Recovery

"So where exactly are we going again?" Angel looks out the small window of the jet as the two of them fly out over the blue waters. This is the first time Angel has flown as a legitimate passenger upon a plane. Let alone a private jet. Mary smiles to him and giggles. "I already told you. We have to go check up on Lizzy. She has been in isolation for almost 3 months now, and after Katherine's last visit, Felix is worried about her. Even Auntie is concerned."
Mary Puts down the paper she was reading, replacing it in the folder marked confidential, and picks up a small journal to begin writing in it. "We are going to our "vacation" island in the southern Caribbean. For all intent and purpose it is a private island and on very few maps. Father bought it for us just after I was born and whenever we want to get away that is where we go." She smiles and reaches for the drink Angel had previously made for her.  She looks back to Angel and smiles. "I take it you have not flown often before? You will have to get used to it eventually, especially with our jobs. Now might I remind you that while on this trip you are still under strict guard. Felix insisted you come with me in case the demented has another episode and attempts to do something rash. He seems to trust that you will be able to keep me safe; much to my agreement. I wouldn't have insisted that you become my personal guard if I thought you were lacking."
Angel looks to her, not quite sure how to take that comment, but smiles none the less. "I will be more then able to keep you safe if something should happen. & I am to guess that I am to keep her safe as well? Mr. Felix hired me as a body guard to all you ladies as well as assigning me to you as a personal guard whenever you have to venture out of his sight.  I never would have thought that you do so many things other than the singing and stuff. I mean I know you are not touring right now but running your own fashion house & lines, Katherine running the basic meetings of the Midnight Corp, and all of you picking up the slack your sister left behind. I mean wow." He draws a quick breath realizing what he just said and looks to her. "Uh…Sorry I didn't mean it to come out like that. I mean not that she means to slack off or anything, with what she did and got into, and uh…well with what happened…" he lets his thought trail off as he looks to a frowning Mary. She had glanced off out the window, and he sighs slightly. "I am sorry….I will shut up now." As he turns back to his window he sees that they are now starting to circle a small, densely covered, tropical isle."
Mary sighs and closes the shade over the window. Angel had noticed, while traveling with both Katherine and Mary that they both did this when their flight either lifted off the runway or began decent to land. Mary, after a moment, opened her eyes and turned them towards him. "It is alright, you meant no harm, and all of this is still new to you as well.  I guess, well really known, that for the last two years or so we have all had to fill in for her. You probably noticed that when we stopped the Phantasmic tour abruptly, and dropped off the earth except for the few CD's and singles we would put out. I am honestly not sure how or why we have stayed so popular. But that's in the past now. The guy she hooked up with was bad news. I never understood why she went with someone like that but if I had to guess it would be to get back at Mama for some reason." She sipped on her drink again. "But you can't tell the love struck what to do or what to think. We all knew she was in trouble but really couldn't do anything to help her. All we can really do now is support her while she starts to rebuild herself, mentally, physically and emotionally.  Kind of scary now that we realize we have to protect the protector."
Rick, their pilot and chauffer for the trip, crackled to life over the speaker from the cockpit.  "So how are we doing back there you two?  We have arrived in the Isles air space and will begin our decent in a few moments. I just contacted Tally and she says that everything is clear and ready on the landing strip. She also says they weather is a beautiful 73 degrees with a slight breeze. Also she sends her wishes for you Mary, saying you will have your work cut out for you on this trip. The last of the male employees and family members have been moved to the main land as of last week and Ms. Elizabeth has secluded herself again. You all might want to buckle up just in case. You never know what might happen." Rick quickly banks the plane, causing Mary to scream, then straightens out laughing. "Sorry I couldn't resist. Promise a smooth landing from here in though."
After a few moments Angel looks to Mary again. "So what exactly is going on, with her that you have to come all the way down here? I know you have the degrees in everything mental and you are the family psychologist, but if Ms. Elizabeth hates you, the way everyone in New York says, then how is this going to help?" Mary pauses and looks to him after a moment smiling sadly. "While it is true Elizabeth and I are not on the best of terms, and she does not openly care for me, she will not consciously harm me like she would a family outsider. Felix wants me to check and see how she is progressing with her mental and emotional state. He is less concerned for her physical state due to her advanced healing. Her body will take care of its self. He honestly does not want to keep her on this island, and as Cleopatra continually states, that may be doing more harm than good. Unfortunately with what occurred before, she is being seen as a sever liability to have back at either home."
Angel frowns slightly, and rubs his head. "Wow that's kind of a harsh thing to say. What happened?" Mary picks up her drink and takes a sip, then returns the glass to the table & looks to him. "She attacked Rick and a few other people since she has been away." Her face is blank, almost if she has completely removed her emotion from this situation. "Angel do you remember when you pulled Izzy out of that apartment? How she looked, and how she acted?" He thinks for a moment and nods. "Yeah she was almost a skeleton; she had almost no life to her and was just kind of there." Mary nods. "At that point she had, given up the ghost so to speak. She had depleted her body to the bare minimum it could survive on, and even that was taxing it. Her mental state at that point was just as bad, if not worse, and she in a sense snapped. She was waiting for death to take her & at that point she probably would have welcomed it." Mary paused for a moment to let him absorb what she had said before continuing. "When you brought her home, and Cleopatra met you in the basement car port, she was quickly put on a gurney and whisked away.  At that time Felix decided to accept you as a Level 3 family member and guard for us all. He was impressed with the way you handled the situation and were not shocked by her appearance. Even though to you it would not seem strange, with all that you have seen that is. Anyway two days after you brought her here, she regained conciseness and Felix made the decision to send her down here to recuperate, away from prying eyes and everything." She sighs softly. "Sadly I think it was hardest for him to do that. He comes down here a lot but says she will not see him. Don't understand why that is though."
Angel takes a drink from the soda can he has been nursing for the last 30 minutes. "So what? I mean if she has been down here for three months that should be enough time to recover right? I mean in a tropical paradise almost anyone could be better after that much time."  Mary shakes her head sadly. The plane shakes slightly as the two can feel the wheels drop down to land & the engines reverse to slow them as they land on the beach and taxi to a stop. "Shortly after she came here, apparently she attacked a male staff member who was looking after her; Then after that another two just as she was out walking about.  Anna came down to check on her, along with Rick, and could only contribute it to animal instincts; either a fight or flight response. We are after all still lizard based. If she felt threatened or felt that she was being advanced upon, she would have her fight response kick in. Izzy, as we have found, does not necessarily know the meaning of the world flight. After the fourth attack Tally decided to evacuate the men from the island. She will not restrict Elizabeth's movements as that could make her worse feeling trapped.  Most of the men have been moved to the closest Isle and are being taken care of by our family.  Once they were moved out Tally noticed that Izzy calmed down and there were no further attacks. Felix is worried now, especially after Katherine's last visit, as to how she will fair in the real world so to speak. Since there is no way to make sure men will not encounter her, Felix does not want her as a liability back in New York."
The plane stops and Rick comes out of the cockpit a few moments later to open the side door and stairs for them. As the stairs lower Angel stands and escorts Mary out to the ground. An older woman, of Asian descent, was standing at the foot of the stairs. The woman raised an eyebrow at him and then turned to Mary opening her arms for a welcome. "AUNTIE TALLY!" Mary squealed and launched from beside Angel, almost knocking him to the ground, to hug the older woman.  It was clear that Mary had not seen this older woman in quite some time from the way she acted.  "It's so good to see you. How have you been? How is everything down here going? You look wonderful, I told you those salt scrubs would work wonders. How is everyone else doing? I heard about what happened is everyone alright?" Angel sighed as Mary once again became her chatter box self and wandered away with the woman, down a small stone path.
Angel looked back to see that he has been left to carry the bags along with Rick. As he hefted the bags down from the plane Angel noticed that Mary had brought 6 bags while he and Rick has a small backpack or duffel bag each. As he sighed Rick chuckled at him. "Don't worry about it, or take it to heart, you will get used to this with her. She does this all the time. I am surprised though, that Felix let you come down here with her. Normally only a few of us get to come here, so he must really think you're something to let you come; especially with you being so new to the team." Rick closed up the plane and started down the path the two women had taken.
After a few, minutes of walking they came upon a large antebellum style house. It was a mixture of wood and stone construction, with a large wrought iron fence around it. As they approached Angel let out a small whistle of amazement which was met with a chuckle from the front porch. As he looked from the house to the porch he saw the older woman sitting on a rocking chair watching them. She had a drink in one hand and a small note book in the other.  She watched him as he approached behind Rick and climbed up the stairs. She looked to Rick as he placed down the bags. "Why send him with her? He's just going to get beat too you know." Rick shook his head at her comment. "Nah Tally, this one's right. He is a lot stronger then he looks you know. Besides she owes him one since he pulled her out of it. She might have forced a good bit from her head about that night but I have a feeling she will remember him." Tally watches him and then turns to Rick. "What is he? He ain't normal. Either way it doesn't matter. If Lizbeth will respect him for that then he has a step up on her. You know she attack Him when he came to visit her last weekend right? Gave him a good go too, he finally had to just lay her out." She shakes her head slowly. "I am not sure what has gotten into that girl. She has more hatred in her then anything I have ever seen, and with what Felix found out about her, that's going to be a big issue if she can't control it." She reaches for her drink from which Angel can smell the alcohol content from where he stands. "I have no idea what happened up there but from the anger, hurt, and distrust she is in it had to be pretty bad. I hope that Mary can at least help a little bit, I want my little Lizzy back."
Rick sighed and patted her shoulder. "Now Tally you know I would tell you if I could, what happened to her, but Felix has you in the dark for a reason. That reason I don't know & I don't think I want to know either. He has not told much to us up there either. But that is neither here nor there. Where now did Mary run off to? Has she gone off to find her yet?" Tally shakes her head. "Nah, I got Mary into her bed for a rest. You know that flying takes it out of her, and with what she has to contend with she will need all the strength she can get. Now I would suggest you head on and get some rest too. We have a luau style meal tonight for everyone. I am kind of hoping that will bring her mood up at least a little bit. The way she looks I swear that poor thing hasn't eaten in over a year." Rick sighs at her. "If you knew how right you were Tally you would not be happy." Tally shakes her head at him. "Now enough of this chat. You need to show him where he can rest and get some rest yourself.  I will wake you before meal time." She waves them off and goes back to rocking and drinking.
Rick bowed to her slightly then picked the bags back up and headed inside with Angel following. "She may seem a bit off but there isn't a better care taker if you are sick. Don't let her get to you though, for she will try to set your nerves. Now your room is on the right side, last door down that hall. I will be in the one on the left side of the hall. Now get I have to check on a few more things before I turn in." He wandered off towards the main hall, leaving Angel to head down the hallway to his room on his own. "Well this is going to be interesting. I hope I am not missed for too long, and I hope, from what they say, I return in one piece." He opens the door to his room slowly as sleep starts to hit him, and as soon as his bag is down on the floor he flops onto the bed and drifts off into sleep.