Chapt. 29

As Matt drove to the hospital his hand began to throb and he looked at the steering wheel where it rested. Even in the dark he could see the bruises starting to form and he could tell it was swollen. "Shit," he muttered. Maybe it hadn't been Logan's jaw that he'd felt crack after all. He pulled into the parking lot and found a spot then jogged his way into the lobby and to the elevators. His mind was racing with thoughts of jail time for the beating he'd put on Claire's ex and he couldn't feel bad at all. No matter what happened, for him it was all worth it.

He quietly walked into Claire's room, hoping that there had been some change in her condition, but in his heart he knew that it hadn't. Her mom smiled weakly when she saw him and rose to meet him. She wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug and kissed his cheek.

"How is she," he asked, walking to the bedside.

"There's been no change. The doctors still can't figure out why she's in this coma that she seems to have fallen into." The older woman heaved a great sigh as though she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders. Her eyes landed on Matt's bruised and swollen hand and she gasped. "Matthew! What have you done to your hand? You need to have a doctor look at it."

He glanced down at the hand and shrugged it off. "Its fine, I just banged it up at work I guess." He tried not to notice the throbbing that had set into the bones. He lowered himself into the chair at the head of the bed and sighed. He really should let Claire's mom know what happened. If the cops came looking for him she'd find out anyway. It'd be better coming from him. "No, that's not entirely true. I ended up in a fight after work."

"I hope the other guy looks worse than that hand of yours."

"I hope so too, since I didn't get a good look at him before I left."

He felt Darcy watching him, almost as if she was waiting on more. Then she said, "Well, whatever he did, I'm sure it was something big if it caused you to fight."

Matt shook his head then rested it in his hands. "You could say that. Look, Darcy, I want to be honest with you because frankly I don't know if the cops will come looking for me or not. Logan showed up at the arena. I realized who it was and just started swinging on him. I didn't even know what I was doing I don't think. I just saw red and lost it."

Darcy sat silent and Matt thought that surely she was angry, or upset with him. Hell he would be too had it been anyone else. "Darcy, I know it wasn't the smartest thing I've ever done and for that I am sorry. But then I look at Claire and I see what he's done to her… and I just think that no matter what he gets it's not going to be enough." Matt signed and lowered his head to rest at Claire's bedside. "I'm not a violent person. Tonight it was like someone else and I was watching it from a distance."

Darcy reached out and rubbed her hand over Matt's back, watching him as the reality of the night set in, settling on his shoulders. She truly felt for him, more so because she understood where he was coming from than anything. She was fairly certain if she'd been given the opportunity to put a beating on Logan that she would have taken it too. His heart had been in the right place that was certain.

A knock sounded on the door and Matt's head jerked up knowing it was going to be the cops looking for him. The door eased opened quietly and two uniformed officers stepped in. Holding up a badge the shorter of the two spoke, "I'm Officer Daniels, this is my partner Officer Talent. We need to ask you all a few questions." He kept his voice low, a sign of respect to Claire's condition. That was nice gesture he thought and felt it would help the two in the room more be a bit more comfortable talking to him.

Matt sat where he was and kept his eyes focused on his best friend. "Officer let me save you some time. I did it. I was totally unprovoked, unless you can count this," he lifted his hand toward Claire on the bed, "as provocation."

The officer hung his head, knowing that if it was his family or friend in the hospital bed, with the injuries and outlook that this girl had, it would be provocation enough. He couldn't do his job based on feelings though, it had to be done based on the law. "Sir, no matter what I think or what I would have done in your shoes, I have to go by the law. Can you step outside and let us ask you some questions?"

"You can ask me right here. Claire's mom knows the story and Claire, well I really don't know what she hears, but if she can hear me I want her to know the truth."

The officer nodded as his partner stood silent in the corner. The questions came for half an hour and Matt answered them all honestly. When the officer had finished Matt said quietly, "Why wasn't he arrested when he did this to her?"

The second officer finally spoke, "Sir we can't discuss the details with anyone outside of the immediate family."

"Then tell me why you didn't arrest him. She's my daughter, so I guess it doesn't get any more immediate than that." Matt turned his head to smile at Darcy. In truth he'd forgotten that she'd been in the room.

The quiet officer had the good sense to look sheepish. "Ma'am we have been working on the case. We had all of the reports and files in order, but we were unable to find him until now. You can't arrest someone you can't find."

"So what in the hell do we pay you people for? To make your excuses on not being able to find someone, to sit and wonder how it's all going with no updates at all, is that it? Did you ever think to call in other jurisdictions?"

"Yes ma'am and we did that. We had counties all over Florida searching for him."

Matt spoke then, "So in all your reports you never figured out he lives in Louisiana and that maybe, just maybe Florida wasn't the best place to look?"

The two officers let it drop, there was no argument that they could offer. The officers stood quietly for a full minute before Matt stood and leaned down, placing a kiss on Claire's forehead. "I love you Claire, and you're going to pull through this, I know it. I'm sorry about tonight. Please don't hold it against me." He straightened and turned to the officers blinking back his tears. "So officers are you going to arrest me or are we going to talk all night long?"

The tall one who had conducted the interrogation earlier cleared his throat. "Mr. Maxwell has told us that he was not going to be pressing charges. We aren't sure why, but we have to respect his decision. However, we still have to take you in according to the law."

"Then lets go," Matt said with one last squeeze to Claire's hand.

"Matt, you let us know what's going on. If you need bail I will have it."

"Thank you Darcy."

The officer's waited until they were at the car to read the rights to Matt and he was grateful that they didn't cuff him and did their best to keep the humiliation level low. Tonight was bound to be a long night, Matt thought as the police cruiser headed toward the station.