Danny was awakened with a start. Where was he? He looked around at the tile walls and saw that he was in a bed. Where was Michelle? Oh God, Michelle, he remembered, she was hurt? He had to get to her.
He sat up and tried to get off the bed and onto the floor. The pain in his hip was blinding. It began at the base of his hip and traveled up through his hip to his side. He closed his eyes and clenched his teeth and begged God to just give him some time. He could torment him with the very demons of hell if he chose to later, but he prayed for the pain to subside long enough for him to see about Michelle and take care of her.
Fighting off the waves of nausea that usually accompanied these bouts of pain. Danny tried again to push his covers off and get off the bed, but he was stopped by a pair of strong hands.
"Oh no you don't Danny" Susan said. "You stay right where you are. Nice way to celebrate my birthday, showing up in the emergency room to see me, but the lunch was enough really" she teased. She knew he was going to insist on finding Michelle. It was her job to make sure he stayed put.
"Susan, oh thank God. Where is she? How is she? Please, Suz, you have to help me get to her" he pleaded.
Susan helped Danny to lay back down. She had just returnd from the lunch Danny had treated her to and had just gotten back to the floor when she heard the call about Michelle. She had come down to the waiting area to see about Danny when she had seen him fall into his sister's arms.
She had raced over there and his sister had practically thrown him off of her and into Susan's arms. She had called for a stretcher and had gotten him some medical attention. He had done some major damage to his hip and they were going to have to do the surgery now or risk him being confined to a wheelchair permanantly. Again it was her job to tell him this grim news and she knew how he was going to take it. He would not want to hear anything except how Michelle was doing.
"Danny, dear, you can't go. You really did it this time. Your hip is in terrible shape. Dr. Turner said he can't wait any longer and they are booking an operating room for tonight. They have Michelle in x-ray as we speak doing a cat scan. I will keep you posted Danny, I promise, but you have to have the operation now. Do you understand what I am telling you?" she said.
"The hell I will" Danny shouted. "They aren't touching me until I have seen Michelle and I know that she is alright. Come on Suz, you know damn well that they can't touch me without my consent and they don't get it until I see my wife" he said. "Please take me to her" he said and looked at her with the look he knew she couldn't resist. He had coerced her into doing many things when he was in the hospital by looking at her like that, everything from bringing him jello to reading the sports page to him.
"Danny, why are you doing this to me? You know the shape you are in. Why don't you just relax and let me see if I can find out anything for you. Please dont fight me on this" she said.
"Danny just kept looking at her, silently begging for her help. Against her better judgment, she decided to try to help him.
"Okay Danny, listen. I will go find out where she is. You can't go to the x-ray area but maybe if she is already out, I can sneak you in , but and I mean but, you wait right here until I come back. I mean it Danny. Promise me you will stay here" she said and he nodded his head.
"No tricks, no trying to get out of that bed on your own. Besides Danny, you are naked under that gown and if you fall, you will be giving someone a very interesting show, so do I make myself clear?" she said and headed towards the door. "I know I am going to get busted for this" he heard her say as she was leaving.
"Oh yeah Danny, by the way, your sister left right after we brought you back here but you have another visitor in the waiting room. It is that man that used to work for your mother, What did you say his name was? Deece something. Anyway, do you want me to give him any message?" she asked.
"Yeah, tell him thanks for everything and I will call him when this is over" and Susan walked through the door she had opened.
Danny lay back in bed. His hip was on fire. He didn't want a shot because that would make him sleepy and he wanted to find out about Michelle but he may not have any choice in the matter, as the pain was threatening to make him black out again.
Please God, Please, help me hang on-help me make sure Michelle is okay-and that was his final thought.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"Michelle, can you hear me honey?" Rick said and Michelle slowly opened her eyes and looked at her brother and his wife who were staring down at her with concerned looks.
Her head was hurting. Her ears were ringing. Where was she? There was a bandage on her nose and her mouth felt funny. The voices sounded like they were coming from a well. Who was talking to her? Abby and Rick??
She turned her head and saw Abby was crying. Why was she crying? "Michelle sweetie, hi" she said and Michelle tried to speak and found it difficult to move her mouth. She had no stregnth in her jaw muscles.
Panic swept over her and Abby put a reassuring hand on her arm and stroked it. Rick spoke next. "Michelle honey, do you know where you are?" he asked and she shook her head no.
"You are in the hospital honey. You were in a car accident. Do you remember anything?" he asked quietly.
MIchelle closed her eyes and tried to think. She remembered a red car. Something about a red car and ....Dietz?? Had she seen Dietz or had he been an apparition? She struggled to recall what had happend. Danny, she remembered she had to tell Danny something, what was it??
Nothing was coming just yet and Abby noticed her frustration. "It's okay sweetie. Don't try to remember everything all at once. Give it time, it will come. Just relax" she said.
MIchelle tried to talk and again couldn't move her mouth and only grunting sounds came out when she tried to form the words. She looked at Rick with question in her eyes.
"Relax, Michelle" he said. "You are going to be okay. You were very lucky. You hit your head on the steering wheel pretty hard and you have a minor concussion. You can't move your mouth because you jaws are wired shut. You knocked all of your teeth loose and the roots have to be stregnthened. Two of you teeth were knocked out, but thank goodness you didnt swallow them. They were found at the scene. Your nose is broken too but will heal pretty quickly. It looks like your debut at Cedars is going to be delayed by a few weeks' he said.
Michelle absorbed all of this information. She wasn't hurt badly, she was thankful for that. She was still struggling to piece together what had happened. She knew it had something to do with giving something to Danny. Had she bought him a present? Had he forgotten some papers at hom and she was bringing them to him? Maybe some legal papers.....papers. Some kind of papers. Come on Michelle, you can do this, she told herself.
Some kind of paper she was taking to Danny. She tried to think more, but her head was really hurting so she left it alone for now but she would remember what papers were so important that she was taking them to him, in due time. It would come, she thought as her eyes fluttered open and shut. She needed to rest. She could hear Abby and Rick talking in hushed tones that slowly become jumbled noises in her ears. She would think later. She thought as she went back into unconsiousness, her last coherent thought was, Where was Danny?
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Where was Dietz? Pilar was not happy. He was supposed to get that damn book and meet her back in this squalid hell hole he called home. His car had not been outside and she had broken in through the back door with a fingernail file. "You really should get better locks Dietz" she smiled to herself as she heard the lock click allowing her entry.
What was she going to do? She didnt want to wait here for him, but what choice did she have? Had he gone to run arreand safter getting the book? He was supposed to have gotten that book this morning, so it would be in his possession by now. Was it here? Had he left it behind? No harm in looking around, she supposed. She began her search.
As much as she loathed his bedroom, it seemed the most logical place to begin her task. She stepped into the hated room and went to the closet and opened it.
One suit hung up in the closet all by itself. There was a hanger next to it with two ties. She had seen that suit and those ties a lot when he had worked for them. She had often joke that it looked like he only owned one suit and two ties and damned if she hadnt been right.
She knawed on a perfectly, recently manacured fingernail, while she pondered where to look next. She ran her hand across the shelp that was over her head. Dust got all over her hands and she cursed. Her hand hit an object and she pulled it down to see what it was. It felt like a magazine of some sort. She pulled it off the shelf and examined it.
Playboy. Big shocker there. She doubed Dietz has anything like Forbes or GQ lying around. He hand was getting very dity so she stopped her search until she could wash her hands.
She walked into the bathroom and washed her hands. She opened his medicine cabinet to see what he had in there. Maybe she could stumble upon a little pick me up. There was no telling what Dietz had in his possession.
Let's see here. Aqua Velva. Good Lord, did they even make that stuff anymore. That was the disgusting smell that was on her clothes after she went home to shower. A razor that she doubted he ever used. That stubble on his face always left marks. A home barber clipper. She knew it. He gave himself haircuts. He didnt just use a weed wacker.
There was a pill bottle. What was in it? Vasotech? What the hell was that? She opened the bottle and examined the pills. Very common looking. She had seen a hundred other pills that looked similar to this. What did he take them for? They were probably viagra disguised as Vasotech. She laughed at the thought and then read the instuctions on the side of the bottle. Take twice each day for high blood pressure.
High blood pressure? Dietz had high blood pressure? No wonder since the kind of life he had led for so long. HMM, she thought. What would happen to dear Dietz if she swapped his Vasotech with something similar. Would he notice the switch or would he just guzzle the pills that he thought were helping with his blood pressure but actually weren't?
She smiled to herself. She knew the answer to that question. Why, the result would be death. Death from natural causes.