Т Нован - Exposure Season 2

"Speaking of which." I look to Harper, waiting for her to tell me the news about my knee. "Will I be getting back on my feet?"

"Absolutely. The doctor said the surgery went very well and with the proper physical therapy you should be up in no time."

"Thank God." I let my head drop back on my pillow. I want to be up and out of here. I will never go to another hospital in my life.

"Amen." I hear Mama intone quietly and watch her cross herself.

"I am ready to go home now, Tabloid," I announce.

"Is that so?"

I lean into her hand as it threads through my hair. I know I must look awful. Thank God I haven't seen a mirror in awhile. "Wanna break me out of here?"

"Tell you what, Little Roo, how about we wait for the doctor to tell us it’s okay?"

"If you insist." I fold my arms across my chest. I'm doing better about not beating myself with my wrist cast though.

"Afraid so, Kels. I don’t want to risk hurting you or slowing up your recovery. Especially not when you’re doing so well." She leans in to give me a little kiss. "We don’t want to do anything to mess that up now, do we?"

"I hate it when you’re right."

"You must hate life often then," she teases.

I watch as she grits her teeth and closes her eyes against the pain. The tech isn’t purposely hurting her, but her knee needs to be exercised and this is her first day of therapy since the surgery.

I’m here because I need to learn how to help her do her exercises. A big part of me wonders if I’ll be able to do this to her if it’s going to cause her that kind of pain. She’s been hurt enough. The last thing I want to do is add to it.

Though it was nice to be the one to tell her that her father called and said he loved her. She looked a bit surprised at the endearment, but it seemed to make her feel better.

"Break," she whispers after about ten minutes. He very gently places her leg back on the bed. Her breathing is shallow and I can see the tears in her eyes. "Thanks."

"No problem, Miss Stanton. I told you we’d take it easy to begin with."

She nods, wiping away a tear as it starts to fall down her cheek. "It really hurts."

"I know it does, but, with therapy and time, the pain will go away."

"Okay," she nods, her breathing back to normal. "Let’s get back to it. I want it over with for today."

He looks to me. "You want to do this round? I’ll talk you through it."

I look to Kels for her permission. I can understand if she doesn't want a rank amateur working on her the first time out. She shrugs, and I make my decision. "Sure," I tell him, rubbing my hand together to warm them.

I take her leg in my hands and begin the routine with him talking me through it. I can tell she's in pain, but she handles it well, keeping me from feeling worse than I do. I finish the routine and we replace the brace around her leg.

"Do you want something for the pain?" the young man asks, making a note on her chart.

"No. Tired of being doped up."

"I’ll have them bring you some Tylenol, at least."

"Okay," she groans, her head dropping back to her pillow. "And maybe a new knee too."

He laughs. "I'll see what I can do for you, Miss Stanton." As he walks out the door, in comes an Armani clad woman.

She takes a few steps in, puts her briefcase down on a vacant seat and smiles. "Hey there, champ."

Kelsey smiles in return. "Foster! What brings you here from New York?"

Ah, this is Foster McGovern, Kels' agent. And mine, by proxy. She's tall, athletic looking and has green eyes, the same color as Kels. She seems vaguely familiar, I must have met her at one of the annual broadcasters' conventions.

She turns to me and extends her hand, "Harper, good to see you again."

Yup, guess so. "Hi, Foster."

"Well, I have good news for you both."

I note that she has a slight Southern accent. I like her.

"Well, the only thing that would get me to this smog-infested, over-hyped, make-believe city is to tell you that CBS has met all your terms. And I have the offer letters to prove it."

"Yes!" I pump my fist by my side. I bound over to Kels' side and give her a big kiss. This is the best news we've had in weeks. Our new life will actually begin. Soon.

Kels kisses me back enthusiastically. She's relieved as well.

"Thank you, Foster," Kels says when we break off. "You don't know how much I appreciate it."

"You appreciate it a lot, based on the fee I'll be collecting on this one." She goes to her briefcase and pulls out the letters in question. "Let's go over the highlights. First, and most importantly, Harper is assigned to be your Executive Producer on all your stories. Guaranteed. Of course, Harper, you know this will make things a bit more difficult on you there, at first."

I nod. "I know." At Kels' quizzical look, I explain, "It looks like I'm riding your coattails, sweetheart."

"But we know you're not. I mean, all they have to do is look at our work together. Jesus, we know that the studio submitted the anthrax and Omaha stories for Peabody Award consideration."

I shrug. "I know. I'm not concerned about it, at all." I take her hand in mine. "Go on, Foster."

"Second, no more 'morals' clause concern for either of you. I had it reworded so that basically you'd have to sleep with an elephant, have it caught on videotape and broadcast before they can fire you for moral reasons. Also, the brass knows you're a couple. As long as you don't make it an issue, or let the tabloids make it one, they won't either."

"So we can't pull an Ellen and Anne and make out in front of the President, eh?" I ask.

Foster frowns. "I would advise against it. Besides, he might try to join in, knowing the fella. Hell, he might try to join in if you did do something with the elephant."

We all share a good laugh.

"The rest is pretty standard — vacation, benefits, stock options, signing bonus, relocation expenses, compensation structure. They want you as soon as you're medically able. Actually, they want you before then, but they'll take what they can."

"Thanks, Foster. You did a great job."

She shrugs. "It's easy when I have great clients. I just went in there and did my brass balls negotiating tactics. They fell in to line pretty quickly. And, they paid out more than I think even they expected." She hands over our offers.

I scan down to my compensation. Shit. She is good. It's five times what I'm making now. I glance at Kels' letter. Okay. It's half of what Kels will be making. Don't freak out, Harper. Talent gets all the money, you know that. She was making more than you before. Now, she's just still making more than you. At a higher level.

And it doesn't include all the money I have in investments. I mean, I probably have a higher net worth than Kels since I've been investing since I was born. Well, not me, but Papa for me.

Argh! Knock it off you insecure, two year old. Kels has never even mentioned money around you. And it's not like you'll be hurting for anything.

"Harper?" Kels says softly, bringing me back to the present.

"Yeah?"

"Everything okay?"

I kiss her nose. "Everything is perfect."

The doctor gave Kels a nice shot of valium before the flight. She’s very relaxed as we settle into our seats on the plane. It’s late and we’re going to be getting in very early in the morning, but I wanted a flight that wouldn’t be overly crowded and would afford us a reasonable amount of privacy. Even in first class, that can be hard to come by. I'm pleased to see we have the cabin to ourselves so far.

We had to dodge the damn paparazzi when we left the hospital. You'd think that a month would have been enough time for them to forget about her but apparently not. Bear did a good job running interference for us, and CJ drove us to the airport in a squad car. It's always good to have cops as friends … and lawyers as brothers. Gerrard already has a restraining order issued against the most aggressive of the paparazzi. Robie is looking into suing a couple of the rags for libel based on their reporting over the last month.