THE CONSEQUENCES

In the days after the incident at the party Rachel became distant to all the members of the Cohen's house. She didn't speak unless spoken too and even then the conversations were short and meaningless. Ryan had instantly noticed the change and knew that most of it had been because of what she had done that night. He knew Rachel had held firearms before, even used them, but this was something that was different. She was in a place now where everyone was saying things were going to be okay, that she was safe. Now she was at the point where she couldn't believe anything.

Things only became worse that morning when Sandy walked into the kitchen, a grim look on his face.

"What is it?" Kirsten asked.

Ryan and Seth looked up from their breakfast plates but Rachel didn't leave her spot on the couch, eyes cast to the floor.

"That was just Benny Staler from the police station," Sandy began placing the phone down with a look of shock on his face.

"What's happened?" Seth asked. "He shot himself in the foot again, didn't he?"

Sandy looked at each of them in turn before finally speaking.

"Marsal has been allowed to walk free."

"What?" Ryan voiced.

"They said that they have no grounds to keep him under arrest."

Ryan's eyes were wide. "What, is rape not breaking the law any more?"

Rachel was listening to the conversation, listening to Ryan almost completely lose it, but she made no reply.

"Ryan, I'm sorry, but there is nothing I can do."

"That's not good enough!" Kirsten yelled. "Now I'm the first one who will stand up if someone is wrongfully accused, but what he did was unforgivable."

"I know you're all upset, believe me I tried to get them to reconsider but they aren't hearing any of it."

"Then try harder!" Seth yelled. "Tell them everything!"

"I have Seth, this isn't something that I would normally let slide but they have made their point and stood their ground!"

"Then stand your own!" Ryan growled.

"I can't just march down there and tell them they are wrong!"

"You're a lawyer!"

"But I'm not the law!"

Rachel stood up then, and all their eyes turned to her as she moved away from them and ran upstairs, not saying a word.

Ryan went to go after her but Kirsten advised otherwise.

"Give her some time," she said. "This is harder for her than it is for us."

"What are we going to do? He's managed to find her the last two times he tried," Seth said.

Rachel listened to the conversation from her position, sitting on Seth's bed. She wanted to scream, wanted to tell them all to just shut up and drop the subject, that they were only making things worse, but she couldn't. She couldn't find the words, let alone the emotion to voice her opinion. She felt empty.

"All I know is that I'm not letting her out of my sight again," Ryan said.

"What about school, Ryan?" Sandy asked.

"What about it?"

Sandy moved over toward the group and sat down with them. "Look, the best thing right now is to not make a big deal out of this."

"But it is a big deal."

"I understand that, but Rachel needs things to be normal as much as possible right now. Both of you will still go to school and Kirsten and I will still go to work. Rachel will be fine in the house during the daytime and at night we are all home."

Ryan went to protest when Seth spoke up. "You're right dad."

Sandy stood shocked. "Can I get that in writing?"

.........

When Seth went upstairs again he heard the shower running softly next to his room and figured that Rachel was trying to relax a little after what she'd just witnessed.

He closed his bedroom door and sat down on the bed, waiting for her to re-enter his room. When she did she had a towel rapped around her body, her hair damp.

Seth loved her hair when she had just washed it, it made her look so innocent having it messy around her face. It made her look like nothing had ever happened to her.

"Sorry about what happened down there," he said as she ran a comb through her tangled hair.

"It's okay," Rachel replied absently, as though she didn't even hear him speak the words.

Seth stood from his bed, walking over to her and looking into her face for a time. Rachel made no move to return the affection and instead looked at him irritably.

"What?" She asked.

Seth took her hand and led her over to the bed. "Come here."

Rachel moved with him holding onto the top of the towel so it didn't slip down.

When they reached it and Seth sat down Rachel stopped short.

"Not now Seth," she said pulling away slightly.

"No I don't want to...just sit down with me for a sec."

Rachel let out a sigh and reluctantly sat down with her boyfriend who seemed to be studying her face at the moment.

"Are you okay?" He asked honestly.

"I'm fine," she insisted.

"Do you know what that John guy from the Italian Job said fine stands for? Freaked out, insecure, neurotic and emotional."

Rachel cocked her head to one side. "Yeah, right before he was double crossed and shot by one of his own men."

Seth looked at her concerned, nothing about her screamed Rachel Atwood. She was distant, and somehow seemed insecure about sitting there with him with nothing but a towel on, something, which she had never minded doing until now.

Seth ran his fingers up her arm drawing invisible circles along her silky skin. He trailed a line up to her shoulder, along her collarbone and up to her chin where he turned her face to meet his.

Rachel pulled away then, not wanting anything to happen between them at the moment, things were already screwed up enough, she didn't want to pretend everything was okay just because Seth wanted her too.

She stood from the bed just as Seth was about to kiss her and moved away from him.

"I said not now."

Rachel turned and snatched up some of her spare clothes which lay over Seth's desk chair and went back into the bathroom to change, leaving a troubled Seth in her wake.

.........

That afternoon while Rachel was alone in the house she took the time to think about the morning's happenings. Everything was going wrong for her lately. Though she and Seth had made up she couldn't help but think that what he had done had put a strain on their relationship that neither of them wanted to deal with. She couldn't justify her actions earlier in the day when she had walked out on him. Something inside her had made her leave, made her think that this was the one good thing she still had and if she let it develop it would be ruined like everything else.

Rachel sat in the lounge, in the same spot she had been that morning when Sandy had broken the news to them. News, which not only terrified her, but made her believe that nothing could be done to stop Marsal from getting to her.

It was working, his plan was working. She had shut herself off from everyone; even Ryan, whom she had always confided in, now just didn't seem to be enough. Rachel wanted to deal with things by herself, but when thinking about what that really meant, she wanted to run and hide in the corner of a darkened room until everything went away.

Sitting there with her head in her hands she didn't here the intruder until they spoke to her.

"Hello deary."

Rachel shot off the couch and instantly distanced herself from the man.

Marsal stood there, a smirk on his face, a bag slung over his shoulder. Rachel began to back away into the kitchen where she moved toward the knife drawer.

"Thought you wouldn't be seeing me again didn't you?"

Marsal moved with her, slowly following the path she was taking. Rachel's hand found the handle of a sharp kitchen knife and she rapped her fingers around it tightly.

When Marsal realised what she was doing he shook his head.

"No, there will be none of that, I only came to say goodbye."

"What the hell are you talking about you sick bastard?" Rachel asked never letting her grip loosen.

Marsal smiled and put his bag down on the kitchen counter, un-zipping it and reaching inside.

Rachel took a step back thinking that he would soon produce a gun, but Marsal shook his head again.

"There is no sense in killing you. Just wanted to give you an address where you can find me."

He placed a piece of paper on the bench and slung the bag back over his shoulder.

"Why the hell would I want to do that?"

Marsal looked Rachel up and down, his eyes scanning her body.

"Just in case you can't handle everything on your own?"

"What are you talking about?" Rachel demanded. "There isn't anything you can do that you haven't already done."

Marsal smiled. "True, true."

He moved away from her and back toward the front door calling out behind him.

"But you come and get me if you need help."

"What would I need help with Marsal?"

"The grand-daddy of them all," he said before walking out the door. "Oh and before I forget, you might want to lock your front door, you never know what kind of people will just waltz in."

Rachel stood frozen as she heard Marsal pull his car out of the drive and take off down the road. He had just walked straight in. After everything that everyone had said about her being safe in the house. They had never thought that he wouldn't think of a cunning plan, that he wouldn't pull a 007. Instead he had just walked straight in.

She ran their conversation over in her mind, trying to make some sense of what he was saying.

In case you can't handle everything on your own.

She played his words over and over.

Help with the grand-daddy of them all. What the hell does that mean?

Rachel leaned against the counter thinking of all possible solutions.

Grand-daddy...of them all.

Grand-daddy.

Grand...daddy.

Rachel looked up slightly as she suddenly realised what Marsal was trying to tell her, a detail that had completely missed her detection in all the chaos, which had surrounded his attack.

Grand. Daddy, she thought.

Rachel's eyes went wide.

Daddy.

"Oh my God," she whispered.

.........

That night Rachel eased out of bed, trying her hardest not to wake Seth who was sleeping beside her. After not getting a wink of sleep, worrying about her encounter with Marsal she decided that the best thing for her to do was admit to what had happened. But she couldn't tell Seth, she couldn't tell Sandy or Kirsten. She had to tell her brother.

Rachel bunched up the covers from it would still feel as thought Seth had his arm around her waist and tiptoed out of the bedroom. She walked through the darkened house and finally outside where the concrete paving was cold on her feet.

Sliding the pool house door open she realised that she was shaking. But not from the cold.

I'm really gonna do it, she thought.

Making her way over to the bed she knelt down beside Ryan's sleeping figure, her weight barely enough to move the bed and inch.

"Ry'," she whispered, even though a part of her wished he wasn't going to wake up.

"Ry'," she said again, rubbing his shoulder slightly.

The breath caught in her throat as a slow stream of tears began to run down her face. If she told him, that would mean that everything was real. All of it.

Ryan stirred slightly but didn't wake up.

"Ry', please...wake up." Rachel's voice was no longer a whisper but rather one of urgency.

Ryan instantly shot awake, his mind knowing that something was terribly wrong. When his eyes fell on Rachel's distressed face, his fears were answered.

"Rach, what's wrong?" He asked sitting up in front of her.

Rachel tried to put words to it, but even she did not know how. The entire day she had managed to keep it together, to not lose control. But now, as she sat in the darkened pool house with her brother, she wasn't afraid to let her emotions take over.

The words not forming, she leaned forward, burying her head in Ryan's chest and cried.

Ryan rapped his arms around her shaking body, thinking of all of the possible things that could have happened to make her do this. The list was endless.

"Rachel," he whispered trying to calm her down. "Are you gonna talk to me?"

She continued to cry, the tears flowing more freely ever time she thought of what she about to do.

"Shh, it's okay, you know you can tell me anything."

Rachel took in a shallow breath. "But if I tell you..." she began, her voice muffled by his shirt. "That means that it's real."

"What's real?" Ryan asked. He leaned his head against the side of hers so he could hear the words.

"Everything. It means that it wasn't a dream and I didn't make it up. That it really happened, and he was really here, and..." She began to cry again.

Ryan now knew what she was talking about. It had to be about the incident at the benefit, there was no denying it. This had been the first time Rachel spoken of it since the event, and when she did, her emotions were true and raw.

"What make's it all real?"

"What he said today..."

Ryan frowned at the comment.

"What who said today?"

"Marsal."

Ryan moved closer, still not letting his arms fall from around her body. "He was here today?"

Rachel nodded slightly. "What he said...what he started." Rachel cried more softly now but never raised her eyes to meet Ryan's.

"Rach I don't underst..."

And then he did. Ryan knew exactly what she was trying to say. He lifted his face and rested his chin atop his sister's head, the reality of what she was telling him, hitting his chest like a brick. This was not like the others. It wasn't a scar or a memory, but rather something that symbolised everything Marsal had done and was capable of doing.

"Ry', I can't do this," Rachel whispered pulling Ryan away from his thoughts and back to reality.

He hugged her tightly. "I'm here for you," he said. "Whatever you need."

Rachel looked up at her brother, eyes bloodshot and scared. "Make it stop." Her voice carried a longing.

Ryan didn't know what to say, he couldn't make this stop and she knew it. In Rachel's mind she knew it. She leaned against him again and Ryan reassured her.

"We're in this together Rach. I'm carrying this with you. You're not alone, remember that."

Rachel took in a deep breath and moved closer to her brother, her head still resting on his chest. Her body had now almost completely stopped shaking at the knowledge that she had taken the first step. She had admitted to what was going on. Let someone in on a piece of her life.

However, she knew that things could only get worse.

TO BE CONTINUED.........

(STORY TITLE!!!!???? Please help and give me some suggestions as I think the one it has now is rather plain.

So what do you think? I was hoping that Rachel's secret would come as a surprise because it even surprised me when I thought of it, as I had not really considered any consequences to the Marsal attack when I wrote it. Hope you liked this chapter. I promise that I will have the story finished by the end of this week because that is when my holidays finish and I won't have any time afterward. Please Review and keep those suggestions coming.)