Michelle sat down on the familiar looking couch in Dr. Bradford's office and nervously looked around the room.

She still felt kind of guilty for running out of the house the way that she had but she would be back before Danny even knew she had gone and there would be no problem.

Dr. Bradford was watching her with interested eyes. She felt like she was being observed under a microscope and she began to squirm uncomfortably on the couch.

"Why don't you tell me what is on your mind Michelle" Dr. Bradford said. Sometimes it was best to just let the patient speak to her through their body language and today Michelle was very unsettled about something.

Michelle leaned back on the couch and began to gather her thoughts. She wanted to choose her words carefully. She was so certain that she would remember something today that is was beginning to frighten her.

"I feel like I am on the verge of remembering something" she began. "Something very critical about that night".

"Okay Michelle" Dr. Bradford said. "Why don't you begin by telling me when you started feeling this way" she said and leaned back in her own chair twirling the blue ball point pen between her fingers as she spoke.

Michelle closed her eyes and began to recall the feelings that she had felt while standing at Rick's grave. She began to speak. "I was standing at my brother's grave. It was the first time that I had been there since........well, since that night. I was talking to him. I told him I was sorry about what had happened. I told him I missed him. I told him I loved him" she said and began to cry as the feelings overwhelmed her. The feelings of sadness, of hurt and of..........guilt??? Why were these feelings of guilt coming now? What had she done to feel guilty?

While Danny had been working to legitimize the business, things were going along very well. As a matter of fact, things were better than ever. She had her rotation at the hospital set and Danny had the business under control and on the right track. Things couldn't have been better.

Why did she suddenly feel like there was more to the story then? Why did she feel as though the one piece of the puzzle lay just beyond her grasp?

She thought for several more moments and when nothing new came to recollection, she began to grow frustrated. "That is where it started," she said. "I began to feel close to remembering something. Something that would explain that whole night to me, but it vanished as quickly as it came," she said in frustration.

Dr. Bradford watched Michelle's agitation with great interest. She had been monitoring Michelle's reactions and she felt the time was right to broach the subject of hypnosis. The key to unlocking the mystery of that night was within her mental grasp, of that she was certain, and with just one or two sessions, she felt reasonably sure that they could secure the answers that Michelle sought.

"Michelle" she said softly. "I want to make a suggestion to you. I see how frustrated you get when you try to consciously remember the events of that night. I believe your frustration is due to your inability to remember as quickly as you want to. Your aren't letting your brain recall that memory because you are simply trying too hard or the memory is just too traumatic and your brain wont allow you to access it. I propose that we try hypnosis. I believe, once hypnotized, you will let go of your conscious desire to remember and your subconscious will take over from there and if you are going to remember it, we will know then" she explained.

Michelle sat up straight and listened to Dr. Bradford's suggestion. It was an excellent idea. "Can we do it now?" she asked eagerly.

"Yes, Michelle, if that is what you want, we can do it right now" she said.

"Yes, it is what I want" Michelle said in a relieved voice. This was it. This was the answer to her frozen memory. By the end of this session, she would have all the answers she would need and she and Danny could get back to trying to find the life that they had started before the events of that night had changed things forever.

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Danny got back in his car and inserted the key into the ignition. He had questioned all of his informants out on the street and no one knew anything. No one had seen Michelle or knew of her whereabouts. Danny felt reasonably sure that a rival family hadn't abducted her now. He would have picked up something on the street if she had. His informants would sell you out for a buck, but they always knew the scoop and were always willing to give it to him, for a price.

Where would he look now? He picked up the cell phone and called the house. Jimmy answered and Danny could hear the nervousness in his voice as he explained that Michelle still had not returned home.

Would she have gone to see Drew? Possibly, but how would she have gotten there if she hadn't used Jimmy to drive her? Would she have called Drew to come and get her? Jimmy surely would have seen Drew's car pull up in the driveway, so that wasn't it. Maybe Michelle had called a cab and gone....

Damn, that was it. Why hadn't he thought of it before? Springfield only had one cab company and if Michelle had called to get a cab, they would have a record of it. They may be reluctant at first to help him, but he was fairly certain that he could get them to comply with him.

If Michelle had called a cab, he would find out where she had gone and then he would go and collect her. She still had no idea that she wasn't safe without he or Jimmy with her at all times. He would have to remind her when she had her home safely, that she was not to be without either one of them again.

He had to think about this some more. Michelle was showing signs of wanting to get back to the way things were before the ambush. He alone knew that that wasn't going to happen, not now, not ever.

He put the car into first gear and pulled out onto the street and into the direction of the Springfield Taxi Company. He had a feeling that he would know in the next thirty minutes where Michelle had gone and then he would do what was necessary to make sure she understood that she was never to leave the house like that again.

* * * * * * * * * * *

"Michelle?" Dr. Bradford said. "Can you hear me Michelle?"

"Yes" Michelle, said in a faint voice.

"Are you ready Michelle?" she asked and she saw Michelle nod her head.

"I need you to answer my question with words okay Michelle." Dr. Bradford said. "Do you understand?"

"Yes" Michelle, said.

"Good, now let's get started. Let's go back to the night of the attack, okay," Dr. Bradford said gently.

"Okay" Michelle said with a voice that sounded like it was coming from far away.

"Now tell me what you see," she said.

Michelle began to speak in a voice reminiscent of a little girl. "Danny and I were going to go and see a play with Rick and Abby" she began. "Rick and I got stuck at the hospital and Danny sent Dietz to get us. He was going to meet us and Abby at the theater but we never made it" she said.

"You are doing great Michelle. Now try and see what happens as it unfolds. Let your memory unfold naturally, don't try and force it" she said.

"Okay" Michelle said and began to let the scenes unfold in her mind as if she were watching them on a giant television screen.

"What happened next?" Dr. Bradford said.

"Rick and I got in the car with Dietz. We were laughing and looking forward to seeing the play. Rick looked so handsome in his tuxedo and I was wearing my favorite black dress that Danny loved" she said.

"Keep going Michelle, you are doing great," Dr. Bradford said encouragingly.

"We stopped at a red light. Suddenly there was a lot of noise. I didn't know what it was at first. I thought there was some commotion on the street corner but then I could see that some people where standing next to our car. Dietz opened the window and I heard some shouting and then I heard a muffled sound and I saw Dietz fall over into his seat" she said.

"Go on Michelle. What do you see now?" Dr. Bradford prodded.

"The people moved to the window beside Rick and smashed it open. The sound of the glass breaking was so loud and I screamed. There were two, no three men standing there. They had sunglasses on and the sun was behind them and I couldn't make out their faces. I couldn't make out their features but I could tell they had dark hair" she said in a steady monotone.

"Then what" Dr. Bradford replied.

"One of them said something then. He said, "This isn't Santos" and another one said "Do it anyway" and then I heard the shots. They weren't as loud as I would have thought gunfire would be and I saw Rick's eyes open in shock and then he fell over into the seat and almost landed in my lap. I screamed and then I felt something too. I felt something like heat running through my chest and my head felt wet. Something dripped down into my eyes and I couldn't see anymore. I don't remember anything else" Michelle said and began to get nervous.

"Make it stop. I want to stop now," she shouted and Dr. Bradford quickly brought her out of it.

Several minutes later when Michelle could breathe normally again, she asked Dr. Bradford what had happened.

"You did it Michelle," she said. "You finally unlocked the secret that your mind was trying to keep hidden".

"What secret" Michelle asked. "What did it all mean?"

"You remembered seeing the men who shot you and you remembered the words that they spoke" she said and then went on to tell Michelle all that she had revealed during their hypnotherapy session.

* * * * * * * * ** * *

Danny walked out of the Springfield Taxi Company and took out his Raybans and put them on. He had the answer he was looking for. It had been disgustingly easy to frighten the poor dispatcher into revealing where Michelle had asked to be taken once she had called for a cab.

He had not had to use any intimidation tactics and that saddened him a bit. He needed to release some of this pent up anger he had. He needed to scream at someone before he found Michelle because if he saw her now, he would let out his anger on her and he knew that it would frighten her. Hell, it frightened him how angry he was with her right now.

She was taking her life into her hands by waltzing out of the house and to the hospital on a whim and not telling anyone where she was going. He wanted to throttle her right now for putting herself in danger.

He got in his car and started towards the hospital. She wouldn't need the services of Springfield Taxi Company to take her back home. He was going to be there waiting for her in the hospital parking lot when she finished her business with Dr. Bradford.

He didn't need anyone to tell him that she was visiting Dr. Bradford at the hospital. She had been very edgy lately and had been showing more interest in learning all of the details of the events of that night. He didn't know how he was going to deal with this.

He pulled into the parking lot and waited. He noted the time and decided to give her twenty minutes before he came in to look for her. According to the dispatcher's log, Michelle had been picked up over an hour ago and that meant that she had been in session for close to thirty or forty minutes. What had she learned today?

He would ask her the same way he asked her every time she had a session although this time it made him very nervous. She didn't have an appointment scheduled with Dr. Bradford this late in the afternoon, so she must have called and asked for one today. What did that mean?

Had she remembered something and not told him? Was she close to the truth? What would he do when she found out he had been the intended target?

He decided not to borrow trouble just yet and checked the clock on the dash, which told him the allotted twenty minutes had come and gone. He got out of the car and walked to the front entrance and through the lobby to the elevators.

He pushed the button and waited for the elevator to come down and open its doors. Finally the elevator arrived and the door opened. He came face to face with Michelle whose eyes immediately opened wide with shock.

Oh damn.

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