AN: Here we go, another little chapter!
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
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Daryl wasn't much of a detective and he certainly didn't consider himself as such, but he was determined to find out what he could…and it didn't take long to find out that one of the nurses was the nurse that was providing Carol with the books that she read, because the nurse was a friend of Alice's…one nurse at least recognized, maybe, that there was something inside this woman.
By his first break, Daryl had found the nurse…Melodye Hawkins…and she wasn't difficult to find. She, apparently, regularly worked in the various "activity" areas that they had in the hospital, and she could be found in a room that looked something like a children's play room, surrounded by crayons, art paper, and macaroni.
Daryl cleared his throat, checking the clock on the wall, and got the young blonde's attention.
"Alice told me you might have some information for me…" Daryl said.
The woman turned around from what she was doing and smiled at him, the bright, over dramatic smile that was common around the hospital.
"Alice told me you might want information," Melodye said. "I don't know how much I can help you…"
"But you willin' ta help what you can?" Daryl responded.
Melodye nodded.
"You give her books?" Daryl asked.
Melodye nodded again and Daryl watched as she crossed the room, going through a bag. She came up with a book and walked back toward Daryl. She offered him the book, but just as he reached to take it, she pulled it back, crossing her arms across her chest, the book protected by her arms.
She frowned at Daryl.
"The books that I give her…" Melodye said. "They're…my books…they're…not really good books."
Daryl made a face, but he could tell that there was something there…she needed some sort of reassurance from him.
"Listen…uh…I ain't no judge a' what people read," he said. "She likes them?"
Melodye nodded.
"They're nothing terrible," she said. "It's just that they're…well…they're not respectable books."
Daryl chuckled.
"OK…I ain't gonna tell no one noway…think we already in deep enough none of us wants the other ta go tattlin'," Daryl said.
Melodye smiled and held out her hand, offering him the book again that he took. He didn't even examine it, he just waited for an explanation.
"That's her favorite one," Melodye said. "She…asks to borrow it all the time. It has everything in it that she wants to read about…weddings…babies…her perfect little world."
Melodye tapped her finger on the book that he held.
"You give it to her…as a gift," Melodye said. "She makes a big distinction between the books, and between the magazines that she begs for her when she's doing collages…she makes a big difference between what she gets to "have" and what she gets to "keep". So you tell her that one is a gift from you to her…that she gets to keep it. You'll make her very, very happy."
Daryl nodded and turned the book over in his hand.
"Thanks," he said. "What else can you tell me 'bout her?"
Melodye shook her head.
"Nothing with too much fact, I'm afraid," she said.
"I'll take gossip an' bullshit…but I ain't got too much time, so be quick," Daryl said, casting a glance again toward the clock.
Melodye's eyes followed his to the clock and then she sighed.
"What I've heard is that she had a child…she was unwed and she gave the baby up," Melodye said. "Now some people said she never had a child and that she made the whole thing up…that it was a delusion or a hallucination or something. Other people said that her boyfriend never came for her after the child was born and that she asked for the child back."
Daryl shrugged.
"So if the kid was real, why didn't they just give it to her?" He asked.
Melodye shrugged.
"Supposedly, according to the ones that say there ever was a baby…it died. Complications with the delivery…poor care during pregnancy…I don't know why. They told her it was dead. That's what I hear from those that agree that there ever was a baby. The others, like I said, say it was all a delusion…it was all something she made up. They say that the boyfriend that she lost her mind over wasn't real either…didn't even exist," Melodye said.
Daryl chewed his lip, turning over the possibilities surrounding what he'd heard. Finally he nodded his understanding of what she was telling him.
"Fine," he responded. "That's what you hear, so what'cha know?"
Melodye shook her head.
"Like I said, not much," she said. "My position really lets me interact with the patients a good deal…but I don't handle treatment or anything like that. I follow orders…"
She broke off and raised her eyebrows at Daryl.
"At least, most of the time I follow orders," Melodye said. "But…I do agree with what you're saying and…I do think she's crazy, but she's not crazy like some of the others that are here."
"Maybe there are different levels of crazy," Daryl said.
Melodye nodded.
"There are definitely different levels of crazy," she agreed. "If you're serious about getting through to her…give her the book, give her a nice magazine…I don't know. Just be nice to her. She'll talk to anyone."
Daryl nodded his head and thanked the woman before he listened to whatever else she wanted to say and slipped out of the space to the locker room to leave the book until he had more of a plan of what to do to get in touch with Carol Ann McAlister.
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It took him two days to talk himself into doing anything at all…but finally Daryl decided that at least he could give Carol the book that he had in his locker. At least he could try to talk to her. Then, and only then, would he know if he was simply smitten by her beauty and had let that lead him into believing that she wasn't crazy, or if he really believed that she could come back from whatever had led her to even be in a place like Sunny Meadows.
Daryl found her in her room when he was on his lunch break. He'd scarfed down his food during one of his earlier short breaks just so he would have this break to do what he wanted.
And he hoped that what he was doing wasn't going to get him fired, but at least she was alone in the room, sitting on her bed, looking through piles of paper that he didn't snoop into from a small box she had on the floor beside her bed.
Daryl walked up and spoke to her, catching her attention. She turned her eyes up at him, focusing on him with the same intensity that she had the first time that he'd met her.
"I brought you some things," he said, pulling out the bag he'd carried with him from the locker room. He offered her the first of the items, a teddy bear that he'd picked up.
Carol looked at him before she took the bear.
"For me?" She asked, furrowing her brows.
Daryl smiled and nodded.
"Yeah…I didn't have any use for it…thought you might like to have it…for company?" Daryl responded. "Thought you might like to keep it? I brought you a couple more things too…if you want them…if you wanta keep 'em…"
He offered her the book and a small box of chocolates that he'd picked up when he'd stood in the drug store brewing over the bear.
She put the bear to the side and accepted both the book and the candy, looking no less perplexed than before. He supposed, though, that her confusion was a good sign. She didn't have any reason to expect gifts from him so any sane woman might question them…whereas he figured an insane woman might not.
But then, she might question gifts from anyone given the fact that there was apparently no one who brought this woman anything.
Daryl raised an eyebrow.
"Nurse Hawkins told me you might like to keep these things," he offered. "I wanted you to have them…if you wanted ta keep 'em…"
Carol smiled at the mention of Melodye's name.
"Melodye told you to give them to me?" She asked.
Daryl didn't know if this was the right thing to say or not, but he took a chance because of the smile and nodded.
"Yeah, she told me you might like to keep them…would you like to keep them?" Daryl asked.
Carol smiled and put the book aside. She opened up the small box of candy, four little pieces inside, and looked at it.
She laughed to herself.
"No one's ever given me sweets," Carol said. "Why are you?"
Daryl shrugged.
"I thought you might like ta get some," he said.
She smiled again and pushed the box toward him.
"Here…you can have one," she said.
Daryl pushed at the box.
"You can have them," Daryl said. "That's why they your chocolates…they for you to eat, an' only for you."
"The book is Melodye's," Carol said, putting the lid back on the box and putting it to the side. "She lets me borrow it. It's a very good book, but it's her book. It isn't yours…"
"This one…it is mine," Daryl said. "Melodye give it to me…an' I don't got any use for it…but I thought you might like to keep it."
Carol smiled at him. She swallowed, her throat bobbing.
"I would like that," she said. "Thank you…"
Daryl cleared his throat and nodded. He glanced at his watch, gauging how much time he had left in his break. It wasn't going to be enough time to do everything that he wanted to do…it wasn't going to be enough time to win her over and to have conversations with her. It wasn't going to be enough time to figure out if she was sane or not…and it wasn't going to be enough time to figure out how to get her out of Sunny Meadows, how to save her, if it was even possible at all.
But most things didn't happen in the span of a day, and Daryl was a fairly patient man when there was at least progress being made.
"I…uh…can't stay too long," Daryl said. "But…I was wonderin'…tomorrow when I'm on my lunch break, would you like ta take that walk? Around the grounds?"
Carol smiled at him, holding his gaze for a moment before she nodded gently.
"I'd like that," she said. "Very much…"
She shook her head at him.
"And…I don't know why you're being so nice to me…why you're giving me presents," Carol said, "but, thank you."
Daryl nodded enthusiastically, feeling a little nervous now that the beautiful woman was speaking to him. He hadn't expected her thanks to be something that he would appreciate as much as she probably appreciated anything that he'd brought her.
And he had to struggle to remind himself that he still didn't know if she was well.
"You're more than welcome," he said. "Tomorrow…we'll take that walk. Get a lil' sun…you can tell me about your book or somethin'…"
Carol smiled and agreed with him before he took his leave of her. She was talking to him…and that was a step in the right direction…or at least he hoped it was.