Disclaimer: I still don't own Mort or his sexy body…though I wish I did!

AN: Another day, another update for my wonderful readers and reviewers (who are sometimes one-and-the-same)! I hope that you like this chapter, since, for some reason, it was really hard for me to write. Hopefully the next chapter will be better and faster in coming. Ciao for now, and enjoy!

Chapter 8: Frightening Thoughts, Concerned Feelings:

Two Weeks Later: Mort's POV:

Scribbling on a piece of paper, Mort focused his full attention on his work and the topic he was writing on instead of his surroundings. He had little time left before an orderly came in to drag him to his psychiatric session with Doctor Vincent, and he needed to finish this before then. No time to edit it: just finish writing it, that's it. If he didn't finish now, it'd never get done, and then she'd never get it because he would think it too imperfect to give to her.

Giving the document one last period and one final once-over, Mort gave a relieved sigh and looked up. Kayla was in her normal spot behind the desk, but she looked too busy to interrupt. Still, he'd worked hard on this piece, and he truly wanted to give it to her to read. It was about her and the numerous things he found attractive in her, and Mort so wanted her to know how he felt about her. He knew that it might freak her out, though, so he'd made it subtle and poetic so as to soften the enthrallment he felt towards her.

One more glance told him that she was finished with her work and taking a small break, so Mort decided to make his move while he could. His writing was a bit smudged, but, from his point of view, still legible. So, gathering his nerve, he stood up and went to approach the front desk.

Kayla's POV:

Rubbing her temples, Kayla tried her best to focus on her work…or in this case, lack of work. Today had been unusually slow, with few visitors and even fewer things for her to file and organize. Even the phones were quiet, and that was unusual. Oh, well, best not to look a gift horse in the mouth, huh? Ugh, she was beginning to sound like her grandma!

"Kayla?" whispered a soft, velvet-like voice.

Looking up, Kayla met the deep-brown gaze of Mort. Inwardly sighing, she put on a smile. He was a nice man, always trying to cheer her up whenever she felt down or upset, and she appreciated it…but it was the other things that freaked her out about the psychotic author. A good example would be the slips of paper that appeared on the window ledge. They were disturbing enough by simply being there; their contents, praising her beauty and kindness towards him, were creepy. And yet here he was again, smiling at her and offering another piece of paper, one that would say wonderful things about her but still give her the shivers.

"Hello, Mort," she said, her smile still on her face. "What can I do for you today?"

He smiled at her as he slid the paper through the small sliding window. "I wrote this for you," he said, his voice soft and (surprisingly) shy. "I hope you like it."

Kayla picked up the paper and gave him another smile. "Thank you, Mort," she said, being polite like she always was to him. "You should get going, Mort, your appointment is soon."

He actually pouted, and despite being a bit afraid of him, Kayla had to admit that Mort Rainey was, well, sexy when he pouted. He had this amazing full set of lips that were nicely set-off by a small dark beard and moustache, and she just wanted to…

She mentally slapped herself. 'Don't even think about it,' she chided herself, focusing back on the man in front of her.

"But I don't want to go," he said, sounding amazingly grown up and mature about it. He just sounded reluctant about going.

"Well, it is for the best, Mort," Kayla said, smiling at him. "They're only trying to help you get better so you can go home."

"But I don't want to go home." Mort's brown eyes suddenly turned intense, focusing on her. "I want to stay with you…I want to be near you."

In the pit of her stomach, Kayla felt that the nervousness was back again, and this time, it was off the charts. She thought the sessions with the doctors and nurses were making him better, but that clearly wasn't the case. In fact, he seemed to be getting worse! Why, just the other day he'd attacked another man who was pointing at her and laughing, and Mort had thought that the man was laughing at her when he really wasn't. He'd only managed to calm down once Kayla had come up and tried to help restrain him with the rest of the staff. It was quite out of character for Mort to do something like that, but then, Kayla knew nothing about him. Now he was scaring the crap out of her by simply handing her a note and talking to her…

"There you are, Mr. Rainey!" exclaimed a voice. "It's time for your mental evaluation!"

Kayla let out a relieved breath when she recognized Holly's voice. Her friend smiled at her as she walked up and snagged Mort's arm, taking him towards the examination room. Shaking her head to clear it of all thought, Kayla once again turned her attention back towards the desk that held her history book and began to read.

In seconds, she was lost in the Middle Ages and Mort Rainey vanished from her mind.

Mort's POV:

He hadn't been looking forward to seen Dr. Vincent before, but since Kayla had told him that it was needed, Mort felt compelled to go. After all, in the end, he was doing this for her as much as for him, right? Sighing, Mort rubbed his forehead as Nurse Holly opened the door and left him to the doctor.

"Have a seat, Mort," Dr. Vincent said, green eyes focusing on him from his seat in a leather chair.

Mort sat, but he didn't feel happy about it. Instead, he focused his attention on everything else except the man he was supposed to be talking to. He especially focused on the image he had in his head, the one of Kayla smiling at him through the glass whenever he walked up to her.

"Well, Mort, how are you feeling?"

"Fine," he replied, looking at his hands.

"No more dreams about your 'angel'?" asked Dr. Vincent, a pen carefully posed above a pad of paper.

Mort squirmed. "No," he muttered, just loud enough to be heard.

"How do you feel about Kayla?"

Mort's head snapped up at the unexpected question. "Um, she's a nice girl," he stuttered. "She's very nice and polite and…kind to me."

"I see." Dr. Vincent scribbled something down on paper. "Do you feel any sort of attraction towards her? Any sort of connection to her?"

Mort blinked and tried to figure something out quickly. If he answered truthfully, he'd be locked in here for the rest of his life and he'd never get to see Kayla again. On the other hand, if he lied and tried to seem indifferent to her, word might get around and Kayla would never really know the extent of his feelings for her. Still, there had to be a way to seem indifferent towards his feelings for her and still win her over when he got out…so he'd just have to improvise.

"I think that I…feel as attracted to her as any man would be attracted to a beautiful young woman," Mort slowly replied.

Dr. Vincent nodded and proceeded with the questioning, occasionally writing and nodding at Mort's answers. Sometimes he chewed his pen, but mostly he just looked thoughtful. Mort sincerely hoped that his answers were convincing, but since he never knew what was going to be asked, he had very little time to make up stuff as he went along. Finally, the session was over, and Mort waited to hear what the psychiatrist had to say.

"Well, Mr. Rainey, I'm afraid our session is over," Dr. Vincent said, smiling at him as they both stood up. "I look forward to our next session tomorrow afternoon."

Mort nodded and left the room, focused on creating another drawing of Kayla before the day was over.

That Night: Staff Meeting: Author's POV:

Running his hand over his eyes, Mark Vincent sighed. He really had no idea what to do with Mort Rainey, and his staff members weren't helping, either. A large amount thought that Mort was making progress, but others thought he was getting worse.

Most of the time, Mr. Rainey was a calm individual who spent a lot of time writing and sitting isolated from the other patients. He was courteous to the staff members, ate his food and took his medication quietly and in a timely order, and he was more than happy to writing things for the more kind-hearted staff members when they made a request. To all appearances, Mort Rainey was the perfect patient and deserved to be released.

However, he had several major things working against him. For one thing, there was the fact that he hardly ever took his (conscious) eyes off of Miss Kayla Baker whenever she was around. The fact that the man had attacked other patients due to their supposed "insults" of the redheaded receptionist didn't help him much, either. Thus, the reason some of the staff wanted him stuck here until he'd proven that he was, well, sane.

"For God's sakes, Alex, you only want the guy here because Kayla prefers to stick up for him against you," Holly snapped at the orderly. "And don't you deny that you don't like Kayla, we've all seen how you try and flirt with her, not to mention how you look at her when she walks by."

"She's right, Alex," Frank said, looking at his fellow orderly and friend. "Mort's a good man, and deserves to be let out. He's done his time, and he's as aggressive as we are when we're out in the 'real world'."

"I still don't trust him," Alex snapped, brown eyes flashing at the mention of Mort and Kayla's names so close together. "I mean, look what he did to Nicky!"

"Hon, you know Nicky's prone to taunting others," said Samantha, a nurse who worked with the 'childlike' patients. "And he's got the mind of a fairly violent six-year-old, so it wasn't necessarily Mort's fault."

Alex frowned but said nothing more. Instead, the debate raged on as staff member after staff member told their opinions about Mort Rainey, and still some were against it. In the end, they had to settle with keeping him there, though under different supervision. The entire staff felt that putting him under constant watch was no longer necessary, but the man needed his own nurse to help him be able to interact with others and to try and adjust for an eventual release into society.

The problem was: who would be willing to take on such a roll with a man who only wanted one person in the world, the woman who was also the one person they couldn't let him have?

The Next Day, Kayla's POV:

A pounding headache and a swollen throat greeted her as she woke up, and Kayla instantly knew that there was no way in hell that she would be able to make it to work today. She rarely got sick (maybe once a year, twice if there was something serious going around campus), and she hated every minute of it. This time, though, at least she was able to have paid sick days and vacations!

Groaning, Kayla rolled over and grabbed the silver cordless phone next to her bed. She doubted she could talk, but if she was going to stay home, she definitely had to call work. Quickly dialing the number, someone managed to pick up the line after three rings. At the sound of Holly's warm voice greeting her, Kayla opened her mouth to give a reply. A sound that resembled the word 'hello' emerged from her throat, but it sounded like a frog had spoken the word. Kayla blinked and opened her mouth again.

"Holly?" Success!

"Yeah, speaking…who is this?"

"It's Kayla." Two words, even better than before!

"Kay, you sound terrible!" Holly said, gasping into the phone. "Are you okay?"

"I feel like crap," Kayla replied, groaning at the pain in her throat and the fact that her voice sounded like she was gargling gravel. "I don't think I'll be in for the next few days."

"That's okay, sweetie, you just stay home and get better," Holly reassured her. "You're no good to anyone of you sound like a frog."

"Thanks for that," Kayla said, rolling her eyes. "I'll talk to you later."

"Okay, feel better soon, Kayla!"

"Thanks, Holly."

She hung up the phone and promptly fell backwards into her nice warm bed, her eyes drifting shut as sleep immediately overwhelmed her.

That Afternoon, Mort's POV:

Pacing through the hallways of the hospital, Mort felt trapped within the walls of the building. Kayla hadn't shown up this morning, and he was beginning to worry. Had she quit her job here because of the attention he had been lavishing on her? No, that couldn't be it; she'd always smiled whenever he gave her a poem or written piece of work. Perhaps she was trying to avoid him by not showing up, hoping that he would give up his pursuit of her? Ha, as if he'd ever stop trying to woo her heart…not in this lifetime or any other.

'Then why isn't she here?' he thought, running his hand through his hair, quickly becoming frustrated. He pacing increased, as did his speed.

The nursing staff would never tell him what was going on, but he desperately had to know why Kayla wasn't there. Perhaps she had gone on vacation? No, she would have been excited if she were looking forward to a vacation somewhere, and she had been perfectly calm and normal all week. So it was definitely not a vacation…so that left…what? Well, she could be sick…

Mort stopped pacing, his head jerking up. Could Kayla be ill? It was possible…after all, it's not like she was immune to that sort of thing, so that had to be it. But if she was too sick and weak to come to work, Mort knew he had to check up on her. There was no way he was going to let her be alone and miserable while she was sick; it was wrong, and it was his duty to help the woman he loved feel better. Nodding to himself, Mort headed towards the main lobby.

Upon his arrival at the front desk, he saw Nurse Holly standing there behind the shielding, a manila folder in her hands. He gently tapped the plastic and waited for her to acknowledge his presence. Sure enough, her head snapped up and her black hair tossed about as she searched for the cause of the noise. Her blue eyes found him, and she left the desk to come out and talk to him.

"What can I do for you, Mr. Rainey?" she asked, smiling at him.

Mort tried his best to be polite to the only nurse who treated him like an actual person. "Well, Nurse Holly," he said nervously, rubbing his face and neck. "I was wondering why Kayla isn't here today."

Nurse Holly's smile wavered for a brief second before stabilizing. "Well, she's out sick today, and isn't likely to show up for a few days," she said, her blue eyes scanning him for his reaction.

Concern flooded his very being. "She's that sick?" he whispered, feeling the sudden urge to run out the door and find her.

"I'm afraid so," she replied, giving him an encouraging smile. "I'm sure she'll be fine in a few days, though, don't worry." She turned to walk away.

Mort rubbed the back of his neck. He wasn't sure if he could survive several days without looking at or being near Kayla for at least a few minutes. He wanted to go find her, but knew they'd never let him outside the hospital while he was still 'mentally ill.' Still, there had to be some way he could communicate with her!

"Do you think I could call her?" he blurted out suddenly.

Nurse Holly stopped and turned to look at him. "Mr. Rainey, you know that phone calls are not allowed to be made by patients," she said, her eyes boring into him. "I also hope you realize that this goes against the treatments that we've been giving you for your hallucinations."

It was then that Mort realized his mistake. Asking for permission to call the woman that he was allegedly "obsessed" with could only get him in even deeper trouble than before! As he was backing away from the front desk, he realized that there were several orderlies approaching. He quickly looked up and saw Nurse Holly giving him a sad and guilty look as he felt hands grab him and a needle prick his arm.

The last thing he saw was Kayla's face flashing before his eyes.

That Afternoon, Mort's POV:

Blinking the drugged sleep out of his eyes, Mort groaned and raised his arms to rub his aching head. Well, he tried to raise his hands. It was then that he realized that his arms were being restrained by straps, as well as his legs!

"What's going on?" he cried, struggling to free himself. "Why did you drug me and put me in here? Why am I tied down like this?"

"It's for your own good, Mr. Rainey," said a female voice nearby. "We can't have you going against your treatments like you've been doing."

"But I just wanted to know if she was alright!" he yelled, still trying to get free. "I'm just concerned for her!"

"Be that as it may, Mr. Rainey, it's still part of an unhealthy obsession with a hallucination," said the nurse as she approached his bed. It wasn't one that he'd seen before, but that meant nothing. "You can't go against your treatments, or you may be stuck in here for the rest of your life. Now please, let us help you with this problem?"

Mort saw her hands come up and release his legs. She paused and nodded to a couple orderlies by the door as she began undoing the straps holding his arms. Once he was free, Mort sat straight up and leapt off the bed, wanting to get away from it and its straps as soon as possible. The orderlies, however, thought that he was trying to attack them, so they grabbed him and pinned him to the bed.

"No, wait! I won't try anything, I swear!" he cried, fully panicked. "I promise, please let me go!"

"If you stop struggling and moving around, Mr. Rainey, I'll have them release you," the nurse said.

Mort instantly stopped moving and went slack. The orderlies looked towards the nurse and released him when she nodded. She then approached him and put a couple of pills in his hand, as well as a paper cup full of water. Mort took them and felt the sedatives go straight into his system, sending him into dreams.

AN: Yet another chapter done! I'm thinking of going back to writing Pirates of the Caribbean stories. I've got a plot I need to get out, so it'll happen after this fic is finished. Review!