Blood Deep

Chapter Nine

St. Catherine's Hospital

Room 406

9:00 AM Friday, December 15

"You're going to pay dearly, Casey Ann…"

"No! Leave me alone! Please leave me alone!"

"Can't do that, Casey Ann."

"No…" Casey groaned in her sleep. "No…leave me alone…please don't…please…"

John woke up and he heard Casey's mumblings in her sleep. She stirred and furrowed her eyebrows.

"No!" She yelled. "Leave me alone! Please stop hurting me…" she gasped and sat up. "NOO!"

"Casey!" John yelled above her voice.

She began to sob and he helped her lay back down.

"I can't stay here," she cried in her delirium. "I want to go home, John. He-he's going to hurt me again…he's going to take our baby…"

"Honey, no one's going to hurt you," he assured her. "It was just a bad dream."

Casey shook her head frantically. "It's not safe here…I want to go home."

"Home is…relative," he sighed. "CSU hasn't released your house yet."

She sat up again. "I have to get out of here," she sobbed. "He's going to hurt me again, and I can't take that!"

She struggled against him.

"No, Casey, you're still too sick," he said firmly, restraining her arms. "You're not going anywhere. I'm right here, Casey, I'll protect you."

"You can't protect me, John," she cried. "Oh God…"

She began to convulse again and the monitors went off again. She fell back and began to seize and nurses rushed in and pushed John aside.

"Sir, you need to step out of the room," a nurse said and he was pushed out and he could do nothing but look on helplessly at Casey.

A nurse placed a bite guard between Casey's lips so that she wouldn't bite her own tongue or chip her teeth as she seized violently. Just as quickly as it happened, it stopped and Casey's body ceased movement, and she groaned.

Dr. Morales came into the room to once again, inspect Casey. He removed the bite guard, and then he opened her eyelids to inspect her eye movement. He flashed a penlight in her eyes and she responded.

"Casey…" he called loudly. "Casey, are you with us?"

"Head hurts," she groaned. "My baby…my baby…"

"We're going to do an ultrasound soon," Dr. Morales said. "Just hang in there, and we'll get you something for that headache."

Casey began to cry again. "I can't lose my baby…"

She closed her eyes and sighed, feeling lethargic and sore.

A nurse brought in an ultrasound machine.

John was allowed back into the room and he took Casey's hand and kissed it.

The nurse lifted Casey's gown over the small swell in her belly and then Dr. Morales squeezed some gel onto her belly. He placed the indicator on her tummy and he searched for the baby.

"There's the baby," he said. "Now let me find the heartbeat…there it is."

It was a fast staccato and Casey was relieved that she still had her baby inside her. Nothing had sounded as beautiful to her in her life than her baby's heartbeat. John smoothed over her hair, glad that their baby was enduring whatever had been assaulting Casey's body.

"Very healthy heartbeat," Dr. Morales reported. "Everything looks normal."

"Thank you," John said.

"Can I talk to you privately?" Dr. Morales requested of John.

"Sure," John said. "Casey, I'll be right back, okay?"

Casey nodded weakly.

The men stepped out into the hallway and began to walk.

"Yesterday, one of my nurses alerted me to something," Dr. Morales began. "And it may explain the fever at least."

"Alerted you to what?" John asked.

"An infected bite mark on the nape of her hair," Dr. Morales revealed. "It was barely noticeable, but when we part her hair, it's a clear bite mark."

11:15 AM

"Sometimes sacrifices have to be made for the good of this family."

"I don't understand…"

"You saved our family, Casey."

"Daddy, I don't understand. Please help me."

Casey gasped as she sat up in bed and looked around. She saw John standing at the window, looking at the snowy cityscape. It was beautiful, but after a while, the snow would turn an interesting range of colors due to both environmental and human factors, But for the most part, New Yorkers were enjoying the prospect of a white Christmas.

"John," she called quietly and he turned to face her.

"Hey," he said as he came over and kissed her forehead.

"What time is it?" She asked as she laid back down.

"Eleven fifteen," he said, looking at his watch.

She rubbed a hand over her face and sighed. She wanted to go home. She wanted to just get over whatever was afflicting her and move on. She wanted to be safe. She wanted her baby to be safe.

"Where's Maggie?" She asked.

"She went to rest," he said as he sat in the chair next to her bed.

He didn't know how to ask her about the bite mark on her neck. She had to have known that it was there…felt it when whoever bit her did. Why would she hide something like that from him? He would just add it to the list of strange behavior by Casey.

"What?" She asked. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

He took her hand in his.

"Casey, is there something you're not telling me?" He asked.

She furrowed her eyebrows. "What are you talking about?"

He sighed. "Honey, I'm sorry…I just feel like the past couple of months, you've been different."

"I haven't," she said. "Been different, I mean."

John sighed.

"We've been together for a year and seven months," he said, a bit irritated. "We used to talk…and then all of a sudden…you just closed up on me."

"Because I don't feel like talking," she said defensively.

Casey had shut him out because she didn't want to hurt him in the long run with what was going on with her. It was better to push him away, make him leave first that way the pain of John not being in her life wouldn't feel as sharp. He decided to leave first. Hurting him was much easier than letting him find out what happened to her; she knew that eventually someone would put the pieces together and it would be out in the open. Her shame, her regret, her pain…she couldn't live through that again.

"You barely wanted to tell me that you were pregnant," he huffed. "You only told me because I found the pregnancy test in the trash. And even then it was like pulling teeth. Then your sister, whom you never mentioned, shows up, then a guy attacks her…you get sick all of a sudden…"

Casey began to cry. "How is any of that my fault?"

"I'm not blaming you, Casey," he said. "I just want to know what's going on in your head. You won't return my phone calls, but then you show up in the middle of the night at my apartment crying…"

She sniffled and looked away.

Just then, Dr. Morales and another woman came into the room with a box and a camera.

Rape kit.

"Casey, this is Gina Redding," Dr. Morales explained. "She's a rape crisis nurse."

Casey looked at him angrily.

"I wasn't raped," she hissed. "What the hell?"

"Casey, we found an infected bite mark at the nape of your neck," Dr. Morales explained. "And I have the results of your blood test. Your blood tested positive for a staphylococcal infection. It explains your fever, but the seizures…I think that the stress has triggered them. But Gina is here to help you."

Casey furrowed her eyebrows and covered her eyes.

"How did you get bitten, Casey?" Gina asked gently.

"I wasn't raped!" Casey yelled. "Get out!"

Gina sighed and then removed herself from the room.

"Casey, you had to have known about being bitten," John said. "It's okay. You can tell me anything."

"Stop," she cried. "I don't want to talk about it."

Dr. Morales sighed.

"Either way, we'll start you on antibiotics, and I promise you, it won't hurt the baby," he explained. "And we'll go ahead and treat the wound properly."

Casey nodded.

The doctor left the room and Casey turned away from John.

"How did you get the bite mark, Casey?" He asked.

Gina came back into the room.

"I told you I don't want to talk about it," she sniffled. "Just leave me alone about it."

John sighed and ran his hand over his face. "Well even if you didn't want to tell me about it, you should have come to the hospital…that's why you got sick."

She wiped her tears and put her hands on her belly.

"Please, Casey," he implored. "I'm worried about you, and so is everyone else."

She turned over to face him angrily. "I don't want to talk about it. I don't know how I got the bite mark."

He sighed. "You're a terrible liar, Casey. You're hiding something, and if you can't trust me enough to tell me, then what have we been doing for the last year and a half?"

"Just leave me alone about it!" Casey sobbed. "I can't talk about it!"

Gina came over to the other side of the bed.

"Casey," Gina began gently. "I can't even pretend to know how you're feeling right now, but it's not uncommon for a victim to deny what happened to them."

John took her hands in his.

"Please," he begged. "I love you so much, you know that?"

She nodded.

"I'm willing to do anything for you," he said. "I want to help you Casey…tell me the truth, honey."

Tears ran down Casey's face and she wiped them away.

"I can't," she cried. "I can't talk about it, okay? I just need you to let it go, John. Please. I just want to get out of here. Trust me when I tell you that it has nothing to do with you. It's nothing that you did, and I know you want me to talk to you, but I can't. I promise you, I'll be okay."

"Honey, whatever happened to you, you can't walk around with it forever," he said.

"I know that," she cried. "I know."

She rubbed her belly. "I just want to be happy…I can't tell you how happy I was when I found out that we were pregnant. I still am, but the day when I finally took a pregnancy test…I was nervous and happy at the same time. I kind of already knew that it would come out positive, but I had to make sure."

He leaned over and kissed her forehead.

"I guess we'll have to move into a bigger apartment, huh?" She asked. "At least for a while. Maybe a three bedroom. But he's going to need a lot of space to run around as he gets older."

John chuckled. "Why are you so convinced that the baby's a boy?"

"I don't know," she shrugged. "I just want you to have a son. A firstborn son."

"Thought of any names?" He asked.

"Aaron Jacob," she smiled tiredly. "That way we can call him AJ…I've always liked that. It's cute."

"Hey, if we're having a boy, my son will not do cute," John said.

"Shut up, whatever," she said exhaustedly. "Men are so weird…"

She trailed off and caressed over her belly. "Read to the baby."

"You want me to read to the baby?" He asked.

"Yeah," Casey smiled as she lifted her gown up, revealing her belly. John could see the scars on her belly. "Read him a good story…and nothing having to do with history, politics, or conspiracy theories."

"What else is there?" He asked. "He's got to learn this stuff early."

"You will not be filling our baby's little tiny peanut brain with conspiracy theories about JFK," she huffed. "How 'bout Dr. Seuss or Beatrix Potter?"

"Alright, I'll be right back," he said. "Beatrix Potter, she says."

Casey sighed and grinned.

John walked out into the hallway to the elevators. A man in his middle sixties stepped out and John nodded to him.

"Excuse me, what room is Casey Novak in?"

John turned around and headed over to the man.

"She's in room 406," the nurse said.

"Excuse me," John said. "Who are you?"

William Novak turned to John.

"I could ask you the same question," William said.

"I'm John Munch," he said. "You mind my asking what business you have with Casey Novak?"

William frowned. "I'm her father, Justice William Novak. Casey is my daughter. Now, if you don't mind me asking…what business do you have with my daughter?"

"She's my girlfriend," John explained, humbling himself a bit. "It's nice meeting you, sir. I'm sorry for being so suspicious of you, but Casey's been having a rough time lately…"

"My daughter is your girlfriend?" William asked, looking a bit angry.

He went down the hallway to Casey's room and John followed.

Casey was feeling the new curve in her tummy. She supposed she was rather big for just three months. Every piece of clothing she owned was too tight and too small around her breasts and belly. She caressed over the bump, feeling every single scar on it. She felt like she swallowed four tennis balls. She needed to get better for the baby. She wanted a healthy baby. She had to move on with her life. She couldn't let herself fall into periods of depression anymore. She was happier with John than she had been in many long years, and she was giving him a child.

"My baby," she whispered. "My baby…you're going to have a good life, and I promise you me and daddy will be good to you. We're never, ever going to hurt you."

She sighed and pushed on the pudge that was her belly at the moment.

William saw his daughter caressing her abdomen, and he knew then what she'd been up to for the last three years.

He opened the door.

"John, I really-" she looked up and she felt her heart begin to pound in her chest. "Daddy?"

William walked over to her and inspected her. She looked up at him and she felt nervous. He reached over his hand and she put her hands at her side.

"Modesty, Casey Ann," he said as he pulled her gown over her belly and then pulled the blanket up over her breasts.

John came in and she looked at him.

"Um, John," she said in a shaky voice. "Can you…you've been here a long while. Why don't you go home and get some rest?"

John looked between her and her father and figured that she needed to be alone with him.

"Alright," he said. "I'll be back later, okay? But Mr. Novak…she's on antibiotics and a sedative, so she's very tired."

William looked at John.

"I will be mindful of that, thank you."

John came over and kissed Casey before reluctantly leaving her with her father.

When he was gone, William turned back to his daughter.

"Daddy, I-" her yelp of pain interrupted her when William tangled his fingers in her hair and pulled it, tilting her head up so that she could look fully into his eyes.

"This is how you repay me?" He asked. "After everything I've done for you?"

"Daddy, no," she whimpered. "Please…"

"You and Maggie are bringing the family down," he hissed.

"Please, daddy," she begged. "Please just leave me alone. I promise I won't tell anybody. I promise. I'll go away. Anywhere you want me to go. Just please…"

He released her and she turned away from him and began to cry.