A/N: Facebook is irritating… if you don't have one, Bless your soul. Moving on:

I will not be getting into replies this chapter. I would like to just move along with the story if that's alright with all you darling readers? :)

~Chapter 8~

The rest of the week had passed in a blur.

Zander had continued to visit Stevie in the hospital—but by now she was back home—and although they had some moments where Stevie was her old self again, Zander calmly pulled her out of them. He was lying in bed in his apartment at four-thirty in the morning one day, when the phone rang.

He had figured that maybe it was a telemarketer, but even then, they didn't call at four-thirty in the morning. Zander tossed the thin bed sheet covering his waist, below, and made his way out to the kitchen where the phone sat on the counter.

He took the device off its charger and pressed "Answer" before putting it up to his ear.

"Hello?" he asked in a groggy tone. Sleep seemed to be escaping him tonight, even though he was completely exhausted. There was a long pause on the other end, like someone was hesitating. For a moment, Zander believed it to be some sort of prank.

He pulled the phone away from his ear and reached for the "End" button, but that's when someone spoke up.

"Zander, wait…" they said.

He couldn't respond for a moment as the initial shock was slowly wearing off. He breathed into the phone, "Stevie?—uh, Miss Baskara?"

"…I know it's early," she began, and then she laughed quietly, "really early, actually… I just—uh, can you please come pick me up? I would call my parents, but I don't want to go home right now."

Zander was completely in shock now—a million questions, one after the other, soared through his mind. He pushed them aside for a moment to say, "Uh, sure… where are you right now?"

"I'm outside your office building," Stevie replied, and it sounded like cars were passing, which was a bit unusual for this early in the morning. "I came to see if maybe you were here… I know the office stays open all night, but I… I need to talk… to someone. You're probably my best option," she said softly. She said what she had to so softly, that it was almost like she was surrendering. Like she didn't want to admit she needed his help, but realized that maybe it was for the best.

"Just stay where you are, don't talk to anyone, and I'll be there soon," Zander said, already in his room, pulling on his shoes and shirt. He didn't worry about coming dressed up all formally—as if he were going to work—he just pulled on what he needed and grabbed his keys.

He practically ran out to his car in the lot and started it up, pulling out onto the road to get Stevie. Zander, the whole drive there, was hoping she'd listened to his words and stayed put. She was stubborn, but she wouldn't be that stupid.

At least, he hoped she wouldn't be.

When he finally got to the office building, he looked around for her and he panicked slightly when he didn't see her. He pulled up a little closer and that's when he found her sitting on the bench beneath the dead street lamp.

Stevie was just watching as cars passed, and when Zander's car stopped in front of her, she looked a bit on-guard. She wasn't sure if this was Zander or someone looking for a stupid girl to prey on.

She stood up and walked to the car without getting too close, and as he rolled the passenger side window down, she sighed with relief. It wasn't some stranger offering a ride, it was Zander. He unlocked the door and she helped herself into the car.

When she shut the door behind her, Zander pulled a U-turn and said, "I can't take you anywhere else but your home, Stevie. Otherwise, I can probably be charged with kidnapping."

"I don't want to go home," she said abruptly, ignoring what he'd said.

"Stevie, I can't—"

"—Zander, just please… don't take me home right now, alright? Take me to your place," she interrupted, looking out her window. Something seemed to be bothering her greatly, and although Zander had thought about just taking her back to her house—not that he actually knew where she lived, as that information was kept locked away in the office building's file room—but he figured that if he needed her trust, she needed to believe she could give it.

"Alright, but I need to know why you don't want to go home," Zander said, keeping his eyes locked on the road. He vaguely began to wonder exactly how she got a hold of his number, but it didn't matter. She didn't seem to be afraid to call him if she needed it…

That was progress.

"Can we worry about that later?" she asked, her features softening a bit.

"If you tell me now, it'll be out of the way sooner," Zander replied, trying to convince her to talk. She sighed and looked out the windshield. Rain began to fall on the glass at random places, and her eyes watched the drops that slid down the window.

"It's not that there's anything really wrong…" she began, giving in much sooner than Zander had really expected her to. "I just… I need to talk to you… and I don't want to go home because I'm tired of being stuck there… my parents are so afraid to take me anywhere that isn't family…"

Zander took a quick glance over at her, and in the light coming from the streetlight, he could see she looked like she was having difficulty explaining herself. Was she afraid that Zander would be angry and bring her back home?

Of course not.

His only real worry was being accused of abduction.

"Stevie, relax," Zander said suddenly, chuckling quietly. She looked over at him, and as she observed the small smile tugging at the corner of his lips, she allowed her body to relax itself, and she sighed.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled, looking down at her hands in her lap.

"Don't be sorry, just relax," he smiled over at her briefly and continued to drive back to his apartment. He offered to turn the radio on, but Stevie politely declined.

"I'm sorry though, not for being so… tense, but for waking you up and asking you to come get me… maybe you should just bring me home," she said quickly, looking over at Zander.

He knew, just by the sound of her voice, that she was getting nervous. He didn't blame her—she wasn't completely cured, and going back to Zander's apartment meant, to her, that she was defying her captor. Zander slowed the car down and pulled over into the breakdown lane.

He stopped the car and then looked over at Stevie who was nervously biting her lower lip. "First of all, don't be sorry. I wasn't asleep, I couldn't sleep. Second, if that's what you really want, I will take you home. But by the sound of it, I can tell you really don't want to," he kept his eyes on hers the whole time he spoke—she kept her eyes averted.

"Third, you don't have to be scared of me, Stevie. I'm trying to help you. If we go back to my apartment, you will be okay. I promise that I won't pull anything on you… you're my client, not a one-night stand," he said calmly, glad when she finally met his eyes with hers.

Being parked under a dim streetlight, Zander could make out the color of her eyes. He'd never really noticed it before, but they were a sharp hazel. They gave off the illusion of innocence when really, her innocence had been taken from her so long ago.

It made his chest ache.

Someone so beautiful and innocent, she'd been through a lot and she couldn't even remember it. She was manipulated and fed stories that weren't true, but for the benefit of her selfish captor, they "were true".

Zander may have been staring at her eyes a little too long—and she may have stared at his a little too long too, but he'd made it his mission then, that he would make that poor excuse for a man pay for what he did to this girl.

He cleared his throat and said, "I know that you don't trust me… but it does mean a lot to me that you're willing to try to trust me."

Stevie nodded her head slowly and looked back down at her lap.

"I have…" she stopped, and closed her eyes. "I trust you somewhat… and I know these feelings…" she was having difficulty explaining herself again, but Zander sat patiently, letting her continue. "These feelings I have about you… or for you," Stevie bit her lip.

"I know it's completely wrong," she said softly, "But it means a lot to me, even if I was struggling to listen to anything you said at first… it means a lot to me that you're trying to help me… and in the short time we've come to know each other, these feelings… I didn't want to tell you. But they haven't gone away," she concludes.

Zander, wrapping his mind around this, sits quietly staring out the windshield. Stevie, his patient, was developing feelings for her, and although it was wrong… he couldn't help but feel relieved on the inside. He didn't want to use these feelings to his advantage, but maybe they'd allow her to open up more, and if she had feelings for him… did that mean she was losing her feelings for her captor?

"This is what you wouldn't tell me," he said putting the pieces together.

Stevie nodded, "I'm sorry…"

"Stop saying that, Stevie. You have nothing to be sorry for," he responded, starting the car up again. He pulled back into the lane and began driving back to his apartment again.

Stevie was silent for a minute before saying, "You're not going to say anything else?"

"I don't really know what to say," Zander replied, shrugging slightly. He'd never really been in this situation, and the emotional scar his ex-girlfriend had left was buzzing in the back of his mind. "I care about you greatly, Stevie. More than I should… but there's a lot of things that just…"

He couldn't put it into words, really. So many factors were running through Zander's mind of why any form of relationship between the two of them that wasn't strictly business was completely wrong.

"I understand…" Stevie mumbled, embarrassed. She knew nothing would come out of her confession—she wasn't hoping for anything to come out of it… but oddly, getting it off her chest felt good. Zander wasn't technically rejecting her, he was just simply as lost as she was.

"Do you still want to go back to my apartment, or would you like to go home?" Zander asked, not really caring that he was already ten minutes from his apartment. Stevie's wants and needs were above his own at the moment.

He felt a bit elated though that she'd come to Zander about something like this. Something so nerve-wracking and personal, but it just showed that she was willing to trust him.

"Stevie?" he asked after a minute or two of no response from the girl.

She didn't reply again though and Zander glanced over at her to make sure she was alright. She'd fallen asleep in the passenger's seat. He continued driving until the lot came into sight. He pulled in and then shut the car off.

He wondered if maybe he should just bring Stevie back home, but sleep was beginning to take over, and the last he wanted to do was drive anymore tonight—he didn't want to be the reason they both wound up pretzeled around a street pole.

Zander got out of the car and then went around to Stevie's side and carefully scooped her up into his arms without waking her. He shut the car door and then made his way into his apartment. He immediately brought Stevie to his room and laid her down on the bed, pulling the covers over her.

He hadn't slept on his couch in a long while—not since he and his ex-girlfriend began arguing and eventually split up. He grabbed a pillow from his bed—one that Stevie wasn't sleeping on—and a blanket, and then went out to the couch.

Before laying down, he realized it was about five-forty-five and decided it was probably safe to leave her parents a phone call, so they wouldn't worry. When he'd made the call, he put the phone back on its charger and then settled onto the couch under the blanket.

Though it wasn't as comfortable as his bed, he was too tired to care. Sleep came quickly.

A/N: Sooo… not much to say about that, I guess haha. Thoughts? :)