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Chapter Twelve
More Questions Then Answers

Kirsten instantly knelt down in front of her little sister -her innocent, gentle, loving baby sister- and felt tears prick the corners of her eyes at the sight of her. How could anyone do this to Hailey, who would be so cruel? "Hailey, what happened to you?" She brushed some of Hailey's hair away from her face but her sister pulled her head sharply to the side so that her face was hidden again.

"Sorry to show up like this," Hailey said instead. "I didn't have anywhere else to go."

"You can always come here, Hailey." Sandy remarked from where he was standing behind Kirsten. He had seen her face in the split second before she had moved her head and wondered what had happened to the girl. Hailey offered him a wane smile, but it obviously caused her some pain to do so, judging by the way she winced.

Kirsten took her sister's hands. "I'm glad you came here, Hailey." She added, wondering what would have become of her little sister if she hadn't come here. Would she still be wherever she had been, being beaten by however was cruel enough to raise a hand to her?

Hailey felt tears threaten to spill but blinked them away before they could do so; she had learned on the bus that crying only hurt her eye even worse. Instead, she embraced her sister, something she hadn't done in years, not since their mother had died. Kirsten returned the embrace, hugging her tightly and it seemed like all of the years they hadn't got along, all the fight's they'd had, were suddenly washed away.

When the embrace was finally broken, Hailey pulled away and let Kirsten get a decent look at the bruised and bumps that covered her face. "Hailey, who did this to you?" She questioned, gingerly touching the side of the girl's eye, pulling away when her sister winced again.

"Just some jerk." Was the only answer Hailey would mumble. She looked down at her feet and the lone suitcase beside them. How was she supposed to tell her sister about what she had allowed to happen to her for months, before finally smarting up and leaving? What would Kirsten think? It was easy for Kirsten to say 'you should have left the second he hit you' or 'you should have called the police' because she had never been in the situation she had just escaped from. She had tried to do those things but they only made things much worse.

Sandy placed his hand on his wife's shoulder, a silent signal that Kirsten had come to understand meant that she shouldn't press. "We were just about to make lunch, Hailey, why don't you help us." He suggested.

Hailey seemed grateful for the change of subject. She got to her feet, picking up her suitcase and followed Kirsten and Sandy into the house. The first thing she noticed was how silent it was; there wasn't the sound of video game characters being mutilated or Seth rattling on about nonsense stuff. It just wasn't natural. "Where is everybody?" She questioned as she shut the door behind her.

Kirsten sighed. "Everyone's at the hospital." She answered and a look of shock instantly crossed Hailey's face. "It's a long story."

"Apparently so." Hailey muttered, wondering just who was at the hospital. It couldn't be Seth, otherwise Kirsten and Sandy never would have left his side and it probably wasn't Ryan either, because he was slowly becoming like a son to the Cohens. A slight smile turned up the corners of her lips as the thought of Julie Cooper, lying in a body cast in a hospital bed but the pain that it caused her to smile forced the expression off her face before anyone could see it.

Hailey followed Kirsten into the kitchen while Sandy walked over to the answering machine to see if there were any messages. "So, who's in the hospital?" She questioned as she watched her sister rummaged around the refrigerator, looking for something to make lunch with.

"Marissa." Kirsten answered. "Do you remember that kid Oliver? The only that was obsessed with Marissa but no one could see it but Ryan?"

Hailey nodded. She remembered hearing something about it on New Year's Eve. "Well, he kidnapped Marissa in his penthouse and few days ago and Ryan, Seth and the girls went to go rescue her but before they could get into the room, he shot Marissa in the back. And now she might be paralyzed. Then, he shot himself."

Hailey let the story sink in; maybe these kids in New Port had it just as rough as she did back in L.A. "Is Marissa going to be all right?" She asked.

"I hope so." Kirsten muttered. "I really hope so."

Hailey took out a loaf of bread from the bread box and untwisted the red tie that held the plastic bag shut. She thought about Marissa and thinking of Marissa intailed thinking of her father, she figured there was nothing she could do to keep from thinking of the man. But was there something she could do to keep her heart from skipping a beat when she thought of Jimmy, feeling butterflies flutter in her stomach for a moment? Kirsten walked over to stand beside her with her arms loaded with cold cuts, cheese, condiments and anything else needed to make a sandwich.

"So, are you going to tell me what happened to you?" Kirsten asked as she unscrewed the lid to the peanut butter jar. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches had always been Marissa's favorite and she figured it would be welcoming to have something so familiar in an unfamiliar situation and place. Even if that something familiar was just a sandwich.

Hailey frowned; she had known that the question was coming sooner or later, but she had always hoped it would be later and not sooner. "It doesn't matter." She muttered.

Kirsten turned to look at her. "Yes, Hailey, it does matter." She said, eyes filled with worry for her sister and confusion for her actions. "Whoever hit you can't just be free to hit someone else. And it's more then that, you're my sister Hailey and I love you...why didn't you come earlier?"

"I couldn't all right." Hailey whispered. "I just couldn't." She handed her sister two pieces of bread. "Can we not talk about this now, please?" She looked at Kirsten with imploring eyes.

Kirsten forced herself to nod; forcing Hailey to talk was the same as forcing her away, something their father had never learned. They stood in silence for a moment, with Hailey making her own sandwich -her stomach growling every time she even though about lunch, she hadn't eaten in almost twenty-four hours- and Kirsten finishing Marissa's sandwiches and starting on lunch for Seth and Ryan.

Finally Hailey spoke again. "I want to go to the hospital to see Marissa." She remarked, though her words weren't entirely true. Sure, she wanted to visit the girl and see that she was all right but she also wanted to see Jimmy; it had been so long since she had last seen him and whether she wanted to admit it or not, her heart ached for him. There weren't a lot of men out there like Jimmy Cooper, something she had learned the hard way.

Kirsten looked at her sister out of the corner of her eye and raised an eyebrow, almost as though she could sense what Hailey was thinking about it. She had never been able to fully decide what her sister saw in Jimmy Cooper and because of that she had never been able to decide whether or not she should do something to intervene, to protect her dear friend for her sister who had made it a habit in high school to hurt boys just because she could. That was something Jimmy knew and even Hailey herself knew and that always gave Kirsten pause; could it be that her sister was really in love? Or if not in love then at least thinking about it? "To see Marissa?" Kirsten repeated, sounding almost skeptical.

"Yeah." Hailey looked at her like she had suddenly be struck dumb. "Why else would I want to go?" The flash that passed to her eye -the good one, that is, the one that Kirsten could actually see- dared her sister to say otherwise.

"No reason." Kirsten muttered, trying to decide whether or not to mention Jimmy. "Just curious."

Hailey returned her attention to spreading mustard across her second sandwich -she had already eaten the first as soon as she had put the bread slices together- and thought about asking Kirsten how Jimmy was these days. But she decided against it (it would be too obvious); she was going to see for herself soon enough.

Seth was still sitting outside in the hallway in front of the door that Summer had disappeared behind nearly thirty minutes ago when the door finally swung open and Summer emerged. He leapt to his feet instantly and went to her, feeling his heart lurch when he saw that she still looked lost and frightened, staring at the ground even after he look her hands. "Summer, are you okay?" Seth questioned and there was no answer.

Summer kept her eyes directed towards the floor, unwilling to look at the worry laced upon Seth's face, worry for her. She allowed him to hold onto her hands because she couldn't bare the thought of being completely alone, of ever being without him. He was the only light that managed to penetrate through the darkness that had suddenly and quickly engulfed her.

The female therapist, Dr. Melissa Walker, that had spent the last thirty minutes with Summer trying to get the girl to even look at her, stepped out of the room as well and shut the door behind her. She looked and Seth and guessed, "You must be her boyfriend."

Seth nodded, not taking his eyes off Summer; she felt him staring at her and finally looked up at him, gazing in his eyes that expressed nothing but love for her. "Is she going to be all right?" Seth questioned, looking over at the doctor for a split second before returning Summer's gaze.

"Well, just as Dr. Browning had suspected, Summer is indeed experiencing Post Traumatic Stress. Now, some victims of this 'disease' do recover and go on to lead lives that aren't effected very much by the event that caused the Post Traumatic Stress to develop in the first place." Dr. Walker explained. "But that's only with therapy and a good support system."

Seth listened to her words with as much concentration as he could manage, most of his mind only on Summer. "That won't be a problem." He assured the woman. He would be there for Summer no matter what she needed or when, just like he had been most of his life.

Dr. Melissa Walker wasn't too concerned about that either; it wasn't difficult to see just how much Seth loved Summer, even in the short time she had seen them together. "I'd like Summer to continue undergoing therapy with me in the hospital." She continued. "Do you think that's possible."

Seth nodded. "Sure. Her dad won't really mind, he's never home anyway." He answered, offering a wane smile to Summer, who continued to look at him with sorrowful eyes.

Walker nodded. "Good." She looked at Summer, who didn't show her any attention. "I'll see you tomorrow, Summer." She said but once again there was no response. Walker wasn't surprised; she had dealt mainly with patients just like Summer and knew what it took to help them through the nightmares they constantly lived through in their heads.

Seth slipped his arm around Summer's waist as they started back toward Marissa's hospital room and she laced her fingers with his, holding onto his hand tightly. "Don't worry, Summer, everything's going to be all right." He assured her.

"I want to go home." Summer muttered, looking down at her feet again. She just wanted to be out of the hospital, it reminded her too much of her mother. "Do you think you can take me home?"

Seth nodded. "Of course." He answered.

But when they got back to Marissa's room, he was shocked to find that his parents -and, of course, his way to take Summer home- weren't anywhere around. "They went home to fix lunch." Ryan explained after Marissa had finished gushing over Summer, to which Summer had remained mostly silent

"Damn it." Seth grumbled. He looked over at Summer, who continued to silently implore him with her eyes for him to take her home. "Do you think your dad is home?"

"My dad..." Summer repeated, searching her mind for her father's work schedule. "He might be." She decided finally, trying to remember if her father had said that he was working from home today.

Seth nodded. "Okay, we'll use the pay phone to call him." He suggested. "Then he can come take you home."

Summer nodded; all she wanted to do was curl up on her bed and lay there in the dark for hours. She took Seth's hand again as they walked out of the room again and toward the pay phone that hung in the hallway below a sign that read For Emergencies Only. If that wasn't an emergency, then Seth didn't know what was.

Marissa watched her friend disappear again with an even deeper frown on her face; it always seemed like when things went right, they happened sporadically but when everything went wrong, all hell broke loose at the same time. Ryan held her hand tightly, comfortingly, and she looked at him with a lost expression on her face. "Don't worry." Ryan said, reading her emotion instantly. "She'll be all right and you'll be all right. Everything is going to sort itself out."

Out in the hallway, Seth took the phone off its hook and started dialing the number to Summer's house, the phone tucked between his shoulder and cheek, since he had only one free hand to dial with because Summer was clinging tightly to the other.

Summer's father, Ian Roberts, picked up on the second ring, sounded tired and gruff, like a well-worked business man. "Ian Roberts speaking." He answered and Seth cleared his throat. He had never really met Summer's father and he didn't sound like a pleasant fellow.

"Hello Mr. Roberts." Seth began, using his 'polite phone voice' that his mother had drilled into his head when he was five. "This is Seth Cohen, Summer's friend and I was wondering if you wouldn't mind coming to the Lakeview Hospital to pick up Summer." The words all came out in a rush, sounding much like one long word.

There was only a beat of silence. "The hospital?" Ian repeated, sounding instantly worried. "What's wrong with Summer?"

Seth glanced over at the dark-haired girl, who was staring at the phone with little interest. "It's nothing physically serious." He assured the man. "But I'm sure Summer would rather tell you herself. I'd take her home but my parents took the car."

"Maybe you should tell me." Ian commanded, sounding worried no longer but now upset, as though Seth had something to do with his only daughter being in the hospital.

Seth cleared his throat again, nervously. "Well, after the accident with Oliver and Marissa, the doctors say that Summer is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress as a result of seeing Marissa shot and Oliver shoot himself and-"

As soon as the mention of guns being fired, Ian's tone changed and he said, "I'll be there as soon as I can. Tell her I'm on my way." Seth was about to offer the phone to Summer but the other line went dead before he could even move.

Seth hung up the phone again and turned to look at Summer. "He's on his way." He explained. Summer looked relieved.

"Thank you, for everything." She muttered to him as they started back down the hallway, this time heading for the elevators.

Seth looked at her, giving her a smile. "Hey, don't mention it." He told her. "If you need anything, I'll be here." He assured her and Summer managed a very slight smile at his words.

Summer and Seth sat on the concrete wall that surrounded the planting bed and created a makeshift chair; even after they had sat down, Summer continued to hold onto Seth's hand, feeling comfort in the way their fingered laced together. She didn't let go until her father's sleek, black Escalade pulled into the parking lot of the Lakeview Hospital and bumped along side the curb.

Ian Roberts got out of the driver's seat and walked over to where Summer was now standing, a strange mixture of emotions washing across her face. Her father pulled her into his arms and the only remaining Roberts family members shared a moment that Seth would never fully understand, even after Summer would explain the complete story to him days from now. "It's all right, Summer." Ian whispered once the embrace had been broken.

Seth looked from daughter to father and then back again, his eyes fixed on Summer's beautiful but confused face. "Do you want me to come with you?" He questioned but Ian answered for the girl.

"I think we can handle it from her, Sean." He muttered.

"It's Seth." The boy pointed out as he watched Ian open the passenger door for his daughter. "I'll call you later, Summer, okay?" Seth said just as the door shut.

Ian didn't say anything as he climbed back into the car and slammed his own door shut. Seth wondered if there was something that the man -or Summer herself- wasn't telling him, something that had to do with the way they acted. But it was too late to ask them about it now, seeing as the Escalade was already halfway out of the parking lot.

Seth was still thinking about what it could possibly be, if there was anything at all, when all he could see of the car were the taillights.