Will was still awake an hour after he and Alicia had gone to bed. He hoped she was sleeping better than he was. He'd been deep in thought for most of the day after their climb. Alicia had brought up the issue of what would happen when they returned to Chicago, and to be honest, he didn't have a good answer. When he brought her here two weeks earlier, his only intentions, other than allowing her time to heal, had been to become friends again. Find a way for them to trust each other, and patch up the old wounds. He cared for her – genuinely – but after all that had happened, he didn't know if they had any chance of a romantic future together.

Over the past two weeks he found himself falling in love with her all over again, something he vowed nearly two years earlier, he'd never do again. But who was he kidding? He was falling in love, or really just being reminded, of the one person he'd loved for twenty-three years. Yet, she was still married, still not available - not really. And after all she'd been through; he didn't know if she'd ever really be able to love him back.

His mind wandered back to the events of the day. He hoped he hadn't worried her with all of his silence. He'd tried to remain attentive, pretending to listen when all he was really doing was watching her many expressions. He'd watched her concentrate on her work. Listened to her be bitterly honest with Cary about a client. He loved how he could tell she was standing her ground without hearing the other end of the conversation.

His mind then turned to their card game, and the brief recollection of their past. Then to the now empty spot in the bed next to him. He'd watched her sleep over the past few weeks. Something he hadn't done in years, but something that at the time, he never thought he'd get enough of. A time when things were complicated, but less messy. A time before two more elections, one of her own, and their bitter war. A time before they both had wounds that may never fully heal. A time before she made her choice to be with Peter again, but had kissed him anyway because - "I can't figure my way out of this one".

He worried he was setting himself up for heart ache again, filled with false hope that she'd choose him at some point. But he didn't care. Could they have a future? He didn't dare ask, and he knew she wouldn't have an honest answer. How could she in the middle of such trauma? As his eyes grew heavy, for the first time in their, twenty how ever many years, he was okay with not knowing the answer. After all of this, he didn't think about the future in terms of months or years anymore. All that mattered was the next day, and then the next, and the next. This time everything had to be taken one day at a time.

He was startled awake by a loud crash - he listened intently as he got out of bed.

"Will!" Alicia yelled. He hurried down the hall towards her room in the dark. Just as he reached it, a figure bumped into him, causing him to crash against the wall. The large figure raced past him and down the stairs. Adrenaline kicking in, Will ran after the man in the hoodie out the front door. They were down the street a bit when the man ran into the trees to the side of the road. Will stopped, and turned back to the cabin. In the dark, and without shoes, it would be nearly impossible to keep up with the imposter. He also realized he'd left Alicia alone, not knowing if there had been anyone else in the house.

"Alicia," he called, when he entered the cabin, locking the door behind him. She didn't answer. He rushed up the stairs, and entered her room. She was on the bed, arms wrapped around her knees, shaking. She looked terrified. He moved carefully around the pieces of broken glass from the lamp that was now shattered on the floor, and sat next to her. He placed his hands on hers that were trembling. "Who was it?" she said, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I don't know. Are you all right?"

"No, I am not all right!" She pulled her hands from his and stood wrapping her arms around her chest. It was then he noticed the red marks around her neck.

"Alicia," he rushed next to her, brushing back the hair from her neck. "What happened?"

"I woke up from a dream, and he was standing over me. He put a hand over my mouth, and his arm around my neck." Her hand instinctively moved to her sore neck. "He tried to strangle me." She paced around the room, taking in some deep breaths. "I tried to fight him off, and managed to knock the lamp onto the floor. It startled him, and gave me a chance to call for you." She stopped and looked at him. "I'm scared to death Will!" she said angrily. "We're supposed to be safe here. How did," she threw her arms in the air in frustration. "Whoever that was, find us?"

He moved over to her, wrapping his arms securely around her. "What do they want?" she continued in a raised tone, tears streaming down her face. "I didn't do anything. Why can't they just leave me alone? Why is this happening?" She crumpled into his embrace. "Why?"

"I don't know, but you're safe now. We have to go home today. I'm worried I can't protect you on my own, especially if he comes back with a gun."

"I can't stop shaking," she confessed. "I feel like my heart is going to leap right out of my body." His embrace tightened around her. "Make it go away," she pleaded, her head buried into his shoulder, as her nerves finally began to calm some. "Please, just make it all go away."

An hour later they had begun to pack. Will called Brian and told him of the events of the morning, and that they were headed home in a few hours. Alicia was in the kitchen cutting some fruit for breakfast. Not in much better condition than she had been an hour earlier. Her mind wandered for a brief moment, and she missed the apple she was cutting into, nipping the side of her finger. Will had his back turned to her, but was saying something about the security planned for when they returned.

The sight of the blood running from her finger brought with it a flash of memory, and a bout of nausea. She froze unable to move.

When she didn't respond to Will's question, he turned to look at her. Noticing the blood coming from her finger, he hurried over to her, grasped her hand, and forced her to move to the sink. She continued to stare at the blood, almost in a trance.

"Alicia," he said, turning the water on. She inhaled deeply, as if she'd been holding her breath, and looked up at him. "I'm going to be sick!"

She grew pale as she pulled out of his grasp and headed for the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

A few minutes later she emerged, a towel wrapped around her finger. "I know who it is," she declared, walking back over to the sink where Will had the first-aid kit out. He took a hold of her hand, removing the towel, and got to work on the wound.

"You know who, who is?"

"Pierson's accomplice. I don't know why I didn't see it before, all this time I thought I was seeing things. But I wasn't. He's been here for at least a week.

"Who has?" He had her move to the bar stool before he bandaged her finger.

"Mike"

He looked up into her eyes. She could see the doubt written all over him.

"I remembered."

He looked confused.

"When I saw the blood just now," she said, to clarify. She turned her gaze towards the window. "That last day Pierson was kneeling over me, trying to get my clothes off. I was trying, in vain, to push him off of me. But he stopped abruptly and looked up at something. That's when I felt the gun and pulled it out. I barely had control over my limbs at that point. I don't know how I managed to pull the trigger. After I shot him he looked back down at me - he was shocked, and angry. He pulled the gun out of my hand. I must have blacked out for a few minutes because when I opened my eyes again, someone was laying Pierson on top of me." She shook her head. "There was so much blood."

Will knew all to well how much blood there had been.

"I looked up. I couldn't see much other than the trees above. Then I saw him – Mike. I was cold, I asked him to help. But he turned and walked away." She looked back at Will. "I kept calling for help, but the footsteps got further and further away."

"Are you sure it wasn't Pierson you were seeing? I can't believe Mike, would shoot his brother, and then leave you there. And didn't you just talk to Mike on the phone two days ago? How could he have been here all week?"

"Yes, I'm sure it was him. On the phone he said he was at some convention in Florida. But I'll bet he's been here for at least a week. That's why I kept thinking I was seeing Pierson, he had his Pierson disguise on."

"Didn't the FBI question him when they found the bodies? And how could he have found us?"

"I don't know. The FBI never said if they had questioned him in person. And it was just over a week ago. If he's the accomplice It would make sense that he would know where Pierson buried his victims. And that he knew that Pierson was planning on taking me there that day." She looked back to Will, who had finished up the bandage on her finger.

"A few weeks after Pierson died, Mike was in my office, to go over the appeal. He asked me if I knew if Pierson had suffered very long after I shot him. I couldn't figure out why, after everything Pierson had done to me, he would ask such a thing. He put on a pretty good act, pretending to be so concerned about his brother. I bet he was just making sure I couldn't identify him as the real shooter."

"He would have had access to Pierson's office, and the photos," Will added. "But why? Why would he kill Pierson instead of turning him in?"

"I don't know. We need to call Brian again," she said.

Will pulled out his phone, and dialed.

Two hours later they were putting the last of their things in the car. Will had gone back in to make sure everything was locked up. It hadn't taken long, but when he returned Alicia was gone. Panic set in as he rushed around the house calling for her. He stopped in the back of the house looking in all directions. He decided to head down the narrow dirt path that led into the trees beyond, pulling out his phone. How could I have been so stupid as to leave her alone? Adrenaline continued to rush through him as he continued to run down the path.

Mike had the gun pointed at Alicia's back as he forced her to continue running down the path. "I defended you. I stood up for you!" she said, angrily. "Why did you do it?"

"I didn't want to get you involved. But you were so stubborn. You weren't like the other women. John had to fight you on everything. But then I realized that was my way out."

"Your way out of what?"

"John was devastated when Karen cheated on him. He couldn't forgive her."

"So he killed her," she said, flatly.

"When he took me on as a partner he made me swear on the life of my wife I would never tell another soul what he was about to tell me. I needed the money, I'd lost my job six months prior, Vicki and I were about to be evicted from our home, and we had a six month old baby. I couldn't let them live on the street. So I agreed. He told me about Karen, and said he just couldn't face the public without her. So I'd pretend to be him if there was an event he didn't want to attend, simple things like that. But a year later he asked more of me. I was trapped. He said he'd kill Vicki, if I didn't do what he wanted. After he slept with each woman for the last time, he'd drug them, like he drugged you. He'd take them to the cove where he took you, and because they were unaware of what they were doing, they'd jump into the water on their own. He tied their hands up so he could pull them back out of the water once they were dead. Then it was my turn. It was my job to bury them. It made me sick knowing what he was doing."

"Why didn't you go to the police?"

"Because he claimed he could make it look like I was the one who had killed them."

"So you continued to go along with his charade?" she said, disgustedly.

"Yes,"

"So why leave me alive, and kill him?"

"I was tired of it. I didn't want to do it anymore. I didn't want to live the lie anymore. He set things up to make it look like you were the crazy one in love with him. His plan was to make your death look like self defense. He didn't ask me to come bury your body that day. He was going to have you jump in to that lake, pull you out, then take you back to the house and call the authorities. He wasn't expecting me to be there that day. I took him by surprise. You shot him once in the stomach. I was behind him, and when he heard me, he stood, but I shot him before he could turn around. He fell over. It was a clean shot, and didn't take long for him to die. I shot him one more time in the shoulder from the front with the gun you had used to make it look like you had killed him. Then I moved him back on top of you. I wasn't sure if you had seen me, you were pretty out of it."

"So why kill me now?"

"I looked into it – the chances of recalling memories after the effects of the drug wore off. There was a slight chance you would eventually remember what had happened. Then you would tell the authorities. You're the only one who can identify me as the shooter."

They came to a river bank, and stopped. She turned to face him. He stepped closer to her the gun pointed right at her head. She tried to remain composed, but she was terrified inside. "I can't allow you tell anyone it was me."

She glared right into his eyes, just like she always had with Pierson. "I did remember. And I already told them," she spat back. "Every police station in the Eastern half of the United States has your photo on file right now."

"Good thing I have a disguise, and a few false identities I can use to get out of the country then."

"Turn around." He waved the gun in front of her.

"No! Who were the other women with Pierson's victims? Why did you kill them?"

He sighed. "You ask too many questions. Get into the raft."

She turned towards the water, noticing for the first time the rhe raft that sat at the riverbank. "No, not until you tell me who the other women were." She was stalling for time now, in the hopes that Will would catch up to them.

"Fine! Emily trespassed onto Pierson's property. I don't think she realized she'd trespassed. When she saw me burying John's last vicitm, I couldn't let her go."

"And the other woman?"

"She was," he hesitated, a distant look in his eyes.

"You were sleeping with her weren't you? You, the devoted husband, the one I defended as such, had an affair!" she shook her head, and rolled her eyes.

"It didn't start out like that. John hired her - off the books - to help him with research and surveillance on his victims. She didn't know what he was really up to, until I took her to his office in your building a few days after he died. A year ago she and I…" he sighed. "She loved me, but it was just fun for me. I told her I wanted to break it off a few days after she'd cleaned the files from the computer and printed the photos of you and John."

"She thought you'd used her." Alicia folded her arms across her chest.

"Yes"

"Then why kill her?"

"I love my wife Alicia, you know that. After I killed John I realized how lucky I was to have her. I thought the photos of you and John would put an end to the investigation into the accomplice, and I could get back to my life. So I tried to break things off with Andrea, but she threatened to turn me in if I left her."

"My life's been turned upside down because of you!"

"Turn around Alicia. Get on the raft. We're done talking." The gun was still pointed right at her.

"No, if you're going to kill me, you're going to look me in the eye when you pull that trigger, and do it here. Not after we've floated down river in a weak attempt at getting away with it."

Will caught up to them, along with two FBI agents, that had nearly scared him half to death when they emerged from the trees in front of him along the trail. Unbeknownst to Will and Alicia, they had been keeping an eye on the two since they'd left Chicago from the cabin just down the road from Will. Will wanted to know how, and why, but getting Alicia to safety was more important. They held back among the trees to listen. Will moved around the perimeter to get closer to Alicia.

"Fine," Mike waved the gun, stepping closer to her. Will was now within a few feet of her. Just as Mike cocked the gun Will jumped out in front of Alicia knocking her to the ground taking the bullet in his shoulder. Simultaneously, there were two more shots fired through the trees that struck Mike, causing him to fall to the ground.

"Will!" Alicia screamed, sitting up, grabbing onto him. Her heart was pounding, hands shaking. "Will" tears began to stream down her cheeks.

A/N; I know another cliffhanger. I am sorry, but this was a good breaking point. Thank you for all passionate reviews after that last chapter!