Something to Prove by Guardian

Part Two

"I can't believe you're taking his side in this."
"Jess, it's not a case of taking sides," Mark explained, trying to calm his young friend down. He had taken the news that he was to be suspended very badly indeed. "But Eric Flynn is threatening to sue the hospital and we have to take that threat seriously."
"But it's all lies." Jesse gestured towards the papers that were now scattered on the table. "She's delusional. I didn't do any of those things."
"I know you didn't and the investigation will clear you."
"But there shouldn't even be an investigation." The distressed young man got up and began to pace. "Why can't you just believe me?"
"I do believe you," Mark tried to assure him. "But isn't it better that we get this cleared up internally, rather than let Flynn drag it through the courts?"
Jesse just shook his head, continuing to pace. He honestly couldn't understand why he was being put through this. Surely his word was good enough. But, obviously, it wasn't. Some people actually believed that he was capable of getting involved with a fourteen-year-old patient. It felt like betrayal.
"Jesse, please. Just go home," Mark tried to reason with him. "You're finished for the day anyway and I'll call you tomorrow to let you know what's happening."
"But what about my shift tomorrow?" Jesse's voice was plaintive.
"I'm sorry, Jesse."
The young doctor sighed, then ran his hands through his already unruly hair. The knowledge that this was really happening to him was just starting to sink in.
"I don't believe it," he whispered.
"Get some sleep," Mark advised him. "It's going to be okay."
"That's easy for you to say," Jesse snapped back, his disbelief being rapidly replaced by anger. "You're not the one who's just been suspended, because your colleagues are prepared to take the word of a schoolgirl above yours."
"Jesse..."
"Just forget it, Mark."
With that, Jesse stormed out of the lounge, slamming the door behind him.

*****

Jesse was still angry as he drove towards home that evening, his mood worsening the more he thought about what had happened. He simply couldn't accept that he had been suspended because of Melissa's lies. By the time he neared his apartment he was, quite simply, furious.
Coming to a sudden decision, he didn't park in his usual spot, but carried on driving, straight past the building. He was angry, he was upset and he needed a drink.
If he had been thinking more rationally, Jesse would have realised that alcohol was not going to solve his problems. If anything, it would only add to them, but the young doctor wasn't exactly in the most rational frame of mind.
Pulling up at the first bar he came to, he went inside and ordered a beer, followed by a whiskey chaser. Once that was gone, he ordered the same again.
What the Hell, he thought to himself as he downed the second whiskey. It's not like I've got to get up for work tomorrow.
So Jesse proceeded to drown his sorrows. He wasn't normally much of a drinker and the alcohol went straight to his head. He knew that he'd had too much when he got up to go to the bathroom and the room tilted alarmingly.
"Oops," he muttered, catching hold of the edge of the bar just in time to prevent himself from falling over. "Time to go home."
"I hope you're not planning on driving, sir," the bartender said, having overheard him.
Jesse squinted back at him, trying to work out which of the two barmen he could see had spoken.
"No, I only live a block away and it's a nice night for a walk."
He headed for the bathroom, bouncing off one of the walls on the way, then headed out through the back door. It had turned quite chilly while he'd been inside and he looked longingly towards his car. It would take him ten minutes to walk home.
"Oh, what?" Jesse looked accusingly up at the sky as the first drops of rain started to fall. "No. What else can go wrong?"

*****

"Jesse's not answering his phone, "Mark told Steve, a trace of concern in his voice. He was holding the phone to his ear, as he spoke. "He should be home by now."
"Maybe he's just gone off somewhere quiet, to think," his son answered. "You know what Jesse's like."
Mark nodded distractedly, but was obviously not convinced. He was worried about his young friend. Jesse had been so upset when he'd left that Mark had tried to call him the moment he'd had time to make it home. Since then, two hours had passed and there was still no answer to his repeated calls.
Eventually, after letting the phone ring almost two dozen times, he was forced to concede that there was going to be no response this time either and hung up.
"So what exactly do we know about Eric and Melissa Flynn?"
Steve had used his connections at work to run a background check on Jesse's accusers, but nothing useful had come from it
They had move to LA from Delaware just over a year ago. They had never been in trouble with the law and there didn't seem to be any hidden secrets in their past. Steve had also made enquiries with the police in their home town, but with the same fruitless results.
Mark's other concern was Melissa's bruises. Could they just be coincidental? A fall, an argument with some school-friends. Mark supposed that it was possible, but he seriously doubted it. Somebody had been hurting that little girl and they were still no closer to finding out who.
"Why don't we go home, dad?" Steve's voice cut through his musings. "You can try calling Jesse again later, when he's had time to calm down."

*****

Jesse slid behind the wheel of his car and carefully fastened his seatbelt. The rain was coming down in earnest and, his mind fogged by alcohol, had decided that he wasn't all that drunk and was, in fact, okay to drive.
He moved slowly and with exaggerated care. If he just took his time, he'd be fine. After all, it was only a few minutes drive to his apartment. The roads were quiet and he wouldn't have to worry about fetching his car in the morning.
Jesse successfully manoeuvred out of the car park and his confidence began to grow. He was a good driver at the best of times so, he figured, if he just did what he always did, then he'd be fine.
The problem was that his judgement wasn't exactly up to scratch. His vision kept blurring and the road kept splitting into two. It was becoming increasingly difficult to keep going in a straight line.
Jesse's solution to that was to simply slow down and not to try anything too complicated, like changing lanes. So he proceeded at a crawl, ignoring the other traffic and focussing only on getting home.
Just as he was nearing his goal, he heard a siren behind him. Glancing in the rear-view mirror, he saw flashing lights. Silently congratulating himself for being a conscientious driver, he carefully indicated and pulled over as far as he could, to make way for the emergency vehicle.
He misjudged the distance completely. The Mustang's front wheel rode up onto the kerb and Jesse managed to brake just in time to avoid colliding with a mail-box.
It was only then that he realised that no emergency vehicle had gone racing past him. The lights were still flashing in his mirrors and he saw, with horror, that a police car had pulled up behind him.
"Uh oh," he muttered.
Mark was going to kill him, he realised with sudden dismay. He was the subject of an internal investigation and the first thing he'd done was get himself arrested. He couldn't allow his mentor to find out about this, he would be furious.
More concerned about Mark's reaction than the consequences of his actions, Jesse pushed open the car door and stumbled out into the rain. Seeing a cop approaching him, with one hand on his gun, Jesse panicked completely and began to run.
He'd barely gone a dozen strides before he was tackled from behind and brought crashing down onto the sidewalk. A firm knee planted on his back prevented him from struggling, as his arms were pulled roughly behind him and then secured with handcuffs.

*****

"I don't believe it!" Steve crashed the telephone down, a look of absolute fury on his face.
"Whatever's the matter?" Mark asked, coming down the stairs in his dressing gown.
It was the early hours of the morning and the telephone had disturbed them both. Now, seeing the look on his son's face, Mark began to dread the answer to his question.
"Jesse's been arrested."
Those were the very last words that Mark had expected to hear and he sank down onto the couch, with a look of utter shock on his face.
"Apparently he decided to have a few beers when he left the hospital last night," Steve continued, still clearly angry. "And then he decided that he was okay to drive home."
"Oh no," Mark muttered.
"That's not the worst of it. When the police pulled him over, thankfully before he could hurt himself or anybody else, he tried to run away."
"I shouldn't have let him go off like that." Mark shook his head, wondering what he could have done to prevent it. "Is he alright?"
"He won't be when I get my hands on him."
Mark knew that his son's anger was only due to worry and he had to admit that he wouldn't have minding getting hold of Jesse himself at that moment. If Eric Flynn were to find out about this, then it could seriously harm the young man's defence.
"What are you going to do?" he asked.
"The guy on duty owes me a favour and he said, that if I get Jesse out before his shift ends, then he'll overlook it." Steve sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "But I must admit, the way I'm feeling right now, I'm tempted to just leave him there."
"Steve!"
"Just kidding." Steve hurriedly reassured him. "But before I go, I'm going to have a shower and then get some breakfast. Then I'll think about getting him out. It'll do him good to sweat for a couple of hours. It might give him time to think about what he's done."

*****

The custody officer at the station had told Steve that he finished work at seven in the morning. So it was exactly quarter to that hour when the detective turned up to see Jesse. A night in the cells might be just what the young doctor needed to bring him to his senses.
As the cell door swung open, he stood with his arms folded and a stern expression on his face.
Jesse was already awake and sitting on the edge of his bunk, his head in his hands and suffering from the mother of all hangovers. He glanced up when the door opened and a smile lit up his face when he saw his best friend standing there.
"Steve!" He started to get up, but then soon thought better of it as his pounding head threatened to explode. "Can I go home now?"
"Will you give me a minute?" Steve spoke to somebody who stood out of Jesse's line of sight, then stepped into the cell. His expression was murderous.
"I'm so..." the young doctor began.
"How could you be so stupid?"
Jesse's attempted apology was lost in the face of Steve's wrath. He cringed as he remembered Mark using those exact same words less than a day ago.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time," he mumbled, staring at the floor. Tears of shame stung at his eyes, but he refused to let them fall.
"Jesse, you don't even drink." Steve still wasn't finished. "And as for trying to drive home... You're a doctor for Christ's sake. Haven't you seen enough of the consequences of that kind of thing? You could have killed somebody."
"I know and I'm sorry." Jesse turned his anguished gaze back up towards his friend. "I don't know what else I can say."
"Well, I don't think 'sorry' is going to cut it. What if you were sitting there facing a vehicular manslaughter charge? It could easily have happened, Jesse. You know it could."
Those words finally forced home to the young doctor exactly what he had done. His memories of the night before were cloudy, at best. What if he had woken up to the news that he had killed someone, without having any memory of it? He pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes, trying to forcibly keep the tears at bay.
"I'm sorry," he whispered again.
Steve stared at the humble looking man, seated before him. At his unshaven face, his rumpled clothes and the abject misery that he wore around him like a cloak.
Then he remembered exactly what it was that had driven Jesse to this and decided that he had been punished enough.
"Alright, I'm taking you home," he said, biting back a smile at the relief that lit up his young friend's face. "Don't get too excited, Jess. You've still got to try and explain all of this to my dad."

*****

Jesse sat silently in the passenger seat of Steve's car throughout the journey to his apartment. He was mortified by what he had done and could only dread the prospect of having to face Mark.
Steve glanced at him occasionally, slightly unnerved by his usually verbose friend's prolonged silence. However, he didn't make any attempt to instigate a conversation. He wasn't quite ready to let Jesse off the hook just yet, but when they arrived at the doctor's home, he did feel the need to say something.
"I've got to go to work," he said, as Jesse opened the car door. "I'm trusting you to just go inside and stay there. Dad said he'd call around later."
Jesse merely nodded, too ashamed to even look the other man in the eye.
"And Jesse, please, don't let him down again."
Those parting words stung Jesse more than anything else that Steve had said and, worst of all, he knew that he was right. He had let Mark down in a big way. Mark Sloan, who had treated him more like a son than a colleague, who had stood by him no matter what, even when it seemed like the whole world was against him, who had always been there for him.
If it were possible, Jesse's shame deepened and he kept his head low as he made his way to his front door, not wanting anyone to see the tears that he could no longer prevent from falling.
Once inside, he leaned back against the door, taking deep breaths and trying to calm himself down. It would be hard enough to face Mark, without being an emotional wreck at the same time.
Jesse glanced down at himself and realised just what a state spending the night in a prison cell had left him in. He definitely needed a shower. Then once he had made himself at least a little more presentable, he sat on the couch and waited, with dread churning in his stomach, for Mark to call round.

*****

Mark hadn't intentionally left Jesse waiting for the entire day, before going to see him. But events at the hospital had made it impossible for him to get away.
That morning, when he'd learned of Jesse's arrest, he'd fully intended to go and give the young man a piece of his mind. Now he no longer had the heart to do that. Burdened down by the news he had received just that afternoon, Mark stood outside Jesse's front door for a long moment, before finally plucking up the courage to knock.
It was a very subdued young doctor who opened the door to him, having had all day to worry. Jesse kept his eyes downcast, as he stood back to allow his mentor entry, knowing that he was about to receive a lecture and knowing even more so that he thoroughly deserved it.
"Jesse..."
There was something in Mark's voice that caused Jesse to look up sharply. He had been expecting anger, but all he heard was compassion.
"I think we should sit down." Mark guided his young friend towards the couch.
"You know, when people say that, it's only ever bad news. Couldn't we stay standing?" Jesse joked feebly.
"Please, Jess."
Knowing that whatever Mark had to say was serious, Jesse sat down heavily. His heart began to race as he saw the desperate look in his friend's eyes and he knew that he hadn't come bearing good news.
"Mark, what's happened?" he asked, even though he wasn't at all sure that he wanted to know the answer.
"Flynn has moved fast," Mark sighed, forcing himself to meet Jesse's pleading gaze. "His lawyer got in touch with the hospital earlier today and made them an offer."
"What kind of offer?"
"Jesse, they are insisting that they're taking this to court, no matter what the outcome of our investigation." He sighed and ran one hand over his eyes. "But they also said that they would be prepared to settle out of court, provided that they received appropriate compensation."
"So it's all about money," Jesse murmured.
"Not quite, there was one other proviso. The Flynn's will drop the lawsuit against the hospital if they are offered enough money, but with the added condition that you are dismissed from Community General."

*****

Mark watched sadly as all of the colour drained from Jesse's face.
"No," the young man whispered. "They can't do that, can they? They can't just... fire me."
"No Jesse, they can't," Mark answered, forcefully. "I will fight them every step of the way on this."
"What do you mean, fight them? They haven't actually... agreed to the offer yet, have they?" Jesse was forcing himself to ask questions that he clearly dreaded the answers to.
"No, they haven't," Mark quickly assured him. "And they're not going to either. I swear to you, Jesse, I won't let them throw you to the wolves over this."
"But I didn't even do anything," the young man moaned, covering his face with his hands, seeming already resigned to losing his job.
"I know you didn't and don't worry, my friend, I intend to prove it."
"But how? It's only my word against hers and we've already seen who the Board are going to believe."
"Don't give up, Jesse." Mark laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "The Board are just panicking because they don't want the bad publicity. That's the only reason they'd even consider Flynn's offer. Now, I don't know exactly how much compensation is being discussed, but I do know that it will easily be five figures and I can't see the Board parting with that sort of money, not without exploring every other option available."
"How about the option that they just take my word for it?" Jesse snapped.
"Losing your temper isn't going to help matters one little bit. And neither," he added, remembering the original reason for his visit, "is getting drunk."
Jesse felt himself blush with embarrassment. He was already seriously regretting his actions of the previous night.
"It's okay, Jesse. I'm not going to lecture you," he said, taking pity on his young friend. "Besides, I'm sure that Steve has already had plenty to say on the matter."
Mark had to smile at Jesse's mute nod. He had seen the mood that Steve had been in that morning and hadn't envied it being Jesse who was on the receiving end of it.
"Seriously though," the older doctor went on. "You really do need to keep a clear head while we get to the bottom of this. The hospital Board are going to want to speak to you at some stage. Do you know what you're going to say to them?"
"What can I say, that I haven't already said? I didn't do anything, Mark, but I don't know how I can convince them of that."
"Think back, Jess," Mark prompted him. "All of the times that Melissa was at the hospital, did you ever say or do anything that might have caused her to develop this fixation with you?"
"I was kind to her, Mark. That's all."
"And you never said anything that she might have interpreted as meaning her feelings were reciprocated?"
"No!"
Jesse's denial was vehement, but his mind was racing. So we're still friends? He'd been concerned about that question when Melissa had asked it, but then had chosen to take the easy way out and just say yes. Now it wasn't looking quite so simple.
He remembered how Melissa had then kissed him and wondered what the hospital gossips were saying about that little episode. It was amazing that it hadn't got back to Mark already.
Well, it was bound to come out in the course of the investigation and Jesse decided that it was better to tell Mark himself, than to wait for Melissa's twisted version of events. With a sigh, he quietly confessed to what had happened in the hospital corridor.
"And you've only now thought that it was important enough to mention?" Mark couldn't hide his disbelief. "Is there anything else you want to tell me?"
The conversation only went downhill from there. Jesse was also forced to admit that, on Melissa's second visit, he had been alone whilst he treated her. It was just more ammunition for Eric Flynn to use.
When Mark left his Jesse's apartment later that evening, he no longer seemed quite so confident in his young friend's future.

*****

The next morning, Mark was in his office, trying to catch up on some of the paperwork that had piled up while he tried to deal with Jesse's crisis, when there was a light knock on the door. At Mark's bidding, the door opened and a young girl stepped in.
"Hi," she said. "I was looking for Jesse, but they told me to come and see you."
"Are you Melissa Flynn?" The doctor knew the answer to that question even as he asked it.
"Yeah!" The girl's face lit up. "Did Jess tell you about me?"
"Young lady." Mark took his glasses off and looked at her sternly. "With what you are putting my colleague through at the moment, I didn't need anyone to tell me about you."
"That's why I'm here," she answered, her face clouding over. "I want to apologise to him."
"Why don't you just dispense with the apology and start telling the truth?"
"Oh, Jesse told me all about you. You're his boss, aren't you? Well, of course he's not going to tell you about us."
"Miss Flynn..."
"So where is he?" she interrupted him. "I really need to see him."
"Miss Flynn," Mark continued, more loudly. "Doctor Travis isn't here and even if he were, I think you'd be the last person he'd want to see."
Melissa's face crumpled and, for a moment, Mark thought that she were about to burst into tears. Compassion won out as he realised that, whatever else might be happening, this girl still had some serious problems of her own. The still livid bruises on her face were testimony to that.
"Why don't you sit down?" he said, his tone softening. "Then you and I can have a little talk."
Melissa, making a visible effort to control herself, nodded and took the seat opposite the doctor.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you," Mark began. "But you've got Doctor Travis into an awful lot of trouble and I'm just trying to help him."
"I guess." Melissa looked far from convinced. "I didn't mean for this to happen."
Mark felt a brief surge of hope that, maybe, he was finally starting to get through to her. But her next words swiftly dashed that hope.
"My dad wasn't supposed to find my diary."
"Melissa, about your diary..."
"I hate it when he goes snooping like that, but when Becky told him about Jess, he just went ballistic! I mean, I guess I should have known. I really should have found a better hiding place."
"Melissa!" Mark had to raise his voice again, before she would finally shut up and let him get a word in. "Please, just listen to me for a moment. I've known Jesse for many years and he is a very good friend of mine. He is a very kind and caring person. I also know that, sometimes, he can do his job too well. That's all he was doing with you, Melissa. His job. He..."
"His job doesn't include taking me for a drive," Melissa reacted furiously. "His job doesn't include kissing me, does it?"
"But he didn't do those things, did he?" the doctor pressed on relentlessly. "At least not in the way that you say. He was just being kind, just trying to help you, like he would anybody else."
"No!" Melissa almost screamed.
Leaping to her feet, she yanked the door open, then paused on the threshold and turned back to him.
"You can't bully me!" she cried, in the same piercing tone. "And you can't threaten me!"
With that, she was gone and Mark could only stare at where she had been, completely dumbfounded by what had just happened. A moment later, he took off after her, but Melissa was running down the corridor towards the elevators, leaving a dozen astonished witnesses in her wake.

*****

"Mark, what was all that about?" Amanda asked, a short while later.
By sheer coincidence, she had been one of those people in the corridor when Melissa had made her dramatic exit. Now, she was seated in the chair that the girl had so recently vacated, looking at her old friend concernedly.
Mark was barely even aware of her presence. He was silently berating himself for not taking steps to prevent what had just happened. Only the previous evening, he had chided Jesse for spending time alone with Melissa and then he'd gone and done exactly the same thing.
There were no witnesses to their conversation, it was going to be a matter of taking one person's word over another's. Again.
"Mark?" Amanda prompted, as the silence stretched.
"That child..." Mark looked at her, anger at both himself and Melissa clearly evident in his usually benign features.
"She said something about you threatening her," Amanda said, though her tone suggested that she didn't believe it for a minute.
Mark suddenly and completely knew exactly how Jesse was feeling, facing up to a wild accusation, with only his word as his defence.
"I need to call Steve, something's seriously wrong here." the older doctor said. "Then I suppose I'd better call Jesse."
Amanda leaned forward and stopped his hand, even as he reached for the telephone.
"Don't you think that Jesse's got enough to worry about at the moment?" she asked him, gently. "He really doesn't need this on top of everything else."
"No, I suppose you're right." Mark sighed heavily. "But I am going to have to tell him eventually. Tell him that I've just made things about a thousand times worse."

*****

"But dad, I've already talked to the police in Delaware." Steve couldn't keep the frustration out of his voice. "They couldn't help us."
"Then you have to try again," Mark insisted.
The detective sighed heavily. It wasn't that he didn't want to help Jesse, that was at the top of his list of priorities, but he didn't see what good it would do to keep raking over old ground.
"Steve, there is something just not right about this whole situation," Mark continued into the ensuing silence. "Talk to the school, their neighbours, anyone who might have known them. I'm sure people will remember them, even if it is nearly two years since they moved here."
"Dad, it's going to be difficult to get that information. This isn't even an official investigation."
"I know, Steve, but you have to try." Mark injected urgency into his tone. He was convinced that the answers he craved lay in Melissa's past. "And hurry, son. We might be running out of time."
"Why, what's happened?" Steve demanded.
Mark went on to bring his son up to date on the latest developments, including Melissa's little 'performance' that morning. Steve frowned thoughtfully as he listened.
"You know, this is starting to look like one Hell of a scam," he said, when his dad had finished. "You think maybe they've done something like this before?"
"It wouldn't surprise me. It seems so easy to get compensation these days and for just about anything. I think you're right, Steve. I think that the Flynn's are just looking to make a fast buck."
"But if it's only about money, then why insist on Jesse being fired?" the detective wondered. "And where did Melissa's bruises come from?"
"I honestly don't know who's been hurting Melissa and that worries me more than anything else," Mark confessed. "As for wanting Jesse to be fired, well, I just think that they're trying to add credibility to their claim. If Jesse had really done what he's been accused of, then Eric Flynn would want to see him punished."
"Okay, dad, leave it with me. I'll make some calls, see what I can find out." Steve didn't sound overly optimistic.
"Please, Steve. I can't tell you how important this is. When the Board finds out about my meeting with Melissa, there's no telling what they'll do. I might find myself suspended right alongside Jesse."
"Surely they won't take her word over yours," his son protested.
"I never thought they'd take her word over Jesse's," Mark answered, sadly. "And look where that's got us."

*****

"Amanda!"
Jesse was genuinely surprised to see the young pathologist at his door. When he'd answered it, he'd fully expected to see Mark standing there.
"What? Has something happened?" He looked past her, out into the corridor, wondering why his mentor hadn't so much as been in touch with him that day.
"No, Jesse," Amanda smiled. "I just thought you might want some company."
Jesse scrubbed a hand over his unshaven face. Left alone all day, with nothing to do but contemplate his situation, Jesse had began to succumb to depression. He hadn't even dressed properly that morning, but simply dragged on some sweat-pants and a tee-shirt. His feet were bare.
Now, seeing Amanda, as elegant as ever, standing in his doorway, he realised what a state he must look. He stepped back to allow her entry anyway.
"Um, sorry," he mumbled, looking around at the habitual clutter that was his home. "I haven't, um..."
He trailed off. He had been about to say that he hadn't had time for a clean-up, but that would have been patently ridiculous. For the past two days, he'd had nothing but time.
"Jesse, this is me you're talking to," Amanda said, sympathetically. "You know you don't have to stand on ceremony. And you certainly don't have to apologise. You do have coffee though, don't you?"
"Oh, yeah, sure." In spite of her assurances, Jesse's tone was still apologetic.
Amanda sat and watched Jesse, as he busied himself in the kitchen. Seeing the lethargy in his movements and the slump to his shoulders, she knew that she had done the right thing by stopping Mark from telling him about the events of that morning. One more shock might just be one too many for her young colleague to take.

*****

"So, how are you holding up?" Amanda asked, as Jesse placed a drink in front of her. "Really?"
"Oh, you know me." Jesse attempted a laugh. "Making the most of my time off. I think I might even go..."
Amanda saw the breakdown coming a moment before it happened. Jesse's words trailed off on a sob of anguish and he covered his eyes with his hands, not wanting her to see his tears.
"Oh, Jesse."
Moving to sit on the arm of the chair he'd collapsed into, Amanda put her arm around his trembling shoulders.
"Why is this happening to me?" He looked up at her through red-rimmed eyes. "Amanda, what if Mark doesn't... can't..?"
"Don't even think that way," his friend scolded him gently. "Hey, he's even got Steve running around trying to sort this out. It's going to be fine, Jess."
Jesse bowed his head.
"I didn't mean to cause so much trouble for everyone," he murmured.
"Jesse, you're no trouble. None of this is your fault."
"Then why hasn't Mark so much as called?" the distraught young doctor protested. "I mean, something must be happening. Why won't he let me know what's going on? It's not... It's not bad news, is it?"
Amanda suddenly found that she could no longer meet his pleading gaze. She couldn't be the one to tell him about what had happened that morning, not when he was already so upset. But she couldn't blatantly lie to him either.
"Mark and Steve are doing everything that they can to get to the bottom of this," she said, evading his question. "And you trust them, don't you? It will be alright, Jesse. Hey, we've got out of worse trouble than this before."
Jesse nodded shakily, but still looked far from convinced. He leaned into her sisterly embrace.
"I can't go on like this, Amanda," he whispered. "I'm so scared."
"I know," Amanda soothed, pulling him even closer to her and gently rubbing his arm.
She didn't want to admit it, but she was seriously worried about her friend. His depression was deepening and now he was even beginning to blame himself for events that were totally beyond his control. Amanda was scared too, scared of what would happen to Jesse, if Mark couldn't find a way out of this mess.

*****

Amanda stayed with Jesse for as long as she possibly could, until her own duties as a mother forced her to leave. She had desperately wanted to stay, not liking the way that Jesse's mood continued to deteriorate, nor how nothing that she said could cheer him up.
She didn't think that it was a good idea for him to be left alone, but in the end, she'd had no choice. She hadn't wanted to call Mark, knowing the burden of guilt that he himself was carrying. How could he come and keep Jesse company, following the events of that morning? The only other option was Steve and he was working late.
So, she had just quietly left, promising herself that she would call back round on her way into work the next day.
Jesse was barely even aware of her exit. In fact, he'd barely heard a word that she'd said to him for the last hour that she'd been there. Something about her visit had bothered him and now he sat, chewing things over in his mind, and growing more and more concerned.
Everything had been fine until he had asked why Mark had not been in touch. Well, maybe not exactly fine, considering how he had broken down, but at least normal. But, after that, Amanda had been distinctly evasive. At one point, she had been completely unable to meet his eyes.
It just wasn't like Amanda to be anything less than completely honest with him. Unless, he thought to himself, with growing despondency. She doesn't believe me. Unless none of them do.
Unable to live with where that train of thought would take him, Jesse wandered into the bedroom and fell into bed, without even bothering to undress. His only intention was to hide from the world, until this whole, ugly matter was resolved. Whatever the outcome.

*****

The following day at work, Mark was the recipient of the most unexpected phone call. To begin with, he was only half-listening, as he tried to organise the scattered papers on his desk. He had a meeting with the Board that afternoon, one that he was totally unprepared for.
"Doctor Sloan, my name is Mick Donovan," the voice on the other end of the phone said.
"Hello, Mr. Donovan. What can I do for you?" Mark picked up one of the diary entries and scanned it again, looking for some discrepancy, anything that might help Jesse. But those entries were every bit as damning as when he'd read them the first time.
"I understand that you're having some problems with Eric Flynn and his daughter."
That got Mark's attention and he froze, his fingers tightening on the paper he still held. Up until that moment, he had been certain that the hospital had successfully kept the whole nasty business under wraps.
"How could you possibly know anything about that?" he demanded.
"I know that family very well," Donovan explained. "I used to be a teacher at Oakley High School."
Oakley. Mark recognised the name instantly. Steve had told him that the Flynn family had originated from a little town in Delaware, called Oakley.
"I see," he answered slowly, wondering where all this was leading.
"No, I don't think you do, doctor." Donovan continued, his voice growing more intense. "I was a teacher there right up until I was accused of having an affair with one of my pupils. Namely, Melissa Flynn."
"My God," Mark breathed, scarcely daring to believe what he was hearing. "So Steve was right, they have done this before."
"Yes, doctor, they most certainly have and it was at the expense of my career. I don't want to see it happen to anyone else."
Mark's mind was racing as he wondered how the Board would react to this latest piece of information. With any luck, Jesse could be back at work the next day. He needed to get every last detail, so that he could present a convincing argument to his superiors.
"How did you hear about this?" he wanted to know.
"One of my colleagues, sorry, my former colleagues, called me and said that there had been an LA detective on the phone, asking questions about Melissa." Donovan explained. "None of them ever believed that I was guilty of what I'd been accused of. Unfortunately, my bosses didn't see it that way."
Mark suppressed a sigh. It was all starting to sound horribly familiar.
"Anyway," the former teacher continued. "I just couldn't sleep last night. I knew that they were trying to do it again. I spoke to the police and they directed my call here."
"Mr. Donovan, you will never know how eternally grateful I am," Mark told him fervently. Then added, hardly daring to hope: "I don't suppose that Melissa kept a diary back then?"
"She most certainly did, detailing everything about our supposed relationship. She had one Hell of an imagination."
"So I've seen," Mark murmured. "I don't suppose there's any chance that you kept copies?"
"Yes, I did," Donovan answered and Mark could barely believe his luck. "I kept everything. I always thought that one day I might be able to clear my name but, if they'll be any good to you, you're welcome to them."
"Could you please courier them to me? At my expense, of course."
"I'll do better than that, Doctor Sloan. I'm already booked on the next available flight. I'll be in LA by morning."

*****

An hour later, Mark could still hardly believe what had happened. The Board had to start listening to Jesse now. The very fact that the Flynn's had done something like this before, had got away with it before, had to be enough to at least plant the seeds of doubt.
And Mick Donovan was on his way to LA. He wanted to confront the people who had destroyed his career. He'd also told Mark a little of what Melissa had put him through and his and Jesse's stories were remarkably similar. A simple act of kindness had led to her developing an obsession with him. He'd been afraid that she was being bullied and had tried to help her. A few days later, her father had produced the diary that had ended up costing him his job.
Mark tried not to sound too thrilled as he ended the conversation. After all, nobody had been there to help Mick Donovan and his career was still ruined. But nobody was going to be able to ignore the implications of his words, regarding Jesse. The similarity of events was just too massive to be even considered coincidental.
He tried calling Jesse, repeatedly, wanting to impart the good news, but without success. The phone just rang and rang. Mark remembered the last time that he'd been unable to get in touch with his young friend and sincerely hoped that he hadn't turned to alcohol again.
Needing to share the news with someone, he called Steve. He also wanted to let him know that his exhaustive phone calls of the previous day had borne some fruition.
Steve reacted with delight, then also helped to put his dad's mind at ease by promising to call round at Jesse's as soon as he could. And if the young man had decided to get drunk, well, Steve intended to turn it into a celebration.
Just as Mark was hanging up the phone, Amanda appeared at his door and he waved her in with a smile, eager to bring her up to date. He noticed that the young woman was looking decidedly worried, but then she hadn't heard the news that Jesse was, in all likelihood, in the clear.
He repeated everything that Donovan had told him, unable to hide his relief. When he had finished, Amanda smiled back at him, but the worry was still evident in her eyes.
"That's truly good news, Mark," she said. "It's just what Jesse needs. Have you told him yet?"
"I haven't been able to contact him, but Steve..." Mark paused as he saw tears fill his young colleague's eyes. "Honey, what's wrong?"
"I'm just so worried about him, Mark." The words came out in a rush. "When I saw him last night, he was so down. I couldn't get through to him at all. He was really depressed and I'm just so scared that he might have done something stupid."
"I'm sure Jesse wouldn't do anything of the sort," Mark tried to reassure her. "And anyway, Steve's going to call round later."
"But what if..." Amanda wasn't deliberately being pessimistic, but Mark hadn't seen Jesse the night before. She had. "Mark, I went round again this morning, but he wouldn't answer the door. I must have been knocking for ten minutes. And now he's not answering the phone..."
Mark looked at her, gravely. He saw her genuine fear and her worry began to transfer itself to him. He reached for the phone.
"I think I'll just call Steve again," he said, grimly. "See if he can get straight round to Jesse's place now."

*****

Jesse lay on his bed, long since having given up any attempt to sleep. His fears chased themselves round and round his head, not giving him a moment's respite and certainly not allowing him to rest.
They didn't believe him. The people that he cared about and trusted more than anything in the world, didn't believe him. It was the only explanation that his tortured mind could come up with. Why else would Mark have been avoiding him? Why else had Amanda been unable to meet his eyes?
He lay for hours, staring at nothing and trying to figure out what the Hell he was going to do. He'd heard Amanda's incessant knocking and, later, the persistent ringing of the telephone, but he ignored them. He couldn't face any more bad news.
Jesse had managed to convince himself that the next time he spoke to his colleagues, it would be to learn of his dismissal. Not knowing what was going on at the hospital, even as he lay there, he could see no hope in his situation.
He tried to imagine the words that Mark would use, the look on his face, as he fired him. Would he see regret, or pity? Or would it just be disdain? After all, if his mentor really did believe Melissa's word over his, then surely he would be glad to see the back of him.
Unable to stand the thought that his friendship with Mark, along with his career, had been destroyed, Jesse sat up. He didn't think he could ever face the older doctor again and certainly not just to have it confirmed that his life was effectively over.
Coming to a sudden decision, Jesse quickly dressed, then pulled an overnight bag out of his wardrobe. He didn't want to have to endure the pitying looks from his colleagues after his dismissal became common knowledge, didn't want to see the disappointment in Mark's eyes when he sacked him.
Well, he thought, as he stuffed a few essentials into the overnight bag, at least I can spare us both the embarrassment of that. He had tears in his eyes, as he continued to pack. I'll just quit, save him the trouble of having to fire me.
But Jesse also knew that he couldn't do that in person. He didn't want to see any of his friends ever again. Nor could he go without at least trying to explain why.
After a few minutes frantic searching, Jesse eventually found a notepad and pen. Sitting down at the kitchen table, he began to write.

*****

Steve didn't quite understand his dad's urgent insistency that he go to Jesse's straight away. Even though Mark had explained both his and Amanda's worries, he simply could not share them.
He had tried to argue that Jesse might simply have gone out. After all, he had been confined to that apartment for two whole days. He must have been climbing the walls with boredom.
But Mark had refused to be swayed. So Steve eventually capitulated to his dad's almost pleading request and headed off towards Jesse's.
When he arrived at the apartment, the first thing he saw was the young doctor himself and, as he felt relief flood through him, Steve realised that in spite of his protestations, he had been just as concerned as anyone.
Jesse was just getting into his convertible when Steve pulled up and his appearance brought a frown to the detective's face. The doctor seemed a little unsteady on his feet and his face was unnaturally pale. Steve felt a stab of fear. Surely his young friend wasn't about to get behind the wheel drunk again?
Steve got out of his car, knowing that he had to stop Jesse before he did something both dangerous and stupid. Even through his worry, he found himself smiling. He had the news that would make everything all right again.
"Jesse, my dad wants to..." His words trailed off and his smile faded, as Jesse completely ignored him.
Without saying a word, the doctor slid into his car and gunned the engine into life. An instant later he was accelerating away from him.
Steve stared after the retreating car in absolute disbelief. If his friend was drunk, then he was in serious trouble. Not only would Steve be unable to bail him out again, but he was also driving way too fast...
He wanted, needed, to go after the young doctor, to try and stop him before it was too late, but his feet seemed firmly cemented to the ground. As the car grew smaller in his vision, he noticed that the lights at the next intersection were turning to red.
That might have given Steve the chance to catch up with him, but he still couldn't move. He could only continue to watch in horror as Jesse's car showed no sign of slowing down. There was no tell-tale flare of the tail-lights, no sudden screech of brakes. The Mustang sped straight through the red light and into the path of intersecting traffic.

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