That night was a long one.  I wanted to stay at the hospital with Jayme, but everyone else thought it would be better if I went back to the Carter's and had a good night's sleep.  Nick had to leave with the guys for the tour tomorrow, there was no way he could get out of it, so he needed a good sleep too.  We all went home feeling exhausted and emotionally drained.
 
    The next morning I woke up to hear Mrs. Carter on the phone.  I stumbled down the stairs into the kitchen where she was talking, while Nick was having breakfast.  He looked up as I approached and asked, "Feeling better?"
 
    "A little," I replied, "but I'm still really worried about Cam."
 
    He shook his head at me and pointed to his mom.  "My mom's talking to the police right now.  I think they found Cam late last night."
 
    I turned to see Mrs. Carter hanging up the phone.  "Well, they think they've found Cam," she confirmed.
 
    I sighed. "Look honey," she continued, "I know this will be hard for you, but they need you to go down to the police station and identify him in a line-up, to be sure they've got the right guy.  Since Jayme is in no condition to do this, you're their only other choice.  I said I'd have you there by 10:00 this morning.  Do you think you'll be ok?"
 
    I shuddered and nodded.  I hated to do this to Cam, but he hadn't given me much choice.  "What will they do to him when I ID him?"
 
    "I'm not sure.  They'll likely tell us when we finish up there."
 
    Nick stood up.  "Well Sam, I'm really sorry to leave you here when you need me, but I have to go.  My dad's driving me to the airport right away, so I have to make sure my stuff's all together.  Do you want to come upstairs with me for a couple minutes?"  I agreed and followed him up the stairs.
 
    Once we got into his room, he closed the door.  He gave me a long look, and finally said, "We didn't really get a chance to talk about what happened, Sam.  What exactly did Cam do to you?"  He lifted his hand up and lightly ran his fingers over my bruises.  I flinched and he took his hand away.
 
    "It's nothing Nick.  Really, it looks worse than it is.  Jayme got it worse than I did."
 
    "I don't care.  He obviously intended to hurt you, and I want to know what he got away with."
 
    "Ok, ok.  He just slapped me, that's all.  Nothing big, it didn't even hurt that bad."
 
    He gestured to my face.  "You've got two huge purple, almost black, swollen bruises on your face, and you're standing here telling me that didn't hurt?!  Why are you sticking up for this guy, Sam?  I don't get it!  He could have killed you out there, and you're defending him!"
 
    "He's my friend Nick, and he needs help.  He did this because he was on drugs, he wouldn't have even thought of it otherwise!  He would never harm Jayme or me intentionally!"
 
    He held me firmly in front of him.  "You're wrong.  I don't care how high he was, no one has the right to hurt you like this.  And if he really was your friend, he wouldn't have done this to you, period."
 
    I shook my head at him.  "You know nothing about him, nothing!  And if you really cared about me, you would understand what I'm saying!  You would accept that it happened, and it's over!"
 
    He stared at me.  "You're going to go and identify him, aren't you?"
 
    I thought for a moment.  "Only because I have to, not because I want to."
 
    He looked at me like he couldn't believe what I was saying.  "How much more proof do you need Sam?  Right now your best friend is laying in the hospital, because of Cam.  She could have died, because of him.  Wake up!  The guy's a psycho, why can't you see it?"
 
    "He's not a psycho!  And I don't have to put up with you insulting him like that, I've had quite enough of you, Nickolas!"
 I wrenched myself out of his grip, spun on my heel, and headed toward the door.  As I ran to my room, I could hear him calling me back.  But this time I wasn't in the mood to listen.  I got dressed and went back downstairs.  "Jane, I'm ready to go."
 
    As we drove to the police station, everything Nick had said to me kept repeating in my mind.  Jane was quiet.  I knew she'd heard our argument, and I was glad she wasn't pushing me to talk about it.  Right now, I needed a lot of time to think.
 

    **Later on, at the police station**
 
 
    I heaved a huge sigh.  "That's him, #2."
 
    The officer looked at me.  "You're positive?"  I nodded.
 
    He turned to his partner.  "Take them back to their cells, and take #2 to be booked."
 
    He turned back to me.  Timidly, I asked, "What's going to happen to him now?"
 
    "Well, first we're sending him back home, where he'll face a few charges: two counts of kidnapping, and two counts of assault and battery.  To tell you the truth Miss, it doesn't look good for him."
 
    "Isn't there any way he can fight the charges?"
 
    He gave me a funny look.  The same look Nick had given me.  "Well sure, but with all this evidence stacked against him, he doesn't have much of a chance of getting off."
 
    Jane noticed how upset I was getting and decided to interrupt.  "Thank you, officer.  We need to be heading to the hospital right now, so we'll be going."
 
    Grudgingly, I followed Jane out of the station and into the car.  As she started driving, she looked at me and said, "You know that Cam had no right to do that to you, don't you?  You shouldn't feel bad about this, he should."
 
    I hung my head and replied, "Yeah, I'm beginning to see that.  It's just hard to see this happening, I mean, he's my friend.  I don't want him to go to jail or anything, I just want him to get help."
 
    "I know honey.  But maybe this is the best way to help him.  I also heard you and Nick fighting before we left.  It really upsets him that this happened to you, and he couldn't stop it.  He's just trying to look out for you, he didn't mean to make you angry."
 
    A tear ran down my cheek.  "And now he's gone."
 
    She stretched her arm out and gave me a little squeeze.  "He promised to call tonight, so you can talk to him then.  Besides, you're supposed to fly out there tomorrow with Denise, so you can be together again soon enough.  Everything's going to be ok."
 
    Once we got to the hospital, we found Jayme's room and hurried up to it.  She looked a lot better than yesterday, and the doctor said that possibly tomorrow she could go home.  Her parents were flying down to come and get her, and I could tell that she was happy about that.  Jane left us alone for a bit so we could talk.
 
    "Jayms, I never really got to ask you, how did Cam get you here in the first place?"  I couldn't hold my questions any longer.
 
    Jayme took a sip of water and slowly started to tell me.  "Well, Cam said that as a surprise for you, he'd gotten us two plane tickets to go and visit you before you had to leave for Europe.  So, being the fool that I am, I went with him.  Once we got here, he rented a car and said we were staying at a really classy hotel, except we weren't.  That's when he drove me out to the shack.  The next morning, he went to get you.  But here's the worst part Sam, he wasn't high.  He didn't start taking the drugs until after we got here."
 
    I couldn't believe it.  The guy I was defending, and proclaiming my friend, had actually done this without influence of any kind.  I was shocked.  Right then, I broke down crying.  "Jayme, I'm so sorry.  I can't believe he'd do this to us, especially to you!  I'm so stupid!  I actually defended his actions!"
 
    She held out her arms to me.  I fell into her lap and kept crying.  I felt awful!  But somehow, Jayme forgave me.  "It's ok Sam," she whispered, "I'm alright, and so are you.  That's what matters.  And Cam is going to get the help he needs, there are people to make sure of that now.  It's over."
 
    I sat up.  "Not quite yet, it's not."  I said a quick goodbye to Jayms, and left her with a confused look on her face.  I ran out into the hallway to find Jane.  "Jane, when was Nick's flight scheduled to leave?"
 
    "Noon, why?"
 
    "Then we'd better get going now."

 Chapter Fifteen
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