After everyone except Alex had been shooed out of the room, Doctor Faraday examined Daniel.  Other than some weakness, which the doctor was certain would pass, the minister appeared to be fine.

“I want to run a few blood tests to be sure, but, as far as I can see, there’s nothing wrong with you, except for that flesh wound in your arm.”  The doctor shook his head.  “I don’t think I’ll ever understand this whole thing.  I certainly have a lot of questions for you and your brother.”

“When can I get out of here?” Daniel asked.

“Once we get the results of the tests back, and assuming that everything checks out all right, we’ll have you moved out of the ICU and into a regular room.”

“Why can’t I just be released?”

“Not yet.  We’re going to want to monitor you for another day or so to be on the safe side.”

“Well, as long as being a patient doesn’t mean that I can’t visit my brother, then I agree.  Otherwise, I’m checking myself out, with or without your permission.”

“Daniel, you should listen to the doctor,” Alex said.

“Alex--”

Doctor Faraday held up his hand, a faint smile on his face.  “I can’t forestall your argument.  You can visit your brother, Mister Cooper.  There is no policy against patients visiting other patients, as long as a communicable disease is not involved.”

A few minutes after the doctor had left, Bonnie and Cliff came in.  They halted in shock at the sight of Daniel awake and sitting up in bed.

“Daniel!” Bonnie cried.  She ran forward and engulfed him in a tight hug.  Then she cupped his face in her hands, her eyes scanning his face.  “Are you all right?  Do you feel okay?”

Daniel smiled.  “I’m fine, Mom.  You don’t have to worry anymore.”

Cliff was standing at his son’s side.  Daniel looked up at him and thought he detected a faint sheen of tears in the man’s eyes.  Cliff’s hand came out and rested on his shoulder, holding it in a firm grasp.

“We’ve been worried about you, Son,” he said in a roughened voice.  “Are you sure you’re well?  Has the doctor been here to examine you?”

“Yes, and he said I’m fine.  I’m just a bit weak.”

“What happened?” Bonnie asked.  “Does this mean that Rollie is awake, too?”

“No, he’s still unconscious.”  Daniel looked back and forth between his parents.  “You know about the whole thing between me and Rollie?”

Cliff nodded.  “It was explained to us.”

Relieved that his parents knew, but curious about what their thoughts and feelings were regarding it, Daniel said, “I’m awake because Rollie blocked that part of the link, the part that connects us empathically.”

“Why did he do that?”  A terrible thought occurred to Bonnie.  “Daniel, Mangela said that Rollie would sever the link if he knew he was going to die.”

“I know, Mom, and, for a while, I was afraid that’s what happened.  But the doctor checked Rollie and said there’s no sign that he’s getting worse.  Then Mangela and I figured out another reason why Rollie would do it.  He doesn’t need my help anymore.  He’s strong enough to go it alone now.”

“Then he’s going to be all right?”

“He’s going to live, and I hope that he’ll be all right.”

“We’ll keep him in our prayers, Son,” Cliff said.  He shook his head.  “To be honest, I still don’t  fully understand this . . . connection of yours.”

“Neither do I, Dad.  But it’s an amazing thing, and I thank God for it.  Not only do I have a brother, I have a companion who will always be with me, no matter how far apart we are.”  He grinned.  “And we’ll never have to rack up any long distance phone bills to talk to each other.”

Alex rose to her feet.  “I need to go tell Dylan the good new, though I’m sure that, by now, someone else has already told him.”

Daniel smiled brightly.  “Dylan’s here?  I can’t wait to see him.”

“And he can’t wait to see you.”

Alex went to the waiting room.  Sure enough, Mangela and Dingo were there, and there was a huge smile on her son’s face.  He ran up to his mother.

“Is Daniel really okay?”

“Yes, sweetheart, he really is.  The doctor took a look at him and said he’s fine.  They’re going to run some blood tests, but then Daniel will be moved to a regular room.”

“Then I’ll be able to see him?”

“Uh huh.”

“Yippee!”  Dylan’s happy expression dimmed.  “But what about Rollie?  Dingo and Mangela said that he’s still unconscious but that he isn’t going to die.”

“We don’t know yet about Rollie, but we’re all very hopeful.  All we can do right now is wait for him to get well.”

Daniel turned from a conversation with his mother to see Angie in the doorway.  When he’d seen her before, his mind had been too focused on Rollie to really look at her.  Now, however, he could see the change in her appearance, and it worried him.

“Hello, Angie,” Bonnie greeted.  “How are you doing, dear?”

“Okay.  Much better now that Daniel’s awake and we know that Rollie is going to live.”

“Yes, we’re all thankful to God for that.”  Bonnie looked at Daniel.  “Would you two like a little time alone to talk?”

“Yeah.  Thanks, Mom.”

“I’ll go find your father and have him buy me a cup of tea.  We’ll be back in, say, half an hour?”

Daniel nodded and kissed her cheek.

“Where’s your dad?” Angie asked after Bonnie had left.  She walked up to the bed.

“He went to call home and tell them that I’m okay.  He was also going to call a neurologist that he contacted about Rollie and me.”

Angie nodded.  “He’s one of the leading neurologists in the country.  He was going to come out later this week to examine you and Rollie.”  Her eyes dropped to the bed for a moment.  “I hope we’re not going to need him now.”

“I hope so, too.”  Daniel searched her face.  “How are you doing, Angie?”

“I’m all right.  I--”  She stopped and cleared her throat.  “It hasn’t been easy.  He came so close.”

“I know.”  Daniel took her hand.  “Do you feel like talking about it?”

Tears filled the blonde’s eyes.  “I was so scared.  I thought I was going to lose him again.  It was like before, Daniel.  I could feel him dying.  I could feel him slipping away from me, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.”

“But you didn’t lose him, Angie, and you’re not going to.  Rollie is going to be all right.”

Angie nodded.  “I know.”  She clasped the minister’s hand in both of hers.  “I’ll never be able to thank you enough, Daniel.  I know he owes you his life.”

“You have no need to thank me, and neither does Rollie.  He owes me nothing.  He saved my life, too.  And, even if he hadn’t, I’d still have done the same thing.  He’s my brother, and I love him.”  He looked off at nothing.  “I tried to talk to him in my mind, but I didn’t get through.  Since I woke up, I’ve realized something.  Even when we weren’t in communication with each other, there was this . . . awareness of him in my head, a feeling of his presence deep inside my mind, as if a part of our brains were linked on some level that I can’t even begin to describe.  It had come to feel so . . . intrinsic to me that I wasn’t even really aware of it until now, when it’s not there.  I miss that feeling.  I miss him.  I’ve gotten used to the feel of his consciousness.  At least I can still feel his physical presence and his songline.”

“Me too.”

Daniel looked at her in surprise.  “You can feel him?”

“Yeah, ever since he was shot.  Actually, I realize now that it was there even before then, but it didn’t register on me what I was feeling.  Thinking back, I believe that it started when, um . . . when Rollie and I were in the Dreamtime together.  Mangela said that he sensed a difference in our songlines afterwards, and you sensed something different about Rollie.  Maybe being together like that caused a connection to form between us.”

“You may be right.”

There was a moment of silence.  Then, “It worries me, Daniel.”

“What does?  Your connection?”

“No.  The ways that Rollie has changed, the things he can do now.  How is it going to affect our lives, our future?  I think about going back to work, back to F/X, and, after all the things that have happened, all the things that have changed, it feels strange.  I mean, think about it, about what Rollie is capable of.  He wouldn’t have to work another day in his life.  He could make a fortune with the abilities he has.”

“Yes, he could.  But I think I’ve come to know my brother well enough to guess that wouldn’t be what he’d want.  He’ll want his life to be the way it was before and not want his abilities to change anything.”

“Yeah, you’re right.  But he may have no choice in the matter.”

“What do you mean?”

“A man from the government showed up yesterday, asking questions.  I guess the people Rollie used his . . . talent on in the complex have been talking about it.  This guy from the government was very curious.  He wanted to know about you, too.  He’s interested in this whole thing that has been going on between you and Rollie.”

A feeling of unease settled in the pit of Daniel’s stomach.  He was more worried about Rollie than himself.  Once these people who were interested in them found out that he didn’t have all the abilities his brother possessed, they’d likely lose interest in him.  But if the government discovered the full extent of what Rollie could do, there was no telling what they might want from him.  Daniel was not naive about the government and what it was capable of.  The power Rollie used to affect that technician and to subdue the man with the gun and Cromwell was the kind of power that certain factions in the government would do a lot to have control of.

That thought reminded Daniel of something.  “What happened to Cromwell?”  When Angie didn’t answer right away, he became concerned.  “Is he dead?”

“No, he’s not dead, but he might as well be.”

“What happened to him?”

“Well, to put it bluntly, his brains are scrambled eggs.  Leo talked to his doctors, and they said that something catastrophic happened in his brain.  They don’t really know exactly what caused it.  They thought, at first, that it was a massive stroke, but the damage is on both the right and left hemispheres, as well as the cerebellum.  He’s completely paralyzed, no control over his body at all.  He can’t talk.  He’s conscious and aware to a certain extent, but, from what the doctors can tell, he’s lost a good portion of his capacity to comprehend things.  Though he might regain some mobility eventually, he’ll have to be in an institution for the rest of his life.”  Angie studied Daniel’s expression.  “Was it Rollie?  Did he do that to Cromwell?”

The minister sighed.  “Yeah, though I know he wasn’t intending to.  Cromwell was going to shoot me, and Rollie tried to stop him.”

Angie sat down slowly.  “Daniel, when Rollie finds out. . . .”

“Yeah, I know.  The knowledge that he did that to someone, even someone like Cromwell, will tear him apart.”

Angie gave a sigh.  “I know it’s wrong for me to think this, but I can’t help but feel that Cromwell got what he deserved, especially when I think about the fact that the chip he put in Rollie’s head probably would have done the same thing to Rollie.  It seems like poetic justice to me.”

Daniel didn’t respond to Angie’s words.  He was ashamed to admit that he also considered what happened to Cromwell to be a more fitting punishment than simply going to prison, though the man would very likely have gotten the death sentence.

“But if this is going to end up hurting Rollie even more, then I wish Cromwell was sitting in a jail cell instead of lying in a hospital bed,” Angie added.

“Me too.  It’s going to be up to us to get Rollie through this, Angie.  He’s going to need our love and support.”

“Yeah, though, knowing Rollie, he’ll try to hide the fact that he’s hurting.”

“Then we’ll just have to make sure he knows we’re there for him, even if he doesn’t admit he needs us.”

Alex came into the room with a big smile.  “Well, I called Molly and told her the good news.  She told everyone in the Widow’s Walk, and I heard a big cheer go up.”

Daniel grinned.  “I really miss everyone.  After the madness my life had been these past few weeks, I’ll be so happy to get home and back to a normal routine.”

“What?  You mean you’re not enamored of the exciting, nonstop action of the Life and Times of Rollie Tyler and Company?” Angie asked in a mock tone of shock.

“Afraid not, Angie.  Strange as it may seem, I actually enjoy a life without crazed killers, bloodthirsty kidnappers, and death and destruction around every corner.”

“Well, to each his own, I guess,” Angie said with a sigh and shrug.

There was silence for a few seconds, then everyone burst into laughter.  Daniel’s smile faded shortly after the laughter ended.  He took Angie’s hand.

“I am going to miss you, though, and I’m going to miss being with Rollie, even though he and I will still be together, in a way, even when we’re all those miles apart.”

“I’m going to miss you, too, Daniel, a lot.  But at least it won’t be all that long before we see you again.  Is the wedding still on for August?”

“Sure is.  But I am worried about one thing.  If Rollie ends up needing a lot of physical therapy, he probably wouldn’t be able to make it to the wedding.  I really hate the thought of him not being there.”

“Well, if that’s the case, we’ll just have to postpone it until Rollie is well enough to come,” Alex said.

Daniel looked up at her.  “You wouldn’t mind doing that?  I mean, I know how much you want to have the wedding in August.  I do too.”

“Daniel, I wouldn’t feel right getting married without your brother being there.”

Daniel kissed her hand and smiled up at her in gratitude.  “I love you, Alex.”

The redhead bent over and kissed him.  “I love you, too.”

Watching them, Angie smiled happily.  Now that she had Rollie back, she felt nothing but joy over the fact that Daniel and Alex were getting married.

She got to her feet.  “I’m going back to Rollie’s room.  I’ll see you later.”

“Bye,” Daniel and Alex said.

Alex took the chair Angie had vacated.  She just sat and gazed at her fiancé for a long moment.

“What?” Daniel finally asked.

“Nothing.  It’s just so good to see you and know that you’re okay.”

The minister cupped her cheek.  “It’s good to see you, too.  I missed you like crazy.”  He leaned forward and captured Alex’s mouth in another kiss.  But, unlike the one they shared a few moments ago, this one was full of the passion he hadn’t had a chance to express to her in almost two weeks.  Alex returned the kiss wholeheartedly.

“Well, I have to say that I’m feeling even better now,” Daniel murmured huskily.  “In fact, I feel like I could jump right out of this bed and sweep you off your feet.”

“Well, though I’d dearly love to see you do that wearing a hospital gown, I don’t think it would be a good idea.  The nurses would have a fit.”

Daniel chuckled.  “Yeah, you’re probably right.  Besides, this gown is a bit on the, um, breezy side.”

“Oh, really.  Well, then I’m doubly disappointed that you won’t be getting up.  I’ll be missing out on the free peepshow.”

“Alexandra Stone.  What a naughty mind you have,” Daniel said with a smile that was a touch on the sultry side.

“Yep, that’s me,” Alex murmured against his lips.

Their kiss was interrupted by a nurse coming into the room.

“Well, you certainly are feeling better, aren’t you,” the woman remarked with a slight smile.

“Yes, I am,” Daniel said emphatically.

“I’m glad to hear it.  So, I assume that we will be losing your company soon.”

“Uh huh.  I think we’re just waiting for some test results to come back.”

The nurse nodded.  “And your brother?”

Daniel’s happiness dimmed.  “I don’t know.”

“I just checked on him, and he is doing better.  He’s much stronger than he was a couple of days ago.  We’re just waiting for him to start showing signs of waking up, which could happen at any time.”  The nurse smiled.  “Well, it doesn’t look like there’s anything for me to do here, so I’ll let you two get back to what you were doing.”  She left the room with a wink.

“Hmm.  So, Ms. Stone.  Shall we get back to what we were doing?” Daniel asked, grinning playfully.

“Sounds like a good idea to me,” Alex replied.

When Daniel’s parents returned sometime later, they found Alex and their son doing just that.  It being the first time they’d actually witnessed a kiss between the two, it caught them by surprise for a moment.  Then they smiled at the sight of the two young people who were so obviously in love.

Daniel blushed scarlet when he lifted his head from Alex’s and saw his parents watching them.  Alex’s face took on the same coloring when she saw what he was looking at.  They hastily drew apart.

Daniel cleared his throat.  “So, what did the neurologist have to say?”

“He’s still coming out,” Cliff replied.  “The case has him intrigued.”

“Yeah, I bet it does.  Dad, I don’t want him turning Rollie and me into guinea pigs or sticking us under a microscope just out of curiosity.”

“That isn’t going to happen, Daniel.  You have my word on it.”

A short while later, Doctor Faraday returned to say that the tests all came back normal.  Daniel was transferred to a regular room, which delighted him tremendously.  He was even more delighted when Alex came in with Dylan.

“Hey, buddy,” Daniel said with a grin.

The boy ran up to him and threw his arms around him.  Daniel’s smile faded as tears clogged his throat.

“I missed you,” Dylan mumbled against his chest.

Daniel rested his cheek on Dylan’s hair and closed his eyes.  “I missed you too, Dylan.  So very much.”  He met Alex’s eyes over her son’s head and saw the glint of tears in her eyes.

Dylan drew back, and Daniel ruffled his hair.  “So, what have you been up to since I saw you last?” the minister asked.

The next hour or so was spent in conversation with Alex, Dylan and Daniel’s parents.  When Daniel found out that Mangela had told Dylan about the abilities he and Rollie possessed--and, in his case, might come to possess--he was not happy, at first, since he wasn’t sure he wanted Dylan to know.  But Daniel came to learn something about Dylan as the boy talked about it.  Dylan had a much more level-headed reaction and viewpoint about it than what Daniel would have thought.  Though undoubtedly impressed and excited, he was not overawed.  In fact, he talked in a surprisingly matter of fact way about it.  Daniel couldn’t help but think that Dylan was reacting to the whole thing a lot more calmly than he was himself.  If the time came that Daniel’s abilities did start to develop more fully, he might welcome the perspective that Dylan had.

Dingo and Mangela visited for a while, then headed back to the ICU.  Leo showed up not long after that.  He walked up to Daniel with a smile.  The men shook hands.

“It’s great to see you awake, Daniel.  You look good,” the cop said.

“Thanks.  I feel good, though I’ll feel a lot better when Rollie wakes up.”

“Yeah, me too.”

“I want to visit him.”

“Honey, you should wait until you’re stronger,” Bonnie said.  “You only just got out of the ICU.”

“Mom, I’m fine.  There’s nothing wrong with me.  I don’t even feel weak anymore.  I want to see Rollie.”

“It’s almost lunchtime.  How about if we wait until after that?” Cliff suggested.

Daniel agreed to the compromise.  His parents, Alex and Dylan ate with him in the room, all of them dining on hospital food.  As soon as everyone was finished, Daniel began pulling his bedcovers aside.  But then he remembered about the hospital gown’s insufficient coverage in certain areas.

“What’s the matter, Daniel?” Alex asked innocently upon seeing the minister pause.  “Feeling a bit chilly?”

“Ha ha ha.  Let’s just say that mooning everyone in the hospital is not on my list of top ten things I’d like to do.”

Bonnie smiled, her eyes crinkling with humor.  “I’ll go ask the nurse for some bottoms for you.”

A little while later, with Daniel now more fully clothed, he and Alex went to the ICU.  The nurses had insisted that he go in a wheelchair, and Daniel had been too impatient to see his brother to argue.

As they entered Rollie’s room, Daniel’s gaze immediately went to his twin.  Outwardly, Rollie appeared to just be sleeping, but the silence in Daniel’s mind told him otherwise.  His eyes went to Angie, who was sitting in the chair beside the bed.

“Hey there,” he said quietly.

“Hi.  I heard that you were kicked out of the ICU.  I was going to come visit you later.  I just wanted to stay with Rollie for a while.”

“There’s no need for explanations, Angie.  I understand.”  He turned back to his brother.

“He’s a lot better,” Angie said, also looking at Rollie.  “He’s not so pale anymore, and he no longer needs the oxygen mask.  The doctors say they’re hopeful.”

Daniel wheeled up to the bed and laid his hand on Rollie’s.  “I’m here now, Brother.  We’re all here for you.”

“Um, I’m going to take Dylan and do a little shopping, okay?” Alex said, feeling that Daniel and Angie might like to be alone with Rollie.

The minister turned to her.  “Okay.  You should ask Mom if she’d like to go along.”  He smiled.  “But don’t be surprised if she wants to buy Dylan every toy in sight.  She’s been waiting for a long time for a grandchild to spoil.”

Alex returned the smile.  “I’ll keep that in mind.  See you later.”

After Alex had left, Daniel again turned his attention to his twin.  ‘Rollie?  Can you hear me?  Please wake up.  I miss my brother.’

There was no answer from Rollie, no indication that he had heard Daniel’s silent plea.  Daniel tried not to let it upset him, but it did.  His eyes met Angie’s.  “Have they said anything about the unconsciousness?”

“Not a lot.  Technically, according to something they call the Glasgow Coma Scale, he’s in a coma since he doesn’t respond to verbal commands or even pain stimuli, but the neurologist said that he’s never seen an EEG readout like Rollie’s before.  They’ve done a CT scan and an MRI, but haven’t found any visible sign of brain damage.  They have no answers for why Rollie hasn’t woken up yet.”

Daniel looked down at his brother, a frown forming on his brow.  A suspicion began to take shape in his mind.  “Angie, what if Rollie hasn’t woken up because he doesn’t want to?”

“What?  What are you talking about?  Why wouldn’t he want to wake up?”

“I don’t know.”

“How would we be able to tell?”

Daniel didn’t reply.  If Rollie was unconscious by choice, there had to be a way to get through to him.  Obviously, just talking to him wasn’t enough.

Not really certain how to proceed, Daniel closed his eyes and focused all his attention on Rollie.  He attempted to reach into his brother’s mind, to reestablish that feeling of mental connection.  He felt himself come up against the equivalent of a brick wall in his brother’s mind.  Daniel drew back and opened his eyes.

“He’s blocking me.  I can feel it.”

“Why would he do that?” Angie asked.  “It makes no sense.”

“No, it doesn’t.  I need to try something else.  Maybe I can do what I did before, bring him into the Dreamtime with me.”

Taking hold of Rollie’s hand in both of his, Daniel closed his eyes again and focused on recreating what he did before when his brother was shot.  He felt himself slip into that deeper level of consciousness, and, as before, he found himself in his Dreamtime version of Hope Island.  He looked around, but failed to see Rollie.  He also could not feel his presence there.  Had he been wrong?  No.  Wait.  He could feel Rollie, but the sensation was distant, as if the Aussie was far away.  Far away?  Daniel wished he had more knowledge about the Dreamtime.  He felt like he was stumbling around in the dark, not really knowing what he was doing.  Perhaps he needed to ask Mangela.

Daniel was just about to withdraw when a thought occurred to him.  The Dreamtime was reached by going into a deeper level of consciousness.  Could there be different levels of the Dreamtime?  Could Rollie be in a deeper level?  If so, how could Daniel get there?

‘Rollie, please.  Please don’t hide from me,’ he pleaded.  ‘Please let me help you.’

For a moment, nothing happened, then, without warning, the colors of the vista around Daniel began fading until everything was a featureless, unbroken white.  There was no up, no down, no depth or breadth to this place.  If it was not for the solidness of the ground he stood on, Daniel knew that the sensation would be more than a little alarming.

“I knew that, sooner or later, you’d come looking for me,” said a voice behind him.  He turned to see Rollie sitting cross-legged a few feet away.  Daniel walked up to his brother and squatted beside him.

“What is this place?”

“Another level of the Dreamtime.  I think we’re as deep into the subconscious as it’s possible to go.  Not even Mangela can find me here if I don’t want him to.  If I’d been able to reach this state when I was a prisoner, I don’t think the machine would have been able to hurt me.”

“Why are you here now, Rollie?  I don’t understand.  Is it because of the pain?”

“No, it’s not the pain,” He looked away from Daniel.  “Not that pain.”

“What are you talking about?” Daniel asked in concern.  “Are you feeling pain from something else?  Is it because of the torture, what they did to you?”

“No.  It’s not because of what they did.  It’s because of what I did.”  Rollie looked at him with tormented eyes.  “Cromwell didn’t succeed in taking control of me, but, in a way, he did get what he wanted.  I’m his little pet monster, his Frankenstein, ready to hurt and kill anyone around me.”

“Rollie, that’s not true.  How can you even think that?”

Rollie scrambled to his feet.  “How?  I killed him, Daniel!” he shouted in an agonized voice.  “I killed Cromwell.  God, I didn’t want to.  Even after everything he did to me, and to you, and to everyone else, I didn’t want to kill him.  I didn’t want his blood on my hands.”  He turned away abruptly, shoulders hunched against the pain inside his heart.

Daniel stood and stepped up to his brother.  “Rollie, you didn’t kill him.  Cromwell is alive.”

The Aussie stilled, then looked over his shoulder at Daniel.  “He’s not dead?”

“No.”  Daniel knew that he should tell Rollie the truth about Cromwell’s condition, but he couldn’t.  He was terrified that, if he did, Rollie would sink even deeper into his self-hatred.

“I . . . I thought I’d killed him,” Rollie murmured.  “When I saw him pointing that gun at you, I had another Dreaming, only it was different from any I’ve ever had before.  I saw everything as if it was on fast forward.  I can’t describe everything I saw, but it showed me that, if I did not stop Cromwell permanently, we would all die, me, you, Angie, Leo, everyone who had a hand in bringing him down.  From prison, he would have sought revenge on all the people who were responsible for him being there.  I couldn’t let that happen.”  Realization struck him.  “My God.  If he’s alive, then he can still do it.  You’re all in danger.”

Daniel shook his head.  “No, Rollie, we’re not.  Cromwell isn’t going to order any hits on us from prison.”

Rollie turned to him fully.  “Why not?”

Daniel didn’t reply at first, trying to figure out how much to tell his brother.  “There was . . . brain damage.”

“Brain damage?  What kind of brain damage?”

Again, Daniel paused.  “Enough that he’ll never have the capacity to seek revenge on us.”

Looking suddenly ill, Rollie walked past him, wrapping his arms around himself.  His eyes closed tightly.  “It might have been better if I had killed him.  I was right to begin with.  I am like Frankenstein’s monster.”

Daniel strode up to him and turned him around.  “No you’re not!  You did what you had to, Rollie.  You saw what Cromwell would have done if you hadn’t taken action against him.  No one in your position would have done anything different.  You made the right decision.  You had no choice.”

Rollie was crying now, his chest heaving with silent sobs.  “I want it to be over, Daniel.  I want it to all go away.  I don’t want these things I can do, this . . . this curse I bear.  I am so scared, so afraid that, someday, I’ll hurt somebody I love.  I know it wouldn’t be intentional, but if I ever accidentally hurt you, or Angie, or someone else I care about, I just couldn’t take it.”

Daniel’s hands tightened on his brother’s arms.  “You could never hurt us, and you know it.  These things that you can do, the abilities you have, they’re an amazing thing, Rollie, a gift and a responsibility that God has chosen to give to you.”

Rollie’s eyes bored into Daniel’s.  “Would you want them?”

Daniel’s eyes fell from that piercing gaze.  His brother’s face turned away from him.

“That’s what I thought,” he said bitterly.

Daniel grabbed Rollie’s chin firmly and turned his head around.  “No, I wouldn’t want them.  In fact, the very real chance that I will develop even a fraction of your abilities scares me half to death.  But there is a reason why you are the one whom God chose to give those things to.  God knows you, Rollie.  Before you were even born, he knew you, every part of you.  He saw you for what you would be, and He knew that you were someone who could bear this responsibility, someone who had the strength and the heart to use the gifts He gave you in the right way.”

Rollie closed his eyes and gave a sad sigh.  “I wish I had your faith, Daniel.  I wish I could believe as strongly as you do.”

“Then trust in yourself, Rollie.  Trust your heart and your soul.  I trust you, Angie trusts you, and so does everyone else who knows and loves you.  God trusts you.”  Daniel smiled.  “We can’t all be wrong.”

Rollie let out a half-laugh with no real humor in it.  “I really hope I don’t disappoint you,” his eyes glanced upward, “especially the man upstairs.”

“You won’t,” Daniel stated confidently.

Rollie gazed at his twin with love in his eyes.  “I don’t know what I’d do if it wasn’t for you, Daniel.”

“You’d do just fine.  You did without me for almost thirty-five years, after all.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t realize until I met you that I was missing a huge part of myself for all those years.”  Rollie paused in thought.  “No, that’s not true.  For as long as I could remember, there was always this feeling of . . . hollowness inside me, as if something was missing.  After I met Angie, a good deal of that hollowness went away.  I felt more whole than I ever had in my life.  But I still didn’t feel complete, not until the moment I looked into your eyes.”

“I know what you mean, Rollie.  I felt the same way.”

Rollie gave a soft sigh.  “I’m ready to go home, Brother.  Let’s go home.”

The twins clasped hands.  The whiteness around them became darkness, then the darkness faded into the light of the hospital room.  Daniel blinked his eyes open.  Angie was looking at him intently.

“Did you get through to him?” she asked.

She was answered by a sighing breath from Rollie.  Looking down at him, she saw his eyelids open.  A smile curved his lips and lit his eyes upon seeing her.

“Hi, Angel,” he whispered.

“Rollie,” Angie sobbed, then she was placing kisses all over his face, her tears falling like rain on his skin.

“Shhhh.  It’s okay, sweetie.  I’m here,” Rollie murmured.

Angie drew back and caressed his cheek.  “I’ve been so worried about you, Rollie.  I thought I was going to lose you.”

“I thought so too for a while,” Rollie admitted, meeting Daniel’s eyes.  “If it hadn’t been for Daniel, I wouldn’t have made it.”

Daniel shook his head.  “I may have helped, Rollie, but we both know that, in that final moment, it was your strength and will alone that won the battle against death.”

Rollie searched his brother’s eyes.  “You remember?”

“Yes.  I remember.”

“Remember what?” Angie asked.

Rollie returned his gaze to her.  “You remember what I told you about the light?  What I saw when my heart stopped in the conditioning room?”

Angie nodded.

“I saw it again.”  He looked at Daniel.  “We both saw it, the gateway to . . . to heaven, I guess.  Only, this time, I couldn’t just walk away from it like I did before.  It was pulling me in.  I held onto Daniel as tightly as I could, but I could feel myself losing the battle.”

“And then, it started pulling at me, too,” Daniel told her.

“What happened then?” Angie asked when the brothers fell silent.  She looked back and forth between them, her gaze finally settling on Rollie as the answer came to her.  “You were going to break the link, weren’t you, so that Daniel wouldn’t die with you.”

“Yeah,” Rollie admitted in a low voice.  He looked intently into her eyes.  “I didn’t want to die, Angie.  I didn’t want to leave you.  I wanted to live so badly, but, at that moment, I really thought it was over.  But then, all at once, I realized the truth.”

“What truth?”

“If there had been no hope, if it really was ‘my time’ to die, I would have already been gone.  The fact that I was still there, fighting the pull of the light, meant that my life didn’t have to be over; there was still a chance.  At the same time, I realized something else.  Ultimately, I had to make that choice on my own.  I’d been depending on Daniel’s strength so much that I wasn’t using all of my strength to fight.  But it was my life and my fight.  It was my strength and will to live that mattered.  So, I told Daniel to let go, and I faced it alone.  It was the hardest fight I’ve ever had.”

“Our link really didn’t help save you,” Daniel said.  “You did it on your own.”

Rollie shook his head.  “No, you’re wrong.  If it hadn’t been for you, I wouldn’t have made it.  Your strength enabled me to hold on.  It got me to that point where I had to go it alone.  And it helped me afterwards.  I might still have died if it hadn’t been for you.”

“But then, you blocked the link again.”

“Yeah.  I knew that I didn’t need your help any longer, so there was no sense in having you continue to suffer what I was going through.”  Rollie’s gaze fell away.

Daniel stared at his brother.  “Rollie, was that the only reason you did it?  Did it also have something to do with what we talked about in the Dreamtime?”

Rollie glanced at Angie.  “I . . . I don’t want to talk about it now.”

“Talk about what?” Angie asked.  “What aren’t you saying?  Daniel thought that you were not waking up on purpose.  He said that you were blocking him from getting through to you.  Is that true?”

Rollie was silent for a long time.  He at last gave a sad sigh.  “Yes.”

“But why?” Angie asked angrily.  “Why would you do that?  You fought so hard to live.  Why would you shut yourself away from us like that, make us worry about you more?”

Knowing he deserved Angie’s anger, Rollie shifted on the bed.  The sudden movement caused the pain he’d been feeling in his chest to flare up red-hot.  He gasped sharply, which made him cough, sending an even sharper pain through his chest.  His eyes clamped tightly shut against the pain, his hands pressing against the bandages over his wound as he let out a low moan.

“Rollie!” Angie cried, her anger instantly forgotten.  She gripped his arm.

“S’okay,” he whispered tightly.  “Just hurts.”

“Oh, God.  How stupid can I be?  I’m so sorry, Rollie.  I need to get a nurse.”  She ran out of the room.

Rollie lay still on the bed, taking short, shallow breaths.  Instinctively, he slipped into the Dreamtime to escape the pain.

Daniel panicked for a moment when he saw Rollie go limp, but then he realized that his brother had probably gone into the Dreamtime.  Just then, Angie came rushing back in.  When she saw that Rollie appeared to be unconscious again, she started crying.

“What have I done?  Oh, God, I hurt him,” she sobbed.  “How could I yell at him like that?  He almost died, and I yelled at him.  And, now, he’s unconscious again, and it’s my fault.”

“Shh.  Angie, he’s not unconscious,” Daniel assured her.  “He’s in the Dreamtime because of the pain.  He’ll be all right.”

A nurse came in.  She looked at the monitors, noting the differences there.  “He was awake?”

Angie nodded, wiping away her tears.  “We were talking.  He was okay, but then he moved too fast, and he was in a lot of pain.”

“We haven’t been giving him any pain medication because of the coma.”  The nurse leaned over Rollie, placing the fingers of one hand on his pulse and her other hand on his shoulder.  “Rollie?  Rollie, my name is Janice.  We know you’re in there.  Come on.  Wake up for us.”  When there was no response, she straightened.  “I’ll get the doctor, and I’ll give him an injection of morphine to ease the pain.  If he awakens again, let someone know.”  She left on her errands.

“Are you sure he’s just in the Dreamtime?” Angie asked, still scared.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure.  I can check, if you’d like.”

“Please.”

Daniel gave her a smile and attempted to connect to Rollie in the Dreamtime.  He soon found himself on Kata Tjuta, which told him that he’d joined Rollie in his Dreamtime.

“Hey, you’re getting pretty good at that, Little Brother,” Rollie said with a grin.

Daniel gave him a grin back.  “Well, I had a good teacher.”  His smile disappeared.  “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, this is just the quickest and easiest way to deal with the pain.  I got used to doing this during those three months.”

“Well, Angie isn’t doing so well out there.  She’s blaming herself for what happened.  She just about fell apart when she saw you lying there like you were unconscious.”

“This wasn’t her fault.  I should have known better than to move suddenly like that.  I’m sorry I scared her.  I’d better come back out.”

Rollie and Daniel emerged from the Dreamtime simultaneously.  As soon as Rollie opened his eyes, Angie started babbling.

“I’m sorry, Rollie.  I’m so sorry.  I didn’t mean to hurt you.  I’m sorry I got mad at you.  Please forgive me.”

“Hey, hey.  It’s okay, sweetie.  It wasn’t your fault.  I did it to myself,” the Aussie quickly said.  “There’s nothing to forgive.”

“Yes, there is.  It’s my fault that you hurt yourself.  I shouldn’t have tore into you like that.  Here you are, lying in a hospital bed after almost dying and after just waking up from a coma, and I start yelling at you.  I’m so sorry.  I’ll never do it again.  I swear.”

A smile slowly spread across Rollie’s face.

“What?  What are you smiling about?” Angie asked.

“I’m just thinking how utterly impossible it will be for you to keep that oath.  You?  Never yell at me again?  We might as well wish for the Earth to stop revolving around the sun, Love.”

Daniel started laughing.  The sour look Angie shot him shut him up but couldn’t wipe the grin off his face.

Two people entered the room.  The doctor and nurse paused, surprised by the sight before them.

“Well, this is certainly a change from the last time I was in this room,” the doctor said.  He came up to the bed.  “I’m Doctor Faraday, Mister Tyler.  I am very pleased to see you awake.”

“Call me Rollie,” the Aussie said.  He glanced at Daniel and Angie.  “It’s good to be awake.”

“I understand that you’re in some pain.”

Rollie would have laughed at the understatement if he wasn’t certain that it would hurt like hell.  “Uh, yeah, you could say that.”

“Well, Nurse Davies here will take care of that.”

The nurse injected something into Rollie’s IV.  “This is some morphine, Rollie.  It should take care of your discomfort.  It might make you drowsy, though.  Don’t fight it if it does.  You need your rest.”

“Thanks.”

After the nurse had left, Doctor Faraday listened to Rollie’s lungs with his stethoscope.  He asked Rollie a couple of questions, then lifted the dressing to look Rollie’s injury.  He then settled in the chair Angie had been in earlier.

“I have to say that I’m quite puzzled and surprised by your sudden awakening,” he said.  “Coma patients don’t generally wake up so abruptly.  It’s a gradual process.”

“Well, um, I’m pretty sure I was never in a coma.”

Everyone stared at him in surprise.

 “Oh?” the doctor said, curiosity in his voice.

“I’m not sure how long I was actually unconscious.  I don’t think it was more than a day.  Then I was in a, uh . . . different level of consciousness.”

Fascinated, Doctor Faraday leaned forward, his chin resting on his hands.  “You mean like some form of meditation?”

“No, not really.  It’s difficult to explain.”

“Were you aware of what was going on around you?”

“Only partly.  I could hear voices, but I couldn’t understand most of what was said.”  He looked up at Angie.  “I knew that Angie was here.”  He turned back to the doctor.  “But I was aware of myself the whole time, and I can remember everything I thought and did during that time.  I knew that I could probably wake up fully if I tried, but I also knew that, if I did, I’d be putting myself at risk.”

“How so?”

Rollie did not reply right away, trying to decide how much to reveal.  “I learned some healing techniques from the Australian Aborigines.  While I was in that other level of consciousness, I used those techniques.  If I hadn’t, I think I’d be a lot worse off now than what I am.”

Knowing Rollie like she did, Angie could tell that he was not telling the doctor everything.

“Well, if that’s true, then I would dearly love to know more about this,” Doctor Faraday said.  “It sounds like something that could be a tremendous benefit to critically injured patients.  I would like to runs some tests to see how well you’re doing.  But, first, I want to know more about this . . . Corsican Brother thing between you and your twin.”

Rollie smiled slightly.  “Oh, so you saw that movie too, huh?”

“Yes, a long time ago, when I was a med student.  I never dreamed at the time that I’d one day have patients who would exhibit the same type of empathic connection.”

“So, what do you want to know?” Rollie asked cautiously.

“Well, for starters, how does it work?”

“I have no idea.  I only know that Daniel and I have such a strong psychic connection to each other that, when I’m badly hurt, he will mirror almost all of my symptoms, unless I prevent it.”

“You can prevent it?”

“Yes.”

“Does it work both ways?  If he was hurt, would you feel it?”

“I don’t know,” Rollie looked at his brother, “and I hope that I never find out.”

“So, has it been this way throughout your lives?”

Rollie paused for several seconds.  “Um, Daniel and I were separated a few weeks after birth.  We didn’t meet again until a short while ago.  When we were separated, our connection to each other was broken.  It reestablished itself when we met again.”

Doctor Faraday leaned back in his chair.  “From a medical standpoint, this is an absolutely amazing thing, impossible I’d have thought.  I would love to write a paper on it.”

Rollie shook his head.  “That wouldn’t be a good idea.  We don’t want this to get around.”

“Oh, don’t worry, Rollie.  There would be no names mentioned.  I respect my patients’ privacy.”

Though he still didn’t like the idea, Rollie chose not to press the issue right now.  He was just beginning to feel the effects of the morphine, and it was starting to get hard to concentrate.  Recognizing the signs, Doctor Faraday stood.

“Get some sleep, Rollie.  It’s the best thing for you right now.  Tomorrow morning I’ll discuss your treatment with you and what you can expect over the course of the next few weeks.”  He shook Rollie’s hand, then left.

Rollie fought to keep his eyes open.  There were more things he wanted to say.  Angie ran her fingers through his hair.

“Rol, you heard what the nurse and doctor said.  Don’t fight it.  There’ll be more time to talk later.  Go to sleep.”

With a sigh, Rollie gave up the battle.  “Love you, Ange,” he mumbled, his eyes closing.

Angie leaned over and placed a soft kiss on his lips.  “I love you, too.”

Rollie fell asleep with a faint smile on his face.  Angie continued to stroke his hair for a few seconds longer.

“He’s really going to be okay, isn’t he.”

“Yeah, he is, Angie,” Daniel replied.

“We should go tell everyone, though I wouldn’t be surprised if Mangela already knows.  That guy can be really spooky sometimes.”

Daniel and Angie left the room, overjoyed by the fact that Rollie was going to be all right.

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

When Daniel and Angie got to the ICU waiting room, they found it empty.  Not ten seconds later, however, they heard the sound of feet hurrying down the hall.  They turned and saw Dingo and Mangela walking quickly toward them.

“We were in town, and Mangela said that Rollie was awake,” a slightly out of breath Dingo said.  “Is it true?”

A brilliant smile lit both Angie’s and Daniel’s faces.

“Yes, it’s true!” Angie replied with a happy laugh.  “He’s going to be all right.”

“Wahoo!” shouted Dingo.  He grabbed Angie and spun her around.  Then he hugged Daniel and patted him soundly on the back.  Getting control of himself, he then asked, “So, he’s really okay?”

“He was in quite a bit of pain before they gave him some morphine, but, by the way the doctor acted when he examined Rollie, I don’t think there are any problems,” Daniel told him.

“Thank God.  We gotta go see him.”

“He’s sleeping now.  The morphine knocked him out.”

“Oh.  Well, we’ll let him sleep, then.”

Daniel turned to the Aborigine.  “Mangela, I have some questions to ask, but, right now, we want to go tell everyone else the good news.  Will you be hanging around for a while?”

“We’ll be right here, Daniel,” the clever man replied.

Angie and Daniel found Cliff alone in Daniel’s room, reading a newspaper.

“Hey, Dad.  We’ve got some great news,” Daniel said.  “Rollie’s awake, and he’s going to be all right.”

Cliff smiled.  “That is great news, Son.  Rollie is a fine man, and I’m happy that he is going to get well.  Have the doctors said anything about his recovery?”

“No, but Doctor Faraday is going to talk with Rollie tomorrow.  Did Mom go with Alex and Dylan?”

The televangelist nodded.  “They probably won’t be back for a while.  Your mother has the cell phone, if you’d like to call her.”

“Yeah, I think I’ll do that.  Angie and I will be going back to the ICU.  Are you going to stay here?”

“No, I was just waiting for you to get back.  I need to return to the hotel to attend to some business.  I will be back later, though.”

“Okay.  We’ll see you then.  If we’re not here, it means we’re in the ICU with Rollie.  Just give a call down there when you return.”

Daniel and Angie went to an area where Angie could use her cell phone and called Bonnie.  She was delighted at the news.  After talking with Daniel for a few minutes, she handed the phone to Alex.

“Oh, Daniel, I’m so happy he’s all right,” the redhead said.  “I bet Angie is relieved.”

“Yeah, we both are.  I feel like a ten-ton weight has been lifted from me.  I wish I could get out of this hospital so that we could all go celebrate.”

“Well, how about if we get some pizza or something for dinner and eat it down in the seating area for the hospital cafeteria?  We can have a little party down there.”

“Great idea, but it will probably have to be something besides pizza.  Dad’s not a big pizza fan.  How about Chinese?”

“Sounds good to me.  We’ll hurry on back to the hospital now.”

“No, don’t do that, not if you guys are enjoying yourselves.  Just finish your shopping.”  Daniel smiled.  “So, was I right about Mom?”

Alex laughed.  “Yeah, you were right.  We’re going to have to get another suitcase just to hold all of Dylan’s new toys and clothes.”

Daniel chuckled.  “What did I tell you?   She’ll spoil him rotten, if you let her.”

“Well, you seemed to turn out all right, so I’d say Dylan is safe.  We’ll see you in a while.  Love you.”

“Love you, too.  Bye bye.”

“I want to call Leo and tell him the news,” Angie said.  She placed the call.

“Leo, I’ve got some great news.  Rollie’s awake.”

“Fantastic!  How is he doing?”

“He’s doing good, in quite a bit of pain, but there seems to be no brain damage.  We talked for quite a while, and he was doing fine.  The doctor wants to run a few tests tomorrow.”

“This is the best news I could get, Angie.  Francis and I are right in the middle of something now, but, as soon as we can get away, we’ll come see Rollie.”

After ending the call, Daniel and Angie returned to the ICU waiting room.

“We’re going to have a little celebration down in the hospital cafeteria at dinnertime,” Daniel told Dingo and Mangela.  “I hope you two can be there.”

Dingo smiled.  “We’ll be there.  I feel like doing a bit of celebrating.”

“I wish that Rollie could be there,” Angie said.

Daniel sighed.  “Yeah, me too.  If it wasn’t for the fact that the hospital would never allow it, I’d have the party in Rollie’s room.”

Mangela’s lips curved slightly in a sneaky little smile.  Angie saw the expression, and her eyes narrowed.

“What have you got in your mind, Mangela?  I recognize that look.  I’ve seen the same smile on Rollie’s face enough times.”  A thought then occurred to her.  “Mangela, you are not, I repeat, not going to try to sneak Rollie out of his room.  That would be way too much for him.  He’s not even close to being in good enough shape for that.”

“I would not take Rollie from his room.  But there may be a way that he can still be at the party.”

“How?” Daniel asked, puzzled.

Angie gave a sigh.  “Don’t even bother asking, Daniel, because he won’t give you a straight answer.”

“If it can be done, I will tell you, Daniel, for we will need you.”

“You will?  For what?”

“We will see.  So, what is it that you wanted to ask me?”

“Oh, um, Rollie told the doctor that he’d been using an Aboriginal technique for healing.  What’s that all about?”

“The People have always used the power of the mind to influence the body, both our own bodies and those of others.  We believe that positive thoughts can have positive physical effects on the body, and negative thoughts cause negative effects.  When Rollie was a child, I taught him how to heal himself with his mind.”

Angie nodded.  “They’ve done studies on something like that.  They found that people who maintained a positive outlook and focused those positive thoughts on making themselves well actually healed more quickly than people who didn’t.  It’s sort of a mind over matter thing.”

“The power of the mind must not be underestimated,” Mangela stated.

“This must explain how Rollie always managed to bounce back so quickly,” Angie said.  “He always healed a lot faster than what the doctors thought he would.”

“Was there something else you wanted to ask me?” Mangela asked Daniel.

“Um, yeah, but I think it would be better to wait on that.”  Daniel wanted to ask the Aborigine about the deeper level of the Dreamtime that he’d found Rollie in, but, if he did, he was concerned that he’d have to reveal to everyone that Rollie had been deliberately hiding there, which, in turn, would mean he’d have to tell them the reason why, and that was not something he wanted to do.  Rollie should be the one to do that.  Daniel just hoped that he could convince his brother to talk with them about his feelings.

They waited about an hour, then Daniel and Dingo went to the ICU to see if Rollie was awake yet.  The Aussie’s eyes were closed when they entered the room, but they opened a moment later.

“Hey, Dad,” Rollie said sleepily.

Unable to stop the tears that filled his eyes, Dingo stepped up to the bed and took his son’s hand.  “Rollie.  How are you feeling, Son?”

“Pretty good now that they got me on painkillers.”  Rollie struggled to full wakefulness, fighting the effects of the morphine.  He looked into his father’s eyes.  “I’m going to be all right, Dad.  I’ll be out of this place in no time.”

Unable to speak because of the lump in his throat, Dingo just nodded and smiled.

Rollie gestured at the bandage on his brother’s arm.  “How is it?”

“Oh, it’s fine.  It hurts a bit, but not bad.  It’s had a few days to heal.”

“A few days?  I didn’t even think to ask.  What day is it?”

“It’s Tuesday,” Daniel replied.

“Tuesday.  Aren’t you supposed to be at work, Dad?”

“Chet postponed my starting day when I told him you got hurt.  He said that I can start after you get out of the ICU.  Oh, I almost forgot.”  Dingo fished a greeting card out of his back pocket and handed it to Rollie.  “That’s from Chet.  Sorry.  It kinda got a little bent.”

“Thanks.  Please thank him for me.”  Rollie raised the back of the bed so that he was in a semi-sitting position.  “Where are Angie and Mangela?”

“In the waiting room,” Daniel told him.  “The nurses get a little perturbed if more than two people visit a patient here at the same time.”

“Yeah, well, they can bloody well let me outta here and put me in a regular room, then.”

“Not so fast, Brother.  I think you’ve got some healing left to do before they can do that.”

Rollie sighed softly.  “It seems like I’m having to do that an awful lot.”

“What’s that?”

“Heal from one thing or another.  If they gave out frequent flyer miles for every time I’ve gotten banged up, I’d have enough for a trip to the moon.”

Daniel chuckled.  “Well, it’s that exciting James Bond life you lead.”

“James Bond?  Daniel, did you ever notice that the guy never gets hurt?  He fights guys twice his size, has more bullets fired at him than a police firing range, and wrecks more cars than the crash test dummies, yet he rarely even gets a scratch.  If I did half the things he does, I’d be in traction for the rest of my life.”

Daniel grinned.  “Well, maybe you’d better talk to your scriptwriter about this,” he said jokingly.

“Yeah.  Maybe I’d better do that.” Rollie responded, not smiling.

Daniel sobered.  “Rollie, what’s wrong?”

The Aussie shook his head.  “Nothing.  Just reevaluating my life.”

Daniel and Dingo looked at each other in concern.  Rollie put a smile on his face.  “So, Little Brother, the date for your wedding is coming up pretty fast.  I bet your fiancée is beginning to wonder what other catastrophes are going to get in the way of you walking down the aisle.”

“Actually, Alex is here.  So is Dylan.  They flew in after Angie told Alex what happened.”

Rollie nodded, not appearing to be surprised.  “I’m looking forward to meeting them.”

“Rollie, I want you to know that, if you aren’t going to be able to travel by the wedding date, we’ll postpone it.”

The Aussie shook his head.  “No way, Daniel.  I don’t want you putting off your wedding just for my sake.”

“It’s already been decided, Rollie, by both me and Alex, so don’t even try to argue.  We want you there.  I want you to be my best man.”

Rollie’s jaw fell open in surprise.  “I . . . I don’t what to say, Daniel.  I would be honored to be your best man, but you must have had someone else in mind to fill that role before you met me.”

“Yeah, I was going to ask my best friend, Arnie.  But, before you say anything, I’ve given this a lot of thought, and I know that Arnie would agree that you should be my best man.  I am going to ask him to be in the wedding party too.  Alex is going to have two bridesmaids, Molly and Angie, so I need to have two groomsmen.”

Rollie smiled softly.  “I would be very happy to be your best man, Daniel, but, before I say yes, there’s something I need to find out first.”

“What’s that?”

“I’ll tell you later.”

“Okay.”

Daniel and Dingo stayed with Rollie a while longer then returned to the waiting room so that Angie and Mangela could visit.

“It is good to see you getting well, Sonny Boy,” the Aborigine said.  “But I had no doubt that you would.  It is not the time for your songline to end.  My Dreaming has not yet been fulfilled.”

“Dreaming?  What Dreaming?”

“Many years ago, I had a Dreaming about you.  It came on the day you said goodbye to the People and left with your father.  I saw the eagle, bearing great power, do battle with a giant black spider.”

“Are you certain that your Dreaming wasn’t about Cromwell?”

“Yes.  This battle has not been waged yet, but I sense that it will come soon.”

“Did you see how the battle ends?” Angie asked, worried.

“No, the Dreaming did not show me that.”

“Bloody hell,” Rollie muttered.  “I just can’t get away from this stuff, can I.”

“You have always been destined to fight evil, Rollie,” Mangela said quietly.  “I knew that even when you were a child.”

“So, I have no choice in the matter?”

“You have a choice.  We all have a choice in deciding our destinies.  But if you chose another path, would you be holding true to yourself?  This is the life your songline led you to.  Any other life would mean turning away from the true course of your songline.”

“Well, maybe the true course of my songline isn’t what I should be following anymore.”

Angie’s brow furrowed.  “Rollie, what’s this all about?”

The Aussie looked at his spiritual father.  “Mangela, could you give us some time alone?”

The Aborigine nodded.  “Call me when you need me.”

Angie sat in one of the chairs.  “Okay, Rollie.  Cough it up.”

“It’s pretty simple, Ange.  When you, Leo and I talked about my future involvement with the cops, we agreed that I’d stay ‘behind the cameras’ from now on, whenever possible.  Yet look at me.  Once again, I rushed into a situation that I should never have been in in the first place, and, this time, I came that close,” he held his forefinger and thumb about an eighth of an inch apart, “to dying.”

“But, Rollie, you had no choice.  Cromwell had kidnapped Daniel.  You had to get him out.”

“I know, but there were a lot of other times when I did have a choice, when I could have stayed the hell out of something that I knew could be dangerous.  I can’t even count the number of times that I got involved in something that I should have just let the police handle.  It’s like you once told me.  I’m not Batman, but I’ve been acting like I am.  Well, no more.  It’s time that I make some major changes in my life before my luck runs out.”

“What kind of major changes?  We already made that agreement with Leo.”

“It’s not enough.  From now on, I’ll just loan them equipment and do lab work and other stuff like that.  And if Leo ever needs ideas on how to get the bad guys, I’ll do whatever brainstorming I can to give him a hand, but that’s it.  No more direct involvement in cases and no more getting into stuff on my own.”

“But what about your Dreamings?  You told Leo you could help in that way.”

Rollie paused a long while.  “If I ever have any Dreamings about a crime or some kind of disaster, I’ll pass the info along to Leo.  And if there’s ever a really bad case that the cops just can’t solve on their own, then I’ll do what I can.  But, other than that, I’m going to try to forget that I can even do these things.”

“Forget?  Rollie, you can’t just ignore these abilities.”

“Why not?  I did it before.  When I left the People, I did everything I could to forget the things Mangela taught me, to ignore the fact that I could do those things.  And it worked.  For twenty-three years I was able to live my life untouched by these things.  If I could do it then, I can do it again.”

“Rollie, when you were a kid, you weren’t waking up at night after having a dream that foretold the future.  You were never just walking down the street then suddenly stopped by a vision that predicted a terrible catastrophe.  I’m right, aren’t I?”  The expression on Rollie’s face told her that she was.  “These abilities are not going to just go away.  They’re a part of you, a part of who you are.”

Rollie stared down at his hands for several tense moments of silence.  “You’re right,” he finally said in a low voice.  “I’ll probably never be rid of them, no matter how much I may want to be.  But I can make sure they affect my life as little as possible.”

“Rollie, what’s really at the heart of this?  You’ve almost been killed before, and you’ve been hurt before, yet you have never reacted like this.  Does this have something to do with the reason why you stayed in the Dreamtime instead of coming out?”

“Partly,” Rollie admitted.  “But it’s also because of you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah.  Because of Dad and Daniel too, but you most of all.  It’s like I said before.  I don’t want you to go through this ever again.”  He ran a finger under her eyes, where the shadows of her sleeplessness lay as evidence of the anguish she went through.  “I don’t want to see you suffering like this.  I felt your pain when I was dying, Angie, and it tore me up inside.  And I know what would have happened to you if I had died.  I can’t do that to you anymore.  I’ve already put you through so much.  I don’t want to die and leave you alone.  I want to spend the next sixty years with you and die of old age.”

Angie took his hand.  “I want that too, Rol.  I want to be with you for the rest of my life.  But if I let you do what you’re saying, I’d be acting selfishly.”

“Selfishly?  Angie, it isn’t selfish for you not to want to go through something like this again.”

“No, but it would be selfish to allow you to give up something that means so much to you for my sake.”

“You’re more important to me, Ange.  You’re the most important thing in the world to me.”

“And you’re the most important thing in the world to me, which is why I can’t let you do this.  Don’t you remember what I said before?  I know how much helping Leo and the cops means to you, and just giving them equipment and advice isn’t going to be enough for you.  It isn’t going to give you that feeling that you told Leo about, the feeling that you’re doing something worthwhile, something that really matters, makes a difference.  And if you ever really turned your back on someone who needed your help, the guilt would eat you up inside.  As for your paranormal abilities, the knowledge that you could be helping people with them yet weren’t would haunt you every day of your life.  Rollie, the part of you that yearns to help others, that wants to make the world a better place in some small way, is one of the best parts of you, and I won’t let you kill it.  I won’t let you hurt yourself like that.”

“What if I’m not the one who gets hurt if I keep doing these things?” Rollie asked, tears pooling in his eyes.  “What if something happens to you or to someone else I care about?”

“You can’t walk on eggshells the rest of your life because you’re afraid that something you’ll do might get one of us hurt.  You know, Rollie, all those times I helped you on cases, I didn’t have to.  I could have said no, but I didn’t.”

“You did that one time, and you were right to do so.  Everything you said then about me being an F/X man and not a cop was right.”

“Some of what I said was right, but a lot of what I said was wrong.  And, in the end, I helped you anyway.  You know why?  You know why I always helped?”

Rollie shook his head.

“Because I’m your friend.  I knew that you needed me, and I wanted to help you.  I wanted to be a part of that facet of your life.  But that isn’t all.  A lot of times, I enjoyed it as much as you did.  It was challenging and fulfilling in a way that doing F/X for movies could never be.  It taught me things about myself, pushed my abilities to the limit.  There were times when it felt absolutely fantastic, times when everything worked great, and we got the bad guys, and I’d think, ‘Wow, we did that!’  Sure, there were lots of other times I really didn’t want us to get involved, but most of those times were when I got to thinking about how easily you could get hurt or killed.  But it always came back to the fact that I didn’t want you doing it without me, without my help.  I’ll admit that it isn’t as important to me as it is to you, Rollie.  I could easily live without it in my life.  But what I can’t live with is seeing you destroy a part of yourself for my sake.  So, if you love me, you won’t do that to yourself, because it would hurt me.”

Rollie’s tears finally spilled over.  “I do love you, Ange.  I love you so much.  I would do anything for you.”

“Then listen to Mangela, and keep following the true course of your songline.  I love you as you are, Rol, and I don’t want you to change.”

Rollie pulled her face down to his and gave her a long, tender kiss.  When they drew apart, he searched her eyes deeply.  “When I was in the Dreamtime, trying to heal myself, I had a lot of time to think.  Some of it was about what we just talked about.  But I also thought about what I wanted in my life and what I needed.  There are lots of things that I could live without, but the one thing that I cannot live without is you, to have you here with me every day for as long as I live.  I know what I want in my life, and at the heart of it all is you.”  He took a slow, deep breath, ignoring the twinge of pain in his chest.  “Angela Ramirez, will you marry me?”

Angie’s breath drew in sharply.  She stared open-mouthed at him.  Then her eyes brimmed over with tears.  “Oh, Rollie.  Do you really have to ask?” she said in a trembling voice.  Then she was kissing him again.

“Is that a yes?” Rollie asked when they at last separated.

Angie smiled at him radiantly.  “You’d better believe it is.”

Rollie smoothed his thumbs over Angie’s cheeks, wiping away the wetness.  “You have no idea how much I love you, Angel.”

“Yes, I do, Rollie, because it’s exactly the same way that I feel about you.”

Rollie placed a short, sweet kiss on her lips, then her cheek and forehead.  “There’s something else I thought about during that time.  I want to wait until our wedding night, Ange.  I want that night to be perfect, the most perfect, wonderful night of our lives.”

Angie smiled and nodded.  “I can’t think of anything more perfect.”  Then the smile and the expression on her face changed to one that made Rollie’s heart rate increase.  “This, of course, means that there will not be a lengthy engagement, Mister Tyler.  We may have made love in the Dreamtime, but I want your real body.  I’ve waited a very long time to have you, and my patience is wearing thin.”

Rollie grinned.  “Oh, don’t I know it, Ange.  I feel exactly the same way.”

“Well, then.  What would you suggest we do about it?”

“Hmm.  Funny you should ask.”  Rollie told Angie his idea, and she agreed to it readily.  Rollie then contacted Mangela in his mind.  The Aborigine arrived under a minute later.

“Well, you both looked pleased with yourselves,” he commented.

“Yes, we are,” Rollie stated.  “You can be the first to congratulate us, Mangela.  I asked Angie to marry me, and she was crazy enough to say yes.”

Mangela grinned broadly.  “I couldn’t be happier, Rollie.  You and Angie are lifemates.  It has always been so.”

Rollie nodded.  “I know.  I may not have realized it until three years ago, but I do know.”

They talked for a few minutes about their plans, then Rollie asked Mangela to tell Daniel to come in.

Keeping his face serious, Rollie asked his brother to sit down when he arrived.  Angie had moved over to the chair closer to the foot of the bed, so the minister took the one near the head.

“Daniel, it meant a lot to me that you would ask me to be your best man,” Rollie began, “but I’m sorry.  I’m going to have to turn you down.”

Daniel’s forehead puckered.  “Why?  Is there a problem?”

“Well, you see, Angie and I were wondering if you wouldn’t mind if we made it a double wedding.”

It took about three seconds for Daniel to figure out what Rollie was saying.  At about the same time as the Aussie’s smile broke free, a matching grin spread across Daniel’s face.  He began to laugh with joy.  “Rollie, I can’t tell you how much Alex and I would be okay with that.”  Then he engulfed Angie in a big hug.  Next, he hugged his brother, being careful not to jostle him or put any pressure on his chest.  “Alex is going to be ecstatic.  I can’t wait to tell her.”

“Don’t you dare tell her when I’m not around,” Angie said.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.  Well, I guess this means that we’ll definitely have to move the date of the wedding back.  We had doubts that you’d be well enough to even get to the wedding in six weeks, but there’s no way you’ll be well enough to get married yourself that soon.”

“Daniel, I am going to try my level best to be back to perfect health before the scheduled date of your wedding.  Angie and I don’t want to wait any more than you and Alex do.”

“Well, let’s see what the doctor says tomorrow, okay?  Then we’ll decide.”

“Deal.”

“So, I should imagine that you want to tell Dingo the good news.”

“Yeah.  Could you go get him?”

Dingo was delighted by the announcement.  Rollie watched him and Angie carefully as the two of them hugged, and he could detect no trace of friction between them, which was a great relief.

Daniel and Angie returned to the minister’s room to await the return of Alex, Dylan and Bonnie.  They hadn’t been there very long when the three showed up.  Dylan, his eyes sparkling with excitement, ran up to the minister.

“Gramma got me three new Gameboy cartridges, and some new computer games, and this really cool chemistry set, and lots of other things,” he said.

Daniel’s eyebrows lifted.  “Gramma?”  He looked at his mother.

“She told me to go ahead and start calling her that since it was only going to be a few more weeks till she will really be my gramma.”

“Well, I couldn’t have him calling me Mrs. Cooper until then, and Bonnie just didn’t sound right,” Bonnie explained.

Daniel grinned.  “Ah, I see . . . Gramma.”  He chuckled.

“How is Rollie doing?” Alex asked.

“He’s doing great.  And we’ve got some more terrific news.”  He looked at Angie.  “Do you want to tell her?”

“No, you go right ahead, Daniel,” Angie replied, her eyes twinkling.  “I can see you’re dying to.”

The minister’s smile widened even more, and he turned back to his fiancée.  “There’s going to be a change in the wedding plans.  How would you feel about a double wedding?”

“A double. . . .”  Alex’s eyes widened, and she looked at Angie.  “You mean you and Rollie?”

Angie nodded, laughing.

An instant later, Alex was hugging her.  “Oh, Angie.  This is such great news!  Wow!  This is wonderful.”

“Yes, it is,” Bonnie agreed happily, delighted by the turn of events.

“Of course, this means that I can’t be one of your bridesmaids,” Angie reminded Alex.

“Hey, I have absolutely no problem with that.  It’s a good thing we hadn’t gone shopping for dresses yet.”  An expression of excitement filled the redhead’s face.  “Hey!  We could go shopping for our wedding dresses together while I’m here.”

“That is a marvelous idea,” Bonnie said.  “New York has some wonderful wedding boutiques.  The three of us will have to make a day of it, perhaps tomorrow or the next day.”

“I can’t tomorrow,” Angie said, loving the idea.  “The doctor is going to be running some tests on Rollie and talking to him about his treatment.  But Thursday would be good.”

“Then Thursday it is.  It’s a shame we couldn’t shop for the bridesmaids dresses as well.”

“Why couldn’t we?” Angie responded.  “I know Lucinda’s size, and, even if I didn’t, I’m going to be calling her tonight about the news anyway.”

“And I know Molly’s.” Alex said.

A masculine chuckle reminded the women of the male presence in the room.  They all turned to Daniel, who was grinning hugely.

“Three women planning a wedding.  This is quite a learning experience,” he said teasingly.  “I’m just happy that I don’t have to deal with that part of the planning.”

“No, but you do need to get a tuxedo for yourself and your best man,” Bonnie reminded him.

Daniel laughed.  “I haven’t even told Arnie I’m engaged yet.”  His smiled dimmed.  “I sure wish I could do that in person rather than over the phone.  There is so much I have to tell him.”

Bonnie got a thoughtful look.  “How about if, instead of flying directly back to Washington, you come back with us to Irvine for a few days?  Then you can go see Arnie and catch him up on all the news.  And, while you’re there, you and Arnie can get your tuxedos.”  She looked at Alex.  “Why don’t you and Dylan come too?  There’s plenty of room for all of us on the jet.  Then we can work on more of the arrangements together.”

Daniel nodded.  “That’s a good idea, though I couldn’t stay long.  I need to get back to my congregation.”  He looked at Alex.  “What do you think?”

She smiled.  “Sounds like a plan to me.”  Then she remembered something.  “Oh, but my return tickets aren’t refundable, and I don’t have the money to get a flight back to Seattle from California.”

“Don’t you worry about that, Alex,” Bonnie told her.  “We’ll take care of getting you and Dylan back home.”

Alex’s first instinct was to object, but then she decided not to bother since she guessed that the objection would do no good.  Besides, it wasn’t like Daniel’s parents couldn’t afford it.

“What about you, Daniel?” Alex asked.

“You mean my plane ticket?  I didn’t get a round trip.  I had no idea how long I was going to be here.”

“Well, I see no reason why we couldn’t fly you all back home in the jet,” Bonnie said.  “That will be much easier and more comfortable than a commercial jetliner.”

Both Daniel and Alex nodded, agreeing.

“It’s all settled, then.  This is all going to work out wonderfully.”

Rollie was in a light doze when Mangela came in.  The feel of his presence roused the Aussie to full wakefulness.  The Aborigine settled in one of the chairs.

“You’re troubled about something,” he said.

The corners of Rollie’s mouth quirked upward.  “I guess I can’t hide anything from you, can I.”

“You can and you do, Sonny Boy.  You kept a secret from me all these years.  You did not tell me about Daniel when I came to you in the hospital that day.  You told me about the Dreaming, but not about that.”

Rollie sighed.  “I’d convinced myself that it wasn’t real, that he was just a figment of the heat stroke and my imagination.  I didn’t see how he could be real.  Looking back on it now, I realize that I should have figured out he was more than a figment, but I . . . I just wanted to leave everything that happened behind, get as far away from it as I could.  I didn’t want any of it anymore, the Dreamtime, the songlines, and everything that went with them.  And now look at me.  It’s all back.  Only it’s worse, because I now realize what harm I can really do with these . . . abilities.”  He paused, his eyes focused for a moment on the doorway.  “Do you remember telling me when I was a kid that there was a deeper level of the Dreamtime, a level so deep that it was just a step away from death, and that’s why only someone who had crossed into death could reach it?”

Mangela nodded.

“I found it.  During the time that the doctors thought I was in a coma, I was there.  I woke up there.”

“You woke up there?” Mangela repeated in surprise.

“Yeah.  I’m not sure how long I was actually unconscious.  Like I told the doctor, I don’t think it was more than a day, probably not even that.  I woke up, and I found myself there, in that place.  I didn’t know what was going on, at first, but then I recognized the ‘feel’ of the place, the sensation of being in the Dreamtime.  But it was so different in a lot of ways.  You know how, when you’re in the Dreamtime, you have at least some awareness of things going on around you if you focus on it?”

“Yes.”

“It wasn’t like that there.  I was completely cut off from the outside world.  I could hear nothing, feel nothing outside of that place and my own body.  Perhaps that’s why I was able to do what I did.”

“What?”

“I could feel myself.  I mean really feel myself, inside my body.  I sensed the damage that was done, how badly I was hurt.  I was in bad shape, Mangela.  I was only just holding on.  The only thing keeping me alive was my will to live . . . and Daniel.  It didn’t take long to become aware him as well.  I could feel him lending his strength to me.  I knew that, without him, I wouldn’t make it, that I might not make it anyway.  I remembered the healing techniques you’d taught me as a kid.”  He smiled slightly.  “That was the only thing I didn’t try to push out of my mind after I left the People.  I’ve used them a lot since getting into the movie business.”  His expression became completely serious again.  “But I’ve never used them to the extent that I did this time.”

Rollie shifted very slowly and carefully on the bed.  “So, I sat there in that deeper level of the Dreamtime, trying to heal myself.  I soon started getting worried about everyone else, wondering what was going on.  I was really worried about Angie.  Perhaps it was thinking about her that made me realize I could feel her too.  I could sense her presence there with me.  I needed to know how she was, how everyone was, but I didn’t want to come out of the Dreamtime because I knew that I was healing a lot better being there.  So, I tried to . . . expand my awareness, I guess you could say.  Boy, did it work.”

“What do you mean?”

“I suddenly became aware of everything.  I could see, and hear and feel everyone and everything around me.  I mean, we’re talking way more than if I was just conscious and taking it all in with my five senses.  I was like . . . hyper-aware of it all.  At first, it was just what was in the room.  Angie was there.  So was Dad.  I could feel their emotions, how scared and worried they were about me.  Then I was suddenly in with Daniel.  His parents were there and a redheaded woman that I guessed was Alex.  I could feel their emotions too, their fears about Daniel.  Next, I saw and felt you.  You were with a boy who looked like he was around twelve.  You were telling him about the Dreamtime.  He must be Dylan.  Then came Leo and Frank.  They were out working on the case.  It was too overwhelming seeing and feeling so much.  So, I shut myself off again.  The next time I tried, I managed to control it better.  I left it at the point where I could hear people’s voices, sense their presence, but I couldn’t really comprehend exactly what they were saying.  That’s all I really wanted, to just have an awareness of others, to not feel so cut off from reality.”

Rollie rested his head back on the pillow.  “So, I just lay there, trying to heal myself.  I started thinking about everything that had happened.  A lot of stuff went through my head, most of it not good.  I’m not sure how much time had past before I sensed that I was at the point physically where I didn’t need Daniel anymore.  I knew that his family and friends were worried about him, so I cut off the empathic part of our link.”

“But you stayed in the Dreamtime,” Mangela said quietly.

“Yeah.”  Rollie sighed softly.  “Like I said before, a lot of bad stuff went through my head during that time.  I thought I’d killed Cromwell, and I was having a hard time dealing with it and with the other things I’d done with that . . . particular talent of mine.  And I was scared.  I was so afraid that I’d one day inadvertently hurt someone I love with these abilities of mine.  It’s a terrifying thing to know that I could so easily kill and maim without even touching someone.  I never, ever wanted that kind of power.  It’s too much.”

“For many it would be too much, but not for you.”

Rollie stared at Mangela.  “What do you mean?”

“For a lot of people, such power would change them, darken their songlines.  They would come to crave the power, exult in it.”

“Absolute power corrupts absolutely?” Rollie said, quoting the old proverb.

Mangela nodded.  “That will not happen to you.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because, Sonny Boy, I know you.  You could never be that kind of man.  If you could, you would not hate that power so much.  The fact that you don’t want it proves that it will never gain control of you.  You are exactly the kind of person who should have that power, because you are strong enough to bear the responsibility that comes with it.”

“Daniel said something like that to me in the Dreamtime when I let him in.”

“Your brother is a wise man.”

Rollie nodded.  “He’s a better man than I am.”

Mangela shook his head.  “No, he is not.  Your lives may be different, your viewpoints and desires may not all be the same, but, in your hearts, you are the same.”

Rollie fell silent.  Then he looked at the doorway.  “You can come in now, Angie,” he called out.

A moment later, his fiancée appeared in the doorway, a look of surprise and embarrassment on her face.  “How long have you known I was standing there?”

“From the start.”

“Yet you kept on talking.”

Rollie nodded.  “I knew that, sooner or later, you were going to have to know about these things.  It was just easier telling you without you knowing that I was telling you.”

“Why?”

“Because I couldn’t take you getting mad at me again.”

“Rollie, I’m sorry about before.  I had no right to yell at you like that, not in your condition.  It was--”

“No, it wasn’t,” Rollie interrupted.  “It was not uncalled for.”

Angie’s eyes widened slightly.  “How’d you know that’s what I was going to say?”

Rollie shrugged.  “I don’t know.  I just did.  I deserved your anger.  I let you and everyone else keep on worrying about me when I knew that I could come out of the Dreamtime and relieve your fears.”

“But you were there to heal yourself.  Rollie, I wouldn’t have wanted you to come out if it meant that you’d be reducing your chances to get well.  None of us would.”

“I’m not talking about then.  I’m talking about after I released Daniel.  I could have come out then, too.  By that point, I knew that I no longer needed to be in the Dreamtime.  I’d healed enough to come out.”

Angie came up to the bed.  “So, why didn’t you?” she asked, keeping her voice calm.

Tears pricked Rollie’s eyes.  “Because I couldn’t face it.  I couldn’t face you.  I hated what I’d become, the things I’d done.  I just wanted to . . . to hide from it all.  I kept hoping I could wish it all away, though, down deep inside, I knew that wasn’t possible.”  He turned his face away.  “I’m sorry.  I’m sorry for doing that to you and everyone else.”

Angie sat in the vacant chair and took Rollie’s hand.  “Apology accepted,” she said gently.  She waited until the Aussie had turned back to her.  “But I need to know one thing.”

“What?”

“How long would you have stayed there if Daniel hadn’t contacted you?”

“I’m not sure.  Not much longer.  I was just working up the courage to come out.  I wouldn’t have stayed in there a long time, Angie.  I wouldn’t have done that to you.”

Angie nodded, and gave him a soft smile.  “That’s all I wanted to know.”  She then leaned over and kissed his lips softly.  “No more ‘I’m sorrys,’ okay?”

Rollie’s fingers caressed her cheek, his eyes gazing into hers.  “Okay.”

Angie ran her thumb under one of his eyes.  “You look tired.”

“Yeah, I am, kinda.”  He winced slightly as he shifted his position.

“What’s wrong?  Is the morphine wearing off?”

“No, I’m okay,” Rollie replied quickly.

“Rollie,” Angie said with a warning tone.

The Aussie gave a sigh.  “Okay, maybe I’m hurting a little more than I was a while ago.”

“I’ll tell the nurse.”

“Ange, I don’t want to stay doped up.”

“Rollie, you need to rest, and you can’t rest if you’re in pain.”

The nurses hooked Rollie up to a machine that would allow him to control how much painkiller he was given.  They also admonished him to get more sleep and strongly “encouraged” Angie and Mangela to let him rest.  Taking the hint, the two of them left Rollie alone, ignoring his protests.  With nothing else to do, Rollie closed his eyes and allowed the sleepiness he’d been fighting to claim him.

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

It was almost 6:30 when Daniel came into Rollie’s room.  Mangela was there.

“Hey, looking pretty sharp there, Bro,” Rollie said with a teasing smile.

The minister looked down at the expensive pajamas that his mother had bought him.  “Yeah, well, once you get out of the ICU, I’ll be able to say the same thing about you.”

“Huh?”

Daniel handed him a shopping bag.  Rollie looked inside to see a pair of pajamas that were the same style as his brothers, only a different color.  “Mom got them for you.”

“She didn’t have to do that,” Rollie protested.

“No, but she wanted to.”

“Wow.  These are great.  Tell her thanks.”

Daniel looked back and forth between Rollie and Mangela.  “Okay, so what’s this all about?”

The Aussie and the Aborigine glanced at each other.

“Mangela told me about your celebration party,” Rollie said.

“Yeah, I know.  He said he was going to tell you.  He also said that there might be a way for you to join us.  I’d sure like to know how.”

“Well, we’re not sure if I can do it, but, considering some things that have already happened, I think I can.”  Rollie paused.  “Um, how would you like to have me as a temporary tenant inside your head?”

“Excuse me?”

“Okay, you know how, when I had that vision about Joanne Carfield, I saw things from her perspective, as if I was seeing through her eyes?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, the same thing happened when I saw you being kidnapped.  It was as if I was you.  Mangela thinks that it might be possible for me to do that again with you, only I wouldn’t be having a Dreaming.  I’d sort of be hitching a ride in your brain.  I’d see through your eyes, hear through your ears, the whole works.”

Daniel’s eyes widened.  He looked at Mangela.  “You actually think Rollie can do that?”

“With you, yes.  All the things that have happened between you, the strength of the link that already exists, make me believe that the connection between the two of you can be expanded to the point that he could experience all that you do.”

Rollie had a sudden thought.  “There wouldn’t be any danger of a repeat of what happened when I was a prisoner and trying to reach Daniel, would there?  I wouldn’t take control of him or anything, right?”

“No, that would not happen.  You would only be a passive observer, though Daniel will feel you in his mind.”

Rollie looked at his brother.  “It’s up to you, Daniel.  We don’t have to do this.”

Daniel considered it for a moment, then he nodded.  “Let’s try it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure.”  He laughed.  “Who knows?  The way our lives have been going lately, this just might come in handy someday.  So, what do I have to do?”

“Just leave yourself open to Rollie, and don’t fight it when you feel him in your mind,” Mangela replied.

“Um, I just thought of something,” Rollie said.  “When I’m inside Daniel’s head, will I be, uh, outside mine?  What I mean is that am I going to do some kind of zombie thing that will panic the nurses and have the doctors rushing in here?”

“I don’t know,” Mangela admitted.  “Maybe you’d better pretend like you’re asleep.”

“Good idea.  I guess it’s a good thing I already ate dinner.”  Rollie lowered the bed to a reclining position.  “Okay, I’m ready.”

“Close your eyes and seek out Daniel’s mind through the connection you already have with it,” Mangela instructed.  “Try to strengthen and expand the connection, join with his mind fully.”

The Aborigine continued to direct Rollie as the Aussie sought to merge with Daniel’s mind.  For several long moments, nothing happened, and Rollie began to think it wasn’t going to work, then, all of a sudden, his perspective shifted, and he found himself looking at his own body lying on the bed.  There was a gasp that was his, but not his and a brief moment of panic.  Then he calmed.

‘Bloody hell,’ he murmured silently.

‘Hey, no cursing while you’re inside my head, Brother,’ said Daniel’s voice.

Rollie chuckled.  ‘Sorry.  I’ll be sure to watch my mouth, uh . . . thoughts.  Are you okay?  How does it feel?’

‘Strange.  I can feel you inside my mind.’

‘Can you hear my thoughts?’

‘Um . . . I’m not sure.  I hear something, but it’s in the background, sort of filtered.  What about you?’

‘Same thing.  But . . . wow, this is weird.  I can feel your body, like it’s my own.’

‘Can you feel yours, too?’ Daniel asked.

‘No.  I guess that’s just as well since it would get really confusing if I was seeing and feeling things from both your perspective and mine.’

‘Are you going to be okay?’

‘Yeah.’

Daniel turned to Mangela.  “It worked.”  Though he would never admit to it, the minister was relieved when he heard his own voice and there was no sign of an Australian accent.

The Aborigine smiled and nodded.  “Good.”

Daniel and Mangela left the room, turning off the light to increase the appearance that Rollie was sleeping.  They headed to the elevator and went downstairs.

‘Hey, Daniel.  Now I can say that I know what it’s like to walk in your shoes,’ Rollie commented.

‘Yeah, except that I’m wearing slippers, not shoes, and I’m not walking; I’m in a wheelchair.’

‘Details, details.’

Daniel gave a mental chuckle.  ‘Personally, I wish I was walking.  I really don’t need this wheelchair.  I’m perfectly fine.’

‘Then why are you in it?’

‘Two reasons.  One, to make the nurses and doctors happy, and, two, because I’d feel kind of silly walking around the hospital in my jammies.  But, if I have my way, they’ll let me check out of this place tomorrow.’

They arrived at the cafeteria.  One of the tables had a huge selection of Chinese food laid out on it.  Everyone was gathered around the table.

‘I can smell the food,’ Rollie said with delight.  ‘I wonder if I’ll be able to taste it.’

“Hey, there you are,” Alex said, coming forward to kiss Daniel.

‘Hmm.  She’s a good kisser, Little Brother,’ Rollie said mischievously.  ‘If I didn’t have Angie, I’d be jealous.’

‘Oh, shut up,’ Daniel replied, blushing.

Alex saw the heightened color in her fiancé’s face.  “Daniel, are you blushing?” she asked in surprise.  “Considering the kinds of kisses we’ve exchanged in the past, that one was pretty tame.”

Rollie snickered.  ‘Oh, do tell.’

Daniel’s blush deepened.  ‘Rollie, I swear.  If you don’t shut up, I’ll quote poetry in my head throughout the entire evening.’

‘You wouldn’t,’ Rollie gasped in mock horror.

‘Oh, yes, I would.’

Rollie sighed dramatically.  ‘Oh, all right.  I’ll lay off.  Gee, a guy can’t have any fun with you.’

Daniel gave Alex a kiss back.  “I’ll explain in a few minutes,” he told her.

The minister went to the table, smiling on the inside.  Secretly, a part of him enjoyed Rollie’s teasing.  It made the Aussie feel even more like a brother.  Daniel was sure that he’d get his turn at the teasing sooner or later.

“Well, I don’t see Rollie with you, so I’m assuming that he’s safe in his bed,” Angie said.  “Unless he figured out a way to project his astral body.  It really wouldn’t surprise me if he did.”

Daniel and Mangela exchanged a look.  “No, there’s no astral projection involved,” Daniel told Angie.  “But Rollie is here, sort of.”

“Huh?”

“He’s here.”  Daniel tapped a finger on the side of his head.

“What do you mean?” Dingo asked.

“Rollie’s and Daniel’s minds are joined,” Mangela explained.  “Everything Daniel sees and experiences, Rollie will also.”

Everyone gaped at Daniel.

“Wait a minute.  You mean that, when I just kissed you, Rollie felt it?” Alex asked, looking a little horrified.

Daniel grinned.  “Yep.  Oh, and, by the way, he said you’re a good kisser.”

Alex turned scarlet and covered her face with her hands.

“Wow!  That is so cool!” Dylan exclaimed, which brought even more heat to the redhead’s face.

“Okay, no more kissing for you two for the rest of the evening,” Angie commanded emphatically.

That comment made everyone laugh.  They all settled down to the business of dishing out their food.

‘So, Rollie.  Any preferences on the food selection?’ Daniel asked his brother.

‘Well, since I’m going to taste it with your taste buds, you take whatever you like.’

Dinner was an interesting experience for everyone.  Rollie could, indeed, taste the food and found that the stuff he wouldn’t have liked if he’d been eating it himself, tasted good to him because it tasted good to Daniel.  What made things even more interesting was that, once everyone got used to the fact that Rollie was actually inside Daniel’s head and could hear them and respond to what was being said, they began involving him in the conversation, occasionally asking questions directed at him.  Daniel relayed Rollie’s answers, almost feeling like he was suffering from some weird form of multiple personality disorder.

“This connection that is between the two of you is an amazing thing,” Bonnie commented about two-thirds of the way through the meal.  “What does it feel like?”

“That’s a hard question to answer,” Daniel replied.  “It’s like there’s always a part of Rollie with me, in my heart and mind.  I can always feel him.  Even when I’m by myself, I’m not alone.”

“Can you read each other’s minds?” Dylan asked.

“We haven’t yet, but I have a feeling that, if we tried, we could.  We can and do talk telepathically, so I guess that’s only a small step away from reading each other’s minds.”

“Do you feel that you’ve lost a measure of privacy because of this?” Cliff asked, thinking that he would under those circumstances.

“No, not really.  As least I don’t.  I know that Rollie respects my privacy just like I respect his.  I have no fear that he will use this link between us to invade my privacy.  I am certain that he’d never get into my mind without my permission.”

‘You’re right, I wouldn’t, Daniel, and I know that you wouldn’t either,’ Rollie said.  ‘I feel the same as you do.’

“Rollie just told me he feels the same way,” he informed everyone.  “Like I said earlier, this connection is a hard thing to describe.  When Rollie and I are connected empathically, when I mirror him physically, then it almost feels like we’re one person, even though we each have our own thoughts and emotions.  But the thing is that, even when we’re not sharing that facet of the link, there is still an empathic element to this connection.  I have a vague sense of Rollie’s welfare.  I can sort of sense when he’s tired or not feeling well.  But, most of the time, it’s . . . nebulous, like it’s just on the edge of my awareness.  Only when I concentrate on it does it become clearer, more distinct.”

‘Yes,’ Rollie agreed.  ‘When I’m not concentrating on it, I can’t, for example, tell when you’re awake or asleep, but when I’m focusing on it, I can.  When you were abducted, I knew immediately when you started regaining consciousness because I was attuned to you.’

Daniel relayed to everyone what his brother had just said.

‘You know, that’s actually a good analogy,’ Rollie mused.  ‘You could look at it like a radio signal.  When you have the radio tuned slightly off a particular frequency, you can sometimes still manage to hear the music, but it’s weak, there’s a lot of static, and the sounds of other radio signals may bleed into it.  But, when you tune the radio to the correct frequency, then the sound comes through loud and clear.’

Again, Daniel told everyone what Rollie had said.

Mangela nodded.  “This is true.  Though I can always feel Rollie’s songline, I am not usually consciously aware of his physical condition.  It is only when there is an extreme change in his condition, like when he is seriously hurt or ill, or when I am, as Rollie said, attuned to him that I can sense more.  It is the same with his emotions.  Normally, I have either no sense at all of them or am aware of them only on a subconscious level, but when I choose to sharpen the connection between our songlines, then I can feel more.  I know when he is suffering emotionally.”

“Can you feel the same things about Daniel?” Alex asked.  “I mean, since he and Rollie are connected, can you feel Daniel through Rollie?”

“I can sense Daniel’s songline and his presence, but that is all.  The bond between Rollie and I was forged over the years he spent with my people and through the relationship we shared as teacher and student.  He is my spiritual son, a part of my heart.”

“This term ‘songline’ has been used before,” Cliff said.  “What is a songline?”

Mangela explained the meaning of songlines in much the same way that Rollie had to Daniel.  The minister was happy when his father did not launch into a religious discussion, but, instead, chose to view songline as another word for “soul.”

“Rollie, earlier you compared this thing between you and Daniel to a radio signal,” Angie said. “But, with a radio, you can tune it completely off a particular frequency so that you don’t hear anything at all.  Could you and Daniel do the same thing?”

‘We’ll always be able to feel each other’s songline, no matter what.  As far as the rest of it, I don’t know.  I do know that I can block myself off mentally from Daniel so that he can’t feel me at all in his mind, and he could probably do the same, with some training.  As far as the empathic stuff is concerned, I don’t know.’

Daniel repeated his brother’s words aloud, then said, “When you blocked me, Rollie, I couldn’t feel you at all empathically.  I could sense your presence and your songline, but that’s it.”  Which was the reason why he’d been so scared.  He had known that his brother was still alive, but that’s all.  He was unable to tell if Rollie was physically okay or not, no matter how hard he’d tried.

‘Well, I guess that answers that question,’ Rollie remarked.  ‘Hey, this might be a good thing, Bro.  I’d say that, after you and I become married men, there will be occasions when complete privacy would be a very good thing.’

Daniel could actually feel his brother’s wicked grin.  Fighting not to laugh aloud, he silently responded, ‘Leave it to you to think of the mental voyeur facet of this connection.’

‘Oh, come on, Daniel.  Don’t tell me it never crossed your mind.’

‘Okay, I admit it.  I did have a passing thought along those lines, but, since I didn’t witness or even sense when you and Angie were in the Dreamtime together, I figured it would never be an issue.’

‘Oh, I think it would be, if one of us tried to do that, though we wouldn’t actually see what was going on, unless we were mentally connected like we are now.  We’d just be aware of the, um, heightened emotions of the moment, if you know what I mean.  Not that either of us would do that deliberately, but it could happen accidentally, like if one of us was trying to contact the other.’

‘Yeah, you’re right.  So, what you’re suggesting is that we learn to, as they’d say in Star Trek, raise our shields whenever we’re in that sort of a situation.’

‘Uh huh.  We’ve still got a lot to learn about this thing between us, and I think that, sooner or later, we’re going to have to really explore the full scope of our link, see what we can and can’t do.  And we may also have to set some ground rules, you know like not telepathically contacting each other at all hours of the day or night.’  Rollie smiled mentally again.  ‘I do need my beauty sleep, you know.’

‘Yeah, you can use all the beauty sleep you can get, Rollie,’ Daniel shot back.

‘Hey, watch it, Little Brother.  Don’t forget you’ve got the same face and body that I do.’

‘Yeah, but mine’s got less mileage on it.’

Rollie laughed.  ‘Boy, have you ever got that right.’

Suddenly realizing that he’d been silently talking with his brother for the past minute or so, Daniel abruptly refocused his attention on where he was.  He found that everyone had either gone back to eating or were in other conversations.

“Uh, sorry about that,” Daniel apologized sheepishly.  “Rollie and I were talking.”

“Yes, we sort of gathered that from your vacant stare,” Angie said, grinning.  “And, seeing the look that was on your face, I’d love to know what you two were talking about.”

Seeing the expression that came to Daniel’s face and the way he turned his attention to his food, Alex leaned over and murmured to Angie, “I think I have an idea what they were talking about.”

“Yeah, me too.”  Angie’s smile broadened.  “And I’ll be sure to take it up with Rollie later.”

The conversation for the rest of the evening was on other topics.  Daniel was talking with Angie about rock climbing when Rollie interrupted.

‘Um, Daniel, I need to break this connection,’ he said.

Immediately concerned, Daniel asked, ‘Is something wrong?’

‘No, I’m just getting really tired.’

‘Okay.  Do you need me or Mangela to be up there?’

‘No, I think I can do this on my own.  Say goodnight to everyone for me.’

‘Get some sleep, Rollie.  I’ll see you in the morning.’

“Daniel, is something wrong?” Angie asked.

“No, Rollie’s just getting tired and is going to break off the mental connection so that he can get some sleep.”

Just as he finished speaking, Daniel felt his brother withdraw from his mind.  For a moment, he almost felt lonely.  He’d gotten used to having his brother as a “tenant” in his head.  He told everyone that Rollie had gone to bed.  It wasn’t long afterwards that they all decided to call it a night.  Cliff and Bonnie accompanied Daniel up to his room, saying that they wanted to talk to him about something.

“Well, hello, stranger,” said a nurse when she saw Daniel.  “We were beginning to think you’d forgotten that you’re a patient here.”

“I wish I could,” the minister told her.  “I’d rather be sleeping in a bed in a hotel room tonight or even on the couch at my brother’s place.”

The nurse smiled.  “Well, by what the doctors are saying, I would guess that they’ll let you out tomorrow.  You certainly don’t appear to require our services anymore.”

“That’s good news.”

The woman winked.  “And I promise that we won’t wake you up in the middle of the night to ask if you want a sleeping pill.”

Daniel laughed.  “Thanks.”

He and his parents went into his room.  He used the bathroom, then got into bed.  “Okay, what did you want to ask me?”

Bonnie and Cliff glanced at each other.

“Your mother and I have been concerned about the way that all of this may have affected you spiritually,” Cliff said.  “It must have created a lot of questions in your mind.  I have never been one to put any stock in those who claim psychic abilities.  In fact, there are many things people call paranormal that I believed to be related to the occult or to be of a demonic nature.  I know that I expressed those beliefs to you as you were growing up.”

Daniel nodded.  “Yes, you did, and there are things of this nature for which I still share your beliefs.  But this bond between Rollie and me, the things that Rollie can do, when I think about them, it makes me even more in awe of God’s power.  I have no doubt that God is responsible for what I have with my brother, and I know that He gave Rollie his abilities.  If it turns out that I have those abilities too, then I can do no less than accept that God chose me to receive them as well, though I do not feel worthy of having them.  Everything that has happened has only strengthened my love and faith in God.  I have