AJ sat at his computer in his office downstairs. Chelsea wasn’t up yet and he wasn’t about to wake her up. It had been a few days since she was in the hospital, since he found her running around upstairs in a panic but her memories many of them were still flooding back to her and last night for the first night in a while she had slept all the way through. He rolled the mouse arrow over a hotel name and clicked on it. AJ began reading what the hotels in New Zealand had to offer as he gently bit on his nail. The door bell to his house rung and it broke him from his thoughts. He stood up from the desk chair and walked out of the room turning left into the hallway, walking to the front door of their house. Looking out the peephole his heart fluttered a little bit when he saw the Detective in charge of Chelsea’s case standing on the other side.
“Hello” AJ said when he opened the door.
“Good Morning Mr. Mclean I hope I’m not disturbing you.” The man replied.
“No, it’s all good.” AJ replied as he opened the door wider. “Did ya wanna come in?”
“Thank you.” The man said with a light nod and then he stepped into AJ’s house.
“Did you want some coffee?” AJ asked as he walked the man down towards the living room.
“No thank you.” The Detective replied so AJ took him right into the living room instead of stopping off at the kitchen.
“So what’s up?” AJ asked as they both sat down on the couch.
“Since you told us what Chelsea had remembered we started looking into nurses and mid wives in the Minnesota area, we also looked at the hospitals in the area to see if any had taken in an abandoned baby around the time Nadia was born.” The man told him and AJ found himself holding his breath.
“God please let them have found something, something I can tell Chelsea to give her some kind of hope.” He thought to himself.
“Is Chelsea here?” The man asked.
“She’s sleeping, it seems she had a few memories come back and it’s been a rough week for her.” AJ told him.
“I see” The man nodded. “Well I do have good news.”
“You do?” AJ said relieved. “Is she alive?”
“Yes she’s alive.” The Detective replied. “We know that the woman Helen ended up taking her in, we’re not sure of the details yet because about a year after she was born the woman moved from Minnesota.” He told AJ as AJ listened intently. “We contacted her family and a lot of them didn’t know where she had gone too but a couple of them told us the last they heard she was living somewhere in Nevada.”
“Ok” AJ nodded not knowing where this was going.
“That’s why I’m down here, I’m meeting up with some other Detectives and we will be traveling there to start a search.” The Detective said.
“Do you have any ideas on which city they could be in?” AJ asked as his palms began getting sweaty.
“The most logic thing would be Vegas, it’s big, it’s crowded and jobs there are a dime a dozen.” The man replied. “But we will also check Reno and other smaller cities if nothing comes up in Las Vegas.”
“Vegas” AJ thought. How many times had he been in that city partying with friends, how many times did he walk by the lady named Helen, how many times did he see his daughter? He wondered.
“I-If you find her, what happens then?” AJ asked.
“Well we’ll need a DNA test done to confirm she is Nadia, that she is your daughter, and if everything comes back positive, she’s all yours.” The man said.
“What happens to her while we wait for the tests?” AJ asked.
“We’ll go to court and let a judge decide after he orders the blood test.” The Detective said.
“Court?” AJ said unsure he really wanted to go through all of that.
“This Helen person knew Chelsea was being held captive by her Father and she did nothing, she also took Chelsea’s daughter, your daughter, so she will be facing some major charges.” The man said as AJ slowly nodded. “I leave this afternoon and I will call in a couple of days to up date you whether we’ve found something or not.”
“Ok” AJ nodded. His heart now racing, his hands sweating, and he couldn’t hold back the smile on his face. Even though it was a small step they were getting closer and the Detectives confidence seem to boost his confidence too.
AJ walked the Detective out the door and closed it behind him. He leaned back against the door and took a deep breath as he closed his eyes. “We’re close, we’re close I can feel it.” He whispered.
He thought about going upstairs to wake her and tell her the good news but then something else came to mind. With a snap of his fingers he grabbed his keys and headed out the door. He drove down a few blocks to the local flower store and picked up a bouquet of Sierra Tiger Lilies and then headed home. It only took him a half hour or so by the time he waited for the woman to get the bouquet ready. He walked into the house and headed down the hall. Walking into the kitchen he made his way to a small cupboard off to the side and grabbed a vase, he then filled it a little with some water and then put the flowers into it. Carefully he made his way upstairs to their bedroom and smiled when he heard the shower going in the bathroom off of their bedroom. AJ walked into their room and set the flowers down on her dresser. He then crept his way over to the bathroom door, slowly opening it hoping he could surprise her. But to his shock the door would only open a crack. He pushed harder against it and it moved a little more.
He looked into the crack in the door and his eyes caught the mirror. “Jesus Fuck!” He shouted when he saw Chelsea on the floor of the bathroom. Pushing hard against the door as he wiggled his body through he was able to push her and the door back enough to get in. When he turned around he saw his wife on the floor wrapped in her housecoat, bleeding from her head.
“Chelsea?” He said in a panic and she didn’t respond. “Chels baby!” He shouted in panic. She didn’t move and he noticed how pale she looked. A whimper left his lips when he touched her face and felt her skin getting cold. His eyes filled with tears as he clumsily reached for his cell and dialed 9-1-1.
When the operator asked what his emergency was he blurted out. “My wife, my wife fell or something I don’t know she’s bleeding from the head, she’s very pale please I need help.” He cried into the phone.
“Is she breathing?” The woman asked on the other end.
AJ stared at Chelsea he stared at her lips and her chest. “I dunno.” He replied and the thought of her not breathing made him cry harder.
“Do you know how to check for her pulse?” She asked.
“Ye-yeah I think so.” AJ replied as he tried to shake off the numbing fog that was around him. He placed his first two fingers on the side of her neck and held his breath. He could feel right away that she had a heart beat but her heart was racing a mile a minute. “There’s a pulse but her heart is racing, Chels please be ok” He said into the phone.
“I need you to cover her head with something to try and stop the bleeding.” The woman told him.
Frantically AJ looked around and saw a towel hanging from the door. Grabbing it he ripped it from the back of the door and tried to bunch it up as he placed it under her head. “Where are you in you’re house?” The woman asked.
“Upstairs in the Master bedroom bathroom.” AJ replied as his eyes darted over his wife. He took her hand and kissed the back of it as he tried his hardest to keep himself together but every second was making it harder and harder. Then he heard the thumping of heavy footsteps running up the stairs.
“In here!” AJ yelled as he looked around the door. “They’re here, they’re here.” AJ told he operator quickly.
He stood up and stepped back as the two EMT’s came into the bathroom and began assessing Chelsea. The Operator said goodbye and AJ hung up the phone as he watched the scene in front of him.
“Sir?” One of the men said and AJ looked at him the numbing fog coming over him again. “Sir?”
“Yeah?” AJ replied trying to shake it off.
“What’s her name?” He asked.
“Chels-Chelsea.” AJ told him and then the man turned back towards his wife and started to call her name.
“We’ve got class three hemorrhaging.” The other EMT said. “I’m going to start running an IV here.”
“Class three?” AJ asked them but they didn’t answer. “What does that mean?”
“We need to get her to the hospital now or we’re going to lose her.” The first EMT said. “She’s bleeding out fast.”
“What!?” AJ said one of the men grabbed their radio and called down to someone to bring up the stretcher. “What, what’s going on?” AJ asked becoming more confused and more scared as the seconds went by.
“Stretchers on its way up let’s stabilize her neck.” The EMT said.
This was becoming all too much for AJ and he turned around. He needed a break, a quick break. Closing his eyes he ran his fingers through his hair and began to cry again. He felt the panic rise up in him, he didn’t know what to do, and he didn’t know what was going to happen. His chest began to tighten and he took a deep breath to try and stretch it out.
“Kevin” He exhaled. “Call Kevin.” He said as he fumbled with his phone trying to open it. When he turned back around he saw the EMT’s and a couple of Fire Fighters lifting Chelsea on a stretcher.
“Hey man what’s up?” Kevin said as he picked up the phone.
“K-Kevin.” AJ spoke into the phone.
“Alex what’s wrong?” Kevin said.
“Chelsea” Was all he could say as he started crying.
“Sir, are you coming with us?” The EMT asked and AJ nodded.
“Alex what’s wrong with Chelsea?” Kevin repeated again.
“Get to Brier on Oak” AJ said as he followed the men out of the bathroom. He closed the phone as Kevin shouted at him but he could only do one thing at time right now and right now it was all about Chelsea.
