Chapter 28: I’m her…

POV: Zac

November 22, 2007

I was picking Gabriella up today at noon, but I decided maybe earlier was better so I could make sure the things with Max hadn’t gone as badly as I feared, which would be him turning her against me. She’d indicated she was reading the last two days and said she was okay but her messages seemed short and curt. It had taken me hours of talking and damn near begging to get her agree to remain mine. Yet, my texts this morning went unanswered, but it was possible she was getting ready. I however got worried after two hours, when another message went unanswered I called Taylor.

“What’s up bro?”

“Hey, did Gabriella call you to come get her early or something?”

“No. She talked to Stella Monday briefly but she didn’t mention anything about anyone else getting her. Why?”

“I’ve sent two messages and no reply, not even a smiley face and she’s really good about replying.”

“Maybe she’s getting ready or she’s fixing something to bring.”

“I told her not to fix anything but I guess she could have it on silent too, she has been at night because of Simon. It’s only ten, I think I’ll head on over and get her. Mom wanted to spend some time with her and it’ll give her a few hours before the whole family shows.”

“Agreed, it would be better on Gabby too Zac, wouldn’t be dropping her into the wolves den.”

“Okay, I’ll see you guys at Mom’s.”

I hung-up and sent her another message telling her I was on my way and even though I had to find a clean shirt and then my shoes, which were in two different rooms! She still didn’t reply so on the way to the car I called, but got voicemail.

“Hey baby, I’m on my way to get you. Call me please.”

I hung-up and just something was off but I knew police here was fanatical on holidays so obeying the speed limit was a critical thing, considering I passed like three on the drive over, I was glad I did. I parked in the driveway at 10:35, Maxwell’s car was not here, so it wasn’t him causing her not to answer today. I walked to the door and went to knock but the door was already open.

“Gabriella?” I called.

I didn’t hear any noises at all so I used the toe of my shoe to push the door opened, the usually clean living room was a disaster, it looked like a tornado had gone through.

“Gabby? Are you here?”

I carefully eased into the apartment, the table behind the door was broken, the couch was ripped in several places, the few art pieces had been ripped and destroyed.

“Gabriella? Answer me!” I yelled.

The dining room table was broken as well one of the legs was missing and I could see dark red stains, that couldn’t be blood.

“GABBY!” I screamed.

I knew where her room was but I never made it, she was laying in the hallway between the two, completely naked and there was blood covering most of her.

“Gabby?”

I fell to my knees beside her afraid to move her because I didn’t know what was hurt and what wasn’t, this close I could tell she was breathing but it didn’t seem right. I got her wrist carefully and could feel a weak pulse. I got my phone and called 911, answering their questions as best as I could. I looked around and both bedrooms doors were open, Max’s room was destroyed also and so was hers, but most of her stuff had been in boxes, why would she be boxing things?!

Paramedics arrived just fifteen minutes after I called and I stepped aside to let them get to her, the hallway was small anyway. I didn’t understand half of what they were saying but I saw the neck brace go around her neck, saw them starting an IV and once she was turned over on her back they were checking responses but I felt so sick.

Some officer pulled me outside before I threw up. I stayed there until they began to put her in the ambulance and I looked at the officer.

“Where are they taking her?”

“Saint Francis South.” He said.

They never stopped moving and the police were fine for me to leave, I did have an alibi if I needed it. I followed the ambulance and on my way I called Isaac. Taylor would flip the hell out but Isaac was more level headed.

“Hey, what’s up.”

“I um….I…”

I wasn’t even sure what to say, the overwhelming idea that there was a chance she wouldn’t make it, there was so much blood in the floor and the apartment was destroyed. She looked pale.

“Zachary, what’s wrong?”

“It’s..I…”

“Calm down Zachary, breathe in..breathe out…Tell me what’s wrong.”

“I went to get Gabby and she was…I don’t know what happen. Isaac she was hurt badly. I don’t know.”

“Where are you?”

“They’re taking her to Saint Francis South, I’m following.”

“I’ll be there.”

I hung-up and when we arrived I parked and went inside but they wouldn’t let me back so I waited on Isaac to arrive. Which was ten minutes after I arrived and I didn’t give a shit I needed the hug he so graciously offered and took the comfort in the hug.

“What happen?”

“I went to get her early, she wasn’t replying to any of my messages or calls, the door was ajar and I just toed it open, called her name. It was a disaster inside and I found her in the hallway, on her stomach. She was nude and there was so much blood. She was breathing but it looked shallow and I felt for a pulse and then called paramedics.”

“Okay, is she okay?”

“I don’t know Isaac. They got her turned and I could see cut marks, they looked deep and bruising. I don’t know what happen. Who would do this to her?! Max wouldn’t do this, would he?”

“No. Max wouldn’t do that Zac. She’ll be okay.”

“She replied to me for two days, but it felt off..What if it wasn’t her replying?”

“Zac don’t blame yourself for this.”

We sat down on the bench and he called our parents and explained. I was adamant I wasn’t going anywhere and after three hours he left to go be with our family, but I remained here. Part of me said I needed to call Max or Abigail, but I didn’t have her number and right now I just didn’t want Maxwell to know. He spent so much time wanting to help her and yet knowing Simon was constantly calling he left her alone.

About 2:30 I went and spoke to the nurse at the desk, but there was nothing she could tell me and nothing I could do but wait. Taylor called me at 3:15, my mom called me at 4:15 but I had no news for them. The police came to me at 4:45 and I wondered if maybe that was the hesitation in telling me, they wanted to clear me as a suspect first. The officers asked me what happen, where I was, contact numbers and thankfully I had spent some time with friends and had a decent alibi. Yet, it was still over an hour before anyone came out of the back.

It was 7:33 when a doctor came out in scrubs. “Mr. Hanson?”

“That’s me.” I said.

I jumped up to greet him. “I’m Doctor Brian James. You came in with Ms. Frost?”

“Yes. Is she okay?”

He glanced around and the waiting room which was pretty full for this time of the day and since so many knew who I was, so many were watching me. He requested I follow him and he lead me back into the Emergency room area where prying eyes and ears didn’t exist as badly.

“She is now in stable condition but we had to do emergency surgery. Once she was here and we were better able to assess her condition we discovered the two stab wounds on the right side had punctured her gallbladder and there was a cut to the large intestine. Both could lead to massive infections and we had to move quickly to ensure there were no problems. The one at the gallbladder narrowly missed her liver, which would have killed her. There shouldn’t be complications, but we will monitor her to make sure no infections set up. The right arm is in a splint the x-ray showed a small hairline fracture, nothing too major but we wanted it to be set anyway.”

I felt my legs get all weak and just sat down in the chair nearby, I was grateful for him telling me back here, the rumors could be massive since Ike and Taylor aren’t here. Gabriella was stabbed! Who the hell or why the hell would they do that?!?

“Is that all or is there more? She looked much worse when I barely saw her.”

He sat down. “There are clear marks around her ankles, wrist, and neck which is consistent with being tied to something. There is extensive bruising all over her body, we suspect she was beaten either by hands or by something. She’s been through a lot really. We did do a rape kit, per the police’s order.”

“Was she raped too?”

“There is evidence of sex, but we weren’t certain on her activity level and couldn’t state if it was consensual or not..”

“The police asked me and I told them the last time we had sex was over a week ago.”

“Then it’s very likely she was, the kit will better determine if there is semen present or not. She’s in the intensive care unit, we need to monitor her carefully because there is a very high risk of infection. She was very lucky you found her.”

“I should have just gotten her Monday when she told me she was there alone.”

I found very little comfort in his hand on my shoulder. “Would you like to see her? I have to warn you that she’s on a lot of machines that are monitoring her blood pressure, heart rates, oxygen levels, and of course the needle for the fluids. She’s heavily sedated right now, there was no indication of brain injury even though there was evidence that she was hit with something, they are also monitoring brain wave activities. She won’t look the same because of the bruising and swelling.”

“I want to see her.”

He nodded and I followed him up to the fourth floor and down to the ICU where he lead me to her room. He wasn’t lying, she looked nothing like the woman I saw Saturday. The deep purple and black bruises on her face pissed me off and the wires didn’t help. They had her arm laying in a splint but you could tell the purplish black color and it was swollen.

I walked over to the bed and got her left hand, careful for the IV and just sat there in the chair.

“I should have came and got you Monday, I shouldn’t have listened to you.”

I stood beside the bed for a long time, just watching her chest rise and fall but I could feel the headache coming and I realized that I hadn’t eaten at all today and while she was here I also knew I didn’t need to cause myself to be sick or in the hospital either. I called Isaac to both request some dinner and inform them of what happen.

“I’ve been pacing Mom and Dad’s floor!”

“She’s in ICU now and stable, I can better explain in person. Can you please bring me a plate up here? I haven’t eaten today and I’m feeling it now.”

“You know I will. Mom actually fixed you this huge plate and set it aside waiting, so I’ll bring it up.”

“Thank you.”

I couldn’t eat in here so I texted him to let me know when they arrived, I’d come to them. I also knew I could use the fresh air because I didn’t plan to leave. I didn’t have to wait long before Taylor sent me a message and I went down.

“Dude, we could have come to her room.” Taylor said.

“She’s in ICU Tay. I can’t have food or drinks back there at all.”

They were quiet as I inhaled the plate they brought, I really hadn’t been all that hungry since this morning but now I was. Once I finished I sat back in the seat.

“How is she?” Isaac asked.

“Not good. Whoever did this did a really good job. She has a hairline fracture on the right arm, just a splint is being used. They had to remove her gallbladder because a stab wound hit it and barely missed her liver, and fixed her large intestine. Her arm is just in a splint. She was stabbed at least twice and beaten pretty badly, they also suspect rape. She’s in ICU under heavy sedation.”

“How are you even allowed back in ICU? I thought Saint Francis only allowed family, I know when Aunt Deborah was here no one but her family was allowed back.” Taylor asked.

I knew that if either of them asked, it was going to be Taylor. It was always Taylor that asked the obvious questions. I really didn’t want to tell them how I was allowed back though.

“Zac?” Isaac asked.

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’m allowed back because I told them she was my wife.”

Both of them turned nearly colliding their heads in the center of the seat, clearly they should be more careful!

“You lied to them?” Isaac asked.

Again, I sighed. “No. I didn’t lie to them she is legally my wife.”

Both of them looked stunned and Taylor tried three times to ask me something before just doing a deep breathing technique our father taught us.

“What do you mean she is legally your wife?” Isaac asked.

“We’ll we didn’t plan it but we after the Vegas show we got incredibly drunk and when we woke up the next morning I found the papers on the dresser. We both got the video and we both went down to the little place in the hotel and there was nothing fake about it. Legally we’re married. Our plan was to talk about it and probably file for an annulment but I fucked up and then we didn’t talk.”

“You got married drunk? Is this the accident we heard you talking to her about?”

“No…We’ve been very careful about that one. The one you overheard apparently was our lack of using protection that morning. She was terrified of pregnancy actually, which apparently she’s not and even if she was, she wouldn’t be now.”

“Mom and Dad are going to kick your ass.” Isaac said.

“It was a drunken mistake and we were going to talk, we have time to file for an annulment, we just were going to talk about it first.”

“It doesn’t sound like you want to file an annulment!” Taylor said.

“Maybe I don’t…”

I wish I could get a picture of those faces because they were quite priceless, the stunned silence and Taylor was rarely silent! The wide eyes, slack jaw, totally shocked faces.

“So, let me get this straight. After the show in Vegas you both went out and got a bit drunk. On the way to the hotel room afterwards you saw the chapel in the hotel, I remember seeing it. This chapel didn’t turn you away because clearly you were drunk, instead they performed the wedding. This is legit?” Isaac asked.

“Yes. It’s legit. According to federal law she and I are married.”

“So, after this wedding you consummated the wedding and you Mr. I’m always safe forgot the condom?” Taylor asked.

“One time Taylor and at least she and I know each other’s history and we both know we’re clean!”

“Yeah, Mom and Dad are so going to kill you.” He replied.

“I have the video.”

Yeah they both had to watch and they both laughed, it was clear we were drunk because our little wedding ceremony, which we both thought was fake as hell, was Star Wars theme. Darth Vader married us, I was dressed as Hans and she was dressed as Leia.

“Sadly..it’s almost perfect. It won’t help with the parents though. You know there is no set time frame for an annulment but you’d have to file here in town, right?”

“Yes. We set 30 days, because we didn’t want to keep waiting basically. We were going to file after we talked about it.”

“You mean after you talked about staying married?” Taylor asked.

“Basically, but I am pretty sure she’s not ready for that.”

“Not that you are.” They said.

“Anyway, do either of you have Abigail’s number?”

“I do. You haven’t called them?”

“No. There were boxes in her bedroom like she was moving and I don’t know why.”

Isaac’s head dipped and I looked at him questioning. He clearly knew something about that and I just waited on him to say something.

“She called Stella Monday and asked if she could borrow her couch for a bit. Stella asked me if I could store whatever she needed for a bit. Gabby didn’t want you to know, I think she wanted to be with another female for a bit and if you are married, living together would void any chance of an annulment.”

“Did Max put her out? If that son of a bitch did I’m not even going to call him.”

“No. Apparently it was Gabby’s decision to leave. Stella didn’t get much information, but they were moving her tomorrow.”

“Text me Abigail’s number and I’ll call her first. They won’t even be allowed back because there not family but uh, you two can if you want. You’re her brother’s legally.”

“Well, maybe tomorrow but not tonight, it’s past visitation times anyway. Keep us posted.”

“Okay.”

I had to go through the emergency door and then up to the right floor, but I got the message before reaching her room and I found a chair in the corner in the room, days before she’d be awake and weeks before she’d be healed. Who the hell would do this to her? What purpose would they have? I finally broke down and dialed Abigail’s number.

“Uh…Hello?” She asked.

“Abigail? This is Zac Hanson.”

The line was quiet and then she snorted. “You have bigger fucking balls then I thought. You’re seriously going to call me after promising her you wouldn’t be some sleaze ball? My answer is hell no and you can guarantee I am fucking calling her right now to let her know what a arrogant jackass you are.”

She didn’t give me time to say that I wasn’t calling her to ask for sex or to meet her, god what a bitch she was! She hung-up before I could stop her and I knew I wouldn’t need to call Max now, he’d call me and sure enough he did.

“Hello Maxwell.”

“You really are a piece of work calling her best friend? She is going to tell her Zac and you can damn sure know that she won’t be coming to you anymore. She will leave you and you know that.”

“Will you please stop accusing me of anything and let me explain why I called?”

“We know why you called Zac, Abigail is taken. She is my girlfriend.”

I blinked, when the fuck did that happen? Did Gabby even know about them? She hadn’t said anything to me about them being a couple. If he wouldn’t listen the nice way then what the hell.

“Gabriella is in ICU at Saint Frances South, I don’t want Abigail, I called her first to tell her because she’s been her friend far longer than you.”

All I heard on the other end of the line was Abigail leaving her a voicemail telling her what scum I was, how I shouldn’t influence her, and damn she was making me seem way worse that I could ever be! Is this how they routinely talk to her about me?!

“What are you talking about?”

“I sent messages the last two days and her replies were off but this morning she didn’t respond, she didn’t call me back, nothing. So I went over early and I found her laying nude in the hallway. The police haven’t called you yet?”

“No one has called me. What…happen? Abigail! Stop! She’s not going to answer.”

“I don’t know what happen. All I know is she was hurt badly. She was beaten, raped, and stabbed. They’ve removed her gallbladder and fixed her large intestine. She’s heavily bruised and swollen and has a hairline fracture to the right arm.”

The line was quiet again. “Is she going to be okay?”

“I don’t know Maxwell. The apartment was destroyed when I got there, honestly I’m no police expert and I can’t really tell if anything was missing but the TV was there broken and your laptop was in your bedroom floor. Both rooms were destroyed. You need to call the police if they haven’t called you. They need you to tell them if this was some horrible robbery gone wrong.”

“I will…but um..you’re not her family how do you know her condition so well?”

I wanted Gabby to tell them about Vegas, but she couldn’t. I also didn’t want to tell them over the phone.

“I’m in the room with her Max, sitting in the corner watching the hundred wires monitoring her life.”

“We’ll be there before morning.”

He then hung-up and I didn’t say anything but they wouldn’t be allow back. A few nurses came in and out, mostly checking her vitals and changing the bags of saline. It was about 1 am when Maxwell called me back.

“The lovely lady at the receptionist desk will not allow us to come back.”

“I’ll come to you.”

I got up and walked to the waiting room out front. Max and Abby were both standing there and Abigail looked pretty sad and she looked at me.

“I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions.”

“It’s okay, it’s no secret that you both hate me. I guess it’s a natural assumption when someone gets your number to call to assume there calling for some other reason.”

“I contacted the police, I’m headed there next. Anything?”

“No. There just monitoring her condition right now. If you’d like, I can take you back one at a time. But, hours are over and they’re not going to let you stay long.”

“I want to see her.” Abigail said.

I took her back first and it was clear that seeing her here was much worse, but I kept my distance from her. When her ten minutes were up, I got Max and brought him. Clearly he cared the tears proved it.

“Was it Simon?”

“I don’t know, his schedule had him playing Tuesday and getting home late Wednesday. But her replies to me seemed off Tuesday and Wednesday.”

“How are you able to get back here when neither Abby or myself could, we’ve known her far longer than you have.”

“It’s not my place to tell you, it’s hers.”

“She can’t Zac, based on how she looks it’s going to be a while.”

“Let’s go speak to Abby too.”

His ten minutes were up anyway so we went back to the front. Abigail was waiting and I took a deep breath.

“I’m allowed back because legally I’m her husband. It’s none of your business really how or what happened, but we were going to discuss everything after she talked to you both. She wanted you to know but apparently whatever you said Monday caused her to leave instead. So, I assume she didn’t bother to tell you.”

“Her husband?” Abigail asked.

“Yes. We are married and she’s my wife. I’m allowed back because I am her husband. I’ll be very honest with you both, if I knew she wouldn’t be totally pissed off with me, I wouldn’t even let you back at all. But I will as often as these nurses allow. But once she wakes up, don’t count on me to let you as I’ll leave that to her. If you’ll excuse me I am going back now.”

I returned to the room didn’t care what they thought about me. There was a male nurse standing beside her bed when I came back in. He was in a basic blue scrub suit and had dark hair, it was a bit long but not too bad, deep brown eyes when he turned to me.

“Is there a problem?” I asked.

“No. I was just checking…”

He got her chart and wrote something down and then he left the room quickly, that was strange most nurses actually checked something. I sat down in the chair again and tried to sleep.