Chapter Forty

 “Your x-rays look fine,” the PA said when he returned.  “No fracture or dislocation in the shoulder, no foreign bodies or bony injury in your hand.  I’ll stitch you up and I think you’ll be all set, unless the nurse talked you into the head scan.”

 “My head feels a lot better already, that’d be pretty atypical for a bleed, right?”

 “That is correct...” he said, seeming surprised that Jay would know that.  “Glad to hear it, then.”  Rose assisted him as he stitched up Jay’s head, then fingers.  “Okay, sir.  I’ll write up discharge instructions.”  He looked at me.  “Make sure he reads the head injury sheet and watch for any of the symptoms, alright?  You folks have a good night.”

 “Thank you,” we said.

 “Alright, let’s say bye to Beth and go tell Madison I’m fine.”

 He led me to radiology, which looked so deserted with most of the lights off and no one there but Beth.  She looked up from a magazine she was reading at the sound of our approach.  “Hey!  How’d you make out?”

 “I lived,” Jay said.  “We’re gonna get going.”

 “You owe me a hug when you’re not so bloody.  Did you get a work note, or are you still on tomorrow?”

 “Didn’t come up, I guess he thinks I can work.”

 “And you have no idea if you actually broke any ribs?  Jay, if you did you shouldn’t be pushing stretchers or anything like that.”

 “If they still hurt tomorrow, maybe I’ll get them checked out.  I just didn’t feel like getting up, to be honest.”  Jay laughed.  “Thanks for doing everything with the portable.  By the way, if anyone asks why I had x-rays done, just tell them I fell down some stairs, alright?  I don’t want this to be the center of everyone’s gossip for the next month.”

 “No problem.  Rest up, buddy.  If you need the day tomorrow, let me know.  I’m only on four shifts this week.”

 Jay considered for a moment.  “Want to just take it then?  I could use a day off.  Even though I’m going to have to pay this whole bill...”

 “I’ll take it, enjoy yourself.”

 “Thanks.  I guess we’re out, then.”

 “Wait,” Beth said hesitantly.

 “What’s up?”

 “Jay, tell me about the guy that ran away.”

 “I don’t think he was your type.”

 “I’m being serious.”

 “What about him, then?  He was a dirtbag who tried to stab me in the gut.”

 “What made him run off?”

 “A bat to the face.”  Jay tried to laugh as he said it, but sounded angry at the recollection.

 Beth paled a bit.  “You...  Did that?”

 “I did what?  What the hell is the matter with you?  Are you going to be afraid of me now, or something?”

 She shook her head and drew a breath.  She looked around, and logged into the computer she was sitting at.  “I just got a feeling, when you mentioned a guy running away.  We got him in the ER a couple hours ago, bleeding from the mouth like crazy.  Jay, you hurt him.  I mean, really hurt him.  He’s in surgery now.  It’s like, the most violent thing I’ve ever seen, I just can’t picture you doing this to someone.”

 “What,” Jay said flatly.  I could sense he was afraid to look.

 “Not a word of this to anyone,” Beth said to me.  “I shouldn’t be showing you this at all, but I can’t stop looking at it myself.”

 An image I didn’t understand at all popped up on the screen, and Jay said, “Oh, they ran him through CT, eh?”

 “Yeah, I was going to x-ray him at first but they ended up telling me not to bother.  He was too agitated, he was uncooperative...  They had to restrain him just for a thirty second scan.  X-ray wouldn’t have gotten all of this, anyway.  Look...  Starting from the bottom, you broke four of his teeth.”  The image changed as she worked the mouse wheel.  “You cracked his right maxilla, and pretty much shattered the left.  Look at his sinuses!” she continued, explaining to me a bit as she went.  “See this black spot over here?  That’s a sinus on the right side.  Full of air, like it should be.  The left one here?  Full of blood.  What’s left of it...  They couldn’t tell if it involved the ethmoid or sphenoid bones because he started struggling just enough to create motion artifact.”

 What she’d said about the sinuses was all I could comprehend, thinking back to Jay explaining how air was black when we’d first met.  Oh, how much we’ve been through since then.  I grabbed onto Jay’s arm.

 “How hard did you hit him, Jay?” Beth asked.

 “As hard as I f*****g could,” he mumbled.  “He was trying to kill me, Beth.  Unless he figured he’d stick me once and let me deal with it, and maybe live.”

 “I’m sorry...  Don’t misunderstand me, please?  I’m not blaming you.  I’m just...  Shocked, okay?  I could never have imagined you in a fight.  I still can’t, really.”

 Jay nodded and I rubbed his back.  I for one couldn’t help being happy that he’d done it.  “He deserved it, Jay.  Believe me,” I said.

 Jay’s shoulders slumped forward.  “Why did you show me this?”

 Beth looked down.  “I just...  It was fascinating to me in some way, I guess.  I’m sorry.  I know you have enough to think about it as it is.”

 “No I’m sorry, don’t feel bad.  You know what, I’m glad you showed me.”  He gave a sigh that he tried to make into a laugh, but failed.  He looked at me and said, “Well this is like the lesson I got from the brick breaking, times a hundred.”

 I took his chin so he looked into my eyes.  “Jay, believe me.  He had it coming,” I said, my eyes pouring out unspoken truths that even if he did not know, he could at least sense.

 Beth closed the computer program.  “You guys better get going.  Tell Madison I said hello, alright?”

 “I will,” I said.  “Come on Jay, let’s get you home.”

----

 “Jay...  Can we talk about something you said earlier?” I asked when we were in my van, driving back.

 “What was that?”

 “You...  Asked what was the point of living.  You didn’t really mean that, did you?”

 Jay looked out the window for awhile, then simply said, “Can we talk about that one tomorrow?  I have to sleep on it.”

 “No, I need to know.  Now.  Do you care about yourself so little?”

 “It’s not as simple as that, and it was just what I called it at the time.  A thought that crossed my mind.  Listen, it’s something I need to sort out for myself before I go talking about it.  But for now, it was just a thought, nothing more.”  But you acted on it!  You dared Earl to kill you!  “One out of what felt like hundreds that were going through my mind.  Don’t attach any importance to it, alright?”

 “Can I ask you about another one then?”

 “Ask.”

 “You told Earl to stay away from your family...”

 “Hmm.  Yeah, it just came out like that...  Too much?”

 “Well, no...  I wanted to ask if you really meant it because, I hope you did.”

 “Why?”

 “What do you mean, why?  Because I love you!  Madison and I both!  How can you sound so surprised?”

 “Because I fucked up,” he said simply.  I didn’t say anything, so he went on.  “I screwed up bad, Laura.  It hit me on the walk home.  What if he does come after me and kill me, and kills you too, or something happens to Madison?  What if he kills me and gets away with it, or hides it long enough to come after you two and...  Whatever?  I feel like I just lit a fuse on a bomb that could kill any of us, or all of us.”

 “You didn’t screw up, Jay.  Or maybe you did.  I mean, I don’t think Madison and I are in any more danger than we were when he was just coming around.  You, on the other hand...  Jay, why did you dare him to kill you?”

 “You think he will?”

 “I don’t know...  One night he was drunk and in a bragging sort of mood.  He told me to search for a name on the internet, and it would say the guy fell off a bridge and died.  Earl said he didn’t fall, so much as got pushed.  But he could have been just running his mouth.  It’s the sort of thing he thinks impresses women, I’m sure.  I never felt like checking, and I don’t remember the name now.”

 He sighed.  “Well, I’m really relieved to hear you don’t think he’ll hurt you two.”

 “I still want to know if you meant it...”  He looked at me, thinking I was pressing him to explain his question about the point of living.  I touched his leg.  “I mean what you said about us.”

 He relaxed, and I saw a slight smile.  “Well, it came from somewhere...  I wasn’t in the state of mind to be making things up.  Now I feel kind of weird saying it but yeah...  I’ve come to see you two as my family.  I’ve never felt so accepted anywhere in my life.”  He looked at me.  “That doesn’t freak you out at all?”

 “No.  Like I said, I hoped you meant it.  I know it’s only been a few months Jay, but when you fell into our lives you fit like a missing puzzle piece.  And it’s not like we’ve been dating a few months, we’ve been living together.  You get to know someone very quickly, that way.  We’ve each seen each other at our highs and lows, and we still love each other, right?”

 “I have to ask, Laura.  Oh, I’ll ask you later.”  We were home.

----

 “Is he okay?” Anne asked as I walked through the door.  Mariah started scratching at Madison’s door instantly, and came bounding down the stairs to meet us.

 “He’s fine,” I said, smiling.  “He just needed stitches.”  When I looked down at Mariah, I noticed the blood stains were gone from the floor.  “Oh, you cleaned my carpet!  Thank you, you didn’t have to do that.”

 “Mommy?” Madison called as Anne started to tell me to forget about it.

 “Come on down, girls,” Anne called.  “Oh,” she added when she saw Jay’s clothes.

 “I’m going to change quick,” he said as he slid past us, Mariah trailing after him as if begging an explanation.

 “He’s okay, right?” Julianne asked as Jay darted around the corner.

 “He’s fine, he’s just swapping clothes,” I said.  “Thank you two for coming over.”

 “Mommy?  Is Jay going to bed?” Madison asked.

 “No sweetie, he’ll be right out.”

 Anne leaned in to me.  “Could we hang out for a few minutes?  I’d like Julianne to see he’s alright, she was awfully worried.”

 I heard Jay go into the bathroom and start the shower.  “It’s going to be more than a few,” I said with a laugh.  “It’s fine, though.”  I sat in the armchair, so tired that I could only be relieved that she’d cleaned it as well.

 “Do you mind if I ask um...  Which set of stairs he fell down?” Anne asked.

 I sighed.  At least come up with something more credible then, Jay.  I didn’t want to insult her intelligence, especially after she’d helped me on a moment’s notice.  “The one named Earl, and three of his drunk friends.”

 Julianne looked at her mom uneasily.  Anne said, “That’s terrible!  Have you gone to the police?  Tell me you’re not letting them get away with that!”

 “No police...  Jay’s insistent on that.  It could have turned out worse.”  I repressed a shudder at the recollection of the men’s eyes on us.  Then I thought back to looking at the one’s scan, the blood-filled sinus the only thing I had even remotely understood.  “And believe me, I wouldn’t say they ‘got away’ with it.”

 “And what does that mean?”

 I knew he wouldn’t want me to get into much detail.  “He’s tougher than he looks,” I said in a tone that didn’t invite further questioning, and turned to my daughter.  “Maddie, did you have fun with Julianne?”  Madison nodded.  “Well, what did you do?”

 “I talked about what happened.”  She saw the look that flashed across my face.  “Was I not supposed to?”

 Can’t blame her, you’ll need to talk about it too.  “It’s alright.  I think he’d like to forget about it now though, don’t you?”  I saw the scheming look in Anne’s eye already.  “So, what did you tell Julianne?” I asked, wanting to know what Anne would inevitably hear.

 “That they wanted to party here and Jay wouldn’t let them, so they got mad.”

 “Anything else?”

 Julianne finished for her.  “She said Jay got mad when the troll wanted to hear Maddie talk?  What does that mean?”

 “I call her dad ‘the troll’ sometimes, and we don’t want her talking to him,” I said, grateful that Jay had been able to run with that earlier.  “We want her to have nothing at all to do with him, actually.”  I sensed Anne was seeing through my attempt at a poker-face.  “Earl had mentioned wanting some measure of custody.”

 “What’s that?” Madison asked.

 “He wants you to go to his house on the weekends,” I explained.

 “No!” Madison yelled.

 “It’s not going to happen, sweetie, don’t worry.  Come here.”  She slid into my lap.  I held her and steered the conversation toward smaller talk until Jay returned, looking far better.

 “Jay!” Madison said, bounding off of my lap and into a hug.

 “Hey, kid.  Hope you weren’t worried about me.  Check it out, I’m fine.  See?”

 She looked at the sutures on his fingers.  “What’s that?”

 “Stitches.  Got some more up here.”  He knelt and let her look closely at his forehead.  He did it so openly and calmly, and I realized it was so Madison would know it was no big deal.

 “Does it hurt?” she whispered.

 “It did, but not anymore.”  Madison leaned in a bit and kissed his head.  “Aww.  Thanks, Madison.”

 “Do you feel better, Julianne?” Anne asked.

 “Yes, sorry,” she said, blushing.

 “Sorry?” Jay asked.

 “She was worried, I wanted her to see that you were okay for herself,” Anne explained.

 “Oh...  Well, being concerned about someone isn’t anything to be sorry for.  It makes you a nice person.  I’m touched.”

 “Alright, let’s get out of their hair,” Anne told her daughter.

 “Have a good night, thanks again.  So much,” I said, getting the door for them.

 “Good night,” they returned.

Reviews

[Sarah]

The conversation in the car was interesting, although I wasn't too fond of Jay ignoring all of Laura's questions. Frustrating because I want to know the answers too. If he really was suicidal there for a moment. It seems pretty downplayed, but I am curious if it was a legitimate threat.

When he said he wanted to ask Laura something, but he changed his mind, I thought he was going to ask her something crazy like if she wanted to marry him. But then again, I doubt it, because that wasn't the right place to do it. If he did, it would be far more exciting! So, I am still curious as to what he was going to ask her. Maybe about going to the police or something regarding Madison. Adoption? Possibilities are endless.

I kept getting confused about if Anne or Julianne was the mother or the daughter. Not really so important, but it was just something out of curiosity that I wanted to know.

Now, all I'm wondering is now what. Will they meet Earl again? I'm sure of it, but what will actually happen. Cops definitely need to get involved and I'm still confused as to why Jay doesn't want them involved.

[Sira YR]

I'm glad Jay feels better. :) Thanks for posting some more of the chapters. I really appreciate it and I can't wait to see what happens next. I hope Earl goes to jail for the rest of his pathetic life.