Episode Forty Four

Jamie's Truck

"Do you want to keep it?" Summer said.

Jamie was quiet for a long moment, not sure how to reply. "It's our baby," he finally said.

"I know."

"I don't want to just... give it away," Jamie continued. "I... if we give it up, I want to be able to se it sometimes. Know it's okay."

"Me too."

"If we decide to give it up, can we ask my Uncle Julian and Aunt Sarah to adopt it? They want a baby, but I know they'd let us be around."

Summer nodded. "That would be good."

They rode in silence the rest of the way to Virginia's. After he parked, Jamie jumped out and ran around to help Summer out of the truck.

"I'm not that pregnant yet," she said, smiling.

"Practice," Jamie replied. As he made sure she was settled on the ground, he kissed her forehead. "I love you, Summer."

Summer smiled back. "Love you, too."

Inside Virginia's

Laura sighed as she sat down at the counter across from where her dad stood. "You're going to rub the finish off, dad," she said.

Laurence stopped wiping the counter and smiled somewhat sheepishly. "Thanks, baby," he said.

"What's wrong?"

"Just something I found out last night. I don't know how it all panned out, and it has me worried," Laurence replied. No sooner did he saw that, than Jamie and Summer entered. "But now I'm going to find out," he said, walking towards them. "Jamie," he said.

"Hi," Jamie replied. "Don't lecture, we just need breakfast before I have to give a statement to the police."

"You? Why?" Laura asked, having followed her dad.

"You read the paper this morning?" Jamie asked, spotting a copy on the counter.

"Yeah," Laurence said.

"Front page story? The unidentified teenager? Well, consider me indentified," Jamie said, sitting down with a sigh.

Laura grabbed the paper off the counter and quickly read the story, her eyes widening as she did. "Oh my God," she whispered. "You weren't mugged last fall, were you?"

"Well, he did take my wallet after," Jamie replied.

"Mr. Randall?" Summer asked, seeing the shaken look on the man's face.

"Did Mike know?" Laurence asked Jamie.

"Yeah, he found out in Febuary," Jamie replied. "Other than him, Summer and the counselor I'd been seeing are the only people who knew. Now the Grants, the Harris', and you guys know."

"I'm gonna kill David," Laura said, tossing the paper back down onto the counter. "I'm going to rip his throat out."

"What does David have to do with this?" Laurence asked.

"He put K in Jamie's soda at that party," Laura said. "Jamie, I swear, I didn't know until a couple days after! If I'd know I never would have let you out of my sight!"

"I know," Jamie told his cousin. "Don't worry." He sighed again. "So, can we get some food? Breakfast at the Mansion wasn't exactly easy."

"What, you make it sound like Summer had breakfast there?" Laura said.

"I did," Summer said. "Laura, I'm pregnant with Jamie's baby, and my mother kicked me out. After my pyschotic ex-boyfriend tried to kidnap me last night, and your dad saved me, I asked him to take me to Jamie and everyone there found out. That explain it?" she said in a rush.

Laura nodded a little dumbly. "Uh, yeah."

"How's Bacon, eggs, pancakes, sausage and all the typical breakfast fair sound?" Laurence asked.

"Very good," Jamie replied.

HFPD

A little over an hour later, Jamie found himself sitting in Malcolm's office with Summer on one side, Paul in a chair off to the other side, and Malcolm and Julian leaning against the desk. "Start whenever you're ready," Malcolm instructed, making sure the video camera was on and pointed at Jamie.

"Do I start with last night? Or last year?" Jamie asked.

"Last year," Malcolm said. "Whatever you can remember."

Jamie sighed. "I went to the end of summer party out on the drive with Laura and David. I wasn't having much fun, I mean, everyone there was drinking, and lots of them were doing drugs. It just wasn't my type of party. David got up to get some sodas, and Laura tried to get me to just relax and have some fun. She convinced me to dance with some friend of hers, and when I got back I took the soda David said was mine. Then they took off somewhere, and I started feeling really sick. My stomach was... it felt like it was twisting into a knot. So I went outside for some air. I was... I was throwing up when this guy came up to me and I..."

"It's okay to go slowly, Jamie," Paul said, leaning forward slightly. "You don't have to rush."

Jamie nodded and glanced over at Summer, who smiled slightly and squeezed his hand. "He grabbed my arm like he was just trying to help me stand up, but then he wouldn't let go and he said something about having some fun..."

"Did you recognize him?" Malcolm asked.

"No, not then," Jamie replied.

"Go on."

"I don't really... he pulled me to his car and shoved me in, and kept saying we were going to have fun...after that it's kinda blank until the hotel room," Jamie said, shrugging helplessly.

"Tell us about what happened in the hotel room," Malcolm said, not wanting to hear it but needing to for the statement. If they got it all on tape, then they might be able to spare Jamie the pain of having to recount it in court.

Jamie took a couple of deep breaths and closed his eyes, not wanting to look at any of them as he spoke. "He shoved me onto the bed and started... he started pulling my clothes off, and kissing me, and touching me. He kept saying I was... was beautiful, and perfect. He kept touching me," he repeated. "I tried, I swear, I tried to stop him, but... I couldn't make myself move. He... he stopped to... to take off his clothes, and I tried to get away but he shoved me down again and started...it hurt... he held me down and he... it so bad..." he said, trailing off as he started shaking, tears starting to stream down his face.

Summer wanted to wrap her arms around him, but was scared that if she did he'd have a flashback like he had at the cabin back in Febuary. "It's okay now," she said instead. "He can't hurt you anymore."

Jamie nodded and opened his eyes briefly to look at her. When he saw the upset look on her face, but also the love behind it, he smiled shakily and continued. "I... it hurt so bad," he said again. "I was crying and begging him to stop, but he.. he kept saying we were having fun now, and that stuff about me being beautiful. I can't... I couldn't see his face before, it was just this blurred thing. But now... He kept leering down at me, and... and it was him. Officer Powers," Jamie said bitterly.

"Can you tell us about last night, now?" Malcolm said.

"Isn't what he allready said enough?" Julian asked angrily. "Do we really have to make him do this?"

"You know we do," Malcolm said. "We need it if we want Powers to pay for this."

"It's okay," Jamie said. "I can do this."

"If you need a break first, it's okay," Paul said. "No one's going to hold it against you."

Jamie nodded slightly. "Can I get some water?" he asked quietly.

"Sure," Malcolm said. "I'll go get it."

"How about you go get a candy bar or soemthing from the vending machine for Jamie," Paul told Julian. When the other man started to protest, Paul stood and walked to him. "He needs a minute without everyone watching him. And chocolate helps release endorphins, he'll need the upper after this."

Julian nodded and reluctantly left.

"Thanks," Jamie said to the counselor.

"Hey, it's my job to judge situations," Paul replied, smiling reassuringly. "Are you sure you're up to this? No one will blame you if you can't right now."

"I have to get it out now before I lose what little bravery I have," Jamie said.

Summer squeezed his hand again. "Jsut remember, he can't touch you anymore. It's over."

"Not to be depressing," Paul said. "But the emotons aren't going to just turn off after this. It's over physically, he can't hurt you physcically again. But the feelings are still going to be there. At leats for a while."

"Are they going to go away?" Jamie asked.

"Someday," Paul said. "Hopefully soon. But don't be surprised if you're still scared, or anxious, about it for a while. And when there's a trial, the feelings will msot likely get stronger again. But also remember that you're not alone. You can come see me anytime, don't even need to amke an apoitment. You're at the top of my priority lsit. That means if you need to talk, my secretary knows to let me know, no matter who I'm with," he said.

"And you know I'm here for you," Summer said. "Always."

Jamie smiled and raised SUmmer's hand to kiss the knucles. "I know."

Julian and Malcolm re-entered, and Malcolm handed Jamie a cup of water as Julian held out a Chocolate bar.

"Thanks," Jamie told them, taking a sip from the water.

"Whenever you're ready," Malcolm said.

Jamie took another sip of water, then went to set the cup down on the small table next to the couch just as a slight tremor shook the room. "What was that?" he asked.

"Felt like an Earthquake," Paul said. "And here I thought we didn't get those here."

"It's been a couple years since the last one," Julian said.

"Why don't we just continue?" Malcolm said, checking the camera again.

Jamie nooded and took one more sip of the water, set the cup down, then fixed his gaze on the floor. "I did this sketch of Summer, and I wanted to make a better sketch of it, using my charcoals, but I hadn't brought them from the garage apartment yet. I promised Uncle Julian I'd stay at the mansion, but I really wanted to do the charcoal drawing. So I went down and asked Officer Powers to drive me over there... I thought it would okay."

End Of Episode Forty Four