When Kat Came Back

Chapter 42

Patrick and Carrie sat in the waiting room in the ICU with the officer. Patrick asked the officer what would happen if the unidentified teen turned out to be Ashlynn. The officer explained their options.

"She's going to need counselling if she was, uh, assaulted."

"That's the least of our concerns," Patrick said. "She has a therapist at home that she trusts."

The officer nodded.

A nurse came into the room looking for Patrick.

"Our Jenny Doe is back if you'd like to come see her."

Patrick, Carrie and the officer got up and followed the nurse. They were taken to a room at the end of the hall. In the room was a single bed, a slight form laying unconscious. The lights were dim, in case the girl woke up. They didn't want the lights to startle her.

She seemed to be breathing fine with just a tube running under her nose. She had a black eye and a couple of bruises and scrapes on her cheeks. There was some dried blood and other things in her hair.

"We'll wash her hair later," the nurse said. "She just got up here about five minutes ago."

Patrick was afraid to approach the figure in the bed in case it was Ashlynn. But he had to know.

Quietly, so as not to disturb the form on the bed, Patrick approached the railing and looked down on the small girl laying supine on the bed.

He stifled a sob.

"Is she your sister?" The officer asked.

His hand over his mouth, tears falling from his eyes Patrick nodded. The officer took the nurse aside and explained the situation. She looked at Patrick with sympathy and left the room with the officer and Carrie to get information on Ashlynn, now that their Jenny Doe had a name.

Meanwhile, Patrick pulled a chair beside Ashlynn's bed, took her hand and cried, kissing her hand.

He hadn't been able to protect her. Again. He'd known something was off with her, but he didn't think she'd leave the hotel by herself. He should have insisted she talk to him. He should have sat down and talked. He should have been watching more closely. He should have listened.

Patrick cried silently. Carrie came back into Ashlynn's room and Patrick wiped his eyes on his sleeve.

"I'm going to go back to the hotel, okay? I've got some work to do," Carrie said.

"Please don't tell anyone what happened. First I'm sure Ashlynn won't want people to know," Patrick said.

"I won't. What do you want to do about the Fallon show tomorrow?"

"I don't know. I'm sure Ashlynn won't be up to going. I don't know if I want to but I don't want to cancel. Can you contact them and tell them Ash won't be there and I'm not 100% sure yet. Just tell them she," Patrick frowned. What should he have Carrie say?

"Just tell them she's sick. Something that would justify her not being there but not so serious they think she's dying or something."

"I got it, Patrick. I've handled this type of thing before. Well, not this, but you get it."

Patrick nodded. Carrie patted his shoulder, squeezed Ashlynn's arm gently, and left. Patrick picked up Ashlynn's hand again and began crying again.

At some point, Patrick fell asleep. He was woken up in the early hours of the morning by a heavy hand on his shoulder, which startled him awake.

"Andy!" He said quietly. Patrick got up and the two men hugged.

"What happened?" Andy asked, pulling another chair up to Ashlynn's bedside. I

"I don't really know. She hasn't woken up yet, as far as I know. All I know is she left the hotel around two thirty yesterday and wasn't back at four like I'd asked. She told me she was going to the gift shop and maybe the gym. But she left the hotel and just... disappeared. Somewhere around 14th Street she wound up in an alleyway. A Good Samaritan called 911 when she apparently crawled out of the alley," Patrick's eyes filled with tears and his voice dropped in volume. "They think she was raped."

Andy's face contorted in a mixture of sadness and anger. His hands curled into fists and he looked down at Ashlynn's bruised face. His features softened and tears sprang to his eyes as well. Ever since finding out Ashlynn was Patrick's sister, he'd felt protective of her. To be honest, from the moment he'd met her, before it had been confirmed, he'd felt protective of her. When she'd been hit by a car in the fall, he'd rushed to Chicago. When Patrick had called him this afternoon and said Ashlynn had been hurt again, he came running. He felt like he had to be there with her. She wasn't his little sister, but he felt attached to her like she was.

"It's my fault," Patrick whispered. It was so quiet Andy wasn't sure he'd heard Patrick.

"What was that?" Andy asked.

"It's my fault," Patrick said a little louder, but still mostly whispering.

"How? It can't have been."

"I knew something was off with her this afternoon. She was unhappy about something. But I didn't push it, because she's been really good about discussing what bothers her. She insisted she was fine. I should have listened to my gut. But I didn't. And she left, ran into the motherfucker who did this to her and now she's here. If I'd just made her talk to me. If I'd insisted that I knew she was upset about something. If I'd just made her talk to me."

"Patrick, how do you think that really would have gone? Ashlynn doesn't open up easily, you've said it yourself. If you'd pushed her, she would have ran anyway. And maybe she would have encountered worse."

"Worse than being raped in a strange city?!" Patrick whisper yelled. "Andy, my baby sister has been through hell and back. And I let her run right back out into a whole new hellish experience."

Andy knew he couldn't convince Patrick otherwise at this point and therefore didn't say anything. He put his hand on his friend's shoulder, then dragged his chair around the bed and sat on Ashlynn's other side, taking her hand and watching her sleep.

He watched as she frowned ever so slightly. Was she in pain? Having a nightmare? Remembering what happened?

Neither man sitting beside the bruised girl in the bed slept well the rest of the night.