The next morning I wake up in complete confusion. I am in a soft bed covered in a patchwork quilt wearing men's cotton pajamas. When my eyes adjust to the sunlight I am stunned to see where I am.

I've spent enough nights in this room to know I am in the Hemming's carriage house. I prop myself onto my elbows and see my dress laying on top of a chaise in the far corner of the room. I glance to my right and see the Hemmings fixed all the drywall we had to rip out months ago.

I hear a rustling downstairs and I call out, "Jackson? That you?" The footsteps hurry up the stairs and I see his dark head of hair appear at the railing. As he climbs to the top he says, "Do ya know this is the second time you've woken up here after accidentally taking drugs?" I can see he's already showered and dressed. He sits down at the end of the bed and adds, "At least, I assume you were on drugs and it was an accident."

Having a few gaps in my memory I ask, "Does anyone know I am here?"

He nods, "I called your brother and let him know I was bringing you here."

"And he hasn't come by? Has Ryan?" I ask and everything from last night rapidly replays in front of me. Where was Ryan? And why is he allowing me to be here?

"Austin said he'd come for you once you were up. Ryan tried to come and get you last night but I wasn't sure what the hell had happened so I told him you were safe here," Jackson answers. Oh great, I'm sure Ryan loved being told no by Jackson. His look of concern grows and he asks, "Are you not going to tell me what happened last night?"

I get the urge to start crying but I hold it back. I shake my head and he exhales out an annoyed breath.

"Damn it Sawyer you scared the hell out of a lot of people, myself included. When you came out of that office I thought..." he stops abruptly.

"Thought what?"

"Sawyer...were you..." He puts his hand out so it rests on my shin. "Sawyer, were you raped in your office?" He whispers as his big blue eyes plead for me to give him an answer. I'm not sure what to say. I was certainly groped but if I tell him that he's going to ask by who. And how do I explain Rory Cunningham thinking it was appropriate to follow me into my office without telling him of Ryan's case against him. Jackson is good friends with Theo so I can't trust that what I'd tell him would stay secret. He scoots forward in my silence and he says, "How about this, if you tell me what happened last night, I'll tell you a big secret I've been keeping in return."

I let out a light laugh and it makes some of the tension in Jackson's shoulders fade. I shake my head, "You don't have a secret Jackson." But he instantly nods his head, "I do have one. It's what I was going to try and talk to you about this week. And I promise you want to know it."

He has me intrigued. I wonder what all I can say but I then realize I am so furious with Ryan for never coming last night I no longer care. I bite my lip in hesitation and Jackson squeezes my leg for comfort.

"Rory Cunningham was high on drugs last night. I went back to my office and he followed me back there. He got a bit grab-assey and you know the rest," I tell him and I feel like I gave him enough but not too much.

"No, I don't know the rest, Sawyer. You came out of your office stumbling around with your dress all ripped up. When I changed you into those I saw a nasty bruise on your hip and you weren't wearing any underwear. I'm sorry but I need more than that. I need to know if I should have taken you to the hospital," Jackson says sternly. I can tell he genuinely cares about my well-being. I glance down to my pajamas and am slightly annoyed that he saw me naked. When I look back to him I feel a lump swelling on my face and then Jackson adds, "Oh yeah and then there's that." My hand flies to my face and I feel a welt on my cheek. It must have happened when my face hit the edge of the desk.

"Rory tried and failed okay? But he got too close," I say and the frog catches in my throat as I say it. Jackson slides close enough to me to grab my hand.

"Your brother and boyfriend are in law enforcement. Why didn't you ask me to get either of them last night? They could have arrested Rory for attempted rape or whatever the legal term for it is right then and there," Jackson asks. He suddenly adds, "Austin also seemed to know exactly who did this to you when I spoke with him on the phone. He didn't say who it was but if he knew why didn't he stop this?"

I snap my eyes to Jackson and reply, "That's the million-dollar question. I don't know." I watch as he exhales again and I go to lie against the headboard while folding my arms across my chest. I don't want to tell him any more about last night so I ask, "Okay now your turn to tell me... what do you want me to know?" He runs his hands through his dark hair and from the conflicted look on his face I can tell he actually has something he's hiding. It wasn't a ploy to get me to talk and now I am curious.

"What is it, Jackson?" I ask him nicely.

He removes his hand from mine and then asks, "You given much thought to who Whitney's baby daddy is?

I roll my eyes, "Can't say I have with everything else I've been dealin' with. Why? I thought you washed your hands of this after you were in the clear."

He shrugs a shoulder, "I tried but...I started thinkin' about her and I...around the time she got pregnant."

"Yeah..." I urge him on but he's reluctant to finish. "Look Jackson, I know y'all were sleeping together when we were together. Nothing you say now will break my heart alright."

He exhales again and I can tell he's hesitant to tell me what's on his mind. Finally, he starts again, "The only time I can distinctly remember her being coy with me was at your bridal shower. Remember, I stopped by at the end?"

"You hit on her at my shower?" I ask in amazement and he rolls his eyes, "I was a pig alright. Trust me I'm payin' for it but back to my story...I tried to make a pass at her, the night of your shower cuz we all had those hotel rooms remember?"

I nod and flatly reply, "Yes Jackson, I know what hotel I had my shower at."

"Okay well I tried gettin' her to come back to my room but she wouldn't. I thought she was just playin' hard to get but later on, I watched her disappear into someone else's hotel room after everyone from the bar had gone up," he says. He looks away from me for a moment and before he continues on with the story he says, "Now I could be way wrong, which is why I wanted to talk to you first in case I am way off."

"Why would I care anymore? You're acting like it could be Ryan but he never even met her until Founder's Day last year. I also know it isn't Gus because Gus would have told me if they had hooked up so besides you who would I care about?" I ask him, wonderin' why he's telling me this.

"There's not one more person you care about? One person that flew out early the next morning and missed your champagne brunch?" He asks.

I think back to my shower and try and count everyone that came down to the Four Seasons in Oxford for the event. I go over everyone that was in attendance and my heart stops when I think back to the empty chair my mother fussed over at the brunch. She was disappointed Austin had flown back to work so early he didn't say goodbye. My eyes widen and I dart them up to Jackson. I shake my head as I say, "No way in hell Austin slept with Whitney. He would have told me, she would have told me."

Jackson shrugs, "I could be wrong, I just know she got pregnant around that time and if it wasn't me that got her pregnant and she slept with someone staying at the hotel..."

Suddenly I remember Austin's eyes frozen on the newspaper as my mother and I were discussing the paternity results. I then remember his face when Tilly accused him of deceiving my mother. Could he be a part of all this?

"Jackson, Austin is getting married to Margot. If Whitney comes forward and names him as the father...." I say slowly, the image of Margot castrating Austin fills my mind. Margot Hamilton hated Whitney Carmichael.

"I might be wrong- I just don't know why Whitney wouldn't tell me the truth after I found out it wasn't me. She said she knew for sure now but was adamant to keep it a secret from me. I know she feels bad about what she did to you and I wonder if that's why she won't say anything. She doesn't want to hurt you all over again," Jackson says but I don't think she's that selfless.

Suddenly a knock on the door interrupts our conversation and he looks to me, "Speak of the devil." He goes to answer the door and I stop him at the top of the stairs, "Give me a few minutes before sending him up. I need to brush my teeth real quick." He complies but I know I just need to get my mind straight. I need to buy time before seeing my brother.

Would he have slept with my best friend? At my bridal shower? He always seemed put off by her and every time I saw her attempt to flirt with him he scoffed at her. I scurry into the bathroom and shut the door. I rummage through the medicine cabinet to find a new toothbrush and I quickly brush my teeth. I can't stop staring at the welt on my cheek that's now bruising under my eye. How am I going to explain this?

I could say I rolled my ankle on the stiletto and hit a table. That would be believable if anyone saw the height of my shoes last night. And will everyone believe I really got food poisoning? Does my mother know I had to dash off before I could properly close the bar down? I have to get to the winery today, the sooner the better. It's closed for New Years' day so at least I have bought myself some time to get things in order. I need to know what happened after I left last night, with Annabeth, Ryan, Rory and Austin. What did I leave behind?

I hear Austin's heavy steps on the landing so I take a deep breath in and force myself from the bathroom. When I open the door I find Austin picking up my dress from the chaise. He instantly looks to me and the first thing his eyes land on is my bruised cheek.

"Jesus, last night really was a clusterfuck of epic proportions," he says flatly. He drops my dress down and then sits next to it. I see he's managed a shower already and I glance to the stairs wondering where the hell Ryan is.

"He's at the station," Austin says as if reading my mind. I look back to him and then sit on the bed. The rage I felt last night when he never showed comes flooding back and I snap, "Is that where he was last night too?" He rubs his hands down his face and when he looks back to me I notice the dark circles under his bright blue eyes.

"Sawyer....hell I don't even know where to start," Austin says before shaking his head.

"Start at five minutes to midnight. That's where the story gets a bit muddled for me," I snap to him and he leans back into the chair.

"I can only tell you what I know. You're gonna have to get more details from Ryan," he says and I wait for him to continue. He releases a sharp breath and then says, "I guess Ryan was supposed to meet you in your office at midnight so you could...have a minute to yourselves...well I guess he wanted to turn your earpieces off so he went down to the van to check on Aurora and shut them off for a short period."

"The van was all the way around the corner off Cedar street, why didn't he just tell her to turn them off?" I ask

"He was bein' thoughtful and ran her out food as well. She had been in the van at that point alone for four hours. Anyway, he wanted to give her food and shut the earpieces off. According to your timeline he had ten minutes to make that happen before he had to meet you," he says and I nod in agreement.

"I guess right as he got to the van Aurora heard you flat out ask Rory if he was high. Well at that point Aurora didn't want to shut down your earpiece, she wanted the conversation to continue. Ryan wanted the plan shut down immediately and to run straight to your office to get him out. Ro thought he'd blow his cover and she was convinced you were able to get Rory to hand you over what we needed. Well, Ryan wasn't having it and they actually fought inside the van because she didn't want him to interrupt. When Ryan heard you tell Rory to get off of you he flipped out and managed to get around Aurora...." Austin says then suddenly stops.

"Okay, why are you stopping. You are now like two minutes from me getting out of that damn room what happened?" I ask him, annoyed at the suspense.

"It sounds worse than it is, you have to remember we are all trained for physical combat and Aurora is tough," Austin says again and I spin my hand in circles, gesturing for Austin to get on with it. "He accidentally broke her arm as he was fighting to get out of the van. Once he was out he ran up to your office but after looking at the security footage Ryan came in through the patio door at the exact same time Jackson is seen leaving with you out the front. Ryan went back to your office and found Rory still back there and...."

"And..."

"He went into Ryan the boyfriend mode and forgot about Ryan the F.B.I agent mode and he beat the shit out of Rory," Austin tells me. A surge of panic rises within me. My eyes widen as I ask, "Did everyone know what was happening? Am I walking back into a shit storm?"

"I managed to get Rory and Ryan separated. Rory was as high as a kite which made him a pain in the ass to deal with. Once we got him into custody and escorted out people were definitely wondering what the hell had happened. Then Chicken let us know that you left because you got sick and I made the call to close down," Austin finishes.

I can't believe that's how the night came to a close. Everyone in Hollis is probably talking about Rory and Ryan and the fact that my party was shut down minutes after midnight.

"Mother can't know there was drama last," I tell Austin. I can figure Ryan out later but right now I need to know my mother isn't fuming about how our first night ended.

"She already knows a fight broke out and I shut it down," Austin tells me plainly.

Now I don't know if I am going to be able to fight the tears back. She was finally so proud of me and I let her down. I abandoned the bar and my boyfriend caused a scene. It sounds like immature drama and she's going to be furious. Everything that happened in the past twelve hours has been too much and I don't know where I even start to fix it. I glance back to Austin who is waiting patiently for me to say something and I realize there is one more thing I gotta know before I start salvaging this mess.

I glance to Austin and say, "I heard a rumor I gotta ask you about..."