Revulsion and Relief

Alex and Jo had gone back to the hospital after the funeral, and now they were sitting in the doctor's lounge with Mark and Amanda waiting for Steve or Cheryl to get back in touch with them. The Captain had stayed for a while, but he had headed back towards the station once Mark had filled him in on everything that had happened since they had found Jesse. The Captain had listened intently, knowing that it was invaluable to hear everything from a different perspective. Then he had made his farewells and left.

Amanda stood up; she smoothed out her black suit and ran her eyes over the three people looking up at her. "I'm gonna go and sit for a while, I'll see you later."

"Ok, Honey. Let us know if you need anything." Mark watched as she walked down the hallway. Everybody seemed to have a sluggish step these days. He understood, he felt the same.

Cheryl had phoned Mark to tell them that the search had been called off for the day. They hadn't found Rae, and he could hear the despondency in her voice. Alex and Jo both sat there, and Mark could see that Jo had tears in her eyes. He knew that Rae was her best friend, and his heart went out to her. He touched her on the arm and she turned and began to sob on his chest.

Alex got up and moved away. He didn't want to intrude, but he didn't want to leave either. Rae was his first patient, the first person to have chosen him for her personal physician, but she was more than that, she was his friend, and he was worried for her. Jesse, it was difficult for him to think about him and be rational at the moment, but he knew that he would be far less of a doctor if it weren't for him. As he sat there he heard his name being called to the nurse's station in the ER.

"I'll go Mark, if I need you I'll come back, ok?" Alex was on his feet and halfway out of the door before he had finished talking. He saw the older doctor just nod and then he was on his way.

The nurse on the reception desk silently handed him the phone and then knowing how difficult his life had been lately watched him intently as he listened.

Alex dropped the phone back down without a word, and headed back to the doctor's lounge at a run. If he needed Mark, that was what he had said. Well, now he wasn't the only one who needed him.

Cheryl put the phone back on its cradle. She had held it while Steve had spoken to Alex. Now they were on their feet and heading back out into the darkness. Neither of them could believe that they had missed something so obvious, and so they were prepared to have to search all night if necessary for what they now knew to be in Levington's house.

Mark and Jo had arrived at the cordoned off house just after Steve, Cheryl and Martin. The officer on duty had obviously been told to expect them because he waved them inside. They stood in the kitchen doorway, and watched as Cheryl and Martin began to tear the house apart.

Steve could feel his temper rising again. There didn't seem to be anything that he could do to help anybody during this investigation. In the end he started to walk around where Martin and Cheryl were working, but he was just getting in everybody's way. Jo watched him for a moment and then she moved over to his side.

"Honey, I know you are feelin' helpless right now, but you aren't helpin' by standin' in the way. Come over here with me, I could do with a hug; I am so scared for Rae, what if she isn't here? What will we do then?"

Steve looked down at her and buried his face in her hair, just for a moment. Then he pulled away and wrapped his arms around her. "Hey, hugs I can do." He kissed her gently on the top of her head. "Thanks, Jo."

"Anytime."

Steve and Jo looked back over into the main area of the house. The dining room table had been moved to one side and the carpet pulled up. Now Martin and Cheryl were searching the floor. It was apparent immediately that what they were looking for wasn't there and so they moved on into the bedroom. They had looked in this room carefully before, and seen nothing. But now they began to search with even greater care. Steve watched as Martin pushed the bed over towards the wall.

There was no carpet on the bedroom floor, but the floorboards had been painted at some stage in the dim and distant past. The pattern was almost a painted carpet. It was square in shape and there were many different borders each smaller than the previous one until the whole area was covered in patterns. As Steve and Cheryl looked at this they could gradually see another square outline on the floor. They looked at each other. There must be a way to get it open. Even though the light was on in the room, Cheryl got out a flashlight and shone it on the floor. There was a loop lying flat to the surface, which she picked up and pulled. The door, because that is what it was, moved silently up and a set of stairs was picked out in the beam shining across the room.

Steve and Cheryl went quickly and quietly down the steps closely followed by Jo and Martin. Jo had looked into the glow from Cheryl's flashlight and only just stopped herself from crying out as she got accustomed to the dimness and her eyes took in what everybody else was looking at in horror. There, in the middle of the dark and dusty room was a bed and they could see that on the bed, lying naked and tied to the post at each corner was Rae.

Steve moved silently out of the way, and then suddenly coming back to life he called out quickly for his dad who had stayed at the top of stairs so as not to be in the way.

Mark rushed down the stairs, his medical bag in his hand. He gasped when he saw Rae lying there, but then the doctor in him took charge and he began to quickly check her over. He heard a camera whir behind him and turned to see Cheryl taking a couple of shots.

"I need to have these, but hopefully nobody will ever see them. You can cut her loose now, Mark." Cheryl moved away from the doctor so that he could work in private.

The flash went off again and he turned. "Haven't you got enough by now?"  Mark snapped.

"It wasn't me this time," Cheryl said. She turned and saw a fancy piece of photographic equipment standing just behind her.  She examined the camera on the tripod.  There was a cable attached to it, which she followed back to a blanket hanging in the corner. She pulled the blanket aside and gasped.

"My God!"

"What is it?" Steve asked.

Cheryl pulled the blanket aside to reveal a computer monitor.  Images of Rae in all states of undress and distress flashed on the screen.

Cheryl moved the mouse to see what was under the screen saver, and she shuddered.  "Oh, my God..."

"Now what?" Steve looked over at his partner on the bed, and then flushed with embarrassment, he turned back towards the computer, but found he couldn't look at that either.

"He was building a website." Cheryl didn't quite know what else to say.

"A website? What do you mean a website?"

"Steve, if you want to understand you are gonna have to look." Cheryl could appreciate why he had turned away; she wished she could ignore it too.

Steve moved across so he was standing closer to the monitor in the corner of the room, and looked in horror at the screen. "My God, if she ever finds out about this…" Steve's voice faded away.

"Will somebody call 911, you can discuss whatever it is you have found after we get Rae to Community General." Mark's voice was tense and they could tell he was extremely worried.

"Mark, I'm on it." Jo had been standing at the bottom of the stairs waiting for something to do and so she got her cell phone out dialled 911 and put in her request for an ambulance.

The camera flashed again, and Steve and Cheryl watched, appalled as the image was automatically downloaded to the computer.

"What the…?" Steve looked confused for a second.

"I think he was planning to have a live cam." Cheryl murmured.

Mark looked down at Rae. She had obviously been beaten on a number of occasions. He gently cut through the scarf and let it fall to the bed, then he placed his fingers on her neck and felt for a pulse. It wasn't as strong as he would like, but it was there. Her breathing was very shallow and he listened for the baby's heartbeat and his face grew grave. "I need to get her to Community General, immediately. She needs to be on a ventilator, she isn't taking in enough oxygen for herself and the baby."

"And?" Steve didn't really want to ask.

"And if that doesn't change, then the baby could die."

The journey to Community General was a very silent, troubled one. Rae had been put on the mobile ventilator, and Mark had gently checked her over as they sped along. By the time they arrived at the ER he was satisfied that apart from the beatings she had received there didn't appear to be any visible physical damage, but he had no idea what mental scars would be left behind.

"What drugs were found in Levington's house earlier, before we knew Rae was there?"

"Sedatives, tablets mostly, and some of them had been crushed up. I would say that she'd been drugged, you saw how she was, Dad, she would have gone crazy with that scarf round her throat if she had been in a position to fight back."

Mark had a puzzled look as his son spoke, and Steve realised that the only people who knew about Rae's throat were Jesse, Alex, Brian Dobson and himself and Levington apparently. He had a feeling that her previously secret problem would become common knowledge, at least in their small group of friends. "Ever since Leticia Howard strangled her she hasn't been able to bear anybody or anything touching her throat, except Jesse. That's why she hadn't gone back to work after she rescued Cheryl, and that's how she got the better of Levington last time. He touched her neck and she just lashed out at him. I guess he worked it out in between the first time he had her and now. I think it's gonna take a lot of effort for the results of this to wear off though… for everybody." Steve looked over at his partner, she was covered now in a blanket, and the ventilator was regulating her breathing, she was deathly pale under the facemask, but maybe the bruises on her face were making her appear more ashen than she actually was.

As the ambulance came to a halt Mark found himself once again rushing into the hospital with one of his close friends, and as on the previous occasion Alex and Amanda were waiting for him. But this time Alex took over as Rae came in. Mark watched as she was wheeled into the trauma suite, listening to the paramedic filling in the young doctor on her condition as he did so. Mark knew that the hypoxia was the main thing that they had to worry about at the moment, anything else they would deal with later.

Jo came rushing in after her best friend. She had driven over in the car, and had to admit that she was lucky not to be in an ambulance herself, her concentration was everywhere but where it should be.

"Mark, Steve, how is she?" Jo didn't think she would ever forget the sight of Rae lying on the bed, thankfully unconscious, so that she wasn't aware of the activity around her. Steve had explained to her about some of what Phillip Levington had done when Rae had been attacked last year, but she hadn't appreciated the seriousness of it, or the affect he'd had on all of her friends until this had happened.

"Jo, Jo, are you alright?" Steve placed one of his hands on her shoulder and felt her jump. "Hey, where are you? She'll be alright." Steve hoped he sounded more confident than he felt. He knew that Jo had difficulty dealing with complicated situations, and this was surely one of those.

"Sorry, I was just thinkin'. An' I know you are just sayin' that to make me feel better. But thank you, darlin'." She reached up and kissed him tenderly on the lips. Just his presence in a room made her feel stronger and more able to cope with what life threw at her. She felt him wrap his arms around her and she leant her head on his shoulder.

Amanda saw the door to the trauma suite open and Alex come out. She moved over to him. "Alex, what is it? Can we help?" She could see that he looked anxious, and she felt her heart begin to break all over again. She saw Steve and Jo out of the corner of her eye, as they broke away from each other, worry written on their faces.

"I haven't finished yet, but I would be grateful for some assistance, Mark, please?" The young man looked at the elder doctor standing in front of him.

"Of course, anything I can do to help, come on you can tell me what you have done so far." The two men disappeared back into the trauma suite and Steve, Jo and Amanda found themselves standing, waiting.

"Come on, let's go to the lounge, we could all do with a coffee." Steve moved over and placed his hand on Amanda's back, and she moved down the hallway with him. Jo watched them for a second before catching them up and slipping her arm through Steve's.

It was another hour before Mark came into the doctor's lounge for his own cup of coffee. As he entered he could see the three of them sitting together on the sofa. Steve was sat in the middle and they were all leaning back with their eyes closed. He smiled. "My son, a rose between two thorns!"

"Hey, I heard that." Amanda stretched slightly in her seat. "How is she, Mark?"

"I think she will be ok, physically at least. Her breathing is back to normal, and Alex thinks he will be able to take her off the ventilator very soon. The injuries she received are pretty horrific, but they will heal. It looks like he kept hitting her but not only with his fists. She was beaten as well, probably with a belt and there are bruises on her hips and thighs, I am not so sure about them, maybe she was pushed into something. There are other things too, but I can't go into any more detail."

"My God, Mark, how is she ever gonna get over all this? I was so worried when Alex came and got you. It seems now that it was much worse than we all feared." Amanda was sitting up and watching her friend now.

"It wasn't the beatings he required help with, although he did want a witness to what he was seeing, he could deal with them. He wanted another opinion, he was worried about the baby, just like I was, but at this early stage of a pregnancy there is so little we can do. I guess we should be grateful that he didn't realise that Rae was pregnant, but if she was at the end of her second trimester instead of her first then we would be able to intervene if necessary."

"Isn't there any way you can find out how the baby is? If he beat her, couldn't it have harmed the baby?" Jo was sitting upright in her seat as well, and she was watching Mark intently as she asked her question.

"Rae is down in maternity at the moment having an ultrasound scan, then she will be admitted to the ICU. That will give us a little more information to go on, but it will be a long hard road for her and her baby. We have no idea how much of the stuff we found in Levington's place he had given her. She has had blood drawn but it will be a little while before we get the results of that back. So it is just a case of waiting… and praying."

"Come and sit down Dad, you look exhausted. Like you say, we can only wait. But if somebody could put a call in for me, I'll see what's happening at the precinct." Steve had felt his anger rise as he listened to what his father had to say. Jo had put her hand on his arm, and he had managed to calm back down. He knew he wouldn't do anybody any good if he lost it now. But it would make me feel a hell of a lot better.

Jo smiled at him and took her cell phone out of her pocket. Since he had been looking for Rae his demeanour had changed. The helplessness had only resurfaced when he hadn't been able to help with the search at Levington's.  He had struggled with the news about Jesse, but then all of them had, but he had needed the responsibility of doing something. Maybe it would help him with the rest of his enforced layoff.

Cheryl had arrived back at the station exhausted but triumphant. She was extremely worried about her friend, but at least she was on her way to the hospital, and not still lost somewhere in the suburbs of Los Angeles. Now as she climbed the stairs to the squad room she knew she needed to get her mind back on her job.

"Hey, Cheryl, did you find her?" It was Chapman who called out before she was even back in the room.

"Yeah, we did, but she was in a bad way. She is on her way to Community General now, I'll give them a call a little later."

She turned as she saw Martin come in behind her. He looked pale and drawn, and she felt for him. He had sure learnt about being a detective the hard way over the past few weeks. "If you will excuse me, guys." Cheryl moved over to the Captain's office, and knocked on the door.

"Come… Ah, Cheryl, I hope you have some good news to pass on." The Captain looked worried, and Cheryl nodded.

"Yes, Sir. We found her. Steve was right, the house did have a cellar, but it was very well hidden. Rae was…" She paused, she didn't want to embarrass either her friend or her boss, but she guessed the details would come out in the end. "She was tied to the bed, it was a four poster type of design and she was fixed, one limb to each corner. She also had a scarf round her throat, which from what I could see meant that every time she tried to move to loosen her bonds it would tighten around her neck. I took some photos Sir, but I hope we don't ever have to use them."

"Why, Detective?" The Captain wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer. He liked the English officer, and he knew that she had suffered a great deal for her job since she had been here. He had a feeling that he was about to hear even more suffering.

"She had been badly beaten, around the head and the body, and… and she was naked, Sir."

"I see, and who actually saw her in this condition?"

"Well, I did, Sir, obviously. Steve, his girlfriend, Jo, who is Rae's best friend, Doctor Sloan and Martin. Captain, Rae was unconscious, so she will have no idea that we all saw her that way. From what I understood from Steve, she is gonna have a real problem with it all, and I think that if we can keep this and the other things we found from her and everybody else, it would probably be a good thing."

"What other things did you find?"

Cheryl took a deep breath. She still couldn't quite believe what she had discovered on the computer. "Levington had been making up a website on Rae. His screensaver was made up of pictures of her as she was tied to the bed, and the stuff he had downloaded to his site files were even worse."

"Good, God. What have you done with the computer and all the discs?"

"I took it to pieces and brought it over here in the trunk of my car. I have put the whole lot into the evidence locker for the time being, with instructions that nobody looks at it without clearing it with you or me."

"Good that is fine, but if Levington pleads not guilty, as he did last time then all of it may well have to be presented at the trial."

"Yes, Sir, I know. But I guess for a little longer we can hope."

"Well, it does spring eternal so they say. Now, I would love to be able to send you and Robertson home, but we have a prisoner downstairs who needs to be interviewed. I would be obliged if you could do that first."

Cheryl looked at her boss. The words were politeness themselves, but the tone of voice made it clear that it was an order not a request. "Yes, Sir. We'll get straight on it." She headed back to her desk and picked up a pen and a pad, then she indicated to Martin and they headed towards the interview rooms. It was five minutes before Levington was brought up to them, and they sat down to interview the man who had nearly killed their friend and colleague.

Cheryl made sure that the recording equipment was working correctly, and then she started the interview. Phillip Levington sat opposite her with a bored expression on his face.

"Phillip Levington you have been arrested and charged with first degree murder, rape and kidnapping. Do you understand the charges?"

"Not rape, Detective, I am her husband."

Cheryl looked at him and then decided not to rise to the bait. "Do you understand the charges?

Levington looked at her for a moment, and then with a satisfied smiled he replied. "Yes. I do. You know I really need to call my wife, she will be very worried that I am not there for her."

Cheryl was absolutely speechless; she couldn't believe the nerve of the man. "I beg your pardon?" She asked him to repeat himself, hoping it would give her a little time to gather her thoughts.

"My wife, Reagan, she will be very worried that I am not home. I need to call her to tell her I will be detained."

"Yeah, like for life." Martin couldn't help himself.

"Detective, that will do." Cheryl glared at him. "Mr. Levington, you do not have a wife, you kidnapped Detective Yeager, and held her at your house as a prisoner, against her will, but she is not your wife."

"Actually she is. We were married on Saturday. She is my legal wife. If you get in contact with my mother she can provide you with the marriage certificate. And she cannot get it annulled due to non-consummation, if you get my drift." He stopped talking as a smile passed across his face. Cheryl had to mentally count to ten so as not to earn herself a suspension, or worse.  "If you would be so kind as to hand me that paper over I will write down her address." He stopped talking then and sat back in his chair with the satisfied smile now firmly in place.

Cheryl balled her hands into fists under the table and then concentrating her thoughts began to speak again. "I see. Well, we know that you took Detective Yeager from her home without her consent and that is kidnapping. Maybe you would like to tell us why you did that…" Cheryl stopped herself. "Ah, you have the right to have a attorney present for this questioning." She couldn't believe that she had forgotten to say that, but his previous statements had taken all the wind out of her sails. She needed to get out of this room for a moment.

"Detective Robertson, I need to speak to you outside for a minute." Cheryl stopped the recording equipment and called the guard. Then she headed back up to the squad room, her mind spinning. As she got to her desk her phone began to ring.

"Detective Banks…Hi, Mark, Yeah ok, I'll hold for him… Steve, how is she…? Oh, ok… Ah yeah, actually I do… Steve, Levington says that Rae is his wife, that he married her… lawfully on Saturday… No, I don't… Look calm down, I'll find out what I can and get back to you. Ok…Bye."

Steve couldn't quite understand what he was hearing. He just walked away from Mark who was holding the phone to his ear without a word and stared silently out of the window. After a minute he turned to his friends who were all looking at him with worry on their faces.

"Son, what is it? What has happened?"

Steve moved slowly across the room, suddenly all his aches and pains seemed a lot worse. "Cheryl has been interviewing Levington and…and he says that he is married to Rae. Legally, I mean." Steve sat down, he couldn't believe that anyone would willingly marry Levington to anybody, and he knew that Rae wouldn't have readily gone through with a marriage ceremony, so she must have been drugged. But a priest wouldn't marry a drugged woman. "Arghhh, I just can't work this out, how could it happen? Every possibility grinds to a halt. How could anybody agree to marry that lunatic to Rae?"

"I guess we will just have to wait until she comes round and then we can ask her. There is no point in second guessing ourselves, the only …" Mark stopped talking as he saw Alex come into the room.

Jo and Amanda leapt up as Alex began to speak. "I have admitted her, and she is in the ICU. I don't think she will be there for long, but for now it is the best place for her. There are a couple of things I need to discuss." He paused as he saw Jo help Steve to his feet and they headed towards the door. "What did I say? Where are you going?"

"Well, if you are gonna discuss Rae's medical condition we shouldn't be here, should we?" Steve looked a little confused.

"No, you should stay. I am going to need your help with this, all of you." Alex looked at the four people watching him. He wasn't usually in this position, and he felt a little embarrassed telling Mark and Amanda how to treat a patient, but he was Rae's physician, and he had trained for a long time for this. "I need somebody to be with her all the time. I daren't give her anything to help her sleep, or to keep her dreams at bay, so when she wakes up, she is gonna have to stay awake until she falls asleep naturally."

"I can take the first watch. You don't need hands to do that." Steve spoke in a tone that suggested that nobody argue with him.

"Ok, thanks, Steve. Ah, the other thing is a little more difficult. I don't know if it is real or not, but Rae has a wedding ring on. Her finger was bruised, I can't get it off. Once she is awake I can cut it off, but I thought you should know… What? Why do I get the feeling that there is something that I should know too?"

Steve took a deep breath. "Cut it off, now, she would want you to. Cheryl just called. Levington says that he and Rae were married on Saturday."

"But I thought that Rae and Jesse…" Alex didn't finish, he couldn't, the whole thing kept getting worse and worse.

"Alex, what about the baby?" Jo was so worried for her friend, and she couldn't imagine how she would react to something happening to her child.

"I took an ultrasound, and it is very small, I need to run some more tests before I can even say how many months pregnant she is, but the organs are at the stage of about an eight week foetus. We are gonna have to keep a close eye on her and her baby."

Jo moved towards the door again. "Alex, I know that Steve is gonna sit with her first, but I just need to go see her, can I do that?"

"Of course, I'll take the two of you up." The three friends headed towards the elevator and Mark and Amanda looked at each other without a word, but with both of them knowing what the other needed, then they hugged and held on to each other for a long while.

Alex took Steve and Jo to Rae's room and they quietly entered. Rae's face was covered with bruises, and still she looked very pale. The ventilator was doing its work and they could see that she was still unconscious. Jo moved over and very gently kissed her friend on the forehead. "Steve, you know where I will be if she comes round or if you need me. I'll come back an' see you a little later." Jo kissed him on the lips, and the tender embrace became more desperate just for a second or two and then they parted.

Rae could feel the world around her becoming apparent again. She kept her eyes tightly shut, not wanting to open them to find her despised husband sitting beside her. She had heard him come into the room and pull up a chair. She hated it when he did that. He just sat there and watched her, and she had no idea what he had in store for her, but it was always unpleasant, whatever it was.

As she lay there she slowly became aware of something over her mouth and she began to panic. He was trying to suffocate her. She moved her hands up towards her face and realised that she was no longer tied to the bed. She felt overcome with the terrors she had been trying to keep inside her, and despite all her misgivings, she opened her eyes.

Steve had been sitting alone with Rae for just over an hour when he realised that although she was still lying as if asleep she was in fact awake. He watched her intently and he could tell that she was searching through her mind. Her face reflecting her emotions and just as he was about to speak softly to her she began to open her eyes.

"Rae, Honey, it's Steve." He gently placed his clumsy hands on hers, and slowly moved them back down towards the bed. "It's a ventilator mask, you need to keep it on, it's helping you and your baby."

Rae could hear a voice talking kindly to her, she knew that it was a voice she should recognise and so slowly as she heard it mention her baby she turned towards the sounds.

Steve pressed his hand down on the buzzer by the bed; he knew it would work because he and Alex had practiced it before he had been left alone. He looked into the frightened face of his partner and began to speak again. "Rae, do you know who I am?" He saw her nod and so he carried on. "You're safe now. Levington has been arrested, and you're in Community General." Rae tried again to get to the mask off her face, but Steve wouldn't let her. "No, Rae, you need to keep it on, because your baby needs the oxygen it's giving you, ok, do you understand?"

This time Rae shook her head, just a little, and Steve took a deep breath. He wasn't really sure how to explain what it was that she didn't understand, and so he was extremely relieved when he saw Alex come into the room. "Look, here's Alex, I'll let him speak to you for a while, I'll be just outside the door." He went to move, but was surprised by Rae as she urgently placed her hand over his and shook her head, more vigorously this time.

"Rae, it's ok, Steve can stay, I won't be long." Alex looked over at Steve, "Has Rae said anything?"

"No, but she listened to me, didn't you?" Steve didn't want to speak as if she wasn't there. He saw her nod and then he carried on. "I told her she needed the oxygen for her baby, but she didn't understand."

"Ok. Rae, it's Alex, do you remember me?" He waited and saw her nod. "You need to wear the mask because your baby isn't getting enough oxygen from you." This time Alex stopped because he saw two large tears appear in her eyes. "It's getting better all the time, but you must keep the mask on for a little longer. Will you let me listen and see what I can hear?" This time Rae nodded, but as she did so, the two tears ran down her face their downward journey diverted as they ran around the facemask and on towards her chin.

Alex gently pulled back the bed covers and then trying not to let all the physical signs of her nightmare affect him he lifted the gown that Rae was wearing. As he concentrated on his task he didn't see the look of silent terror that crossed Rae's face.

Steve saw Rae's knuckles go white as she grasped his arm tightly while Alex began his examination. He looked at her and he could see the pain and fear in her eyes. He shuffled his chair closer to her head and tenderly placed his hand on her hair.  It was only a minute or so before Alex made sure that Rae was comfortable once again and straightened back up. "It's better than it was, much better, the heartbeat is much stronger than when you came in. If you want to say anything, I guess we could let you remove the mask, just for a while."

Rae thought a little, but then she shook her head and they saw her mouth the word 'no' through the mask. She shut her eyes and then after a few seconds opened them again, and made a sleeping motion with her hands.

"Ok, you go back off to sleep for a little longer, we can see about the mask when you wake up again. Steve will stay with you, but I need to speak to him first." Alex indicated with his hand and the two men moved over towards the window. "I don't know how she'll be when she's asleep, she may dream, she may not. I would imagine that now she knows where she is she would relax a little and that may bring the dreams on. But it's all speculation, I can't begin to imagine what she has gone through, so we'll just have to take it minute by minute… and soon she will begin to think about Jesse…" Alex knew he didn't need to say anything more.

"I'll be all right with her, Alex, we understand each other, and … well, we just understand each other." Steve couldn't put into words the way that he felt about Rae, and he decided that it was probably a good idea not to try right now. They moved back across the room, and they could see that the low tones of their voices had had a soporific effect on her and Rae was already drifting back off to sleep.

As he sat there Steve let his thoughts wander back. He could see Rae in his mind the first time he had met her, sitting in the Chief's office, so confident and self assured. He looked down at her now, and knew that even though she would obviously change some of the things that had happened to her, she would still be here, in the City of Angels, with Jo and him, all the other friends she had made and Jesse. He let out a deep sigh; it was too painful right now to think about Jesse. Rae moved slightly in the bed and a shadow of pain crossed her face. Steve placed one of his clumsy hands over hers and she relaxed once again. They did understand each other, he didn't think there was any situation that could break their bond, he sighed, life sure was complicated with her in it, but he wouldn't have it any other way.

After calling Steve, Cheryl had dispatched a black and white to go to the address Levington had provided them with to get the marriage certificate. She decided to wait until she had it in her hand before she continued the interrogation, because she just couldn't believe that what he had said could actually be true. As she sat there she heard the Captain call across the room to Martin and then she saw him go into his office.

Martin stood just inside the door, waiting until he was beckoned further in.

"Come in, Detective, and shut the door after you." Martin did as he was told and then stood in front of the desk. "We have a problem, Detective, but first of all Internal Affairs will be coming in to see you next week. That isn't the problem. But this is. The man arrested with you, Larry Griffith, says that he knows that you were given $11,000 while you were working for him. He thinks you are in custody by the way. The problem is I have only seen $1,000 of it. Now Internal Affairs will take a very dim view of one officer shooting another deliberately, but taking $10,000 is gonna mean the end of your career, so I need to know right now, where the hell is the money!"

Martin's face had been getting more and more horror-struck the longer the Captain had spoken, and the louder his voice had got. "My God, I had forgotten all about it. I have $7,500 at home in the back of my bedroom closet, and $2,500 in my safety deposit box at Provident. With everything that happened with Rae it went clean out of my head. I'm sorry, Sir. Do you want me to go get the money from my house now? I'll have to wait until tomorrow to get the rest."

"Yeah, I suggest that you get over to your apartment and pick it up right now. But do not go alone; take a uniformed officer with you. That's all. Oh, Robertson bring it straight to me."

"Yes, Sir." Martin moved back out of the office and over to Cheryl's desk. He slumped against it, and sighed. "Oh, man I am dead."

"What? Why, what did the Captain say?"

"Words to the effect of 'you were given $11,000 while you were undercover, what happened to it?'"

"And, what did happen?"

"I forgot all about it, that's what happened. I came straight back into the panic with Rae, and everything went out of my mind. I haven't had time to turn round since. But I will get eaten alive by IA if I don't get it sorted out, double quick."

"Yeah, I guess you will. So what do you have to do now?"

"Get the money that's at home, and tomorrow go get the money from the bank. Thank God it's not gonna be Sunday." Martin moved off towards the stairs, and Cheryl went back to the reports she had been going through while she waited for Mrs Levington to produce the information she needed. She didn't have to wait much longer.

"Ah, Detective Banks?" a young fresh faced officer stood before her.

"Yeah, that's me."

"I have been to Mrs Levington, and I believe you need this." He handed over a plastic evidence bag with a marriage certificate in it.

"Thank you." Cheryl waited until the young man had left and then she looked in disbelief at the document in front of her. She stood up and headed towards the Captain's office. Once she was inside she began to talk. "I don't know what difference this makes, in fact I don't think it makes any difference to our case, but Levington is legally married to Rae."

"What! How the hell did he manage that? No priest would marry someone if they were unwilling, and nothing will convince me that she would be willing to marry that man."

"No, Sir, me either, but I know how the priest was persuaded." Cheryl paused. "The priest was his mother."

There was silence for a few moments while the Captain digested the news he had just been given. "Detective, I have nothing that I can say to you. It will be a very difficult interrogation but I know that you will not let your personal feelings get in the way of your professionalism."

"No, Sir. Thank you, Sir."

Bernice Levington had watched the black and white police car as it had pulled away from her driveway. She had known that the Yeager woman wasn't good enough for her Phil. But he had been so sure, and so keen that she hadn't had the heart to disappoint him. Now though it was a different matter. Somehow that tramp had managed to convince the police that he had been hurting her, but she knew better, her son was a good boy, and had only done what was necessary to curb her wayward habits. But that woman, well she deserved everything that she would deliver on behalf of her son.

Bernice went back into her house and headed towards her back bedroom. She pulled open the closet and rummaged around in the things on the middle shelf. There were photos of two women there; they had been a mistake too, but she had dealt with them and she would do the same to Reagan Yeager, she had no doubt about that. It might be a little harder with the woman in the hospital, but life was full of challenges, and she had no intention of failing this one.

Cheryl went into the interrogation room, her mind going over the strategies she could use. Martin had returned with the money and he was right behind her. As they entered the room an extremely smartly dressed young woman stood and held her hand out to Cheryl.

"Detective Banks, my name is Murray, Theodora Murray, and I am representing Mr. Levington. I understand that you have already spoken to my client."

"Yes, Ma'am, but once we realised that he didn't have any legal representation here, we stopped the interrogation and waited for your arrival." Cheryl didn't really want to admit in front of Levington that his words had surprised and confused her.

"I see, well, my client informs me that he has no problems with what was discussed, so I will let it go this once."

So why are you wasting my time with it then, you stupid woman? "Very well, then, Ms. Murray, can we begin?"

Martin moved over and switched on the recording equipment, and the interrogation started.

"Why did you take Detective Yeager from her apartment?"

"Because it was time for us to be together again." Levington smiled at her and Cheryl repressed a shudder. The man sounded perfectly logical and sane, even though she knew that he was exactly the opposite of what he portrayed.

"I see, and Doctor Travis, you attacked him and left him for dead, or do you deny that?"

"Yes, Ma'am, I do, he was in our way, so I just removed him, and Ms Yeager, as she was then, and I left."

"He was handcuffed, chained up, shot and hidden from view. Isn't that a little extreme for just being in the way?"

"Well, I knew how obsessed he was with my love, and I was worried that he might come after us and try to hurt her, so I had to make sure that he couldn't do that."

"I see," Cheryl changed tack; this man just didn't seem to see anything wrong with what he had done.  "And if Ms Yeager had decided that she didn't want to be with you, would you have let her leave?"

"Oh, no, Ma'am, now that she is my wife, she has no say in how she lives her life. Her chores kept her indoors all day, but she had no reason to wish to leave."

"Did you tie her to the bed before you left the house to attend Doctor Travis' funeral?"

"Of course. She wasn't allowed the run of the house when I wasn't present. It was the easiest way to ensure that she didn't do or touch anything she wasn't supposed to."

"Mr. Levington, do you know who Samuel Middleton is?" Cheryl decided it was time to switch to something else. The matter of fact way that he was describing Rae's imprisonment was making her find it extremely difficult to stop herself from re-arranging his face for him.

"Sammy, yes, I had a ride in his van. Very nice young man, very nice."

"He was found murdered, just outside of town. Do you know anything about that?"

"Oh, dear, what a shame, no, Ma'am I don't know anything about that."

"Then how do you explain the fact that his driver's licence was re-issued and the photo on it was of you?"

"I have no explanation for that, Ma'am, and I guess you can't ask him now can you?"

"No, I guess not. Mr. Levington, how did you escape from prison?" Martin decided to join in the questioning.

"I didn't escape, I just left, Sir. We were working outside and I knew that Reagan needed me so I came, found her and took her away to our life together."

"I see, well the man you 'left prison' with, was captured yesterday morning in New Mexico. He doesn't deny that he escaped, and he insists that it was your idea to do so."

"Well, I can't speak for him, and he really can't speak for me. But he is wrong. Don't you have days when you just know you have something to do that can't wait? Well that was how it was that day. I just had to get to Reagan, and nothing was gonna stand in my way. I knew we were destined to be together, and we were."

The interview continued for another hour and a half, before Cheryl realised that her brain had turned to mush, and she couldn't think straight any more.

After Levington had been taken down to the cells Cheryl turned to Theodora Murray. "What made you take on such a loon?"

"I have rent to pay, Detective. I will suggest to my client that he plead guilty, but I will be very surprised if he agrees."

"And you are still prepared to represent him, even knowing everything that he has done? Murder, kidnapping, rape, grievous bodily harm. I guess it is just the money after all. Still at least I get to sleep nights." Cheryl knew that she should keep her anger in, but it had been repressed all day, and it felt real good to let some of it go.

"Yes, well, Detective, I have no trouble sleeping, and as I said I will suggest that he plead guilty. I am sorry about your colleague, and I hope she will be well enough to return to duty very soon."

"Mm. Have a nice day, Councillor." Cheryl turned and walked away, knowing that if she stayed she would say something that would get her hauled across the carpet in the Captain's room, and she couldn't face that right now.

Rae had woken from her sleep just over five hours after she had drifted off. Steve had been extremely relieved that her dreams seemed to cause her no problems, he had in fact fallen asleep himself, and it was Rae who woke him. She lifted the mask off her face and practiced her breathing. She felt ok, so she pressed the buzzer and then gently she shook the sleeping figure next to her. "Steve. Steve, wake up."

"What? Rae? Oh, honey I am so sorry, put the mask back on, and I'll call Alex."

Rae smiled a small smile. "I already did." She replaced the mask and took a steady look at her partner. He looked haunted, he hadn't shaved for a couple of days, his hair was everywhere, and he seemed so tired and upset. She was about to lift the mask to ask him what was wrong when she suddenly remembered herself, and her eyes filled with tears which immediately escaped and ran down her cheeks.

Steve was caught by surprise by the change in Rae's emotions. "Rae? Sweetie, don't cry like that, everything will be all right, I promise."

"Rae, what's the matter?" Alex came into the room and seeing her crying almost uncontrollably behind the mask moved quickly over to her. He checked her pulse and listened to her breathing and satisfied that she could cope without it, he gently removed the mask. "Shhh, come on, or you will make yourself worse, it's all right." Alex looked over at Steve; he knew that he would be able to calm her more quickly than he could at the moment.

Steve understood the look given to him by the young doctor and he held his arms out to Rae. She flung herself into them and sobbed on his shoulder. "Hey, come on, tell me about it, and I will try to help you. But until you do I can't do anything." Rae shook her head, she couldn't speak, or stop the tears, and in the end Steve realised that he would have to let her cry herself out. He kept his arms around her and just held her until eventually she began to gather herself together. When she raised her face to look at him he felt his heart constrict. She looked so distraught and so helpless that he didn't want to ever let go of her.

"Steve, he killed Jesse, how am I ever going to live without him? He killed Jesse and he made me marry him." The tears began to start again, but Steve shook his head.

"No, Honey, don't cry any more. We need to talk, but first of all, if Alex will let you, you need to come for a little trip with me, ok?" Steve looked over at Alex and was relieved to see him nod. "Can you get out of bed alright? Alex will get a chair and then he can push you to where we have to go. It isn't far."

Rae managed to get herself under control a little quicker this time, and then she got shakily out of bed. She wasn't feeling ill or dizzy, but she did feel completely empty. She knew she had her baby to think of, but right now her life had no meaning. She was only going with Steve, because she didn't have the energy to argue with him.

Alex pushed the wheelchair along the hallway, and just a couple of minutes later they drew up outside a private room. Steve crouched down in front of Rae and began to talk. But he could see that she wasn't taking in what he was saying so in the end he stood up and waited while Alex opened the door and then they wheeled her in.

Jo was already sitting in the room, and she stood up as she saw her friend enter. She was so relieved to see her awake and moving around, but as she went to speak what she saw filled her with dread for her friend once again.

Rae looked over at the bed in the middle of the room, and her head began to spin. She knew without a doubt that she was going to pass out and she tried to say something but no sound would come. The world began to go round and round and she tried to stand to move closer to the bed but all she managed to do was to fall into the outstretched arms of an extremely anxious looking Alex.

When Rae came round she found herself lying in a bed once again. She struggled to get up, but felt strong hands on her shoulders. "No, Rae, lie here, I am so sorry, Honey, I didn't mean for that to happen." It was Steve who was talking to her, and she knew that she shouldn't move but she just had to. She had to get back to that room.

"Steve, let me go, please, I have to go back."

"Rae!" Steve was almost shouting now in an attempt to get her to listen to him. "You are still there, we just had your bed moved up here, as the wheelchair didn't seem to suit. If you sit up, slowly, everything will be fine."

Gradually Rae did as she was told, and as she leant back against the pillows she looked over towards the bed she had seen before. Her hand went up to her mouth, and then she was out of the bed in one movement and rushing over to the other side of the room. She couldn't speak, and once again tears were rushing down her face. She sank gratefully into the chair next to the bed, and her eyes never left the face of the person lying in front of her.

She gently traced a finger down the face of the man that she loved more than any other and her voice came out in a whisper. "Jess, oh, Jesse. He's alive, Steve, he's alive."

Then she lowered her head onto the bed and once again the tears began to flow, but this time they were tears of pure happiness, she knew that he was very ill, but he was here, and that was all that mattered to her right now.