With all this stuff with Andy/Peter and Lu/Kevin, I totally forgot about the trial. So please forgive the time schedule (I'm new at this!) and anything else I may have screwed up on. On that same note, with the trial, I doubt that a rape trial would be open to the public, but putting it this way ties into the story. I hope that didn't confuse anyone too much.

Thanks to all who reviewed. I don't have time to answer each individually, so I'll answer those I remember. First off, with Jessie's comment in chapter 16, someone said they were confused. "I know I've technically only known you for a couple of days, but lately you've been acting differently. First you seemed really upset and now you seen really happy." Well she's only known her mom for a couple of days because of her amnesia. Technically, she hasn't known anyone over a few days. First Andy was upset because of the "almost" rape, and then she was all happy because she was with Peter, sort of. Does that clarify anything?

Ch. 17 Verdicts and Understanding

"So it's finally happening." Peter sighed as he and Andy walked up to the courtroom.

"Yeah." Andy's hand froze in midair as she reached for the door.

Peter put his arm around Andy's waist and gave her hand an encouraging, I'm-here squeeze. Andy looked up and smiled. Together, they walked in the courtroom.

"So Jessie, what do you want to do?" Paula, Jessie's best friend, so she was told, asked her as they walked along the street.

"I dunno." She shrugged. Paula had taken her everywhere she could think of to try and trigger a memory in Jessie. Nothing was working.

"Paula!" A young, blonde-haired teenager ran up to them. It was Paula's boyfriend Hanson. "How's it going babe?" Before she could even answer, he wrapped his arms around her and they started making out.

"Ew!" Jessie made a face at the two. "Paula? I'm gonna go and..." She realized that Paula couldn't hear her and obviously didn't care. "Yeah, bye." She took off walking down the street.

After a while of walking, Jessie came across the court building. "Why not," she said as she threw her hands in the air.

As she walked in the hallway, she realized she had no idea where she was going. Deciding to just roam around, she turned the corner. Suddenly, one of those beautiful stain glass windows caught her eye. As she was staring at it, her shin accidentally rammed into something. She winced and looked down as she held her leg. She had run into a sign. It read, "Campbell vs. Sydney."

"Campbell?" Could they be related? She decided to take a peak inside.

"Hey kid!" A guard walked up to her.

"Yes Sir?" She tried to act innocent.

"Court's about to start, take a seat."

"Yes Sir." She sat down behind a crowd of people to avoid being seen.

"All rise." A bailiff appeared in the middle of the courtroom. Everyone stood up. "The honorable Judge Patricia Taylor presiding." A chunky, brunette woman walked up to her chair and sat down. "Case 132, Dr. Andy Campbell vs. Dr. Rick Sydney."

Oh my gosh. Jessie looked at the back of her mother's head in shock. It's my mom. What is this all about?

After a few more minutes of all the technical stuff, Andy got on the stand.

"Dr. Campbell-"

"Call me Andy." She smiled apologetically as she interrupted her lawyer.

"Andy, what happened on the day of April 3rd?"

"Well I was working in my office when I realized I'd need an obstetrician, namely…" she closed her eyes and sighed, "Dr. Sydney. So I had my receptionist schedule a meeting with him."

"During this meeting, how was Dr. Sydney behaving toward you?" The lawyer was pacing around the room.

Andy thought for a minute. "Well, he was just being nice at first. Then it seemed like he was flirting with me."

"How so?"

"He was just smiling a lot and becoming really friendly."

"When the meeting was over, then what happened?"

"I got up and opened the door for him. He walked over and slammed it shut. Then he kissed me."

"Did you want him to kiss you?"

"No, I didn't. That's why I was so taken aback by it."

"How did you respond?"

"I shoved him away from me."

"Then what did he do?"

Jessie looked at her mom. She could tell that she was trying not to cry. Jessie prayed that what she was thinking had happened was not the case.

"He said something like "don't do that". Then he grabbed my wrists and shoved me against the wall." Andy tried to continue, but her voice choked up.

"Andy, I know this is hard, but then what happened?"

"Then he covered my mouth with his hand. Then he… he unbuttoned my blouse and threw it across the room." Andy paused and took a deep breath.

Oh my God. She was… I don't believe this. Well, it does explain why she was acting so weird. But my God… I can't believe she didn't tell me.

"Then he started kissing me. I managed to get him off of me long enough to scream "no, stop it, get off of me." Then he told me to shut up and he slapped me."

By now, Jessie was in tears. She couldn't believe what was happening. She couldn't believe it had happened to her mom of all people. Her mom! The war veteran…

"Then he pulled my pants down to my knees." Jessie couldn't listen to this anymore. Trying not to draw attention to herself, she left the courtroom.

"What is the truth value of pVq(pVq) if p is true and q is false?" Jessie shook her head. "I can't do this now." She threw her geometry homework on the couch next to her. Lizzy was at a friend's house so luckily she didn't have to deal with her.

She looked at her watch. It had been three hours since she had left the courtroom and it was the only thing she could think about. Jessie couldn't even imagine what her mother had been through.

Jessie jumped as she heard the front door open. "Mom!" She rushed up to her and wrapped her arms around her. "I love you so much!"

Andy looked at her daughter confused. "I love you too honey."

"I'm sorry Mom." By now, Jessie was crying. "I'm so sorry."

"Sweetie? About what?" Andy looked into her daughter's eyes.

"I was there."

"Whe…" Suddenly, it hit her. The trial.

"I didn't know Mom, I'm sorry." Jessie refused to release her grip on Andy.

"Honey, it's not your fault. You had nothing to do with it." Andy started crying as well. She wondered how much Jessie had heard.

"Why didn't you tell me you were… raped?" Jessie barely choked out the last word.

"No! Oh no Jessie. No… I wasn't… He tried to, but Peter came in and stopped him before he could…"

"So you weren't…"

"No." Andy gave her daughter a reassuring smile.

Jessie embraced her mom for a few more seconds before letting go. "So what was the verdict?"

Andy grinned. "Guilty!"

"That's great!" Jessie gave her a congratulatory hug. "Let's go out for dinner. Your treat." Jessie grabbed her jacket. Andy smiled as she followed Jessie.

She had no idea why she didn't just tell her in the first place. Then maybe she wouldn't have been so alone. No, don't lie to yourself, she thought.You weren't protecting yourself, you were protecting her. You didn't want to burden her with your problems.

Despite what Andy thought, the truth was out and off of her shoulders. It felt great.