> "Okay," Alyssa agreed. It had been a nice comfortable bed. "No lights
> please," she said. The light from the window was hurting her eyes
something
> fierce and it was hard not to start crying again. She rubbed them gently
> then did something a little out of character with her, especially with
> strangers. She held her arms out to Derek.
>
>
> He picked her up and watched Alex go, only to adjust Alyssa in his arms so
> that she could lay her head down and, if she wanted, use his neck or
> shoulder to block out the light for now "All right, don't forget your
> friend."
>
> He couldn't remember the name of the doll but was used to Kat and Tuffy so
> knew of some level of importance a stuffed animal had with children their
> ages.
>
> Carefully, he left the office and headed up to his bedroom, making his
> movements slow as he pulled the comforter back and laid her down before
> covering her back up. Then he went over to the windows and drew the
shades.
> It wasn't night yet so there was the natural but soft refractional glow of
> light that snuck in through peeks, lighting the room enough to see what
was
> around but not enough to be bright.
>
> "I'm going to go check on the medicine," he said, walking over to her side
> of the bed and pointing to the phone there "If you should need anything,
> press that red button, all right? Just relax and get some sleep."
>
> He made sure she was tucked in well and quietly backed out of the room,
> closing the door in reference to the others in the house and the
possibility
> they might make noise or worse.
>
> What a day, he thought, heading toward the Control Room.
>
Alyssa took Ginny and held her closely as Derek carried her to his room.
She felt oddly safe in his arms, and she pressed her small face against his
neck as they moved through the halls. Once in bed she took in his
instructions about the phone and then rolled onto her side hugging her
rabbit tightly and resting her cheek against he fur. "I will," she
promised.
In the mean time, Alex had managed to find some medical records and she was
reading them with interest and disgust. Her mother had given her medicine
all right. Drugged her in fact, at least as far as Alex was concerned
that's what had been done. When Derek entered teh control room she looked
up, her anger clear in her eyes. "Valium," she said, "that woman had this
poor kid on Valium! She could possible be in withdrawal. They were small
doses, but according to these records the headaches have been occurring
frequently for the last three years."
Alex
