Kevin woke to the sound of the shower. Getting dressed, he waited to see if she was going to come out on her own. He thought about last night and smiled. An evening of complete denial had seemed to do wonders for her. She'd actually looked relaxed for the first time since it had happened. They'd snuggled on the sofa until she'd fallen asleep in his arms, and she'd almost slept through the night.

As he crossed the room to the bathroom door, it opened and she appeared. At his expression, she stared at him.

"I'm busted. I was beginning to worry." Kevin shrugged.

Moving to him, Lucy wrapped her arms around his waist. "I'm okay. For the moment." The satin robe she was wearing slid across his chest as he held her, and he leaned closer to her. "I love the way you smell." He did. The fresh, slightly floral smell of her shampoo perfectly complimented the soap she used and it drove him crazy.

Smiling, she tilted her head up to his and kissed him. At first, her lips touched his gently, but she closed her eyes and pressed against him. Hesitating slightly, Lucy opened her mouth and slowly deepened their kiss. Allowing her to lead, Kevin opened his mouth to her and tightened his grip on her, but only slightly. He wanted her, but he didn't want to scare her. And he really didn't think she was ready for what she was doing. Holding him tighter, Lucy relaxed in the warmth and the safety of his arms. She slid her hands up his bare chest and wrapped them around his neck as she continued to kiss him. His hands slid gently up her back, and she moved closer to him. As she pressed closer to his body, she felt him grow harder against her through the silky material of his pajama bottoms, and she pulled away quickly.

A thousand things were running through her mind, and she turned away from him. "I'm sorry."

He wasn't sure it was right, but he moved closer to her and reached gently for her shoulders. When she tensed, but didn't pull away, he stepped closer to her. "Don't. You have nothing to apologize for."

"It's not you, you know that, right?"

"Yes." Keeping a small distance between them, he leaned down to whisper in her ear. "I wish you'd stop putting so much pressure on yourself."

Shaking her head, she finally turned to him, and he wasn't surprised to see she was crying. "I wasn't. I mean, I kissed you because I wanted to." Touching his face, she smiled through her tears. "In case you haven't figure it out yet, I do like to kiss you."

"I'm glad for that." He returned her smile and she laughed slightly.

"I just.... I.... " She couldn't find the words and it frustrated her.

Moving to the bed, he sat down and pulled her gently to stand in front of him. "Okay, you weren't pressuring yourself. I'm not pressuring you, either. I love you. I don't want you to feel like I want more from you than you're ready for."

"I know. I just.. I freaked out on you, and I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, Lucy. Please?" His eyes met hers and she touched his face again.

"I'll try." Moving to him, she wrapped her arms around his neck. "I don't know what I'm ready for. I mean, I thought I was ready for that. But..then. you.."

"I reacted to you. I can't help that." She looked away from him and he reached for her face. "You know the effect you have on me, but it's not because I want to push you."

"I know that. I do. Really. I just freaked out, okay? It's not you, it's me. I'm sorry."

"Lucy," Kevin sighed and took her hands. "Don't apologize, please?"

"I feel like I'm.."

"You're fighting what you feel. I've never seen you do that before. Why start now?"

"Because what I'm feeling doesn't make sense to me!"

"Give it time, Lucy. It will." Gently, he put his hands on her waist and held her close to him. "You're going to figure it out. Promise."

Her eyes met his and she smiled. "Okay. Maybe you're right."

"Maybe?" He smiled at her.

"Okay, you're probably right." They smiled at each other. Taking her hands, Kevin stood. "Why don't you get dressed, and I'm going to jump in the shower."

"A cold one thanks to me, right?"

He realized she was smiling, and he shrugged. "I can take it."

Hugging her one more time, he went into the bathroom.


Scott left the firehouse, angrily shouting "No Comment!" at the hoards of reporters that followed him to his car. The only thing he could think about was how to get to Lucy's without being followed. Those vultures were the last things she needed right now, and Scott knew that. In the privacy of his car, Scott picked up the phone and dialed Victor's number.

"Victor! It's me. Look, I figured out what's going on, at least, I think I have. We need to talk, and I think I need to talk to Kevin and Lucy as well. This isn't going to be good, and I think they need to prepare for it."

"Don't upset them until you're sure, Scott."

"I'm pretty sure, Victor. I mean, we've gone over and over what the defense is digging into, and it only points to one thing." His phone beeped, and he sighed. "Hang on." He clicked over. "Scott."

"Scott? It's Lee. You need to get over here to GH. There's been a development you need to be aware of. Meet me in Alan's office."

"I'm on my way." Going back to Victor, Scott sighed. "I gotta go to GH first, but then I'm headed for Lucy's. I'll call you when I find out what's going on over there."

"Okay."

Once Scott reached GH, he went straight to Alan's office. Gail, Lee, and Alan were already there, looking very grim. "What now?"

"We received a request for records. Pre lawsuit."

"Great." Scott thought about it for a moment. "They asked for Kevin's records of Trent's treatment, but did they mention Gail's records of treating Kevin?"

All three of them stopped and stared at Scott. "How did you know?"

Lee asked Scott with a shocked look on his face. "We received a subpoena for them an hour later."

"DAMMIT!" Scott slammed his briefcase on the desk and began to pace around the office.

"Scott, what do you know that we don't?"

"I know that Schneider is gonna drag Kevin and Lucy through the mud to save that son of a bitch, and I don't know if I can stop it!"

"What do you mean?"

"I can't get into it. But I have to go talk to Dara and Mac."

"This is a medical malpractice lawsuit, Scott, we-"

"Alan! The med mal suit is only the way Schneider's going to get paid. This is about defending Trent." Grabbing his briefcase, Scott headed for the door. "Keep me posted."

With that, he left the room.


A knock on the door brought Lucy to answer it. When she did, the flash from the cameras temporarily blinded her.

"Ms. Coe, can we get a quote? What do you think of what Kevin Collins did?"

Another reporter stepped closer to her and stared at her face. "That was a pretty nasty bruise, he didn't do that to you, did he?"

Putting her hand to her face, Lucy backed up shaking her head. "NO!"

"Then why don't you get him out here and let him give us his side!"

The reporter pointed to Kevin's car, and Lucy realized she couldn't deny he was there. "What happened to your hand? You fight with him?"

"Where'd you get the bruise?" Another reporter moved closer to her, and she backed up inside the door. Before she could close it, Kevin appeared and took her arm.

"NO COMMENT!" Pulling her with him, he shut the door and turned to her. "Are you okay?"

"They..they asked me if you did this to me! Doc how could they."

"Ssshh. Come here." He wrapped his arms around her and held her against him. "I don't care what they asked you. Except that it proves that they don't know what really happened to you, and that's good."

"For who? Not for you!"

"Better for you, Lucy." Trying to calm her, Kevin knew telling her that they could probably find out what happened to her was the wrong thing to say to her. So he just held her and watched her try to get herself together.

"Doc, they really think you hit me. What do we do now?"

"Nothing. We let them wonder, and hope they don't dig up the truth."

As soon as he said it, he was sorry.

Her eyes met his, and she was afraid. "They will, won't they."

Kevin was spared answering her by the reporters shouting outside. They stared at the door until they heard Scott's voice shouting back at them. Going to the door, Kevin looked out until he saw Scott get close before he opened it and let him inside.

"I guess feeding time is over, right?" Scott was sarcastic, but then he saw Lucy. Her eyes told him everything and he went to her. "I'm sorry. I tried to keep you out of this."

Hugging him, Lucy nodded. "I know."

Scott held her and his eyes met Kevin's.

Before Scott could say anything, Lucy backed away from him a little and looked at him. "Scott, they asked me if Kevin hit me. What do we do now?"

Sighing, Scott pulled her to him and hugged her again. "I wish I could tell you we could do something. I really do."

"But..." Lucy knew him well enough to know there was something he wasn't saying.

Taking a deep breath, he pulled away from her and led her to the sofa. "I think it's going to get worse."

"Worse? How can things get worse? I mean, Kevin's been arrested, that... HE is still in a hospital room instead of a jail cell, how can things get worse."

Sitting on the other side of her, Kevin took her hand. "Judging from Scott's face, I think you're going to regret asking that."

"Yep." Scott stared at them for a moment. "First, I met with Alan, Lee, and Gail today. Schneider began proceedings for the medical malpractice suit."

Kevin sighed. "I knew that was coming."

"I know. But I just wanted to tell you it's happening."

"Bad?"

"Don't know yet. Company will probably just want to settle. I'm not an insurance lawyer, but that's my guess."

Closing her eyes, Lucy sighed. "You can't take another hit on your insurance, Doc. I know that."

Scott looked at her for a moment. "Lucy, you're not a lawyer. That's what insurance is for."

"I got a crash course when..." Lucy looked at Kevin for a moment, letting her sentence trail off. "I do know that a carrier won't touch him if he takes another hit. Without malpractice insurance, he can't practice."

"If I lose my license, it will be a mute point." Kevin was instantly sorry they said that when he saw Lucy's eyes fill with tears. "Come here." Reaching for her, he held her against him.

"This is all because of me."

"NO!" She jumped, and he lowered his voice. "You had nothing to do with this. HE did this to you." He touched her face and held her so she had to stare into his eyes. "None of this is your fault, and it's NOT because of you. Do you hear me?"

"Yes." But her eyes told him that she didn't believe him.

"Look, maybe this isn't the best time to get into this." Scott watched her carefully.

"No." She pulled away from Kevin, but held onto his hand. "Now. You came over here to tell us something, and we need to hear it. So go ahead."

"I have been keeping tabs on Schneider. What his investigators are digging into, what they're coming up with."

"We don't want to know how, right?" Kevin stared at Scott, knowing what the answer was going to be.

"Nope. Enough said there?"

"Yes! Go on!" Lucy was getting impatient.

"Okay! They've been digging into your pasts. Both of you."

"Our pasts?" Kevin was confused. "How can they use Lucy's past?"

"Well, not her sexual past."

"Thank God." Lucy mumbled and both men stared at her. Realizing she'd said it out loud, she tried to backpedal. "I mean. I ..It's just that... I didn't mean...." In spite of the situation, both men were almost smiling at her and she slapped them both on the arms. "I never pretended to be an angel to either one of you."

"That's for sure." Scott smiled at her, and then tried to move before she could smack him again.

"Will you just tell us what you came over here to tell us!" Smacking him again, she glared at him.

He sighed, dreading what he had to tell them. "I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out what they were going to do. I suspected a plea bargain, and that may still be an option. He's nuts, and they've got Kevin to verify that."

Kevin looked away, but Lucy squeezed his hand.

Scott continued. "GH got a subpoena today for Gail's records."

"Gail's?" Lucy was confused. "Why Gail's?"

"Because Gail treated me, right?" Kevin looked at Scott, who nodded. "They're going to prove I have a history of violence for the assault charges, right?"

"Partly." Scott stared at Lucy, and took a deep breath. "But they've also been digging into Lucy's past."

"You just said that they can't use it against me."

"Not that. They pulled the Kevin O'Connor murder trial transcripts."

More confused, Lucy shook her head. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Kevin had no idea what either of them were talking about, and he watched them stare at each other.

Scott glanced at Kevin for a moment, not sure if Lucy wanted him to hear this.

"Just say it, Scott. I've never hid anything from Kevin. We've just never talked about it."

"You committed perjury to protect him because you loved him."

"I still don't get the connection. I mean, there's no way they can say I'm lying about this. Scott, he beat the hell out of me. You know that!"

"I know that. You got hurt. They can't deny that. They're not trying
to deny someone hurt you."

"Then what are they after?" Her patience was wearing thin, and her voice rose as she leaned closer to him.

"They're after.... They're after the other guy, Lucy." He sighed. "Two men. Two DNA's in the report."

"The other.." Scott literally watched Lucy put it together. It was all over her face. "That's ridiculous! I mean who'd believe that Kevin would EVER-"

"A jury might, Lucy." Kevin put his hands over his face for a second before standing and pacing around the room. "People that don't know me, that hear all about what I did to Felicia and you-"

"You didn't do anything to me!" Lucy stared at Kevin, and Scott decided to step in.

"That's going to hurt, too, Lucy."

"What?" Lucy gave Scott that blank look that told Scott she wasn't about to admit to anything.

"That. Right there. You would do anything to protect him, and that's what they're going to use against both of you." Scott tried to be gentle, but there was really no way to be. "You committed perjury to protect a man before. You committed perjury to help me before."

"Nobody knew about that!" Lucy continued, but Kevin interrupted her.

"Lucy, stop."

She looked at him.

"Listen to yourself. Scott's right. You would do anything to protect someone you love. Scott and I both love you for what you've done for both of us, but the defense lawyer is going to have a field day with it."

Lucy began to cry again. "Scott, you really believe that they're going to try to convince a jury that Kevin did this to me?"

Scott wanted to say no, but he couldn't. Kevin sat next to her and took her hands. "I'm sorry."

"No, Doc. Don't say that. I know you went after him because of what he did to me." Touching his face, she leaned closer to him. "You've almost always defended me. And I love you for it. I can't let them do this to you because of me."

"Lucy," Taking her hand, he stared at her. "This is NOT your fault. You don't have to stop this. So don't even try, okay? Please?"

"Stay out of it, Lucy." Scott agreed with Kevin. "You're going to get some hair brained scheme going in your head and you'll end up getting into trouble and making the situation worse."

Glaring at him, Lucy started to say something, but Kevin squeezed her hands tighter. "I wouldn't put it that way, but I don't want to see you get hurt anymore then you already are. Let Scott, Mac, and Dara handle it."

She nodded and sighed. "Okay." But both men had a feeling the reprieve was short lived.


"I don't care what the judge says, I want to nail this guy!" Mac slammed the phone down and turned to Richards. "He won't let us touch Davis until he's released from Mercy."

"We knew that, Mac. But we've got the paperwork filed. As soon as he gets out, he's ours. Charges are already in the making."

"So is the lawsuit against Kevin and the hospital."

"We can't do anything about that." Richards sighed. "I don't see how they can make anything stick there if he doesn't admit he went after Lucy."

"Scott's pretty sure they'll settle to avoid the publicity. Won't be good for Kevin."

"He's a good friend of yours, right?"

"The best."

"Then I'm wondering if you shouldn't bow out of this."

"I can't."

"Mac," Richards looked at him. "We don't want to give the defense anything to use against the case. You protected him before. We don't want even a hint of you trying to push the rape case to use it to defend him on the assault charges." Mac started to speak, but she shook her head. "PLUS, you're friends with Lucy, too. This could scream of police prejudice. We don't want that."

"What I don't want is for my friends to be hurt anymore than they already are!"

"I know that. But we have to make sure this gets done right. I think Scott is on to something with the defense. Have you heard from him?"

"No, not yet. He wants to meet with us today."

"Okay, so we meet with him, find out what he's thinking, and go from there."

"Then you need to think about how much it could hurt this case if you continue on it, Mac. I'm serious. You want to help them, and the defense could use that. How the case is handled and all that. You know that."

"I know, I heard that before. I guess I'm doing both of them more harm than good now, huh."

"To be honest, yeah." Richards sighed. "I just wish Mercy would release him. Working a case where you can't even interview the prime suspect sucks."

A knock on the door startled both of them. The door opened, and Dara entered. "We've got problems with the Davis case."

"More problems?" Mac sighed.

"The defense has put a plea on the table. The attorney seems confident that his client can beat the charges, but he's offering to allow his client to plea to a simple assault in order to save the department any embarrassment."

"To save the department!" Mac stood and glared at Dara.

"We have a convicted stalker on our payroll, Mac. A convicted stalker who has just been arrested for assault and battery, with attempted murder thrown in."

"Dara, you know Kevin!"

"This isn't about Kevin. This is about the department and how the mayor is going to react. The defense is threatening to bring it all out to the press and the mayor won't like that kind of publicity."

"I don't care what the mayor wants, Dara. This isn't about publicity! This isn't even about Kevin! To the defense, it's about getting their client off. To me, it's about the fact that a good friend of mine was beaten and raped! She deserves more from us than 'sorry, we can't be embarrassed!'"

"I know that, Mac!" Dara's voice matched Mac's. "You think I'm happy about this? If Kevin had just kept his temper-"

"He loves her, Dara! You tell me one man who wouldn't have done the exact same thing if they were in his place!"

"Okay! Both of you!" Richards stared at both of them. "We're on the same side, here. We all want him to pay. I do have to tell you, Dara, I don't think the plea's going to work, more because the victim has a say. I don't think for one minute Lucy's going to agree to a simple misdemeanor."

"That's what I needed Mac for."

"NO!" Mac shook his head. "I am NOT going to pressure her to accept this!"

"I didn't say I was going to accept the first deal they offered, Mac. I need to get a feel for what Lucy wants. You're right in the fact that this is about her. I need to know how far is she going to want to take this?"

A knock on the door made them all turn. At Mac's invitation, Scott entered. "We need to talk."

"I'm glad you're here." Mac gestured towards a chair. "The defense has made another move."

"I have a feeling I know where they're going." Scott sat down, nodding to Dara and Richards. "That's why I'm here."

"The gave Dara the song and dance about their client beating the charges, and they offered to cop to simple assault." Mac shrugged.

Shaking his head, Scott looked at Dara. "You can do better then that."

"I know that. I need to know how much better. You said you know where they're going. Let's hear it." Dara sat down and they listened as Scott began to tell them what he knew, and what he suspected.


Mandy opened the door to the house and looked around. Maria's message on her cell had simply said that Trent had been put away again, and she wanted to meet with Mandy. After a few quick calls, Mandy knew that Trent was in Mercy, and she'd be safe to return home for a while.

"Glad you're here." Maria's voice was cold and extremely uninviting.

"I got your message. What did he do now?"

"That's a big part of his problem, you know. The fact that you're SO ready to ALWAYS place the blame on him."

"Maria, he's-" Mandy shook her head. Trying to explain to Maria that Trent wasn't the perfect angel was a waste of her time. "Nevermind. What happened?"

"His doctor tried to strangle him."

"Kevin Collins tried to strangle him?" Mandy was shocked. "Why?"

"See? There you go again. Trent had to have done something, right? Well, if Kevin Collins was as great a doctor as you seemed to believe he was, none of this would have ever happened."

"Maria, just tell me what Trent did."

"Well, you'd know if you hadn't run out on him! But you took off, and left him to deal with it. You left him feeling like he wasn't good enough for you, and you didn't care how much you hurt him."

"I did what.. I think coming back was a mistake."

"NO! You're part of this, too, and he needs you right now." Maria glared at Mandy and crossed her arms. "His attorney wants to talk to you."

"I'm not doing anything until you tell me what he's done."

"He was looking for you. He needed you and you left him! And he knew that his doctor had helped you get away."

Mandy stared at Maria for a moment. "I need to think about this. I have a room at a hotel, and I'll call you as soon as I decide what I'm going to do."

Knowing she wasn't going to get an answer out of Maria, Mandy decided to go to GH and ask Kevin what had happened. She knew there was a big piece of the story that Maria would never admit to, much less tell her about.


Mac sighed. "It makes sense, from a legal standpoint."

"How believable is it going to be for the jury to point fingers at Kevin?" Richards looked at all of them.

Pointing to Dara, Mac shrugged. "Why don't you take that question?"

At Scott's and Richards's questioning glances, Dara shrugged. "I headed up the prosecution for Kevin's stalking case. I was convinced that I was protecting Felicia and Lucy from him by trying to put him away for a long time."

"Let me guess," Scott interrupted her. "Lucy didn't want your protection."

"Do obstruction of justice charges and witness tampering accusations tell you anything?" Dara shrugged.

"Only that they have Lucy's name all over them." Scott sighed. "Was any of it recorded?"

"No. I just threatened her. But it didn't stop her. She hired Alexis, and I guess you know where that ended up."

Scott stared at her for a long moment. "If you're called to testify, what would you say to the defense asking you if you think Kevin is capable of hurting Lucy?"

"Can they call her?" Richards interrupted. "I mean, Dara's prosecuting the case."

"They can if they can prove relevance. The fact that she prosecuted Kevin would definitely be relevant if they're going to say Kevin did it." Scott stared at Dara and waited for an answer.

After thinking about it, Dara sighed. "At the time, I believed he'd do it again the first chance he got. But I guess... probably not until you and Felicia were planning the double wedding with Kevin and Lucy that I really believed he was better." Dara gestured to Mac. "I saw more of him while the planning was going on. I saw him with Felicia and they seemed to be... close again." She looked at Mac for a moment. "I guess I'd say no."

"But you suspected he'd done something to Lucy back then, right?" Scott wanted to know what they were up against.

"Yes. I was sure of it. But Lucy wouldn't talk about it. She was determined to protect him, no matter what."

"And that's exactly what the defense is counting on to convince the jury. Lucy would protect Kevin, even if meant accusing their poor defenseless client." Scott sighed. "The malpractice case is underway, and I guess another D.A. has the assault charges against Kevin, right?"

Dara nodded. "Conflict of interest at this point. The cases are too closely related for me to have both of them."

"I don't get this." Mac shook his head. "I mean, we had a clear cut case, here. How are they going to get his confession to Kevin kicked?"

"Probably say that Davis found her and has a hard time separating fact from fiction. Kevin can back that up." Scott shrugged. "That's the route I'd take."

Richards stood. "What about the fact that Trent has history of violence, too?"

"Never convicted." Dara answered. "His wife always dropped the charges."

"What about her?"

"She left town." Scott closed his briefcase. ""That's why this guy was after Kevin to begin with. Thought Kevin knew where she was. But Dara's right. She'd probably be a hostile witness, and we can't force her to testify against him anyway."

"So what do we do?" Mac watched Scott and Richard pace around the room.

"Counter the plea."

"Okay, Scott. You know Lucy." Dara answered him. "What do you think she'd go for?"

"First, Lucy knows what the defense is up to. She doesn't want this to go to court if it means all of and hers and Kevin's skeletons get dug out of the closet. One of the lovely press vultures already asked her if Kevin put the bruises on her, and it really freaked her out. I'd love to see him get jail time, but I don't think we're going to see that in a plea. Cushy psych ward for a while would be doable. We know he has a history, so I'd go for some violent charge for his record. I doubt Schneider will go for a violent sex crime, but something that will label him. Get him off the street and give him a felony record, I think Lucy will go for it."

"To protect Kevin, right?" Richards looked at Scott.

"And herself at this point, but yeah. The thought that they were going to accuse Kevin really got to her."

"He must really be good to her." Richards sighed.

"Actually, he hasn't been. But if I'm going to be honest, I haven't been that great to her, either, and she'd do the same for me."

"I guess we're all in agreement here." Dara stood. "Keep this out of the courtroom."

"Keep me posted." Scott watched her leave and turned to Mac. "There's more to this. Care to fill me in?"

Sighing, Mac looked at Richards before answering Scott. "It has more to do with Kevin's case. The defense is threatening some pretty nasty publicity concerning Kevin heading up the psychiatric SWAT team for the PCPD."

"And the mayor doesn't want that, right?"

"You got it."

Leaning on the desk, Scott glared at Mac. "We all agree that a plea is the way to go, but I'm telling you, Mac. Dara sells Lucy out to cover the mayor's ass, and I'll pull out so many of his skeletons that he'll think Kevin's bad publicity is a children's book! Don't forget I have lived here most of my life, and my specialty is doing damage."

"I know, Scott, and believe me, if I get a feeling that Dara's going to cave to the pressure, I'll remind her of that. And the mayor, if I have to." Mac almost smiled at Scott. "It's about time that reputation of yours does some good."

"Damn right. I worked hard to get it, and I'll go to the mat for this one." Picking up his briefcase, Scott turned and left.