Chapter Eight
Two days later, Jaime was sitting up in bed, having lunch, and Steve was glued to her side - just as he'd been ever since she'd been admitted. He couldn't help noticing the new, haunted look in her eyes, but reasoned it would fade once she started talking about what had happened to her. Steve had asked her gently, and so had Rudy, but she'd merely told them she wasn't ready to talk about it yet. They all knew Jaime would have to give a statement to Jack Hansen, but Rudy had insisted, in no uncertain terms, that it had to wait until her condition was less precarious.
"Steve, I've got good news!" Oscar said, striding into the cubicle. "Hi, Jaime. You're looking a thousand percent better today."
"I feel better, too," she said, with a voice that was still weak, but managing a smile just the same. "What's the good news?"
Oscar was focused on telling Steve what had happened, not really ignoring Jaime, but figuring that since she wasn't talking about her ordeal, she'd probably tune them out. "Bailey gave up the location where he was holding Jaime," he told Steve. "We've got teams from the FBI and the NSB on their way over there right now. If he keeps talking, he just might agree to a plea bargain, and then Jaime wouldn't have to -"
"No," Steve said flatly.
"Bailey?" Jaime looked back and forth between the two men. "Who's Bailey?"
"No plea bargain, Oscar," Steve insisted. "He needs to pay for all of what he did, and I don't want him to have even the slightest hope of ever seeing daylight again."
"Who is Bailey?"
Steve moved over to sit on the edge of the bed. "Jaime, I don't wanna go into a lot of detail until you're stronger. The basic facts are hard enough to wrap your brain around."
"Ok..."
"Sweetheart, Claudia Spencer kidnapped you," he began.
"She's - alive?"
"She was."
"Oh." Jaime took a few moments to let that sink in. "Then who is this Bailey Whatever-His-Name-Is?"
"Franklin Bailey," Steve said, watching her very closely.
"The General? Oh - did he get me outta there?"
"No." Steve didn't know a gentle way to put it and he couldn't lie to her. "Jaime, Claudia took you from the house and turned you over to Bailey. She...paid him to kill you."
"General Bailey is the one who hurt me?"
"Yes." Steve took her hand. "And he's gonna pay, for the rest of his life. I'll see to that." He turned to Oscar. "No plea bargain."
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Over the course of the next week, Jaime began to feel more like herself again. On the tenth day following her rescue, Rudy came in to check on his patient and found her out of bed, in a chair by the window.
"It was time," she said simply.
Steve shrugged. "You know how she is, Rudy. I wasn't about to try and stop her."
"While I'm still getting my way, Steve, I need you to call Hansen for me, please. I wanna give my statement."
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"...That's all I remember," Jaime told Jack Hansen later that evening. "They said I woke up in the woods, too, but that part's a blank."
"Jaime, thank you. You did a terrific job," Jack told her, meaning it. She'd drawn every possible detail out of her memory bank, saying she didn't want to carry it around any more.
"Jack, can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
"With a plea bargain, whose decision is it?"
"Well, the Prosecutor would come up with a deal, and, in your case, you'd have to approve it; then it would be offered to Bailey."
"The deal Oscar was talking about - how long would he be in prison?"
"A minimum of 25 years."
"So basically the rest of his life."
"You could say that. And 25 is only the minimum. His actual sentence would be up to the judge. Bailey would have to plead guilty to aggravated kidnapping and attempted murder, and the other charges would be dropped."
"Steve says that's letting him get away with too much, but he'd be in prison for good, either way, so why make it harder than it has to be? I wouldn't have to testify, right?"
"That's right."
"Tell the DA that I'll do it. Please?" Jaime requested.
"What about Steve?"
Jaime smiled, very slightly. "I can be extremely persuasive, and stubborn."
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"Jaime," Steve protested, trying to pace off his frustration, "I already told them we didn't want the plea bargain. Why -?"
"He'll get at least 25 years, with no parole, and I won't have to drag it all out again in court."
"But Sweetheart, he hurt you so badly. He damn-near killed you!" Steve's voice softened. "You were tortured -"
"I think I know that."
"He should have to answer to all of it, and suffer every single consequence he has coming to him."
"I want the plea bargain," Jaime said quietly.
"I'm your husband, and I already told them no."
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but 'obey' was not in our vows. Steve, this is my decision to make, and I've made it." She looked up at him from the bed, suddenly very tired but needing resolution. Tears began to slowly pearl on her cheeks. "It was hard enough to dredge it all up for Jack. I know I haven't told you much yet, but -"
"I already know. I was meeting with the investigative team while you talked to Jack." They'd told him about the little metal box, and the fact that there was blood in it, meaning she'd been forced back in after being shot. "It breaks my heart...what he put you through. He needs to pay for that."
"He will. Some charges are being dropped - yes - but he's never getting out. I need this to be over, Steve; it's the only way I'll ever heal."
Steve nodded, brushed away her tears and took Jaime into his arms. "I understand, Sweetheart, and you're right."
"I usually am," she said lightly, already half-asleep.
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