Chapter 10

Michael sighed as he leaned his head back on the headrest of his car. Traffic was not moving...again. It was nice to be back home in New York City from Boston, but traffic was definitely something he did not miss at all. How long had he been stuck in the same spot on the expressway? He glanced at his wrist to see his watchless arm looking back at him. Dammit, where did he leave his watch? He had quickly looked in their apartment this morning but didn't see in his usual spots. Michael groaned in frustration. That was his favourite watch, and it cost him a fortune to buy. He needed to find it before the wedding, it was an important part of his outfit.

Michael's in-dash display flashed with an incoming call from Leonard Hofstadter. He hit the answer button.

"Hey Hey Leonard. What's up?" he said cheerfully.

"Michael where are you right now?" Leonard's voice came through sounding panicked.

"In Manhattan. Stuck on the expressway as per usual. Why?" Michael asked.

"Listen, I don't want to tell you this while you are driving, but you need to get to Mount Sinai Hospital right now."

"What? Leonard what's going on? Is it Mom? Dad?" Michael asked urgently.

There was a slight pause before Leonard's voice returned. "It's Hayley, Michael, it's Hayley. " Leonard's voice cracked as he spoke the words.

Michael could feel his heart stop momentarily. Hayley…oh my god…what had happened to Hayley? "Leonard! What is going on? Tell me now. She wasn't in a car accident was she?"

Leonard sniffed and cleared his throat. "No…no car accident. Penny and I went to see her at her house. We found her on the floor of her shower with cold water blasting on her rocking back and forth, completely unresponsive. She was conscious, but it was like she wasn't there. She didn't notice us or anything…she just kept crying. We couldn't get her to snap out of whatever trance she was in. We took her to the hospital straight away. She's in with the doctors right now. Mom was nearby the hospital so she is here now too."

Michael gripped the steering wheel as he felt a wave of panic hit him. "Do you think somebody hurt her…physically?" he stuttered, barely able to get the words out.

"I don't know Michael….I don't know. Things at her house didn't seem right "Leonard croaked.

"I'll be there right away. I'm trying to get off this stupid expressway as we speak. I'm not too far away, so I'll be there soon."

"Ok, call me when you get here. Listen, I've got to go, some of the doctors are leaving Hayley's room" Leonard replied. The call ended.

Michael edged further to a right lane trying to make his way to the first possible exit. Of course no one was letting him in. He edged his car in, to the loud sounds of honking motorists. His stomach was churning. He had just seen Hayley yesterday, she looked so happy. Really it was the first time in so many years that he had seen her looking so happy. What could get her this despondent so fast? It sounded like she had some sort of debilitating panic attack.

His hands were shaking, and he was filled with a really bad gut feeling that this had something to do with him. He didn't know why…but that ache and feeling was there. He had told Emily yesterday offhandedly about Mitchell. She wanted keep Hayley involved in their plans, but he had kiboshed it. When he got home, she didn't make any mention of it….which wasn't like her. Normally she would have argued til she was blue in the face, but she didn't. She was just prattling on about wedding plans and what not, and he was too exhausted to really notice. Did she say something to Hayley? If he asked her straight out she would completely deny. He would have to have his wits about him when he talked to her, let her think that he was supportive of whatever she said. It would bring her defences down, and hopefully he could find out what happened.

Michael's mind flashed back to the words Leonard and just spoken. Hayley lying on the floor of her shower. She couldn't stop crying…. Michael's eyes teared up at the thought of his sister that way.

Well he may totally be on the wrong train of thought, but there was only one way to find out. He grabbed his phone and selected Emily's contact then hit dial. The phone rang through the hands free in his car.

"Hi Love!" Emily said happily. "How's your day going?"

Michael wiped the tears from his eyes and cleared his throat. "I'm good, I'm good. Just stuck in traffic, and thought I would give you a call. How's your day?"

"Oh you know...busy busy. Dress fittings. Final make-up consultation. I've been running around all day. It'll be nice when the wedding is done, and we can get back to spending time together. Just the two of us" she said sweetly.

Michael took a big breath. He would need to question based of her reactions, and his questions were going to be a total shot in the dark. "So…Em. I just had a very enlightening conversation with Hayley. Do you know anything about that?"

Silence met him on the other end of the line. "I don't know what you are talking about" Emily said tensely.

Michael stared ahead at the road as he made his way to the off ramp. Emily had hesitated, and then her whole demeanor changed. Her voice sounded cold. She was lying. He knew it. But what did she do? "Come on Emily, didn't you think Hayley would tell me everything? The first thing she did was call me. Well all I've heard for the last hour was her side of things, but to be fair, I want to hear your version."

"I don't know what you are referring to" Emily said coolly.

Dammit. She wasn't giving anything away. He would need to throw out his guess and make it sound convincing. "Don't play dumb Em…I know you talked to her about Mitchell." He bit his lip hoping his guess was correct.

Emily sighed. "Well I'm sure she blew it out of proportion as per usual."

Bingo. Now what could she have told Hayley, that would upset her so badly? There was nothing there that would push Hayley over the edge was there? Well hopefully he could draw it out of her. He was doing everything in his power not to completely rage at Emily right now, but that wouldn't help him in finding out. He needed to gain her trust. Make her feel that he supported her over Hayley….but not lay it on too thick.

"Em, I thought we agreed that we were not going to involve Hayley in the plan to split Penny and Leonard. I really think this was unnecessary."

"Michael, I love you dearly, but you have a major blind spot when it comes to your sister. I could see it at lunch the other day. She likes Penny. She likes them together. There was no way she was going to stand by watching us interfere with their relationship. She needed to be dealt with."

"Well…you may be right. She did seem to like Penny a fair bit. I don't want anything interfering in our plan for Leonard and Penny. But is she truly distracted?" Michael said fishing.

Emily laughed. "Well I say mission accomplished on getting her distracted. She'll be too busy trying to figure out where Mitchell went to focus any attention on Leonard and Penny or even us for that matter. I mean that was the ultimate goal wasn't it? I must say, I deserve a pat on the back for my powers of persuasion. I got Mitchell so freaked out, that he took a leave of absence and even changed his number."

Michael felt his mouth go dry and his hands started to tremble so badly on the steering wheel. It was killing him not to say anything at this point. He took another big breath. "You were always a star at persuasion. It's why you were such an amazing trial lawyer Em. But what exactly did you say to Mitchell, that would make him leave work? I mean that's pretty extreme." Michael threw in a nervous laugh.

"Oh it was fabulous Michael! You would have loved it. I told him I was a psychiatrist treating Hayley, and that she had a romantic obsession with him. Like a scary, build a shrine with his pictures type of romantic obsession. I told him that she had taken a dangerous turn and was turning violent in her obsession. That she had hurt a small bird when he did not respond to a subtle advance she made one day. I told him it would be best to keep away from her while she got treated for her brain chemical imbalances and undergoes heavy psychoanalysis to deal with her obsession with him. If he didn't, he was at real risk of physical violence from her."

Michael gulped and his eyes filled with tears. He was filled with rage and sorrow at the same time. "Very cunning Emily. Very Cunning. But don't you think that would mess up her career? I mean that's going a tad too far don't you think?"

"Oh, we can just tell Mitchell later that the psychiatrist that phoned him was a fake. Tell him it was some psych patient that had an obsession with Hayley or something like that. Then he can go back to working with her. Michael, did you see this Mitchell guy? I saw his picture online. He's such a goofy nerdy looking guy. Nate is so much better looking than him. I really have to question Hayley's taste in men."

Michael pulled into the parkade of the hospital. He could barely see, and his hands were trembling so bad. He parked his car. "Well Congratulations Emily."

"On what hon?" Emily asked.

"On putting my sister in the hospital. You are officially the second worst person I know. I fucking hate you more than words can express. I HATE YOU! I told you not to do this, but you did it anyways. Hayley was right…you do have no soul."

"Michael, I – " Emily started.

Michael hit end on his hands free. He looked into his rear-view mirror. Staring back at him was the person he hated most in the world. Himself. He was the one dreamed up this plan to manipulate his sister and brother in the first place. And now she was hurt, and it was all because of him. Hayley was the one who played with him and taught him things when they were young. She was the one who protected him when he needed it. Hayley got nothing but grief from their mother, indifference from their father, and finally disdain from her husband. His actions destroyed the one last thing that was giving her happiness in her life. All for what? So he could play senator one day? Tears flowed out of his eyes. He had destroyed the only person that he had ever loved.

Leonard watched intently as Beverly Hofstadter was in a deep discussion with Hayley's attending physician outside her hospital room. "How long can those two talk? I need to know if Hayley is alright?" Leonard whispered to Penny.

Penny grabbed Leonard's trembling hand and squeezed it tight. "I'm sure they are almost done. You know how doctors get when they are talking shop."

Leonard took his other hand and rubbed it through his curly hair. He sighed and leaned back into the chair. "I'm so scared. I've never seen Hayley like that. She always seems larger than life, but back there she seemed so tiny and helpless. She was crying with no expression on her face. God what happened to her? "

Penny rubbed Leonard's shoulder lightly. "I know….I just saw her yesterday afternoon, and she seemed super happy. I don't know what changed."

Leonard pulled Penny into a hug. "What changed?" he whispered. "What changed?" They stayed in the embrace until Leonard's nerves started to calm slightly. Leonard squeezed Penny's hand. She had really been a rock during this whole experience.

Leonard turned on his cell to check for texts or voicemails. He turned to Penny. "I've been trying to call Nate since we've got here, but it goes straight to voicemail. I sent texts but it doesn't say 'read'. I don't know where Phoebe or Daniel are, or if they need to be picked up? I don't know what we are going to tell them about their mom…." Leonard trailed off.

"I know" Penny exclaimed. "I tried calling from my cell too, but I got no response. Maybe he doesn't respond to out of state numbers?"

"We'll get Michael to call him from his phone when he gets here. Or mother…if she ever stops talking to Hayley's doctor."

Penny looked up and down the hall. "Speak of the devil.."

Michael was walking quickly down the hall towards them. He looked pale and his eyes were rimmed red. He quickly spotted them and walked up to them.

"How's Hayley? Is she ok?" Michael asked urgently.

Leonard pointed towards their mother speaking with doctor. "They've been talking for over half an hour. I'm still waiting to find out. Listen, can you call Nate? We've been trying endlessly, and he hasn't picked up any of our calls. He needs to know about Hayley and we don't know where the kids are, or if they need to be picked up."

Michael grabbed his phone and called Nate. He picked up on the second ring. "Dude…do you not answer your phone? Listen, Hayley's in the hospital, Mount Sinai. What?...I don't know? I really don't care...I think she had a panic attack" Michael said softly as he wiped a tear from his eye. "Seriously? Don't be such a fucking asshole for once in your life….no I do mean that. What about the kids?…uh huh…Ok. See you soon." He hit end. He turned to Leonard and Penny. "He said he'll arrange for the kids to be picked up and taken to a friends, and he'll be here soon."

Leonard narrowed his eyes. "What was Nate being an asshole about?"

"-Michael! Thank God you are here." Beverly exclaimed as she walked over to Michael and gave him a hug. Penny shook her head as she watched Beverly ignore Leonard.

"What did the doctor say? Is Hayley ok?" Leonard asked.

Beverly led them to the sitting area and the four of them sat down. "I had a long discussion with her doctor. She appears to have suffered what we call a psychotic break. This can happen when a person undergoes acute stress. We don't know exactly what triggered this in Hayley, to have such a severe reaction. They checked her over for physical and sexual trauma, but she appears to be ok. Right now they have sedated her, as it was the only way to calm her down. Sometimes sleep can aid in calming the patient. But upon awakening, they are going to start her on Anxiolytics, specifically Benzodiazepines. Its an anti anxiety medication used for severe cases. Hopefully she will be able to tell us what is troubling her."

"Can we see her?" Penny asked softly.

"Well she is sleeping, but we can go in the room and see her. She may be able to hear us, so please only say positive calming things." Beverly turned to Michael. "Sweetheart, I'm so sorry this happened right before your wedding. If I had known Hayley was so unstable, I would have taken more off her plate. She may be still able to attend by Saturday, we will have to wait and see."

"I could not care less about my wedding. I just want to see Hayley and make sure she is ok" Michael said tensely. He stared at his mother. How could she be thinking about the wedding when Hayley was lying in a hospital bed? He could tell Leonard was thinking the same thing by the dirty look he was shooting their mother.

The group got up and headed to Hayley's room. It was small and cramped, but at least it was a private room. Hayley was sleeping on the bed, with an IV hooked up to her arm. She looked so small and helpless in the pale blue gown. Her heart rate and blood pressure were being monitored. Her skin was pale and her lips were void of the rosy hue that was normally there.

Leonard walked up and gently stroked her hair. He gave her a soft kiss on her forehead. "Hayley…it's me Leonard. I wanted you to know that I love you. I love you so much. And I will do anything in my power to help you any way I can. I'll be here waiting for you when you wake up." He gently picked up her hand and gave it a light kiss. He walked back to Penny and held her tight.

Beverly walked up to Haley. She awkwardly took hold of her hand. "Hayley. I hope you feel better soon. I have many thoughts on your future medical treatment that we can discuss." She dropped Hayley's hand and walked back towards the wall.

Michael was staring at his sister. He did this to her. He put her in the hospital bed. Memories flooded into his head. Her taking care of him when he was sick, her protecting him as a child, them bored to tears together at various social functions where they snarked and laughed and had such a good time. She was always there for him. Always. Even when he didn't deserve it. And now look at her. Frail…weak…lying helpless in a hospital bed…all because of him. The guilt was rising up in him so badly he wanted to vomit.

"I…I…gotta get out of here." Michael stuttered. He ran out of the hospital room and into the hall. He leaned against the wall, closed his eyes and took a number of deep breaths in hopes that the dizziness would clear.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" a familiar voice called out in front on him. He opened his eyes to see Leonard staring angrily at him.

"Michael…Hayley needs us right now. She needs our support, and you run out of the room? I know you are scared. Believe me, I am too. But it's time for us to be strong for her. It's bad enough that Nate is so late, and Dad hasn't even bothered to show up." Leonard said quietly.

Michael looked sadly at Leonard. How could he tell him that he put their sister there. That this was his fault? He could barely look at Hayley he felt so guilty. Leonard brought up a good point though…where the hell was Nate? He pulled up his sleeve to look at his watch. "Dammit" Michael muttered, and pulled out his phone to look at the time.

Leonard eyes narrowed as he watched Michael. He was behaving so strangely. His eyes focused on Michael's bare wrist.

"Where is Nate? He works just a few train stops away, he shouldn't have taken this long" Michael sputtered. "I should have listened to Hayley. Nate's not kind to her. She mentions it in little conversations we have. How he always on his phone when he's with her, how he's never home, how he makes passive aggressive comments about how she is as a mother and wife. Hayley always made jokes about it, and I never paid much attention. I mean…I just always thought Hayley was dealing with it in her own way. I should have listened to her Leonard. But I didn't" Michael confessed. "I've been a bad brother in so many ways…to both of you."

Leonard looked at Michael empathetically. "Listen, I haven't been the best brother either. I kind of got wrapped up in my own life back in California, I haven't called Hayley or really tried to talk to her in ages. I didn't even know that her and Nate were having marital problems. But just because we haven't been the best brothers to her in the past, doesn't mean that we can't change that going forward. She needs us now."

"I know.." Michael said as his voice broke. He looked down the hall again for Nate. He looked to his wrist again to see the time. "Damn.." he muttered.

"Forget your watch this morning?" Leonard asked quietly. He pulled out his phone and discretely looked at the picture of the watch he had taken in Ainsley's washroom.

Michael sighed. "Misplaced it. I looked all over for it this morning. I'm sure it's somewhere in the apartment."

"Was it a Patek Philippe watch?" Leonard asked watching Michael's face closely.

"Yeah" Michael mumbled. "Nate should have really been here by now." He leaned against the wall and glared at the empty hallway.

"Was your watch band black, with a black and grey face? Leonard questioned further.

Michael looked at Leonard puzzled. "Yes, that's right. Did you see it? Did I leave it a Mom's when I came by for brunch there the other day?"

Leonard cleared his throat. "Umm…no. I just remember seeing it at brunch that day and thinking it was nice." His mind was swirling. What was Michael doing at Ainsley's place? Was he involved in Ainsley's sudden interest in him? Was he just trying to distract him so he could spend time with Penny? That would make a lot more sense, considering Michael's character. But would he really hit on his brother's fiancé days before his own wedding? And why would Ainsley go along with it? He needed to find out more.

Penny entered the hall. "You guys…Hayley is waking up. Can you come back in here?"

The two brothers looked at each other seriously, and entered back into the room. Hayley was opening her eyes with long blinks due to the sedative she was given earlier. Her eyes started darting around the room and a frightened look was appearing on her face.

Leonard sat down beside Hayley and took her hand. "Hayley it's me. Don't be scared. You are safe here. You had a panic attack, and now you are at Mount Sinai hospital. Don't worry about anything…everything will be ok. Your loved ones are here, and we'll help you in every way we can. We love you Hayley." He leaned down and gave Hayley a soft kiss on her forehead.

Hayley looked around the room. Leonard and Penny were there with worried expressions on their faces. Michael was leaning against the wall looking pale, his eyes rimmed red. Her mother was standing with her perfect posture against the wall looking at her contemplatively. Her father was not there…but that was to be expected. He never seemed to bother anymore. One key person was missing…Nate.

"Where is Nate?" Hayley whispered with a cracked voice.

Michael and Leonard looked awkwardly at each other, but the Michael jumped in. "He's on his way. He had to make some arrangements for the kids which is why he's a bit late, but he's on his way here -"

A gentle rapping on the door interrupted Michael. Penny went to open the door and Nate was standing outside in his overcoat and suit. "Sorry I'm late" he whispered. He entered the room and walked up to Hayley. He gently moved a strand of hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear. "How are you doing sweetheart?" He bent down and gave her a soft kiss on the cheek.

Michael's eyes went wide as he watched Nate kiss his sister on the cheek. He closed his eyes and tried to not focus on what he had just seen. He clenched his hand and cracked every knuckle in his hands. He felt his breathing go erratic, and he tried to focus on taking long breaths. He needed to stay calm….for Hayley's sake.

Leonard stared at Michael. What the hell was wrong with him? Michael was sweating, he had his eyes closed and he was clenching his fists so tight they were turning white.

Nate spent a minute speaking with Hayley and then left the bedside and leaned up against the wall next to Beverly. He pulled out his phone and opened Facebook and started scrolling down through his feed. A smile broke out on his face.

Michael looked up at Hayley who was staring at Nate. A tear was forming in her eye as she watched him scrolling on his phone with a smile on his face. That was it. He couldn't take it anymore. He saw the bright red mark on Nate's neck when he had leaned in to kiss Hayley. And now he was on Facebook? Fucking Facebook?

Michael walked up to Nate and grabbed his phone out of his hand. "You love your fucking phone so much, why don't you marry it!" He hissed. He threw the phone on the floor and stomped on it to a distinctive crack. Hayley's eyes went large watching the scene before her.

"What the hell Michael!" Nate yelled angrily. He shoved Michael back. "You are paying for that! Why the hell did you do that!"

Michael walked back up to Nate and punched him hard in the face.

"Oh my god!" Penny yelled. Leonard scrambled up to get to the other side of the room where Nate and Michael were. Leonard tried to pull Michael back but he shoved him away.

"I hate you, you bastard! My sister is in the hospital and you treat her like this?" Michael slammed Nate again, and he fell to the floor. Michael pinned Nate and continued punching him over and over.

"You useless piece of shit!" SLAM

"You couldn't even BE A DECENT PERSON…THIS ONE TIME!" SLAM

"Michael stop this!" Beverly yelled frantically.

Hayley started to cry as she watched her brother beating her husband to a pulp. Penny grabbed a hold of her and held her tight, trying to shield her with her body from watching the scene.

"Stop it!" Penny yelled as she continued shielding Hayley.

Leonard tried in vain pulling Michael off, but he was in a complete state of rage. He wouldn't budge, and he was focused on his task. Leonard threw himself on Michael in a full body tackle knocking him off Nate. He pinned Michael to the ground.

"What the hell is wrong with you Michael?" Leonard yelled as he pinned his brother's arms down onto the ground.

Nate scrambled up, holding his hands up to his bleeding face. "This whole family are a bunch of crazy loons. I swear! Michael you'll pay for this….don't think I won't press charges." He yelled.

Michael wriggled one arm free and picked up a piece of Nate's shattered phone and threw it at Nate's head. "Don't forget your fucking phone."

Nate left the room and slammed the door shut. Michael burst into tears on the floor, with Leonard still holding him down. Hayley could be heard sobbing in Penny's arms. Leonard looked up at Penny. "What is going on here….."

A/N: Next chapter, more big secrets will come out! Ready for Angry Penny? And Emily pays a visit to the hospital…how do you think Michael will react? Thank you so much for the reviews. They really mean a lot to me, and I appreciate you taking the time to review. I'm sorry I didn't reply to the reviews last week, but I was quite sick. I will get back to all of you ASAP to thank you!