Hours passed as Karen silently fumed in the waiting room. Grace had stepped out to make calls for work, leaving Karen alone for a few minutes to process everything that had happened. Her flask was empty and she had left in such a hurry that most all of her pills were still across town at the office. She thought about scavenging for a cart that a careless nurse may have left out but she couldn't think of what kind of drugs she would need to combat the emotions she was experiencing. There were too many to pin down. She didn't even know how to put them into words. Eventually, Jack finally made it to the hospital and Karen gave him as much information as she could articulate. But for the most part they both just sat in silence as they waited for an update on Vivian's condition. Karen just stared forward, numb and unaware of her surroundings. She couldn't bare to look across the waiting room at Matthew, who was currently accompanied by a police officer, both for his own safety from Karen and in case he was needed for further questioning.

Finally, a nurse came out to Karen and Jack to let them know that Vivian was stable and beginning to wake up from the anesthesia. She had sustained a couple of serious concussions, though no bleeding had occurred on her brain. Her ankle was sprained , her nose was broken, and she had been put in a neck brace. The nurse explained that she was very lucky to have not broken any ribs, which could have potentially punctured a lung. As Karen and Jack walked in, Karen audibly gasped and felt tears rush to her eyes as she saw her daughter bruised and broken. The room was filled with the sound of the steady beep of the monitor tracking Vivian's heart rate and vital signs. Vivian's eyes were barely open.

"Where am I?" She choked out, voice raspy and weak.

"You're in the hospital, darling." Karen explained, still holding back tears. "Do you remember anything that happened?"

"The... man..." She began slowly. "His apartment... the pictures..."

Suddenly there was shouting and loud footsteps coming from the hallway as Matthew tried to outrun the police officer and nurses as he raced toward Vivian's room.

"Vivian!" He called as he tried to get in the room, fighting the pull of the officer. "Please let me see her! I'm her father!"

The room went silent. Vivian's eyes grew wide and her breathing sped up. The monitor tracking her heart began beeping loudly and quickly before her eyes rolled back as her whole body began seizing. Nurses and doctors rushed into the room and Jack, Karen, and Matthew were whisked out of the room. Karen couldn't hold back her tears anymore and began sobbing into Jack's embrace. He held her tightly as the officer took Matthew away.

"If you ever go near her again," Jack began, grabbing Matthew's collar. "I will kill you before they can put you in jail."

A while later a nurse came back out to speak with Jack and Karen.

"We have her sedated for now, but it seems that she didn't suffer any serious damage from the seizure. It was most likely caused by the stress of the situation given how much pressure her body was already under. The police have taken Mr. Jones downtown to the station for now to prevent any further incidents occurring."

"Is she going to be alright?" Jack asked.

"It's hard to say until she wakes up and can be further examined, but we expect that she should be able to recover without any further complications. You're welcome to go back in and stay with her if you'd like."

"Thank you." Jack nodded. Karen was silent, but got up and followed Jack back into the room.

Karen pulled a chair up so that she was sitting right beside Vivian and held her hand. She had an IV needle and wires that tracked her heart rate. Jack left the room to call Rosario and tell her what she would need to bring them. For the next two days, Karen sat by Vivian's bedside. She barely ate or slept. Sawyer came by with flowers and to see how Vivian was doing. Joan also came to visit, offering to go get food for Jack and Karen.

When Vivian finally did wake up again, Karen began crying in relief.

"Is he here?" Vivian asked, her voice weak.

"Yeah, sweetie, Daddy's here." Jack answered, his voice gentle and soothing.

"No, the... other man."

"No, he isn't here anymore." Karen responded, taking Vivian's hand in hers. "You don't have to worry about seeing him again."

"Why did he say he was my father? Why did he have all those pictures of me?" Vivian asked, getting noticeably upset again. Karen was quick to calm her down in order to prevent another stress induced episode.

"He has a mental disorder." Karen blurted out.

"He used to work for us and I guess he just created this fantasy in his head that you were his daughter."

"Oh." Vivian nodded slowly.

A few days later, Vivian was released from the hospital on crutches. She was still covered in bruises and the doctor was still keeping an eye on the head trauma she had sustained, but for now it looked like she would be okay. She had been prescribed a variety of painkillers, as if her home weren't already its own small pharmacy. Tutor would be returning the next week to make sure Vivian didn't get behind on her work and was still able to graduate on time.

Vivian was going stir crazy being cooped up in the house all the time. Sawyer, Joan and some of her friends had come to visit now and then but she still found she had a lot of time on her hands. One evening she started roaming the halls and found herself in the study. She poured herself a drink and hobbled around as she looked at the books on the shelves. She sat down at the desk and spun around in the chair a little bit. She opened the drawers and looked through them, though it was mostly just regular office supplies. She spun her chair around and faced the filing cabinet that was behind her.

She thumbed through the files, mostly finding tax forms and legal papers. She started to get bored until she paused at a file marked "Walker, Vivian". She pulled it out and opened it on the desk. There were copies of letters and papers that said Matthew Jones had terminated his parental rights. Most recently there was a restraining order placed against him saying that he was required to stay 100 yards away from Vivian or else he could face imprisonment.

Vivian sat back in the chair for a moment, shocked at what she was reading. Everything was pointing to the fact that Matthew was, in fact, her biological father. Suddenly she heard her mother call her down for dinner and she gathered up the papers and hobbled down the stairs. She limped into the dining room where Karen and Jack were already seated at the table and Rosario was bringing food out of the kitchen. Vivian threw the file down on the table with a loud thud.

"What the hell is this?" She asked.

Karen and Jack sat stunned for a moment so Vivian continued.

"Why does this say that Matthew terminated his right to be my legal guardian? Why is there a form saying Dad adopted me?"

"Sweetheart, you need to calm down. Remember what the doctor said about getting stressed out." Karen got up and tried to take Vivian's hand. Vivian yanked her hand away from her mother's.

"Tell me the truth. Now." Vivian's voice shook, afraid to actually hear it from her mother's mouth.

"It's true, Matthew is your biological father." Karen admitted.

Vivian broke into tears.

"But that doesn't change the fact that your father is Jack." Karen explained. "It was best for everyone, including you, that Matthew not be involved in your life."

"Darling, please understand that we were only trying to protect you and give you the best life possible." Jack added. "And know that I have always and will always love you just as if you were my blood. I have always known you to be my daughter in every way possible."

"You weren't supposed to find out like this."

"Was I ever going to find out?" Vivian asked.

"I guess I just figured what you didn't know wouldn't hurt you."

Vivian looked down for a moment and processed everything.

"I'm not hungry." She said, still looking away. "I'm just gonna go to bed."