Dangerous Medicine
Jesse and Rae had listened to what Jo said without a word. They didn't know what to say, not even to each other, and now that she had left to go back to Mark they still sat in silence.
Jesse finally stood up and moved over to the window and stared out. As he looked down towards the ground he could see fairy lights, and trees in windows, and he realised that before long it would be Christmas Day, and for the first time in his life, he didn't care.
Rae watched her husband and wished with all her heart that she could get up and move across to him, but she couldn't even push herself off the bed without the pain taking over and robbing her of her strength. She sat and tried to work out something to say that would maybe help him, but she knew that nothing could. In the end she shut her eyes, the agony that Jesse was projecting was just too hard for her to watch any more.
Michael opened the door for Jo before she was even out of her car. She walked in, placing a hand on his arm as she passed. "Michael I need to speak to you, Mark an' Tony, where are they?"
"They are in the morning room, Madam."
Jo moved into the room that looked out over her gardens. It was a lovely room, and was the one that she and Steve had stood in to receive the guests at Rae and Jesse's wedding. She couldn't believe that it was only three months since that wonderful day.
"Jo, have you heard from Steve?" Mark looked up at her, and Jo could see the weariness in his features. She had, she realised with a guilty conscience, let his injury and recovery slip to the back of her mind as Eliana had taken over all their thoughts.
"I have, an' I promised him that I would come an' tell y'all what was happenin'." Jo moved over and sat down in one of the chairs nearest the window. The winter sunlight was causing shadows to be cast through the glass, and the pattern of the nets was spread across the carpet. For a moment Jo looked at the intricate swirls and lines, and then gathering her thoughts she began to speak, knowing that what she had to say would affect the three men in front of her almost as badly as it had Rae and Jesse.
Steve and Ron pulled up outside a brick wall with a large black and once gold gate in the middle. The words The Manse were bent into the wrought ironwork in between the handle and the hinges and either side of this gate the walls were overgrown with overhanging trees and bushes. It had rained briefly as they had made their way from the Reeves' residence to the Manse, but underneath the overhang the sidewalk was dry.
Steve got out and locked his door, then he waited for Ron to walk round to his side of the car and with a deep breath he opened the gate and entered the dark and dingy world where they hoped against hope that Eliana was waiting for them. As they walked Steve found that he couldn't keep his anxiety under control, and he broke into a run. Ron realised that there was nothing for it but to join him, and together they jogged up to the door of a house that looked as if it belonged in a Dickensian novel. There was a metal rod hanging down just to the left of the door handle, and at the end of it was an oval shaped handle, which just took Steve's large hand inside it. He pulled down on the bell and waited.
"Jesse, please, come back over here, I can't do this on my own, I am so frightened for her, and I know you are too." Rae had already asked her husband to come back to her side once, and he had ignored her. She had no idea if it was because he wouldn't or couldn't answer.
Slowly Jesse turned his face and Rae gasped. He seemed to have aged before her eyes. He moved back over and sat next to her. "They aren't gonna find her, are they?"
"Jesse, don't. You know that Steve will do everything he can to get her back to us. She is out there somewhere, and someday soon we will get her back. You have to believe that."
"I wish I could, but I looked at the websites on missing children when Jo stayed with you last night, a mile a minute, that's what they figure. Once a child is taken they disappear at a mile a minute. Well she has been gone for two days, that is forty-eight hours, which is eight hundred and eighty miles. She could be in Denver, almost in Seattle, Salt Lake City …"
"Jesse, stop it. Steve saw Louise Willis in Fresno, she was killed there, Eliana has to be there too."
"Oh get real Rae, she never cared for Eliana, she just took her to hurt you. If she hasn't killed her then she has probably sold her by now, she was in a bank after all."
"No! No! Jesse, just go. Get out!" Rae was screaming now, she couldn't believe that Jesse felt this way, that their little girl was gone, and that nothing that anybody did could bring her back to them. She had exploded into action and even though it caused her more pain than she thought possible, she raised her right arm and pointed to the door. "Get out and don't come back until you have something good to say."
The nurse on duty, and Shannon who was next door came rushing to the door of Rae's room in time to see Doctor Travis storm off down the hallway, and Detective Yeager collapse back on her pillows her face ashen and her breath coming in painful gasps.
Shannon rushed up to the woman in the bed. She didn't think that she wouldn't know who she was, but she also knew she had to help her. "Detective Yeager, take slow breaths, try and get them a little more shallow, slowly," Shannon turned to the nurse by the door, who she was pleased to see, was one of her best friends. "Katie, get Doctor Collins up here please." She turned back to the woman in front of her, and hoping to use her voice to calm her down, began to talk. "You don't know me, Ma'am, but my name is Shannon, and I'm Alex's girlfriend. He is doing so much better today, and is just itching to get out of bed so that he can come visit with you… that's right, slowly, it will be all right, is it hurting less now?" Shannon could see that the Detective was in control of herself a little more now. "Would you like me to get you anything, or anyone? I would guess you don't want to be on your own right now."
"No… no I'm ok… I think that… being on my own… is what I do need… right now." Rae stopped talking for a moment, and tried to regulate her breathing a little more. After a moment or two she began to speak again. "Thank you, Shannon, you can go back to Alex, please… please tell him that I am so… sorry about what happened, and… that I miss his company."
Shannon smiled, "I will, hey, easy." Shannon stopped moving as the pain spread across Rae's face again."
"It … it's all right, I just hurt … everywhere. You go… I promise I won't move… any more." Rae shut her eyes, and tried to relax her body back into the bed. She wasn't lying when she said every part of her hurt, but the pain in her heart was the one that was the hardest to bear.
Shannon had no intention of leaving until she knew that Doctor Collins was on his way up, but as she moved over to press the call button and check with Katie again, she saw him enter the room.
"Thank you, Nurse, you may return to your duties." Doctor Collins had smiled as he spoke, and Shannon had moved over towards him.
"If I may just have a moment, Doctor." She took him to one side, and quickly told him what had happened, and then, as instructed she left the room.
"Rae, what happened?"
"Nothing, I'm sorry you have been … been bothered." Rae had to take a breath as she was speaking, and her ribs and neck rebelled as she did so.
"Rae, I think I need to be the judge of that, you look to me like you are in a lot of pain, and that isn't good. Let me check your chart and then I can sort out some pain relief for you."
"You do whatever you want, Doctor, I'm not going anywhere." Rae shut her eyes, and as she did so, she saw the fury and hurt in her husband's eyes as he had stormed out of her room. She still couldn't believe what he had said to her, and she prayed with every fibre of her being that it wasn't true.
It had seemed like hours had passed between when Steve had rung the bell and the door actually opening. He held his ID in his hand and waited. The woman in front of them had been about seventy years old, he reckoned, with steel grey hair, pulled back into an untidy bun. She was wearing a brown woollen dress and she had a flowery apron over the top that she was drying her hands on as she stood there.
"Yes, can I help you?"
"Yes, Ma'am, I'm Lieutenant Sloan, LAPD, and this is Agent Wagner, FBI, we are searching for a missing baby, Eliana Jessica Travis, and we have reason to think that she might be here." He couldn't say that this was the only lead they had, he had trouble even thinking it, but Steve was almost desperate in his need to believe that they were at the end of their trail.
"No, I have never heard that name before, I'm sorry."
"Have you seen a child who looks like this, but with shorter hair?" Ron held out the picture of Eliana that they had been circulating, unable to believe that somebody hadn't heard about her. He knew that there had been false sightings everywhere from New York to Miami, and most places in between. In fact almost every force in the country had one or two officers following up non-existent leads.
"Have you seen this child?" As Steve spoke a noise chilled him to the bone, he heard a baby cry, a high, agonised wail that trailed off and turned into a deep and painful fit of coughing. "Ma'am, that is the baby we are looking for, please let me in." Steve recognised his goddaughter's cry, even in her distress and he felt his fists clench as he began to move towards the entryway, intending to barge his way in if necessary.
"No, no, that's Janine's baby, she just has a little cough at the moment, she will be asleep in a minute, she has just had her medicine."
Ron moved in front of Steve, he didn't want this to end in disaster, and he knew that Steve wasn't thinking completely rationally right now. To his relief, as he showed his FBI badge, the woman in front of him seemed to collapse against the wall and the two men raced past her, following the crying and coughing to a room at the end of the hallway, where they screeched to halt to find Eliana lying in a basket by the fire, her face red and flushed, and her eyes closed. As they entered the room the coughing stopped, and she lay deadly still.
Jesse had raced out of Rae's room, down in the elevator, out of the hospital and just kept running. He had no idea where he was going, but he knew that he just had to put distance between himself and Rae, just for a short while, so that he could sort out his feelings. For the first time he began to understand why she had pushed him away when she had been so troubled. She hadn't wanted to hurt him any more than he was hurting all ready, but he had said the terrible things to her just now, because for a moment he had wanted her to hurt as much as he was, but there was more to it than that, at least he hoped there was. He knew that Eliana was in a desperate situation, and could very well have been sold, or worse. By telling Rae that, even in anger, she was at least a little prepared should they not get their little girl back.
Jesse wasn't sure if he was even thinking rationally, and he wouldn't be surprised if all his thoughts were complete gibberish, because right now his brain was so scrambled that he didn't think he could even find his way home. He finally spotted an empty park bench, even though he hadn't realised that he was in a park, and he sank gratefully onto it. Then he put his head in his hands, and tried to work out how he was ever going to get Rae to forgive him for what he had done.
Steve got his cell phone out and dialled 911. Then he turned to the woman who had finally caught them up. The operator answered and he barked his instructions into the phone. As he folded it down he began to speak again. "Don't you watch the television or listen to the radio? This little girl's description has been on every station for the past forty eight hours, she is ill, and she was kidnapped."
"No, no, Janine came, and … and she said that the child was hers. She isn't called … whatever it was you said she was called. Her name is Phil… I guess it's short for Philippa." The woman was getting distraught now, and her voice was coming out as a whisper.
"My God." Steve's voice was a whisper too. He wondered how Rae would react to the fact that her daughter had spent the last two days being called Phil and he resolved there and then to make sure she didn't ever find out. His feet refused to work, and even though he needed to get to Eliana he couldn't do it. He turned just in time to see Ron kneel down by the basket and gently take the child out and into his arms.
"Steve, she's burning up, her breathing is very shallow, and she definitely needs a clean diaper." The urgency in Ron's voice shattered Steve's inactivity and he rushed to the aid of his goddaughter.
"I called for an ambulance, but we could clean her up, couldn't we? Ma'am where are all the things to change her?" Steve wasn't used to feeling helpless, and he knew that there was nothing he could do to make Eliana better, but at least he could make sure that she was comfortable. "You said she had medicine, what did you give her?"
The woman moved slightly and picked up a diaper bag, which she handed over without a word, inside it Steve could see a bottle of some sort of adult medication, and for a moment he had to concentrate hard just to keep a grip on himself. "This isn't for children, why did you give her this?"
"It was all we had, and she was coughing so badly, beside the first time I gave it to her she slept soundly."
"You gave this to her more than once?" Ron could see the bottle in the bag, and he knew that Eliana could be in big trouble in more ways than one.
Steve gently took her from Ron and lay her down on the changing part of the bag. He took off the blue all in one suit she was wearing and the odour from her diaper made him reel back. "When was she changed last?"
"Janine changed her before she left this morning." The woman was looking round like a trapped animal, and Ron moved over behind her so that she didn't have a chance to run. Then he took out his cell phone and began to put a call through to dispatch to get a couple of officers over to the Manse to interview the woman, who he realised he still didn't know the name of, and tell her about the death of Janine Reeves.
"And when was that?" Steve had his back to the woman now.
"She left here early, about nine maybe a little before that."
"Good grief, that was five hours ago." Steve undid the sticky pads and gently took the offending article off and he could see the red angry diaper rash as he did so. Eliana moaned and moved slightly, but she didn't wake, and Steve knew then that she was unconscious. He gently wiped the little girl over and he put a layer of rash ointment on the inflammation and put her in a fresh diaper. Steve looked around, he didn't want to ask the woman to leave the room but he needed something else. Suddenly realising what he could do, he took another wipe and soothingly ran it across Eliana's face and neck, hoping the coolness of the sheet would lower her temperature. The atmosphere in the room seemed to change slightly, from one of anxious angry distrust to one of relief, tempered by the knowledge that time was still of the essence. Ron moved a little further into the room as Steve tenderly put a clean all in one vest on the child, and watched as his friend, who suddenly seemed to be so big compared to the tiny child in his hands, made her feel just a little more comfortable. After a few moments of silence Ron began to speak in hushed tones.
"Sloan, you're gonna be a great dad some day."
Steve grinned, as he finished his task never taking his eyes off Eliana's flushed and troubled face. "I had a great role model," he replied, and then he added, "You know, CJ and Dion think the world of you. So does Amanda."
"Yeah, well, there's a lot of other things that have to work out before I could ever be a dad to them and a husband to her. You and Jo are lucky. You live in the same city and life has given you the time to be together."
"The FBI has an LA bureau, Ron."
Suddenly uncomfortable with the conversation, Ron said, "Let's just get you and Jo married off first, then you can worry about the rest of us." He stroked Eliana's cheek with one finger and, disturbed again by the heat radiating from it, said, "Now, let's get this little one to the hospital so that we can get her checked out and home where she belongs."
As they moved with Eliana down the hallway an elderly man came out of a side room. He was wearing the accepted dress of a Catholic Priest, and Steve and Ron both stopped.
"Who are you, and where are you going with that child?"
"I'm Lieutenant Steve Sloan, LAPD, and this is Agent Ron Wagner, FBI, this child is the baby who was snatched from Community General Hospital in LA, everybody has been looking for her for the past two days."
"I told them Father, I told them that it was Janine's baby, but the picture they had, well it was her, those dark eyes, they were like Janine I know, but the baby in the photo, she looks like Phil, I don't know what else to do."
The doorbell clanged down the hallway at that moment, and the woman looked at the priest. "Tilda, just answer the door, I will deal with this."
"What evidence do you have that this child isn't Janine's?"
"I'm sorry, Father… Father?" Ron decided that it would probably be better if he answered the question.
"Father Miles, and I have known Janine since she was a baby herself."
"Father, we know Janine by the name of Louise Willis, and two days ago she took this child from its mother and fled. She is Eliana Travis, there is no doubt about it."
Two men came rushing down the hallway and Steve gratefully handed his precious armful to the paramedic who came over to him. "Ron, I am going with her, the other cops are here now, will you come too?"
"Yeah, where are you going?"
Steve looked over at the man as he headed down the hallway with Eliana. The paramedic called as he ran. "Valley Children's Hospital"
"I'll find it. Steve, call Jesse."
By the time Steve had thrown his keys to Ron, headed out of the house and reached the ambulance, Eliana was already inside. Steve noticed the cheerful picture of children painted on the outside as he climbed into the ambulance. Eliana had a facemask on to give her oxygen, and she was lying in a small bed obviously designed for tiny children. The ambulance drew away from the kerb and with its siren wailing started its journey to the hospital.
Steve knew that now there was nothing he could do but leave his goddaughter in the hands of the experienced man and woman working on her in front of him. The man had a badge in the shape of a clown, which said 'Jack' on it, and the lady, whose name was 'Hayleigh', had a fat cat. He leant back in the seat that folded down from the side of the ambulance for the anxious parent or guardian taking a child to hospital, rested the diaper bag on his lap, and for a moment took the time to look around him. The ambulance was unlike any he had ever seen before and he had been in a few in his time. The whole interior was painted with blue moons and yellow stars. He could see a TV and VCR up on one wall, and even a CD player. All the equipment that was hooked up in close proximity to the small child size bed was obviously designed to be used just for children. As the ambulance turned a sharp corner Steve saw a soft giraffe in a net bag attached to the wall. With a smile he took it out and gently placed it in the end of Eliana's crib.
"Sir, are you the child's father?" the woman who had been working on Eliana began to speak.
"No, no, I'm her godfather, and I am also the cop who was in charge of finding her. You do know who she is, don't you?"
"Yes, Sir, we do."
"What is wrong with her?"
"We think she has what is known as RSV."
"Which is?"
"Respiratory Syncytial Virus. It's very common, it causes cold symptoms, but if left unchecked it can cause serious respiratory tract infection in babies and young children, she will be examined at the hospital and they will confirm our initial diagnosis."
"She had a chest infection, she was brought to Community General in Los Angeles by her sitter because of it. She had been sick a couple of times according to the nurse on duty." Steve tried to think back and realised that it seemed like a lifetime had passed not just two days.
"Her breathing has been seriously compromised by this, which is why she is on a respirator and she is almost completely unresponsive."
Steve remembered the bottle he had in the bag. "This, she was given this, at least twice."
The nurse just looked at the bottle and shook her head. She took it from the worried man in front of her and stowed it safely away to show the doctor in charge once they got to the hospital, she didn't think she should go into details of the extra danger that medicine had placed the little girl in. "I understood that she was eight months old, was she a small baby?"
"Yeah, her mom was only seven months pregnant when she gave birth. Why, does that make it worse?" Steve knew the answer before he even asked the question.
"It does. She will need to go into the ICU when we get to Valley, will her parents be able to get here to be with her?"
"I don't know, her mom is in the hospital herself right now, and her dad will be with her, but I am about to call them to let them know I have found her, so I will let you know."
"Sir, do you think you could wait until we arrive at the hospital? The cell phone can cause the machines to have problems."
"Of course… How is she?" Steve put his phone back in his pocket and looked over at the tiny figure in the bed.
"Well, as you are her godfather, and you found her, I guess I can give you some details." Hayleigh paused for a moment, and Steve could tell she was working out just how much to tell him. "She is very sick. This infection can be just mild, or it can worsen at an alarming rate. That is what I would say has happened here. As I said she is having trouble with her breathing, and she has an extremely high temperature, has she been coughing do you know?"
"Yeah, I know she was coughing until she was sick when she was at home, but her father is a doctor and he was checking her over, he wasn't overly concerned about her. When we found her she was coughing then too, but … she stopped just as we arrived." Steve didn't want to say that she stopped doing anything as they arrived.
"That would have been two days ago, Sir. She was probably just suffering from a very mild infection at that time, but she hasn't been treated, and that is why it has gotten so very much worse, and the bottle of medication, well that is another problem all together." The air was suddenly split by a beeping sound that filled every cell in Steve's body with dread. The nurse turned back to her patient, and he heard her begin to take control of the situation.
"She's flat lining, I need the defibrillators, STAT…"
Steve held his breath as he saw the nurse pick up two tiny paddles.
"Clear…Again …Clear…"
Steve looked away; he couldn't bear it any longer.
"Again … Clear … Ok, she's back."
"Oh, thank God." Steve let out the breath in a rush of air, and felt the phone in his pocket. He knew that he couldn't ring Jesse yet, but if the situation had demanded that he tell him he had found his daughter alive, but they had lost her on the way to the hospital, he wasn't sure if he could have done it.
The ambulance slowed and then stopped and the back doors silently opened. Steve looked around and saw a bright and cheerful ambulance bay. There were pictures of sea creatures and happy smiling doctors and nurses all over the walls, and as he stepped down out of the vehicle, in spite of the seriousness of the situation, he found himself smiling along with them.
Hayleigh and Jack gently pushed Eliana's special bed off the ambulance and straight into a waiting trauma suite. Steve moved away from all the action for a moment to gather his thoughts and put his call through to Jesse.
Five minutes later he was ready to throw his phone through the nearest window. He had tried and tried to get Jesse and was getting nothing. In the end his senses kicked back in and he called through to Amanda. He heard the ringing of her phone and then her calm and efficient voice cut through the air.
"Doctor Bentley, County Medical Examiner… Steve? Where are you … did you find her…? Oh, thank God… No, I haven't seen him; he's with Rae isn't he…? Oh, ok, look I'll go find him, and I'll get him to call you. Steve, how is she…? Yeah, I've heard of it, Steve she is so small, it could be very dangerous… I know, look I'll go find him, you just keep her safe, y'hear?"
Amanda put the phone down in her lab and rushed from the room, she headed straight for the elevator, and then counted the seconds impatiently until she reached the floor she needed. As the doors opened she was out of them and running towards Rae's room. As she got there a large police officer barred her way.
"Ma'am, I'm sorry, but Detective Yeager is now receiving no visitors. Her doctor has sedated her, and I have instructions to let no-one in."
Amanda looked about her, her thoughts racing. "Where is Doctor Travis?"
"He left about an hour ago… you're their friend aren't you Ma'am, I've seen you together."
"Yes, yes, why what happened?"
"The doctor left his wife, they argued, I didn't hear it all." The officer had in fact heard every word, but he wasn't going to repeat it, he liked Detective Yeager, and wasn't about to start rumours. "Doctor … ah … Collins came up to see her, and after a while he came out and told me he had sedated her, to help her cope with her pain, and that she was to be left completely undisturbed until the morning."
"And Doctor Travis?"
"I don't know, Ma'am, he left here in a hurry, and he hasn't come back yet."
"If he comes back get him to call Lieutenant Sloan, STAT."
"Ma'am, if you don't mind me asking, have they found her?"
Amanda smiled for a second. "Yes, they have, she is poorly, but they have her, and she is safe."
Amanda turned then to walk away, but a thought came to her. "Officer, do you have a number for Jo Walters?"
The officer checked his list. "Yes, Ma'am, she is one of the people we are to contact in an emergency."
"Call her, ask her to come over, no, never mind I'll do it. I know Doctor Collins said no visitors, but I want you to let her in. I will clear it with the good doctor."
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Oh, and Officer … Officer…?"
"Holland, Ma'am."
"Holland, thank you for caring about her."
The officer smiled then, and this time Amanda did move away. As she disappeared round the corner Shannon came out of room next to Rae's.
"Officer, was that Doctor Bentley, did she say that they had found her?"
The officer moved over to the young woman looking out of the doorway. He had been chatting with her now and again since they had heard of Louise Willis's death, and the guard detail had been reduced to just him. "Yes, Ma'am, they have her."
"Oh, thank God. I'll tell Alex. Thank you."
Shannon moved back in and over to where Alex was lying. He was sleeping naturally, and though in the normal course of events she wouldn't have dreamt of waking him now she had no hesitation. "Alex, Alex, darling, you need to wake up."
Alex felt a hand on his arm, gently shaking him. Even the slight movement sent a wave of pain through him, and he took a sharp breath before opening his eyes. "What? Shannon, don't… hurts."
"I'm sorry, but Alex, they found her. She's all right."
Alex didn't need to ask who, his whole body relaxed and a tear stole down his cheek. "Oh, Shannon, thank goodness, Oh." He couldn't say anything else, the tears were running freely now, and his breath was coming in gasps. He could feel the pain that his tears were causing, but the relief was even greater, and he took Shannon in his arms and pulled her close to him and was able to once again enjoy her presence.
Amanda searched the hospital and grounds; she had called Jo and told her the news. She had promised to tell Mark, Michael and Tony, grateful that the bleak picture she had painted for them earlier could be replaced with one of hope, and then she would head into the hospital so that she would be with her friend, should she wake up and find Jesse not there. It had taken her a while to do so, but Amanda had also spoken to Doctor Collins, and he had agreed with her that Jo should be with Rae. That had all been successful, but her search for Jesse was not. She stood on the sidewalk outside the main gates to the hospital, because she knew that he was nowhere inside, and had no idea where to go. As she looked about her she saw Jo driving up towards her, and indicating to pull into the parking lot. She waved her hand, and as the car stopped beside her she opened the door and climbed in.
"Hey, Amanda, did you find Jesse yet?" Jo's face was more relaxed than of late, but there was worry in her eyes.
"No, and no one has seen him. I have tried calling his cell, but he is either out of range, his battery is low or he has it switched off."
"I can't believe he would have turned it off, it must be the battery." Jo pulled into a parking space and the two women got out of the car and headed into the hospital. They talked about inconsequential things as they walked, looking around all the time, hoping to spot the tousle haired doctor they knew so well, but they arrived back inside without seeing him.
Shannon came out of Alex's room as they walked past his door and placed her hand on Jo's arm. "The policeman told me about the baby, I am so glad she is safe, and so is Alex. He has fallen asleep again now, but I just wanted you to know that I had told him."
"Honey, you make sure you go home to sleep tonight. He will be fine now, an' he is sedated at night anyway isn't he?" Jo waited while Shannon nodded. "So, I don't expect to see you after supper, or before breakfast, ok?"
"Yeah, I will, now that everything is all right again I feel really tired. I guess Rae and Jesse feel that way too." Shannon smiled and went back into the room, and Amanda and Jo sat down, both of them realising that everybody knew about Eliana except her parents.