Chapter Forty
The car to the hospital was tense. Abbi had no idea why she had to wake up and therefore was ridiculously cranky. Baby Jack seemed to share the sentiment, as he was whining pitifully in his seat. JC could have sworn he heard the sound of his wife’s sniffles, however, he wasn’t thinking about that right now. What had happened to his daughter?
When he pulled into the parking lot, he didn’t wait for his wife and children. Instead, he rushed into the emergency room entrance and hurried down to the nurse’s desk.
“I’m Josh Chasez… my daughter… I got a phone call… is she okay?”
The nurse checked the chart quickly and looked up at him. “Have a seat in the waiting room. Dr. Andrews will be with you shortly,” she said. JC slammed his hand down onto the nurse’s desk angrily.
“NO! I will not sit down! I want to know what’s going on with my daughter!” He shouted.
“Sir, I need you to go have a seat in the waiting room. Dr. Andrews will be with your shortly,” the nurse repeated once more, this time in a stern voice. He hit the desk again before stalking into the waiting room angrily.
It was several minutes before Jen came down the hall, toting Jack in one arm, while pulling on Abbi on the other. “Mommy! I want to go back home!” She whimpered. “I’m sleepy!” She whined.
“Abbi, I don’t need this right now,” she said. “You can sleep in the waiting room,” she reasoned, sighing.
“No mommy! I want to go home!”
“Would you just stop?” JC roared. “Just STOP! You can sleep in here!”
Everyone fell silent as Abbi’s eyes welled up with tears. Her father had never talked to her like that before. She walked over to her mother and wrapped her arms around her, hiding her tiny face against the older woman.
“I understand that you’re upset, but I’m warning you… you’d better stop this right now, or else you’re going to find yourself all alone buddy,” Jen said in a tone of warning. She hadn’t liked it one bit, but she’d taken the comment he’d thrown her way, but she could NOT stand for him to yell at their child. “Come on honey,” she cooed to Abbi, walking over to an empty seat. She shifted Jack in her arms so that she could make room for Abbi and then wrapped her free arm around her.
~*~
It was nearly twenty minutes before Dr. Andrews made his presence known. “Mr. Chasez?” He called, stepping into the waiting room. Within minutes, JC was on his feet.
“Where’s my Julie? Is she okay?” He asked.
“Yes sir. I apologize for keeping you waiting, but we had some tests we needed to run. If you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to where she’s resting.”
JC cast an apologetic glance in his wife’s direction, before following after the doctor. He walked through the doors to the emergency room, his heart pounding in his chest. “What happened?” He asked, his voice coming out as a choke whisper.
Dr. Andrews hesitated. He had been a doctor for many years. One would think he was an expert on delivering this sort of news to parents, but that was the farthest possible thing from the truth. “I am not 100% clear on the details, Mr. Chasez. I would suggest speaking to the police on this matter,” he said, knowing if he tried to give JC his account, it was possible that it would be somewhat skewed. He thought this man should know everything, not some distorted account.
“The police?”
“Yes sir. They were the ones who responded to the scene first. They spoke to the witnesses.”
From what the doctor had said, JC was expecting that his daughter had been involved in some type of an accident. However, when he stepped into the place where she was resting, he did a quick scan of her as he walked over to the bed, and found no visible cuts or bruises, with the exception of a black eye and a busted lip. She had escaped unharmed!
~*~
Julie felt someone watching her and immediately her heart started to pound in her chest. She remembered the party being broken up; she could hear the sound of the cop’s voice from downstairs. She remembered yelling and screaming for help, praying that someone would hear her and come help her. She remembered the feeling of his fist striking in her in the eye, and his hand stinging her cheek. She remembered…
No, she didn’t want to think of that now. She opened her eyes and they immediately filled with tears at the sight of her father. Oh God, was he going to be terribly ashamed of her? Was he going to hate her, think of her as worthless? He surely would. “Daddy,” she whispered, reaching for his hand, grasping it in hers.
At the sight of her tears, JC felt his heart breaking. He’d spoken to the cops just minutes ago, and had returned to her bedside. He couldn’t believe this had happened. He’d not protected his daughter as he always swore that he would. He felt worthless as a father.
“Hi baby,” he cooed gently, reaching up to brush a piece of hair from her face. “How are you feeling?” He asked, attempted to keep his voice light.
“I want to go home,” she whispered, her voice breaking as the tears spilled down her cheeks. “Please can I go home?”
“Not just yet sweetheart. But real soon, I promise,” he told her. They were having a rape counselor come in to talk to her, and had requested, though not required, Julie to stay long enough to talk to her, to relay her side of the story, so that the police could put out a warrant for this guy’s arrest.
‘No I want to go home now,” she cried. “Please take me home.” As she spoke, she was sitting up, holding the hospital gown close to her body. JC shook his head and reached out, easing her back into a lying position.
“You can’t go yet, honey. But as soon as they’re finished, we’re going home. I swear.”
“Daddy!” She pleaded, the tears now falling freely down her cheeks. “I want to go home,” she pleaded. “I’m sorry! I just want to go home,” she sobbed, her thin body shaking as she cried. If it was possible, JC’s heart broke even more for her. He moved and sat beside her on the bed, wrapping his arms around her.
“Shhh… shhh… everything’s going to be okay,” he cooed gently. “I promise. We’re going home soon and everything will be okay,” he promised, vowing silently that he’d never allow her to come to harm again.
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