Lindsey froze, hearing his own heartbeat and Stevie's sobs only

"What do you mean you think you've killed Rick...?"

"I-I don't think he's breathing!" Stevie was absolutely hysterical, hiccuping as she tried to breath. "Sweetheart, what did you do?"

"The stairs...I have to go!" She rushed, hanging up quickly. Lindsey was stuck, he needed to get to her but he didn't know where she lived. Grabbing the phone book he tried to find her name and address.

Finding four of her, he tried each one, finally getting an answer on the last one. "Lindsey?" Stevie sniffled, thank goodness he found the right one. "Stevie, you need to give me your address right now" he said quickly but tried to sound calm. "I live in the apartment above the diner...."

"I'm coming to you. Don't touch a thing!" He hung up and quickly got Jack from his bed. Jack was fussy as he moved him around, putting him in the car and speeding to the diner. Once he arrived he took his son from the car and ran to the door for Stevie's apartment, knocking frantically. Stevie rushed to the door, pulling Lindsey inside. "Stevie what's happened?" He rushed to ask, needing to know

"He fell down the stairs! I tripped him!" Lindsey noticed that Stevie was only in a robe. "Did he hurt you?!" He asked checking her for visible marks. "Go to Rick!" Stevie paced back and forth. "Stevie, what did he do?"

Stevie pushed passed him, "What am I going to do?!" Kneeling beside Ricky. Lindsey joined her and rolled Rick over, feeling his neck for a pulse. He felt a faint pulse, "He's alive...."

"Oh my god" Stevie covered her mouth crying. "Did you call an ambulance?"

"Lindsey, he's going to kill me!" She panicked. Lindsey picked up the phone, calling 911 and turning to Stevie. "Then we'll have to make sure he isn't alive when then get here."

"W...what...?"

"I won't let him either."

"Lindsey...what are you saying?" She asked looking at him. Lindsey shook his head "God, I don't even know why I suggested that!"

"What if I go to jail?!" Stevie panicked, "I have to leave!"

"You're coming with me!"

"No! They'll find me!"

"Look...just stay here and tell them that it was an accident. They can't tell if you tripped him or not...."

"He'll tell them when he wakes up! I didn't mean to, it just happened, he'd been so horrible and..." she trailed off covering her face. Lindsey took her into his arms, "I'm sure that there are lots of people that could tell them how abusive he is."

"They've already told me they won't, because they need their jobs" Jack reached across and touched Stevie's cheek.

"Come with me! I'll take you away from him!"

"Won't we get into trouble for leaving the scene?"

"We'll wait till they get here, just say you found him and then we'll go okay?"

"Okay," she sniffled. "Won't I have to go with him to the hospital?"

"I don't want you too..."

"Just pick me up there..."

Lindsey was about the speak when he saw that Rick was beginning to move a little, groaning. "Shit!" Stevie paced

"Stevie! Please calm down!"

"He's waking up!"

"Would you calm down if you had Jack?" He asked. "No...."

"Stevie, you are driving me crazy..." he punches the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry-you can go," she said quickly, almost nervously, "I can deal with this."

"Hey...hey...shhh" he held her cheek in his palm and stroked her with his thumb. "I'm sorry!"

"Don't apologise, you're alright!"

"What do we do?" Passing Stevie his car keys he told her which car was his

"Go wait in the car for me!" "Lindsey...what are you going to do?" Stevie looked down at the keys in her hand as he handed her Jack. "I'm going to wait and say it was me that called them, then as soon as they take him to hospital I'll get in the car and drive"

"Thank you!" Stevie kissed his cheek
Lindsey waited for the paramedics who arrived ten minuets later, telling them he was Ricky's friend and he found him at the bottom of the stairs.

"How long as he been unconscious?" The paramedics kneeled beside him. "I couldn't say, he was already here when I got in"

"What's his name?"

"His name is Ricky"

"Do you know of any medical history?"

"Umm...no not that I know of"

"Thank you, we'll take him now." They quickly loaded Ricky into the ambulance. Lindsey rushed downstairs and jumped into his car

"They've taken him to the hospital" he said turning the key and speeding off.

"Lindsey, how can I thank you?"

"How ever you'd like" he smiled

"I don't have much money, but I can cook and clean and I'm good with kids," she said nervously. "I'm not going to make you be my servant" he laughed "but I'll appreciate some help"

"Anything you want me to!"

"Thank you" he placed his hand on her thigh as a friendly gesture. Stevie moved it, not comfortable around other men...Ricky had ruined her. "Sorry! I wasn't trying anything on...I promise you" he shifted nervously, thinking she thought he was a creep now. "No it's okay, it's just...Ricky...."

"What about him?"

"I've been with him for so long..."

"I understand, I'm sorry again, I wont touch you in future"'

"It's alright, Lindsey," she squeezed his hand. He turned and smiled at her, soon returning home, getting from the car and taking Stevie inside. "This is where you live...."Stevie stood in awe, gawking at his home. "It is...welcome to home..." he smiled, placing jack down in his play pen in the living room. "You want me to stay here?" She asked, "Are you sure?"

"Why wouldn't I be? It's a large house, there's room..." he chuckled. "I'm very clumsy, I wouldn't want to break anything...." Stevie smiled shyly

"Hey, everything is always replaceable" he shrugged. "Thank you, Lindsey....I don't know how to even begin to pay you back!"

"Knowing you're away from him is enough for me"

Stevie got quiet, "I'll have to go to the hospital at some time...."

"Then I'll go with you..."

"Would that look right?"

"I honestly don't care what it looks like"

Stevie nodded, "Can I make you something to eat as an apology for dragging you out of bed in the middle of the night?"

"No, I'm alright thank you. Stevie...what happened tonight?"

"What happens every night...but I don't want to talk about it," shaking her head. "Please...I want to know..." he walked up to her and took her hand, giving her the strength to talk. "We had sex...if you could call it that..." she looked at their intertwined hands. "Did he...did he rape you...?" He swallowed hard. "Every night..." Stevie cried. "Oh my god..." he pulled her into him and wrapped his arms tightly around her. "Can I still stay?" She sniffled, looking up at him with her big brown eyes.
"Why wouldn't you, honey?" Looking down into her face, he realised in this moment how beautiful she truly was. "I didn't-I didn't know if this changed how you felt..."

"Of course it doesn't...it doesn't make me see you any differently" Stevie hugged him tightly, "Thank you so much."

"You're more than welcome" he kissed the top of her head. "So...what now?"

"What do you mean what now?" He chuckled.

"Where do we go from here?"

"Well we go to bed" he smiled. "Okay...." Stevie pulled away, turning to Jack and kissing his head. Lindsey lifted him and carried him upstairs with Stevie, placing him into bed. "Goodnight!" Stevie cooed, "I, uh, I haven't taken a shower since he..." trailing off, "so I'd hate to mess up your beds."

"There's a shower attached to each room, fresh towels on the shelves"

"Thank you again, Lindsey," she timidly kissed his cheek, "Which room would you like me to stay in?"

"I'd liked you next to mine, just in case there's any problems"

"Okay," Stevie nodded, "show me the way please."

Walking down the hall he opened the door to Stevie's room, showing her where everything was

"This door here connects to my room, if you need anything at all you just come on through alright?"

"Okay, thank you," Stevie smiled softly, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight"

Stevie went into her bathroom, starting the shower, realising she was bleeding. "Lindsey..." she tried not to yell. Opening the door to her room he stood outside the bathroom door

"What's the matter?"

"Do you happen to have and underwear and...women's items?" Her face flushed terribly. "Umm, Carol Ann might have left stuff here, let me check" he rushed to his bathroom and into his ex girlfriends cupboard, finding the personal items and grabbing one, taking a pair of his tighter boxer shorts from the drawer and returning to Stevie. Stevie chuckled seeing the underwear he had chosen, "Thank you so much!"

"Sorry, its all I have" he chuckled too handing it over "are you alright?" He asked. "Yes, I will be," opening the door all the way once she had the underwear and her robe on. Lindsey stood deadly still, Stevie's robe hadn't been done properly, so she was currently exposing her chest to him. Stevie looked down, "I am so sorry!" Covering herself up quickly. "Don't be..." he said biting his lip and turning to leave the room. "Lindsey..." she called after him. "Yeah?" He turned back around.

"....Nothing...."

"You sure?" His breathing had laboured a little, it had been a while since he'd seen that part of a woman. "I uh, I-yeah, I'm sure..."

"Alright..." he rushed into his room before he could make a fool of himself, seeing her had affected him. Lindsey felt like she didn't have those kinds of feelings for her...she just needed a friend right now...

"Lindsey stop it for god sake! You're acting like a sex deprived teenager!" He said to himself. He had finally calmed himself enough to go to bed, hearing his door creak in the middle of the night

"Stevie...?" He asked groggily into the darkness. "Sorry...I, uh, I can't stop thinking about Ricky..."

"You wanna...you want to lay next to me?" He received no answer but instead felt the bed beside him shift as she climbed in. "You want me to lay on top of the covers?" He asked trying to be respectful. "No, it's alright," Stevie said softly, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight"

Lindsey waited until she was sleep to fall asleep himself, waking up early morning to find her mostly on top of him. Lindsey had no clue what to do, afraid that if he woke her up then she would freak out. Deciding it would be safer to just keep her there, he stroked the skin on her arm absentmindedly. "Ricky...." Stevie mumbled. Lindsey froze, she'd said Ricky's name, he didn't know what to do, so he waited to see if she said anything else. "Are you hungry?" She asked. She must have been so groggy that she didn't even register. "No honey, I'm not hungry..." Hearing his voice Stevie shot up, "Oh my god!"

"What...?" He panicked. "I'm so sorry!"

"Why are you sorry?"

"I was all over you! You must have felt so uncomfortable!"

"No as much as I should" he admitted quietly "I'm just happy as long as you were comfortable"

"What do you mean "not as much as you should"?" Stevie asked. "Nothing...it doesn't matter..." Lindsey said

"I won't make you tell me," Stevie kissed his cheek. "I'll go make breakfast."

"Stevie, its six am..." he chuckled looking at the clock. "Oh...sorry."

"You want to just stay here for a bit? If I've made you awkward now I can go stay on the floor"

"I'm not going to make you sleep on the floor in your own home. I'll go to the other room."

"Have I made you feel awkward...?"

"No, of course not!"

"Good...I might as well tell you...I'm not use to having a woman so close anymore..."

"Really?"

"Yeah...not since I conceived Jack..."

"Why do you want to have sex?" Stevie asked curiously. "Everyone has needs...it was a nice feeling" he chuckled. "Nice? Sex is painful and scary, why would you want to have it?" She sat up. "No it isn't...you just haven't had it with the right person"

"It's never felt good. Ever."

"Seriously? With the right person it feels gentle and loving, and so good" Stevie laid on her back, "That sounds amazing," she smiled. "It is, you have foreplay to start with which is an experience in it's self"

Chuckling, "I think he tried to do that but he never was good at it."

"Well what did he do?" Stevie covered her face, "Do you want to know?"

"I do yeah..."

"He would go...down there...but it didn't feel good."

"Why not? How did it feel?"

"He bit me..."

"He what...?" Lindsey asked shocked.

"Its over now..."

"Alright, but just letting you know, you nibble you don't ever bite..."

Stevie laughed, "Well that's nice to know."

"Well I don't know, you might be lucky enough to have a good experience with someone one day" he shrugged.

"Yeah, maybe. I don't know if I'll ever be ready to be with someone again."

"You will, we'll get you fixed up and I'll send you off out there, you'll make some guy very happy" he smiled. "I should call the hospital later and check on Rick..." Stevie turned to face him, "What am I going to do once he's released?"

"You come back here, I don't want you to go back there!" He said sternly.

"He will kill me! Literally!"

"Then he's going to have to kill me first..." Stevie sat up and bit her lip, "You love me..."

"What...?" He said looking away. "You love me." She repeated. "What makes you say that..."

"I can see it."

"I'm sorry..." he looked at his fingers. "I think I have feelings for you too..."

"You do?" He looked up.

"I think so...but I'm so tired of thinking lately."

"That's okay...I'm going to go check on Jack" he said nervously getting up.

Stevie thought that she had pushed him away or that she had misinterpreted his feelings, jumping out of bed and going into her room. Lindsey picked Jack up into his arms "hey buddy, want to go see Stevie?" Carrying him back to his room...Stevie wasn't there...

"Stevie?" He shouted, worried she had made a run for it. "In here!" She called back. Finding her in her room he walked in

"I went to go get Jack to say hello"

"I thought I scared you away..."

"God no! If anyone's doing the scaring it's me" he walked over and offered her the baby. "Hello, Jack!" Stevie kissed him softly, "Did you sleep well?" He gurgled at her and yawned, playing with her hair. "Are you still sleepy?" bouncing him up and down. Within five minuets he was fast asleep in her neck

"Will you call and check on Rick?" She asked quietly. "Of course" he walked from the room to his phone, dialling the hospital to find out Ricks condition. "I am sorry to inform you but Mr. Henning passed away early this morning...there was too much internal damage."

"Th...thank you..." Lindsey was at a complete loss for words. "Again, I am very sorry..."

"Thank you" he hung up and made his way back to Stevie. "Well..." she asked nervously