The lobby was quiet. Ciara didn't look at Tripp and he didn't look at her. They had both provided evidence to the court in favour of Will being put into a mental health facility. She didn't know about Tripp, but Ciara didn't think Will was crazy. He was right about Paul not raping Tripp; he didn't have all the facts and made a bad choice to go after Tripp.
Sonny was undoubtedly getting his way. Will would be locked up and Ciara would have ruined yet one more man's life. When had she become this person? She had grown up hearing the stories about what her cousin Sami had done, the horrors she unleashed on Salem and its citizens, and now Ciara was no better. And Sami had sat in the courtroom staring daggers at Ciara as she lied on the stand about Will throwing her down the archway stairs. It was going to get even uglier for Ciara now that she had perjured herself to satisfy her cousin.
As the minutes passed in silence, with Tripp saying and doing nothing while Ciara fought her own thoughts, more and more people gathered to see what was going to happen. It wasn't everyday that a man attacked a famous baseball player's rape victim. Ciara had no idea who had leaked to the press what was happening. It wasn't Sonny's style. Maybe Theresa? She was a hot mess and for some reason was secretly working for Sonny.
Finally, the doors opened. Will Horton was screaming his head off as he was led away by men in scrubs and white coats. Ciara gathered that Will had lost. It seemed that even his grandmother, the sainted Marlena Evans who testified on his behalf, hadn't been enough to overcome Ciara and Tripp's testimony.
Following Will out of the courtroom first was Sonny and his father Justin. Sonny was trying to not look too pleased with himself and Justin didn't look happy at all despite clearly winning his first case in what Ciara assumed was decades.
"This is outrageous! He's MY son! They can't take the word of a slut and a rentboy over Will's." Sami stormed out of the courtroom with her mother Marlena, Ciara's uncle Roman Brady, and John Black. Marlena tried to quiet Sami but failed miserably as Sami marched right up to Ciara. "You're not going to get away with this. Neither of you!"
Tripp flinched when Sami directed her rage at him, but John and Roman each grabbed one of Sami's arms and they dragged her away much like the men in white coats had with Will.
Ciara was still sore, but she cast a sideways glance at Tripp as she stood. There was no words she could give him that would bring comfort. Everything that had happened to him had been her fault. Unlike that birdbrain Claire, Tripp hadn't done anything to Ciara. Tripp had been collateral damage in her vendetta against her niece and Sonny's obsession with his husband.
Thinking about Claire was an odd relief to Ciara's guilt over Tripp. Because unlike Tripp, Claire deserved whatever Ciara would do to her. She just had to figure out what she was going to do to her vapid niece. Ciara couldn't... She wouldn't do to Claire what she had done to Tripp. No, Claire didn't deserve that, but she did deserve something horrible and Ciara would have to do it without the help of her cousin Sonny.
If what he did to Will, someone Sonny actually cared about, was any indication, then Ciara's cousin was someone she needed to avoid. She hoped he would release her from his grip now that Will was off the streets. Paul was ruined forever and Tripp was a traumatized mess. Surely Sonny could now focus on whatever his plans were for Will. He had no more use for Ciara. And as she realized this, as Ciara finally understood that she was now fully expendable to Sonny, she realized that she would have to spend the rest of her life looking over her shoulder. He knew what she had done and that she had lied under oath. And there was nothing tying him to any of it beyond her word. And if Ciara's actions were revealed her word would mean nothing.
Ciara had to get something on Sonny to protect herself. And she knew that it was going to involve how he had gotten ahold of Paul's semen.
DOOL
It didn't make Paul feel better when he heard that Will had been committed to a psychiatric hospital. Even if the guy was an obsessive horndog, he had only attacked Tripp as a way to defend Paul's honor. Paul didn't know Ciara Brady at all beyond her being Will's cousin AND Sonny's cousin so he had no idea why Will would have attacked her, too.
His own first court appearance was coming up soon and he didn't have a lawyer. How Will's had been fast-tracked was another mystery to Paul, though he assumed the Kiriakis money played a role somehow. Paul thought about how his father John had gone to every attorney he knew and they all turned down the case. John didn't tell him why, but he also didn't have to. It was obvious that Steve, Tripp's father, had gone to them first and asked them to not help Paul.
The only place safe for Paul, safe from the press and the accusatory eyes of everyone in town, was his apartment. He was trapped in the place where his and Tripp's lives had been ruined by one night neither could remember. The bedding, stained with Tripp's blood and feces, had been collected as evidence. That didn't change the fact that Paul had taken to sleeping on his uncomfortable sofa because the bed was no longer safe.
Everywhere he looked, Paul saw Tripp's face looking at him in horror. It was the same look Tripp had when he pieced together that something had happened to him: something that he thought Paul had done.
A knock at the door rescued Paul from his own budding insanity. Hoping it was his father, the only person in town willing to believe him now that Will was gone, Paul walked to the door and peered through the peephole.
There was a woman he had never seen before raising a fist to knock again. Figuring her to be another reporter, Paul shouted through the door for her to leave. He walked back to the sofa and buried his head in his hands. It still wasn't real to him that anyone believed he could do something so heinous.
Paul heard a "click" and the door opened. The woman walked in, holding a bobby pin and not a key. She placed it back into her hair and kicked the door shut, locking it behind her. Rising, Paul prepared to tell her to get the hell out. She produced a gun.
"Who are you?" He asked, jumping over the back of sofa to put something between himself and the firearm. "What do you want from me?"
"My name is Ava," she answered, pointing the gun directly at Paul's chest. "Ava Vitali. You raped my son. I'm here to kill you."
"You're Tripp's mother?!" Paul reached for the first thing he could, holding a copy of City of Bones as if it would somehow protect him. "Listen, I don't know what happened to your son, but I didn't do it."
Ava didn't react to Paul's words. She just held the gun with a steady hand and glared at Paul. "You aren't even man enough to be honest when facing death. You're a coward in every way."
Paul threw the book and ducked behind the sofa as Ava pulled the trigger. He heard but didn't feel the bullet, so he knew she had missed. The chance of him getting lucky like that was near impossible because Paul heard Ava's heels clicking on the floor. Try as he might, the man had no idea what to do next.
Luckily, he didn't have to do anything because he heard his door burst open and his father's voice. "Drop the gun!"
"You think you scare me?" Ava replied to John. Paul crawled to and peered around the corner of the sofa and saw his father and the woman pointing their weapons at each other.
"Ava? Ava Vitali?" John sounded confused. "You're alive? What are you doing here?"
"I'm killing the monster that violated my son. You're a parent, you have to understand." Ava was focused fully on John. "He can't get away with what he did to Tripp."
Paul crept around the corner and waited until his father saw him. Paul held up a finger and John raised an eyebrow in acknowledgment.
"My son didn't do anything," John proclaimed, getting a curse from Ava in response.
"That thing is your son? It makes sense. You spent your entire life being used and lied to. Of course, you don't see that's what is happening now. Paul, your son, he has to pay for what he did. He's not going to get away with this. And you aren't going to get in my way."
Ava grunted when Paul tackled her, the gun going off and hitting the wall. They wrestled over the firearm until John held his own gun to the side of Ava's head. She immediately held her hands up and Paul grabbed the gun, pointing it at her.
"Call the cops," John told Paul as he grabbed Ava and pulled her to her feet. "I'll keep an eye on her."
Nodding, Paul kept the gun trained on Ava as he looked around for his cell phone. Spying it on the sofa, Paul turned around and reached for it.
"NOW!" Ava shouted, causing Paul to whirl around just in time to see his father collapse to the floor. Two prongs stuck out of his back, wire tracing its way back up to where Theresa Donovan stood holding a stun gun in her hands.
"Howdy," Theresa said cheerfully, waving at Paul. "Long time no see."
Somehow, Ava had gotten John's gun and she held it pointed down at him. She stared at Paul and the gun in his hand. "We're leaving now. Unless you want your father here to die as well."
"I'm not going anywhere with you," Paul told her defiantly. "Theresa, what are you going working with this woman?"
"Getting paid," the younger woman answered with a smirk, hitting the trigger on the stun gun again causing John to convulse. "Well, that and having fun."
"You're not coming with us. You've lucked into a reprieve," Ava told Paul coolly. "But don't mistake this as anything other than a delay. Theresa, let's go."
Guns trained on each other, Ava and Paul stared each other down as Theresa dropped the stun gun and backed out of the apartment. Never dropping her guard or her weapon, Ava did the same as her accomplice. As soon as they were out of sight, Paul ran to the doorway and pointed the gun down the hallway in time to see the elevator doors closing.
Kicking the door shut as best as he could, Paul blocked it off with the heaviest piece of furniture he could find then ran to his fallen father. He pulled the prongs out of his father's back and felt for a pulse.
"I'm alive," John coughed, causing his son to release a breath he didn't know he was holding. "It'll take more than some electricity to kill me."
"Was that really Tripp's mom?" Paul asked as he helped his father sit upright. Even though John swore he was fine, Paul still carried him to the sofa. "Dad, that was Theresa Donovan with her."
"It was and I know." John asked for a glass of water. Even though he didn't want to leave his father, Paul handed the John the gun and acquiesced. "Eve is going to be happy her sister is alive, though I doubt she'll be too happy about the fact her sister is working for the mob."
"The mob?" Paul sat next to his father and handed him the water, which John readily drank. "That Ava woman is a mobster?"
"She's from the Vitali crime family, Son. A real nasty piece of work. I don't know what Theresa is doing with her, but it's nothing good I can assure you."
Paul let his father finish his water. As John drank, his son contemplated just what he was going to do now. It was bad enough he was accused of a rape he didn't commit and the press hounded his every step, that he had ruined his father's longest and dearest friendship, but now Paul was a target of the mafia. Staying in his apartment was no longer safe. He didn't know where to go or what to do. Anyone he stayed with would also be a target of that madwoman.
DOOL
"Will Horton will love you soon enough. I guarantee it."
"He'd better," Sonny told the man. It had been expensive as hell getting him into Will's facility and being assigned his main physician. The fake medical credentials had been even harder to acquire, but they did the job. It was surprising to Sonny how easy it was to grease the wheels of the US government when one had money. No wonder the Dimeras kept getting away with literal murder. "I want Paul Narita purged from my husband's thoughts. I want him to remember that I'm the one and only love of his life. And I want you to do whatever it takes. I'll buy you whatever or whoever you need to do it. Money is nothing compared to my marriage."
The old man nodded happily. "I know exactly what to do. This isn't my first rodeo."
"That's why I hired you. I know you're loyal to the Dimeras, but you'll find a Kiriakis is just as good if not better. You want to remain on my good side." Sonny walked to his unconscious husband and stroked his face. Even in white paper scrubs, Will Horton was the most beautiful man he had ever seen. Will was Sonny's soulmate; he just needed to remember it.
"What about the boy's mother? I've heard of her: she'll stop at nothing to see her son free from this place."
"That, Wilhelm Rolf, is not your concern. I can handle Sami Brady." Sonny felt Will's heartbeat through the paper shirt and knew that it was a matter of time until it only beat for him.
DOOL
"I'm fine, Claire. You don't need to call off of work and babysit me," Tripp told his roommate over the phone. "I'm just going to sit at home and try to find something to fill my time."
Reluctantly, Claire agreed and ended the call. With a sigh, Tripp stretched before sitting on his sofa. He hadn't been to the gym in ages and he wasn't sure when he would feel comfortable going back. The bruises from Will were healing, but people still stared at him in the streets. Claire had taken to filtering the mail so that he wouldn't have to see the hate, but every so often a piece would slip through and remind him that some people cared more about a sport Paul didn't even play anymore than they did about someone whose life had been ruined.
Tripped closed his eyes and leaned back into the sofa, replaying the day's events in his head. He had testified in court about Will attacking him in the street, about how he accused him of lying about being raped. He remembered Will's mother, a very angry blonde woman, all but threatening him when she came out of the courtroom. She said that he and Ciara were faking their injuries, but Tripp couldn't understand why. Ciara was a bitch but she wasn't a liar. Tripp had no reason to lie because tons of people had seen it happen. Claire had been right there when it happened!
Intrusive thoughts began creeping into Tripp's mind. He remembered the last time he had seen Paul. He had tried so hard not to, but he had broken down in front of the man. He had asked why Paul would destroy him and all he got was Paul's pathetic lies and excuses.
Tripp remembered being so excited for his date with Paul that he came out to Claire before he even knew what he was. Now he was terrified of anyone touching him, man or woman. It wasn't fair but he avoided Claire's embraces and her attempts to comfort him. Whatever he had felt for her was either gone or buried.
But that wasn't all Tripp remembered. That first night, the night in Paul's bed, it also haunted him. How could he remember that fondly when every other thought of Paul made him physically ill? What was wrong with his brain? Or maybe it was his heart. Because as angry and horrified as Tripp was, he didn't hate Paul. He couldn't hate him. His heart was broken because he would never find out what could have been with the man. And it made Tripp sick that he couldn't control his thoughts.
If he could hate Will Horton, and he did, why couldn't Tripp hate Paul Narita? Why, when he had gone to Paul's apartment and confronted him, why had Tripp wanted Paul to hold and reassure him that it would be okay? Was this normal? Was this something people did with their rapists? Tripp didn't know and he never would because he was too ashamed to ask anyone or even type it into Google.
"There you are." A woman's voice rang out as Tripp's front door opened. For a moment, Tripp was terrified that Will's mother had found him, but instead it was someone else. It was a stranger with a familiar face.
"Mom?" Tripp stood apprehensively but didn't approach. "Are you her? Ava Vitali?"
"Yes," she said lovingly, closing the door behind her. "It's me, Tripp. It's so good to see you, though I wish it were under better circumstances."
Elation pulsing through his veins, Tripp ran to her and hugged her. Unlike Claire, he wasn't repulsed by her touch. He just hugged his mom as she rubbed his back with one hand and held the back of his head with the other.
"I've always wanted to meet you," he told her, his face buried in the space between her neck and shoulder. "It's been so hard."
"I know, my baby. But I'm here now. I'm here." Ava released her hold on Tripp long enough to grab his shoulders. He stood fully upright and looked down into her eyes. He could see she loved him, but he could also see a rage in them. "I'm here to take care of you."
"What does that mean? Does my dad know you're here?"
"I'm here for you, Tripp. I heard about what happened and I came as soon as I could. As for your dad, he doesn't know I'm here, but he will soon enough when John Black wakes up."
Confused, Tripp blinked. "John Black? Dad's best friend John Black?"
"And Paul Narita's father, John Black," Ava added darkly. She ran her hands down Tripp's shoulders and rubbed his arms comfortingly. "That beast that... I tried to take care of him for you, Tripp, but his father interrupted before I could. I'm going back into hiding soon, but I wanted you to know that I'm here to look over you."
"Take care of him? Did you try to kill Paul?" Tripp stepped away from his mother but didn't look away. He had never... He didn't want Paul dead. Tripp didn't know what he wanted, but he knew that he would never want Paul Narita to die. "You can't do that."
"What?" Ava's voice betrayed her otherwise collected face. "Why wouldn't you want him dead after what he did to you, Tripp? He's a monster!"
Closing his eyes, Tripp remembered how confused Paul looked when Tripp woke up bruised and bloodied in his bed. He remembered the look of concern on Paul's face when he broke down crying in his apartment. As much as Tripp wanted someone to pay for what had happened to him, as much as he knew Paul was responsible for his turmoil, Tripp still couldn't hate him. Tripp hated himself instead.
"I don't want to be the reason someone dies. I don't think I could live with it. Could you please, I don't know, let the law handle it? It's a slam dunk case according to the prosecutor I spoke to."
She nodded reluctantly. "If that's what you want. I'll wait to see if the law goes your way. But I can tell you, Tripp, the law is a very flawed thing and you shouldn't trust it. If you change your mind, let me know. I'll be in touch."
Ava told Tripp she loved him before walking out the door, once more leaving him alone with thoughts he very much did not want to have.