Aileen walked over and gave him a hug. "You look good!" she exclaimed and smiled at him. His colour had returned and his injuries were healing rapidly. The doctor had told him it was probably his physical condition prior to the shooting that was allowing him to heal so quickly.

"Doc was in this morning and told me I could probably go home soon." he said. "Apparently, the nurses are getting too distracted with me here." he chuckled.

"Distracted, huh? What have you been doin', flexing those pecs in the doorway or giving private shows?" she pinched his good arm and laughed.

He pulled her over to the bed and held her. "So, how are you?" he asked, massaging her neck.

"I've been better, that's for sure." she thought. "Kev, we need to talk." she sighed. Aileen held his hands in her lap and looked into his green eyes. "You need to know what went on while you were unconscious."

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Nick finished up the last of the dishes and slapped the towel on the counter. The headache from this morning was still there, it had merely dulled in intensity. "She saw the drawings." he said outloud. "If 'Leen didn't think I was a total pathetic, loser, jerk before, she certainly does now." He pushed some things around on the counter. "Nice, Carter. Not only do you stupidly fall in love with your best friends girl, you find a way to let her in on the secret!" He shoved a container across the counter so that it banged against the wall. "Only you could be that dumb!" As the words left his mouth a violent pain seized him. "That's a good one!" he said, through gritted teeth. He gripped the edge of the counter. The pain wasn't settling this time. As Nick turned to get his pills out of the cupboard, the pain hit again and he collapsed to the floor of the kitchen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Okay, spill it!" Kevin smiled at her.

"What do you remember?" The look on her face was guarded. "Anything?"

"Like I told you before, just bits and pieces." Kevin chewed on his lower lip in thought. "Probably all together, not much of anything."

"Okay." Aileen took a deep breath. "Here we go."

She recounted how the men had tied her up and brought him and Nick in to the room.

"That I remember." Kevin spoke up. "Those bastards were trying to force Nick to have sex with you. I asked him not to hurt you and they shot me, right?" She nodded. "I knew Nick would look after you, that I could trust him." Kevin said.

"Shit." she whispered. "Kevin, he did it." she said quietly, her head down.

"What?"

"He did it, after they shot you, I told him to."

"What?" Kevin repeated, louder this time. "You told him to?"

"Nick was terrified Kevin, I was terrified. I didn't want anyone else hurt. I thought that if he did it, if we went along with their sick games, it would be over."

Kevin sat silently. "Was it?"

Aileen shook her head. "No, they shot you again in the chest, when I spit in the ringleaders face. They were going to make Nick do it again.. After that, they all raped me." "Who's they?" "All of them, the kidnappers, I mean. They took turns. I zoned out, let them do what they wanted." She reached up and stroked his cheek. "I thought I had lost you, I didn't care what they did to me after that. The doctor said I had gone into shock." Aileen put her head on his shoulder and sobbed.

"Did they do anything else to you?" he asked.

She couldn't look at him, couldn't speak.

"Aileen, what else happened to you?" he pressed. "Aileen, I'm going to hold you here until you tell me, what else happened to you?"

She shook her head, silently.

"Aileen...."

"I'm pregnant!" she wailed.

Kevin sat stunned. "No." He shook his head. "No, baby. Don't tell me that one of those goddam assholes got you pregnant."

She cried, her shoulders shaking. "No, Kevin." He looked at her, confused. "Nick. Nick is the father."