Conrad hadn't even slept three hours when his phone rang.
"Hello... Yes..." He gruffed. After a moment of silence he shot up. "She what ... How long ... Why?" He demanded. After another pause he sighed. "I'm on my way."
He raced down the hospital hallway, pushing past patients and nurses until he reached her room.
"She's been locked in the bathroom for almost an hour," a middle aged doctor said.
"And you just now thought to call me?" Conrad growled. He pushed past the doctor and the red headed nurse and tapped on the bathroom door. "Vic, it's me. I'm here now. Open the door."
"No! You abandoned me! Again! And I told you I didn't want the stitches!"
"The stitches? What are you talking about?"
"That nurse said I had to have them. I DON'T WANT STITCHES!" She screamed, her voice both raw and shaky. It broke his heart, but he was suddenly understanding why Victoria had locked herself in the room.
"You tried to give her stitches?" He demanded, glaring at the nurse.
"She needs them. That cut on her forehead isn't healing right."
"She said she didn't want them. She blatantly refused."
"I thought after her pain medicine she would calm down enough to let me stitch her up." The nurse explained reasonably.
"So you tried to drug her and force treatment on her. Is that how you run this establishment?" He asked the doctor.
"In the midst of her struggle, she clocked me in the face! You're lucky I don't press charges!" The nurse fired back.
Conrad reached into his wallet, pulling out a credit card. In no time at all he was able to unlock the door. Victoria stood pressed against the wall, as far away from the door as she could get. Her eyes were huge and he knew it wasn't just about the stitches. Victoria needed to be in control and between the accident and the hospital stay, things were spiraling out of control for her. No wonder she was terrified. Her breaths were ragged and he knew her well enough to know that she was on the verge of hyperventilating.
"My dear, you've got to calm down. I'm here now. Nothing is going to happen to you."
"You left me!"
"I didn't know, baby. You've got to trust me."
She stared at him a moment, contemplating what he said. She slowly headed towards him, exhausted from her struggle. He put his arm around her, leading her out of the bathroom.
The moment her foot left the bathroom the red headed nurse injected her with a sedative. Victoria yelled out before glaring at Conrad.
"You promised..." She started but quickly became drowsy, her exhaustion only magnified by the sedative.
Conrad eased her onto the bed, where she curled up in the fetal position.
"What in the hell are you doing?"
"Hospital protocol gives us the right to sedate a violent patient. As I said before, your wife hit me."
"That's nothing compared to what I'm about to do to you." He turned to the doctor, "That new wing we discussed earlier, consider it scrapped. Maybe I'll open my own hospital, one where patients come first." He said, before grabbing his now unconscious wife. One arm instinctively wrapped around his neck while the other dangled limply in front of him.
Once in the car, he was able to really focus on how frail she really was. He couldn't help but wonder if she was always this frail or if the accident had brought it to the surface. He kicked himself for not paying adequate attention to her earlier. Maybe if he had focused on her instead of business all these years she wouldn't be unconscious and injured.