Chapter 8

The next thing he knew was that Kat was shaking him awake. “Dad you got to get up or you’ll be late to work.”

“What time is it?” Mark asked still not wanting to wake up.

“It’s 6:30 dad.”

“Oh shit!” Now he was fully awake “Thanks, Kat. Can you fix me something I can eat on the drive while I get dressed?”

“It’s already on the counter by the door along with the rest of your work stuff.”

“Oh, bless you, Kat. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

Mark rushed around putting clothes on. This of course woke Emily up.

“What time is it?”

“It’s just after 6:30 and if I don’t rush, I’m going to be late for work and I want to get off early on Friday.”

Mark gave Emily a quick kiss and said:

“Love you, sweetheart. Good luck today.” And he was out of the room and a minute later out of the house. Emily staggered up and went to take a shower. She was sweaty and sticky. After her shower, she threw on a pair of shorts and a shirt and got herself a good breakfast. By this time, she knew where everything was at and quickly made herself food and ate. She went back to the guest room which was where her clothes were still and selected more formal attire for her hearing. She then realized that she would need to stop by her apartment to pick up the paperwork she would need. Plus, she also wanted to get some of her better clothes and bring them over to Mark’s. She didn’t want to move in without being invited, she just wanted to have some of her scrubs and shoes there so that she wouldn’t need to return to her apartment before work. She was amazed though that during her time with Mark she had not had one nightmare and the flashbacks that she suffered were easily displaced by thinking about Mark. She had to be careful about this because thinking about Mark also caused other things to happen that could be embarrassing in certain situations.

Arriving at the hospital fifteen minutes early, she bumped into Cindy on the way in.

“My god Emily!” Cindy shouted and then rubbed her eyes “Is that you? You look ... different”

“Hi, Cindy. Yes, it’s me. Different how?”

“You look happy, confident, and you’re glowing a bit. You found someone didn’t you?”

“Yes, I’ve spent the last four days with a man and I’m very happy. Happier than I’ve been in many years. As far as looking confident, his daughter is a clothing guru and helped me pick this outfit out. She’s also the one that braided my hair and encouraged me to wear my emerald necklace and earrings. I didn’t overdo it did I?”

“Overdo it? Are you kidding? You look like you’re ready to take on the world and kick its ass!”

“Say, after my hearing would you like to grab a cup of coffee?”

“I normally would love to but I’m exhausted. I’ve been working for 16 hours straight and right now I just want to go to bed.”

“Ok well drive safe and see you later.”

“Good luck Emily. Not that you’ll need it.”

With that, the ladies went their separate ways. Emily arrived at the hearing and after hearing the charges, presented her case along with all the pertaining paperwork and eyewitness statements. After deliberations, it was declared that Emily could return to a limited workload pending the cases working through the legal system which could take months. When her supervisor apologized Emily asked; “Why?”

“Well, everyone here knows how devoted you are to your work and we can imagine that being forced to work only part-time is going to drive you crazy but that’s the best we can do at this time.”