Her neck felt stiff; it felt like she had been sleeping in a terrible position for days. Spencer groggily opened her eyes and attempted to rub the aching spot. "Ow!" She yelped out, a shooting pain flew through her left side. Her eyes were alert now as she watched a strange woman decked out in white come in through the door with a clipboard. "Good evening Ms. Carlin, how are you feeling tonight?"

"I'm in pain…how long have I been here?"

"Well, let me just check your i.v. here," the nurse says cheerfully as she adjusts the dosage, "you should be feeling better in a little bit. Now then, can I ask you some questions?"

"Why not."

"Do you know where you are?"

"The hospital I'm guessing."

"Yup, St. Joe's. What's your name?"

"Spencer. Spencer Carlin."

"Good, do you know your birthday?"

"March 18th." The nurse smiled as she wrote down some notes, "well, my name is Jackie, I'm the attending nurse, so if you need anything let me know. You went through quite the ordeal now didn't you," she stated apologetically, "now that you're awake I'll have the doctor come up and explain everything ok?" Her voice noticeably trying to brighten.

Spencer just nodded as she stared at the nurse. "Well, I'll leave the two of you alone; Dr. Roberts will be here in a little bit." Spencer lay in her bed confused as she watched the nurse walk out, 'the two of us?'. The beat up blonde slowly turned her head and to the right of her, curled up in a chair was Ashley, lightly snoring away. Spencer smirked a little as she whispered, "Ashley…hey Ashley, wake up." The brunette slowly started to stir awake, but got up quickly when she saw that Spencer had woken up. "Oh my god, I thought I lost you Spence," Ashley cried out as she stared sadly into the other's eyes, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." "Shh," Spencer cooed, "it's ok now, it wasn't your fault, I'm ok, and soon enough I'll be out of here and Aiden will be long gone."

Spencer tried to smile at Ashley as she tried to decipher what was going on in her eyes; all Ashley could do was shake her head, "no Spence, it's not going to be that easy."

"What do you mean? I'll be fine in no time."

"No, Troy did a lot to you that night."

"That night? But the nurse said 'good evening' to me when I woke up," Spencer replied still confused.

"After they admitted you and put casts on, the doctor wanted you to rest with no stress, so you've been out for the last two days."

"What did he do exactly?" Spencer asked slowly, afraid to know what exactly was wrong.
"He hurt you bad babe, I am so sorry, he-" Ashley was cut short as they heard a knock on the door.

"Hello Spencer, I'm Dr. Roberts. Hello Ms. Davies," he nodded at the two women. "Are the nurses treating you well?"

Spencer slowly nodded in reply, "what's wrong with me doctor?" She asked curtly.

The doctor pulled out his pen light and flashed it in both of her eyes before speaking again. "Well, you were beaten pretty badly. There was a lot of bruising, luckily no internal bleeding. The attacker broke two ribs, and your nose. But don't worry, besides a lot of time and some swelling, your cute little nose will be back to normal," the doctor replied in a soft, but happy voice.

Tears started forming in Spencer's eyes as she lifted her hand up to her face, feeling the foreign hard object in the middle of her face. "We want to keep you in for a little bit, but there should be no reason you can't go home in a couple of days, then you won't have to see my mug until you get that stomach cast off," Dr. Roberts explained as he stood up, "do you have any questions right now?" He continued after Spencer shook her head no, "well, if you need anything let me or Jackie know, I will see you before you are discharged on Wednesday. I leave you in very capable and determined hands from what I hear," he said smiling knowingly as he looked at Ashley. "You get plenty of rest Spencer, and be careful moving around, your ribs still need to heal."

"Thank you Doctor," Ashley said as they watched him walk out and close the door.

Spencer tried to sit up, but groaned loudly at the realization her whole body hurt and soon she gave up.
"Here, let me help you babe," Ashley quickly cut in and placed a pillow behind Spencer's head and raised the back of the hospital bed. The worried brunette pulled up her chair next to the bed, grabbed the other's hand gently, and planted a soft kiss on it.

"What did he mean by 'determined hands' Ash?"

"What? Oh, well because I'm not family or your spouse, they refused to let me stay with you. But I refused to leave, and my will is stronger than theirs I guess," she replied chuckling.

"So you've been with me this whole time?"

"Of course, you're my best friend and new girlfriend." Ashley said the last part quietly as her cheeks began to flush.

Spencer smiled at the woman that was sitting next to her, "Ashley Davies, are you asking me to be your girlfriend? We've only had one date you know."

"Well, you sacrificed that face of yours, it's the least I can do." The smile on the blonde's face faltered, "how bad is it?"

"Mostly just bruising, but all that is going to go away," she hesitantly replied.

"Give me a mirror, I want to see." Ashley got up and grabbed her purse, taking out her compact she gave it to Spencer.

Spencer took a deep breath as she slowly opened the mirror. A sharp intake of breath was heard as she moved the compact around to get a better angle. It was awful she thought, her nose was all bandaged up, her lips were black and purple with a big cut on the lower one, the left side of her mouth was swollen and she had matching black eyes.

Ashley watched as Spencer closed her eyes and the mirror. "You're beautiful Spence," she whispered as she gently wiped away the tears, "and I'm going to protect you from now on." Spencer's eyes fluttered open, but did not look at Ashley. "I want to take care of you, will you move in with me? ... I mean, at least until you are 100% again," she added nervously. Spencer contemplated for a moment, "you would do that for me?"

"In a heartbeat. I'm not your best friend for nothing." Both women fell into a comfortable silence, staring into each others' eyes.

"At least think about it Spence, Troy ducked out before the police got to your house, we haven't heard from him since." Spencer's blue eyes widened in fear at hearing her words.

"It's ok babe, I told you, I'll be your protector. You are safe with me." Spencer relaxed; she knew Ashley would look out for her. "Ok Spence, after the first night after we made sure you were stable, the doctor sent your family home, I'm gonna give them a call and tell them you're awake and ok," the brunette stated as she stood up. She lightly kissed her on the forehead, "I'll be right back." Spencer smiled as she watched her girlfriend walk out of the room.

The loud click of the door woke Spencer up, she must have dozed off while waiting for Ashley to come back. "Where have you been Ash?"

"It's not Ashley, it's me…Aiden." Spencer immediately felt her body tense up as she watched Aiden stop at the foot of her bed. His eyes looked sad, but dark.

"I'm sorry this had happened Spencer, I didn't know he was going to do that to you."

"Well there's nothing that can be done now," she muttered, diverting her eyes from his hurt puppy-dog ones.

"Spencer, I came by to-"
"We're over Aiden." This shut him up, Aiden looked down to the ground. "Yeah, I figured," he said sadly. Spencer felt the pang of guilt flood her body; but it was quickly covered by a wave of relief, or maybe that was the morphine drip?

"I just feel so much for Ashley, and-."

"Listen, I get it Spencer. I saw it coming; you don't have to rub my face in it," his voice escalating. Aiden was quickly in her face now, "Troy was right, you are just a whore." Spencer felt the same fear that she felt with Troy, and she quickly reached for the call button. "Don't worry, I'm not going to do anything, in fact you won't have to hear from me again, but I came here for a reason," he spat in her face. "You better not tell the police who did it, Troy already has a record and he will go to prison for a long time if he's convicted again."

Even though she was much weaker than Aiden at the moment, Spencer mustered up some courage and looked him squarely in the eye. "What's going to stop me." Aiden's eyes softened, but hardened again once he relayed his message, "he would make sure you are dead before he goes to jail."

As almost as if regretting what he said, Aiden spun around and quickly left without another word. Spencer fumed, how he dare say that. She knew Troy's capabilities though, fear immediately took over. She heard a slight knock and then the knob turning, in walked a smiling Ashley with a bottle of water. The words came out of Spencer's mouth without hesitation, "yes I will move in with you."

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

Concerned, Ashley quickly advanced to Spencer's side, "are you sure? Why the change of heart"? Spencer contemplated on what to say next, she knew she would be safe with Ashley, but she also knew that she would beat Aiden to a bloody pulp if she knew the truth. Spencer looked down at her blanket and picked at a piece of lint. "Aiden came by," she said this as nonchalantly as possible. Ashley's eyes darkened, her voice dripped with venom, "what did he say."

"He…I…I broke up with him. And…" her voice trailed off.

"What Spence?"

"And, I… I just don't want to be in that apartment with all the bad memories," She took a deep breath, hopefully that was enough, she did not want to worry Ashley just yet.

Ashley nodded in agreement, "I'll have Glen help me bring over some stuff for you, and I'll even let you bring the cat if you're a good girl." She was rewarded with a laugh in reply, "oh I'm always a good girl."

"Haha yeah right, far from babe."

Spencer tore her eyes away from Ashley's and let her gaze fall to her lips.

"Will you kiss me?"

The brunette stood up slowly and softly stroked her hair. Smiling, she leaned over and as gently as she could and planted a soft kiss. Underneath, Spencer winced slightly, but oh, the hurt was so worth it. She just wanted to get out of the hospital and spend all her days in bed with her girlfriend. She grinned at the thought, Ashley was her girlfriend now.

"So now that I'm not with Aiden anymore, you know what that means? I am totally yours Ashley Davies," Spencer could not wipe the grin off of her face.

Ashley's gaze saddened for a split second, but an equally cheesy, wide grin replaced it instead, "so exactly how long has it been since you realized you couldn't resist my charm and incredibly hot body?"

"Just shut up and kiss me you crazy woman."

That's all Ashley needed as she leaned in for the other's lips.

It was late. With a little manipulation of cords and tubes, the two women managed to lie semi-comfortably next to each other in the hospital bed; Ashley softly stroked her girlfriend's hair as she sang quietly. Exhausted, Spencer felt her eyelids get heavy, threatening to stay closed every time she blinked.

"A police officer is coming tomorrow, to get your testimony." Spencer's blue eyes shot open, her heart began to pound nervously.

"What? Tomorrow? No."

Ashley sat up with an agitated look on her face, "what do you mean 'no'?"

"I just mean…I'm not ready yet."
"What do you mean 'not ready'? Spence, you have to tell the police about Troy. There's not going to be a better time than tomorrow." Ashley had already shooed the police away earlier, giving Spencer more time to rest.

"Just…forget about it."

Ashley laid back down, "all you have to do is tell them what happened from what you can remember and then it's done. Don't worry about it babe."

But Spencer was worried about it; she stayed up all night thinking about Aiden's threat, long after Ashley fell asleep. Sleep did finally consume her body, as she closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of the monitors and Ashley's light snoring.

"This is so great babe, we'll finally be living together!" Ashley exclaimed excitedly as she carried in a big cardboard box. Spencer watched her from the couch in Ashley's house, as she pulled things out of an equally large box at her side.

"Oh Ash! Come and look at this," the blonde exclaimed as she pulled out a picture of them when they were kids.

"Wasn't that taken at the fair?"

"Yeah….oh! Check this out." Spencer put down the photo and picked up a small stuffed bear, "you won this for me that day the picture was taken."

Ashley looked and started to laugh, "oh yeah, after your dad unsuccessfully tried to get it for you. The worst waste of $40. I'm pretty sure the guy could have just given it to him." The two women laughed as they reminisced.

Spencer pulled out another picture as Ashley looked behind her shoulder. This one was taken the week after the fair, the first day of high school for Spencer. "Look at how dorky we look!" Ashley stated as she started to crack up. Spencer looked up at her and then looked back at the picture. She gasped in horror. Where a smiling, younger version of herself was, a different Spencer replaced: A Spencer with bruised eyes and a swollen face. Spencer whipped up her head at Ashley, she needed to know if Ashley saw the change too. But before she could ask, the front door opened.

"Hey hey! We're here for the housewarming party," Aiden exclaimed as he came sauntering in with Troy behind him.

"You decided to show up! Great, come here and give me a hug. I'm glad you could make it," Troy yelled loudly with a grin.

"This is my house Troy, what are you doing here?" Ashley shouted back laughing, excitedly walking up to give them both a hug.

Spencer was paralyzed with fear at the event unfolding in front of her, what were they doing here?

"Spence-y! Come here." Troy walked over and picked up Spencer in his arms. Her whole body tightened up. Troy put her down on the ground and leaned into her ear, "it's not a threat. I will find you and kill you and your girlfriend."

Spencer shot up, yelping in pain in the process. Her body was cold and sweaty, her breathing labored.

"Spence? Babe, what's wrong?" Ashley quickly sat up and looked at her girlfriend with concern.

"He was in my dreams. He threatened…."
"Who? Who was in your dreams?"
"Troy."