A/N- Sorry for the delay, a horrible combination of writers block and my word processor being broken made me completely unable to do anything productive. But the episode that inspired my fanfic in the first place was just on, and if that's not a hint that I should do some writing, I don't know what is. I know you don't care all that much, so I'll just get with the story.


Jack sat at his desk, piles and piles of papers a testament to the fact that he had been working all day, and the end was far from being in sight. A quiet knock on his door interuppted his thinking, and he looked up and beckoned to Nora who was standing just behind the door. She came and and eyed his pile of work, and sat down at one the chairs facing his desk.

"Hey Jack, how's the brief on the McDonnell case coming?" She asked, crossing her legs and leaning back into her chair.

Jack sighed heavily and nodded towards one of the many piles. "It's somewhere in that heap, waiting for my attention. I should get to it at oh, around three o' clock tomorrow morning," he said, raising his arms above his head and stretching like a cat.

"Does the fact that Abbie's office is shut up like a drum have anything to do with the immense workload you seemed to have signed yourself up for?" Nora inquired, peering at him questioningly.

Jack pinched the bridge of his nose, a guesture that Nora knew too well. "Oh Jesus Nora, I don't know where to start."

Nora laughed a little and leaned toward him, her green eyes sparkling. "Try the begining Jack. It's always worked for me." Jack raised and eyebrow at her almost carefree tone, and responded abruptly, "If you're thinking what I think you are, though my history with my ADA's has been less than stellar, I assure you it's no joking matter.

Nora sobered immediately and looked contrite. "I'm sorry. What's up?"

Jack leaned back in his chair, and the leather groaned in protest. "I feel kind of uncomfortable telling you this, but I guess you have a right to know why your ADA isn't here," He sighed again and looked at Nora, his hazel eyes cackling with electricity. " A while ago, when Adam was still the DA, and Abbie had just been transferred here from Narcotics, we got a case about this girl who ordered a hit on the corrections officer while still in jail. Abbie was the one who had put the girl in jail the first time, and there was quite a bit of left over hostility. This girl, I think her name was Alice, was convinced that Abbie had it in for her, and they went head on a few times. I looked up the case myself, to see if Abbie had been extra harsh on her, but the crime and the punishment seemed to fit just fine. Anyway, I let Abbie do the cross, and Alice claimed that she had been raped by this guy, and he was terrorizing her daughter in the city. Of course, being Abbie, she refused to believe it, and she kept going after her. Alice looked at Abbie dead on and asked, "Have you ever been raped, Ms. Carmicheal?" I don't think anyone else had noticed it, but Abbie...she..froze. And the look in her eyes was like that of a wounded little girl. She finshed the cross just fine, but she was..not herself for the rest of the day."

He paused for breath, a noticed how wide Nora's eyes had gotten. "Then she told me that she wanted to offer the girl a plea. I was curious as to why, but I had seen the look in her eye. I didn't press her. So the girl takes the plea and yadda yadda yadda . As we were leaving I asked Abbie if she was okay. She said she was fine, that she just needed to decompress. I told her she could tell me if she wanted to, that I wasn't going to pass judgement on her. I thought she realized she was being a little tough on the girl. God knows I've made one too many mistakes like that. Abbie was quiet for a minute. Then she turned to me and said, "I was a freshmen. He was a third year law student. We were on a date. I didn't tell anyone. I blamed myself." And then she walked out," Jack looked up, surprised to see the comforting walls of his office and not the cold walls of Pine Hills correctional facility.

Nora had a hand over her mouth, and she was shaking. "Nora? Are you alright?" She nodded and waved for him to continnue.

"Where was I? Oh right. So yesterday, Abbie gets a call from Van Buren asking us to meet her at that little Italian place on 73rd and Madison. Van Buren presents us with this case, a girl was found strangled, beaten and raped in her apartment. I asked the perp's name and.." He trailed off seeing Nora's eyes widen in horror.

"It was him wasn't it Jack? The man that raped Abbie?" Jack nodded, and Nora closed her eyes. "Oh my God,"

"I told her to take some time off, and that she wasn't expected to do anything with this case. So here I am, with all this...shit," Jack waved at the piles of papers, and chuckled half heatedly. The noise made Nora wince, and she shook her head slowly.

"All this time, I used to get mad at her when we had a rape/homicide and she was always pushing for the worst, the death penalty if she could get it. I thought she was too zealous, or it was just her Texan roots that made her push for the death penalty. But it was him wasn't it? Abbie saw his face in every rapist that walked through these doors." Nora's voice was beaten, weary.

"Yeah, she did," Jack said woodenly. Suddenly an image flashed in his mind, Abbie, alone in her apartment, crying, shaking with the combined terror of being alone, and the idea that this man could have done the same to her. He reached for the phone, not even noticing Nora anymore. He dailed her number and waited.

"Hi, you've reached Abbie Carmicheal. I'm not here, so leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks." The sound of her voice, like it used to be, carefree and husky made Jack's fingers long to close around this guys throat and never let go. The machine beeped impatiently and Jack cleared his thoat.

"Hey Abbie, It's Jack, just calling to see how you were doing...I guess you're not home, so just give me a call when you-" He was interrupted by the sound of clacking in his ear, and then a deep breath was exhaled. "Hey Jack."

Jack's eyes widened in surprise, and responded. "Hey, how are you?"

Abbie emitted a short, humorless laugh. "I'm great."

Jack closed his eyes as he heard the bitter timbre of her voice. Talking to her wasn't supposed to hurt this much. "What have you been up to?"

"Nothing, catching up on sleep, watching bad daytime television. You know, the normal day off kind of stuff."

Normal. Right. If Jack had ever heard her be fake, this was it. "Well okay. I was just checking in on you. Seeing how you were doing."

"Don't Jack, I'm fine. I'll be back tomorrow, I promise. I just..needed some time. Sorry if I left you with an ass load of work to do."

"Abbie, you don't have to come back tomorrow. Take the week, it's fine. There are a billion interns who would love to write up my case briefs. And you don't have to aplogize for needing today. I.." Jack trailed off. "I know how hard this is for you."

There was silence on the end of the line. Then a sharp intake of breath. "Jack, I need to get back to work. I hate hanging around here and being useless. And I'm fine, I was just a little shook up. I'll be as good as new in the morning. Please, don't worry about me."

Jack was quiet for a second. How did he tell her that he had never been so worried in his life? He chickened out. "Alright. Well, if you need anything, don't hesitate to call me."

"Okay. Bye Jack." A dial tone sounded in his ear, and he kept holding the phone, in shock, until Nora's voice brought him back to Earth. "Jack? Jack? How is she?"

He hung up the phone and shrugged. "She's trying to act like it's not a big deal, but I could tell she was about to lose it." He rested his elbows on his desk and sunk his salt and pepper hair into his hands. "What the hell do I do Nora?" The grief in his voice was undeniable and goosebumps spread on Nora's skin as she listened to him. She couldn't remember Jack this upset about anything, save for when Claire Kincaid died. But Nora hadn't been there, hadn't witnessed the grief personally, and was shocked to see so much raw emotion coming from him. "You did the best that you could, Jack. She knows she has you to talk to, and if she needs to, I'm sure she will."

Jack shook his head. "Abbie tries to pretend she doesn't need anyone. She always has to be hardass Abbie Carmicheal, never a human." A snort of laughter made him look up sharply. "Did I miss something?" He asked, not even trying to hide the bite in his voice.

Nora shook her head and stood up. "You and Abbie are more similar than you both would admit." She reached out and touched his shoulder. "She'll be okay Jack. Just give her time." She headed towards the door, then paused. "And Jack, try to leave by midnight okay? Last thing I need is you losing it during the McDonell case." She winked at him and slid gently out of the doors. Jack reached under his desk and pulled out a bottle of scotch and short glass. He poured what was sure to be the first of many, and got to work.


­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Abbie's skin was clammy and drenched in sweat. She had been trying to sleep for hours, but vivid images of David Phearson coming at her in her dorm room, this time with a knife clenched in his head made the task near impossible. Just thinking about him made her skin crawl, and suddenly the darkness of her bedroom seemed both terrifying and suffocating. Abbie sat up and switched the light on, her dark eyes flicking to every corner of her room, checking.

She was in the middle of swinging her legs over the side of the bed to check inside the closet when she realized how utterly pathetic she was being. Come on Carmicheal, get a grip. He's not here, you're alone, and it's almost one o' clock in the morning. Seeing as you made the brilliant choice to go to work tomrrow, you really need the rest. Abbie sighed laid back in her bed and silently willed her inner voice to shut the hell up. The thought of being alone wasn't as comforting as she wanted it to be. She laid a hand over her eyes and turned off the light again. Convincing herself not to notice how dark the room was, how eerily silent everything was, she slowly counted from one to a hundred in her head. It was a bedtime trick that had always helped her sleep. Abbie's eyelids felt heavy, and she felt sleep coming on. Suddenly, she wasn't in her bedroom anymore. She was lying in an empty apartment, where everything was white. A sharp pain eruppted in her back, and she spun around to find David's black eyes looking at her. A knife was clutched in his hand, and he laughed.

"Where you going Abbie? The fun's only started." He put both his hands on her shoulders and held her down. Abbie felt her skirt sliding off and she closed her eyes.

"Please, no. Not again. No, please, leave me alone." The pitiful mew of her voice made him laugh as he held her down, thursting hard into her. His wet lips did their best to latch on to her mouth, but she turned her head and he only made contact with her neck. David sucked enthustiastically, biting her earlobes as his bucking hips sped up. Abbie felt him release inside her, and he licked the tears off of her cheeks. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" He sneered. She thrashed underneath him and mananged to wrench an arm out. Abbie smacked him hard, and the blow sent him reeling. In his moment of confusion, she got out from under him and headed to the door, but as she ran it got farther away, and he kept closing in on her. A loud gunshot made her stumble, and a searing pain ripped through her back. Then everything went black.

Abbie sat up, sweat running off her in buckets, and reached out blindly for the phone. She glanced at the clock, praying that Jack would still be at the office, even though it was well after one AM.


­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­

The phone ringing woke Jack up in a state of confusion. He relaxed and took stock of his surroudings. He was lying on the couch in his office, a few case files scattered around the floor. The phone kept ringing, and Jack stumbled over to his desk.

"McCoy," he mumbled, noticing how slurred the words were.

"Jack?" He sobered up immediately at the sound of Abbie's voice.

"Yeah, what's up? Are you okay?" He sat back in his chair and rubbed his eyes.

"Jesus, I feel so stupid. I just had this dream, and I was scared, and I didn't know who to call..." Her voice trailed off and he thought he could hear sniffling in the backround.

"Do you need anything?" He asked.

"No, I just wanted to hear someone's voice that wasn't my own. Ya know? I'll be fine Jack," But she paused, and he could hear the unasked question in her voice.

"Do you want me to come over?" He asked gently, deciding that she was probably too embrassed to ask.

He could hear her crying quietly into the phone. "I can't explain to you how...pathetic I feel right now," She whispered miserably.

"Abbie, it's fine. Give me ten minutes and I'll be there. Okay?"

"Okay." She sounded like a little girl, and it broke Jack's heart.

He grabbed his coat as fast as he could manage. The last thing he wanted to do was keep her waiting.


After she had unlocked the door, Abbie went back into her bedroom. She didn't know what it was that made her feel so safe there, but there was nowhere else she would rather be. When the knock sounded at her door she yelled for Jack to come in, slightly surprised that he got there so quickly.

Jack followed the sound of her voice, and then stood in the doorway uncomfortably when he realized that this was her bedroom. He glanced around, surprised that her bedroom was so..inviting. It was a deep eggplant, the trim done a light green.All the funiture matched, mahogany, and the air was permeated with a heady jasmine and vanilla scent.

Abbie pulled her knees to her chest and laid her over them, watching Jack survey her room with a slight hint of amusement. "Hey there McCoy," She said softly. "Are you going to stand there all day?" Jack glanced at her, her bed, and a chair that sat in the far corner. A sigh escaped his lips and he sat on the edge of the bed, it groaning as he gingerly sat down.

"Are you okay? Really?" He looked at her, and the warm concern for her in his eyes made her want to cry.

"I'm just a little shook up I guess," She sighed and reached for a glass of water that was on her nightstand.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Jack asked, unable to keep the concern out of his voice.

Abbie sighed. "I'm so goddamn sick of thinking about it that I could scream," her voice dropped to a whisper. "And all I want to do is sleep, but everytime I close my eyes I see him coming at me. Everything about that night is so excruciatingly clear. All the details, all the times I could have screamed for help, hit him. punched him, done anything about it. But I sat there like a goddamn baby, to fucking scared to anything but whisper "No" over and over," She pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes as her body shuddered. "Even though I told myself it wasn't my fault, how was I supposed to think otherwise? Because I was too much of a fucking coward to do anything, this guy got to walk away, and kill this poor girl," She looked at Jack searchingly, her eyes bright with unshed tears. "Now, how the hell am I supposed to think that this wasn't my fault?"

Jack peeled off his coat and moved closer to Abbie on the bed, and laid a comforting hand on the side of her face. He wiped away falling tears with his thumb, wishing he could take her in his arms and tell her he loved her. "You know this wasn't your fault Abbie," He said softly, his heart wrenching as she pulled away from him an buried her head in her arms.

She sobbed quietly for awhile, then looked at her with those enormous dark eyes. "I can't believe I'm going to ask you this, but will you stay with me tonight? I don't think I can be alone anymore."

Jack considered telling her that he would do anything for her, but instead nodded. "Do you want me to stay on the floor?"

Abbie moved over, creating a space next to her on the queen-sized bed. "Please Jack," she pleaded, laying her hand on the empty space on the bed.

His head pounded with the need to comfort her, the desire to be with her, and the considerable amount of scotch he had drank before. He nodded, swallowing thickly. He kicked off his shoes, and crawled up the bed and slid under the covers, lying next to her. Abbie reached out and turned out the light, then turned back to the bed. Jack could feel her moving uncomfortably around the bed, trying to get comfortable.

"Carmicheal?" He asked, his voice gruff with exhaustion. "Could you lay still for three seconds please?" He heard her snort and then something hit him square in the chest.

"Sorry. I can't seem to get comfortable," She mumbled. It sounded like she was underneath the blankets. He could feel her wriggling closer, and closer until her head was lying on his chest. "That's better," Abbie sighed.

Jack lay still for a mintute, then slowly put his arm around her, growing bolder as her felt her snuggle against him. "Night Abbie," Jack mumbled, finally comfortable himself.

"Sleep tight Jack."


A/N Okay, so Abbie ends up in Jack's arms again. But really, who doesn't want to end up in his arms? Next, Phearson is arrested, but Jack is in need of people who will testify against him. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? ;)