Tommy tried to shake Jess awake, while Jude just backed away, her eyes filling with tears as she ran towards the phone and dialed 911. Tommy was patting her face lightly trying to get her to wake up, but it wasn't working. Jude was crying when a voice came through the phone, and Jude tried to follow the person's directions. Before Tommy or Jude knew it, the EMT's were checking Jess, and doing the usual procedures they needed.
"We need to take her down to the hospital, it could be alcohol poisoning," the EMT said.
"I'll come with, Jude, I'll call you if anything gets serious, you should call Jamie and have him come over," Tommy said but Jude immediately objected.
"You stay and watch Derek and call Jamie, she's going to be upset, I need to be there," Jude said as she followed the stretcher and EMT's to the truck and before Tommy could protest they were already down the street.
Jude sat with the other EMT, holding Jess's hands and trying her best to stay strong and keep the tears falling from her eyes. A million thoughts ran through Jude's head as she stayed by her daughter's side and held her hand. When they arrived at the hospital, Jude was immediately given paper work to fill out at the front desk, and then she sat in the waiting room, hoping for a sign of some good news.
Tommy and Jamie were sitting at the kitchen table, drinking coffee as Jamie told him the night's events. Jamie was taking in the news as best as he could, and trying to stay calm. The two kept the phone on the table, eyeing it like a steak as if they were wolves.
Jude kept her head in her hands waiting for the doctor, until she felt a tap on her shoulders, and saw that it was Kat. Jude immediately jumped up as Kat embraced her in a tight hug. Jude cried on her shoulder for what seemed like hours, but was only a few seconds until Jude pulled away and sat in her chair as Kat took the chair next to her.
"What happened Jude?" Kat asked in her concerned best friend tone.
"Tommy and I woke up during the night, hoping to get a midnight snack, when Tommy opened the wrong cabinet and noticed that one of the less filled bottles of vodka was missing. We both knew it was Jess, because neither one of us had drank since the get together we had when we arrived home and Derek's only two in a half months old. When Jess arrived home, I must have been too angry to notice anything, but something wasn't right with her. I noticed that the closer we got to her, the further away she'd get, literally. So I tried to push away how angry I was and get her to talk to me, but all she said was that she was heart broken because she and Tanner had broken up that night and she wanted it all to go away. It wasn't until I had placed my hand on her shoulder accidentally when we realized something was really up," Jude said trying to swallow the sob in her throat.
"Did she pull away? What did she do?" Kat asked.
"She screamed," Jude said simply putting her head back in her hands, "She screamed so loud and with so much fear that I thought she saw something coming to murder her,"
"Don't say things like that Jude, it's not going to help," Kat said rubbing her friend's back.
"Kat, she screamed from my touch. I'm her mother, I'm supposed to be the one to comfort her, and instead my touch made her scared. How the hell am I supposed to react to that?" Jude said getting upset with herself.
"Honey, you don't think that-" Jude just nodded.
"Well, did Jess say anything?" Kat asked.
"She said, she wanted to hurt Tanner. And she was still heart broken, and the vodka was starting to have it's effects on her. So she went to the one person she knew that would love to help hurt him. Ethan," Jude said.
"What? Is this the same Jessica that is your daughter and twin?" Kat asked also shocked by Jess's actions.
"Hard to believe I know. But he really hurt her Kat. He really did. He told her he wasn't ready to get into a relationship that involved him moving to be with her. They've done everything right so far, they've said everything that they've meant. And yet, as much as he loves my daughter, he broke her heart because he wasn't ready to move in with her," Jude said leaning back in the chair.
"I can understand both their sides, I hope you don't hate me for that," Kat said holding Jude's hand in support and an act of comfort.
"Does it make me a bad mother if I agree with you?" Jude asked, a tear falling from her eye as she quickly wiped it away. "But anyways, when Jess got to Ethan's place, she got him just as drunk as she was, if not even more so, and even though she had gone to his place for...yeah. She started to back out and tell him no,"
"Well, good for Jess, but I'm assuming that's not the end of it by the way you're looking at me," Kat said her eyes still on Jude.
"He didn't stop Kat. Jess may have been drunk, too, but she got to her senses, and said no, but he didn't listen. Instead he had kept going, and he raped my daughter, Kat. That son of a bitch raped my daughter!" Jude cried as Kat just pulled Jude towards her and hugged her and Jude continued to cry.
Kat held on to her friend tightly, trying to comfort her. This was something Kat hadn't dealt with before, the closest time would have been when Jude was assaulted. In Kat's eyes, the two were the same, but completely different. The doctor had finally arrived to explain to Jude what was wrong with Jess, and Kat pulled away and nodded her head towards the doctor.
"Good evening, I'm Dr. Spencer. It looks like your daughter had a combination of alcohol poisoning and a panic attack. We pumped all the alcohol out of her system, and she's sleeping soundly right now. It also looks like she had hit her head lightly, but enough to cause a minor cut. We patched that up, and she should be fine. But I would like to keep her for a full 24 hours to keep an eye on her, just to make sure everything is normal," the doctor explained.
"Thank you, can we see her?" Jude asked intaking a huge breath.
"Go right ahead, but she is sleeping, so try not to wake her. Room 207," the doctor said as he walked down the hall and into another patient's room.
Kat waved Jude off and allowed her to be the first one to go into the room first to check up on Jess. Jude wasn't sure what to expect when she walked in. She wasn't sure if she should wake her up, or let her sleep. The one thing she did know, was that she wasn't ever this unsure when it came to Jess ever since she was born.
Jude walked into the room and looked down at her sleeping daughter. Within the few moments of talking with the doctor, Jess had managed to position herself on her side to sleep more comfortably. Jude lightly smiled at her daughter as she pulled up a chair and brushed a lock of her daughter's long dark brown hair out of her face. A tear slipped down Jude's eye, but she had quickly wiped it away. She wasn't sure if she should be happy or sad with the news that Jess was alright. Mostly because, what scared her the most was she knew Jess wasn't. That the moment Jess's lips made contact with Ethan's that night, it would take a miracle for Jess to be herself again.
Tommy stood on the other side of the phone, listening to his wife's shaky voice and the information it held. Tommy could only stand there, trying to keep his calm. He nodded, and gave only one syllable answers. The maximum use of syllables used were when he said his temporary goodbyes and said 'I love you' to Jude. Jamie looked over at Tommy who just gave a look of indifference and paced the room his fists balled and jaw clenched. He was trying to give the outlook of anger, but inside he felt sadness washing over his soul. As much as he had really wanted to knock the lights out of Ethan, if not kill him, he couldn't help but feel horrible for not being able to prevent this.
It was this night when he had realized his Jessica, his little girl, his petite innocent angel, was an adult and not as angelic as he had made himself believe. Even though Ethan had no right to ignore Jess's cries, Jess was also the one in the wrong. She was the one who had basically paved the pathway for Ethan to do what he had wanted. But in the end, it all led down to one thing. Jessica was no longer the girl everyone knew, not after that night.
Tanner was lying down on his hotel bed watching what ever old movie the hotel had on payper view when he noticed his cell phone was ringing. He was surprised at the name that was on the screen, but he answered it nonetheless.
"Mrs.- I mean Jude, is everything ok?" Tanner asked his voice filling with concern.
"It's Kat, Jude is. Something happened Tanner," Kat said solemnly. Jude had allowed Kat to call him, even though Tanner and Jess's relationship was over, he still had a right to know.
"Everyone's ok, right? I mean no one's hurt or anything-"
"It's Jessica," Kat said. Tanner froze at the use of her full name. No one had ever used 'Jessica' unless it had been something serious. "She. She drank a lot after she went home. I can't say a lot because I'm not sure how much Jude wants me to tell you. But you should know that she had a panic attack and alcohol poisoning,"
"What hospital?"
"St. Andrew's,"
"I'll be there in ten tops," Tanner said grabbing his jacket, wallet and the rental car keys and ran down the stairs instead of taking the elevator.
Jude was sleeping in the chair next to Jess's bed when Tanner was leaning against the doorway watching them. He felt uncomfortable being there, especially since he was the reason that the night had gone so horribly. But all he could think about was what else had happened that night that Kat wouldn't tell him.
"Ahem," Tanner cleared his throat and Jude immediately woke up and looked towards the door. She didn't smile or anything, but she walked over to him and threw her arms around him. Tanner awkwardly returned the parent-like hug and then pulled away, seeing the tears starting to well up in her eyes. "Hey, she's going to be ok. I know I'm the jerk in this situation, since it's my fault for this, but Jess is ok,"
Jude looked up at him, her eyes shedding light on the fact that he had yet to know about. That there was something else that had happened that night that he should know about.
"What's really wrong with Jess, Jude? What are you not telling me?" Tanner asked, his tone becoming firm.
"Jess wasn't thinking straight Tanner. She had drank too much, and the alcohol got to her and started to make her think up crazy things," Jude said.
"What happened?" Tanner asked, his voice starting to grow shaky.
"You just, you need to try and understand how she was feeling, how this isn't the Jess we-"
"WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!" Tanner yelled, immediately regretting it. He looked back at Jess and then to Jude, and then quickly started to pace up and down the hallway. Jude bit her lips and then pushed Tanner down into a chair to try and calm him down.
"Tanner, calm down ok. I need to tell you this, incase Jess doesn't tell you the truth," Jude said.
"I just, I want to know. What did she do?" Tanner asked, his voice sounding like he was 5 years old all over again.
"Jess got really drunk, and decided that she wanted to make you feel just as bad as she did. She was really hurt Tanner. This was the alcohol talking and not her, you know she wouldn't do anything to hurt anyone. So, she went to Ethan's place-"
"Ethan's? She went to that jackass's house? The asshole who put her in a fucking coma for 2 DAMN WEEKS?" Tanner shouted. Jude placed her hand on his shoulders and pushed him into the chair once more trying to calm him down.
"Listen to me, dammit. You have to remember that Jess wasn't thinking clearly. She finished a quarter of a vodka bottle and she had just got her heart broken by you, Hudson. So yes, she went to Ethan's house, with a full intention to get him drunk, if not even more drunk, and to sleep with him. By the time they were about to, Jess realized what she was doing and screamed at Ethan to stop and let her go-"
"Oh, thank god. So she's ok?" Tanner asked, a lung full of air of relief coming out, but Jude's eyes were giving a different answer. "Nothing happened right?"
"Ethan..." Jude drifted off, as tears started to form in her eyes. Tanner looked at her, his suspicions being confirmed, and he felt an assortment of emotions. Rage, anger, and hurt at Jess, but also sorrow and heart break at the news of what had happened to her. And then he felt hate and fury towards Ethan, but then he felt understanding for both of them. Ethan, because he must have been feeling horribly (not that he didn't deserve it) and when the one thing that he wanted came willingly, he had to take it. Even though he should have respected her wishes at the last moment. And he remembered Jess, the hurt, the pain she felt for being rejected by him. He knew how horrible she felt, how angry she must have been, because he was once in the same situation with a girl and did the same thing, without it being against anyone's will.
"Raped her," Tanner finished for Jude, a tear falling down his face at what seemed like hours later, but had only been a few seconds. "I have to go,"
"Tanner don't-"
"I'm not going to do anything stupid. I just, I need some space and air," Tanner said already out of the chair and walking down the hallway.
Tanner started walking down the many streets, trying to get a handle on his thoughts. He kept imagining the painful things that Jess went through that night, all because he was too much of a coward to take this next step with Jess. Because of his selfish reasons, he had most likely lost her forever. Tanner started to walk down an empty alleyway, and began to viciously punch the brick wall repeatedly. He grunted with each punch, with each cut it made on his hand. The blood that appeared from his knuckles almost felt like the emotions leaving his body, but he knew that wasn't the truth. When he had finally tired himself out, Tanner fell to his knees in the alley, and cried. He felt so guilty, he felt the weight of the blame for what had happened.
"I'm nothing but a good for nothing mother fucking coward..." Tanner mentioned to himself as he looked at his fists, not even wincing at the deep cuts and the blood from his violent attempt at getting rid of the thoughts.
Jess woke up the next morning at around ten, and saw her mother sleeping in the chair next to her. She almost smiled for a moment, until she had suddenly remembered what had happened the night before. The break up, the drinking, the pain, and her confession. It all stampeded her brain like a pack of wildebeasts. Jess sat up in her bed, and then looked out the window, at the bright morning sun, but the peaceful sight was interrupted when a nurse came inside with breakfast.
"Well good morning. I thought you'd be waking up soon and so I brought you breakfast," the nurse said kindly wheeling the tray towards Jess.
"Thanks, but I'm not very hungry," Jess said looking back out at the view.
"You sure did give your mother, her friend, and another young man quite the scare last night," the nurse remarked.
"Young man?" Jess asked confused at the last person listed.
"Yeah. About 5'10, dark brown hair, light blue eyes. He looked like that actor in that new movie 'Iris'," she described.
"Oh," Jess said barely over a whisper as she looked down at her hands.
"He left awfully upset last night, chances are he'll be back today," the nurse said waving goodbye to Jess and then walking out of the room.
