Sorry for the delay. New chapter is here!

Chapter 25: Gimme Shelter

Ronnie sat in her bed with a thick novella in front of her. She had to admit to herself that she was bored of being in a hospital room. She was on her way to getting out of the hospital; she had taken several laps around the wing in the last couple of days. Her doctor was adamant that moving about and doing physical therapy would increase her chances of getting out of the hospital sooner. Needless to say; the first couple of days were sheer torture. She had known that the human body could take severe damage, but not as much as she did. She felt broken in the beginning; not knowing if she even wanted to go on. It was the love of her family and friends that kept her going. After the first week; she was doing better. The physical pain lessened day by day. The mental scars were a different issue.

Ronnie actually spent time talking to a therapist that dealt with traumatic events. It helped that the therapist was close to her in age. They discussed what had happened; up to and including the rape. She felt ashamed and dirty; that she wasn't good enough for anyone anymore. She had realized to herself that this just wasn't true. When she explained this to her friends; help came from the strangest of places. Alyson had talked to her about what happened to her and her ex-boyfriend. The two women bonded over a horrible situation; making Ronnie feel a lot better about her brother's girlfriend. Shane was very supportive as well; explaining that this was common theme among victims. He never made her feel negatively in the matter. He was supportive of her recovery and was quite helpful in her physical therapy. Then there was her brother. Gabe had been there the entire time when he wasn't in school. He made sure that she was taken care of in all facilities. He didn't treat her differently in any way.

The knock from the door broke Ronnie from her thoughts.

"Hey pretty lady."

Ronnie smiled. Her friends had come to visit. She bookmarked her spot and waved her friends into her room. She was glad to see Alyson, Emily and Shane at the door. Emily was the first one in the door. She gently hugged Ronnie and placed her backpack onto the nearest chair. The thin blonde took a folder out of her bag and placed it on the table in front of her.

"Here are the newest assignments from school." Emily smiled at her. "The new work is on the left side and all of the graded assignments are on the right. All of our teachers send the best!"

Alyson shook her head. "Girl gets beat up and she still focused on academics." Alyson came up to Ronnie next and hugged her. Ronnie laughed at Alyson while giving her the finger. This caused Alyson to laugh out loud. "There's our girl."

"Not helping Alyson. Did Gabe come along?"

Alyson nodded. "He's at the nurse's desk with your mom. They're going over some things."

Ronnie grumbled. "Hopefully me getting out of here."

Shane came over next and hugged her. He placed a kiss on her forehead. This caused the two women in the room to faun over them. Shane placed another kiss on Ronnie's forehead; giving the finger to the two women. This caused the women in the room to laugh again.

"Don't rush it honey. You need to get better." Shane smiled at Ronnie.

Shane moved away from Ronnie and motioned the chair to one of the women. Alyson took the offered chair and Emily took the one next to Ronnie's table. Shane stood near Emily; closer to the bed than the chair. Jane and Gabriel entered the room next; both coming over and checking on Ronnie.

"Hey sweetie, I can't stay long." Jane commented. "I'm stealing the boys to help me with something at home. We'll be back before too long."

"How much longer am I stuck here mom?" Ronnie whined. "I can't stand this place."

Jane smiled at her daughter. "Soon sweetie; really soon. The doctor is happy with your progress."

"We're hoping to spring you in another day or two." Gabe smiled. Shane elbowed his friend and the two smiled at each other.

"You're a dork man." Shane commented; rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, it takes one to know one." Gabe smiled at him.

Jane shook her head. "You boys stop it now. I hope you don't mind a little girl time?"

Ronnie shook her head in the negative. "I don't mind mom. I think it's about time. I can't say anything about these two lunkheads when they're here." Gabe made a face at his sister while Shane faked hurt feelings at the comment. The women laughed out loud at their reactions. Gabe hugged his sister and moved towards his mother. Shane quickly kissed Ronnie on the forehead and moved next to Gabe. Jane gave her daughter a look at the situation. Ronnie eyes widened and gave her mother a look as well. Ronnie swore that her mother smiled back at her. The three left and the young ladies sat around and started a conversation.

"I take it your mom doesn't know about Shane and you?" Emily questioned.

Ronnie scratched her chin. "We're still working on this." She made the motion with her hands; making mention of their relationship. "Once I'm out of here; we're going to talk about us. I think that she approves." This caused Ronnie to smile.

"He's a lot better than before." Alyson commented. "I remember meeting him on the first day of school. He was such a prick."

"Alyson!" Emily shot Alyson a look of admonishment.

"What? He was Em, he was an unhappy prick." Alyson shrugged.

Ronnie turned to Emily. "He really was a jerk. The first day he gave me the finger." Emily eyes widened. "He did. It wasn't his best moment."

Emily shook her head. "I can't wrap my head around that." She pointed at the door. "He really did a turnaround in what; three months?"

Ronnie nodded. "That's the influence of my brother."

Alyson nodded as well. "When was the last time you see me light up a cigarette?" The two girls turned to Alyson. "I haven't really smoked since the end of September. I have one here and there but never in front of you guys; especially Gabe."

"He really is one of the good guys." Emily commented. "I mean; he's never mean to anyone." She started listing off good qualities on her fingers. "He's always helpful, good for a laugh, always positive and good-natured."

"Good kisser." Alyson smiled. "You forgot nice on the eyes."

Ronnie sighed. She shook her head; not sure how to respond. Ronnie knew her brother was a good man and all that he was doing was for the best. She had to admit that people; for the most part, was a positive entity in Degrassi. She wanted that for herself as well.

"Part of me wants to be like him." Ronnie began. "He's a lot of good things. I don't think I can pull it off."

Alyson turned back to Ronnie. "You're a wonderful woman Ronnie. I've had the luck to spend time with you and I really like the Ronnie that I know."

Emily nodded. "We've known each other for how long? A lot of years and we've never had an issue with each other. I really got to know you in the last few months and like you. I'm glad you're my friend."

Ronnie rolled her eyes; dabbing at them with a tissue. "You guys…"

"It's true." Alyson shrugged; to which Emily nodded.

Ronnie sighed again. "Things have changed so much in the last couple of months." She looked each of her friends in the eyes. "I've gotten closer to some wonderful people; two of them are in this room." Both Emily and Alyson smiled. "I'm friendly with one of the most handsome jocks in the school. I have good friends and family that would do just about anything for me."

Her mood changed to dark for a moment. "But then I have two or three people that would either torture me or completely ignore me."

"Tricia Parker is a vile witch." Emily said; turning to Alyson. "No offense."

Alyson shook her head. "None taken. She gives us real witches a bad name."

Emily continued. "She's lucky that she only got suspended. She's just as guilty of attacking you as Juliette was of the attack." Emily turned to Ronnie. "I know that she only held you down in the beginning but that's enough. It's called being an accessory to a crime."

"All I want is ten minutes with Juliette." Alyson growled; turning to Ronnie. "That's all I need to fix her. It's not right that she did that to you and gets kicked out of school."

"If it harms none Alyson." Ronnie stated. "The two of them will get what's coming to them." She took a breath. "Tricia was convincing enough that she didn't do anything; she just held my arms back. That's mainly the truth; hell, she even tried to stop Juliette from violating me. Mom and dad are taking care of that situation."

"Juliette is a harder situation." Ronnie continued. "My parents and her parents are really close. The Hogarts have been very understanding and have been working with my folks on this. They were very surprised that the abuse was continuing and were absolutely shocked when they found out what happened to me." Ronnie took a drink from her water cup. "Apparently; Juliette is being shipped off to some reform school in Thunder Bay. She's going to be there for a really long time."

"Maybe it's for the best Ronnie." Emily commented. "Juliette is really messed up. I'm not sure what the catalyst for her lashing out is, but I'm sure that they'll find out what's causing it."

"Okay; I want five minutes." Alyson mumbled. This caused the three to laugh a bit. Alyson shook her head. "It's not right that she just gets kicked out of school. Then she gets sent to a reform school." She turned to the other two girls. "Do you think it'll even work?"

Ronnie shrugged this time. "I really hope so. She's not a horrible person; she wasn't until this past summer. I really don't know what happened to her over the summer. She just snapped."

Emily nodded. "I knew her a little bit over the years. Mom is still friends with Juliette's mom; they've been for years." Emily chewed on her fingernail. "I didn't know her well but she was always friendly to me. Whatever happened to her over the summer; it caused her to flip. She was friendly to me. Now; she's been picking on a bunch of the freshmen."

"Assaulting them." Alyson said in a raised voice. "I can't believe that she was picking on the freshmen. I mean she was picking on her own brother!"

"I know." Ronnie groaned. "It's so hard to believe."

The three sat there in silence for a few moments. Each seemed to be lost in their own thoughts. Emily looked up at Ronnie with a question.

"You said three. There were three people that we're on the list. Who is the third?"

Ronnie shallowly laughed. "My best friend in the world."

"You're talking about Nikki?" Alyson asked. Ronnie nodded at this.

"I've seen her in classes the last two weeks." Emily spoke clearly. "She's seemed so down and lost."

"You don't think that she had something to do with it, do you Ronnie?" Alyson asked again.

Ronnie didn't answer her question. She had this look on her face that was unexplainable. She really didn't know what to think at this moment. Nikki had told her before that she was deathly afraid of hospitals. She had mentioned that it had something to do with her mother in the last year of her life. She could understand that for the reason of her not visiting.

"I really don't think she did." Ronnie finally started. "It's hard to say though. Up until the moment of the attack; we were texting back and forth almost non-stop. After that; my phone didn't get a single text from her."

"No visits at all?" Alyson asked in surprise.

Ronnie shook her head. "Nikki's afraid of hospitals. It has something to do with her mom."

Emily turned to the two of them. "Who has come to visit you while you've been in here?"

Ronnie thought for a moment. "Gabe, Shane and you two have been the main visitors. I've seen Rosalyn, Edgar, Tony, J.J. and Jimmy a few times. Francine; that one girl that helped save me was here once or twice. Hell; even Elizabeth came once and wished me well."

"That's really odd." Alyson fiddled with one of her bracelets. "I would figure she would have tried to contact you somehow. I even asked if she wanted me to pass any messages on to you. She didn't have any response."

Ronnie looked at Alyson in surprise. "Really?"

Emily chimed in. "Do you think that Nikki being obsessed with Gabe might be part of the reason she hasn't texted you?" Emily's eyes grew wide and she slapped her hands onto her mouth. Alyson slapped her hand to her forehead and groaned. She turned her attention to Emily.

"God damn it Em. You had to say that; of all things?"

"I'm sorry! I was just thinking out loud!"

Ronnie watched the two of them. She didn't really say anything on this. She felt anger and rage about her best friend. She would take care of this in time. She watched her two friends bicker back and forth for a couple of moments. Ronnie raised her hand and the two stopped.

"I don't mean to sound rude but I'd like to have some time alone. Would you two mind leaving for an hour or so?"

"Ronnie?" Emily asked.

"Look Ronnie…" Alyson started but Ronnie closed her eyes and shook her head.

"I know that you guys were trying to protect me. I get that." Ronnie sniffled. "I know that something happened when Gabe snuck in that night. I didn't want to know and Gabe tried to tell me. I didn't want to know about it." She sighed. "I just need to process this for a bit. Go get something to eat and come back in an hour."

Each of the women got up and hugged Ronnie. They stated that they would be back soon. Ronnie smiled as her friends left the room. When the door closed; Ronnie's smile trembled off of her face. Tears started to run down her face as she grabbed her pillow. She held it over her mouth as she screamed and sobbed into the pillow.

You have to wonder what is going on in Ronnie's mind in this moment.

I wanted to have a little bit of calm before the raiders stormed the gates. Should be interesting to see what happens next...

So, were you surprised to find out on whom attacked Ronnie? Maybe it was a surprise to some but I'm sure that you might have figured it out.

Still working on this and the other story; so stay tuned!