Chapter 3: After All This Time (Part 1)

Mary was still feverish as she opened her eyes to the white ceiling. The lights were blaring, giving her a small throbbing headache. Her throat was dry and sore. As she reached over to grab her glass of water off the table, she caught sight of Arthur sitting in the chair beside her bed. It took her a minute to fully register who he was as she stared to him with confusion. She wanted to speak, but she wasn't so sure that she could.

Arden smiled at her expression, that childlike innocence still ringing true within her. He held up his hand seeing that she felt the need to start forcing herself to speak.

"How are you feeling?" He inquired.

Mary took a sip of her water, doing her best to fix her throat before she spoke. Her eyes remained glued to him as she returned the glass to its spot on the table.

"I'm fine," she weakly answered before sucking in her lower lip.

"You gave us quite a scare there," he said, almost arguing her statement.

Gave us quite a scare? How many people actually knew about this whole incident. Mary's face began to slightly blush as she thought about everyone back at Briarcliff talking about her. She could almost hear them teasing her, speaking of how pathetic and weak she is.

"I'm sorry," she muttered, lowering her head in shame.

The only thing worse than seeing this girl sick, was seeing her genuinely upset with herself for getting sick. He often blamed her troublesome guilt complex on Jude.

"Nothing to be sorry about," he assured her with a slight smile. "Have you heard anything from the doctors yet?"

"No. I guess they just don't know anything yet."

"I see," Arden replied.

It sickened him to know that Jude had been hiding her condition from her. It was most likely her job to inform the young woman what was happening and what was going to be done. Mary deserved to know about the situation, it was her that would be suffering through everything. The only thing that kept him from telling her what was wrong was the fact that he wanted to force Jude to do it. If she can sit there and decide that she was the sole caretaker of this girl, then she could take care of all the unpleasant responsibilities too.

"You don't think that's a bad thing, do you?" Mary asked, her eyes slightly widening with anxiety.

It hadn't occurred to her to be concerned over not hearing anything until Arden had asked about it. She had been too sick, too tired to think about whether or not the doctors should be keeping her updated on her condition.

The doctor could easily see that he had jarred Mary and thought it best to reassure her that he meant nothing by it.

"No. They probably just want to make sure," he stated with a shake of his head. The man stood to his and sighed. "The flu is a common thing. You probably just need some rest."

"Thank you," Mary replied, smiling to him.

She wasn't sure if he realized it or not, but he was a comforting presence to her. To hear him tell her that she would probably be all right made all the difference in the world. There weren't that many people that actually cared, and having one of them give her some reassurance gave her hope. It was like a parent telling a child that everything would be fine, there was this automatic trust instilled in them that allowed them to naively believe anything their parent said.

"I'll let you get your sleep now. I'll come back to check on you tomorrow," he told her before turning away to exit the room.

"Goodbye," she responded, causing Arden to briefly smile.

As he walked down the hall, he started to wonder what all of this would mean. They would probably have to choose between saving Mary or the baby, which they would choose Mary. They would have to.

He knew that that sweet young girl would never be the same after all of this. Just knowing her, he figured that she would feel guilty over not having the baby. She wouldn't be able to think in terms of the fact that the treatments for syphilis might cause a miscarriage or that if she doesn't get treated, she could die before the baby's born, or even that she could pass the illness onto the child which could die soon after birth.

No matter what happened, they were looking at a woman who would be mourning a child that she didn't ask for. And he had no idea what to do for her.

As he turned to corner, he spotted the elder nun. She was most likely going to check on Mary Eunice, make sure that he hadn't done anything to harm her. It was amusing how this woman could think that he would hurt the only living person that he thought was worth keeping safe.

"Why Sister Jude. What are you doing here? Didn't trust me?" He questioned with a sinister smirk as he approached her.

Jude did not want to stop and talk to him, but she figured that maybe if he was going to taunt her, that he would mention what it was that he had done while here.

"You know very well why I'm here, doctor," she sneered, coming to a stop before him.

She didn't trust him. As far as she was concerned, he could never be trusted with anything or anyone. The relationship that he had with Mary was apparent, but this was her daughter. And she had always felt there was this underlying creepiness to the way that he coddled the young nun. She understood his being to her innocence, it was a rare thing. It brought comfort while they were all stuck in a bleak asylum.

As much as she understood it though, she could not condone it. There was too much distrust between her and Arden. For all she knew, he could only be pretending to care about this girl so that he could ruin Mary just to get back at her.

"It's funny. You can't trust me, yet you're the one keeping her illness from her," he stated.

All he really wanted to do right now was get the nun upset. He wanted a scene, something that would embarrass her. Maybe even something that would get her escorted out of this place. Show her how it feels to not be able to go see someone that you care about, to not be able to know how they're doing.

Jude tilted her head, giving him a slight nod. As she pursed her lips, she crossed her arms, doing her best to restrain herself. The last thing she wanted was to put on some sort of show here for everyone. She could wait until they got back to Briarcliff to argue with him.

"I need to discuss treatments. I want all of the information before I tell her anything," she defensively informed him.

"Almost thirty years later and you still can't be straight with me," Arden remarked, a grin of amusement tugging at the corners of his mouth.

Jude swallowed as she dropped her hands to her sides. The same fear that she had felt back then suddenly flooded through her veins. "And whose fault is that?"

"Just make sure that once you find out the truth, you tell me what happened. We both know she didn't willingly get into this," Arthur stated, glad to see that he had shaken the nun.

1937

Arthur stood in the kitchenette of his small apartment. He was only supposed to be here a few months, so he had figured that anything would do. That few months had slowly turned into a year, as he had met someone important.

Right now, he was mindlessly preparing coffee for the both of them. He was taking his time, his glazed over eyes staring down to the two white cups that sat before him on the counter.

For the past few weeks, he had suspected that something was wrong with his girlfriend. She had been acting odd towards him, as if she were scared of him. Something had changed within her. He wasn't sure if he should be worried or angry. It was obvious that she was hiding something from him, but he didn't want to scare her away by asking.

He had spent enough time with his own thoughts. He had to go out there and try to get some information out of the woman, figure out what was happening.

Grabbing the cups, he headed out to the living room, making sure to offer her a smile as he approached her. Right now she looked as though she would be ready to get up and leave at a moment's notice.

"You look nervous," he casually said as he set the glass down before her on the coffee table.

"I'm fine," Jude answered.

She had been sitting perched on the edge of the couch. All she really wanted was to get this visit over with and get back home. She was making sure to not look at the man as he took a seat in the chair to her left. Instead she focused her attention to the coffee before her, wrapping her hands around the warm mug. The only problem was that she couldn't actually drink it, she felt that she might get sick if she did.

"That's it?" He inquired, his concern growing as he watched her. "Usually you have more to say."

'I'm just tired," she assured him, giving him a tight smile.

Arthur grew slightly agitated as he sighed. This would get him nowhere, he could already tell. All he wanted was to help her. She was going to be the only woman that understood what it was that he was trying to do. She would be the one to help him, or so he thought.

"Sick?"

Jude removed her hands from the cup and neatly folded them on her lap. She was not ready to discuss this with Arden and the line of questioning was only making her more jumpy. "Is this why you called me here?"

"I'm just worried," Arden did his best to remain calm and try to show that he was just looking out for her.

"Well your worrying is unwarranted. I promise." She surprised herself by the fact that she was able to keep her voice so steady.

"As long as you say so," he stated before taking a sip of his coffee.

He wasn't sure what was bothering him more: the fact that she wouldn't tell him anything or that there was in fact something wrong here. He was starting to get the idea that maybe she was seeing another man. There could have been someone else, one that she was planning on leaving him for.

"I do have something I want to ask you about though, your trip to Europe," she mentioned.

"I'm going back to visit with family," Arthur clarified, figuring that he already knew what she was going to ask.

Jude glanced back down to her coffee. She had to know how much time she had without him. She couldn't have him breathing down her neck like this anymore. It was beginning to suffocate her.

"How long are you planning on being gone?" She questioned.

"I'm not sure," he replied, becoming leery of the woman's intentions. He set his cup down on the table and leaned forward. "You're welcome to join."

A chill traveled down her spine. The thought of being stuck with him in a foreign country made her fill with dread. She would be putting more than just her life at stake by going with this man, and she would not be able to live with herself if anything were to happen.

"Do you really think that would be a good idea?" Jude asked, clinging desperately to her forced smile.

"I suppose not," Arden flatly replied, examining her facial expression. He could see her knuckles turning white as she tightened her fists on her lap. She was scared. "I'm not sure my family would approve of you."

"Right," Jude said before thickly swallowing.