C.J. started to drift off, but tried hard to stay awake. Matt still seemed upset and wasn't taking his eyes off her. His arms around her made her feel better in a way she couldn't describe, but the pain pills Carol prescribed were definitely taking effect and the two combined almost knocked her out. She knew there was more to the day than Matt knew and she needed to tell him. She did not plan on keeping any secrets from him, not now that they were married.
She tried to move, but his arms remained firmly in place around her, her head on his chest, his hand moving up and down her shoulder and one on her back, and his breathing just a little ragged. "Matt, there's more, there's more I need to tell you. Today was a long day, it wasn't just the pain…wow these pain pills are strong….look, Matt, the penthouse…"C.J. tried to get all this out, but it was no use. She was so sleepy.
Matt softly responded, "C.J. just try to sleep now, let those pain pills do their job. We can talk about anything you want tomorrow. Right now you need to rest. I'm not leaving all night. We can stake out the hospital tomorrow night. No one knows Max is on to anything. Just sleep, I'll be up all night anyway going over what information we have. I saw the folder downstairs, now just sleep. I'm not leaving you. I love you."
He looked down and brushed the hair out of her face, seeing her asleep, he kissed her forehead. He then maneuvered his way out of the bed, careful to make sure she remained sleeping. It was only 8pm so he took out C.J.'s address book from her nightstand and found Carol's home phone number to ask her about what was going on.
He pulled out the dinner she bought him from the oven, but wasn't really hungry. Seeing her in that much pain took away any appetite he had before. He ran his hand through his hair and went over and made that phone call.
Carol answered right away, "Hello?"
Matt tried to reign himself in but found that he was asking question on top of question, "Carol, its Matt Houston. C.J. just had some kind of attack, I don't know exactly what happened, she was fine one minute and then she was reeling in some kind of intense pain, she looks like she's lost 50lbs and she was white as a sheet. What is going on? What did you find out today? Is this serious? I've only seen her like this a couple of times, when she's been shot. Carol, I think I should just take her to the hospital myself. Which one do you practice out of? I can have her there in 10 minutes, I…"
Carol interrupted, "Houston, Houston, calm down…"she understood his concern and to be honest, she was a little more than concerned herself. She had put a rush in on the blood work and found that most of the levels for what she was checking for were coming back normal. That didn't tell her anything. Not all of it was in though, some needed a few days for any culture to develop, and that meant a waiting game. Opening her up just to see if they could see what was wrong, was never a good idea. She knew this was not going to be easy, but she needed to convince Matt to just hold on a few days and wait. "I understand your concern. She had some kind of attack, right? Where did the pain seem to be coming from?"
Matt looked back upstairs and thought back, "Her gut, right in the middle of her gut, she was curling up in a ball reeling. She was breathing hard and couldn't talk to me, at least not as it started. Listen, I can carry her to the car or call an ambulance, you can choose, but she is not going to be in pain like that again." he said with a determination Carol had only seen once before, when Jonathan Renfield had tried to kill C.J. years earlier.
She knew she needed to talk him through this. A hospital stay was not what C.J. needed. So she tried to explain and calm down Matt at the same time. "Houston, I know you want to rush her somewhere and fight this for her, but you can't. Now listen to me, a hospital stay will only jeopardize her well being, not help." Matt closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he didn't like what she was saying, but she was the doctor here, not him. It still went against every fiber in his being to just sit and listen.
She continued, "We can't treat her properly until we get the results from the blood work back and that takes time. Its not an issue of telling them to process it faster, its an issue of giving cultures time to develop if they are there. If we admit her to the hospital, she will be exposed to every germ and disease being treated there, and if there is an issue with her immune system, or she has to have surgery, we risk infection and that could be life threatening. I know this is going to be hard for you, but I prescribed her some pain medication and anti nausea medication so she can eat and regain some of that weight back before surgery should it become necessary. That will make her stronger and better able to endure it."
Matt took a deep breath, "So there is nothing that can be done right now?" he asked. Man this was killing him inside, to know that she was hurting and no one could do anything. Almost like the Peg Allison case when she was shot and he tried to send every ounce of energy into her he could from himself, willing her to live and survive that damn gunshot wound.
Carol could tell she was getting through, but knew she needed to go further. "I can stop by tonight, that won't be a problem. Jared and I just got back from dinner and we were thinking of driving out to the beach for a little walk anyway. I'd like to stop by anyway just to check on her." She wasn't just offering this to make Matt feel better, two attacks in one day was not a good sign.
Matt nodded his head and told her, "I'd appreciate that. I'm going to be up all night anyway. I planned a stake out for tonight, but I'm not leaving her alone. I can pick it up again tomorrow night, so I should stay up anyway. So any time you can get here, I won't be asleep, just knock." He was starting to calm down and was ready to get off the phone. He wanted to get back upstairs with C.J. to check on her again and he needed to call Uncle Roy to tell him he was taking the night off. He didn't plan on giving his uncle all the details, but he knew Roy would understand if C.J. was ill and needed Matt there to take care of her.
They said goodbye, Carol saying she would be arriving by 10 and Matt made that call to his uncle. Uncle Roy offered to stake out the driveway to the hospital and check to see who came and went from there and Matt thought it would be more difficult to get a positive ID on a person, but it was a fairly good compromise. Roy could hear the fear in his nephew's voice and decided to not mention Lucy or anything like that, in fact the sound of Matt's voice actually had him quite concerned. All he said was, "Just take care of her boy, we'll touch base in the morning. I'll call you if I see anything."
"Thanks Uncle Roy, I plan to stay up all night so don't hesitate and don't confront anyone. Remember its just surveillance for tonight."
Matt hung up the phone after getting the reassurance from his uncle and made his way back upstairs. C.J. seemed to be sleeping peacefully. He sat on the bed next to her for a second and saw she had curled up to Matt's pillow and had kicked some of the blankets off her. He gently took them and covered her back up. He felt her head one time just to make sure she wasn't running a fever and brushed a soft kiss on her forehead before turning off the light and heading back downstairs.
