Gen. 5.18-Matthew

“…nine…ten…eleven…twelve…” I felt like the only sound in the room was that of my rapid heartbeat. Two words. Ms. Logan spoke those two words without care or concern. My son was alright according to her, but we couldn’t take him home.

“What? Why?” Kia asked.

“Mrs. Solo, you left your son, alone, at a park and tried to take someone else’s child.”

“What? No! I…I…”

My legs were shaky and I feared they’d give out on me at any second. They were taking my son. “…fifteen…sixteen…seventeen…” How did this happen? I’d done all I could. Hadn’t I? Yet here I sat facing the fact these people were taking my son.

“Mr. Solo.” I looked up to see Ms. Logan wearing a very displeased expression. She stood and picked up her briefcase. “I think I have all I need. There’ll be an emergency hearing on Monday at family court. Be there at 9am. Cameron will remain in our custody for the weekend.” She turned and walked out without another word.

Two officers walked in behind her. “Sorry, we have to book her now,” one said, taking Kia by the elbow, helping her to her feet. “Luckily you’ll be able to make arraignment still which means she won’t have to spend the weekend in lockup. Well, if she makes bail,” he added solemnly.

“Matt! What’s happening? Matt!” Kia cried out as they cuffed her.

I needed to help her. I needed to calm her down, but I was unable to move. She was still screaming my name as they took her away.

“Matt, is there someone I can call?” Shannon asked. “She’s going to need a lawyer at the very least.”

“I…I don’t…”

“I’m so sorry about all of this. We’ll get Cameron home. I’m going to help you any way I can.”

I sat numb to all that was going on around me. I was vaguely aware of Shannon making a call. The officers came back telling me where I had to go for Kia’s arraignment. One drove us back to my store so I could pick up my car. I tried to focus on one thing, just one thing that I could control, but I came up empty.

When we got to the courthouse, Shannon went over to talk to some guy before introducing him as her ex-husband. He was a lawyer, but in corporate law.

“So, apparently something happened during transport. She’s not being arraigned,” he said.

“What…where is she? Can I see her?”

He looked at Shannon before answering. “She had one of her episodes, Shannon explained to me a little about what’s going on with her. Anyway considering everything…I managed to convince the judge what Kia needed was a psych eval instead of jail and she agreed.”

“Psych eval? What does that mean? Kia’s not crazy, just forgetful!”

“Look, I’ve been thrown into the deep end here and I’m just trying to get you two through the day. Your wife needs help and this could be better in the long run. Forty-eight hours at Mercy General’s psych ward is what’s going to happen. That’ll buy you guys some time to get a real lawyer to work this all out.”

“One…two…three…” I looked at Shannon then back at her ex, whose name I couldn’t remember. He looked uncomfortable. “…four…five…six…” Was this really happening? How did this day go so terribly, terribly wrong?  “Can I see her?”

“Um…yeah, I think I can arrange that. Besides…” he stopped, looking over at Shannon in some silent exchange.

“What!” I demanded.

“Considering Kia’s condition, as her husband you have to commit her,” Shannon explained.

“What? I thought…you just said the judge ordered it!”

“Well, not exactly. Like I said, Shannon explained somethings to me and with so much going on, I brought up the possibility to the judge. She agreed, but it’s not an official order, she’s just giving us some latitude. I strongly suggest you take it.”

The walls were closing in on me, I needed to run, to get away from all of this, but that wasn’t an option right now. Massaging my temples in an attempt to alleviate the pressure in my head, I tried to make sense of the choice I was now faced with. My son had been taken from me and now they wanted me to send my wife away.

“I…I can’t.”

“Matt, I think you need to consider it,” Shannon urged. “She could be facing some serious charges with attempted kidnapping; this could help her in the long run.”

“I’m not a criminal attorney, but this could set the stage for an insanity defense. She might get off with no jail time if that’s the case.”

“She’s not insane!” I took in gulping breaths of air. “One, two, three…” I was tired of people calling her crazy or insane or whatever. “…four, five, six…” I heard it all in college, the people there were horrible. “…seven, eight, nine…” Then that guy when she tried to take his car and the woman today, all of them…now this man, this other stranger who didn’t know her. “…ten, eleven, twelve…”

“Matt!” Shannon quietly yelled. “You need to calm down. No one is calling her insane; we are just trying to help. She needs help.” She stressed the word needs and I could only nod.

I knew she was right, Kia needed help and I wasn’t able to give it to her. I’d been trying but now I feared I’d been doing her more harm than good by not pushing her to seek more treatment.

“Okay, okay…but I need to see her. I need to explain to her what’s going on.”

“She’s already been taken to Mercy General. They’re just waiting on you to get there,” he stopped to look at his watch. “And we need to be quick, the judge gave me a time limit on this and we only have thirty-minutes left.”

Riverview was bigger than Barnacle Bay, but still relatively small which was a good thing since it only took us about ten minutes to get to the hospital. The sliding glass doors opened with a soft swoosh, Shannon gave me a small reassuring smile. She’d kept apologizing and I was tired of hearing the words ‘I’m sorry’. I wanted someone to blame, her job was to keep this from happening, to keep watch over Kia when I couldn’t. I didn’t want her apology, I wanted her to have done her job, if she had I wouldn’t be walking into this cold, sterile building getting ready to do the one thing Kia begged me to never do.

Kia sat on the back row of the white, plastic chairs, her hands still cuffed. The officer stood guard beside her. She looked up at me; there was no recognition in her eyes. She looked scared and confused. One…two…three…I waited, hoping for some spark from her,…four…five…six…but there was none. She stared back at me before breaking eye contact to ask the officer when she’d get to go home. Her aunt would be worried. …seven…eight…nine…

“Sir.” I turned my attention away from Kia. The nurse stood, holding a clipboard out towards me. “I need you to fill out her intake paperwork please.”

My hands shook as I took the clipboard from her. My mouth was dry, I swallowed a few times trying to clear the lump that formed in my throat.

Shannon laid a hand on my arm. “Do you want me to explain things to her?”

I shook my head. “No, I…I need to be the one so she understands.”

She gave me another reassuring smile. “I understand. I’ll just go sit with her until you’re ready.”

“Thanks.” She gave me a pat on the shoulder before walking away.

Her ex excused himself, saying he needed to make some calls, before heading back out to the lobby. I wanted to blame Shannon, but it wasn’t her fault. Kia was getting worse, I knew it, but didn’t really want to admit it. From the beginning I didn’t fully understand the seriousness of what she’d told me, I didn’t want to understand. As I took a seat in the cold chair, staring down at the form in my hand, I knew I was just as much to blame for where things were now.

I tried to tune out the whispers coming from behind me. I didn’t want to acknowledge that in a few minutes I’d have to tell Kia I was having her temporarily committed. I tried to focus on the questions, but Kia started crying. One…two…three…this was for the best. Four…five…six…this could help her stay out of serious trouble. Seven…eight…nine…it would help us get Cameron back.

“Matt?” I turned back to look at Kia’s tearful face. “Are we here to get Cameron? Shannon, she said that I left him…but…but he was okay. He was taken to the hospital.”

…twelve...thirteen…fourteen… I let out a heavy sigh before getting up to hand the clipboard back to the nurse. She looked over all the information, before picking up the phone and letting whoever know on the other end that they had a new intake. …fifteen…sixteen…seventeen…

“Matt?” Kia was standing; the officer had removed her cuffs. Two orderlies entered the waiting area. “Matt!” Kia said again. I could hear the panic in her voice. …eighteen…nineteen…twenty…

“I’m sorry,” I croaked out. One of the orderlies stepped forward; I put my hand up to stop him.

“Wait, please.”

“Matt, what’s happening?”

“I’m sorry, Kia. It’s…it’s just two days.”

She started shaking her head. “No! No! You promised!” she yelled.

…twenty-five…twenty-six…twenty-seven…“I know Kia, but I don’t have a choice. You’re in trouble Kia, a lot of trouble. This…”

“This is you trying to get rid of me!” The orderlies moved forward. Kia ran to me, gripping onto my shirt. “Please don’t do this. Please! I love you; I want to stay with you. I’ll take my meds, whatever you want, just please don’t send me away!” she begged frantically.

…thirty-two…thirty-three…thirty-four… “I…I’m not sending you away. Kia, please understand this is to help you. To help us!”

“Liar!” she yelled. One of the orderlies grabbed her arms and tried to pull her away. “No!” she screamed fighting to get free.

The other one reached for her, I shoved him away. “Leave her alone!” I pushed the other guy that still had Kia’s arms.

“Matt, you have to let them take her,” Shannon pleaded.

“No! You said this was voluntary. I’m not doing this to her.”

The other orderly came back towards me. I turned and swung, my fist connected with his jaw. I was vaguely aware of the nurse calling for help. The officer came up behind me in an attempt to restrain me. I shrunk, reappearing beside the orderly that held Kia. She was screaming as I grabbed for her. Shannon was pleading for me to stop fighting them. I was supposed to protect her. That was my job to keep her safe. She was scared; I couldn’t send her to this place. I’d already lost my son today, I couldn’t lose her too. I couldn’t lose them both.

More people filled the waiting room, another person tried to grab me, again I shrunk, only this time when I reappeared there was an instant burning sensation that jolted through me. My body convulsed. I dropped to the ground.

“Daddy please don’t send me away!” Kia cried out only her voice sounded far away. “Don’t send me away!”

I tried to move, but my muscles ceased up. There was a pinch in my neck. “I’m sorry,” I whispered before everything went black.

**A/N**

Thanks goes out to Daijah for the use of Mercy General a build featured in her story Code Name Danger. Again this place requires some CC to have it look as it does (mostly). I did minor edits of this one room. PM me for the CC if you want/need it.