"Hi, Jess" Natalie said, happy to hear Jess's voice. She hadn't talked to Jessica since the day that she left town 6 months ago.

Flashback

"Natalie," Jessica called softly from inside the emergency room as she saw her twin sitting on a hospital gurney. Natalie had called her for a ride home asking her not to tell anyone. "What happened to you?"

"I fell down the stairs," Natalie said lamely. She knew Jessica wouldn't buy that explanation. "Really I'm fine. Just some bumps and bruises."

Jessica looked Natalie over and saw that there were a lot of bruises on her and some looked old. "Natalie, come on. I know you. You don't fall down stairs. Who did this to you?"

Natalie looked down and mumbled, "Cris."

"Cris!" Jessica yelled. "Cris did this to you?" Jessica was furious. How could Cris do this to Natalie? Natalie loved him! "I'll call Bo and have him arrested!"

"NO!" Natalie said loudly. "It wasn't his fault. I made him angry. I need to be more careful. He's already been through so much. I just need to be a better wife."

"Natalie, Listen to your self. Cris beat you up and you are saying its your fault!" Jessica said urgently. "Your sitting in the hospital because your husband put you here!"

"It's not his fault. He has been having nightmares about that ship. He has been stressed out lately. Remember they tortured him. He is still jumpy from all that. Sometimes I forget and do something that sets him off. Its not his fault. I just have to remember what sets him off and we will be fine." Natalie said desperately. She just needed to try harder to please him. Cris loved her. She knew he did. He survived that awful ship and came back to her. She just had to be more careful about what she said in the future.

"Has he gone to counseling?" Jessica asked in disgust.

"No. Cris says that I'm all he needs. I just have to try harder to help him." Natalie said.

Jessica pulled up a chair across from Natalie and took her hands in hers. "Natalie, how long has this been going on? How long has Cris been hitting you?"

Natalie looked at Jessica beginning to get angry. "Jess I called you for a ride home. Not a lecture on my marriage. I can handle my self. I just need to be more sensitive to what Cris needs. He wants me to quit my job and I am gonna. I need to spend more time with him. He will get better. I just know he will. Once he gets used to being back he will be back to his old self again. I just know it." Natalie ended desperately. Cris had to be ok. He was her life, her love. It wasn't his fault that she sometimes did the wrong thing.

"Natalie he has been back for 6 months. How much longer does he need? He is hitting you, Natalie! God, He put you in the hospital! How much are you going to take before you realize that he isn't the same man that you married?"

"I love him Jess. And he loves me. I have to believe that everything will work out." Natalie said desperately. "He loves me, he survived that ship for me. What other proof do you need?"

Jess went to the bathroom and grabbed a mirror and held it in front of Natalie's face. "Look! Look at what he did to you. He hit you. He beat you up. That's not love Natalie. If Cris loved you he couldn't do this to you!"

Natalie stared at the mirror. At her face that was covered in bruises. She looked at her arms and legs that were also very bruised. She just stared at them. Finally she looked up at Jessica with tears in her eyes and started sobbing.

Jessica reached over and took Natalie in her arms and just held her as she cried. Finally after 30 minutes Natalie straightened up. "Jess, what am I gonna do?"

"First we are gonna call Uncle Bo and have him arrest Cris." Jessica said.

"No!" Natalie said desperately. I can't do that. Cris would go crazy in prison."

"Natalie," Jessica sighed, "He beat you up he needs to pay."

"No," Natalie said firmly, "You can't tell anyone! I don't want anyone to know."

Seeing that Natalie wasn't gonna budge on that issue Jessica said, "Ok. For now anyway. But if he goes near you again I will personally go after him." Jessica thought a minute then said, "You need to leave him Natalie. At least till he gets himself some professional help."

Natalie nodded sadly, "I know. I will, I promise. But what if he won't let me go?"

Jessica was about to answer when Cris himself walked in. "Natalie, lets go. I want to get home and the doctors say you can go home now."

Jessica jumped up and got in Cris's face, "She's not going anywhere with you! Natalie is going home with me. You ever touch my sister again and It will be the last thing you ever do."

Cris's eyes narrowed and he said menacingly, "Natalie is my wife and no one will ever take her from me! Not you! Not anyone! Anyone who tries will have to deal with me!"

Jessica looked at him with hate in her eyes, "Oh please. You touch me and I'll scream bloody murder. Then the cops will be called. Natalie is coming with me." Reaching out and taking Natalie's hand she pulled Natalie out of the room.

"No one leaves me!" Cris yelled to Natalie's retreating back. "I'll make you pay!"