A/N: I apologize for the short chapter and the long authors note, but I wanted to get some of the back story out of the way, and explain some of why I was gone for so long at the bottom of the note. But I put the majority of it at the bottom so that for those of you who don't care don't have to read it. :D I promise a longer chapter soon, and some Jackson in it. I know we are all waiting for him to show up, but he is being stubborn for me. Ugh.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. It is just some back story before I get to the good stuff.

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Lisa sat in her bed, breathing heavily, trying to calm her nerves. She placed a hand over her eyes, squeezing her head ever so slightly. It had been two years since that dreadful day and she still had nightmares periodically. Some, she was being tortured, others she was kissing him in that damn bathroom, and still others she was forced to watch as he was tortured before her eyes. The nightmares varied depending on her stress level.

Lisa shook her head and reached for the phone. "Hello?"

"Lisa! Thank god!" Cynthia's panicked voice came over the phone. "I know you are not supposed to come in for another couple of hours but I need some help! The computer system has gone totally whacko on me, and some of the costumers are going ape shit!"

Lisa let a small smile curve along her lips. She loved Cynthia, but in a time of panic she always freaked out and looked to Lisa. It could drive her crazy sometimes. "It will be alright, Cynth. Give me about an hour and I can get there, okay?"

"Please hurry, Leese. It is reaching train wreck levels!"

Lisa laughed softly as she hung up the phone, shaking her head slightly. Her smile quickly faded, however, as her thoughts turned back to the nightmare. That had been one of the more vivid ones she had had. Her entire body shuddered, remembering the sick pleasure in Jackson's eyes as he cut into her.

She sighed heavily and flopped backwards, her head bouncing slightly off of the pillow. It had been two years since that flight, a year and a half since the trial had finished, and a year since Jackson had somehow escaped the prison.

A whole year of fretting, worrying. Her nightmares seemed to correspond to her stress levels. The more stressed she was, the more vivid and nightmarish her dreams. Her father wanted her to see a shrink for them, but she refused. If she could deal with the rape, the plane ride, and the aftermath of Jackson's trial, then by god she could handle some stupid nightmares!

Her mind took her back to the trial fiasco. Those bastards had tried to pin everything on her. Lisa was surprised at her reaction to it all. Instead of her clamming up as the Lisa pre-plane flight, she had fought them every step of the way, just as she had fought Jackson in their last encounter.

The lawyers had dragged in witnesses from the plane, going so far as to use the "bathroom sex" as evidence she had made this all up. Lisa shook her head at the memory. Her face had been bright red at the mere mention of her actually … Lisa shivered slightly, and then frowned darkly. She had to admit, though she hated Jackson, she had been attracted to him in a strange sort of way.

She got up from the bed and made her way to the bathroom, intending to take a shower though her mind still dwelled upon the trial. It was a six month ordeal. She still could not believe how long it took. The investigation took near a month, in which Lisa actually spent a couple of days in jail while they looked into her 'involvement' in the whole thing. If it had not been for Charles Keefe raising hell, she probably would have been shipped off to prison.

Having to testify in the trial had been the worst. Jackson had stared at her the entire time, though Lisa rarely looked at him, she could feel his gaze. She wondered what he was thinking then. To have not only messed up a job because of her, to have been stabbed in the throat, in the thigh, and shot twice, and now to have to suffer through a trial – she was curious to know just how much he hated her.

The one moment Lisa stared directly into Jackson's eyes was while she was speaking on their fight in the house. She could not remember what exactly she said on the stand, all she remembered was Jackson's small smirk he wore while she spoke. She almost thought she saw a flicker of pride flash through his eyes, but she had to have imagined that.

The defense lawyer finally asked her how it felt to shoot an unarmed man, switching Lisa's attention back to him. Immediately, she frowned. "He was not unarmed. He was holding a knife and coming at me."

The defense lawyer had smile a small smile like she was a stupid child, "Now why would he have picked up a knife, if not to defend himself against the women who stabbed him in the throat?"

Lisa had glared at the man, what a stupid question. "And what would you have asked of him for coming to MY home, intent on killing me? I do believe I have every right to defend myself if someone should break into my home." The lawyer had tried to interrupt her, but she just talked over him. "I also believe that I had a right to defend myself after being threatened, terrorized, and having my father's life threatened on a plane!" Lisa had realized she was shouting and standing, and quickly shut up and sat back down, though not before she had been reprimanded by the judge.

She had heard light clapping and turned startled eyes toward Jackson, but refused to meet his gaze. She turned her attention back to the back of the courtroom and waited. The lawyer had stated he was done with questioning, and moved away.

The trial after that had been a blur. In the end, Jackson was found guilty of breaking and entering, attempted murder, kidnapping, and some other charges she could not remember. But that did not matter. The terrorist charge did not stick, and after that Lisa decided the court system really was broken. Somehow or another they had pinned the terrorist attack on someone else and actually made Jackson out to be a victim as well. All Lisa knew was he was going to spend some time behind bars, not much.

Lisa had moved on, and actually kept her job at the hotel. She varied her schedule and went out occasionally with Cynthia, but for the most part she still kept a lot of her loner ways. Old habits died hard, as they say. But Lisa was comfortable with her life and she refused to totally change her routine again, as she had after the rape. Though she was a bit lonely at times, she liked her alone time, she liked having that personal time where it was just her, some dinner, and even her scrambled eggs at 3am. Eventually she planned on actually dating, but for now, she was comfortable with her life again. She refused to shake it up.

Lisa shook herself out of her musings, took her shower, got dressed and went to the hotel to help Cynth with the "train wreck" level disaster, a small smile curving along her lips as she left. Which turned out to be nothing but a network issue, but Cynthia had forgotten about the backup files on the computer in her office that Lisa kept in case of something like this. So it was quite easy to fix. Although there were quite a few of irate costumers, but they were easily handled.

"Thank goodness, Lisa. I swear, I hate these people sometimes," Cynthia muttered to her as they moved back toward Lisa's office from the front desk.

Lisa laughed. "That is okay, I think they hate you right back." Cynthia gave her that wide-eyed 'what?' look she did whenever Lisa joked with her like that, which only made Lisa laugh harder.

"Yeah, I am sure they do," Cynthia muttered, although she quickly brightened up. "So are you going to come with Brad and I out for dinner and some drinks?"

Lisa nodded her head. "Of course, you guys are one of the only couples that don't make me feel like a third wheel."

"Goody. I cannot wait to get you dancing with a random stranger."

Lisa grinned as she walked into her office. Her life was just fine, and nothing was going to get in her way, and she refused to let anyone shake it up again.

Unfortunately for her, someone else had other ideas for her life.

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A/N: Bum bum bum … I can't help that. I think it is required of every author to end some chapter that way.

Okay, so I am back! Wooo! I apologize for my VERY long hiatus. I had promised myself I would not be one of those sporadic authors, but life smacked me upside the head. College, family and friend problems, and then moving out of school back home. The worst thing happened to that delayed me, I lost all my handwritten notes and overall plot line I had worked out on my move out and have not been able to find it. After that, I got really disappointed and did not really want to continue because I had fallen in love with the other plot and was looking forward to fleshing it out.

But I decided that I really did want to finish this story, so here I go! I really am going to try to actually update once a week. I have a vague idea where it is going and remember some of the more specific scenes I want to do. This is my first chapter fic though, so this should be interesting.

I REALLY appreciate all the reviews, you guys made me SO happy. THANK YOU!! I am actually more or less doing this for you guys. :D I hope you enjoy !