AJ woke up first the next morning.  In an attempt not to wake her, he sat quietly on the couch watching her sleep.  He watched her chest rise and fall with each breath, studying her face and the bruise that was visibly forming.  He decided he would take her to the police station when she woke up.  After breakfast, that is.

Katie's eyes fluttered open when she felt his eyes on her.  Stretching out, she looked over at him and smiled.

"Good morning," AJ smiled, "Sleep okay?"

She sat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes, "Yeah.  I did."

"Good.  We'll do breakfast and then I'll go over to the police station with you later this morning."

Katie nodded, "I didn't think you'd forget about that...you mind if I make a quick phone call first?  I wanna check in with Beth."

"No problem."

She picked up the phone and dialed Joe's phone number.

"Hello?"

"Hey Joe," Katie smiled at the sound of his familiar voice, "Is Beth up yet?"

"Sure is.  Lemme find her.  How are you doing this morning?" she could hear moving around on the other end as, Katie presumed, Joe was going through his small apartment to find Beth.

"I've been worse.  I'm doing pretty good this morning.  Thanks for asking," Katie sat in the bed watching AJ while she waited for Joe to find Beth.

AJ was moving around the hotel room, going through bags, and then he disappeared into the bathroom.  Several seconds later he re-appeared with a white hotel wash cloth.  He put it up to her cheek, causing Katie to flinch.

"It's cold!" she whispered.

"Um, yeah, okay...don't even want to know," Beth laughed.

"Shut up perv.  Mind outta the gutter!  Alex just put some ice on my cheek."

Katie could picture Beth rolling her eyes, "Yes captain obvious, ice is cold.  I take it you are being well taken care of then?"

"Very," Katie smiled and looked over at AJ.  Their eyes met and a surge of electricity shot through her body, "Ales is taking me to the police station after breakfast."

"Good.  About that though...remember those pictures I forced you to let me take a few weeks ago, that you made me swear to get rid of?"

"The ones of the bruises?  Yeah.  I had a feeling you've kept them.  Where are they?"

"My dresser...top drawer...in the back, probably under some clothes."

"Thanks hon.  We'll grab them on the way.  Talk to ya later."

Katie hung up and turned to AJ.  She told him about the pictures and he agreed that they would go get them.  They got dressed and left for breakfast.

--An Hour Later--

AJ and Katie had a quick breakfast and had now pulled into the parking lot in front of Katie's apartment building.  AJ moved to turn the car off, but Katie stopped him.

"I'll just be a minute, you don't have to come up."

"You sure?"

Katie assured him that she would be fine to just run up to the apartment before she got out of the car.  A few minutes later she was in her apartment, rummaging through Beth's top drawer.  Having found the pictures, she quickly made her way back through the apartment to the front door.

"I was wondering when you'd come home."

She froze and her blood went cold.  How had she missed him when he came in?  How did he get in here?  She willed her body to keep moving, but it wouldn't cooperate.  She was frozen to her spot.

"What, nothing to say?"

"How did you get in here Dane?" she finally asked, not turning around to look at him.

"Secret hiding place?  You leave a key in the light outside your door.  Or did you forget that?  I saw you get it out of there one night."

"Go away Dane.  We already talked about this last night.  I have somewhere to be," Katie said as calmly as her body would let her and kept moving for the door.

Before she could make it he attached himself to her like a snake on his prey.  Pulling her back by the arm, Katie yelped and the pictures fell from her hand onto the floor.

"Going back to him?" he spat out, yanking her roughly around by the arm, his fingers digging into her skin, "I knew you were cheating on me!"

"Dane stop it!  You're hurting me!" Katie begged.

"You lying little bitch!" he yelled, emphasizing his words with a rough slap across the face.

"Dane, you're hurting me!  Please stop!  I don't want to be with you anymore!"

She wiggled her arm free, feeling his hand burned into her upper arm.  He grabbed hold again before she could get more than two steps.  Wrapping his hand in her hair, he pulled hard.  Yanking her back by the hair he had tangled in his fingers, Katie screamed out and fell backwards.  He dragged her a few steps backwards by her hair before he let go and she dropped completely to the tile floor.  She heard the smack as her skull hit the hard tile, felt the pain shoot through her head.  Seconds later she felt his foot connect with her side as she lay there on the floor, unsure of what to do next.

Katie curled into a ball, tears streaming down her face, wishing it all away.  She was panicking, breathing hard, gasping to get breaths in.  She felt his fists and feet connect with her body, her legs, her head.  Briefly she'd wished he'd hit her just right and end it all there.  Several more hits and she couldn't feel anything anymore.  She was numb.

She couldn't hear his words anymore, she couldn't feel him hit her.  It was like it wasn't her.  Like she'd flown out of her body, and was looking down watching.

Then she heard his voice.  Alex.  He was yelling.  She kept her eyes shut tight, curled tightly into a fetal position.  She was unsure of herself, not sure that it was really him.  Afraid that her mind could be playing tricks on her, she didn't want to take any chances.

Dane had stopped hitting her.  She returned to her own body.  She could feel the soft spots on her skin where bruises would later form, raw patches from rug burn and scratches.  Her head...a million different sensations, and all of them pain.  It hurt from being pulled across the room by her hair, hurt from hitting the tile, hurt from the blows he'd given her, hurt from the entire thing.  She had no more energy.

What seemed like an eternity later she heard a third voice, and then a hand on her shoulder.  Katie flinched at the contact, but realized that it was soft and gentle.

Slowly she uncurled herself and looked up into AJ's eyes.  He was really there.

She scanned the apartment.  Everything seemed so surreal, like it wasn't actually happening.  It was all a dream, a nightmare, and she'd wake up back in AJ's hotel room.

Her neighbor was on the other side of the apartment, struggling with Dane, keeping him from causing any further damage.  AJ was on the floor next to her, one of his hands holding hers tightly, and the other holding his cell phone to his ear.  This was no nightmare, it was the real thing.

She could hear him talking, but nothing was registering in her brain.  Everything felt numb from exhaustion.  Her limbs shook from fear and exhaustion.  Her neighbor, Mike, was talking to her, but she didn't really hear him.

When AJ finished on the phone he turned back to Katie, "Katie, hon.  You're okay now.  It's okay."

AJ kept re-assuring her that she was safe now.  He'd called the police and they were on their way.  She visibly relaxed the tiniest bit when seconds later they heard the sirens and various uniformed people entered the apartment.

Mike was relieved of holding back Dane as he was handcuffed and put into a police car.  The police attempted to question Katie but she was still too out of it to be of any help.  They moved to AJ as the EMTs were doing a quick check of Katie.  They had decided to take Katie to the ambulance, and ultimately to the hospital.

"Sir, are you family?" a female EMT questioned AJ.  He shook his head no, "I'm sorry sir, I can only allow family into the ambulance.  You can check on her there."

They took Katie down the stairs, AJ following close behind.  He watched them load her into the ambulance and drive away, leaving AJ standing on the curb with Mike.

"I don't know what would've happened if you hadn't come over here."

"I live next door.  I heard something going on when I got out of the shower.  I knew the girls lived alone over here, so I had to come make sure things were okay.  You a new boyfriend?" Mike said.

"No, just a friend.  She was grabbing something from the apartment, and when she took too long I ran up to check on her.  I knew I should've come up with her," AJ berated himself for giving into her.

"I knew that guy was no good...just didn't know how bad it was."

A police officer was talking to Mike now, questioning him on his involvement.  AJ decided he should call Beth to let her know what had happened.  He went back up to the apartment to find Joe's phone number.  It was on the refrigerator, neatly written on a small white board.

"Joe?"

"Who's this?"

"It's AJ...Katie's friend.  Is Beth still there?"

"She's in the shower.  Is everything okay?"

"No, I need to talk to her.  It's Katie."

AJ heard the phone hit something hard and Beth was on the phone seconds later.

"AJ!  What's wrong?  What happened?"

He was trying to stay calm, but she'd looked so helpless and beat up when they'd rushed her away.  He explained the story as best as he could then told her to meet him at the hospital.

"They might tell you more than me, since you're the best friend."