A/N: Thank you for the reviews! There's only six more chapters left after this one.

Martin looked up at Hellen, his hands on her hips, a smile turning up the corner of his mouth. "You're beautiful," he whispered.

Hellen blushed, still not sure about this or of what she was doing. "Martin, I…"

"It's alright," he whispered as he gently guided her movements. "That's it. Slow and easy."

"Mmm," she hummed as her body began to react to her movements.

Skimming a hand up her side, Martin cupped a breast. "Gorgeous."

Hellen shook her head. "You say the silliest things."

Sitting up, Martin wrapped his arms around her. "Not silly. Truth, Love. It's all truth."

Nuzzling her face into his hand when he cupped her cheek, Hellen sighed as she settled against him, their bodies barely moving. "Is this what it's supposed to be like?"

"Does it feel good?"

"Yes."

"Then yes, this is what it's supposed to be like."

"I missed out on so much."

"No more thinking of it, Love. Only think about now, about us right now."

Hellen sat up and smiled as she pushed against him to make him lay back against the pillows. Holding his gaze, she began to move over him again, smiling at the groan that slipped from his lips.

"Yes, Love. Just like that." Martin moaned.

"Marty," she breathed.

"Hellen." Martin whispered her name as he reached up to cup a breast, teasing the taut nipple and making her whimper.

"Ooh." Hellen threw her head back, arching her back and pushing her breast further into his kneading hand.

An arm around her neck caused Hellen to gasp and stop moving, her hands frantically tugging, fingers clawing at the flesh she uncovered.

"Hellen! What the hell?!" Martin yelled, trying but failing to move, his legs pinned from Hellen's position and the way their attacker was holding her. He squirmed, but stopped when he saw the face staring at him from over Hellen's shoulder. "Michael," he breathed. "Let her go."

"You're mine." Michael whispered against Hellen's ear, tightening his arm around her neck when she struggled against him. Looking back at Martin, he shook his head. "Fight and I'll slit her throat."

Martin stilled and waited to see what the mad man was going to do next. "Just let her go. I'll do whatever you want, just let her go."

"She's mine, but you've soiled her."

Martin held Hellen's gaze, his eyes telling her what he couldn't say. He knew what being called soiled meant to his wife and he felt his heart breaking at the tears that rolled down her cheeks. "She isn't soiled, Michael, I'm her husband. You can't soil someone that gives themselves to you freely out of love."

"She's mine. She loves me. Didn't she tell you about us? I've seen her, you know. She's beautiful in the bath with all of her bubbles and candles. But the things you make her wear. Why would you do that?"

Martin frowned. "I've never made her wear anything. She chooses her own clothes. Please, you're hurting her. If you love her, let her go."

Michael loosened his strangle hold, just enough to let Hellen breathe a bit easier, but continued to hold the knife to her throat. "No. She would never wear those. You. It's all you."

"Please." Hellen whispered. "I wore them for me. I wanted to feel sexy. Martin didn't know I had them until he saw them."

"Lies. All lies. He cheated on you. Why are you trying to defend him?"

"I love him." Hellen whispered then screamed when the knife plunged into Martin's chest. "Martin! Martin! Oh god, what have you done?" she screamed over and over. Her face froze in horror when the knife sliced through Martin's throat covering her in his blood.

"See, you're free now. And I've made you pure again. His blood made you clean for me."

Hellen shook her head, and clawed at the arm around her neck once again. "I'm not yours! Martin!" she cried angering Michael who silenced her with his hand over her mouth.

"You're mine," he breathed against her ear just before she felt the cool wet blade sliding along her throat, the burning of her skin being cut open flooding her body, her mouth open to scream but no sound coming out.

Vera's scream nearly made Billy fall from the chair he'd been dozing in at the side of her bed. Standing, he grabbed her hand with one of his using his free hand to push the call button to alert a nurse. "Vera, it's Billy," he told her, her screams overpowering him until he was shouting. "Vera! Vera! It's Billy! You're safe now! I'm here and you're safe!" he kept repeating the same thing over and over again even as the staff were rushing into the room and trying to push him out of the way. "She won't respond to you," he told them, refusing to leave her side. "Just work around me. Let me keep talking to her, please," he begged, finally getting his way. "Vera! Follow my voice, love. I'm here. You're safe. You're safe. It's just good old Billy. Come on, love." Smiling when her eyes opened and the screams died, he gently caressed the damp hair from her forehead. "There's my girl," he whispered, chuckling at the glare he received in return. "Ah. Sorry. There's my friend. Is that better?"

The staff continued to work around him, none of them trying to disturb him again, seeing the affect he had on their patient. She'd calmed considerably once he'd gotten through to her and she'd come out of her nightmare. The doctor had whispered that none of them were to try and make the man leave for any reason until the patient was completely out of the woods, which she wasn't yet.

The screaming had aggravated the punctured lung and Vera's breathing was growing ragged and shallow, making the doctor fear the lung had collapsed again. The thrashing about she'd done had probably caused a great deal of pain in her back from where her spine had been bruised, and had more than likely done the same with her broken and cracked ribs. The woman was lucky to be alive.

"She'll be drifting back to sleep in a few moments," the doctor told Billy, catching his attention away from Vera.

"She'll only have the nightmare again." Billy whispered as he sat down, his hand still holding Vera's.

"We've sedated her pretty heavily in the hopes that the drug induced sleep will keep that from happening."

"Let's hope." Billy sighed, knowing that it wasn't a nightmare that had caused his friend to scream. He'd heard that blood curdling scream before. She'd been living the murder again, probably seeing it from beginning to end…at least what Hellen had seen until she'd died. He only hoped Vera's own attack hadn't been mixed into it as her memories of Peter had gotten mixed up with Hellen's haunting only a week ago.

Hu watched Billy and knew what the man was thinking about. The two of them were the only ones that knew just what it was that had made Vera scream. Hellen had been haunting her again, this time with her own murder. "Marcus has finished the autopsy."

Billy nodded. The younger man had come back several days ago, but had been assigned somewhere else until Hellen and Martin's bodies were released…which they had been the day after Vera went missing. He'd told the young man that he was to keep out of the files pertaining to the Kingsley case per his orders and Vera's request. Billy didn't know if Marcus had followed orders or not, but at least he'd tried. "And?"

"She stabbed him in the leg and sliced his hand open. Those were the older wounds. He was bruised on the legs where she kicked him. He had nail marks on both arms, the ones on the left arm older and scabbed over."

"Hellen." Billy whispered.

"Yes. Vera gave him a good working over."

"And what finally did him in?"

"He bled out from the wound in his stomach."

Billy nodded and tenderly caressed the hand he held. "She's tough. She had to be in horrible pain. Her back is so bruised they're saying it's going to be quite a while before she's able to move about. She isn't going to like that."

Hu shook his head. "No, she isn't. What about her head?"

"The gash on her forehead must have been from when she fell outside. I heard from Shep and she said that they found blood on the truck around behind the house. It sounds like Vera tried to get away and he caught up with her." Looking up at his friend, Billy held his gaze. "You will help you, won't you? She trusts you now and she's going to need your help."

"I'm here for the long hall, mate. You know that. And she isn't the only one that needs me."

Billy nodded. "You're right. I'm going to need you, too."

VS

Aiden sat staring at the pictures they'd taken from the room Vera had obviously been held in at the abandoned house. He'd seen a lot since he'd become a copper, but this case was more than he seemed to be able to wrap his mind around.

There were intimate pictures of Hellen that could only have been taken from inside her home so they'd sent a team back to the house to search for hidden cameras and found them in the master bedroom and bathroom. One camera had even recorded video. They'd found them on the man's laptop along with more photos of Mrs. Kingsley and Vera. Thankfully none of the photos of Vera were as intimate as the ones of Mrs. Kingsley, though some of the ones they'd found on the computer had been taken outside Vera's home.

The thought of the man watching Vera made Aiden ill. If he and Shep hadn't gone against Vera's wishes and started watching her…he shook his head. No, he wasn't going to think about that.

"Aiden." Shep said his name as she squeezed his shoulder. "Stop staring at those and go home. Charlie is probably worried about you."

Pointing at a photo of Vera, Aiden looked up at Shep. "This whole time, he was watching her. We should have been following her everywhere. This picture isn't at her house."

"We did what we could, Aiden." Shep sighed as she sat down and looked at her colleague. "The real reason Vera kept saying she could take care of herself was because she didn't want us to be hurt. She knew she was in danger."

"I don't understand. If she knew, why did she keep saying she wasn't?"

"She was protecting us, Aiden. She cares about this whole team. You told me how heartbroken she was when Bethany was murdered. Think about what it would do to Vera if one of us were murdered protecting her."

Aiden stared at Shep, realizing that she knew something she wasn't telling and knowing that she wouldn't if he asked. "Have you talked to Billy?"

"I have. She's under heavy sedation. They're monitoring her to make sure her lung hasn't collapsed again. She had a nightmare and was screaming."

"What did he do to her?" Aiden whispered as he looked back down at the picture of his boss.

"We'll never really know unless Vera tells us, and I don't expect her to do that. All we do know is that he didn't rape her."

"Just beat the shite out of her."

"Her body will heal." Shep squeezed Aiden's arm. "Remember, she beat the shite out of him, too."

Aiden chuckled a bit. "That she did. Do you think," he paused then continued. "Do you think she'll be okay once she realizes he's dead?"

"I don't know. If this was her first time killing someone, it will take a long time for her to come to terms with it. If it isn't, she'll face it a bit easier."

"But it's still going to be with her for the rest of her life. You know how she is. She doesn't like to use force if it's at all possible to do it peacefully."

"I do know. I also know that she had no other choice and that she's a strong woman. She has a crew that cares about her, and a friend who's been by her side since we found her. She's not alone, and that's the first step to healing…people who care."