Chapter Four
She felt like the exam was another layer of the abuse she had suffered for way too long...Every time the doctor would have to touch her, she would close her eyes and blink back tears from the pain. She wished that Bo would have waited for her in the waiting room but for some reason he was refusing to leave her side. It's not like she could sneak out a window...she was in far too much pain for that.
"You're lucky to be alive," the doctor finally stated.
"What does that mean," Nora asked?
"It means that the bleeding in your brain could have been a lot worse. It could have been fractured. You also seem to have some severe bruising throughout your body but I don't have to tell you that it could have been worse. "
"So what's the prognosis," Bo asked?
"She needs to be admitted overnight...head and shoulders slightly raised on the pillow. If we can't get the blood to drain on it's own, we will have to surgically remove it. No arguments Nora. I don't want to see you end up here again."
"Don't worry...I won't...would you mind taking pictures...I have a feeling I'm going to need to document this."
"Finally something that sounds smart," the petite woman doctor stated. "I will be right back."
When she walked out of the room, Nora turned to face Bo. "Why didn't you tell me that your life was so bad," he asked her?
"You don't expect a serious answer to that do you? "
"You shouldn't have had to cover up so much...you shouldn't have had to deal with this at all. I'm sorry."
She said nothing as the doctor walked in. For a moment, he thought that Nora would ask him to leave but for some reason she didn't. He was heartbreakingly aware of all she had suffered when pictures were taken in silence. When the doctor left, he helped her back into her hospital gown.
"It will be alright Nora. First thing tomorrow, we will have a press conference. We'll get the Chicago police off your back. After that, you and I will talk to John. Everything else will keep for now."
"Thank you Bo...I know you know how hard this has been for me...you don't have to stay and watch over me...I'm fine."
"You're not fine Nora...you haven't been fine in a long time..."
She didn't say anything because she knew it was true. She had even begun to shiver when the light was turned off. She understood that she needed the darkness for her condition but she couldn't help but remember the things that had been done to her in the dark.
"You're okay Nora...it's not real," Bo said, as she winced from the nightmares that continued to plague her. She knew that intellectually but sometimes she truly could not tell the difference.
"Would you..." She paused mid sentence...realizing what she was about to ask him to do...she couldn't do that...she couldn't ever need him again. "Would you call John for me...please...I don't want him to worry."
"Consider it done...You just rest sweetheart. Give your brain time to heal. It will be much better if it heals on it's own."
She knew he was right so she gave him a grateful smile... and he walked closer to her and lifted her bruised hand in his and gently kissed it. "What that monster did to you is unforgivable...but you know what...it's okay...it's okay to need someone...no matter how strong you are. I'll be back. You're not getting rid of me that easily."
She heard the door close a moment later and she let the tears fall more freely. He was wrong. Every time she had allowed herself to need someone, she had regretted it. She would not allow herself to count on him again...not now, not ever.
++++
Morning came to quickly and she rose to find him sitting in the chair beside her...
"Were you here all night," she asked him?
"Guilty...It was either that or John would have come...."
"He's right," John said, poking his head in the door.
"You two are being ridiculous. I'm fine. When have I ever not been fine?"
"Fine isn't a word I would use to describe you, " the doctor said, as she entered the room. Bo and John just looked at each other in concern.
"How's the bleeding Doc," Nora asked, trying to lighten the mood?
"Good news...its drained on it's own."
"Does that mean she's well enough to make a statement about what she's been through," John asked?
"I'll allow it...but she doesn't leave this hospital until she's been examined again. "
They all agreed and when the doctor left Nora braced herself for the interview. John held the camera as Bo stood close to her out of sight.
"My name is Nora Hanen and I am here to give a statement about the shooting of Officer William Perry...a man who almost killed me."
She described in detail the events that had led up to his shooting and held up the pictures to document her claims. John promised to take them with the video when he went to see the Chicago police on her behalf.
++++
John, Bo and Nora stopped at a cafe not far from the hospital. John pushed a file across the table so Nora could look at it.
"The reason I wanted you on this case is because of your connection to the Buchanan's."
"My family," Bo asked? "How is my family involved?"
"There's a very dangerous serial killer out there who is stalking your family...except I think they're a front...the real target is..."
"Me," Nora said. "The real target is me."
"Nora I'm sorry but I think everything that happened in Chicago is related...it wasn't isolated events...it was one guy."
"Oh God," she said, as chills ran up her spine. So much had happened to her back there...so much she didn't want to talk about.
"I've suddenly lost my appetite," she said, as she walked away from the table.
"What happened to her John? And don't tell me nothing because I can tell from your code language that something did. How can I help her if I don't know what's eating at her?"
"You keep coming back...I can't break her confidence Bo...The truth is that for a long time, I was the only one she trusted..."
"Were you in love with her," he asked?
"It doesn't matter...she was never in love with me...it was all you...all the time..."
He left him sitting at the table as he picked up the file. "You aren't wrong Bo. She's been through worse then hell. If you want her to open up to you, you have to prove that you've changed...and you have to mean it...I'll be honest...right now, Nora's not the only one who wonders if you can be trusted. You hurt her so badly in the past. What's stopping you from doing it again?"
"She hurt me too," he said.
"I know...but the difference is that you moved on...she never did...her life just got worse."
After John walked away, he knew that he was right. Something horrible had happened to Nora...something far worse then losing her child...and it scared him...what could be worse then losing your child...no matter how you lost them?
He threw a few bills on the table and went outside to look for her...there was some unexplained force that was making him keenly aware of the fact that she needed him more then ever right now.
"Where are you Nora," he asked into the sky? "Give me a sign. I need to know you're okay. Please God, let her be okay."
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