Ben paused at the door to Evelyn's hospital room and looked in at her. She was sleeping, her head on one side, her dark hair fanned out on the pillow, a stark contrast to her deathly pale skin and her forehead was creased, as though she was having a bad dream. He stood there for a full minute before venturing inside and sitting down on the chair next to her bed. She didn't stir and he sat watching her, willing her to wake and yet also not wanting to have to confront her over what she had done.

On the way to Cambridge, Harper and Giardella had filled him in on what had happened. Sandra Maxwell, a married law student in her second year, had been walking her two month old son Harry around the grounds of the university the previous day. When her son's hat had blown away in the wind, she had raced the few feet after it to retrieve it. When she had turned back around, Harry had been missing from his buggy and she had seen a woman hurrying away across the grass. Sandra had given chase and caught the woman, Evelyn, who had been holding her crying son. There hadn't been a struggle and Evelyn had given Harry back without a fight, but Mrs Maxwell had been so upset and shaken that her husband, also a law student, had insisted the police be called. When they had arrived to speak to Evelyn, they had found her unconscious on the floor of her room next to an empty bottle of pills.

With all this information flying around in his head, Ben had felt as if he was living in some never-ending horror movie. How could Evelyn, who had seemed so unaffected by Christopher's death, suddenly change in some mad woman who wanted to steal another woman's baby? He couldn't reconcile it, and yet, he reminded himself, he hadn't seen her in nearly a month.

As he sat pondering, Evelyn stirred and opened her eyes. She froze when she saw him, "What are you doing here?"

"It's ok," he reassured her, "You're going to be fine."

"How did you get here?"

"The police brought me."

"The police? Oh God!" She burst into tears, "Oh God, what have I done?"

He made no move to comfort her physically, despite aching to do so, "You screwed up, Evelyn, that's what you did."

She pulled her hands away from her face and looked at him, "You're angry."

"I'm not angry, I'm…" Ben paused. He wasn't sure how he felt. Disappointed? Shocked? Concerned?

"You are, you're angry," she sounded like a child about to be chastised.

"Well you tried to steal someone's baby, Evelyn. How do you expect me to react? Throw you a party?" His voice was harsh and he saw her visibly wince.

"You're right," she nodded slowly, "I'm a bad person."

"You're not…you're not a bad person," he replied, his tone gentler, "but…I do think you need help."

"Therapy?" She looked at him sharply.

"Maybe. Don't you?"

Evelyn sighed heavily, "Maybe you're right." She picked at the sheet, "Maybe I need to be locked up in a straight jacket."

"That's not what I said…"

"Hidden away from the world so they can feed me drugs so that I can stop being me…"

"Evelyn…"

"So that I can stop feeling the way I do…"

"Knock it off!" he said angrily, "this isn't a time for 'poor me.' This is a time to actually stand up and take responsibility for yourself, for your actions. You can't go through life blaming other people and…and making out it's not your fault. You took that baby, Evelyn, nobody forced you to. And now you need to confront that. And confront what happened to Christopher."

"It has nothing to do with that."

"Yes it does and you know it!" He stood up and walked to the window, "You were too calm, too unaffected when he died. Maybe I should have seen it and maybe I should have done something about it, but damn it…I can't keep rescuing you and…and building you up. Sometimes you have to do it on your own!"

"Sounds more like you're trying not to blame yourself," she said, "for walking away from me."

"I didn't walk, you pushed," he faced her, "and you pushed hard. You wouldn't let yourself feel after Christopher died and you certainly didn't seem to want me around either. It was business as usual."

"And look where it got me."

"Exactly!" He stopped and took a deep breath, "why did you take the baby?"

"I don't know."

"Not good enough. Why did you take the baby?"

"I don't know!"

"Did you think it was Christopher?"

"I'm not crazy, Ben!" she retorted, "I wasn't seeing things! He was crying and I…"

"What, you thought you could make a better job of being his mother? Funny that, seeing what little interest you showed in your own son."

"Stop it!" she put her hands over her ears, "I'm not on trial, Ben, don't treat me like a defendant!"

"Not yet you're not," he replied, "but if that couple go ahead with this, you soon will be! You should know enough about criminal law now to realise that for yourself!"

Evelyn wiped her eyes fiercely, "I want to talk to someone."

"Who?"

"Doctor Bryan Seymour."

"Who?"

"He's a psychiatrist. His office is on Blake Street, downtown." Her voice was so steady, so calm, "Tell him I need to see him."

Ben digested this, "You've seen him before?"

Evelyn raised her eyes and met his gaze, "Will you just get him. Please?"

SSSS

Two hours later, Ben sat in the hospital corridor drinking bad coffee while Doctor Seymour spoke to Evelyn. When he had arrived at the Doctor's office and asked to see him, the receptionist had told him it was impossible without an appointment. When he had said it was about Evelyn Sanderson, her face had changed and she had hurried into the back to retrieve him. Ben had been surprised at the Doctor's willing to accompany him back to the hospital, but when he pressed for information, Doctor Seymour had, quite rightly, told him he could tell him nothing.

Certain things were beginning to come together in his mind. Clearly, Evelyn had received therapy from Seymour in the past, but why had she never told him? Ruefully he had to admit that he knew very little about the woman he had planned to marry and have a child with.

The door opened and Doctor Seymour emerged, closing it behind him. Ben stood up quickly, "How is she?"

"Tired," Doctor Seymour replied, "and drained, emotionally and physically."

"Is she…having a breakdown?" he said the word fearfully.

"No. She's merely a little off balance."

"Off balance?" Ben echoed, "She snatched a baby."

"I'm aware of that," Doctor Seymour said, "but there shouldn't be any long term side effects. A chat, like the one we've just had, usually does the trick."

Ben frowned, "What are you saying?"

"Evelyn tells me you're an attorney."

"That's right."

"Then you know I can't say any more." Ben sighed, "She also told me she loves you very much."

Ben laughed bitterly, "I'm not so sure about that."

"Well I'm in no doubt," Doctor Seymour patted his arm, "and I am her psychiatrist." His smile faded slightly, "Your son's death devastated her. She just didn't know how to show it."

"She didn't even seem to care."

"Evelyn has always had problems with her emotions. It stems from her childhood. And that…" he held up his hand as Ben opened his mouth, "is all I can say." With that, he turned and started to walk away down the corridor.

Ben watched him go and then pushed open the door to Evelyn's room. She was sitting up in bed and she looked much better. She smiled when she saw him, "Hi."

"Hi," he greeted her cautiously, "do you feel better?"

She nodded, "I always feel better when I speak to Doctor Seymour, although I haven't needed him in a while."

"Can't you talk to me?"

"It's different with you."

"How?"

"It's like…with Doctor Seymour…I don't have to prove myself to him. He doesn't expect anything from me. With you…it's different."

"Evelyn, I don't expect anything from you except…"

"Except what?"

He fought for words, "Your…love, your respect…"

"You have those things."

"Do I? Cause right now I feel pretty damn alone."

Evelyn lowered her eyes, "I'm not perfect, I know that."

"I'm not asking you to be perfect," he sat down beside her, "I'm just asking you to be you."

"This is me, Ben," her eyes filled with tears, "This is me, Evelyn, partial bitch, partial fruitcake." She laughed at her own joke, "I've never been any different."

He wanted to ask, "Doctor Seymour said…about your childhood…"

"My father used to beat on all of us when he was drunk, not just my mother. Danny, Jake and I got it too. I figured that's why the boys fell in with bad crowds and why Danny ended up dead. Me, I went in the opposite direction. Worked hard at school, got good grades, went to university and got into law school. I suppose I thought if I did that, then my father might respect me." She laughed, "Some hope. It only made him worse. He used to go on and on about how I thought I was better than all of them and how he would show me it wasn't true."

Ben didn't say anything.

"My mother was too drunk herself to do anything about it. She used to egg him on, tell him we deserved it. When they were both drunk and they fought each other, it was like World War Three. Glass smashing, holes getting punched in walls…I didn't want to tell anyone about what went on at home because I was ashamed. Anyway, my college professor took me to one side one day when I came in with a black eye and the whole story came out. He made me go see Doctor Seymour."

"And it helped?"

"I was able to talk to someone without fear of…retribution I suppose. I never told my parents that I was seeing him. When I went to Harvard, it was like a fresh start, moving out of the house, living my own life. But I couldn't seem to handle people. That's why I was so horrible to you. When you were nice to me, I couldn't deal with it, and when I felt myself get close to you and get vulnerable, I got scared, so I shut down." She met his gaze, "I never meant to push you away."

He nodded.

"The night I asked you to make love to me, I wanted…I don't know…to feel something for the first time. Something meaningful. You wouldn't have been my first, but all the rest were just…expressions of physicality if that makes any sense. When you turned me down, I felt angry that I had opened myself up enough for it to get to that stage, to allow myself to get hurt. That's why I dropped out. Crazy, isn't it?"

"No," Ben replied quietly, "Not at all."

"I went home because I thought, 'maybe I do belong there after all. Maybe that's my level.' I soon realised that it was a mistake and that's when I moved to the city and took the job in O'Malleys. Customers found me attractive and when Nick Phillips told me he wanted to screw me, well…" she snorted, "I thought 'why not?'" She sighed, "I wished it had been you though."

"You turned me down," he reminded her, "When I took you home from the motel you told me you had a boyfriend."

"I know," she smiled ruefully, "more fool me. He had already hit me once, I knew it would happen again. But it was familiar, you know? It was a relationship I could identify with, so I stayed. When you came to me after Nick attacked me, I was so relieved and I knew that it was you that I wanted. But when I got pregnant…" she shook her head, "I don't know, it was as if…I was afraid I would be as terrible a mother to my child as my mother was to me. That's why I was so…uninterested? But when he died…" she broke off as a tear slipped down her cheek, "I wanted to grieve, I wanted to cry but I just couldn't, Ben, I couldn't."

"It's ok," he took her in his arms, "It's ok, Evelyn."

"I'm sorry," she sobbed, "I'm so sorry. I understand if you're through with me, if you never want to see me again."

"Evelyn…" he pulled back and took her face in his hands, "I love you. Nothing could ever change that." He kissed her gently, "I want to be with you."

"At least that's something," Evelyn replied, "I'll be thrown out of Harvard and put in jail, but apart from that…"

"You're not going to jail," he reassured her, "and you're not going to be thrown out of Harvard, I'll make sure of it."

SSSS

"Mr Stone, I can understand why you're here," the Dean of the university said after Ben had revealed why he was there, "but Miss Sanderson has been accused of a criminal offence."

"For which she's not going to be prosecuted," Ben said quickly. He thought back to how he'd managed to persuade Sandra Maxwell not to press charges by appealing to her better nature and telling how devastated Evelyn had been by their son's death and hadn't meant any harm to Harry. His gentle persuasion had worked and she had agreed not to pursue the matter on condition Evelyn stay as far away from them as possible.

"That's hardly the point," the Dean continued, "She abducted a baby."

"She didn't mean the baby any harm" Ben said, "look, she's a good student. She deserves a second chance."

"This is her second chance. She dropped out once, remember?"

"Please, sir," Ben pleaded, "I know that she'll do it this time. She wants to make it, really she does."

The Dean knitted his fingers together and surveyed Ben, "You're her fiancé?" Ben nodded, "I sympathise with everything you've both been through recently, but Miss Sanderson…"

"Sir, if you throw her out, she has nothing left to hang on to. She'll just fall further and further into depression and then none of us will be able to help her. Please, give her another chance."

SSSS

"Well?" Evelyn looked up expectantly as Ben came back into her room.

"Well…" he sat down on the edge of her bed, "it was tough, but…" he grinned, "they're not going to throw you out."

"Oh, thank God!" Evelyn flung her arms around his neck and gripped him tightly, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She pulled back and kissed him fiercely, "I'm not going to let you down this time, I promise."

"It's not about letting me down," he told her, "it's about you being happy."

"I want to be happy. I want to be normal." He kissed her again, "I want to be Mrs Stone."

"You still want to marry me then?" he asked.

Evelyn smiled, "I didn't ever not want to."

"Then I think we should do it, sooner rather than later," he told her, "before you change your mind again."

"I will never change my mind," she replied, "I'm going to be married to you forever."