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Crisis & Catharsis -- Part XIII As Nora asked her question, the door swung open. "I'd like to know the answer to that myself," Bo said as he walked into the room.   Michael turned to Bo. "Commissioner, if you don't mind, I'm with my patient."   Bo looked at Nora. "I have an idea of what's going on here. I'd like to stay while Michael talks to you."   Nora looked at both of them. "As long as I get some answers, I don't care who's here. What the hell is going on?"   Michael addressed Bo. "I don't need my patient getting agitated. Can you please leave and we'll discuss this later?"   Bo shook his head. "I'm not going anywhere. I spoke to John at the station this morning. He showed me what you found. Why didn't you tell me that Nora was the patient you asked me to help you with?"   Michael gave Bo a challenging look. "When Nora was in here last week, she made it clear you were not to be privy to her medical situation. That was my most important consideration."   Nora waved her hand. "Hello! I'm still in the room. What are you two talking about? Is this what that little conversation was about the other day at my house?"   Michael turned to address Nora. "Yes, I asked Bo to help me with your diagnosis, but I did NOT tell him that you were the patient he was helping with."   Nora nodded. "I appreciate that but right now, I think it will save time if you just fill me and Bo in about the results from the food Rex took out of my house last night."   Michael took a deep breath. "If that's what you want."   Nora looked at Bo. "It is. Bo and I have called a truce and I want him to know what's going on so he can help Matthew."   "And you," Bo added.   Nora smiled. "Right. So, Michael let's have it. What is it that I'm eating that is causing me to faint?"   Michael looked at Bo. "Before we get into the whys and hows of Nora's condition, I need to get her started on decontamination. I know you are both anxious for answers but right now, it's more important to me that we get started on flushing this from her system before we concentrate on figuring out how it got in there, okay?"   Bo nodded. "That's fine with me, Michael."   Nora looked at him suspiciously. "You know something about this don't you, Bo?"   Bo avoided her eyes as she watched him. The door opened and the nurse walked in with Nora's medication. Michael looked at Bo. "Let me get Nora situated and then we'll discuss what's happening, okay?"   Bo looked at Nora before nodding. "I'll be outside."   Bo reached over and squeezed Nora's hand before leaving the room. Michael turned to Nora. "You ready to get started?" Nora nodded. "Let's get this show on the road then."   Bo stood outside the entryway to the ER and pulled out his cell phone. He punched in a number and waited for an answer. "Matthew, it's dad."   "Dad!" Matthew yelled into the phone. "Mom went back to the hospital. Rachel is on her way. I was supposed to go to Stevie's but MaryAnn came to stay with me. But I want to see mom too."   Bo smiled into the phone. "Take a breath, buddy. I'm at the hospital too. Mom is with Michael right now. He knows why mom has been sick."   "He does!" Matthew yelled again.   Bo held the phone away from his ear, chuckling. "Yeah, buddy, he does. You can calm down. He's getting her treatment started right now. I will go in and talk to him and find out how long mom has to stay and then I'll call you back. You hang out with MaryAnn for now and I'll call you as soon as I know anything and I'll come get you to see your mom. Deal?"   Matthew nodded on his end. "Deal, dad. Tell mom I love her."   Bo smiled. "She knows that, Matthew. But I'll tell her. Be good and I'll talk to you soon."   Bo snapped the phone shut. He turned when he heard his name being called. Rachel rushed up to him. "Where is my mother?"   Bo nodded toward the ER. "She's in there. Dr. McBain is starting her on treatment. It appears your mother has been poisoned."   "Poison?" Bo nodded. "How did my mother get poison in her system? What are they doing to her?"   Bo held up his hands. "Slow down, Rachel. I don't have all the answers yet. Michael is starting her treatment right now. He asked me to wait outside. I was just talking to Matthew to let him know everything is all right." He put his arm around Rachel. "Let's go inside. I'll buy you a cup of coffee and we'll wait together."   Rachel shook away from him. "I need to see my mom NOW!"   Bo nodded to her back as she marched into the ER. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed again. "John, it's Bo. It looks like I'm going to be tied up here for a while. Michael just started Nora on her treatment and I want to hang around to see how it goes. I want you to send an officer over to my building. I'll call the Super to let him in. I have some of those cookies in my kitchen. I want them tested too. Also, have him take samples of any ingredients he finds in the cupboards, see if we can trace where the poison came from that ended up in the cookies."   John nodded on his end. "That's a good idea. I'll send Jenkins over there right away."   "Has Paige said anything yet?"   John put his hand on his hip, shaking his head. "No, I haven't gone at her yet. I put her in holding and Truman in the interrogation room. They're cooling their heels. I'd rather you were here when we question them. I want it done by the book. The Mayor is gonna have a stroke when he finds out we have the Chief of Staff of the hospital and a world-renowned surgeon being held for questioning. I'd rather you take the heat. You sure know when to take a leave of absence, don't you?"   Bo chuckled. "If Michael has figured out what's wrong with Nora, I may be back before you know it."   John nodded. "That would be welcome, Boss."   "I gotta run. I'll call the Super and then I'm going to talk to Michael and Nora. I'll be in as soon as I know what's going on."   "Good luck, Boss."   Bo called his building Super and made arrangements for his officer to be let into the garret. He headed back into the ER where he found Rachel standing outside Nora's room. Bo walked up to her. "Has Michael come out yet?"   Rachel shook her head, turning to face Bo. "He said he would be out as soon as he gets mom settled and the drugs start to work."   Bo nodded. "I'm so glad they've finally figured out what's wrong with her."   Rachel looked at him strangely. "What aren't you telling me, Bo?"   Bo shook his head. "I'm waiting for news just like you are."   "I know you better than that, Bo. You know something about why mom is sick. Out with it."   Bo took a deep breath, looking around. "I know that Dr. McBain tested the food Rex took from Nora's last night."   Rachel nodded. "I know that too. What I don't know is where he found the poison." Bo looked away. "But you do, don't you?"   Bo nodded, avoiding her eyes. Rachel moved into his line of vision. "Where did it come from, Bo?"   Bo was about to answer when the door to the exam room opened and Michael motioned them in. Rachel let Bo off the hook and rushed into the room. Bo sighed and followed her.   Nora was propped up in the bed with an IV running into her arm. She smiled as Rachel entered the room. "It's so good to see you. Looks like I'm on the road to recovery."   Bo smiled at her as Rachel wrapped her in a hug. "That's great news, Nora."   Nora looked at him softly. "Thanks, Bo. And thanks for helping Michael figure this out."   Bo shook his head. "I didn't do anything."   Nora watched him closely. "You know something about this, don't you?"   Rachel turned and faced Bo. "I was just asking him about that when Michael called us in. Now that we're all here, let's have it."   Bo cleared his throat, glancing at Nora before addressing Michael. "Dr. McBain, why don't you tell us what you know."   Michael nodded, opening Nora's file. "Are you okay with this?"   Nora nodded. "Definitely. I want this out in the open. Bo needs to know what's going on. "   Michael closed the file, addressing all of them. "Okay, here's what I know. When Nora came in last week, I noticed something off about her blood tests but I wasn't certain. I wanted to retest and Dr. Miller denied my request." He paused and glanced at Bo. "I got permission from Nora to draw additional blood and ran the tests with the help of a buddy in the lab. I found that Nora had trace amounts of Hemlock in her blood. I asked Nora if she had been hiking or spent any time outdoors where she may have come in contact with the plant naturally."   "My mom doesn't get outdoors much," Rachel chimed in.   "Right, so that left a possibility of the poison entering her system through something she was eating. I asked Bo for help but because of your, shall we say, less than cordial relationship, I thought it best for Bo to believe he was helping with an anonymous patient." Michael watched as Bo looked at the floor, not meeting his eyes. "So, Bo asked Rex to help me and I sent him to Nora's house last night to get samples out of her yard and her kitchen."   Nora looked at Bo. "When Rex came by last night after you left, he told me that you didn't know I was the patient you were helping Michael with. I was going to call you this morning but Michael called me and asked me to come here first thing."   Bo nodded, taking a deep breath. "I can add to this story. John called me into the station this morning. I know that the cause of the poisoning was the cookies."   Nora looked at him carefully. "Cookies? Paige's cookies?"   Bo was unable to meet her gaze. "Yes, the cookies Paige has been making for you."   Rachel exploded. "Your girlfriend has been poisoning my mother?"   Nora held Rachel's arm. "But I've been eating them for months. And Matthew has had access to them. Why didn't he get sick?"   Bo shook his head. "I don't have an answer to that. I've been eating them too at the garret. John has Paige in custody right now. I wanted to make sure you were all right before I go and question her."   Nora looked to Michael. "Do you know why I would get sick but not anyone else eating the cookies?"   Michael shook his head. "I have a theory. Maybe you got sick because you've been under a lot of stress lately and not eating properly, your immune system is probably compromised. Perhaps Matthew and Bo had built an immunity to it or they didn't eat as many of the cookies as you did."   "Or the cookies that Bo and Matthew were eating weren't poisoned?" Nora asked quietly.   Michael nodded. "That's possible. The amount of toxin in the cookies was trace. I suspect your condition was caused by continuous exposure rather than a large dose."   Rachel stared at him angrily. "That's the best you can do?"   "Let's just focus on the fact that Michael knows what's wrong and he's fixing it," Nora said quietly. "We have plenty of time to deal with the ramifications later."   Rachel turned to Bo. "And your new squeeze is the reason my mother is in the hospital! Boy you sure know how to pick 'em! You have been ranting at mom for months because of Daniel. Your superior attitude must feel pretty good right now, I'll bet."   Bo shook his head. "I'm sorry, Rachel. I had no idea Paige would have any reason to harm Nora. This is totally out of left field. But I will get to the bottom of it."   "Well, you won't be coming near mom or Matthew any time soon," Rachel snapped.   Nora tried to calm her daughter. "Rachel, please…"   Rachel cut her off. "Don't you dare defend him, mom. After the way he's treated you and the way he has plotted to get Matthew to like Paige. How do you think it's gonna make him feel when he finds out the woman his dad has been trying so desperately for him to bond with is trying kill his mother and take her place!"   Nora sat back and closed her eyes. "Rachel, there will be a time to discuss this. I can't handle this right now."   Michael moved to Nora's side. "She's right. Let the treatments work. I need to ask all of you to leave so Nora can rest."   Rachel stood her ground. "I'm not going anywhere."   Michael nodded resignedly. "Okay, but no more discussion of how the poisoning happened. She needs to rest and let's just concentrate on getting it out of her system, deal?" Rachel nodded. "Thank you. And Bo, I think we should limit it to one visitor at a time."   Bo looked at Nora, who was still lying back with her eyes closed. "No problem, Michael. I need to get to the station anyway and start getting the answers Nora needs." He moved to the bedside and gently took Nora's hand. She opened her eyes as he leaned closer to whisper to her. "I'll have MaryAnn bring Matthew by to see you. He's been waiting at home to hear from me. You rest and we'll talk about all of this when I have more information and you feel a little better."   Nora nodded slowly. "Thanks, Bo."   He squeezed her hand gently. "Take care of yourself. I'll be back soon."   Bo moved away from the bed and quietly left the room. Michael followed. Bo turned to him when they were in the hallway and the door was closed behind them. "What's the prognosis, Dr. McBain?" Michael frowned at him. "Okay, I know you can't tell me about her condition but I do have a right to know about the poison since this is now a police matter. I do need a statement."   Michael nodded toward an empty exam room. "Let's go in here and talk." Bo followed him and Michael closed the door, turning to Bo. "You pretty much know the story already, Bo. I was suspicious about Nora's blood work last week and wanted to explore it further but Dr. Miller denied my request."   "Why?" Bo interrupted.   Michael shrugged. "She said it was unnecessary and released Nora. I guess we know now why she wasn't anxious for me to dig deeper."   Bo nodded. "Yeah. Lucky for Nora you persisted. Thank you."   Michael smiled. "It's my job, Bo."   "And now it's my turn to do my job." Bo said, looking away.   Michael nodded slowly. "Not much fun is it? Finding out it's the cookies your girlfriend was baking that made Nora sick."   Bo shook his head. "Not fun at all. Do you have any explanation as to why Matthew and I wouldn't be sick when we were exposed to the same cookies?"   Michael shook his head. "I wish I did. I need more information. I think we should get blood from you and Matthew to see if there is any evidence of contamination."   Bo nodded. "I think that's a good idea. There are some cookies at my house too. I'm having those tested and I hope it will shed some light on this."   "Me too," Michael said. "If you need any further information from me, give me a call. In the meantime, I'll treat Nora and wait to hear what you find out on your end."   Bo looked at him carefully. "Can you at least tell me if Nora is going to be all right?"   Michael nodded slowly. "Yes, she is. Now that we know what is causing the trouble, she should recover with no side effects."   Bo extended his hand. "Thank you, Dr. McBain. I appreciate you going the extra mile for Nora. Matthew needs his mother."   Michael smiled as he shook Bo's hand. "I don't think he's the only one who needs her."   Bo grinned as he turned and left the room.   TBC