Disclaimer: I don't own them, any of them, they're not mine :(
Chapter 27:
"Jo?"
"Yeah?"
"He didn't…when he had you…he didn't…he wouldn't…please Jo, tell me he didn't." Sam avoided asking the question she so desperately needed answering. Thinking he was probably capable of it after what he did to her.
Jo gulped, not wanting to answer the question thrown at her. "Didn't what Sam?" Knowing perfectly well what she was asking.
"He didn't…hurt you…sexually." Sam brought herself to say the words, dreading the answer.
Jo turned away from Sam, not being able to look her in the eyes.
"Jo?" Sam's voice was full of fear, the brunette having virtually answered the question by not replying; though the blonde needed to hear the words for herself, no matter how much she feared them.
Jo reluctantly turned back to face her. She had tears streaming down her face, letting her guard slip; she bit her lip and nodded.
Sam let out a gasp, not truly prepared to know the answer. She ran the small distance between the two women in the hospital cubicle, Jo not entirely sure how she had managed to find enough space to run. Engulfing Jo in a hug, Sam found her own eyes flooding with tears, letting out a few sobs, feeling the brunette's pain.
Jo broke away from her lover after a few minutes. "Sam?"
"Mmm?"
"You know I can't report it, don't you?"
"What? Jo you have too? He…he…r…ra…"
"Raped me." Jo finished for her. "Yes, I know, but, it's just something that, something that I can't tell anyone but you. Sam, please, you have to understand. I can't do it."
"Jo, give yourself time to think about it. Bag up your clothes, and anything like that, and think about it. Just give yourself some time to think about what you would be doing if you didn't punish him for it."
"Sam, I've had three days to think about it, three days to think about nothing else than you and what he did to me. To think about if it would change our relationship. I can't go through with telling someone else. Sam you're the only person I can tell, please understand that."
"Jo, this won't change our relationship, I wouldn't let it."
"How can you say that? How can you bear to touch me, after someone has done something like that to me? How can you ever think of me in the same way? How can you not think that you're not gonna keep asking me if I'm okay, if it's what I want, because of what he did to me?"
"Because I love you Jo. I've just got you back, I'm not gonna leave you. Never. When you were gone, I didn't think I could cope without you. I didn't want to cope without you. I didn't want to live without you. Don't ever think that I would give up on you, not after I felt like that."
"Sam…you didn't…you didn't try and…try and kill yourself did you?"
"No…no but, I talked about it. I knew I wouldn't be able to live without you."
"Who did you tell, Abi? Oh, God, Abi. Tell me you wouldn't have…killed yourself, when you have Abi and Jack to look after."
"No, no I didn't tell Abi, I, I told Phil. He was good to me, looked after me." Sam replied, deliberately avoiding the last question.
Jo felt jealous of this statement, beginning to think that maybe the man took advantage of Sam when she was feeling low. "Sam, you and Phil, you didn't, did you?"
"No. No way. He was good to me, that's all. He promised he'd bring you back to me, promised he'd find you. He knows how much you mean to me. He want's me to be happy, and he knows I'm happy with you."
Jo nodded, reassured by this confession. "You never answered me before."
"That's because, I can't tell you what you want to hear, what you need to hear. I'm sorry."
"Sam! They need you to look after them. They need you, you can't do something like that."
"Well I won't now, will I? I've got you back."
"Sam, that's not the point."
"Leave it Jo. I'm not bugging you about reporting the rape, I'm leaving you to make your own decision, you have to do the same for me."
"I'm trying Sam, but it's hard, you can't just drop something like that on me and not expect me to be worried about you."
"I know I can't, but I need you to leave me. It's my own issue, I need to get over it myself."
"You don't have to deal with things on your own anymore, you've got me."
"And you've got me, I hope you know that Jo. What ever you decide about the…the thing…"
"Sam! You know I'm not reporting it."
"Just hear me out. What ever you decide to do, you have my full support. If you do decide to report it, which I know you probably won't, but if you do, I will be there for you, every step of the way. I will do whatever I can, whatever you want. If you want me to investigate it, and interview you, then I will. If you want me to stay away from the case, and have nothing to do with it, then I will. Whatever you want. But it's got to be your own decision, I know that. If I pressure you into doing something you don't want to, you'll never be able to forgive me. I promise I won't do that. But I will support you with whatever you decide, whatever you chose to do, I will be with you every step of the way, however you want me to support you, okay?"
"Okay." Jo nodded, reassured by Sam's support and understanding. "Sam, what made you think he raped me?"
"What? You always have to ask that, don't you?"
"No Sam, there's something more to it than that, something you're trying to hide from me, I can see it in your eyes, what is it?"
"He…he tried to rape me."
"What? When?"
"The night before last. I want to his house."
"Oh my God." The brunette gasped, clasping her hand over her mouth, 'I was there, in the house, upstairs."
Sam's eyes fell to the floor, feeling sick that she'd been in the same place as Jo and not found her. "Jo? Where were you? Before you where at Stuart's house. We searched it, he was a suspect at one point, only for s few hours, but I ordered a search of his house, I was there. I found the box to the ring you gave me. Where were you?"
"I was at a lock up, for the first five days. I dunno where. And then, on the fifth day, in the evening, when he came back to the lock up, he was angry. He took me back to his house and he…that's when he…raped me. He kept me at his house after that."
"Oh God. He must have come to you straight after being released from custody. I knew I should have put surveillance on him. I knew it."
"It's not your fault Sam."
"Yes it is. I could have stopped him, before he got to you. Before he raped you."
Phil bustled into the cubicle, breaking the conversation between the two women, not seeming to realise what he had interrupted.