Chapter 3
Down the hall Vicki and Jessica were helping Natalie into bed. Natalie looked around the room she has called hers since she came to Llanview and realized she just didn't fit any more if she ever did. Looking up at her Mother and Sister, she grabbed each one by the hand. "You have to help me get out of here."
Vicki and Jessica looked her in shock. "What do you mean get you out of here?" Jessica asks.
"Just exactly what it sounded like. I have to leave here and you guys need to help me." Natalie explained.
"Have you lost your mind. You can't leave." Jessica said. "You've been..."
"I'm fine!" Natalie interrupted. "I swear to God I'm going to punch the next person who tells me how sick I am! I'm not sick any more."
"Sweetheart, I know you are feeling better now, but you could have died." Vicki tries to placate her. " We just want to make sure you are completely well and have all your strength back before you tax yourself to much."
"Mom, I'm ok now. The accident was months ago. I feel stronger everyday, more then capable of taking care of myself and my son." Natalie says.
"Honey, I know you think that and maybe you are right. But we need to start you out slow. I'll talk to your dad. I'll see to it that you are allowed out of bed more and are allowed to spend as much time with Liam as you want. And then in a few weeks, maybe you will be able to do what ever you want."
"Dad is not going to let that happen! You heard him. He's going to continue to make all my decisions. He doesn't want me to get any better because then he can't control me." Natalie complained.
"You know that's not true, Natalie," Vicki scolded her daughter. "Your father loves you. He just wants what is best for you. All he is doing is trying to make sure you follow the doctor's orders and stay in bed."
"Doctor," Natalie snorted in disgust. "That so called doctor doesn't know what he is talking about. He's nothing but a two bit quack who doesn't know a sick person from a well one."
"Natalie, Doctor Smith is a credited doctor with the proper credentials to prove it. We were lucky that your Father was able to find him to take care of you." Vicki defended her husband.
"And why did he do that?" Natalie asked. "Why did he have to find some doctor to take care of me when I could have stayed in the hospital?
"Dad just wanted you to have the very best care possible." Jessica explained. "He felt like this was the best place for that."
"Why, Jessica, why? With all the doctors and nurses working in the hospital, with all the equipment they have there, why is this the best place for me to get the care that I need?" Natalie asked."
"We all thought it was best for you to be around the people that love you. That maybe you would get better faster this way." Jessica said.
"All of you or just Dad?" Natalie asked. "I would be willing to bet that the two of you wanted me to stay in the hospital and Dad talked you into bringing me here." Noting the guilty looks passing between her Mother and sister, Natalie nods her head in victory. "See I told you. Me being here with a private nurse and doctor was all Dad's idea. Have either of you ever asked yourself why that is? Why did he want me here so bad that he was willing to ultimately risk my health to bring me home?"
"Honey, I don't think that he thought he would be risking your health with the medical care he was able to provide for you here." Vicki stalled.
"You didn't answer my question, Mom. Why was it so important to him that I be here instead of the hospital?"
Vicki sighs lowering her face so she didn't have to meet her daughter's eyes. "I don't know, ok. I don't know why he thought it was so important that you be here. But he must have had a good reason because he insisted you be brought here. And it must have been a good idea because its working. You are getting better everyday. I can see your condition improving everyday."
"Yeah, Mom, you can see it, but Dad can't. He's unable to see that I can't just hide here in this room while decisions are being made for me and my son. I have to get my life back. I have to figure out exactly when and why my life went to hell and I have to try to fix it. And Dad doesn't want me to." Natalie explains.
"He does, Natalie." Jessica said. "Dad loves you."
"I don't doubt that Dad loves me, I know he does. I also know that he wants to control me and to keep me from doing anything that is going to give me a little bit of independence from him."
"That's not true Natalie." Jessica whined.
"Really, then why is he keeping everyone away from me? Because that is the reason he wanted me here, so he control who I see and talk to." Natalie says.
"He's not." Vicki defended her husband weakly.
"Then why hasn't he allowed anyone come to see me? The only people I see are the two of you, Dad, that quack of a Doctor, the idiot Nurse, and on occasion, when Dad decides to allow it, Liam. No one else is allowed in here. Not my brothers, not Uncle Bo, no one. Why is that?" Natalie questioned looking between her Mother and her sister. When neither said anything, she continued. "And another thing, where is my phone? Have either of you seen it? I keep asking for my phone so I can at least call and talk to some of my friends, but they won't let me have it. They keep saying that it will only upset me to see that John hasn't called."
"Well they are right, Honey. It would only upset you and the Doctor has told us to make sure that you are kept calm. He said that becoming upset is bad for your condition." Vicki tries to explain.
"What condition? Do either of you actually know, because I don't? I don't have a clue what is suppose to be wrong with me besides the obvious. They have never told me. I'm not allowed to see my medical files. The Doctor won't talk to me about how I'm doing. He will only talk to Dad. And of course, Dad won't tell me anything. When I ask, all he says is that I need to stay calm and not worry about anything, to let him take care of things. But I have to know what is wrong with me. So if either of you know, can you please tell me?" Natalie asks.
Vicki sighs. "No, we don't know. He hasn't said exactly. But we all know you need to rest because of the..."
"Because of the baby," Natalie finishes for her. "Yes I need to rest because I'm in a high risk pregnancy. I know that, I'm not stupid you know. I would never do anything to risk the life of my child. But, I have to ask, is my child at that much of a risk?"
"What do you mean?" Jessica asks confused. "Of course it is. Doctor Smith said..."
"That's right, Doctor Smith said the baby was at risk. But how does he know?" Natalie interrupts.
"What do you mean? He's a doctor." Jessica argues.
"But he's not an OBGYN, is he? Because if he was, then he's not a very good one." Natalie counters. "If my baby was at so much risk, then why wouldn't Dad get a doctor who specializes in pregnancies and delivering babies? I'm not allowed to ask Dr. Smith a lot, but I was able to find out that much. I still don't know what his speciality is, but I know its not delivering babies. I suspected that before I even began to recognize the fact that something was seriously wrong."
"How did you know that?" Vicki asks. "Why would you question what he says about your baby being at risk?"
"Cause he has never even done an ultrasound." Natalie explains, catching the shocked look passing between her Mother and Sister. "Exactly. How could he possibly know that something is wrong with the baby if he hasn't even looked at the baby to see what is going on? That would have been the first thing Vivian would have done. In fact, she probably did before Dad had her thrown off the case for whatever reason. You both know that she would be my Doctor of choice, if Dad were to give me a choice. But instead I'm not even allowed to talk to her."
"Have you asked your Dad to let you talk to her?" Vicki asks.
"Oh, yeah I've asked. You know how it is when you are pregnant, you worry and have questions, questions only someone you trust can answer. And I trust Vivian. She helped me through the pregnancy with Liam without any problems even with all the secrets I was keeping. I trust her a lot more then Dr. Smith, but Dad said I just needed to give him a chance and that everything would be ok. But I want to hear the Doctor I trust say that herself, you know. But Dad refuses to allow it."
"Why do you think that is?"
"I think Dad is hiding something."
"Like what?" Jessica asks.
"I don't know exactly, but I think that I'm not really as bad as he wants everyone to believe." Natalie explains.
"But why would he do that, Natalie? Your Dad loves you." Vicki says.
"Like I said, I don't doubt that, Mom. And he may think he is just protecting me, but he is taking it to far. I think he is using my accident and supposed high risk pregnancy to keep me from confronting John about abandoning me and Liam. He knows that I know that something isn't right there and he wants keep me from finding out what it is. This is truly his way of reaching his ultimate goal of getting John out of my life."
"Honey, John was already out of your life by his own choice. He is the one who chose to leave and stay away. He's the one who hasn't tried to contact you. So why would your Dad have to go to all this trouble to keep him away from you?"
'How do we know that, Mom? How do we know he hasn't tried to contact me?" Natalie asks. "I'm not allowed to have my phone, so how do we know he hasn't tried to call me. And I know he hasn't shown up, but that could be because of the restraining order."
"But you had Dad lift that right after you had the accident. You wanted to make sure that if something happened to you that Liam would have at least one parent around for him. You made sure everyone knew that right before you passed out." Jessica explains.
"Yes, I did. But how do we know that he did as I asked? I've never seen any evidence that he had it lifted. Have either of you been shown any paper work showing that the restraining order was rescinded?" When both of them shake their head no, Natalie continues. "Then how do we know that he had it rescinded like he said he did. If the restraining order is still in place, then John can't come around because then he would risk losing Liam forever. Its not like John to stay away from his son. He loves Liam and I believe he's a good Dad. There has to be some reason he has not even tried to see his son. And the restraining order is the only reason I can think of."
"How do you intend to find out if the restraining order is still in effect or not?" Jessica asks.
"I'm going to get Uncle Bo and Nora help me with that. But I have to get out of here first and I need the two of you to help me do that."
"Natalie, I'm not going to do anything to endanger you or the baby." Vicki states empathically.
"I'm not asking you to, Mom. I wouldn't do anything to hurt the baby. But if the baby is ok then I am going to try to fix my life and there is nothing anyone can do to stop me."
"She's right, Mom." Jessica says when her Mother starts to protest. "She has to do this. Not just for herself and Liam, but for the new baby as well."
Sighing, Vicki gives in. "Ok, what can we do to help?"
"Oh, Mom, Thank you." Natalie gushes, reaching out to hug Vicki. Releasing her Mother, Natalie starts to lay out her plans. "Ok, first of all we need to get in touch with Vivian. I want her to examine me to make sure the baby is ok before we do anything. Then I need to talk to Uncle Bo and Nora. If the restraining order is still in place, then I'm going to need their help to get it lifted. After that will come the hard part of getting me out of this house without Dad, Nurse Gretchin, or the guards stopping me. But we can deal with that later. For now its enough to know that we are actually working on this. Thank you again, Mom, for helping me. You too Jess. "
"Honey, you know we would do anything for you. But we can't do anything tonight, so why don't you get some sleep and we can start on this first thing in the morning. We love you, Natalie." After kissing Natalie on the cheek, Vicki starts out the door.
Jessica also kisses her sister on the cheek before starting to follow her Mother out the door. Reaching the door, she turns again to look at her sister. "Natalie what are you going to do when you do leave here?"
"I'm going to find John and figure out how we went wrong so fast. I owe it to my children to find that out and to try to fix it."