Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me.
---------------------------------------------------Misunderstood-------------------------------------------------------
JENNIFER COATES' APARTMENT
THURSDAY 2010
Jennifer opened her apartment door, threw her cover across the room and went straight into the shower. She stood under the shower rose while the hot water poured all over her and her bloodstained uniform. The excessive heat of the water and the effects of being battered and bruised left her dizzy and she slumped to the shower floor, clutching her knees and sobbing.
Her uniform clung to her and her shoes became waterlogged under the torrent of water. She could hear the sound of traffic outside her bathroom window, the sounds of sirens in the distance and the stereo from the upstairs apartment but the overriding sound was that of her own sobbing.
Harm had been in his own apartment across the hallway awaiting her return. Mattie had called him and begged him to retrieve a book she had left behind and desperately needed. She made him promise that he would express post it the very next morning. Everything with teenagers seemed to be so intense. Harm had the key to Mattie and Jen's apartment but was reluctant to use it. He knew Jen wouldn't mind but somehow he felt it would be an invasion of privacy. Instead he waited for Jen to return.
At 2015, he thought he had heard her return and knocked on her door but there was no answer. He tried the door knob and the door opened.
"Jen," he called but there was no answer.
He heard the sound of running water and decided to call back later.
It was 2130 when he knocked on the door. Again there was no answer and the door was still unlocked. He pushed the door open and called her name. He could still hear the water running and as he neared the bathroom an uneasy feeling washed over him.
Harm knocked on the bathroom door.
"Jennifer, are you alright?" he called out. Jen heard him but didn't answer.
"Jen, are you okay?" he called again and still she didn't reply.
When he heard nothing, he pushed the door open. "I'm coming in."
Through the fog that had filled the bathroom Harm struggled to see anything.
"Jen?!" he was alarmed.
He moved to the shower and slid back the curtain. Jen was still slumped in the corner. Quickly he turned off the taps.
"Jen? Jennifer?" She looked at him but said nothing. She was emotionally and physically exhausted. Harm bent down and touched her arm. She cringed and tried to withdraw further into the cubicle.
"Jen, it's okay. I won't hurt you. What's wrong? What happened?"
She looked at him and bit her bottom lip, tears filled her eyes and she started to shiver. Harm grabbed a towel and put it over her.
"Jennifer, we have to get you out of there," he said gently.
He stretched out his hand to help her out but she dropped her head.
"Jen, it's okay." He touched her hand but she whimpered and recoiled.
It was then Harm realised this situation may be beyond him. He left the bathroom and called Mac on her cell.
"Mac, I need your help," he said as soon as she answered.
"So what's new?" she laughed.
"No, this is serious. I'm in Jen's apartment. How soon can you be here?"
"Thirty minutes, what's wrong?"
"Can you make it sooner?"
"I'll try."
Twenty two minutes later Mac knocked on the door.
"Thank God," Harm said ushering her inside.
"What's going on, Harm?"
"It's Jen; I think she's been attacked."
"Where is she?"
"In the shower. She's been in there for at least an hour. She won't talk to me. I tried to help her out but she was…she was scared – of me!"
"Okay, okay, Harm, take a breath. I'll go and talk to her."
Harm paced nervously around the lounge as he watched the minutes tick past, five, ten, fifteen minutes. He watched the bathroom door for signs of movement but nothing happened. He wanted to listen at the door but decided against it. Mac would tell him what he needed to know. Twenty five minutes later Mac and Jen emerged.
Jen was wearing a bathrobe and Mac had a supportive arm around her shoulders.
"Hi, what's happening?" ventured Harm.
"We need to take a trip out to Bethesda," replied Mac. "Feel like driving us?"
"I'll just grab my keys."
BETHESDA EMERGENCY DEPARTMENT
2305
Harm and Mac sat in the waiting room while the doctor examined Jen.
"So what happened?" Harm finally asked.
"Not really sure."
"Was she raped?"
"Possibly."
"Did she say anything to you?"
"Not a lot."
"Mac, you're not telling me something. What is it?"
"It might not be anything."
"But it might be?" Mac nodded. "Tell me."
"Jen had an appointment at 1630 with Commander Harvey Eagleton…"
"Yeah, I remember him saying that last week when we…you don't think he did this?" Harm said incredulously.
"I didn't see her afterwards, did you?"
"Commander, Colonel," the doctor called them.
"How is she?" asked Harm.
"Please, come in ." The doctor showed them into the family room, never a good sign. "Please, take a seat."
"Has she said anything, Doctor?" Mac asked.
"Nothing too helpful, she does keep repeating a phrase that I can't quite work out. It seems to mean something to her though."
"What is it?" asked Harm.
"Something that sounds like 'Saladays'."
"Saladays?" the both echoed and looked at each other. It meant nothing to them either.
"Now," the Doctor looked at the notes in his hand. "The Petty Officer has been beaten. She has five fractures to her ribs which has caused a flail section to the right side. This requires immediate surgery. She has a fractured left wrist and two lacerations to her stomach. She has multiple contusions and what looks like strangulation marks around her throat. She also has third degree burns over much of her body from the shower."
"Oh God!" Harm exclaimed but Mac just nodded, she had already seen the evidence.
"Was she sexually assaulted?" asked Harm.
"I don't believe so," said the doctor. "But we have done a rape kit just to be on the safe side."
"Will you get any evidence given how long she was in the shower?" asked Mac.
"It is not too likely but we'll try."
"Can we see her before surgery?" asked Harm.
"Only for a minute, the Petty Officer needs to be on her way."
The nurse ushered them into a small treatment room where Jen lay on the trolley, eyes closed.
"Jen, how are you doing?" Harm asked gently.
Jen's eyes opened wide in fright.
"It's okay Jennifer, you're safe," Mac said. Jen began to relax as she heard Mac's voice. Mac patted her arm. When Harm went to do the same she flinched so he withdrew his hand.
"Jennifer, before you got to surgery, do you want to tell us what happened?" asked Mac quietly.
Jen's eyes darted from Mac to Harm and back. She shook her head.
"Do you know who did this?" she asked.
Again Jen's eyes darted to Harm and back but this time she nodded.
"Was it Commander Eagleton?"
A brief headshake indicated no and the doctor ended the visit.
BETHESDA SURGICAL WAITING ROOM
FRIDAY 0132
Harm was sitting at the end of the orange sofa when Mac returned and handed him a coffee.
"Thanks Mac," he said taking the cup.
"She'll be alright, Harm. The Petty Officer is very strong."
"Yeah, I know but she seemed so scared - scared of me!"
"I noticed that too."
"So did the doctor. He probably thinks I…"
"Don't even go there, Harm."
"Well, look what he has to go on: I live across the hall from her, I found her, she won't talk to me, she flinches or cringes when I move near her and the look in her eyes when she does look at me – that's not a look of trust I'm seeing."
Mac rested her hand on his arm.
"When Jennifer's out of surgery, I'll have a chat with her. We'll see what she has to say."
Harm sighed; it was all out of his hands.
Harm leant back and closed his eyes. 0200 had passed by moments before and there were still more hours to wait ahead of them.
"Damn," he said sitting upright.
"What is it, Harm?"
"The General. I should have called the General."
"It's okay, I already did. He'll be here first thing in the morning – sooner if we need him."
"Oh," he said leaning back again.
Mac rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. Despite Jen's adverse responses to Harm she never once thought he could have hurt her, she trusted him implicitly.