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11.) A Broken Angel
Jason and Sonny stood vigil outside the hospital room door as Dr. Drake was checking on Elizabeth who seemed with every passing moment to be deteriorating before their very eyes. She was moaning and jittering. She hadn't been able to speak and her eyes hadn't opened. Jason was observing through the window. The X-ray tech left 15 minutes earlier with the portable x-ray. Jason heard the wheels coming up the hallway and turned to look. The nurses were wheeling an unusual machine into the room that he'd never seen before. Another Doctor approached as Dr. Drake met her at the door. "Julie, thank goodness you were still here. I need you to assist me in hooking up the hemodialysis machine we have to rewarm her blood, or we're going to lose her. The heating blankets are just not effective enough, and because she she's shivering I can't figure out if it's simply the hypothermia or something else," Dr. Drake said.
"Right," Dr. Julie Stevenson said she put on a pair of gloves and got to work.
Dr. Drake saw Jason and Sonny waiting outside the door so he approached them, "She's hypothermic. It's my understanding that she was pulled out of the river. We have to warm her up. She's not responding right now the way that we'd hoped with the warming blanket so we're going to try and warm her blood. She may even need a transfusion. We don't know if she has any internal injuries or not. We're waiting to get the x-rays back."
"We understand, we'll try to stay out of the way. We just want her to be taken care of," Sonny said, as he looked at the tiny crumpled figure moaning and jittering on the bed.
"I'm confused. Wasn't that what her husband was supposed to be doing this entire time? Do you realize how loved she was when she was working at U of R Children's Hospital. I can't tell you how many of my colleagues were in love with her or how badly they wanted to marry that woman in there. I just can't understand how she ended up this way. Do you mind telling me?" Dr. Drake asked Jason pointedly.
"We were married under false pretenses. Until yesterday, we'd hadn't seen Elizabeth in the last three years. She disappeared and only turned up yesterday to sign our divorce papers. We also would like to know why this was done to her," Jason replied.
"Dr. Drake, I need a moment of your time," a man in green scrubs came up to him.
"That's the radiologist, I'll be right back." Dr. Drake said as he walked with the other Doctor down the hall.
"Jason? Sonny? What are you two doing here?" Mac asked as he walked up the hall.
"We were here when she was brought in. I'm just checking on my wife," Jason said with his arms crossed.
"I don't suppose you'd mind telling me where you were last night?" Mac asked Jason directly.
"Not without my attorney," Jason answered stonewalling.
"What about you Sonny? Where were you?" Mac asked.
"You heard his answer and mine is the same," Sonny answered arms crossed with one hand up supporting his face.
"Do I have to have my officers take you down to the station?" Mac asked looking back and forth at both men.
Jason observed the older man that was standing just behind Mac. He was African American, refined, and seemed highly intelligent. He wasn't really into all the posturing that Mac was doing. Mac knew that Jason and Sonny played on the other side of the law, but this was not something that they did, so why bother wasting time? As for the other man, Jason had never seen him before, but so far he hadn't taken his eyes off of Elizabeth. He was wearing a trench coat and a suit. This guy was definitely a detective or a Fed. He wasn't local that was for sure.
"Has she regained consciousness?" The older man asked as he shook his head at Elizabeth's state.
"Not really, she's been moaning and shaking. The doctors are starting to warm her blood with that hemodialysis machine over there," Jason answered nodding his head at the machine while still scrutinizing the mysterious new man.
"I need to speak with her doctor when he gets a moment," The man stated.
Suddenly footsteps could be heard, "All of you come with me," Dr. Drake demanded as he led them to a small room across the hall.
"Was it necessary for all of us to come?" Sonny asked displeased that the police were there.
"There's no new broken bones," Dr. Drake said as he held up the X-ray to the light board for all of them to see. "She has a sprained ankle and many contusions on her legs, but thankfully nothing is currently broken. If you look at these areas here," pointing to the x-ray of Elizabeth's ribs along her front and back, "and here she's sustained broken ribs in the past. I want to know who hurt her," Drake said. "You said she's been away for three years. How do I know you didn't do this?"
"I've been accused of a lot of things but never this. I've never hurt a woman. At least not physically. Elizabeth disappeared three years ago. She signed divorce papers yesterday, early afternoon," Jason said. At that moment, Diane and Justus entered the room.
"Diane, my attorney was present during the signing of our papers."
Mac saw Diane enter the room and turned towards her, "Is that true, did you see Elizabeth yesterday? Is it as Jason maintains?"
"Yes, I was present during the signing of the papers. After she left, I saw her again as I was walking through the park. I was going to cut through the park to deliver the papers to the courthouse on behalf of my client when I saw Elizabeth talking to Reginald Jennings the Butler for the Quartermaine's. Then she left. Reginald went on his way and I went back to my office."
"This woman has been heavily abused," Dr. Drake stated. He noticed the man next to Mac, "I recognize you. You're that author. The one that's a detective too, Alec Winters. What are you doing here?"
"I'm here because five days ago my niece, Dr. Lainey Winters went missing and I have reason to believe that Elizabeth was taken by the same individual," Alec replied.
"I know Lainey, she's a wonderful woman and a great collegue. You really think Elizabeth was taken to the same place that Lainey may be?" Dr. Drake asked.
"It seems likely. The person who abducted Lainey likes women with talent or ability. They have to be highly intelligent. Does Elizabeth fit the bill?"
"The information that I just found out about Elizabeth suggests she's quite smart. She got into Med-School," Jason informed them.
"That's true. We'd just celebrated her acceptance shortly before she started dating you."
"Yes, that doesn't mean that she has any notable talent. Lainey is an Opera Singer. Kirsten Mills plays the guitar. Melissa Stanley is a dancer. Mary Joe Capelli plays the cello. All the women have a unique talent outside of their day jobs," Alec stated.
Thinking on it for a moment, Patrick piped up, "Elizabeth is great at art. She can draw and paint exceptionally well. She painted the murals at the U of R Children's Hospital."
Diane pulled out something from her briefcase, "Well that may be true. Elizabeth had a full ride at the University of Rochester's School of Nursing. Two of the scholarships were awarded through the arts. She really is quite gifted."
"Like I said intelligent, independent, innocent and the obvious- beautiful," Alec stated matter-of-factly.
Jason shook his head, "Are all the others the same?"
"Yes, they're all modern day ingénues. They're not naïve but they're innocent, wholesome young women. All-American good girls, so to speak."
"Just so you know, I'm going to place some officers around here to guard the prisoner. Also, she's still under arrest, so we'll be cuffing her," Mac stated.
"Like hell you are," said Justus, "Did you even bother to Mirandize her before when you locked her up? She's a witness, she's not a co-conspirator with Ric Lansing. You couldn't protect her before when you locked her up without just cause."
"I have to agree. As Elizabeth's doctor I can't allow you to cuff her. She's exhibiting classic symptoms of PTSD, and cuffing her to a bed will exacerbate her problems. Right now you may be ruining your best witness against the person who kidnapped her from PCPD lockup," Dr. Drake stated.
"Fine. I'm leaving a few officers here though. When she wakes up, I need to be informed," Mac stated as he left the room.
"Yeah, they were really effective the last time someone tried to take Elizabeth," Sonny said sarcastically as he exited behind Mac.
Jason followed not saying anything. He went back to observe Elizabeth.
Alec stopped Dr. Drake before he left the room, "I'm not going with Mac Scorpio. I was wondering if I could take a look at Elizabeth. As a professional courtesy one doctor to another? Seeing her up close may help me understand the how's and why's. This is personal for me."
Dr. Drake nodded his head, "I don't mind as long as you don't upset her, but I'm not the only one you have to convince. You'll have to convince her husband, Jason Morgan."
Alec nodded in understanding and followed Dr. Drake to Elizabeth's room. He stopped in front of her door, to regard her before speaking to Jason, "Mr. Morgan, I was wondering if I may have a word with you?"
"That depends. Am I going to need an attorney?" Jason asked arms crossed as he continued to stare at Elizabeth. He'd never felt so sick for the role he'd played in something.
"I'm here as an uncle, who happens to be a criminal psychologist and a detective, but this isn't my jurisdiction and I'm not interested in you or Mr. Corinthos. There may be something that I can gleam from examining her. I promise to be gentle with her. Dr. Drake has given me his okay, but I need you to be alright with me examining her."
"I'm okay with that, but I'm going with you. I don't want her to more upset than she already is," Jason stated.
"I can respect that," Alec stated, "And I appreciate this."
"I don't really know Lainey, but these disappearances need to stop. So I'll cooperate for now," Jason stated as they both walked into Elizabeth's room.
Alec took off his trench coat and placed it on a nearby chair. He put on a pair of gloves. Dr. Drake stepped out because the lab called. He walked over to Elizabeth and looked at her eyes. They were dilated and the pupils were nonreactive when Alec shined the light pen in her dark blue eyes. She did try to move her head and shrink away. She fidgeted and Alec let her know that she was safe. He looked at her arms that had contusions. He noticed that she had an injury on her right shoulder that had been sutured. He also noted her lower neck had a burn mark, consistent with a taser or stun gun. "This bruise on her forehead and this cut look about a week old. She had a run in with someone or something prior to her kidnapping."
"Elizabeth has had some issues that we're just finding out about, and before you ask, I didn't do that to her," Jason stated defensively.
Alec shook his head, "I didn't think that you had based on the timeline. I was just noting it in general. He continued to examine her right arm. "It appears that she was administered something to her right brachialis, obviously an amateur that was supposed to be administered at armpit level. Hmmm," Alec stated perplexed, "This girl is a fighter."
"You'll brook no argument from me," Dr. Drake stated, "The problem is that her vitals are declining and we don't have a reason as to why. Her labs came back and nothing was detected. I was wrong with pegging this as a simple PTSD. Something is effecting her nervous system, and I'm not sure what it is."
Alec picked up Elizabeth's file and looked at both men, Jason and Dr. Drake both nodded, and Alec started reading. He took a seat in a nearby chair and started reading her chart. Patrick went to do rounds and Jason continued his vigil outside with Sonny.
"Excuse me, but what are you two doing out here? My room is down the hall. Who's in there?" Carly asked almost incensed.
"Elizabeth," Jason answered simply.
Carly rolled her eyes and sneered, "That doesn't answer my question. You've all left me, the victim, here for that thief."