"Doug!! Please!!" Carol yelled.
"GODDAMMIT!! HATHAWAY! GET AWAY FROM ME BEFORE I HIT YOU! UNLESS YOU WANT YOUR HUSBAND TO DIE, SIT DOWN SOMEWHERE AND DON'T MOVE!" Corday yelled angrily.
Carol blinked tearfully before suddenly plunking down into the muck and water, her boots and pants filling with mud and marsh grass.
**
"So what do you say? Another chance? Ray smiled, his aged eyes pleading.
"Another chance? I don't think you deserve another chance, Ray." Doug glared at him, at the pieces of tickets clenched in the old man's fist.
"Doug.. We're grown men. Certainly we can come to some sort of compromise." Ray sighed, slumping down in table and idly messing with the place setting on the mat.
"Compromise?! What do you have that I want?! Nothing Ray. Nothing. This conversation is finished." Doug stood, pushing himself off the barstool and throwing down a twenty to cover the tab he just run up.
"Scott. Leave it. His money's not good here. I'll cover it." Ray said to the Bartender, pushing the bill back towards his son.
"Like hell you will!" Doug said angrily, grabbing the money and shoving it in Scott's hand.
"Wait Doug.." Ray put out his hand, it landing squarely in the man's chest.
"Get your hands off me." Doug growled, pushing the old man backwards.
"I know where he is. I know where Brendan is."
The words stopped the paediatrician in his tracks. Slowly turning, his tense hands unclenched and hung loose at his sides. His skin paled and beads of nervous sweat dripped on his brow. Doug's bottom lip quivered and he licked it slowly. "Pam. Is she alright?" He murmured softly. His knee had started to twitch as he fidgeted.
"She's been taken care of." Ray sighed.
"and the kid?"
"He's good.. He calls me Grand Dad."
"What's he call me? Does he know about me?" Doug turned, standing in the doorway. Scott busied himself as he polished the bar, trying not to listen, trying to busy himself with cleaning. Smooth round circular motions.. Just like on Karate Kid.. Wax on... Wax off.. The spot he focused on would soon be the cleanest six inches of Bar mahogany in all of Illinois.
"He doesn't call you anything. He doesn't know about you. Why should he? He knows I'm his grandfather. He knows that his grandfather is his father's father. That's the extent of his knowledge of the Ross lineage. I haven't told him anything about you."
"Are you going to?"
"Not if you don't want me to Doug.. The kid is old enough to comprehend and know. He knows your not around. Pam is happy enough. He doesn't hate you, if that's what your thinking. I haven't poisoned him against you."
"So.. You've made them comfortable?" Doug stared at the floor.
"He *is* my grandson, Doug. You want me to tell you where he is?" Ray put a hand on his son's shoulder and Doug sighed and shook his head.
"No.. I don't... I'm sorry. I don't want to see him. I've closed that chapter of my life. Pam was a crackhead-"
"She's clean now Doug."
"I'm done with it. You can tell him what you want, but I don't want to see him." Doug shrugged the hand off his shoulder and walked down the street.
"You're more like me than you think Doug. More like me than you'll ever know." Ray shouted after him as Doug shuddered, continuing down the darken sidewalk and ignoring the man who shouted out from the lobby of his own 5 star hotel.
**
"Okay.. We have to get him out of there." Elizabeth barked as Carol sat dumb in the mud and bullrushes and Abby knelt on the bank. "We have to get him up and to the house. Go get some help. I'll watch these two."
"Are you sure? I could watch them if you want.." Abby smile was pained as Carol glared at her. "Okay... Maybe not.. I'll go.."
*****
As Abby neared the house, she spotted a figure on the lawn. Rocking slowly and muttering to himself. Another man stood over him, waving a hand in front of his face. "Come on Greene! Snap out of it!"
"What's wrong?" She shouted at Peter as she walked up to the two men.
"Everyone here's lost their mind!" He glowered, crossing his arms.
"Lost their minds? I need everyone's help down at the end of the laneway. Dr.Ross has fallen and can't get up." She said breathlessly as she jogged up to Peter. Abby bent over, hands on her knees as she panted, catching her breath.
"Fallen? Off that that stupid ladder, I guess. What do you want my help for?" Peter grumbled.
"He's been hurt fairly severely, Dr.Benton. I really could use your help." Abby glared back at him. "Dr.Corday sent me to get help to move him up to the house."
"Elizabeth?! Is she okay?!" Peter looked down the lane and could only see the mailbox in the distance. No sign of anyone else.
"Dr.Corday is fine. We have to get Doug out of the ditch."
He smirked. "Oh... Doug now is it? On a first name basis with the males of County now are we?"
Her eyes narrowed and she contemplated knocking him into next week. Instead she changed the subject. "What did you mean, everyone's lost their minds?"
"Carter's upstairs and locked himself into his room, I found *this* idiot.." Peter poked Mark with the toe of his boot. "On the front lawn like this.. and..." Peter trailed off.
"and what?" Abby looked back at the house.
"and nothing... Let's go see what we can do to help Dr.Corday."
"But.." Abby said as she followed Peter down the laneway, looking back over her shoulder at the old farmhouse.
"Come on.. Let's get moving.. If the guy's as bad as you say he is.."
"He is.. But don't you think that we should take something to carry him back in? Like the car for instance?" Abby sighed, hands on hips.
Peter looked back at the car, parked in front of the house and shrugged, turning around. "Yeah.. I guess that would be a good idea. Let's take the car."
Abby rolled her eyes, throwing her hands up in the air as she walked to the station wagon.. MEN!
***
"Careful of his head. Careful.. Get him under the arms.. Okay... Carol.. Careful.. Pull.. Come on.. Careful of his head.." Elizabeth grunted, helping the nurse pull the unconscious doctor from the culvert.
"Elizabeth! Somebody's coming!" Carol yelled, standing suddenly and dropping Doug into the water with a splash.
Peter squealed the tires as he slammed on the brakes, inches from the end of the lane. He hopped out and into the ditch, helping them drag Doug onto the bank. "The sign looks good.." He muttered appreciatively.
****
"She fell?" The doctor examined the young woman, while looking at Dave.
"Yeah... Fell backwards... Fell off a chair.." He murmured sadly.
"Fell backward? How did she get the cut on her forehead?" The doctor said accusingly, glaring at Dave. His mouth formed a firm line and he ground his teeth. This was a definite abuse case.
"I... I don't know! Stuff.. It was falling.. Stuff fell when she hit the floor. I guess something must have fell.. I don't know.. It happened so fast." Dave pleaded with the man.
"Hmph.. How did she fall?? Did she black out or lose her balance?" He grunted, rubbing his brow with the back of his hand. "I want to keep her over night for observation."
"The hell you will!"
"Excuse me?" The doctor cocked a brow. "I'd recommend it. Just to make sure everything's okay.. "
"I'm not staying here.. I'm going home!" Serena said angrily. "I.. I have a flight to catch."
Dave sighed sadly. "Seri... We missed that flight hours ago.. We'll catch another one soon though.. I promise." He smiled at her concernedly and looked at the doctor who nodded in agreement.
"You're in no shape to be flying right now, Mrs. Malucci.. I'd advise some rest."
She sighed, flopping back onto the butcher paper, it crinkling under her weight. Serena sighed and nodded mutely. Her finger ran along the paper on the exam table as her other hand went to her forehead and fingered the bandage.
"Okay.." She said, relenting. "Okay... I'll stay.."
"Good Seri.. That's good." Dave smiled in relief and patted her hand. He looked at the doctor and nodded to the door. "Can I talk to you for a second?"
"Certainly." He smiled at Dave and over at Serena on the table. "Mrs.Malucci, your husband and I will be right back." The doctor lead him from the room and shut the door behind him. "What's bothering you, Dr.Malucci?"
Dave sighed and stared at the floor. "It's metastasized.. It has, hasn't it?" He mumbled knowingly.
The doctor followed the younger man's gaze to the spot on the tile. His rough hands ran over the manila envelope in his hands and slipped inside, pulling out films that he tacked up on the light board.
"We took some scans of your wife's head... They were to rule out a head injury after her fall...." His hands went back into the envelope as he pulled out another scan and another x-ray. "She's in remission from osteosarcoma?" His experienced fingers ran over the x-rays and he nodded slightly. "It is back... There's a small cluster at the base of the brain stem.. It would explain the black-outs.."
He sighed, pulling the films off the board and slipping them back into the envelope. "As her doctor, I have to tell her."
"Don't." Dave replied, a little more sharply than he'd intended. "Don't tell her."
"Dr.Malucci... I'd advise.." He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Advise nothing... You're not telling her. You're not going to say anything. She doesn't know.. She doesn't need to know." Dave shook his head defiantly. "No."
"There's treatment.. It's a low grade tumour.." The man groaned softly, rubbing his gloved hands on his temples. This was his fourth cancer patient's irate relative he'd had to deal with today..
"No.. No operations.. no chemo.. no more." Dave's eyes welled with tears.
"It's her decision Dr.Malucci." The older man reaffirmed. "It's her decision."
"Not if you don't tell her it's not. You're not telling her. It nearly killed her the last time.. It nearly killed me last time having to watch you bastards doing that to her.. To watch the pain she was in because of your experiments.. No.. I forbid it.'
"Dr. Ma-"
"No.. No.. Keep her over night if you want, but she's coming home with me.. My wife is coming home with me tomorrow. We have a flight to reschedule."
*****