After a very tense ride in Joe King's car, Lee sat in the man's office with him while they went over his case, Joe peppering him with questions as the prosecutor would to prepare him for his defense, Lee getting more irritated by the minute at the nature of the questions.

"So, Mr. Stetson," Joe said, "You say that Mrs King was a willing participant in your relation with her, yet your neighbor insists that he heard her screaming coming from inside your apartment. Can you explain that?"

"What? You've never heard a woman screaming in the throes of passion before?" Lee replied flippantly.

"Damn it, Lee, would you take this seriously? I'm fighting for you here! Don't you get how serious this is?"

"Yeah, I get how serious this is, believe me, but I don't see how this is going to help."

"These are the exact kind of questions the ADA is going to ask. They're going to get very personal and probably try to expose every bit of your private life with Amanda to make their case." He then shifted back to prosecutor mode and began again, rephrasing, "Now, Mr. Stetson, can you describe for me the events that led up to the screaming that was heard coming from your apartment?"

Lee shook his head and said, "God, you're really loving this, aren't you?"

"No, I'm not! In fact, I hate it! Do you think I want to hear all the details of your sex life with the mother of my children? Far from it! What you don't seem to get though is that this is exactly how a prosecutor works. They are going to drag out every bit of dirty laundry that they can. They're going to make you recount bit by bit exactly what happened that night and poke and prod for details of your private life. Don't you get that? How's it going to look in court if you're not prepared to answer those questions?"

"So, what? you want a play-by-play? How I kissed her, how I touched her, how she begged me to-" He stood and began pacing, running his hands through his hair. "No, I can't. I can't do this! That stuff is private!"

"I'm sorry, Lee, but it's not. Not anymore. It can't be when your private life is what led to this to start with and all of that is going to be out there for everyone to see if you choose to testify in your own defense."

"Maybe I shouldn't then," Lee suggested.

"Then maybe you should find yourself another attorney," Joe said. "I've tried to help you the best that I can, but if you're not willing to help yourself, then there's nothing more that I can do for you."

"Yeah, maybe I should," Lee said as he stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him. He took a deep breath and stood still for a moment in the empty outer office where Joe's secretary normally sat, braced himself and then walked back into Joe's private office. "All right, look, let's just get this done so I can go see Amanda in the hospital."

"Good," Joe said. "Now, Mr. Stetson..."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dotty stared at the ICU doctor with utter shock on her face, "How dare you! How could you make a decision like that without consulting her family? I'm her mother. I should have been informed of this, should have had a chance to have a say in this decision! Her husband should have had a say in this! Do you know what's been happening to that poor man? He's being accused by the police of putting her here, of hurting her!"

"I'm well aware of what's been happening," the doctor replied, "But I'm afraid that's not my problem. My job is to do what is best for my patient and what has been best for her is to keep her brain healthy. Would you prefer to have her end up with permanent brain damage, become a vegetable?'

"Is it that serious?"Dotty said worriedly.

"Yes, it's that serious. Now, I'm sorry that you weren't informed of what we were doing for her. I assumed that the ER doctor had told that that was why she was being moved up here," he explained apologetically.

"No, he...he just said that they wasn't much they could do for her," Dotty answered.

"And in the ER, there wasn't. That's why I took over her care."

"Well, I know that you're trying to help her, but I can't allow this to continue," Dotty said firmly. "You are not to keep doing this to her. Do you understand me?"

"I'm sorry, Mrs. West, but this is medically necessary," he replied.

"Well, it stops now! I demand that you stop turning her into a zombie! I am her mother and I won't allow you to do this to her anymore."

"Yes, but you're not her next of kin. You made sure that we knew that when you insisted on allowing her husband in to see her," the doctor reminded her. "Now, is he here to make that decision?"

"No, he's not and part of that is your fault! If my daughter had been allowed to stay conscious, she could have already refuted these ridiculous charges against him and he could be here with her now instead of running around like a crazy person trying to prove his innocence!"

"Mother, stop," Amanda said weakly from her bed.

Dotty rushed to her daughter's side, reaching for her hand and gushed, "Oh, my darling girl, you're awake," while the doctor approached her from the other side.

Amanda struggled to sit up, but the doctor kept her from rising with a hand on her shoulder, "Easy there. You shouldn't try to move. You've got a nasty concussion there."

"Lee, he needs me," Amanda protested as the events of the other night flooded through her mind and Lee's attempt to rescue her. "He's in trouble."

"Yes, he is," Dotty said, "But Joe's helping him."

"Joe?" Amanda questioned in confusion as she tried to clear her fogged mind. "No, Joe can't be involved in this. He'd...get hurt. Lee...serious danger. Three men...jumped me...they're going to hurt him if he doesn't get some backup."

"Amanda, Darling, Lee is just fine. He's in some legal trouble, but he's not in any danger."

"Legal trouble?" She looked at her mother in bewilderment. "No...last night...Men...attacked...Lee...tried...help me."

"Amanda that wasn't last night. that was two nights ago. You've been here unconscious for more than a day," Dotty explained to her daughter, but with a pointed glare at the doctor. Their conversation was interrupted by a pair of orderlies arriving to take Amanda to radiology for her CAT scan. Dotty released her hand and said to her, "They need to take to you to run some more tests, but don't you worry, my darling girl, I'll be right here when you get back, okay?"

Two hours later, Lee arrived, having been dropped off by Joe, since he'd left the "vette with Leatherneck to get his windshield worked on, to find Dotty slumped in a chair in the ICU waiting room, dozing. He gently nudged her, "Dotty," he whispered.

Dotty bolted upright and said, "Amanda!'

"No, Dotty, it's me, Lee," he answered as he knelt in front of her. He then looked at her with a pained expression on her face. "So, I take it there's no change in her condition."

Dotty sighed as her fury rose again, "No, that's just it, Lee. Her condition is..." she took a deep breath as she tried to calm herself enough to explain to Lee what she'd found out.

As Dotty's words sank in, Lee shouted, "What?!" then marched to the reception desk and demanded, "Let me back there now!"

"Sir, If you could just calm down," the receptionist said.

"Don't tell me to calm down! Not when I just found out that my wife's been being doped to the gills to keep her knocked out! I wanna' talk to her doctor right the hell now! You either let me back there or I'll find my own way even if I have to break the goddamn door down! You got me?"

"Y-Y-yes, Sir," she stammered as she reached for the phone.

As soon as Lee was led through the doors to the ICU, he marched toward the nurse's station and demanded, "Where the hell is he? That damned doctor who's been screwing with my wife's brain?"

"Mr. Stetson, I'm going to have to ask you to calm down. The doctor's in with her now reviewing the results of her last CAT scan," the nurse explained.

"Fine, then I'm going in there," Lee said as he turned only to be stopped by an orderly stepping in front of him. "You gonna' get outta' my way or do I have to make you move?" just as the nurse rushed from behind the desk

"Sir, please, calm down. I understand that you're upset, but we have other patients' families here. I can't have you disturbing them or I'll have to call security."

"No, I will not calm down!" Lee shouted. "Not when I've just been told that he's been basically keeping her a vegetable since she's been in here! What right did he have to do that without my permission? This is my wife we're talking about here! Now, you get that damned doctor's ass out her and do it now!"

In Amada's room, she heard the distinct sound of her husband's angry voice and called weakly, "Lee," just before slipping into unconsciousness again, her doctor disposing of a syringe as he walked toward the door.

"What's going on out here," the doctor said having heard the shouting.

"You!' Lee said pointing an accusing finger at the doctor. "You're the one that's been doing God knows what to my wife."

"I've been doing what I deemed medically necessary to help your wife's recovery," the other man replied.

"Well, you can just stop it right the hell now," Lee demanded. "I won't have you treating her like she's just some lab rat or human pincushion."

"I'm afraid you're about fifteen minutes too late. I just gave her another IV injection to put her out again. Her last scan didn't look good," he explained. "She needs to heal."

"You rotten son of a bitch!" Lee yelled. "Her mother already told you she didn't want you putting her down like she's some damn dog anymore. Why the hell would you do that against her family's wishes?"

"Mr. Stetson, I understand your concern, but I can't in good conscience, stop treatment of her without her next of kin and that's you. If you'd been here to make that decision, I wouldn't have done it. Now, for the good of the other patients here, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to calm down or leave the ICU until you do."

"The hell I will. You had no right to do what you did, NONE!" Not without-" his words were cut off by his arms being pinned behind his back and for the second time in less than forty-eight hours, he was being handcuffed and dragged away from his wife. "Amanda!' He shouted as two uniformed police offers forcibly yanked him out of the ICU.