I gave her a moment to grasp and process my words before I moved my hand. I ended up using my right hand to slowly shimmy the jeans up her legs. I was worried she wasn’t able to stand upright on her own right now. I left her jeans unzipped and unbuttoned and told her we’d walk slowly to Josh and Monica.
“No, my jeans aren’t zipped.”
Her fingers started to grapple for the zipper, and I covered her shaking hands with mine.
“Stop, Ali. Leave the jeans as they are.” I didn’t want any unnecessary pressure to her lower abdominal region right now.
“I can’t go to the hospital with my jeans undone. They’ll think I’m a whore, or too weak to even protect myself or something.”
“Ali, sweetheart, I promise you no one will think that.”
Her sobs started again, which I expected to last off and on during the initial shock. I gently squeezed her hands beneath mine and guided her to walk into the blanket that Josh held open. Josh quickly closed his arms around her and hugged her. After a moment, Josh and I helped Ali into the backseat and then he raced around to the other side of the SUV and slid in beside her. As soon as Josh wrapped his arms around her, I closed the door to the backseat quietly and turned to face Tabitha and Monica.
“Do you want us to notify anyone?” Tabitha asked as she handed me Ali’s purse and the two car fobs.
“Just the owner, Walt,” I suggested as I got into the driver’s seat. “Thank you, ladies,” I said before I closed the door.
I focused as much as possible on Ali and Josh while driving. Ali’s sobs had subsided a block or two after I turned onto the main street.
Soon, she would be experiencing something similar to sub-drop. The body had suffered physical and mental trauma, and there had been a surge of adrenaline in the combative “fight” stage for survival and protection. Exhaustion, both mental and physical, was kicking in, and the body would crash from the rush of endorphins. Shock would settle in more, then recovery.
“Ali, did you see the asshole who did this?” Josh asked.
I glanced at them in the rearview mirror and wasn’t surprised when Ali didn’t reply. Josh had her cradled in his arms with his cheek pressed against the top of her head. Josh repeated his question to her, pushing for an answer.
“Ali, did you see who it was?”
Patience, Josh.
I made eye contact with Josh in the rearview mirror and was able to silently convey to him not to push her too much. I hated to see the two of them like this. I would gladly take their banter right now. Anything over this.
I parked the SUV along the curb of the emergency room and quickly hopped out. I opened the door to the backseat and reached my hand out for Ali. Surprisingly, she wrapped her hand with the bloody knuckles around mine and let me help her out. Ali continued to hold onto a few of my fingers as we slowly walked into the emergency room.
“Dr. Chisholm,” Kerry greeted me with a smile. “You take all of this time off and—” She dropped her sentence when she realized that I was bringing in someone who had been injured.
“Hi, Kerry. I have an S.A. here,” I said calmly and glanced around for an open bay. Kerry would know that I had a sexual assault victim since I used the S.A. term.
“Here, there’s a bay at the end that’s open and has just been cleaned and prepped,” Kerry said quickly and led the way. Josh walked on the other side of Ali for support, and we followed Kerry at Ali’s pace.
Ali sat on the edge of the bed and looked up at me for instructions. I stepped away from the bay for a moment to wash my hands at the sink opposite her bed. Kerry had placed a few of the standard supplies on the tray that would be associated with the medical care of a patient in Ali’s shoes. She went behind the staff counter and was in the cabinet to collect some pills.
In order to give Ali the best care that she needed right now, I needed to push out of my mind that she meant more to me than just any patient who had come into the emergency room. My attention needed to be precise and focused on collecting evidence and medically taking care of her. If I thought of her as my little mouthy masochist versus an unknown patient, all I’d want to do would be to hold her in my arms. And I would do that too, but first she needed medical care.
Kerry came back with two tiny paper cups with pills and a plastic cup of water. One contained ibuprofen, and the other contained the “morning after” pill. She stayed close while I helped Ali out of her clothes and into a hospital gown. I felt an ache in the pit of my stomach when I helped her out of the panties that I had put into her mouth earlier at Oxygen. What bothered me the most was that the waistband had been torn apart and had left a red contusion on her side. The crotch of the panties had also been torn away from the fabric of the thong. Tearing fabric like this while she had been wearing them meant that an awful lot of force had been used.
As Kerry collected Ali’s clothes, she put them in a special plastic bag that would be handed over to police … assuming I could encourage Ali to alert the authorities. While Josh stood on the other side of the bed holding Ali’s hand, Kerry and I moved as quickly as possible with the less than pleasant exam. Ali informed me that she was on birth control but took the emergency pill without argument.
“Can you find out how long before we can get her up for a CT, Kerry?” I asked without looking up. I cleaned between Ali’s legs, hoping that it would help her to feel a little more comfortable. As soon as Kerry left the bay, the doctor in me left too. Ali was mine, and I was fucking livid that someone had hurt her. Her pretty green eyes were full of sadness and fear when she looked up at me. There was no way that I could physically restrain myself anymore. I moved from the foot of the bed to sit beside her, and she looked as though she might cry. I pulled her into my arms and kissed her cheek. Kerry came back while I still had Ali in my arms.
“CT can see her now, Dr. Chisholm.”
I nodded, then kissed Ali’s cheek again before I reluctantly pulled out of our embrace.
“Let’s get your head looked at, sweetheart,” I said.
Kerry pulled the bed rails up on the side Josh stood by, while I took care of the rails on my side. I told Josh to come along with us when I saw Ali reach for his hand. We moved along two hallways, and then the radiology techs took her through a set of double doors. Kerry went back to the emergency room while Josh and I took a seat in the hallway. He leaned forward, rested his forearms on his knees, and stared blankly at the ground.
“Are you doing alright, Josh?” I asked as I put a hand on his back and began to squeeze his shoulders.
