Disclaimer: Same as before…

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Josh raced down the halls of the hospital, practically dragging Megan by the arm. His parents had sent him to pick her up, so she could see that Drake was okay. But kay was such a vague word. Josh had seen that place where Drake had been kept he had seen the fear and hurt in Drake's eyes as he had lain there, chained to that bed. He didn't even want to imagine what could have happened.

He just wanted to be there, by Drake's side. He needed to protect him from everything that had happened, to e ready when Drake needed him.

"Josh!" Walter waved Josh and Mega down as they raced down the hall, a tired smile on his face. "In here."

Drake was sitting up in the hospital bed twiddling his fingers as he starred at the bandages on his wrists with empty eyes. He was tired and everything about his body hurt. Megan let her backpack fall to the floor as she raced toward Drake, wrapping her arms around him too tightly as she closed her eyes against her tears.

"I knew you'd be okay." She whispered, reluctant to let go.

Megan pulled away from her brother as the Doctor and Officer Grey walked into the room, their expressions worn with false enthusiasm. "Walter, Audrey," Officer Grey nodded. "Can we speak to you outside?"

Drake watched as his parents walked outside of his room. He knew what they were going to hear, that they would know what had happened. His fists clenched as he fought the emotions welling within his gut. He just wanted this to be over with.

The Doctor looked at the Nichols' with tired hazel eyes. He'd seen a lot in his twelve years, but talks like these were always difficult. "Over all, I'd say Drake is pretty lucky," He started. "Almost all of his injuries are minimal and will heal over time. None of the cuts will scar, and nothing was infected. He's dehydrated, and he'll be sore for a few days." He paused. "Drake was raped, his body will heal and his blood work is being tested, but the real damage will be in his mind."

Audrey clenched her fists as tears burned her eyes. "The damage isnt minimal," She said through clenched teeth. "That monster raped him." The word hurt.

Walter turned to Officer Grey. "What's being done to Shane?" He asked.

Officer Grey turned his eyes toward the door to Drake's room. "He'll be prosecuted to the fullest for the kidnapping, and the rape. He's proudly confessed to all of it." His voice held his disgust. "We're trying to get him to confess to the murder of another boy he'd told Drake about. A kid named Billy Terenzo. Shane Archer will never see the outside of Prison for what's left of his life." He assured them.

"There's a woman coming in to speak with Drake," Officer Grey sighed. "Understandably, it's been hard for him to talk to us about what's happened. Her name is Amelia Winterskep. It's a fitting name, the woman is colder then anyone I've ever known. As long as it's okay with Drake, she can't keep you out of the room while she talks to him."

"Thank you," Audrey said, grasping Officer Grey's hand. "For everything you've done."

Megan had moved as close to the door as she could when her parents had stepped outside. She wanted to know everything, because she was still set on getting revenge. She would make the guy who'd done this hurt. Her heart sank when she'd heard the word rape, it seemed too unreal. That kind of thing just didn't happen to people like Drake. It couldn't.

"How are you doing?" Josh asked quietly, standing beside Drake.

"I'm okay…" Drake said. His voice sounded strange, everything was strange. "I've been better," He tried to laugh, to seem fine to them.

"Drake…" Josh couldn't think of anything to say. There were so many things he wanted to say, but nothing was right. Finally, he dropped his eyes to the floor, tears splashing on the cold linoleum. "I'm sorry…"

Drake turned to Josh, grabbing his hand. "For what?"

Josh couldn't look at Drake. "This is all my fault, I shouldn't have left you at Cindy's house. I-"

"Josh," Drake said as sternly as he could. "None of what happened was your fault. You saved my life, you got me out of there." Drake forced a smile. "You kept your promise."

Josh wiped away the tears. He'd needed to hear that it wasn't his fault, but he didn't know if he could believe it. "Thanks," He said, looking at the bandages on Drake's wrists. "I want to hurt that guy," Josh said, his voice softer then a whisper.

All three of them jumped when the door opened and their parents walked in. Drake could see in their eyes that they knew, he could feel it burning into his chest when they looked at him.

"Josh, Megan," Walter said, looking at them. "A woman's coming to talk to Drake, you two go wait outside."

Drake waited until they were gone and the door shut before he spoke. "Who's coming?"

"Amelia Winterskep." Audrey said, sitting next to Drake. "She's going to talk to you about what happened…" She squeezed Drake's hand. She didn't want to cry in front of him, she needed to keep strong. "We can stay here with you while she's here, if you want us to."

Drake couldn't look at them, not while they knew. He didn't want to know what they were thinking, what they'd think once they heard him say it. "…I'm sorry…" He whispered, pulling his hand away from his mom and wrapping his arms around his knees.

"For what?" Audrey asked.

He choked on the tears as he tried to hold them off. "For what happened," His voice broke. "For not fighting harder when he took me, for not being able to escape." He looked through his parents, through the walls into an empty void where the world should have been. "For letting him, rape me…"

"None of this is your fault, Drake." Walter said, sitting next to Drake.

"It is," He cried. "I didn't fight enough, I couldn't-" He buried his face in his knees so they couldn't see the tears.

The knock at the door announced the arrival of Amelia Winterskep. She walked in without being invited, and indeed, she looked every bit as cold as her name. She was a short, stout woman of about thirty-five. Her eyes were a cold, emotionless blue, there was no smile on her lips as she introduced herself. From the look of her face, it seemed like she never had.

"Drake Parker, I'm Amelie Winterskep." She looked at his parents, dismissing them as she looked over Drake. "Do you want them to leave?"

Drake didn't like this woman, she was more distant then anyone he'd ever met. He was afraid of being left alone with her. "No," He shook his head.

Amelia sat down on the other side of Drake's bed, folding her legs and resting her notepad on her knees. "Start from the begging." She instructed. "If I'm going to council you, I need to know everything. How you got involved with Mr. Archer, and all the rest."

Drake swallowed hard, avoiding eye contact with everyone in the room. "It started with my phone…" He said quietly.

"Louder, please." Amelia ordered.

"I was getting messages from a girl I didn't know."

"You mean Mr. Archer?" Amelia interrupted.

"Yeah," Drake nodded. "He was pretending to be a girl," He corrected. "We'd been texting for a couple weeks before he mentioned meeting up at Cindy's."

"That's the prouble with teenagers and phones." Amelia said, her eyes never leaving her notepad. "When it comes to the world around them, they don't think. Didn't you find it strange to be getting messages from a stranger?"

Drake knotted his fingers in his lap, not looking up. "Not really, I get messages from girls all the time…"

Amelia made an unamused sound and looked up at him. "Continue."

As Drake told Amelia about Cindy's house and being abducted, Audrey eyes Amelia with complete dislike. Drake had been through a lot in the last two days, and the woman had no compassion.

"And no one saw, or heard you as Mr. Archer was trying to abduct you?" She asked, skeptically.

"Drake clenched his fists. "There was a lot of noise coming from the house, and He had his hand over my mouth, he was stronger then I was…"

"Is it normal for you to meet people you don't know at underage parties?" Amelia chastised.

"Not really," Drake said quietly.

"Louder, Mr. Parker."

"No." He said louder, trying to keep his voice even.

Drake tried to be calm as he told her about Shane's house. When he'd kicked him, the bathroom where he'd been locked up. About the incidents at breakfast.

"Didn't it occur to you to follow his game rather then upset him, given the position you were in?" She asked coldly. "It might have saved your family the distress of all the photo's and messages he sent."

Drake couldn't answer her. His eyes were burning with tears he was fighting to hold away. He hadn't wanted to hurt anyone. He knew if he tried to speak, his voice would crumble under the weight of those tears.

"Mr. Parker." Amelia said, her voice tainted with annoyance. "Can you answer the question?"

Audrey saw the pain and effort in Drake's face and she snapped. This woman could not treat her son like this. Without thinking she curled her ringers against her fist ahd struck out, hitting Amelia in the cheek. "Can't you see that he's been through a lot?" Audrey growled. "How are you supposed to help him when you're practically scolding him?"

Amelia looked up at Audrey with a cold hate in her eyes. She gently touched her hand to her swolled cheek and put her things in her bag. "Well," She huffed. "If you don't want my help, then you can find someone else to help him though the mess he got himself into."

Amelia stormed out of the room, flustered at Audrey's actions. She'd been told she was cold, even cruel in her methods, but she'd coached many kids through their problems. The only thing she regretted as she stormed down the halls was saying that the boy had gotten himself into the whole mess. As true as it was, she knew her words weren't going to help him cope with any of it.

Audrey didn't think about what she'd one, instead she turned all of her attention toward Drake.. "Don't think about what she said," Audrey said, pulling Drake into a tight hug. "You didn't get yourself into anything. Shane was a sick man, it wasn't your fault."

Officer Grey had seen Amelia storm out of the room and ran in to see what had happened. "Is everything all right?"

Walter walked over to Officer Grey, trying to hide his grin. "She was being 'harsh' with Drake." Walter said, looking over to Drake. "Audrey hit her."

"I'm sorry," Audrey lied, looking at Officer Grey.

"Don't be." He smiled. "I've been waiting for someone to do that for five years."

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A/N: Sorry it took so long to get this up, I've been busy, and the computers been acting weird. As usual, if I wrote something wrong, I apologize, I'm not great with professional stuff. Hopefully the next bit will be up sooner rather then later.