Hey everyone!

The pre-climax chapter is up today! I hope you like it, this one and the two that are about to follow are the most important chapters in the whole story for me...

I'm a little sad that reviews have become a little less these days, I hope you guys still like the story.. so if you read the new chapter, feel free to review, I'd really like that... ;)

Steffi

Pieces Of A Dream

The search continued feverishly that day. Most of the time, Seth and Officer Flannery spent at Newport bus station, interviewing almost everybody there.

Kirsten and Sandy had been going home to watch Baby Cohen for the evening after Seth had confirmed that he would be ok on his own.

After hours and hours of an exhausting search, Seth and Officer Flannery felt the urge for some coffee. There was a diner right next to the bus station were they decided to take their break as Flannery's colleagues from the police kept on searching for Summer.

Officer Flannery laid the picture of Summer in front of him and smiled at the image. Seth frowned as he saw that. "She looks really happy on that picture," Flannery said and played with the menue between his fingers. Seth nodded sadly. "She was. We were. We had just been shopping for our first baby clothes before I made this photo." The memory of those happy days made him ache.

Flannery nodded. "You have a son, haven't you?"
Seth bit his lip. "Yeah." He said. A smile crossed his face as the image of the sweet little baby boy he loved more than anything came to his mind.

Before Flannery could ask any more questions, the waitress came up to them, chewing a bubble gum and seeming pretty bored. "Hey guys, what can I bring you?" she asked and was about to pull out her notepad when she spotted the picture of Summer on the table.

"Hey, that girl looks better on that picture than she did a few days ago when she was here." The waitress said almost absent-mindly. Seth and Flannery looked up at the same time, both their gazes tense.

Seth made a fist. "She was here?" he asked and got half up. "When was that?"
The waitress shrugged. "Dunno. After the quake, I guess."
Seth knelt down on the chair he was supposed to be sitting on, his heart beating faster. "Was somebody with her?" he asked.

Flannery watched the scenery with an open mouth before he pulled out his notepad and scribbled down what the waitress was telling them.

The waitress frowned and thought for a moment. "Yeah, some guy was with her. He acted really strange, as if he knew her." She said.
After a few seconds, she added. "The woman seemed pretty confused. It almost seemed as if she didn't know who that guy was."

Now Officer Flannery got up from his seat, too. Both of the men were now uncomfortably close to the waitresse's face who raised an eyebrow. "Describe the guy." Flannery said and started scribbling on his notepad again.

The waitress shrugged. "Well…" she said and chewed her bubble gum only harder. "He was tall, blonde… wore kind of a strange grin all the time… oh, and he had those incredible blue eyes. They looked like they would want to pierce you if they could."

Suddenly, a very bad apprehension came up in Seth. He shook his head. That couldn't be possible. He was behind bars for at least two more years, he couldn't possibly have been here. Or had he been?

Seth grabbed Officer Flannery at his shoulders. "We need to make a call." He said and pulled Flannery out of the diner. "You need to check if some guy named Eric Foster is still in Newport State Prison."

Flannery seemed confused and stared at Seth.
"JUST DO IT!" Seth urged and kneaded his hands as he watched Flannery dialing a number on his cell phone, his thougts racing like a rollercoaster inside of his head.

It couldn't be, could it? Eric couldn't have her, right?

Could fate be so cruel to bring Summer back into the arms of the most dangerous person in Newport?

Summer knew that she needed to hurry now. She didn't know why, but she was totally scared of this Eric guy since she found out that he had locked her in the tiny apartment. She had tried to clean up as best as she could without any cleaning agents. All that guy had left her was water, and how could a woman clean up a mess like this just with water?

Anxiously, Summer went over to the cooker and checked on the soup she was making for Eric. As she tasted it, she felt like vomiting. It tasted as terrible as the whole apartment smelled. But she couldn't help it now. It was too late to do something else.

Just in that moment, the front door was slammed open and Eric stood in it, looking very stressed and angry. Summer managed an insecure smile and offered Eric a seat at the kitchen table. "Hi, Eric." She whispered. "Take-take a seat."

Eric slammed the door shut behind him and threw his shoes on the floor, his gaze examining the room. One of his feet went up and down the floor, checking if it was clean enough. Summer bit her lip as she watched Eric standing there in silence.

She decided to serve Eric his food while he examined the room. With shaky hands, Summer put a plate of soup on the table and laid some old toast bread she had found in one of the cupboards next to it. A shiver went down her spine as Eric cleared his throat and went over to her.

He stared her with his eyes wide open, sending more and more shockwaves through Summer's body. "Could be better." He said and sat down. "Do it better tomorrow."

Summer nodded slowly and frowned. Maybe this guy wasn't as bad as he seemed. She went over to where Eric had left his shoes to put them to the other shoes in the closet when something hard hit her on the head.

Out of a reflex, Summer's hand went to the back of her head and she spun around to see that Eric had thrown a spoon at her. "What-"
Summer didn't have the chance to ask her question because all of a sudden, the plate with the hot soup came flying towards her. Just because she jumped out of its way as fast as she could it didn't hit her.

"Eric, what-"
"Shut up you bitch," Eric mumbled through gritted teeth and went over to her. He stood in front of Summer in all his height now and looked down on her with a gaze that was ready to kill. Summer's eyes widened in fear of what was about to happen. What had she done wrong?

"This soup smells like toilet water." Eric said and grabbed Summer by her shoulders. "Are you too stupid to cook some f soup?" Eric said, this time his voice becoming angrier than before. Shaking, Summer shook her head. "No, I-"
"SHUT UP I SAID!" Eric shouted and lifted his right hand.

Summer watched in horror as Eric's hand came slamming down on her cheek, sending a wave of pain through her face. Why was this happening?
Before she could further think about the events another slap on her face hit her, this time on the left cheek.

Summer's heart beated faster. That couldn't be happening. No man on earth would treat a woman he loved like Eric treated her now. She pressed her back against the wall, heavily scared. But before she could react any further, another hard and heavy slap landed across her cheek, again sending a flashing pain through her face. "You're too stupid for even cooking!" Eric shouted and pulled his hand back for another slap. "I bet you're little Seth doesn't make you cook, huh?"

Summer tried to cover her face with her hands, hot tears retaining in her eyes. Why did this man do this?
Eric's fist hit Summer's left eye. Blood ran over it and Summer cried out from the pain.

Suddenly, it happened.

A shot of adrenaline flashed through her veins as a million pictures of long gone days came running through her inner eye.
Her dead father lying in the hospital. The funeral. Those blue eyes. Cheating on Seth.
Scars, bruises. A pregnancy test. Violence. Eric. Fear of death. The beatings. The miscarriage. The earthquake.
Seth. The most vivid of all images that ran through Summer's head was the face of Seth, his freckles, dimples, dark curls and beautiful eyes… the baby. Her baby? THEIR baby!

What was she doing here? Why was she with Eric again? Her gaze wandered around and she felt herself panicking. She was trapped, with Eric, again.

Totally stricken by fear, Summer watched how Eric's hand rose in the air again, preparing itself for another slap across her face. "STOP IT!" she suddenly yelled, shielding her bleeding face with her arms.

A dirty grin crossed Eric's face. "What was that?" he asked and neared his face to Summer's. Summer started to tremble. She needed to be careful now, because otherwise…
"Don't start it again, Eric." She whispered. "You could go to jail again."

A dirty laugh filled the room, and Eric cupped Summer's face in his raw and bad smelling hands. "You remember me! Sweet." He whispered and pressed a disgusting kiss on Summer's lips that seemed to last for an eternity.

When their lips parted, Summer gasped for air. She watched Eric desperately. "Please, let me go, Eric. Don't make the same mistakes again." She mumbled, trying the best to suppress her fear.

On the inside, Summer already prepared for another slap. But Eric pulled back and looked at her intensively. "You won't go anywhere." He said, his expression suddenly changing from angry to hurt. "You are supposed to be with me. Why did you marry that Cohen freak? Why did you do this to me?" he cried, falling on his knees in front of her.

Summer's breathing became faster every second. How come that Eric's mood changed so quickly? That was a side on him she didn't know yet. Her mind raced as she scanned the room for any opportunity to escape. The only way out was the huge door that Eric hand't locked when he had come in. But to get there, she needed to pass Eric first, and given the fact how scared she was, it was almost impossible to reach the door before Eric got her.

Summer knew that she couldn't escape in front of Eric's eyes. She needed to run away when he was gone, doing his so called business. The best thing right now was to play along. And even though it disgusted her at the time, she wiped the blood in her face away and knelt down besides Eric, who was still crying on the floor.

Nervously, Summer folded her hands. She swallowed hard and summoned all the strength she found in her for the words that were about to follow.
"I won't leave you, Eric." She said, feeling like she was going to vomit any minute. "I'll stay here with you."

For a long time, Eric didn't say a word. His teary face just stared at Summer with those incredibly blue eyes. And all of a sudden, his face changed from hurt into violent again, just like a few minutes before. He took Summer's chin in his hand.

"You better will." Eric said and gave her a look from such a high intesity that Summer felt like bursting into tears right in front of his eyes again.
"Or you'll pay for it."

Next chapter: The Beginning Of The End