Chapter 2: A Matter of Trust

The next morning, the nurse came in to check his vitals and medication. She was surprised to note that his healing seemed to be accelerating. Surprisingly, she didn't pay any mind to his visitor who had stayed overnight; perhaps she assumed Rebecca was family, but more likely, the staff here were just negligent about visitors.

Trent smiled dreamily as he awoke to see Rebecca still there. "Good morning, beautiful," he murmured. He would have pet her hair if he could.

Rebecca awoke slowly, for a moment forgetting where she was till she sat up and saw Trent's smiling face. Even in the hospital, the way he was, he could still wake up so happy, even if it was because she was still there. That made her feel warm inside in a way she couldn't begin to explain.

"Good morning, Trent," she said softly, still slightly asleep as she rubbed her eyes and then stretched a moment, hearing joints crack as she moved. Gods, that hurt and felt good at the same time.

"Sleep well?" she asked as she eyed the nurse who seemed to hover and only when she left, did she make a note to ask later about shift changes in this place. She settled back into her chair with a deep sigh. Relaxing a bit was more like it after the way she had slept.

"Like a dream," he said. "How did you sleep, babygirl? That doesn't look very comfortable."

"It wasn't...but that's ok. I said I would be here when you woke up and they didn't kick me out, so...I stayed." She tilted her head and heard her neck pop. Gods, she needed to stretch out later.

She was about to say something else, and ask him how he felt, seeing the nurse didn't make such a big fuss over him this morning, and she wondered at it. Cause the day before a nurse popped in every so often just to spot check him at least. Today, seemed no one was in a big rush to make sure he was still doing alright. Which was weird.

"You seem better this morning. That's good. They aren't all hovering all over you anymore, so guess that means you will be out of here soon." She was no good at this sort of thing, even more so in the morning and it showed.

Trent was confused. Maybe it was the morphine.

"Last time, I was in the hospital for six months. It's only been six weeks," he reminded her. "In the morning they just check my vitals and..." He looked down to the fresh colostomy bag. "They'll probably be back in a few hours."

She noted his words and gave a soft smile, because he did look better this morning. Much better then last night anyway, maybe it was because of their talk? She didn't know, but whatever it was, she was happy he was feeling better. Even if a little.

Talking came easier today, which he was glad for. The morning nurse was right, he was healing faster. It must be the power of love. But now he needed a different power to help him, if it was true that he was getting out soon.

"Babygirl, would you do something for me?" he asked. "I need you to go to my house in Los Angeles and check my phone. The pin is 28624. It spells BUNCH. My staff might be trying to reach me, but more importantly, my company's lawyer definitely will."

She tilted her head slightly at him. Hearing the code nearly made her snort. Of course it would be her last name. But she knew why he asked. He needed help and that type of job just wasn't in her range of abilities. Nor did she really know but a few good defense attorneys in this town. If he knew others, they could prove to be more helpful. Even more so, if they knew Trent, personally.

"Sure, Trent. I'll go. I'll leave this afternoon and be back before dark. Shouldn't take too long... if I don't get lost, that is." She was horrible at directions and could get lost in a brown paper bag. Just another quirk of hers she couldn't possibly fix. Thank God for GPS.

"You made it to the LA courthouse with no problem, and you also made it to Josh's apartment to delete that text you sent, a few years ago. You'll be fine," he assured her, completely oblivious if it sounded weird for him to reference the text incident, which he hadn't been personally there for. "I don't live far from the courthouse, just a couple miles up the road," he added helpfully. Before they had agreed to start fresh, he would have just let her Google him, to see if she could find out where he lived on her own, to see if she cared. But they had said no games, so he was not going to test her.

"Yea...but that...was under duress." She snickered softly, shaking her head. "Plus, GPS helped the first time, and usually I remember where a place is after going there at least once." She didn't want to think about how many times she had done so. Sat under Josh's window and listened to him and Val talk or argue. Gods, she really was fucked up, wasn't she? Good thing she had that appointment with her therapist later in the week. It took her a moment, to realize how he knew about that when he wasn't even there for those things, but she shoved them out of her head. No games. No lies. New start. She had promised. Though hearing he lived near the courthouse helped, she just hoped she didn't get to hopelessly lost in the process.

"I can leave now...if you want me too and be back faster." She didn't like the idea of leaving him there and that struck her as odd. Her feelings were really all over the place lately.

He considered this. He was tempted to say it wasn't urgent, but the reality of the situation was that the sooner he got back to his lawyer, the better. Besides, had Rebecca eaten? He didn't have to worry about food; until the cast came off, he was fed through IV because the less the hospital staff had to actually do, the happier they were.

"You should get some breakfast first," he said. "You could eat it here..."

Now that he mentioned it, she was hungry and food did sound good right about now. Even hospital food. Hearing what he didn't say in his voice and expression, Rebecca agreed. She would stay long enough to eat before braving the traffic of California. Joy!

When asked, a nurse brought in a tray and she took her time to butter the bread and eat her meal. It really wasn't all that bad, to be honest.

"So, go to your place, get your phone, check your messages. Yes? Should I call anyone? What do I say when they find out it's...ME?" She could only imagine what his lawyer would have to say about her pushing Trent off a roof!

Trent stifled a chuckle. She was so endearingly cute and oblivious. "Honey, you don't have to say who you are. Just say you're calling on my behalf," he explained gently. "You can tell my assistant how recovery is going and give her the number of the hospital and the room I'm in. Then just bring my phone here, dial my company lawyer's number and put it on speaker so I can talk to him, because he won't talk to anyone from outside the company."

"That makes...way more sense. Why didn't I think of that?" She felt her cheeks redden as she spoke. Gods, she really was all over the place today. So many things to do and she still had to call Paula back...Paula! Oh no! She forgot to call her back! What if she came looking for her! What if she came here?! Shit! Shit! Shit!

Slipping a look at her phone, she nearly blanched. Several texts of 'Why haven't you called me?" and "Where are you!" littered her phone. Not to mention the ones that threatened to come search for her if she didn't call ASAP!

"Ohhhh...crap," she whispered. This was something she so didn't need to deal with today. Her losing her mind was one thing, but dealing with Paula losing her mind was completely different.

Trent was slightly alarmed at that 'oh crap,' but he smiled at Rebecca to let her know it was okay to go do what she had to do. He was at peace, and he trusted her. Not like he had a lot of options at the moment, but... he did feel he could trust her.

She looked up at Trent and noticed his alarm, though he tried to hide it and made a big leap for her, she decided to be honest with him. "Yea...so...I forgot to call Paula back last night." She smirked and shrugged lightly.

Trent's eyes widened in further alarm. 'Forgot to call Paula?' he mouthed. Rebecca's flightiness was adorable usually, but right now it was not his favorite trait of hers. He wasn't scared of Paula by any means, but he knew what a pain in the posterior she could be when she set her mind to it. After that incident when she had harassed him in the coma unit, he had promptly made sure his medical team at the new unit knew that Paula Proctor was not welcome to visit him.

"And now she is threatening to come looking for me," Rebecca continued, "cause apparently she thinks I fell off the face of the earth cause I didn't call her back... anyway... We had kind of a big spat last night, about you. Honestly, she wasn't too thrilled to hear I had been back here to see you, let alone what else we talked about, but I told her in no uncertain terms that she wasn't to bother you anymore and she didn't like that...so...if she comes looking for me here...and sees you..."

She trailed off and could imagine the mess that could cause as she rolled her eyes at her friend's antics. "We don't want that... so, I will go call her and calm her down, so she doesn't cause any more trouble and then go run to your place and get your phone and be back as soon as I am able."

Honestly... sometimes Trent regretted freeing Paula from Rebecca's collapsed bathroom.

But he was also proud. Rebecca had stood up for him! She was standing up for their love! Already their relationship had improved by leaps and bounds. His face settled into a placid smile.

Rebecca's phone vibrated, loudly and she sighed dramatically and gave Trent a smile. "One second... Yes!" She answered the phone with a slight bite.

"You know where I am Paula, I told you last night I was going back to the hospital." She paused and sighed silently. "Yes, I meant it." Pause as she listened again and shook her head, shooting an apologetic look over at Trent. "No, I am very sure we will not be doing that again. Ever."

Doing what again? he wondered to himself, but did not say aloud.

"No... Paula... look, I promise to call you back later and discuss this with you, but I'm busy. Yes, With Trent. Ok, ok ok...Bye!" She clicked off and smirked faintly over at Trent. "Sorry about that...she can be kind of pushy."

"I've noticed," he responded; his tone came out a little dryer than he had intended. "It's okay. Both the nurses and security know she's not allowed to visit me anymore," he said.

"Well, that's good...cause I really, really don't want to go back to jail for pushing her out of a window." She smiled faintly at her horrible attempt of a joke. But it made her pause, too. She would defend Trent against Paula? Her bestest best friend? Knowing the answer to that right away, she felt a little proud of herself for choosing a path and deciding to actually follow it. If she were to be honest with Trent, and herself, this might just could work.

Trent smiled a little at her joke. Not for one second did he believe this girl would actually push her best friend out of a window, but it was cute of her to say so. Friendship between women was a bizarre and mysterious thing, he thought. Paula definitely had that 'mother hen' vibe about her, and having observed their interactions, sometimes he wondered if Paula was fully aware that Rebecca was a grown woman.

"Yeah... She does so only cause she cares though. In her own weird little way. She worries... I'm not the best at figuring things out at times, and I know I've made some mistakes." She shrugged a little, a small smile coming to her face for a second. "But she's forgiven me too... after the mess I made, and it's nice. Having friends like that. Even if they can be oftentimes annoying." A soft giggle escaped cause that was Paula to a T. Caring in an annoying way at times.

"Anyway, she wasn't happy, to say the least, but that isn't her say, is it?" A smile crossed her face as she met Trent's eyes. "She can either be happy for us... or not. Her call. Won't influence my feelings for you at all." That was another big leap for Rebecca. She wasn't people pleasing at the moment. Only one she was pleasing, was herself...and that felt good. Was it like this all the time?

It really touched him to hear that the opinions of others- her best friend, no less- would not affect Rebecca's feelings for him. That was surprising, in a good way.

"Guess I should go..." The desire not to leave was evident in her voice as she slowly stood. "I'll be back as soon as I can, Trent. Promise." her smile soft as she looked down at him, before leaning in to lightly kiss him again. "We'll get through this...together."

He didn't think he would ever get enough of her kisses. Each one was like the kiss of an archangel; they made him feel powerful in a way that wielding actual power over others did not. He kissed her back, again as much as he could, and watched her fondly as she retreated.

While she was gone, he settled into his thoughts. Things were going well, unexpectedly well. It was almost overwhelming. Had he always wanted this? Of course. Had he expected it? To a certain degree, yes. Did he ever think, in a million years, they would get here without him having to resort to blackmail and other control tactics? If he was being honest with himself... no. This was wholly new territory for him.

xoxo

Rebecca hurried out of the hospital and made it to her car easily enough. Now came the hard part. Driving in CA traffic had never been fun for her, even more so when she wasn't 100% sure where she was going, but Trent had asked her this as a favor and to be honest, she was going to make sure he walked out of that hospital a free man. No jail time. So with that thought in mind, she drove the roughly twenty-nine minutes (nearly an hour with traffic) to L.A and pulled over once she got near the Courthouse. He lived near there, but not much else, as she hadn't had cause to really look into where Trent lived.

Sighing, she took out her phone and actually, for the first time in years, looked the guy up! Facebook was a little helpful, it gave a street but not an address. Well, she could find a street. So she put the street in the GPS and followed it till she parked halfway down and looked about. Now what?

Turning back to her phone, she used a few apps she knew of that might help and grinned brightly when she got a hit. "Ha! Got you!" She giggled to herself and turned the car around and drove till she came to a small but nice-looking house. "Guess this is it."

Getting out, she walked to the front door, but it was locked. Of course it was. Searching under the mat, and then above the doorframe, she found a key and let herself in.

"Ok...if I was a phone...where would I be?" She spoke to herself as she looked around the seemingly clean home. The bedroom was the first place she looked and thank God, it was sitting out in the open! Grabbing it, she entered the pin Trent had given her, and lo and behold, there were a TON of messages from his firm, all looking for him.

She called the assistant first, explaining everything that she knew: Where Trent was, the name of the hospital, his room number, his prognosis. She even told them that she was a friend and if they wanted to know more, they should probably call the hospital and talk to his doctors. After a brief thank-you from his assistant, she hung up and then headed back down to her car after she made sure to re-lock the door.

Traffic back wasn't as bad, thank the Gods, but by the time she made it back, it was nearly supper time.

Dammit! Paula...again! Taking out her phone, she called her friend back and had a long, detailed talk with her the entire way back. Paula wasn't happy, that was clear, but Rebecca made it clear that Trent was not to be messed with, or insulted in any way anymore, as she knew the woman's thoughts on him. Once she was sure, that Paula understood, if not outright agreed, she promised to call back later in the week and hung up and by that time, she was parking and making her way back to Trent's room.

"Trent...I'm back..." She called out softly as she came into the room. "Sorry I was gone so long, traffic was horrible."

Trent had drifted off and taken a nap, his pleasant thoughts bringing him pleasant dreams. He woke now at the sound of Rebecca's voice and smiled at her.

"It always is, in California," he sighed. He was impressed, though; he thought she might say that it took her a while to find where he lived, but that wasn't it, it was the traffic, something outside the control of either of them. "Alright, let's call my lawyer," he said.

Rebecca sat back in her chair, pulling it closer to Trent's bed and dialed the phone he gave her and set it on the table so he could be heard properly. When the number had been dialed and was on speaker, Trent spoke, in a businesslike voice he had only ever used for school and work:

"Good morning, it's Trent Maddock calling for Mr. Freedman."

"He's not available right now," Freedman's receptionist said.

"He's not? Can you take a message?"

"Um… Sure." The receptionist sounded dubious. Trent paid no mind as he plowed forth.

"I'm in the hospital. I'll cut to the chase, so please listen very carefully. As he knows, the so-called Rooftop Killer is a personal friend of mine. She pushed me off the roof by accident. Then one of her friends misunderstood the situation, came to the hospital to harass me when I was just coming out of my coma, and extracted a false confession from me, under duress. Did you get all that?"

"Oh—He just walked in. I'll transfer you. Will you hold?" The receptionist sounded relieved.

"Yes, I'll hold. Thank you." He gave a slight grimace to Rebecca.

"Freedman and Associates. This is Sebastian."

"Good morning, Sebastian." Trent's tone was significantly warmer now. He repeated the same information as before; Sebastian was significantly quicker on the uptake, though he didn't sound too thrilled, for some reason.

Reclining back, Rebecca listened as the two men spoke, hearing the official tone in which Trent used with his lawyer made her smirk slightly. The man on the other end asked a few questions for Trent to answer. His voice was pleasant, very professional as well, as he took down any information Trent could give him. Through it all, Rebecca remained silent, listening. This man really knew his stuff. If things worked out the way they were looking, Trent could walk out of here with no jail time at all! That would be amazing! Wouldn't it?

Her eyes furrowed as the men continued to talk for a moment, lost in her thoughts. She had promised to start anew, but what exactly did that mean, for them? She knew he had a house in LA, knew where it was now thanks to all this, but it had been clear to her that he rarely ever used it, considering how neat it looked. Unless he was just...really tidy. How would this work, for them? Where would he stay? With her? Part of her wanted that, if she was really, really honest with herself; but they were just getting to really know each other again. Would that be right? A few nights, maybe. But what about the rest of the time?

She shook her head to clear it of such thoughts, convinced they would work it out when they got there. Turning her attention back to the phone call which seemed to be wrapping up and at Trent's goodbye, she hung it up for him. "Well... that seems to have gone well. What's the next move?" Her lawyer brain had kicked in, and she wanted to know if there was anything she could do, to help him. "What can I do...to help?"

Trent thought about her question for a moment. His first instinct was to ask her to be a character witness, but considering their history, Paula might show up and argue that he must have coerced her into speaking on his behalf. He couldn't have that, it would be far too messy.

She could see where his thoughts were going, in a manner of speaking, as he looked at her. She nodded, agreeing with him completely, even though he didn't say anything. Her mind went to one person they both knew and that could cause a mess if involved. Paula. They so didn't need that added onto the list of things they were already working on together. Best to leave her out of it. It took her all of 30 seconds to realize that that was where his mind had drifted for a second and then hers as well, before she agreed and that startled her a little. Were they that in sync already? Had they always been?

He said, "It's enough to know you believe in me. I'll let you know if there's anything concrete that I need." He smiled winsomely at her, resisting the urge to tell her he loved her. She wasn't there yet and he didn't want to make her feel awkward.

"I do. I do believe in you, Trent." Her words soft as she smiled back at him. It was funny and freeing in a way, to be able to say the things she wanted to say and not what she thought she was compelled to say to someone. She could see the love in his expression as he smiled at her and felt her cheeks flush. That he didn't say it, said a lot to her, about him. She appreciated it, because she didn't want to hurt him when she couldn't yet say it back to him and mean it. Never again would she use those three little words if she didn't mean them. Not ever.

But she did feel something for him, otherwise she would never have come, much less stay. Her actions, she hoped, spoke more than her words could at the moment.

He smiled contentedly. The lawyer stuff was taken care of. His assistant at work knew how operations ran and probably had kept them running smoothly; if not, she could call and speak with him directly now. He was healing and somehow didn't seem to be in nearly as much pain as before. Now, he was determined to get well.