A/N: Thanks for the reviews!
Vera moaned as she opened her eyes. She could barely breathe, she suspected it was because a rib had been broken and punctured a lung in her fight with Steven. He'd grabbed her by the door and she'd fought which led to him backhanding her. He'd knocked her into the table, the edge of which had hit her across the ribs. It had hurt like hell, but had given her a chance to grab the knife that had been at the place setting, something she wondered momentarily at. Why would he set the table with knives? But then she'd shook the wild thought off and kicked back with her leg, hitting him in the knee as he rushed her, giving herself time to turn.
And from there it was a blur as to how she wound up here on the floor where she found herself sprawled in an odd position, Steven lying a few feet away. She could see blood on his shirt and pant leg, so she must have managed to cut or stab him, but she wasn't sure if he was alive or dead.
And she didn't want to wait and find out.
Taking as deep a breath as she could, and coughing because of it, she bit the inside of her bottom lip as she pushed herself up. She wished she had her shoes, but she wasn't about to take the time to look for them. Her legs hurt, her back hurt, her whole body hurt, but she fixed her eyes on the door and concentrated on getting to it, getting out.
And then a thought struck her.
She didn't know where she was.
Maybe Steven had a mobile?
Turning to look at the man, she thought a moment and made up her mind.
Carefully maneuvering herself over to him, she bent down and searched his pockets, at least the two she could access, and came up empty handed. No mobile, not even keys so that she could drive herself out of here.
Straightening back up, she moaned and gasped, closing her eyes against the onslaught of vertigo the action had caused. Feeling herself capable of opening her eyes and moving without falling, Vera slowly made her way about the room, looking for a mobile and finding it by the stove.
"Thank you," she muttered. "Damn it all," she cursed a moment later when she realized there was no signal. Thankfully the man wasn't one to carry a smartphone and she was able to access the phone. She'd take it with her and use it when a signal was available. Even if she didn't know where she was, her team could track the phone once she made the call.
Looking around, hoping to spy keys, she shook her head and gave up. She'd learned from a friend of her father's how to start a vehicle without a key, something she'd never let anyone know, but something she was thankful for now.
Stumbling her way to the door, she heard Steven moan and looked back just as he started to move. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she unlocked the door and ran out, stumbling a bit as she looked around for any sort of vehicle, she ran around the back and huffed out a breath.
A truck.
An older model truck which would make it easier for her to start.
Bending nearly knocked her on her arse, but she fought through it and pulled the wires out from under the dash and steering column. As she concentrated on what she was doing and not passing out, she missed the sound of someone coming up behind her until it was too late.
Grunting when a fist hit her spine, she went down and hit her head on the side of the truck. A hand in her hair, trying to yank her up, made her angry and she kicked out, catching Steven in the knee and knocking him down.
Again her mantra bounced around her head.
I will not be another victim.
VS
Vera opened her eyes minutes later, or hours, she didn't know. All she knew was that she was again in the house and on the floor, the body next to her dead this time if the blood flowing out of his mouth was any indication.
She had blurry images of being dragged back into the house, of Steven screaming at her, but she wasn't sure what was real because it was all mixed up with images she'd seen from Hellen haunting her.
Gasping for air, she tried to move and realized that she wasn't going anywhere. The hit to her back had done some damage and she realized she couldn't feel her legs. The mobile in her pocket had come out in her fall and was just out of the reach of the one hand she could move. Crying out as she stretched her arm as far as she could, she fought against passing out as she dragged the mobile to her.
As she pushed the talk button, she could only remember one number.
"Billy, help me," she gasped just before losing her fight, darkness overtaking her as she slipped into unconsciousness.
VS
"Vera!" Billy shouted as he rushed out of his office, Hu following along behind in confusion. "Vera, talk to me, Love. Where are you?" he tried again but got nothing. Looking at his phone to make sure the call hadn't been dropped, he kept saying her name, his heart in his throat at the thoughts that filled his mind as to what was happening to keep her from talking to him.
"Kenny!" Billy yelled as he rushed into the incident room. "It's her. Can you locate the mobile?"
Kenny nodded and went into action, pulling up the program he needed. "What's she saying?"
"She only said one thing, Billy help me. Now it's just nothing. I've said her name over and over. I even checked to make sure the call hadn't been dropped." Billy looked at Kenny. "What do you need to find her?"
"The number."
Billy held his phone out so that Kenny could see the number on the screen. His heart felt like it was going to beat out of his chest even though he'd been standing still now for long enough that it should have calmed from his rush out of his office to the incident room. He knew it wouldn't calm until he knew if Vera was okay.
Hu clasped Billy's shoulder and squeezed, getting the other man's attention. "Calm down. She needs you to be strong for her." Nodding to the mobile, he smiled at Billy. "Keep talking to her. Doesn't matter what you say, just talk to her."
"What if he hears me?"
Hu shook his head. "He would have ended the call by now."
Taking a couple of deep breathes, Billy took his mobile back from Kenny and sat down on the sofa. "Vera, love, can you talk to me? I've missed you these last few days. There's no one around to appreciate my cheek. None of your crew can do that smirk you do when I've given you just a bit too much cheek and you've gotten me back."
Kenny listened to Billy talking to Vera and wondered how he'd never realized how close the two were. There was history there that none of them knew and probably never would if Vera had any say in it. "Got it!" he yelled then picked up his phone and dialed Aiden. "We've got her, Aiden."
Hu listened to Kenny give Aiden Vera's location and knew without question that Billy would be going and had no intentions of stopping him. He just hoped that Billy's services weren't needed when he got there.
VS
"Vera!" Billy shouted as he rushed in, having managed to make it to the house before anyone else.
Hu was still trying to get his legs back under him after the wild ride he'd just taken in Billy's rush to get to Vera, so he paused and watched Billy disappear inside. His friend's voice calling Vera's name, spurred him into action, and he ran in, pausing at the sight that greeted him. "Dear god," he breathed. The place was like a disaster area. The table was knocked over, chairs scattered about, dishes broken with food mixed in with the glass.
"She's barely breathing." Billy whispered as he tenderly caressed Vera's bruised cheek. "Look what he did to her."
"But look what she did to him." Hu pointed at the body he was kneeling beside. "He's dead. Looking at him, she put up one hell of a fight."
Billy nodded. "She learned how to defend herself. Peter taught her what the self-defense classes didn't. When he asked why she wanted to learn more, she told him she had to know more to make up for her size."
Hu watched Billy checking Vera's pulse, knowing by the look on his friend's face that it wasn't good. "Talk to her, Billy. I can hear the sirens in the distance, they're almost here. Just talk to her. Let her know you're here. Trust me that she'll hear you. I promise. She may not wake up, I doubt that she can, but she'll know you're here."
Billy nodded, tears filling his eyes as he leaned over and pressed a kiss to Vera's head. "Hey, Sassy," he chuckled. "Remember the first time I called you that? You nearly took my head off and Peter half laughed himself sick. I learned very quickly not to call you anything but Vera, that only Peter got by with calling you by a nickname. I remember him getting a few glares for calling you Vee in front of the others."
Hu heard the others rushing in and gently tugged at Billy's shoulder. "Let them do their work, Billy."
Billy reluctantly moved back, looking up when he heard Shep's voice. "He's dead."
Shep looked around the room then looked at Aiden and Kenny. "She put up one hell of a fight."
Kenny nodded, his gaze never leaving Vera and the medical team working to stabilize her for transport. "I told the both of you. She can take care of herself," he whispered.
Aiden felt sick when he saw all of Vera's face and the scratches on her neck, the marks on her chest where her shirt had been unbuttoned. "He didn't," he started but couldn't finish his sentence.
"It doesn't look like it," came from somewhere, though Aiden couldn't tell who it was that said it.
"Dear god," he breathed.
"I'm going with her." Billy's words filtered into the stunned trio's minds and they all nodded.
"You'll call when you know something?" Shep questioned as she touched his arm when he passed by.
"I will." Hu told her, not sure Billy would be in any shape to make any sort of calls until it was positive that Vera would pull through.
Shep watched Billy follow the medical team out then turned her attention back to Hu. "Take care of him."
"That's why I'm going."
"Is he in love with her?" Shep asked quietly when the other two moved off to see if there were any clues as to what had gone on.
"No. I don't think so. I believe it's just the history they share, the past that ties them together."
Shep looked around to make sure no one was looking or listening. "He knows about her fiancé."
"Yes. He was part of their inner circle of friends." Hu studied the young woman. "I'm surprised you know about it."
"She told me." Shep shrugged. "I suppose this case brought us closer together being the only females on the crew. Has she told you about the case? She said you were a friend, that you got together and talked. I'm assuming you're a therapist of some sort."
"She told me about the case, yes. I know what the two of you saw, what that man did to the victims." Reaching out, Hu squeezed Shep's hand. "He didn't do that to Vera. You can see the evidence of her fighting back all around you. She won, Shep. She won."
"But did she really?"