Chapter 26

Jack leaned over the bed and grabbed his wife by the arms. "I don't think so. Get back in the bed."

Erica stared at him in shock. "No! Let go of me!"

He released her but didn't back down. "You are injured! You could have died. You are recovering from a near drug overdose. You've been through an incredibly traumatic experience. The last thing you need is to confront one of your attackers."

She glared at her husband, hating that he was right about the physical toll the entire ordeal had taken on her. Just getting out of bed and attempting to balance on her good foot and ankle while supporting herself on the hospital bed made her feel like she might pass out. Still, she wasn't about to back down.

"David is NOT an "attacker." He saved my life!"

It was Jack's turn to look shocked. "Erica, you don't know what you're saying!"

She leaned on the hospital bed for support. "I know exactly what I'm saying. Jonathan Kinder was… he was hurting me when David showed up at that cabin. Jonathan shot David when we were trying to escape! He carried me through the snow when I was drugged and he was about to bleed to death from a gunshot wound. He wasn't kidnapping me – he was trying to get us both to a hospital! Jack, David is NOT the villain here!"

Jack sat down hard in the chair next to Erica's hospital bed and stared at her, mouth agape. He wasn't sure what to believe at this point, but she was adamant that Hayward was innocent.

"The FBI is going to want to talk to you about this," he said quietly.

"Fine. I'll talk to them after I see David," she said as she limped around the side of the bed.

He stood quickly, his arms outstretched to catch her. Despite her determination to get out of bed, Erica didn't look very stable on her feet. Jack was massively relieved when the doctor entered the room seconds later.

"Ms. Kane, I understand that you have an objection to the IV?" the doctor asked, noting with surprise that his patient was out of the bed.

"I refuse to consent to any needles or any drugs," Erica said as firmly as she could as she limped to the foot of the bed. "I need real clothes, something other than this hospital gown, and I need to see Dr. David Hayward. I understand he's a patient here as well."

The doctor was taken aback by his star patient's bluntness as well as her determination to get up and roam the hospital. He'd expected the TV host and former model to be the type who'd milk an injury and a hospital stay for all it was worth.

"Erica, get back in the bed," Jack said in frustration. "You don't need to be walking on that ankle."

"Then get me a wheelchair."

Jack stepped to the side, meeting Erica at the foot of the bed and blocking her exit from the room. "I know that you're upset. You've been through a horrific experience. You need your rest, and the FBI needs to talk to you."

Erica glared up at her husband in irritation. "The FBI can wait."

Jack turned toward the doctor. "Would you please explain to my wife that she's recovering from multiple injuries and a near overdose of narcotics, and that she does not need to be wandering the hospital right now?"

The doctor looked down at his patient's chart. He didn't envy this Jackson Montgomery. Erica Kane was beautiful, sure, but he'd hate to have to deal with this sort of attitude every day. He looked up at his patient who at the moment was glaring daggers at him.

"Um, well, if Ms. Kane feels up to visiting with others, and she's willing to use a wheelchair if she leaves her room, I think that can be arranged…" he stammered.

"As for the IV, you seem to be doing much better, so as long as you are eating and drinking plenty, I think we can probably forgo that as well at this point," he said backing up toward the door. "I'll, um, go check with a nurse or an orderly about getting a wheelchair for you."

In the end, Jack won, but only because Derek Frye, FBI Agent Joan Foster, another agent from the FBI's Boston office, and a local police detective all insisted to Erica that until she gave them her statement, they wouldn't permit her to see David.

She relented and spent the next several hours answering their questions. Jack offered to stay by her side as she gave a statement to law enforcement, and if she was forced to really give the issue some thought, she'd have to admit that she really did like the idea of having him there for moral support. Yet for reasons she couldn't fully articulate to Jack, she asked him to wait outside.

He'd looked so dejected by her insistence that he wait outside her hospital room, but she didn't feel that she had any other option. It was already hard for her to discuss the brutally violent rape she'd suffered on her fourteenth birthday, and she'd had years to come to grips with that attack. Detailing the last few days of her life for the police and FBI, talking about how very close she'd just come to being raped again, when she'd barely had time to process it all herself… just thinking about it made her nauseated. How was she supposed to discuss it?

She wouldn't put Jack through that. She couldn't. It was bad enough that she had to relive it all for the benefit of law enforcement. There was no reason Jack should have to hear in minute detail how she'd suffered at Jonathan Kinder's hands. No, she would spare Jack that. He'd already had to help her cope with drug and alcohol addiction, with the loss of her mother, with the "death" of Miranda. If he needed to know specifics, he could get them from Derek, and it would be easier on everyone that way.