Suddenly their noses were touching as Derrick's bloodshot eyes pierced his and bit out low, growling, blowing, "Would you - leave it? ... Huh? ... That was your - your Sylvia ... would you?" Tears rolled down Derrick's face. Shawn slowly moved back some, "Derrick, you can't - you can't - the time to have done something - was before she-..."
In a blink of an eye, Derrick had Shawn by the throat and up against the wall, knocking his chair over. Carmine had just come in after his mother and sister had convinced him to apologize to Derrick, and stood shocked at what he was seeing. "Holy shit, oya, com'on ese, tha's your brother man!" He rushed to them as they wrestled in the corner of Meri's room. Shawn was trying to keep their tussle quiet, but his brother was choking him. "Der-rick - lis-ten - to - me-..."
"You think - I'm gonna - let her get away - with - doing that - to - my - wife!?" He bit out, blinded by his fury, hating himself, hating Shawn at that moment, because if it had been Shawn, just as his wife had said it, he would have removed the threat before it happened. Now, because he didn't do what Shawn would have done, his wife might die. Derrick's extreme exhaustion, along with his shaking hunger, anxiety, fear and overwhelming failure to act, had him sobbing as he slammed Shawn into the wall, "You see - my wife," and again, he slammed him, "My Meri, my Meri..." three times, choking him, with Carmine trying to get between them. "Der - rick! You - you're - chok-king - me..." Shawn was forced to fight back, as he could see that his brother was literally going mad. The racket within the room, could not be mistaken outside. Within moments, the room was filled, Royce entering first as he was nearest the door, with nurses, interns, Bart, Wilfrado, Luis, and Derrick's sons, including Derrick Jr. who had just arrived. They were all in the room, trying to get control of Derrick because he was in such a fit of crazed madness that it seemed almost impossible to get him under control as he tossed Shawn about, slamming him along the wall, knocking things over with him, while Shawn slammed over and over again onto the top of his arms to break his grip from his throat, his face was blood red, the veins standing out along his throat, across his forehead.
Carmine had moved back and out of the room, and out of the way with his heart pounding, agitated, he knew it was enough! She was his sister, and he knew what he had to do - he had nothing to lose, Derrick on the other hand, had everything to lose. He disappeared, un-noticed by the rest of the family. It wasn't long before the police were there, as well the officer who'd been at Margaret's door, giving assistance since she was under hospital arrest and her injuries wouldn't allow her to just get up and leave.
One of the cops had his taser out to fire it at Derrick as they were trying to drag him from the room, he and Shawn were still locked together, although he no longer hand his hands around his neck, he was lost in a frenzied growling cry, flailing and fighting to be free of him; Royce had a feeling that was the first thing they would do, pull out the taser, "Give us a minute here to calm him down, that's not necessary, put it away!" He tried to order them, they didn't know who he was and could care less. Bart, Gert, and Shawn followed him, shouting at the top of their voices, "DON'T YOU DARE HIT MY BOY WITH THAT!!"
"DERRICK - PLEEEASE - STOP IT!!" Gert screamed afraid for her son.
"PUT THE TASER AWAY - FUCKIN' PUT IT AWAY!!" Shawn shouted out, among everyone else all shouting and crying at once, blocking the police from tasering Derrick. The elevator doors opened down the hall, with Crystal pushing Sasha in a wheel chair; Ben was holding Isaac's hand, Mundo was holding Darren, Shanna had Joseph by the hand, Angela walked between Vivian and Sylvia, who were bringing up the rear. Sylvia had suggested Sasha be brought up to visit her mother and maybe she could soothe her father. What they encountered had them all screaming out frightened by the frenzy of Derrick's hysteria. Sasha began screaming out to her father, to see him down on the ground and so many wrestling to get him under control. More police rushed up to the floor because Shawn, Bart, Dj and Marcus wouldn't let them taser Derrick. A doctor, shouting the police back, forced his way into the melee with a needle to reach Derrick and gave him a jab that he hoped, coupled with his exhaustion, would push him over the edge and knock him out. He dare not give him a larger dosage with his adrenaline pumping as it was. But at the same time, his charged adrenaline would make the drug work faster. Some of the officers actually had their guns drawn, making matters worse, with all the women were screaming, afraid of what they might do, pointing them and their tasers at Shawn, Bart and Dj.
Their actions forced the doctors and interns to yell out, "PUT YOUR GUNS AWAY! That's not necessary, any minute now, he'll be under control!" One of the doctors fumed, glaring at the officers.
Shawn lay over his brother, bleeding, breathing hard, bruised and battered, refusing to move from him because he didn't trust the police. Bart, Marcus, Dj, all the males there, were breathing hard, glaring at the police and staying put, while the women stood by softly crying, trying to calm down.
"Everyone please, we need you all to go to the waiting room, let things calm down and get under control here, please." The doctor on duty asked, breathing hard as well; looking from them to Derrick, who was just succumbing to the drug he'd been administered. After another moment, he flopped, out cold. Shawn dragged himself to his feet, hand propped against the wall, wiping the blood that ran from his nose and mouth. Sylvia and Vivian stood by the nurses counter; Vivian worried for Sylvia, holding onto her, while she stood crying and holding onto Angela, all three gazing at Shawn across the way, scared for him. He looked at them, gave a sad, apologetic smile too tired for anything more; as they could see, he was okay, despite it all. Turning away from them, he ordered the boys nearby, breathless, "You all, help me - with your dad, I'm taking him to our hotel."
"You'll have to wait for that, I need to check his vitals before I can let him go, in the state he was in, I have to monitor him a while." The doctor informed him just as two of the interns rolled a hospital bed near to put him on. It took Shawn, Ben, Marcus and Dj to lift Derrick from the floor and onto the bed he was so heavy. They were all blowing by the time they had him safely in place. He was then rolled to the next room, where the doctor stood checking his pulse, his heart rate and other vitals. The family stood around waiting to make sure he was okay. Vivian turned to Sylvia, "Come on, let's go in the waiting room, he's all right, you need to sit down." Sylvia remained silent, following Vivian, she guided Angela to do the same, back into the packed waiting room. Shanna was trying to calm a sobbing Sasha down, scared now for her father. "Is my dad okay? Is he? I wanna see my dad, I wanna go see him." She wept from her wheelchair.
"God, why did I have her brought up here?" Sylvia cried.
"For the same reason we all thought it was a good idea, that maybe she would have brought him out of it." Shanna answered as Sylvia sat next to Sasha, holding her hand to calm her. Angela on the other side, stroking her shoulder. Vivian found herself with Joseph, he was upset. Until Ben realized they needed to get the kids out of there, he turned to Mundo, "Let's take the kids outside, in fact," He turned to Shanna, "Let's get on the road, there's too many of us here - it's shaking things up." He suggested, then glanced at Crystal, she nodded, yes, to him taking the boys; completely trusting him, especially since Mundo was with him. Shanna stood agreeing as well, she looked towards Royce, "You staying, or coming with me?"
"I'm with you darlin'." Royce had had enough, they were a family too volatile, he could only take so much of them all together at once. He followed behind Shanna, Ben and Mundo, who was taking Darren, Isaac, and Joseph with them to get their cars. When Marcus realized they were taking off, he was off with them as well, glad that Derrick Jr. was there to take his place.
Derrick Jr. couldn't believe the scene he'd come to, his father going so completely crazy. He'd rushed as much as he could, worried about his mother and his father and obviously for good reason. He waited with with his uncle Shawn and when the doctor nodded that Derrick was okay for now, he still wouldn't let him be taken because he wanted to check him in another hour.
To calm things down, everyone was ushered to the waiting room, allowing only three at a time into Meribel's room. This time, Derrick Jr. Sasha and Meribel's mother went in with her. Everyone else was gathered down the hall, warned by the police that if another such disturbance took place, they would not be allowed back.
Bart would not be quiet.
"The hell you say! Not a body here caused that disturbance! My son went out of his head grieving his wife! But you're so damned eager to shoot and taser people, scared somebody's gonna miss that you're the police and in charge, you can't see proper how to speak to folks! We don't need your kind of policing thank you!"
"Sir, did you hear what I said?" The officer asked sternly.
"Last I checked, I could hear."
"Bart, hush! Enough! We heard you loud and clear officer." Gert reprimanded her husband and then tried to soothe the officer, who stood a moment more, glaring at Bart.
Everyone sat quiet, not saying a word, waiting for them to leave.
All the officers huddled together out by the nurses station, asking if everyone there was okay, and of course, working in a hospital, they were accustomed to the occasional emotional outburst and loss of control by family members. The officer assigned to watch over Margaret departed the bunch stating, "Looks like everything is back to normal, heading back to my post."
Another officer smiled replying, "Heaven forbid she's escaped while you were here."
"Not likely, with a leg and arm in a cast." He returned, disappearing down the hall, around the corner to where he should be standing. As he stood, he wondered should he look in on her, by right, he really shouldn't because she could be in a state of undress, but he needed to at least peak, just to make sure she was there. As he was about to do so, a nurse was walking past, "Excuse me, can you please go in here, check to make sure this patient is here and all right? I would do it, but she's a woman, so - for obvious reasons, I dare not." He grinned at her, flirting a bit.
"No problem." The nurse returned smiling. She walked into the room, to see the patients leg and arm still up in the harness by her bed, and walking further in, she noticed something strange about the sheets, the top of them seemed to be stained - soaked in blood. "Oh my God!" She rushed to the bed, to get a closer look at what was going on, to find a pillow over Margaret's head. She removed it to see the patient lying dead, staring with wide eyes, her mouth open as if she'd tried to scream, her throat slit, her body and the sheet, with several stab wounds.
Shaking, she began pressing the patient alarm button, "OFFICER - I NEED YOU IN HERE NO-O-OW!" She screamed out.
While Shawn stood as if guarding his brother, he couldn't miss more of a commotion going on in the hall, the police, the nurses and the doctor who had treated Derrick suddenly rushed down the hall and around the corner. Shawn walked away from his brother to peer out the door, wondering what was going on now. Within a few moments, the police were running back his way, yelling at him, "Get to the waiting room now! Right now!"
Shawn lifted his hands in the air, "What?! What the hell is going on now?!" He asked. One of the officers came at him, grabbed him by his sleeve trying to shove him down the hall away from Derrick, "Get your fuckin' hands off of me! What the fuck are you doing?!"
"MOVE IT TO THAT WAITING ROOM, OR YOU'RE GOING TO JAIL, YOU HEAR ME?!"
Not only could Shawn hear him, but everyone in the waiting room as well. Sylvia was on her feet and moving towards the yelling to make it back towards Meribel's room to see Shawn standing up to an officer, giving him a second chance to do as he ordered.
"SHAWN! Please!" She wailed, not wanting him in any more confrontations, she was still worked up over him wrestling with Derrick and being tossed around.
Shawn glanced her way, knew that she was already upset enough and backed away from the officer going immediately to her, as if blowing smoke from his nose, he put his arm around her and moved towards the room with the officer behind them, and two others joining him. Back in the waiting room, the officers stood looking them over, "Where are the other people that were with you all?" They asked the room in general.
No one knew what to say, or what was going on, Gert stood because she worried about her men and the others. "What in the world is going on now? What do you mean, where are the other people? They left, to thin out the crowd and calm this place down, as you asked."
It was clear that the officers were agitated, there had been too many present, and now, too many missing to know who might have killed the woman in the other room, but they knew it had to be one of them, because she was under arrest for the crime against the woman in critical condition.
"We want a list of everyone that came to this hospital connected to the patient, Meribel McPherson." The lead officer ordered.
"Why?" Gert asked again, with Shawn and Sylvia still standing.
"Ah ma'am, we ask the questions here, you answer them, now as we said, we want a list of all who entered this hospital."
Everyone in the room sat back, Sylvia and Shawn took a seat and stared at him and the other officers in a clear united front, no one was willing to say a word. Everyone was quiet, not muttering a sound.
"I'm going to ask again, we want a list-..."
"Everyone in this room is here to see a patient admitted under emergency. Not one person here is under any obligation to say a word to either of you. This bein' the United States of America, we live under a constitution that prohibits what you doin', we don't have to say a word. Fact is, we're not going to, unless you have a valid reason for approaching us this way? Otherwise, we gonna end up collectively charging your department with harassment." Gert continued firmly, everyone remaining quiet as she spoke.
The officer stood glaring from her to each of the faces staring back at him. He had little choice but to inform them. "It appears, that someone from this group, has taken it upon themselves to avenge Mrs. McPherson."
"What?" Bart asked.
"The woman who has been charged with hit and run, was killed in the last few moments. I need a list of all who came to this hospital to see her today, and I need it as soon as possible."
Gert backed up and sat hard in her seat, among the gasps of shock that went around the room. Everyone looked at each other in disbelief.
"Well, start giving names."
All sat quiet, until Shawn spoke up, "I can give you a head count of my family. Every one of them that was here today, to see Meribel, was present and here the whole time. We don't even know the woman's room, or where to find her." adding, "Furthermore, you all saw each and every one of us here, out there when Derrick needed to be sedated."
"There are people missing, who are they?" The officer demanded.
Shawn looked towards his father, and then at Meribel's uncle, he was staring at the officers, "I think, maybe, you are looking for my nephew - he seems to have disappeared." Meribel's uncle spoke up. The police looked at him, "Your name?"
"Carlos Alvarez."
"Okay, Mr. Alvarez, care to step out here, tell us about him."
Meribel's uncle swallowed nervous, nodded, stood, looked at everyone sitting there, including his son, daughter, and Carmine's sister and brother. They all sighed. They already knew what to expect. Their uncle had argued with his sister, telling her, not to let Carmine come, that if he came, he would do something like this; it had proven to be true. Carmine had spent most of his adult life in prison. He'd just been released not quite a year and wasn't having a good time back out. Carlos had warned Letté - "We take him, he cannot be trusted, he is looking for a way, to go back in - back to the life he knows - with his friends. Leave him here." His sister had not listened, she allowed her son to come along, and something told Carlos - her act was deliberate - as if she knew that her son needed to go back in. Every since his release, living back home with her, she'd been stressed and put through the wringer with him, his drinking, his fits of temper, unable to find work, his excuses for not moving forward in his life. Carlos followed the officer outside, the others of hi
s family stood, excused themselves and walked out to join him there.
Everyone in the room sat quiet. Shawn leaned forward, his face went into his palms. He remained in that position so long, Sylvia leaned towards him, "You okay?"
He nodded that he was, but he wasn't, she could tell. She rubbed his back, trying to console him, soon his daughter was on the other side of him, "Daddy, you okay?"
"Son, why don't you all head back to your hotel, you all were on that long flight here - you bound to be worn out."
Vivian was turned away, fighting back emotions of her own, for once glad that Jake hadn't been present to be in the midst of it all. Crystal sat between Shawn2 and Luis, watching him, waiting for his decision. When he sat back, his face was red, he looked strained and tense, besides the bruising to it, to his neck from Derrick. Taking Sylvia's hand in his, he stood, "Yeah, we're at the Holiday Inn right down the road, I gotta get out of here for a bit." He looked at Crystal and Angela, "What you gonna do?"
"We're gonna stay, Angela can stay with me, so we can be here for Sasha." Crystal spoke up, and of course Angela agreed.
Shawn looked at Shawn2 and Luis, "There's a pool there boys and a game room, you're welcome to come back with us."
They both shook their heads, worried about their father.
"Okay, well - call me mom, dad, when Derrick wakes up, I think he'll be out for a while." They both nodded at him.
He turned to his wife, noticing that she too looked tired and weary, they were both suffering from Jet lag, with his arms around her, they left the hospital - made it to their hotel room, got into more comfortable clothing, climbed into bed together, wrapped their arms around one another tightly, forced themselves to relax and went to sleep.
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