I love you, I love him not
Part 4
Hook sat in silence for hours thinking over what had happened over the past few hours, questions running through his mind. The more he thought, the more feeling of guilt washed over him. What if Chris really was telling the truth? If that was the case, he didn't think he would ever forgive himself. After a while, Hook decided that it would not be right to ignore the situation without at least discussing the facts further. He picked up the phone and dialed Chris' number. The phone rang, and rang, and rang until Hook heard the familiar voice at the other end of the line. "Hi, you've reached Christine Draper. I am unable to answer the phone right now, please leave a message after the tone and I will get back to you as soon as I can." BEEP Hook recorded his message. "Hi Chris, this is Hook. Um, look. I'm sorry for how rude I was earlier and I'd really like to talk to you. If you're there, please pick up. Uh, ok, well, could you please call me back when you get in? You know my number. Be talking to you." Hook hung up the phone and shook his head. He didn't know why, but he felt that something just wasn't right. Hook decided that maybe Chris was still in the hospital, and decided to go ask around. Since she was off duty, he decided that she would most likely, if she was there at all, either be sitting in the doctor's lounge, or doing research in the on call room. He checked the doctor's lounge first. He poked his head in and saw Sonny sitting on the couch reading a medical magazine. "Hey Sonny, um, have you seen Chris anywhere lately?" Sonny looked up from his magazine. "Um, not recently, but I saw her about 2 hours ago leaving the hospital. Looked rather upset to, did Stegman steal another article of hers?" Hooks eyes widened. So she wasn't in the hospital. "Thank Sonny" Hook said and left the room without answering his question. Hook wasn't sure why he was panicking like this. There were many places that Chris could have gone other than home, and there were places that she could easily stay for 2 hours or more in, but Hook couldn't shake the feeling that something terrible had happened and he was determined to find her and make sure she was alright. If she had gotten into a car accident or something because he had upset her, he would surely hate himself for the rest of his life. Hook ran down a list of places where he thought she might be and then grabbed his coat and walked to the parking lot. Hook took a quick glance around to make sure that her car wasn't there and then hopped behind the wheel and drove off. The rain was coming down so hard now that Hook could barely see. He made a mental list of all the possible places that she might be as he drove. He first checked the Mill Street bar, then Starbucks, then he drove to her house and checked there again. No Chris. He drove around town until he ran out of ideas. He then remembered Chris telling him at one point that when she was upset, she would sometimes go to the park and sit by the lake to calm down. He doubted she would be there since the combination of the rain and the brisk autumn air would probably be too much for any human being to handle, but he didn't want to leave any stone unturned.
He drove to the turned into the parking lot and swung into a spot next to the only other car there, a silver VW Beetle. He got out and peeked into the window of the car and saw Chris' hospital tag on the dashboard. "So she is here" he said "is she nuts? She could freeze!" Hook walked down the hill towards the lake. "Chris?" he called. He made it down to the lake and gasped as he saw Chris' limp wet body lying next to the park bench. "CHRIS!" he cried as he noticed the blood staining her lab coat. He bent down and noticed her lips were blue and her skin clammy. He checked a pulse and sighed as he felt it, weak but there. Hook got out his cell phone and called 911. "This is Dr. Hook from Kingdom Hospital. Please send an ambulance to Lewiston State Park STAT!" Hook hung up the phone and then took off his lab coat and covered Chris up with it. Since she was breathing and had a pulse there wasn't much else he could do for her without the proper equipment. Hook thought about the situation for a moment and it dawned on him that this might be a suicide attempt. "What have I done?" he said tears forming in his eyes. He lied down next to her and took her in his arms trying to warm her up a bit, she was deathly cold. It was then that he noticed the fresh bruise forming on her face. She wasn't close enough to the bench for her to have landed on it on her way down, and the more he studied it, the more it resembled a fist. He definitly didn't think Chris would punch herself as method of suicide. He then spotted the bloody pocket knife that had landed under the bench. He pulled a spare pare of latex gloves out of his lab coat and used one of them to pick up the knife. If she hadn't stabbed herself, he was determined to find out who had. He closed it and carefullu placed the pocket knife into the second glove and placed it it in his lab coat and then slipped beside Chris once more. He just hoped she would be alright...