DISCLAIMER: I own nothing but the character of Allyson. Everyone borrowed for this story has been put back where they were found in the same condition.
NEW YORK, PRESENT
Connie and Mike were shocked. They had no idea of Allyson's connection to the attack.
"What happened," Mike asked.
Allyson took a deep breath.
"I was heading home and got attacked. I've heard the story from Matt and the doctors about what they THINK happened and my injuries told their own story. The only thing I really remember is the voice. I started having nightmares a few months after the attack. I'm not sure if they're repressed memories or not. I hate going to sleep because it's almost a given that I'll have the nightmare. I don't like reliving any of the attack. When Matt said they had some new information in my attack, I assumed it was from London. I haven't read the file on the New York killer. I'm sure if I heard the voice again, I'd recognize it. You don't often forget someone who tells you they're going to kill you and make it painful," she said.
Mike and Connie looked at Allyson. "You can't be involved in this case, you realize that," Mike said.
Allyson looked at him. "I'm already involved, Mike. I know I can't participate in the prosecution, but you're going to have to involve me because you'll have questions about the attack. I'll stay out of it. There are plenty of drug cases to keep me occupied," she said.
"We'll have to interview you and probably put you on the stand. You going to be able to handle that," Mike asked.
"I want this to be over. I thought coming back to New York would put it behind me, but it followed me," she said.
Cyrus looked at her when she made the statement.
"Why don't we pick up this in the morning. I'll call you tomorrow, Ally. We'll decide how to proceed," Mike said.
Allyson nodded. Mike and Connie exited her home leaving her alone with Matt and Cyrus.
"I'm going to call Ronnie. I forgot to do that when I got here," Matt said, heading out of the room, leaving Allyson looking out her dining room window and Cyrus sitting at the table.
Cyrus got up and put his arm around her shoulders.
"Have you told Matt you're in love with him," he asked.
"What are you talking about," she asked.
"Ally. You love Matt. Anyone can see it," he said.
Allyson looked at her new friend and sighed.
"I do, but I don't know what to do about it. I guess you figured out he's the detective that found me after my attack," she said.
Cyrus nodded.
"Then you also know there's bound to be a lot of baggage associated with that," she said.
"He's living with you, right," Cyrus asked.
Allyson nodded. "I offered him a room after he got shot. He didn't have anywhere to go and it seemed stupid for him to go to a care facility when I had the room and the ability to care for him. When he got ready to go back to work, I told him to stay. I liked having him around," she said.
"And you wanted to find out if the attraction was based on your emotional connection or something else," he said.
"Exactly," Allyson said.
"Did you figure it out," he asked.
Allyson looked out at the skyline. "I know I love him, Cy, but I don't know what to do about it. Right before I left for New York, I started having nightmares. So much so, that Matt started sleeping in my room. He always came in and held me when they were bad and after a while, it seemed better for him to stay in the room. I didn't have a nightmare the whole time he shared the bed," she said.
"What about the time you'd been in New York," he asked.
"I didn't have one the night you stayed over," she said, smiling.
"Well, I'll chase away the nightmares anytime, Ally. All you have to do is say so," he said.
"The problem is, I don't know how he feels. The day I made the decision to leave London, Matt was meeting a woman. I don't know who she was, is or what she means to him. However, it's fairly obvious that she meant something to him," Allyson said.
"Why would you think that," he asked.
"Because you don't kiss a friend that way. At least, I don't," she said.
"You never asked him about it? You just left London," he asked.
Allyson nodded. Cyrus shook his head.
"Maybe you should ask him. Judging by the way he's been acting since he's been here, I can't believe she meant anything to him," Cyrus said.
Allyson and Cyrus embraced and Allyson thanked him for being such a good friend to her in such a short amount of time.
Matt walked to the door and stopped short when he saw Cyrus and Allyson embrace. Allyson was crying and Matt didn't know why or what that embrace meant. He was stupid to think that telling her to have fun would mean she'd spend hours in her flat mourning over him. 'You're a lot of things, Devlin, but daft isn't one of them,' he thought to himself.
"Ronnie says hi," Matt said when he got to the doorway.
Allyson and Cyrus went back into the living room. He couldn't help but notice the look Matt gave him as he entered and knew this detective seriously cared for Allyson and was viewing him as competition.
"Well, I'm sure I'll see you tomorrow. Pleasure meeting you, Matt," Cyrus said before ducking out the door.
"Good night, Cyrus," she said.
She cleared the dishes off the table and Matt helped her load the dishwasher.
"Did you have to look at Cyrus like you were going to arrest him and stick him in the Tower of London," she asked.
"What," Matt asked her back, feigning ignorance.
She faced him. "He's trying to be a friend. I don't have many of them these days, especially in light of what happened. It's nice to have someone who liked me before they knew about what happened to me," she said.
"I knew you before that," he said.
Allyson put her hands on her hips. "Yes. You probably know more about me than anyone, but you've never told me how you feel about me," she said.
"I care about you. You're my best friend," Matt said.
Allyson looked at him. Her green eyes shining with unshed tears. "That...I already know," she said.
"You've never told me how YOU feel about me, Allyson Rose," Matt said.
She turned her back to him and put the last plate in the dishwasher. She quickly wiped her face before she faced him again.
"It should seem fairly obvious for someone with as much experience with women as you," she said. She walked out of the kitchen and hurried up the stairs to her bedroom. She shut the door and took her pajamas off the dresser. Heading into the bathroom, she turned on the shower. She needed to calm down and convince herself she hadn't just told Matt that she loved him. 'You didn't, Ally. He has to figure it out on his own,' she reminded herself.
Sighing she exited the shower and wrapped herself in the towel hanging from the door. She quickly brushed out her hair and put on her pajamas. She was shocked when she exited the bathroom and found Matt sitting on the bed, facing her. She pretended not to notice and put her clothes in the hamper.
"You're right," he said.
"What are you talking about," she asked.
"I haven't told you how I feel. I'm grateful for you opening your home to me after I was shot. I'm thankful you've let me stay here. I'm honored that you've allowed me to comfort you when you've been upset," he said.
"OK," she said, not understanding what he was talking about.
Matt took a deep breath. He had to tell her the truth, but he was scared to death of what might happened.
"I love you, Allyson. I've loved you since we first went out to lunch," he said.
Allyson was shocked. She never dreamed he'd felt the same way she did. "Why haven't you said anything before now," she asked.
"Too scared. I was worried that I was feeling gratitude and not love because of everything you did for me. I am grateful, but it hasn't faded. I love everything about you. Especially now that I've gotten to know you without all this other stuff in the way. Plus, I nearly told Alesha I loved her the day we broke up. Had me scared I didn't know what the feeling was," he said.
Allyson couldn't speak. Matt pulled her closer to him and took her hands. "Tell me how you feel," he asked.
"Isn't it obvious," she said, her voice shaking as she held back the tears she wanted to shed.
"It might be, but I'd like to hear it," he said, his blue eyes twinkling.
Allyson took a deep breath. She'd never uttered those words to anyone that wasn't family and saying them to Matt scared her. Well, saying them to a conscious Matt scared her. "I love you, Matt."
Pulling her closer to him, he took her in his arms and, just before kissing her said, "Now, was that so hard."
Allyson was totally lost. This man awakened things in her she never knew existed, especially in light of her attack. When he pulled away, he smiled at her. "Will you answer one question? Why did you leave London? Do you really miss New York? Did something happen," he asked.
Allyson looked down at their joined hands. "I saw you meeting someone in the cafe kiosk," she said.
"You saw...Oh! That's explains your attitude that evening. Ally, that wasn't anything for you to worry about. That was one of the clerks from the station. We dated before I started seeing Alesha. She'd been trying to get back together when I returned after being shot, but I wasn't interested. I think she knew I was in love with someone else...you. She kissed me that day and, if you'd hung around or confronted me, you would have seen me tell her, quite sternly, that I wasn't interested," he said.
"Not interested," Allyson said.
Matt smiled and nodded. "I love you. Let's go to bed. We have a busy day tomorrow," he said.
Allyson nodded. She crawled under the covers. Matt went into the bathroom and changed his clothes, crawling into the bed with her.
Allyson rested her head on his chest, again feeling the scar that marked the shooting that had nearly taken his life. As she closed her eyes, she knew she'd have a peaceful night's sleep, despite the information revealed earlier that day. Matt was there and she was going to be OK.
The next morning, the NYPD detectives were having breakfast at their desks with their visitor from England and talking about the serial killer case.
"Is anything connecting the victims," Bernard asked.
"I don't know. They're are all similar body types. Jobs were all different," Matt said.
"Was Ally just a crime of opportunity or was there something about her," Cyrus asked.
"There all questions we've asked ourselves thousands of times when looking over these files," Matt said.
They continued pouring over the files and were getting frustrated.
"There's got to be something. Generally, serial killers have something they focus on and they kill their victims based on that," Cyrus said.
Kevin and Matt agreed.
The men continued reading the reports.
Allyson picked up the file on her desk. She knew she couldn't help with the prosecution, but she could look at the evidence. A fresh pair of eyes might jog something loose for both the cops and herself.
When she opened the folder and saw the first New York victim, she was shocked. She sat that folder aside and opened the second. She couldn't believe it.
She pulled down the files on the London victims that she'd gotten from Matt. The first victim was on the top. Allyson looked at it and immediately knew what was happening. She knew the connection between the victims.
She picked up the phone and called Matt. He answered immediately.
"I know the connection," she said before he even greeted her
"Connection? What," he questioned, not knowing what she was talking about.
"The victims of this serial killer. I know the connection between them," she said.
"You do? Hold on. Slow down, Ally. What are you talking about? How do you know," Matt asked.
Hearing Allyson's name caused Cyrus and Kevin to look at Matt.
"I'd never seen anything on the New York victims and I only paid passing attention to the London ones. After my attack, I didn't want to add to the things I was remembering. I looked at the files, Matt. I found the connection," she said.
"What do you think the connection is, Lyssa," he asked.
She took a deep breath. "Me," she said.
Half an hour later, Matt, Kevin and Cyrus were in her house, sitting around her kitchen table.
"OK, Ally. What makes you think you're the connection," Kevin asked.
Allyson pulled out the picture of the first London victim.
"This woman that worked at Tenley Club. Her name was Louise Jakobs. She used to be an aide for my grandmother," Allyson said.
She pulled the second London victims photo out of the pile. "This is Mary Anne Hardwicke. She used to be Gram's assistant. She worked in the textile company. When Gram retired, Mary Anne stayed at the company and started working for the new CEO," Allyson said.
She pulled the fifth victim from London out of the pile.
"She lived next door to me when I was a kid. Gram lived in a different part of London and this woman, Marisol Baker, was the daughter of the neighbor. We hung out together a lot and Gram gave her a job as a receptionist at the company's London office after her husband left her," Allyson said.
Matt leaned back in his chair. Allyson was right. She was connected to the victims.
"What about the New York victims," Cyrus asked.
Allyson took the first one off the stack. "She was in the night school class with me that I took when dad first got sick. I have a connection, however fleeting, to each and every one of these victims," Allyson said.
"Damn," Cyrus said.
"So Allyson is the connection. Who is doing this," Kevin asked.
"That's the question. Well, that and why," Matt said.
Allyson leaned back in the chair. She'd be thrust back into the depths of the investigation, whether she wanted to be or not. She was not only a victim of this mad man, but she was also the link between all the victims.
Allyson thought about what all that meant. Suddenly she gave a sharp intake of breath. She grabbed Matt's arm and looked at him. Her green eyes wide with shock and surprise.
"They know..." she started to say
"They know you," Cyrus said.
"And they would know..." Allyson started to say.
"That you didn't die," Matt finished for her focusing his blue eyes on her green ones as he said it.