Ecie & Esme II: Another Day Like This

Six

Verde walked into Ecie's hospital room with a bunch of flowers and was followed by Ed.

'How is she?' Verde asked.

'She's doing okay,' Esme replied tiredly. She had been sat by Ecie's side for two days. 'They say she's doing really well.'

Verde looked at Ecie and smoothed some hair from her face. He kissed her forehead then placed the flowers he had brought into an empty vase.

'Did they arrest him?' Ed asked.

'Yeah,' Esme nodded. 'I think they're going to let him off on bail.'

'How are you doing?' Verde asked looking at Esme.

'I've been better,' Esme replied.

'Has she woken up yet?' Ed asked.

Esme shook her head. 'They took her off heavy sedation a couple hours ago,' she replied. 'They expect her to open her eyes soon.'

'Where is everyone?'

'I told Taylor and Denis to go home,' Esme said. 'It took them about three hours to do it though. Ross went to get some food and dad went home to get some stuff. Mom should be coming here soon.'

'Have you slept?' Ed asked. 'You've got dark circles around your eyes.'

Esme shook her head. 'I can't sleep.'

'When was the last time you ate anything?' Verde asked.

'Yesterday morning,' Esme replied. 'I'm not really hungry.'

'You should eat something,' Verde said. 'You're going to need all the strength you can get.'

Esme nodded.

'Has anyone come to visit her yet?'

'Joey came with Owen and they left her a giant card signed by the squad,' Esme replied. 'Langley came too but he only stayed for a second. I think that Joey's going to come back after school with the squad.'

'Do you think they know what happened to her?' Ed asked.

'I haven't told anyone anything,' Esme replied. 'I suspect that they think she was mugged or something. They would freak out if they knew the truth.'

'How did she get herself into this situation?' Verde said. 'Did she say anything to you?'

Esme shook her head. 'She didn't tell me anything about this. I thought she would have told you.'

Verde shook her head.

Ross walked into the room with Emily and Taylor.

'Taylor,' Esme said. 'I told you to go home. You've got your store to run.'

'I left it with Dave,' Taylor replied. 'I wanted to be here with you.'

'I managed to get you some coffee,' Ross said passing Esme a hot cup. 'You need to put something in your stomach.'

Esme took the cup and sipped it.

'How is she?' Emily asked.

'She doing okay,' Esme replied. 'She's getting better.'

'That's good,' Emily said.

Jonathon walked into the room with Sofie who started crying when she saw Ecie.

'Mom,' Esme said looking at her mom.

'Is she okay?' Sofie asked. 'I'm sorry I couldn't get here sooner. There were problems with the plane. Oh god is she okay?'

'She's okay mom,' Esme replied. 'They said she was doing really well. She's going to wake up soon.'

Sofie nodded as she covered her mouth. 'How did this happen? How did this happen to her?'

'Her boyfriend beat her up,' Jonathon said taking Sofie outside. 'He left her in a bad way and Denis found her.'

'Her boyfriend?' Sofie said. 'Her boyfriend? Did this to her? Who is her boyfriend?'

'I don't know,' Jonathon replied. 'I didn't know she had one.'

'Well where is he?'

'They arrested him yesterday,' Jonathon replied. 'Denis gave them his address and they arrested him at his apartment. They say they might release him on bail in a few days.'

Sofie looked back at her daughter through the glass door. 'They're going to let him go free? After what he did to her?'

'I can't control these things Sofie,' Jonathon said. 'I can't tell the cops to keep him. I don't know how all this stuff works.'

'Did you speak to the police?'

'This is probably a bad time but I hope you're not blaming this on me?' Jonathon said. 'I feel horrible enough as it is without you pointing the finger at me.'

'I'm not blaming this on you Jonathon,' Sofie said. 'I'm just asking if you spoke to the police. Did you at least try and press charges on this guy?'

'Oh no,' Jonathon said sarcastically. 'I want to let him go free without being punished for what he did to my daughter.'

'Did you call the insurance company?' Sofie asked. 'What did they say?'

'They said they'd be able to cover some of the costs,' Jonathon replied.

'Why can't they cover all of it?'

'Because they don't deal with domestic violence,' Jonathon replied. 'They said they weren't responsible for that.'

'What?!'

'I did try Sofie,' Jonathon said. 'I tried everything and they said they couldn't help. They're not going to pay all the costs.'

'I don't believe this,' Sofie said. 'I don't believe this at all,' she rubbed her chin impatiently. 'Did you speak to the doctors and the nurses at reception?'

'Contrary to what you may think,' Jonathon said. 'I am not a complete useless moron. I spoke to everyone.'

'Right,' Sofie nodded. 'Trust something like this to happen when I'm out of town.'

'This would have happened either way,' Jonathon said annoyed. 'This isn't all my fault. What about you? Where were you when you should have been at home? You were in Australia with your new boyfriend...'

'Eric has nothing to do...'

'I'm not saying he does,' Jonathon said. 'I'm just saying that you were taking a romantic vacation so don't you dare blame all of this on me. You need to be accountable as well.'

'Okay then Jonathon,' Sofie said. 'What are we going to do about this?'

'Ecie will take as long as she needs to recover,' Jonathon replied. 'Dr Gallison suggested that she might need therapy as well as rehab. He said that Ecie should still be able to cheer.'

'I suppose that's a start,' Sofie nodded. 'What do we do about the boyfriend?'

'I don't know,' Jonathon replied. 'I suppose we wait for Ecie to wake up and ask her if she wants to press charges against him. But I think in the mean time we should file a restraining order.'

Sofie nodded. 'I'll call my lawyer.'

'I'll see if I can sort out the therapy,' Jonathon said rubbing his forehead.

'Sofie and Jonathon,' Verde said. 'Ecie's awake.'