Hey, you've reached Lia Mathers. I'm not here at the moment, please leave a message!

Duff groaned in frustration as he ended the fifth call that he had made to Lia's apartment. He finally reached Lia's apartment complex and stepped out of the car. Dialing Emily's number, he placed the phone to his ear to wait for an answer.

"Hello?" The voice on the other line said.

"Emily, it's Duff. Listen, Lia hasn't been answering my phone calls." Duff told her.

"Maybe you should go and check on her." Emily said to him.

Duff sighed. "I'm already there, but-" His pager suddenly went off. "Damn it... we have a case."

"What about Lia?" Emily asked.

"I don't know." Duff said. "Cheryl says that all of us have to get down there immediately."

Emily sighed in frustration. "Duff, we don't have time! Just call Lia one more time and tell her about Adam! She doesn't know yet."

"Okay." Duff said.


Lia lay on her bed, hardly able to move. Bruises and cuts covered her body, blood pouring down her arms and legs. Her clothes were off, now shred to pieces on the floor. Adam sat in her bathroom, cleaning her blood off of his hands.

God... Duff, where are you?

Lia heard a soft ringing and could tell that it was her phone.

Adam suddenly burst out of the bathroom, and walked over to her. "Lia, darling, how are you feeling?"

"Shut the hell up." Lia snarled at him.

Backhanding her in the face, she cried out in pain. "Look... I'm just trying to be nice to you. I swear, if you tell anyone about this, you will wish that you were never born. And who knows? That little boyfriend of yours may be a good target."

Lia's eyes widened in horror. "No, please! Don't hurt him. I'll do anything, just don't hurt him."

"That's your call, babe." He got up, and grabbed the knife from the coffee table, placing it in his jacket. "I'll be back, Lia. This was fun."


"Lia, it's Duff. Um, I don't know how to say this, but Adam... he's back." Duff sighed. "Just... call me as soon as you get this message, okay?" Duff hung up, sending the message to Lia's apartment.

He arrived at the office, and saw Emily and Matt standing in a room with Cheryl and Frank. "Hey... what did I miss?"

"Duff, what are you doing here?" Cheryl asked him.

"What do you mean? I got a page from you saying that you needed me for a negotiation." Duff said, confused.

Cheryl nodded. "You're not needed anymore. We can handle this on our own. I want you and Emily to go check on Lia, make sure that she's okay."

"You know?" Duff asked her.

She nodded once again. "We all know, Duff... and we know about Adam."

"Come on, Duff, let's go." Emily said, following Duff out of the office.


Lia still lay on her bed, in shock of what had happened to her. God, how the hell did I let him do this to me again?

Sitting up, she got out of bed, but stumbled a bit. Steadying herself, Lia slowly walked out of her bedroom and into the family room, but stopped dead in her tracks.

She held her hand to her head, and fell to the floor, her head banging against the hardwood tiles, drifting into unconsciousness.


Quickly driving over to Lia's apartment, Emily and Duff sat in silence. As they arrived in the parking lot, they both rushed into the building, with Emily flashing her badge to the doorman, allowing them through.

"Why did you do that?" Duff asked her.
"Because we don't have time to be asked all of these questions and wait... Lia could be in danger." Emily said to him.

Finally reaching Lia's apartment door, Emily knocked on it. "Lia, open up, its Emily and Duff!"

Receiving no answer, Duff tried. "Lia, baby, you there?"

"Something's wrong." Emily realized. "Kick the door open."

Duff nodded, and brought his foot up to the door, kicking it open with one swift kick. What was in front of their eyes would stay in their minds forever. Laying in front of them, was Lia's unconscious body.

Dark blue and purple bruises covered practically every inch of her body, along with bloody cuts that still had drips of blood seeping through. Her hair was sprawled out around her face, her arms overlapping each other.

"Oh god!" Emily gasped, and felt like she was about to throw up.

"Lia!" Duff was immediately by her side. He grabbed a blanket off of the couch right next to them, and wrapped her in it. "Call an ambulance, Emily. She's going to need to get to the hospital fast... who knows how much blood she's lost with all of these cuts."

Emily nodded and whipped out her cellphone.

"It's okay, baby." Duff whispered, stroking Lia's hair lighty. "Everything's going to be okay."


Sorry that I haven't updated in a while! And this is a short chapter, but I couldn't think of anything else. Please R&R!