"I can't believe that you're actually here," Kimberly gushed, as Kenny reluctantly followed her inside. "I thought that you were angry with me."

"I just need to talk to you," Kenny said carefully, not getting to close to the young woman. "You've got a lot of people worried about you."

"My parents? They aren't," Kim scoffed. "I'm their daughter, and shouldn't they want what is best for me?

"They do," Kenny insisted, silently cursing Jimmy and Max for pushing him to do this. "Kimberly, we've always been friends… and the girl that I knew would never try something like this."

"I'm not a girl anymore," Kimberly replied stubbornly. "I'm a woman, and I don't need my parent's approval for every man that I date."

"True," Kenny replied slowly. "But Kimberly you don't want me. We've been over this before, years ago. I thought you understood."

"We were wrong! Look at me Kenny," Kim demanded. "Please! I'm in love with you!"
Kenny resisted the urge to step back as Kim declared her devotion to him, and his heart went out to her. She looked so frightened and alone in the small apartment, and he hoped that there was someone there that could help her.

"I want someone to love me," she whispered. "Please. I'm so alone here. My Dad found Mom after Lydia, why can't someone find me?"

"They will," Kenny insisted. "Kim, someday a very lucky guy will sweep you off your feet."

"You're the only one who ever treated me like an adult," Kim replied hoarsely. "Why her and not me?"

Kenny shook his head. "Max is…it was always her."

Kim collapsed on the couch, and Kenny watched her nervously. He didn't think that she would give up so easily, and he wasn't about to let her off the hook for nearly killing his wife a few months ago.

"I never meant to hurt anybody. I just…," she trailed off. "Why can't someone just love me?"

101010101010

"The van crashed," Jimmy snapped into the phone, his nerves frayed. "When?"

"A few hours ago," a transport guard informed him. "A prisoner, a Dr. Jennifer Davis, is unaccounted for, and we were told she came from your town."

"She did," Jimmy replied sharply. "Any idea where she wandered off to?"

He knew the car crashed about 10 miles out of town chilled Jimmy to the bone. He had watched her in the courtroom, and there was something very cold about her and the thought of that knife wielding therapist coming back there chilled that Jimmy feared could erupt at any second.

"Thank you," he said tersely, as he hung up the phone and set out to rally his troops. Dread filled him, as he and Skeeter made the calls to the rest of the Deputies.

101010101010

Max dried herself off after stepping out of the shower. Trying to calm her nerves of Kenny going to see Kim, she let the hot water run over her body. Trailing her hand down her distended stomach, she felt the baby give a quick kick, and a wide grin spread across her face. The first time it had happened Kenny had his hand on bare belly, and he nearly jumped 10 feet when he saw and felt it. Running her hands through her wet hair, she decided that it didn't look that bad when it reached down past her collarbone. Pulling on a pair of flannel pants and a tank top, Max settled onto the couch to wait for Kenny to come home. Flipping on the television, she hoped that everything would work out with Kimberly.

101010101010

Jen Davis smiled to herself as she climbed out of her car. The crash had worked just as she had planned it. Two of the women whose husbands she had helped kill were more then willing to help her out of this situation. They were in her debt because she hadn't implicated them in the murders, and they wanted to see her free so she could continue her work. The battered VW Bug that they had left down the road provided her with the perfect escape route and transportation so she could get her revenge on the person that had put her in this tight spot to begin with.

She didn't understand why most of the public didn't understand her work. She just wanted to help people that couldn't help themselves. She wanted to save them the pain of living in fear, and Jen had no intention of spending the rest of her life in jail for defending all of these women. She had finally found love with Gina, and after she was finished with Max, Jen fully intended to go spring Gina from Cornerstone Psychiatric Hospital.

Flicking off her head lights, she cruised down the nearly deserted road back into Rome Wisconsin.

101010101010

"Someone will love you, and he'll be a lucky man," Kenny replied to Kim's outburst. "It's one of those things that will happen out of the blue, and you might not even realize it's happening."

Kim shook her head, unwilling to let go of her obsession. "Even Carter Pike has a girlfriend again…"

"That surprised us all," Kenny said dryly. "He deserves to move on after Sue's death."

"Yeah," Kim agreed reluctantly. "He does. You must hate me."
Kenny paused before answering, not really knowing what to say to the hurt young woman. "I don't hate you. I was pissed, and shocked that you would do something that would intentionally hurt someone else so much."

"I didn't know she was pregnant," Kim replied quickly.

"Would it have made a difference?" Kenny shot back. "Do you have any idea what it was like to watch Max almost bleed to death because of something I did? Do you even care?"

"Of course I care! I didn't want anyone to be hurt," Kim lamented. "I just wanted someone to love me the way my parents love each other. I didn't want Max to get hurt, I didn't think that she would even find out! I thought you wouldn't tell her and I never considered that she would walk in!"
Kenny shook his head in disgust before finding the right words to spell out his disgust and disbelief. "The fact that you think I would have an affair… you don't know me at all Kimberly. You didn't want to hurt Max? How can you even think that this wouldn't have hurt her? She's not stupid, and yeah I would have told her what happened. You don't think too much of me if you think that I would even consider cheating on her, with my bosses daughter too."

"Please," Kim begged. "I'm sorry. Don't be mad at me!"
"I even know how you feel, that's the sad part. The loneliness can eat away at you," Kenny spat. "Give your parents a call, and let them know that you're okay. Stay the hell away from me, and Max. Get some help."

Kim felt the tears splash down her face, as she watched him leave. Her heart broke in two, and she thought of her actions over the past few months. She'd seen the same shocked hurt expression on Max's face that night and Kimberly hadn't been thinking of how Max would handle her advances towards Kenny. Crumpling into a pile on the floor, Kim tried to make sense out of her mess of a life.

101010101010

"It's still busy," Skeeter called to Jimmy after his fourth call to the Lacos'.

Jimmy had his deputies scouring the area for the escapee, and a large part of him hoped that she fled in the opposite direction of his town. Still a bigger part of him wanted the trigger happy therapist locked up. So far they had two psycho shrinks in this town, and Jimmy wasn't about to let this one get away.

"Let's go for a ride," Jimmy told him. "I know that she was plenty angry at Max, and it would be stupid for Dr. Davis to go after her, but this woman hasn't done anything to sane lately."

Skeeter nodded in agreement. "Murdering her patient's rapists? It sounds like a T.V. movie."

101010101010

Max jumped at the banging on the door, and switched off the television. Running her fingers through her hair, she pulled down her tank top more securely down on her stomach. Walking barefoot to the back door, she couldn't make out the person in the darkening night. Throwing the door open, she barely had time to move before Jen burst into her kitchen. Max leapt back, as Jen pointed a gun at her chest, and grinned sadistically at her.

"Hello again," Jen said coldly. "All alone tonight? Well, that is just so sad. I guess it's just you and me then."

'"But… you're supposed to be in prison," Max stammered.

"Oh that? My van had an accident, and here I am. Some more appreciative women left a car for me, and you are the first person that I knew I had to come and see. We have some unfinished business Max, and do you know what you've done? I gave you my help, and guided you back into society. How do you repay me? By sending me to jail? That is completely unforgivable, so I guess I'll just have to punish you the way I did the others. You're no different after all."

"Jen, please you don't want to do this," Max said carefully as she watched Jen's calm and rational expression. "Just put the gun down."

"Do you want it to be more painful? I'm quite good with knives," Jen replied flippantly. "It's going to hurt, and you deserver to hurt for what you did to Gina and me."

"You took advantage of that poor woman, er man," Max spat back trying to keep her temper in check. "Of all of them. They were hurt, and you offered them a way to regain their freedom. What you did was wrong, and there was another way for all of them women to get their lives back. Murdering their husbands, boyfriends, whoever… that doesn't make them any different from the people who hurt them."

"Yes it does," Jen practically screamed, as Max jumped back, closer to the living room. "You were raped! You should know that!"

"And I took care of it the right way. He's in jail, and not going anywhere," Max said evenly. "You took away their choices, and now they have to live with the guilt of being murderers. That'll eat away at them, and how do you think that'll affect their lives? If they thought being a rape victim was bad, how about being a murderer?"

"Shut up! You don't know," Jen yelled, taking a step closer. "I saved them! Your precious system just lets them go!"
"It's not letting you go," Max snapped back, trying not to let her fear show. She placed her hand protectively over her baby, and prayed that she would somehow get both of them out of this alive.

"I save the innocents! You let the system walk all over them," Jen screamed, advancing closer. "You have to pay! I have to much work to do to be stopped now!"

Max backed up as Jen advanced towards her, and cursed the fact that both her and Kenny's guns were in a locked drawer behind Jen. Eyeing a heavy marble lamp that her mother had given them as a wedding present, Max allowed herself to be guided in that direction. Jen jammed the gun against Max's chest, as she steadied herself against the table. Max's fingers dug into the wood, and inched closer to base of the lamp.

"Innocents," Max said quietly. "Well, there is an unborn child inside me. You're just going to kill that too? Hypocrite."

"Shut up. We're just getting started," Jen spat, as she pulled a steak knife out of her bag.

101010101010

Kenny pulled his truck into the driveway, and felt drained by his confrontation with Kimberly. He didn't know if she got anything like closure from it, but he knew that he had gotten a lot of his chest. All he wanted to do was take a shower, drink a beer, and crawl into bed with Max. Turning the truck off, he climbed out as Jimmy and Skeeter pulled in behind him.

"What's going on?" Kenny asked, trying to ignore the dread inside him.

"We've been trying to call you two for an hour," Jimmy said quickly, as he looked around. "Max isn't with you?"
"No, I went to do the other thing we talked about," Kenny replied.

"Jen Davis has gone missing," Jimmy informed him. "And your line has been busy for awhile. The woman would have to be nuts to come back here, but there hasn't been a trace of her found yet."

"Some tire tracks were found in the woods by the crash site, but nothing solid yet," Skeeter added.

"Shit," Kenny said quietly, knowing that Max was looking to get this case behind her, and the thought of the psycho shrink back out there again didn't sit well with him either. "What about Gina? Would she go after her too?"
"We've got cars staked out there," Jimmy said, as they made their way down to the house.

101010101010

"I like to stab people, it's so much more personal then a bullet," Jen said twisting the knife between her hands. "I am sorry about your baby, but the way I see it you did this to yourself. You betrayed me, Maxine, and all of those women. All you had to do was keep you promise to keep all the information confidential."

"That's how you got away with it, no one wanted to be the one to break that," Max said, surprised at how calm she sounded.

"Yup," Jen replied, as the back door opened, and Jen whirled around lifting her pistol up as Jimmy, Kenny and Skeeter came in. A crack echoed throughout the room as the three men dove for cover, and Max watched in horror at the river of blood erupt from Kenny's body.

Not even thinking, Max jumped on top of Jen and pushed her to the floor. Anger fueled her, as Jen's gun slid across the living room. Skeeter lunged for it, as Jimmy pulled his own out and pointed it at Jen. He and Skeeter moved closer to the twosome, and Jimmy pulled Max shakily to her feet. Noting her pale expression as she gazed at Kenny's still form on the floor, he and Skeeter cuffed the other woman, as they radioed for an ambulance.

"Max," Jimmy said quietly, as he looked at her stricken expression. "Max."

She shook her head and knelt down by her husband. "Kenny? Kenny!"

Jimmy heard the hysterics building in her voice, and he watched her tremble. He tried to bury his own fear, and knelt down beside her, and tried to staunch the bleeding. Hot tears brimmed in her eyes, and Jimmy could tell she was trying to stay strong for all of them. He laid a fatherly hand on her shoulder, and watched silently as she smoothed his hair back as the sirens wailed outside. Jimmy pressed harder against the wound in his young friend's chest, and prayed that everything would be alright.

101010101010

"Pulse is 60 over 90 and dropping," the paramedics called, as they wheeled an unconscious Kenny into the emergency room. "Thirty-two year old male, chest wound, losing a lot of blood."

Jill met Jimmy's eyes over the gurney before turning to Kenny on the table. She didn't know what had happened, but she could see that Max was as white as a sheet and had her head buried in her hands. Shaking and pale, Max was trying to keep was screaming. Right before Jen had shot him, Kenny had looked at her, and Max could tell he was so relieved that she was still in one piece. Immediately guilty for wanting nothing more for herself and their baby to make it out of their okay earlier, Max felt like her prayers had been answered in a very twisted way. She didn't even remember tackling Jen to the ground.

"Max," Jimmy said hoarsely to the silent deputy. "He's a fighter, you know that. He's got to much to live for…"

Jimmy trailed off, not wanting to consider the possibility of Kenny dying, and he knew it was the last thing that Max needed to hear right now. Watching her sit there and not cry chilled him. She looked utterly devastated, and lost, much like the way Kenny looked after she'd been shot by Chuck Dante's enraged fan all those years ago. Like part of her had gone missing. Jimmy could deal with hysterics, but he had no clue what to do with Max's shocked silence, and he just wanted her to say something so that he would know what to do for her. Looking at her six month pregnant stomach, he hoped she didn't go into premature labor. He knew too much stress could cause that, and being held at knife point by a lunatic, then watching your husband get shot was definitely stress causer.

"Max," he tried again. "Just say something would you?"

She turned to look at him, and she said quietly. "Why? Is there some cosmic joke I'm just not getting?"
Jimmy cursed silently and wrapped his arms around his young deputy, and prayed that everything would be alright.

101010101010

Jill walked wearily back to the waiting room and observed Jimmy's arm around a pale and exhausted Max. It had been an uphill battle all the way, and the bullet had done a lot of internal damage. Touch and go all the way and Jill was relieved that they were able to patch of his kidneys, after the shot had ricocheted through his body down there. Still, Jill knew they had a way to go before he made a full recovery. Max lifted her head as Jill made her way over to them.

The fear on Max's face hurt, and it had fueled Jill's drive to save Kenny. "The bullet did a lot of damage, but we were able to repair it. He lost a lot of blood, and we did do a transfusion. He's strong Max, but he's in critical condition."

"But he'll be okay?" Max asked, her voice barely above a whisper as she thought, Kenny don't do this to me. Or to our baby, I need you. "Jill?"

Jill smiled sadly. "We'll do everything possible to ensure that."

Not liking that answer, Max tried to regain her focus. "What does that mean?"
Jimmy saw some of the fire return to her eyes, and she pulled away from him. "They'll do everything they can, Max."

"But he still might," Max trailed off, no more willing to use the word die then Jimmy was earlier.

"There's a chance," Jill admitted. "But he has everything to live for, Maxine."

"Can I stay with him?"

"For awhile," Jill said, "But the most important thing for you to do is rest, I don't want you going into labor now. That child still has a few months of incubation left to go."

Max laid her hand on stomach, and nodded slightly. A nurse burst into the waiting room and called to Jill. "Dr. Brock, we need you back into the O.R. stat. The patient is coding again.

Jill sprung from her seat, and shot Jimmy and Max an apologetic look as she raced off, "Stay calm. I'll keep you updated!"