“Jesus Christ, Christine! You look like shit!” Christine opened her left eye and glared at her attorney, Josh Abrams. He watched silently as she slowly moved her hand from under her blanket and uplifted a single finger. His plastic smile fell slightly as Christine opened her right eye. He quickly looked away, “I contacted the police department. It seems that a Detective Zadie Cain is in charge of the investigation. I just spoke with her and she is on her way to take your statement now. She asked for permission to have a police photographer accompany her to get some close-ups of your injuries…I took the liberty of telling her that it was okay.” Josh took a deep breath as he turned back around, “She’s going to call me when she gets here, I’ll wait outside for her.” He was almost to the door when he heard Christine, he turned around as she hissed, “I want that bitch to suffer for this!”

* * * * *

Zadie frowned deeply as she got off of the phone. ‘I can’t believe she already has her attorney involved.’  “Zadie you ready?” She looked up at Ralph, he already had his camera bag loaded, “Come on, I want to get home sometime tonight.” Zadie smiled sympathetically, “I understand, I just have one more quick call and then we can leave.”  She waited until Ralph left her office before picking up the phone, ‘Is this guy really worth the risk you are thinking about taking?’ Even as she debated dialing the number, she knew she had made that decision when she watched Arthur with his daughter.

* * * * *

Spencer slowly walked into the darkened room, the only light from the small bathroom in the corner. She could hear Ashley breathing steadily. She looked at her girlfriend and realized that she couldn’t see her face. The only thing sticking out at the top of the hospital blanket was a large mass of brown curls. Spencer smiled as she gently pulled back the blanket to reveal Ashley’s face. Her mouth was parted slightly and every few breathes she would snore lightly. Spencer had never felt so relieved in her life. She didn’t want to wake her, but she had to know if she was really okay. She slowly caressed Ashley’s cheek, tucking her hair behind her ear. Spencer closed her eyes at the feeling of warmth from her girlfriend’s face; she remembered how deathly cold she had felt earlier. She opened her eyes as she felt Ashley began to stir.  Spencer leaned closer to Ashley’s face as her eyes opened slowly, “Spence?”