Linda pulls one knee up, rests the legal pad on it.
Danny's covered two pages—front only—with his messy, larger-than-normal scrawl. He'd skipped two lines between each line of his own scrawl.
It really isn't that much—but it had taken him 20 minutes to write.
She's fighting back tears three lines in.
She can break down later…
She needs to copy this out so Dawson can read it, then get Danny home, get someone—Frank?—to come sit with him, and go scream her head off at what her husband endured.
She does math problems in her head while she's copying out the words, trying to keep herself sane.
Linda takes a shuddering breath, sucks in all her tears, and dries her face.
She thinks she's going to need therapy—multiple session with Dr. Bennett—after reading that.
And she had only had to read it—she hadn't had to live through it.
No wonder Danny had broken down yesterday hearing that song.
Doc said he'd repressed it…so maybe that's why this is written as if he'd been re-living it while he wrote it? As if he wrote it from within his flashback?
She's buckling her seatbelt when she stops.
She can't go home—not like this, not now.
She can't take Danny home and comfort him and be his strength…not after what she'd just read.
She needs backup.
She gets out of the car, walks around to the other side, where Doc is waiting to see them off.
"Doc, can we, that is…?"
"What is it, Linda?"
"I don't think I'm ready to take him home. He…you seriously think he can go home and sleep after that?"
"I haven't read what he wrote yet, Linda. But Danny also doesn't look like he's in any shape to talk; it might be best to get him home, give him the full dose of his pain meds, and let him sleep—if a drugged sleep."
She shakes her head. "I don't know what to do, but I'm suddenly not comfortable taking him home. I'm calling Frank—talk to Danny or something, please!"
She calls Frank, and 30 minutes later, she's crying into her father-in-law's strong arms, while Doc is trying to talk Danny back from a flashback.
This is going to be a long night, and she doesn't think morning will make it any better.