Several hours passed. The deed was done and Gen. O'Hara had fallen asleep with his arm around Jae. Tired, sore, and emotionally wrecked, Jae carefully worked her way out of the snoring general's greedy grasp and slid onto the floor, remaining there for a moment before salvaging what was left of her clothing and stepping painfully into it before slipping out of the room and up the stairs towards her quarters, stumbling on the way up.

What am I going to do? How am I going to be able to keep this from everyone, especially Dad? she thought to herself, growing so distraught that she didn't notice the person standing by her door until she was but a foot away from it.

"Where were you?" asked a stiff masculine voice.

Jae looked slowly upward.

Shit..

"Nowhere..." she mumbled, trying to get past the colonel.

"Nowhere... nowhere?" Col. Tavington hissed, grabbing her arms in a vice grip; Jae flinched horribly. "Your sister and I have been looking all over for you nearly all evening! Now where have you been and what the bloody hell have you gotten yourself into?" he demanded, his voice a mixture of anger and concern as he stared down at her torn clothing.

"Nothing, just leave me alone!" Jae shot, wrenching herself from his grasp.

Col. Tavington stared at her, stunned by her sudden outburst.

"Jae, what is the matter?" he asked hesitantly.

"I said nothing! Now leave me alone!" she responded, glaring at him coldly before pushing past him and into her room, closing and locking the door behind her.

Thoroughly shocked and stunned by her behavior, Col. Tavington stood rooted to his spot next to Jae's door for about fifteen minutes, where he could hear crying coming from inside. Finally, growing too concerned to just stand around, the colonel left his spot by the door, went into his room, grabbed the spare key to Jae's room, and went back to her quarters, unlocking the door, and stepped quietly inside.

Jae lay on her bed, her back turned to him, crying as her tiny form shook violently.

"Jae..."

She didn't answer.

Col. Tavington looked at her trembling form, feeling tiny stabs of pain hit him as he watched his 'daughter' lie on the bed in agony, unable to do much of anything to soothe her. The only thing he could think of was to hold her quietly until she calmed down, so he did, and slowly but surely, she began to calm herself until she had finally fallen asleep in his arms.

"Did you find her?"

The colonel looked up to see his wife standing in the doorway and nodded.

"She's right here." he replied softly.

A relieved look crossed Mary's face.

"Thank god... Jula is still in our room; she flatly refused to go to bed until her sister was found. But Jae can't have been in here the whole time..."

"No, she wasn't. I don't know where she was, she didn't tell me. But where ever she went, something happened to her, and I don't like the looks of it at all."

"What do you mean?"

"Look at her, Mary."

Stepping closer to her husband and Jae, Mary noticed that Jae's clothing was all torn.

"Oh no... William, what if..."

"I know, that's what I'm concerned about. Indeed, she is attractive, and I know many of the men here would love to try their hands at her. I just hope that this isn't the case, that something else caused these rips. But I don't know; Jula said earlier that she looked pretty shaken; her clothing was ripped, though not as badly as it is now, and she was not wearing her corset."

Mary shook her head wordlessly, looking over at the colonel with haunted eyes as memories of being raped by a colonial militiaman raced through her mind.

"Mary, we don't know what happened." Col. Tavington replied, reading her thoughts.

"But it looks that way."

"I understand, but I don't want to draw conclusions just yet."

"Is she back?"

Both Col. Tavington and his wife turned to see Jula standing in the doorway, an anxious look on her face.

"Yes, Jula, she is back." replied the colonel quietly.

Jula stepped forward, eager to see her sister, but then stopped short upon seeing her appearance.

"What happened?" she asked, her voice laced with worry.

"We don't know." Col. Tavington replied.

"She didn't say anything?"

"No, she didn't."

"Great, it's got to be pretty bad then..."

"Well it certainly isn't good." replied Col. Tavington's wife softly. "But at least she's here."

Jula nodded and sighed.

"I just hope she's all right..."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jae stirred and awoke sometime later in Col. Tavington's arms as he looked down at her with eyes full of concern.

"Jae, please, tell me..."

Jae shook her head as her eyes filled with hot new tears, clinging to him as he tightened his embrace.

"Why?"

Again, Jae shook her head and continued to cling to him and all he could do was hold her and comfort her from whatever she had experienced.

Why? I need answers, and soon...