========================================================================= Date: Sat, 13 Apr 1996 21:46:00 PDT Reply-To: Mike Goldman Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Mike Goldman Subject: "A Dangerous Game" (1/22) HL Story >"I need to know..." Joe sat at his desk staring at the phone and fuming. Where the hell was Rory? She'd left two nights ago to respond to a Challenge from an Immortal by the name of Nyko Kostorov and had not returned. He'd heard from his sources that she'd won, but she had yet to call or return home. Suddenly the phone rang and, in his hurry to pick it up, he knocked over a stack of paperwork. Cursing as it fell on the floor in a slow snowfall, he grabbed the receiver. "Yeah?" he said shortly. The caller on the other end responded. "Joe? This is Mike." Joe sat straight up in his chair. "Mike, what took you so long?" he snapped. There was silence on the other end. Joe wiped his face with his hand. "I'm sorry," he apologized, "I'm tired--I know you've been working as hard as you can." "It's OK, Joe," Mike said soothingly. "I know you've been worried." "Did you find out anything?" "Uh-huh." Mike was again silent for a moment and through the static on the line, Joe could hear him paging through his notes. "I managed to speak with Kostorov's Watcher--surly sort of guy by the way--and he verified that she *did* win." Joe let out a breath he was unaware he'd been holding. "Anyway," Mike went on, "he said that after the fight, she >wandered off looking a little 'out of it', as he put it." "Out of it?" "That's all he would tell me," Mike corroborated. "So, I did a little looking around and..." Joe mentally counted to ten. Well, five-and-a-half, really. "And what?" he tried to say patiently. "The cops picked her up and booked her for a 72 hour observation period in the psych ward." "Oh, no." Joe moaned. "Where?" Mike gave him the information, Joe thanked him and then concluded the conversation. Grabbing his keys off his desk, he got up and began to start towards the stairs. Just then the phone rang again. He halfway considered letting the machine do its job, but a second thought told him he'd better pick it up--just in case. "Joe's" he said. "Hey, Joe, you're going to scare off the customers with that friendly attitude of yours." Macleod. "Sorry, Mac." Boy, he seemed to be apologizing an awful lot this morning. "Mike just called and he found out where Rory is. I was just on my way out." "Where is she?" Duncan asked in concern. Joe relayed the information Mike had given him. "Do you want some company?" Mac asked when Joe was finished. "Sure." said Joe. "Be at your place in about 20 minutes." As he hung up the phone, Joe realized he already felt a little bit better. He knew his relationship with Rory caused Mac some difficulty, but he was happy to see that Mac didn't let that override his concern for his friends. He turned and was surprised to hear a crinkling sound. Looking down, he saw he was standing directly on top of the papers that had just fallen off his desk. "Oh, forget it." he mumbled and made his way downstairs and out of the club. Right on schedule he pulled up in front of the dojo and saw Mac was waiting outside. He jumped in the Forerunner as soon as Joe pulled to a stop. "You don't have to lock up?" Joe asked. "Richie's there," Macleod answered, "he'll take care of it." Joe nodded and swung back out into traffic. As Joe prepared to enter the freeway onramp, Macleod pointed straight ahead. "Go this way." "Why?" Joe wanted to know. "We have to get on the freeway to get to the psych hospital." "Yeah," Mac agreed, "but I called Anne--" "You did what?!" "I called Anne." Duncan patiently repeated. "I thought it might >be a good idea to have a doctor along to help us out." "She's an M.D., Macleod!" Joe sputtered in frustration. "Is she gonna be able to do anything in a *psychiatric* hospital?" "Psychiatrists are M.D.'s, too." Mac explained. "She'll be able to >pose as Rory's doctor." Joe muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like "This had better work", but changed lanes and headed towards the hospital. They pulled up in the visitor's parking and Anne waddled out to the Forerunner. Duncan got out of the car and opened the door for her, assisting her into the back seat. When everyone was settled and had their seatbelts on, Joe quickly headed for the nearest freeway on ramp. Anne settled herself in the back seat. "How are you, Joe?" she asked. "Fine." he said shortly. Then he caught himself. , he thought. He opened his mouth as Anne reached over the seat and patted him on the shoulder. "It's OK, Joe." He smiled at her in the rear view mirror. "How much longer you have to go?" "About 2 1/2 more months." she responded, "Seems like forever, though." Joe nodded politely, but both Duncan and Anne could tell his mind was on other things. By unspoken agreement, they kept the conversation light on the way to the hospital, not doing much more than comparing notes on the shortest way to get there. As they turned the corner, the large, gray building loomed before them. "Cheery looking place." Macleod commented as Joe pulled into a parking spot. "Let's just get her and get out of here." Joe said, opening his door and getting out. Mac and Anne got out as well. As they walked towards the building, Duncan put a hand on Joe's arm. "Why don't you let me handle this part?" Joe bristled a bit. "What? You afraid I'm going to mess up?" "No," Duncan said patiently, "I've just had a bit more practice at this." "At what? Being insane?" Joe regretted the words as soon as he said them. "Sorry, Mac. " , he thought disgustedly, . He shut his mouth and nodded his agreement. They walked inside and received directions to the floor containing the psych ward. They rode silently in an elevator for several floors, finally stopping somewhere near the top. The doors opened and they stepped out into the hallway just before the ward. Joe looked around at the peeling paint on the walls, the dingy windows, and the locked doors and his heart twisted at the thought of Rory being cooped up in here for even 12 hours. They walked up to the small desk in front of the ward doors. "Can I help you?" said the guard, a small, portly man with gimlet eyes. "We heard that my...sister might be here." Duncan said. "The admitting office said we could come up here and check." "Yeah, they just called." The guard heaved himself up out of his chair, jangling his key ring. "Who are these two?" he said, pointing to Joe and Anne. "That's my sister's doctor and that's, um, that's our uncle Joe." "Right." Joe agreed lamely. "I'm their...uncle." "Uh-huh." The guard looked the two of them over again, but proceeded to escort all of them onto the ward. Joe entered behind Mac, doing his level best not to reach out and strangle him. "Uncle?" he whispered, as they continued down the hall. "Well, what did you want me to say? Boyfriend?" Mac whispered back. Joe gave a small mirthless chuckle. "One of these days, Mac..." They stopped short of the nurses' station. Suddenly the guard >was standing in front of them again. "Hey," he said to Macleod, "if he's >your uncle, howcome he don't have an accent?" "Um," Duncan tried to think while Joe looked at him with raised eyebrows. "American branch of the family." The guard favored them with another long look, but let them go to the nurses' station. As they walked up, Joe commented, "And you're supposed to be *better* at this?" As they stepped up to the desk, the petite auburn-haired nurse asked, "Can I help you?" The three stood there dumbly for a moment, then Mac kicked Anne in the ankle. "Ouch!" The nurse looked at her, eybrows raised. "Baby kicked me." Anne explained with a weak grin. "Anyway, I was informed that one of my patients may have been brought here." "Name?" "Rory Malone." The nurse rolled her eyes to the ceiling. "Oh yeah, she's here." "When was she brought in?" "A couple of nights ago. Some cops picked her up downtown. She was confused and wandering around with a sword in her hand." "That would be mine." Macleod offered. The nurse stared at him with an expression that said maybe *he* should be taking up residence here as well. "I'm an antiques dealer," he explained, "she was picking up a buy for me." He smiled toothily. The nurse didn't smile back. "Look, Ms....Kwok." Anne said, surreptitiously glancing at the name badge and assuming her "doctor persona", "I'd like to see the chart on my patient and then I'd like to see my patient." "Can I see your identification first?" Ms. Kwok asked. Anne swallowed. She'd forgotten about this part. Hoping that the >nurse wouldn't remember her name later, she fished in her pocket and handed over her ID. The nurse took the ID, scrutinized it, then finally reached to her left and handed a shiny metal clipboard to Anne who took it and the two men further down the counter so they could converse semi-privately. "Let's see," she mused, perusing the few pieces of paper. "She was brought in two nights ago. Found wandering downtown after an electrical storm--" Duncan looked at Joe. "That would have been Kostorov's Quickening." Joe explained. "She beat Kostorov?" Duncan asked "Gentlemen--" Anne sing-songed. The two of them guiltily glanced back at her, then said it with one voice, "Sorry." Anne sighed, then continued to read the chart. "Uh-oh, this isn't good." "What?" Joe asked anxiously. "The notes say that she was violent when she was brought in and they tried to give her some Thorazine and it didn't work even though they dramatically increased the dosage. Then, yesterday, they tried ECT--electric shock therapy." Joe turned back to the nurse, incredulous. "You *electrocuted* her?" he nearly yelled. Reflexively, Duncan kicked him in the ankle and then it was Mac's turn to wince as he remembered Joe's ankles weren't made of flesh and bone. Anne stepped in. "Please excuse Mr. Dawson. He gets a little emotional over his...niece. Can we go see her, please?" "Why don't I take Mr. Dawson to see if he can find her in the common room?" the nurse suggested. "If you--" she continued, pointing to Macleod "--want the sword, you'll have to sign for it with the security guard." "Why don't you go with her, Joe?" Anne said to him quietly. "Duncan and I will be along in a moment." Joe nodded and followed the nurse down the hall. They had entered the common room and had traversed almost the entire area when Joe pointed with his cane. "There she is!" Rory was sitting in a wheelchair staring out the window, dressed in a hospital issue nightshirt and robe with her hair in a ponytail. She was apparently so engrossed in the piecemeal view that she didn't hear Joe approach her as the nurse stayed in the background. "Excuse me, ma'am?" Joe said, "Would you be interested in a trip out of here?" She looked up, startled. "Joseph!" she said warmly, grabbing his free hand. She looked over at the nurse, who was watching their reunion intently. "Get me *out* of here!" she hissed. "We're trying!" he whispered quickly, then raised his voice. "Your *brother* and I were worried about you." he said loudly. Rory looked at him blankly and then nodded slowly. "And Dad?" she asked, trying not to let her mouth quirk into a grin. "Now Rory, you know your father's been dead for years." Joe said carefully, stealing a glance at the nurse. "Don't you remember your *Uncle Joe*?" Rory's eyebrows shot up. Just then Anne and Macleod, holding the sword wrapped in a plastic trash bag, walked up to them. The nurse had moved slightly away, but was still watching the "reunion" with interest. "Look, O'Riordan," Mac greeted her heartily, "I've brought your *doctor*." He tipped his head slightly towards Anne. Rory's eyes narrowed at the use of her full name. ""One of these days, Macleod, your sense of humor is going to cost you your head!" It didn't sound like she was kidding. "OK you two, enough!" said Joe, "Rory, your 'cousin' and 'uncle' have come to take you home. Now, if you two can remain civil to each other, let's get out of here!" "Um, Joe," said Anne. "It's not going to be that easy." Both Rory and Joe looked at him. "What do you mean?" they said in tandem. "The admitting doctor has judged that Rory's a danger to herself and possibly to others. He also noted that the medication and ECT had a limited effect, if any. He's recommended an indefinite stay and the review board has agreed." "Look, *doctor*," Rory bit off. "Have you ever had shock therapy?" Anne shook her head. "Well, it's not a lot of fun. You have to get me out of here or I *will* go crazy!" Anne shrugged helplessly. "There's not a lot that I can do." Rory opened her mouth, but Joe cut her off with a small hand motion. "Is there someplace slightly more private we can discuss this?" Rory nodded. "They gave me a private room--wanted to make sure I >wouldn't 'hurt' anyone." "Let's go." They fell into place, Macleod pushing the wheelchair. The nurse confronted them on the way out. "Where do you think you're going?" Anne spoke up. "I wanted to talk to my patient about what happened and she got a bit agitated so I thought it would be better to discuss it privately in her room. "Alright." she stood aside. As they continued down the hall, she called after them that she would have someone bring a Thorazine dose for Rory, who groaned upon hearing this. Lori mgoldman@cts.com Bass Player/Musical Director for the SJD Kick-Ass House Band CFW/WAR Chief for Smokin' Joe Dawson in the first HL WAR