Chapter 11

An awkward tension filled the room. Michael was now sitting on the floor with his head between his knees crying and Hayley was sobbing in Penny's arms.

"What is going on here? Michael? What on God's green earth possessed you to go after Nate like that. AND after I told you to keep the room calm?" Beverly demanded.

Leonard looked over at his brother. He had never seen him lose control and fall into a total rage like that before. He knew he was hiding something. First his behaviour with Hayley was strange, he was so nervous and jittery around her. It was almost like he was avoiding her. Then there was the whole business with the watch and Ainsley. The more he thought about it, the deeper Michael seemed to be involved. But what exactly did he do?

Penny continued holding Hayley until she stopped crying. Hayley wiped the tears from her eyes and stared at her two brothers sitting on the floor. Everything started flooding back into her memory. Nate, the breakfast, the kids, work, the wedding…Mitchell. A wave of embarrassment washed over her. How could she let a panic attack take her over like that? She was normally so good at keeping herself under control. Her lists, her records, making sure she did everything just so. It was her way of maintaining control. She had let herself spiral. What would her family think of her if they knew that she had lost it over a man who didn't even love her? And now the man who was supposed to love her, just got beaten to a pulp by her brother.

Hayley stared at Michael who was rocking back and forth on the floor. He knew what happened. He knew everything. That much was obvious to her. It was time to get the truth out of him. "I want to talk to Michael alone" she said in a raspy voice.

Leonard looked at her concerned. "I don't know if that is a good idea. We are supposed to keep you calm, and Michael's behaviour has been anything but normal since he got here."

"I need to talk to Michael. Now. Alone." Hayley repeated with a cold voice.

"I don't want Michael upsetting you any further" Leonard said seriously. "You've been through enough today. I think it would be best if you two talk tomorrow. You need your rest."

Michael had his head between his knees, his arms wrapped around his calves. His knuckles were starting to show a purple blue bruising. He looked up at Hayley. "Leonard's right….you need your rest. I think it would be best if I leave."

"I know what's best for me. Michael and I need to talk. Could the rest of you please leave. Now." Hayley repeated.

Leonard looked at Penny worriedly. He took Hayley's hand. "Are you sure? There's nothing that can't be discussed tomorrow. When you feel stronger. Hayley, I'm worried about you."

Hayley squeezed Leonard's hand. "I'm ok, Len. Just let me talk to Michael. I'm ok. We just need to talk please?"

Leonard gave Hayley a concerned look. "Ok, you two talk. But I'm going to come back in ten minutes. If you feel upset or anything at all, just call me, and I'll be right there." He turned to Michael. "After this performance in here, you better not do anything to further upset her, or you are going to have to answer to me. Understand?"

"I understand" Michael said softly as he looked up at Leonard.

"Fine, let's go and let them talk. Remember Hayley, call for anything. I have my cell with me. Your cell is on the table next to you." Leonard got up from the chair and he, Penny and Beverly exited the room.

Michael got up from the floor and sat on the chair next to Hayley's bed. He stared at his reddened fists contemplatively.

Hayley gave Michael a penetrating stare. "Tell me everything."

Michael looked up at Hayley sadly. "I…umm...I really…"

"Michael if you care about me, even just a little bit, you are going to be honest with me right now. You are going to tell me everything, and you are not going to spare any details."

"Hayley…I…I just don't want you to get upset again. If I tell –"

"-You let me worry about that. I already lost everything. I just want to know the truth." She looked at Michael seriously. "This wasn't Emily's idea was it?"

Michael eyes filled with tears. "It was mine" he said softly.

Hayley raised her knees up and cradled them to her chest. She looked out the window. "Why do you hate me so much Michael? What did I ever do to you? I'm living through this hell, and Mitchell's friendship was the only thing getting me though. Do you know what it feels like? To be constantly criticized? Belittled? My whole life….first with mom, then with my husband. It feels like every time a person gets really close to me, their love eventually dies. Am I that unlovable? What is wrong with me? Dad doesn't care. Mom does nothing but make me feel inadequate. Leonard's left all of us. Nate was supposed to love me, but all his words towards me are dripping with hate. After everything we've been through together I thought you loved me. Why did you purposefully go out and try to destroy the one thing that was giving me a little glimpse of happiness?" Hayley wiped a tear from her eye as she continued looking out of the window. "I knew Mitchell wouldn't love me either. The idea of me loving him frightened him off" she whispered.

"God Hayley, I am so sorry. I'm so so sorry. I didn't want it to go this way." Michael said wearily.

"Why Michael Why? I can't believe you went screwing around in my life just for fun."

"I only wanted to distract you. Get you so distracted that you wouldn't focus on my attempt to break up Penny and Leonard."

"Penny and Leonard!? This has to do with your stupid plan for Penny and Leonard? Michael I've told you…you can't play God. What kind of person are you? You think nothing of destroying your own brother's happiness for your own gain. You make a plan to hurt me…to distract me…without a thought except your own benefit? I thought you were a better person than that. I know you've been badly hurt…but I still believed..."

Michael looked at Hayley despondently. "Oh Hayley…I am that bad. I AM that bad. Didn't you know? I'm better than everyone else. What has life shown me? I get my way. I get away with everything. I'm smart. I'm good-looking. I'm charming. I can argue my way out of anything. Mom and Dad always praised me. People that get in my way need to be eliminated. I do what I want without consequence. I screw around on Emily constantly. Sometimes I do it just for the thrill! Hell, I'm only marrying her because of her political connections. I don't care about anyone's feelings but my own. I'm a terrible person and I know it. But know this…I didn't want to hurt you Hayley. I thought I could, like I do everyone else. But when it came down to it…I couldn't do it. I saw the way you looked at Mitchell –"

"-You saw?" Hayley said coldly narrowing her eyes at Michael. "How did you see? How exactly did you know anything about Mitchell anyways?"

Michael sighed. "I spied on you. First through your phone. Then we were at your office yesterday afternoon. We saw you and Mitchell in the lab together."

"We? Who is we? You and Emily?"

Michael cleared his throat. "Penny and I."

"Penny? Penny was involved in this plan?" Hayley said shocked.

"No…no, not with the plan. She was concerned about Phoebe and why she was distressed." Michael coughed. "Ummm…Em and I may have planted some seeds of doubt in her head about your treatment of Phoebe in regards to putting undue pressure on her."

"What?! You both told Penny I was a bad mother?" Tears were now flowing freely down her face. "Wow Michael….you really don't care about me…just like everybody else. Despite all you behaviour over the years, I understood it in a way. But I guess a small part of me thought I was different. That you did actually care about me. But I guess I wasn't special after all. I should have known better. I should have known…I should have known, I'm not worth it. It's been the conclusion of my entire life.." she trailed off wiping tears from her face.

"Hayley no. It's me. I'm so fucked up. I don't know what's wrong with me. I need help. You are different. You are special. Hayley I didn't want to hurt you. I called it off. I told Emily that I didn't want you involved. I couldn't do it. I couldn't hurt you that way. Emily calling Mitchell was entirely her idea. It's not you, Hale. She told him some story about you being obsessed with him and hurting animals. She told him she was your psychiatrist. I had no idea she did that. You have to believe me Hayley. Please. Please! I'll do anything to make it up to you. I'll get rid of Emily. You were right, I do hate her. I'll stop this plan with Leonard and Penny. I'll do anything to get you to forgive me. I'm so sorry Hayley. Please. I didn't want to hurt you. It's killing me to see you in here like this."

Hayley looked at him coldly. "If I forgave you, you'll just be getting away with everything. Just like you always do Michael." She turned towards him and whispered. "Answer me this. Why did you hit Nate like that?"

Michael felt all the blood drain out of his face. How could he tell Hayley that on top of everything else? "Hayley…it's not important right now."

"Don't you DARE tell me what or what isn't important!" Hayley hissed.

"I…God Hayley…It was like looking in the mirror. I'm the same as Nate. I'm worse….cause you are my sister. I'm no better than him. I pull all the same crap. I felt so guilty about what I did to you, and when I saw him, it was like seeing myself – "

"What did Nate do? You freaked out. You completely lost it. If I am to believe you have one decent bone in your body, you better tell me right now."

Michael whimpered. "Please Hayley…don't…don't make me say it."

"Tell me now Michael William Hofstadter or I swear to God…"

"He…aaah…He…He had a red mark on his neck." Michael blurted out. He dropped to his knees beside Hayley's bed. "God Hayley, I'm sorry. I am so sorry" he sobbed.

Hayley's face went white as a ghost. She could feel the last piece of emotion drain away from her. "Is that why he was late? Is it Michael?" she whispered.

Michael continued quietly crying beside her. His silence was answer enough.

Hayley sat up straight in her bed. Her arms were covered in goosebumps and her hands slightly shaking. She cleared her throat. "I think I want to be alone now. Tell the others I just want to sleep and don't want to be disturbed." She started pulling the covers up over her legs.

"Hayley, I can't leave you like this. What can I do? I'll do anything to make this better. Please tell me. Please Hayley, Please"

Hayley stared right into Michael brown eyes. "Michael…only you know how to save your own soul. You need to decide for yourself how you want to handle this. Not me." Hayley sighed. "You might find this hard to believe…but I do know you love me. Your eyes always betray you. But loving someone doesn't fix what is done. It doesn't make it better. Please go now. I need some time to myself."

Michael wiped the tears away from his eyes and stood up. "I'll make this up to you Hayley. I swear…I will." He quietly exited the room.

Hayley leaned her head back on the pillow. Her entire life was destroyed. Nate's actions were the final nail in the coffin of her marriage. She always suspected he was cheating, she just didn't want to deal with the consequence. The consequence of seeing her children every day to part time if they split up. She felt nauseous at the thought of not being able to be with them every day. Then there was work. There was no way she could publish her paper on time, so her grant was now in the toilet. Her new future sister in law thought she was this terrible mother. Her kids were stressed out. Her own brother wanted to sell her happiness out for his own gain. And Mitchell…sweet sweet Mitchell thought she was some psychopath. The one person left that had made her smile was gone. What was left?

There was a Ziploc bag on the table next to her bed. Inside were her rings, necklace and her cellphone. She grabbed her cellphone and turned it on. She looked at some photos. Phoebe and Daniel. She looked at her old photo of Mitchell. She was slowly losing everyone. She opened her text program. The last text message had been from Emily. She opened it and read Emily's taunting text about Mitchell again.

"Oh Emily…you stupid stupid girl. There's nothing more dangerous than messing with someone who has absolutely nothing left to lose." she whispered as she turned her phone off.

Penny grabbed Leonard's hand and led them into an empty visitor's room and shut the door. Her eyes were large and her face was flushed. "Leonard, what the hell was THAT?"

Leonard started pacing around the room. "I know! I've never seen Michael like that. Michael hates fighting, he usually just jokes around. This is so out of character for him. He was just wailing on Nate. I don't think he would have let up on him if I hadn't knocked him off of him."

"What do you think made him snap like that?"

"I don't know, but he's been acting really weird since he got to the hospital. Even before Nate got here. He was acting all nervous in the room when Hayley was sleeping, and then when I was talking to him in the hall…Penny…he's super guilty about something. I learned something interesting when I was talking to him."

"What?" Penny asked.

"Remember how we suspected that Hayley was the only link to Ainsley and myself. Well….we may have been wrong about that. I think Michael was that link."

"Michael? Michael knows Ainsley? Did he say something? What makes you think that?" Penny asked.

"Well, when I was at her apartment, I accidentally knocked something off the shelf near her shower when I grabbed a towel to dry my face. I picked it up and it was a man's watch. Not just any watch either. A Patek Philippe watch."

"Those are crazy expensive."

"Crazy expensive AND my brother is obsessed with those watches. When we were talking in the hall, he kept looking at his wrist but he had no watch on. I questioned him about it, and he said he misplaced it. I asked him about it, while describing the watch I had seen at Ainsley's but not letting on. It was the same watch."

"Son of a bitch! Michael and Ainsley? But why would your brother help Ainsley? If Ainsley wanted to get back together with you, why would she turn to Michael for help? Why not Hayley? Isn't she friends with Hayley?"

"I have no idea…the whole thing makes zero sense. And it doesn't explain why Michael was acting so strangely around Hayley."

"Or why he suddenly violently started beating Nate for that matter." Penny added.

Leonard wrenched his hands. He looked at Penny worriedly. "I'm worried about that. Michael called Nate an asshole on the phone, but then didn't tell us what he said. I was watching him when Nate came in the room to see Hayley. He was fine, but then he snapped. I saw it. He started freaking out. Something must have happened in that moment. He must have saw something." He continued twisting his hands. "You know…I never really liked Nate. He -"

A distinctive knock interrupted the conversation. Penny walked over to the door of the visitor lounge and opened the door.

"Emily!" Penny exclaimed.

Emily rushed into the room looking frantic. "Where is Michael? I need to talk to him. I just ran into Nate in the parking lot. His face was a bloody mess! What happened here? He said Michael punched him? Is Michael ok?"

Leonard frowned at Emily. "Hayley is stable, thank-you for asking" he said sarcastically. "Michael is in her room right now. They don't want to be disturbed."

Emily looked flustered. "Oh of course I am truly worried about Hayley. That's why I rushed down here in such a panic. I'm sorry, I didn't ask first, I was just so thrown by seeing Nate's face like that, and Michael to blame that it threw me. How is Hayley? Do you know what happened?"

"Well they are calling it a psychotic break. I guess she was under a huge amount of stress. We haven't been able to really talk to her about it. Basically she woke up, and we were just saying hello to her, when Michael went off on Nate. He smashed his phone, and then started punching him like there was no tomorrow."

"What?" Emily said with a genuinely confused look on her face. "That makes no sense…" she whispered to herself.

"Well…" Leonard gave Penny a subtle look. "I think Michael is stressed about a lot of things. Hayley's health, the wedding, losing his favourite watch…it was pretty expensive."

"He lost his watch?" Emily exclaimed. "I last remember him wearing it when he went to the gym before we met up for lunch at Hayley's. I bet you he just left it in his gym locker when he showered. It's probably there."

Leonard gave a knowing look to Penny. "Yeah…that's probably it."

Penny paced around the room. There was so much going on that didn't make any sense. What had caused Hayley to breakdown? Why was Michael acting so weird? What was going on with Michael and Ainsley? She thought back to the day they had lunch at Hayley's house. Michael had said he had just come from the gym. His hair was still wet. He seemed like he was in a great mood, and super hungry if she recalled. Leonard said he found the watch near a shelf near her shower the very next day in the morning. Could he have gone to Ainsley's and not to the gym? Was he sleeping with her? In one sense it made sense. She saw the watch before the gym, and the very next morning Leonard saw it at Ainsley's. But if she was sleeping with Michael, why would she be trying to hook up with Leonard also?

"So..ummm… Michael is talking with Hayley?" Emily said nervously. "Beverly told me she was sedated."

"She was…she woke up" Leonard said.

Michael walked into the visitor's room. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Emily. "What are you doing here?"

Emily gave a nervous laugh as she looked at Leonard and Penny. She walked up to Michael and touched his arm. "What are you talking about? I rushed over here as soon as I heard that Hayley had fallen ill."

"Just drop the act Em. You're not wanted here. Get the hell out. I can't even stand to look at your face right now."

"What is going on?" Penny asked.

"Oh he's just stressed." Emily grabbed Michael's arm and pulled him into the corner away from Leonard and Penny. "Baby, I'm sorry. How was I to know your sister was so damn unstable? A normal person would have just been a bit upset, not have a total mental breakdown." Emily whispered.

"I meant what I said in the car. Emily. You are not –"

"-Oh sweetie. We can fix everything. Hayley is going to be fine. She'll be at the wedding, and everything will be fine. I'll sort out everything with her crush too. But you have major damage control to do with Nate there. Why did punch him? " she whispered.

"Wedding!" Michael exclaimed loudly. "You have got to be kidding me. There is no way in hell I am marrying you."

"What?!" Leonard exclaimed. "What is going on?"

Emily laughed nervously. "Oh nothing nothing. Michael is just upset by everything that happened is all. Right Michael?" She turned to Michael and whispered. "There is no way you are pinning this all on me. This was your idea in the first place. Your nutcase sister is NOT ruining my wedding. We ARE getting married. I will not be embarrassed." She gently stroked his arm. "Listen, I know you are upset, but we can sort through all of that after the wedding."

"Get your hands off of me! Don't touch me! We are NOT getting married. I don't care if you are embarrassed. But if I do one good thing in my life, it would NOT be marrying you!"

"How dare you! You are hardly innocent in all of this. You masterminded everything. You! I know all your secrets Michael. And unless you want all your dirty laundry aired for all of the world to see, then I suggest that you keep your mouth shut." Emily hissed.

Michael glared at her. He thought about the words that Hayley had just spoken to him. Only he knew how to save his own soul. He had hit rock bottom when he hurt his sister so badly for his own stupid aspirations. He looked around the room, he had hurt every single person here. The only way was to come clean.

"You want to air my dirty laundry Emily? Don't worry, I'll do it for you! You will not crucify me! I'll do it myself!"

"Don't you dare do this" Emily whispered harshly.

Beverly Hofstadter walked in the room to Penny, Leonard, Michael and Emily all staring at each other. "What is going on here? Michael, please explain your abhorrent behaviour back in Hayley's room" she demanded.

Michael laughed. "Great! Mom's here too. Perfect. Just perfect." Michael turned towards Leonard and Penny. "Let's begin. I wanted to run for Senate but I thought Penny's family, especially her meth-head brother would be an embarrassment. So I wanted to break you two up. What better way to break you up, than to have another woman involved. I got Ainsley to agree to try to seduce you Leonard. She was going to work her charm to make you think you would be better off with her than with Penny. And if that didn't work, then she was going to lie to Penny about your behaviour. With you recent dalliance with your co-worker, it wouldn't be hard to push Penny over the edge in thinking you might cheat. Hayley was wise with that I was up to, so I wanted to get her out of the picture. To distract her. I did a little digging on her."

Michael turned and looked at Penny who was staring at him with a look of total rage. Her face was flushed red and she had her fists clenched. It was pale in comparison to the look of contempt Leonard was giving Michael.

"Penny here inadvertently helped me. She confirmed to me that Hayley had feelings for a fellow she worked with. BUT, I decided I didn't want to involve Hayley. I didn't…she's….she's been hurt enough." Michael's voice cracked. "But my dear fiancé decided to get involved anyways, and told him the most heinous lie about Hayley and scared the hell out of him and he took off. Nate cheats on Hayley. I've known…I've heard. I did nothing about it. He was late because he was screwing around with someone. I suspected…but I didn't think he would do that. But I saw evidence when he came in the room. I just lost it on him. There. That's everything. I have no more secrets. I'm the world's worst person. I screwed over my own brother and sister. I landed my sister in the hospital. Mom, how's that for your favourite son?"

Leonard walked up and slammed Michael hard in the face. He stumbled back into a chair cradling his face. His lip was cut and was starting to bleed. "How could you?" Leonard raged. "I always thought you were self centered but this? This? I never thought you were this morally bankrupt. You think you can just mess around in anyone's life?" Leonard smacked him again. "How dare you try to ruin my relationship with Penny."

Beverly grabbed Leonard and pulled him back. "Stop this!" she hissed. "Michael, I don't know what to say.."

Penny walked up to Michael. "How could you? You thought you could just trot out another woman in front of Leonard and he would cheat!" Penny slapped Michael in the face. "I knew there was something off about you. I could feel it in my bones. I never trusted you." Penny glanced at Emily. "You left one important piece of information out" she said coldly.

"What?" Michael said staring back at her.

"You left out the part about sleeping with Ainsley. It makes sense….now that I hear all this information about you. I just assume that Ainsley is as terrible of a person as you and Emily are. She must be if she was willing to go along with the scheme."

"What!" Emily screeched. "You are lying. There is no way that Michael would touch that hussy. Tell her Michael."

Michael turned to her and started laughing. His lip was bleeding badly now and started to drip down his chin. "Oh Emily. I should feel terrible. I really should. I hurt you the same way Nate hurt my own sister. But somehow I don't. I really hate you." He got up and walked toward Emily smiling. "You took pleasure in hurting Hayley. It gave you joy. I don't know what is wrong with me…but I don't feel bad about you…I guess perhaps I am as bad as you in that sense."

"What do you mean you hurt me the same way Nate hurt Hayley?" Emily said tensely.

"Oh Em. Surely you figured it out. Of course I slept with Ainsley. Why else would she agree to go along with our plan? For kicks? She did me this favour, and I would help her out when I got into Senate. She's a lobbyist for Pete's sake. Nobody does anything for free these days. I screwed her on her couch, in her bed, on the kitchen counter, in her shower…and I did it right after sleeping with you."

"Shut up!" Emily yelled. "You're lying. I know you're lying. You are just trying to hurt me because I upset your bitch of a sister." She turned to Penny. "This is all your fault! If you and your white trash family had never gotten involved with our family, then none of this would have happened!"

"Our family?" Leonard exclaimed as he glared at Emily. "You are not part of OUR family."

Penny walked up to Emily and shoved her back. "You have some nerve. My white trash family? My family would never NEVER treat each other this way. Sure my brother may have had some problems, but he's a good person. He would never hurt me or my sister intentionally. Look at this family! Everyone is cheating, backstabbing, lying." She turned to Beverly. "There is no love and affection shown towards each other. Everyone was pitted up against each other. And you are worried about me? That is such a joke." She turned back to Emily. "I want to know what you said to Hayley. Michael said it was heinous. Now coming from him…that must be pretty special."

Emily bit her lip. "It's not important. The fact is Hayley obviously had too much on her plate for her to handle. I don't know why everyone is ignoring the fact that dear precious Hayley was cheating on her husband also-"

"-She was not cheating. She had feelings….she never acted on. Now you want cheating? I was cheating on you Em. Me! Oh believe me…Ainsley was not the only one." Michael sputtered.

Emily slapped Michael hard in the face. "You'll pay Michael Hofstadter. Nobody embarrasses me. I'll destroy you. Your career, your reputation…everything. You'll have nothing left when I'm done with you."

"Fine. Do what you want. I don't care anymore. Destroy me for all I care." Michael retorted. He looked at her and smiled. "You never did answer Penny's' question about what you did to Hayley."

"Yes, I'm interested in that answer also?" Leonard said tensely as he walked up to Emily. "What did you say to my sister? What did you say to her that upset her so badly that she had a nervous breakdown?"

"Your sister is weak. She always acted like she was so much better than me. Smarter than me. Better connected. One little white lie, and she collapses like a house of cards." Emily muttered.

"She is better than you, and she is a hell of a lot stronger. You don't know her." Michael snapped. "Emily here, called Mitchell and told her that she was her psychiatrist, and that he was in grave physical danger because Hayley had some romantic obsession with him. She told him that she was hurting animals. She completely freaked him out. That's what sweet sweet Em did. Then she called Hayley and knowing her, taunted her. It was the straw the broke the camel's back."

Penny backed Emily against the wall. "You little bitch. You've been lying to me since the moment we met. Trying to make me feel insecure about Ainsley right from the start, telling me Hayley was an awful mother. Having no second thoughts about destroying your future sister? How could you be so cruel to Hayley? There really is a special place in hell for you."

Emily shoved Penny back. "I do not have to listen to some stupid waitress from Nebraska of all things. You are all a bunch of hypocrites. I will NOT be embarrassed, believe me, when I'm done spinning this, you'll be the most hated family on the east coast. I'm out of here." She walked towards the door.

"Emily stop." Beverly called out.

Emily turned around and watched Michael's statuesque mother stroll calmly towards her. Beverly took off her glasses and put the tip of the arm of her glasses in her mouth. "Emily dear, you do know that impersonating a medical doctor is a criminal offense. Well I'm sure you must know that being a judge yourself." She gave Emily a cold smile. "I do wonder how judges are treated in prison?"

The blood drained from Emily's face. She walked back to the door and quickly slammed it behind her as she left. Michael, Leonard, Penny and Beverly were left staring at each other. Beverly gave a little chuckle and put her glasses back on.

Beverly sighed. "Oh children. Lesson number one. Blood is always thicker than water."

A/N: This chapter was long, but I wanted everything to come out. How will the siblings deal with each other now that they know the truth? Thanks so much for reading, I really appreciate and love your reviews.