Crimes and Punishments

Tara's POV

I'm sitting in a little room at the police station; my parents are here. I am so screwed. Dad's a lawyer, so he should be able to get me outta this. Mom's in tears, I've never had so much as a detention at school. This room's just like you see on TV, dull paint and that huge two-way mirror. I need to calm down; I'm rambling inside my own head. The DA walks in and pulls out a legal pad and a small laptop.

"How are you doing this evening?" He seems pleasant enough. "Can I get you anything?"

"Some coffee, please." Dad answers. "There has to be some misunderstanding here. Tara's a good girl." Good girls wouldn't dream of some of the stuff me and Shane have done. What they don't know can't hurt me.

"Well, I think you're right, but this video tells another story." He plays a video clip, it's high quality and in color. He pauses it on one frame. "You can see the victim, Carly Shay, The attackers, and here is Tara." He points us out.

Mom wails some more, "How could you? We raised you better!"

"Ma'am, I think she just got in with the wrong crowd. But the law doesn't see it like that. In Washington, if you're involved in anyway with a crime you get charged like everyone else. You're facing attempted murder, aggravated sexual assault, gross sexual penetration, petty theft and a few other minor charges. Even with a lenient judge, you're facing 20 years before you're eligible for parole. 20 years."

"I assume you have a deal, or we wouldn't be here."

"She tells us everything that went down; who planned it, who did what, everything. She does 6 months in a juvenile center, 3 years probation and if she stays outta trouble, I'll recommend that her record be sealed. I'll even work out a thing with the school so she can do her regular work. You have a scholarship to Stanford, right?" I nod. He pushed the tablet across the table. "Deal?"

I just wanna ask, "What if I say no?"

"I show the jury this and you get at least 20 years, maybe life. Last I heard, Carly's in a coma. If she dies, it's First degree murder, mandatory life without parole. You're only 17, but I can and will charge you as an adult." He stands up and walks towards the door. "I'm gonna go get that coffee, you have until I get back to decide."

"You WILL take that deal." My father hisses at me. "I expected better from you."

"Like you two care. You're never home, never there to talk to when I need someone." I break down. "I only went with them cause they're my friends. They actually care about me!"

"And where are they now?" Dad asks, looking around the room. "They're either trying for a deal of their own or running. You screwed up really bad, this is the best you're gonna get so take it."

I take the pad and start writing.

"I didn't know how you wanted your coffee so I brought some packets." He sets the cups on the table. I look up, and he slides a red can of Peppie cola to me. "I see you took the deal."

"It'll be just like you said? Six months and I still get my school work so I can graduate?"

"As stated, you just have to tell me everything and testify at trial. Do not leave anything out; I don't care if you stopped for a happy meal afterwards put it in there. Everything someone said, did, everything."

I spend the next three hours writing; the whole time I wonder how Carly's doing and how I got into this mess.

Freddie's POV

The sunlight tells me it's morning. I open my eyes; yesterday seems like a bad dream. I take a deep breath and try to stretch, but something has my left arm. I pull the blanket back and see a set of handcuffs locking me in. I push the call button on the remote and wait.

"Can I help you?" The nurse asks, her ID says her name is Haley.

I nod, "Yeah, can you find the person who cuffed me to this bed?" She left for a minute then returned with the doctor and my aunt.

"How you feeling?" She asks, unlocking me.

I shrug, "Fine, no headaches, no vision problems. Just some sore ribs." The doctor does some bedside tests, just to be sure. After he leaves I look at Aunt Olivia, "What's up with the cuffs?"

"You don't remember stealing my gun and going after Missy?"

I swallow hard, "That was real? I thought that was a nightmare. I gotta go see Carly" I whip the blankets back and head for the door.

"Fredward!" She shouts, "Could you put some pants on or something?" I can't tell if she's gonna laugh or cry. I grab the robe off the chair and wrap up.

I step into the hallway, and realize something. "Which room is she in?"

"Follow me." We head up the hall, turn left and go down about five doors; there are two serious looking police outside the door. She flashes her badge and we're allowed to enter.

"What happened?" I almost didn't recognize Carly. Her face is a mess, bruises and cuts all over. I can see a cast on her one arm and a finger is splinted.

"Missy and her gang jumped me when I went to get your car." Carly elevates the head of her bed. When she says this, my legs threaten to give out; I can feel the tears on my cheeks.

"I'm sorry. This is my fault, if I hadn't asked you to get my car, you'd be at home watching 'Girlie Cow.'" Spencer came out of the bathroom and looks at me. I hang my head, expecting to be yelled at. It's my fault she's here; I brace for the worst.

He walks over and hugs me, "How you doing?"

I look up, confused. He's supposed to rip my head off for putting her in that situation. I finally find my voice, "You're not mad at me?" I sound like a little kid.

"You didn't beat her up, you couldn't have known that they were waiting for her. The police caught everyone that was involved. I'm beyond mad at them, but not you." He and I take some chairs and slide up on either side of Carly. "So, you hungry?"

"Starving, I haven't had anything since breakfast yesterday." The one staff brings two trays. I inhale my meal, while Carly eats slowly. I turn to my aunt, "What happened last night? It's really fuzzy; I remember…" I try to recall anything. "I can't remember much past seeing Carly in here, then Sam punched me."

"That was me." Melanie corrects me. "Sorry about that, but you wouldn't get off the "Kill Missy" train. I didn't hurt you did I?"

"After the beating at school, you could of knocked me out with a pillow." A nurse walks in and checks on Carly. I think about mom. "Where's mom at, aunt Liv?"

"She stopped by in the afternoon then went to work. She knew you were okay, so she tried to take her mind off this."

"I figured that she'd of moved him to the ICU and had him on life-support and all that." Carly joked. Mom did tend to over react.

"I thought I might find you here." The doctor said as he spotted me. "I want to do one more MRI just to confirm everything, but you should be released today."

"That's good news, Freddie." Carly tries to smile.

"What's wrong?"

A tear slides down her face. "Can I talk to Freddie alone for a minute?" The others leave, the doctor telling me he's going to prepare the MRI machine for me. Spencer closes the door as they leave. "I wish you hadn't have come here. You have to see me like this." I hand her a tissue. She tries to control her emotions, but they betray her. "I'm dirty and damaged. He touched me and even when I was screaming for him to stop, he just laughed."

I reach out for her hand, but she pulls back. She's not ready for anyone to touch her. I finally think of something to say, "Carly?" She looks up, tears streaking her face. "It's not your fault that he did this. You are the victim here. You need to heal; I'll be here for you; whenever you need me." She cracks a smile, that same smile I saw at the psychologist's office. Still melts my heart.

She wipes her eyes and takes some deep breaths. "When I was brought in last night, I saw Sam. I was able to touch her." Carly stops, like she doesn't know what to say next. "She said that she needed to tell me something. Freddie, she loved me."

"Of course she did, you two were best friends."

"I said the same thing. She meant that she was in love with me." She looks really scared, like I'll leave her. "We, sorta kissed. I, I don't understand it, but I loved her too."

I sit down; this is really big news. "So, I've been chasing a lesbian?"

"I'm BI-. But I'm still Carly, still the girl across the hall. Still the girl you love."

"Was the kiss any good?" I wanna compare notes.

Carly gets this dreamy look, "Yeah, maybe it was because we wouldn't ever get to do it again. It was the best kiss of my life."

"She was a great kisser." I think back to that night on my fire escape. Carly looks confused. "That night that you and Sam were gonna have your meatball war and she said that she never kissed anyone," Carly nods, remembering that whole messed up week. "She came over to my apartment to apologize, and we had our first kiss."

"How was it?"

I remember every detail, "Meaty, hint of marinara sauce. Spectacular. I miss her."

"Well, be glad I can't give you a wedgie for telling her." We both jump at the sound of Sam's voice. "I spent the night at the police station." Carly looks upset. "I can't get arrested, I'm dead remember. I wanted to pain Missy so much; you have no idea. I was ready to unload on her like…you have no idea" She has this frustrated look on her face. She's pacing like a caged tiger that just smelled blood. "On the other hand, Shane had a conjugal visit."

"I thought you said that Tara was arrested too?" Carly was confused.

"Oh, sorry. It was with another prisoner." Both me and Carly look disgusted.

"Apparently, I stole a gun and was going to Missy's house." I interject, still not remembering any of that.

"Who do you think stopped you." Sam points to Carly. "She relived the attack to wake up and tell them about your hair-brained scheme. Any who, I spent the night standing over that nub Missy; she didn't sleep one minute. The DA told her that her and her gang were face 20 years minimum, more if you…"

"If I died?" Carly finished the thought. Sam nodded. It looks like the idea of Carly dying scared Sam more than Carly.

"Tara flipped on them and is getting a deal, reduced charges for her testimony. You should have seen Missy freak out about that." Sam smiles, then stops as Carly starts to cry. "I'm sorry cupcake."

"It's not your fault. I'm just thinking back to the Missy I used to know, the good one, not this monster. I'm sorry that she drove me away from you. Come here."

Carly held out her hand; Sam took it, then shuddered. "WOW! I never knew you felt that way."

"It took you dying to realize it. I'm sorry I couldn't tell you either."

Sam headed for the door, "Well, I'm here on Earth until you can forgive yourself. I'm gonna go spy on Missy and her crew some more, maybe move some stuff, freak them out." We both see the Blonde headed demon coming out to play. She walks through the wall, leaving us alone. I want to hold her hand, but each of them is bandaged up. Carly can see this and holds up her less injured hand; the one with the single broken finger.

"I'm sorry this happened to you, if I could, I'd of taken it for you." We sit there for a silent moment, nothing more needs to be said. It was ended with a knock on the door.

"Freddie, they're ready for the MRI." Spencer sticks his head. "Plus, the police want to talk to Carly."

"I'll be back after the test." I get up to leave; she pulls me to her.

"Thank you Freddie Benson." She kisses me on the cheek. Not what I really want, but more than I had planned on.

They wheel me down to the MRI machine and prepare to put me in this giant magnet. I lay down and the tech puts the cage around my head; the tech can see my heart rate jump on the monitor.

"You claustrophobic?" I nod. "You want a little something to relax?"

"Please." I'm getting freaked out. I've always hated confined spaces. That's why I was never good at hide-and-seek; I could never go into the small places. I feel the needle slide into my arm and a cool sensation run along my vein. I close my eyes and try to relax; slow breaths, just like Dr. Dane told me years ago. I feel the table move then stop.

"Freddie?" I can hear the tech. He sounds far away.

"Yeah?"

"We're gonna start the MRI. Just relax and keep still. This should only take 15 minutes or so."

I swallow, "Okay." Whatever they gave me was some good shit. I'm calm, but not out of it. I close my eyes and think of Carly. Before I know it, the test is over and the table is sliding out of the tube.

"How you doing Freddie?" I open my eyes and see Shane standing there. He's got his hands around my neck.

I scream and try to get the cage-thing off my head so I can fight back. I'm yelling for help and trying to get off the table. Several more staff run in and pin me before I can get up. "FREDDIE!" I hear my mom yell. I look for her; my breathing's short and rapid, heart racing.

"Where is he?" I'm almost shouting. "Where's Shane?"

"Who?" She doesn't know him. "Was he the one that attacked you?"

"Yeah, he was right here." I'm pointing to where the tech is standing. I try to catch my breath; mom comes over and hugs me. I hang my head, ashamed of my outburst, "I was seeing things, sorry."

"It's okay Freddie. I know you hate small spaces and the stuff they gave you made you loopy." She just holds me until I calm down.

"I'm sorry." I tell the group. The tech says that he's seen this thing before. They wheel me back to my room; I can walk just fine, but they say that it's policy. It's just mom and me, "I wanna go home. As soon as they say I can go, I can't stay here."

"Okay, but for the time being, you're going to be staying with your aunt. Just as a precaution."

"I don't care if I have to live under the bridge. Just get me outta here." I'm starting to understand why Sam hated hospitals so much. I get dressed in my street clothes and pack up the few things I have, mostly yesterday's clothes. Was it really just yesterday all this happened? Amazing what can happen in just 24 hours. I leave a note on my bag saying I'm at Carly's room. I get down there and the one cop stops me.

"The detectives are still interviewing her. You'll have to wait."

"How long you think it'll be?"

"A while, this is a big case."

"Can you tell Carly that I was here?"

"Sure." I head back to my room, turn on the TV, and flip through the channels. 'House' is on; I like this show. It's the one with the bike racer. I try not to think about what's happened, but sitting in this hospital room isn't helping. There's a knock at my door, it's Melanie.

"Hey Freddie, how you doing?" She sits it the chair; I'm on the bed, feet up shoes off.

I mute the show, "I freaked out when they were getting me outta the MRI machine. I swear I saw Shane. Carly's being interviewed by the police now. I figure I'm next."

"It's okay, they have a tape of the attack. Your aunt told me that you really don't remember last night?"

I shake my head, "I just remember seeing Carly in her bed, getting a monster headache, then you punching me. How messed up was I?"

"You got five blocks from here before you almost passed out. Missy was in cuffs before you even saw Carly. You were sweating and rambling about getting Missy. Not a pretty picture."

"Just want this to be over and we can get back to our lives…" She cuts me off.

"That's what I said after I learned Sam died. But there is no 'Getting back to our lives', just going on with them. Everything's changed now. This is gonna be with you guys forever, so you need to deal with it now."

I nod, she's right. I push the call button on the remote. The same nurse, Haley, comes in. "How you doing?" She asks.

"I need to talk to someone." She knows what I mean. I few minutes later a middle aged man shows up and introduces himself as a Dr. Michaels. He asks if Melanie would leave; I said she could stay, as I didn't remember some of the things that happened. He agrees. We talk for a while, and afterwards he said he would send his notes to Dr. Dane for continuation. I'm sitting in my room, Melanie's still here, but I feel alone. I miss Sam ragging on me, I miss Carly's smile and fruitless attempts to stop our fights. Melanie must have picked up on this.

"You miss her, don't you?"

"Yeah, and if I hadn't of been here she would…" Melanie stopped me there.

"Would have what? If you had been with her, she might of seen you beaten to death. Maybe they would have raped her, just to send you a message. A million things could have happened so stop trying to second-guess yourself. Things happened, it's over and you have to move on." She's blunt, definitely related to Sam.

I smile, "Thanks Melanie. Could you run down to the Burger King across the street and get us some real food?" I pull out my wallet and get the $20 I keep in there.

"You, me, and Carly?"

"Yeah." She heads out. I see Aunt Olivia go with her. Just because Missy and her gang are in jail doesn't mean we're safe yet. The TV's still on; I turn the volume up. CSI is on.

"I love this episode." I jump a little as Sam sits down. "The little sister is such a rat." I don't really watch this show, so Sam explains it. "The older sister wanted a cat from the old lady who has like a zillion of them. Well, older sister steals one and kinda kills the old cat lady. The little sister tattles on her."

I chuckle, "Who uses 'tattle' anymore?"

"Shut it nub. You may have stopped me last night, but I got my A-game today." She laughs too. It's almost like old times again.