Chapter Ten

Rudy and Michael rushed to Jaime's side. "I'm ok," she insisted, waving them away. "Please check on Steve...and Oscar."

"Tranquilizer dart," Steve said slowly, easing himself onto the porch steps. "He got me good." Rudy began to quickly and efficiently check him over while Michael tended to Oscar. Jack untied the rope from Oscar's arms and sadly placed him in handcuffs.

"He's not...dead, is he?" Jaime asked Michael, her voice quivering.

"No."

"I...didn't hurt him too badly, did I?"

"Jaime," Steve protested, "After everything he did -"

"He's still Oscar," she told Steve firmly. Silent tears streamed down her face as she backed away from the man on the ground – someone she'd always considered a friend. She sank down wearily next to Steve and rested her head on his shoulder. "Under all that anger and all of that...madness, he's just a human being in a lot of pain."

Steve pulled her closer and kissed her before re-surrendering his arm to Rudy. "One more reason I love you," he said softly, marveling at her resilience.

Oscar shook his head as though trying to clear fog from his brain. His face brightened when he saw Michael. "Hey, Doc! I brought my pills, just in case. Think I should take one?"

Four heads turned at whiplash speed. "What pills?" Rudy asked. "I didn't prescribe anything." He was supposed to be Oscar's doctor – his only doctor.

Michael looked over at the trio on the porch and rolled his eyes as if to say Oscar was crazy beyond belief. Oscar smiled as Rudy knelt on the ground beside him.

"Just something for stress. Don't want a heart attack, you know," Oscar said calmly.

"And you said you have them with you...?" Rudy prompted.

"Top pocket. Can't quite reach 'em now, though."

As Rudy removed a small, unmarked brown vial from Oscar's pocket, Michael began to slowly back away, eying the woods around the cabin for possible escape routes.

Jaime was instantly on her feet. "You don't want me to chase you, Michael."

"Don't move, Marchetti," Hansen ordered. He removed the handcuffs from Oscar's wrists. "I believe these belong to you," he told the young doctor, this time affixing them to the proper set of wrists. "Let's go."

- - - - - -

Jaime and Steve rode to the hospital in the backseat of Jack's car so Rudy could take Oscar in the Medivac. They rode silently for a long while, safely entwined in each other's arms. "You can take me back to see Corrigan if you have to," Jaime finally sighed. "I understand."

"That won't be necessary," Jack told her.

"The way you kept your head today," Steve added, "and did what you had to do – Lady, you are amazing."

"What'll happen to Oscar?" Jaime asked sadly.

"He'll have a full work-up," Hansen replied, "physical and psychological, before we make any decisions. It doesn't look like he was a willing participant, but we have to be sure."

"They can hang Michael for all I care," Steve grumbled.

"Steve!" Jaime gasped.

"Sorry, Sweetheart," he said, kissing her. "I love you, but please – no 'human being in pain' crap for that one, ok?"

Jaime sighed again and leaned against Steve's chest. "I love you, too," she whispered, leaving it at that.

- - - - - -

"I'd hold you both overnight for observation," Rudy told Steve and Jaime, "but I have a feeling you'll keep an even closer eye on each other than my staff could. So, I'm going to release you on the condition that you stick together – at least for a day or two – and call me if you have any problems."

Jaime made a face of mock horror. "I have to spend the night...with him?"

Steve flashed her a wicked grin. "Maybe two."

Jaime leaned into him, grateful for the warmth and comfort of his arms after everything they'd been through. "If I have to..." she chuckled, then her eyes grew serious. "Rudy, how's Oscar?"
Rudy pulled up a chair and sat down facing his friends. "He'll need a couple of days to detox, but then he should be fine...physically, that is. My initial tests show that he probably had no idea what he was doing. Michael somehow convinced him that Jaime really wanted to be with him, and that since they made such a perfect couple, he – Michael – wanted to help."

"And once she supposedly got scared enough to leave me -" Steve continued.

"Michael was certain he'd be the one to comfort her," Rudy concluded. "The drugs he got Oscar to take – for his non-existent heart condition – made him extremely malleable; suggestible. When the two of you ran, Michael upped the dosage and convinced Oscar that Steve had stolen Jaime from him, that she needed Oscar's help to get away; that, along with the drugs, sent him into a psychotic rage."

"And I hit him with a rock..." Jaime said quietly.

"You had no other choice," Steve pointed out.

"My God, when he comes out of it, he's going to hate himself..." Jaime realized, a tear in each eye. "Rudy, when can I see him, to let him know I don't blame him for what happened?"

"Jaime -" Steve protested, even though he knew better than to argue with her when her mind was set on something.

"Give it 48 hours," Rudy suggested, "and then we'll see."

Steve had seen Jaime cry too many tears already in the last few days. His aim now was to get her home where she could rest. "Rudy, is it ok if I take her home now?"

"I'll drive," Jaime insisted, kissing him again before taking his keys.

- - - - - -