Chapter 6

By mid-afternoon, Becca, Tonya, and Lateef were listening intently to one of the surgeons explain, "Darren is still in surgery and will be for a few more hours. He has a broken nose, and four fractured teeth as well as a broken femur head and an eggshell fracture of the hip near the left socket. In addition, he has sustained multiple cuts, lacerations and contusions.

"The good news is the CAT scan showed no skull fractures, or bleeding into the cranial area. The bad news is the hip and femur. He is going to live but he will be in rough shape for a long time, recovery will be a long process. I am sorry I don't have any more information, but I must get ready to scrub for another trauma case. The Orthopedic and Primary Trauma surgeons will be down to talk to you as soon as they are finished."

Becca just sat and stared ahead, rocking back and forth as Tonya held her. All the pretty blond kept repeating was "Why?"

At eight-thirty that night Darren's parents, Paula and Thomas Courtier, arrived. Paula walked over to Becca and said, "Thank you for saving our son's life. Tonya told us you were the one who found him and called the ambulance. If you hadn't stopped by when you did, he might have died."

All Becca could do was nod, then both women burst into tears, falling into each others arms.

It was almost sixty hours after his surgery before Darren came out of

his medically induced fog. He was straining to see, but his eyes wouldn't open all the way. Hurting in an abstract way from head to toe, he attempted to shift a little to get slightly more comfortable, but the only result of his effort was a moan.

Darren was confused as to why he couldn't move his left leg when he heard someone say, "He's awake, I'll get the nurse."

Moments later a female voice said, "Darren, I'm Kelly, your nurse. Can you hear me?"

Wetting his lips and taking a deep breath he tried to speak. Darren decided it was too much effort and managed a weak nod instead.

He heard a chuckle, "Well you're alive and kicking... well, maybe not kicking. Otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Now here you go, sip slowly, it's water." A straw was put to his lips; Darren sipped the water to wet his parched throat. After a few sips Kelly continued, "Is your name Darren Courtier?"

With great effort, he nodded again.

"Any idea of what day it is?"

Darren thought, then slowly shook his head gently.

The nurse continued, "Okay, you're in the hospital. You were in some kind of fight and were pretty banged up. Besides a funny angle to your nose, you have several cuts, bruises, and two black eyes. For a while your movements are going to be very limited because you also have a broken hip and thigh bone.

"It's Thursday, about nine in the morning. Your mom and dad are here along with two very pretty young ladies named Tonya and Rebecca. They've been here almost constantly since you were first admitted. So take it easy on them if they are a little grouchy. I'll be back to talk to you in a few minutes and give you some more 'feel good' medicine. By the way if either one of these young ladies belongs to you, then you're an extremely lucky young man."

His mom and dad came up and talked to him, filling him in on most of what had happened and what little everyone knew. It made him feel good knowing they were there.

After Tonya gave him some sweet concerned grief, Becca came over to the bed and took his hand. Darren whispered, so Becca moved up close to his face to hear him moan, "Thank you."

She ran her thumb over the back of his hand as tears ran down her cheeks and replied, "For what?"

His voice was weak and scratchy, but he was finally able to say, "You were with me... I heard you... couldn't answer... but I heard you."

Noticing how much effort it was taking for him to speak, Becca said, "Darren we can talk later when you're stronger. I'll be here every free moment I have, so we will get to talk. Rest now baby, just rest and heal for all of us."

Darren shook his head 'no' then weakly rasped "The biggest mistake we made... ," he moistened his dry lips before he continued, "was not talking sooner... no more putting it off. We start talking now."

Becca softly laughed as tears of pain rolled down her cheeks. It was heart-rending and so romantically moving to watch his love for her struggle against all the pain he was suffering.

"Whatever you want, when you want, I love you Darren," was softly whispered in reply.

He nodded as he struggled to whisper back, "I know, I heard you."

The nurse returned with a cup of ice chips. Becca looked up with a pleading expression, her eyes darting repeatedly towards the cup.

The nurse smiled knowingly and handed Becca the cup, "Darren, I just gave the young lady some ice chips. I'm going to see if she can coerce you into chewing on a few while I get the pain meds for you. If she's successful, I may let her have the job permanently, okay? Oh, and Miss make sure he only chews on the left side of his mouth. Otherwise if the cold hits those fractured teeth, I guarantee you, he will come up out of that bed, cast and all, trust me."

Becca gave Darren a few ice chips at a time; he chewed them dutifully until the nurse came back in.

"Darren I am going to put some medicine in your IV. It will help you relax and go to sleep, Ok Hon?"

He managed a weak, "Yeah," as a slight warmth invaded his body just before his world faded to black.

Becca had made sure she thoroughly understood everything the professors told her was important for Darren to pass his finals in order to graduate. She sat patiently waiting for him to review the material until he was ready for her to explain the rest.

'Four weeks. Has it really been four weeks since the attack?' Becca thought to herself. 'Now that the bruising and swelling have subsided it's amazing how good he looks after all the damage and corrective surgery.

'Unfortunately his hip and leg aren't doing too well. The senior doctor in Orthopedics explained that the hip was going to take years to recover, if it recovered at all.

'There is severe nerve damage and it doesn't have a great prognosis for healing. Darren didn't take that news well. He liked running and hiking, but at least for the time being those activities are going to be off limits to him.'

Becca looked up at Darren, his nose still in his study material. Her thoughts returned to their relationship or non-relationship. 'I still need to talk to him about the rape and the night of the attack, but every time I have tried to bring it up he says 'not now.'

'After his finals tomorrow we are going to talk. I know we both feel the underlying tension and need to get this out in the open.

Her own frustration with the Police investigation's inability to identify an attacker was wearing on her patience. She knew it must be driving Darren wacky.

'He's sticking to his story that he didn't know the girl's name he had been with the night of the attack. If that's true, I can't figure out why she was with him or why they kissed each other. You don't kiss a girl you don't know. The two police officers seemed kind of befuddled too.'

In spite of the mystery woman's reason for being with Darren that night, Becca did have the comfort of the letters he had written to her. Recalling what she had read caused her to stop and ponder, 'After reading Darren's letters, his actions that night don't make any sense. His letters plainly state he loves me, and wants to work this mess out.

'I know he's telling everyone he really can't remember a lot from the time I saw him outside his classroom till he woke up. But by his own admission he is getting little disjointed memory flashes.

'The only thing that seems to be sticking in his memory is my signal with the water bottle, whatever the hell that means. Also he thinks the girl's name was funny sounding, maybe a nickname. I can tell he is confused over the whole thing too.'

One big help for Becca was her Dad, Phil Anderton, who had been down to see her three times since that night. Her dad wasn't an imposing man physically, but had a heart of gold. This was the third time he came to see her.

He simply asked her as they sat in Gwen's apartment, "Ok, you have a lot on your plate with all Darren's been through. But I want to know what it is that has been bothering you ever since you came home for Spring Break."

Becca felt like a damn burst inside her as she told her dad about the drugging and rape Hayden Olsson had perpetrated. She could tell her dad was angry, the veins in his forehead were sticking out and his ears were bright red.

"Why didn't you go to the hospital and to the police," he asked with gentleness, even though there was steel behind his voice.

She responded, but very meekly as if the memories of that wound were still too fresh to bear. "Dad I didn't have any proof except the situation I woke up to. Well, that and Hayden's conceited knowing smile whenever I've run into him since.

"Plus I was confused, hurt and not thinking, but it would have made no difference. He evidently used a condom and without a witness, even if my blood had shown drugs, how was I going to prove who gave them to me.

"There was a ton of kids at the club that night, it could have been any of them, although I know better. I'm sorry Daddy."

Phil took his baby girl into his arms as she sobbed gently on his shoulder, "It's ok baby, the important thing is to get both of you past this and on with your lives." Now he understood the meaning of powerless, he wanted to help his daughter so bad, but could provide little more than comfort.

Darren's parents must be experiencing the same thing. At that moment, Phil had never felt so helpless and he was not the type of man who liked, or would even accept that feeling.

Some time later that evening, after Becca and her dad had time to deal with their emotions. Her dad asked, "Does Darren know?"

Becca sighed, "No... that was one of the things I was going to discuss with him that night."

While looking at his daughter, Phil replied, "Please be careful when you tell him. From what Paula and Tom have told me, the doctors are trying not to add to Darren's stress level right now."

Becca acknowledged what her dad said with a nod while thinking, 'Yes, he's stressed but I've got to talk to him. I have to tell him what happened and try to find out what occurred that evening just before the attack.' "

When she arrived at the hospital the following afternoon, Becca ran into Mitchell and Larabee, the two police detectives who had been working on Darren's case. They were coming out of Darren's room as she approached.

"Ahh, Miss Anderton I'm glad we caught you," Detective Larabee said. "We have been able to verify your statements of the events you witnessed the night of the attack. In addition a witness, who saw three or four individuals exit Darren's house between nine-thirty and ten on the night of the attack, has come forward."

Becca excitedly asked, "Do you know who the individuals are?"

The two detectives, glanced at each other, then turned and headed towards the elevators. As they walked away, Detective Mitchell said over his shoulder, "Have a good day Miss."

The thought crossed Becca's frustrated mind, 'That was strange, but then again, so are they, ' as she watched them leave. 'One being tall and chubby, the other short and thin makes them look more like a comedy team instead of policemen.'

Becca walked into Darren's room and saw him looking at her intently. She smiled, "Hi! How are you doing today?"

The scowl on his face never changed, but he replied, "Actually decent, now that finals are over. Before I forget, thank you so much for working with my Professors to get me caught up and through my courses."

Becca came up next to him and kissed his cheek, "It was my pleasure."

He waited for her to get settled then said, "I don't know how to say this any other way Becca. That night in the commons... why were you trying to embarrass me?

"If you had just said, 'Go away, ' I would have. It would have hurt but I would have left you alone. Why did you want to do that to me?" The pain and frustration in his voice obvious as he tried to keep his voice under control it was already higher pitched than normal.

Becca sat dumbfounded, shaking her head, "What are you talking about? I was waiting for you in the commons." Doing her utmost not to shout, her knuckles turned white as they tightly gripped the arms of her chair. She loudly and forcefully proclaimed, "All I wanted was to get back with you."

"Oh sure! Now you can make believe it never happened. I was there Becca, I saw and heard it all, your new boyfriend, the water bottle signal that brought him running, everything." A spasm crossed his face as he clenched his jaw.

"Please explain, because I haven't had a boyfriend other than you since I came to this school." Becca's voice was strained as she continued sharply, "You can talk to Gwen or Tanya. Hell, you can talk to Elizabeth or Gabby from work, they are always asking me why I don't date..."

Becca stopped in mid sentence as she suddenly realized Darren's eyes indicated he wasn't listening to her anymore. In the middle of her response to his weird tirade his face suddenly showed a dawning realization to something she said.

Looking at Becca, Darren swallowed hard before he requested, "Say it again please."

Still reeling from the unexpected attack Becca fixed her eyes on Darren with a level stare. "Say what again... please?" Her voice tinged with agitation.

Darren was shaking when he repeated, "Say that girl's name again, the last one."

Becca looked at Darren; he was acting strangely. She replied questioningly, "Elizabeth?"

With his eyes haunted by some inner anxiety, Darren licked his lips, "No the last one... Ga..." The word seemed to be caught in his throat.

As Becca stared at Darren, she watched the color drain from his face when she questioned, "Gabby?"

Darren just nodded as he sat staring out the window. He began to sweat as he whispered, "Gabby, that's the name of the girl who was with me that night. I went to the commons to see you and saw your games." He swallowed hard as he tried to continue.

Becca was going to ask him to explain but decided against it, listening intently as he continued.

"I was hurt because of what I heard them say in the commons, so I went back to my car. A girl named Gabby came up asking me if I had an outline for the Art class we are in.

"After I took her to the house, I got sick remembering what I saw you do. Then I copied the outline for her and offered to take her home. She refused and kissed me at the door.

"Still reeling from the events at the commons, I went back in to sit down. I don't know how long I had been sitting there when the doorbell rang.

"Thinking it was Gabby and she'd probably changed her mind about the ride, I opened the door and..." Darren flinched and his hand moved up in front of his face as if to block an unseen blow.

"Someone hit you in the face," Becca answered.

Darren nodded but said nothing.

Becca came over to the bed and sat down, "Darren can you remember anything else?"

Darren squinted, his facial muscles twitched nervously as he nodded, "a voice saying 'his property'... then your voice talking to me, it seemed much later. You said you loved me."

He felt her hand on his chin as she tenderly moved his head to look him in the eyes. As her face came into focus he could see a small rivulet of tears on both cheeks.

As he looked at her mouth she said, "I have no idea what you heard or what you thought you saw me do, but yes Darren I meant what I said... I love you."

He smiled, "I love you too." Emotionally drained, he laid his head back onto his pillow, closed his eyes, and drifted off to sleep.

As she sat holding his hand, Becca said to herself, "We need to have just a little more discussion in order for me to figure out what Darren thought happened that night in the commons."

After mentally going over everything Darren had said, she thought, 'But I know one thing, as soon as Paula gets here, I'm going to go find a certain little girl named 'Gabby.' We're going to have our own heart to heart talk whether she's willing or not.'

Retrieving her cell phone Becca moved off the bed dialing as she went. After a few rings Tonya answered out of breath, "Yeah Girl, talk to me."

"Bad timing, huh?" Becca teased.

With a bit of irritation in her voice Tonya replied, "It will be if I can't get back to it soon!"

"Ok, I need to see you and Lateef as soon as possible. I think I know the name of the girl I saw at Darren's that night. We need to talk to her before the police." Her voice became higher pitched as the excitement of her discovery began to build.

Excitedly, Tonya asked "Do I know her?" No sooner had she inquired than Becca recognized that protective tone in her voice and realized she better not give Gabby's name to Tonya. Otherwise there might not be anything left for Becca or the police to interrogate.

"You've seen her around; we can talk more when you get here."

Becca had a strong premonition that the name 'Gabby' and the phrase 'his property' were closely related. The whole convoluted scene in the commons that night, the unexpected confrontation with Hayden, lots of things seemed to be falling into place.

Positive she knew how, now she needed to find out why. She was pretty sure she knew the answer to that also.

"God if I'm right, what am I going to do?" she whispered out loud.

The bile in her stomach churned at the mere thought of her rapist being involved. Confused and angry, she had to find Gabby to see if her hunch was correct.

Later that afternoon Becca was standing outside Gabby's dorm room and knocked softly. Moments later the door opened and Gabby stood blinking at Becca, a tall black girl and a really cute big black guy standing in her doorway.

With her lower lip quivering, Gabby half begged and half pleaded in a scared and tension laden voice, "What do you want?"

Becca said, "I think we need to talk Gabby."

Lateef punctuated Becca's comment by grabbing the door and pushing it open. With fear in her eyes, Gabby retreated into her room away from the door.

As all three visitors entered her room, they didn't have to say a word; Gabby knew why they were there. Her head bowed as she looked at the floor, she seemed defeated. It was plain to see she was about to dissolve into tears at any moment.

There was a hitch in her voice as she raised her head to look at Becca "I didn't know Becca. If I had, I would never have given him the address. I would never have gone with Darren that night."

Becca watched as the pretty young woman's body shook as she began to cry. They could see that she was guilt ridden and eager to confess.

Tonya took the girl in her arms to comfort her. Becca allowed herself a slight smile; Tonya had been holding onto a lot of emotionally distraught females lately.

"You have to believe me, I didn't know. I wouldn't have told him if I had known Darren would get hurt. I got really mad when I heard about the assault a couple of days later. He denied it until I said I was going to the police. He blew his top cussing at me, calling me all sorts of names, and telling me what happens to people who betray him, or mess with his property. I haven't seen him since. Yesterday I put in for a transfer to a college near my hometown for my senior year. I'm afraid to be anywhere near him."

Becca, who had been nodding her head as Gabby spoke, softly asked in a quivering voice, "Who is the guy who threatened you Gabby?"

"Hayden... Hayden Olsson!" Gabby fearfully muttered.

"Gabby, you have to go to the police with this. They need to know," Becca said sternly.

"I... I can't," Gabby pleaded, "He'll kill me."

"The reason you have to Gabby is because if you don't, he may kill you anyway," Becca cajoled. "Your only guarantee of safety is to put him away where he can't hurt anyone."