8.30am
"Hey college girl." said Martin as he walked into Samantha's room. "You gave us quite a scare earlier."
Samantha just looked at him, half asleep.
"Viv told us that your mom went home. I'm sorry."
"Don't be." said Samantha, "It's not your fault. So how's work?"
"We got a new case. 17 year old girl's missing, Not sure if she ran
away or was kidnapped."
Samantha faltered a bit hearing about a case quite similar to her own incident when she was also 17. Worry flickered across her face. "I hope you find her." she said. "God, I wish I was back in the office. I hate being stuck here feeling useless."
"You're never useless." said Martin reassuringly. "And you'll be back in the office in no time. Why did you try and get up earlier? You know you aren't supposed to try and move much."
"I already told the doctor. I had to stretch my legs. You know me, I can't sit still for long, and I've been just lying here for ages."
Martin raised an eyebrow at her.
"Do you think I'm lying?" she asked angrily.
"You did say about how much you wanted to get out of here." said
Martin.
"So you don't believe me? God. I thought you would have had a little more faith in me then that." said Samantha.
"Sam, I didn't mean..."
"Look, just forget it. I'm too tired to argue anyway.
"Sam..." started Martin but decided against it and walked dejectedly towards the door, but Sam's voice stopped him.
"I'm no stupid you know. I'm not going to do anything that may risk damaging my leg even more. It didn't even register that I was getting up until I was."
"I do believe you Sam, honestly."
"I know." said Samantha smiling. "Just a bit touchy, combination of
meds and not enough sleep."
"I'll leave you to rest." said Martin. "Anyway I gotta get back on the
case."
"Bye see you later." said Samantha,
"Bye, try and sleep ok?" said Martin.
9.00am
Samantha lay helplessly, unable to move, looking up at James Riley's face. He leant his head towards hers, whispering suggestive phrases and other things. She closed her eyes trying to block out the sight, but she could still hear the comments and then she felt the force of his fist slamming into her ribcage causing her to gasp for breath. He moved slightly, putting pressure on her legs so she couldn't move them, his face directly above hers, all the while whispering to her. He started to move his hands over her body, and she tried to struggle and throw him off anticipating what was coming. The struggling angered him and she ended up with a slap round the face. His hands started to move lower and lower....
Samantha woke with a start, breathing heavily. God, when does this stop she thought. That had been about the 5th nightmare like that. They were plaguing her sleep, she would give anything to get them to stop.
9.00am
"So how was Sam?" asked Vivian.
"Very tired, surprisingly. She said that she only wanted to stretch her legs then got mad when she thought I didn't believe her."
"So you do believe her?"
Martin nodded. "Yeah I do. Has there been any more news?" he asked.
"The number that had been calling Ellie regularly. That was her
father's number, so they have been in contact for a few months." said Vivian.
"Did you tell Jack and Danny?" asked Martin.
"Yeah just called a few minutes ago and they are on their way there. They talked to the boyfriend, he hasn't heard from her or anything."
"Wonder why she's been in contact with her father and not told anyone?" asked Martin. "Oh I told Samantha about the case, she seemed a bit shaken. Think it reminded her of when she was 17."
"I think there's a lot from her past that she's not telling us." said
Vivian.
Martin nodded.
"So what do we do now?" he asked.
"Jack wants us to wait until they have gone to see the father. He said he'll ring after."
9.30am
Vivian and Martin had been going over the case file looking for anything they could have missed when the phone rang. Vivian being
nearest picked it up.
"Agent Johnson."
"Hey Viv." said Jack.
"Well what happened?" she asked eagerly.
"Turns out Ellie did run away, she ran away to live with her father."
"What?" asked Vivian surprised.
"Well she had been in contact with her father for several months, and she was sick of her mom treating her like a child, so she planned to run away and move in with her dad."
"Oh. Well that's new." said Vivian. "What are they doing now?"
"They are going to talk to a lawyer to get joint custody, so she will
spend time with both her parents."
"Bet her mom was embarrassed." said Vivian, smiling.
"Yeah. We'll be back in the office soon. Bye." said Jack.
"Bye." replied Vivian.
"What happened?" asked Martin when Vivian had hung up.
"Ellie had run away, but she had run away to live with her father,
because she was tired of her mom treating her like a child. They are
going to get joint custody."
"Well at least it's a happy ending." said Martin.
"That's always good." said Vivian. "Danny and Jack are on their way
back. It's really different without Samantha you know."
Martin nodded, "I know what you mean. Oh, the doctor said that she should be able to go home in 4 days."
"I bet she's glad." said Vivian. "Did he say how long until she can
come back to work?"
Martin shook his head, "He said she will still need to rest, especially
rest her leg, make sure it doesn't get any worse. She looked tired, I
don't think she's been getting much sleep. She keeps having these
dreams, well nightmares I guess about him."
Vivian sighed, "I'm not surprised. Too go through something like that, it would be unnatural not to have dreams."
"Do you have any idea how long they will last?" asked Martin.
"It depends on the person. Usually if they try and put it behind them and focus on more positive things then it will go quicker, but it
really does depend on the person." said Vivian.
"I see her when there's a guy about, even if its Danny or I, she still
looks nervous almost scared. She knows there's nothing to be scared about with us."
"It takes a long time to get over something like that. It can come back and bother a person years later. You just have to be patient."
"But I don't want her to be scared of me. I'd never do anything to hurt her."
Vivian smiled knowingly. "So you still want to try and get together?"
she asked.
"Yes, I just don't know if Samantha will ever be able to."
"Just give her time. Let her know you're there for support and whatever she needs. She's strong, she will get past this."
"I hope so." said Martin sadly.