A few minutes later, Andy had a call to go to the ER.
Andy walked over to a curtain and pulled it back. "Vicky?" Andy gave a confused look as she recognized one of her patients and good friends. Well, they were friends before…
The petite blonde was sitting on the side of the bed with her legs hanging over the side. She was looking at the floor.
"What happened?" Andy put her hand on the woman's shoulder, only to have her shrink back from her touch.
"It was Fred." Andy knew that Fred was her husband.
"What happened?" Andy repeated, being careful to keep her distance from the now timid woman.
Vicky blankly stared ahead, tears streaming down her cheeks. "He raped me Andy."
"Oh Vicky…" Suddenly, Andy's problems all left her and all she could focus on was her friend's situation.
Andy walked over and again placed her hand on Vicky's shoulder. "I'm so sorry."
A sob shook Vicky as she spoke again. "I just can't believe Fred would ever do this to me. I loved him…" Her voice faded out.
The woman's words rang familiar to Andy. They were words that she had thought herself. "Would you feel any better if I told you I knew exactly what you were going through?" Andy wanted Vicky to know that she was not alone.
"What are you talking about? You and Les have the perfect marriage." Apparently, everything involving Andy and Les during the past few weeks had been kept really quiet within the community.
"No. Les is just another Fred." Andy sat down next to Vicky.
"What are you talking about?"
"Les raped me." Andy put a hand over her stomach. "And now I'm pregnant because of it."
Vicky looked at Andy, a stunned look on her face through the tears. "Stop trying to make me feel better, it's not working." She looked back down. Either she didn't believe Andy or she didn't care
"I'm sorry." Andy stood up. She should have known better than to load her problems onto someone who had enough of her own. "Do you want me to perform a rape examination on you?"
Vicky slowly nodded. As Andy was snapping her gloves on, the curtain flung open.
"Andy!" Lu was standing there in her scrubs. "Can we talk?" She seemed agitated.
"Lu, I'm-" Before she could finish, Lu pulled her into the ER room and swung the curtain back around.
"Andy, why don't you let me take care of this?"
"It's okay, I got it." Andy began to go back to her patient.
"Are you sure?" Lu stopped her once again.
"Positive." Andy gave Lu a don't-baby-me look and went back to Vicky.
Andy walked over to Vicky with a "Sexual Assault" kit in hand. She set it down on a table and sorted through it.
"Victoria, my name is Dr. Taylor Richardson. I'm a therapist specializing in sexual assault cases." Andy watched as the doctor greeted Vicky.
"Dr. Richardson is here to support you Vicky." Andy explained to her friend as she arranged some papers on a clipboard.
"Hi Doctor." Vicky kept her gaze on the ground.
"Okay. First I have to ask you a couple of questions." Andy looked at the questions in her hands.
Vicky nodded as she wiped away her tears.
"Name?"
"Victoria Leigh Jones."
"D.O.B.?"
"August 31, 1642."
Andy quickly got through the questions about Vicky and soon got to the questions about her attacker.
"Relationship to assailant as relative, acquaintance, or other."
Suddenly, a flashback raced through Andy's mind.
Andy is lying on her bed, only a few hours after her surgery. She's staring straight ahead with Lu at her side.
"Relationship to assailant; acquaintance, other…" There's a sense of hesitance in her voice. She knows the answer and doesn't want to go on. "Or relative."
Before Andy can answer, tears start flowing down her cheeks. She buries her face in her hands and begins sobbing.
"Andy, shh…" Lu embraces the woman. "It's okay Andy. It'll be okay…"
"Relative." The woman's voice snapped Andy back to reality.
"Uh…" Flustered, Andy searched for her place on her clipboard.
Andy found her place and looked up at Vicky. The woman was now sitting with her knees pulled up to her chest. She wrapped her arms around her shins.
Despite how hard Andy tried to stop it, another flashback played in her head.
Andy is sitting on the floor in a fetal like position. Her face is throbbing in pain as she squeezes her eyes shut. She tries to pretend he's not standing over her, but him grabbing her shirt proves that he is. Though Andy tries to fight him, he's much too strong. He pushes her shoulders to the ground.
Somehow, Andy finds the courage to open her eyes, only to see him lying on top of her. The last thing she sees before closing her eyes again is the cold stare of her husband's blue eyes.
"Dr. Campbell… Dr. Campbell…" His voice sounds distant as he taunts her.
"Dr. Campbell? Dr. Campbell?" Andy realized the voice wasn't that of her husband's, but that of Dr. Richardson's.
"I'm sorry, what?" Andy shook her head and rubbed her forehead with the palm of her hand.
"Are you okay?" The woman looked her over. "You're shaking and you keep drifting off."
"Fine." Andy's hands were shaking as she picked her pen up. Suddenly, she realized she wasn't feeling so good. "Actually, no, I'm not fine." Andy put her clipboard down. "I'm sorry Vicky, I can't do this." Andy pulled the curtain back and walked out.
She was still shaking in a cold sweat by the time she reached her office. Andy noticed she was breathing heavy. She leaned over her desk with her back to the door.
"Andy?" Someone grabbed her shoulder from behind.
Andy didn't even think. In a spilt second, she had picked up her metal desk lamp and in one swift motion she brought it over the head of the person behind her. Andy heard a thud as she turned around.
Seeing the body on the floor, she gasped. It was Lu.
"Oh my God!" Andy fell to her knees and began checking Lu for a pulse.
Lu had a gash on her forehead, right above her right eye.
"Lu! Lu wake up!" As if on cue, Lu's eyes flickered open.
"What happened?" Lu held her head and slowly sat up.
Andy helped her up onto a chair. "I sort of hit you in the head with a metal lamp."
"Oh." Confused, Lu tilted her head back as Andy shined a flashlight into her eyes to make sure she didn't have a concussion.
"I'm sorry. You scared me."
Lu shrugged it off, understanding Andy's jumpiness. "Why weren't you with your patient?"
Andy put her little flashlight down and sighed. "Go ahead, say it." Andy grabbed a little first aid kit out of her drawer.
"What?"
"You were right. You should have handled it, not me." Lu winced as Andy cleaned off her cut with alcohol.
"I wasn't trying to show you up or baby you or anything like that Andy. I just wanted to make sure you were ready to handle your first rape victim since…"
"My rape." Andy finished for her. She placed some gauze over the cut. "Well, I wasn't." Andy finally finished bandaging Lu's forehead and sat back. "I was trying to focus on my patient, I really was. But all I could think of was when I was in her situation."
"Flashbacks?" Lu looked at Andy.
"Yep."
Lu nodded knowingly. "I know them well."
"So why did you come in here in the first place?"
"Oh yeah." Lu picked a folder up off of the floor. She waved it at Andy as she spoke. "You can only see this if you promise not to hurt me more."
Andy smiled as she took the folder and opened it up. "Yep. I knew it." Andy threw it in the trashcan.
"Are you okay Andy?" Lu was puzzled by Andy's response.
Andy shrugged. "I'm not surprised."
"Okay." After Andy's reaction to it the other day, it did make sense that Andy wouldn't be horrified, but Lu was expecting a little emotion.
Sensing Lu's feelings, Andy spoke. "Look Lu, I'm not all that happy about it, but what's done is done. I can't change the past." Andy sat back and looked to the side. "I still have a lot of options to consider."
"Andy no. I know you're not that fond of having a baby as a result of a rape, but you can't be thinking about having an abortion." Lu put her hand on Andy's knee.
Andy still looked away guiltily. That had been one of her first thoughts.
"Andy please," Lu begged, "at least promise me you'll think about other options first."
Since she knew Lu wouldn't give up until she heard what she wanted to hear, so she gave it to her. "Fine. I'll think about it before I do anything."
"Good." Lu nodded and stood up. Trying to relieve some tension, Lu joked, "Now if you're done beating me up, I have patients."
As Lu walked out the door, Andy called after her. "You should put an ice pack on that so it doesn't swell."
Lu gave her the "okay" signal with her right hand as she turned down the hall.
The whole thing with Lu getting hit on the head, it wasn't that big of a deal. I just wanted to show how jumpy Andy was and I wanted them to talk again. And also, the folder contained the papers saying that Andy was pregnant. (Just in case you didn't get that.)
