Title- Her Kind Of Town.
Author- garrettelliot.
Disclaimer- Tim Kring is so lucky. Wish they were mine.
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It had been a long hard morning for everyone. An MVA had sent eight people to the emergency room and fourteen to the morgue. Sarah had personally posted three since nine a.m. It was just one o'clock and she was exhausted. Of the bodies that had come in to the crypt six were children. "Days like this really make me hate my job." She thought. As she passed the conference room, she saw Lily sitting with a woman who was crying. It could be a lot worse. She could be doing notifications and grief counseling. Emmy caught up to Sarah in the hall.
"Dr, Mathews, You have a call in your office."
"Thanks, Emmy."
Sarah sat down at her desk and picked up the phone. "This is Dr. Mathews. How may I help you?"
"Hello, Sarah. I see you are still using my name. Although what good it will do you there I can't imagine."
"Hello, Harrison. What do you want?"
"I want you to come home, it's time we reconciled."
Sarah sighed. "Harrison, we've been over this too many times. I am not coming home. We are over and as soon as my lawyer sends me the papers we will be divorced. There is nothing more to talk about."
"If you won't come here, I'll come there but we will talk." Harrison spoke in that dangerous tone he used when Sarah balked him. She shuddered at the memory of what that tone had meant for her. Shaking it off she answered calmly but firmly.
"Fine you come to Boston if you like, but we really have nothing more to say to each other, Harrison. I want to meet in public. I refuse to jeopardize my physical or mental well being by seeing you alone. Just remember one thing before you come Harrison. Up here the cops I work with don't know you from the blue-collar slob who beats his wife on Friday night. They will throw your ass in jail, Mathews or not and believe me Harrison I will press charges if you lay so much as a finger on me. And while you are arranging bail I'll call every paper in Tennessee and give them the story. We'll meet at a place called The Pogue Mahone on Bleaker Street."
"Damn it Sarah! You're my wife..." He started the same tone.
"No, Harrison." She cut him off, anger making her voice louder. "I am not your wife. I never was a wife. I was your Barbie doll to dress up for parties and political functions, I was your social secretary, your cook, your housekeeper, your bedmate and if I didn't behave exactly as you wanted I was your punching bag but I. WAS. NEVER. A. WIFE!"
She slammed down the phone and looked up. The door to her office was open and the hall was full of people staring at her and right outside her door stood Garret. Sarah collapsed into her chair.
Why didn't I check the damn door?
"Back to work, we've all got things to do." Garret barked. He walked into her office and shut the door. "Sarah." He said gently "Do you want to talk?"
"I suppose everyone heard?" She said.
"Kind of hard to miss. I think you may have rattled the windows."
"So inside fifteen minutes the entire M.E.'s office will know that poor little Sarah was a battered woman. For fifteen damn years! How pitiful is that?" Anger made her accent thick. "Do you know how many abused women I posted in my career, Garret? Thirty-nine. I remember each and every one as clearly as if I had just signed off on them. I can tell you their names, ages, everything about each one."
Sarah rose from her chair and stood by the window. "One morning I went in to post my first case of the day and it was like looking in a mirror. She had black hair and green eyes, thirty-seven years old. Her husband had beaten her so severely she was nearly unrecognizable. I finished the autopsy and ran for the bathroom. I threw up until my throat bled."
She drew in a shaky breath. "I looked at my own death, Garret. Stared it right in the face. I went and told Sterling that I needed the rest of the day off so I could move out. By the time I packed everything I wanted, Sterling had already rented me an apartment under his sister's name. I found a therapist the next day. I tried to get a restraining order but Harrison convinced the judge I was lying. So I just made sure I was never alone with him."
She turned from the window and half-smiled at him. "Don't worry your newest M.E. is not going to implode on you. I had my therapist in Memphis refer me, I've got a great guy up here."
"I'm not worried for the office I'm worried for you. Are you sure about meeting with your ex?" Garret sat down on the edge of her desk. "You know you don't have to do this alone. I'll come with you."
"Oh I wasn't planning on being alone. I was going to ask Woody to bring a few of his friends on the force by and Max will be there. I had planned to give him the heads up before hand. I was also going to tell all of you and ask if you could come too. I could use the moral support."
Sarah sat down at her desk. "You know I cried the day I came up here. I never wanted to leave Memphis, but Harrison made living there impossible. Now that I'm here I have fallen in love with Boston and the people in this office, you've all become my family. I couldn't imagine moving back now." She gave him a brittle smile.
"You need time off?"
"No, but thanks for the offer, Garret. I think work is just what I need right now. How many are left to post?"
"Four. Sarah, I don't want to order you to take the rest of the day off but you look like you need some time."
"Garret, I have two choices here, I can work or I can go home and have a panic attack. I hate freaking out, I hate that he can get to me like that. If I'm at work, I can keep my game face on. By the time I'm done this shit won't be so fresh and I'll be okay. Please let me stay." She was nearly pleading. "I need to not be alone."
"Alright, but first let's go get some lunch, my treat." Garret smiled at her. "Not to go all Jewish mother on you but you need to eat."
"Yeah I know 'You're to skinny, you're never going to catch a husband, you're so skinny.'" Sarah laughed shakily. "You win boss, but only cause I'm hungry."
ROB'S DINER
Garret was worried as they sat waiting for the waitress to notice them. Sarah hadn't spoken more than three words since they left the office. The silence was anything but comfortable. Finally he decided to push her into talking to him.
"So tell me about the panic attacks."
"Gee, Garret just jump right in why don't you? What ever happened to small talk?" Sarah tried to joke.
"Small talk is fine but so far we've had no talk. Now tell me." He had no intention of letting her off easily. "Sarah, in case you hadn't noticed, I care about you. You've become part of our family and I don't like to see you hurting. Talk to me, please."
She took a deep breath. "I married Harrison right out of college. I was completely alone, my parents had died when I was ten and the aunt who raised me died my sophomore year in college. Harrison was so together, so confidant. I thought he was the answer to my prayers. While we were dating he was so in control, at first I didn't notice that the control was over me. We met at a frat party, I was drinking and having fun, a typical nineteen-year-old, when he walked up and told me I needed some one to take care of me. He took me home and kissed me on the forehead like a little girl. He called the next day to check on me and asked me out."
Sarah stared down at her plate as she spoke. "Harrison told me on our first date that he was going to have to marry me to keep me out of trouble. He was such a gentleman while we were dating, opening doors, holding my coat. I was still a child; I fell hard. My knight in shining armor come to rescue me, he played the part so well. I only saw the monster after the wedding. On our wedding night he sat me down and told me the rules. Never talk back to him; never question his decisions. On and on they went, he would choose my clothes, handle all finances and make all the decisions. Marriage according to Harrison J. Mathews the third was a dictatorship. I told him I couldn't live like that and he slapped me. Then he threw me down on the bed and said I obviously needed to learn to be a proper wife."
Sarah began to cry. "I laid there shocked and crying while he tore off my dress and raped me. They didn't call it rape in Tennessee back then. A man could not rape his wife. I was a virgin and my very first experience was being held down and…." Sarah sat for a moment, taking slow deep breaths.
Garret reached across the table and touched her hand. "Enough, Sarah, you don't need to go on."
"No, I'm okay, I just started to panic. I usually only have a panic attack when I see Harrison or talk to him. I guess I'm still shaken from the phone call." Her smile was fragile. "Maybe this isn't the best place for this."
"You don't have to tell me anymore." He held her hand. "I don't want to upset you more."
"No you have a right to know since I kind of dragged you into it. But maybe we should do this after work."
"Why don't you let me cook you dinner tonight and we can talk about it then?" Garret smiled at her.
"Hey I'm always up for someone else to cook." Sarah grinned a bit more like herself.
As Garret watched her pick at her lunch he wished he had Harrison in front of him. He'd like to kill the bastard and as a doctor he knew how to make it hurt. A lot. He would definitely be at that meeting and God help the man if he breathed in Sarah direction. He knew Woody, Nigel, Bug and Max would want a piece of him too, but they'd have to stand in line.
A/N- Okay, you know the drill. Click on the button and tell me what you think. Suggestions are always welcome.