When Steve finally got to the bar, Laura appeared nearly catatonic. He walked up to her and wrapped an arm around her. "Hey, Sweetheart? You ok?" he asked softly.
She looked up at him. Her eyes clearly recognized him, but she didn't say anything.
"I'm gonna get you home," he promised. He looked up at the bartender. "Octopus," he whispered.
The woman behind the bar looked at him like he was crazy.
"Steve?" another bartender further down the bar asked.
"Oh," he said. "Yeah." He looked at her seriously for a moment. "Octopus," he whispered.
She pursed her lips and nodded. "Gotcha," she nodded. "Look. I'm not saying this happened, but she's really far gone, so you might want to take her to the hospital and get a drug test."
"No," Steve said dismissively. "Laura would never do drugs."
"I'm not saying she did them intentionally," she replied with a shrug.
Steve gasped and looked back at Laura. He tucked her hair behind her ear, and she cringed. He pulled back slightly. "Thank you," he said to the bartender. "What's your name?"
"Tanya," she replied.
"Ok. I'm gonna call your boss tomorrow and tell him what an amazing job you did."
"Actually," she corrected, "I own this place."
Steve blushed. "Well, then I'll tell you now. That Tanya you have behind the bar is a class act."
Tanya chuckled. "Thank you."
Steve dug into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet.
"Oh, no," Tanya said, "you don't have to-"
"I insist," Steve said, handing her a larger than usual bill. "Please. You may have saved us a lot of heartbreak here."
"I was glad to do it," she said, accepting the bill, "but thank you."
"You're welcome. Have a good night, Tanya," Steve said as he hoisted Laura into his arms. "C'mon, Sweetums. I gotcha," he whispered as he led her out to the car. He helped her inside and buckled her up. He climbed in on the other side and looked at her for a long moment. It was like her body was there, but she wasn't. "I love you, Laura," he whispered. "No matter what happened tonight, I love you." He reached for her hand and found it to be lifeless as he held it. He drove her quickly to the hospital and helped her into the emergency room. He shuffled her awkwardly to the front desk. "I think my wife was drugged."
The nurse looked up at Laura. "Were you assaulted, Ma'am?"
She didn't respond.
"Fill this out," she ordered, handing paperwork to Steve.
He led Laura to a chair in the waiting room and sat beside her. He began to fill out the forms as she rested her head on his shoulder, clearly unable to hold her head up any longer.
When Laura was finally admitted, a nurse helped Steve get her into the bed comfortably. Then he began to ask Steve questions about Laura's medical history and her evening. Unfortunately, Steve didn't have all the answers.
"We can run a tox screen on her, but I can't get a rape kit done without her consent, so you may have to bring her back tomorrow," the nurse warned.
"Ok," he agreed. "I just wanna know what's wrong, and that she'll be ok. Aren't some of those drugs fatal?"
"In the wrong doses, yes. I'll draw some blood and we'll check her out. A doctor should be with you soon."
Steve held Laura close as the nurse drew her blood. She flinched when the needle pinched her skin, but she didn't fight it. As the nurse took the blood away, Steve turned to Laura. He knew she couldn't really speak or move, and he knew she wouldn't remember this in the morning, but just in case she was really in there now, he knew he had to do whatever he could to comfort her. "Laura," he whispered in her ear, "don't worry. You're safe now. I have you now, and I'm not gonna let anything bad happen to you ever again. I'm sorry I wasn't there tonight when you needed me. I won't let that happen again. I love you, and I will always love you with all my heart." He kissed her cheek gently and continued to hold her until the doctor finally came in for an exam.
He asked Steve many of the same questions that Steve hadn't known the answers to, and then he revealed, "Well, she definitely has Rohypnol in her system. It should wear off about 8-12 hours after she was dosed. There's a pretty significant amount in her, but it won't hurt her. Her physical exam checks out, and I don't see any immediate signs of assault."
"The bartender caught him on the way out with her, so I doubt…" Steve explained.
The doctor nodded. "Ok. Well, you can come back for a rape kit when she's more with it, if you want to, but it's a very intimate exam, so she has to be able to consent to it. If you want to do that, don't let her shower or change. For now, you can take her home. She may start vomiting soon. That's perfectly normal, but be careful not to let her lay on her back, or she may drown in it. If anything changes, bring her back to us."
Steve thanked the doctor, paid their copay, and led Laura out of the building. He drove her home, watching her carefully out of the corner of her eye. He helped her out of the car and into the elevator. She leaned against him lifelessly as he held her in a standing position. Finally, he decided to just pick her up and carry her into the apartment. He set her down on the couch and got her a glass of water. He sat beside her and rubbed her back. "Laura? Laura, Honey? Can you drink this, please. It'll make you feel a little better," he pressed.
Eventually, she took the glass and drained it quickly. It concerned him how suggestible she was.
"I don't think you were assaulted, so I doubt we'll go back tomorrow. I think you'll do better tonight if we can get you into your PJs. Ok?"
She didn't respond.
He took a deep breath and helped her to her feet. He led her into the bedroom and laid her down on the bed. He went to the dresser and pulled out a pair of shorts and a tank top. He walked back over to her and set the clothes on the bed. "Laura, Sweetheart, I'm just gonna take off your dress and your bra and put these on, ok? I'm not gonna touch you anywhere intimately. Then you're gonna get some sleep," he explained. He lifted her up slightly to get to the zipper on her back. He unzipped her dress and slid it passed her hips and off her body. He folded it carefully and set it aside, just in case she told him tomorrow that it was evidence that needed to be preserved. Then he unhooked her bra and did the same with that. He slid her top on, then her shorts, all while she lay there as lifeless and helpless as a rag doll… or a sex doll. When she was dressed again, he stared at her for a moment. What was the point of having Laura Winslow in your bed if she just lay there like this? Sure, her body was God's greatest work, but what was the point if she didn't move it for you like she did for him? What was the point if she didn't moan your name and tell you she loved you? Steve would never understand men like that.
"Goodnight, Laura Lee," he whispered. "I love you."
He rolled her carefully to her side and went to change into his own PJs. He contemplated just sleeping in his boxers, but he wanted to be more respectful to her than that. If she couldn't consent to anything else, he went to bed with her fully clothed. He lay down beside her and took off his glasses. He thought about spooning her, but he didn't feel comfortable doing it if she wasn't capable of telling him not to. Instead, he lay flat on his back and tried to relax, but he couldn't. He turned on his side and watched her sleep for hours, until he eventually drifted off in the early morning.