Chapter Twelve

Rudy was able to put Jaime's request off for several days by telling her she needed more time to recover first. The truth was, he had seen Michael....and Jaime simply wasn't ready. The young former doctor was still in a locked-down isolation room where he spent most of his day staring blankly at the walls. He hadn't seemed to notice when the door opened and his mentor walked quietly into the room.

"Hello, Michael," Rudy said in as neutral a voice as he could manage. There was no response. "I know you can hear me," Rudy persisted, "because they tell me you've been picking at your meals and fighting every time they sedate you. You are not catatonic." Still, the younger man was silent. "They did tell me you haven't spoken since you got here, but I have my own opinion about that."

Rudy walked over to stand between Michael and the wall that he apparently found so fascinating. "Your wife is still in the hospital. Your calculations were correct but you chose the wrong voltage, Michael. You fried her power packs. Are you listening?" He bent down until he was right in Michael's face. "Jaime nearly died. And it looks like you may have damaged the nerve connections, too, because she's still not able to move her legs. Does that make you happy? She can't walk!" Rudy had to take a few steps backward, fighting off the urge to punch the eerily quiet person in front of him.

"What you did....it's unforgivable. I hope you rot in here!" His words and his anger spent, Rudy knocked on the door so the guard could let him out. As the door was about to close behind him, four whispered words followed him out of the cell.

"Take...care...of her..."

- - -

Rudy didn't have the heart to tell Jaime about his visit to Maryland, and reasoned with himself that he wasn't really breaking his promise to keep her informed because nothing new had come out of it. Jaime was spending far too many of her waking moments trying to force her legs – or even her toes – to do something, but without success. Rudy tried not to let her see it, but he was growing very worried...and so were Jaime's friends. Two days after his trip to Maryland, Rudy had headed over to OSI Headquarters, meeting Oscar and Steve in Oscar's office where there was no risk that Jaime would overhear them.

"There's been no progress at all?" Oscar asked after Rudy had told them the basics.

"Well, her arm is much better," Rudy explained. "She's past normal strength and working her way up. But as for her legs...nothing. There's a good chance we're looking at damage to her biological nerve connections, caused by the trauma of the electrical shock."

"Is it permanent?" Steve asked.

"I don't know. If the connections were damaged, they're likely beyond repair, but if we're lucky new connections may form within the surrounding nerve tissue. I've got a top neurologist flying in tonight to see if he thinks we might be able to help the process along surgically. If not..."

"Then Jaime might not walk again," Steve concluded.

"It may be a very long time....if ever."

The three men stood in grim silence, considering the awful possibilities. "I heard from Jack Hansen today," Oscar announced. "They may not be able to charge Michael with a crime -"

Steve nearly put his fist through the desk. "How can they not charge him?"

"They can't determine if he's fit to stand trial – or even if he understands what he's done," Oscar explained.

"He's lucky I didn't....never mind," Rudy snapped. Suddenly, he had an idea. "Jaime's been asking me every day – multiple times a day – when she can see Michael. Maybe she should see him -"

"Absolutely not!" Steve protested.

"Under extremely controlled circumstances," Rudy finished. "Remind Michael not only of what he's done – but who he's done it to. It might be the fastest way to bring him to justice."

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