dr. Hattie Rutherford crouched down to his level just in time to catch Noah midair. Hearing his little giggle, Aria’s resident Mercedes and Det. Bellamy Crawford came rushing out from one of the autopsy suites to see the little boy.

“Noah!” Mercedes gushed, taking him from Hattie and tossing him in the air. “Hi guys.” Aria greeted as she and Karter walked towards them. “Happy Halloween.” She turned Tanner around in her arms, showing off the little shirt he wore that read, “My Mom Digs the Dead” At his body being held out for show and tell, Tanner let out a whine of protest causing all the attention to switch him.

“Hi chubby boy.” Bellamy said, squeezing his cheeks together. Tanner was definitely not as into the Halloween spirit the morgue brought as he nuzzled his head deep into Aria’s neck, trying to hide himself. Setting Noah back down, Hattie took a few steps towards Aria and placed a hand on her stomach. She knew Aria couldn’t stand having her stomach touched while she was pregnant but was more interested in how her wound was healing.

“How are you feeling?” She asked.

“Doing pretty good, feeling good.” Karter answered, completely oblivious that the question was directed towards his wife. From where she stood, Aria wrinkled her forward in both confusion and annoyance and gazed up at Karter.

“Yes…because you’ve been suffering a great deal.” She rolled her eyes, “I’m fine, thank you. One of us is still getting up with Tanner every hour throughout the night and managed to get the house all decorated for Halloween while on bed rest.”  She stated, clearly pleased with herself. She then gestured towards Karter. “I don’t know what he does all day.”

“So when are you coming back?” Mercedes exclaimed. “It’s horrible here without you.” Aria beamed full of pride, she did love being needed at her workplace.

“Did the chief assign someone good to take over for me when I’m on medical leave?” She questioned. Checking behind her to see if the chief medical examiner was close by, Bellamy shook her head, her eyes wide.

“We need you back.”

“If it were up to me, I’d be back here the day after she’s born.” Aria joked. “Push her out and go straight to a crime scene.” Karter gave her a playful, and almost disturbed pat on the back.

“What a sweet thing all men want their pregnant wife to say.” This had been a fight squabble they’ve had at home many times, as Karter wanted Aria to be a stay at home mom and keep away from murders but she couldn’t imagine her life without them. Without her job, she would have never found the man who murdered her firstborn. She rolled her eyes at her husband’s remark.

“If all goes well with the birth and my body actually remembers how to do what it’s supposed to after the shooting, hopefully I’ll be back six weeks after she’s born.”

“Let’s first make it the rest of the pregnancy without you jumping in front of a bullet again, that good?” Karter said. All he caught were the whites of Aria’s eyes as

Hattie leaned forward, giving Tanner’s blonde fuzzy head a rub.

“Crazy to think it’s already this little guy’s first Halloween. Last year he was wearing the same costume as baby girl.” She poked Aria’s stomach playfully.

“You’re telling me.” Aria muttered. “I don’t think I’ve ever taken a negative pregnancy test in my life.” She boosted Tanner in her arms.

“Are you ready to be a big brother?” Hattie asked him, smoothing his shirt down. “Are you going to be nice to your sister?” Aria chuckled,

“He’s not the one I’m worried about. I can already tell she’s going to be a little shit-head and probably beat up her brothers. The Selnon men are all such babies.” Her eyes shot over to Karter for a second, but he was already prepared.

“Yeah well from what I’ve heard from your dad, the Nolens women are all bullies!” He shot back. She raised an eyebrow as if to insinuate, ‘bring it on big boy’

“Mom!” Aria instinctively turned her head towards that name, the same way she did if someone called ‘Doctor’ Noah was pointing to a room down the autopsy floor.  “I go check the bodies now? Kaaay?” Realizing she created a little monster, Aria shifted Tanner in her arms, following him down the hall.

“I don’t know if the bodies want to be checked now, baby. They’re sleeping.”

“Dead.” Noah replied. He really did take after his mother.

“Okay you got me.” She agreed, “But it’s almost Halloween buddy, they’re getting ready to come back for that night.” Karter smiling at the interaction between his wife and eldest. He really hoped their daughter looked exactly like Aria.

“Selnon! Hey, Selnon!” Mercedes called in a loud whisper, rushing quickly down the hall. She placed a finger to her lips, mouthing, “The cops are in there doing an identification with the victim’s wife.” Aria’s eyes grew wide in shock as Det. Crawford rushed by her.

“Yeah, don’t let Noah go near there. She’s trying to identify her husband, I gotta go in there now and it’s not a good one.”

“Shit.” She muttered through clenched teeth, quickly shoving Tanner in Karter’s arms and sprinting down the hall to her son. It took all the self-control she had not to pop her head into the autopsy suite and take a look, but it wasn’t her murder.

“Come here baby.” She said in a rushed whisper, trying her best to keep her voice low. “Let’s go help Auntie with Halloween decorations.” Noah shook his head.

“You need to go get bodies, Momma.” She bent down the best she could without feeling like her organs were going to fall out through her incision and lifted Noah on her hip.

“I know bud, I’ll be back to seeing the bodies once your baby sister is here and I’ll tell you all about them.” She walked as fast as she could down the hall with him, as she knew anyone under eighteen wasn’t allowed on the floor during identification. Much less, a toddler.

“I want da bodies.” He whined, his little two-year-old voice threatening with tears.

“Honey, honey honey.” Aria soothed, giving him a kiss on the cheek. “Don’t cry. When you find my body you can become just like mommy and spend all day here trying to find my killer and hunting down the man with the crescent moon shaped scar, okay?” Noah nodded, blubbering through his tears.