anmodo - As usual, thanks for your reviews. I thought it might be too soon to have Danny and Katie hook up, too. But then I realized that this fic was not going to go on forever, so it needed to happen fast. You're right about their mutual attraction...and I'm so glad you noticed it, too! Breakfast was their first date, so I figured a kiss on their second "date" wasn't so bad!
Amy - Thanks for your two cents! I'm so glad you are enjoying it!
jtsideout389 - Thanks for your review! I'm so glad you saw people you know in the 'girl talk'. That's what I was going for!
A man's very highest moment is, I have no doubt at all, when he kneels in the dust, and beats his breast, and tells all the sins of his life. – Oscar Wilde
Chapter Eleven - Confession is Good For the Soul
Avalon Center for Women
"I didn't know if it was right for me to come here or not." Theresa Runyeon looked over at Katie and then hung her head. "But I didn't know where else to go."
Maria looked over at Katie, who put down the papers she was shuffling around the counter. She quietly came around to where Maria and Theresa stood. "Of course you should have come here." Katie quietly said. "That's why we are here."
When Theresa finally looked up, the tears were glistening in her eyes. "I'm sorry for what he did to you. I didn't know." She whispered, the tears spilling onto her cheeks. "I didn't know what he was." She shook her head and said, "I believed him when he told me that he didn't rape you. That he had been set up. I believed..." Her voice trailed off and she looked down at her son and began to sob.
Not knowing what else to do, Katie stepped closer and pulled the young woman into her embrace. That only seemed to make Theresa cry harder. "I married a rapist. I had a baby with a monster." She cried into Katie's shoulder. "I didn't know. Until he did it to me."
The silence in the reception room was deafening. Maria moved forward to take the baby from Theresa's arms, which she then wrapped around Katie. The young woman held on to Katie for dear life and it was all Katie could do not to lose her balance. Maria held the baby and rocked him in her arms as she beheld a sight she never believed she would see...Katie McNamara holding Theresa Runyeon, wife of the man who brutally raped her, in her arms and whispering words of comfort. Maria exchanged a look of concern with Lucy and wondered what other bizarre turns this night would take.
"I'm sorry." Theresa whispered again. "For all that you have been through..."
Katie stopped her before she could say anymore. "You don't have anything to apologize for." She said, pulling away and looking the other woman in the face. "Let us help you, ok?"
As Katie began to talk with Theresa Runyeon, Camille came back around the desk and whispered to Lucy, "Is she going to be able to treat this like any other rape victim?"
"I don't know." Lucy shook her head and whispered back, "Katie predicted this, you know. She said once that she was just waiting for the day when Runyeon's wife came in here as his victim. I never knew whether or not she just said it or whether she really believed it."
"...and these are Lucy and Camille. They work here at Avalon and are going to help you through this process." Katie was saying, as she approached the desk with Theresa and Maria.
"Hi, Mrs. Runyeon." Camille started, picking up her clipboard. "I know this is difficult, but we're going to need to ask you a few questions. Is that alright?" Theresa Runyeon nodded and Camille got to work. "Could you tell me when you were attacked?"
"Monday night. Frank came home real late...and drunk. He'd been having problems at work recently and..." As Theresa recounted her horrible tale to Camille, Lucy took a moment to come over to where Katie and Maria were standing, cooing over the baby. Frank Runyeon's baby. It wasn't the poor kid's fault who his father was.
"Are you ok?" Lucy asked Katie, the concern evident in her eyes.
"Yeah. Don't worry about me." Katie said, looking over at Camille and Theresa. "I knew this would happen one day." Katie whispered. "But for it to happen this week...God, it's unbelievable."
"Do you think she killed him?" Maria asked.
"Yes." Katie said matter-of-factly, causing Lucy and Maria to look at her. "I've been where she is. We both have." She said looking at Maria, who nodded. "The only difference is that I knew Frank Runyeon was scum from the second I laid eyes on him. But she trusted him. She fell in love with him and had his child. And then he destroyed the world that once seemed so safe." Katie's thoughts turned to her father, under suspicion for the very murder they were talking about. If Danny thought that her father, the finest man Katie knew, was capable of murder than anyone was. " If she didn't kill him, someone did it for her. She has a daddy out there, too."
"OK, thank you, Theresa. I know that was difficult to talk about." Camille was wrapping up her questions, so Lucy, Katie, and Maria approached slowly. Camille made a few more notations on her clipboard and then looked up at Theresa. "Do you still have the nightgown and the panties you were wearing that night?"
Theresa shook her head, confused. "I didn't bring them with me, but they are at home. Why?"
"We're assuming you have showered since your attack, haven't you?" Katie asked and Theresa nodded. "Then you have washed away any DNA evidence that he left on your body. But the police may be able to get some evidence off the clothes..."
"No!" Theresa protested, interrupting Katie's explanation. "No police. I'm not going to the cops."
Katie, Maria, Camille and Lucy all exchanged looks. Lucy pursed her lips as Camille said, "Theresa, we encourage everyone who comes here to file a police report. We'll be with you every step of the way. It's the only way that you will be able to get justice..."
"Justice has already been done." Theresa said flatly. Turning to Katie, she said, "For both of us."
Silence. No one knew what to day. Finally, Katie whispered, "What happened, Theresa?"
There were no tears this time. Theresa straightened and said in a steady voice, "He left for work Tuesday morning as if it were any other day. Showered, shaved, and got dressed. Had a cup of coffee and some toast, kissed Joey good-bye, and went to the office. I couldn't let him get away with that."
"What did you hit him with?" Katie asked, her eyes never leaving Theresa's.
"A golf club. His favorite nine iron." Theresa laughed a bitter little laugh. "He loved those clubs. I gave them to him as a wedding gift."
Taking a deep breath, Katie turned to Camille and asked, "Was there a crib back there in the shelter rooms?"
Camille nodded, a little confused. "Yes, but..."
"Theresa, we can give you and Joey a place to stay for the night and we'll sort this all out in the morning." Katie said, ignoring the incredulous looks she was getting from her friends. "Lucy, can you show Theresa where she can put her things and then find her something to eat?"
Looking at Katie like she had lost her mind, she said, "Um...yeah, sure. Come on, Theresa. It's this way." Lucy led Theresa and Joey through the back doors and into the shelter rooms.
Maria was at Katie's side in a heartbeat. "What the hell are you doing? That woman just confessed to a murder!"
"A murder that people seem to want to pin on your father!" Camille hissed. "You've got to call the police."
"Or Danny." Maria said.
Danny. Katie closed her eyes for a second. She couldn't think about him right now. "Leave him out of it."
"Are you insane?" Maria asked, turning Katie to look at her. "We can't start harboring criminals!"
"She's a rape victim." Katie said, her mind spinning.
"Who just admitted to killing her rapist!" Camille said.
"He was my rapist, too."
"But you didn't kill him." Maria reminded her. "You can't let that get in the way of doing what's right."
"Right for who?" Katie asked. "We can only accomplish the things we do here because people trust us. She trusted us. Is our next move really going to be to turn her in to the police?"
"We are here to do what is right. To fight against violence. All types of violence." Camille said, trying to reason with Katie. "That woman is not in her right mind. We have to be."
Katie looked at her friends and felt completely helpless. She knew they were right, but part of her couldn't abandon this woman. This woman who had done what she had never been able to do. "I don't know what to do." She whispered.