Chapter Two

Todd paced around the hospital waiting room. They had taken Marty to surgery to repair the damage that Eddie had left behind. John walked in the room, "Manning, we need to talk about Marty. I have a couple of questions for you. What were you doing with her at the park? How did she get hurt? What did you do to her?"

"I didn't to anything to hurt Marty unlike you. You played her for a fool with my niece Natalie right after she lost your child and then you shut her out of your life because she told you the truth about Natalie's lies. You have questions for me then you take it up with my lawyer otherwise I have nothing to say to you."

"I'm not going to let this go Manning. As soon as Marty is awake and out of surgery, I'm going to question her and I swear you'll pay if you had anything to do with hurting her."

"Well then, I have nothing to worry about. Marty knows that I would never hurt her again. Can you say the same?"

"Marty's doctors have informed me that she was raped tonight so if I find out that you had anything to do with that I'll kill you myself. Go home Manning, I think it would be in everyone's best interest; especially Marty's if you just left her alone. Natalie's at the park right now collecting all the evidence you left behind so consider yourself a suspect and don't leave town," John said as he left Todd alone.

Todd slunk in one of the chairs. He felt sick inside; he had hoped that he had stopped Eddie in time, but he didn't. Marty shouldn't have to go through this again. She didn't deserve this pain, she never had.

Todd sat down in the chair next to Marty's bed. He knew that he shouldn't be there but he couldn't leave without knowing that she was awake. She had survived the surgery, but she still hadn't woken up. He sat by her side for hours waiting for her to open her eyes and throw him out of her room and eventually fell asleep waiting.

Marty opened her eyes and saw Todd sleeping in the chair next to hers and felt a rush of overwhelming feelings hitting her all at once. Her feelings for Todd had always been complicated. She hated him; she loathed his very presence in her life, and yet there was something about him that had always touched her soul. She had felt compassion, gratitude, and even love for him at one time or another. Her feelings for him were so tangled up and now it was worse. He had killed a man with a rage that she understood all too well. "Todd, wake up. We need to talk," Marty said.

Todd opened his eyes and knew that his prayers had been answered. Marty was awake, she had made it through the night. "You're awake. I'm going to go find a doctor," Todd said as he begun to stand up.

"Wait. Don't go. We have to talk about what you did last night."

"What did Todd do last night? Did he hurt you?" John asked as he came walking into the room.

"Todd didn't hurt me. He saved my life. I was mugged last night and the attacker must have stabbed me before they got away," Marty stated.

"We should talk in private. I need to get a full statement from you about what happened."

"She just had surgery John, can't it wait. Don't you think she's been through enough without you interrogating her," Todd said.

"We can talk later, if you're too tired," John stated. Todd was right, Marty had been through enough and the last thing that he wanted to do was to make it worse for her, but he didn't have a choice. The sooner he questioned Marty, the sooner he could arrest the son of a bitch responsible for hurting her. John had been so angry with Marty when he found out that she had known the truth that Liam wasn't his son for months. Marty didn't say anything until his wedding day to Natalie and it killed him that Marty put her need for revenge above their friendship. He had felt so much anger and betrayal but now that she was hurt, he realized how much he still cared for her and the anger and the betrayal that he felt no longer seemed to matter.

"It's okay Todd. I'll answer John's questions. I'd rather get this over with anyways."

"Okay, I'll go talk to your doctor and let him know that you're awake," Todd said as he left.

"Tell me everything that you can remember about last night," John said as he pulled out a tape recorder.

"I went for a run in the park to try and clear my head. I was grabbed from behind. He placed his hand over my mouth to keep me quiet, so I bit his hand. I fought to get away and must have hit my head in the struggle. I must have passed out because the next thing I remembered was Todd applying pressure towards my wounds. I tried to stay awake but I couldn't so I passed back out," Marty said. She couldn't tell John the truth. She couldn't let Todd go to prison for killing Eddie. Whatever her feelings were for Todd, she couldn't let him go to prison for trying to protect her so she decided to leave as many details out as she could in case she needed to change her story at a later time.

"Did you see who attacked you?"

"I'm not sure. I don't think so. I'm sorry John; I don't know who attacked me."

"I think that's enough questions for today. I'll let you get your rest," John said as he shut the tape recorder off. "Marty, I'm sorry that I shut you out of my life the way that I did. I shouldn't have done that. I hope you know that I'll always care about you and I promise you that I'll find the person that hurt you," John said as he left Marty's room.

Marty closed her eyes. She hated lying to John but it was the only way. If John knew the truth then he would arrest Todd for killing Eddie Ford.

"Did John leave?" Todd asked as he walked back into Marty's hospital room.

"Yeah, he's gone. Todd sit down I need to talk to you."

Todd sat down in the chair by Marty's bed. "What do you want to talk to me about?"

"First of all, I wanted to say thanks. If you hadn't shown up to the park then Eddie could have killed me."

"Please don't thank me. I didn't do enough. If only I had gotten there sooner. I'm sorry that Eddie hurt you."

"It's okay my wound will heal. There's another reason that I wanted to talk to you. You need to know what I told John so our stories can match. "

"Marty, what are you talking about? Didn't you tell John the truth? What did you tell him?"

"I told him that I was grabbed from behind and that I lost consciousness and didn't wake up again until you were there applying pressure to my wounds. I told him that I didn't know who attacked me? I want you to tell John that when you showed up in the park I was by myself. Tell them that when you saw me you realized I was hurt and that's when you called the cops. I don't think John has found Eddie's body yet so as long as our stories match you should be in the clear."

"You lied to John to protect me? Why? After all the pain that I caused you why would you care if I went to prison?"

"I have my reasons. I'm tired so I think that you should leave."

"I'm going to go. I need to talk to Tea and arrange a time to give my statement to the police. Whatever your reasons are for protecting me, thank you, but I want you to know that even if I go to prison I'll never regret killing Eddie Ford. The bastard deserved to die for hurting you the way that he did," Todd said then he walked out of the hospital room.