Chapter Four
Oscar arrived, with Rudy in tow, a good five minutes before the fleet of penguin-suited G-men. (He hadn't recruited the very best OSI driver to get there last, after all.) They found Jaime sitting on the porch in a semi-fetal position with her knees drawn up to her chest. She looked up when she heard them approach, and her face was pale and tear-stained. Silently, she removed the bandage from her right index finger and held it out for inspection.
"Are you ok, Honey?" Rudy asked, kneeling down beside his shell-shocked patient. "What did Lisa do to you?"
"They're...inside," Jaime answered in a quiet, dull monotone. Oscar opened the door and went in, leaving Rudy with Jaime.
"I...I'm ok," she reassured her doctor.
"You don't look alright," Rudy told her. "What happened in there?" Jaime only shook her head; she wasn't ready to talk about it. "Jaime, you know they'll need a complete report," he reminded her gently.
"Oh, God..."
Rudy took her hand, moving seamlessly from doctor to friend. "What is it, Honey?"
"Steve...and – and Lisa..." Jaime made no effort to brush away the tears this time. "She...they were..."
From the stricken look on her face, a horrific possibility began to take shape, and Rudy tried to push it out of his mind, but something had rocked this very strong woman to her core. It was too awful, too cruel to even think about, and yet -
"She," Jaime nearly choked on the words, "she...seduced him, Rudy," Jaime whispered, her head falling to his shoulder for support as she completely dissolved. "I saw them."
"I'm so sorry," he told her. "I'm sure Steve didn't know -"
"He didn't," Jaime sobbed. "He felt as awful as I did when he saw me." She stopped talking and watched numbly as a crowd of NSB and OSI suits went into the house. She didn't intend to spill her soul to them.
Rudy, too, waited until they were alone. "Jaime, Honey, Steve loves you so much; I know he would never -"
"He thought Lisa was me," Jaime confirmed. "I could see it all over his face." She looked up, staring wistfully toward the house. "I hope he's ok."
"You know, since you do seem to be fine physically, I know there's someone who could make you feel better a lot more quickly than I could."
Jaime nodded. "If he'll even talk to me."
Rudy patted her shoulder as he stood up. "I'll go get him."
"Rudy? Please tell him...it wasn't his fault."
- - - - - -
Before Oscar got there, Lisa had remained sprawled out on the rug, taunting Steve with her nakedness. Finally, he picked up her clothes and threw them at her, aiming for her face to partially take care of his urge to deck her. "You know," he seethed, "you can sit there like that if you want – I really don't give a damn – but they'll be here any minute to haul you back to prison. If that's the way you wanna greet them, I'm not stopping you from humiliating yourself, but I would suggest you put your clothes on." He turned to look at Jaime again as Oscar and Rudy pulled up. "You make me sick," he told Lisa, his back to her as he waited for his boss. She wasn't going anywhere now.
Oscar came in the door just as Lisa slipped the halter top back over her head. That sight and the sick, disgusted look on Steve's face gave Oscar a hard knot of tension in the pit of his stomach. He'd been an Intelligence man long enough to deduce what had happened and his heart went out to Steve...and to Jaime. "Don't move a single muscle," he told Lisa, "or I won't even hesitate to shoot you." Oscar moved to Steve's side; Steve was unable to meet his inquiring gaze, confirming what he already knew.
"Is Jaime...ok?" Steve asked, very softly.
"Rudy's looking after her. What about you, Pal?"
"I'll be better once she's outta here."
Oscar nodded. "They'll be here any minute now." He could see that Steve was shaking with the extreme effort it took to keep his emotions in check. "This is the last light of day she'll be seeing for a very long time."
"Not long enough," Steve growled. He looked up as the room flooded with G-men who immediately surrounded Lisa, cuffing her and taking her into their custody. "Take her out the back," Steve requested. "Jaime doesn't need to look at her again." Only after Lisa had been led away did Steve allow a single, angry tear to escape from his eye. "She'll probably never talk to me again," he moaned, watching from the window as Rudy comforted Jaime and then rose to join them. "How is she, Rudy?" he asked, afraid to know but more afraid not to.
Rudy placed a fatherly arm around Steve's shoulders. "You need to talk to her, Steve."
"I don't think -"
"She's asked to see you."
Steve closed his eyes for a moment, breathing deeply to find his courage. His heart pounding harder than it ever had before, he opened the front door and stepped out onto the porch.
- - - - - -