In the morning Dan was woke up to a male nurse checking his vitals. Dan looked at the guy and decided that he looked like a linebacker.
"You play football?" He asked.
"All four years of high school."
"Me to." Dan gently tried to pull his arms up, but found that they were still restrained.
The male nurse left the room without another word. Dan tried to make himself fall back asleep but couldn't. Ten minutes later his main doctor appeared.
"How are you feeling today?" The doctor asked shining a light in Dan's eye.
"Great." Dan said, seriously.
"Any headache?" The doctor asked.
"Nope."
"Nauseous?"
"Nope."
"All right. You're concussion went away, and I don't see any signs of a brain injury. At noon I'm releasing you to the psychiatric ward." The doctor said this as a test to see how Dan would react.
"57 hours left right?" Dan smiled, in understanding. The doctor made note that Dan had been keeping up with time, a good sign.
"That's right. I can't let you stay here if you're healthy enough to clear."
"I understand." Dan wasn't a fan of the idea of spending the night in a psychiatric ward, because when he thought of them he thought of his mom and then he thought of his childhood and then his dad and it went on and on and on. But he wanted to just get out of the hospital so he didn't reveal any of this. He was afraid if he did they'd never let him go
The doctor smiled and undid the restraint on his left hand and then did the restraint on his right. Dan brought his arms to his upper body and rubbed his wrists enjoying the use of them again. "Ooh just in time for breakfast." Dan said, feeling really hungry.
"A nurse will be here with breakfast shortly." The doctor said studying Dan's arm.
Dan's looked down at his arm. "Uh what will happen with my family? Will they be able to have a funeral or something?" Dan's mind became swamped with memories of Roseanne and their kids. He became aware of how much he missed her and just how much he wanted to be with her or to be touched by her. But he tried to convince himself to make it through this situation so he could be with his kids
The doctor could see the unhappiness in Dan and how much he was hurting. He saw tears in Dan's eyes. "Once an autopsy is performed, you're wife's body can be released to either you or someone else for a funeral or memorial service." He said, feeling that it was best to tell Dan the truth.
Dan shook his head, trying to fight off tears again. The doctor changed the subject.
"Is you're son about fourteen with black hair?" the doctor asked, remembering D.J. sleeping on the couch in the waiting room.
"Yeah, why?"
"He slept in the waiting room all night."
"What? Can I see him please?" Dan's mood changed to anger.
The doctor went out of the room and to the waiting room where D.J. was still asleep on the couch. He gently shook D.J. "Excuse me, son. You're father wants to see you." D.J. woke up and stared at the doctor until he remembered where he was and why he was there and then went into his dad's room.
The guard stepped inside the room just long enough for the doctor to catch up.
"Dad!" D.J. found himself hugging his dad again, and Dan was happy to be able to hug him back this time.
"Listen D.J. I have to stay in the hospital until tomorrow and I want you to know I'm okay. I feel fine but this doctor wants me to stay one more night in case there is….something wrong with my head…" Dan struggled to find the right words and realized he just used an expression for crazy on accident.
"Dad I know why you can't leave the hospital. I heard some nurses talking about it…" DJ tried to look his dad in the face but he couldn't.
Dan felt his voice cracking but spoke anyway. "I love you DJ and I promise I will be out of this hospital by Friday. My evaluation thing is up by tomorrow so I should be home tomorrow. And I want you to know that I have to stay because I woke up here and wasn't thinking clearly and just lost control. I shouldn't have acted like that." Dan lost it and started crying.
"I miss mom…" DJ cried too and the two held onto each other.
"I do too, pal, but we just got remember that she'll always live on our memories."
"You think Jerry will remember mom?" DJ asked worried about his baby brother.
"I hope so." Dan cried even harder, remembering how he was raised basically by one parent.
"Dad do you remember when you hurt your head at the construction site and I was afraid to leave you?"
"Yeah son…"
"You told me you wouldn't die for a very long time."
"I remember." Dan took the opportunity to make a joke. "Remember after that you wanted to know if Darlene would die?"
"Yeah, then you told me good night." D.J managed to laugh and so did Dan. Then walked in Chuck holding a box with a ribbon on it.
"Is it a bad time?" Chuck asked.
"No its not. Hey D.J can you call the house please and ask whoever answers to pack me a bag with clothes?" D.J. shook his head yes and left the room.
"Hey Dan I am so sorry."
"Thank you Chuck. What's with the box?" Dan struggled to seem happy. The jokes he made with D.J were wearing off.
"Oh it's a present." Dan's doctor who had been in the corner of the room stepped forward.
"I do believe the doc gets to open this for me. You know there's the whole risk of me cutting myself…" Dan joked again finding a revival of small temporary happiness but the doctor took the box and peeked inside while biting his tongue to keep from laughing. The doctor decided that Dan was sad about his wife and having to stay in the hospital but he was doing a good job of coping.
The doctor handed the box to Dan and Dan opened it, and pulled out a small teddy bear that was wearing a leather jacket with the word HARLEY printed on it in small letters and a Chicago Cubs hat. Attached to the bears paw were five cards forming a strait.
"Anne Marie saw this and thought of you." Chuck said a little embarrassed.
"A Poker Playing and Harley Driving Cubby. Yep that's me." Dan held the bear and then placed it on the table next to his bed.
The two men fell into an uncomfortable silence until Chuck was able to put what he wanted to say into words.
"Listen Dan if there is anything you need or want I'm here for you man."
"I know, Chuck and I appreciate it." Dan and Chuck shook hands. Then D.J. appeared and Chuck decided it was time for him to leave.
"I'm sorry Dan; I got to get to work…" Suddenly Chuck felt bad for saying that since normally Dan would be going to work with him.
"Yeah that prison won't drywall itself" Dan said and then added "Hey will Mark be there?"
"Uh, I don't know. He hasn't called in yet."
"Okay. Bye Chuck." Chuck left the room, and D.J. came in and sat on the bed with his dad and they watched TV.
At the Conner house hold Darlene woke up, and for a split second forgot how she ended up in her old room in the basement. She felt like crap when she remembered. She got out of bed and made her way up stairs and to the kitchen.
She found her aunt Jackie at the kitchen table spoon feeding Jerry applesauce.
"Can you believe he's on his third jar?" Jackie asked.
"He is his father's son." Darlene said looking in the fridge for something to eat.
The phone rang and Darlene answered it. "Hello?"
"Hi Darlene." Said David on the other side.
"Oh David. Why aren't you at work?" Darlene asked.
"I asked for a few days off so I could drive up there with you."
"You did? You don't have too."
"I know, but I want to be with you and I sort of…."
"Sort of what David?"
"Sort of think of your mom and dad as my parents…"
Darlene went quiet and David became worried he did something wrong.
"Is that okay with you?" David asked softly, so he didn't use a tone that would start a fight.
"Yeah it is. It's just when you say it like that it really feels…real." Darlene's mind spun around. She needed to tell him about her pregnancy but decided to wait to tell him in person.
"Hey David, I'm sorry but I need to get off in case Dad calls."
"I understand. I love you Darlene, I'll be there by two."
"Love you too, Bye."
Darlene hung up the phone and then turned around to Jackie.
"Jackie I need to talk to you about something."
Jackie put the small jar of apple sauce down and turned to face Darlene.
"Is it about your mom?"
Darlene looked down at the table. It was really hard for her to talk about her feelings suddenly.
"I'm pregnant." Darlene said, watching Jackie's expression go from depressed to in shock to amazement.
"That's great Darlene. Congratulations!" Jackie said this even though she didn't think Darlene felt it was a good thing. "Are you okay?"
Darlene went quiet again. "I was happy when I found out. So happy I wanted to tell David then come here and tell mom and dad."
"Why didn't you tell David?" Jackie asked gently.
"I wanted to tell mom first, because I wasn't sure of the right way to tell David. I was afraid if I just went ahead and told David that he wouldn't be able to hide his fear of my parents from my parents and then my mom would figure it out and it'd all go down from there. I mean I knew that this would be hard for my dad to take, especially after what happened when Becky and Mark ran off and got married."
"And now you think you won't be able to tell your dad?" Jackie asked, seeing where this was going.
"Yeah, I mean I was sort of looking forward to having this talk with my mom. With mom here she would be able help dad get through this. I want me and David to get married if we're going to have a baby." Darlene admitted.
"Darlene, you don't have to get married just because you're pregnant."
"I know, but I think of every option we'd have if we got married. And it just makes sense. David could cover the baby, on his insurance and we could move into married student housing and I could take on a part time job at home as a copyrighter. "
Jackie listened everything Darlene said made sense. She had everything figured out.
"Well, to me it sounds like you're mature enough to make the right decision, as long as you make it with David. But remember your dad loves you and right now he's sitting in that hospital thinking he is responsible for your mom's death."
"How do you think we should tell him?" Darlene asked, suddenly missing her mom more than ever.
"Tell him by yourself, and probably as soon as possible. That way all those drugs they're feeding him will help him…emotionally." Jackie said it like she was joking despite being serious. Dan freaked out when Becky ran away from home and married Mark. In fact it took him almost a month before he talked to Becky again. If Darlene was about to the man he was going to be a grandfather, then telling him when he was on happy pills would be the best way.
