Title: Urban Legends
Author: krisdae
Pairing: None, although it may seem like Charlie/Amita to some. They are intended to just be friends.
Rating: PG-13
Beta: A big thanks to marvinetta for being a wonderful, fast beta. You rock!
Feedback: Please! bats eyes It's what keeps me writing.
Warning: This story does contain situations involving possible date rape. Although not depicted in detail, this may bother some.

Chapter Three

Don knocked on Amita's door, dreading the conversation. If Amita had not been attacked, Charlie wouldn't take it well. And if she had… Either way, Don was going to have to be careful how he asked his questions. He'd asked rape victims questions before, but now he had to ask them in front of his brother. And he wasn't sure this was rape. But he had decided that treating it like rape was the best way to handle both Charlie and Amita.

Amita answered the door and Don could tell that she was not taking the situation well. Her eyes were bloodshot as if she had been crying earlier. Her hair was tangled around her shoulders and her clothes rumpled, letting Don know she hadn't been up and around for most of the day.

"Charlie, Don," she said as she held the door open. She led them over to the couch. "Can I get you anything?"

"No, thank you," Don waited for Amita to sit down. "I know that this is a tough time for you, but I need to ask you a few questions about last night."

"Charlie told you," Amita turned accusing eyes to Charlie.

"I had to. I told Don about the rumors and he didn't think there was anything to them so I needed to convince him otherwise and-"

Don cut Charlie off, "Amita, Charlie told me because he cares about you. And he was right, I probably wouldn't have taken an interest in the situation if it wasn't someone we knew. This isn't exactly the type of thing that the FBI would get involved in."

"So, you believe there is something to this?" Amita asked.

"I know that you think there is and Charlie mentioned that there were others with the same story. So, let's find out what's going on, all right?" At Amita's nod, Don began to relax. He felt like he was on more familiar ground now. "Why don't you start at the beginning of last night."

"Well, I went out with a couple of girlfriends to this club called Forbidden Sights. It's nice sometimes to get away from the pressure of school. We always make sure there are at least three of us. That way we can watch each other's drinks and make sure that none of us go home with anyone else."

"So what was different about last night?"

"Nothing at first. I had a rum and coke at the beginning of the night, but that was my only drink. Casey and Amanda were dancing and I was watching the table when this guy came up. I don't know his name, but I remember thinking he was cute. Tall, blond… He sat down and we started talking. Nothing big, just 'hey, what do you do, where you from' kind of stuff. At the time I was feeling really good. Kind of high on life and really happy with no worries. And I also remember thinking that I wanted this guy.

"I should have known something was wrong with me then, because I'm never like that, even with guys I know and like. I'm not that type of girl."

"We know that," Charlie put in.

"Anyway, I was sitting with this guy and feeling, well, horney, for lack of a better word. By the time Casey came back to the table, we were pretty much all over each other. She was worried that I wasn't acting like myself, but she made me look her in the eye and swear that I was fine before she let me go with him." Amita looked at the floor. "I told Casey that I wanted to go with him. That I felt fine and she didn't need to worry about me."

"So you left with him voluntarily?"

"Yes."

"And this morning?"

"I woke up at the guy's apartment. And I didn't think anything odd about it. I just walked to a payphone and called a cab to bring me home. I got here and crashed on the couch. When I woke up again a couple of hours later, it was a whole new awareness. Suddenly everything about last night seemed false."

"False?"

"I mean, when I remember last night, it's like I'm watching someone else. As if the normal part of me was shut inside and someone else was dictating my actions. I can't believe that I would do something like that. It was like I had no inhibitions and an intense craving for release from someone. I don't think it would have made a difference who was there as long as they were offering to have sex."

"Amita, who made the first move last night?"

Amita's voice was so soft Don almost missed it. "I did." There was silence in the room for a few moments. "Don, do you believe me when I say that I didn't have control of myself last night?"

Don looked from Charlie to Amita. Charlie's eyes were begging him to believe in Amita and Amita's eyes were showing defeat. "I have to tell you, your story wouldn't hold up well if you were to file rape charges." Don held up his hand as he saw Charlie about to interrupt. "But, there is definitely something to look into. I can't make any guesses right now, but I want to talk to the other girls you know who have suffered from this scenario. I'll also need to talk to your friends Casey and Amanda. Can you give me all their names and numbers?"

Amita nodded and went to get paper to write the names down leaving Don and Charlie in her living room. Charlie glared at his brother. "You don't believe her."

Don sighed. "It's not a very credible story, Charlie. But, I know that she's a friend and I'm willing to look into it. If there is something going on, we need to find out about it."

"Thanks"

"Yeah, well don't get your hopes up. So far, it doesn't look like we have much to go on."

Monday morning, Don grabbed coffee and went to the conference room near his office. He had gone out early this morning to interview Sharon. After dropping Charlie off the night before, he had called Terry and David, deciding that they should split up the interviews. No sense using too many resources if there was nothing to investigate. They were supposed to meet this morning and compare notes.

Terry and David were already inside the conference room when Don came in and pulled up a chair. "All right, Terry. You spoke to Karen this morning?"

"Yes. She was attacked on December 17th. Her story runs much the same as Amita's. She was out with some friends at a club. She didn't have anything alcoholic to drink because she was the designated driver for the evening. She met a guy, danced for a while and then went out to his car and had sex with him. She says his first name was Steve, but doesn't remember his last name. He was kind of short, which she usually doesn't go for, and long black hair.

"She says he didn't force her, but that she didn't feel normal. She described the feeling as walking through water. As if her limbs weren't moving the same was as they usually did. She suffered no memory loss or disorientation. The next day she felt like she was coming out of a fog and was mortified at what happened."

Don nodded. "And was there any trace of anything in her system?"

Terry shook her head. "She didn't go into the doctor. She believed she did something stupid and it wasn't until one of her friends mentioned a friend of a friend of a friend had a similar occurrence that she thought maybe she had been drugged. By then it was to late."

"Okay. David? You talked to Casey and Amanda?"

"Yes. They both said that as far as they knew, Amita only had the one drink early in the evening, but she might have had more when they weren't looking. But I think we can rule that out since one of them would have seen something and Casey said Amita didn't look drunk hen she talked with her at the table.

"From what Amanda told me, she saw Amita and this guy were getting pretty heavy when she looked over at the table. And it didn't look like Amita had any objections. But Casey said that there was something off about Amita."

"Off?" asked Terry. "How?"

"She says that Amita didn't have glassy eyes or dilated pupils like someone who's taken drugs. But she looked a little flushed and was acting out of character. Apparently, Amita doesn't even talk to guys when they go out. But, Casey couldn't see anything wrong with Amita when she looked at her closely and she is an adult, so she let her go."

Don swiveled in his chair as he thought. "Don? What did Sharon say?"

"Well, Sharon was out at a club with Amita. Unlike the other two, Sharon was drinking the night before, but wasn't really drunk from what Sharon says. A young black guy came up to her, offered to buy her a drink, but she turned him down saying she wanted to be sober to enjoy his attentions. She ended up in a back alley with him. Afterwards, she went back in and was dancing with her friends as if nothing had happened. But the next day she felt victimized. She actually went to the doctor, thinking she had been slipped Rohypnol, but they didn't find anything in her blood or urine. And now Sharon refuses to go to Forbidden Sights."

Terry's head snapped up, "Forbidden Sights? That's the name of the club?"

Don nodded. "Yeah, why?"

"That's the same place Karen was attacked."

Don's eyes narrowed slightly. "And it's the same place that Amita was attacked."

"That's a little more than coincidence," David said. "Maybe there's more to their story than it looks like."

"Yeah," agreed Don. "And maybe there's a drug out there that's more effective than Rohypnol."

"Let's hope not," Terry said.

"So now what?" asked David. "There's really no proof that anything's going on."

"So we find it," Don said. "David, why don't you find out if there have been more of these cases reported. Let's get an idea of how frequently this is happening. Terry and I are going to speak with a doctor. Let's see if we can shed some light on this possible drug."

TBC