Disclaimer: If I owned Mort, I'd be living with him in his cabin and doing very naughty things with (and to) him…but since I don't, I'm stuck here writing stories about him (sighs).

AN: Hurray for chapter 9! Off topic, though, I'm seriously thinking of going back to Pirates of the Caribbean. I'm running out of ideas for Secret Window fics, so unless people have suggestions for future stories (which I'm always open to), I'll be back on the Pirates bandwagon as soon as this fic is done. Just thought you should know. Later!

Chapter 9: A Surprising Turn of Events:

A Week Later: Kayla's POV:

Still a bit hoarse from her cold and cough, Kayla walked through the hospital doors and straight into chaos. Well, not exactly chaos, but enough of the sort of thing to make a person think twice about continuing forward. Still, she had to get back to work today, so she might as well try and weave her way through it. Sighing, Kayla mentally braced herself and walked forward. Trying to see what was going on, she held herself back from the event and tried to check out the scene.

There, struggling between several orderlies, was Mort Rainey. The orderlies were obviously trying to get him to his room, and he obviously didn't want to go…or at least, not go at that moment in time. Still, Kayla felt bad for him and inched a bit closer, knowing that an appearance by her would instantly calm him down; after all, it had happened before. It might not be the best idea, but it was (as far as she saw) the safest one, especially when it didn't involve anyone getting drugged out of their mind! Praying her plan would work, Kayla stepped into Mort's line of sight.

The results were miraculous. The moment Mort's eyes settled on her, he went limp. The staff members in charge of him simply froze at the sudden lack of action on the patient's part. As the nurses and orderlies attempted to get their bearings back, Kayla looked directly at Mort and gave him a small smile of support. Mort smiled back, a dreamy look settling on his face. A few nurses turned around and spotted her. Holly was one of those nurses, and the moment she saw what had attracted Mort's attention, she immediately barked out orders. The staff quickly snapped to attention and followed whatever task they were given. Before Kayla could blink twice, a very calm Mort was being taken down the hall and she was standing in the office of the chief-of-staff.

Kayla gulped. She's never been in Dr. Vincent's office before, and had hoped to never be here unless she was being promoted to a better pay or position. She seriously doubted that was the case for this little 'visitation.' Swallowing hard again, she looked at the tall man behind the desk, expecting a lecture that she felt was due.

"Kayla, do you realize what you've done out there today?" Dr. Vincent asked, leaning forward in his chair so that he could clasp his hands on his desk.

She looked at the floor before speaking. "I was only trying to help, sir," she replied, nervously twisting her hands together in front of her.

"I know you were, but I doubt that your appearance will be a good thing for Mr. Rainey," Dr. Vincent sighed, tapping his fingers on the desk. "He's a very sick man, and having you 'magically' appear whenever he's being taken somewhere and he's in trouble could have serious consequences on his mentality." He stopped tapping and leaned back in his chair, his hands folded over his abdomen. "It could be damaging to all of the hard work we've put into him. I hope you realize that."

She simply nodded, but wanted to speak out on her behalf, and, for some reason, on Mort's as well. Bracing herself and gathering her courage, Kayla looked up and met her boss's eyes.

"I'm sorry for what I did, sir, but I was only trying to help Mort," she said, clutching her hands together. "All of the drugging you keep doing to him can't be good for his physical health. From what I've heard, he has recently been much calmer and makes considerable progress whenever no one is trying to force him into something or provokes him into an action that could be seen as self-defense. I was simply trying to find another way to deal with the situation that didn't need or involve violence and, quite possibly, drugs, to keep him calm. I was only interested in a man's welfare."

Dr. Vincent gave her a surprised look. "Are you sure you aren't a psychology or medical student?" he asked, eyeing her up and down suspiciously.

Kayla blinked. "Positive," she said, startled at the sudden change in subject and her boss's attitude. "Why do you ask?"

"Because that sounded suspiciously like something a psychology or medical student would say in such a situation," Dr. Vincent replied, a small smile on his lips. "They're always looking for other ways to deal with mentally disturbed patients, and you sounded just like them."

She couldn't help but blush. "I was only trying to do the right thing, sir," Kayla said, looking down at her feet, her courage forgotten.

He chuckled. "Well, I'm afraid I've forgotten my lecture," Dr. Vincent replied, scratching a cheek with his finger. "Off with you, but please remember not to do that sort of thing again, okay?"

"Yes, sir," she chirped quickly exiting through the door, confused but grateful for the escape.

Author's POV:

A few moments after Kayla had left his office, Dr. Vincent summoned all important personnel for an emergency staff meeting. Once everyone had taken their seats, he looked each nurse and orderly in the eye and spoke of a new way to help treat Mort Rainey.

"I propose letting Ms. Baker treat Mr. Rainey by way of helping and teaching him to adjust to the 'real world.' I feel this new treatment could also help cure his fixation on Ms. Baker for good."

There was a brief moment of silence before the staff exploded with protests. Not only was Kayla not a psychology student, but she was also the fixation of the disturbed patient she was to help! To put them together could possibly end in some sort of chaotic event, likely the injury or death of one of the two. It was an unheard of idea, one that was dangerous for both the patient and the one treating him. There was no way the staff was going to allow this, especially when said patient can be violent.

After listening to chaotic voices for a good few seconds, Dr. Vincent picked up the gavel he kept for these situations and banged it several times. The noise quieted down, and he took the advantage once again to explain the reasons behind his choice.

"I realize that this must be extremely unusual, but I have my reasons," he said, looking each staff member in the eye. "One is that, even though Kayla resembles the woman from his hallucinations, she is currently the only person Mr. Rainey listens to when it concerns his treatments. I'm even beginning to think that she is the reason that he even comes to the sessions with me, and is quite possibly the reason he needs to cure his mental illness."

Someone snorted in disbelief, but he ignored it in favor of continuing his argument with the staff.

"Furthermore, having Kayla involved might even rid Mr. Rainey of his belief in a perfect angel. By making her flawed and human would prove that his angel doesn't exist in reality by way of exposing him to a real woman with faults," Dr. Vincent continued, once again looking everyone in the eye. "What I mean is this: his illusionary woman is just that; an illusion that is too perfect to exist. Therefore, he focuses on the nearest physical likeness to that angel and transfers his feelings onto her. If we can prove that Kayla is an ordinary woman with faults, he will realize that she is a real person and stop obsessing over her, thus breaking the illusion and bringing real life back into his world."

"Once we have cured Mr. Rainey of his obsession with his illusion, it's only a matter of time before we simply release him back into the world with the realization that the angel of his dreams was merely a psychological means to cope with the trauma of being in a mental institution. He will realize that clinging to that illusion had only hindered his treatments and release, and will therefore become a 'sane' man."

Dr. Vincent leaned back in his chair with a satisfied look. The staff members simply stared at him for a good few minutes as he words sunk into their heads. What he said made sense, so there was a chance that it might work. It would certainly save a great deal of time and effort to get him to do things and go places. Plus, the drugs could be used for the other patients that were also troubling the staff in numerous ways. Yes, there was a good chance that this idea could work…

Nearly every head in the room looked at him with a small smile of approval…save for one…

Kayla's POV:

"They want me to do what!"

Now she was seriously beginning to think that the staff members here were insane and not the patients. They wanted her to help treat Mort Rainey and make him better? What the hell were they thinking? She knew nothing about treating the mentally ill! Hell, she might even make him worse than he already was! And what if he tried to do something that could hurt her, like attack her or (dare she think it) rape her?

'I'd better be able to sue the shit out of these people if something bad happens to me,' she thought, furious at what they were making her do. If something happened to her, she hoped that her parents would get on the asses of the staff and slap them all with a lawsuit the size of North America. 'Note to self: be sure to write a letter and leave it for someone to see if I get murdered while I'm here. That way, if something does happen to me, my folks find out and do something about it.'

"Now, Kayla, there's no need to get upset," Holly said, holding her hands up to stop any further arguments. "You're just going to spend a few hours a day with him, get him used to being around normal people again, that's all. You won't be doing anything out of your league, just helping a guy get adjusted to society and the way it works through person-to-person interaction. What do you say?"

Holly then gave her the most incredibly huge puppy-dog look, and the blueness of her eyes only made it harder to reject what she'd proposed. Kayla wanted so badly to say 'no', just like her common sense told her to, but for some reason, a part of her wanted to help Mort Rainey become 'normal' again. It felt like it was the right thing to do, but then, it also felt sort of wrong. Still, this man needed her, so she felt she'd have to do the right thing.

She sighed. "When do I start?"

Mort's POV:

Mort finally snapped out of his little 'daze' when he heard someone tapping him on the shoulder. He didn't register the feeling at first; he was too busy thinking about Kayla to pay attention to the other person in the room. He was forced to come back to reality when the tapping got annoyingly persistent. Not wanting to acknowledge the other person, but having no choice in the matter, Mort turned his head to the side and saw Frank standing beside him.

"Well, it's about time," the orderly said, rolling his eyes. "Come on, Mr. Rainey, it's time for your meeting with Dr. Vincent."

Mort sighed, but did as he was told. After all, he'd caused enough trouble for the staff this past week, so they probably deserved a break. He just couldn't seem to act normally without Kayla nearby, and the void she'd left with her absence had caused him to act out in violent ways. It didn't help matters when the other patients teased him about her being gone or when they said they were glad that the red-haired witch at the front desk wasn't there.

The results coming from those insults were fairly obvious: feeling the need to protect the woman he loved, Mort would involuntarily leap up and slam the offender against the wall. Nobody insulted his woman, not when he had anything to say about it! The other patient would look so scared that they would start calling for help, and of course, the orderlies and nurses responded as soon as the first call for help was heard. They would see the situation and easily sorted out the problem for themselves. At the end of the day, Mort ended up being dragged down the hallway by force, and a syringe full of drugs would be pumped into his blood system. He never knew what happened to the other patient, but then, he didn't care. As long as Kayla was being defended by him, it didn't matter.

Reaching the door to Dr. Vincent's office, Mort prepared himself for another lecture and another increase of his drug dosage. So far, they'd managed to add at least two or three more pills to the cupful he had previously been taking, but they didn't help very much. The only thing that could help him feel better had returned just that morning, and now they were probably going to take her away from him! If he couldn't be near her…well, then life wasn't worth living until he got out of there.

"Please sit down, Mort," Dr. Vincent said, nodding towards the chair.

Mort took it and began running his fingers through his hair. He knew it only made it look worse, but there wasn't anything he could do about that. His hair had always been a mess, but he didn't really want to do anything about it…unless Kayla wanted him to do something about it, then he would. Hell, he'd shave his head if she asked him to!

"Now, Mort, we really have to talk about these outbursts you've been having lately."

Mort mentally rolled his eyes. He knew that they used this tone of voice and called him by his first name when they wanted to chide him like a child. For goodness sakes, he was a grown man! True, he'd had problems with a split personality that was no longer present, but that didn't mean that he had the mentality of a child. Other patients had that problem, but not him. It was damned annoying, and he wished that they'd just stop doing it.

Looking up at the man behind the desk, Mort noticed that the doctor was smiling, and Dr. Vincent never smiled at a patient unless that person was either going to be released, or have something unusual happen to them. Since Mort knew that there was no way in the realms of Hell he'd be getting out of there anytime soon, he figured that they were going to start him on some sort of new form of treatment for his 'problems'. Inwardly sighing, he braced himself for whatever was going to be thrown at him.

"I've talked with the other staff members here at the hospital, Mort, and we've all decided to have someone new help you with your…social and mental difficulties."

'Oh, great, here it comes.' Mort inwardly groaned. If they'd brought in another doctor to help him adjust to the world and to forget about Kayla, they could just forget it; it was never going to happen.

"Mort, your new helper in this treatment will be Kayla."

Mort blinked and fell out of his chair, falling to his knees on the floor.

That Afternoon, Mort's POV:

After nearly passing out from the news that Kayla was going to be the key to his new treatment, Mort had spent the rest of the morning and nearly all afternoon trying to look as good as possible. He brushed his hair, asked an orderly to trim his beard and mustache, and brushed his teeth. Even though Mort had never actually 'let himself go' while he was at the hospital, he supposed that he could have taken better care of his appearance. The thing was that he'd had no reason to. Now he did, and he was going to do everything in his power to look good.

Taking a deep breath, he tried to remain calm and composed. He didn't know what Kayla had planned for today, but he was going to do whatever was expected of him and not try to relapse to what he had been before; he was going to get better if it was the last thing he did!

That Same Afternoon: Kayla's POV:

'I must be out of my mind,' she thought, rubbing sweaty palms on her black pants. 'I must be insane to think that I can help a man obsessed with me get over his obsession with me. I know absolutely nothing about psychology.' Kayla sighed as she walked towards the treatment room she was supposed to meet Mort Rainey in. 'Then again, that's why they want me, according to Holly. She says they need someone 'normal' to help Mort interact with others and become sane through this 'interacting'.'

Sighing again, Kayla took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She and Mort had never held very long conversations in the past; the longest one had been when he'd massaged her neck and shoulders and that had been it. Most encounters had held small bursts of small-talk, or the occasional wave and/or smile when passing. It was like they were teenagers stealing small secret moments in the hallway at school: the guy passing secret notes to the girl, a small glance here and there, etc. Sweet, yes, but not a good idea, especially in this situation!

Arriving at the assigned room, Kayla opened the door and saw a very neat and tidy Mort Rainey look up at her from a table. He smiled at her and stood up. Unsure about what he was trying to do, she stood still and allowed him to do what he wanted. She was surprised when he came up to her and offered her his arm. Still a tad bit startled, Kayla accepted his arm and his escort to the table, where he proceeded to pull out her chair for her. Taking the chair, she felt him push it in under her and saw him take his own chair, a smile never leaving his face.

She gave him a smile of her own and saw his smile broaden into a grin. Inwardly sighing, Kayla seriously hoped that this 'treatment session' passed without any kind of mishap; she wasn't sure she could handle a group of orderlies restraining Mort as a nurse shoved a needle into his arm...she hated needles, and seeing someone get a forced injection of sedatives would be just the thing to make her pass out. No, this session had to go by without anything happening. There were orderlies outside the door, just in case, but she hoped that they wouldn't be necessary.

'Let's get this party started, shall we?' she thought before asking, "So how are you today, Mort?"

"I'm fine," he said, leaning closer to her over the table, his hands inching towards hers.

Trying to ignore his hands, Kayla attempted to focus on something else. "That's good. I just hope that you weren't hurt when they took you to your room like that."

"No, no, I'm fine." His hands found hers, and she tried to pull them back. His grip was too tight, so she simply let them be.

"Well, you really shouldn't give them a reason to do that to you, Mort," Kayla gently chided him. "It's not a good idea, and someone could get hurt."

An apologetic look crossed his face as his hands gently squeezed hers. "I'm sorry, I was only trying to defend you when the other patients were being insulting towards you," he softly replied.

'He tried to 'defend my honor'?' she thought, oddly touched and extremely amazed. Kayla mentally shook her head. "Still, that's no reason to use violence, Mort. Violence only leads to more violence, and possibly even death. Can you promise me that you won't use violence on anyone after today?"

Mort looked at her with eager, hopeful eyes. "I promise," he said, smiling at her.

She smiled back. "Good," she said, trying to encourage him in that area. "Now, why don't you tell me what makes you mad, and we'll see how we can help you deal with that anger?"

That night, Kayla's POV:

As she lay in bed that night, going over the day's events, Kayla felt fairly proud of herself. She'd gotten Mort to open up a bit and talk about things that didn't involve her or her personal life. Oh, he'd tried to get her to talk about herself, but she'd convinced him that they'd talk about her next time, and that today was about him and his problems. What shocked her was that Mort had simply backed down and did as she asked, and talked about himself and the problems that had landed him in the institution.

The day's session had been, in Dr. Vincent's and Holly's opinion, successful. It seemed that Kayla had helped pinpoint where Mort's split personality had originated from, and why it had emerged in such a violent way. They had also discovered that, since there was really nothing here to truly outrage Mort to the point of a sort of a 'killing-rage,' his worse half had sunk back into the depths of his mind. As long as they managed to teach him how to handle his anger out in the world, Mort Rainey could become just like everyone else.

'Once he gets over his obsession with me, that is,' she thought, her eyes drifting shut.

That was the only problem they had so far, and probably the biggest. He needed to be cure of this fixation. After that, he'd forget all about her and life would go on for the two of them. And yet, somehow, that seemed like the saddest thought she'd ever had.

AN: Oh, is she falling for Mort? Wait and see in future chapters! Don't forget to review! Thanks!