I watched as Susan suddenly bolted up from the gurney, she had no idea that Sean and Kerry were in the room, Kerry attempting to stop my husbands bleeding nose.

"What the hell happened to you?" Susan spoke seeing Sean.

"He and Pratt had a bit of a disagreement," Kerry said, irritated.

"Do I even want to know why?" she asked and looked at her watch, it was nearly one o'clock, they would have to pick up the boys soon.

"Not really."

Susan nodded, but I could tell she was pissed at Sean, hell I was to! He was acting like an ass in the ER. "Did you see what you wanted to Agent Jennings?"

"No. I was obstructed."

Susan stared at him, I knew that glare, it meant someone was in trouble, ha, Sean this time its you.

"By what?"

"I think you know Dr. Lewis,"

"No, actually I don't, why don't you inform me,"

"Ryan."

"Your rank.." Susan began, did she know that Sean had been pulled? It sure as hell didn't seem that way.

"Just shut up Susan," he growled. Behave, both of you. I was wanting to throw something at the both of them, knock some sense into at least one of them, but that would be impossible. Kerry, you know how it works, do something!

"Do I need to separate you two, or do you think you can behave like civilized adults?" she sounded like she was scolding Henry for picking on Cosmo.

"What the hell is your problem Sean? I'm sorry Abby died, I'm sorry I couldn't do anything for her," she looked like she was on the verge of tears.

Kerry took a deep breath, then turned back to Sean, "It's not a displaced fracture, you won't need any intervention, just keep pressure on the bridge until the bleeding stops and tilt your head forward so you don't suffocate," she walked over to Susan.

"What?" Susan said, staring at Kerry. I think her nightmare must have really rattled her.

"You holding up?" Kerry asked quietly, "I can cover if you want to leave."

"I'm fine," her voice cracked and even though she tried to hide it, Kerry didn't miss it.

"Get out of here, your shift's almost over anyhow."

"I can't, I still have to deal with the staff, they're just as bad as me.."

"I'll handle it."

"Are you sure?"

"Would I offer if I wasn't?"

"Thanks Kerry." she paused "what happened out there, what set him off?"

"I only showed up in time to break it up. Don't know. Try Pratt."

"I think I'll try and talk to Sean again," Susan forced a smile.

"If you must."

"That and plus we have to pick up the boys from school in an hour."

Kerry nodded. "He's not particularly rational right now. It'll pass, but don't hold what he does now against him."

"He blames himself for her death."

"It's normal."

"All he can concentrate on is the case, he refers to her as the victim."

"That'll pass. His wife died, there's no good way of dealing with that." Thank you Kerry, thank you for being there for Susan and thank you for helping my husband, who by the way is currently about to exit the exam room you stuck him in, and he doesn't look particularly happy, and here comes Ryan from the opposite direction.

"Sean," Ryan said, almost apologetically

"Agent,"

"You have to believe me-"

"About what?" I could tell he was trying to restrain his temper, trying being the operative word.

"The director of-"

"He needs to speak with me then, not an agent."

"He's at Chicago headquarters. Go speak to him then," Ryan's tone had turned frigid.

"He's here?"

"Here as in Chicago? Yes."

"Why?"

"To handle a case."

"Abby's?"

"Yes."

"I thought for sure he had bigger cases to work then her's."

"He doesn't work on many cases, and they don't get much bigger than your wife's."

Sean stood there, speechless, as did Susan, he never expected the director of the FBI to come down. "I.. um."

"You um rushed to the conclusion that I was being an insobordinating punk?"

"Yeah, look its just that I want this guy, I want to be there to put the cuffs on him," but I don't Sean, I want you there for our boys.

"That's not your place. You belong with your family now. To make sure they handle this okay."

He nodded, "do we have any leads, any idea of where he is?"

"Not yet."

"Do we have anything?" I could hear the emotion in his voice.

"A very good suspect."

"But no idea of where he is, or the murder weapon"

"We've got the murder weapon."

"Where.. where did you find it?"

"About five blocks from here. Kid sliced their hand on it playing in the gutter."

"And you know for a fact that it's the one?"

"Matches the wounds, and it's an odd blade. Blood and prints got washed away, but it's the one."

"Large?" oh yes it was Sean, did you not see the stab wounds?

"Concavely curved and cerrated toward the base, but yeah, big too."

He paused and looked at Ryan, "tell me one thing, this is all I'm asking, how did he get her into that closet?"

"He knew the code for the lock apparently. No one knows where he got it."

"Of course, but the security tapes, it looks like she went willingly, did he say anything to her?"

"He was acting insane as he lured her inside."

"Abby was smart, she should I mean…did she talk to him at all?"

"Yes."

"What did she say, why did she follow him in there? Abby knew, she knew her life was in constant danger, something should have alerted her."

"She thought he was just a patient."

"It doesn't make sense," he turned to Susan and Kerry. "if Abby thought a patient could be psychotic, wouldn't she have asked for someone's assistance?"

"Not always immediately."

"What was said on that tape Ryan, please, I just need to know." I watched as Sean begged and then something occurred to me, I didn't even remember how he tricked me into that closet, how weird.

"Not much. You can listen to it later."

He nodded, "Did. did she know as soon as they were inside?"

"Yeah."

"Did she say anything to him, or what did he say to her?"

"He didn't say much to her."

"He bound, gagged, blindfolded her, then stabbed her, raped her, and stabbed her again and he didn't say anything?"

"Like I said, not much."

"What about Abby?"

"She did most of the talking."

Sean took a deep breath, "what.. tell me at least something.. her first words to him, her last words. Anything?"

"Her first words to him, before or after they got into the closet?"

"Both," I noticed how calm both Sean and Ryan had become, was this how they worked every case?

"Outside, 'Are you lost sir? Can I help you?' inside, Please, you don't have to do this,"

"And her last?"

"You don't need to know."

I saw Sean involuntarily shudder, everyone else did as well. "Please, just.. I need to know."

"Sean, she just.. She simply asked him not to do it."

"Then he gagged her?"

'Yes."

"How long?"

"How long what?'

"How long was he with her, did he stay until she stopped breathing, or just leave after he was done?"

"He left after he raped her the second time."

He nodded, but suddenly stopped and looked at his partner, then to Susan, then back at Ryan. "The second time?"

"He raped her, stabbed her, then gagged her, stabbed her, and raped her again."

"But.. I thought.. Susan you said she was stabbed first,"

"I thought she was. Apparently I was wrong."

"If she was raped before she was gagged.. Didn't she scream, or anything? I mean it doesn't.."

"He had the knife to her throat."

"But Abby isn't exactly the complacent type, she had to fight him,"

"She did."

"I'm missing something here, I know my wife would have tried to do something, would have screamed, fought done anything." a thought occurred to him "was she drugged?"

"Lightly."

"How? Injection?"

"Yes."

"Do we know with what?"

"Phenobarbital."

"She didn't stand a chance after that, did he drug her immediately?"

"Not quite."

Sean nodded and seemed to go into a trance, "he didn't want to drug her did he? He wanted her fully aware,"

"She was still conscious, still aware."

"Yet unable to fight, if he drugged her, why did he gag her?"

"Stubborn. She wouldn't listen to him about keeping quite."

"Was she conscious the second time he.."

"Yes."

"When did she lose consciences?"

"About four minutes after he left."

"Did he say anything to her before he left?"

"No."

"Just left her to die,"

"Yes."

"Was Abby scared Ryan?"

"Probably."

"I could always tell when she was afraid, you could hear it in her voice, it was obvious. So did you hear it? Don't try and protect me, just be honest."

"She was scared shitless."

Sean squeezed his eyes shut, "did he say anything about me to her? Did she know why he was there?"

"Neither said anything about you."

"But he knew who she was, she wasn't just a random victim? I mean, do you think.."

"He said something about being paid."

"Okay, how long did he take with her?" he didn't notice the director approaching, neither did Ryan.

"Three hours."

I saw my husbands face suddenly grow very pale, he looked like he was about to be sick, Susan knew it. "C'mon Sean, got to get your boys home," give him an easy exit

"Three hours.. she was conscious for all of it?"

"Yes."

"He tortured her, it doesn't take over an hour to do what you've told me he did to her," the details of my death, while strangely I couldn't remember them all, were becoming more clear to Sean, damn it.

"Ever watch a cat play with its food? A mouse its tail caught?" Sean shook his head, but he meant yes, he knew exactly what Ryan was telling him.

"The boys will not take kindly to being left for hours."

"Okay," whoa, he was agreeing, "please, find him," he looked at Susan, "ready?"

"Yeah, let's go."

"Ryan.." Sean didn't need to finish the sentence.

"We'll nail the son of a bitch."

He nodded a thank you and him and Susan turned to leave, but turned right into the director. "Sir," Sean spoke.

"Agent Jennings." I watched as Sean debated what to do, what to say, but simple answer was, he didn't know.

"My condolences."

"Thank you sir,"

"You will be kept informed of the situation, but will not be actively involved with the case. Understood?

"Sir! I'm fi.." but the director, Andrew Summers, was a step ahead.

"You're not fine. You're not supposed to be. You're in mourning."

"But sir.." I could see why Summers was in power, why he was the head of the FBI.

"No buts."

"Please, just catch him.."

"We will son. We will."

"Thank you sir," The director just nodded. God. Ansphaugh the sequel. I watched as he reassured my husband by patting him on the shoulder, and then he walked away, leaving Sean and Susan.

"You okay?" she asked.

"Will I ever be?"

"I think Abby would be having a cow right about now," she tried to laugh as they made their way outside.

"Definitely."

"What are you going to tell the boys when they ask you about your nose? No offense, but its not exactly.. non noticeable."

"That I got in a fist fight." Oh Sean, don't you dare!

"I'm not sure Abby would agree with you actually telling the truth on this one."

"I fell?"

"Yeah, that's better," they walked over to the black sedan, as usual it was surrounded by FBI agents.

"But will they believe it?" Hun, when one of them gets into a brawl at school and says he fell, I will be sitting up here laughing my ass off. They will believe it for two seconds.

"They might.. who knows, maybe they wont notice!" the car sped down the street and was soon at the entrance to my sons; school.

"They're not idiots."

"I don't know what to tell them then."

"Tell them you'll tell them when they're older.'

He nodded "Susan, I'm sorry for back at the ER, its just that I.."

"Forgive and forget."