Billy pulled the car to a stop at the far end of the hospital parking lot. The ride back to town had been largely silent with neither of them knowing exactly what to say. He turned slowly, his eyes meeting hers for the first time since they'd left the hotel. "And you're sure there's nothing I can say to change your mind? It's not too late you know." He held his breath, hoping that perhaps she'd admit that she'd made a rash decision, that she'd agree to let him take her away from all of this, but he knew in his heart she wouldn't. She'd made up her mind and there was no changing it.

He sighed as he saw her weak smile.

"I have to do this," she whispered.

"Still—I hate just dropping you off like this. I wish I could at least go in there with you..make sure you get in alright."

Phyllis shook her head. "That wouldn't be good. We can't be seen together right now. Remember as far as you're concerned, you haven't seen me, you haven't talked to me. You don't know anything about what's gone on or where I've been—nothing more than what they've reported on the news, okay?"

He nodded. "Alright. I'm just going to drive around for a bit and then I'm going to come in. I'll say I came to visit Carl and see if there was anything I could do to help with the investigation."

"Billy," she warned.

"That was the deal," he reminded her, his voice still warm, but more firm. "I told you that I'd let you do this if you were determined to do it, but that I wouldn't leave you alone in it. You can't ask me to just walk away now…especially…." He swallowed hard, still finding it hard to wrap his brain around the whole situation, "especially knowing everything that I know."

Her eyes fluttered closed for a moment. Billy could be impossibly stubborn, but it came from a good place. Everything he'd done, everything he continued to do was to protect her and she certainly couldn't fault him for that. It was nice to have someone care about her. She nodded, reaching for the handle of the door. "I should go," she whispered.

"Phyllis."

She felt his hand touch her arm, the warmth of his touch startling her slightly as they sat there. Her face turned slowly back to face him, her eyes staring into his. "Yeah?" she whispered.

"Please be careful."

She nodded quickly and got out of the car.

The cool wind provided the perfect incentive to quicken her pace and she found herself nearly jogging by the time she reached the hospital room doors. She glanced around, thankful no one had spotted her in the walk to the front. The last thing she wanted was to have to explain anything to anyone. It would be hard enough to explain to Stitch and she was fairly certain he'd be preoccupied making sure she wasn't injured. That should be to her advantage at least. She walked through the automatic doors, making her way to the nurses desk with her head down.

"Phyllis?"

She jumped, turning around to face the voice.

Stitch stood, staring at her. "My God…" He rushed over, placing his clipboard on the desk beside her. "Where have you…"

She hadn't expected him to appear so suddenly. No words seemed to appear and she found herself standing there, mouth slightly ajar as she just stared. Her voice finally appeared as she stammered, "I…I don't…I'm not…"

"Here," he said quickly, ushering her slowly over to a chair, "You sit down here. It's alright." He motioned to a nurse. "Get me an available room asap." Turning his attention back to Phyllis, he stood up, doing a quick check. "Lots of people have been looking for you, you know that?"

"Dr. Rayburn? The room?" The nurse gestured to a room across the way and Stitch moved to help her stand.

"You okay to walk?"

Phyllis nodded, allowing him to wrap his arm around her waist and walking slowly with him into the room. She gladly lay down on the bed as an orderly hooked her up to the monitors. She watched as Stitch and a few nurses discussed her situation in hushed tones. She was fine—they didn't need to worry about her. There was only one thing she was concerned with. "The baby," she said quietly, relieved with Stitch approached. "The baby," she repeated.

Stitch nodded. "We're gonna have someone in here to check everything out really soon okay?" He smiled warmly at her as he gently patted her shoulder. "For now, I've got to let the police know you're here and there's someone else that's gonna be very happy to know you're back as well." The heart monitor beeped, and his eyes looked over. "Everything's alright," he said quickly. "Carl's fine. He's going to need to take it easy for a bit, but he's going to be okay. I'm sure he'll be a whole lot better once he knows you're here."

She forced a smile. "I'm sure," she whispered.

"It's open." Carl looked up, his eyes widening a bit when he saw the face at the door. "What are you doing here?"

"Sorry," Billy said. His hands clenched tight as he held them by his side. The simple sight of his face made his blood boil and it took everything in him not to reach out and jerk him off that bed. He didn't deserve to be alive. He didn't deserve to be breathing clean air after what he'd done. "Bad time?"

"No. Of course not. I'm just surprised to see you…that's all. I never really thought…" Carl stopped himself. "Well, never mind." His mind spun with possibilities. If Billy was here that probably meant Phyllis wasn't far away. He would have placed heavy bets on the fact they were holed up somewhere together, Billy being her white knight and all, but now that Mr. Hero was back….

"Never thought what?" Billy pressed, taking a few steps closer towards the bed. He knew he couldn't press too much—couldn't show his hand. Carl couldn't know that he knew anything. That would put Phyllis in danger and nothing was worse that…not even the thought of giving Carl exactly what he deserved.

"I just never really thought you liked me very much, that's all. I guess I never really figured you'd be showing up to visit."

"Well, to be honest, Carl, you weren't entirely wrong about that. I'm not really here for you. I saw the new story about Phyllis' disappearance and I want to help. I just stopped by to see if there was anything you needed…if there was anything I could do."

Carl nodded. So that's what this was—a fishing expedition. "Oh, well, I think the police are fielding some leads. I'm really not sure if they have anything. They won't tell me much. I think they're afraid I'm going to try to be some kind of vigilante."

"I can understand that," Billy scoffed. "If I thought Phyllis was in danger, I can certainly see myself doing whatever it took to protect her…even if that meant hurting someone..or worse." He looked him directly in the eyes as he said the final words.

"Yeah, well…I wish I could do more, but they won't let me out of this place. They keep saying I need to rest and relax but what they don't realize is all I do is sit here and think about all the horrible things that could be happening…"

Billy couldn't listen to it..not one more word. Watching him go on and on about Phyllis was more than he could stand. He knew what he'd done, what he would continue to do if given half the chance and he couldn't stand there and act as if he didn't. "Yeah," he said quickly, "Well, I'm sure they're only doing what they think is best. I really should let you get your rest. And I'll just check with the police and see if there's anything they need with the investigation." He didn't wait for a response, simply heading out the door quickly and shutting it behind him.

He swallowed hard, forcing the bile back down his throat, clenching his eyes tight to try and erase the image of Carl's smug face from his mind. Quickly he walked towards the door. He needed some air.

"Oh, thank you for getting here so qui…" Her voice stopped, her entire body stilling.

"I thought there was someone you might like to see," Stitch said, a bright smile shining on his face as he pushed the wheelchair into the room.

Phyllis breathed in, forcing herself not to cringe as she felt Carl's hand take hers. "Carl," she managed, her voice trembling a bit no matter how hard she tried to control it.

"I'll give you two some time alone. I've already called Chief Williams. He should be here to ask you some questions shortly," Stitch said quietly.

She wanted to stop him, to beg him not to leave, but one look at Carl and she closed her mouth, letting the words die. He waited until he heard the door shut before he leaned closer to her.

"Carl," she whispered, her entire body trembling now as tears welled up in her eyes, "Please just…"

"Shhh…"

She felt his hand squeeze hers tighter, tight enough to be a warning but not quite enough to cause any real pain. "You just listen," he said, his voice low and menacing, "I'm going to tell you exactly how this is going to go and exactly what you're going to say. If you do what I say, everybody wins. If you don't…" He squeezed her hand tighter and she drew in a quick breath. "Just do what I say."