Chapter 43- The Silence is Broken

Several times on the way to Pine Valley, a blubbering Skye kept trying to talk herself out of going out loud to Alan. She knew Adam would be there and didn't think he'd receive her well, and she didn't even know if Hayley would want her there. But Alan reassured her that he'd be there with her every step of the way.

They pushed their way through the crowded ER and nurse Ruth Martin took them into the waiting area outside of Hayley's room.

Sure enough, Mateo, Stuart, Scott, Arlene, Liza, and Ryan Lavery were gathered around Adam as he yelled at Dr. Angie Hubbard.

"I pay good money into this hospital, so I expect round the clock care for Hayley!" Adam insisted. "And she needs her own private room, not a shared one. She's a Chandler!"

"Unfortunately, all of our private rooms are full this evening," Angie said.

"Do I need to repeat myself?" Adam asked. "She is a Chandler! Kick out some bum that is occupying one of your private rooms or I will sue this hospital!"

"Adam…" Liza placed a hand on his shoulder. "Try to calm down. Angie's doing everything she can, and Hayley made it through surgery, that is a good thing. Yelling at the doctors isn't going to help Hayley, just like yelling at the cops hasn't helped Colby."

"I won't calm down until I see Hayley awake and kicking."

"She's awake now," Angie said. "I don't want her to even try talking just yet. And we still don't know if the damages to her voice box are permanent yet."

"And our baby?" Mateo asked.

"The baby is fine," Angie said. "Two of you can go in and see her if you'd like."

Adam, Arlene, and Mateo all headed to the door.

"Well, I'm going in!" Adam insisted. "I'm her father."

"Well, I'm her husband," Mateo said.

"And I'm her mother," Arlene said.

"And you smell like you've been drinking again!" Adam scoffed.

Arlene crossed her arms. "I'm not drunk!"

Mateo rolled his eyes and headed into the room while Hayley's parents kept arguing.

"I know that Hayley got her drinking from you," Adam said. "She certainly didn't get it from me!"

"Hayley hasn't drank in years and even so… what about that other daughter of yours, what was her name? She was a drunk. And so was your first wife! And now your son is a druggie—"

Adam scrunched his face. "What?"

"I saw him just the other day with his new dealer—"

"You're bluffing…"

"I didn't realize there were female dealers now. And JR seemed quite smitten with her-"

"I don't believe a word you say."

"Just who do you think is the common denominator for all the substance abuse in your family, Adam? I sure ain't. Therefore, I should be the one to see Hayley first!"

"You're the one who kept her from me for fifteen years!" Adam growled in her face. "You're not keeping her from me anymore!"

"And I wish the truth never came out!"

"If both of you stop arguing, I'll make an exception," Angie interrupted. "I'll allow three of you in there as long as you don't fight in front of my patient."

"Fine," Adam said.

"Fine," Arlene agreed, and they headed inside.

After Angie left the waiting area, Skye made herself known and rushed into Stuart's arms as Scott, Ryan, and Liza talked. "Oh, Uncle Stuart."

"Oh, you came." Stuart smiled. "Hayley will be so happy."

Skye sighed. "I don't know about that… I didn't even know if I should come."

"I'm glad you did," Stuart said. "We were all so scared. But thank goodness Ryan found her and was able to stop some bleeding. He's such a nice friend to Hayley."

"She's going to be okay though, right?" Skye asked. "Is the doctor right? She might not be able to talk again?"

Stuart sighed. "I don't know. We just need to pray really hard for Hayley."

As Stuart and Skye talked, Alan slipped away to a pay phone and dialed Rae's number.

"Hello?" Rae's voice came through.

"Hi Rae."

"Oh, Alan. Did you find Skye? Is she okay?"

"Physically she's fine, just not so much emotionally," Alan said. "But we had a good talk. She's being threatened again. She was told to leave your place, or this person would kill you."

Rae groaned. "He's getting to her again…"

"We have to keep talking to her about… every day. Keep that communication open with her because she said when she talks to people about it, it starts to make sense to her that that is what is going to help catch this person and by keeping it to herself actually puts everyone in more danger."

"Okay, I can do that."

"Another thing… she said your house is bugged. Have John search the house. Maybe stay at a hotel tonight with the guards until you're cleared to go home."

"Of course, it is…"

"I'm bringing Skye home with me tonight," Alan said. "I told her I would love for her to live with me."

"Oh…" she said in a low voice.

"However, I went on to say that she needs the stability she didn't have growing up. She needs to stop running. Stop hopping home to home and job to job. Therefore, I said she should go back home to you."

"Well, thank you, Alan," Rae's voice sounded a little cheerer.

"I would love for her to come stay with me sometimes though, but she should stay with you full time."

"I know Skye will love coming to stay with you sometimes. I know she's in good hands tonight." Rae cleared her throat. "Has Skye looked at the news? You see her sister—"

"Yes," Alan said. "That's what I was going to tell you next. We're at the Pine Valley Hospital now. She's with some of her Chandler relatives and she's very upset."

"Should I come?"

"No, let me have this one, kid. I feel like we bonded a bit tonight, I want to see her through this and deal with Adam Chandler if I have to."

"Okay, kid. You'll call though if you need me?"

"I will," Alan said. "Just be sure to tell John right away."

"I will. And be sure to tell Skye I'm thinking about her."

When Adam, Arlene, and Mateo exited Hayley's room, Adam glared at Skye without uttering a word, then took off to find another doctor or nurse to yell at. Mateo sat down and started to cry, and Ryan went to his side and patted his back.

Stuart, Skye, and Scott headed in next, since Angie gave the okay for three visitors at a time.

The curtain was up around Hayley's roommate and didn't make a noise. Hayley was drowsy and had dressings around her neck. Skye stood back as Stuart and Scott went to either side of her.

"Oh, Hayley," Stuart said with tears in his eyes. "We're so happy that you're okay. You're such a blessing to all of us."

Scott nodded. "Dad's right. You gotta get better because we need your help putting Uncle Adam in his place."

Hayley smiled a little at them.

"Your dad is really worried about you," Stuart said. "So, you show him that you can beat this."

Hayley glanced over in Skye's direction. She sat up a little and opened her mouth to speak.

Scott spoke up, "Angie doesn't want you trying to talk yet, okay? Your throat needs to heal a bit first."

She moved her mouth anyway and said in a raspy voice, "Sk-eye?"

Skye's eyes grew wide. "Uh… okay, you're healing. My new dad said to check on her, I'll go now…" She made for the door but came to a halt.

"Sk-eye?" Hayley said again.

"Hayley, stop talking," Scott said softly. "You're going to hurt your voice box."

Skye slowly turned and locked eyes with Hayley.

Hayley nudged Scott and pointed to the door.

Scott raised an eyebrow. "You want to visit Skye alone? Should I call a referee?"

Stuart smiled. "That is an excellent idea. Let's leave them for some sister time." He kissed Hayley's forehead and left with Scott.

Skye looked horrified.

"Sk-eye…"

"Would you stop talking?" Skye walked to the end of Hayley's bed. "You obviously don't know how to follow directions properly. Then again, you've never done anything properly before. Otherwise, you wouldn't have eavesdropped on me and Junior and gotten yourself involved in the first place! No wonder this person is trying to silence you."

Hayley sat up straighter and looked at her with very wide eyes.

"That's one of your biggest flaws, you know," Skye said. "You always insert yourself into other people's business and now you even put your unborn child at risk!"

Hayley tried to mouth something to her.

"Stop trying to talk!" Skye groaned when Hayley continued trying. "Look…" Skye went to the bedside table and lifted a pen and paper. "Write it down instead… even though this is one silver lining, that we don't have to hear you talk temporarily!"

Hayley yanked the pen and paper from her hands and jotted something down quickly and handed it to Skye.

Skye's mouth dropped slightly as she read it. "I pulled off his ski mask…" She looked up at her. "You know who did this to you?"

Hayley held her hand in front of her and rocked it like a boat.

"You sort of know?" Skye asked and handed her back the paper.

Hayley scribbled something down again and Skye yanked the paper from her.

"Teenaged girl… long brown hair?" Skye scrunched her face. "What? That doesn't make sense. How can a teenaged girl be responsible for all the kidnappings, the arson, the threats, the almost drowning? Are you sure?"

Hayley nodded and reached for the paper again and wrote something else down.

Skye took the paper from her. "You saw her a couple minutes before on the phone and she said, It's okay, Daddy I got this one…?"

Hayley nodded.

"Anything else?"

Hayley shook her head.