A/N: Sorry this has been so long in coming, and sorry it's so short. But really, Zack hasn't been giving much in the way of inspiration lately. Hope some of you are still with me.Please read and review!

They had finally given up on getting Zack back to his room, so a compromise was met: They would move them both to a non-private room so they could stay together, as long as Zack stayed in the bed at least half the day. Fortunately for all, he was up in the chair beside her when she let out a cry, and struggled to sit up. "Zack!" she cried.

He tried to grab her hand, but she fought him. "Casey, it's me! Calm down! You're safe!"

"Never safe," she muttered, still unable to open her eyes. "Never be safe. You have to go, she's coming, she'll get you too!"

Zack was frightened by the level of disorientation she was showing, and hit the call button. "I need a nurse, quick!"

He caught her wrists to keep her from flailing, but on a good day she was at least as strong as him, this was not a good day, and she had terror on her side. By the time the nurses got in the room, it was taking all he had to keep her from ripping out her IVs, stitches, an anything else she could get a hold of. Two nurses grabbed her arms to relieve him, and one pulled out a syringe. "Wait!" Zack exclaimed. "What is that?"

"Just a sedative," she replied dismissively, but before she could insert the needle into the medication port, Zack stopped her.

"No!" he exclaimed. "Just hold her a second, I can calm her down!"

The nurse looked irritated, but he stared back at her pitifully. "We've waited three weeks for her to wake up. Please don't knock her back out!" Without waiting for an answer, he moved back to the head of her bed. Putting a hand to her cheek, he got her to focus her attention on him. Her struggles didn't cease, but she calmed slightly. "It's okay, Casey. You're okay, I'm okay. You mom can't hurt either of us again."

She stopped fighting in degrees, and finally the nurse allowed Zack to take her now limp hand in his. "It's okay," he repeated.

She searched his eyes, as if assuring herself that he was real. "She's dead, isn't she?"

Zack looked away for a second, then met her eyes again. He nodded.

"You're okay?" He nodded again. "The others?"

Zack could no longer meet her eyes, and felt like a real coward for it. "How much do you remember?"

"They had us. Then Booth, and Wilson showed up. How did Wilson come into this? Is he still looking out for me? Is he still here? I haven't talked to him in years." His silence said it all. "He's dead, isn't he?"

"Yeah," said Zack, forcing himself to let her eyes lock on his. "He is. If it helps, he didn't suffer."

"Yeah, he did," Casey replied, staring off to the ceiling. "He tortured himself for years over letting her get away the first time." Then something occurred to her. "What about Booth? Is he dead too?"

"No!" Zack answered quickly. "He's fine. He's probably here somewhere. He's been here most of the time, worried about you. We all have been. Worried, I mean."

"My mother- Melissa's dead, isn't she?"

Suddenly, he wished she would look at him again, so he would know what that question meant. Was it a victim looking for relief from her tormentor? An abused child worried about the future? Or an orphaned child grieving? "Yeah."

"How?"

He put his hand against his forehead as if to physically ward off the question. How could he answer that? And what was the right answer? Would it be worse to know? Finally, he had to go with what he thought was the more merciful option. "Booth shot her."

Casey finally met his eyes again. "How long ago?"

That one he could answer. "It's been three weeks."

She gripped his hand tightly. "I'm sorry."

He had waited long enough for this. Ignoring her insane apology, he reached over to her, and pulled the fragile, broken woman to him. She clung to him tightly, as if he was the last sane, stable thing in her world. And, he guessed at the moment, he was.

He held her for several moments, then had to straighten when she winced from pain in her side. "Did I hurt you?" he asked anxiously.

"No," she said. "A sociopath hurt me. That was just a reminder."

He laughed, in spite of the situation. Then he had one more serious thing to add. "Look, they buried your mother two weeks ago, but if you want, I can take you there and-"

"No," she cut him off flatly. "I don't want to go there. I don't even want to know where 'there' is. Melissa is dead. I'm no more an ophan now than I was a month ago. Only now, I'm an orphan who isn't on the run from a serial killer. And why does my chart say Martina Dalton on it?"

Zack was taken aback by the venom in her voice. "It's your name, isn't it?"

She shook her head violently. "My name is Casey McKnight. Martina Dalton ahs been dead for six years."