Author's Note: Please, don't forget about my warning...

Chapter 2

Jo Danville was aching all over. However, aching didn't cover the half of it. She could raise her head only barely, nausea overtaking her each time she tried. She hurt, like needles pricked into every inch of her skin. Please, forget the one bullet… she begged to herself. She had lost count of how many times over the years she had had to classify a case as an accidental death, victim having shot him or herself after forgetting about the bullet remaining lodged in the gun's chamber. She hoped John Curtis wasn't thoughtful enough to remember it either. Jo's mind was racing as she thought of the possibilities on how to reach her gun and be back in control of the situation she was in at that point. She had made a capital mistake, not checking if everything was clear at once, and now she would pay dearly for it, she just knew. The feeling only intensified immensely as the rapist's eyes met with hers, and she watched the sickening smile grow on John's face. He wouldn't kill her quite yet, she knew. She knew he wouldn't shoot her when he pointed her gun at her and teased the trigger with his finger tip. Still, she felt her heart race even faster. He knew about the bullet in the gun's chamber. In just a second, he pointed the gun a couple of inches higher and fired the last bullet into the floor right above her shoulder. Jo's hope disappeared. She couldn't fight him like this, and now her gun was no longer an option either.

"You came too close, Jo, and you'll suffer for it just like the others, but I'll make sure to treat you very special just like you've always seemed to carry a special vengeance against me, too."

She knew what he had in mind right then, and a feeling of dread settled uncomfortably in Jo's stomach. She knew he was the type of criminal who was smarter than most people and enjoyed using every bit of his knowledge to torture others and force them into his own sick game, for only his delight. She hurt so much. She groaned when she felt John grab her forearm roughly and begin to drag her further into Amanda's bedroom. She offered very little resistance indeed. She couldn't fight him, no matter how much she wanted to do so. She didn't exactly have the strength after her collision with the mirror goodness knew how much earlier.

If only she had let Flack come with, as he had suggested… However, she had thought it wouldn't be necessary, that it wouldn't take long. She hadn't thought of possible danger, of John Curtis intercepting them. She felt like she had failed. She was supposed to consider all possibilities of danger as a first degree police detective. So now he would have his merry way with her for having come too close, and he would make sure she suffered a fate worse than any of the girls she had sought a way to justice for. Her arm hurt so badly. If she could just reach her radio, find the red button to alert the others that she needed help…

She felt her thumb graze something and pressed as hard as possible, but then she felt how the device was ripped from underneath her, just before she felt her body being lifted as he threw her onto the bed.

"Mayday?" John sniggered. "No, no. Jo, I haven't even gotten started on you, and we don't need anyone to interrupt us, at least up until I've had my time to toy with you."

She heard the sound of the gun being laid down on the night table. She slowly tried to turn her head but as she did she felt a fist collide with her cheekbone so hard she thought it might even be broken or at least fractured. Tears filled Jo's eyes as she felt her hands being tied behind her, Curtis seeming to not want to give up on the MO he had used with every other woman he had ever victimized. She knew she would be beaten and raped like them, too, and all that then ran through her head was that she very much hoped it wouldn't kill her child, Mac's child, that was slowly developing, inside her. He would be all but gentle, she knew. It wasn't in his nature to be gentle at this point.

As he neared her, she tried to kick him where it would hurt the most, but Curtis was faster and had seemingly… anticipated Jo's reaction. She wasn't the kind of person who would ever go down without fighting, no matter what battle she had to fight, even though the opponent was a whole lot stronger. He shoved her down on the bed hard when Jo tried to kick once more, his knee landing forcefully in her lower abdomen. Tears filled Jo's eyes as the air left her lungs from the force behind it. Even if she lived through this ordeal, she expected her child would not, regardless of whether Curtis even knew of its existence or not. That was the last she wanted: for him to know. She knew he would only make it worse, even if in that moment it took all that she had not to plead for her child's life, to give him what he undoubtedly wanted… which was for Jo Danville to break down entirely.

She closed her teary, hazel eyes tight when she felt him begin to undress her. She felt her insides lurch as she felt Curtis' hands on her bare skin where she had only ever allowed a lover to touch her. She turned her head aside to spit blood from her mouth, followed by the bile that had risen in her throat. "Stop…" she whimpered, feeling him getting too close.

"Oh no, Jo, the fun's only just getting started…" he replied, laughing as he reveled in the gasp of pain she gave when she felt the cold metal of her own gun there.

Jo Danville didn't know how long she had endured the pain before she began to beg quietly for him to just kill her, to just let it be over. She didn't remember ever in her life having hurt like that –– not even in childbirth with Tyler. She felt her own blood on her thighs, felt the cold metal scraping inside. The rest of her body just felt numb, as if she was somehow detached from it. Jo Danville was bordering on the edge of consciousness, her surroundings bathed first in color then darkness… She was only barely aware of the slight disturbance in the hallway right before she heard the door being kicked from its hinges, followed by an accurate shot, her attacker slowly falling to the side with his eyes wide-open as if he were surprised this was the end. Mac had come to save her, at last.

Mac's face was the first she saw when she tried to focus on what was going on, which seemed hard to do. Even if the pain between her legs was worse than anywhere, it now began spreading throughout her body. Through a gaze of tears, she saw Mac hold up his hand to keep everyone at a safe distance from her, before he holstered his gun and shrugged off his jacket to cover her battered body with it. Mac's face looked grave. "We received your mayday…" he whispered, leaning over Jo's body to unbind her wrists, carefully rolling her to the side to do so. When she winced audibly, he apologized in a whisper. As she felt her wrists being at last released, smelling Mac's strong cologne in her nostrils, she couldn't help but just burst into tears as she was forced to accept that, even though she truly hadn't dared to hope any longer, he had, indeed, come to rescue her. She was saved at last, although she doubted he had come in time for their child to be saved, too.

She fell against him, crying harder than before as the thought hit her hard. She tugged at Mac's clothes weakly. "Our baby…" she stuttered. She felt the need to tell him, to share her pain with someone then, with him. Part of her admission was her apology, too. If she hadn't gone, had accepted Flack's offer…

He didn't ask questions, even if she doubted he truly understood. He just held her, refused to stray from her side for even a second, even at the hospital when they examined her and then rushed her to the OR, until Mac was forced to halt there at the doors. He was there when Jo awoke, when they informed her she would be fine, physically, despite the internal hemorrhage she had suffered. He was with her when she was told that she had been with child for four weeks but that it hadn't survived, hadn't lived. Even then, Mac Taylor was there, right where she needed him to be.