coming home

It felt like quite a journey. Just to make it to Roger's mother's. Doyle kept insisting they go because they'd put this off. Forever. It was the holidays. They had to go. But they hadn't expected so much snow.

They made it there fine and of course, Roger's mother was a little sad at first that Olivia wasn't there. But soon enough, she embraced Doyle and it was a real Christmas. A Christmas he wouldn't have with his mother. She was still giving him the cold shoulder even if he did visit once a week to check on anything with the house. He changed light bulbs for her, fixed the toilet when it needed it. He even cleaned the oven before he left, along with leaving a new Snuggie wrapped under the tree.

Now, he wished he had one. They made it back to St. Joe's. It was a mess on the roads. When they found out the roads were shut down in Iowa, they decided to get a room. That's when Roger found out from Olivia, over his cell, about Elliot.

"Jesus, what the hell?" Roger was all intense. Doyle wasn't sure if it were good or bad news.

"Elliot was in an accident." Roger told Doyle as soon as he got off the phone. "And Kyle and Lon found him."

"Is he OK?" Doyle thought then the roads must really be bad now.

"I guess so. He broke his tailbone and a couple of ribs. They amputated his little toe. Can't remember which one. I don't think she knows." Roger shrugged, who got out the fruitcake his Mom had sent. That was about all they had to eat, other than some Charleston Chews.

"What happened?" Doyle winced as he went to check out the bathroom in the room and the little coffee pot with the complimentary coffee.

"Some kind of car accident." Roger tuned in the TV then to see if their was anything to watch. Doyle clicked on the weather channel. He knew if he didn't, Roger might have it stuck on Cartoon Network the whole time. "He was alone, though. Don't know why he was out during the storm."

"I'm glad Amanda's OK." Doyle watched the forecast. Hopefully, they could leave out in the morning, but he knew Roger, they wouldn't be leaving before noon. He turned on his cell then and called her.

"I just heard." He didn't aggravate her about why she hadn't called him. She sounded so tired, but she was at the hospital with Elliot. Doyle kept telling her everything would be OK, but she said nothing to make him feel he'd said anything comforting to her. He promised he'd be there as soon as he could.