Disclaimer: I wish I owned Mort, cause then I could bounce ideas (and other things) off of him…
AN: Not much to comment on for this chapter, besides to beg for reviews. I wish that I had the same amount that I'd had before my story was removed, but what are you gonna do? Well, besides beg…but anyway, someone asked about Bubbles, Amber's cat: this chapter has the answer! Enjoy!
Chapter 8: Visits of the Mind:
Amber's POV:
A week after my little 'emotional breakdown' at home, we received a phone call from the D.A.'s office, telling us that the court psychiatrist had us scheduled for a visit the next day, and were required to attend the session. We would be evaluated separately, not together…I guess they wanted to see how 'crazy' we were on our own. Mort looked pale at the idea of having to face some of his inner demons, but there was nothing we could do about it. The good part about it was that Mort's ankle device wouldn't go off after he left the apartment. It would still track him, but that was it.
On the day of the mental evaluations, Becca and Kaitlyn came over to babysit Elizabeth. Both girls had brought new toys and videos to amuse her with, and right before we left, I saw Becca muttering something to Mort before handing him a small envelope. On the elevator ride down, I asked Mort what she's given him, but he only smirked at me and kissed my cheek, subtly telling me that he was up to something romantic. Lord knows that I'd need it after today!
The ride to the psychiatrist's office was silent, but it was a comfortable, though somewhat tense, silence. As we stepped into the waiting area, we saw a woman in a brown suit outfit, her red hair pulled up in a bun at the top of her head. Her green eyes were kind, and her smile reassuring. I felt somewhat at ease, but I could feel Mort tense up next to me, his hand grabbing mine in a deathgrip. I gently squeezed back, telling him it was okay, and his hand slowly released mine.
"Mr. and Mrs. Rainey?" asked the woman. "I'm Dr. Crawford. I'd like to speak to you first, Mr. Rainey, if you would just follow me."
Mort leaned over and kissed my cheek before turning to leave me alone in the white, sterile waiting room.
Mort's POV:
"So how are you today, Mr. Rainey," asked Dr. Crawford. "Feeling alright?"
"As fine as I can, considering that I might be going to jail for something I didn't do," Mort muttered, taking a seat on the couch as the doctor took a sofa-chair next to him.
"Well, these are serious charges, Mr. Rainey," she replied, taking out a pen and a clipboard from the side of the chair. "Besides, I'm only here to determine your mental health, not to proclaim you innocent or guilty."
Mort snorted, knowing full well that her testimony could free or imprison him. "Well, let's get this started, okay? I have a wife waiting, and a daughter who needs to see her father sometime today."
Dr. Crawford nodded. "Alright," she said, posing her pen over the clipboard. "Let's start with how you felt after you found your first wife cheating on you."
Mort swallowed hard, the memories flooding back to him. "I was obviously hurt, of course. Married for ten years, only to find her screwing another guy? Who wouldn't feel angry and hurt?"
"What about when she and her lover disappeared? How did you feel then?"
Mort closed his eyes. "I suppose you could say I was relieved, because she was out of my life and that she would stop coming around or calling me. It hurt when she called, because Ted always seemed to pop up in our conversations, so I just unplugged the phone so I couldn't talk to her anymore."
"Plus her disappearance seemed to free you from her, from your marriage," Dr. Crawford stated. "With her out of the way, you were free from the tortures she put on you."
"Yes." It was a simple answer, but it was the truth. With Amy and Ted gone, Mort had been free to live his life without them hanging over his head, over his life. And Amber had helped free his heart.
"People seem to think that, since she's been gone so long, that she's dead. You must also believe that, since you were still technically married to Amy when you took Amber."
Mort swallowed around the lump in his throat. "I figured that Amy must be dead, because she always tried to contact me about one thing or another," he said, rubbing his forehead. "I think, if things had gone differently, Amy and I might have been friends after the divorce, since we got along alright." In most cases, anyway…
"So with Amy 'dead,' you were free to marry again," Dr. Crawford said, scribbling. "Did you kill Amy?"
Mort's head snapped up. "No! I would never hurt Amy! I loved her, I'd never hurt someone I love!" It was Shooter who killed them…never him…Amber helped him see that…he was a good man…
"Calm down, Mr. Rainey, it's a standard question," she soothed. "So you didn't kill Amy or Ted. Assuming they're still alive somewhere, and Amy turned up to reclaim you marriage, would you take her back?"
He looked at her intensely. "No," he said flatly. "I love Amber and the life that we've made together. I'd sign the divorce papers without a second thought."
Dr. Crawford nodded. "So back to when Amy disappeared," she said. "After Ted and Amy vanished, what was life like?"
"I was alone," Mort said, staring out into space, flashing back to that time in his life. "I had no one. Amy was gone, my dog had died, and I was banned from town…I was alone with no one but myself."
"Until the book tour that you were told to go on," the doctor put in. "The tour on which you met Amber, am I right? Tell me about when you first met Amber."
Beautiful golden warmth filled his heart. "She was there with a friend of hers," Mort softly replied. "Her friend had dragged her there to get my autograph, and I saw her. Amber had gone off while her friend got my signature, and her friend pointed her out to me." A happy sigh escaped his lips. "I saw the back of her, but that was all it took. I was in love with a woman I'd never met before, and it was amazing."
"So it was love at first sight for you, but not for her," she said. "So you took her?"
"I had to," Mort said softly, his voice turning somewhat desperate. "I had to let her see that we were meant to be together, and it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Now that I look back on it, I know I should have tried to do the normal thing and date her, but things turned out for the best." He looked up. "We're happy together, and we have a beautiful daughter. Life is perfect for us."
"And what if Amber said that she wasn't happy and wanted to leave?"
Mort looked the doctor straight in the eye. "That would never happen. She'd never leave me. She loves me." He looked at his wedding band. "We complete one another."
Amber's POV:
Mort was in there for at least half an hour, and I was beginning to get restless. Finally, the door opened and Mort emerged, looking like Hell. I rushed up to him and hugged him, trying to give him the comfort he needed. I whispered my love for him into his ears and could feel him relax against me, his arms coming up to hold me in return. A cough from the other side of the room drew our attention.
"Mrs. Rainey, would you please come with me?"
Mort and I released each other, and I followed her into the office and took a seat on the couch. The warmth still lingering on the leather told me that this had to have been where Mort had sat during his session. After we both got comfortable, Dr. Crawford gave me a smile.
"Your husband seems very much in love with you, Mrs. Rainey," she said. "I'd like to know how you feel about him."
I smiled back at her. "I love him as much as he loves me," I said, leaning to the side so I could rest against the arm of the sofa.
"And why do you love him?" the doctor asked, her pen scribbling notes on the paper. "After all, he took you from your home and your family. Shouldn't you hate him for what he's done to you?"
I thought about it for a minute. "I never hated him," I said. "I was angry, upset, and scared by what he'd done, but who wouldn't be after being taken like that? But I never, ever, hated him." It was the truth; I had never hated Mort, only been frightened by and for him…hate was never an issue…
"Never?" asked Dr. Crawford. "Even when he forced you to signing the marriage documents, the ones that were pushed through the system by his friends? Didn't you hate him then?"
I shook my head. "No, though it shocked the hell out of me," I said, remembering how I had cried my eyes out the day I'd found out about our marriage. "However, spending time with him and talking about things, I saw what a good, kind man he was, and I couldn't hate him for that. He was lonely."
"So you felt pity for him, and stayed married to him for that reason?"
"At first, but after we talked and got to know each other, I realized what a wonderful man he was and still is," I said, smiling fondly at the memory. "He even bought me a kitten because I loved them so much. It was a spontaneous gift, and one of the greatest I've ever gotten."
"You had a cat? Where is it now?"
I looked at her. "We couldn't care for Bubbles, the cat, and Elizabeth at the same time, so we gave her to my brother. She's in his dorm, I believe."
The doctor nodded and looked at her notes. "If my calculations are correct, you must have conceived your daughter a short time after your abduction by your husband. Surely you couldn't have consented to sex with him in such a short amount of time." She leaned forward. "Did he rape you, Amber?"
I looked her directly in the eye. "I was forced at first, but I willingly gave in," I said. "That first night with him was frightening at first, but…I think that I was more scared about losing my virginity to him than anything else. A little while into it, I relaxed and let it happen."
She scribbled more notes into her book. "Were you angry that a child came into your life during this time?" Dr. Crawford asked. "What I mean is this: you were an abducted woman forced into a marriage with a stranger. Surely you would have been upset with that and with a baby on the way."
I shook my head. "Considering the same things happen in foreign countries, I can't really complain, now, can I? If I really didn't want my baby, I could have taken some drugs to rid myself of it. But I've wanted to be a mother since I was a teenager, and I wanted to give birth and look into my baby's eyes as I held it." I smiled fondly at the memory of my daughter's birth. "Mort and I had a baby because we truly loved each other and wanted to be happy with one another and with our baby."
She scanned over her notes very quickly. "What was life like before you married Mr. Rainey?"
I felt the blood drain out of my face, and could feel my heart practically stop in my chest. That question I hadn't expected, but perhaps I should have. If I told the truth, I would be free of the pain I had kept for so long, free from a pain that only few knew of. Would it help us during the trial? Well, it didn't matter. It was time for the past to come out…after all, I deserved to be free, didn't I?
An Hour Later: Mort's POV:
Amber had been in there at least twice as long as he had, and Mort was beginning to worry. He sincerely hoped that she wasn't telling things that she shouldn't, but there was nothing he could do. He didn't even know what they were talking about, and if he went in there, ranting about something that they didn't understand or know about, Dr. Crawford really would think him insane. No, he'd have to wait for Amber to finish her session and tell him what had gone on in there. After she came out, he had something special planned for that afternoon…
Finally, the door opened and a rather relaxed Amber came out, her face calm and peaceful. It was almost like a huge weight had been lifted off of her shoulders. Mort could feel fear grip him. What if Amber had said something she shouldn't have? No, then she'd look worried and scared out of her wits. She must have said something that eased her mind and soul, but what could it have been? Concerned, Mort got out of his seat and practically ran to his wife's side, taking her face in his hands.
"Amber, are you alright?" he whispered, ignoring the psychiatrist behind her.
His wife gave him a relieved smile. "I'm fine," she assured him. "I just got a huge emotional burden lifted off of me, that's all." She turned towards Dr. Crawford. "Thank you for listening to my past, doctor. I feel much more liberated now."
The red-headed doctor smiled. "That's what I'm here for, Mrs. Rainey," she said. "Though, I might have to charge the D.A.'s office extra for the long amount of time we spent together."
Amber laughed. "It was worth it, though, and you deserve it," she said, reaching out to shake the other woman's hand. "Thank you."
Dr. Crawford nodded and went back into her office, shutting the door behind her. Meanwhile, Mort put his arm around his wife's waist and led her outside to their car. As they pulled away from the curb, Mort's curiosity couldn't be held back any more.
"What did you talk to her about?" he blurt out, trying to divide his attention between traffic and his wife's words.
Amber chuckled. "Don't worry, Mort. I only told her about how much of a nightmare my life was with my parents," she said, reaching over to put her hand over his shoulder. "It felt good to tell someone whose job it is to help others with their internal wounds."
Mort sighed in relief. "I know I should be hurt that you feel better after talking to her about it than talking to me, but I'm not," he said. "She is a professional, and I guess she must really know her work if she works for the State D.A."
He could feel Amber smile. "I'm glad that you aren't mad, Mort," she said. "I felt better after talking to you, but I think that I really needed to talk to a professional about my life with my parents. It really did make me feel better about me and my life."
Mort felt the hand on his shoulder move down to slowly rub his leg. "Darling, if you don't stop that, I'm going to do something very inappropriate to you in the front seat of this car," he warned huskily.
Amber giggled, and Mort swallowed, hard, as her hand drifted up his leg. He tried his hardest to focus on the road, but with Amber's warm hand rubbing his inner thigh, it was rather difficult.
"Come on, sweetheart, don't do that," he gasped, trying not to swerve as he drove.
"Alright, alright, I'll stop," she said, laughing as she removed her hand.
Mort swallowed and tried to get his bearings as he turned his attention back towards driving. He was extremely glad that Amber had managed to get all of that emotional trauma from her past off of her chest. He knew about how horribly she had been raised, and tried to do everything he could to make her life happier. After Elizabeth was born, she feared turning into her mother, feared that she'd mentally and emotionally scar their daughter as much as she had been as a child. Even though she'd never admit it, Mort knew that Amber always thought about how she was raising Elizabeth, going over her actions and comparing them to the acts her mother had taken, all of those years ago.
"You know, if seeing a shrink like her makes you this happy and turned on, I'll schedule a decade of appointments for you," Mort said, smirking over at her.
Amber laughed. "Yeah, you'd like that, wouldn't you?" she said, cocking an eyebrow at him and giving him a flirtatious look.
Mort gave a teasing growl. "Dang straight," he said, smiling.
She laughed again before shaking her head and turning to look out the window. "Mort, where are we going? The apartment's the other way!"
A playful smile graced his face. "I've got a surprise for you," he said. "And it's not at the apartment."
"So where, exactly, are we going?" Amber asked, peering at him. "This wouldn't have anything to do with that little secretive chat you and Becca had before we left, does it?"
"It might," he said, not looking at her as he pulled up to a valet station in front of a hotel. "Now let's get out so we can go eat."
Amber looked up and gaped. "Ruth's Chris Steakhouse?" she gasped. "Mort, this place is so expensive! We can't eat here!"
Mort grinned at his wife's expression. "Becca gave me a gift card for this place," he explained as he handed their car over to the valet. "She said that if I was any sort of husband, I'd take you out to a great place like this after the day we've had." He smirked. "I happen to agree with her."
Amber rolled her eyes. "I'll bet you do," she muttered, but the smile on her face contradicted her words. "Let's go eat, hmm?"
Still smirking at his wife, Mort offered her his arm and escorted her inside, where they were shown to a secluded table in a dark corner. The food here was legendary, and Mort had every intention of enjoying this meal with his wife. They ordered several dishes (with the intention of taking some home to Elizabeth), and shared a chocolate sundae, which Mort insisted they feed to one another. It was a fairly romantic lunch, probably the most romantic they'd had since their trip to Europe.
The drive home was quiet, but calm and relaxed. Mort felt Amber's hand on his thigh again, but knew it was meant to be comforting, not seductive. A sense of peace filled the vehicle, and Mort couldn't remember a time where things had been so wonderful with just the two of them together. A light dusting of snow began falling, and Amber sighed.
"I love falling snow," she whispered. "It never snowed out at my old house."
Mort chuckled. "You mean you love snow as long as you don't have to go outside in it," he teased.
Amber slapped him on the arm and laughed. The rest of the ride was spent joking with one another, teasing each other occasionally as the snow fell around their car. When they opened the door of the apartment, a small bundle of energy flew at them, colliding with their legs and almost knocking them over.
"Mommy, Daddy, you're back!" quipped Elizabeth, a hyperactive tone to her voice.
Amber raised an eyebrow. "Did Auntie Lyn and Aunt Becca give you sugar, precious?" she asked as she scooped up their daughter.
Elizabeth nodded. "I had ice cream!" she said, smiling.
Amber shook her head as she carried Elizabeth to her room. Mort stood in the hallway of their apartment and chuckled. Kaitlyn and Becca peeked into the hall and winked at him, grinning. Mort gave them a smile in return and mouthed two heartfelt words to them.
Thank you.
AN: Aw, cute moment at the end! You've got to love those. Please leave a review and let me know how this chapter went, because reviews rock my world! The more reviews I get, the faster I write!
