Janet

I woke finally and blinked my eyes a few times. I'd forgotten where I was. I sat up on the side of the bed, clinching my side as I tried to wake myself up a bit. I walked into the living room where Gil and Shawn were curled up on the couch together sleeping. He'd made it. I smiled, I'm so lucky to have such amazing people around me.

I walked into the kitchen quietly and pulled out my phone. Shawn was right, I needed to call my doctor. Rene had hurt me bad. It hurt to even breathe at this point. Just as I hung up,  Shawn walked in to join me. She yawned sleepily.

"Good morning beautiful, coffee?" She said with a sweat smile.

"Morning and yes please. I see Gil made it last night."

She laughed. "Yeah he did, he ran in here yelling for me to get my bat and sneakers. Homeboy was ready to go to war."

I hugged my waist laughing as I adjusted in the chair. Shawn brought me a cup of coffee and joined me at the table. I gazed at her for a moment.

"I called my doctor like you suggested." I said breaking the silence.

"Good." She nodded. "So he's coming here then?"

"Yeah, if you're okay with that."

"Sure, that's not a problem at all." She said and took a sip of her coffee. She sat her cup down and I took her hand into my own.

"Thank you, I don't know if I said that to you last night." Words were not enough to express how full my heart was in that moment.

She touched my face. "J I think you should stay here. It completely safe and I can just stay hotel or..."

"Or stay with me bitch, hashtag sleepover." Gil said making his grand entrance into the kitchen. He pour himself a cup of coffee, kissed us both on the cheek and took a seat.

I look at Shawn. "This is your space and if I stay here I definitely wouldn't want to be alone."

"Then just stay here with me." She said. "Gil's place is not far from here. Even Preston is closer now. Everything you need is right here."

"Are you sure it's okay?" I asked again just wanting to be sure.

"I want to protect you J." She said.

My doctor showed up with an hour. Gil and Shawn waited in the other as he examined me.

"Your ribs are badly bruised. I don't think that any are broken but I can't know for sure without an x-ray Janet."

"I can't go to the hospital." He felt so anxious and embarrassed. "Can you please just help me."

He removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "Okay, just come to my office tomorrow morning. I will set up a private room just you and I, no nurses. We'll call it just a routine check up."

"Thank you doctor. There was one more thing." I went on to explain to him what happened in the bathroom.

"Janet have you called the police?"

"I'm not calling the police on my husband. I don't need that kind of attention right now, but I do need to know that I'm okay. There are a lot of sharp pains and swelling." He sterilized his hands and put on gloves.

The amount of bruising on my inner thighs shocked him and his eyes met mine quickly. I looked away as I tried to ignore how uncomfortable this was for me.

"There isn't much I can see from here but I do feel the swelling. Did he use protection?"

"Yeah, he took a second to put on a condom before raping me." I snapped and covered my face.

"I'm sorry it's just something I had to ask." He touched my shoulder. "I had to ask."

"I know, I'm so sorry. He didn't... finish in me. He would never want to risk me getting pregnant." I said and pulled Shawn's robe back over my shoulders and sat up in the bed. "Are we done?" I hated the way he was looking at me. Like he felt sorry for me or like I was going to break at any moment.

"Yes ma'am. So I will see you at my office tomorrow morning. I will make sure everything is ready for you. Until then use this to wrap around you. It will make moving a little easier until we can get the X-rays done."

I nodded and stood to walk him out. I felt bad for the way I'd talked to him. "Thank you doctor. I'm sorry for getting a snappy back there. I had a rough night."

"I understand and I'm here for you no matter day or night Ms. Jackson. See you in the morning."

"Thanks." I smiled and closed the door.

Gil and Shawn stood up as I walked towards the dinning room.

"What did he say Dunk? Is everything okay?"

"He doesn't think I have any broken ribs but he wants to do an X-ray just to be sure. As far as everything thing else, it's nothing time won't heal." I looked over at Shawn. She couldn't look at me. "Shawn?" Her eyes meet mine. "You okay?" I asked.

"I'm good."

Shawn

I lied. I'm wasn't good all. I had messed up. I was mad at her for bringing Rene and I wanted her to be jealous. The look on her face when Amelia approached me gave me some sort of twisted satisfaction. I wanted her to feel what I felt every time I saw her with him. Snapping out of my thoughts, I stood and walked away from the table and into my room. Gil followed me.

"Shawn, look at me." He asked. I paced for a second, stopped and glanced over at him.

"I know what you're thinking and its okay for you to feel the way you do but it's not about you right now." He pointed towards the kitchen. "She needs us... Shawn she needs you.
So do what the fuck you gotta do to get this shit out of your system right now and let's help her get through this." He took my hand and squeezed it tightly. "I love you sexual chocolate."

"You know I hate it when you call me that."

"I know but you just look like a milkdud." He laughed licking his lips. "I'm gonna go say bye to Dunk and don't worry about rehearsals tomorrow. I will talk to T." He turned to leave but stopped and glanced back at me. "Hey, thank you for saving her. You were her knight in shinning armor last night Shawn." He blew me a kiss and walked out.

I needed to work off some steam so threw on some shorts and tank.

Call me old fashion but it keeps me in shape. A few minutes into my workout and I was in my zone. I didn't even notice Janet standing behind me.

"Shawn?" I stopped and turned to see her.

"Did I say something to upset you?" She asked. I was in disbelief. With everything she'd gone through, she was worried about me.

"Of course not J. I just have some things on my mind. I promise you didn't do anything wrong."

"Im still really tired." She said. "Will you come and lay with me until I fall asleep? Indon't want to be alone right now." She held her hand. I took off my gloves, threw them to the side and took it.

My heart was beating out of my chest and there was no way to hide it. We got into bed and snuggle close to me, her head resting on my chest. The thumping from my heart had be so loud in her ear but she didn't seem to mind. Her fingers found their way to mine. First, just light contact. She then tangled her fingers into mine and I allowed my eyes to drift closed.

"Did you know that I was jealous?" She asked. My eyes fluttered open. "Did you know?"

"I wasn't sure, but I wanted you to be." She lifted her head and looked at me.

"Why?"

I had a hard time looking her eyes but couldn't bring myself to look away. "Because I was. I always have been. I may not have known all the details of you and Rene but I could see that you're not happy." I looked away trying to blink away my tears.

"Shawn I-"

"You don't owe me any explanation either J. He is your husband and I'm just the dancer her fell for her boss." I got out of the bed and walked out of the room.