"Elizabeth," Mark asked, "Are you doing all right?"
She nodded, "When can I get out of here?"
Mark sighed, "Nurse said about a week. Ella should be discharged in a
day or two, and Rachel will get out, from what I saw, in about three or
four days."
At the mention of Rachel, Elizabeth asked, "Why did she come, Mark?
She doesn't know me. She probably doesn't even like me."
"Well, she does like you. You remind her of what Jenn used to be- a
mother. Jenn hasn't been around for Rachel for the last six or seven
years."
Elizabeth took all this in, then said, "She put herself before Ella,
Mark. She saved our baby. she got shot for Ella. she almost got killed."
Mark nodded, and simply said, "I know."
"Mark," Elizabeth said, "You need to be with Rachel. She's got to be
scared half to death."
Mark responded, "She's fine. really. She's been handling everything
very well, considering the circumstances."
Elizabeth didn't believe him for a second, "Mark. she needs you. Ella
is young enough, that she doesn't know what happened. Rachel knows very
well. She had a gun pointed at her."
Mark nodded, realizing that Elizabeth was right, "All right. I love
you, Elizabeth. I'll be back. I promise."
Elizabeth smiled back and said, "I know you will. I love you too.
Give my love Ella and Rachel."
"I will. I'll be back." Mark said again.
"Mark, I know. Go." Elizabeth told him.
Mark walked out the door, and back down to Rachel. When he got down
to her room, he found Kerry, Deb, Malucci, Carter and another doctor in
Rachel's room.
Deb and Carter looked as if they were going to be sick. Kerry was
deathly pale, and Malucci, for once, was being quiet.
Rachel was talking to the other doctor, "So. what you're saying is
that the bullet didn't do any bad damage, right?"
The doctor nodded, and said, "It's going to hurt a lot for a few
weeks, but pain killers can dull the pain. Your arm needs to be immobilized
for a day or two, just to make sure it's all right. After that, your arm
will be much weaker than it was before. It will be a chore just to write
your name."
Rachel nodded, "So, when can I leave?"
The doctor laughed a bit and said, "For the next few days, you're
going to be on heavy pain killers. You'll need to stick around for a week
or so."
Rachel sighed. Then she said, "What about my sister? When does she
leave?"
The doctor looked at Ella, and turned back to Rachel, "Probably two
or three days. Four at most."
"Great." Rachel said sarcastically. Then she saw Mark standing in the
doorway, "Dad, why aren't you with Elizabeth? She needs you."
Mark smiled as best he could, and said, "I figured you needed me down
here."
"Not to make you feel under appreciated or anything," Rachel said, in
a firm voice, "but Elizabeth needs you more than I do. You should be with
her. She's been through a lot."
"I know but-" Mark started.
Rachel cut him off, saying, "No buts. She needs you. Go."
Mark was completely dumbfounded. He left.
Rachel's doctor followed him, "Umm. Mr.Greene?"
Mark turned around, and said, "It's Doctor Greene, actually, but
yes?"
"I need to run this consent form by you." The doctor handed Mark a
clipboard.
Mark looked through the forms quickly, and then scribbled his
signature. When he was done, he said, "Look, I have a wife in the ICU, and
two daughters down here. Would it be possible to get them a room together,
or closer together?"
The doctor said, "That isn't possible, if your wife is in the ICU."
Mark was exhausted. He responded shortly, "It should be. At county,
they try to keep families close to each other."
"Sir, this is not county general." the doctor said, impatiently.
"You know what?" Mark asked, "I will sign both my daughters out AMA,
my wife will sign herself out, and we will all go to County General and
check in there," he said without thinking.
The doctor was a bit taken back, "Look, I don't know what to tell
you. All I can say is that I'll see what I can do."
"Thank you, so much." Mark said sarcastically.
Mark walked back into Rachel's room, only to be told, "Go see
Elizabeth," by Rachel.
Finally, Mark decided to find a payphone. He dialed Rachel's house in
St.Louis.
"Hello?" He heard Jenn's tired voice on the other end.
"Jenn?" He asked, "It's Mark."
She was slightly confused for a moment, and the said, "Oh, Mark.
How's Rachel?"
Mark bit his lip, and answered after a moment, "That's what I was
calling about. She got hurt."
He heard Jenn hesitate for a second, and then ask cautiously, "How
badly? What kind of hurt?"
"She's fine, now. She'll be out of the hospital in a few days."
"Hospital?" Jenn asked, like she had been expecting something like
this to happen. She then explained, "She didn't. get shot did she? I saw
what happened on the news. I'm watching now." She started getting more
worried by the second, "That man didn't. she wasn't one of the hostages he
took, was she? Were you? What happened?"
Jenn would have kept going, if Mark hadn't intervened, "Jenn! Listen
to me. Yes, she got shot." He heard Jenn draw in a breathe. Then he added,
"In the arm. She's fine. It was a shallow wound. She was lucky." He went on
to Jenn's next question, "We were both in the lounge with that. man. for an
hour or two. Maybe three."
"Oh God." Jenn whispered. Mark was afraid she would get hysterical,
"You said she's okay? Is she awake? What else happened?"
"She's fine. Also awake. She got hit on the head. with a gun. but
she's absolutely fine. The only long term affect will be that her arm will
be weak for a while."
Jenn didn't say anything for a second. "Jenn?" Mark asked, "You
there?" He knew she was.
"When is she coming home?" She asked.
Mark hesitated for a moment, then said, "I also wanted to talk to you
about that."
Before he could say any thing else though, Jenn said, "She told you
about Craig, didn't she?"
Mark was a little surprised, but answered, "Yeah, she did. I don't
want her going home to that."
"Don't blame you." Jenn said, "I love her, but I love him too. I just
didn't know what to do."
"You knew?" Mark asked.
Jenn started crying a little, "Yeah, I knew. I just didn't know what
to do. I didn't want to send Rachel back to you. I didn't know whether you
could take her or not. She seemed to handle everything all right. Craig
loves me, and I love him, but I love Rachel too."
"Jenn," Mark said, exasperated, "You could have called me. Rachel was
being verbally abused. I love her, and would have taken her." He paused,
listening to Jenn on the other end, "Jenn. if Craig loved you, he would
love Rachel too."
"He does!" Jenn cried out, "He just has trouble showing her. He shows
me very well. He's never done anything to me. but to Rachel. He doesn't
know how to deal with her."
Mark asked, "Are we agreed? Rachel starts living with me?"
"Yeah." Jenn said quietly, "I'll call and do the switch of custody."
There was an awkward moment between Mark and Jenn. Jenn knew what
Mark was going to say, "Jenn, he doesn't love you. If he did, he would
respect Rachel."
"I know, Mark. But, I'm happy. It doesn't matter that he doesn't love
me the way I love him. I'm happy with him."
"Are you sure?" Mark asked. Out of the corner of his eye, Mark saw
the doctor coming towards him, "Look, Jenn, I have to go. I'll call you
later so we can work all this out, okay?"
"Okay, bye Mark."
"Bye." Mark hung up and turned to the doctor.
"Dr. Greene, I've gotten the approval to move your daughters and your
wife to a private room in the ICU. You understand of course, that if we run
out of room in the ICU, that your daughters will have to leave?"
Mark nodded, and said, "Thank you."
