Linda Lyme works in a hospital to where Ray Vecchio is taken when badly injured during a bust mishap. She is not much more than a cleaning lady, and everybody treats her as crap. The shy girl puts Fraser inside ICU so he can see Ray. The Mountie is very thankful to the young girl, who seems to be younger than 20 years old.

As he finds out, Linda is a very disturbed orphaned teen, a victim of child abuse and neglect that spent practically her whole life in sanatoriums and mental institutions before it was established that she was not mentally ill, merely emotionally inept. The state of Illinois (in the person of her psychiatrist, Dr. Lennyard) is her legal guardian. He is treating her with a revolutionary method to her, allowing her to work and to live outside the institution, by herself and under his supervision.

The girl quickly captures his and Ray's heart, and they become close friends. Her condition and socialisation improves. When she is mugged, Fraser sees how Linda reacts in a bad manner to violence, shutting the world out. He tries to protect her. But an old enemy of his and Ray's kidnaps Linda, and assaults her. Fraser goes to the rescue and gets imprisoned by Carver, too. After their rescue by Ray's timely arrival, Fraser finds in the strangest possible way that he is in love with Linda. Traumatised, emotionally insecure, Linda has to put a lot of effort to believe she is worthy of Fraser's love.

They finally find each other, and consumate their love, but choose to wait a bit to tell their friend Ray and their family. When their lives seem to be in a good track, Linda is assaulted again. Her aggressor is another one of Ray's enemies, and the girl is traumatised once more.

With Fraser's love and patience, Linda seems to be recovering. They decide to break the good news to the Vecchio's, but Ray takes the news very badly. Thinking she had destroyed Benny and Ray's friendship, Linda breaks up with Ben and asks both of them to forget about her.

In her weakened and depressed state, Linda is kidnapped. She disappears for more than two months and gets rescued by a fortuitous bust by the Chicago PD on some underground prostitution ring. To Ray and Fraser's horror, they find out Linda had been turned into a sort of sex slave, brutalised to her core.

This time Linda loses a baby she did not even know she was carrying. She bounces back after a long period of recovery. When she comes home, she offers Ray a dinner in which she and Fraser proposes to give Ray access to their intimate relationship. The Italian detective is so shocked he cannot even refuse.

Impossible as it seems, after that Linda is brutalised once more. Only this time she won't reveal her aggressor, shutting the world out in such manner she gets committed in a hospital for a few days. But she reacts when Dr. Lennyard, her legal guardian, receives a legal request from her father to grant him custody over her.

The hospital lawyer acts on behalf of the State of Illinois, represented by Dr. Lennyard, who wants to keep Linda as its ward. They go to court, and even Linda gets to testify in the procedures. All in vain, because her father gets a six-month trial period of custody, during which Linda is forbidden to keep contact with her former guardians.

Her father hires a nurse to take care of her and Linda gets treated by some other doctor. Linda gets seriously ill, not only from a deep depression but also from some the medical treatment. Ray and Fraser get increasingly upset and nervous, unaware that Linda has ceased to speak and walk, and has slid back in her mental state. As a matter of fact, she is so bad that her father relinquishes custody back to the State of Illinois. When they see Linda's condition, they get revolted.

It takes them a lot of time to make any progress with the girl, but they managed to obtain some, after a lot of hard work. Then her father shows up, to make some dramatic revelations: he is not her real father, but an artist, contracted by some Mobster to pose as such. The criminals' intention was to make Linda produce a baby, then sell it. The child was hers and Fraser's.

The revelation has great impact on Linda. She falls terribly back on her health again. The nurse, Donna, the same one who took care of her while she was with her father, makes all she can. Linda also works hard to recover her health.

Her efforts are not in vain. Linda recovers, after months, then gets her job back and even enters in night school, making new friends. She needs the credits to apply for nursing school, her biggest dream.

Fraser asks her to move in with him. She agrees, and they get another apartment, a very nice one in a decent neighbourhood, not very far from Ray's house. They live like a couple, so happy, in domestic bliss. At least for a while.

Fraser fears his past might needs to be disclosed for the sake of their relationship, and after a few frustrated attempts, he finally tells Linda about a dark woman who held his heart captive for 10 years of his life, one whom he had to arrest. The information has great impact on Linda, but Fraser soothes her anxiety. Besides, there's another piece of information that needs to be properly dealt with: Linda may be pregnant.

Unfortunately, they cannot deal with it at that particular moment, for a grave thing happens. Ray disappears. Fraser goes into full-Mountie mode, trying to track him, working with the police, Linda also by his side. When the Riv is found, without any sign of Ray, Fraser goes with the police to check it, and the former Ray Vecchio (not the real one) stops by the precinct. Ray Kowalski has some information that could be a lead on the real Ray Vecchio's location.

Two days later, while on her night school, Linda gets two messages: Ray had been found and Fraser would meet her on her lunch break. The Mountie appears and Linda talks to him. After that, she returns to her class, and only after that she appears to the hospital Ray has been taken to, still unconscious. Linda is very nervous, and when Ray wakes up, she tells him Fraser had to travel on Consulate business.

After that she goes home. Linda gets a visit from Turnbull three days later, because Inspector Thatcher has been worried about Constable Fraser. After all, he hasn't shown to work for days. But the young Constable gets worried because Linda was pretty sick, with no one but the wolf taking care of her. At least Diefenbaker has always been very protective of the girl. Linda apologises and tells Turnbull she will visit Inspector Thatcher as soon as she gets better.

Ray gets released from the hospital almost a week later, pretty pissed that neither Linda nor Fraser came by to see him. He finds her in her apartment, unconscious. He tries to wake her up, and all she can say is that Fraser is gone, because she had left her for another woman. Confused, Ray calls her doctor and takes her home.

The horrible story slowly unravels. It seems that Fraser had left her on the very same day Ray had been found - after being kidnapped by persons still unknown to the police. Apparently, Fraser merely dumped her and got out of her life, also quitting the RCMP at the same time. He had left without a trace. Linda gets seriously depressed, all self-esteem gone from being abandoned by her lover and Dr. Lennyard thinks she is very close to harming herself.

Ray starts to investigate all of this and finally some dots start to connect. Kowalski also brings in some more information. Ray tells Linda that Fraser might not have left her of his own will. According to his investigation, all attacks on Linda might have been directed, and all his leads point to Victoria Metcalf. Ray thinks there is a real chance that the woman is holding Fraser with blackmail or something like that.

That actually cheers Linda up. She gets more hopeful when she starts to help on Ray's investigation, and finds out more evidence, including the involvement of people she used to call friends to tip off Victoria. Now filled with hope, Linda regains her health, and she goes back to work.

One fine day, she receives a phone call alerting her that Fraser had escaped Victoria. But before Linda can see her beloved, Victoria takes her. The vindictive woman confirms that all Linda's slings and arrows of misfortunes are of her making and that now Linda must live her own life away from Chicago, away from Benton Fraser and any friends, or she'd made Fraser suffer in many, many ways. Victoria even offers Linda her own child back.

Before Victoria takes Linda out of the city, however, Ray and Fraser locate them, and there is a confrontation, not to mention a shooting, in which Ray gets injured. Victoria uses Linda as hostage and then injects her with lethal substances. Fraser tries to help the woman he loves as Victoria escapes. She is taken to the hospital in critical condition.

In the original ending, despite all effort Linda dies from Victoria's poisoning. Fraser's dead father, Robert Fraser appears after the funeral to remind his son that there is another Fraser out there: his grandchild.

Unfortunately however, this ending did not receive a warm reception. So I changed it. It is understood at such point that Linda got very, very ill, and is fighting for life in the hospital.