Marcus and Shari arrived at the hospital five minutes after the paramedics had brought in Mikkel. Both Marcus and Shari looked like they had aged ten years with all the stress and the worry over the last month
"How is he?" asked Shari anxiously. Both of them looked worried as did Lisa and Quinn who had come in with them.
"Not good," said Stephen. "The doctors are working on him now. He's alive and that's about the only good news at the moment."
"Details Stephen," ordered Marcus brusquely.
Stephen sighed and ran a hand through his already disheveled hair. "He has second to third degree burns on his arms and legs and bad smoke inhalation. He has bruises on his neck where it looks like his brother tried to strangle him. He has several bumps on the back of the head where it looks as if he was knocked unconscious at least twice within a forty-eight hour period. And he has rope burns on his wrist—I would guess where Seth tied him to a post and left him to die and of course, there are older rope burns as well. What worries me most is that he hasn't regained consciousness since we pulled him out of the fire. The rest is repairable but if he doesn't regain consciousness within the next 48 hours his chances of waking up at all go down."
"When can we see him?" asked Marcus and Shari together.
"As soon as the doctors get done examining him," said Stephen. Just as Stephen finished speaking a silver-haired man approached them. "Which ones of you are the parents of the boy Mikkel?"
"We are," said Marcus as he and Shari stepped forward.
"Well . . ." the doctor said pointedly looking at Stephen; Lisa; and. Quinn.
"Don't worry doctor they're family. They'll find out the prognosis later from us so you might as well tell us all now," said Shari.
"Well . . ." the doctor began explaining what was wrong with Mikkel. "He's out of danger physically but what worries me the most is that he hasn't regained consciousness."
"Stephen was just telling us that," said Marcus. "When can we see him?"
"Now if you like, but only two at a time and only for brief intervals."
"We'll wait here for you," said Quinn.
Marcus nodded and he and Shari exited the room together Marcus's arm around her shoulders.
~~~The Kidnapping~~~
Both Shari and Marcus sat by Mikkel's bed looking at the boy they had come to love as a son. He looked terrible. He had bandages all the way up his arms and on his legs as well. He had a tube down his throat to feed him nutrients and his neck looked like one giant bruise that was starting to turn yellow at the edges. Shari ran a hand gently through his hair and tried to pray and hope that he would wake up and be okay. Mikkel's room was filled with flowers. There were at least a dozen vases all over the room. It looked more like a flower shop then a hospital room. Every one of the O'Malleys had sent him some, Beth and Josh Hanford as well. Just by the flowers you could tell the boy was loved and that they were all praying for him to wake up and be okay.
"Why did this happen; Marcus? We took him in and loved him then suddenly five years later he's snatched from us," Shari asked her husband.
"He's not dead Shari and we should be grateful for that. But I really don't know—maybe God has a purpose for him—a purpose so big we can't even begin to guess at it," Marcus said squeezing Shari's hand in order to comfort her.
"But how can he fulfill that purpose if he doesn't ever wake up?" Shari asked.
"He'll be okay. I know this has been a hard month for you—for both of us, but he'll be fine—I just sense it," Marcus replied comfortingly.
Shari seemed reassured at those words and they got up to leave just as the nurse came to say that visiting hours were over for the day. Shari kissed Mikkel's forehead and turned to go fighting off tears. Marcus ran a hand along the boy's cheek then he too kissed his forehead. He put his arm around Shari's shoulder, he could feel she was shaking and trying not to cry in front of the nurse. They left the room slowly and headed back to inform the others of Mikkel's condition.
~~~The Kidnapping~~~
The next day, both Shari and Marcus were back at the hospital early. They both had managed a few hours of sleep although not as much as they really needed to catch up on. "How's he doing Tom?" asked Shari. Tom Peterson Marcus's brother-in-law had arrived late last night. He would have come weeks ago if Marcus hadn't insisted he stay put until he was needed.
Tom shook his head before he responded. "No worse then he was last night."
"But no better?" asked Marcus.
"He still hasn't woken up," said Tom. "If he doesn't wake up within the next thirty hours or so there is very little chance of him waking up at all. What is so frustrating is there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with him—internally I mean. We've done brain scans and everything seems to be normal. No swelling, in the back of the skull, no internal bleeding, nothing that would indicate that there was something wrong."
"In other words he shouldn't still be unconscious," said Marcus.
"Not that we can find. It could be something to small for us to detect, unless you know what you're looking for . . . but other then that . . . I just don't know," Tom said his worry and despair there in his tone.
"Can we see him?" asked Shari.
"I don't see why not," said Tom.
~~~The Kidnapping~~~
A few minutes later, both Shari and Marcus sat by Mikkel's bed watching him for any sign of movement. Not even a twitch of a finger indicated he was alive. The only indication that he was alive at all was the monitors that monitored heart rate and the boy's shallow breathing. "Come on buddy, you have to wake up. You have a whole family who is worried about you," said Marcus softly, reaching out and grabbing one of Mikkel's hands in his own. The boy's fingers were lax and not even a twitch of a muscle gave indication of Marcus's soft spoken words. Marcus continued to talk softly telling him how much he was missed and how much his dog Shaggy missed him. The dog had been named after Mikkel's favorite show 'Scooby Doo where are you?' "Besides what about that trip to Disney World we promised you? You wouldn't want to miss that."
Still no response and Marcus was beginning to feel desperate because no matter what he had told Shari last night he was beginning to fear Mikkel was never going to wake up, that he was just going to waste away here in the hospital, never to smile, never to laugh, never to play with his friends and never to know how much his family loved him.
But what made it worse was the fact that Mikkel wasn't a Christian and he wouldn't be going to heaven where they would see him again someday. To Marcus that was not only sad it was a tragedy for it meant the boy they had taken into their hearts was dead forever. If only they had pushed him to become a Christian and not just tried to gently encourage him. Mikkel and him had talked on and off over the last few years about religion and Christianity, but Mikkel hadn't been convinced that there even was a God, much less one that cared enough to die for him.
Marcus was sure that Mikkel was considering all he heard, but after all he had gone through—the death; of his mother—the abandonment of his father—the violence of his older brother Marcus could understand his reluctance to consider God as real and not just a figment of overactive imaginations. Mikkel's question had been how could a caring God let such things happen if he did care as much as he said? Marcus knew that Mikkel would have to work out the problem in his own time so he didn't push to hard and just kept giving him gentle nudges in that direction. Shari had done the same.
Suddenly, Marcus's thoughts were interrupted as a slight movement came from the bed. Marcus looked up and watched for a few minutes then almost decided it had been his imagination when Mikkel moved again and groaned softly. Shari looked up as Mikkel groaned and both of them stood on their feet and moved closer to the bed. "Mikkel honey, open those big brown eyes of yours," said Shari softly. "Let us know you're alive."
There was no response for a minute then Mikkel's eyelids began to flutter rapidly as if trying to open his eyes but couldn't. Finally, his eyes opened into slits then all the way and he stared at Marcus and Shari for a moment as if he didn't recognize them. "Mom? Dad?" Mikkel finally whispered his voice sounding hoarse, but at least it was there. "Where am I?"
"You're in a hospital in Chicago," Marcus told him. "You were rescued from a burning building by Cole and Jack. We've been really worried about you. You've been unconscious for nearly twenty hours."
Mikkel seemed to absorb all the information then closed his eyes again. "How long was I held captive?" he finally whispered.
"A month," said Marcus. "We've had the police out looking for you all the other O'Malleys have been looking for you as well."
Mikkel opened his eyes again then said, "Mom, Dad I love you. You have no idea how much I wanted to tell you that after I was kidnapped. I was afraid I'd never see you again in order to tell you. Now all I want to do is sleep."
"I'll get the doctor and Tom," Marcus told Shari. "You stay here and keep him company." As Marcus turned away Shari saw a tear roll out of the corner of one eye and down his cheek.
~~~The Kidnapping~~~
Marcus was back within minutes with Tom and the doctor in tow. "Well young man," said the silver-haired doctor—Sanders by name. "You have been unconscious for quite a while. Your whole family has been extremely worried about you. You should be okay now, although you'll have to stay overnight for observation just in case, but you should be able to go home tomorrow."
Mikkel groaned and made a face his opinion of staying overnight clear.
The doctor and Tom smiled at him and Sanders left while Tom stayed and sat by Mikkel's bedside. "Marcus and Shari and all the other O'Malleys have been worried about you buddy. Me too, you gave us quite a scare." He squeezed Mikkel's hand and Mikkel lightly squeezed back. Tom got up to leave and said, "I'll see you tomorrow."
Mikkel closed his eyes and fell asleep within minutes.
~~~The Kidnapping~~~
Marcus picked him up from the hospital the next day, looking better then he had in a month. He had gotten a decent night's sleep and Mikkel was glad to see that he didn't look quite as wrung out as he had yesterday. Marcus signed the medical forms and they were on their way.
Mikkel was quiet all the way back to the hotel and stared out the window. Marcus glanced over his way several times, but Mikkel seemed unaware of his worried glances.
"You okay?" Marcus finally asked, breaking the silence.
Mikkel looked up and at his father's worried expression he sighed. "I'm fine, just thinking about what made Seth turn out like he did. Our mother was a gentle, loving soul. There's no way he could have gotten the way he did from her," Mikkel replied his voice still hoarse.
"And your father?" asked Marcus. "What was he like?"
"As far as I'm concerned you are my father. Maybe not by blood, but you're more my father then the one I got half my genes from."
"But what do you know about him?" asked Marcus, trying to sound calm and even and not show how much Mikkel's words had affected him.
"Not much," said Mikkel hoarsely. "Only what I've been told by my mother. Seth never mentioned him and the one time I tried to ask him he nearly killed me. All I know is that he was drunk all the time and when he got drunk he got violent. Eventually he started doing drugs and mom threw him out. She just couldn't take it anymore. First the drinking, then drugs? Everyone has their breaking point and that was hers."
"Could he have gotten his attitudes from your father?" asked Marcus.
"I suppose it's possible, but the way mom described him was as a sweet and gentle man, before he started drinking that is," Mikkel said coughing a little because of his very sore throat.
"Then it's possible he got the genes from another relative. Did you have an aunt or an uncle or a cousin who was like Seth?" Marcus asked next.
"Come to think of it, mom did mention an older brother. Apparently, he had a mean streak a mile wide," Mikkel suddenly remembered.
"Well there you go. Seth is probably just like your uncle," Marcus said,
"I suppose, but it still makes me sad to know, to think that Seth turned out like he did," Mikkel admitted.
"I know, but some people cannot or will not change from who they are. If they did they'd be far less criminals in the world and my job would be far less vital then it is," Marcus said soberly.
Mikkel was silent the rest of the way to the hotel pondering what Marcus had said. Marcus meanwhile, just let him think.
~~~The Kidnapping~~~
They went up the stairs of Dave's house where they were all staying and Marcus opened the door that was unlocked, but let Mikkel enter first, "Surprise!"
Mikkel stood there stunned for a second then entered the room the rest of the way when Marcus gave him a gentle shove.
"Welcome home Mikkel," said Lisa, coming over and giving her nephew a kiss on the cheek. Mikkel blushed. He had always admired Lisa and her grit—not to mention her beauty. All the others came over one by one and hugged him being careful of his burns.
"We're glad you're safe," said Rachel. "Everyone's been worried about you."
"So I keep hearing," said Mikkel. "It's nice to be wanted."
"You must be hungry," said Lisa. "Why not have something to eat? I know hospital food isn't the greatest."
"You're telling me. I was dying for a burger the whole time I was in the hospital—and French fries."
"You've lost weight," Shari, his mother observed.
"Yeah, well, I was lucky he fed me at all. If he hadn't wanted my help I'm sure he would have killed me. I know he was planning to once he got what he wanted," Mikkel revealed.
"And what did he want?" asked Dave, bringing him a cup of punch.
"He wanted me to help make him rich, but instead of getting a job and earning it he wanted me to help rob people. At first I refused, I knew he was going to kill me in the end anyway so what was the point?" said Mikkel.
"But you helped him," Quinn pointed out.
"I refused at first even when he threatened me with a slow painful death if I didn't help him. Then he threatened to kill Ryan, Rashel and Elisa if I didn't," said Mikkel. "Apparently, he had been watching the house for at least a couple of weeks and had seen them playing in the yard."
"Watching the house and I never even suspected?" Marcus muttered, disgusted with himself.
"He did WHAT?" asked Shari horrified, thinking of her children. "He threatened three little children just to get you to do what he wanted? That's horrible, how could anyone be as evil as to threaten little, innocent children?"
"It's a good thing he's not here," Jack muttered making a fist wanting to smash something. "If I'd known that at the time we pulled him out of the fire I would have left him there to be incinerated and wouldn't have felt the slightest bit guilty."
"And I would have broken more then his nose," Stephen said.
"Well, he's in prison so let's not worry about it," said Marcus, he sounded angry to, but he was controlling himself. "He won't be out for a long, long time at least thirty years and more than likely, it'll be forty. Just for the kidnapping he'll get at least fifteen to twenty. Then for the robberies at least five to ten years and for setting the fire another five to ten, depending of course on what judge he gets and whether the judge goes for the maximum penalty of not. And he'll get at least another five years for trying to kill Mikkel—maybe more and at least another couple for dodging his parole officer. So you see, he's not going to be out for a long, long, time. Now let's stop talking about what happened and just be glad Mikkel is back safe and sound. This is a party after all and we're supposed to be enjoying ourselves."
The others nodded and talk turned to other things and everybody began to relax. Seth was out of their lives—for good they hoped.
~~~The Kidnapping~~~
