Author: Miranda Douglass
Email: [email protected]
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters or the basic premise behind the show.
Rating: PG-13
Blame (Part Two)
Max didn’t hear Isabel gasp or Maria start to cry. He didn’t hear Michael murmuring words of comfort to Maria as he led her to a chair a few feet away from the Parker's.
Max just stared at a chair. Everything in his peripheral
vision blurred out, mixing with the jumble of voices and hospital
noise buzzing around his head. His world was reduced to that
stiff, green cushion. It was too bright for the room, it blocked
everything out. Everything except Liz. But he
couldn’t get a clear focus on her either. His thoughts were
all mixed up.
Someone touched Liz. I should have been there. That chair looks uncomfortable. Was she hurt? Someone must have spilled coffee on it once. Why wasn’t I with her? Why was she alone? How?
“How?” He blurted out. He tore his eyes from the cushion and fixed them on her mother. She just bowed her head and looked into her coffee cup.
“How?” He repeated, looking at her father.
The other three looked up at Max’s harsh tone. Michael nodded to Isabel and she sat next to Maria, holding the other girl’s cold hands between her own, as Michael approached Max and laid one hand on his shoulder. Max ignored him.
Mr. Parker sighed. “We don’t know … exactly. She must have left the house. We never heard her. She was found in Grant Park. According to the police, a late-night jogger heard someone scream in the park. He kept going; but then when he got home it bothered him so he called the police and reported it. When they found Lizzy … she was unconscious.”
“How is she?” Maria asked, her voice small.
Mr. Parker looked toward Maria. “We’re still waiting to hear.”
Michael led Max to a chair next to Isabel. She looked at him and whispered. “Did anyone call Alex?”
Michael shook his head. “No. Maria just wanted to let Max know and get down here.”
Isabel nodded and walked off to search for a phone.
Jim Valenti walked into the waiting room and stepped up to Liz’s parents. “Jeff, Nancy.” He nodded at them. “I wanted you to know how sorry I am about what’s happened to Liz.”
“Thank you, Jim.” Mr. Parker nodded in acknowledgement.
“We’re done searching the crime scene. I’m afraid there wasn’t anything there to point us to who did it. I’m going to have to talk to Liz as soon aspossible.”
“I understand.”
The sheriff looked at the three teens slumped in the nearby chairs. “You kids wouldn’t have any idea what happened tonight, would you?”
“If we did we would have told you by now.” Michael glared at the older man. “We’re here because … well, we just want to make sure she’s okay.”
“Mr. and Mrs. Parker?” The doctor strode into the room and stopped in front of them. Mr. Parker rose and reached for his wife’s hand. She raised her head, her face pale and haggard, and slowly rose to stand next to her husband. “I want to apprise you of your daughter’s condition. Liz is awake and coherent,” he shot a look at the sheriff who nodded in response.
“She has multiple contusions, particularly around the arms and neck. Her right arm is severely sprained and she does have a mild concussion. I don’t think it’s anything serious, but I’d like to keep her here the rest of the night to keep an eye on it.”
“Can we see her now?” Liz’s mother pleaded.
“Nancy,” the sheriff spoke, “I’m sorry, but I need to speak with her first, before anyone else can see her.”
A nurse cleared her throat. “Doctor?”
Doctor Connor excused himself and stepped away with the nurse, standing a few feet in front of Max, Maria, Isabel and Michael. “Doctor,” the nurse murmured. “Ms. Parker is asking if she can take a shower yet.”
“Not until after the sheriff has talked to her. He’ll need to take photographic evidence. Her family wants to see her yet though, so we’ll have to get her cleaned up as soon as the sheriff is done with her.”
Alex burst into the room and headed straight for Isabel. He
pulled her into an embrace, stroking her
hair once before dropping to his knees in front of Maria. He
brushed the latest tears from her face and hugged her gently.
“She’ll be okay,” he whispered. “She has all
of us. She’ll be okay.” He pulled back and looked at
each of them. “Has there been any news?”
Max pushed himself out of the chair as Michael and Isabel filled Alex in on Liz’s condition. He wandered over to the water fountain and took a deep drink, hoping no one would notice him. He straightened and leaned against the wall, trying to look lost in thought.
Valenti and the doctor were talking two feet away from him. He knew they weren’t telling Liz’s parents everything, but he didn’t know how much more he could take himself. Liz was hurt, even though the doctor tried to make it sound as though it weren’t serious.
They hadn’t let her see her own parents yet, hadn’t let her scrub the dirty handprints off her body and now she was going to have to face Valenti and tell him what that scum had done to her.
“What else can you tell me, doc? Was she actually…”
The doctor took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Raped? Yes, there is clear evidence of penetration and we have taken a semen sample. I’ll let you know the results as soon as we get them back from the lab. That in itself could be a problem, though. I hope you can find some other evidence as to who did it or that the girl can give you a good description.”
“Why? What’s the problem?”
“The amount of semen found suggests there was more than one assailant. Probably two.”
“Shit!” Valenti rubbed his eyes. “What else?”
“Not much. I plan to give her the morning after pill to prevent a pregnancy. We’ll run a preliminary STD scan in the morning. I’ll also talk to her about remaining abstinent for the next 6 months until we can run an additional HIV test on her. She claims she isn’t sexually active, but I noticed there are three boys and only two girls out in the waiting room.”
“Yeah, one of them is her boyfriend – or was. I’m not sure of their present status. They haven’t been dating that long though, so she’s probably telling you the truth. Is there a nurse in there with her? I’d like to get these pictures out of the way and see if she can tell me anything.” The sheriff’s voice drifted down the hall as he walked to where Liz was waiting.
Max slid down the wall and sat on the floor, his head dropped to his knees. He felt a gentle touch on his shoulder and looked up. “I called Mom and Dad and told them where we are. It looks like we’re going to be here for a while yet and I didn’t want them to wake up and find us gone.”
Max nodded mutely.
“Here,” Isabel held out a soda to him. “Oh, and a gift from Alex.” She slipped a bottle of Tabasco sauce from behind her back and set it on the floor. She stared down at her brother for a moment, then sighed as she settled herself on the floor beside him. “What did they say? And don’t tell me you weren’t listening in because I know you better than that.”
Max stared at the can of soda gripped tightly between his hands. “They were talking about pregnancy, AIDS tests…”
“AIDS?” Maria’s voice shook.
Isabel and Max looked up to see Alex and Michael standing there, too. They all sat on the floor, facing Max, chairs forgotten for the moment.
“Anything else they’re keeping from us?” Alex eyed Max.
“Yeah, one more thing. The doctor says there was more than one.”
“More than one?” Isabel looked puzzled, then realization hit. “You mean, more than one…” She couldn’t bring herself to say the word.
Max nodded, still staring at his hands. “It sounds like there were two guys.”
Michael carefully removed his hand from Maria’s grasp and slid away from the others. He stood and walked to the hallway leading to the examination rooms. He casually leaned against the wall and looked down the hall. His head swiveled back to the waiting room and his eyes instantly connected with Mrs. Parker’s. Her mouth turned up a notch and she nodded to him. He gave her a brief nod, then turned and started down the hall, listening for Valenti’s voice.
“Does anyone know why Liz was in the park to begin with?” Alex looked from one to another.
Maria cleared her voice. “She hasn’t been sleeping well since –,” she caught herself, her eyes darting around the floor. “She hasn’t been sleeping well for the last few weeks. She told me that sometimes she goes for walks late at night … to try and clear her head.”
Max nodded. “In other words, she hasn’t slept well since I broke up with her. She’s been going for walks to clear her head because I screwed up her life. And not only did I screw up her life, but the lives of everyone around her. Everyone’s been afraid to talk to each other, to be friends with each other, because I said I needed to take a step back. In other words,” he repeated quietly, “it’s my fault.”
“Max, this is not your fault,” Isabel insisted.
“Listen to her, Max,” Alex spoke quietly. “The only people at fault here are the bastards who raped her.”
“Well I may as well have held her down for them,” Max’s voice was hot with anger as he pushed himself to his feet. “She wouldn’t have been in that park if it wasn’t for ME.”
“NO!” Maria scrambled to her feet. She grabbed Max by the collar and shoved him against the wall. “I am not letting you get away with this. I don’t know what it is with you, Max Evans. Every time things start to get a little intense between you and Liz, you back off, you tell her it isn’t safe for you to be together. You keep playing these little head games with her, telling her there can’t be anything between you, but always watching her, looking for her.
"You practically tell her you love her, kiss her even, then back off saying you’re unbalanced, or whatever. Well, you listen to me, buddy. No More!” Maria poked her finger into his chest for emphasis, then got into his face as she continued her tirade. “What happened to her is not your fault. You did not tell Liz to go into that park alone. She did that herself and she is going to be blaming herself for it. It’s up to us to convince her that she wasn’t at fault either.
"She is going to need you, Max, all of you, not just the little piece you’re willing to give her once in awhile. So you are going to quit feeling sorry for yourself and you are going to be there for Liz. You are going to comfort her and be strong for her. If you can’t, then get out of this hospital now and stay the hell away from my friend – for good!”
The room was silent except for Maria’s breathing, the sobs catching in her throat as she fought against the tears. Michael had come back near the end of her venting. He had stood there quietly, not willing to stop what so obviously needed to be said.
But now, as Max stared at a ceiling tile on the other side of the room, refusing to look at anyone, Michael stepped forward and turned Maria toward him, folding his arms around her as she buried her face in his chest.
Michael locked eyes with Alex and jerked his head toward the chairs. He led Maria over and gently pushed her into a chair. Alex took Isabel’s hand and followed.
Michael stood absently stroking Maria’s hair as he faced Alex and Isabel. “Liz told Valenti there were two of them. She said they were wearing Artesia school jackets. One showed a graduation year of ’99, she didn’t get a good look at the other one.”
“There was a basketball game against Artesia tonight –or last night, I guess,” Isabel said.
Alex nodded. “So we have a couple of losers from Artesia, who have both probably graduated already and are so pathetic they’re still wearing their letter jackets and going to high school basketball games.”
“And they’re drunk,” Michael added.
“Even better. They won’t see the crowbar swinging at their heads until it’s too late. So, what’s the plan?” Alex bounced up and down on the balls of his feet, his jaw tense.
Michael shrugged. “We go out looking for them. We find them. We…” he caught Isabel’s glare and glanced down into Maria’s eyes. “…we haul their asses to jail and let the proper authorities take care of them."