Chapter Six

Thinking Clearer

Alex swiftly places her son in his carseat and within minutes, they are a block behind the ambulance that is heading to Saint Mary's Hospital.

As Bobby is taken to the ER, she finds a quiet place to sit. Robby sits beside her and in less then a minute he is off to explore his new surroundings. "Robby don't touch that, come here by Mommy and sit down." He continues to touch the lamp that turns off and on by tapping the base. "Robby!" A look of surprise crosses his face as he turns his head to face his mother, "Come here and sit down." She says sternly. He climbs up on the couch, pouting. Picking him up, she places him on her lap holding him tight.

Setting her son down next to her she stands and starts to pace, "What the hell is taking so long? Look for the pills in his system and you'll find the problem for Christ sake," she says through clenched teeth.

Robby climbs off the couch and the light goes on, Alex turns and after a few strides she is next to her son, picking up his hand, "I told you not to touch that." She lightly slaps his hand. His bottom lip starts to quiver and she kneels down, placing her arms around him. "I'm sorry sweetie." She wipes the tears from his cheeks. "Come on," taking his hand. "Let's sit down."

She resumes her seat on the couch, closing her eyes. She suddenly sits up, removing her cell phone from her bag. Speed dial, "Hello."

"Dad, its Alex, Bobby's taken ill."

"Where are you?"

"At the hospital."

"What happened?"

She hesitates, "I'm not sure, can you please come...call Laurie...I need someone..."

"I'll call your sister and we'll be there as soon as we can."

"Thanks Dad, we're at Saint Mary's."

"Do you need anything?"

"No, no I'm alright."

John, Sara and Laurie arrive within thirty minutes. She greets them with hugs. "Where is he?" John asks.

"He's still in the ER; they are running tests. That is all they've said to me so far." She turns her head away, "I told them what to look for."

"What?"

"Ah," she shakes her head. "Nothing, Dad."

Alex begins to pace walking further and further into the hallway, "I'll be right back."

"Sure honey."

She nonchalantly wanders into the ER, she finds him lying quietly. As she walks closer and closer to the bed, her anger builds. His eyes start to flutter open, the doctor who is standing off to the side notices, as does she. Alex takes a step closer, "How? Why Bobby? That was the only solution you could think of….you...you selfish son of a bitch, you wanted to go away….run away and leave us alone." He looks to his right and sees a figure, he lifts his head gently and his eyes come into focus. He tries to moves his arm, which has an IV in place and a look of surprise shows across his face. "We could have worked everything out if you'd let me help," raising her voice. "But no, you have to do everything alone."

The doctor places one hand on her shoulder and the other on her elbow. She looks up at him as tears are streaming down her face. He leads her away from the bed, "Misses Goren, please..."

"Please what?" She pushes his hands away. "I told you people what to look for, what is the great mystery?"

"Are you referring to the percocet?"

"Yes I am, Goddamnit what the hell do you think."

"Tox screen shows," he flips up the paper on his clipboard, "100 milligrams..." he holds out the prescription bottle. "This is the bottle that you gave me. Each pill in this bottle had 325 milligrams which mean that he took 2 pills about five hours ago." She frowns as she shakes her head.

"What...what about the beer?"

He smirks, "What beer? Maybe he had a beer four hours ago."

"I thought...he..."

"Please sit," he leads her to a chair. "Please," he holds out his hand. "You told me when he came in that he was not well this morning but never told you exactly what was bothering him, correct?"

"Yes," she says sounding exasperated.

"When you spoke to him throughout the day he told you that he felt dizzy and you had made a comment about him sounding confused." Nodding her head in agreement, "He suffered a Transient Ischemic Attack, in other words a Mini-Stroke. The symptoms may come and go. Go away totally, or get worse over the course of several hours."

She stands, "Oh my God."

"There will most likely be no after effects," he looks to his patient. "But it's a wake-up call to him that he has to stop doing what he's been doing and start doing what he hasn't. I want to keep him here for a couple of days, monitoring his blood pressure, very closely. I'll leave you alone for a moment, and then I will have him taken up stairs."

Slowly she walks to his bedside, taking his hand. She watches him sleeping, stroking his hair. "I'm sorry, Bobby I thought that….how could I think that you…." She leans over and places her head on his chest, whispering. "I don't know if you can hear me but I love you so much."

The doctor and nurse return and ask her, to please wait outside in the hall, while they prepare him to be moved to a room.

Alex returns to her family and relates the information that the doctor told her.

An Hour Later

The next time he wakes, he is in a different room. Alex is sitting in a chair next to the bed, she stands when she sees his eyes open. "Where's Robby?" he says with terror in his voice.

"He's with my parents."

He pulls the blanket down "No, no they are too…."

Alex places her hands on his chest, "He's with my parents outside the door." A sigh of relief expels from him, holding his face in his hands as he slumps down in the bed feeling lightheaded.

Alex rubs her temples as she sits down, trying to stop the headache she feels coming on. "I….I don't know how much more of this I can take Bobby."

"Huh," he says frowning.

"You wake up in a hospital bed and your first thought concerns that woman. Don't you want to know why you are here? My God Bobby you're obsessed, you think about her more than Robby and I."

"I do not, how can you say such a thing?"

"It's almost as if I'm fighting for your attention, and that's not fair."

"I….I can't forget, no matter how hard I try, I can't forget what she did to me."

"I know," she takes his hand and holds it up to her cheek. "I understand Bobby, I do but you….I….We can't live like this any longer. She's out there yes but do you plan to spend the rest of your life looking over your shoulder for her?"

Shaking his head slightly, "No I don't." he kisses her hand. "So what happened, why am I here?"

"You don't remember?"

"I….I remember you yelling at me."

"I'm sorry about that; I came to the wrong conclusion because I didn't have all the facts."

"What conclusion was that?"

"I saw the empty bottle of percocet on the desk and you were acting so strangely that I thought that you…." She turns her head away.

"The bottle was empty because I took the last two pills. I had a monster headache and," he caresses her cheek, turning her head gently to face him. "I couldn't find any aspirin so I took the percocet, it worked, my headache went away."

"I should have known better than to think that you would throw your….our life away because of her, damn that woman I hate that bitch more and more everyday."

"You didn't answer my question, why am I here?"

Without hesitation she says, "You had a mini stroke."

He raises his eyebrows in surprise, "Yes Bobby between the stress of the last few months…you…" she starts to cry. He reaches for her hand, pulling her close, she falls into his embrace. "The doctor is going to tell you this but," she lifts her head looking in his eyes. "You can't continue doing the things that you have been doing," she shakes him. "Understand," she says firmly. He nods his head pulling her close as he kisses her cheek.

The Next Day

Alex enters the room early this day. "Good morning." She says cheerfully. He continues to stare out the window. "Hey," she calls to him. He turns to meet her gaze. "What are you looking at?"

"Nothing, I was reading the paper," he folds up the paper and places it on the tray. "And I….today is April twenty sixth," he smiles at her remembering. "The day you rescued me. Two years Alex, it's been two years. I…." he takes a long sip of water. "I had hoped that I would never have to revisit those memories. She could have killed me then….But," he tilts his head. Alex smiles, she has seen that far away look on his face, 'the thinking stare' many times before.

"What Bobby? What is it?"

"If she wanted me dead, she would have done it by now." He sits up in the bed. "What would be the worse thing that she could do to me?"

Alex sits down and smiles shaking her head, "Nothing," they say simultaneously.

Remorsefully he says, "Because she was hoping I'd do it to myself….and I almost did."

"Yeah well Nicole forgot something, two very important people."

"I'm sorry…."

"Don't apologize I can understand your motives." She leans down and kisses him on the lips. Wiping off the lipstick, "You know I think you were right about something."

"Oh and what was that."

"She is watching, through someone else's eyes."

"Who?"

"Tom."

"Tom, Tom who?"

"Detective Tom Brown."

"Why do you think it's him?"

"He's been up my….he seems to appear out of nowhere and ask a question or make a comment about you."

"Good ole Nicole she always finds someone to do her bidding. I wonder what she has on him." A wicked smile crosses his face.

"You have an idea."

Nodding his head, "Yes, we are going to convince Detective Brown so he can tell Nicole that she got what she wanted."

"How?"

"Well if Tom is so interested in our lives let's give him some juicy tidbits to swallow. We have to get Ross, Logan, Megan, Danni and of course your new partner in on this." He lies down placing his hands behind his head, "This day started out with bad thoughts but it is going to end with good ones."

With a sparkle in his eyes and a smile of his face, he turns his head facing her, "Now where's Robby?"

She strokes his arm, "I'll get him."

TBC