Chapter 4
It was the only way he might get to see the patient who so desperately needed him. ''Alright,'' Mark conceded, ''I'll tell you anything you need to know about what I did for Jaime. And obviously, that can go back several years, since I came here after she was a prisoner in that attic. She was as much a victim then as she is right now.''
''So you do admit you've victimized her?'' Oscar probed.
''No. Please don't twist my words around. You're wasting your time and mine by doing that since it doesn't work with me. What it does accomplish is to annoy the hell out of me. Instead,'' Mark suggested (trying to remain calm), ''let's go straight to what you really need to know and what should exonerate me - analyzing yesterday's 'incident', from start to finish.''
''I'm listening.''
''When I brought Jaime home from the weight room, she was doing fine - the best she's felt in a long time. But when she came into the kitchen at exactly the wrong time, she overheard Steve's name and then a gunshot - and she fainted. The stress was too much. When I helped her into bed, yes, I sedated her. And no, she didn't want it -''
''So you drugged her against her will,'' Oscar interjected.
''Yes...no!'' Mark argued (with himself as well as with Oscar). ''She said she didn't want it but medically and emotionally - which is my job to judge, by the way - she needed it! I felt she couldn't handle anymore stress. And God forbid, she could have even thrown a clot!''
''Wouldn't that be something for Michael or Rudy to decide?''
''They weren't there!''
Oscar shook his head. ''Did you consult with either one of them before you drugged her? No; I already know that you didn't,'' Oscar told him. ''And then you had the 'good sense' to bring her down to National when she could barely stand up!''
''That was at your request!''
''If she was in as bad a shape as you claim, you should've refused.''
''Dammit; I tried to! But you insisted and God knows your word is law!''
Jaime was still doing some powerful insisting of her own. With her stony silence as she gazed stubbornly at the wall, 'Elmira' was getting absolutely nowhere. When she did finally deign to actually speak to the one she considered an interloper, the situation only got worse.
''You're clearly miserable,'' Cohen noted. ''If you don't talk about it, you'll be choosing to stay as unhappy and frightened - yes, I know you're frightened - as you are right now.''
''Then...get...Mark!''
''You know that isn't possible. Doctor Conrad is -''
Jaime wasn't listening. ''And take me...to see...my husband. NOW.''
Privately, if it was her own choice to make, Irene would have honored that request - but she'd been overruled by probably the only person who could contradict even Jaime and Steve's doctors and get away with it...
''Why did you take that shot with the tranquilizer gun,'' Oscar thundered, ''when Steve was already in motion and you risked hitting Jaime? Another dose would have probably killed her!''
''And who put that gun in my hand in the first place?'' Mark fired back angrily. ''You had already overruled me when I wanted to keep Jaime at home and then you gave me that gun with the understanding - and the expectation that I would use it!''
Rudy woke from a good, solid night's sleep with his patients (his 'kids') still the only thing on his mind. How had things gone so wrong for them? For a few horrifying hours, both of their lives had hung in the balance without anything he could do for them. Everyone had wronged them - Mark, Oscar and even Michael. Michael should never have gone storming into that building (however carefully), when Steve had specifically asked to see all four of them. And Steve...how had the needle gone from Jaime's hands into his? From what Steve had transmitted (What did you people do to my wife? I can't talk to her when she's unconscious), Jaime had already been in a visibly rough state. Why would her own husband have taken the risk of wresting that needle away from her when the outcome was both foreseeable and devastating?
In truth, Rudy also blamed himself. He couldn't help it; by not stepping in, he'd allowed it all to happen...hadn't he?
Steve's own guilt was crushing him. Why wouldn't they let him see Jaime? Was it at her request? Maybe she didn't want to see him! The thought ate cruelly at him...and broke his heart. WHY had he dragged her into the middle of a firestorm - and WHY hadn't he made his own escape without trying to take her with him? The doctors could've helped her if he'd only left her behind. He wasn't even being given any details about her condition other than she was 'awake and talking' and would be released in about 24 hours. Would she come to see him then - or after the way he'd acted and what he'd caused to happen to her, what if Jaime never wanted to see him again?
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