Joy barged into the station and walked up to the lieutenant. "I want to see him, now," she demanded and held out the tissue. The lieutenant took the tissue and had an officer get the prisoner Joy was demanding to see. He dropped the piece of evidence off to be fingerprinted and went to watch the interaction. Joy was in the interrogation room when the prisoner was escorted in.

The prisoner smiled, "I had a feeling I'd see you."

"You son of a bitch. How dare you go after my mother?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"I found your special lighter in my father's office just a few feet from where my mom was on the floor. The one with the different marks engraved on them to represent all of your victims." The man's face dropped, "not so smug now, huh? Listen, I don't care anymore what you do to me, but you will stay away from my mother. In fact, stay away from my entire family."

Joy started to walk away, "you killed my child."

Joy stopped and turned, "if you think that there's not a day that goes by that I don't think about my baby, then you're an idiot. Besides, I never would have let you near my baby, to begin with. I had all of the evidence and the best attorney for a father. There's no way you would have gotten near her."

"Her?"

Joy stared at the man before leaving the room. The lieutenant walked up to her. "Which markings mean what?"

"The stars are for all of the ones he was able to go all the way with. The hearts represent the ones he felt were in love with him. The x's represent the ones who fought back and...and lost." She could tell the lieutenant wasn't sure about that last one. "The ones he killed for resisting him." Joy left the precinct. She went to the hospital where her mother had been taken after using a pay phone to call and find her. "Anything?" she asked when she walked into the waiting room where Paul, Margaret, and Ken were.

"No," Paul said, "we just got here."

"Where did you go?" Ken asked. "I was worried."

"I had a little police business to take care of."

About an hour later, Perry walked out and sat down. "She has two dislocated disks and three broken vertebrae. They're taking her into surgery now." He looked at his daughter, "what was it you found that angered you so much?"

"Mr. Donaldson attacked mom," she said. "I found his lighter a few feet away from her."

"How did you know it was his?" Ken asked.

"He had it engraved with stars, hearts, and x's. The stars are the students he went all the way with, the hearts are those he felt were in love with him, and the x's are the ones he killed for resisting him. It's being printed now. I went to confront him."

"By yourself?" Paul asked.

Ken took Joy's hand, "I'm proud of you. So proud of you."

"He yelled at me for killing his child." Everyone sat there a bit worried that she'd snap. "I told him that I think about the baby every day and that there's no way I would have let him near her. That I had the best lawyer on my side," she smiled at her father.

"Her?" Ken asked.

"Yeah," Joy said. "I found out just before I was discharged from the hospital after my overdose."

Ken wrapped an arm around Joy and kissed her temple. Everyone sat there in silence, all of them dealing with the recent events. Della had been in surgery for an hour when the lieutenant walked in. "How's Mrs. Mason?" he asked.

"Still in surgery," Perry said.

"You should have seen your daughter. She was a force to be reckoned with. I was a bit scared." Everyone slightly smiled, "I'm here to tell you that the district attorney got him to agree to a deal. He pleaded guilty to everything and is going away for life."

"He pleaded guilty?" Joy asked confused.

"One of his victims was assaulted and killed in Alabama on a class trip. He agreed to plead guilty so he wouldn't be extradited and tried there."

"Why?"

"They still use the electric chair and he was bound to get it."

"How many were there?"

"Including you, twenty-five assaults," he answered. "Four were murdered. As much as I'd love to see him fry, I'm glad you all don't have to testify and relive what he did. By the way, you were his first. That means they all fell within the statute of limitations. Every case is closed."

"That's great," Joy said, "really," she stood and hugged the man. "Thank you," she said.

"Oh, he also confessed to attacking your mother. He only did that to scare you out of testifying. It wasn't long after the attack that we got him and called you at the apartment before you went to the office."

Ken looked at everyone else, "we were there to tell you that the police had captured him."

The doctor walked out and told everyone that Della did well in surgery and was in recovery. That with therapy, she was going to be fine. Everyone thanked the lieutenant and the man left. Paul looked at Margaret and Joy, "why don't I take you ladies across the street for a bite?"

Joy looked at Ken, "you wanna go?"

"No," he said, "I'm not hungry yet. Besides, someone has to keep your dad out of trouble and you know he's not leaving as long as your mom's here."

"True," she smiled and kissed him. "I'll be back."

Joy and Margaret were walking away. Paul looked at Ken and gave him a thumbs up. Ken did the same. He waited until he saw them walk into the restaurant across the street. "Perry, I need to talk to you about Joy and me."

"No returns," he joked.

Ken chuckled, "no, it's nothing like that."

"Ken, I know you love her. I knew before that monster came here. Now, I know just how much you love her. I have a feeling about what you'd like to talk to me about."

"Well, I wanted to talk to Della first. I know she's still self-conscious at times about her relationship with Joy. What I really wanted to ask you was if you could call me when she's lucid enough that I can talk to both of you."

"I can do that," he said.

A nurse came out to take Perry back to Della. Ken went to join the others. He knew it could be a few days until Della wasn't so drowsy, but he was hoping he could talk to her soon.