Deliver Me

By Zyris De'Lat

Chapter 12:

Rory then noticed something shine underneath the hair. Rory pushed the hair away from the side of the woman's face to expose a ruby star shaped earring. Rory's heart skipped a beat as he grew pale.

'There is only one blonde I know that wears those earrings. No, it can't be…Jerrica?'

Rory leaned forward and turned the woman's face to look at him. Rory was staring down into Jerrica Benton's face.

"Jerrica," Rory choked out. He then lifted the limp, upper half of Jerrica's body and embraced it in his strong arms.

Rory stroked Jerrica's hair out of her face as he cradled her. Rory then checked Jerrica's pulse again, just to make sure it was still there. Jerrica's pulse felt steady, but it was weaker than before.

Rory slipped one arm under the bend of Jerrica's knees and the other arm behind her back just under her arm pits and carried her with her head resting against his chest. Rory walked through the down pour to the still running, and hopefully warm, vehicle.

Rory gently laid Jerrica on the bench seat behind the driver's bucket seat. Rory crawled in behind her and shut the door behind him. Rory laid his lips on her forehead to check her temperature. She felt as cold as ice. Tears welled up in Rory's eyes at the thought of losing Jerrica.

'I have to raise Jerrica's body temperature otherwise she will freeze to death. If I wait until I drive her to my house, it might already be too late. I can only think of one other thing to do. Oh, God. I hope she will speak to me afterwards,' Rory thought to himself.

"Jerrica, please stay with me," Rory muttered more to himself than to Jerrica. Rory then leaned forward towards the dashboard and boosted the heat level up all the way in the SUV.

Rory noticed the city park was a block away from where he was parked, so he pulled the SUV into a parking stall and parked it for the night. He then turned the headlights off and locked the truck doors.

Rory moved into the back of the truck by Jerrica and lowered the backboard of the bench seat Jerrica was resting on so it was level with the sitting portion of the seat. Rory did the same with the second bench seat which rested behind the one Jerrica was lying on. When Rory was finished, the bench seats looked like a mattress. This was one of the star features about the extended cabin SUV that Phoebe purchased.

Rory started to quickly remove his wet articles of clothing all the way down to his pair of socks. Rory then started to remove Jerrica's clothing as fast as he could. Rory pulled Jerrica's shirt over her head and unfastened her bra. He pulled her skirt, underwear, and socks off at the same time. When Rory was finished removing the drenched clothes, he and Jerrica were both as n#de as can be. Rory looked at Jerrica and noticed she had a bluer cast than he thought she had before. Rory then instantly noticed the dark greenish purple blotches covering Jerrica's body. They were deeply penetrated bruises. A large one covered Jerrica's left side of her face, running from her chin to her cheek bone. Another set of bruises ran encircled both of Jerrica's wrists. A third bruise was shaped like an oval and rested on the small of Jerrica's back, right above the curve of her buttock. The last area had many bruises. This was around her gen#tal area and inner thighs. Rory also noticed dried blood around that area.

Seeing this really troubled Rory, but he could not waste time pondering over this matter. He had to save Jerrica from going into hypothermia. This could happen from the mixture of being outside in the cold rain while only wearing the thin articles of clothing with nothing to keep the body warm and the body heat from escaping. The time of day being after midnight when the night temperature is the coldest, ranging somewhere from zero to ten degrees, and then being passed out on top of it where the person has no control to move around to stay warm.

Rory was puzzled by this situation. He also wondered how long Jerrica was outside in the cold. Rory was very glad he found Jerrica. He just hoped he wasn't too late.

Rory reached into the back of the SUV and pulled out two heavy wool blankets and a heavy cotton one. He positioned Jerrica so she was lying parallel with the longest part of the seat. Rory curled up behind Jerrica and pressed the front of his body into her back. He then wrapped the three blankets around them in a cocoon shape to trap the body heat from escaping their bodies.

Rory started to vigorously rub his hands up and down Jerrica's hands, arms, back, chest, and stomach while he pressed himself against her. Rory was trying to revive Jerrica's feeling in her skin while trying to share his body heat with hers.

Rory lost track of time. He was pretty sure a couple of hours have passed by now. The rain had let up by now and the moon glowed brightly outside the truck windows. Rory's arms started to ache from constantly rubbing Jerrica and his eyelids felt heavy from sleep. Rory pulled the blankets tight around the two of them to keep the cold out. Rory draped his arm around Jerrica's stomach and pulled her close to his chest. Rory then nuzzled his nose into her neck and fell into a deep sleep while placing his most dearly loved one into fate's hands.

Her heart was racing, adrenaline pumping. She was running down dark halls and dreary corridors. Why was she running? She was running for her life.

"Somebody help me!" She screamed out to the nothingness while stopping to catch her breath. She was running through the hospital halls in a continuous loop. She could not find the exit.

The figure in a black cloak and hood appeared at the end of the hall and was approaching her by every step. The figure had a shiny object in its hand. It was a knife. The female's heart raced with terror when she saw the knife gleam in the moonlight from a nearby window.

She quickly caught her breath and continued to run away from the black cloaked person. She was running blindly through the dark halls and did not see the steps up ahead. The woman fell down the steps and stopped at a small landing halfway down the steps where the stairwell turned the corner. She noticed the fall hurt her leg. She was pretty sure it was broken. She could hear the footsteps approaching her. She tried to get up but stopped when sharp pain ran up into her side from her broken leg.

The woman touched her earring and called out, "Synergy, I need your help. Can you create a distraction for the person who is chasing me?"

There was no reply to her pleading call. The figure in black then appeared on the top of the steps with the knife in hand. The woman started to slide down the rest of the steps when she lost her balance and fell down the rest of the steps. The woman slowly regained her composure and started to half crawl down the new hallway away from the stairwell on her good side without the broken leg. The figure walked down the steps one at a time, letting each step echo throughout the hallways.

The figure in black then walked up to the woman and kicked her hard in the stomach. The woman gasped out in pain. She started to breath rapidly to inhale some air. The figure then knelt down and pinned her in the abdomen with its knee. She looked up at the figure and tried to make out its face, but the shadows and hood hid the face well.

"You think I can never hurt you because I am not real. Well guess again. I can hurt you in your dreams," the figure said in a raspy voice. It then leaned into the woman and whispered, "Maybe I could even kill you in your dreams."

The figure then brushed its lips over the woman's trembling lips and started to inhale the woman's breath. The woman started to choke for her last breath. The last thing she remembered was the smell of cinnamon.

Rory looked over at Jerrica and noticed she was choking.

"Jerrica! Jerrica! Breathe! Breathe! Please, don't die on me. Just breathe! I will you to breathe" Rory screamed while shaking Jerrica violently.

Jerrica then suddenly stopped choking. Her last breath started to escape her lips.

"No, I won't allow this to happen. You can't leave me like this," Rory pleaded. He then leaned into Jerrica and gave her a gentle, passionate kiss while breathing his life into her.

Jerrica stirred and opened her eyes slowly to see a face with deep brown eyes looking down at her with worry, concern, and happiness displayed across it. It took Jerrica a moment for her eyes to focus because it was dark where ever she was. When they finally adjusted to the darkness, she could make out the outline features of Rory Llewelyn's face.

Tears started to stream down Rory's face and fell onto Jerrica's cheek. Rory tried to wipe them away from his face but a hand reached up and stopped him. Jerrica then gently brushed the tears away for his face.

"Rory, why are you crying?" Jerrica whispered quietly.

Rory answered in a whisper just as quiet as Jerrica's, "You nearly died on me tonight. The thought of losing you just…" Rory then looked into Jerrica's eyes and said in a slightly louder voice, "I love you, Jerrica. I would be lost and devastated if you ever left me."

Rory then looked away from Jerrica and said, "I know you don't feel the same away about me as I do for you. I will respect that…"

Jerrica interrupted Rory by reaching out her hand to turn his face towards hers so she could gaze into his eyes. Rory stopped talking and just looked into her eyes. The silence stretched out between them, but it wasn't an awkward feeling. Jerrica broke the silence with the first move. She leaned in and kissed Rory. Rory's mouth didn't respond at first because he was caught off guard. Once he realized what was happening, he leaned into Jerrica and kissed back.

After a few minutes Rory pulled away first from the kiss and looked at Jerrica, this wasn't like her. Something must be wrong. Jerrica would never kiss him this willingly. She would most likely yell at him and bite his head off first before she would ever kiss him.

"Jerrica, are you sure about this. I mean…" Rory said, sounding unsure of what was happening.

Jerrica interrupted him by holding up her index finger to his lips and said, "I am unsure even myself of what has been happening to me these last few days, but the one thing that I am sure about the most is you. What I just realized now, tonight, is that you are the only one that has always been there for me. I am really grateful for that and I thank you."

Jerrica then looked off into the distance and muttered, "It scares me sometimes when I try to think of what happened before I woke up tonight and I can't remember. I have a hard time keeping reality apart from things that are not. I have been noticing this for the past week. It all started when…since Rio's accident? I am not even sure about that."

Rory reached out to touch Jerrica's shoulder to comfort her and she started to cry. Rory pulled her into himself and wrapped his arms around her into a hug. Jerrica leaned her head onto his chest and continued to cry.

Rory was the first one to speak, "Jerrica, you are not alone. I will help you figure this out. There has to be a logical explanation for all of this."

Jerrica nodded her head in agreement and looked up at him in reply, "Thank you, Rory."

Jerrica sat up and stiffened. Pain ran across her face. Rory sat up beside her and started to rub her back while asking, "What's wrong?"

Jerrica replied without looking at him, "My body is so stiff, it hurts to move. My back and inner thighs throb in pain. What happened to me? What happened last night, Rory?"

"Last night I found you lying on the sidewalk in the cold rain passed out. I brought you in here and revived you from hypothermia," Rory stated for Jerrica. He then lowered his voice, "I did notice all of your bruises along your inner legs, around your wrists, on the side of your face, and on the small of your back. They are very disturbing. If I didn't know any better, I would say you were bound and… r#ped." Rory placed emphasis on the last word like it was foreign to him.

Rory then looked up at Jerrica and noticed she had a display of shock and horror on her face. Jerrica then whispered, "Maybe I don't want to remember what happened last night. I am very good of forgetting things lately." Jerrica tried to give a small smile, but failed terribly.

She then looked up at Rory and said what was troubling her the most, "You said you investigated all of my bruises?"

"Yes," Rory replied.

"You forgot to mention the one on the side of my stomach. The one that hurts the most this morning," Jerrica stated while holding her hand against her stomach.

Rory looked at Jerrica with a look of skepticism on his face. He grasped Jerrica's hand and removed it from the bruise. A deep purplish green bruise was resting on Jerrica's stomach.

Rory looked up into Jerrica's eyes and said quietly but firmly, "I honestly don't remember that bruise last night Jerrica. It was not there when I saw all the other ones."

Jerrica started to feel nervous and scared from the way Rory was acting about her bruise. Jerrica gave a small nervous chuckle and said, "Maybe this one was just a late bloomer. That's all. Now let's get dressed and grab some coffee…"

Jerrica started to blush and pulled one of the blankets up in front of her to cover her chest and stomach. She just noticed now that she was naked. Most likely Rory was also naked underneath the blankets. Jerrica started to curse silently to herself about not noticing this earlier, but Jerrica pushed that out of her head. She and Rory had more important things to talk about.

Jerrica looked up at Rory and said quietly, "Could you please hand me my clothes? Where ever you put them."

Rory looked directly into Jerrica's eyes and said with a bit of anger in his voice, "Jerrica, will you please listen to me. I know that bruise was recently put there. You were passed out long enough before I found you to have had all of your bruises developed. For God's sake Jerrica, you were as cold as ice when I found you. I thought you were dead."

Rory then looked away from Jerrica and regained some composure and spoke in a softer tone, "Besides, the bruise even looks freshly marked. It had to of happened sometime between the time I removed your clothes and when you woke up."

Jerrica started to get angry with Riot for what he was saying. "What are you trying to tell me Rory, that you put it there yourself? For all I know, you could have even r#ped me!"

Jerrica lowered her tone and quickly replied, "I'm sorry, Rory. I should never have said that. But you lecturing me doesn't help us any when I don't even remember a God d#mned thing myself. This is getting us nowhere. So why don't we just stop fighting."

Jerrica gave a deep sigh. She just felt so tired and wanted to go back to sleep. Jerrica then placed a hand up to her forehead and closed her eyes and said heavily, "I am so sick of fighting. It seems like I have been in the defensive positions of fights this whole week." Jerrica just gave a small chuckle to herself and looked up at Rory and continued, "I must have appeared to many people as a major bitch this week. I am so sorry for how I treated you, too. You deserve so much better than this Rory. Why do you put up with me? I am not even worth it Rory."

"No," Rory cut in. "Don't even think that lowly of yourself Jerrica. You are not a hinder to me. You are so much more than that. You are the woman who has great dreams and ideals. You also have a killer voice and fashion sense."

Jerrica gave a small chuckle to that. Rory then continued, "You also put others before you. You have a big heart that cares and helped many people, I am one of them."

Jerrica looked up into Rory's face with shock. "What do you mean, Rory?"

"I mean you brought out the better half in me. You got me to care for others and to place others before myself. You made me become less centered, less egotistic," Rory explained to Jerrica.

Jerrica didn't quite know how to reply to that, but tried anyways. "I thought you were just letting me see the other half of you, lately."

"No, but I wish I could say that. Believe it or not, I used to act like my former self twenty-four, seven," Rory admitted while rubbing the back of his neck. If Jerrica knew any better, she would say Rory was actually embarrassed, maybe even blushing a bit.

"Oh, I can believe it," Jerrica replied.

After Jerrica's remark, silence fell over the truck. This time it was an awkward silence. Rory made the first move this time for the clothes. "We should probably get moving. I can drop you off at your house to get cleaned up?"

Something disturbed Jerrica about that remark. Something about her house made her feel uneasy. She couldn't place a finger on what though.

"I really don't want to go back home. Can I stay at your place for the next few days until we solve this matter? Whatever it is?" Jerrica said with unease. "This bruise really scares me. I think you are right about what you said earlier."

Rory was shocked with what he was hearing and replied clumsily, "Sure, you are welcomed to stay as long as you want. I would never deny you the right to stay at my house. Should we still stop by your house to pack a few things to take over to my place?"

"Sure, if you promise to stay with me while I go in," Jerrica said with a shiver running up her spine.

"What's wrong Jerrica? What is bothering you?" Rory questioned with concern.

Jerrica looked up at Rory with a weak smile and replied, "I wish I knew the answer to that question."

In the background a song started to play with a heavy bass beat with an organ for a couple of measures. Then a female voice started to sing…

Listen as the wind blows from across the great divide
Voices trapped in yearning, memories trapped in time
The night is my companion, and solitude my guide
Would I spend forever here and not be satisfied?

And I would be the one
To hold you down
Kiss you so hard
I'll take your breath away
And after, I'd wipe away the tears
Just close your eyes dear

Through this world I've stumbled
So many times betrayed
Trying to find an honest word to find
The truth enslaved
Oh you speak to me in riddles
And you speak to me in rhymes
My body aches to breathe your breath
Your words keep me alive

And I would be the one
To hold you down
Kiss you so hard
I'll take your breath away
And after, I'd wipe away the tears
Just close your eyes dear

Into this night I wander
It's morning that I dread
Another day of knowing of
The path I fear to tread
Oh into the sea of waking dreams
I follow without pride
Nothing stands between us here
And I won't be denied

And I would be the one
To hold you down
Kiss you so hard
I'll take your breath away
And after, I'd wipe away the tears
Just close your eyes...

Sorry this chapter took so long. Between being busy with my intern and not having internet access to my computer where I am staying, it has been hard. But alas, I hope this chapter was pleased by many. I feel the end of this wonderful story will come to a climax end soon, and everything will be revealed. I will start the next chapter tomorrow while every idea is still swimming inside my head. ;)

The song was "Possession" by Sarah McLachlan

Jem, and everyone within, is owned by Hasbro.