Rocked To The Core - 22. The New Job and Adam's Difficulties Adjusting

Sunday night, August 20

Aside from skin tone, Rosa Cruz looked a lot like Janice Bennett. Adam didn't seem to notice or didn't say anything about it at the party. His subconscious noticed and brought it to the surface shortly after bedtime. Jeremy and I went to bed a couple hours after Adam. We thought we heard crying coming from his room. After a few moments of listening at the door, we knocked. After getting no response for a few seconds, we knocked again. Once again, we waited a few seconds, then proceeded to enter his room. He was asleep, but quietly crying. It was apparently a very sad dream. We felt it best to not wake him but leaving him alone wasn't a good option. Since Jeremy works in the morning and I don't, we agreed that I would sleep with Adam. After bathroom activities, changing into sleep shorts and a t-shirt, and a healthy kiss goodnight, I retired to Adam's room. Best I could tell, he slept through the night, but I did hear him crying at least two more times.

Monday August 21

I got up with Jeremy to say goodbye, and then went to lie down with Adam again, having spent about half the night listening to him cry, I was still tired. It was about 9 AM when Adam started stirring.

"Uncle Derek?"

It took me a couple moments to come fully awake, initially not knowing exactly where I was. A few seconds later, I was awake and functional.

"Good morning, Adam."

"Why are you in my bed?"

He didn't ask with a tone of anger, so I knew he was just confused about the situation.

"You were crying last night when Jeremy and I went to bed. We felt that if you wake up from the dream that was making you cry, you might feel better if someone was here."

"I was crying?"

"Yes."

"I don't know why. I guess it may have been me missing my mom, brother and sisters, but I don't remember thinking about them."

"You may have been dreaming about them and that caused the tears. We don't always remember our dreams. If you don't remember, I'm not going to try to make you remember. I think what I'll do is make an appointment with a doctor so we can talk to him or her about how you, well, we, feel about your family dying. It's called grief counseling."

"Just talk? No needles?"

"No needles. You don't like getting sh... needles?"

I almost screwed up and said shots. That probably would not have been good.

"No. They hurt. If you promise there won't be needles, I'll go."

"I promise there won't be any needles the first time we go, but it's possible the doctor may use one later. I can't say for sure they will or won't."

"We can ask, right?"

"Yes, we can ask."

I googled local child psychologists, and found one that took Jeremy's medical insurance, not knowing what mine will be exactly until tomorrow. I was able to set up an appointment for Wednesday at 11. That should let me get enough sleep after work. We had breakfast, we read a little, played video games together, basically palled around most of the day.

The nursing supervisor, Andrea Gibson, called just after 4 PM. Obviously one of the first things after she started work today. I was to meet with her at 3:00 tomorrow. She would come in early to evaluate me, then I would go to HR to fill out the necessary forms. Since I was starting earlier, I'd be able to leave at midnight with the shift change. From Wednesday on, it would be seven to three, as discussed with Ms. White. It's still almost 24 hours away, but I'm already nervous. Mrs. Gibson sounded like a no-nonsense, give no quarter kind of person. I guess she had to be when people's lives are at stake, being stern with her employees thus being a necessity. I hope I don't screw up too badly.

I called my mom to make sure I could leave Adam with her for the roughly two hours until Jeremy got home from work. She could watch him. She's actually happy to. When I came out, she was a little upset about having to wait longer to get grandchildren, until Frank was older. We know how that turned out. OK, Adam wasn't technically her grandchild, but we were treating him like he was our son, so why shouldn't she think of him as a grandson?

Shifting gears.

Judge Ridge was also busy today. Mr. Astor called again with the details for the subpoenas. Leslie finished the subpoenas quickly and they were signed and messengered to the DA's office. Since Patrick was simply gathering the bank records, an ADA didn't accompany him to the banks, but he did meet later with ADA Milton, coincidentally. He was the one that worked Jeremy's fraud case. It was interesting that now, in a way, he'd be helping Derek and Jeremy. After that meeting, Patrick and Arthur Milton met with DA Spencer after reviewing the records. In addition to the 20 instances Patrick already found, there were eight similar cases where a lesser cash payment was used, $3000. Apparently, another way the culprits thought they were making it difficult to uncover. Each and every one of those 28 instances was followed by deposits of half of the money into Dawn Prescott's personal account, and the other half into Paul Morris' account. They collectively called Judge Ridge and gave her the news. ADA Milton would head to the courthouse with the arrest warrants so the judge could sign them. His next stop was the police station, where a patrolman and a detective were assigned to accompany him to make the arrests. At the same time this was happening, the county supervisor responsible for both the CPS and FCS was informed by the DA of the corruption in two of his offices. He would have to find two new directors.

Both Dawn Prescott and Paul Morris were surprised they were caught, having thought they'd done a good job hiding the embezzlements. Apparently, neither was the sharpest knife in the drawer. Twenty-eight counts would easily give them the maximum penalty for the amount that could be proven, $124,000. They were both looking at 30 years in jail, a $10,000 fine, and restitution payments. The last of which would likely never be complete restitution, them already having spent a portion of the money. DA Spencer was offering no plea bargains. If convicted, which was almost a foregone conclusion, they would both serve the maximum. Upon further investigation, another 6 instances were found where the amount taken was $2000 for each placement. A pair of geniuses they were not. While the rest of the employees at CPS were surprised at the arrest of their beloved leader, that's sarcasm, just in case you missed it, none of them was very broken up about it. Most of the talk was whether or not they'd get a better or worse boss. One of them was overheard to say they'd have to be awfully bad to be worse.

Tuesday August 22 - Back with Derek

No crying overnight. After dropping Adam off at my mom's, I headed to work. She had help, Frank and Rosa were there as well. Frank heard me ask mom about watching Adam and thought it would be a good time for Rosa to spend with them. If she ever did babysit, getting to know him better will make that easier. As Jeremy would find out a little before I came home from work, that was not advantageous at this point in time. Subconscious, meet conscious.

I got to work on time, went to the specified location and there was a woman sitting at a desk. She was probably a little older than my mom, maybe mid to upper 40's. She had black hair, and dark brown eyes. She stood up to shake my hand and I saw she was roughly a foot shorter than me, so around 5' 4." Slightly overweight, but far from fat. All in all, a fairly attractive middle-aged, black woman.

"You must be Derek. My, you're a long drink of water, and young. I'm Andrea Gibson. I usually let people call me Andrea, but you look young enough to be my grandson, if I was about ten or fifteen years older. If you're comfortable with it, you may call me Andrea. And, don't just stand there, take a seat. Do you need a water or anything?"

"No, thanks. I'm good, for now."

"OK. Even though you'll essentially be shadowing me tonight, I want to know a little about you before we go on duty. If it gets crazy, we won't have much opportunity to chat."

"Does it get crazy often?"

"Every night, but with varying levels of craziness. Pamela, Mrs. White, gave me a copy of your resume and job application. I know what your experience is, so tell me a little about yourself."

"Sure. I'll get the one thing that might cause a problem out of the way first, a lot of the rest is based on that."

"OK, but I'm not sure what you could tell me about yourself that would cause a problem, unless you lied about everything and are a nurse-killing maniac."

Not as stern as the impression as I got over the phone. Friendlier than I expected. She said that smiling.

"No, I don't kill them, just beat them senseless."

I said this with a smile on my face, so she'd know I wasn't serious.

"He has a sense of humor. That's good. You'll need that here. Without one, I guarantee you'd burn out quickly. Anyway, what's not quite as bad as beating little old ladies in nurse's uniforms?"

I chuckled.

"I'm gay. I have a husband and am guardian for my four, almost five-year-old cousin."

"Mrs. White told me you unintentionally informed her you were gay. That's not a problem for me. Is my being black a problem for you?"

"Not at all. Green and purple might have freaked me out though."

She chuckled. Then went back to being serious.

"How did you become guardian for your young cousin?"

"His mother was my mother's sister. She and her three other children were killed by her husband, who then shot himself. Adam's maternal grandparents had no interest in taking him in. My parents would have, but my mom has a bad back, so that wasn't ideal. I was the only one left, and since I saved his life, it seemed like a logical choice. The judge agreed. Jeremy, my husband, and I were given custody."

"I spend about half my time in the children's ward. If your cousin was here, I suspect I ran across him once or twice."

"He was. Adam Bennett. He was involved in that murder-suicide that was all over the news about a month and a half ago."

"Yes. I remember him. A very tragic story. How is he handling things?"

"So far, so good. He was crying in his sleep the other night, but so far that was the only thing I would consider even a little bit unusual. Time will tell, but that scared me, so we're going to a child psychologist on Wednesday."

"Very good thinking. You obviously know your limitations as a parent figure and aren't afraid to ask for help. From what I've seen so far, you seem to be a responsible young man. Why nursing?"

"Well, the almost three years I spent as an EMT fits my personality. I like to and want to help people. It just seemed like a logical step after I quit EMS. I also signed up for the nursing program at Chamberlain, thinking I'd work my way up. Mrs. White talked to me about the nurse-trainee program and offered me the job."

"Was the murder-suicide the reason you left?"

"Yes. I was on call that day; both our squads were dispatched since it was known there was the potential for numerous victims. I walked into the house and saw the carnage. I grabbed Adam when I saw he was still alive, tried to stop the bleeding. But I couldn't go back after that. I knew I would be seeing that scene any time there was something serious. I just couldn't face that anymore."

"You'll see your share of blood and guts here, why would it be different?"

"To be perfectly honest, I don't know that it will be. But I also won't be looking at five dead relatives covered in blood very often. I'm sure it being family contributed to my discomfort as well."

"Yes, we don't see the ones that are already dead. Most of who we see are anywhere between neurotic and perfectly healthy otherwise, to terminally ill. The latter will get you down."

"I suppose so. Thousands of other people can do it and stick with it. That's my inspiration to not give up."

"OK. Well, we'll continue to talk throughout the night, as duties allow. I think it's time to get you over to personnel. Do you remember where it was, or do you need a refresher?"

"I remember."

"Good. You take care of that, and I'll see if I can find a set of scrubs that will fit you. After that, we hit the ground running."

"Thanks, Andrea."

"You're welcome, Derek. I'll see you shortly. I'll either be in the children's ward or in the ambulatory patient's wing. Come and look for me when you get back."

"Will do."

I got everything signed, came back and found her in the ambulatory patient's wing. Over the course of the night, she showed me a lot of what they do. As a trainee, I won't be able to handle medication, give shots, or put in an IV, anything like that. But there's plenty I will be able to do. All pleasant things like gathering bedpans, emptying urine bottles, sponge cleaning all sorts of body types. Yippee. She introduced me to the rest of the 4 to 12 nursing staff. I think at least a couple of the younger female nurses wanted to get to know me better. That won't be happening, obviously. At least not the way they were apparently thinking. Although I'm not ready to tell everyone I'm gay, I'm not going to hide it.

Back on the home front, after a quick shower, Jeremy stopped at Derek’s parents’ house to pick up Adam. Derek's mom convinced him to stay for dinner. We'll finish out the night in Jeremy's mind.

"Thanks for the invite. I appreciate all you guys do for us. Feeding us is just a bonus."

"You're welcome anytime. You should know that by now. Why don't we make an agreement? If we watch Adam for a while, up until dinner time, you and/or Derek stay for dinner too."

"I know if I try to argue with you, ma, I'll end up losing, so OK."

"Smart boy. If the battle isn't worth fighting, surrender."

"Hehe. Good advice, pop."

We had a nice dinner, Mrs. A. made a pork roast, mashed potatoes and gravy, a salad, and we had ice cream for dessert. Adam was quiet. He stared at Rosa most of the time, I had to whisper to him at one point that is wasn't polite. On the way home, I asked him about it.

"Do you like Rosa, is that why you look at her all the time?"

"I guess I like her. I get confused. She looks like mom with a tan. Younger, but I can remember more about my mom when I look at her."

"OK, I understand that. Next time we see her, we'll tell her that. I think she was getting a little creeped out, so I asked you to stop."

"That would be good. I don't want her to go away because I stare her all the time."

"I don't think that would happen, but we may see her less if it makes her uncomfortable. Hopefully, if she knows why you like looking at her, it won't bother her. But if you're watching her, and she starts fidgeting, constantly looking away, anything that you think means she's uncomfortable, take a break and don't look at her for long periods for a while."

"OK. I'll try to remember that."

We got home, I got Adam ready for bed and tried to relax, watching some TV. Derek said he won't have to work as late tonight, so I'll see him before I go to sleep. That won't be the case most other nights. I guess things like that are some of the sacrifices parents make. The 11:00 news had just started when I hear Adam scream. I run to his room, frightened.

"Adam, I'm here. What's wrong? Bad dream?"

I held him, waiting for him to settle down enough to talk.

"Yeah."

"Do you remember it?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to tell me what it was about?"

"OK. I was looking at Rosa, and she turned into mommy. Then somehow we were in a car together. There was a loud bang and I saw mommy hit her head on the window. I woke up screaming after it exploded."

Derek had shared the gruesome details with me shortly after the shooting; venting, needing to get it out. Adam's mom was shot in the head. But from what Derek told me, Adam had been shot only after his younger brother and sister. Perhaps he was still conscious at the point his mom was killed.

"OK, honey. It was just a dream. That's not going to happen. Derek will be taking you to the doctor tomorrow, you have to tell her about your bad dreams. She'll probably give you some advice that will help them stop."

I'm sure it's a coincidence, but Adam cried in his sleep Sunday night, after seeing Rosa. Now again tonight, but the dream was worse.

"OK. Can you stay with me until I fall back to sleep? I'm really tired."

"Yes. I'll be right here until you're sleeping. And after that, I'll probably be in our bedroom with Uncle Derek. If you wake up again, even without a bad dream, and need to, you can come talk to us."

"OK. Goodnight again Uncle Jeremy."

"Goodnight, Adam."

It took about fifteen minutes before Adam stopped tossing and turning and was obviously asleep. I stayed a few more minutes, then got up carefully, so I wouldn't wake him. I cleaned up my drink and snack from the living room, turned off the TV and went into our bedroom. It wasn't long after I got dressed for bed before Derek got home about 11:45. I was still up, and he immediately knew something was wrong.

"You look, nervous, scared? What's up?"

"Adam had a bad dream and woke up screaming. No, it was a fucking terrible dream. It's a good thing you're taking him to see Doctor Wayne tomorrow."

"I assume since you said it was terrible, he told you."

"Yeah."

I repeated what Adam had told me and added my theory about the timing.

"It may just be a coincidence. He has seen and been with Rosa before then."

"I thought that too, but I told him to tell the doctor about his bad dreams. Derek, it was fucking scary hearing him scream like that. I'm surprised none of the neighbors complained. It was so hard trying not to let him know I was scared too."

"Well, like you said, at least we have the doctor's visit tomorrow, so the timing was about as good as it could be. You need to get some sleep, it's a long drive to your current job site. Let me wash up and change. I need to try to stay awake longer because I'll be working until 3 from now on. But I think you need some comforting too."

"Yeah. I hope this doesn't happen often. I'll be a wreck."

We soon found out how often it would happen.

Next Up - "Doctor Wayne and Jeremy's Distress"