Chapter 7

Morning came, and with it came Lucy's father and mother as well as Lucy's doctor. When Randolph saw Daryl sitting in a chair by his daughter's side, he glared. Merle had tried to talk Daryl into leaving the room and staying hidden until Lucy's parents visit was over, but Daryl had refused. He wasn't leaving Lucy alone to face her parents or her doctor. And he was curious himself to hear what the doctor had to say.

Lucy stirred and sat up, facing her parents and her doctor quietly. Her hand remained in Daryl's with a white knuckle grip on her part. He could see the pulse in her neck begin to jump and her breath grew thready with anxiety. Daryl gave her hand a slight squeeze in return for reassurance.

"What the hell are you doing in here with my daughter?" Randolph blustered out. Lucy's mother sidled over to the opposite side of the bed from Daryl and sat in the chair there, her eyes avoiding everyone's gaze.

The doctor cleared his throat and glanced sternly at Randolph. "Sir, I have to remind you yet again that speaking to your daughter in a threatening and bullying manner will not be tolerated. If we wish for Lucy to heal both physically and emotionally she must be treated with kindness…" before the doctor could continue, Lucy's father cut him off.

"I'm not listening to any more of your bullshit. My daughter has been in and out of I don't know how many treatment centers and hospitals over the last few years and I haven't seen any evidence of improvement of any kind," he blustered. "Seems to me we should just lock her ass up and throw away the key," he snapped. "She's a lost cause, and now she's a murderer as well as crazy," he continued angrily. Lucy flinched and her mother stifled a yelp.

Daryl stood up angrily. "Goddam you, it's no wonder Lucy's in the shape she's in. You've never given a damn about her, that's always been clear to everyone. And now instead of helping her you wanna just throw her away and forget about her," he growled.

Randolph took a step toward Daryl. "You sorry piece of trash. You got no right to talk to me that way. Who the hell do you think you are?"

Daryl flushed and stood up straighter. "I'm your dead cousin's son. I ain't trash, never have been, but you and your buddies made sure me and my family were treated that way. The real trash was Wade-nothing but a lying, lazy, cruel bastard. But you didn't care about any of that. He was your friend's son and that was good enough for you." Daryl yelled. "You should've learned from the past, from your cousin and my mama. Instead we're all stuck in the past, reliving it over and over again."

Lucy's doctor held up his hands. "Gentlemen, this isn't doing Lucy any good. I suggest that you step out for the moment and get yourself under control," he said to Lucy's father.

"Leave? That's my daughter there. He's the one that needs to leave!" Randolph yelled.

"No," the doctor insisted, "your daughter is an adult and she can decide who will stay and who will leave. And I believe I am correct in saying she wishes you and your wife to leave. Now." Lucy's mother quickly scurried out of the room, her father stomping after her with threats of his lawyer ruining the doctor.

When the door shut, the doctor turned to look at Daryl. "And you are?"

Daryl cleared his throat. "An old friend. Known Lucy all my life. Been away for years and came back when I heard she needed me," he rasped, gazing down at Lucy with concern.

The doctor nodded. "Well then, with Lucy's permission I'll include you in my daily update on her progress." At Lucy's nod, he continued. "Her abdominal wound was shallow and luckily she didn't hit anything major. It was relatively easy to clean up and repair. No long term issues." Here he paused. "However, in order to keep Lucy out of jail for the murder of her husband we have to say she has had a relapse and needs to return to the hospital." Daryl shook his head in confusion and Lucy covered her face and began to weep. "It's a private facility in Atlanta. She'll be kept there a minimum of a year, with frequent checks on her progress. And then a decision will be made whether to remand her to a prison, or to have her serve out her sentence in the hospital." The doctor gazed sadly at Lucy and Daryl. Daryl sat down in the chair feeling as if the wind had been knocked out of him. It had been one thing to hear Merle and Lucy tell him she'd killed Wade-it was quite another to have her doctor talk about her going to prison or being sent to a hospital for years on end.

"How long?" Daryl mumbled at last.

"What do you mean?" the doctor asked.

"How long before she goes to Atlanta?" Daryl stared at Lucy, feeling hopeless and desperate.

"At least another week or so. I can manage to keep her here that long to ensure her abdominal wound heals properly before she's transferred." The doctor nodded and stepped out of the room.

Daryl looked around the room, trying to corral his thoughts into some semblance of reason. He couldn't let Lucy go to that hospital. She'd be lost to him forever if she ever went back in there. He glanced over to her and gently pulled her hands back into his. "Lucy," he whispered, and she turned her eyes up to his. "I won't let them take you back there. I'll be damned if I will. I didn't keep you safe from Wade, and he ruined the last eight years of your life- but I'm going to make sure that bastard doesn't ruin the rest of it." He leaned over and kissed her forehead and sat back down to think, keeping her hand clasped tightly in his.