Tried and True Method

Sarah stayed in the hospital for another week before Dr Dave was fully satisfied that she was perfectly healthy and was confident enough to sign the discharge papers.

"Sarah, make sure to eat properly and get enough exercise, there was a little atrophy of your muscles during your three months coma. We tried our best to maintain them. If you feel anything wrong or are unwell give me a call and I can see what I can do."

Sarah who was in the middle of packing her things, suddenly had a card waved in front of her face. She looked up only to see the smiling face of her doctor. She admitted he was pretty good looking but he had this slight arrogant air to him that just grated on her nerves. It was a pretty mild case of egocentrism but she did not hold it against him too much, as after all from what she read and heard of him, he was deserving of it.

She took the card with a strained smile and a perfunctory thanks before she threw the rest of her clothes into the bag. There were not a lot of things, just some clothes her grandfather had brought after she woke up and her gaming laptop. Her grandfather had forbidden her from working whilst she was still in hospital and so she had spent the time catching up on the last three months and playing some random games on the internet.

She had also called up her boss Leigh to let her know she was fine and was a little surprised but happy to hear she had been promoted. During the three months of her coma, vast changes had come to her workplace.

The day after her accident, it was announced that a consortium made up of two parties, one foreign and one domestic was looking to acquire the Eight Network. The foreign party was a sovereign wealth fund of an allied country looking to find a safe source to invest in. Whilst the domestic party was surprisingly one of the richest individuals in the country.

Alistair Marsh was a twenty-eight-year-old rich heir, who had inherited his family's vast property empire. The Marsh's were old money from the days of the Empire and had been one of the first free families to settle in Australia. They bought vast tracts of land and made a fortune off the back of wool and wheat. From this they expanded from Cape Town, to Hong Kong to Toronto. After the Great Depression they had diversified from commodities to manufacturing finished goods. Moving up the value chain, today they own one of the world's largest food companies, from livestock, canned food to fast food, they dabbled in it all.

With such vast wealth and deep pockets, it was interesting that they had all of a sudden acquired an interest in the nation's largest entertainment and publishing company. More so that they had been able to work so quietly behind the scenes to form a joint proposal with a foreign party and one as uncontroversial as that one. He had been able to ambush the market and moved very quickly to negotiate the acquisition with the Board and gain shareholder approval. Even the Competition and Consumer Commission as well as the Foreign Investment Review Board moved very quickly to give the acquisition a greenlight. With barely any obstacles before it, the acquisition was finalised within a month.

This smooth process demonstrated the power the Marsh's held in the country, even Sarah's grandfather would not be able to move so quickly and so smoothly, and he was a national legend. Although the Marsh name was quite well known in the country, not much was known of Alistair.

The only information available came from unverified rumours and so-called industry insiders. However, along with the vast scrutiny from the public on the acquisition of such a large brand as the Eight Network, came a flood of interviews and carefully curated information about Alistair.

Sarah, in the last week had watched a few of these interviews. She found him quite affable and likeable, he was friendly and had a good stage presence, he knew when to crack jokes and when to be serious. It also helped that he was not bad on the eyes. In fact, she had seen many comments from what she assumed were teenage girls, asking for more photos of him, some were even asking for more risqué photos, for 'research' purposes, apparently.

Sarah was still lost in her thoughts when she heard a cough and realised Dr Dave was still standing before her.

"Uhm, what did you say Doctor? Sorry, I was thinking about something."

"Ahh, its okay. Haha. Well I won't take up more of your time, take care and see you around."

Sarah watched as Dave gave her a wave before he left her room. Just as Sarah took her phone out, awaiting her grandfather she heard a familiar voice outside.

"Dave, wait up, how's my sister."

"Steven? Mate, I haven't seen you since…Rachel's party, what, two years ago? Whatever happened to you anyway?"

"It would have been two years ago, aye. Well I finally took over for my grandfather, he's getting on in age. Gramps, said you were looking after my sister, I was worried at first but since he seems to be okay with it…"

"Haha…what do you mean? Your sister is perfectly safe with me. She is healthier than ever. It's like she never got into an accident."

"C'mon, we all know what your like, still luring those girls back to hotels?"

"What do you mean luring. Just because the ladies can't stop coming to me for help, I'm not luring them. Not everyone can be asexual like you. One hand can only handle so much."

Sarah who heard this strange turn in events could not hold herself back anymore and barged out of her room. Dave and Steven were startled and embarrassed that they had forgotten they were still in a hospital.

"I don't care. Don't say anything. Steven, I'm all packed, let's go but where's gramps?"

Steven gave Dave a quick glare before he ran up to Sarah and took the bag from her.

"Here let me carry that, Gramps is dealing with a few things related to the company, sorting out some troublemaker shareholders. He said my method would take too long, so he's gone to pull out the roots. His methods are always quick and effective I guess, but then I will need to deal with the long-term effects. Ahh…"

Dave felt a little awkward being left out of the conversation, so he quickly said goodbye once again and went back to work.

Sarah and Steven waved away Dave and they chatted over simple things as they left the hospital.

"Sarah, I think it's better to come back with me tonight, Gramps is out of state, so no one is home. Plus, Dad was worried, in his own way but I could tell. Oh, and Mum will be back in two days' time, she managed to get two weeks of leave."

Sarah occasionally visited her father and brother, so she was quite comfortable going back with them. However, she was a little anxious over meeting her mother. She had not seen her face to face for at least two years, ever since she took up her posting as High Commissioner to Canada, she had never been able to find time to return to Australia.

Their relationship had always been a little strained since the kidnapping incident, but she had forgiven her mother a long time ago. Yet she knew her mother had been unable to forgive herself. She had always wished to repair the relationship between them, but no matter how hard she tried to engage her, it could never bridge the distance her mother maintained.

"Ah, okay. What are we having for dinner tonight?"

"Well, Dad said he was going to cook tonight. I haven't had his cooking for quite some time. See, I told you he was worried about you. Dad's always been awkward with you, but you know he loves you right? As do we all."

Sarah felt comforted by her brother's concern and a little touched by her father's silly actions. Her father had always felt distant to her, but his sporadic actions such as cooking for her and taking her out to shop had made her feel closer to him. In fact, her father was a great cook, according to her brother he had learnt to cook in order to win over their mother. As cliché as it was, it ended up working out and had the incident not happen, they could still be a happy family. But mulling over the unchangeable past was not going to make anything better.

"Sounds good. By the way, Steven when are you going to introduce me to your girlfriend?"

Steven suddenly caught off guard stumbled on a step and looked back at Sarah with astonishment.

"How do you know I have a girlfriend? I mean…what girlfriend? I don't have a girlfriend."

Sarah laughed at her brother's awkward attempt at denying it. So, she pointed at his collar and sniffed the air exaggeratedly.

"You should have changed your shirt, there is a stain on your collar and I can still smell her light fragrance. Also, you've been checking your phone a lot in the past few minutes. I figured it would be someone more important than me and who would it be if it isn't your significant other?"

"Ahh…you got me. Damn. Thought I could hide it from you for a few more months, when I was ready to introduce her, I knew I should have changed on the plane."

"Does Dad know? Wait, does Gramps know? Oh, I know invite her tonight. She must be a beauty and have curves in all the right places, if she managed to catch your eye."

Steven laughed lightly in embarrassment before replying

"She's alright, I'm not dating her for her looks, she understands me. Bah. Why am I telling you all this? Hurry, get in the car, let's go."

Sarah sighed and shook her head in disappointment, she had been so close to getting him to spill the beans. She got in the car and did not even realise she was smiling brightly, as she forgot the worries that had plagued her after her 'rebirth'.