An Old Friend Calls:
Bruce had just finished a long day of negotiations with the Romanian Embassy, and as he settled into the backseat of the company's chartered limo [he hadn't been in the mood to drive by himself since the incident...and this was on company time]. But even as he slouched, loosening his tie, he took a sip of ice cold whiskey from the provided tumbler. While no consensus had yet been reached, as this was in fact the first day of negotiating, he couldn't help but feel a sense of...how one says, good about the pitch, especially after the Amabassador's reaction to his somewhat fluent Romanian.
'Han Solo, speaking to me in mine mother tongue...what wonders have been brought to me today.' they had said, thankful that you actually were a man of action.
Before he could contemplate the matter a bit more, and just as he was about to relax, the car phone buzzed with an incoming call. Curious, Bruce looked picked up the phone.
"This is Bruce O'Brian speaking, how may I–"
"There's no need to be so formal with me, Bruce, but how are you doing? How's Carrie? How's the kids?"
"Hey Elvis," he said, relaxing once more, smiling at it being a friendly voice, "It's been good! New challenges and mountains to climb for me, Carrie's been rocking the free world, and the kids are...the kids are a handful."
"I bet," Elvis chuckled, and they went back and forth for awhile like that, almost the entire car ride like that, talking about everything and nothing, just catching up, until eventually it was time to get to the meat of the matter.
"Listen, Bruce," Elvis started, suddenly a lot more somber, a lot more serious, "the reason that I called, well, the main reason, 'cause it's honestly nice to get back in touch after so long, is that...there's no easy way to put this, but I goofed up."
"I'm sorry, what–"
"See," Elvis continued, ignoring the interruption, "I've been doing a lot of charity work at this hospital in town since the end of my tour- I think you might know it, St. Judes-"
"Kind of," Bruce answered, vaguely aware that the hospital existed and that it was, presumably, named for the Patron Saint of Lost Causes, "I only know it has something to do with kids-"
"Yeah, that's the thing I need to talk to you about. See," and here, Elvis became sheepish, "I might have accidentally, and it was completely a misstep on my part, I understand, but I might have let slip to the kids here that I know Han Solo and they may want to meet you."
"..." Bruce was taken aback, putting down the whiskey and blinking rapidly, "What do you mean they want to meet me?"
"It's kind of a delicate matter, you see Bruce, I-"
"That doesn't answer my question, what-"
"They have cancer, these kids, Bruce," Elvis returned to being somber, "This hospital, they're doing good work, looking to cure childhood cancer, but that's still a ways off Bruce."
"..." Bruce took a moment, unsure of what to do with the gravity of the situation, "...they want to meet me?"
"Yeah, Bruce," came the solemn voice from the other end, "they do."
In the days that followed, Bruce went out of his way to ensure everything was in order, making sure Carrie was going to be comfortable with him gone, and then went so far as to grab Robin, Mark and John in on the action as they flew for Memphis for the weekend (along with their iconic costumes, plus replica toy blasters that were out of the prototype phase). When they finally got to the hospital, it didn't really hit him at first, not until he first saw the kids, feeling a wave of emotions wash over him. The children's faces lit up with joy as they caught sight of their favorite characters (more than one kid was happier to see Mork) walking through the doors. They each greeted each child with a warm smile, taking the time to chat with them, sign autographs, and pose for pictures. Bruce was amazed by the resilience and strength of the children he met, they all were. They faced battles far more significant than any on-screen adventure, yet their spirits remained unbroken. He listened to their stories, shared laughter, and even shed a few tears as he heard about their struggles and triumphs.
The rest of that weekend was a blur, even their staying at Graceland (Bruce liked what Elvis had done to the place, the remodel was a lot less tacky than the last time he was here), but by the end of it they all had agreed, they weren't done helping these children, or this place, not by a longshot.
As they returned home, Bruce couldn't help but look out that window one last time to catch a glimpse of St. Judes as they flew, wondering if Sister Brigid would have...no, she would have been there with him if she could. 'It was happy children smiling,' her diary had read, 'that had made it all worth while' and he couldn't agree more.
A/N: If anything is anachronistic, assume that Bruce is being an unreliable narrator. Otherwise, let me know if anything needs changing from a narrative or grammatical standpoint.
Also, neat tidbit, despite having a very Catholic origin, St. Jude is very much a secular non-profit, and with it being so close to Elvis (twenty minutes by car), I don't see why he (c/w)ouldn't have helped out on his journey to recovery.
